AndroidGuys

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• Motorola Phones Lack “Wow” Factor, Says Google CFO
• Candy Crush Saga: Incredibly addictive and tons of fun
• Samsung invites public to Times Square to watch unveiling of Galaxy S4
• OUYA Ships March 28th
• HTC confirms Sense 5 update coming to select previous models
• APPTEASERS: 15 Android apps and games worth checking out (Feb 28)
• Review: Pocket Casts 4 for Android (Video)
• Google experimenting with new Linux kernel for Android, version 3.8
• Can HP’s budget-friendly Slate 7 take on the Nexus 7?
• Waze wows us again with 3.6 release

Motorola Phones Lack “Wow” Factor, Says Google CFO Posted: 28 Feb 2013 01:11 PM PST Google’s CFO, Patrick Pichette, openly admitted that Motorola’s phones have not provided a “wow” factor for consumers. Pichette stated that Google has inherited a pipeline of insignificant devices. "Motorola has a great set of products, but they're not really like 'wow' by Google standards. Dennis Woodside and his team have inherited 18 months of pipeline that we have to drain right now." -Patrick Pichette Pichette was speaking on behalf of the Droid RAZR M and Droid RAZR MAXX HD, two well reviewed devices. In regards to Pichette’s statement, this gives us high hopes for the rumored Motorola X phone, in that Google will not allow an unimpressive device into the Nexus family. Source: BGR The post Motorola Phones Lack “Wow” Factor, Says Google CFO appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Candy Crush Saga: Incredibly addictive and tons of fun Posted: 28 Feb 2013 12:27 PM PST Got a few minutes to kill? Perfect, that’s literally all you need for Candy Crush Saga. I’ve been playing this game for the last few weeks and it’s easily one of the  most addictive titles I’ve recently come across. As a former Facebook-only game, I was somewhat reluctant to start playing this one.  Call me weird, but there’s generally just something about those games that rubs me wrong.  Nevertheless, I gave Candy Crush Saga a spin after my wife told me how much fun she was having.  I am pleased to admit that I missed the boat on this one – it’s a lot of fun and really addictive. If you’ve ever played a match-three game like Bejewled then you already know the mechanics. You’re given a goal at the start of each round (clear all the jelly, bring all ingredients to the bottom, etc) and a set number of moves to accomplish the task. There’s no race or time limit to worry about, but you’ve got to put on your thinking cap. Match up three or more pieces of candy in a row and you’ll earn points or special pieces. Use these pieces to complete a set and you could rack up extra points or finish the level. Honestly, there’s not much more to describing this game; most can pick it up in one or two rounds. The graphics are incredibly vibrant and the candy looks realistic. With more than 100 levels to finish, the game invites you back for more. I’ve already gone back to try to complete early levels with higher scores. Yes, this is one of those games where you can earn up to three stars based on your performance. Additional details include unlockable items, boosters and charms, and leaderboards. Thanks to the Facebook sync, you can see how your friends are doing as well.   If there were one spot I’d like to see modified it would be in the boosters. Just because you earn a booster (helpful in completing levels quicker) doesn’t mean you can use it. You’re asked to purchase them each time out. So, if you want to start the level with three color bombs, you’ll have to pay $1.15 for the option. Others can cost even more.  As you know, this could get pretty darn expensive, quickly. It’s worth pointing out that players are given a set number of lives (5) and that each time you do not complete the task, you lose one. After you deplete your lives you are required to wait so long to play again.  Use them all up right away and you could be waiting an hour or longer before you’re back in with multiple lives. What we liked: Easy to learn, hard to put down Rich colors and inviting graphics Fun for all ages Very high replay value Room for improvement: Would like to use boosters for free A tad too easy to use up lives for beginners Download Candy Crush Saga (Google Play)     The post Candy Crush Saga: Incredibly addictive and tons of fun appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Samsung invites public to Times Square to watch unveiling of Galaxy S4 Posted: 28 Feb 2013 11:38 AM PST Not a member of the press but still want to see the Galaxy S4 unveiled in New York? You’re in luck; Samsung is inviting the public to Times Square to watch the Unpacked event live. If you’re in the area on March 14 and want to be on hand for the announcement of one of this year’s biggest devices, you’re advised to head down to Times Square before the soiree kicks of at 7PM. Something tells us there will be reps walking around with demo models, showing it off. Samsung (Twitter) The post Samsung invites public to Times Square to watch unveiling of Galaxy S4 appeared first on AndroidGuys.

OUYA Ships March 28th Posted: 28 Feb 2013 09:40 AM PST After months of waiting, the infamous OUYA will begin shipping on March 28th. OUYA is a $99 Android gaming consol that blew through Kickstarter last year with over 8 million dollars pledged. The sum 50,000+ backers should be receiving their OUYAs in late March. According to OUYA’s site, they will be launching with a handful of games developed specifically for the OUYA, but of course you can always download non-ouya specific games straight from the Google Play Store. If you did not bite the bullet and pledge for an OUYA, keep your eyes peeled for the first reviews which should be hitting the internet shortly after its release. Source: OUYA The post OUYA Ships March 28th appeared first on AndroidGuys.

HTC confirms Sense 5 update coming to select previous models Posted: 28 Feb 2013 09:14 AM PST HTC today confirmed that the HTC Sense 5 UI will be coming to select existing models as part of a software update. Timing is unknown, however the models are expecting the update include variants of the One X, One X+, One S, and HTC Butterfly. As is the case with other updates of this magnitude, some of the newer and more robust features may get scrapped due to hardware limitations. HTC will be offering upgrades to some of its existing devices in the next few months, including global variants of HTC One X, One X+, One S and the HTC Butterfly. Also, note that some features enabled by the new HTC One hardware will not be available in the software updates. HTC The post HTC confirms Sense 5 update coming to select previous models appeared first on AndroidGuys.

APPTEASERS: 15 Android apps and games worth checking out (Feb 28) Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:39 AM PST We get a lot of requests from developer seeking a review or some form of publicity for their game or app. Unfortunately, we cannot accommodate even a fraction of the emails, tweets, or messages that come across our desk. The result is that readers and followers miss out on discovering new and wonderful titles.  To help alleviate the problem we have created an ongoing series of posts called APPTEASERS. APPTEASERS is a collection of apps and games that are new to Android, recently updated, discounted, etc. Whatever the case, we think they’re worth exploring and are willing to bet that many of you would enjoy a few of them. We understand that we won’t get every single app that crosses our path but we hope to filter things a bit and pass them along to you, dear reader. Also, be sure to follow us on Facebook and Google+ as we showcase a different app each day. Real Racing Hyper-realistic. Pure fun. And FREE. Real Racing 3 sets a new standard for mobile racing games – it really must be experienced to be believed. Trailblazing new features include officially licensed tracks, an expanded 22-car grid, and over 45 meticulously detailed cars from makers like Porsche, Lamborghini, Dodge, Bugatti, and Audi. Plus, racing with friends gets kicked into another dimension with the reality-bending Time Shifted Multiplayer™ (TSM) technology. FREE (Amazon) Style Jukebox Style Jukebox is an easy to use, free app that lets you take your entire music collection and listen it from the Cloud on your Android phone or any other supported devices. To create an account on Jukebox Cloud, install Style Jukebox on your computer and import your music collection for free. Never worry about managing your music content between your computer and Android device again.  You can stream or download your music playlists from the Cloud or play the songs you already have on your device. FREE Towelfight 2 Settle a dispute between gods by shooting animals out of your face! An action-adventure game of epic proportions, Towelfight 2 will beard-slap you with copious bloodplosions, procedurally-generated levels, insane boss fights, 14 powerups, and 40 unique weapons enhanced by 80 augmentations. Dispatch myriad foes with a cornucopia of laser-blasting bees, speed-boosting unicorns, spiraling praying mantises, whales in heat, and ultra-defensive turtles, among others. ($.99) WeVideo (Beta) WeVideo offers the only mobile app in today’s market that syncs with a unique online video “creation environment,” enabling customers to capture video on any video camera or smartphone, edit their footage on any online computer, and collaborate with anyone, anywhere in the world. Videos created with the WeVideo Android app can be edited, trimmed, stylized and published from the phone, or saved to be edited at a later time, with the sophisticated, yet simple, online WeVideo editor. FREE Big Hangman of Fortune The most beautiful, addictive, wildly entertaining word game you’ll play today, tomorrow and beyond is here! A mysterious former game show host has come out of retirement to figure out the one question he’s never been able to answer…who is the best hangman player in the world?!? To settle this conundrum he has created the off-the-wall game show Big Hangman of Fortune, inviting anyone willing to accept the challenge. FREE Gainos Fresh Wallpapers Never get bored by staring at the same wallpaper over and over again! Get fresh, new photos from the best of Flickr as your wallpaper. You never know what the next image is going to be, but it will be amazing. Set your own time interval to decide how frequently the wallpaper updates. Images are selected at random from the ‘Explore’ stream at Flickr. Remembers last 10 wallpapers so you can go back and choose one you previously liked. Choose to change the wallpaper as frequently as 10 minute to as slow as once every week. Enable Daydream mode on JellyBean+ devices to start screensaver when device is docked. FREE ManaPlus (Beta) Free OpenSource 2D MMORPG client for Evol Online and The Mana World. 100% Free, with permissions only for internet and sd card. Evol Online is a 2D fantasy-style game which aims to create a friendly environment for interacting with others where people can escape reality and enjoy themselves. The Mana World (TMW) is a serious effort to create an innovative free and open source MMORPG. FREE Ivory Tower Defenders TAs, Professors, and Deans, oh my! All the epic drama of college in one strategy game! The Ivory Tower is being overrun by hordes of students. It’s up to you to defend the University by placing Ivory Tower Defenders in key locations on campus – the Lecture Hall, the Library, the Seminar Room, and at the Graduation Ceremony. Each beautifully rendered location requires a different strategy as your Defenders launch blue books, dissertations, and academic suspensions at wave after wave of incorrigible students. FREE Purity Lite Purity is a tile-based puzzle game where you must find a path through each level which allows you to absorb all of the energy tiles and reach the exit.  Teleports, shields, connectors, and static tiles help you on your journey through levels of increasing difficulty.   The atmospheric music and sound effects and retro-meets-psychedelic visuals combine to create a clean aesthetic, further enhancing the deceptively simple but challenging gameplay. FREE (Amazon) Flexpansion Keyboard FREE Flexpansion’s advanced word prediction dramatically increases your typing speed in ALL apps. Type using abbreviations, like a txt msg, and Flexpansion automatically expands them into full, correctly-spelled text. Flexpansion provides everything you’d expect from a predictive text system, including fully-adaptive word completion, next word prediction, editable user dictionary and autocorrect. But in addition, our unique “Abbreviation expansion” mode also understands all common abbreviation styles. FREE Airline Flight Status Pro FlightHero is a flight-tracking app that provides a real time flight status information and helps you to know flight status, lets you to track a flight. Aware of the fact that is also shows a real time flight-board with arrivals and departures, airport traffic delays and a current airport weather in addition to a 10 day detailed weather forecast and synchronizes with your TripIt account(via In-App TripIt Sync AddOn). ($1.99) Protoxide: Death Race Abandoned cities under the rowdy gang’s control, the absence of legal law, violence as a basic survival principle and races without rules as the main method to solve the problems. «Protoxide: Death Race» will tell you everything about ultra-speed driving, battle super-cars that look like machines from Hollywood fantastic blockbusters and wild industrial tracks. Various modes of «Protoxide: Death Race» give you a chance to try yourself in a high-speed competition, or begin a battle on tracks and concentrate on destroying your enemies or investigate the dying world in details, completing a single campaign mode. And a multiplayer mode will connect all the fans of auto-wars all over the world in one violent massacre. ($.99) Gunslugs We grabbed a bunch of expendable action hero’s from the 80s and we made them team up as the Gunslugs to fight the war against the always evil Black Duck Army. Can you save the planet? Maybe even the universe? Details include random level generation, unlockable characters, thumping sound track , secret levels, objectives/achievements, and more! ($1.49) The Electric Company Party Game: Lost on Prankster Planet (Kindle Tablet Edition) HEY YOU GUYYYYYS! Marcus and Jessica are stuck on Prankster Planet and they need your help! Complete physical challenges, silly brainstorms, and math questions in this exciting multiplayer game. From wacky challenges to counting races, this game will have your team laughing and learning as you add, draw, discuss, think, act, problem solve, and dance your way back to Earth. The app is based on the PBS KIDS series The Electric Company. FREE (Amazon) Arcane Legends Experience Adventure Unleashed and team up with friends from all over the world in this new online co-operative RPG from Spacetime Studios, creators of the smash-hit Pocket Legends. Your adventures will take you and a stable of mystical pets through darkly-lit taverns, majestic forests, and dank mines as you root out the evil taking hold of Arlor. FREE The post APPTEASERS: 15 Android apps and games worth checking out (Feb 28) appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Review: Pocket Casts 4 for Android (Video) Posted: 28 Feb 2013 08:25 AM PST Gone are the days of bad podcasting applications, with Pocket Casts 4, we finally have a beautiful podcasting app. In its latest release, Pocket Casts brings a major UI overhaul and many new features. You can subscribe to multiple feeds (both audio and video), auto download new podcasts, and manage playback through your notifications. Along with the added features, the updated user interface is second to none. With beautiful colors, icons, and text, this update looks truly amazing. Pocket Casts’ design can easily rival some of the best looking applications on the play store. On the flip side, Pocket Casts will run you just about $4 in the play store with no free version available, but to say its worth the money would be an understatement. If you listen to podcasts, downloading this application should be a no brainer. Download Pocket Casts (Play Store) The post Review: Pocket Casts 4 for Android (Video) appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Google experimenting with new Linux kernel for Android, version 3.8 Posted: 28 Feb 2013 07:49 AM PST According to the public kernel repository over at Google, there’s a new, experimental kernel build out. It’s marked as version 3.8, and is built from the standard kernel, with all the standard Android modifications and tweaks. This is, whether you may understand it or not, good news for the Androidosphere. Linux kernel 3.8 includes support for open source Samsung Exynos DRM and NVIDIA Tegra drivers, has a low memory footprint, and supports a flash-friendly file system. Built-in, native support in the kernel is always a good thing, as it allows Google to spend less time focusing on development for simple device support, and more time integrating new features universally. Remember, this kernel is experimental at this point. Android 4.2.2 is currently shipping with 3.4 on the Nexus 4 – hopefully, however, we’ll see this new kernel build in the next iteration of the OS. via phoronix The post Google experimenting with new Linux kernel for Android, version 3.8 appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Can HP’s budget-friendly Slate 7 take on the Nexus 7? Posted: 28 Feb 2013 06:40 AM PST It is Mobile World Congress week, and we all know about the plethora of new Android devices announced. Phones and tablets are everywhere, mostly from familiar names. Then there’s also the new HP (yes, them) tablet, the budget-friendly HP Slate 7. With pricing that starts at $169.99, the big comparison will come from the Nexus 7. For this price you won’t get a bunch of fancy bells and whistles under the hood, but plenty for new users. It runs Android Jelly Bean with a 1.6 GHz dual-core ARM processor, a 7-inch display, a front and a rear camera, with a grey or red backcover, and it comes with BeatsAudio support. Certainly not bad stuff; most buyers don’t care all that much about specifications. For HP to have success they will need to promote the tablet and offer it in a variety of retail outlets. In other words, it should be everywhere the Nexus 7 is, and more. HP will be launching it in April, and we hope that it turns out good for HP. Competition is always welcome and we’re pulling for a rebound from the TouchPad tablet. So, are you considering grabbing one? Tell us about it in the comment box below. HP The post Can HP’s budget-friendly Slate 7 take on the Nexus 7? appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Waze wows us again with 3.6 release Posted: 28 Feb 2013 06:23 AM PST Starting this week, Waze users now have the ability to report and close roads on their interactive map in real time, helping to prevent delays and unnecessary back-ups on the roadways. With Waze 3.6, drivers can now navigate past any problems on the road, whether it is due to an accident, construction hazard, or weather with just the tap of the screen. And it is smart too! With Smart Systems in place, Waze will only close down a road once it has enough evidence to make sure it wasn’t driver error. On the other hand, once Waze detects enough cars driving on a closed street, it will automatically return the road to its normal status. But that’s not all the new 3.6 update gave Wazers. It also added new graphic overlays and map views, a newly customized inbox with multiple message selection, and even new moods. Go ahead and try it out, and let us know how the new update is treating you! Download Waze from Google Play Store → The post Waze wows us again with 3.6 release appeared first on AndroidGuys.

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