Android Central |
- Defender 2 review - wave defense with magic and a big honkin' crossbow
- PoopLog review - the Number One app of Number Twos
- Boost Mobile HTC EVO Design 4G review
- Samsung Exynos 5 dual details released, fast chip is fast
- Black Galaxy S3 appears in Carphone Warehouse inventory, backs up Samsung Facebook pics
- Samsung getting together with Boost and Virgin Aug. 22 in NYC
- Stitcher review - a wonderful bottomless pit of talk show radio
- Q&A with Perfectly Clear's Athentech - making mobile photos better
- Qmadix Metalix Snap-On Cover for Galaxy S3
- ICS for GSM Motorola RAZR and RAZR MAXX pushing out to 'select users'
- TwitPic review - how the mighty have fallen
- Trello review - clean task management for individuals and groups
- Deal of the Day: Ballistic Shell Gel (SG) Series Case for HTC Incredible 4G LTE
- HTC announces Android 4.0.4 update for international One X
- Android Central Podcast 105: Keep your stuff safe, Ouya gets Kickstarted
- Google mobile search gets a Google Now-style makeover
- Remainder of ICS updates complete before end of August, says HTC
- CyanogenMod 9 stable released, dev focus now on CM10
- Google, U.S. carriers and PayPal join mobile payments standards comittee
- Taiwan Central Bank Governor asks state to help HTC
- So what don't you like about the GS3? Nexus 7 Benchmarks [From the Forums]
| Defender 2 review - wave defense with magic and a big honkin' crossbow Posted: 10 Aug 2012 02:54 PM PDT
Defender 2 is a popular wave defense game that seems to have struck a chord with Android gamers looking for a free, customizable, multiplayer experience. Defender 2 puts players on top of a castle wall with a ballista, with which they must fend off an incoming attack from a variety of monsters. Early on, it’s fairly easy keeping up with mindless drones flinging themselves against the castle walls, but eventually you face down more powerful demons with ranged attacks and challenging new tactics. Luckily, players gather a broad array of new powers and weapons to defend their wall. 
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| PoopLog review - the Number One app of Number Twos Posted: 10 Aug 2012 02:41 PM PDT
Some apps you just never expect to exist. One of them is PoopLog, which does exactly what you think it does: it keeps track of every time you take a dump. Not just track, but describe in excruciating detail - texture, volume, time of day, pain level... Even photos can be attached and shared via the system-wide menu to whoever needs to know about your last trip to the can. 
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| Boost Mobile HTC EVO Design 4G review Posted: 10 Aug 2012 01:47 PM PDT
Contract-free and prepaid carriers are gaining in popularity. But when prepaid Android devices starting hitting those markets, they tended to be lower-tier phones. But recently we have seen plenty of great devices hitting various prepaid carriers, one of them being the HTC EVO Design 4G, which recently hit Boost Mobile. Looking to get a taste of Ice Cream Sandwich in your hands, without breaking the bank monthly, and locking yourself into a new two year agreement? With lower monthly costs and the same high quality, could the HTC EVO 4G Design be your next Android device? 
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| Samsung Exynos 5 dual details released, fast chip is fast Posted: 10 Aug 2012 01:15 PM PDT
Samsung has announced and published the whitepaper for their upcoming Exynos 5250 SoC (System on a Chip), and it looks like the stuff a hardware geek's dreams are made of. Sporting a dual-core 1.7GHz CPU, paired with a quad-core Mali GPU. The full feature list reads like the side of a desktop computer box.
We see a couple things nobody expects to see in an ARM chip for mobile devices, namely USB 3 and DirectX support. With Microsoft announcing a slew of upcoming Windows 8 tablets, we should get used to seeing it. And chances are that's where we'll see this chip first -- in Samsung built Windows 8 tablet/clamshell hybrid. Of course, it will also be a total screamer in the benchmark arena on the Android side, so that's what we're looking forward to seeing. No word on when that may happen, but while we all wait there's a great breakdown and discussion starter in the forums, where everyone can talk about the Exynos 5 until it gets in our Android devices. Check it out, along with links to Samsung's whitepaper and announcement below. Samsung Exynos 5 details released | Exynos 5 whitepaper Source: Samsung 
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| Black Galaxy S3 appears in Carphone Warehouse inventory, backs up Samsung Facebook pics Posted: 10 Aug 2012 12:39 PM PDT
Those disappointed with Samsung's initial choice of colors for the Galaxy S III (Galaxy S3) may be in luck, as information has emerged suggesting a black version of the popular handset may be on the way. The shot above (and another very similar one) has been doing the rounds for a few days now. It first appeared on Samsung's Facebook page alongside some promotional blurb for the Olympics, and it certainly looks like a black Galaxy S3. However, it's difficult to tell for sure -- if you've seen the pebble blue S3 in person, you'll know that it looks much darker up close than in earlier promo images. Today, though, further evidence of the phone's existence has cropped up in a leaked inventory system photo from UK retailer the Carphone Warehouse. The shot, obtained by Android Police lists the black S3 alongside the marble white and pebble blue variants. There's no indication as to when the rumored black version might arrive, though. With the garnet red AT&T Galaxy S3 in the states (and monstrosities like this pink Galaxy Note), Samsung has proven it's not afraid of throwing out different colored versions of popular phones. So we're sure there are plenty of people out there who'd snap up a black Galaxy S3, given the opportunity. In any case, we've reached out to Samsung for the official word on this, and we'll update this post with any info they provide. Source: Samsung Facebook, Android Police 
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| Samsung getting together with Boost and Virgin Aug. 22 in NYC Posted: 10 Aug 2012 12:14 PM PDT
It's going to be a contract-free love fest on Aug. 22 in New York City as Samsung's getting together with Boost Mobile and Virgin Mobile for some "big mobile news." Not much to say beyond that -- we could be looking at just about anything here. A Galaxy S3 would be a good guess though, but Samsung's got enough phones in play that it really could be something else. Only one way to find out. 
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| Stitcher review - a wonderful bottomless pit of talk show radio Posted: 10 Aug 2012 11:53 AM PDT
Stitcher recently added Facebook timeline integration to its talk radio app, allowing users to instantly share whatever it is they’re listening to, be it live audio streams or podcasts, to their social circle. Of course, the most excellent Android Central Podcast is available on Stitcher, but there’s really an unending stream of stuff to listen to. 
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| Q&A with Perfectly Clear's Athentech - making mobile photos better Posted: 10 Aug 2012 10:43 AM PDT
Perfectly Clear launched on Android recently, offering a whole bunch of different photo correction functions. You can find a full walk-through of the features in our review over here. We talked to the developer, Athentech, a bit about mobile photography, processing power, and the technology needed to do make their app. Thanks for your time! Perfectly Clear looks like it's been in the desktop software world for a while. Can you tell us about the product's transition to mobile? Brad: Simon, it is my pleasure. Thanks for your interest. We’ve actually been around in the “back-end” for quite some time. We celebrated our 10th birthday last November! We’ve been licensing our technology to companies around the world. So we’re an “intel inside”, powering the automatic image correction for over 20 million printed images every day around the world and we’re installed in more than 105,000 photo kiosks. So if you’ve ever printed a photo at any major retail chain, it’s likely your photo has been auto corrected by Perfectly Clear. 
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| Qmadix Metalix Snap-On Cover for Galaxy S3 Posted: 10 Aug 2012 10:04 AM PDT
The Qmadix Metalix Snap-On Cover gives you some additional protection for your Galaxy S3 and adds a very handy feature.There are lots of ways to both protect your Samsung Galaxy S III (S3) and also give it a distinguishing look with many of the newer cases on the market. The Qmadix Metalix Snap-On cover gives you an additional distinguishing feature – a kickstand on the back that works in both portrait and landscape modes. 
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| ICS for GSM Motorola RAZR and RAZR MAXX pushing out to 'select users' Posted: 10 Aug 2012 09:23 AM PDT
Broader release due "in the coming week", says MotoMotorola is almost ready to flip the switch on its Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for the international (GSM) RAZR and RAZR MAXX. The manufacturer took to its European Facebook page to tell customers that the ICS update had begun rolling out "to select users," with a broader release scheduled for "the coming week." Basically, it's a soak test, similar to what Moto does with major updates in the U.S. In addition to Android version 4.0.4, the RAZR ICS update brings a re-vamped lock screen and launcher, as well as visual changes throughout, bringing the UI closer to more recent Moto phones like the Atrix HD. Check out our hands-on report on the Verizon ICS update for more details. It's been a long wait for ICS on the RAZR series. The Verizon 4G LTE versions got the update shortly after Google I/O, and GSM RAZR owners have been waiting patiently since their ICS update was confirmed in a promotional video in early July. If you're among the lucky few to have had your GSM RAZR or RAZR MAXX updated to ICS, let us know how you're getting on down in the comments. Source: Motorola Europe Facebook 
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| TwitPic review - how the mighty have fallen Posted: 10 Aug 2012 08:34 AM PDT
Twitpic, one of the venerable forerunners of image sharing on Twitter, now has its own dedicated mobile app. Of course, it might seem a little extraneous since most Twitter clients have folded in Twitpic sharing as an option, or have simply opted for Twitter’s own native image service. Twitpic has been around for ages, but what else can it offer at this point? 
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| Trello review - clean task management for individuals and groups Posted: 10 Aug 2012 07:39 AM PDT
Trello was launched on Android recently, offering yet another way in which folks could keep track of multiple projects and collaborate with others. There’s a set hierarchy where boards have lists, and lists have cards. Cards can be thought of as individual tasks as part of a particular project, while boards are larger categories encompassing multiple projects. Cards can be assigned to individual users by e-mail (though only from the web, not from the app), complete with due dates, check lists, labels, attachments, and collaborators. Those cards can be moved, copied, subscribed to, voted on, or archived once complete. An activity stream of you and collaborators on any given board makes it easy to stay up to date on who’s been doing what, though you can also subscribe to individual cards to keep tabs on task progress. 
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| Deal of the Day: Ballistic Shell Gel (SG) Series Case for HTC Incredible 4G LTE Posted: 10 Aug 2012 06:35 AM PDT
The Ballistic Shell Gel Case is available for just $19.95, 43% off today only. Backed by our 60-day return policy and fast shipping. Never miss a deal. Sign up for Daily Deal alerts! 
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| HTC announces Android 4.0.4 update for international One X Posted: 10 Aug 2012 05:57 AM PDT
HTC has announced that a new over-the-air update is now rolling out for the international HTC One X (that's the unlocked, HSPA+, Tegra 3 version). This is essentially the same update that the AT&T One X got a few days back, bringing the One X up to Android 4.0.4 (from 4.0.3), and introducing a number of Sense-specific enhancements, including a re-mapping of the 'recent apps' key. Other notables include a new tab-switching button in the browser, white balance adjustment and continuous autofocus in the camera app, and some HTC Media Link improvements in the OpenSense SDK. HTC says the update will start to filter out to customers today, Aug. 10, so if you're rocking a One X outside of North America, head to Settings > About phone > Software updates to see if your OTA is ready. Here's HTC's full statement on today's update --
If you're updating your One X today, hit the comments and let us know how you're liking the new version. 
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| Android Central Podcast 105: Keep your stuff safe, Ouya gets Kickstarted Posted: 10 Aug 2012 04:27 AM PDT Podcast MP3 URL: http://traffic.libsyn.com/androidcentral/acpc105.mp3 Thing 1: Google two-step authenticationThing 2: Ouya's monster Kickstarter campaignThing 3: Other odds and ends
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| Google mobile search gets a Google Now-style makeover Posted: 10 Aug 2012 03:33 AM PDT
Google's continuing to transform its search product into a knowledge engine, as evidenced by the new Google Search app on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, and its Google Now features. Today some of that functionality is starting to bleed over into the company's mobile search offering, with the launch of rich "interactive answers" to mobile search queries. Google mobile search now supports quick answers to a variety of queries, including flight numbers, weather, finance, currency conversion, unit conversion, dictionary definitions, local time lookup, and holiday and sunrise times. All of this stuff is presented in attractive framed boxes clearly cut from the same cloth as the latest Google Search apps for Android and iOS. In some cases, the answer boxes even provide some form of interactivity -- for example, there's a weather slider you can move to view weather information for certain times of day, and the unit conversion box lets you edit fields and convert measurements of any kind. All of this highlights the next step in the evolution of Google Search, in which it's changing from a tool you use to find pages with answers, to a web app that'll directly give you information you're looking for. Increasingly, web search results fall into the background as an alternative to the information Google directly serves up. To try out the new Google mobile search features, just head on over to google.com in your favorite mobile browser. Source: Google Inside Search blog 
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| Remainder of ICS updates complete before end of August, says HTC Posted: 10 Aug 2012 03:05 AM PDT
... But that's not necessarily when you'll get themHTC has taken to its official Facebook page to answer fans' questions about Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich updates for previously announced devices, such as the Desire S and Thunderbolt. In a statement repeated across several posts, HTC said --
That's good news for anyone still waiting on an ICS update for an HTC device, though it's a bitter bill for Desire HD owners to swallow after their update was canned last month. It's also worth remembering that even if HTC's finished with its updates before the end of August, that doesn't mean that's when they'll start rolling out to handsets. Mobile carriers still need to test and sign off these updates, a process which in the past has taken months to complete. So it's a promising development, just don't expect a torrent of updates to drop in the next couple of weeks. Source: HTC on Facebook; via: Android Police 
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| CyanogenMod 9 stable released, dev focus now on CM10 Posted: 10 Aug 2012 02:33 AM PDT
Following yesterday's premature release on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the stable version of CyanogenMod 9 is now officially official. That means you can go download the Android 4.0-based custom ROM for supporting devices, without having to worry about stability issues with nightlies, beta builds or release candidates -- this is the fully final, fully-supported version of CM9. In a post on the official CyanogenMod 9, the team said that excluding major bug fixes, the CM9 stable release marks the end of their ICS development efforts. From now on they'll focus on the Jelly Bean-based CyanogenMod 10, in addition to maintaining CM7 for older devices. In addition, the focus of nightly builds will now switch to CM10. The team says today's stable release should be available for most supported devices, with "stragglers" catching up over the next few days. At the time of writing, builds are still in the process of baking, and so only a dozen or so are available right now. To check if CM9 stable is available for your phone, check the get.cm link below. Now, bring on CM10 and Jelly Bean! Source: CyanogenMod; Download: get.cm 
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| Google, U.S. carriers and PayPal join mobile payments standards comittee Posted: 09 Aug 2012 11:37 PM PDT
The Electronic Transactions Association (ETA) announced that it has formed what they are calling the Mobile Payments Committee -- a group of companies working together to create common standards and advance the current mobile payment situation in the U.S. Notable partners include AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon, as well as other industry partners like Google and ISIS. While the companies are all focusing on competing products, they realize the benefit that comes with getting merchants on board working with regulators to get some standard rules in place. According to ETA CEO Jason Oxman, "The idea behind the committee is to get all the players around the table, ask everyone to take off their company hats and put on their industry hats, and talk about what issues need to be resolved." We agree. In the end only the companies who can offer what consumers want in a safe and easy to use way will survive, so it's important to get all the rules and standards put in place while the technology is still in the early stages. We don't see any of the participants willing to drop their offerings in favor of another, but hopefully a set of common goals can be used to get mobile payment technology into the public's hands where the best product can win. Waiting until one or more of the partners have pulled ahead will only make it harder to adopt legislation that's fair to all parties. The Mobile Payment Committee will hold its first meeting in late August, with regular monthly meetings to follow. We've been crowing for some standardization for a while now, so we think this is great news. The full press release is after the break. Via MobileBurn 
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| Taiwan Central Bank Governor asks state to help HTC Posted: 09 Aug 2012 07:46 PM PDT
HTC is having a bit of a rough patch on the financial side, and Taiwan's Central Bank Governor Perng Fai-nan has asked the government to step in and offer an assist, saying the smartphone manufacturer's financial status is "of vital importance to the islands' gross domestic product" according to the Commercial Times. At a meeting with the cabinet, Perng reportedly said the decline of HTC is a leading factor for Taiwan's slowing exports, and he thinks the government should step in and offer some help. Exports form Taiwan for the month of July are down 11.6-percent from the same time last year, and have declined for five straight months. According to an unnamed government official, the Ministry of Economic Affairs is already discussing measures to assist. Regardless of how you feel about bail-outs or government assistance, we certainly don't want to see HTC go away any time soon. Choice is one of Android's greatest strengths, and plenty of us are enamored with HTC's offerings. Source: Commercial Times (Chinese); via Android Central forums 
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| So what don't you like about the GS3? Nexus 7 Benchmarks [From the Forums] Posted: 09 Aug 2012 06:19 PM PDT
Just in case you missed out on some of the Android news today, now is the time to go ahead and get yourself fully caught up. Here on the blogs and in the Android Central Forums there is plenty to talk about. Have some questions? Need some help or just looking to chat Android? You know where to go, check out some of the threads below to get started.
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