News - 23/946 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

May

AT&T Drops The Price Of The HTC First To $0.99, Probably The Best Damn Phone You'll Find For A Dollar

Posted by Cameron Summerson in AT&T, First, News

When I reviewed the First, I realized it was much, much more than just a Facebook experience device. Sure, it's sporting Home out of the box, flashes a Facebook logo during the boot process, and is adorned with that same logo on the back, but it's not just about Facebook. This little diamond in the rough is running stock Android 4.1.2 beneath Facebook Home, so you're quite literally three (or so) taps away from a Nexus-like experience.

No quicker than I could say good things about this device, however, people were trying to shoot it down, with the price playing a pretty large factor in that.

May

AT&T Flips On 4G LTE In 16 New Markets This Week

Posted by Kyle Wiggers in AT&T, News

AT&T continues to pursue an aggressive 4G LTE rollout strategy, activating towers in Missouri, Texas, and North Carolina over the past couple of days for a total of 16 new markets. It's all part of the carrier's larger plan to reach 250 million Americans with LTE coverage by the end of this year. AT&T's LTE network currently covers almost 200 million.

Here's a list of cities graced with AT&T's fastest this week:

Jacksonville, Texas

Manhattan, Kan.

Palestine, Texas

Sedalia, Mo.

Warrensburg, Mo.

Monroeville/Evergreen, Ala.

Vieques, Puerto Rico

Saginaw and Bay City, Mich.

Huntington, W.Va.

Ashland, Ky.

Beeville, Texas

Cookeville, Tenn.

Aberdeen, WA.

May

[Hands-On] Homesnap For Android: Augmented Reality Real Estate

Posted by Kyle Wiggers in Applications, News

As anyone who's gone house hunting knows, the process can be dull. Driving circles around suburbs for hours is frustrating, as is trying to use poorly designed real estate listing websites. Homesnap, an app launched on iOS in March of 2012 and today on Android, seeks to make some aspects of home searching a bit more fun.

What it Does

Homesnap seems simple on the surface: take pictures of the houses you want to know more about, and compare them side-by-side. Under the hood, though, things are pretty complicated. The app relies on in-phone sensors like the GPS, magnetometer, accelerometer, and gyroscope.

May

Spotify App Updated: Remembers Your Place, Filters Your Playlists, Looks Great In Your Pants

Posted by Kyle Wiggers in Applications, News

Spotify's bringing it down to the flo'. Nah, not really, but kind of. The crew behind the venerable music service has released an app update on Google Play, and among bug fixes and a playlist-sorting enhancement, a unique feature is listed in the changelog: "This app looks great in trousers."

The most significant change is playlist and track sorting. The app also now remembers what you were listening to when you last logged out. Couple that with playlist view improvements, and the new Spotify is perfect for a party in your... living room.

Spotify

May

[New Game] Undead Soccer Is A Solid Casual Game That Must Be The Victim Of A Serious Pricing Error

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

Zombies are cool, and soccer is cool (in the right context). In fact, kicking a super-powered soccer ball at zombies is probably one of the cooler concepts I've heard lately. Undead Soccer from Bulkypix is a casual title that's a little bit first-person shooter, and a little bit sports game. It's also a little bit greedy, but we'll get to that.

Undead Soccer basically involves flicking soccer balls at the approaching hoard of zombies in order to survive. You tilt the device from left to right to pan around and get the undead in your sights. You just fire away until the zombies eat your brain, then start over.

May

Want Advanced Play Store Filtering (Such As Seeing Just Paid Apps) And Ability To Add Your Own eBooks Into Play Books? Do This Now

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Google, News

I know many of you have been longing for a way to filter the apps you've paid for into one convenient list. Neither the web nor the app Play Store currently allow this, despite years of outcry. Things are looking up, however, as I believe Google is finally paying attention.

You see, there is a little-known official channel with current top suggestions for Play Store-related features called Suggest a feature for Google Play. You can suggest your own ideas at the bottom, but it also contains a curated list of current top suggestions you can vote for by clicking Suggest it (I think it's a little ambiguous to have a Suggest it button in a list of existing suggestions - it should probably be called Vote for it).

May

[Hands-On] Snoop Lion's Snoopify Sticks Stickers All Over Your Photizzle Fo'Shizzle

Posted by Bertel King, Jr. in App Reviews, News

Some apps enter the Play Store that leave me scratching my head wondering why someone would take the time to develop them. Snoop Lion's Snoopify is not one of those apps. This "photography" app fulfills a real societal need. Finally, I can be as cool as Snoop Dogg - erm - Lion. But that's just the beginning. My friends, family members, co-workers, and anyone else I've ever taken a picture of can now be as cool as Snoop Lion, too.

What it Does

The concept behind Snoopify isn't too difficult to grasp. It's a photography app that allows you to take a photo and apply some edits.

May

What We Can Learn From The Google I/O Session Schedule: Tons Of Gaming, Lower Latency Audio, Next-Gen Google TV, And More!

Posted by Ron Amadeo in News

We are gearing up for I/O here at AP, and with the release of the I/O Sessions schedule, we've got an even clearer idea of what Google has in store for us.

Google I/O is a traditionally developer-oriented conference, but it's also always been a huge source of news about upcoming products. I/O is the one time of year when Googlers are allowed to show off their projects, so there's lots of news out there; you've just got to pay attention.

Didn't get a ticket to I/O? No problem! You can still join the geek party and watch all the action live (or not live, whatever) on YouTube.

May

[Video] Must-See Home Automation Project Controls Lights And Entertainment Center By Voice, Starfleet Captain's Chair Still On Backorder

Posted by Cody Toombs in News, Tips & Tutorials, Videos

Let's be honest, most of us will never get to live in a crazy futuristic home like the Jetsons, but that doesn't mean we can't strive for a few of the simple luxuries. To that end, Doug Gregory is on track to make his living room smarter than the bridge of the USS Enterprise, all with a few electronic controllers and extensive use of Tasker. There's no way around it, you really need to see the video for this one.

Not counting home theater equipment and the Nexus 4, Doug was able to put everything together for less than $300, but he appears to have had the advantage of working for an authorized dealer.

May

Running Native Android Apps On Google Glass: INGRESS! (And Other Stuff) [Video]

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Glass, Google, News

Let's have some fun.

We always kind-of expect Glass to be Android based, but I was surprised to find just how Android based it was when I did a teardown of a Glass system dump. "Android based" is selling things a little short, Glass is Android, with just a few APKs piled on top. It reminds me a lot of Facebook home.

So, while I am still plugging away at my full review, I decided to take a bit of a break and see what happens when you try and run real Android apps on Glass.