Android World

Monday, April 2, 2012

Android Phone Fans

Hands-On Video: Shake to Charge and Solar Charger Apps Fix Your Battery Life Problem
Humor: Gmail Tap looks to get rid of traditional keyboards to allow you to “tap it” better
Zite, my new (co-)favorite reading app
Microsoft’s “Smoked By WP7” Challenge extended. Go loot them, Phandroids!
Android 4.0.4 for Nexus S 4G leaked

Hands-On Video: Shake to Charge and Solar Charger Apps Fix Your Battery Life Problem

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 04:27 PM PDT

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Alright, if you haven’t heard, it’s April Fool’s day. I’m sure by now, there’s already a fair share of “hilarious” April fools pranks being posted around the internet. That’s the main reason I always unplug from the internet on all-hallows-fools-day and of course — trust no one. But just because I wont compromise my journalistic integrity and prank our trusting Phandroid readers doesn’t mean my family, outside of the internet, is safe. Growing up as the middle child, I’ve always been known in my family as the mischievous one and April 1st is my time to shine.

So, what kind of hijinks did I get myself into? Well, a few weeks back I found a couple of spoof apps in the Google Play Store and no, I’m not talking about those “screen crack” apps. Shake to Charge and Solar Charger (also found WiFi Hacker which has since been removed) were some of the most intriguing. Upon checking their comments, I noticed the amount of users who were actually surprised the apps didn’t work as advertised (the apps actually give full disclosure in their description that they are fake, but who reads descriptions anyway?). To the tech savvy like you and I, sure, we know that something like shaking to charge your phone or solar charging would be impossible without implemented hardware, but to the uninitiated, an app that enables these functions seems perfectly plausible.

After a good laugh from the Market comments, I decided to pull one over on my friends and family and see if they would fall for these spoof apps. Sure enough, they bought it. Hook, line, and sinker. Here’s a video I uploaded of them attempting to charge their devices using these new, unconventional methods. Ha! I even went the extra mile and decided to prank my little cousin that my phone has “come alive” by making it talk using AndroidLost. Enjoy.

April Fool’s Day can be a whole lotta fun for people like me. Although, I believe a good April Fools prank should involve actually fooling someone and not just your everyday prank like thumbtacks on a toilet seat or randomly punching someone in the face screaming, “APRIL FOOLS!” Either way, I hope you pranksters will find some fun today using these apps. Oh — and if you can think of any others, feel free to drop some good suggestions in the comments. I’m on my way to church where the congregation can be a little too trusting when it comes to my expertise with Android phones. (Maniacal laugh).

[Google Play Links: Shake To Charge | Solar Charger | AndroidLost]

Humor: Gmail Tap looks to get rid of traditional keyboards to allow you to “tap it” better

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 12:25 PM PDT

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Google continues to be one of the lead innovating companies in the world, and they have been working even harder lately. They have just expanded their Google Maps service to the popular NES console. But today, they are reaching a much higher audience with a new service called Gmail Tap.

This is meant to be a replacement for those pesky and annoying keyboards, with overwhelming amounts of buttons. Forget auto-correction and predictions! Gmail Tap implements Morse Code, allowing users to type via a 2-button interface. It has two large buttons (as well as a space bar); one being a dash, while the other is a dot.

“You can tap it in the morning. You can tap it at night. You can tap it in the bathroom. It’s a dot and a dash to have a conversation with the entire world.” -Todd Smith, Gmail Tap Product Lead

Furthermore, users can even pull out a second Gmail Tap simultaneously, allowing you to type and send messages to multiple recipients at once.

Just what we have been waiting for, Google! You can head over to the Gmail Tap official website and learn Morse Code, as well as download the application by clicking the top-right button. Are you guys going to be tapping it all over the place from now on?

Thanks, Sam!

[Source: Gmail Tap]

Zite, my new (co-)favorite reading app

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 11:21 AM PDT

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I love to read. Books, not that much (though I’m really enjoying Jonah Lerner’s Imagine) but I can spend countless hours just bouncing around the internet, following a ton of blogs plus or just ending up somewhere randomly.

Hence, it’s no real surprise that my favorite app on my tablet is Pulse. As I explained in my introductory post when I first joined Phandroid

I love the UI, and the effort that they’re putting into Pulse Me such as synchronizing sources across devices and the desktop browser extension makes it stand out.

And I’m yet to find a quality competitor for it. Google Currents came the closest, but it just never cut it for me. Pulse does a ton of work on their server-side to speed up the syncing, whereas I find Currents extremely slow (in comparison).

However, the issue with Pulse is that it is, at best, an RSS reader. What I really mean is that there isn’t any content discovery going on, and while their feed suggestions is neat, I don’t want a whole new source to keep track of. I’d just much rather have individual articles that the app believes I’d be interested in.

This is the problem Zite fixes for me. The app gained a great deal of popularity on iOS, where it’s been around for about two years now, before releasing on Android earlier this week. It’s claim to fame is a fabulous recommendation engine, which gained such glowing reviews that CNN spent $20 million to buy the company.

The first thing you do, when you open the app, is connect your Google Reader account and provide your Twitter handler. Scanning your reading habits and your posts, Zite suggests you a few topics to follow, which you can edit. They only suggested 3 to me since I barely use Twitter or Google Reader. I added quite a few more, since I follow a wide range of topics from graphic design and typefaces, to sports to technology and entrepreneurship.

While the news feed Zite compiled for me was exquisite, I do have one issue: the tablet UI is the same as the phone. It’s a relatively minor complaint, and it’s not like the display becomes awful (hello, iOS!) but I really hope they’ve got something special up their sleeves for tablet users.

You can download the app over here. How many of you have been using Zite, and what’s your opinion about it? And if you use some other similar app, how about sharing with the group.

Microsoft’s “Smoked By WP7” Challenge extended. Go loot them, Phandroids!

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 09:25 AM PDT

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Didn’t get a chance to pick up a special edition "Hunger Games" laptop from HP during Microsoft’s Smoked By WP7 challenge? Good news for you, folks, ‘cos it’s been extended until the 5th of April.

A few limitations, though, this time. If you lose (and that is unfortunately very much possible, since the challenges you’d face over there are completely skewed to favor WP7) you’d only get a new phone if you are in the first 100 people at a particular store. If not, you go home with $25 store credit. Beat their device, and you get the PC, no matter how many people ahead of you do so.

Couple of tips before you go into battle: remove your lockscreen to save you time, select your default apps so that you don’t get a query at the wrong moment, and practice, practice, practice!

Android 4.0.4 for Nexus S 4G leaked

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 08:27 AM PDT

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The Nexus brand has taken quite a bit of a hit over the recent few weeks, with Google failing to provide what we have all considered the defining feature for the handsets (quick and timely updates).

It’s disheartening to see that only a subset of the Nexus S users are on ICS, but we’ve finally got some good news: BriefMobile has managed to get their hands on all the files for an upcoming 4.0.4 OTA. Head over to their website to get all the files and instructions.

Thanks, Korey Nicholson!

Android and Me

Mobile related April Fools jokes

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 09:32 AM PDT

Still pissed your phone doesn’t have Android 4.0? Maybe these funny April Fools’ Day videos will cheer you up. Check out the 10 videos after the jump and let us know if you find any more jokes to add to the list.

Google Maps goes 8-bit

Source: +Google Maps

Double your productivity with Gmail Tap

Source: Gmail

Google brings self-driving cars to NASCAR

Source: Google Blog

Browse the web with two mice with Chrome Multitask Mode

Source: Chrome

YouTube goes offline with The YouTube Collection

Source: TheYouTubeCollection

Nutrients travel instantaneously to any organ with Google Fiber

Source: Google Fiber

Gmail Motion offers a new way to communicate

Source: Gmail

Toshiba reveals three new tablet shapes

Source: YouTube

Toshiba announces one-eyed 3D technology

Source: Toshiba

Sony unveils world’s smallest ultrabook

Source: Sony

Android Central

Nexus S 4G gets a new 4.0.4 leak
Samsung Galaxy Nexus my way: Jerry Hildenbrand
SAWS | The Puridium War - first look
From the Editor's Desk: More quick hits

Nexus S 4G gets a new 4.0.4 leak

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 12:44 PM PDT

Android 4.0.4 has leaked for the Sprint Nexus S 4G, and is ready to flash with Odin. It bumps the system up to IMM76D, like the rest of the devices running 4.0.4, and contains a new set of images as well as a new radio. We've seen Ice Cream Sandwich leak before for the Nexus S 4G, and this ROM looks to be pretty much the same type of case.

It's officially signed off by Google with release keys, but that doesn't mean anything for the radio and Sprint specific network code inside the ROM itself. You'll be flashing this one at your own risk -- but should be able to roll back to stock in case of any issues easily enough. The folks in the forums are giving it a go, and early reports are looking good. Be sure to chime in with your own experience if you give it a shot. As for when we'll see anything official from Google and Sprint, nobody that knows is saying.

Source: Brief Mobile; via Android Central forums

Samsung Galaxy Nexus my way: Jerry Hildenbrand

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 12:11 PM PDT

The other night on the Android Central podcast a great idea was born. Someone, and forgive me for not remembering who, wanted to know how our phones are set-up. I promised to kick off a series from the various AC staff members showing just what software we have running on our devices. I trade back and forth between the Samsung Galaxy Nexus or the T-Mobile Galaxy S II (dat cam!), but both are set up the exact same way. One is just more TouchWizzy than the other. Hit the jump and I'll break it down.

SAWS | The Puridium War - first look

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 07:53 AM PDT

A couple days back we mentioned that SAWS | The Puridium War (which I'm going to just call SAWS from here on out) couldn't get here fast enough. Turns out it got here pretty fast after all, and is now available in the Google Play Market for download. We've been fooling with it for a couple days, and let me tell ya, if you're a mobile gamer you have to give it a try. Think part tower defense, part third-person shooter, and part space adventure and you'll have an idea of how it all works.

You're PFC Lucas 11, and it's your duty to protect the Puridium crystal from a horde of monsters hell bent to eat it. You have an assortment of weapons and special items at hand in the store, a few are in-app purchases but most are obtainable by just playing, and turrets to help you fend them all off. It's flat out fun, and as I mention in the video after the break, it hits the right spot between hard and easy to be enjoyable to play. You'll get good at it, but the endless maps keep getting harder until you die. If you find it's your style of game, it's one you'll keep installed and play. And a big shout out to the developers for making great extras available in the store for an average player. Nothing there costs so much that you'll never be able to get it, even if you're a casual player. That's something we rarely see beside paid in-app purchases.

Mobilwerx has designed the game to play an a laundry list of devices, with versions for Open GL 1.1 devices like the HTC Desire, to a full HD version for the latest quad core devices like the Transformer Prime. I've tested it on the Transformer Prime and the Galaxy Nexus, and it works great. Hit the break and have a look at a video and some game screens, and click the download link.

More: Mobilwerx

From the Editor's Desk: More quick hits

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 07:02 AM PDT

It's another working weekend. Yeah, that's two in a row. For now, some more random thoughts:

Go download the Android Central Forums app right this second! Don't read the rest of this column until you do. (It's also available from the Amazon Appstore, too.)
We don't do April Fools jokes. For one, they're 99 percent not funny. (For reals. Look at the sites that try to pull them off today and tell me I'm wrong.) For another, you can't do them as good as Google. Go ahead. Fake some screen shot. Pretend that some phone has some long-hidden feature. Whatever. You can't beat 8-bit Google Maps. (Which, by the way, should totally exist outside of April 1.) You can't beat Gmail Tap for Android -- which, by the way, may be the greatest troll since some site tried to tell you every single phone released that year would get Froyo. (Yes, our bullshit meter goes back that far.) You can't beat the other ones Google's done today. To quote my Austrian/Russian/Brazilian/American high school soccer/Spanish/English/life coach: "If you're going to do something ... Don't."
Lulz at SwiftKey, though.
So we got an unconfirmed tip (never mind how other blogs might have misreported it) about what we might see Wednesday at the Sprint/HTC event event in New York City. On one hand, the prospect of something based off the HTC One X -- with a bigger battery and a microSD card -- sounds pretty good. That said, I'm not sold on the AMOLED screen we were told about, but stranger things have happened. We've had other people tell us it's a departure from the HTC One X. On one hand, that's cool. A bigger batter and expandable storage never is a bad thing. On the other had, that would mean a divergence from the HTC One line as we saw it at Mobile World Congress. So much for continuity?
The FUD got a little ridiculous this week. Yes, you can securely wipe your phone before giving it away.
Yes, Jerry posted a slightly NSFW video from MiKandi about its new "Adult Mobile Theater." Some folks got their panties in a bunch, and that's OK. Different strokes, consenting adults and all that. I rather enjoy that we're willing to do stories that others won't touch. If it offends you, if you don't want to read it, it's cool. Don't read it. (That said, there are a lot of crappy adult apps out there, if you'll recall.)
Know what offends me? When a developer's apps are rehosted and shared outside the Google Play Store without their permission. Why is that considered OK?
If you didn't listen to the podcast yet, you missed out on a bunch of talk about why your phone might get a different version of Android than a similar phone.