Apps/Games - 293/391 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jul

[Updated: Now With Nexus S 4G] Skype For Android V2 Brings Support For Video Calling On Select Devices, New UI, And SMS

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Skype, one of the most popular audio/video calling applications on the desktop and now property of Microsoft, has been long criticized for lacking any video support on Android and being generally unstable and prone to crashing. In an effort to rectify the situation and raise that 3.6-star Market average, the company released a major version update minutes ago from 1.0.0.983 to 2.0.0.45.

The update finally brings video calling, albeit to only a small subset of devices:

Google Nexus S
HTC Desire S
Sony Ericsson Xperia neo
Sony Ericsson Xperia pro

Update 7/1/11: The Nexus S 4G and the European Nexus S were added to the list of supported devices after a small 2.0.0.47 update today.

Jul

[New App] Merriam-Webster Dictionary Hits The Android Market

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

If you've ever done a Market search for the term "dictionary," then you probably know that there is only one good choice. Fortunately, the folks behind the Merriam-Webster Dictionary have swooped in to save us from our word-defining woes by delivering their own app into the Android Market.

Touting itself as "America's most useful and respected dictionary," the Merriam-Webster Dictionary brings some nice features to your mobile device. Have you ever wondered what a word means, but had no clue how to spell it? With this app, you can do a quick voice search and have your answer easily.

Jul

Help Build Your Own Nexus S By Bouncing Balls Of Google Apps In Nexus Contraptions

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Games, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g)

We just stumbled across a new game by Google to promote the Nexus S called Nexus Contraptions - on YouTube of all places. In this game, it's your job to navigate bouncing balls of Google Apps around various obstacles and into a funnel that ultimately leads into a Nexus S.

^{Hmmm, I wonder what you win if you get the fastest time?}

I'll admit, I only played around with it for a few minutes, so I didn't get very far - but I can already tell that the levels actually get quite difficult and require some planning to successfully complete! Take a look at this screenshot from one of the earlier levels of the game:

As you may be able to tell, you control the yellow robot arm (it's stationary) and you have to use the various provided "tools" to bounce the ball around the room and land it in the red funnel in the lower right corner.

Jul

[Deal Alert] Wyse PocketCloud Goes 40% Off For One Week, Now Only $8.99 In The Android Market

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, Deals, News

If you've been considering picking up a copy of the ultra-popular VNC software Pocketcloud for your Android device, then now is probably the opportune time to jump on that, as you can score this incredible software for $9 until next week. That's nearly half-off the normal $15 price tag, and given everything that this software does, that is an excellent deal.

If you're not familiar with Pocketcloud, it's remote desktop software for your mobile device, and it includes full Honeycomb support. No longer will you have to lug your laptop around, as you can just grab your tablet or phone, fire up Pocketcloud, and do everything remotely.

Jul

30 Best New (And 1 WTF) Android Games From The Last 2 Weeks (6/17/11 - 7/1/11)

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

Last Updated: July 16th, 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.

This is the first part of the roundup, which features games only. Apps and live wallpapers will come in a separate post soon.

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 roundup editions? Find them here:

Featured App

Today's roundup is sponsored by Gameview Studios and their game Tap Fish.

Jul

FlightTrack Gets Update, Now Optimized For Honeycomb

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Popular travel companion app FlightTrack received an update today that brings a few bugs fixes, as well as support for Honeycomb tablets. The updated interface really takes advantage of the screen real estate provided by most tablets, offering a large map-based overview of all flights that are being tracked and two new widgets. The flight search has also been optimized, creating a more intuitive experience across the board.

The standard version of FlightTrack will set you back $4.99, and the Pro version an additional $4.99, but judging by the near-five-star rating in the Android Market, it seems to be well worth the money.

Jul

Settlers Of Catan Finally Released For Android - But It's Definitely Not Cheap

Posted by David Ruddock in Games, News

Long have board game geeks awaited the Android debut of the most popular and inventive board game since, arguably, Monopoly. The Settlers of Catan has finally arrived on the Market, but it comes with an admission cost - approximately $4.31. But, given the game's immense popularity worldwide, something tells me fans won't have a problem coughing up the bucks.

In the game, you'll find all the classic Catan gameplay, spruced up with sound effects, game statistics, interactive tutorials, and new scenarios - as well as a choice of which board art (US, German, or Classic) to use. You can also download the Seafarers expansion via in-app purchase, which adds 10 more scenarios.

Jul

Investment Firm Vanguard Releases Two Android Apps - One For Clients, One For Advisors

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

If you have investments or a retirement plan with Vanguard, then you'll be pleased to know that it released an Android app to the Market. The app allows you to access up-to-date info about your account, research investments, perform many types of transactions, and get the latest news from Vanguard and Reuters. If you find a story that you think may be of interest to friends and family, you can easily share it through email or social media.

If you're a Vanguard advisor, you weren't left out in the cold, either: there was also an app released specifically for you.

Jul

Skype V2 Now Working On More "Unsupported" Handsets

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, Charge (i510), EVO 3D (Shooter), Galaxy S II, News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid), Thunderbolt (Mecha)

Yesterday, Skype with video was officially released to the Android Market. There was one problem, though: it was only supported on a small number of seemingly random handsets, like the Nexus S (but not the Nexus S 4G), Desire S, Xperia neo, and Xperia pro. Thanks to the ingenuity of skilled Android modder 0mie, that's no longer the case.

With 0mie's modded version of Skype 2, video chat should be fully working on a number of recent phones, including the Thunderbolt (running Gingerbread), Sensation, EVO 3D, Galaxy S II, and Droid Charge. In theory, this should work on any phone running Gingerbread (as long as it has a front facing camera, of course), so if you test it out on any phone that we haven't already mentioned, drop us a line in the comments with the results.

Jun

Google Plus Android App Updated To 1.0.2, Now Handles Multiple Gmail Accounts Properly

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Google, News

A small update to the Google+ Android app, which is quickly becoming one of the top apps I use every day, was released a few minutes ago. The update mostly resolves login issues for those with multiple Gmail accounts (we've heard many of you complain about not being able to sign in because of that). Other additions include a new "spiffy" profile icon and UI polish.

Grab the update in the Market if you already have access to Plus, and if you don't, feel free to drop your name and email in this post. We'll try to mass invite once Google allows it again (the workaround that many of you pointed out doesn't work for mass invites, and I'm not about to manually invite 4500+ people on the list :-].