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Jun

Light Flow LED Version 3.8 Adds Support For NinjaSMS, More Hangout Types, Fixes CyanogenMod Bugs

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Applications, News

Light Flow is the kind of app that best showcases Android's sensibilities: esoteric, amazingly customizable, and downright impossible on other platforms. The popular notification manager for devices with LED indicator lights has just had a big update to version 3.8, most notably bringing support for the popular NinjaSMS texting app. NinjaSMS users, make sure you're running the latest version of both apps, and enable Light Flow in the settings menu.

Other changes to Light Flow include a tweaked notification system, in which persistent notifications are more, well, persistent. Devices running older versions of Android will have to do without persistent notifications, for reasons which the developer does not list.

Apr

Roundup: Our Top Six Favorite New Apps From March 2013

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, Roundups

Last Updated: May 13th, 2013

If you're like us, you have an obsession with new apps. When you try every new app you come across though, you're bound for disappointment. After all, not every app can be a paragon of functionality, style, and convenience. With that in mind, we go through the long list of new apps submitted to the Play Store every couple of weeks and bring you the best. Even that, though, can be a little too much to digest for some users. For that reason, we've got monthly roundups featuring just a handful of the very very best apps and games from the previous month.

Aug

Getting To Know Android 4.1, Part 5: Calendar and Settings

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Features, Getting To Know Android, Jelly Bean 4.1, News

Last Updated: August 29th, 2012

We're back! If you are somehow just joining us, where have you been? This is Getting To Know Android, the series where we milk every little detail out of the latest version of Android and put other change logs to shame.

Expect this version to be heavy on the pictures because, honestly, we're getting down to the bottom of the barrel here. There won't be much left to cover after this. To make up for the sparse commentary, we're getting a two-for-one deal this week: Calendar and Settings!

The usual formatting applies, ICS is on the left, Jelly Bean is on the right.

Jul

Thumb Keyboard Gets Updated To Version 4.5 Bringing Continuous Voice Recognition, One-Handed Keyboard, And More

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Thumb Keyboard, one of the most intuitive, well-designed, and practical keyboards available (especially for tablet users) got a big update recently, bringing the app up to version 4.5.

Perhaps the biggest benefit to the new update is that Thumb Keyboard now supports ICS' continuous voice recognition, which in case you've forgotten, is the feature introduced with Ice Cream Sandwich that actively listens and dictates your speech. This is a feature I haven't seen in other alternative keyboards, and it's definitely nice to have. Other big additions include gesture support as well as a new one-handed layout for phones with larger displays.

Mar

[Hands-On] The GO Dev Team Does It Again - And This Time It's A Dialer/Contacts App

Posted by Brad Ganley in App Reviews, Applications, Apps/Games, News, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

The GO Dev Team, the people who brought you the popular apps GO SMS, GO Weather, and GO Launcher, are at it again, bringing you a contacts manager and dialer that is, quite frankly, stunning, both in functionality and aesthetics. It dropped into the market not 12 hours ago and is already getting very popular as well as garnering great reviews. Let's take a closer look, shall we?

The first thing you'll notice upon installing it is that there are actually two parts to the application that will be called by your device separately: The dialer and the contacts manager.

Feb

[Rumor] Toshiba's Honeycomb Tablet To Be Called "Antares"

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, Rumors, Thrive / Regza / Antares / AT100, Toshiba

Last Updated: April 16th, 2011

Toshiba has already spend a good deal of time talking up its forthcoming Honeycomb tablet, but one thing the company hasn't mentioned - yet - is the device's name. However, if you believe Dutch website TabletGuide.nl, NVIDIA might have spilled the beans - at its MWC booth, the chip maker reportedly showed off a prototype of the tablet loaded with stock Android 2.2. And in the "About phone" section of the Settings app, the tablet listed "Antares" as its model number.

It's worth noting that this may not be the name of the final retail unit - not to mention the fact that a handset's model number isn't always the same as its title.

Jan

Updated: SwiftKey Releases New Beta With Skins, New Prediction Engine, Bug Fixes, And Other Improvements [Hands-On]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

After weeks of frantic coding, SwiftKey, my favorite smart aftermarket Android keyboard, just released a private beta to all registered VIP forum members. While the beta itself (v1.98.1.172) is private and we can't provide you with a download link, what we can do is list all of the improvements and tease you with some screenshots.

Update: While we can't promise anything, our friendly contact at SwiftKey who I just spoke to indicated that technically if you did apply for the VIP program (i.e. their forum membership) right now, there is a chance you could get approved. Just remember who hooked you up when your fingers are in heaven.

Nov

Theft Aware 2.0 – The Most Ingenious Android Security Solution With The Best Root Integration We’ve Seen To Date. Really [Hands-On Review]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in App Reviews, Applications, News, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

For the last 2 weeks, I've been testing a pre-release version of Theft Aware 2.0 - an app that occupies a spot in the familiar Android Security category, alongside WaveSecure, Lookout, and others. And yet, Theft Aware stands so much taller compared to them that they become small, almost invisible, dots. I could hardly contain my excitement and fascination with Theft Aware, but first, I needed to get answers to all of my questions and pass the info to all of you.

The main reason I'm fascinated with Theft Aware is its superb integration with rooted phones. The benefits of Theft Aware's elevated security features on rooted phones are so great that, in my opinion, rooting is worth it (if you've haven't done so yet) just to get the full TA experience.

Sep

Google Voice Widgets Break Out Of G2's Deathgrip, Now Available In The Market

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Applications, G2 (Vision), HTC, News, T-Mobile

To nobody's surprise, the G2, announced this morning, features a Google Voice widget.

What may be surprising is that there are not one, but two of these widgets: a widget that shows the messages you have in your inbox:

as well as the same widget for managing your Voice settings that was leaked a few weeks ago:

What may be an even bigger surprise is that Google has now made both of these widgets available to non-G2 devices through the Android Market. The widgets are available today via an update to the existing Google Voice app and allow users to:

See messages in their inbox (Inbox Widget)
Open the full Google Voice app by clicking the Google Voice icon (both widgets)
Compose and send text messages (Settings Widget)
Change dialing preferences (Settings)
Enter "Do Not Disturb" mode to send calls straight to Voicemail (Settings)
See credit balance (Settings)

Google Voice has always been a great service (and certainly one that I and other members of the Android Police team use on a daily basis), and it looks like it just got quite a bit better for owners of just about any Android device.