Android Community |
- SPB Shell 3D Review [Home Screen Replacement]
- Motorola ATRIX 4G OTA Software Update 4.1.57
- DejaOffice for Android gets updated
- Glu Mobile in-app purchases launch on select titles
- Bully Block stops unwanted texts and saves audio and more for the popo
- Android in-app billing goes live
- HTC ThunderBolt Annihilates Masses of Quadrant Competitors, Overclocks to 1.8Ghz with “unboLTEd 0.2″
- Firefox 4 Android Benchmarks on HTC ThunderBolt and ATRIX 4G
- Google Ditches XOOM, Courts LG for Google Tablet [RUMOR]
- Samsung Droid Charge eyes Droid lineup
- Premium edition of Angry Birds Seasons free today on Amazon AppStore
| SPB Shell 3D Review [Home Screen Replacement] Posted: 30 Mar 2011 10:01 AM PDT Welcome to your first – no, second glimpse of a home screen replacement that you’re going to basically flip out over – the first look you got was back when we were hanging out at Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona, Spain, at the official Google Pod where we were given a full tour. And what’s this amazing environment called? SPB Shell 3D – it’s an interactive 3D animated environment for you to work in on your Android device. It doesn’t POP OUT at you, it’s not that kind of 3D, it’s made to work on ANY Android device with Android 2.1 and higher and it’s set to work into the future without fail.
First Impressions What I first assumed with this whole project was that it was just for fun. I thought that the enjoyable to watch animations and flipping around in a circle were just for play, that they really served no purpose. I was wrong, oh my goodness I was so very wrong. What we’ve got here is not just a homescreen replacement allowing you to choose how your Android device interacts with you – it’s an utterly lovely upgrade to the system, supposedly using LESS battery power than an Android Vanilla build, and with much more amazing graphics flying here and there, plus there’s thing like unfoldeable folders, new wild widgets, tiny aesthetic improvements, and more!
Take a peek at this video where I explore SPB Shell 3D and you’ll see what I mean: * video being processed * Panels What you’ve got here is a vast array of possibilities with the ability to add or subtract panels to and from your home set of screens, each of them containing widgets, shortcuts, and app thumbnails both like you’re used to and in a new SBP set of ways, including, but not limited to, 3D animations. Each panel sits in a carousel next to the rest of your panels as you place it in the editor. While you’re in edit mode, you’re allowed to store panels in a 3D pile, change the names of each of your panels, or change the colors of each of your panels. Colors only appear in the editor and in the 3D carousel, same with names, and to edit the contents of each panel you must be in your normal homescreen edit mode.
In the 3D carousel mode, you’ll see animations of the widgets SPB has prepared, each of them either functioning to show you a preview of your widget’s functions, or to show you bits that you’d otherwise have to enter the widget to see – for example messages will pop up and loop around in the air, each of them just large enough to peek at. Panels in regular homescreen mode appear very similar to what you’re used to in HTC Sense or ADW, one of their only differences being the transition between panels being a bit more dynamic.
Apps Once you’re out on your desktop and you’d like to add an app to your desktop, you head to your app drawer as you normally would. You’ll notice a flat scroller and a splash of blue, and you’ll see that apps that are already appearing on your panels in your homescreen are marked with a tiny homescreen thumbnail. When you long-press an app, your homescreen panels appear, but you’re also allowed to place this app in a tray that only appears when you’re in this app re-arrangement mode. Very helpful!
Widgets Widgets behave exactly as they normally would, but your brand new SPB widgets are fabulously 3D in nature, flying here or there when you view them in preview mode in your 3D carousel, and in at least one case (for now) you’re able to see the 3D movement on your homescreen. The single widget that can be activated for 3D on your homescreen panels is the world time viewer, each of the times popping up around the world for you to view from a spaceship’s point of view.
Strikes Against SPB doesn’t work with bigger screens yet (tablets,) it doesn’t work with live wallpapers, and it only works in portrait mode. These are all items we’re hoping for in the near future.
Strikes For It’s a completely new way to look at Android without changing the heart of the user interface. You still know you’re using Android, but in a lovely new way that doesn’t bog down your system in the least (or so it appears thus far), adding to the enjoyment you get out of simply moving back and forth between apps as well as leading toward more productive days. You’re able to customize your Android experience in a way that’s only otherwise been available via hacking and rooting your system – this homescreen replacement is available in the Android Marketplace and does not require hacks at all.
Wrap-Up This system comes in the form of an app and will run you $14.99. If this is more than you generally spend on an app you plan on using every single day, still consider it. It’s a great system, these folks are 100% legit (Google invited them to show off this environment at the Google Pod in Barcelona!), and it’s utterly enjoyable and nice to work with. [grab it here!]
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| Motorola ATRIX 4G OTA Software Update 4.1.57 Posted: 30 Mar 2011 09:33 AM PDT All of you dual-core wielding Motorola ATRIX 4G slinging bandits out there can be joyous of the day, for today you receive a software update totaling in at 17MB that’ll update your system to 4.1.57. This update brings a few changes you’ll be sure you love including improvements in Bluetooth, your fingerprint reader, battery life, screen features, phone stability, and your car dock connecting via 3.5mm jack. Sound good? Grab it!
The way you might grab this update for yourself is to go to Settings – About phone – System updates – and click Download. You’ll have to wait a couple of minutes (took about 3 for me,) then hit the Install button when the popup appears. If you back out of the popup on accident, just go back into your System updates screen and it’ll show up once more. Once you’ve hit Install, your install is starting. Step away from the phone and DEFINITELY don’t play Angry Birds. Take a peek at the install process pics below, and see the press info for update specifics here: Bluetooth Improved multimedia experience with Bluetooth devices as well as the ability to use phone with additional headsets     )
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| DejaOffice for Android gets updated Posted: 30 Mar 2011 06:20 AM PDT
According to DejaOffice, the Palm OS date picker gives drivers the ability to set event times in fewer taps than before. The company also figures that users familiar with the older Palm devices will be able to figure out the date picker quickly. The widgets allow the user to get information at a glance right on the Android home screen. The two widgets right now include a 4×1 ticker and a 4×4 overview widget that both display the events for the day. They will also show contact data related to the event. )
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| Glu Mobile in-app purchases launch on select titles Posted: 30 Mar 2011 06:10 AM PDT Glu Mobile has announced that with the launch of in-app purchases for Android devices it has updated some of its popular new games to take advantage of the feature. Players that like the Glu games Gun Bros, Deer Hunter Challenge, and World Series of Poker Hold’em Legend will be able to make purchases.
Exactly what you can purchase in the games isn’t noted. I would assume it to be things like new guns and equipment for the shooters and who knows what for the poker game. Be sure your kids don’t run up a huge bill not realizing they are buying things with real money. “The implementation of In-app purchases on Android Market is a very significant step forward that will underpin Glu’s continued leadership in 3D Social Mobile gaming on Android,” said Niccolo de Masi, CEO of Glu. “The Android gaming market continues to demonstrate impressive growth and we are optimistic that over the medium term IAPs on Android will generate revenue streams analogous to those on iOS.” )
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| Bully Block stops unwanted texts and saves audio and more for the popo Posted: 30 Mar 2011 03:00 AM PDT Cyber bullying is an extension of bullying in the real world today. When I was a kid, the bullying stopped when you got home unless said bully lived up the street. Today with kids of all ages having mobile phones the bullying can go in any time of day or night. A new app for Android has surfaced called Bully Block that will let you block unwanted callers and texters.
The app will block private or unknown numbers as well. It also has reporting features that allow the bullying text or emails to be saved to show the police or school authorities. It can be used by employers to be sure that their employees aren't making inappropriate calls and tests too. It also has a Bully Capture feature that allows the person being bullied to hit a record button and then record what is going on secretly. You might record your own beat down, but at least you can feel better knowing you have the evidence to prove what happened. The app will give blocked numbers a recorded message or a busy signal when they call. The Bully File portion of the app will file all pics, texts and videos as well. The app is on the Android Market right now for $1.29. )
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| Android in-app billing goes live Posted: 30 Mar 2011 01:03 AM PDT Google has launched in-app billing on the Android Market, allowing developers to offer extra levels in their games, additional services and virtual goods in their apps. The system will also enable try-and-buy, where apps can be offered free to trial and then activated in full without demanding a whole new download.
As you’d expect, Google has worked with a few software vendors in advance to give a demonstration of how the in-app billing system works. Tap Tap Revenge, Comics, Gun Bros, Deer Hunter Challenge HD, WSOP3 and Dungeon Defenders: FW Deluxe have all been updated. Full details for developers are here, but the key points are that Google still takes a 30-percent cut of every transaction – just as it already does for basic app purchases – and that, since it uses no special APIs, it shouldn’t require too much reworking of code. More on the security side here. )
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| HTC ThunderBolt Annihilates Masses of Quadrant Competitors, Overclocks to 1.8Ghz with “unboLTEd 0.2″ Posted: 29 Mar 2011 08:15 PM PDT Before we begin, there’s two important things to note: one, that we don’t know Derek Rodriquez well enough to know for sure if these scores are real or accurate, but it appears that with his kernel “unboLTEd 0.2,” incredible speeds and scores have been achieved. Overlocking to 1.8GHz is no small feat one a single-core machine, neither is achieving a score of 2772 in Quadrant benchmarking – but is it real? We can certainly cross our fingers and hope for the best!
Rodriquez has not yet “released” his kernel to the public, but has sort of tossed it to the left and to the right here and there, as evidenced by tweets of people revving up his unboLTEd brand. Then there are the haters, one of them in particular making a joke about how easy it is to falsify the results we’re seeing here above and below by making his benchmark say OVER 9000!!! – a score which would melt the phone, surely. Now once this kernel is set loose upon the world, or once you’ve got your very own custom kernel or any other such wild nonsense set up to show your fellow Androids, feel free to post away down [ThunderBolt Portal] way – fresh ground for your distribution! Also if you don’t have it yet, be sure to grab yourself a bit of the ol’ original ThunderBolt kernel straight from HTC.      [via Android Police] )
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| Firefox 4 Android Benchmarks on HTC ThunderBolt and ATRIX 4G Posted: 29 Mar 2011 06:26 PM PDT What we’ve got here are two rather different phones and three sort of similar browsers, the phones running on two rather different carriers and the browsers whose creators would all hope to gain your attention long enough to browse the internet with their application over the competition. What we’re using to test out the browsers in question, the newest of which, Firefox 4, was just released today, is a JavaScript Benchmark by the name of SunSpider. It’s a sweet test that can test everyone equally.
What SunSpider does is to test the core JavaScript language of each browser only, not the DOM or any other browser API. SunSpider runs test that “mostly represent real performance problems that developers have encountered,” tests run include JSON input, a 3D raytracer, cryptography tests, and code decompression. SunSpider notes that they balance their tests between different areas of language and different types of code, and runs each test multiple times to determine an error range which they say is technically inside a 95% confidence level. That’s hot! What this all boils down to is that once the test is run once, it’s already been run several times, and the faster it goes (the smaller the number,) the better your browser performed. What we found in the tests run today is that Firefox is the winner on both phones when compared to the stock browser on both phones and popular DolphinHD browser by a significant margin. Take a peek at our tests below: ATRIX 4G (running on AT&T’s HSPA+ network)
DolphinHD : 3841.5ms
Stock Browser : 4241.5ms
Firefox 4 : 1842.2ms HTC ThunderBolt (running on Verizon’s 4G LTE network)
DolphinHD : 4388.1ms
Stock Browser : 5977.8ms
Firefox 4 : 2685.9ms Look good to you? Now we need Safari to enter the game, then Internet Explorer, which I hear they still make! Then Netscape! Actually I think we’ve already probably have the clear winner here in the bunch. What do you think? )
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| Google Ditches XOOM, Courts LG for Google Tablet [RUMOR] Posted: 29 Mar 2011 02:36 PM PDT There’s whispers bouncing around the interwebs that Google’s isn’t exactly thrilled with the performance of the Motorola Xoom and may be developing their own, pure, Google Tablet for LG to make. Now why on earth would they do that? It may be that Google wants to expand their Nexus brand name with a Nexus Tablet, but the only reason Nexus really exists is because cellphone companies like to add overlays like TouchWiz and Blur which bog down the phone and cause Google to rework updates to run with them. But with Tablets, Google is essentially enjoying a free hand as every tablet runs a pure Android experience. So what gives?
It would obviously run Honeycomb, the OS that Google built from the ground up for tablets, but little else is being known. I’d have to guess it would be dual-core as well. It may be that Google just wants to expand that Nexus brand and use it as a playground for innovations that it wants to add and see if others would copy. Some analysts do think that Google wants to have a so-called baseline device which all other tablets would have to emulate. And a pure Google Tablet has another benefit. No data plan requirements. So users could buy it and use it wirelessly, or perhaps bring it to their wireless carrier of choice. Yeah, good luck with that. It just seems odd, and yet, maybe it’s the odd things that make the most sense. We’re not buyin’ it though. Not yet at least. [via Technologizer] )
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| Samsung Droid Charge eyes Droid lineup Posted: 29 Mar 2011 01:48 PM PDT Samsung looks to add to Verizon’s line of Droid handsets with the Droid Charge that sports a clever new red eye icon. As the exclusive licensee of the Droid name from Lucasfilm, Verizon has been adding to the Droid brand with phones from Motorola and HTC. The Droid Charge, originally code named the Samsung Stealth V, has identical specs to the Galaxy S but brings a larger, 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus screen and 4G LTE speed to the mix. The Charge has a single core 1Ghz processor and the same 8mp camera used in the Samsung Fuse 4g, and capable of shooting full 1080p HD video.
The Droid Line originally launched under Verizon with the Motorola Droid. Motorola has since expanded it’s robot reach with the Motorola Droid X, Motorola Droid 2, and Motorola Droid Pro. HTC wasn’t about to be left out and camera along in between with the HTC Droid Eris and Droid Incredible. Now, the Droid family grows against with Samsung’s Droid Charge. But what’s really interesting is how Samsung is pushing their own, more ornate version of the iconic Droid Red Eye that Motorola launched. HTC wasn’t privy to adding the red eye to their marketing, but Samsung has managed to use it with flair. Did Samsung just change it enough to get away with it or are they being allowed to under the terms of their deal with Verizon? Kinda much ado about nothing since it’s the phone that really matters, but it’s just one of those things that make you go “hmmmmmm.” [via PocketNow] )
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| Premium edition of Angry Birds Seasons free today on Amazon AppStore Posted: 29 Mar 2011 11:38 AM PDT Every day, the Amazon AppStore for Android is offering a free premium app to encourage a return to the AppStore more often. And today it’s Angry Birds Seasons Ad-Free edition by Rovio Mobile. The app is free for all Amazon account holders in the US and customizes Rovio’s insanely successful game with holiday themes. Currently, themes include Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day and St Patrick's Day. This premium version comes without any ads and is available free for one day only.
Amazon received serious clout for it’s Android App store by landing exclusive distribution of Rovio’s Angry Birds for Android apps. Currently, all Angry Birds apps are available including the classic edition and the Angry Birds Rio edition. Classic Angry Birds sells for .99, with a free version that provides in-game ads. Angry Birds Rio is currently free, and is a commercial tie in for the Fox Animated feature RIO, which tells the story of a rare bird that gets kidnapped and brought to South America to mate with another at a local zoo. Every day, users can swing by the AppStore to find a new premium app. Most recent apps have included Newsweek Mobile, Diner Dash 2 and World Series of Poker: Hold `em Legend. Best sellers to date include Angry Birds, Newsweek, Star Trek Communicator and SeekDroid. To see what app is available every day, head on over to the Android AppStore by clicking here. [via Android Police] )
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If you are an Android user of DejaOffice for Android, the app has been updated with some new features you might enjoy. The new features include a Palm OS style date picker, widgets, and a new global search function. The update also brought other features as well.
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