News - 803/939 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Dec

Your Move, Shazam - SoundHound's Free Android App Now Features Unlimited Music IDs

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Applications, News

The developers of SoundHound, a music recognition app, have decided to update the free version of their app to allow an unlimited number of music IDs, instead of the previous limit of 5 each month.

Meanwhile, SoundHound's biggest competitor, Shazam, has a very similar offering: a free app that has the same limit of 5 music IDs per month. If Shazam does nothing, which is hard to imagine, and you don't plan on spending any money, there's no contest regarding which app you are going to end up using.

Whether SoundHound might be digging itself into a hole with this move or not is unclear, but unlimited song recognition is one less reason for customers to drop $4.99 for SoundHound Infinity.

Dec

Run, Run, As Fast As You Can: A Round-Up Of Gingerbread ROMs

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

Last Updated: January 2nd, 2011

Introduction

A few days after releasing the Android 2.3 SDK, Google officially pushed Gingerbread to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Shortly thereafter, developers (such as the CyanogenMod crew) immediately started working on their custom ROMs based on the AOSP code (e.g. CyanogenMod 7).

It has only been a few days since CyanogenMod released version 6.1.1, their most recent stable update, so it's still likely to be a few weeks before a stable release of CM 7 is available. Nevertheless, a group of eager CM developers and enthusiasts have taken the liberty of packaging early unstable releases of CM 7 (with Android 2.3 Gingerbread) for a variety of Android devices.

Dec

VLC Player Coming To Android In "A Matter Of Weeks"

Posted by Anuj Ahooja in Applications, News

The incredibly popular VLC Player is finally coming to Android after months of hard work by the open source project developers. Originally a desktop media center for Linux, Windows, and Mac, this versatile player will bring many new video-playing features to our beloved OS including a wide variety of formats such as DivX and Dolby TrueHD. The lead developer in the project, Jean-Baptiste Kempf, has confirmed that it will hit the Android Market in "just a few weeks", which means that Android will ~~be the first mobile platform to have a version of this software~~ finally follow iOS and get its own port (thanks, Mikeyy).

Dec

Costco Reduces Price Of Samsung Galaxy Tab To $500 With One Month Of Data From Verizon

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Deals, Galaxy Tab, News

Last Updated: December 26th, 2010

Though we still couldn't reliably confirm a similar Galaxy Tab deal at Best Buy, here's a legitimate sale - Costco is selling Samsung's seven-inch tablet for just $499.99. Customers purchasing the device from Costco will also have to pay an activation fee (refundable with a mail-in-rebate) and sign up for at least one month of data from Verizon, who offers the following data plans for the Galaxy Tab:

$20/month for 1GB of data
$35/month for 3GB of data
$50/month for 5GB of data
$80/month for 10GB of data

The reduction in price is great for customers who are looking to get a taste of the Android OS in a tablet form factor.

Dec

ADW Launcher Ex Finally Released, Transitions To A Whole New Dimension

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Applications, Apps/Games, Development, News

Those of you acquainted with the inimitable Ander Webbs have been waiting for this one for a while. Once dubbed ADW Freak, the souped-up version of everyone's favourite open-source launcher has arrived, and it's now named ADW Ex.

On the surface, Ex brings ... well, it brings crazy transitions and UI effects, mainly. But underneath all that is some pretty impressive performance improvements. In a launcher, the real place where performance counts is in the drawer scrolling, and if you've been feeling that ADW is a bit laggy lately, Ex will quell your frustration with its silky smoothness. Combine that with some cheekily named "4D" effects, a handful of desktop scrolling transitions, and the ability to tinker with your desktop icons and you have a pretty compelling revamp of this third-party desktop stalwart.

Dec

[Exclusive] HTC EVO Shift 4G Appears In Best Buy's System: $150 With Contract, $550 Without

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), Exclusives, HTC, Knight, News, Sprint

Last Updated: June 5th, 2012

If you've got your eye on Sprint and HTC's latest WiMax-capable baby, you're in luck - an anonymous source at Best Buy has just sent us the following shot of their system:

It appears the EVO Shift 4G, or SKU 1768561, will retail for just $149.99 on contract. As an unexpected (but very welcome) surprise, shoppers looking to upgrade to the phone from an older device will be charged the same $149.99 as new customers, provided they also sign up for a new two-year contract.

Those of you who prefer to buy your devices off-contract will be coughing up $549.99, while those who would rather go with a one-year agreement will be handing over $299.99.

Dec

Dungeon Defenders: First Wave Just Released To Market, PvP Arena Announced!

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Apps/Games, Games, News

It's certainly been a good few days for Android gaming, hasn't it? And it looks like the trend is still going: the hotly anticipated Android version of popular iOS game Dungeon Defenders has just landed in the Market with a holiday price of $3. What makes the game so great? Aside from the fact that it's powered by the Unreal engine (!) - which means the graphics are superb - it's long been one of the best-rated iOS games on the market. And indeed, after just an hour on the Android Market, the game has 15 ratings for an average of 4.8 stars.

Dec

Samsung UK Says Froyo Update Now Available For All UK Networks

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Carriers, Froyo 2.2, Galaxy S, News

Fresh off the presses (read: Twitter), @SamsungUK has just tweeted saying that Android 2.2 (Froyo) is now available for the Samsung Galaxy S "on all networks." As this is SamsungUK,I'm guessing that means in the UK only, but I've tweeted back asking for clarification just in case - although whether I hear anything back is dubious at best. Regardless, I'll post here once we have some clarification. It looks like the update will have to be applied manually, through Samsung's KIES software.

To anyone unfamiliar with the situation, this update has been a long time coming after having been delayed a few times - which would explain why people were fairly pissed.

Dec

Well, This Should Sell A Few Phones - Google Builds A Fully Operational Gigantic 42" Nexus S For Best Buy [Video]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Samsung, Videos

Still playing with dummy units while shopping for your next phone at your local retailer? Those things are annoying, aren't they? You can hold them in your hand, but you can't touch or interact with them in any way.

Best Buy may just have the solution. You'll have to take a few steps back in order to see the new Nexus S demo unit in all its glory, because it's a fully functional 42" monster, complete with a working touch screen, live wallpaper, apps, and everything that a real Nexus S contains.

After hearing the news of the largest Android phone ever arriving to the San Carlos Best Buy, Jason Kincaid of TechCrunch rushed to get some hands-on with a device you can't even fully hug.

Dec

ZENONIA 2: The Lost Memories Hits The Market, Ready To Take Your RPG Dreams To The Next Level

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Apps/Games, Games, News

Happy holidays, RPG fans! If you're rocking an Android device, you're in luck - GAMEVIL has just let ZENONIA 2 loose into the Android Market, complete with retro graphics, PvP, and of course, a dark plot conveyed in text that looks like it came from a typewriter.

Judging by what I've seen in the short time I've had to play with it so far, I have no choice but to agree with GAMEVIL's claim that the game is "enhanced in every aspect compared to the original." In addition to the aforementioned retro graphics, PvP, and dark plot, your character can belong to one of four classes ("Paladin," "Shooter," Magician," and "Warrior"), and the gameplay spans 152 maps, 98 quests, and three different levels of difficulty.