App Reviews - 6/19 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Oct

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 7] Contapps Contacts & Dialer Is An Undoubtedly Impressive, Beautiful Dialer Replacement

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer

Continuing on the quest for the perfect dialer to replace Android's stock phone application, I've come across Contapps Contacts & Dialer, an app I had never heard of until I began scouring the market. For a free dialer app, it has a lot to offer, and I'm surprised that it isn't more popular.

At A Glance

Contapps is a dialer replacement that is simple, practical, and well-designed, with enough extra features to make it feel new. While it may have a couple of redundancies or inconsistencies, it's definitely a great dialer, and definitely has a shot at being my everyday dialer solution (at least until I get my hands on Ice Cream Sandwich).

Oct

[Review] Basemark OS Prepared To Bring Rightware's Industrial Grade Benchmarking To Android

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Reviews

Pretty much the first thing that gets done to a new Android device when it hits the market is benchmarking. The Android community seems to be obsessed with benchmarking their devices over and over, and comparing the results to other devices. Personally I've always found this practice to be a curiosity at best, mainly because apps such as Quadrant give somewhat nebulous scores, which are hard to compare objectively, and offer little in the way of exact measurements. Rightware, a well known provider of benchmarking tools for various platforms, is looking to disambiguate the benchmarking process, however, with Basemark OS for Android.

Oct

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 6] Angel Dialer Offers An Alternative To The Stock Dialer For Those Who Like Simplistic, Pre-Defined Interfaces

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer

Joining the vast crowd of dialer replacements in the Android Market, our hunt has brought us to Angel Dialer, an uncomplicated app that effectively replaces the stock Android dialer, but which may have compromised necessary functionality for a no-frills implementation.

At A Glance

While Angel Dialer takes a concerted stance against superfluous features, its simplicity is not always a plus. While its features work, and it provides the same basic functionality we've seen before, it is lacking a few things that would take it up a level, and make it a decent dialer replacement. As it stands, I wouldn't say it's in the running for my day-to-day dialer app, but it does have some positive points.

Oct

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 5] DW Contacts & Phone & Dialer: A Little Cluttered, But A Powerful Option Nonetheless

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer

From developer DWP, DW Contacts & Phone & Dialer (hereafter referred to as DW Contacts) makes our fifth entry in the hunt for the best dialer, combining a slew of features into one versatile (if a little clumsy) interface.

At A Glance

The first thing I notice about most apps is their visual design. DW Contacts was no different in this regard, but that isn't necessarily a good thing. DW doesn't offer anything really new in the design department, except for the ability to change the colors, transparency, and font size of pretty much any element of the app. This is nice, but nowhere near as flexible as the theming we've seen with certain other dialers.

Oct

[Review + Video] Riptide GP For Tegra Devices - Now With Controller Support

Posted by Cameron Summerson in App Reviews

Modern smartphones and tablets are, without a doubt, multifunctional devices made to replace those that serve only a single purpose --gaming devices, mp3 players, and, in some cases, even laptops are all covered under the smartphone/tablet umbrella. As such, it's no surprise that I spend almost as much time playing games on my Tab 10.1 as I do other, more productive things.

However, one of my biggest complaints about gaming on a touch-only device is the controls. I hate touch controls. They're awkward, uncomfortable, and all-around difficult in most cases. The fact that I'm heavy handed doesn't help, either -- I'm always afraid of damaging my device during an intense gaming session.

Oct

[Review] Car Tunes Makes It Easy To Keep Your Eyes On The Road While Finding The Perfect Justin Bieber Song

Posted by Brad Ganley in App Reviews, Applications, Apps/Games, Reviews

Every once in a while, an app comes along that revolutionizes the Android experience in an unimaginable way. More often, though, we get apps that simply regurgitate the same thing we've seen a thousand times before but with a different colored title bar or some such minor adjustment. A happy medium between the two, however, is necessary to the advancement of the platform. Perhaps the most important type of app is one that provides the functionality that we've been using the whole time but solidly improves how it is done. Car Tunes is just that type of application.

Car Tunes is one of the simplest apps I've ever seen.

Oct

Zimperium Finally Releases 'Anti' For Android, Allows You To Use Penetration Testing Tools On The Go

Posted by John Thompson in App Reviews, Applications, News

Last Updated: October 21st, 2011

The days where penetration testers carry around laptops with them to test the security of networks seem to be numbered, with Zimperium's 'Anti' bringing a lot of those tools over from the PC to Android smartphones.

It's been a long time coming, but Anti is now available to download to your phone for free from the Zimperium website. For some strange reason, you will have to install 'AntiCredit' from the Android Market in order to actually use the application effectively by buying credits, meaning that you will have two apps which, essentially, perform the same function.

After you have downloaded and installed Anti from the web (you will first need to enable the installation of 3rd party applications by going to Settings > Applications > Unknown sources), you are prompted to buy AntiCredits in order to actually use many of the features within the app.

Sep

[Mobile Security App Shootout, Part 16] XtraSEC Mobile Security Offers The Most Basic Protection At A Very Modest Price

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Mobile Security App Shootout

Landing at number 16 in the Mobile Security App Shootout is XtraSEC Mobile Security, from developer wedjohn57. XtraSEC is dedicated specifically to loss and theft protection, providing a clean, no frills experience, an intuitive interface, and support for multiple devices.

At A Glance

XtraSEC is certainly a lightweight app, housing most of its power in the app's online interface. XtraSEC comes in both free and paid flavors. The free version lacks Remote Locking, Data Wipe, Battery Info and on demand SIM information, but the paid version comes in at a modest $1.99/year. The app's design is straight-forward, and the online interface is convenient and intuitive, offering up all your options in only a couple of screens.

Sep

[App Review] Football League Clubs' App Offers Club News And Game Highlights On Your Phone, But Lacks Finishing Touches

Posted by John Thompson in App Reviews, Applications

Last Updated: October 3rd, 2011

Football. The "beautiful game" full of highs and lows, drama and controversy, near misses and outright blunders. Americans call it soccer, but in England, where we have the best leagues in the world and the best fans to match, we know better than that.

It's only right, then, that we have a great Android application to match all of the football that goes on week-in-week-out, and thanks to the Football League Clubs' App, we may have just that!

The Football League app has been available for the iPhone since the start of last season, offering users a range of news, team player profiles and video content.

Sep

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 4] GO Contacts EX - Buggy At Times, But Full Of Convenient Options

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer

Bringing us familiar dialer features and fun design touches, GO Contacts EX is coming in at number four on our Hunt for the Best Dialer replacement for your Android phone. GO Contacts comes to us from the always awesome GO Dev Team, the developers behind other popular apps including GO launcher, GO keyboard, GO weather, and GO SMS (Note from the editor: If you haven't tried out GO SMS Pro, I highly recommend it.).

At A Glance

GO Contacts EX appears to be a simple enough dialer replacement, with all the features we've come to expect - the dial pad, call log, contacts, groups and favorites.