News - 790/939 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

Intel Sandy Bridge Quad-Core Processor Coming Soon To Acer Android Tablets

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Acer, News, Tablets

There's no doubt about it: tablets are getting more and more powerful. How powerful? If you ask Acer, they will soon have enough horsepower to gradually "phase out" netbooks.

The computer manufacturer told Computerworld that in the first half of 2011, it will begin selling two or three new Android tablets in the 7- to 10-inch range. While Acer didn't specify the price or Android version, the company did say something that's sure to get your Android-loving heart racing: the tablets will be "faster than laptops with Windows operating systems," and will use a quad-core Intel Sandy Bridge processor.

XOOM who?

Jan

13 Best New Android Apps And Games From Last Week (1/13/11 - 1/17/11)

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 and games that went live in the Market or were spotted by us in the previous week or so. The list is pretty short, mostly because last week's roundup was a couple of days late, thus eating into this week, and January in general seems like a slow month for the Market.

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: 20 Best New Android Apps And Games From Last Week (1/4/11 – 1/12/11)

Best New Android Apps

ABBYY Business Card Reader

ABBYY Business Card Reader (BCR) offers an easy way to add a new contact to your smartphone’s address book: simply take a picture of a business card and save the contact.

Jan

Nostalgic And Awesome: Fully Working TI-83, TI-85, And TI-86 Android Emulators Hit The Market

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Sure, there are some excellent calculators in the Android Market, but do any of them make you hesitate for a minute when looking at them to figure out whether you are staring at a phone or a smaller version of your favorite Texas Instruments machine? Doug Melton's ports of the popular AlmostReal TI-83, TI-85, and TI-86 emulators to Android are so successful, most of your professors wouldn't even know the difference if they saw one of these on your desk. The buttons, the layout, the graphics, TI-BASIC program support - it's all there. Awesome.

I'm not sure whether Texas Instruments goes after emulators of its calculators, but I would download these ASAP if I were you.

Jan

TurboTax Launches SnapTax - A W2-Scanning Tax Filing Android App

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Nobody likes to do their taxes but, unfortunately, the tax season is almost upon us, and I'm dreading and counting down the days until April 18th (this year's tax day is not the 15th). However, those of you who have relatively simple taxes have a new option to file this year, one that wouldn't even make you touch a computer - TurboTax SnapTax for Android.

If you've made less than $80K, the income was all a result of W2s, interest, or unemployment, and if you don't claim any dependents or real estate, SnapTax is for you. Not only can you e-file your Federal and State taxes straight from your phone but snap pictures of your W2s too - just like those mobile banking apps help you deposit checks, SnapTax helps you scan your income form.

Jan

Dell Streak 7 Probably Landing On T-Mobile February 2nd

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Streak 7, T-Mobile

Last Updated: August 13th, 2011

While we weren't exactly impressed by the Streak 7 at CES, Dell's upcoming tablet successor to the similarly-named phone may be arriving on T-Mobile rather soon - say, February 2nd. A photo of an internal T-Mobile document (courtesy of TmoNews) taken by the world's worst photographer all but makes official a February 2nd release date for the 4G tablet.

If you'd rather not squint, I'll just quote the text in question:

Mobile Broadband - Dell Streak 7 (NEW) Kiosk ... (NEW for 2/2)

... Mobile Broadband - Dell Streak 7 Counter Sign ... (NEW for 2/2)

While these are just advertising materials, typically something as substantial as a full kiosk requires you have a working demonstration device to go with it, which usually don't show up until the product is actually on sale.

Jan

Android Is Still Sony Ericsson's Smartphone Operating System Of Choice

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Android OS, News, Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson has decided to put its manufacturing muscle behind Android while keeping a "watching brief" on the development of Microsoft's still nascent Windows Phone 7.

Steve Walker, acting head of global marketing at Sony Ericsson, told Pocket-lint that although Sony Ericsson launched a number of phones running on Windows Mobile 6, it will not be launching a Windows Phone 7 device in the near future. Instead, the company will continue to "engage with Microsoft" and "keep an open mind towards Windows Phone 7."

Walker noted that Sony Ericsson wants to focus on Android since the industry as a whole seems to be supporting Google's mobile OS.

Jan

CyanogenMod 7: Return Of The Nightlies (Now With 100% More Gingerbread)

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

Boy, do we ever have some fantastic news for the AOSP ROM-loving crowd: CyanogenMod nightlies are finally back, meaning the first official CM7 builds are rolling out as I type this. Sure, they're probably moderately buggy (although generally, CM nightlies are still pretty good), and yeah, they may be missing some features - but let's be frank: it'll still probably be one of the most solid Gingerbread builds around, regardless of what device you're using.

At the time of this writing, only the myTouch Slide, original Droid, and Nexus One builds have been compiled and are ready for mass consumption.

Jan

Are Samsung Galaxy S Froyo Updates Being Held Back Because Of Cost?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Captivate, Epic 4G, Fascinate, Froyo 2.2, News, Samsung, Vibrant

Last Updated: August 13th, 2011

A few weeks ago, Samsung USA tweeted that Froyo updates for the Galaxy S phones are being delayed due to further testing. Then, just 4 days ago, AndroidSPIN reported that the Vibrant update (if not others) wasn't rolling out so that the Vibrant wouldn't steal the Vibrant 4G+'s thunder. And now the saga continues, as a new anonymous source has stepped forth to clarify the issue.

Reportedly an insider who has stepped "... across the NDAs [to] explain the issues behind the Android Froyo update to the Samsung Galaxy S phones in the United States," he/she says:

To explain the political situation, first, a primer on how phone firmware upgrades work for carriers.

Jan

Now THIS Is How Android Theming Is Done: Tron Legacy Pro Theme For ADW Launcher

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Development, News

Android is known for its customizability and freedom, therefore it's not a surprise that it supports a variety of theming methods. Unfortunately, the vast majority of themes are either low quality or incomplete, which is a natural side effect of what happens when everyone is given a chance to contribute. When a truly great theme comes along, one worthy of changing the default launcher, it needs to be given credit. And the Tron Legacy Pro theme by Mariux is definitely one of those themes.

The theme doesn't just change the wallpaper or a few icons - it is what the author describes as "ultra-detailed." What this means is Tron's infamous neon effect was actually studied by Mariux to match the movie, a ton of icons have been changed, including popular applications outside of what ships stock (Angry Birds, Aldiko, Foursquare, Facebook, Goggles, etc), and even widget styles match the overall theme.

Jan

Spectral Souls By IdeaFactory/HyperDevBox Arrives In The Android Market, Weighs A Whopping 1GB!

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Games, News

When a quality game hits the Android Market, we can't stay quiet. When a game that comes with over 1GB of data hits the Market, we absolutely have to give it a mention, especially when it is exclusive to Android and is a high quality English version of a Japanese Tactical RPG.

This 1GB monster brings you soundtracks (52 of them), high resolution graphics, cut-scene videos, 84 different characters, and 100s of hours of gameplay. What kind of gameplay? It's best to take a look at the demo video and screenshots, then cough up $14.40 for the game, and give it a go for yourself.