Polls

Feb

[Weekend Poll] Would You Like Some Stylus With Your Tablet, Sir?

The topic of using a stylus with a tablet is a bit controversial. When discussing the iPad in 2010, Steve Jobs (semi-)famously said, "...if you see a stylus, they blew it." And for the most part, recent tablets - whether they're running Android, iOS, or something else - have been designed with that philosophy in mind. Run a quick Google search, though, and you can see two things: styluses are hotly discussed in news and editorials, and they're on sale everywhere and in every price range.

For some (okay, few), using a tablet is really just easier ...

Feb

135

[Weekend Poll] Tracking The Android Invasion: How Many Android Devices Have You Owned?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Are You Using A Custom Launcher?

With over 700,000 Android devices being activated per day and 3.7 million activated over Christmas alone, it should be pretty old news by now that our favorite OS is taking over. And as with most fanboys, loyalty to the Android OS runs deep - many who purchase one Android product fall in love with it, and are likely to purchase more (and Google's syncing capabilities certainly don't hurt!)

So, how many Android devices have you owned? For the purposes of ...

Feb

[Weekend Poll] Are You Using A Custom Launcher?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Do You Use Live Wallpapers?

We've said it many times before, and I'll say it again: one of the best things about Android is how customizable the entire experience is. One of the easiest and most comprehensive ways to customize your device - aside from rooting and ROMing, that is - is to use a custom launcher such as ADWLauncher EX, GO Launcher EX, and Launcher Pro. Even stock, these apps can revamp your device's appearance and basic behavior, and coupled with the bevy ...

Jan

[Weekend Poll] Do You Use Live Wallpapers?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Do You Use An Antivirus App On Your Android Device?

That Android supports live wallpapers (LWPs) is a cool feature, no doubt about it. But to many people, it's no more than an impractical novelty - something that looks cool but kills performance and battery life. Still, they remain popular on the Market, presumably among more casual owners who don't notice (or care) about the performance hit, or just don't know better... or perhaps even hardcore users don't mind the trade-off.

So, which camp do you fall ...

Jan

[Weekend Poll] Do You Use An Antivirus App On Your Android Device(s)?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see If Android Ceased To Exist, What OS Would Your Next Device Be?

Antivirus apps are big business on Android. Just run a search on our site and you can see there are tons of big-name apps for our beloved OS that help protect users from malware, track lost devices, and manage privacy (among other things). Millions have downloaded such apps, and sometimes paid fairly large sums (in relation to other apps, anyway) for the protection they offer.

Simply put, then, do you use antivirus on any of ...

Jan

165

[Weekend Poll] If Android Ceased To Exist, What OS Would Your Next Device Be?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Ice Cream Sandwich Takes Android To A Whole New Level Of Usability And Polish - But Is It Good Enough For Your Parents To Use?

A few days ago, redditor fernandizzel posted a hypothetical poll: "If MS & Apple had their way and Android ceased to exist one year from today, what OS would you use?" The choices were fairly obvious: Blackberry, Windows Phone, iOS, or Other. A second question was also posed: "If Google supported one platform in particular by providing better apps such as ...

Jan

[Weekend Poll] Ice Cream Sandwich Takes Android To A Whole New Level Of Usability And Polish - But Is It Good Enough For Your Parents To Use? [Fixed]

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Polls

Update: I had the wrong poll displayed for about an hour after posting. Sorry everyone - correct poll is live!

Let's face it: when Android first officially dropped, it was ugly as hell and not exactly designed with non-techies in mind. But as we've seen in the past 3 years (and a few months) since then, things have come a long way (albeit gradually at first) - the look, feel, and usability of vanilla Android became a major focus in the last year or so, especially with Gingerbread (2.3), Honeycomb(3.0), and Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0).

^{Left: Cupcake (1.5).}...

Jan

[The First Annual Android Police Andy Awards] And The Winner Of The "Best New App Of 2011" Award Is...

Posted by David Ruddock in Android Police Andy Awards: 2011, Polls

You made your nominations, and we've selected four of the most popular titles named as "Best New Android App of 2011" for you to vote on. You voted. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner.

Best New Android App Of 2011: Reader's Choice

And the Andy goes to.... AirDroid - with 50% of the vote, making it (barely) the majority choice.

AirDroid

AirDroid is a dead-simple-to-use browser-based device manager for your Android phone. Via Wi-Fi, it quickly and easily connects you to your device from almost any web browser on your computer, Windows or Mac - no ...

Dec

[Weekend Poll] Do You Prefer Hardware Or Software Buttons?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Did You Get An Android Device For The Holidays?

In tablets, having buttons on-screen rather than built into the body is standard operating procedure. On phones, however, there's really only one that eschews physical buttons for software, and that's the Galaxy Nexus. Still fuzzy on what I mean? Take a look at the comparison shot below, lifted from our review of the Galaxy Nexus:

^{On the left, the Galaxy Nexus, with its three software buttons displayed on-screen. On the right, a Motorola Atrix, with its four hardware}...

Dec

[The First Annual Android Police Andy Awards] And The Winner Of The "Best New Android Game Of 2011" Award Is...

Posted by David Ruddock in Android Police Andy Awards: 2011, Games, Polls

Last Updated: December 31st, 2011

You made your nominations, and we've selected four of the most popular titles named as "Best New Android Game of 2011" for you to vote on. You voted. Ladies and gentlemen, we have a winner.

Best New Android Game Of 2011: Reader's Choice

And the Andy goes to.... Shadowgun - by a razor thin 14 votes.

Shadowgun

While it was by the narrowest of margins that Shadowgun won a plurality of the votes (32% - see below), it's not hard to see why - truly amazing graphics, great over the shoulder gameplay, and console-level polish made it ...