Sunday, April 15, 2012

Update - 239



Posted: 17 Mar 2012 03:15 PM PDT

So, you found this really cool HD wallpaper. Or, you took a nice picture of your pet or loved one. Now you want to use it as wallpaper for your Android phone, but you couldn't care any less about pixels and screen resolution sizes. There's an app that lets you take any image you want and does the dirty work of resizing and scaling it so it matches your device's screen resolution seamlessly. With just a few taps, you get instant customized wallpaper.
The Wallpaper Wizardrii app is indeed changing the way you set and customize wallpapers on your Android device. If you're someone very particular with personalizing your display, you'll find this app to be of great use.

Hassle-free Customization

The app's biggest asset so far is that it allows you to take virtually any image you want and scales it for you so you can apply it as wallpaper. Worried that it's not the right size? Wallpaper Wizardrii will take care of it for you. The app can't take small images and enlarge them without the images’ becoming pixelated, though, so it's best to use an image with a bigger size and resolution.


Myriad Options

Appealing to both the average mobile device user who just wants to get it done and to the hardcore customization enthusiast who wants to tweak and fine-tune settings, the app offers a variety of options, including:
  • Crop Exact — Crops the image with horizontal and vertical control of the crop. The image will be displayed the same way it is being displayed within the app.
  • Crop Landscape — Crops the image with proportional landscape orientation.
  • Crop Portrait — Crops the image with proportional portrait orientation.
  • Scale — Allows you to expand or shrink any image to fit best within the display.
  • Solid Color — Sets only the background color selected from the main window as wallpaper.
Note: The No Scroll option is not compatible with all Home apps. LauncherPro and ADW work well. Scroll works with all Home apps, though.


After you've applied the settings, you can easily save your image and apply a few more tweaks. Now your very own personalized wallpaper is all set.
Use this app for tweaking your wallpaper displays.  Download Wallpaper Wizardrii free from the Google Play Store.
Ever had a favorite wallpaper that doesn’t fit nicely on your Android device’s display?  How did you manage to get the wallpaper to look nice on your device?

This article, Wallpaper Wizardrii: Taking full control of wallpaper management on Android , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 17 Mar 2012 02:50 PM PDT
nokia-microsoft-wp7
In a couple of gray-hat marketing moves dating back to the end of January, Nokia's CEO, Stephen Elop, first bashed the Android ecosystem, decrying its fragmentation, then went on to claim that quad-core smartphones are uncalled for, as they drastically reduce battery life.
In a Pocket-lint interview published back in mid-January, Elop was quick to point out that Nokia has a strong desire to differentiate their future smartphones as an alternative to both the iPhone and Android smartphones. He also left the impression that Nokia aims to further strengthen its association with Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 OS. Moving on to pick on their biggest competitor, Android, Nokia's CEO said: "We don't want fragmentation being introduced into Windows Phone because we are beginning to see how in a certain other eco-system that fragmentation becomes a problem."
In a interview released on the same day as the above mentioned declarations, this time in a discussion with TechRadar, Nokia's Elop tried to undermine the technological accomplishment of having quad-core processors in a smartphone. In what's obviously a marketing move destined to protect the honor of the 1.4GHz single-core Qualcomm CPU used in the first three Nokia WP7 handsets, Elop said: "You don't need a quad-core phone unless you want to keep your hands warm in your pocket. We're believers in the experience so, fine you have this camera density and you have that camera density. Let's put the pictures side-by-side and we'll show which ones are better." If it feels like the quote above doesn't make that much sense, rest assured: you are not alone!
Finnish cellphone maker Nokia is the perfect example of an once-glorious company that somehow managed to lose grip of a huge hunk  of market. On decline for the past decade, Nokia definitely had a unique approach to smartphones, one that not a lot of customers (especially those from the US) seemed to agree with, as sales figures suggest. As a quick refresher, Nokia decided to stop using their in-house Symbian OS, persuaded by a hefty $1 billion deal with Microsoft to move to Windows Phone 7. Before the deal was announced, many were hoping that the #1 cellphone maker in the world will jump on the Android bandwagon.
Does this look like a marketing move to you? Do you find any logic to Stephen Elop’s claims? Let us know what you think in the comment section below!

This article, Nokia’s CEO takes on Android and quad-core smartphones , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 17 Mar 2012 01:54 PM PDT
Google Play
OK, we don't know if it's something in the water, but those class action lawsuits against Google just keep popping up like mushrooms in the rainy season. The latest such suite concerns the Google Play Store, previously called Android Market. It's a classic example of buyer's remorse (taken to a whole new, crazy, level) — two unsatisfied Android app customers, Dodd J. Harriss and Stephen Sabatino, are suing Google over the company's 15-minute return policy and alleged misleading information on apps.
The two apps in question are "Learn Chinese Mandarin Pro" and "aBTC", an Android BitTorrent client. Upon purchasing the apps for $4.83 and $4.99, respectively, the two gents soon realized that they didn't particularly like them. But of course, the 15-minute policy prevented the two from getting refunds. As for the misleading bit, apparently, it's Google's fault for failing to make sure that apps are functioning properly and are compatible with all Android phones.
The two are seeking compensation for the damages they suffered, plus the legal fees and cost of hiring attorneys. Hmm, whatever happened to sending abusive polite e-mails to the developers and asking for refunds?
For your information, Google changed the return window policy for apps bought from the Play Store from 24 hours to 15 minutes,  back in December 2010. At the time, Google justified the move  by saying that the majority of users did their refunds within minutes, anyway. Yes, they got away with this excuse.
Google has some other class-action suits to worry about.  In February, the company found itself in hot water over the alleged circumvention of Safari browser's privacy features, which forced the browser to accept tracking cookies. And the company is now facing a class-action lawsuit initiated by privacy groups that argue Google has violated several user privacy laws. In case you are worried about yours, check out this awesome guide on Android privacy, right here.
Do you think the 15-minute return policy of the Google Play Store is too short? What would you've done in a similar situation?

This article, Google sued over Play Store’s 15-minute return policy , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 17 Mar 2012 01:28 PM PDT
andromo
Indigo Rose Software announced today the launch of Andromo – a free online Android app-making service that requires no programming prowess on your side. Thanks to the visual approach of this online app maker, anyone can use Andromo to make a professional Android app and put it in front of an audience of millions. Or, at least, that’s the declared goal of the startup.
andromo
With Google pulling support for its Android Inventor service last year (although, it came back from the dead at MIT), app development had become an arcane art only accessible to the initiated. This is where Andromo aims to step in — the tool gives everyone the opportunity to flex their app-creation skills. Indigo Rose claims that over 53,000 apps have been built already, by over 39,000 beta-testers, and that’s before the tool’s official launch. But, if it lives up to its lofty promises, Andromo has the potential to become not only popular, but a true game-changer as well.
Andromo users can customize their apps and choose to add features from a list of popular activities including Facebook feeds, interactive maps, Flickr photo galleries, RSS feeds, and many more. If your app or product requires customer interaction, there is an 'Email Us' and 'Contact Us' feature as well. Not to leave anyone behind, musicians and bands can add music players, sound boards, and Youtube videos to reach their fans.
Unlike cross-platform app creators, Andromo is tailored specifically to produce Android-based applications, allowing users to take advantage of the many functions and features that are unique to Android devices.

But it’s not all fun and games — app-making with Andromo can be a profitable venture as well. Andromo users can obtain revenue either through advertising or through app sales. 50% of the revenue generated from ads goes to Andromo. If users want to sell their apps, ads can be removed for a price of $99. Would be developers can list their apps for sale on the Google Play Store, where they have the potential to reach an audience of millions.
Andromo has published over 1,500 apps on the Play Store and is continually adding features to improve its service. You can start creating Android apps right away, by signing up for free at www.andromo.com
Watch a walkthrough video of the Andromo service here


This article, App making is easier than ever before with Andromo , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 17 Mar 2012 11:12 AM PDT
kainy android app
Kainy is a new Android app from “indie” developer Jean-Sebastian Royer that has managed to raise quite a few interested eyebrows. Although not one of the most polished apps around, the Kainy Android app (available for $5.04 in Google Play) works paired with its free PC counterpart, allowing you to stream games from your Windows PC to your Android smartphone or tablet. While not entirely visionary – as I'll explain by the end of this article — the app is an excellent example on how the concept of streaming might be used in the future to intermediate the delivery of more processing power from a fixed system to a mobile device.
Kainy Android
Although Kainy can stream any app from your computer to your Android device, it does so at a low video quality, one that makes text barely visible, an obvious impediment for browsing or editing documents. If you're a gamer though, you might find it awesome that you are now able to play Dirt 3 on your Android smartphone.
The app provides a quick way to customize user input control (in addition to the 100 hundred default templates), so it shouldn't take you more than a few minutes to get up and running. Obviously, a mouse and keyboard will always provide the best control for a first person shooter, so don't expect to rank up the charts in your next Modern Warfare multiplayer session. Other games genres (especially card games) are controllable enough to provide a decent gaming experience. But, as I mentioned before, the idea behind Kainy is what matters most here.
Here’s an official presentation that should give you a glimpse on how the app works:

Streaming applications, with a twist

The concept of using a PC with more processing power to run games and then stream them back to a low-performance system is certainly not new. OnLive, the increasingly popular cloud gaming platform, has been showcasing proper use of this philosophy since its US launch in June 2010 (UK users were granted access more than a full year later, in September 2011). The principle is fairly simple: the game runs on OnLive's servers, and you just control the streaming content, which dumbs down the system requirements on your computer to just a couple of basic functions: the ability to play videos and access to a proper internet connection.
Also not new is the idea of streaming the entire Windows 7 experience to your Android tablet, as OnLive's Desktop Android App does by giving you remote access to a Windows 7 system, complete with Microsoft's Office suite installed. As it was bound to happen though, Microsoft lawyers recently stepped up and warned that OnLive was breaking licensing agreements, suggesting that Microsoft is entitled to some financial compensation.
I'm sure that, over the next couple of months, more and more apps will show up in Google Play that will allow you to control a Windows machine – be it your own PC or a virtual one hosted in the cloud — over Wi-Fi. The idea is already out there, all that is left is to polish the end result.

This article, Play Skirim or Battlefield 3 on your Android device via Kainy , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 17 Mar 2012 10:00 AM PDT

Prestigio Multipad 9.7
The tablet PC is slowly growing into an essential commodity, moving away from its initial status of luxury product. The popularity of tablets has now reached a stage at which schools and universities are recommending students to use tablets instead of laptops and even textbooks. In turn, the growing demand for tablets has spurred the popularity of low to mid-range tablets, which give consumers cheap alternatives to most of the high-end tablets (yes, the iPad) released so far.
Joining the list of ambitious, yet affordable slates is the Prestigio Multipad 9.7 Android 4.0 tablet, announced at the recently concluded CeBIT tech fair in Hannover. As the name suggests, we are talking about a 9.7-inch tablet, identical in size with the iPad. Also like the iPad, it features IPS (In-Plane Switching) technology, which provides extended viewing angles, allowing you use your tablet without keeping it exactly in front of your eyes. The Multipad looks and feels like a high-end device, with a metallic finish back plate, but with rubber-coated pads along the sides, which make it very easy to grip. Every unit comes with a “luxury case”, which, we must admit, looks very classy and provides a safe portability option.

Prestigio Multipad 9.7 back
The specifications are what remind us that the Prestigio Multipad 9.7 is, in fact, considered a low to mid-range device.
Specs include:
  • 1 Ghz ARM Cortex A8 processor
  • 1 GB DDR3 RAM
  • Android 4.0 OS
  • 9.7-inch multi-touch capacitive touchscreen, with LED backlighting
  • 8GB Flash memory, expandable to 32GB with microSD
  • 0.3 MP front camera (no back camera)
  • 6000 mAH battery
  • “Advanced” wireless LAN adapter
  • Mini USB port, HDMI out port
While the specifications are standard fare for most low and mid-range Android tablets, we were impressed by the Multipad’s powerful battery, which guarantees up to 6 hours of video playback.
The device also boasts great usability right out of the box with numerous "carefully selected" pre-installed apps such as Skype, Youtube, and many more. We guess that these apps may prove useful for the users who just want to consume content, without worrying about apps and configurations. I know my Mom would like it.
The Prestigio Multipad 9.7 seems to be a very good option in the budget-friendly class, considering the estimated price tag of approximately $260. Prestigio announced that the Multipad 9.7 will be in stores from April 2012, but we haven’t learned yet about the markets where it will be available.
Here is a short video for further information on the Prestigio MultiPad 9.7, courtesy of NoteBookItalia.it.


This article, Preview: Prestigio Multipad 9.7 – a 10″ Android 4.0 tablet for $260 , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 17 Mar 2012 09:15 AM PDT
Cell Tower ExtremeTech
According to a survey conducted by market research company NPD Group, the US 4G smartphone market has grown almost sixfold during the Q4 2010 – Q4 2011 interval. Accounting for 35% of all smartphones sold in the US during the last quarter of 2011, the market was fairly quick to grow out of the 6% it hold in the same period of 2010. Confusingly enough, the most popular 4G network in the US was reported to be HSPA+, standing at 22%. As HSPA + is actually a 3G-based standard, and not actually 4G per-se, many will interpret the real 4G smartphone market share as standing at only 13%.
The fastest 4G network in the United States is LTE, as Verizon pointed out when they first rolled out the HTC Thunderbolt — the  first smartphone to ever run on a US LTE network – back in March 2011. Currently offered by AT&T and Verizon, only 7% of the smartphones purchased in the last quarter of 2011 run on LTE. However, the LTE smartphone market is likely to continue its growth over the following quarters, as Verizon and AT&T continue to increase their LTE coverage. In addition, both of the remaining major carriers, Sprint and T-Mobile are also planning LTE network rollouts over the following year. Wi-Max, Sprint's failed attempt of providing an LTE alternative (although LTE is faster) holds a Q4 2011 market share of 6%, down 4 percentage points, quarter-to-quarter.
final-jpeg
The main reason why HSPA+ is at 22% and “real” 4G at only 13% (when the latter is obviously a better choice), is the fact that Apple's iPhone 4s – the best selling smartphone in the US — runs on HSPA+, and not LTE. The best selling LTE smartphone is reported to be the HTC Thunderbolt, while the most popular Wi-Max smartphone was the HTC EVO.
Where will we go from LTE? Well, the next evolutionary step is the LTE Advanced standard, expected to reach the consumer market sometime around 2015.
The same report from NPD Group suggests that only 26% of the customers who purchased an LTE smartphone were explicitly looking for 4G technology, compared to only 9% of all smartphone buyers. Is LTE important for you guys? Let us know in the comment section below!

This article, Study: the 4G smartphone market grew sixfold over the last year , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 17 Mar 2012 08:07 AM PDT

Will your device see CM9?
With the whole world craving a bite of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0),  it’s understandable that users with Android devices that are older than a year and half wonder whether they’ll be able to upgrade to the latest flavor of Android. Most manufacturers have been very hush-hush about the devices that will receive official Android 4.0 support. This leaves impatient users no choice but to turn to alternate and unofficial means to obtain their Android fix.
Such an alternative solution is provided by CyanogenMod. CyanogenMod is a customized, aftermarket firmware distribution for several Android devices, designed to provide better performance and reliability than the Android-based ROMs released by vendors. It also provides features and enhancements that are currently not available on the “factory” firmware.
CyanogenMod programmers have been hard at work to come out with an upgrade from CM7 as soon as ICS was announced. In case you were wondering what are your chances to get CM9, you can now consult this handy flowchart which will help answer the big question: will your device  receive an, official or otherwise, upgrade to Android 4.0?


Answering the few simple questions above will let you know whether you’ll get to enjoy the latest version of Google’s mobile OS, or you can start saving for a new device.
In the past, CyanogenMod has given users the possibility to enjoy the up-to-date Android experience that is, unfortunately, not provided by manufacturers in many cases. As it’s evident from the flowchart, this time, the chances to receive CM9 on your device mostly depend on whether the device will receive an official ICS update from the manufacturer.
Did your device make the cut? If not, is it time to upgrade your ‘aging’ Android device to any soon-to-be released Android 4.0 phone?

This article, Will your device get CM9? CyanogenMod provides answers…and a flowchart! , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 17 Mar 2012 05:20 AM PDT

Hot on the heels of the rolling out of Ice Cream Sandwich for several high-profile Android devices in the last couple of days, it seems that Google won't take the beating by Samsung, HTC and Asus sitting down. Sound off the ICS siren, as  Android 4.0 is expected to finally land on Nexus S phones across the country in the next following weeks.
Reported by Mobile Syrup, the arrival of Ice Cream Sandwich for Google's former flagship device is imminent. The update will finally bring ICS to the 9020A and 9020T variants of the Nexus S, but with none of the bugs that plagued the company's first attempt. Owners of the Nexus S may remember that dreaded month of December, where they gleefully update the smartphone to ICS only to found out that it crippled the phone’s battery life, among other annoyances. Here's hoping that the second time around is better.
At this point, it is unknown which build of ICS the Nexus S will get. The Galaxy Nexus itself still runs ICS 4.0.3, though 4.0.4 was unintentionally leaked a month ago.
The Nexus S was the second Google's flagship device, after the Nexus One. Built by Samsung, the phone was released in December 2010 sporting, at that time, the fresh Android 2.3 Gingerbread. In addition, the Nexus S was the first Android phone to support NFC. With specs like 4-inch super AMOLED screen, 400 x 800 resolution, 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM and 5MP camera with LED flash, these were enough for the phone to receive praises from critics. These days, however, it takes a quad-core processor and a monster-size display for a phone to get noticed.
The next Google's flagship device is still hotly contested by Samsung, HTC, Huawei, and Asus.

This article, Nexus S to Receive ICS Update Soon? , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source.

Posted: 17 Mar 2012 05:12 AM PDT

When Huawei took stage at MWC  and introduced the Ascend D Quad XL as the fastest smartphone in the world, we weren't entirely convinced by such a bold assertion, especially as it came from a manufacturer that used to mingle in the mid to lower class neighborhoods of Android city. But there might be some truth to Huawei’s claim, as the latest benchmark scores have revealed how Ascend D Quad XL trumped other smartphones in the speed department.
The Huawei Ascend D Quad XL, which is powered by the company's own K3V2 1.5GHz quad-core processor with 16 core GPU, narrowly beaten the Galaxy Note's 1.4GHz dual-core Exynos processor on the Basemark ES benchmark test. Even more interesting is the fact that the phone scored significantly higher than other quad-core devices on the list, the Asus Transformer Prime and LG X3. So we guess Huawei can now brag that its chip is faster than Nvdia’s Tegra 3. Nice!

Consistent with the score that Huawei posted back in February, the latest Nenamark2 3D OpenGL graphics benchmark results placed the Ascend D on top, beating a host of contenders such as the Asus Transformer Prime, Samsung Galaxy S2, and Galaxy Note.

Benchmark results aren't all that matters, as they don't necessarily reflect the real life performance of a device. But at least Huawei now has the numbers to walk the walk. With an impressive set of specs, that includes a 4.5-inch at 1280 x 720 resolution with IPS+ display, 2500mAh battery, Android 4.0 ICS out of the box, and the promised 20-50% lower price than its competitors, Huawei is set to, ahem, ascend the Android ladder even higher.
Word has it the Huawei Ascend D Quad XL won't come until June this year, which is practically a lifetime for the tech crowds. Are you interested in getting one when it's out?

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