release - 20/28 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Mar

WiFi-only Motorola XOOM Headed to Sam’s Club, Possibly Priced at $539 - Droid Life- A Droid Community Blog

Wi-Fi-Only Motorola XOOM To Cost $539 At Sam's Club?

Posted by Will Shanklin in News, XOOM

It seems like only yesterday we were watching Steve Jobs reveal the second iPad and wondering how Android tablet manufacturers would react (actually, it was yesterday). Now we have news that the Wi-Fi-only version of the Motorola XOOM will be priced at $539 at Sam's Club.

Previous rumors suggested the price for the non-carrier version of the tab would be $600, so this is a bit of a surprise. Of course, wholesale warehouses like Sam's and Costco are usually able to sell for much less than other retailers (they rely mostly on memberships for profit), but this is more of a discount than would typically be expected.

Mar

ZeptoLab Releases Video Teaser Of Cut The Rope For Android - Coming Soon To The Market Near You

Posted by Will Shanklin in Games, News

While we Android users seldom admit to jealousy of any kind when it comes to iPhones, one of the more popular games for iOS, Cut The Rope, can really turn us green with envy. Back in October, we pined to have an Android version and were given a vague hint from the developer that it would be coming eventually. That day may be finally approaching soon, as it was revealed on developer ZeptoLab's Twitter account today that the incredibly fun game is headed to Android.

The clever puzzler involves cutting ropes, blowing bubbles, and other tasks in order to deliver candy to a cute little monster named Om Nom.

Feb

Now That The Verizon XOOM Is Here, When Will We See That Wi-Fi-Only Model?

Posted by Will Shanklin in Editorials, Motorola, Verizon Wireless, XOOM

If you began drooling from the very first murmurs of a "Pure Google" tablet running Android 3.0 'Honeycomb', to the buzz at CES, through the anticipation building up to launch: your day has arrived and you likely now have a Motorola XOOM in your hands. Congratulations. Of course that would be the $800 Verizon Motorola XOOM that's in your hands. But what about that $600 Wi-Fi-only XOOM? Not only is it not in anyone's hands, but there has yet to be a confirmed release date either.

With nearly every Android phone capable of generating a wireless hotspot to share its data plan with a tablet, taking on the burden of yet another monthly data bill can seem like an unwelcomed guest to many users.

Feb

HTC Officially Announces The Merge, Coming This Spring To North America

Posted by David Ruddock in HTC, Merge, News

Well, after some rumors that the HTC Merge might never arrive, it seems the mysterious but often-seen slider device will be coming stateside sooner rather than later. An official HTC press release for the company's first Android CDMA world-phone popped up only minutes ago:

The HTC Merge™ Smartphone Brings Android™ and HTC Sense™ to HTC's First CDMA Android World Phone

BELLEVUE, Wash., Feb. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- HTC Corp., a global designer of smartphones, today announced that the new HTC Merge smartphone will be made available through multiple North American carriers beginning in spring 2011. The HTC Merge smartphone combines a full QWERTY slide-out keyboard with the power of Android 2.2, the HTC Sense experience, a large 3.8-inch touch-screen display and a 5 megapixel camera to create a complete mobile experience for those looking for a truly complete smartphone.

Feb

New Ad Shows $299 Price For Thunderbolt, Continues To Be Most Confusing Device Launch Ever

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Thunderbolt (Mecha), Verizon Wireless

Well, another day, another HTC Thunderbolt rumor. Today's addition to the Thunder-rumor-dome is a little different, but don't worry - it's still pretty upsetting. A new Best Buy Ad has shown up with an advertised price of $299 for Verizon's debut 4G handset. Yuck. The Android Police team already thought $249 was a little steep, but $300 for a phone based on a platform that's been around more than 4 months worldwide?

Along with that, there's some delightful speculation about the Thunderbolt's release date having been pushed back to March 10th (which now seems fake). Hats off to Verizon and Best Buy for the best ongoing smartphone troll of all time.

Feb

MenuPages Enters The Android Food App Foray

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, News

Ever heard of MenuPages? I hadn't until today, but I guess I live in a cardboard box. The popular website now offers an Android app for your convenience - but what's MenuPage's big feature when competing against the likes of UrbanSpoon and Yelp? You may have guessed it has something to do with menus.

MenuPages indexes the (wait for it, it's mind-blowing) menu contents of any restaurant their service lists, meaning you can search by the exact food you want, as opposed to browsing through broad genres of cuisine. Pretty nifty for foodies like myself, and I can say right now that this app has made a home on my phone for the foreseeable future.

Feb

Tower Raiders 2 Beta, The Sequel To The Best Tower Defense Game On Android, Just Landed In The Market

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Games, News

One of my most favorite Android games and by far the best tower defense game I've tried is Tower Raiders. Once you try Tower Raiders, you simply can't go back to Robo Defense and other clones (I honestly don't understand why Robo Defense is so popular). Last year, I was traveling to France, and Tower Raiders proved to be hours of incredible fun, making 2-hour lines to museums and long metro rides more than bearable.

I haven't heard from the developer of Tower Raiders, Gianormous Games, for many months, and started to get worried that we'd never see an update.

Feb

Motorola Atrix 4G Hitting RadioShack On Feb. 22 For $150, Dock For $330, On Contract

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in AT&T, Atrix 4G (Olympus), News

The Shack has officially announced the Atrix launch details via their Facebook page. The skinny: it lands in the store on February 22 for $150 with a new qualified 2-year plan. If you buy the dock at the same time, you can get it for $330, at a total cost of $480 - or $20 less than you'll pay at AT&T. I'm not looking to beat a dead horse on whether or not that price is too much, so I'm going to skip straight to the deetz:

The device is equipped with features that will blow you away:

MOTOBLUR with Android 2.2 Operating System

Adobe Flash 10

5.0 Megapixel camera with 720p video capture

4”"qHD Display with Touchscreen

1GHz dual core processor that outputs 2x 1GHz of processing speed and 1GB of RAM

4G capable speeds

The ATRIX blurs the line between smartphone and computer with the MOTOROLA LAPDOCK, available in select stores for $479.99*

The MOTOROLA LAPDOCK gives you a full Firefox browser and access to web apps just like on a PC.

Feb

[Updated] CyanogenMod 7 RC1 Now Available For 17 Android Devices

Posted by David Ruddock in Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

Warning: This article contains information about flashing custom ROMs to your phone. If you're at all new to this, give our complete guide to custom ROM flashing a read.

Well folks, the day has finally come: the Gingerbread-based CyanogenMod 7 Release Candidates have landed for 17 Android devices. These "RCs" are suitable, generally speaking, for everyday use and have been road-tested enough that TeamDouche feels they're almost ready for prime time. Hit the links for the individual threads, which contain instructions and download mirrors:

Happy flashing, and be sure to read the instructions if this is your first go.

Feb

Dell Venue On Sale Now For $500 From Dell; Shipping February 18th

Posted by David Ruddock in Dell, News, Thunder

Do you have $500 laying around to spend on a smartphone? Well then, have we got a deal for you - Dell's most attractive piece of Android hardware to date, the Venue (formerly know by its code name "Thunder"), is up for grabs on Dell's website right now. At $500, it's not too exorbitant a price for an unlocked handset, and you get your choice of frequency band versions: AT&T or T-Mobile. You can expect it ship by the 18th of this month.

There will be no contract pricing, at least for the moment. The plus side to that, of course, is that on T-Mobile you can get a reduced pricing plan as a pay-as-you-go customer off contract.