Applications - 214/252 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Feb

[Weekend Poll] Can The Amazon Appstore Succeed Against The Android Market?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Apps/Games, News, Polls

Last Updated: September 3rd, 2011

This is the newest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Is The Nokia/Microsoft Alliance A Threat To Android?

A few days ago, we posted a rundown of the details found on the Amazon Appstore Developer Blog, and noted that the store will be very controlled compared to the nearly anarchistic Android Market:

On a subjective note, after reading through the details, I can’t help but wonder if Amazon is just going about it better than Google. I largely agree with David’s issues with the Market: it’s spammy, there’s no solid system for exploring new apps, and going further, there are tons of issues with fragmentation and poor quality.

Feb

[Hands-On] Neato: Asurion Steps Up Its Game, Sprint TEP Subscribers Reap The Benefits

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

Last Updated: September 11th, 2012

Good news for all you prepared individuals out there who are subscribed to Sprints TEP (Total Equipment Protection) plan: You now have access to a new app that adds a whole new level of useful to protecting your device through Asurion, the third party company that handles the insurance rigmarole for Sprint (and pretty much every other U.S. carrier, but they don't get an app).

The Sprint Total Equipment Protection App essentially mirrors the functionality of services like Lookout Mobile Security (but without the antivirus part): It can be used for locating your phone via GPS, helping to find it by sounding an alarm (even when on silent mode), backing up your contacts, remotely locking your device with a pin code, and remotely wiping the contacts.

Feb

Twitter Suspends Twidroyd And All Other UberMedia Twitter Clients

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, News

Last Updated: February 20th, 2011

Twitter's laying down the bird-law this morning, and the owners of Twidroyd, UberMedia, don't have much in the way of good news to tweet about right now (I am so sorry for that entire sentence).

Twitter has suspended access to its social network from Twidroyd, UberTwitter, and UberCurrent - three apps owned by UberMedia. Why? Gizmodo claims it's for the following reasons:

UberMedia "violated Twitter policies and trademarks in a variety of ways." Like "a privacy issue with private Direct Messages longer than 140 characters, trademark infringement, and changing the content of users' Tweets in order to make money."

I don't use Twidroyd, so I have no idea what any of this is all about aside from the trademark infringement issue.

Feb

[Updated] Track, Manage, And Pay For Your Trenta White Chocolate Mocha Latte With Unofficial Starbucks Card Widget

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Apps/Games, News

Update on 2/18/11: birbeck, the developer of the app, has been issued a Cease & Desist order by Starbucks for intellectual property infringement. He's running a "Rename This App" contest, and the prize is a $25 Starbucks e-Gift Card. If you're interested, get a move on - the contest ends at Midnight on Wednesday, Feb. 23. He also asked us to highlight the app's privacy and security policy.

Yuppies of the world rejoice: there's a new(ish) way to pay for your overpriced cup of coffee, albeit an unofficial one. Although Starbucks has an official Card app for BlackBerry and iOS, they've yet to release anything for Android.

Feb

Google Reader App Update Brings Widgets And Other Improvements

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Android OS, Applications, News

The Google Reader app for Android is streamlined, slick and easy to use. It performs one function and it does it well: reading your RSS feeds.

So, I was pleasantly surprised when the app updated today with some additional useful features.

Firstly, two new widgets have been added, one to show the unread count and one to display new stories in a news ticker format. The unread count widget can be set to show the number of unread stories in a feed, label, person or on all your items. The news ticker widget scrolls through any of the RSS feeds in Reader.

Feb

PSA: XFINITY App Exposes Your Comcast Username & Password In System Log

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Apps/Games, News

Before you panic, you should know that this isn't a huge deal, and Comcast is aware of the situation and has promised a fix "within a week or two." There, feel better? Good, because if you use the XFINITY app, any other app that has permission to read logs can read your Comcast username and password (aLogCat, for example).

The details, courtesy of aBSuRDiST, who discovered the issue:

My system log shows <userName>MYUSERNAME@comcast.net</userName> and <password>MYPASSWORD</password> on a line that starts with "D/HTTPManager". I read the log using aLogcat (app available in the market). Open aLogcat, press menu and filter for "password".

Feb

Flipplr Demoed At MWC: A Homescreen Designed For Quick Info Access

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Applications, News

There's certainly no shortage of homescreen replacements for Android, but who's to say that we can't have one more? And you've got to admit, this concept app - Fipplr - looks really nice, and doesn't appear to fall short in terms of functionality, either.

Fipplr includes widgets for multiple apps, including Flickr, Twitter, and Google Latitude, although they aren't exactly the widgets we are used to. These widgets display quick information, and a quick swipe to the right will bring up an expanded view of the widget. On the right side of the homescreen are the launcher icons, which - while unmistakably similar to Windows Phone 7 - still look great.

Feb

Confirmed: Netflix App Available Exclusively On Future Qualcomm-Based Smartphones, Starting With The LG Revolution

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Applications, LG, News, Revolution, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: February 16th, 2011

Want Netflix on your current Android device? Too bad - as LG and Qualcomm told Engadget, the Netflix app will not be available on existing Android hardware (at least not officially).

Apparently, future Qualcomm CPUs will include additional DRM libraries that no current smartphone processor has, making the decision slightly more understandable (though still extremely disappointing). There's still no word on exactly what processors will support Netflix, but we do know that the LG Revolution will be compatible with it - meaning that the app works with single-core chips.

Disappointing news? Sure, but if it's any comfort, the app does look pretty sweet - check out Engadget's hands-on video:

Source: Engadget

Feb

32 Best (And 2 WTF) New Android Apps And Games From Last Week (2/9/11 - 2/15/11)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Best Apps/Games/LWPs Of The Week, Games, News

Last Updated: April 13th, 2011

Welcome to the weekly roundup of the best new Android applications, games, and live wallpapers that went live in the Market or were spotted by us in the previous week or so.

Please wait for this page to load in full in order to see the AppBrain widgets, which include ratings and pricing info.

Looking for the previous week's roundup? Find it here: 26 Best (And 7 WTF) New Android Apps, Games, And Live Wallpapers From Last Week (2/1/11 – 2/8/11)

Apps

Androidify

Android Police coverage: Google’s Newest Android App, Androidify, Lets You Create Your Own Android Avatar [Hands-On]

The picture on the left is what I quickly threw together for Android Police.

Feb

Feeling Suicidal? Karoshi By YoYo Games Now In The Android Market

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News, Videos

Another game hit that was previously available only as a Flash game on PCs is now on Android, and its premise may surprise you. Mr. Karoshi, who happens to be an "overworked Japanese salaryman" is feeling suicidal. Your job? Finish him off.

The puzzle game features dark humor (no kidding?), 50 levels, a mini game, and is actually quite a bit of fun. Check out the trailer below - it shows off the Karoshi quite well: