| Another Android console competitor appears, Mad Catz M.O.J.O. releases 12/10 for $250 Oct 9th 2013, 19:20, by Dima Aryeh The Android console market has exploded, but adoption of it has not. The OUYA is definitely the most famous, but after controversy, delays and reviews that weren’t so thrilling, we can’t exactly call it a runaway success. But first gen products aren’t always successful, and other companies are giving it a shot, too. The next company to make a full featured Android console is taking a bit of a different approach. Mad Catz has finally given us a release date and a price on the M.O.J.O. console, and it isn’t cheap. The console will be released on December 10 for a whopping $250, more than doubling the price of the OUYA. This price sets it up to compete with the established consoles; however, an Android console with a limited selection of games and mobile hardware will definitely struggle to do so. At least OUYA had the advantage of a low price. However, the M.O.J.O. offers some significantly better hardware than the OUYA. Instead of using the outdated Tegra 3 processor, this console uses the brand new Tegra 4. It also has 2GB of RAM, 16GB of storage with a microSD slot supporting up to 128GB, Android 4.2.2 and a plethora of ports–two USB (one USB 3, One USB 2), HDMI, Ethernet and a 3.5mm audio port. Plus, the controller looks to be better and comes with a clip to use with your Android phone. Best of all, it has the Play Store (and Amazon Appstore) installed, so you won’t have to rebuy all your games. That said, we’re not quite sure who would buy a $250 Android console. It’s a bit too expensive to be appealing to people as an impulse buy, and thinking about buying this console just shows you how much better the competition is. However, if you do want one, they are available to pre-order on the Mad Catz site. It will be sold in limited quantities, so you might want to reserve one now if you’re down for the M.O.J.O.  |  | Sideload Android apps onto the Galaxy Gear, play Candy Crush on your wrist Oct 9th 2013, 18:13, by Dima Aryeh Did you know that the Samsung Galaxy Gear is basically an Android device like every other phone out there, except with weaker hardware and no cellular radios? Yes, it runs basic Android, which means apps should work on this device. And with an 800MHz processor and 512MB of RAM, it should run most apps just fine. In testing, it totally works. To sideload apps to the device, you’ll have to enable USB debug in settings. After that, you can hook the smartwatch up to your computer and fire up a command prompt. A simple “adb install filename.apk” will install the app for you, while “adb push filename /sdcard” will allow you to push content such as music or movies onto the device. You’ll obviously need the Android SDK installed on your computer for this procedure, but it’s all fairly easy. From there, apps work just fine for the most part. Nova Launcher, Candy Crush and various media player apps fire up and perform pretty decently for such a slow device. However, internet-based apps like browsers are rendered useless by the Gear’s lack of cellular radios. While this is not for the general consumer, it’s an awesome chance for tinkerers to get more out of their $300 smartwatch. Finding apps that are actually useful on the device won’t be hard, and you could actually improve the user experience if you find some good ones. And don’t forget, this is just the beginning. The community does amazing things with limited products, so if adoption rates for the Gear pick up, we might see some radical modification in the future. But for now, go start messing around with it if you happen to own one of these!  | |
