platform - 3/3 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jun

[Editorial] Welcome To Google+: Your Social Network Is Finally Ready, So What Are You Waiting On?

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Editorials, Google

Google I/O isn't even finished yet, and everyone's favorite search company has already shaken things up quite a bit. One of the biggest things Google announced was Google Events. Google said that this new feature would allow users to coordinate events and share them with others. What Google didn't say was that with the addition of this feature, Google+ is ready. Cooked until golden brown and ready to be served. And, guys? It's time to dig in.

By Your Powers Combined

Social networks will continue to evolve as long as people do, but today marked a subtle, yet important transition for Google: the day that the biggest majority of its key features finally became unified in a meaningful, social way.

Feb

[New Game] Cordy Sky Jumps, Bounces, And Flies Into The Android Market, Makes Successful Follow-Up To Original Hit

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Games, News

Following up on the success of Cordy (a game we mentioned in part 2 of our feature on the best action/adventure games of 2011), SilverTree Media released Cordy Sky to the Android Market today, giving players even more of the freewheeling platform action they came to love in the original. Sky's gameplay is engaging, colorful, and addictive. In this adventure, Cordy meets Volt – a friendly robot who has been trapped on the mysterious planet for a while, and can help Cordy reach the big rocket in the sky to continue his quest to explore new planets.

Players can jump, bounce, and hover through story mode, eventually reaching the big rocket in the sky, and keep the fun going with Infinity mode, testing just how high they can go.

Feb

[New Game] Tongue Tied! Puts Slapstick Humor, Physics Twist On Platforming Genre

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Games, News

Tongue Tied, a young yet popular game for iOS has finally gotten the Android treatment from its creators at Mojo Bones Ltd, bringing the slapstick physics/platforming game to Android users everywhere today.

Tongue Tied fuses physics and platform gameplay styles with the wacky story of two dogs (Mick and Ralph) who are literally tongue tied. As shown in the video above, players can expect to bounce, swing, and jump through about 60 levels "in search of the elusive WonderBone."

Besides offering dozens of levels to play through, Tongue Tied has score-based medals for each level, as well as 33 extra challenges with "some of the most interesting unlockables you're likely to see!" Adding even more to the game's replay value are trick and bonus scoring systems, allowing advanced players to be rewarded for traversing each level with extra panache.

Dec

[Video] Auckland GTUG Wishes Users A Merry Christmas With Android-Powered Light Show

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Applications, Development, Videos

Auckland GTUG, a New Zealand-based Google Technology User Group, uploaded a video to YouTube today demonstrating the power of the Android Open Accessory platform via an impressive Christmas-themed light show.

A product of GTUG's November coding session, the light show is controlled by an Acer Iconia A500 tablet, and the controller app allows for predetermined sequencing of up to 9 channels, and even supports syncing with music. Without further ado, here's the video:

On that note, all of us here at Android Police would like to wish you and yours a happy holiday season, and a joyous new year!

Jun

Android Platform Distributions Updated, Gingerbread Finally Making A Dent In Froyo's Lead

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, News

It's that time of the month once again, Google has updated the platform version distribution charts for Android, and Gingerbread is finally gaining steam:

Gingerbread now makes up a whole 9.2% of the Android ecosystem, and the Gingerbread source has been publicly available for 6 months as of today. Froyo still dominates, at around 65%, with Éclair placing second. Pre-2.1 devices now account for less than 5% of the total, which really makes the whole 2-year device-life logic seem rather silly.

Honeycomb also has peaked its head above the grass, and represents a little over a half-percent of all Android devices presently (most thanks likely going to the XOOM and ASUS Transformer for that).

Dec

Android Platform Version Stats Updated Again, Froyo Now Dominant

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Cupcake 1.5, Donut 1.6, Eclair 2.1, Froyo 2.2, News

If you love devouring Android stats, Google's Android Platform Versions sub-site, which is updated about once a month, just got refreshed with the latest batch of data. Last month, Froyo ate up some 36% of the pie, while Éclair was found to be running on about 41% of devices, with the remaining 23% being taken up by Cupcake and Donut.

As you can see for yourself in the graph above, this month was quite a turn-around - Froyo (at 43.4%) finally stole the throne from Éclair, which was left with 39.6%. As for 1.5 (Cupcake) and 1.6 (Donut), they each gobbled up 6.3% and 10.6%, respectively.

Oct

Adobe AIR Lands In Android Market, Doesn't Do Much Of Anything Yet

Posted by Brad Ganley in Applications, News

A while back we were shown a leaked release of Adobe AIR for Android and told stories of its incredible capabilities. Well, the time has come. Twitter is now lighting up with reports about it and it is now available in the Android Market.

Here is Adobe's explanation of AIR for Android:

Adobe® AIR® will let you publish ActionScript 3 projects to run as native applications (.apk) for the Android OS. These AIR applications can be delivered to Android devices through Android application stores such as the Android Market.

Developers can write new code or reuse existing web content to build AIR applications for the Android OS.

Oct

FroYo's Share Grows to 33.4%, Eclair Still Dominates In Latest Android Platform Versions Chart

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Cupcake 1.5, Devices By Manufacturer, Donut 1.6, Eclair 2.1, Froyo 2.2, Gingerbread 2.3, News

The latest Android platform numbers are out, and thanks to carrier support of updates (Verizon and Sprint, anyway) FroYo has made an impressive boost to capture 33.4% of Android devices. This isn't enough to upset Android 2.1, which remains on top with 40.4%, but it's a good sign of diminishing Android fragmentation nonetheless.

When Gingerbread hits this fall/winter, however, this chart is bound to get pretty ugly - while Donut and Cupcake continued their decline, together they still make up a decent portion of Android devices, at 26.1% combined. Fortunately, while phones running these outdated operating systems will probably not be updated in the near future, they will be discontinued by carriers and replaced with newer models running newer versions of Android (for example, T-Mobile is discontinuing the original myTouch, Motorola CLIQ, and CLIQ XT today, and has already done it to the G1).

Aug

The Nexus One Is Dead — Long Live The Nexus One: Google Crowns Nexus One Android Developer Phone 3

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Nexus One (Passion)

While the Nexus One has officially been discontinued stateside on Google’s website, it seems Google’s first (and probably only) phone will be headed to the cluttered desks of more Android developers as Android’s newest official developer phone.

The Nexus One has clearly enjoyed preferential treatment from the Android team since its release, but the decision to dethrone the Google Ion (aka ADP 2, HTC Magic, MyTouch 3G) is more than anything a statement to third-party developers: Get away from previous generation phones. And with Éclair now running on nearly 60% of Android devices, it’s no wonder Google wants to move the Android development platform forward.