Development - 61/86 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Dec

SlideScreen 2.0 In The Works, Beta Build Now Available For Download

Posted by Stephen Tenerowicz in Applications, Apps/Games, Development, News

Remember Larva Labs, the Android development team behind the awesome home replacement SlideScreen? Well, they're back and working on SlideScreen 2.0, a more advanced version of the original. With 2.0 (a beta preview is now available, get it here), things have been taken up a notch. For example, developers will now be able to write plugins using an API and release them on the Android Market - which means you no longer have to wait for the Larva Labs team to add new features. According to the LL blog, the API includes support for custom shortcut activities and real time updates to SlideScreen.

Dec

How To: Customize Your WidgetLocker Lockscreen

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Development, News

Many people who use custom themes or launchers are familiar with WidgetLocker. What many people don't realize, though, is that customizing WidgetLocker itself is a fairly straightforward task. Better still, there are plenty of existing customizations available, meaning that you have to do little more than shove your modified .PNG files into the APK.

_{Before / After}

Dalton Gore - better known as @colormeandroid - is responsible for gathering the individual mods and creating the guide. While the guide is a little too light on details for newbies, it does provide the luxury of choices - he provides instructions for 5 methods:

How to apply the images:

Personally I recommend using APKManager!

Dec

Fresh ROM v3.5 For EVO 4G Is Out With The Newest OTA, Radio, WiMAX, PRI And Improved Battery Life

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Sprint

It's no secret that my EVO 4G runs a custom ROM called Fresh - it is one of the best EVO ROMs, free of bloatware and full of tweaks that make it fast and efficient, while keeping stability rock solid. The developer, flipz, is very good - he's responsive to Sprint OTA updates and bug reports and usually sorts out any issues in a matter of days.

This article deals with a couple of advanced topics. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the terms, hit up our primers here:

Due to the recent EVO OTA (3.70.651.1), flipz just released the newest version of the ROM, currently 3.5.0.1, also containing the latest HTC kernel, which is said to do wonders to the battery life.

Dec

NexusKang Live Wallpaper App Updated, Now Includes Nexus S Live Wallpaper And Gingerbread Compatibility

Posted by Stephen Tenerowicz in Applications, Apps/Games, Development, News

Earlier today, Kmobs updated the NexusKang live wallpaper app with the Nexus S live wallpaper background, compatibility with Android 2.3, and some bug fixes for good measure. For those unfamiliar with the app, it's pretty damn cool, letting you build customized versions of the standard Nexus live wallpaper found on the Nexus One. Users can choose their own backgrounds and even their own custom colors to fly around the screen. For a custom live wallpaper app, this one is top notch!

If you have any interest in building a custom Nexus live wallpaper, or just want to load the Nexus S live wallpaper on your handset, check the app out by scanning the QR code below or hitting up AppBrain.

Dec

Miffed Over The Lack Of Notification LED On Your Samsung Galaxy S? Check Out BLN (BackLight Notification)

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Apps/Games, Captivate, Development, Fascinate, Galaxy S, News, Samsung, Vibrant

Take a look around Google and you can see that people are seriously peeved by the lack of notification LED in the Samsung Galaxy S line of devices (excluding the Epic 4G). Developer and i9000 owner Michael R. - better known as neldar on the XDA forums - was annoyed enough by the glaring omission that he decided to come up with a solution. The result: BLN (BackLight Notification).

The basic idea behind the app is quite simple: as there's no LED on the devices, the logical decision is to light up the soft-touch keys. Doing so isn't quite so simple as the layman might initially think, requiring a modified kernel to be flashed in conjunction with the BLN app.

Dec

Modder’s Column: How To Remap Your Android Phone’s Hardware Buttons Without Touching A Single Line Of Code

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Editorials

So maybe you've recently upgraded your Android phone and haven't gotten used to the new device's button alignment yet... or maybe you never use that pesky Search key and want to turn it into the camera key your EVO 4G has always wanted... or maybe you just enjoy tinkering with your phone. If you're in one of those situations, what you may be lusting after is a way to remap your phone's hardware buttons (i.e. making the Search key take on the duties of the Home key, or vise versa).

Up until now, there haven't been any user-friendly methods of doing this, at least not any that can be so greatly customized.

Dec

Some Details Of Notion Ink's Proprietary "Genesis" Market Found In Developer T&Cs

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Adam, Development, News, Notion Ink

Earlier today, we received a tip regarding Notion Ink's yet-to-be-released developer program for its "Genesis" app platform. Indeed, while the developer homepage remains relatively useless, the leaked developer program registration page the tipster sent us does appear to be legitimate and even comes complete with terms and conditions.

Update: As some of you so eloquently pointed out, the developer program was indeed active at one point, and the registration has now been closed (at least partially, apparently). Nevertheless, we believe some details weeded out of the terms and conditions and displayed below are relatively unknown and quite valuable.

After registering and clicking the confirmation link in the email from Notion Ink, I found myself at the end of the road, as the actual pages for developers could not be found.

Dec

Déjà Vu: WSJ Study Suggests Many Android & iOS Apps Transmit User Data To Advertisers

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

Way back in July, Lookout released the results of a study on app security, and found that many apps have access to user data that they have no need for - suggesting that there was plenty of potential for illicit information use. Two months later, a group of researchers from Intel, Penn State, and Duke came forth with data showing just that: 15 of the 30 apps tested sent GPS data, 7 sent unique hardware information, and a few sent more private information such as phone and SIM numbers.

Fast forward to today - the Wall Street Journal has released the findings of a very similar study they conducted, and the results are surprisingly similar.

Dec

Gingerbread Keyboard APK Now Available For Eclair And Froyo Users - No Root Needed

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

Last Updated: December 19th, 2010

As exciting as seeing the Gingerbread keyboard leak out was, the fact remained that users stuck on Android 2.1 or below couldn't join in on the fun, and the same went for users of non-rooted devices.

Fortunately, the Android community rests not, and the keyboard has been neatly packaged into an APK and posted for all to see. Thanks to XDA-Developers member hotaru, both Éclair-running and non-rooted handsets can now access Google's latest input method.

To install:

Download the file appropriate to your OS (download the file from here if you're on Froyo; if you're running Éclair, grab it from here).

Dec

[Breaking] Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) Being Pushed To AOSP Right Now!

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

Prepare your party gear and break out the keg, people: Google is officially starting the push of Gingerbread to AOSP (Android Open Source Project) as we speak. Jean-Baptiste Queru just announced that fact, saying he was going to begin pushing the code to the AOSP, and the process is expected to take a few hours.

What does that mean for you? ROMs built on AOSP code (such as CyanogenMod) will now have access to Gingerbread, so expect CyanogenMod for Gingerbread (CM7?) to start cooking shortly. Since the code is now finalized, it also means that Google will likely start pushing out the Gingerbread update to the Nexus One.