29
Jan

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 in?

22
Jan

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 your Android devices?

14
Jan
evil apple

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 gMail and Maps, would you prefer that OS?"

As promised, he posted the results the next day.

08
Jan
ics

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).

cupcake ics

Left: Cupcake (1.5). Right: Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0)

Again, while it just plain looks a lot nicer now, things are much deeper than what can be shown in a screenshot.

04
Jan
image_thumb202_thumb_thumb

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

unnamed unnamed (1) unnamed (2)

AirDroid

Download AirDroid from Google Play
QR code for https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.sand.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 pesky plugins required.

31
Dec
hardware_vs_software_buttons

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:

hardware_vs_software_buttons

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

27
Dec
image_thumb202_thumb
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

unnamed (8) unnamed (9) unnamed (10)

Shadowgun

Download Shadowgun from Google Play
QR code for https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.madfingergames.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 clear from the day we first saw screenshots of this game that it was going to do big things.

25
Dec
winter_droid2

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Did You Add A Payment Method To Your Market Account During The "10 Billion Promo?"

This is part two of this weeken's poll; for part 1, see Are You Giving An Android Device For The Holidays?

The holidays are upon us. For those of you who received gifts, did you get an Android device? Vote in the poll below, then head down to the comments to share.

And from all of us at Android Police, happy holidays!

Did You Get An Android Device For The Holidays?

24
Dec
winter_droid

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Did You Add A Payment Method To Your Market Account During The "10 Billion Promo?"

Another year, and another holiday season that seemingly leapt up out of the blue. For those of you who give gifts during the holidays, are you giving the gift of Android to anyone this year? Sound off in the poll below, and check back for tomorrow's follow-up holiday question.

Are You Giving An Android Device For The Holidays?

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