Sunday, June 3, 2012

Android Central

Android Central

Android Central Editors' App Picks for June 2, 2012

Posted: 02 Jun 2012 03:06 PM PDT

Apps of the Week

You like apps, but don't want to spend hours finding the good ones? How about this -- hit the break with us and check out some of our favorites from this week? Who knows, they may become your favorites, and if not, be sure to let us know about some of your favorites!

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Digital Embers Live Wallpaper [Live Wallpaper Review]

Posted: 02 Jun 2012 11:29 AM PDT

Digital Embers Live Wallpaper

I've got to admit, ever since Google unveiled Honeycomb, with its TRON-like interface and emphasis on hexagons, I was hooked on that style. Something about digital honeycombs looked so cool to me, and as a result, I absolutely fell in love with the Digital Hive Live Wallpaper. D'Keesto has been keeping up in the wallpaper space, bringing us another entry in his "digital" line of live wallpapers, this time in the form of Digital Embers.

Digital Embers doesn't act like typical embers (bouncing around erratically and whatnot), but instead travels across the screen, usually left to right (or vice versa), igniting larger shapes from which the smaller embers radiate off of until the fade into nothingness. It's visually appealing as all getout (especially if you're easily entertained like yours truly), and if you touch anywhere on the screen, that area lights up with activity.

Hop into the settings menu and you'll see the wide variety of things you can tweak to really perfect your embery experience. There's options for your tile shape, spark shape, number of sparks, and spark color mode. You can also pick your colors here, using either single colors, colors based on battery level, or colors based off of the charging/discharging state of your device.

You can also alter how much the screen lights up when you touch a specific area and also give the wallpaper leeway to simulate screen touches (even if you're not), just to keep things interesting.

Overall, Digital Embers Live Wallpaper is great, as I'd expect from D'Keesto. It runs incredibly well, to the point that I'm not seeing any​ performance issues when swiping back and forth between screens on my old, archaic Tegra-2 tablet. (The horror!) If you're the type to venture into live wallpaper space and like what you see, I'd definitely suggest giving Digital Embers a shot.

Digital Embers Live Wallpaper is 99 cents in the Google Play Store. We've got screenshots, video, and download links after the break.

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SiriusXM satellite radio app gets a hefty update

Posted: 02 Jun 2012 10:19 AM PDT

Sirius XM

Android's SiriusXM app (yes, some of us love and use satellite radio over streaming services) just got itself a fairly decent update in the Google Play store. On tap are "enhancements and fixes to the following core features:"

  • Start Now - Go back in time up to 5 hours to hear previously aired programming on most channels
  • TuneStart - Hear songs from the beginning when tuning to music channels
  • Pause - Pause and resume live programming
  • Fast Forward & Rewind - Skip forward and back on many channels
  • Show Alerts - Reminders when your favorite shows begin
  • Album Art & Artist Bios
  • Improved reliability & sound quality

A decent update indeed. We've got a download link after the break should you need it.

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Android Central international round-up - June 2, 2012

Posted: 02 Jun 2012 07:11 AM PDT

Android Central

It's been another busy week for international Android news. The week's biggest story was undoubtedly the European Galaxy S III launch -- Samsung's latest flagship is now available on hundreds of carriers across the continent. (In "marble white" for now, as the "pebble blue" variant faces delays of 2-3 weeks.) As for the Galaxy S III in the U.S., the latest rumors suggest a possible June 20 launch, but that's yet to be confirmed.

We also got another European first this week -- the arrival of the Orange San Diego, Europe's first Intel-powered smartphone. And our own Richard Devine was on hand to give us his first impressions.

Other notable developments included HTC's launch of the Desire C on Three UK, and the arrival of long-awaited Ice Cream Sandwich updates for the Sony Xperia Arc and Xperia Neo, as well as HTC's Sensation XL.

And earlier on in the week, we reviewed the Sony Xperia U, an interesting little mid-range device from the Japanese manufacturer. Right now we're in the process of bringing you our definitive Galaxy S III review, so keep watching in the days ahead. In the meantime, we've got your full international round-up below...

Special features:

News:

If you've got international news, be sure to tip us at the usual address.

Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE available in stores today!

Posted: 02 Jun 2012 06:25 AM PDT

Sprint HTC EVO 4G LTE

Today's the day, folks. Finally, some two weeks delayed, the HTC EVO 4G LTE is available in Sprint retail locations nationwide for $199 on contract. The delay, as you no doubt know, was caused by a review by the International Trade Commission. Nothing's changed on the phone, however. Just think of it as a delivery delay is all.

So if you're in the market for a new EVO, you can finally hoof it to the store and pick one up .And once you do, here are a few handy links that'll get you going:

So who's whipping out the credit card today?

Ice Cream Sandwich now on 7.1 percent of all Android smartphones

Posted: 01 Jun 2012 08:25 PM PDT

Platform Versions

Over the past little while we've started to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich make its way to quite a few devices and now Google has updated their latest Android platform version statistics to give us all a better look at the rate of adoption across the board. Gingerbread is still the run away leader here with a total of 65 percent but Ice Cream Sandwich has now reached 7.1 percent of Android smartphones out there. For some perspective, that's up from the 2.9 percent reported in April.

Source: Android Developers

3 clicks and I'm on 4.0.4, AT&T One X stock [From the Forums]

Posted: 01 Jun 2012 05:37 PM PDT

From the Forums

It's Friday and it has been a busy week! We had some hiccups with the Android Central forums earlier, but things seem to be back on track now. If you're looking for some Android discussion to carry you through the weekend, check out some of the threads below:

If you're not already a member of the Android Central forums, you can register your account today.
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