16
May
trillian

Cerulean Studios, creator of the popular cross-platform IM client Trillian, recently announced that all versions of the aforementioned product would transition to a free-with-ads model, as opposed to a paid download. Even though this change took place about a week ago, it looks like the Market listing has finally been updated to reflect accordingly.

Users are still able to subscribe to a paid service that is ad-free and adds new features, like the ability to view chat histories online. Users who've paid in the past will have their purchases honored, and will be able to transfer them over to other platforms.

16
May
image

Users of Synology branded NAS (network attached storage) boxes have been pleading with the company for a long time to add Android support for direct file management to the existing suite of apps - DS Audio, DS Photo+, and DS Cam. While having apps dedicated to remotely playing music, looking at pictures, and monitoring cameras is great, the primary functionality one would naturally want from a pile of hard drives attached to the network is, well, file management. Think Dropbox, except instead of the cloud, you use your own NAS box.

DS File, released a few hours ago by Synology, plugs this gaping hole perfectly.

15
May
Last Updated: September 3rd, 2011

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see How Important Will Customization Be In Determining Your Next Android Purchase?

Google I/O 2011 is all wrapped up, and boy was it eventful. In case you missed them the first go-round, we provided a handy-dandy list (with videos embedded) of the keynotes and Android sessions from both the first and second day. The first keynote, especially, was really quite fascinating and provided a good review of where Android is headed. But at 55 minutes, it's probably a bit much to ask people to watch something quite that long (alternatively, you can read my on-the-fly notes).

13
May
image

While roaming around Google I/O and looking for answers to numerous questions you guys posed, I ran into Wei Huang, the tech lead on Google Talk for Android. Yup, the same guy who announced video chat two weeks ago on the Google Mobile blog. Here are some questions I had for Wei, echoing many of you guys:

  • Is video chat coming to other devices than the Nexus S and if so, when?
  • It's understandable why the Nexus One has no video chat (although 1-way video chat would still be better than none), but why did it receive no voice chat with the Android 2.3.4 upgrade?
12
May
professor_tbolt

When he covered the official release of the Netflix app earlier today, Cameron said, "If your device didn’t make the cut, though, I wouldn’t sweat it too hard – you know how resourceful the Android community can be." Well, the app hasn't even been out for a day yet, and already there's a way to get it running on non-supported devices. The only caveat is that you must be rooted. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to work on the Thunderbolt.

So how's it done? Well, the instructions are actually fairly straightforward, and come courtesy of tipster/redditor natemckn:

      1. Root is required.

      12
      May
      hi-256-0-04e29df122ecc204538e734c774143ec8c79add3

      I know that a lot of people have been waiting on this day to come, but I have to admit - it's slightly melancholy. Even though the Netflix app is finally here, there are only a handful of devices that it officially runs on. If your device didn't make the cut, though, I wouldn't sweat it too hard - you know how resourceful the Android community can be.

      Oh, the short list of devices? Here you go:

      • HTC DROID Incredible with Android 2.2
      • HTC Nexus One with Android 2.2/2.3
      • HTC EVO 4G with Android 2.2
      • HTC G2 with Android 2.2
      • Samsung Nexus S with Android 2.3

      With that said, we are already getting reports that the app is running perfectly on devices that deviate from the exact required specs, like the EVO 4G running CM7, for example.

      12
      May
      hi-256-2-b3249d7fa4ffbd07f7870072be147a482f9fcabb

      If you've ventured away from the stock browser on your Android phone at least once, there's a good chance that you've used (or at least heard of) Dolphin Browser HD. Recently, the Dolphin team started working on the fifth incarnation of its HD browser, which is now part of a private beta. Oh, did I say private? I'm sorry, I meant here-it-is-for-everyone-to-download beta, courtesy of XDA Forum member scaredsoul.

      This update brings a few changes to the table, like an improved, more minimal interface and bookmark access from the sidebar. The performance has also been improved, so everything should run a lot smoother.

      12
      May
      wunderlist
      Last Updated: August 2nd, 2011

      I have a couple requirements for any application that wants to help me with organization: it has to have a functional desktop client to sync to. This is nothing against Android's system, but I find that if I have to do any extended typing on it, my enthusiasm for the app fails (coincidentally, along with my time management skills). This is what's kept me from using Astrid with the enthusiasm everyone seems to be talking about; all my time isn't spent on my phone, so why should I leave my tasks there?

       wunderlist 1 wunderlist 2 wunderlist 3

      However, Wunderlist not only provides a functional multi-platform client, it makes it look good.

      11
      May
      image

      Beginning and experienced developers will appreciate the latest altruistic move by the core Android team member Roman Nurik who, now that the Google I/O conference is over, revealed the full sources for the I/O 2011 Android app for everyone to see.

      If you haven't used the app yet, I am here to tell you that it's an Android masterpiece, in both UI/UX (user interface/usability) and coding paradigms. The app utilizes the new Fragments API heavily, so the source should provide plenty of implementation guidelines for those just picking it up. Thanks to the said Fragments, it runs great on both Honeycomb tablets and phones, making its code the perfect example of a relatively complex Android app done very-very right.

      11
      May
      nfc-sharing

      A lot of interesting products and services have been demoed at Google I/O 2011, including a number of interesting features for Ice Cream Sandwich, Android's forthcoming iteration. One of the less flashier features demoed is the 0-click peer-to-peer NFC sharing. This allows compatible Android devices to share content (contacts, links, YouTube videos) between the devices by simply placing them in close proximity to each other. No app needs to be run and no buttons need to be clicked - hence the "0-click" moniker.

      nfc-sharing

      Sharing data between devices in this manner is not a completely novel concept as the cross-platform app Bump already provides similar features.