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Two Weeks With The BlackBerry Z10, From An Android Perspective

David Ruddock — Sat, 18 May 2013 02:06:00 +0000

It's very easy to look at BlackBerry and see a technological Neandertal - the company that almost had it ("it" being smartphones), but then refused to evolve in order to keep up with the competition. Let's not mince words: the iPhone nearly killed BlackBerry, and Android is happily hammering the nails into its coffin.

After the disastrous Storm and Storm 2, few thought BlackBerry had the chops to break into full-touch devices in a big way, at least until Android really started taking off. At that point, it became clear pretty much anyone could make a half-decent smartphone, as long as the software was up to snuff (admittedly, that's about 95% of making a smartphone these days).

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Two Weeks With The BlackBerry Z10, From An Android Perspective was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Carmageddon Review: Good Old-Fashioned Mindless Mayhem, But Not For The Faint Of Heart

Bertel King, Jr. — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:57:00 +0000

I was seven years old when Carmageddon first hit store shelves in 1997. Even if the game hadn't been widely banned and censored around the world, I still wouldn't have gotten my hands on it. The off-the-wall violence and bloodshed would have been a bit too much for my parents to permit me to play with good conscience. While leagues of long-time fans poured money into the Kickstarter campaign that allowed Stainless Games to port the game to Android in the first place, I am visiting the game for the first time. Thank you, Kickstarters, for giving me the chance. To anyone considering giving Carmageddon a try - don't think, just buy.

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Carmageddon Review: Good Old-Fashioned Mindless Mayhem, But Not For The Faint Of Heart was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

LG Lucid 2 Quick Review: It Might Be The Best $350 (Off Contract) You Can Spend On A Verizon Phone

David Ruddock — Fri, 10 May 2013 17:46:00 +0000

We review a lot of high-end phones here on Android Police. In fact, we probably review a disproportionately low number of entry-level and mid-range devices, because many of them are, well, boring. We also know that you, our readers, are rarely interested in the often no-value value-proposition that these handsets tend to represent, especially in the US. Here, a wireless contract is two years long whether you're buying a refurbished Galaxy Nexus (ew!) or a shiny new Galaxy S4.

This is particularly frustrating for Verizon subscribers. Verizon's prepaid smartphone plans are basically worthless (strict phone options, no LTE). There is no national Verizon MVNO.

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LG Lucid 2 Quick Review: It Might Be The Best $350 (Off Contract) You Can Spend On A Verizon Phone was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Leviathan: Warships Review – You Wouldn't Buy A Speedboat With A Hole In It, Right?

Ryan Whitwam — Wed, 08 May 2013 16:49:00 +0000

The seas are a dangerous place, lads. The Marauders are thick amongst the waves, and you are but an inexperienced young commander, seeking to make a name at the helm of your fleet. Your ships are heavily armed, but it's going to take more than firepower to stay afloat in Leviathan: Warships. This game is heavy on strategy, long-term planning, and attention to detail. As good as some aspects of this game are, the controls threaten to sink it before we even get out of dry dock.

Gameplay

My first impression of Leviathan was that of another top-down real-time strategy game (RTS).

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Leviathan: Warships Review – You Wouldn't Buy A Speedboat With A Hole In It, Right? was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Acase BlackDiamond3 Lightning Review: A Bluetooth Speaker That Makes A Visual Spectacle Of Your Tunes

Cameron Summerson — Wed, 08 May 2013 00:05:00 +0000

We've covered quite a few Bluetooth speakers here at AP over the last year or so – but we've never seen one quite like the BlackDiamond3 from Acase ($100, Amazon). Simply put, the BlackDiamond3 (known from here forward as the BD3) adds a pleasing visual element to your tunes by way of embedded LED lighting and multiple "diamond edges" that refract the over 16,000 colors to create a beautiful and ambient light show. In other words, it's really freakin' pretty.

As pretty as it is, though, it's not perfect. But that's OK, you may still want it anyway.

The Good

It's pretty.

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Acase BlackDiamond3 Lightning Review: A Bluetooth Speaker That Makes A Visual Spectacle Of Your Tunes was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Game Review: Fieldrunners 2 Doesn't Fix What Isn't Broken

Bertel King, Jr. — Tue, 07 May 2013 21:44:00 +0000

Fieldrunners 2 from Subatomic Studios is the sequel to one of the most popular mobile tower defense games out there. If you loved the look and feel of the first game, you're in luck. Fieldrunners 2 turns the charm up a notch and ushers in a host of new content. But if you had your fill of the original or tower defense games in general, I wouldn't say there is enough here to bring you back into the genre.

The Gameplay

If you've run through a few tower defense games before, you'll know your way around Fieldrunners 2. Still, this sequel hits all the right notes for the genre.

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Game Review: Fieldrunners 2 Doesn't Fix What Isn't Broken was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

[Hands-On] Snoop Lion's Snoopify Sticks Stickers All Over Your Photizzle Fo'Shizzle

Bertel King, Jr. — Tue, 07 May 2013 19:57:00 +0000

Some apps enter the Play Store that leave me scratching my head wondering why someone would take the time to develop them. Snoop Lion's Snoopify is not one of those apps. This "photography" app fulfills a real societal need. Finally, I can be as cool as Snoop Dogg - erm - Lion. But that's just the beginning. My friends, family members, co-workers, and anyone else I've ever taken a picture of can now be as cool as Snoop Lion, too.

What it Does

The concept behind Snoopify isn't too difficult to grasp. It's a photography app that allows you to take a photo and apply some edits.

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[Hands-On] Snoop Lion's Snoopify Sticks Stickers All Over Your Photizzle Fo'Shizzle was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

HTC First Review: The Phone You Didn't Realize You'd Actually Want

Cameron Summerson — Mon, 06 May 2013 20:50:00 +0000

Facebook phone. Those two words in that order have been repeated over and over again for the last couple of years, simply as rumors for the longest time. Then the HTC Status hit the scene with an integrated Facebook button – still, Zuckerberg himself claimed that it wasn't Facebook's phone.

Many months later, the rumor mill started whirring once again about an alleged phone designed just for Facebook. This time, for some reason, the rumors held more water. And the more frequent the leaks got, the more we realized that this was probably the real deal – a Facebook phone was happening.

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HTC First Review: The Phone You Didn't Realize You'd Actually Want was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Automagic Is Tasker With Easy-To-Use Flowcharts, But Is That Enough? [Hands-On]

Bertel King, Jr. — Wed, 01 May 2013 20:48:00 +0000

Automagic attempts to be Tasker, only easier to use. The problem is that Tasker is already pretty straightforward, and while Automagic makes certain things easier, it makes others more difficult. Still, a little competition never hurt anyone, and there are many ways Automagic challenges Tasker to step up its game.

What it Does

The premise behind Automagic is nothing new. It is an app that automates tasks based on a wide range of variables. For example, you can tell Automagic to turn off auto-brightness when your phone's battery dips below 50%. If you don't want to receive any distractions while you're at your sweetheart's house, you can automagically set your phone to airplane mode when you're within 200 meters of their address.

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Automagic Is Tasker With Easy-To-Use Flowcharts, But Is That Enough? [Hands-On] was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Fuhu Nabi Jr. Lightning Review: The Perfect 'First Tablet' For Your Pre-Schooler

Cameron Summerson — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 20:33:00 +0000

Back in early 2012, if you would've said the name "Fuhu" to me, I would've paid no mind to your gibberish and went on about my business. Then in June I got my hands on the nabi 2 – a tablet designed specifically for children – and it put Fuhu on the map in a big way (for me, at least). For $200, the nabi 2 was (and still is) a seriously fantastic piece of hardware for the child in your life. And we're not talking about some Playskool garbage, either – it's the real deal. A full Android-powered tablet featuring an NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor.

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Fuhu Nabi Jr. Lightning Review: The Perfect 'First Tablet' For Your Pre-Schooler was written by the awesome team at Android Police.