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Those who know me or follow me on Google+ know that I love Mass Effect. Actually, that may be a bit of an understatement; I've had 4 characters that played every single mission and side-mission in both the first and second game, and I just finished the trilogy a few days ago. And now, I have a new way to show my love: with a new Mass Effect 3 live wallpaper (LWP) from NVIDIA and BioWare.
Those of you from the early days of Android may remember App Inventor - a Google project that allowed people to create apps for Android by dragging and dropping bits of code - no programming experience required. More recently, Google transferred the App Inventor to MIT, where it was open sourced. But the App Inventor (AI) is still a bit tricky to just open and jump right in to - a proper guide through the AI would allow someone to utilize its full potential, and create more complex apps in less time.
At this point, the list of HTC devices that will receive ICS isn't new - they initially announced most of them via Facebook on February 9, and expanded the list a little (again via Facebook) just over a week later. Now, the company has posted the list on the HTC Blog. While there are no surprises to be found, at least they're going super official with the announcement - and putting things in nice list form:
March Madness officially begins tomorrow (March 13), and before all is said and done on April 2, a whopping 67 games will have been played. It's tough to keep up with the sheer number of games going on, but it just got a whole lot easier thanks to the fresh-on-the-market official app, NCAA March Madness Live.
To any hardcore modder, overclocking (or underclocking) your CPU is one of the best ways to get the most from your device. While some popular ROMs now have the ability to control your CPU baked in, many don't - and in the earlier days, virtually none did. Enter SetCPU - the de facto standard.
The GO team is, by now, pretty well known - and for good reason. They offer an unbelievable number of ways to overhaul your phone - such as GO SMS Pro, GO Contacts, and GO Keyboard - not to mention dozens of themes for all of their apps. But they are perhaps most well known for GO Launcher EX, and the tons of widgets (and more!) Now, they've released a new one to go with the Launcher: GO Weather Widget.
When Asus chose to release the Transformer Prime only in 32GB ($499) and 64GB ($599) models, I couldn't help but scratch my head over the lack of a $399 16GB model. Presumably it was because either the 16GB original Transformer didn't sell nearly as well as the 32GB version, or because the company was trying to market the TP as a more upmarket device. Whatever the case, it's had me thinking (especially in light of all the new tablets that were announced during MWC): how much storage is enough for the average person?
If you've ever taken a look at the top Android games (or if you just follow Android news closely), you've almost certainly heard of Kairosoft before. They're the developer behind major hits like Game Dev Story and Grand Prix story. Now the company is back with a new title: Dungeon Village.
In early January, ARCHOS let everyone know that the update to Android 4.0 would be coming "in the near future" to all G9 tablets, and a week later we saw them demoing a said update at CES. The rep at CES said the update was scheduled to roll out in the first week of February - a target which the company obviously missed. Now they've taken to their Facebook page once again to apologize for the delay and announce that "they fully anticipate deploying the upgrade within the next two weeks."
We first discussed the impressively-featured, but somewhat ugly, CloudAround Music Player when it was released about two months ago. The developers promised a "slick new interface" was coming soon, and boy have they delivered - as well as brought some new, even more impressive features.
Sony brought some sleek new devices to MWC, but we were surprised to see nothing truly groundbreaking - specifically, a lack of quad-core CPUs. CNET Asia got a few minutes with Stephen Sneeden, product marketing manager for Sony Mobile, and he clarified the companies stance, saying that we likely won't see quad-core phones from the company until early 2013.
Back in the early days of Android, HTC's Sense UI really stood out as a much-needed step up in the UI department, compared both to stock Android and to competitors custom UIs. Like a hard-partying rock star, though, it just didn't age well; it went from sleek, helpful, and attractive, to bloated and borderline obtrusive. Sense 4.0 - which we spotted slapped atop of Ice Cream Sandwich - was definitely a step against that direction in some ways, but still offended some people - Cameron included.
Popular game, book, and textbook site Half.com (owned and operated by eBay) now has an official app, and as with just about every other shopping app, it allows you to browse the virtual store shelves, search for specific items, and place orders. It also includes a nifty barcode scanner to help make sure you snag the right item (and don't get ripped off... *ahem* college bookstores).
Earlier this week, unofficial word came out that Google wasn't happy with Music's performance to date. I attribute part of the problem to the mediocre music app, though that's something that could be remedied by the unofficial Google Music API in the near future. Despite its shortcomings, some people - myself included - use the app. Others use the app that comes stock bundled with manufacturer UIs (for example, Sense, TouchWiz, and Blur all include their own custom music players). Still others use third-party apps, available on the market or as APKs (for example, Artem uses PowerAmp).
A few days ago, we heard unofficial reports that Google was disappointed with the performance of Music thus far. While it's barely been out for a full quarter to date, there have been a few major factors holding the service back. In my opinion, one of the biggest factors holding it back thus far is the lack of an API - or, in English: third-party app support for the service. Luckily, a developer by the name of Simon Weber read the post about Google Music and got in touch a few days ago to let me know that he had a solution to the problem: an unofficial API he's been working on.
A few months ago, Liam spent some time with 17 mobile security apps, one of which was an app called Cerberus. He came away quite impressed - so impressed, in fact, that he crowned it the winner (and, as a license is just $4, it was also crowned the best for the budget-minded).
Just three short weeks ago, we shared news of a major update to Dropbox for Android that, among other things, brought automatic photo/video syncing to the service. At the time, it was still in beta and only available for download directly from Dropbox, but now a final version of the update has hit the Market. The changelog: