Posted: 15 Mar 2012 01:54 PM PDT  AT&T and HTC may not be ready to push out the Android 4.0 update for the HTC Vivid quite yet, but forum members over at Android Central have figured out a way to manually trigger the update directly from the phone. If you own the AT&T HTC Vivid, simply type *#*#682#*#* in your phones dialer and you should notice an update notification appear within a few minutes. The 314MB update comes packaged with HTC Sense 3.6 and should deliver that same functionality we saw with the HTC Velocity Ice Cream Sandwich update which was pushed out a few days ago. As with the HTC Velocity and HTC Sensation, the Vivid’s Android 4.0 update should be accompanied by a significant performance improvement. So what are you waiting for? Dial the special code from your HTC Vivid and let us know what you think of the new update. Note: AT&T denies that the Android 4.0 update for the HTC vivid is currently being rolled out. We are not sure how long the manual dialer trick will work, but we wouldn’t be surprised if AT&T put a stop to it.        |
Posted: 15 Mar 2012 01:52 PM PDT  Paypal is not staying behind in mobile payments. The highly popular internet bank has just announced Paypal Here and its mobile credit card reader. This would allow customers with a smartphone to charge credit cards straight from their devices, a feature that most users currently turn to Square for. Paypal is a much larger company, though. And it is utilized by most users that deal with any type of internet currency transactions. It will be convenient to integrate this service to one’s current Paypal account. The global e-commerce company is also bringing a bit of extra competition by offering lower fees; charging 2.7%, as opposed to Square’s 2.75%. The app and encrypted card reader are offered for free. Paypal also reminds us that their free debit card offers 1% cashback, virtually bringing the fee down to 1.7%. It is fairly simple to operate. The user needs to set how much the customer will be paying. After that, they simply swipe the card, and hand the device over to get a signature (and a tip). It is even possible to send a receipt to the customer’s phone. The app also works as a checkbook, as it records purchases made with cash or checks. And if the card can’t be read, the credit card transaction can be done manually. The free card reader looks rather nice, albeit a bit bigger and bulkier than Square’s. It features a sliding “wing,” which helps stabilize the reader with the phone’s support when connected to the headset jack. It looks like a great option for small businesses and individuals. If you are looking to join the party, you might have to wait a bit. The app will first be launched for iOS, which is what Paypal used to demo the new product. But an Android app is in the works, so we shouldn’t have to wait too much. What do you guys say? Square forever? Or are you making the move to good ol’ Paypal?      |
Posted: 15 Mar 2012 01:48 PM PDT  Popular Korean manufacturers and carriers have found themselves in a bit of trouble with the authorities. The affected companies include Samsung, Pantech, LG, LG Upius, KT and SK Telecom. Some of these are major world-wide players. And the Korean government, along with the FTC, has fined them with a 45.3 billion won (about $40.1 million US dollars) fee for price rigging and consumer fraud. In case you have not heard of price rigging before, this is the act of conspiring with competing companies to virtually inflate the prices of their products. This concludes with customers believing that they are getting good offers, and companies deceitfully earning more profits and conducting higher sales. Such practice is illegal and considered fraud, as it harms fair competition. Not to mention that it is unfair to the consumer. And while the fee is substantial, it may not be very significant. Those $40 million will be paid by all the companies, in conjunction. The companies with the largest fees are Samsung and SK Telecom. With a bill of 14.2 billion won and 20.2 billion won, relatively. These are followed by KT, which has to pay out 5.1 billion won. Samsung has sold over 5 million Galaxy S II devices in Korea alone, with about 10% of the country’s population owning the flagship device. This is only counting one country and one of the manufacturers. It is hard to imagine how much extra income said companies drove by price fixing. In order to find more details, the companies have been ordered to hand in extra details on “offers” provided. And the FTC has banned said companies from offering any new sales incentives. While it is hard to prove, this may be a world-wide issue. In the US, we have subsidized smartphones that go for very high amounts of cash. While other countries have much lower subsidized prices for the same device, many times free. Of course, the markets are very different, and many factors come into play. But this is just an example. As we usually say, if a company can get away with charging more, they will. But the major issue here is that competing manufacturers and carriers were working together to inflate prices. Instead of fairly competing with each other to bring the best (real) offers to customers. It is a large plot to benefit from the consumer’s lack of options.      |
Posted: 15 Mar 2012 10:10 AM PDT  Welcome to our new column Android Gaming Weekly, where we recap all the new releases and highlights every Thursday. We post small bits throughout the week related to Android games, but readers have requested a condensed summary that makes it easier to keep up with all the latest news. Read on for this week's best in Android gaming. The Dark MeadowPhosphor Game Studios is bringing their iOS thriller The Dark Meadow to Android in the coming months and they gave a quick preview of their work at the Game Developers Conference last week. Our friends at DroidGamers were on site and captured a five minute walk-through of the game. This game looks to creep you out and blow you away with stunning visuals using Epic Game's Unreal Engine and it is targeted for Tegra 3 devices. Scramble with Friends Last week Zynga released their latest game for Android called Scramble with Friends. If you loved Words With Friends and Hanging With Friends, then you should love this game. The only problem is that it’s only available in Canada right now. If your phone is rooted, you can try MarketEnabler to change your country setting to Canada, but the rest of us will just have to wait. Update: Scramble with Friends is now available in the US. Super Monkey Ball 2Yes, I purchased a Nintendo Gamecube on launch day and picked up Super Monkey Ball and played the heck out of it. This month Sega released Super Monkey Ball 2 to the Google Play Store. The title runs $0.99, but it features six unique worlds with over 125 stages. Replay value is extended by four extra mini-games including Monkey Target, Monkey Golf, Monkey Bowl, and Monkey Base. I haven’t played the game yet, but writing this quick blurb brought back a lot of nostalgia so I just purchased it. Angry Birds SpaceLast week at SXSW we got to spend some quality time with Angry Birds Space and I was impressed with what I saw. For me, the Angry Birds franchise has been a little stale, but this actually feels like a new game thanks to the enhanced space physics. The game will launch for free on March 22nd on the Google Play Store, so be sure to check it out. Final Fantasy IIIIn case you missed our earlier report this week, Square Enix released Final Fantasy III for Android devices in Japan. We don’t know if the game will come to the United States yet, so RPG fans will have to wait and see what happens. Samurai vs. Zombies DefenseThis week Glu Mobile released their latest game Samurai vs. Zombies Defense. Glu Mobile has become the king of freemium games, and Samurai vs. Zombies doesn’t disappoint. This game lets you fight hordes of evil undead, decapitate your enemies, unlock allies, and take on some epic boss battles. It’s free. Go grab it. Mass Effect 3 Live Wallpaper This week NVIDIA released a live wallpaper to promote the console-game Mass Effect 3. It’s free and looks awesome, so that’s why we are sharing it. EA Mobile also recently released Mass Effect Infiltrator for iOS and we believe it’s headed to Android, so this wallpaper is a nice treat to hold us over as we wait for the game. Games I'm currently playingScrubs: What happens when a Russian developer makes a quirky game based on a hit TV show from the US? Scrubs is a weird Android game that reminds me of Where’s Waldo, and I’ve been playing through it this week trying to complete it. Fans of the TV show will probably enjoy the cartoon characters, but the average gamer might not find this title all that enjoyable. Taco Master: I grew up in South Texas, ate a lot of Mexican food, and worked in a fast food joint, so this fast-paced game is oddly amusing. The goal is to fill customers’ orders by making tacos as fast as you can. I haven’t unlocked the bonus modes yet, but they include Mexican Party and Zombie Tacos, which sound awesome. Reviews say the game has a screen issue with the Galaxy Nexus, so buyers beware. What are you playing?Find any great new Android games this week? Share your favorites in the comments below so we can check them out.     |
Posted: 15 Mar 2012 08:56 AM PDT  Today marks the one-year anniversary of the Amazon Appstore for Android and they are celebrating with a week of deals on some of their customers favorite apps and games. To start off the deals, customers can now get Plants vs. Zombies  for 67% off, that’s only $0.99.“Customers have used the Amazon Appstore to test drive and buy millions of apps and games for their Kindle Fire and other Android devices in the first year alone,” said Aaron Rubenson, director of Amazon Appstore for Android. “To thank customers for shopping with us, we worked closely with our developers to offer special discounts on some of the most popular apps all week long.” Tomorrow Amazon will announce two more app deals, followed by three deals on day three, and so on for the remainder of the week. Also starting today is the Amazon Appstore for Android Birthday Giveaway  where they are giving away eight Kindle Fires to those who enter the sweepstakes by March 31st.Amazon also took the time to share some interesting stats about year one of their Appstore.
    |
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Update - 223
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment