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Jan

[Hands-On] Zoom Widget Designer, An App By The Developer Of Tasker, Goes Into The Public Testing Phase

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in App Reviews, Applications, News, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Introduction

Love using widgets? How about creating them? Zoom Widget Designer allows you to do just that, and it has something else going for it: it was made by the developer behind the excellent Tasker application - Crafty Apps. Better yet, Zoom will be fully integrated with Tasker in the future, so you will be able to make your custom Zoom widgets do just about anything your phone is capable of.

The app just went into public alpha testing, and if there ever was an Android app worthy of recognition, this is it. Let's take it for a spin, shall we?

Jan

Updated: Kongregate Arcade Launches On Android With 300+ Flash-Based Games

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Games, News

Last Updated: January 26th, 2011

Kongregate.com, snatched up by GameStop last year, is one of the most popular time-killing websites in the world, with hundreds of original Flash games to entertain visitors for hours. It was only a matter of time for the company to bring the most mobile friendly of those games directly to Android in a single easy-to-consume package, called Kongregate Arcade.

Update #1: As many of you noticed, the app has been pulled from the Market. Apparently, even Kongregate doesn't know why just yet, as they've issued the following statement:

"As reported earlier today, the Kongregate Arcade app was launched on the Android Market and was enthusiastically received by the gaming community, receiving 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Jan

Froyo Coming Soon To The LG Ally

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Ally (Aloha), News, Verizon Wireless

Remember LG and Verizon's keyboard-wielding, mid-range Android phone, the Ally? Well, it's about to join the ranks of the over 50% of Android devices that are running Froyo, as Verizon is planning to push out the long-awaited Android 2.2 update soon. A date hasn't been set yet, but it's always good to know that your phone is still being supported, even if it isn't the hottest handset on the market.

Source: Android Central

Jan

Sprint's "Premium Data" Charge To Affect All Smartphones After January 30

Posted by Nate Kimmey in News, Sprint

Although Sprint's data plans are significantly cheaper than their competition, there was still some outcry when Sprint decided to charge a $10 monthly add-on charge to phones with 4G connectivity, even if your area isn't actually covered by their WiMax network. Now, however, all smartphones activated after January 30 will be subject to the same charge.

Sprint's reasoning - that “building, maintaining and expanding wireless data networks isn’t free" - is sound, and you can't argue that they still beat every other carrier when it comes to the price of their data plans. Data plans for the EVO 4G, Epic 4G, and EVO Shift 4G will remained unaffected as they are already subject to the fee.

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.