Android and Me |
- Beluga, a cross-platform chat application with style
- Video: Global Android Activations – Visualized
- DatPiff Mobile: streaming mixtape heaven.
- Batter up: MLB At Bat 2011 app now available for $14.99
- Motorola XOOM introduces Honeycomb to the world, now available from Verizon
| Beluga, a cross-platform chat application with style Posted: 24 Feb 2011 01:10 PM PST I guess I should start the review by disclosing that I’ve never even seen BBM. As many of you know, BBM is short for BlackBerry Messenger. It’s supposedly one of the best features BlackBerry offers. I know this not because anyone I know actually owns a BlackBerry, but because of all the comments I see online from ex-BlackBerry users. It seems to be the one feature they actually miss. It also seems to be the one feature developers seem interested in building on, as we’ve seen a total outbreak of Android apps claiming to be “like BBM for iPhone and Android.” My absolute favorite of these apps is Beluga. Beluga is a cross-platform messaging system. Not only can you text, but you can send pictures, attach locations, even include multiple people in a single conversation. Your conversations are organized into pods (going with the whale theme). Each pod gets its own settings (an image, notifications, users) allowing you to customize each chat experience. All of this happens for free, without any SMS fees. On top of allowing users from Android and iPhone to chat with each other, Beluga has a fledging web interface that lets PCs get in on the action. Sometimes when I’m working I find it way easier to just bring up the website and fire off a message to Angie rather than pulling out my phone. Like I said, there are quite the handful of apps claiming to be the new BBM. There are a ton of apps with similar features that all work great. What really sets Beluga apart is the beautifully crafted UI. Some cross-platform apps come across as the second-rate iOS counterpart, but the Beluga interface is a step above even the nicest native apps. Really, I mean it. This UI is so nice I wish I could rip it out and slap it over some of my other apps. Everything is easy to use and looks perfect in both portrait and landscape. The only catch is you’ve actually got to convince your friends to use the service to make it useful. Thankfully the signup process is totally painless (they’ve even baked in Facebook support to really make it breezy) and I haven’t had many problems enticing my contacts to try it out. I’m thinking Beluga will be an absolute killer way to stay in touch with my various groups of people during the crazy times of SXSW. During the madness I usually can’t hear a call but frequently have more to say than would fit in a text. Luckily I’ve got a Beluga Pod to cram full and share with any contact that needs it. Gallery      
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| Video: Global Android Activations – Visualized Posted: 24 Feb 2011 12:00 PM PST Over the past two years we've shared countless numbers, charts, and graphs which gave a clear picture of Android staggering growth. For a while Google's been touting their daily new handset activation numbers, but numbers along are pretty hard to visualize. In an attempt to give us a better idea of what those numbers really look like, Google has posted a new YouTube clip on their AndroidDevelopers channel which shows daily handset activations across the globe since the initial launch of the T-Mobile G1. Watching the video, it's pretty clear that the launch of the Motorola DROID and Samsung Galaxy S have both had a tremendous impact on the adoption rate of Android devices. It's pretty clear that Android has grown exponentially over the past few year and there's no sign that Android growth will be slowing down any time soon.
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| DatPiff Mobile: streaming mixtape heaven. Posted: 24 Feb 2011 10:34 AM PST At the risk of sounding like a goober, I’m going to talk today about something I don’t totally understand: mixtape culture. I’m sure those of you in the know will poke fun at me, but for those that don’t, we’ve got nerds like me trying to make sense of it all. The mixtape has long-since evolved past the process of throwing some tracks together for a friend. Mixtapes can be complete underground albums- featuring original music, new lyrics, or even completely different tracks. There isn’t really a single way to define a mixtape so I’ll just say it’s like the music you already know and love, just different. Enter DatPiff, one of the largest mixtape communities online. I’ve been using the website for some time now but a few weeks ago was stoked to discover a full-blown Android app available in the market. The app offers complete access to the DatPiff mixtape library via both streaming audio and full album downloads. The mixtapes available vary wildly in style- they’ve got brand new mixes from artists currently on the radio and they’ve got albums from years back by someone you’ve never heard of. There are mashup mixes, cramming two different artists into a single album. There are screwed and chopped mixes, altering the original audio to create new sounds. If you’re looking for something different to listen to, you’ll find it on DatPiff. With a solid connection, the streaming audio sounds great and has worked almost perfectly in all tests. DatPiff also gives you the option of downloading MP3s straight to the SD card for playback during times with little or no data connection. The app has an interesting persistent player interface, always keeping the currently playing album in a tab near the bottom of the screen. The UI could be a bit cleaner, but the functionality is nice. You can jump from mix to mix while maintaining play control of the original selection. Currently playing tracks are also listed in the notification bar for easy access while in other apps all together. Some features in the DatPiff app require user registration, but overall it was a pretty painless process. Being a registered user allows you to add mixtapes to your favorites (for later listening with the app or website) and gives you five album downloads per day. It’s not exactly unlimited, but if you’re on the hunt for more than five albums per day you might want to look elsewhere for a subscription service. Without an account you can still stream all the music you want, you’ll just get some extra goodies if you take the few minutes to register. On top of the music, DatPiff has a bunch of videos and news, neither of which I’ve investigated too far. I’ve mainly come for the music and this thing delivers big time. It quickly earned a spot on my homescreen and has steadily been contributing awesome tracks to my permanent library. Gallery     
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| Batter up: MLB At Bat 2011 app now available for $14.99 Posted: 24 Feb 2011 09:07 AM PST The 2011 version of the MLB at-bat application is now available on the Android Market for $15, matching the price of the 2010 version. The 2011 at-bat application features a revamped home screen, including home-screen customization featuring your favorite MLB team, as well as a few new features that will be unlocked as we get closer to opening day. Once opening day comes around, there will be support for live mlb.tv broadcasts for mlb.tv subscribers. A bit disappointing since the full mlb.tv service supports live spring training games, but being able to watch baseball on the go for the next six months is really awesome. The At Bat 2011 application does require Android 2.1 and above, and is now available on the market for $14.99. There is also a lite version that doesn’t seem to feature live audio, which is standard on the premium application. If you’re a baseball fan, this app is hands down a must-have. We’ll get a review up once all the 2011 features are unlocked.
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| Motorola XOOM introduces Honeycomb to the world, now available from Verizon Posted: 24 Feb 2011 08:37 AM PST The Motorola XOOM has landed! For those who have been waiting for an Android tablet running on Android 3.0 (designed specifically for tablets), the Motorola XOOM may be the tablet you have been waiting for. The Honeycomb tablet can be found on Verizon's website or Verizon stores across the country for $599.99 with a two year data contract or for $799 if you simply want the Motorola XOOM without being tied down. Though the Motorola XOOM is the most feature-rich Android tablet to date, new users will need to wait a bit in order to take advantage of Verizon's 4G LTE network and Adobe Flash. Motorola is claiming that the XOOM's LTE upgrade should be available within 90 days while Adobe is hoping to have Flash 10.2 ready for the XOOM within the coming weeks. Thanks to our friends at Verizon, we've managed to get our hands on the Motorola XOOM. After some hands-on time with the Honeycomb tablet, we're hoping to share our initial thoughts and impressions. Now that Honeycomb has arrived, we're wondering how many of you are going to be picking up a new Android tablet. Is the Motorola XOOM what you've been waiting for or are you planning to wait a bit to see how the T-Mobile G-Slate and Galaxy Tab 10.1 turn out?
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