OpenFeint, a social gaming network for Android and iOS users, already comes included with 158 Android games - not too shabby. However, it's about to get even better - five titles completely new to Android are launching today:
Additionally, the following six games have just been updated with OpenFeint compatibility:
Read More
Continuing with the numerous Android Market updates, Google just refreshed the categories that users can use to filter and browse Market apps and games. The changes are now live on both the backend Developer Console and the live Market.
Here is a table showing the previous and new categories (new categories are in green, modified in yellow):
| Previous app categories | New app categories | Previous game categories | New game categories |
|---|---|---|---|
| Books & Reference | Arcade & Action | Arcade & Action | |
| Business | Brain & Puzzle | Brain & Puzzle | |
| Comics | Comics | Cards & Casino | Cards & Casino |
| Communication | Communication | Casual | Casual |
| Education | Sports Games | ||
| Entertainment | Entertainment | ||
| Finance | Finance | ||
| Health | Health & Fitness | ||
| Lifestyle | Lifestyle | ||
| Multimedia | Media & Video | ||
| Medical | |||
| Music & Audio | |||
| News & Weather | News & Magazines | ||
| Personalization | |||
| Photography | |||
| Productivity | Productivity | ||
| Reference | |||
| Shopping | Shopping | ||
| Social | Social | ||
| Sports | Sports | ||
| Themes | Themes | ||
| Tools | Tools | ||
| Transportation | |||
| Travel | Travel & Local | ||
| Demo | |||
| Software Libraries | Libraries & Demo | ||
| Weather |
A shot of the Developer Console:
Thanks, yuku
Read More
Gameloft, the game publisher with arguably the most advanced Android games, which you, unfortunately, won't find in the Market (I guess they really hate giving Google the 30% fee), announced its latest daily Christmas promotion. On the 22nd day of December, Gameloft is giving away Hero Of Sparta, an RPG with awesome 3D graphics, for absolutely free.
The game's dedicated page lists it at $4.99, but this special url offers the freebie in exchange for your phone number, which Gameloft promises to use exclusively for sending the download link.
Read More
Earlier today, Kmobs updated the NexusKang live wallpaper app with the Nexus S live wallpaper background, compatibility with Android 2.3, and some bug fixes for good measure. For those unfamiliar with the app, it's pretty damn cool, letting you build customized versions of the standard Nexus live wallpaper found on the Nexus One. Users can choose their own backgrounds and even their own custom colors to fly around the screen. For a custom live wallpaper app, this one is top notch!
Read More
Google's recent updates to the Android Market have further refined the process of installing and purchasing apps, but they still haven't developed a suitable desktop alternative to browsing the thousands of Android apps available. AppBrain is a third-party website that fills this gap by allowing users to browse apps on their computers and then choose which ones to install on their phones.
AppBrain is a great tool, but it is limited by the policies of the Android Market, which allow almost any app to be installed.
Read More
Welcome to the weekly roundup of the best new Android applications and games that went live in the Market in the previous week or so.
Smart Diagram brings easy diagram making to Android
Organize ideas and thoughts with clear diagrams. Simple & Easy, No painful learning!
Usage: Flow Chart, Mind Map, Tree Diagram, etc
Features
- Create Shape with Gesture
- Drag & Drop Delete
- Manually Shape Movement
- MultiTouch Zooming
- Easy Sharing
The dead simple way to post everything online.
Read More
Take a look around Google and you can see that people are seriously peeved by the lack of notification LED in the Samsung Galaxy S line of devices (excluding the Epic 4G). Developer and i9000 owner Michael R. - better known as neldar on the XDA forums - was annoyed enough by the glaring omission that he decided to come up with a solution. The result: BLN (BackLight Notification).
The basic idea behind the app is quite simple: as there's no LED on the devices, the logical decision is to light up the soft-touch keys.
Read More
E*TRADE Financial and Fidelity Investments have finally made their mobile applications available to Android users. Up until now, both programs have been compatible exclusively with iOS and Blackberry OS. Although I'm not much of a stock trader myself, these apps are big wins for enterprise customers who use Android devices. Both are very slick and easy to use. I should also mention that both of them have very quick load times.
Read More
Way back in July, Lookout released the results of a study on app security, and found that many apps have access to user data that they have no need for - suggesting that there was plenty of potential for illicit information use. Two months later, a group of researchers from Intel, Penn State, and Duke came forth with data showing just that: 15 of the 30 apps tested sent GPS data, 7 sent unique hardware information, and a few sent more private information such as phone and SIM numbers.
Read More
Just a short while after releasing Need for Speed Shift, EA Mobile has brought another popular mobile game, The Sims 3, to the Android Market.
A special edition of The Sims 3 has been available for some time to T-Mobile customers who own the Samsung Vibrant, but today the app has been made available to all Android users.
The official description of the app (from AppBrain):
Read MoreENJOY THIS AWARD-WINNING SIMS EXPERIENCE OPTIMIZED FOR ANDROID™!
Loading ...
