If you’re a Windows junkie like me, you’ve probably heard of Total Commander at least in passing. Though it’s been in development for what seems like ages, the popular file manager has finally graduated to version 1.0 in its Android port. You can download the app from the developer’s forum here – unfortunately it’s not yet on the Google Play Store.
For the uninitiated, think of Total Commander as an alternative to that old favorite Root Explorer. There’s three crucial differences between that app and this one: Total Commander is more powerful, admittedly uglier, and it’s absolutely free – it has been since it was introduced on Windows and later WindowsCE and Windows Mobile. I must admit that the interface is pretty awful, but then, power users won’t be too concerned by that.
Total Commander supports all the bells and whistles of most advanced file managers, including support for compressed files. It’s also got something that most others don’t: a dual-pane view, perfect for moving lots of files around quickly. To activate it, just tilt your phone into landscape mode. This feature works great on high-end phones with 720p screens. Total Commander can also use root permissions – check the settings menu.
We’ve seen pretty good indications that Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S III is coming to all four major US carriers, and the FCC just did us a solid by confirming T-Mobile’s customized model. The SGH-T999 is currently hanging out in the hallowed halls of the Federal Communications Commission, doing its time just like every wireless device in the country. The bands supported are T-Mobile’s, including their new AWS expansion, but do not include LTE.
That last point is surprisingly crucial. T-Mobile’s LTE network won’t be available until 2013 at the earliest, so it’s no surprise that the phone in question doesn’t use the relevant bands. But that also means that it could use the same quad-core Exynos processor as the international version of the Galaxy S III. It’s presumed that the other US versions of the Samsung phone (like Verizon’s SGH-I535) use a dual-core Qualcomm processor due to compatibility issues with current LTE radios.
We know that like Eddie Murphy, the Galaxy S III is coming to American, we just don’t know when. The European rollout begins on May 29th, and Samsung has said that North American versions are indeed in the works, but no US carrier has confirmed its plans yet. They might be looking to have an American event, as they did for the Galaxy S II. In any case, we should find out within the next few weeks.
Hey T-Mobile users, don’t get comfortable watch fans of HTC’s One X and EVO 4G LTE wait for the International Trade Commission’s customs embargo to lift. According to TmoNews, customers who ordered an HTC Amaze 4G online are being told that due to “an unforeseen issue with receiving the product from the manufacturer”, their phones are being indefinitely delayed. The delay is serious enough that T-Mobile recommends going with another phone entirely.
There’s no evidence that points directly to an ITC embargo due to Apple’s latest bit of patent trolling, but it would certainly fit the circumstances. Here’s the text of the email in question:
Dear T-Mobile Customer,
Thank you for your recent order. We wanted to let you know that your order for the HTC Amaze has been delayed due to an unforeseen issue with receiving the product from the manufacturer. At this time, we do not have an estimate as to when the product will be available. Because we don't know when the product will be available, we recommend that you choose an alternate device. Please call us at 1-800-672-5390 if you wish to do this and one of our agents will be happy to assist you with finding another device that will meet your needs. If you do not select another device, the Amaze will ship to you as soon as product becomes available.
We recommend the Samsung Galaxy S Blaze 4G as a replacement. This device is free for you with no rebate required… We sincerely apologize for the delay. Thank you for being a T-Mobile customer. We truly appreciate your business.
Thank you, T-Mobile Customer Care
Note that T-Mobile recommends a Samsung phone as a replacement, and not the much newer and only slightly more expensive HTC One S. Notably, both phones still appear on T-Mobile’s website.
This mess started back in December, when the International Trade Commission ruled in Apple’s favor on a single patent for contextual linking. Earlier this week shipments of the AT&T HTC One X and the HTC EVO 4G LTE (which would have launched today) were stopped in customs for a purpose that still hasn’t been confirmed, but is widely believed to be compliance checks for the Apple patent case. HTC says that it has modified the software on all its current phones to comply with the ruling.
We’ve contacted HTC on the matter, and are waiting an official response.
Verizon’s no stranger to global roaming, but thus far none of its 4G LTE devices have been graced with this feature. This, despite the fact that many users have been able to mod phones like the HTC Rezound for just that, and even enable rudimentary access to domestic GSM networks like AT&T and T-Mobile. Some candid photos of upcoming in-store materials show that Verizon is indeed planning to activate the latent GSM bands in the HTC Rezound, and probably other LTE phones, for international travel.
It works something like this: Verizon’s LTE network is in fact based on GSM technology, the same cell phone standard that most of the rest of the world (and half of the US Big Four) uses. At preset, the “old” EDGE and 3G portions of the LTE radios in some of Verizon’s phones are dormant, instead defaulting to the older CDMA standard for non-LTE data and voice calls. With me so far? There’s really no reason for Verizon not to enable global roaming on some or all of its LTE phones, aside from the fact that they perhaps haven’t readied the marketing yet.
Phones tipped for the first round of global access are the DROID RAZR and DROID RAZR MAXX, DROID 4, LG Spectrum and HTC Rezound. Though global roaming is certainly a handy feature, as AT&T customers already know, it’s usually quite expensive. Even after signing up for an international plan, it may still be better just to grab a prepaid cell phone when traveling abroad, especially if you plan to do so for any extended period of time. We’ll have to wait and see what the rates are.
Well that didn’t take long. The Samsung Galaxy S III, would-be king of smartphones and not due to release in any market for a week and a half, has already been rooted. Noted XDA member Chainfire posted the steps that he took to root a stock Galaxy S III – without saying exactly how he got his hands on it. The process was achieved remotely.
This required modifying the stock kernel, though apparently it’s much easier than on previous Samsung devices because they’re using the standard boot.img format. The superuser app was then installed manually, and bingo bango, root was achieved. There are a few caveats, however: since this is a pre-release version of the Galaxy S III hardware, it’s possible (though unlikely) that the method could change between now and the phone’s European release on May 29th.
Modders have nothing to fear from the Galaxy S III: over the last year or so Samsung has released the kernel source code of pretty much every device it makes, and doesn’t put up any especially difficult barriers for custom developers (HTC and Motorola, are your ears turning red?) With root advanced users will be able to broaden their app horizons, and hopefully custom ROMs will start popping up a week or two after the phone’s release. Now if only we knew when this thing is hitting the States…
One of Sony’s recent flagship smartphones, the Xperia S has some pretty impressive specs when it launched earlier this year but sadly still came with Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Sony did add a few ICS-like features with folders and such but it isn’t quite the same. We have good news today because over at the Sony forums we’re hearing the update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is coming soon.
With a 4.3-inch HD display, a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and a 12 megapixel camera this is one of Sony’s top tier phones, if not their current flagship. Many bought the phone hoping ICS was coming soon and now you’ll be getting your wish. According to what we’ve heard Sony will be updating the Xperia S to Android 4.0 ICS later this month or in early June. So you can expect to see the update within the next 3-4 weeks.
With no Ericsson around and this being purely a Sony branded device they are at least headed in the right direction in terms of specs, hardware, and now software. Sony has some impressive smartphone and hopefully they’ll start to compete better with HTC and Samsung, especially here in the US. For now users of the impressive Xperia S will have to wait just a few more weeks and they’ll be able to enjoy the frozen treat of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Let us know when you receive the update via the tips at the top of the page.
Tiny $74 PC Runs Linux and Android 4.0 PCWorld First we saw the Raspberry Pi and the Cotton Candy devices emerge; then, almost exactly a month ago I wrote about the Mele A1000, a small ARM device that sells with Android but can be configured to run Ubuntu Linux as well. The latest to appear? See all stories on this topic »
Microsoft wins Motorola Android US import ban SlashGear Microsoft has won an ITC ruling that will force Motorola to either modify the software on its Android phones, or face imports of handsets into the US being blocked. The victory, which saw Microsoft argue that Motorola had failed to properly license an ... See all stories on this topic »
Nick Bradbury: Android Apps Shouldn't Be Crappy Clones of iPhone ... By Nick Bradbury I'm sure a lot of Android users have had this experience: you see your iPhone friends using some slick new app, and you wish it was available on Android. Then an Android version comes out and... ...it sucks compared to the iPhone version. Nick Bradbury
Total Commander for Android reaches Version 1.0 | Android... By Michael Crider If you're a Windows junkie like me, you've probably heard of Total Commander at least in passing. Though it's been in development for what seems like ages, the. Android Community
FOSS Patents: ITC orders import ban against Motorola Android... By Florian Mueller The United States International Trade Commission ("USITC", or just "ITC") today ordered an import ban against all Android-based Motorola Mobility devices that infringe a particular Microsoft patent, U.S. Patent No. 6370566 on "generating ... FOSS Patents
Asus EeePad Transformer TF101 gets Android 4.0 Ice Cream ... By Edwin Kee If at first you do not succeed, try again. That is the advice that is worth following, and Asus has done so to the hilt with the EeePad Transformer TF101 tablet/laptop hybrid that purportedly solves whatever niggling issues that accompanied [...] Ubergizmo
Amazon prepping a 10-inch Kindle Fire? By Raveesh Bhalla A 10-inch Kindle Fire has been rumored for a long, long time. It was even believed that the first generation Amazon tablet would come in both the 7-inch and. Android Phone Fans
We were about to lose hope to see Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on Moto devices in a relatively timely manner. But just now, Motorola has decided to update its support page to let owners know about the lengthy process that it has to go through before it can roll out ICS. We know you're not too keen to know the gritty details, so to keep things short, ICS is indeed coming to several Moto devices soon, while some just aren't lucky.
According to the latest Motorola guidance on Ice Cream Sandwich availability, the Motorola Droid Razr and the Razr Maxx will be the first two Moto phones in the US to receive the ICS update, which the company plans to roll out in the second quarter of the year. Owners of the 3G variant of the Motorola Xoom should also receive the ICS update around the same time.
As for the Motorola Atrix 2, Atrix 4G, Droid 4, Droid Bionic, and the Droid Xyboard tablets (8.2 and 10.1 models), the ICS upgrade roll out is expected to begin in the third quarter of the year. The last on the list is the Motorola Photon 4G, which will only receive ICS in Q4 2012. Motorola is still deciding on whether to make the update available for the Electrify or not.
Devices that Motorola said will not get ICS include the Droid 2, Droid 2 Global, Droid 3, Droid Pro, Droid X2, and the list goes on and on. Check out the link above if you want to see the full list, which details the ICS roll out schedule not only for US folks, but for other regions as well.
What do you think about Motorola's latest ICS timeline update? Better late than never, right?
Device Name
Country
Current Phase
Expected Timing
MOTOROLA XOOMWiFi Only
USA
Available
Rollout began in January 2012.
DROID RAZR
USA
Development
Rollout begins in Q2 2012.
DROID RAZR MAXX
USA
Development
Rollout begins in Q2 2012.
MOTOROLA XOOM WiFi Only
Asia Pacific, Canada, China, EMEA, Japan & LATAM
Development
Rollouts begin in Q2 2012.
MOTOROLA RAZR
Asia Pacific, Canada, China, EMEA, Japan, Korea & LATAM
Development
Rollouts begin in Q2 2012.
MT917
China
Development
Rollout begins in Q2 2012.
XT928
China
Development
Rollout begins in Q2 2012.
MOTOROLA XOOM WiFI + 3G MZ600
USA
Testing
Rollout begins in Q2 2012.
DROID XYBOARD 8.2
USA
Development
Rollout begins in early Q3 2012.
DROID XYBOARD 10.1
USA
Development
Rollout begins in early Q3 2012.
ATRIX 2
Asia-Pacific, LATAM, USA, and selected other markets
A little over two weeks after officially announcing the Optimus LTE2′s coming, LG has already put the new smartphone up for sale in its native land, South Korea. The Optimus LTE's successor is not the most affordable handheld out there, but it will come with some great tech specs, including one that pushes that really pushes the envelope.
If you've been following us for more than a little while, you might remember that we told you that the phone will be the first ever to come with 2 GB of RAM. However, that's pretty much all we knew about the new phone's tech specs, which made us a bit cautious in predicting its success and popularity.
Now, LG's officials have released a full spec sheet for the Optimus LTE2 and we must say… we're impressed. The 2 GB of RAM will be coupled with a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, which is pretty much the standard in raw power these days, and the display is itself set to be gorgeous.
With a 4.7-inch diagonal, the "True HD" screen will feature a 1280 x 720 pixels resolution and will use a full RGB matrix, considered by many superior to the PenTile used in Galaxy S3's display (more on that here).
Other features include an 8 MP rear-facing camera with autofocus and LED flash, an 1.3 MP front-facing webcam, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, 4G LTE connectivity, a microSD card slot and a hefty 2,150 mAh battery, reportedly capable of running for "6.5 hours of mobile TV and up to 10 hours of talk time" between charges.
We still don't know how much internal storage space the LTE2 will feature, but we're guessing that it will come with the standard 16 GB. As far as software goes, LG's new phone will run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box, with the new Optimus UI 3.0 overlay on top. You should also know that it supports wireless charging, with the help of a separate, optional pad universally, compatible with the Wireless Power Consortium standards.
The LG Optimus LTE2 has already started selling in South Korea, where it goes for 935,000 won (around $800) with no contract. The phone's main target is to exceed its predecessor's popularity, which has sold more than a million units in Korea alone, but unfortunately there's no word about a possible release in Europe or the US.
I personally think that this gadget has the potential to be at least as "competitive" as the Optimus 4X HD, a phone that has already been made official for Europe and the Americas, so I would be terribly disappointed if LG won't release this big guy outside Asia.
What do you guys think? Would the LG Optimus LTE2 be something to interest you if it were to come your way?
The runaway success of the Kindle Fire has made Amazon eager to refresh its tablet lineup, but it seems the online retailer is having problem deciding on the right size.
An anonymous source recently tipped Reuters that Amazon is preparing to release an 8.9-inch Kindle Fire during the lucrative holiday season this year. If you believe the latest report from DigiTimes, however, the 8.9-inch model has been apparently suspended in favor of a bigger tablet.
Instead of coming out with an 8.9-inch Kindle Fire, Amazon is now planning to release a 10.1-inch Kindle Fire. Why the change of mind? According to industry sources, the 10.1-inch version of the Kindle Fire is part of Amazon's strategy to simplify its product lineup and to take on the reigning tablet champ, Apple iPad, whereas the 8.9-inch model was prepared to fight off Samsung Galaxy Note tablets. This last tidbit sounds odd though, because Samsung has no Note tablet in the 8.9-inch range. I suspect that this is a misunderstanding, and the source actually meant to say Galaxy Tabs here.
Market rumors now point to a third quarter release of the 10.1-inch Kindle Fire, with production to ramp up in the second quarter or early third quarter of 2012. All in all, the sources said Amazon is hoping to ship 30-40 million tablets this year. Aside from the 10.1-inch model, an improved 7-inch Kindle Fire will also be released to the market.
While Amazon is busy pondering the release of a bigger Kindle Fire, Apple is reportedly planning to launch an iPad Mini in the second half of the year. The latest rumors come from a Taiwanese newspaper that said the miniaturized iPad could start appearing in stores at the end of the third quarter, with Apple setting a goal to ship out 6 million iPad Minis this year.
Augmented vision is a staple of sci-fi movies, like Terminator or Battlestar Galactica, to name just a couple. But the future of augmented reality may be closer than you think!
Earlier this week Google was granted three patents for their Google Glass augmented reality glasses. These patents, detailed by Patent Bolt, go a long way towards shedding some light on just how the glasses will be controlled by users.
It was previously believed that the glasses might be primarily controlled by head gestures, as hinted in the example video Google produced on the Glass project. Details from the patents show that the wearable computer may instead be controlled by hand gestures via hand-wearable markers. This is great news if you thought that making head gestures might end up looking silly, like you had a nervous tick. Then again, will making hand gestures look much better? Regardless, there's a lot to be excited about.
How Hand Gestures May Work
It appears that there will be several hand-wearable options to choose from. For example, the patent information includes designs for rings, bracelets, fake fingernails, and invisible decals. The glasses will have an IR camera that will read wearable items with IR reflective surfaces. Also fascinating is the possibility of wearing multiple IR reflective items to enable complex gesturing. For example wearing multiple rings or invisible decals could allow you to use gestures using multiple finger movements.
Can anyone else envision there being some style involved with this? Perhaps we'll see different styles of rings and fake fingernails.
Other Details
The patent information also indicated there may be a small touch pad on the side of the glasses for manual input. Yes, the application also confirmed that the glasses are intended to be used as smartphones. They'll have the ability to support wireless radio technologies such as 3G, LTE, CDMA, and GSM, as well as other features you would expect, like gyroscopes and GPS chips.
While hand gestures seem to make a lot of sense as a Google Glass control method, there's no way to know for sure yet how Google will decide they'll be controlled. Perhaps they will settle on head gestures after all or maybe they’ll use a combination of movements, gestures, and voice commands.
What's clear is that Google is certainly doing some experimenting with different input methods.
How many times did you struggle to hear someone on the phone because of the ambient noise? Talking at the phone in the club or the subway is going to be less of a hassle, if a new technology pioneered by Japanese phone maker Kyocera goes mainstream.
This week in Tokyo, Kyocera unveiled the Urbano Progresso, a smartphone that sends sound waves directly to your inner ear, bypassing the eardrum, through the means of tissue conduction. Cool, but what's that? Tissue conduction happens when sound travels to the tissues in your head (like skin, bone, muscle, etc.) It happens all the time – when you speak, some of the sound waves that you emit travel through your head to the ear. Because tissue is denser than the air, your voice sounds to you a bit lower than it really is. And now you know why you sound funny when you hear yourself recorded.
Tissue conduction devices work in the same way. The Kyocera Urbano Progresso's display vibrates to create sound waves that are transmitted to your inner ear when you press the phone on your ear. In essence, the phone itself acts like a low powered speaker, but instead of a membrane, it's the actual screen that vibrates to emit sound waves.
The sound waves then travel through your ear and skin (as well as through the air in your ear) to reach the cochlea, the part of the ear where tiny motion sensors detect vibrations and translate them into a nervous signal that goes to your brain.
According to Jeff Blagdon from The Verge, who enjoyed some "ears-on" time with the device, the Urbano Progresso works as advertised. He was able to clearly hear the phone conversation while in a crowded ballroom. It was not clear to me if the phone also has a normal speaker, or just the tissue-conduction "speaker", but he did comment that he could hear it from a small distance without pressing it against his ear.
For people constantly working in noisy environments, this innovation could prove a real differentiating feature. Of course, the Kyocera Urbano Progresso would be dead in the water if tissue-conduction would be all it brought to the table. But the device is actually a pretty good smartphone. Features include a fairly old Snapdragon S2 MSM8655 chip, but overclocked to 1.4GHz, a 4-inch AMOLED screen, 4G, NFC, and a 8MP camera, all topped of with Android 4 ICS. Along with that, come some funky Japanese-specific features like a built-in TV tuner.
For now, the Urbano Progresso will come to Japan this summer, but Kyocera promised that the tissue-conduction technology, dubbed Smart Sonic Receiver, will come to the US next year. I am not sure what that means, but this is exactly the kind of innovation that I'd like to see more from phone manufacturers.
Though it’s been dubbed America’s favorite past time, people from all over the world are falling in love with baseball. Regardless of where you’re from, if you appreciate baseball you must be pumped for this year’s Major League Baseball season. Of course, as much as we love the game, we also have real-life obligations. You can’t stay glued to your TV forever. You’ve still got to work and do a variety of other things.
Thanks to technology, it’s now possible to keep updated on the latest happenings through our Android devices. With a number of genius apps on the Google Play store, it’s no surprise that there are quite a number dedicated to the most hardcore of baseball fans. From apps that keep you up to date on scores and events to actual game simulators, we’ve put together a list of the best Android apps for baseball fans.
If you’re despairing over having to tear yourself away from the TV, radio or the internet and deprive yourself of the latest news and updates, despair no more. You’ll never miss out on your favorite team’s scores with ScoreMobile. The app gives you the MLB’s latest sports scores and news from the biggest leagues in the world. You’ll be updated up-to-the-second, from sports scores to stats and even game previews, recaps and top news stories. If you want to be on top of the latest developments, ScoreMobile lets you receive free Push Alerts for goals, end of quarters/periods, and key moments in baseball.
You can even catch up on the latest talk with interactive live blogs and live chats, including the key tweets for each game or event. Have convenient access to the latest news by installing the ScoerMobile Sports Score Ticker widget. If you’re worried about having to uninstall ScoreMobile after the baseball season has come and gone, ScoreMobile also gives you the latest news on other major leagues like NBA, NHL, NFL, NCAA, MMA / UFC, Tennis, PGA, NASCAR, and more.
Get live play by play, stats, standings and news, plays live score alerts, and widget support with Yahoo! Sportacular. Giving you not just MLB updates but also the latest news on NFL, NCAA College Football, NBA, NCAA Basketball, NHL, PGA golf, Premier League, NASCAR, Tennis and more, Yahoo! Sportacular makes sure that you’ll always be up to date with the latest happenings in the sports world. The app gives you categories for your self-selected Favorite Teams and Trending Games. Simply select the Team option from the menu and the app opens up a new screen with tabs for Team Info, News, Schedule, and Settings.
Through the Settings menu, create customizable alerts for your favorite teams. You can opt to receive info such as when a game starts, when it ends, the score change, and more. Enable the app to give you audible or vibrate notifications so you’ll know when you should run for the closest TV or computer. One minor snag with Yahoo! Sportacular, however, is if you install it on your SD card, the app widget will not be available. For best results and for convenient access to the latest sports updates, install Yahoo! Sportacular on your device.
What’s better than getting the latest scores? Getting them from one of the best sources of sports news, of course. Thanks to ESPN ScoreCenter, baseball fans can receive live scores from hundreds of leagues from around the world. Developed by ESPN, Inc. and picked as Editors’ Choice, ESPN ScoreCenter also brings you news and standings so you’ll never have to miss out on another of your favorite team’s victories.
ScoreCenter also features personalized scoreboards and live game details, including last play, in-game stats, boxscores, and game summaries. Follow your favorite team on one card so you can always be updated on scores and news tidbits. You can even watch fresh video clips and deep news and analysis by ESPN’s editorial staff. Keep this app around so you can keep updated on other leagues, including NFL Football, NBA Basketball, NHL Ice Hockey, MMA, and much more. Get the latest news from ESPN by downloading the ESPN ScoreCenter for your Android device today.
Get the latest Major League Baseball News as it happens, free on your Android phone with this app. Developed by AndroidWhat, MLB Baseball News is the best way to keep up with your favorite game all from your Android device. You can choose how often to see news updates and MLB Baseball News will let you know when news updates arrive. Get news from the leading news sources, but you don’t have to spend precious time poring over every article. You can simply scroll through the home screen widget for quick updates.
If you can’t keep your excitement to yourself, MLB Baseball News allows you to share your favorite stories with your friends through e-mail, Twitter, Faceook, or SMS. You can even save your favorite stories so you can rub in your favorite team’s recent victory in your friend’s face when you meet up for drinks. Get MLB Baseball News for your Android device today and keep on top of the baseball action.
Now that you’re up to date with the latest sports news, it’s time to share it with your friends. It can get lonely if you’re the only person who’s into sports, but Baseball Banter has you covered. Talk about baseball with other baseball fans and share your thoughts, opinions and ideas on the latest in baseball news. Designed to operate like an online forum, Baseball Banter has a dedicated team page for each MLB team. You can also use the Featured Banter page to view baseball topics that are currently trending.
Baseball Banter allows you to personalize your experience by creating your own group pages. Instantly post your comments on any team, featured, or group page. Remember your netiquette! Users will have the option to rate every public comment and with more positive ratings, the higher on the comment leaderboard you’ll go. Baseball Banter makes commenting fun by giving you 16 achievements that you can unlock. Once you’ve unlocked them all, you’ll get your name etched on the Hall of Fame leaderboard. Baseball Banter has both Facebook and Twitter integrated into it, so it’s a breeze to share your favorite comments.
Some fans are limited to appreciating the fine sport of baseball to their couch but other fans want to go out there and actually play some ball. If you’re looking for an app that’ll help you score your game with your friends, get iScore Baseball. It doesn’t matter if you’re scoring youth baseball, a high school game, a college game or a professional game. iScore Baseball allows coaches, parents and fans to easily keep a detailed record of their game’s progress. iScore has everything you need to score, track and review a game and your stats.
With built in iScoreCast and TwitterCast, your friends and family who are miles away or are stuck at other events can keep on top of your game’s development. iScore provides you complete scorekeeping, able to record even the most complex of plays is tracked. The statistics you track for one game don’t end there; cumulative statistics are kept for teams and players so that you can track lifetime stats, season stats, league stats, and by tournament. Get iScore Baseball for your Android device today to start keeping track of your own baseball game scores.
If you’re looking for another scoring app, Batter Up! is a an alternative to iScore. This app comes with both a little league and rec league baseball stat tracker and scorecard. That makes it easy to score your games. You can also track detailed statistics like batting average, OBP, slugging, steals, hits and runs. You can even find an in-game play by play summary and more. Since no app is perfect, Battery Up! has its own share of snags.
Some users have complained that dark text on a dark background has made reading a little difficult to read. If you don’t mind that little snag, Batter Up! is the perfect app for the weekend baseball player. Whether you’re a coach, a player, or a player’s parents, start tracking baseball scores using Batter Up! for your Android device today. If you like Batter Up!’s free trial, purchase the app for a small fee and never have to worry about missing a pen and paper to score with at a baseball game again.
If you aren’t the athletic type but you love baseball, live the dream by playing 9 Innings: Pro Baseball 2011 on your Android device. Selected as Google Play’s Featured Sports Game, this game is one of the best full-featured baseball simulations with your favorite Major Leaguers. Featuring real players, complete with their latest stats, this game showcases almost 780 actual player profiles.
Those stats are absolutely staggering and the best part is you can collect your favorite players and add them to your roster in the Baseball Card Shop. Cards are graded as Normal, Rare, Special, Hero and Platinum. Draw new cards or combine them to obtain stronger players. If you win points, you can level up cards and improve your players’ stats. 9 Innings gives you three different play modes: League, Exhibition, and Homerun. As a manager, you can change lineups, rotations and players. There are 100 achievements that you’ll need to master. Get 9 Innings for your Android device today.
Another baseball simulator that you’ll love is Baseball Superstars II. This game has 7 different modes such as Exhibition, My League, Season, Homerun Race, Tournament, Mission, and Match Play Mode, promising to satisfy everyone’s needs. Complete with a storyline, players can engage in various events, select specific scenarios or players that you’d like to play with. Earn more money for your ball club by decorating the stadium.
Players can customize super skills, including unlimited number of pitching styles and dozens of batting effects. The game’s user interface is simple and recent updates have enhanced the player’s point-of-view system. The game’s improved AI makes it even more challenging, promising to burn your hours. Engage in various events, win tournaments, and achieve success by purchasing the right equipment and performing the necessary training. Dominate other players in Match Play mode by forming the best line up; acquire hall of famers, trade players, and hire super players to blow everyone else out of the water.
If you’re still not satisfied and you need to play even more baseball from the comfort of your Android device, make way for Baseball Superstars 2012. In crisp HD, Baseball Superstars 2012 gives you the chance to manage a team all the way to the championship or train a rookie to get to the Hall of Fame. Gorgeous details and clarity make this game optimized for HD and high-resolution displays on the latest Android devices.
With new gesture and tilt controls, the game gives you an intuitive pitching and batting experience. Smart AI makes your teammates exciting to play with, providing split-second catches and laser-precision throws. Baseball Superstars 2012 gives you the power to customize anything from your team’s logo, to the stadium, uniform, and equiment. Assemble the best team by recruiting, combining, and leveling up players. Train to earn skill points, new special moves and stat-boosting nicknames as you climb the ladder from rookie player to baseball Superstar. If that isn’t exciting enough for you, you can go against other users’ teams from around the world in PVP matches.
With all those baseball apps, you’re set to enjoy the game. Whether you’re keeping a close watch on scores, playing a game with a few friends, or living the dream by playing a simulator, your Android app will be your constant companion. If your favorite baseball app didn’t make it on our list, share it with us in the comments.
We're still out of breath from marveling at the awesomeness that is LG LS970 — aka the Eclipse — and its mind-blowing specs. It looks like the excitement won't end there. Brief Mobile has received yet more details of the phone that's enough to seal its place in our heart as “the next phone to be fawned over for the next couple of months” – now that both Samsung and HTC have released their flagship offerings.
While earlier pictures showed the back of the LG LS970 and had folks making assumptions that it'd come with an embedded battery, a new image reveals that it might not be the case after all. The image, as you can see below, confirms that the Eclipse's 2,100mAh battery will be a user removable one. Aside from that, it appears NFC will also be present in the phone.
We can argue about the importance of NFC and whether it's something that people would use in common phone actions, but if you look past the "tap to pay" function, it can be quite a neat way to beam data or exchange files to and from your phone. As for the battery, there's no denying that shipping the LG LS970 with a removable battery does make the phone that much more attractive in our eyes.
Want to know why LG has suddenly moved up a notch or two in our list? Here's why. The LG LS970 is set to come with a 4.67-inch WXGA display with 1280 x 768 resolution, 16GB internal storage, 2GB RAM (!), 13MP rear camera, 1.3MP front camera and the aforementioned 2,100mAh battery. Oh, and it'll come with a quad-core 1.5GHz Krait S4 processor. We rest our case.
It looks like the LG LS970 is heading towards Sprint's direction in the US, but it's the "when" part that we still don't have enough information on. Stay tuned, folks!
Don’t say I didn’t warn you, but reports from Taiwan are now confirming what I’ve said since the beginning of this year. Windows 8 tablets will not be price competitive with Android tablets and the iPad, even for the ARM version, so expect the Intel tablets to cost even more.
ARM situation is very bad
Manufacturers from Taiwan are complaining that Windows 8 RT licenses will cost them $90-$100 per device. That may not seem that much at first (even though it should compared to Android, which is free), but this $100 comes on top of a cost of components of around $300 for an ARM tablet. So Microsoft is increasing the tablet’s price by 33% with their Windows 8 license.
Keep in mind that as a general rule of thumb, and unless the manufacturers are a very efficient supply-chain (like Apple) or unless they minimize their profit margins as much as possible, then the retail price of these consumer electronics products should cost around twice as much as the price for the components at retail. Because you still have to account for stuff like salaries, research, distribution, packaging, marketing, and finally the profit for the company.
So if they use $200 components, add the Windows 8 license of $100, and double up to get the retail price that’s $600 at a minimum for a Windows 8 ARM tablet that will not compete with the high-end Android tablets or the iPad in terms of specs and performance. To get the latest specs, including high-resolution displays like the one in iPad (which should appear for Android tablets soon, too), you need to pay at least $300 in components like Apple does.
Intel situation, even worse
Even so, if you add the Windows 8 price now, and double it up, you get an $800 tablet. But let’s be generous and say it’s only a $700 tablet – without LTE, and without any significant number of tablet apps (still talking about Windows RT tablets so far). Remember when Motorola tried putting a $700-$800 tablet sans apps on the market; remember the Xoom? That didn’t go so well, did it?
For Intel tablets, the situation is even worse. ARM chips at the high-end cost around $20-$25. A dual core Atom (which is what the first Windows 8 tablets will have) should cost up to $100 with its affiliated components. Again, when you double up these component costs, the number get pretty crazy, and if these tablets would have exactly the same specs, build material, slimness, etc, as the high-end ARM tablets and the iPad, the only way the manufacturers could make them cost only 50% more than the competitors, is by seriously undercutting their own profits.
Not much of a choice
So the customers of Windows 8 tablets will be stuck between getting a significantly more expensive Windows RT tablet that has about the same battery life as Android tablets and iPad. At least in theory it should work well, since I presume they removed some of the bloat from the x86 version, and it will only have to deal with light HTML5 apps anyway – or they will have to choose an even more expensive Atom tablet, quite likely twice as much as some high-end ARM tablets by then. This won’t even have anything close to retina display because Atom can’t handle such high resolutions (ironically, this might bring them in line with the ARM tablets pricing which do have high-resolution displays, but hopefully customers are smart enough to realize the difference).
Granted, the x86 version will have more apps than the RT version, but those apps will not be optimized for touch, and perhaps even more importantly, they won’t be optimized for running on such low-end hardware. Why is it that Android or iOS apps can seem to run just as fast, if not faster than your normal programs on a quad core PC (which in theory, it should be 50x faster)? Because those are mobile apps, imagined and built to work on mobiles and be lean and fast.
The x86 Atom tablets will not benefit from that, and the experience should be as poor as it ever was on a Windows tablet – expecially a low-end one. I will safely assume that a $1200 Core i5 tablet, like the one they used to demo Windows 8 earlier this year, is out of the question for most people. Plus, the battery would last only 2-3 hours under heavy use.
Conclusion
I think there will be quite a few manufacturers pushing for Windows 8 tablets, because they are desperate for a successful alternative to the iPad, but I fear they will be disappointed when they realize most people won’t be interested in buying much more expensive tablets than what’s already available.
Microsoft made a mistake choosing Windows 8 instead of WP7 to be their tablet OS, but it was an intentional “mistake”. I knew they would do this even way before they announced this move – because I knew how Microsoft would think in this situation. Instead of doing anything that jeopardizes their Windows revenues (in their minds), they’d rather choose to ask $100 for their tablet version than $15 like for WP7. This is the main reason they chose it.
They were afraid that this will be the future, a future where they have to charge $15 for their OS. And I expect them to dramatically raise the price on Windows Phone 8 OS, too – maybe to $50 at least. That would make them even more expensive than the high-end Android phones, but still with 2 year old hardware.
Unfortunately for Microsoft, they have to realize that this is not 2005 anymore. They now live in a world where the free open source Android dominates in the mobile market, and that puts pressure even on their other products’ pricing. They can’t just keep on charging $100 per license as if nothing has changed.
How many of us first started with Nokia? I’m willing to bet that for most of you, a Nokia device was your first mobile phone. Having ‘grown up’ with Nokia phones, I’ve since made the graceful hop to Android, and it’s never been better. That being said, I still think back fondly, almost like an adolescent love relationship that all of us have had – and still cherish in my heart the time we spent together. However, this broken love is just a remnant from the past, and I, and the market, have affirmed their love for Android. Not everyone has plunged into the ever growing world of Android though, as we are still hearing cases of people going to the extreme, and, in some instances, selling parts of their bodies, or even their virginity to get the latest iDevice.
The Nokia 3310 was my first phone. Unfortunately all that is left of it are entertaining memes on the internet. And, having outgrown dumb phones, Asians – who were once Nokia's biggest supporters – are disappointed that present day Nokias haven't brought their once famous durability to their latest devices.
After the 3310, I had the Nokia N95 and the Xpress music 5800, which in my opinion are the best that Nokia has ever produced. Nothing after that mattered. Nokia even had to swallow their pride and admit their failure with the N97. The N8 and N9 came and went – creating little ripples.
Fast forward to 2012, and Nokia is mired by problems more pressing and numerous than ever before. They recently lost their position in the great mobile phone shipment battle to Samsung, while their flagship Nokia Lumia 900 has received mixed reviews. Other problems include:
It is no surprise that the company is imploding. After all, they jumped from a burning platform to another burning platform.
Here's why.
Nokia Smartphones Don't Command Value
By this, I meant the selling value. Nokia phones have always been the 'cheaper' alternative. In fact, in Asia, the price of WP7 devices halves in 6 months). This is a problem, because it means that they don't make as much as competitors per smartphone. Being 'cheaper' also means that telcos would have to sell in higher volumes to match what they earn from Android and Apple. This is not a good picture.
But there is also a lingering question: will consumers pay less, if and when, access to Android and iPhones are equally affordable?
There might be those who would choose Nokia's ailing phones, but I believe that the number of people who would do this are few. Consequently, telcos shun WP7 because the demand is so low.
What's worse is that the Ovi Store has been completely removed from Lumia phones. This means that most app revenues have to be shared with Microsoft. There aren't ways to sideload apps apart from a developer unlocking tool. This may sound irrelevant, but not when you compare how much Apple is making from their apps alone.
Nokia's decision in going with Windows Phone is costing them more than they bargained for. Plus, Nokia will have to start paying Microsoft for WP7 licensing fees (sooner or later). There is also a question where Elop said WP7 would allow Nokia to differentiate better than competitors. How is it better than Nokia phones running Android?
We will never find out. It's too late to turn back the clock.
Nokia Products Don't Inspire Desirability As Others
I consider the late Steve Jobs as a marketing person more than a tech genius. Today, almost every corporation worships the means and methods laid down by Jobs. Others look to the life of Jobs like the way they read Sun Tzu's, Art of War.
Steve Jobs marketed well, and the results are obvious.
Which brings me to the next question – What is outstanding about Nokia’s advertising and marketing? Most of us will draw a blank when asked this question.
That's a marketing nightmare for Nokia's marketing people.
That means that Nokia is either not doing enough marketing, or their marketing is so bad, that tech writers like me have no lasting impression of any part of it.
Nokia Is Not Fully Utilizing Their Tech
Nokia is a strong contender in terms of hardware. They were, if I may say, the best from yesteryear. However, hardware makes up a fraction in terms of consumer desirability. The premium smartphone market is the most rewarding, and there are consumers that are willing to pay good money to hold the latest devices in their hands from the tech worlds’ red carpet.
Symbian hasn't delivered anything on par with iOS and Android, and WP7 is still wallowing slowly in infancy. WP7 isn’t a game changer the way Motorola introduced the original Motorola Droid years ago.
Instead, Nokia's Lumia range is WP7 slapped on slightly better hardware.
It shows.
It Is Too Late For Nokia To Jump On The Android Bandwagon
Let's imagine for a moment that Nokia decided to go Android.
2012 has arrived and the Nokia has arrived with a quad core processor; packing an 8MP Carl Zeiss lens. Nokia also announced the Nokia Android Pureview – a 41MP, quad core beast that neither Samsung nor HTC has even come close to creating. Nokia Android users gain a whole world of access to apps via the Google Play Store. At that point, Elop has turned the company from the red into piles and piles of green cash. Nokia also holds the title as the manufacturer with the most mobile devices shipped with Samsung at a close second. Nokia continues to pressure HTC to continue bundling Beats Audio headphones with their devices as it launches their new Nokia Android XpressMusic range.
Sounds interesting?
Perhaps.
Would Nokia have successfully differentiated themselves from the other phones in the segment – absolutely! Their superior hardware would shine and would put them way ahead of HTC, and possibly enable them to fight Samsung head on.
That hasn't happened, and going Android now would be too late.
If I were to talk about a sport that is popular, exciting and cherished, the only thing that comes to mind is basketball. Die hard fans from all over the globe have stuffed their closets with souvenirs and merchandise. If you love basketball then you also love watching basketball leagues like NBA and NCAA. However, not all basketball fans can make it to the court. Other fans keep getting outdated results, or they just get bored at home because it’s off-season. Basketball fans can celebrate because we’ve put together some apps that’ll keep you cool and updated right from the comfort of your own home.
Most basketball fans love the NBA and if you’re looking for an app that gives you latest updates about NBA, we’ve got good news. Introducing NBA Game Time 2011-2012, an app that is especially made for basketball fans who are striving to grab the most recent updates on the NBA. It’s a must-have for fans because you’ll have stats, scores, and schedules for every NBA game in the palm of your hands! You can also receive NBA Twitter updates. And, if you miss your favorite team’s game, you can access full-time video recaps, as well as progress video highlights and videos. With this app you can receive updates on the NBA even while you’re sleeping.
The new face of basketball fun is now available on Android. Experience the thrill basketball stars give you when you’re watching their games straight from your phone! Download Basketball Shots 3D, one of the best basketball games Android has to offer. Score each game with 25 points in five different positions under 1 minute. Enjoy its 3D graphics with realistic physics and challenge your friends to get the bests scores and earn coins. Just shoot the ball using your fingers and get ready to be addicted by Basketball Shots 3D. If you find the game too easy, try increasing your difficulty level to make it more challenging. Basketball Shots 3D has four difficulty levels, plus unlockable achievements and online challenges.
If you’re looking for an app specially made for basketball updates and the latest events, you’re probably looking for Basketball News. Get updated with the latest basketball news around the NBA anytime, anywhere, on your Android phone. Basketball News gives you news on matches and teams from all divisions. With this app, you’ll never miss the latest news on your favorite basketball stars and teams, whether from Atlantic, Central, Southeast, Southwest, Northwest, or Pacific. Just like bringing a newspaper in your pocket, you’re getting news from sources like Yahoo, Bleacher Report, Fox Sport, CBS Sport, Sport Illustrated, USA Today, Sporting News and ESPN. Keep in touch with the latest developments in the world of basketball with Basketball News.
Designed to track a single player’s stats in every game he plays for an entire season, Individual Basketball Stats allows you to export stats via e-mail in an Excel file. You can view these stats per game or for the entire season. Just simply select the player you want and you can view stats such as Track Points, FGA/M, 3PA/M FTA/M, Fouls, Offensive / Defensive Rebounds, Assists,Turnovers, Block Shots, and Steals per player by Period and totals per team. If that isn’t enough for you, you might want to consider keeping track of a whole team using Team Basketball Stats.
Be ready to get into the world of virtual basketball, be ready for NBA: King of the Court! Travel different locations as you progress through the game. Compete, earn coins, and experience the thrill with a tap of your finger. You can also search local courts and challengers in your area using the browser camera view. Challenge and invite your friends using the in-game Facebook messaging feature.
Who says you can’t earn royalties if you won’t play? You can still collect great royalties when other players shoot on your courts. You can also get instant points on both offensive and defensive ways. Trigger auto dunks and hyper shots like Alley Oops and Slam Dunk for offense and crank up the “D” with effects like lockdown and double team that fortify your courts against would-be challengers. Unlock divisions, defend, and win battles. Compete in weekly contests to get special awards, climb royal ranks, and challenge players from all over the world. Grab that crown as the king of basketball, and rule the world!
Get updates from scores and news to standings from your favorite basketball stars and teams that aren’t just in the NBA but from sport leagues around the world. ESPN ScoreCenter is one of the most comprehensive and convenient scorecenter apps on Android that covers every pitch and goal that basketball players take. Some of ESPN ScoreCenter’s features are personalized scoreboards and live game details and the option to follow your favorite teams on one card. You can get the latest news coverage from ESPN and aggregated local sources so you’ll never be left out of the loop again. You can even enjoy the ESPN editorial staff’s deep news and analysis anytime you want.
Having difficulty finding basketball apps with a different touch? Try GO SMS Pro Basketball theme designed by GO SMS Dev Team. You can enjoy the best and most colorful basketball themes for your Android phone. Install the latest version of GO SMS Pro to get themes. Just download one from the menu Theme (or Plug-in UI->Theme shop). After you download it, the theme will be automatically displayed in “Installed Themes.” Apply it and enjoy! If you’d like more themes, GO SMS Pro light blue theme and purple Fusion Go SMS Pro are also available.
Basketball is probably the most popular sport in the world, played on both the amateur and professional levels. There are hundreds of leagues all over the world, but not every basketball fan knows how to actually play the game. For the less-than-athletic, there are basketball games to satisfy your sports cravings. If you think you’ve tried them all, make way for Basketball Racing.
The famous life-like street basketball game is now available on Android. Be able to play its two modes: time limit mode with unlimited balls for 60 seconds, and balls limit with no game time limit but you can only shoot up to 40 balls. Just tap and drag the “ball summoning area” to set the direction and power and release to shoot the ball. Submit your scores to the gamebox and compete with players from all over the globe for the record of the world’s highest score.
When we talk about basketball, what first comes to mind is the game. Basketball fanatics may be good at it, but only a few of them are as well-versed as coaches in planning techniques and strategies. Though some coaches are veteran players, most them were definitely born for it. If you’re aspiring to be a coach, you shouldn’t settle for a messy whiteboard when you can have Basketball coach’s clipboard!
Move players and draw lines on the screen just by using your fingers. Animate the plays you want to better get your message across to your players. Change the number of players, players’ numbers and name with text colors, and adjust animation speed. The app can be customized into full or half-court modes. If you and your team aren’t in the same room, you can share plays through email and save plays in your playbook.
Struggling as a basketball player? Trying to be the best? Imitating the tactics of your favorite basketball players but just can’t make it work? Don’t worry because Basketball Tactics is here to help you. Learn the best of the best basketball techniques and strategies using this app–from detailed basketball plays to offenses and defenses right on your phone.
Improve your ability and skills in basketball and be just like your favorite basketball superstars. You can also see animated basketball plays in a diagram. Basketball Tactics gives you updates on any new basketball tactics. If you have tried all the tactics this app has to offer you, don’t worry because more tactics will be coming very soon. What are you waiting for? Download Basketball Tactics now and start practicing those moves.
With that list of apps, you’ll never be bored at home. Get updated on the latest developments in the world of basketball or try out your moves on the court.
We're still out of breath from marveling at the awesomeness that is LG LS970 — aka the Eclipse — and its 
We can argue about the importance of NFC and whether it's something that people would use in common phone actions, but if you look past the "tap to pay" function, it can be quite a neat way to beam data or exchange files to and from your phone. As for the battery, there's no denying that shipping the LG LS970 with a removable battery does make the phone that much more attractive in our eyes.
Granted, the x86 version will have more apps than the RT version, but those apps will not be optimized for touch, and perhaps even more importantly, they won’t be optimized for running on such low-end hardware. Why is it that Android or iOS apps can seem to run just as fast, if not faster than your normal programs on a quad core PC (which in theory, it should be 50x faster)? Because those are mobile apps, imagined and built to work on mobiles and be lean and fast.
How many of us first started with Nokia? I’m willing to bet that for most of you, a Nokia device was your first mobile phone. Having ‘grown up’ with Nokia phones, I’ve since made the graceful hop to Android, and it’s never been better. That being said, I still think back fondly, almost like an adolescent love relationship that all of us have had – and still cherish in my heart the time we spent together. However, this broken love is just a remnant from the past, and I, and the market, have affirmed their love for Android. Not everyone has plunged into the ever growing world of Android though, as we are still hearing cases of people going to the extreme, and, in some instances, selling parts of their bodies, or even their virginity to get the latest iDevice.
By this, I meant the selling value. Nokia phones have always been the 'cheaper' alternative. In fact, in Asia, the price of WP7 devices halves in 6 months). This is a problem, because it means that they don't make as much as competitors per smartphone. Being 'cheaper' also means that telcos would have to sell in higher volumes to match what they earn from Android and Apple. This is not a good picture.
Nokia's decision in going with Windows Phone is costing them more than they bargained for. Plus, Nokia will have to start paying Microsoft for WP7 licensing fees (sooner or later). There is also a question where Elop said WP7 would allow Nokia to differentiate better than competitors. How is it better than Nokia phones running Android?
