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Jul

[App Roundup] Five Apps From July 2011 That We Thought Were Awesome

Posted by Matt Demers in App Reviews, Applications

Last Updated: August 3rd, 2011

DeskSMS

As a Canadian, I can't use Google Voice in order to send my SMS. However, there are numerous apps that act very similarly, including the new DeskSMS from the developer who brought you ClockworkMod.

DeskSMS transfers SMS to both your e-mail and other IM applications through the use of your Google Account. This allows you to answer SMS on-the-go and with the use of a full keyboard. As someone with big fingers, I can't tell you how annoying it is to try to do a large amount of typing with an on-screen keyboard. This definitely helps.

The app is in free beta, but presumably won't stay that way forever.

Jul

[Game Roundup] Five Noteworthy Games From July 2011

Posted by Matt Demers in Game Reviews, Games

Last Updated: August 2nd, 2011

Welcome to a new feature here on the site, where we'll be giving five awesome games that've been released in the past month the spotlight we feel they deserve. Below are our picks from July - enjoy!

Asteroid Tower Defense

There seems to be no shortage of tower defense games on Android, but most seem to have common problems: either they don't take advantage of the graphics that Android is capable of, or the gameplay isn't snappy enough to avoid frustration.

Asteroid Tower Defense thankfully avoids both issues. The game's controls allow you to make precise, quick movements without adding the game itself as an enemy to overcome, and the animations are fast, furious and beautiful.

Jul

7 Android 3.0+ Apps For Honeycomb Tablets From The Last 2 Weeks (7/18/11 - 7/31/11)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Best Apps/Games/LWPs Of The Week, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, Tablets

Last Updated: January 6th, 2013

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 2 weeks or so.

This edition focuses only on new tablet apps or ones that added Honeycomb support. Regular apps and games are coming 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:

Dolphin Pad for Honeycomb tablets

Android Police coverage:

The makers of the popular Dolphin, Dolphin HD (which happens to be my personal favorite), and Dolphin Mini browsers released a tablet-optimized browser earlier this week, called Dolphin for Pad.

Jul

Western Digital Launches The WD 2go App Allowing My Book Live Customers Remote Access To Their Data

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Applications, News

There are plenty of network-attached storage ("NAS") solutions available, however if you are a fan of Western Digital, you may be the owner of their My Book Live line of devices (available much cheaper on Amazon). Although reviews indicate that it is a solid product, it lacks a convenient method of remotely accessing the data, especially considering its MioNet solution is "nearly useless." Owners of this NAS will be pleased to hear that WD has launched the WD 2go Android app that helps bridge the remote access gap by providing an alternative method of viewing the content on your NAS.

Jul

Capital One Releases Android App For Mobile Banking

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Capital One Services has finally joined the ranks of large financial institutions offering native Android mobile banking apps with the introduction of the official app.

Capital One account holders can now check their balances, pay bills, transfer funds between accounts, view recent transactions and rewards, and, of course, find the nearest branches and ATMs.

The app works on Android phones running Donut (1.6) and up, but cannot yet be installed on Honeycomb tablets (support for them is coming later). Grab it for free by using the links below:

Capital One Mobile Banking

QR code for https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.konylabs.capitalone

Jul

Android Web Market Gets A Spiffy Screenshot Navigation Update [Video]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, News

The Android web Market only just received its last update that introduced app install histories 5 days ago, but the Android team is at it again today with a new, much smoother way to navigate app screenshots.

Rather than display blocks of 3 screenshots navigable via little hard-to-click dots on the bottom like it used to do, the new navigation offers a pleasant, smooth UI scrollable sideways. It's easier if I just show you (or you can click through to any app with more than 3 screenshots, such as IMDB here):

A small update, but pleasant nonetheless.

Jul

[New Release] LauncherPro Dev's New Project, UberMusic, Leaves Beta

Posted by Matt Demers in Applications, News

Last Updated: August 2nd, 2011

Last month we had the chance to play around with LauncherPro developer Fredrico Carnales' latest app, UberMusic. I, personally, had a great amount of fun with it, as it evokes a certain "Zune" feel while remaining largely functional.

The app's left its open beta phase and is now available on the Android market for a price of $3.49; for a music player that pulls in album art and artist data, I'd say that isn't too bad of a price.

It also looks like there's been some UI changes to the Artist and Album sorting, as well. Albums show up with their art individually, and everything looks a whole lot cleaner.

Jul

[Review] GT Racing: Motor Academy Free+ Makes Me Wonder If Gameloft Is Actually Trying Anymore

Posted by Matt Demers in Game Reviews, Games

Last Updated: August 2nd, 2011

In their latest addition to their "games we've shamelessly ripped off from other companies" line of titles, developer Gameloft has released "GT Racing: Motor Academy Free+" to the marketplace. At its core, it is a bastardized version of Gran Turismo that has been stuffed with micropayments to specifically eliminate the charm of Gran Turismo.

I'm not going to even try and sugarcoat the fact that you're playing a completely ripped off concept: much like most of Gameloft's other titles, there is nothing new or original here.

GT Racing passes itself off as a "realistic" driving simulator in the same vein as the Gran Turismo or Forza series, which are known for their tight controls, realistic physics and the ability to actually have fun.

Jul

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Awesome Feature In 'Dolphin for Pad' Shows Your Open Pages In A 3D Cube Display With A Simple Gesture [Video]

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News, Videos

A few days ago we told you about Dolphin Browser's foray into the tablet world, Dolphin for Pad. We've had a bit of time to play with it since then, as have most of you, and we recently received a tip from a loyal reader named Nathan Patton that highlights a rather nifty feature of the new browser. When in fullscreen mode, a simple two-finger swipe activates an awesome 3D cube of all open web pages, very reminiscent of the Compiz Fusion 3D cube on Linux that was highly popular among the uber-geeks of yesteryear.

With a little help from our founder, Artem Russakovskii, Nathan even took the time to make a short video showing us how to accomplish this little trick.

Jul

Gmail For Android Updated To V2.3.5 - Selective Mail Sync And Label Notifications, Sticky "Show Pictures" Settings (Finally!), Attachment Downloads, And More

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Google, News

Gmail for Android hasn't received much love lately, but Google definitely hasn't forgotten about it. The new version 2.3.5 (curiously, it matches the latest Gingerbread release version), which showed up tonight, brings a host of new features, including one that I was *just* thinking of yesterday after clicking the "Show Pictures" button for the 1800th time.

The new features are:

Save bandwidth and battery by only syncing priority mail

Use label notifications to mash up filters, labels, and ringtones

Remember ‘Show Pictures’ for senders

Turn off sticky message actions in landscape or all orientations

Better TalkBalk support for accessibility

Performance improvements

As I mentioned, my favorite is definitely the sticky "Show Pictures" setting, which means I won't have to click the annoying button in every email that I receive from all the deals sites on a daily basis.