Applications - 223/262 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Feb

Did EA Just Diss Verizon Users Again? Bejeweled 2 Now On Sale For $0.99, Unless You're On Verizon ($2.99)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

A couple of weeks ago, EA released Bejeweled 2 to the Android Market, and many Bejeweled fans jumped on it like bees on honey. Most found the game in the Market just fine for $2.99, but others were stumped when they saw a whopping $7.99 price tag.

Those others were all Verizon customers, as we found out after digging in, because apparently EA decided to release 2 separate, but otherwise exactly identical versions of the game - one for VZW customers and one for everyone else.

After being called out by us and a few other blogs, EA came to their senses, quietly lowered the VZW app's price to $2.99, and everything was back to normal again.

Feb

USA Today Joins The Slate Club, Releases Tablet-Optimized Android App

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

CNN is not the only news organization with a tablet-optimized Honeycomb app - USA Today today (ooh, 2x "today"s in a row, it must be your lucky day) jumped on the same bandwagon with their own take on what a tablet news app should be like. News, Money, Sports, Life, Tech, Travel, Photos, and Weather sections are available, and... well, there is not much else to say about this - it's a news app on a larger screen. You can find the download links towards the bottom of the page.

Press Release

MCLEAN, Va., Feb. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- USA TODAY, the nation's top-selling print newspaper, today announced the USA TODAY Android 3.0 App for Motorola Xoom is now available.

Feb

WidgetLocker Updated To v2.0, Adds Support For Themes

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Development, News

The long planned, much anticipated update to WidgetLocker that adds themes has been released, and it's every bit as awesome as we expected. Perhaps the best part about it is that there's already a broad selection of themes available in the XDA thread, and it's likely that number will increase substantially as time goes on thanks to the groundwork laid by previous WL mods.

Once you find a theme you like, installation is very, very easy:

1) When clicking on a link in the form of http://…foo.wltheme.zip, chose WidgetLocker to open the link rather then your browser.

Feb

CNN Releases Android App Made Specifically For Honeycomb Tablets

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

If you remember, during Google's Honeycomb showcase in the beginning of the month, one of the tablet-optimized apps demoed was made by CNN. Considering CNN is one of the Honeycomb/XOOM launch partners, the new app showed up in the Market like clockwork for an easily digestible price of free. For those who need a refresher, here's the video from the presentation again:

The CNN app features a swipable navigation bar on the left-hand side and a grid story layout on the right side. For video junkies, live video broadcasts as well as pre-recorded video segments are provided. Vocal activists among you will find the ability to leave comments satisfying.

Feb

Hello, Literature: Books Page Goes Live On Android Web Market

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

You read that right: the Market now includes a totally awesome Books site. To be honest though, none of us is really sure what all has changed, since none of us really used it before - but it doesn't seem like a lot, other than a flipped switch. Let's start with what it looks like:

Notably, there's now a dropdown to sort by genre (to the left of the search box, above). When you select a book (protip: Sherlock Holmes is free... or if you're like Artem: Walden is free.), you're presented with the option to read it on the web or, assuming you already have Google Books set up and synced, on your Android device.

Feb

Lookout Launches Lookout Labs And Its First Android App - The Ingenious "Plan B" [Hands-On Review]

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

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Lookout Labs

Lookout Inc's Lookout Mobile Security app is one of the most popular and trusted security apps on the Market, and while the company is going to continue active development of its flagship product, today it is launching Lookout Labs - a separate Android Market developer account dedicated to "pushing the bounds of mobile apps."

Plan B

Introduction

The first fruit of Lookout Labs' labor is a brilliantly simple yet very useful app called Plan B. Plan B was only made possible recently, after the release of the official Android web Market. The app is designed to be the last resort for finding a lost (or maybe even stolen - more on that later) phone and getting its latest position emailed to the account associated with the Android Market.

Feb

Gmail App Updated For Gingerbread To Include Long Press To Copy Text

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Applications, Gingerbread 2.3, News

In a minor update to the official Gmail app, Google has addressed one of "the little things" that have been plaguing Android since the beginning. In this case, a lack of uniformity for copying text.

In all previous versions of the Gmail app, a user would have to press Menu, More, and then Select Text. Fortunately, this update fixes that issue by making copying text the same as in the Browser or a textbox: by long pressing it. It's not a huge addition, and is only available for those with devices running Gingerbread, but it is definitely a step in the positive direction.

Feb

Google Takes A Swing At Facebook: Removes Contact Syncing With Nexus S Update

Posted by Zak Stinson in Applications, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Nexus One (Passion), Nexus S (Crespo/Soju)

Today, Google got the ball rolling on Gingerbread updates for the two official "Google phones", the Nexus One and Nexus S. While this is exciting, long awaited news for owners of the Nexus One, the Nexus S crowd may have some reason for disdain.

One of the things that got me really excited when I bought my first Android phone was the ability to import the numbers and email addresses of all my Facebook friends to my contact list automagically. No longer did I have to look it up on the Facebook webpage or, God forbid, call them and ask.

With the Gingerbread update for the Nexus S, Google has disabled this feature.

Feb

MenuPages Enters The Android Food App Foray

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, News

Ever heard of MenuPages? I hadn't until today, but I guess I live in a cardboard box. The popular website now offers an Android app for your convenience - but what's MenuPage's big feature when competing against the likes of UrbanSpoon and Yelp? You may have guessed it has something to do with menus.

MenuPages indexes the (wait for it, it's mind-blowing) menu contents of any restaurant their service lists, meaning you can search by the exact food you want, as opposed to browsing through broad genres of cuisine. Pretty nifty for foodies like myself, and I can say right now that this app has made a home on my phone for the foreseeable future.

Feb

Kaspersky Mobile Security Comes To Android

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Anti-virus and anti-malware products by Kaspersky Lab are known as some of the best computer protection solutions for your desktop and notebook, and today the company announced availability of Kaspersky Mobile Security for Android.

The features of Mobile Security include:

anti-theft protection (including SMS Find, Remote Block and Delete, and SIM Watch)
anti-spam protection
privacy protection
anti-virus protection and firewall

The app can be downloaded from Kaspersky's servers and isn't available directly from the Android Market. The cost is rather high - $29.95 per year, although it is still comparable to products like Lookout Premium.

Official press release follows:

Feb 22, 2011 10:36 ET Kaspersky Mobile Security Expands to Support Android and BlackBerry

WOBURN, MA--(Marketwire - February 22, 2011) - Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of Internet security solutions that defend against computer viruses, spyware and all forms of malicious software, now offers protection and peace-of-mind for BlackBerry and Android smartphone owners, in addition to Windows Mobile and Symbian devices.