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Oct

[Review] Trident Cyclops Case For The HTC EVO 4G

Posted by Brad Ganley in Other Reviews, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

The folks from Trident Cases were nice enough to send me a review unit of their brand new Trident Cyclops for the HTC EVO 4G. I must say, after putting this case on and using for a few hours, there are several reasons that this is my new favorite case, and I'd like to do some show and tell.

My first impression of the Cyclops was actually a direct result of its packaging.

There's a lot that can be said for good, clean packaging, and this box delivers with some cool tech info and a QR code that takes you to a video of a Trident employee smacking around an iPad in one of their cases.

Oct

Evernote 2.0 Beta Changes Everything For The Better With A Complete Rewrite, Finally Gets Offline Storage

Posted by Brad Ganley in App Reviews, Applications, News, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Evernote is one of those services that does one thing and does it extremely well: it takes your notes, organizes them, and helps keep your life together. The beauty of Evernote is that it works everywhere (desktop, web, mobile) but, until recently, the Android app has been a bit... lackluster. It was not just a bit clunky and bland - that we could live with. The biggest downside of the Android client, as noted by countless 1-star reviews, was the need to maintain an Internet connection to read and write notes, meaning the app didn't support offline storage of any kind.

Oct

T-Mobile G2 Review Roundup: Vanilla Android Is The Way To Go

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in G2 (Vision), HTC, Phone Reviews, Reviews, T-Mobile

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

I've said it before and I'll say it again: stock Android is the way to go. I hate it when manufacturers add custom UIs, bloatware, and unnecessary lag to our beloved Android operating system, so, naturally, I was overjoyed to hear that the T-Mobile G2 would ship with a stock build of Android. Early reviewers seem to agree with this, and overall, they seem to think highly of the device. Let's take a look at some of those reviews that have been posted so far.

CNET

CNET's Bonnie Cha found the G2's design to be "clean and very professional," although she also said that she wouldn't exactly classify it as sexy, despite our own Artem Russakovskii's earlier comments.

Oct

Webkey For Android: Take Full Control Of Your Android Device Using A Web Interface From Your Computer

Posted by Adam Litke in App Reviews, Applications, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Everyone knows that smartphones are awesome, but it’s hard to beat using a large screen and full keyboard to control a device. Developers Peter Mora and Zoltan Papp believe they have come up with a compelling compromise: Webkey, for Android. Webkey allows users with a rooted Android device to text or call contacts, view SD card contents, and more - all from a web based interface.

The Interface

Webkey's interface leaves a lot to be desired, as it is more bare and utilitarian than polished and perfected. As the picture above shows, you have access to the following options:

Phone
GPS
SMS
Call List
Notify
Export
Users
SD card
Help

Clicking on "phone" gives you the screen above.

Oct

Verizon's Samsung Fascinate Video Review

Posted by Brad Ganley in Fascinate, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Verizon Wireless, Videos

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Recently, I got ahold of Verizon's Samsung Fascinate and shot the following video review (and yes, I have a capacitive stylus - start getting jealous):

For a quick refresher, here, once again, are the specs of the Fascinate:

1GHz Hummingbird processor
Android 2.1 (Eclair)
5MP camera wih LED flash
4" Super Amoled capacitive multitouch (5 point) screen
2GB internal memory
Bluetooth 3.0 (with stereo output)
3.5mm Headphone Jack
Supports HD (720p) video recording

Here are those pictures I promised. They look pretty good:

One other thing I didn't really get to touch on in the video that I really wish I had shown you is the media playing on this phone.

Sep

New In The Android Market: MiniSquadron - The Definition Of Addictive [Game Review]

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Game Reviews, Games, News, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

The barren desert that is gaming on Android has been with us for as long as the platform itself, and it appears that it is only now changing, with the release of games like Angry Bird and Fruit Ninja. The newly released MiniSquadron looks to be another one of those games that attempt to bring the quality level up to that of iOS, featuring OpenFeint alongside some of the most addictive gameplay I've ever seen from an Android game. However, it is a port of an iPhone game, and we all know how well that's gone historically. Will MiniSquadron break this trend?

Sep

[Android Police Giveaway] 10 Amzer And Gizmo Dorks Cases Are Up For Grabs - Incredible (2), Droid X (2), Droid 2 (2), Droid (2), And EVO 4G (2)

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Contests / Giveaways, Other Reviews, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Introduction

Ladies and gentlemen, what we have here is a giveaway featuring not one, but ten cases from these 2 quality manufacturers: Gizmo Dorks and Amzer! They are:

2x for the Droid Incredible
2x for the EVO 4G
2x for the Droid X
2x for the Droid 2
2x for the original Droid

Each Amzer case is worth about $13 on average, while the Gizmo Dorks is usually $10 but currently on sale for $3.

First, however, we have a brief review of each, which I am proud to present to you, in full overdramatic armor, in the following sections.

Sep

[App Of The Week] DiskUsage Helps Uncover Your Phone's Internal And SD Card Fat Deposits

Posted by David Ruddock in App Reviews, Applications, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Introduction

If you're like most Android users, you may run into slight space issues when it comes to available internal storage for apps. The daunting task you face, then, is to go through each of your apps and locate the major megabyte offenders. What a pain.

Alternatively, you may discover that your precious SD card is suddenly refusing to write a new episode of the Stuff You Should Know podcast (which is awesome), so now you have to drop everything to figure out where the fat is.

Enter DiskUsage.

DiskUsage is really quite a simple application: upon being opened, you are prompted to select a storage location to view (internal storage or SD card).

Sep

[Hands-On] Android Remote Notifier For Your Win/Linux/Mac Desktop: For When Your Phone Isn't Notify-y Enough

Posted by Brad Ganley in App Reviews, Applications, News, Reviews, Tips & Tutorials

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Most nights that I'm at home, my son is sound asleep in the next room. To avoid waking him up, I put my phone into silent mode faithfully every night at 9pm and, subsequently, miss a whole lot of calls and text messages. That's bad for two reasons:

I miss what could potentially be important information or, as in most cases, good times.
It makes me look like a jerk who never answers his phone and ignores his friends.

So I thought to myself "I'm on my computer all the time, I should make an app that puts my notification on my computer screen so I never miss this stuff." Turns out, somebody already made that app and it is as awesome as I had hoped.

Sep

Motorola Charm Review: The Pixel-Faced Killah

Posted by Brian O'Toole in CHARM, Eclair 2.1, Motorola, Phone Reviews, Reviews, T-Mobile

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Getting my hands on the Charm was no mean feat. Motorola didn’t seem keen to send out review units to anyone in a hurry, so I took it upon myself to go buy one, under the pretext of it being a gift for my girlfriend (she has a Nokia 1661 for chrissakes).

That in itself was quite a quest, as not a single store in the state of Maine seemed to have one in stock. Several broken promises later, and I was on the bus to Boston, having been assured that there were “less than 10” units in stock in T-Mobile’s downtown store.