Android World: Android and Me

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Android and Me

Verizon’s Galaxy S III won’t ship until early July?
NVIDIA showing off five new Tegra 3 games at E3
OnLive gaming coming to Google TV, LG Smart TV G2 Series to be the first
Google acquires Quickoffice; Drive enhancements incoming?
PlayStation Suite is now PlayStation Mobile with HTC as the first non-Sony partner

Verizon’s Galaxy S III won’t ship until early July?

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 01:54 PM PDT

Verizon may have been first out of the gate with a press release regarding their Galaxy S III, but it looks like a release date is going to be one feature that isn’t shared by all of the US Galaxy S IIIs.

Pre-orders will start tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. Eastern time for the Verizon Galaxy S III and we had been hoping that this meant a launch right around June 21st, lining up with T-Mobile and Sprint’s plans.

Unfortunately it looks like Verizon customers might have to make it through Independence Day without a Galaxy S III by their side as multiple sources are placing Verizon’s launch date in early July with shipping dates varying from July 5th to July 9th.

The guys at Android Community are hearing July 5th, a Thursday, which is Verizon’s preferred day for new device launches.

Droid-Life on the other hand has heard both July 6th and July 9th as possible dates. A Friday or Monday would be a bit unusual for Verizon, but an insider was able to snap the blurriest of blurrycam shots for them which clearly states “Pre-ordered phones will ship by July 9th.” This also leaves open the possibility that the phones would ship July 9th, but not be available in store until July 12th.

Now I wouldn’t take any of these dates as gospel as these things can change rapidly, however Verizon is famous for their delays so it would come as no surprise if they were to launch a few weeks behind everyone else. They might just be using that extra time to get their data plans sorted out.

NVIDIA showing off five new Tegra 3 games at E3

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 12:30 PM PDT

NVIDIA knows graphics. Their graphics cards are powering the most powerful gaming computers in the world, and are also found in the high-end Android tablets. Tegra 3 takes mobile gaming to a whole new level, a fact NVIDIA is proud to show off every time we hear from them. Gaming on Tegra 3 is awesome, often coming close to a true console gaming experience.

Today, at the E3 show in Los Angeles, NVIDIA is showing off 5 games that are coming soon to Tegra devices, optimized for the Tegra 3 platform. Full descriptions of the game straight from NVIDIA follow, and some of them should be available on the Play Store for your Tegra 3 device very soon.

Dead Trigger

The world has collapsed and meat-eating zombies are after you! This first person shooter takes advantage of the Tegra 3 processor to provides exclusive effects like enhanced water, specular lighting, volumetric fog and ragdoll physics.

Puddle THD

The hot Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network console game is now being shown off on an NVIDIA Tegra 3 device at E3. The game mechanics are simple and intuitive – guide the water to a target destination through tilt controls. On Tegra 3, you'll get higher resolution textures, advanced fluid effects, better shadows and advanced physics effects.

Demons’ Score THD

A break-beat action game that integrates music with battles. It's developed using Epic Games' Unreal Engine 3 to produce high-quality 3D graphics and a user interface optimized for smartphones and tablets. Tegra 3-exclusive features include higher resolution textures, advanced bloom effects, rim lighting, dynamic shadows and depth-of-field effects.

Bounty Arms

This exciting 3D side-scrolling action game will be playable for the first time at E3. Open-Reset and Luma Arcade are working closely with NVIDIA to create Tegra-exclusive enhancements for Bounty Arms on Android, tapping the graphics potential of Tegra 3. These enhancements include visual and performance upgrades and exclusive content like co-op play and advanced particle effects.

Heroes Call

Heroes Call is a playable action RPG that brings next generation gaming to Tegra devices. Lush graphics, deep quests, multiple characters and varied abilities make Heroes Call an experience unlike any you've seen on your mobile device before. The Tegra 3 exclusive features here are higher resolution light maps, spectacular maps on character weapons and armor and additional physics interaction on objects and particles.

Final Thoughts

We don’t know when these games will be coming to Tegra devices, though we’re obviously pretty excited to see them make their debut. I’m personally looking forward to Dead Trigger and Heroes Call. We will bring you more information about these games as we learn them. If you happen to be at E3, be sure to check out NVIDIA’s booth to grab a sneak peak.

OnLive gaming coming to Google TV, LG Smart TV G2 Series to be the first

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 11:23 AM PDT

OnLive has been around for a couple years now delivering console level gaming on lower end hardware by offloading most of the hard work to OnLive’s servers and then just streaming it to your device. The catch of course is that you need a pretty fast connection (at least 5 Mbps) to make it run smoothly.

OnLive announced that they would be coming to Android about one year ago and finally released their cloud gaming service for Android phones and tablets back in December. Unfortunately that did not extend to Google TV which is already hooked up to your TV (or is inside your TV) and could immediately start doing duty as a console replacement.

Well OnLive has announced at E3 that the full OnLive app is finally coming to Google TV and that the LG Smart TV with Google TV (Series 2) will be the first to get it. It will support up to four controllers at once, so no listening to your friends whine that it’s their turn.

The service currently offers over 200 titles and allows you to demo almost any game for 30 minutes to get a taste. The app itself is free, but you buy games or rent access to them for 3-5 days. You can also opt to pay for their PlayPack subscription which gives you unlimited access to basically every title for $9.99 a month.

No additional launch details at the moment and unfortunately they didn’t mention when OnLive would make it on to other Google TVs, but we’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available.

I realize the hardcore gamers are unlikely to replace their consoles or gaming PCs anytime soon, but what about you casual gamers? Would the availability of OnLive make you any more likely to take a look at a Google TV rather than a 360, PS3 or Wii(U)?

Show Press Release

OnLive Cloud Gaming Demonstrated on LG Smart TVs with Google TV

Hundreds of Top-tier Games Playable Instantly On-Demand with No Console Needed;
Rich Social Gaming with Multiplayer, Massive Spectating, Brag Clip Videos, Voice Chat;
Supports up to 4 OnLive Wireless Controllers;
Previewed at OnLive’s E3 Booth

Los Angeles, Calif. (E3 Expo, 2012) – June 5, 2012 – OnLive, Inc., the pioneer of on-demand cloud gaming, is demonstrating the OnLive® Game Service on the next-generation LG Smart TV with Google TV (G2 Series) from LG Electronics at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) here this week.

Capitalizing on the power of LG’s L9 dual-core processor, the service would make hundreds of top-tier video games from more than 60 publishers playable on-demand, without a console or PC. When the service becomes available, LG G2 TV owners will also enjoy free instant access to exclusive OnLive social features such as worldwide massive spectating, the brand-new OnLive MultiView spectating capability, Brag Clip™ video recording and Facebook sharing.

Previews of the OnLive LG TV experience will be shown publicly for the first time at OnLive Booth #535, South Hall at the Electronic Entertainment Expo from June 5-7 in Los Angeles. Select 3D games, using the popular LG CINEMA 3D glasses, are planned for a future software update.

With just a few taps of the Universal OnLive Wireless Controller or any compatible game controller, LG G2 TV owners will be able to jump in and play OnLive’s growing library of hundreds of top-tier, console-class video games on-demand. Instant demos are available for nearly every game-from eagerly anticipated indie titles like Ravaged to hot blockbusters such as the upcoming Darksiders® II-so players can experience up to 30 minutes of each game free before deciding what to buy, and then continue playing where the demo left off.

Games can be purchased a la carte, or players can subscribe to OnLive’s revolutionary PlayPack subscription service for unlimited on-demand play of more than 220 games, with more titles added weekly. When players are away from their OnLive LG TV, all of their OnLive games are available-with full game saves and achievements-on almost any PC or Mac®, tablet or smart phone wherever there is broadband, whether in a different room in the house, or in a different country in the world.

In addition to instant-action gameplay, an OnLive Game Service account enables users to watch millions of gamers from around the world play live in the massive spectating Arena, voice chat with other players and spectators, capture Brag Clip videos of their best and worst gameplay and share their gaming exploits with friends on Facebook.

Exclusive to OnLive, users can now even spectate and chat with friends and teammates in OnLive’s new MultiView mode while continuing to play their own game, adding an engaging new social dimension to OnLive gaming. With MultiView, gamers will not only be able to take co-operative tactics to all-new levels by virtually looking over their teammates’ shoulders as they play, but also keep tabs on friends in any single player or multiplayer game in play on the service.

“LG Google TV’s superior performance, coupled with OnLive’s innovative games-on-demand service, unleashes powerful new entertainment possibilities for gaming enthusiasts,” said Georg Rasinski, Director of Home Entertainment Brand Management, LG Electronics USA. “Cloud gaming complements the virtually limitless content options already available through our exciting G2 series TVs.”

“It’s always been our mission to make top-quality gaming accessible to everyone, everywhere,” said Steve Perlman, Founder and CEO, OnLive. “OnLive adds no cost to LG Smart TVs, but delivers a full console-class experience. We’re excited to make on-demand top-tier gaming an integral part of the living room entertainment system on LG’s state-of-the-art TVs.”

The LG G2 Series, which combines the power of the Google TV platform with the speed of LG’s new L9 dual-core chipset and a user-friendly interface, is expected be the first LG Smart TV with Google TV model to make OnLive on-demand gameplay an integral part of the consumer experience. The first LG G2 TV, featuring Full HD 3D and the OnLive Game Service pre-installed, is anticipated in a future software update. To preview the experience firsthand, come by OnLive Booth #535, South Hall at the Electronic Entertainment Expo from June 5-7 in Los Angeles. To find out more about OnLive, visit www.onlive.com or www.onlive.co.uk.

Google acquires Quickoffice; Drive enhancements incoming?

Posted: 05 Jun 2012 09:12 AM PDT

Quickoffice is one of my favorite productivity-oriented Android apps on the market. I regularly turn to the tablet-version of the Quickoffice application to get key tasks done where Google Drive (formerly, Docs) simply doesn’t cut it. Google has announced via the Google Blog today that they have officially acquired Quickoffice, and will be integrating Quickoffice technology into future Google Apps products.

Today, consumers, businesses and schools use Google Apps to get stuff done from anywhere, with anyone and on any device. Quickoffice has an established track record of enabling seamless interoperability with popular file formats, and we'll be working on bringing their powerful technology to our Apps product suite.

Quickoffice has a strong base of users, and we look forward to supporting them while we work on an even more seamless, intuitive and integrated experience.Google

Google will continue to provide Quickoffice’s current customers support via their application, but will likely flip the kill switch at some point after the technology is fully integrated into Google Drive. I, for one, am excited to see what comes out of this acquistion, as Google Drive needs some key improvements if it is to compete with Office products.

PlayStation Suite is now PlayStation Mobile with HTC as the first non-Sony partner

Posted: 04 Jun 2012 08:20 PM PDT

Sony took the stage at E3 tonight and while they mostly stuck to all things PS3 (seriously, more Move content?), they did manage to slip in a little bit of Android news.

The PlayStation Suite was first announced in January of last year and aimed to bring PlayStation level gaming to additional manufacturers.

The SDK for the PlayStation Suite was just released in April, and Sony hopes that developers will use it to deliver original quality content for PlayStation Certified devices. They claim that response to it has been “nothing short of phenomenal”; we’ll see what that amounts to in terms of available titles soon enough.

Sony announced that the PlayStation Suite program is being renamed PlayStation Mobile in order to better reflect the mobility of PlayStation and that HTC is going to be the first non-Sony partner to bring the PlayStation experience to their hardware. This was rumored back in February to come at Mobile World Congress, but apparently Sony saw fit to hold off on it until now.

What exactly the partnership means isn’t clear; the example hardware used in their slides was the HTC One X, but no timeline for PlayStation Mobile to roll out on HTC handsets was given.

Sony promised that they will have many more PlayStation Certified phones this year, so we should hear plenty more about this going forward. Hopefully other manufacturers are coming on board, as well.

Despite a fair amount of hype leading up to its announcement, the PlayStation phone and subsequent PlayStation Suite efforts have not exactly lived up to the expectations of fans. I used an Xperia Play for a couple weeks and was completely underwhelmed by the hardware and the games that were available at that time. With that said, I hope Sony has taken the early criticism to heart. It’s encouraging to hear that other manufacturers are signing on to the program.

Do you think Sony can turn the newly christened PlayStation Mobile program around and leverage it to deliver compelling content for Android?

Update: Sony sent out a brief press release after this posted. The only new information is that the HTC devices that are initially joining the list of PlayStation Certified devices are the “HTC One series of smartphones, HTC One X, HTC One S, and HTC One V.”

Show Press Release

Sony Computer Entertainment Announces HTC As Part Of The PlayStation™Certified License Program

PLAYSTATION®SUITE RENAMED “PLAYSTATION®MOBILE”

Further Proliferate The PlayStation® Experience Across Mobile Devices

TOKYO, June 4, 2012

TOKYO, June 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) today announced HTC Corporation (HTC) will join the PlayStation™Certified license program(*1). By collaborating with HTC, a global designer of smartphones and the world’s first company to launch Android-powered devices, SCE aims to deliver the PlayStation® experience to even more users around the world.

“HTC is focused on delivering innovative mobile experiences for people everywhere and SCE’s immersive world of gaming will bring compelling entertainment to HTC One customers across the globe,” said Kouji Kodera, Chief Product Officer, HTC Corporation.

In addition to third party developers and publishers as well as a wide range of content developers who have agreed to develop content for PlayStation®Suite, SCE Worldwide Studios is developing attractive games. SCE is positioned to proliferate the world of PlayStation across mobile devices with the progress of content development and the expansion of PlayStation Certified devices. In conjunction with this development, SCE will rename PlayStation Suite to PlayStation®Mobile, and position it as a new platform.

SCE will further accelerate the expansion of PlayStation Certified devices and continue to collaborate with content developers to drive the delivery of compelling entertainment experiences through PlayStation Mobile.