30
May
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Last Updated: February 8th, 2012

Photo syncing is not a novel idea at all - there are countless solutions that do it on a regular basis, but instant photo uploading the moment it is taken is something I've been looking forward to for a long time. And now it's here, thanks to Chris Soyars, aka ctso - one of the senior CyanogenMod developers.

Chris's new app, DropSnap, has a very simple purpose - get your photos synced up to the cloud the moment you take them. I'm not exaggerating - it really is that fast (of course, depending on your data connection). For example, on Wi-Fi, freshly snapped pictures were synced to Dropbox and back to my computer before I could open my mouth and say "Android rocks".

29
May
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Evernote, the wildly popular note-taking service, has a big following - but it hasn't really been properly adapted to the big screen, yet. We heard that was about to change back at I/O (we didn't have time to hit up the Evernote booth in the frenzy that was the conference), but the folks over at ArsTechnica sat down with the developers of Evernote and got the scoop.

Update 5/29/11: The first beta download of Evernote for Honeycomb is now live - grab it from here.

Evernote for Honeycomb will be bringing an awesome new rich-text editor to the app, optimized for tablet use.

28
May
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Remember the stunning MyWater live wallpaper that was ripped out of the Transformer a month ago, complete with ice cubes floating in water that shifts around when you tilt your tablet? Here it is:

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I actually had no idea but apparently the water level changes depending on the battery charge level. Very cool!

This was the only live wallpaper I've ever considered running on my XOOM - it's original, well done, and constantly draws intrigued stares from the people around. It was the only one until today that is, when I saw Ruvort's custom mods to it over at XOOMForums.com.

28
May
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Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

During the past couple months I've seen a growing trend in Android games that seek to emulate the style of Geometry Wars, a highly successful console and PC title. I've had the pleasure of playing both Tilt Arena and PewPew in the past, so why not throw one more into the mix?

Hyperlight brings another entry into the Geometry Wars-like genre, but with a specific control scheme: tilt controls accomplish everything in this game, and have a deeper purpose than just movement.

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A Unique Control Scheme

Tilting your phone in all directions influences your movement, and moving past a certain threshold will kick your spaceship into faster-than-light (FTL) mode.

28
May
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When it comes to podcasting applications on Android, there are certain ones that stand above the rest. Among those, BeyondPod Podcast Manager may be the top dog, and for this weekend only, you can score this awesome app for just $1.99 as opposed to the usual $6.99.

Note from Artem: I've been a fan of BeyondPod for over a year now and use it for managing, syncing, and listening to my podcasts exclusively. Listen? What Listen?

BeyondPod is packed full of features (so many, I just had to use bullet points. I do love bullet points):

  • Full Google Reader integration and sync
  • both audio and video supported, or just use it as an RSS reader
  • Complete podcast control: how many to download, when to download, and how many to store.
27
May
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Keyboard replacement developer TouchType has released a beta of its newest software, SwiftKey X, out to the public. Previously only available to the service's VIP subscribers, the keyboard replacement will be available for free for a limited time.

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New Hotness

The newest version adds a lot of features, most of which are designed to help you get words onto the screen quickly. SwiftKey's game has always been one of text prediction: its ability to learn from your SMS and language modules made it perfect for those who find themselves relying on auto-correct a lot.

SwiftKey X goes one step further than just SMS; this time, the app is able to search your Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail for new words and commonly typed sentences.

26
May
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UPDATE: Unfortunately, this update doesn't work on Honeycomb devices.

When the Netflix app first dropped, it only supported a handful of devices, which (naturally) caused a not-so-positive reaction from the bulk of the Android community. The result? A slew of hacked .apk files that allowed Netflix to operate correctly on unsupported devices.

Those days are gone now, though - Netflix has pushed an update to its official app that removes the "device check", so it should work on all most devices (Android 2.2 and above, of course). To test that theory, I gave it a go on my OG Droid running CM7, and it worked flawlessly.

26
May
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In the Android world, privacy is a huge concern for most users. We've seen our fair share of malicious software, questionable apps, and out-of-place permission requests. If privacy is something that you hold near-and-dear to your heart, then we have an app for you.

This app is for rooted users only!

It's called LBE Privacy Guard, and in a way, it's quite similar to UAC (User Account Control) in Windows. Basically, LBE "listens" for your apps to request certain permissions and then pings you with a dialog asking to either grant or deny access. For example, if you have an app installed that requires access to your SMS messages, but you see no valid reason that this app would need to access your messages, then you can simply deny access.

26
May
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Remember that version of the Wall Street Journal app that was made for Android tablets (but not Honeycomb tablets)? Yeah, it didn't make a whole lot of sense to us, either. Fortunately, the folks over at the WSJ have finally decided to release an app specifically designed for phones.

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Now you can access everything that you love about the WSJ from the palm of you hand. Don't have time to read an article as soon as you see it? No worries, the app allows you to save articles so you can read them later. If you're in the giving mood, you can also easily share content through various social networking sites or email.

26
May
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Last Updated: August 1st, 2012

Up until now, there have been two types of music services to choose from (aside from local media, of course) - streaming radio like Pandora or Slacker, or personal content streaming with services like Google Music or Amazon Cloud Player. mSpot is looking to change the game, however, by combining the two.

The updated mSpot Music app really is a great idea - it combines your personal music collection with streaming music discovery radio. This is the type of service that I have wanted for quite some time now, because while I love to listen to my own music collection, I'm always looking for new artists to check out.