player - 2/4 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Feb

[MWC 2012] Samsung Announces Galaxy S WiFi 4.2, For The Android Lovers Who Don't Need A Phone

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Samsung

Android typically makes its bread and butter on phones, with a side order of tablets. Palm-sized media players aren't usually on the menu, save for Samsung's own offerings. Today, the company announced a refresh for its handheld phone-less device. The notPod may not be the most in-demand category of devices, but if Samsung's taught us anything this week, it's that the company isn't one to turn down a niche market.

Here's a look at the full specs for the device:

No word yet on whether this device will see an Ice Cream Sandwich update. It's also worth noting that, while Samsung talks up gaming on this handheld, the spec sheet lists the CPU as a "1GHz Processor." No mention of multiple cores.

Feb

PowerAMP Updated To 2.0.5-build-480, Bringing Multichannel FLAC, Notification Controls For Android 3.0+, ICS Fixes, And More

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

PowerAMP, one of the most popular and versatile music player apps available for Android, got updated today to Version 2.0.5-build-480 today, bringing a handful of handy improvements to an already stellar application.

Perhaps the most notable among these are ICS-related fixes, ICS lock screen controls (which strangely don't show up on ASUS' Transformer Prime), and notification bar controls for Android 3.0+ (which don't blend well with the Prime's ICS aesthetic), providing further practical and functional integration with Android Tablets and Ice Cream Sandwich-powered devices.

The update also brings support for multichannel FLAC playback, album art search based on title or filename, DSP features under the app's equalizer curve, and several other miscellaneous enhancements.

Feb

Nullsoft Adds WinAmp Pro License Directly To The Market, Brings A Host Of Features To Users With A Spare $5

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Apps/Games, News

Nullsoft, creator of WinAmp, a favorite media player for over 10 million Android users, is adding its premium track directly to the Android Market. Users have previously been able to download the Pro version via an in-app purchase, but now the Pro license is also available directly from the Android Market. So, what do you get for your $5? Here's a look at the feature list:

10-band graphic equalizer
Customizable home screen
Browse by Folder
Crossfade
Gapless playback
Support for FLAC playback in Folders View (lossless audio playback)
Replay Gain
Personalized station recommendations
Play any streaming audio URL (supported formats only)
No ads

The Pro Bundle may not be for the casual user.

Jan

CyanogenMod 9 Music App Officially Released For Download, Coming To Market Soon

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Development, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

All-around awesome guy Andrew Neal has released the result of his project in recent months: a new music app that will be coming soon to CyanogenMod 9. The good news is that you can download it now, before it's merged, and install it on your device. The (pretty major) bad news: it's only available for phones running Ice Cream Sandwich. So unless you've got a Galaxy Nexus, ICS-running Nexus S, or any phone rocking CM9, you're pretty much S.O.L. on this beauty.

What's so great about the new music app? In a nutshell: custom themes (and even the default theme is much more of a head-turner than the stock Android music app), gesture/motion controls, custom notifications, custom lockscreens, and more widgets.

Jan

[CES 2012] Sony Introduces Google TV Set-Top Box, Blu-Ray Player

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Google TV, News, Sony

Seems Sony’s making good on its promise to keep churning out Google TV devices – in fact, the company just introduced not one, but two such gadgets.

As of now, we don’t have tech specs for either of the duo, but what we do know is what you see above: both the NSZ-GP9 Blu-ray player (on the left) and the NSZ-GS7 set-top box (on the right) look splendid, and both have seriously overcomplicated names. Additionally, from the looks of it, they’ll support 3D TVs, so if you’re ~~rich~~ lucky enough to have one, I suppose that’s good news. Finally, they’ll both feature gesture and voice control, in addition to the usual Google apps and the following keyboard:

^{Hey, it’s an improvement over Sony’s last attempt at a Google TV keyboard…}

Update: According to The Verge, the keyboard is backlit and features – get this – a three-axis motion sensor that should be perfect for gaming.

Dec

[Video] Upcoming TSF Shell Pro 3D Android Launcher Takes Launcher UI To A Whole New Level - Tie Your Jaw To Your Mouth Before Watching

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News, Videos

There is no shortage of launcher replacements for Android, but once in a while a new one comes along and takes the launcher experience to a new level. Such is the case with TSF Shell Pro, a new launcher currently in development by a team of developers who call themselves C3D. TSF, their brand, stands for The Special Forces, and special they are - just take a look at what the team cooked up.

TSF Shell Pro has a UI so polished that your favorite launcher will feel like it was designed in 1999. How about 3D widgets with interactive modes and animations?

Oct

Motorola Reveals MOTOACTV, A Small Android-Powered MP3 Player That "Merges Fitness And Music Like Nothing Else"

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in ACTV, Motorola, News

Motorola's press conference is under way, but it turns out the Droid RAZR isn't the only thing that Motorola had up their sleeve - they also announced the MOTOACTV, what is essentially an iPod Nano on serious steroids.

The ACTV packs a 600MHz CPU, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, FM Radio, and an "Audio Coach" - all there to help you step up your fitness game. The features all work together to keep track of your heart rate, calories burned, and route taken (among others). They take things even further by having all this data automatically synced to your PC and MOTOACTV.com to keep track of progress and compare it to plans/goals, analyze workouts, and challenge friends.

Oct

[Weekend Poll] What Is Your Primary Portable Music Player Device?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Are You Waiting For The Galaxy Nexus/Nexus Prime To Upgrade Your Phone?

A fairly simple question this week: what is your primary portable music player? Do you still have a personal media player (PMP), or do you rely on your phone? Or perhaps another device - or none at all? Sound off in the poll below, then head down to the comments to discuss.

Jun

Yahoo! Releases Play Music App, Knows What You Want To Hear

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

You know that music thing people like to listen to? Well, Yahoo! seems to think that it may be the way back into users' hearts, as it just released a music-identifying, brain-crawling, news-delivering music player for Android powered by Instinctiv. It's called Yahoo! Play, and it has some basic, run-of-the-mill features, but it also has some... interesting features. Let's take a look.

First up, it has a feature called Identify, which is basically a Shazam or SoundHound clone: it listens to the track in question, then tells you what it is. It does differ from the aforementioned apps in one way, however - it offers continuous mode, where it will scan a series of songs, returning results for each one.

May

[Updated: It's Gone] Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0 Now Available On Amazon For $229

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy Player 4.0, News

UPDATE: ...and it's gone. Did anyone successfully place an order before Amazon pulled the listing?

If you're the type that would rather have a dedicated MP3 player instead of using your phone for such a task, but still want to show your love and support for Android, then you'll be glad to know that the Samsung Galaxy Player 4 is now officially on sale at Amazon for $229.

This 4 inch iPod Touch competitor features a 1GHz processor, 8GB of internal storage with SD card slot (expandable up to 32GB), 3.2 MP rear camera, VGA front camera, Wi-Fi b/g/n, GPS, Bluetooth, and Android 2.2 with Market access.