Apps/Games - 333/391 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Mar

PSA: Infected "Android Market Security Tool March 2011" App Floating Around

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, News

It seems evil-doers' depravity knows no bounds: we've just heard word from Symantec that an infected version of Google's Android Market Security Tool March 2011 is floating around the "black markets" - meaning it's not in the Android Market, but it is floating around the 'net in APK form. Luckily, it's not nearly as bad as DroidDream (the malware it was designed to remove), but it's malware nonetheless.

Specifically, Justin says it's closely related to (or possibly the same as) "Fake 10086" malware. Asian users seem to be getting the brunt of it, and it collects information such as IMEI, phone number, and other minor tidbits, which it then uploads to this site.

Mar

Love For Android! Portions Of $100 Million Fund Set Aside To Help Indie Devs Port From iOS To Android

Posted by Will Shanklin in Applications, News

If you are an indie developer who has had success with iOS apps, your prospects of porting your work to Android may have just improved. Social gaming platform OpenFeint and Chinese game operator The9 have committed unknown portions of a staggering $100 million fund to help move things along. The two companies will review games based on quality, downloads, and the strength of the game developer to determine who the lucky beneficiaries will be.

It was reported elsewhere that an entire $100 million was being allocated exclusively for porting from iOS to Android, but that was a misinterpretation: the $100 million Fund9 also supports "mobile app, game engine, and platform technology developers around the world." It is currently unknown exactly what portion of this will be devoted to Android development, but we certainly welcome any of it as good news.

Mar

Cars.com App Wheels Into The Android Market

Posted by Will Shanklin in Applications, News

Say you are shopping for a new car and the dealership that you were sure was going to have the perfect one for you turned up with only lemons? You want to hit up another dealership, but you don't know where to start. Now you can pull out your Android phone, open the new Cars.com app and find the ideal auto for you. Are you Dealing with a car salesman who swears the one you like is the last on the lot? Open up the cars.com app, check the dealer's inventory, and - BAM! - call him on his bluff.

After Cars.com's iPhone app was downloaded over 871,000 times, the website, which has been around for nearly 13 years, has now issued an equivalent Android app into the Market.

Mar

40 Best (And 1 WTF) New Android Apps, Games, And Live Wallpapers From Last Week (3/2/11 - 3/8/11)

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: 45 Best (And 2 WTF) New Android Apps, Games, And Live Wallpapers From Last Week (2/22/11 – 3/1/11)

Featured

This app roundup is sponsored by XIMAD, an Android publisher with over 60 games and apps in the Android Market.

Mar

Foursquare 3.0 Update Landing Tonight With An Emphasis On Discovery And Exploration

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Applications, News

Foursquare may be the king of the check-in game (they're boasting over 7 million users and over 500 million check-ins last year), but that won't keep them resting on their laurels. Launching tonight on the Android Market, Foursquare 3.0 will introduce several notable changes that could fundamentally alter how the service is used.

Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley explains that, because of the effort put into scaling the service for such a wide increase in users, they haven't been able to innovate and improve it as much as they hoped. But the update to version 3.0 should change that, by making use of every check-in:

One of the big ideas kicking around foursquare HQ these last few months has been the idea of “every check-in counts.” Regardless of whether you’re checking into the same ol’ coffee shop or some far-away beach, we want every check-in to add value to every foursquare user.

Mar

Apple Envy Begone! Pocket Legends Is More Profitable On Android Than On iOS

Posted by Will Shanklin in Applications, Games, News

Calling all Android fanboys: we have some news that might make you puff your chest out a little bit more than usual today. Spacetime Studios, developer of the popular cross-platform game Pocket Legends, says that they make more money from Android than they do from iOS.

The studio claims that daily activity on Android is double that of iOS - in fact, they say the online RPG is downloaded about 9,000 times a day on Android, compared to 3,000-4,000 times per day on iOS. Android users play the game about three times more than Apple's gamers (which is a major statistic considering the majority of their profit comes from in-app purchases).

Mar

Opera Gets Into The Android Web Apps Game With Opera Mobile Store

Posted by Will Shanklin in Applications, News

Opera Software, makers of the popular browsers for desktops and mobile devices, today unveiled a mobile storefront for web apps called the Opera Mobile Store. The store, which racked up 15 million users during its February beta release, is available now on Android (as well as several other mobile operating systems).

Applications will be purchased, installed, and run via Opera's mobile browsers (Opera Mini or Opera Mobile). Opera's store is powered by web app company Appia, whose storefront commerce system will be used for payments. An Opera Publisher Portal, a platform for developers to create and dispense their apps, was released simultaneously.

Mar

[Updated: Amazon Provides Clarifications] Amazon App Store's DRM To Be More Restrictive Than Google's?

Posted by Will Shanklin in Android OS, Applications, News

An interesting little tidbit came across to us in an otherwise ordinary posting on Amazon's app developers' blog. While developers will have the option to use DRM or not in their apps, those that do use the digital licensing service may present problems for those users who are temporarily without an internet connection.

Comparing it to the way Amazon currently handles the storing of Kindle books, the curious part of the post reads:

"Any app that has Amazon DRM applied to it will require users to have installed and signed-in to the Amazon Appstore client to access the app. When an app is accessed by the user, it will verify with the Amazon Appstore device service as to whether the user has an entitlement to the app.

Mar

Goodbye, Voice Minutes? First Signs Of Google Voice VoIP Emerge

Posted by Will Shanklin in Applications, News

We may have just seen the reasoning behind Google's announcement last week that they were shutting down VoIP service Gizmo5. Apparently a SIP address has surfaced that allows those with an SIP-to-SIP account (such as sip2sip.info) to call Google Voice users for free. While this may not sound Earth-shattering at first, this is most likely an early sign that true Google Voice VoIP (that many users have been eagerly anticipating) is on its way.

Say you are wanting to contact your friend, whose Google Voice Number is (555)123-4567. You could now sign up for a free SIP to SIP service, register your account via an SIP app (such as csipsimple or sipdroid), and contact +15551234567@sip.voice.google.com.