News - 100/945 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Feb

Google Play Books Go Live In India, On Android Devices And The Web

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in News

Google gets a lot of abuse for not making various parts of its Play Store available in most countries. It's not necessarily their fault, especially when it comes to books, movies, and music - international content contracts are like trying to trade horses on a quantum level. But a major part of the globe gets more access tonight, as Play Store Books become available to India's population of 1.2 billion. Get your literature on, folks.

Google confirmed the addition from the official Play Store Twitter account, and a little work with a proxy server shows that the web portion of the store is live.

Feb

[Update: Confirmed] HTC May Upgrade One X, One X+, One S, And Butterfly To Sense 5 UI

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in HTC, News, One S (Ville), One X (Endeavor), One X+

Update: After reaching out to HTC, we've confirmed that the statement on Facebook does in fact mean that the mentioned devices - the HTC One X, X+, S, and Butterfly - will be receiving Sense 5 in a future software update. Some features of Sense 5, though, will not be included, as they depend on specific hardware found in the HTC One.

There's good news out of Facebook tonight, at least if you don't intend to upgrade to HTC's latest and greatest hardware. In answer to an Israeli user's question about upgrades to the shiny new Sense 5 Android interface (seen only on the HTC One so far), the official HTC Facebook account stated that it intended to upgrade most of the company's later high-end devices, specifically the One X and X+, One S, and the Butterfly.

Feb

[New Game] EA's Real Racing 3 Arrives In Play Store For Some Countries With Insane In-App Purchases

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Apps/Games, Games, News

Everyone's favorite game studio, Electronic Arts, has released the third incarnation of its "hyper-realistic" racing series. Real Racing 3 is in the Play Store, but appears to be available only in certain countries right now. The North American listing isn't working for us, but the international version appears to be functional for at least some folks. Although, considering the bizarre new in-app purchase upsell, maybe you're not missing much.

The Real Racing series makes its name by licensing dozens of authentic cars. This time players have 45 different rides to enjoy from manufacturers like Audi, Bugatti, and Porsche. There are a whopping 900 regular events to race, and the game includes an interesting time-shifted multiplayer mechanic.

Feb

Falcon Pro Dev Resets Tokens To Free Up Space For New Users – App Back On Sale At More Reasonable Price

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Applications, Apps/Games, News

The ongoing saga of Falcon Pro and the great Twitter token shortage of 2013 has taken yet another turn. No, Twitter hasn't stopped being a jerk-face. Developer Joaquim Vergès has reset all the tokens for Falcon Pro in an effort to free up unused ones. This should (temporarily) solve the problem of new users being locked out.

This means that when users download the new update, they're going to be forced to log back in to Twitter. Because there are actually fewer than 100,000 active users, there should be enough access tokens to go around. Popular wisdom states that it was returns, former users, and pirates that were soaking up a large chunk of the tokens.

Feb

AccuWeather Gets Holo-ified, Automatically Looks Beautiful Because Holo

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

AccuWeather is one of the leading apps for getting more information than you could ever possibly need about the position of the sun, clouds, and the statistical likelihood that precipitation will fall from the sky. It has not, however, been the leader in Holo interfaces among weather apps (the Weather Channel beat it to the punch last week). Today, it catches up, though, with a brand spanking new UI.

It's not just menu bars and Roboto that are being added for this interface overhaul. The company has also improved the widgets, allowing them to be resizable. Which, you know, all widgets should be.

Feb

Machinarium Updated With Support For The Nexus 7, Possibly Other Devices

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Games, News

Machinarium was one of my personal favorite games from 2012, and I've wanted to replay it for months now. Unfortunately, the Nexus 7 is my primary gaming device, and Machinarium hasn't been available for it since its release. Finally, after months of waiting (and numerous attempts to contact Hothead Games), Machinarium is officially available on the Nexus 7 thanks to an update today.

That may not be the only new device added to the fold, though – Hothead didn't update the changelog, so it's hard to say what else the update brings along with it. Perhaps it adds more devices, or fixes some bugs.

Feb

New Bluetooth Basketball From 94Fifty Aims To Help Improve Your Game On The Court

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News

Manufacturers are sticking Bluetooth into everything these days: washers, dryers, ovens, cars... even a basketball. Thanks to a company called 94Fifty, the smart basketball of the future is a thing that you'll actually be able to buy fairly soon.

The ball features internal sensors that monitor everything from your dribble strength, backspin, shot arc and speed, consistency, and how long you hold the ball with one hand while dribbling. It then sends all this info back to your Bluetooth-connected smartphone with the 94Fifty app, so you can see the results. This, of course, will help you see areas where you need to improve as a player of the game.

Feb

Secunia PSI Is A Tech Preview Of A 'Security' App That Scans A Few Other Apps And Gives You Useless Information

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

There are a lot of security apps for Android that go a little ways into overkill territory. Whether you're talking about superfluous task managers or "virus scanners" that may provide some minimal protection while generating more fear than is warranted, Android has a persistent problem with companies applying a Windows-era mentality on a completely different OS. Secunia PSI, however, takes the cake for being one of the least effective apps on the Play Store.

Here's how it works: Secunia scans your apps for possible vulnerabilities. Not actual infections, mind you. It just checks to see if the currently installed versions of your application match any known security holes.

Feb

Chrome For Android Updated, Brings Better Scrolling And Pinch-to-Zoom, Background Audio Playback, More HTML 5 Features, And More

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

Google's Chrome browser for Android got itself a nice little update today that brings a couple of new features, as well as an improved overall experience:

Updates in this version of Chrome for Android include:
1. Improved scrolling performance
2. Increased responsiveness to pinch-zooming on pages
3. Faster interactive pages thanks to the latest version of the V8 javascript engine
4. Audio now continues to play while Chrome is in the background
5. Expanded support for HTML5 features
* Audio playing in Chrome will now pause when the phone is in use. This requires an additional permission.

There are actually a few notable changes here, but the biggest might be the ability to play audio in the background.

Feb

Star Wars Pinball Released In Empire Strikes Back, Clone Wars, And Boba Fett Flavors, IAPs For Zen Pinball As Well

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Games, News

If you're the kind of fan that absolutely must have a Star Wars version of everything in your life, then grab your officially licensed Ahsoka Tano phone case and head for the Play Store. Zen Studios, makers of the well-received Zen Pinball HD, have released their Star Wars-themed pinball app, creatively titled Star Wars Pinball. It's a reasonable $1.99, but unfortunately restricted to Android 4.0 devices and above, and thus tragically off-limits to the Special Edition R2-DROID2.

The game comes with the Empire Strikes Back table, and the Boba Fett and Clone Wars (The Cartoon Network series, not the lamentable prequel) tables can be downloaded for another two dollars each.