Android World: AndroidGuys

Thursday, March 21, 2013

AndroidGuys

Five reasons Evernote still reigns over Google Keep
Google officially steps on Evernote’s turf with Google Keep
25 geometry-themed wallpapers for Android
Is Amazon working on a $99 7-inch Kindle Fire HD?
10 more awesome icon packs for Android
T-Mobile’s UNcarrier pricing details surface
Jawbone UP app arrives for select Android devices

Five reasons Evernote still reigns over Google Keep

Posted: 20 Mar 2013 03:21 PM PDT

evernote_720w

Look, as nice as Google Keep is in its first iteration, there’s a long way to go. Sure, I love the idea that it ties with my Google account, synchronizes across all my devices, and offers some great widgets. On the other hand, I’ve already come to see things in Google Keep that I miss from my Evernote experience. This is not to suggest, however, that Google will not eventually introduce some of these features.

After spending a solid hour playing with Google Keep, I came up with five major reasons why Evernote is still my preferred method of collecting and curating notes, photos, tasks, and more.

Collaboration

While I understand that Google Keep is my notes and tasks, there are still things that I would live to share with others so that we can collaborate. Perhaps a grocery list with my wife, maybe a list of articles to start writing. Whatever it is, Evernote allows for better collaboration.

Browser extensions

Whether you are a Chrome, Firefox, or other browser user, chances are good that there’s an official Evernote extension. Toss in a smattering of wonderful third-party clients and you’ve got your pick of the litter. It’s incredibly easy to share a web page, image, or copied text to Evernote with browser extensions.

Evernote Food

Who here doesn’t love taking pictures of their dinner and sharing with friends? OK, you two can leave. For everyone else, we often find ourselves snapping pictures of our dinner and sharing across a variety of platforms. Evernote Food is a wonderful feature which not only provides these options but also for geo-location and notes. Yes, Android has really cool sharing features and a Google+ or Twitter share is but a press away.

Places

One of the features I love most about Evernote is that I can view pictures of receipts or notes on a map. It’s super easy for me to see all the taxi receipts, expenses, and other notes from when I travel. Rather than worrying about tagging everything with a specific code, I can simply view everything in one geo-based lump. Of course, I suspect Google will find a way to integrate Maps into Keep at some point. Until then, this is one of the most-compelling reasons to stick with Evernote.

Skitch

Drawing on top of an image, note, or photo is a breeze with Skitch and the features keep getting better. What was once a standalone app and service has come to really round out the Evernote experience. Sure, phones like the Galaxy Note 2 offer this in the overall experience, but this is way more fleshed out and detailed.

Conclusion

I’m very impressed with Google Keep thus far and think it is on its way to becoming an incredibly useful feature/service. If only because it’s Google, I expect it to grow with deeper Android and Chrome integration down the road. With that in mind, I still find Evernote to be a bit more suited to my tastes. A few releases from now, things could be completely different.

What apps are you using for note-taking and to-do lists? Is it one of the above? Maybe you’re more of a Catch Notes or Any.DO person? Please, leave a comment or feedback in the comments below with your impressions of Google Keep, Evernote, or your preferred app.

The post Five reasons Evernote still reigns over Google Keep appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Google officially steps on Evernote’s turf with Google Keep

Posted: 20 Mar 2013 02:35 PM PDT

That didn’t take long, did it? Google today announced on the official Android blog that Google Keep is available for Android smartphones and tablets. Offered as a free service and application, Google Keep lets users keep track of notes, photos, to-do lists, and other items. If this sounds to you like Evernote and Catch then you’d be correct.

To solve this problem we've created Google Keep. With Keep you can quickly jot ideas down when you think of them and even include checklists and photos to keep track of what's important to you. Your notes are safely stored in Google Drive and synced to all your devices so you can always have them at hand.

Tied directly into Google Drive, Google Keep features voice input, color coding, priority ranking, a home screen widget, and lock screen widget.

As for how other companies react to Google Keep, I am guessing we’ll hear that they welcome Google’s approach and that it should help drive innovation. I’m immediately optimistic about the app and service but, longer term, I hope it sticks around. Here’s to widespread adoption; in all reality, this will likely stick around if only because of how it ties to Google Drive.

The post Google officially steps on Evernote’s turf with Google Keep appeared first on AndroidGuys.

25 geometry-themed wallpapers for Android

Posted: 20 Mar 2013 12:02 PM PDT

Looking to change up your Android home screen? It doesn’t get much easier than swapping out the wallpaper; it’s one of the quickest ways to breath new life into the mobile experience. We are curating a collection of wallpapers for you, dear reader, and are only too happy to share the goods!

We’ll be adding to the collection on a regular basis and will occasionally highlight a theme or specific artist’s work we really appreciate.

About this collection

This collection of wallpapers is a dedicated to the common theme of geometry. Yes, we’re talking about circles, squares, triangles, and other shapes.

In digging up the following 25 wallpapers, we found that these basic shapes, combined with colors, make for great backgrounds to Android phones or tablets. In fact, we ended up having to enforce a limit (for now) so that we could focus on our next theme. There were just too many great geometry wallpapers for us to put in one collection. Rest assured, we’ll be back to revisit this theme again and again!

Click to view slideshow.

Click here to see our entire collection of wallpapers.

Note that the wallpaper page may go through a few changes over the coming weeks and that your experience should improve with each update. If you see something that you think we’d like to share, drop us a line. What’s more, if you have created some wallpapers of your own and want help in spreading the word, we’re your guys.

SEE ALSO

The post 25 geometry-themed wallpapers for Android appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Is Amazon working on a $99 7-inch Kindle Fire HD?

Posted: 20 Mar 2013 10:58 AM PDT

Amazon seems to be on a tablet price slashing spree lately, and the latest news seems to continue the trend. According to techcrunch.com, it is rumored that a $99 Kindle Fire 7″ tablet is in production, and will be shipping this year. The new Kindle Fire HD will still have a TI processor like the rest of the lineup, and will have a 1280×800 resolution, just like today's Kindle Fire HD 7″ currently does.

Is Amazon just trying to quickly move out stock, or do they have something else up their sleeves? No matter what the situation, it is definitely working in favor of the consumer. Earlier this month, Amazon announced reduced prices on its Kindle Fire HD 8.9″ devices. The Wi-Fi-only version will cost $269, down from $299, while the LTE version dropped from $499 to $399.

You may think $99 is a joke, but IDC Research Director on Tablets, Tom Mainelli, says otherwise. According to Mr. Mainelli, he believes this year tablets running Google's Android operating system will overtake the iPad for the first time, and the price seems very reasonable. (The Amazon Kindle Fire, of course, uses its own version of Android.)

In the end, the possibility of a $99 Kindle Fire HD is just a rumor, but one we can’t ignore. Amazon denies that such a price drop will be happening, so all we can do is wait patiently and see what will happen.

The post Is Amazon working on a $99 7-inch Kindle Fire HD? appeared first on AndroidGuys.

10 more awesome icon packs for Android

Posted: 20 Mar 2013 08:34 AM PDT

So you’ve gotten into customizing your phone or tablet a bit and now you want to tweak a bit more. Have you checked out our 25 fantastic icon packs post from early February? Awesome, right? Now you’re looking for more. We aim to please.

One of the easiest ways to change your existing look is to install a new launcher. Once you do that, it’s even easier to swap icons in and out. Want to shake off the winter blues and put something a bit more spring-like or colorful? Presto. Prefer a minimal look with single colors across the board? Done. All you need is a great icon pack or two and you’re on your way.

We’ve gathered up 10 more awesome icon packs to go along with our previous collection. We’ll continue curating these types of lists and will return with more once we’ve scooped up enough!

Check out the gallery for a sample of the great icon packs available for Android. Mouse over anything that appeals to you, find out the name then head below for links!

Note that there are a number of launchers for Android and that not all of these may play nice. Our advice is to read the details and check out the user comments if you aren’t quite sure. Further, some of these will require manual selection and adjustment.

Snack Pack

Snack Pack is a clean and minimalistic theme to help bring the designer out in you. This theme works well with Apex, Nova, ADW, and Go Launchers. It may work with other varying launchers found on the market but has not been tested for compatibility. $1.49

Glass Rings

The original Glass Rings is back! The theme that inspired hundreds of “Ring” themes. This time it is back for APEX, Nova, ADW, Holo Launcher, Holo HD and much more! This is a launcher theme (for Apex, Nova, ADWEX, ADW.Launcher, & more!) You must have one of these launchers installed for this to work. FREE

SIWS

Icon set modded by at428hk features 93 icons in black and/or white. FREE (donate via Paypal)

VIVID

1,000 icons are included..with more to come in future updates! These icons are BIG, so if your launcher supports icon size changing increase the size to have even bigger HD icons. Currently supports: GO Launcher EX, ADW Launcher /Ex, Apex Launcher, Nova Launcher, Holo Launcher, Atom Launcher, Desktop Visualizer $1.99

SMPL White

Includes 840+ beautiful icons to pick and choose from, and more than 2,500 icons themed. Supports Go Launcher, Apex Launcher, Nova Launcher. Also comes with full Go theme. $1.99

Rare White

Includes 38 icons for some of the most commonly used Android apps. FREE

Crysta

Works for Apex Launcher, ADW Launcher, Nova Launcher, and Holo Launcher. Features include icon mask , meaning all of your icons will be themed. Roughly 150 icons and two wallpapers in bundle. $1.30

Pushy v2

Lustre

This is a launcher theme (for Apex, Nova, ADWEX, ADW.Launcher, Nemus & more!) and will change the graphics and icons for many popular launcher replacements. Features include new graphics for dock bar (ADW & Apex), over 750 custom icons, themed search widget, and extra docks (ADWEX). $1.49

Google JFK

Icons created by Google, collected and curated by carlosjj. Latest version (3.3) supports ADW, Launcher Pro, and Nova however development has been discontinued. Results may vary. FREE

The post 10 more awesome icon packs for Android appeared first on AndroidGuys.

T-Mobile’s UNcarrier pricing details surface

Posted: 20 Mar 2013 07:07 AM PDT

The first details of T-Mobile’s forthcoming UNcarrier strategy have surfaced online, albeit in a very unofficial manner. The document you see here comes courtesy of Engadget and spells out the preliminary pricing and Classic Plan options for T-Mobile’s new direction.

As it appears here, individual plans start at $60 per month and include unlimited talk, text, and 500MB of data. All plans, for that matter, will include the unlimited calling and texting; customers simply choose the data plan that fits their needs.

t-mobile-uncarrier-leak-engadget

All but the truly unlimited data option also include tethering (SMSH, or Smartphone Mobile Hotspot) as part of the package however you can add-on a bucket of tethering to the $90 unlimited data plan. Once you hit your tether allowance, the feature turns off for the remainder of the month. Not to worry, though, as your unlimited high speed data continues on.

Expected individual rate plans for T-Mobile UNcarrier strategy

$60 for Unlimited talk and text plus 500MB data (and unlimited tethering)
$80 for Unlimited talk and text plus 2GB data (and unlimited tethering)
$90 for Unlimited talk and text plus 4GB data (and unlimited tethering)
$100 for Unlimited talk and text plus 6GB data (and unlimited tethering)
$110 for Unlimited talk and text plus 8GB data (and unlimited tethering)
$120 for Unlimited talk and text plus 10GB data (and unlimited tethering)
$130 for Unlimited talk and text plus 12GB data (and unlimited tethering)
$90 for Unlimited talk and text plus unlimited data (must add tethering plan separately if desired)

Family plans follow a similar strategy in that customers pick the right data plan; mobile broadband options are also expected as add-on options for voice plans as well as standalone.

It is expected that T-Mobile announces the new plans at the upcoming March 26 event in New York.

Engadget

The post T-Mobile’s UNcarrier pricing details surface appeared first on AndroidGuys.

Jawbone UP app arrives for select Android devices

Posted: 20 Mar 2013 06:06 AM PDT

jawbone_up_wristbands

Jawbone today announced that the wristband and application is now available for select Android devices. Effective immediately, the is compatible with a number of handsets running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or later.

"We're excited to expand the UP community by introducing support for Android…Today marks a big step toward our commitment to help people establish a basis for behavior change by bringing UP to everyone who wants to live better lives." – Travis Bogard, Jawbone vice president of product management and strategy.

So what does the Jawbone UP do? The question, rather, is what the UP doesn’t do for users. Design to be worn 24/7, the wristband helps track pretty much everything you do in your life, from tracking sleep and counting calories to waking you up from power naps and motivating you to move more.

Click to view slideshow.

The UP app is available today as a free download on Google Play, while the UP wristband is available in the US for $129 at Apple, AT&T, Best Buy and Jawbone.com.

As of March 20, Jawbone UP is tested and verified to work with the following: