Apps/Games - 294/394 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jul

Firefox 6 Beta For Android Now Available - Brings Lots of Enhancements, Performance Improvements

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, News

The newest version of Firefox Beta for Android is out on the Market now, and it brings a slew of UI changes, performance improvements, and other fixes and enhancements. Just check out this condensed changelog:

New in this release for Android:

New initial experience: Firefox starts faster and uses less memory. Get to your home page quickly and discover browser features on the side panels.

Higher-quality image scaling: View crisp Web pages and images with less pixelation

Enhanced Firefox experience on large screen tablets

Improvements to the form helper on Android

Fresh visual style on Gingerbread OS

Optimization for pages that use right to left layout rendering, e.g.

Jul

[Review] Diversion Surprises Us With Simple Platforming And Investment-Free Gameplay

Posted by Matt Demers in Game Reviews, Games, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Alright, I know what you might be thinking when you look at this game: "What's Matt thinking? Doesn't he know a hastily-churned out app when he sees one?"

That was the first impression I had when I was downloading this game, as well - Diversion's art style and woefully-specific name had me pessimistic. However, I was a bit surprised at how well this game actually plays; while it's not for everyone, it is actually kind of fun in small bursts.

Diversion is a platform game that is fairly simple in concept: you're a constantly-moving-forward character that can jump when the player taps the screen.

Jul

[Review] NASA's Official App Takes Us To Infinity And Beyond

Posted by Matt Demers in App Reviews, Applications, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Space. The final frontier. If you're reading this, there's a good chance you're a nerd of some kind. I know for a fact that there are a lot of nerds that love space, and NASA has decided to indulge us with an app that brings all the information we'd want to know to one place.

NASA's app has a remarkably simple function: give you access to a ton of media that the organization has to offer. Through its menus you'll find links to Twitter feeds, photographs of the day, articles describing space missions, and even live video feeds. The videos deserve special mention, as they give you a full TV schedule of when things are set to air, and give you two different feeds to watch them from on your phone.

Jul

[App Mod] Krad+ Brings Inverted Colors To The Google+ App

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

If you've been using the Google+ Android app for any amount of time, then you've probably noticed one thing: there's a lot of white. The majority of the screen - especially on a tablet - is blanketed in with a white backdrop consistently throughout the app. This is, of course, hard on the eyes (especially in a dark room), and can negatively impact battery life on phones with AMOLED displays.

To the rescue comes XDA forum member santiemanuel, offering his own themed mod of the G+ app, simply called Krad+. It's offers a completely inverted theme, and it looks damn good doing it.

Jul

Popular Tablet News Aggregator 'News360' Now Available For Phones

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

News360 has been the go-to news aggregator for Honeycomb tablets since its release a couple of months ago, and now, you can get the same top-notch newsreader on your phone. News360 for phones brings over 4,000 different news sources to the palm of your hand, displaying them in an easy-to-navigate, concise manner. You can pick and choose the news that's important to you for quick access, as well as user GPS or WiFi to get local news delivered directly to your handset. If you're on the road a lot, you can also connect News360 to TripIt in order to pull the local news from upcoming locations along your route.

Jul

Comcast XFINITY TV App Updated With Honeycomb, Gingerbread Support - And It Looks Great

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, Apps/Games, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Do you have Comcast XFINITY cable? If not, this app may have you considering a switch of providers. The Comcast XFINITY TV app has been around for a while, but a lack of Gingerbread and Honeycomb compatibility has left many users frustrated - and drooling. Why? Because this app is awesome. Take a look at these Honeycomb screenshots taken from a XOOM:

Sorry to take up a big piece of your screen real estate, but those images need to be seen full-size to really appreciate the layout. So, if you're not familiar with XFINITY TV, it's basically a near-total remote and DVR interface replacement that runs on your Android device.

Jul

Vlingo Gets Major Update - Streamlined UI, Support For 7 New Languages

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, News

Second only to Google Voice Search in terms of popularity on Android, Vlingo received a major update today. What's new? The entire UI has been streamlined into a much more intuitive list format that makes learning Vlingo's various voice command capabilities, or quickly accessing them, a breeze.

You can send text messages, make phone calls, find places, open apps, get directions, buy movie tickets, and more. Vlingo also includes a handy InCar mode, which you can set to activate automatically whenever your phone connects to a Bluetooth headset.

More important than the spiffy new look, though, is the added support for more languages.

Jul

Judge Denies Apple's Request For Injunction To Restrict Amazon's Use Of "Appstore" Name

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Apps/Games, News

In what was a largely expected ruling, a district court judge in California yesterday denied Apple's motion for a preliminary injunction against Amazon attempting to bar the use of the word "Appstore" in conjunction with the Amazon Appstore.

The standard set for enforcing such an injunction is high - generally, the infringement on the trademark must be so clear that there isn't a genuine debate about whether or not consumers are likely to be confused, the infringement should be relatively obvious. Here, according the presiding judge, Apple failed to meet that burden, and was unable to establish any clear likelihood of confusion among consumers.

Jul

[Update: Live Now!] Visually Stunning Tower Defense Game 'Fieldrunners HD' Coming To Android Tomorrow... For Free

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Games, News

Ultra-popular iOS game Fieldrunners HD is finally making its way to Android as of tomorrow. The best part? It will be free in the Amazon Appstore for the first 24 hours - after that, the price will jump to $2.99. If you don't have access to the Amazon Appstore, fret not, as it will also be in the Android Market for the discounted price of $0.99 for the first 24 hours (it can't be free in the Android Market because once an app is listed as free, it remains such for the rest of its lifecycle).

Update 7/7/11: Like clockwork, both the Amazon link (free for today) and the Android Market link ($0.99 for today - use the widget towards the bottom of the page) are now up!

Jul

We Sit Down With The Head Of The Amazon Appstore And Talk Refunds, Reviews, Device Filtering, And More

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Apps/Games, Development, Interviews

When we published a piece reporting on the recent decision of game developer Bithack to pull its popular title Apparatus from the Amazon Appstore, we contacted Amazon asking for comment on the whole situation.

Earlier this week, Amazon got back to us and wanted to sit down and discuss the Appstore and some of the issues that developers and customers alike have had. While Amazon could not specifically discuss the complaints of Bithack for confidentiality reasons, they were able to generally talk about some of the concerns Bithack raised.

Today, I spoke with Aaron Rubenson, Category Leader (essentially, head of business) of the Amazon Appstore.