09
May
ZP_THD

On Friday we told you about the arrival of Pinball HD for Tegra devices, but if that just wasn't your cup of tea where pinball is concerned, then you'll be happy to know that ZEN Pinball THD will become part of the Tegra Zone family soon. ZEN Pinball is a port from the popular Playstation 3 game of the same title, and this will be its first venture into the mobile world.

ZEN features all the dynamic gameplay that you've come to expect out of games designed for Tegra devices, with super-realistic environments and real-world pinball physics. The tables are graphically rich and full of textural depth that is sure to please everyone from casual gamers to the most hardcore pinball enthusiasts.

08
May
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It's been a while since the last ADW Launcher EX update, but it may just have been worth the wait. The author of ADW EX has implemented some major changes and fixes for version 1.3.0. Check out the change log below:

ADWLauncher EX v1.3.0

Changelog:

  • Completely redone the app drawers code from scratch to improve memory usage and scrolling performance, even with transparencies, live wallpapers, etc
  • Scroll snapping on the vertical drawer/4d drawer “a la launcher 2″. (option enabled by default)
  • True” home screen looping (enabled by default) ported from ADW2.
  • New theme management screen with added functionality (and more will come)
    • Dock and dockbar background customization moved into the new theme management screen.

08
May
2011-05-08 08h43_54

Sprint customers hungry for vanilla Gingerbread can stop holding their breaths now - the Nexus S 4G just went on sale. Sprint will charge you $199.99 for the Samsung-made device, but if you're looking for the best bargain in town, you'll want to visit Best Buy - they're selling it for just $149.99 with a new two-year contract. BB's upgrade price is still $199.99, but at least free shipping is offered by both retailers (ETA: 5/11-5/14 at Best Buy; 2-5 business days at Sprint).

As a reminder, this stock Android machine comes loaded with:

  • 4-inch Super AMOLED Contour display with a WVGA (800x480) resolution
  • WiMAX connectivity
  • 1GHz Hummingbird processor
  • 512MB of RAM
  • 16GB of internal memory

All in all, the handset isn't exactly a spring chicken in terms of specs, but the software is what really matters - and just like T-Mobile's version of the phone, the NS 4G delivers on that front with stock Android 2.3 and Google Voice integration.

07
May
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We love Android shirts. Really. To the point of considering wearing something like this.

So when Malc Foy emailed us a tip about a group of like-minded artists working on a series of mashup Android characters, we had to check it out.

It's called Droidarmy and so far contains over 20 designs, about a third of which I suddenly want to wear. Here they all are:

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My Favorites

Here are some of my favorites:

Droidbird

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Droidberg - though I already own this one.

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Darth

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DroidBorg

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Bonus

I actually like this shirt the most, but for some reason it's not tagged as Androidarmy.

07
May
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Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

If you grew up in the 90s or early 2000s and played PC games, you've undoubtedly heard of the Heroes of Might and Magic franchise - a series of turn-based strategy games by New World Computing. Heroes of Might and Magic 2 was the first truly amazing game of the series, followed by HOMM3 with improved graphics, and then going to crap starting with the 4th one. I think HOMM2 and HOMM3 collectively stole not months, if not years, of my time, and I am still just as excited to play either of them as I was back in the day - the replayability factor of these games is through the roof.

07
May
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Update: It's up for sale yet again today, Saturday, May 7th.

Woot.com, Internet's favorite a-deal-a-day site that I personally religiously check daily, is offering up an Android tablet deal today that may be hard to pass up for those looking for a beefy, yet budget, Android tablet.

The very hackable ViewSonic gTablet, which sports a speedy dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 CPU, a 10.1" 1024x600 TFT display, a front-facing camera, 512MB RAM, 16GB ROM, and USB host capabilities, is sitting there for the next 12 hours (or until it's sold out) for the very low price of $279.99 + $5 shipping.

06
May
2011-05-06 23h19_01
Last Updated: August 20th, 2012

In case you thought Android's extremely fast-paced growth was being exaggerated, comScore's latest report on mobile market share might just convince you otherwise: From December 2010 to March 2011, Android not only kept its first place position among mobile platforms in the US, but it shot up 6 percentage points - far greater than all other platforms.

In fact, the only other platform that had growth was - predictably - iOS, with a 0.5 point increase. RIM, despite holding second place, dropped a staggering 4.5 points, while Microsoft and Palm both fell by 0.9 points. The gap between Android and second placed RIM is now at over 7 points, and is continuing to grow.

06
May
tmobile_logo

Things are just not looking good for the magenta T.

T-Mobile's latest earnings report for the first quarter of 2011 paints a sad picture of the mobile telecommunications company's current state in the marketplace. It managed to remain relatively neutral in terms of added revenue for the first quarter time period, though that has been heavily offset by a massive loss in its subscriber base - to the tune of 100,000 customers.

And remember this - the numbers came from the time period before the announcement of T-Mobile's impending acquisition by the Death Star, also known as AT&T. The fallout from the merger news is expected to hit once the Q2 numbers are in, and one can only assume an even bigger defection of customers will take place to avoid assimilation into AT&T.

06
May
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Last Updated: May 16th, 2011

Today, the crew over at TMoNews scored some shots and a few details of a new Samsung device, unofficially dubbed the "Exhibit 4G". As to not waste any time, let's get straight into the specs (keep in mind this is all unconfirmed):

  • 3.7-inch AMOLED display
  • 1.4GHz ARM11 processor
  • 5MP Camera with 720p video capture
  • VGA front camera
  • Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread)

That's pretty much all of the details that we have for now, but here are a few shots of the device:

Screen-shot-2011-05-06-at-2.30.58-PMwtmk Screen-shot-2011-05-06-at-4.43.44-PMwtmk Screen-shot-2011-05-06-at-4.43.51-PMwtmk

Screen-shot-2011-05-06-at-2.31.05-PMwtmk Screen-shot-2011-05-06-at-3.25.28-PMwtmk

 

Like I said, this is about as unconfirmed as it gets, so take it for what it's worth.

06
May
hi-256-0-3f141f363bd8179ee3330cd732a2dbb59b67bebd

If you've had an Android phone for more than, say, 6 minutes, then there's a good chance that you have Angry Birds installed. Actually, there's a good chance that you all all three versions of Angry Birds installed - the original, Seasons, and the newest of the three: Rio (based on the movie of the same name).

The latter has an update coming next week, dubbed Beach Volley, that will bring about several new levels, but this time the setting is a beach, and you won't be killing pigs or freeing birds. This go around you have an new, even more dangerous enemy: monkeys.