Tag Archives: Android Market

Sprinkle Hits Android Market For All 2.3+ Phones, FREE Version Too!

Posted by on November 16, 2011 No comments

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Sprinkle, an incredibly fun and well designed physics-based game, has just landed on Android Market with a FREE version having limited levels. Whereas only Tegra-based devices with an NVIDIA processor could download and enjoy the game, now all phones running Android 2.3+ can get Sprinkle directly through Android Market for $1.99. Even better, you get a bunch of levels to play in the free version, sure to get you addicted, and then you’ll inevitably buy the full game.

When NVIDIA Tegra 3 devices launch, and if you’re lucky enough to snag one, the graphics will be improved to provide additional special effects, better lighting/shading, more realistic water and fire, and more. We look forward to seeing that on the ASUS Transformer Prime and hopefully tons of other devices at CES and MWC.

But for now, head on over to Android Market and grab Sprinkle for $1.99 and Sprinkle Free for, well, FREE!

Qualcomm Pulls an NVIDIA, Announces GameCommand Highlight App for Snapdragon Devices

Posted by on November 16, 2011 No comments

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As you know, Qualcomm is beginning to move faster than ever in the chipset race. They already have a number of devices with dual-core processors inside and quad-core SoCs are right around the corner. Their chipsets are quite capable of handling the latest video games and Qualcomm wants you to know that and wants to help you tap the power of it.

They’ve announced GameCommand, something not too much unlike NVIDIA’s TegraZone application. It highlights the many games optimized for Qualcomm’s processors. It’s a bit of an extension of their GamePack program except this one is geared more toward users and easy discoverability.

To start, they’ll be showcasing a number of PC games ported to Android that will exclusively work only on Snapdragon powered devices initially. The titles will eventually hit the Android market after their brief periods of exclusivity.

This type of showcasing is great for both Qualcomm and their publishing partners, but it’s still not great for consumers. You could have the most powerful chipset in the world in your phone, but you might not be able to play a game you want because it’s not “optimized” for anything but Qualcomm chipsets. Fragmented gaming is what it is. That’s another story for another day, though.  Read on for full press details.

NEW YORK - November 16, 2011 - Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) today announced today the expansion of its 100+ games Snapdragon GamePack and launch of a new showcase application -- Snapdragon™ GameCommand™ -- further bolstering the supply of console-quality and casual games for mobile devices featuring Snapdragon processors.

The new gaming titles being introduced as part of the extended Snapdragon GamePack and the new Snapdragon GameCommand app are all expected to hit the Android Market in early 2012. Additions to the Snapdragon GamePack include several new, exclusive gaming titles that will be available through the Android Market, and which will initially be designed to operate exclusively on Android-enabled devices powered by Snapdragon processors. These titles include a number of high-end PC games, such as:

• "The Ball" from Tripwire Interactive, which has earned several accolades including PC Gamer’s 2010 Action-Adventure Game of the Year, is built on Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3 and is debuting for the first time ever on mobile
• "Fight Game Heroes" from Khaeon Gamestudio
• "GALAGA Special Edition," the 30th anniversary edition of the perennial arcade favorite from NAMCO BANDAI Games.

While the GamePack is an ever-growing collection of great games, the new Snapdragon GameCommand app provides mobile users a way to quickly find and learn about the latest Snapdragon featured and exclusive games, with the added bonus of being able to keep and access all their favorite games in a single place with one group icon. The Snapdragon GameCommand app also provides gamers with a source for the latest gaming news from some of the most popular gaming news sites.

"Qualcomm has received great user feedback since launching the Snapdragon GamePack, so we are expanding the quantity and quality of games while making them easier to locate through the launch of the Snapdragon GameCommand app," says Raj Talluri, vice president of product management at Qualcomm. "With more than 60 percent of smartphone users regularly playing games on their mobile devices, the time is right to bring more console-quality and casual games to the Snapdragon platform. We are very excited to put our new Snapdragon GameCommand app and more great gaming titles in the hands of consumers in early 2012."

The Snapdragon GamePack, launched in June 2011 at Qualcomm’s Uplinq® mobile developer conference, originally featured more than 100 game titles from some of the industry’s top game development companies, including Advanced Mobile Applications Ltd., Babaroga LLC, Booyah Inc., Com2us USA Inc., Digital Chocolate Inc., Electronic Arts Inc., Eyelead Software S.A., FISHLABS Entertainment GmbH, Glu Mobile Inc., Guild Software Inc., Gameloft Inc., Khaeon Games BV, NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc., NaturalMotion Games Ltd., Polarbit AB, PopCap Games Inc., HandyGames, Southend Interactive, and Tripwire Interactive LLC. Qualcomm worked closely with them to utilize the advanced graphics capability of the embedded Adreno® GPUs in Snapdragon mobile processors and bring a better gaming experience to mobile users.

"We waited to enter the mobile market until we could bring a top-of-the-line PC game experience to mobile devices," said Alan Wilson, vice president of Tripwire Interactive. "Snapdragon processors now give us the power to do that."

"We are looking forward to the launch of the Snapdragon GameCommand app, which will bring our Snapdragon-optimized games directly to consumers and help to eliminate the search process," said Didier Pippel of Khaeon Gamestudio. "Android has emerged as a prominent medium for gaming, and we are excited to work with Qualcomm to give gamers the mobile experience they deserve."

"We have been able to maximize the advanced Adreno graphics in our premium 3D games like ‘PAC-MAN Kart Rally,’" said Carlson Choi, vice president of marketing, NAMCO BANDAI Games America Inc. "Our developers and producers are enthusiastically working with Qualcomm’s gaming team to continue to expand the Snapdragon GamePack by bringing some of the industry’s top franchises to the new platform."

About Qualcomm
Qualcomm Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) is the world leader in 3G and next-generation mobile technologies. For more than 25 years, Qualcomm ideas and inventions have driven the evolution of digital communications, linking people everywhere more closely to information, entertainment and each other. For more information, visit Qualcomm’s website, OnQ blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.

Kindle Fire Confirmed To Sideload Apps – Android Market Soon To Follow?

Posted by on November 16, 2011 No comments

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The Android Market not being found on – or anywhere near the Kindle Fire is a turn-off for some prospective buyers. One of the burning questions about the device is whether or not it can sideload apps. This, however inconvenient, could provide for a temporary solution of getting your favorite apps, only be found from the Android Market, onto the device.

Well, with a little knowledge and some good ‘ol fashioned ADB, sideloading apps is actually very possible and here’s how you do it. A tipster gave AndroidGuys the instructions and we now present them to you here. Keep in mind, these instructions are for the Mac but if you’re well versed in ADB you should know what to do on your Windows PC.

  1. On the Kindle Fire Settings screen, go to “Device” and turn On “Allow Installation of Application From Unknown Sources”
  2. Plug your Kindle Fire into your Mac.
  3. Open ~/.android/adb_usb.ini with your favorite text editor
  4. Add the value “0×1949″ to the end of the file and save it.
  5. You’ll need to restart the adb server process to get it to re-read that file. Do that with “adb kill-server”.
  6. Run “adb devices” and you should see the attached device.

Don’t forget to be very careful. We wouldn’t want you installing any apps that are not compatible with your brand new (but not too expensive) Kindle Fire. No word if anyone has been able to sideload the new Android Market onto the tablet but we’re keeping our fingers crossed. Does this change anyone’s mind about picking one up for the holidays?

[ActLocalMedia via AndroidGuys]

Apps of the Day: Exfoliate, Eventbrite Easy Entry, and More

Posted by on November 16, 2011 No comments

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Every day we peruse the Android Market looking for the best, worst, interesting, and most unique apps in an effort to sift out a few gems. We call it Apps of the Day. We can’t guarantee that every app featured below is a real winner, but each is worth at least a quick look. It’s all in an effort to help you, our faithful readers, get the most out of your Android handsets. Read on to see what we found today!

Exfoliate - When Facebook first took the internet by storm, many college undergrads now entering the workforce didn’t quite realize the extent to which their pictures of inebriated debauchery and statuses dialed in like a drunk text to an ex would linger as a haunting reminder to potential employers of just how messed up they were during those formative years. Luckily, Exfoliate has come along to help shed some of the compromising data Facebook has collected over the years. The app is nothing fancy. A simple interface allows you to select how far back you want to delete and then accomplishes the task in short order. Act now while you can still save face. Zuckerberg will surely have something to say about Exfoliate. [Market]

Eventbrite Easy Entry - Many event organizers use Eventbrite to keep track of guests, check in attendees, and take care of other logistics involved with hosting a large group of people. The whole process gets a whole lot easier thanks to Easy Entry. The app allows hosts to check-in guests via their Android device, and thanks to a central server multiple devices can be used simultaneously without losing track of who has already checked in. The event can scan ticket barcodes, provide sales and attendance figures, as well as after-event attendance analysis. It’s everything a planner could want to take their event to the next level. [Market]

CNN Money - CNN is brings their “award-winning” coverage of businesss, finance, and tech to your mobile device…and Google TV. The allows you to follow stock market trends, create stock watchlists, and browse data on world markets all in real time. Also provided is breaking news coverage. The app won’t be treasured for its design (though it is nothing offensive), but the information provided is worthwhile for anyone interested in trading and investing. [Market]

 

Google Voice for Android Updated with Group Messaging, Offline Voicemail

Posted by on November 15, 2011 No comments

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Google is making it harder and harder to ignore Google Voice as more than a visual voicemail solution with their latest update to version 0.4.2.38. The Android app now has the capability to send text messages to multiple recipients, a task accomplished by simply adding as many contacts as you want to the “Send” field, drafting up a text, and shooting it off to navigate the world’s invisible network of mobile airwaves. The lack of the feature, along with the inability to send multimedia messages (Google has been working on addressing this), has been a major drawback to using Google Voice as a primary texting platform.

If you are still the type that only wants Google Voice for its voicemail capabilities alone, the latest update serves you as well. Save messages can now be pre-fetched and cached on your device, eliminate the need for a data connection to access voicemails.

You can find the latest version of Google Voice by following the Android Market link below.

Android Market: Google Voice

 

Any.DO Now Available For Android – Collaborate With Friends/Family To Get Tasks Done

Posted by on November 11, 2011 No comments

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There are a handful of “to-do” apps in the Market and while I normally write out my to-do activities on my forearm, Any.DO seemed to grab my attention with its slick interface and full feature set. Any.DO, which was just released today in the Android Market, allows you to capture, organize and sync all your life’s to-do’s in a clean simple to use app.

The part I found most interesting was the share feature which allows you to team-up on tasks with friends, family or loved ones. For instance, you can collaborate an errand list with your spouse and tag-team to “git-r-done.” You can even be updated once a shared task gets completed.

For now, syncing is done through Any.Do’s service with support for Todo list, Todo, Remember the milk, gTasks, Springpad, Catch, ColorNote Notepad Notes, Google Calendar, Astrid, Outlook, Microsoft Exchange and more coming in the near future.

For those of Android users that like to read permissions first, the developer did state the reason the app needs to access your personal information and read contacts is for the “collaborate with your friends” feature.

You can find Any.DO for free right now in the Android Market. Once you try it out, leave us a comment with your thoughts!

[Market Link]

Amazon Kindle Fire Flooded With Apps: Netflix, Facebook and Rhapsody Coming Next Week

Posted by on November 10, 2011 No comments

Amazon’s Kindle Fire is preparing to take over the affordable tablet marked, but considering it uses the Amazon Appstore to provide apps, it will take a while before the public gets used to this instead of Android Market. Thus, to ease the passage, Amazon decided to provide a large amount of apps from the start.

The e-tailer is struggling to get more apps ready for the device launch and recently it secured the presence of Netflix, Facebook and Rhapsody on the slate. We remind you that the Kindle Fire debuts next week, with several thousand apps and games available at launch, all of them previously tested for Fire compatibility.

It remains to be seen if all the content, especially HD one will look good on the 7 inch display that this device sports… Hopefully we won’t see too many scaled up phone apps, since we know those kind of suck. Next Tuesday is when you’ll be getting your hands on the crisp new Kindle tablet and find out if it really kills the iPad… or just boredom.


Burn The Rope: Worlds Now Available For Free In The Android Market

Posted by on November 10, 2011 No comments

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I told you guys it was coming and it looks like Big Blue Bubble has finally released the sequel to their mobile smash hit, Burn the Rope onto the Android Market. Burn the Rope: Worlds ups the original with 100 new levels, featuring 4 unique worlds like the jungle, mechanical, fantasy and space themed levels for you to ignite. Also included is a new mini-game called Endless Burn where the object is to collect as many bugs as possible while your flame trail grows. Run into the flame and it’s game over.

If you feel like the regular play-mode is too hot for you, there’s also a “casual mode” for less stressful gaming sessions which coincidentally also works great for keeping the kids busy. You can pick up the brand new Burn the Rope: Worlds for free in the Android Market.

[Market Link]

 

Apps Of The Day: Sim City Deluxe & Writepad

Posted by on November 9, 2011 No comments

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Every day we peruse the Android Market looking for the best, worst, interesting, and most unique apps in an effort to sift out a few gems. We call it Apps of the Day. We can’t guarantee that every app featured below is a real winner, but each is worth at least a quick look. It’s all in an effort to help you, our faithful readers, get the most out of your Android handsets. Read on to see what we found today!

Writepad - The company behind handwriting recognition app WritePad just updated their app and it now supports print, cursive, or mixed writing on phones, tablets, and stylus-enabled Android devices in addition to improving their overall recognition capabilities. I can see where this might come in handy on a tablet, especially within the framework of specific apps or tasks, but I’m not so sure I want to be writing on a phone. Anyone with me? Of course I’m not a Swype fan either… [Market Link]

Sim City Deluxe - Sim City on my Android phone? It’s more likely than you think. EA released this mobile edition of the popular city-building franchise today. It isn’t as full-fledged as its PC counterpart, but the same basic concepts still apply as you build and manipulate your city. The game plays out in scenarios that see you taking the reigns of several pre-established cities. You can further grow the city and add your own touch with real-life landmarks. Just go easy on the earthquakes and alien invasions. [Market Link]

Adobe Will Discontinue Flash Player For Mobile, Focusing Instead On HTML 5

Posted by on November 9, 2011 No comments

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Well isn’t this hilariously ironic? Shortly after a spammer/scammer tricked his way into Android Market’s trending apps by releasing a fake version of Flash 12, we learn that Adobe will discontinue development of in-browser flash on mobile devices beyond version 11.1. So hey you – Androidking guy – sure you don’t want to build out that Flash 12 for real?

More than anything, this signifies the soon-t0-be sweeping changes that HTML 5 will usher in- and I’m not exaggerating when I say sweeping. In February, at Mobile World Congress, Eric Schmidt admitted that most apps will be built using HTML 5 saying exactly that:

"HTML 5 is the way almost all applications will be built, including for phones."

Considering that… how well is Google positioned with the combination of Android, Chrome, ChromeOS, and Google TV? They’ve got technological insurance policies up the wazoo. Meanwhile, Adobe is going to have to shift directions to keep themselves riding any type of curve.
Apple and Adobe have a longstanding conflict that stems from Steve Jobs (read his bio, it’s amazing), but when Jobs refused to put Flash on iOS devices it definitely put a dent in Adobe’s game plan. Maybe it was the kick in the butt they needed. While Android was able to boast Flash support and therefore full html browsing capabilities that would load more pages properly than iPhones, it wasn’t making the future any rosier for Adobe’s Flash on mobile. Instead of continuing to push Flash they’ll now be moving towards Adobe AIR:

Our future work with Flash on mobile devices will be focused on enabling Flash developers to package native apps with Adobe AIR for all the major app stores.  We will no longer continue to develop Flash Player in the browser to work with new mobile device configurations (chipset, browser, OS version, etc.) following the upcoming release of Flash Player 11.1 for Android and BlackBerry PlayBook.  We will of course continue to provide critical bug fixes and security updates for existing device configurations.  We will also allow our source code licensees to continue working on and release their own implementations.

Adobe will indeed continue working on Flash for desktop devices, it’s merely the mobile strategy that has changed. I applaud Adobe for backing away from their Flash product line for mobile. You hear the news and you think they’re surrendering to some degree. And they are. For a proud company like Adobe that’s a hard thing to do but it’s also what is necessary. Newspapers and magazines are failing because they didn’t embrace the web soon enough. Tides and times change and you’ve got to be willing to change with the times to ride the new tides.

Will Adobe be successful in their new mission to innovate with HTML5?

[Via Adobe]