News - 824/978 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

Xperia Play Prototype Previewed, So Far Only Plays PSX Games

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Games, News, Xperia Play (Zeus, PlayStation Phone)

Engadget was lucky enough to get its hands on a prototype of Sony's much-anticipated PlayStation Phone (believed to launch as the Xperia Play), and while not everything on the unit they got was finalized (Wi-Fi was completely broken), it does give us a pretty good idea of what to expect when the phone officially launches.

First, we have some of the most important specs:

4.0" 854 x 480 LCD display
Single-core 1 GHz processor (believed to be Qualcomm) with Adreno 205 GPU
512 MB RAM
Android 2.3 with Timescape UI
5 megapixel camera

That single-core processor might seem disappointing with all the excitement surrounding Tegra 2 phones, but the Xperia Play still manages to get high marks in a number of benchmark tests (including a Quadrant score of 1,689).

Jan

For Developers: Google Releases ADT For Eclipse v9.0.0 And SDK Tools r9, Now Offers Near-Instant AVD Restarts [Hands-On]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Android OS, Development, News, Tips & Tutorials

If you are a developer, you will want to fire up SDK Manager right now and perform an update. Besides the Honeycomb SDK preview that we'll talk about separately, Google also unleashed the next version of Android Development Tools, or simply ADT, for Eclipse as well as SDK Tools r9. I've been using ADT versions 9.0.0 preview 1, 2, and 3 for a number of weeks now, and I can tell you that 9.0.0 is a huge step up to where a serious set of development tools needs to be.

What's New?

Numerous improvements to the Visual Layout Editor, "go to declaration" hyperlink support for quicker navigation around declarations, near-instant AVD restarts (holy crap!!!

Jan

Android 3.0 Honeycomb Gets Huge Feature Breakdown, Preview SDK Released

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Development, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

The Android Developers Blog just announced the availability of a "preview" of the upcoming Android 3.0 SDK. Developers can start getting their Honeycomb on immediately, as the preview is available via the Android SDK and AVD manager as part of the Android SDK.

But even more exciting is the fact that the Android Developers page has been updated with a plethora of information regarding Honeycomb and its features. Where to begin?

What You Can See

The brief breakdown of Honeycomb's new elements according to Google:

New "holographic" UI
Bottom "system bar" for global status and notifications
Action bar for in-application controls
Redesigned home screen customization
Revamped "recent apps" menu
New keyboard
Improved text selection/copy/paste (multiselect, clipboard, and drag-and-drop)
Streamlined USB file transferring
Completely updated set of standard apps, including: Gmail, Calendar, Browser, Gallery, and Contacts

Under The Hood

Developers have reason to be hugely excited about Honeycomb, as it's bringing some major (awesome) changes to the Android OS.

Jan

Four New Phones Join Samsung's Galaxy Family: The Ace, Fit, Gio, And mini

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Devices By Manufacturer, Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Fit, Galaxy Gio, Galaxy Mini (Tass), News, Samsung

Last Updated: May 14th, 2012

Samsung is well-known for its ubiquity in the feature-phone market, and it's starting to look like they'll be employing the same assault-on-all-sides approach with Android phones too. As if they aren't struggling already to keep their phones up to date, Sammy is now digging a deeper hole with today's announcement of four budget-oriented devices set to prop up the rather premium Galaxy S.

Galaxy mini

Starting from the bottom, we have the Galaxy mini, intended to be a "first smartphone" for those crazy, hip youths you keep reading about. Not quite sure where the fun springs from in a 3.14-inch QVGA device, but Samsung is betting heavily on the "flashy color stripe along the side" to shift units.

Jan

Android Market Fails To Live Up To Google's Expectations, Improvements Needed

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Android OS, Apps/Games, Development, News

In the past year the Android platform has exploded with a number of new smartphones and tablets launching as well as significant growth in the number of apps available in the Android Market. Despite its success, Google is "not happy" with lacklustre sales of paid apps in the Market, says Eric Chu, Android's platform manager. Speaking from the Inside Social Apps conference held in San Francisco earlier this week, Chu went on to give a very broad outline of Google's plan for the Android Market in 2011.

First and foremost for Android in the new year is the in-app payment system.

Jan

Amazon UK Releases Android App

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

The UK branch of one of the largest retailers in the world - Amazon.com - came out with an Android app today, dedicated to the UK market. The app is very similar to the U.S. version and offers convenience and speed of a locally installed application over browsing amazon.co.uk and having to keep track of your logins. Barcode scanning, 1-click ordering, prime membership, wish lists, recommendations, customer reviews, order tracking and modification are all supported.

If you're in the UK, you can download the Amazon UK app by scanning or clicking the following QR code:

Note: The app is geo-coded and therefore not available in Markets outside the UK.

Jan

Kongregate Makes A Few Tweaks To Its App, Submits It To The Android Market Once More

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Applications, News

Having your app unceremoniously pulled from the Market just a few short hours after it launches can certainly be discouraging, but the developers behind Kongregate Arcade didn't let that stop them from trying again.

Indeed, Kongregate Arcade has returned to the Android Market, albeit with a few tweaks intended to please Google. Most importantly, the app no longer downloads game data to users' SD cards; instead, the information is stored in the standard browser cache (Kongregate Arcade is actually a WebKit-based browser with some heavy modifications). Additionally, the address bar is visible when the app is loading a game (though it switches back to full-screen mode shortly afterward); in the original version, the URL was completely hidden from the user.

Jan

Clearing Out Inventory? Samsung Vibrant Free From T-Mobile With New Contract, Expires Tomorrow

Posted by Nate Kimmey in News, T-Mobile, Vibrant

Want in on the Galaxy S action but not interested in any features like a front-facing camera or HSPA+? T-Mobile has a deal for you! Now until January 26 at 10:00 pm (PT), the Samsung Vibrant is free with a two-year contract, and is only available online. So, if you really can't wait a few more weeks for the Galaxy S 4G, this is probably the time to act.

Source: T-Mobile Twitter

Jan

[Updated: Registration Opens February 7th] Google I/O 2011 Site Goes Live, Confirms Increased Pricing, Includes Sessions On Google TV Apps, Honeycomb

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Android OS, Google, Google TV, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Every year, Google takes over the Moscone Center in San Francisco (a convenient train ride away from me) and hosts a full-blown conference called Google I/O. The usual schedule consists of 2 opening keynotes followed by presentations and demos related to all kinds of Google technologies. Google I/O also gives you an excellent chance to mingle with developers from all over the world, network, and exchange contact information. My favorite part is something called Fireside Chats, where developers from a specific team in Google sit around, talk about their product, and answer questions. Oh, and of course, the swag and t-shirts with secret QR codes.

Jan

Galaxy Tab Prices Slashed On Both Sides Of The Pond: $250 At T-Mobile USA, £359 At Tesco UK

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Deals, Galaxy Tab, News

TmoNews posted an image last night confirming that tomorrow, the price of the Galaxy Tab with a new T-Mobile 2-year contract will be cut to just $250 after mail-in rebate - $50 less than the current mark. Price cuts for the Galaxy Tab have been popping up all over it seems, and after Verizon announced that it'll be getting a new-and-improved 4G Galaxy Tab with a faster 1.2GHz processor, it makes sense. Unfortunately, the Tab will still cost you 500 big ones off-contract at T-Mo.

And if you live in the UK and are in the market to buy an Android tablet (or any tablet, for that matter), now is the time to consider the Samsung Galaxy Tab.