Feb 22, 2012

What CloudMagic aspires to do is to help bring together the various cloud services that we use. The app, which recently just released, allows users to link a Google account (with support for Google Apps accounts) and a Twitter account, in order to index emails, contacts, calendars, and more, to make them universally searchable from one interface. So, typing in a certain search term will show relevant emails, calendar events, contacts, and recent tweets matching that search entry.

For example, I linked together multiple Google accounts and my Twitter account, then I did a search for “GDC” and the results were as expected. It showed all the results for GDC in my email inboxes. It searched my calendars for my GDC events. Most impressively, it did a search through only my Twitter contacts that I follow for tweets about GDC. I cannot stress how important and useful that last sentence is. Twitter search is such a mess, and having something that turns up relevant results from the people that I follow is worth keeping this tool around alone, never mind the Google integration.

In fact, the key drawback to CloudMagic at this time is the fact that it only integrates in Google and Twitter. For someone who uses both, this is fantastic, but for other email/contacts/calendar service users, it’s somewhat lacking. Facebook and Google+ would be useful services to integrate, as the commentary from people on those services could be useful in finding relevant social data. Twitter searching can only go back so far, likely due to Twitter limits, although it can easily find self-posted tweets and direct messages containing the search term. As well, having Google-esque searcheengine operators would help make the app far more useful. I’d love to search through Dropbox files to find relevant information as well.

While CloudMagic has a long way to go to be something all-encompassing, its current implementation is very useful for users of Google and Twitter. It even manages to out-Google Google in its universal search of Google services, something that Android surprisingly lacks. This is a very useful tool for Android owners.

Feb 22, 2012

Android may be a Linux-based OS, and a very powerful mobile operating system that can perform a lot of computer tasks, but it’s still a secondary device to a computer. Canonical, developers of the Ubuntu Linux distribution, want to bring Ubuntu to Android smartphones, and have announced Ubuntu for Android to help get this done.

The requirements for an Ubuntu for Android device will include many phones released in the past year: 1 GHz dual-core processor, 512 MB of RAM, 2 GB of memory, along with HDMI output and a USB port. The idea appears to be to have it be something that will be a hybrid of both Android and Ubuntu, so users could simply dock their phone or plug in the required hardware and then boom, instant Ubuntu on a monitor. This is possible because Ubuntu for Android will use the same kernel as the Android build running on the device, making it possible for both experiences to exist side-by-side. So, when users use their phone, it will be a typical Android experience, but this will enable phone users to use their phones as a desktop when necessary. It will also integrate phone functions into the desktop OS, enabling users to read and write SMS messages and talk on the phone from the desktop.

This is a bold strategy, and one that will dramatically alter the phone experience, if not unify disparate experiences in one device. This could be extremely useful for tablets, as they are the typical victims of the gap between a mobile OS and a desktop OS – the mobile experience and feature set can occasionally be limiting to what a desktop or laptop OS can do. Hypothetically, an Ubuntu for Android tablet could be used to type up reports while on the go in a coffee shop from an app like Documents to Go, then set up in the dekstop mode at the office to polish and finish it off using desktop Ubuntu apps.

The concern for modern phones potentially using Ubuntu for Android will be that there aren’t a lot of apps built for the ARM processors that currently power many Android devices. Intel x86 architecture is coming to Android, but is still something that is “in the future.” Still, this could be the niche that these devices could actually launch with – the idea of a phone that is also seamlessly a desktop, and could run many Ubuntu applications on the desktop easily.

While this whole project is something that is just now getting off the ground, it appears as if Canonical wants to push this to phone manufacturers and carriers as well as the end user, becuase adoption of Ubuntu for Android will come more easily when it is something that the average user could go out and buy, instead of having to hack their phone to support.

Feb 21, 2012

Live Wallpapers look fantastic, bringing life to screens that otherwise are static and lifeless. It’s one of those things that Android owners can boast that they have that iOS owners do not. However, some of the live wallpapers are just random moving lines and patterns, nothing more. For those looking for a more substantial and detailed live wallpaper for their device, there’s PlanetScapes from Central Core Studios.

This live wallpaper incorporates three different selectable alien landscapes as a live wallpaper: Avalon Falls, Sunridge Canyon, and Northern Tundra. Each wallpaper is a dynamic view of the landscape, and fully animated. Each wallpaper also has settings to customize elements in it, like the rate of snowfall in the Northern Tundra wallpaper, cloud speed in Sunridge Canyon, and the camera panning effects when switching between home screens. This is a very high-quality set of live wallpapers, and while there are settings to decrease the processor hit they will take, a powerful device is recommended when using these. A free version is available with just the Avalon Falls wallpaper, and a paid version with all three wallpapers is also available, both from the Android Market.

Feb 21, 2012

For Android tablet owners who have a stylus and want to use their tablet as a pen-and-paper replacement, one solution is Quill. This app allows users to handwrite in vector graphics in virtual notebooks. There are various settings for different pen colors and thickness, along with undo/redo and manual erase tools. There is a fountain pen mode that makes the line darker depending on how strongly the pen is pressed down on the screen, simulating an actual fountain pen. Each page can be tagged with various tags, which is perfect for students who want to remember what notes on various pages contain. The app also has support for the active pens on the Lenovo ThinkPad, HTC JetStream, and HTC Flyer. Notes can be exported as PNG files, or as PDFs, and shared via Evernote or Android built-in sharing. Quill is available for $1 from the Android Market), or available for free under the GPL from the Quill Google Code project website. Quill does require a Honeycomb device, so Galaxy Note owners are out of luck for now.

In the glorified internet flame war between Apple fans and Android diehards, screen sizes are a real sticking point. Apple fans think iPhones’ smaller sizes are ergonomically superior to the bigger screens of many Android phones, and they think the iPad’s bigger screen is superior to the smaller screens of many Android tablets.

The latest source of derision from the iOS camp is the Galaxy Note from Samsung, the 5.3″ 1280×800 behemoth of a phone/tablet hybrid. The brouhaha seems to be split between two camps: one, the people who look at its 5.3-inch screen and think it’s massive, too massive for human consumption. Then there are those who feel like it’s big, but not necessarily too big to use, and the benefits of its size outweigh the weight. It is the focal point of the iOS-Android flame war, along with the derision over 7-inch tablets.

But it actually makes sense for this smaller size range, for Android phones and tablets to be five inches and seven inches respectively. The easiest way to stand out next to an Apple product is to look completely different. People who might want a bigger phone will look Android (and with some of the bigger models, it’s physically hard not to look). For those wanting a more compact tablet, Android is the only game in town, unless an iPad mini or iPod touch Deluxe comes along.

Really, where Apple tries to stand out is in screen quality, not necessarily screen size. The iPad 2 screen looks notably nicer than the Motorola Xoom, especially as it has a better contrast ratio. I’d rather watch a video on the iPad 2, just because it looks much nicer, despite the aspect ratio difference. As well, if reports are true, then the iPad 3 will boast a 2048×1536 Retina Display, which may be a bit overkill (and a developer nightmare if it doesn’t have enough horsepower), but odds are that the iPad 3 will have a screen that competitors will be rushing to keep up to.

That, or they just won’t. After all, they are only now just catching up on DPI on phone screens, preferring to go for wider landscape ratios and bigger screens than iOS devices – the Galaxy Nexus from Samsung is the only phone that can come close as far as DPI is concerned.

Apple might not have any reason to change the size of the iPhone. The iPhone 4S, iPhone 4, and iPhone 3GS all outsold any individual Android model over the holiday season, despite being smaller than the average screen on any Android phone. Apple may feel that the 3.5-inch screen size is their preferred ergonomic design. Apps are designed for that explicit screen size, and it would be a new wrinkle for developers to deal with, a slightly larger screen size.

However, rumors of a 4-inch iPhone 5 have floated around the internet, and while there isn’t any proof of this existing yet like the iPad 3′s Retina Display. Steve Jobs may have had certain parameters in mind, but as was said when Apple was demoing Mountain Lion to press recently: “We’re starting to do some things differently.”

Feb 20, 2012

For people looking for a quick way to share a quick asynchronous voice message with another person, TinyVox exists. Now available on Android, TinyVox simply lets the user record their message to a virtual cassette tape, give it a title like writing on a cassette label, and then share it. TinyVox messages can be shared to Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, and even SoundCloud. As well, they can be emailed to anyone. Past recordings can easily be accessed, and in-progress recordings can be paused, or stopped entirely when finished.

What could this be used for? Well, it could be used for sending actual voice memos – Google’s voice actions support recording a speech-to-text “note to self” but this supports the actual voice. It could be used to make sure that a person gets a particular voicemail message. Emailing singing demos to producers? Sure, why not? TinyVox is free to download and use, and is available now from the Android Market.

Feb 20, 2012

What may be iOS developer Retro Dreamer’s most poopular game, Sneezies, is now available on Android. This is a game of chain reactions: the cute Sneezies float around the screen, and players tap anywhere on the screen to pop them. When popped, they sneeze, and the debris then pops other Sneezies in range, who then pop others with their sneeze, and so on until no more Sneezies can be popped. The goal is generally to pop a set number of Sneezies in each level. Simple as that.

This is a perfect game for kids. The simple controls, bright colors, and cute characters, are perfect for the young ones to play around with when they pick up the phone or tablet. The game has multiple modes outside the main one, including a ten-level Score EX mode, a Challenge mode with multiple pops, and a free popping mode that just lets players pop Sneezies with no time limit or restrictions.

At later difficulties, it feels more like luck is involved in succeeding, at least in the main mode. Finding a good starting point for the chain reactions is key, but at some point, it just becomes about sitting back and hoping that everything works out well. The Challenge mode’s multiple pops make it more skill-based, but there are still bonuses for events that are out of the player’s control. The game really just does not feel as much like a skill game, as much as it is just one for kids (or anyone else looking for a simple game) to sit back and enjoy, marveling at the cute colors.

Sneezies is not the deepest game out there, but it is a fun distraction, and popping the little fuzzballs is quite entertaining. The game is available for free from the Android Market, and in a paid version with art for high-resolution screens from the Amazon Appstore.

Feb 17, 2012

Legendary game designer Tim Schafer and his studio, Double Fine Productions, have run a Kickstarter campaign for their upcoming untitled point & click adventure game. They asked for $400,000 to produce the game and a documentary on the game’s production; they got far more than that, over $1.9 million as of publication. One of the big questions with the game has been just what platforms it would release on. Thanks to the game’s, shall we say, budget surplus, Tim Schafer has confirmed that the game will be coming to Android devices. Just what Android devices is not entirely clear, because even they’re not sure yet, especially considering the game pretty much isn’t even in development yet. Tim Schafer says to expect popular devices to be supported – what these will be when the game finally releases isn’t certain, but this should prove to be a boon for Android owners, particularly as they could be getting a DRM-free version as well – something iOS owners can’t particularly expect.

Feb 17, 2012

G5 Games have announced that their games will be coming to the Nook Store. As developers and publishers are learning, the Android Market isn’t the only place to distribute games. There are plenty of secondary markets to work with as well, including prominent stores for tablet devices, like the Amazon Appstore for the Kindle Fire, and the Nook Store for the Nook Color and Nook Tablet. Their games have been releasing to the Amazon Appstore over the past few months, and now games will be releasing on the Nook Store. Three titles are planned to be released on the Nook Store: Stand O’Food, Supermarket Mania, and Mahjongg Artifacts. All games will be optimized to work with the Nook Color and Nook Tablet. These time management, strategy, and puzzle titles will release in the “coming weeks,” so Nook device owners will want to keep an eye out for these games on the Nook’s built-in store soon.

Feb 17, 2012

SilverTree Media have become known for releasing their titles first on Android, then later to iOS; this has been true with Cordy, Sleepy Jack, and now Cordy Sky, their latest title, an endless jumper starring the Cordy character who has appeared in the other two titles. The game has some similarities to Mega Jump in the way that it has items that propel the player character further upward, though these tend to be along paths, and are not the entire basis for upward movement. In fact, players have a manual jump button, along with a double jump to use to go further upward. The double jump also pulls in any nearby gears, which can be used to help fly further upward.

The game is freemium, offering a short demo for free, and the rest of the game available as a $0.99 unlock. This unlocks both the rest of the game’s story mode, and an endless mode.

So, want to play this game? Well, too bad. The game is currently pulled from the Android Market. The reasons for this are unclear. SilverTree Media have not said anything publicly about the game, and related Twitter accounts have either said nothing or removed any comments about the game’s release. Attempts to contact SilverTree Media directly have gone unanswered regarding Cordy Sky.

The game does tend to suffer from some slowdown when playing it on the Samsung Captivate, but it runs perfectly fine on the Motorola Xoom, and pulling a game from the Android Market entirely seems odd if device-specific glitches are a concern. The in-app purchase unlock currently does not work at all becuase the game is not available on the Android Market any more, it appears.

There’s plenty of reasons to speculate why this may be the case – perhaps Amazon negotiated an exclusive release and the Android Market release was accidental? Perhaps the game was set to release at a certain date and was accidentally pushed to the store early? There is at least one review of the game that doesn’t mention any kind of fatal bugs, so this disappearing act from one of the most prominent primarily-Android developers is very strange.

Feb 16, 2012

AndroXplorer is back with a new version. The 4th version of the file manager is now available on the Android Market. Like many Android file managers, it offers access ot the user’s files on the device, along with access to external SD cards. It can browse through applications on the device, enabling them to be backed up. It can also extract a variety of compressed files, making it a useful tool for those who frequently work with archives.

The latest version has two key benefits. First, there’s root access, for rooted users. When it comes to tinkering, having access to root files from an app the user likes is always an advantage – and having an app the user is familiar with reduces the possibility of making crucial errors! Second, the app supports tablets, which lack a very good file manager so far. The app’s three-window interface with left tabs makes it extremely useful for moving and navigating between multiple directories.

The app can hypothetically detect network servers sharing files via SMB but the automatic search either does not work, as it keeps crashing on my Motorola Xoom running Ice Cream Sandwich, and manually adding servers does not detect any folders. In fact, even the automatic search does not tend to detecct any folders, which is strange. This is a shame because it would serve as a great way to ditch the USB cable when trying to transfer files to and from a computer. There doesn’t appear to be any way to back up an app’s data; apparently we’re all just beholden to Titanium Backup for that. The documentation is very confusing, and makes it hard to see just what can be done with the app.

While the app’s upgrades and interface changes will be good for previous users of AndroXplorer, there’s not much here in this latest version to convince users to ditch their preferred file manager for this, although tablet users don’t really have much choice otherwise.

Feb 15, 2012

Jealous of the Face Unlock functionality that the Galaxy Nexus has? Want to use it to protect apps as well? Then FaceLock is the solution. What this tool does is that it emulates Face Unlock from Ice Cream Sandwich, but uses it primarily for apps.

Users begin by training FaceLock to recognize them by taking a minimum of seven photos for it to learn what the user’s face looks like. More than seven can be added, which is best because of all the various lighting scenarios that are out there. It is possible to use the front-facing camera, but because it’s much harder to line up one’s face, this is decidedly more inconvenient. Use this only on a device with a front-facing camera.

So, does FaceLock work? Yes! It works remarkably well, recognizing faces rather quickly in decent lighting conditions when testing on the Motorola Xoom. When testing in lower light, when the Xoom’s camera gets notably fuzzy, the facial recognition tended to fail. It’s not a matter of caputring faces in low lighting situations to make it work better – the facial recognition just did not work at all. This could be an issue with the Xoom’s front-facing camera in particular though. The app does support password input as a fallback if facial reocgnition does not work. The locking can be set to be required each time the app is opened, to have it disabled once it’s been unlocked and the screen remains on, or to set it on a delay before it re-locks (only available in the pro version).

FaceLock comes in free and paid varieties. The free version locks Settings, Market, Task Manager, and one custom app. The pro version supports enabling locking for any app of the user’s choice. As well, a PIN can be entered instead of a password, and best of all: it can be used as the lock screen, emulating Face Unlock completely. Both Free and Pro versions are available now from the Android Market, and require Android 2.3 or later devices.