May 8, 2012

Mobile users love two things, apparently. One is spending money on the Amazon Appstore. The other? Casino games, which make up 5 of 3 of the top 5 grossing games on Google Play, and 5 of the top 20 grossing overall. This is hypothetically an apples-to-apples comparison, but top grossing numbers are unavailable for the Amazon Appstore, and the iOS App Store has 4 of the top 20 grossing games as casino-style games. They are popular.

As such, Mobile Deluxe is hoping to achieve a big win by launching the Kindle Fire version of Big Win Slots today exclusively on the Amazon Appstore for Kindle Fire. They will be using the Amazon Appstore’s new in-app purchase API to help generate revenue from users, who can buy coins and earn VIP points to unlock new machines and themes. According to Mobile Deluxe CEO Josh Hartwell, “As an early developer partner, we’ve been looking forward to Amazon’s IAP service. Amazon knows merchandising and knows that Kindle Fire users want to buy digital products with the same great experience they’ve grown accustomed to. We are proud that Big Win Slots is one of the first games to deliver that renowned Amazon experience to Kindle Fire users.” The game is available today via the Amazon Appstore.

May 8, 2012

Notifications, as they currently exist, are just simple lines of text that play across the top of the status bar when they come in, and make a sound when the screen is off, with no visual notification at all, like on iOS. Pops is trying to do something quite different with the way notifications appear on Android, and taking visual notifications to a new level.

When a user’s screen is off, a video with sound plays, and the notification text appears below the screen. The video is mainly just there to serve as an immediate visual cue that a certain type of notification has appeared. The notification text below the screen isn’t just there for posterity, it can also serve as a quick reply box. For example, a Twitter reply that comes in can be replied to without ever unlocking the phone.

While some services like Skype, SMS, and Google+ work out of the box for receiving notifications as long as they are already configured through their apps, Twitter, Gmail, and Facebook require separate logins through Pops for their notifications to work. Twitter notifications allow for replies to be sent directly from the video screen, but there’s no character limit; going over causes the reply to not be sent by Twitter, though.

There are a variety of free pre-made videos for users to choose from, largely comprising short animated clips that play. Users can also use their own pictures and videos to make their own videos. While the app is currently free, it seems as if monetization opportunities abound: selling new videos, or even through sponsored ones. A user could find out that they’ve got a new text message through a video of Katniss from The Hunger Games shooting an arrow. It makes too much sense.

Pops is currently available from Google Play, and appears to be compatible only with phones, not tablets, as it is incompatible with the Motorola Xoom.

May 7, 2012

Samsung’s presentation of the Galaxy S III (I’m using the Roman numeral only because it reads a lot nicer than the Galaxy S3) was painful to watch. In the literal sense, the livestream was janky and stuttery, and it made me physically ill to keep watching. I wasn’t alone – our own Jeff Scott thought he had ingested too much caffeine. Well, we as if there’s such a thing, but that wasn’t the excuse. It just was part of how Samsung doesn’t get how to do a product launch, especially compared to the company they idolize: Apple.

The word that kept sticking out to me was “customers” – Samsung on one hand was trying to pitch their phone as a more natural, and more human experience, yet they kept saying how it would be good for their “customers.” The word customer conjures up the idea of money exchanging hands, and that the people who use this phone are those who spend money on it. It was rather confusing terminology, and seemed to belie Samsung’s true purpose with the phone.

Compare this with Apple product announcements. They are similar, but Apple does a much better job at making sure that they stay on message – that this thing they are revealing can do so much for people. Not just living, breathing sacks of money. Sure, they talk about price, but it’s about so much more than that.

It felt like Samsung was attempting a pale imitation of an actual Apple keynote – the joke being that Samsung has been accused of copying Apple. The announcement was meant to feel human, but it felt like robotic corporate-speak. The stilted marketing buzzwords used when talking about being a corporate partner of the Olympics in London fell extremely flat because it didn’t feel genuine, or even useful to the announcement. Just the words “corporate partner” threw up red flags, as they should. Again, it indicates money exchanging hands, not a genuine human experience that Samsung wants to push, seemingly.

The other problem with mimicking an Apple announcement is that Samsung took it a bit too much to heart: oh, you have voice recognition? Yeah, Apple announced that back in October. You can stream videos and mirror your screen to your TV with a special box? Yeah, you’ve been able to do that for like a year now too with Apple products.

The phone design itself doesn’t seem to impress – Samsung talked about it being inspired by pebbles and nature, but there’s just something off about it. Perhaps it’s the lack of symmetry, possibly demanded by legal issues as Android Police points out. Or maybe Samsung just tried to swing for a home run, and have missed so far. Maybe customers will decide that this thing is actually really nice-looking, and we’re all just freaking out.

It’s a shame that Samsung can’t do an exciting product announcement. They’re the one company out there with the scruples to actually pull it off. They have the kind of clout to get people to pay attention, to watch a livestream of their product announcements. It’s too bad that they’re aiming for second rate Apple imitations across the board.

May 4, 2012

On May 3rd in London, Samsung finally revealed their latest phone: the Galaxy S III.

Samsung has gone with a 4.8″ super AMOLED screen with Gorilla Glass, at a 720p resolution. Unlike the Galaxy Nexus, the phone doesn’t use on-screen buttons, with physical buttons below the screen. The processor is a 1.4 GHz quad-core Exynos, with 1 GB of RAM. Samsung has taken a step forward with the battery, providing a 2100 mAh battery by default. The phone will come in cobalt blue and white at launch.

The phone should lend more ammo to the “Samsung is ripping off the iPhone” crowd, and with good merit. The design, especially the international variant with The S-Voice feature is almost identical to Siri on the iPhone. They’ve boldly gone and implemented the “tap status bar to scroll to the top” feature from iOS in to TouchWiz. As well, they’ve introduced their own variant on AirPlay Mirroring and the Apple TV with AllShare Cast and the compatible dongle; this will allow for the display and media to be streamed to either a compatible TV or TV with AllShare.

However, the software and hardware have some standout features as well. The 8 megapixel rear camera will have zero shutter lag, along with a burst shot mode where the best photo of the burst can be saved. The front camera will boast a 1.9 megapixel resolution, and will be used for more than just video calls and self-shots. The device can use it to tell if the user is still looking at the phone, so it will not go to sleep, even if the user hasn’t touched it. The phone will also respond to the user’s voice and to specific commands, even when the phone is locked. While texting someone, users can hold the phone up to their ear and automatically call the person they’re texting. As well, Samsung is expanding on ICS’ Beam NFC technology, claiming to send files between phones at 5 MB per second, making it easy to share music and videos.

While there’s still a lot to find out about the phone’s launch plans, Europe will start getting the phone by the end of the month, and the US should get the phone this summer. Will it continue Samsung’s run of success in the Android market? Time will tell.

May 3, 2012

PlayUp has launched their app for following live sporting events and socializing with other fans on Android.

The app has an international flavor to it, as it covers leagues from all across the globe. Baseball fan and want to see what’s happening in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball? This app has live scores available from that league. The app will show updates and offer live chat with other fans of the Japanese league. As well, there’s live scores for international soccer leagues (including Turkey’s Süper Lig), cricket, Australian rules football, rugby, hockey, American football, and basketball, which is currently in the playoffs in the US. Live events are given display priority.

Once viewing a game, it’s possible to chat with other fans using the app, and to create private hangouts to chat with just specific people. The app attempts to bring a social experience to a category of app that has generally been used only for one-way checking of information. PlayUp is available now for free from Google Play.

May 3, 2012

The growth of Ice Cream Sadiwch continues to trudge along, slowly but surely. The numbers are at 4.9% for all Android ICS variants. This is likely being spurred on by the Galaxy Nexus and its continued spread; some tablets like the Motorola Xoom are getting the update, though only on their wifi configuration.

However, considering that Android 2.3.x variants make up 63.9% of devices running Android, and even 2.1 Eclair has more users on it than Ice Cream Sandwich, it seems as if something is incredibly wrong with Android updates if an OS released in 2009 is exceeding the latest versions of Android. It’s not just a question of new smartphones launching with ICS, like the HTC One X – when devices like the Galaxy Note that are getting major marketing pushes are still being advertised, and don’t even have Ice Cream Sandwich, there’s definite signs of an issue here.

The sad thing is that this situation is much improved from February, when ICS only made up 1% of Android users.

May 3, 2012

After last week’s radical departure from the norm, I think it is a good time to take a step back into a theme that might be considered more professional. This week’s theme is called Plate, a product of White Eye Design, and it is just one of many excellent GO Launcher themes by the company. One of the aspects that is boasted front and center on Plate’s Play Store page is that this theme comes with over 120 different icons. As I have stated probably ad nauseum, it is very important for a theme to come in with a strong arsenal of icons for any user’s app collection. Even with this large collection of icons, the apps that do fall through the cracks are not even noticed because the normalcy of the theme means that normal icons fit right alongside the stylized ones. This effect is greatly aided by the grey box that surrounds each icon and adds a really clever segmented feeling to the whole theme.

GO Launcher has a great way for the user to browse through wallpapers and they encourage theme developers to include multiple backgrounds. The wallpaper that comes with Plate is definitely not anything that will blow anyone away but the house in the field is a nice touch and adds another layer of class onto this already stylish theme. Another nice touch is the silver dock which when placed behind the darker grey boxed icons gives a surprisingly realistic embossed effect. Adding in the fact that Plate plays well with practically any custom wallpaper, be it dark or light, and there is a total package here that should not be missed by anyone who is looking to add a slight touch of elegance to their Android. While there, be sure to check out some of the other White Eye Design themes and check back here for a possible post looking at another one of there themes in the future.

May 2, 2012

Stitcher today announced an update to their app that now includes a special section on the 2012 US Presidential election.

Stitcher has always been a great app to go to for audio content. They have now implemented a new feature that allows then to create focus sections on a particular category. The first of these sections to launch will the a 2012 Presidential election that includes audio endorsed by the candidates themselves.

“The majority of Stitcher users listen to news and political content, so creating the Election Center was a natural step for us,” said Noah Shanok, CEO of Stitcher. “There’s an avalanche of coverage during election season and it can be tough to get the best information when you need it. We’re rolling out trending topics on demand, a first in the industry. We see this as part of our mission to further the evolution of radio by making it more relevant and accessible than ever.”

The new Election Center allows you to follow news about your candidate or candidates of choice. It also allows you to focus on particular sources or topics. Using transcription, Stitcher will allow you to search in the transcribed text of the audio features to find mentions of the topics you are interested in.

Election Center is just the first step. Expect to see Stitcher roll out the focus areas to other topics in the near future. But for now, the updated Stitcher with Election Center should be available now. Grab it now at [Google Play].

May 2, 2012

One of the features that Android is missing compared to iOS is AirPlay. While that uses proprietary Apple protocols and occasionally even hardware to get the job done, it does make it easy for users in the Apple ecosystem to beam their content wherever they want.

However, Android users don’t really have an equivalent service to call their own. Apps like DoubleTwist integrate with the AirPlay standard, but still basically require an AirPlay device at the other end.

Zapstreak is hoping to change this. They’re hoping to allow Android users to beam their content to their TVs and other connected media devices through the DLNA standard.

What their SDK aims to let developers do is to let them share photos, audio, and video from an Android device, and beam it to a DLNA client. DLNA is a much more open standard than AirPlay is, utilizing UPnP to help devices, even from different manufacturers and operating systems, communicate in order to share media.

So, by utilizing properly encoded information, an app integrated with Zapstreak will be able to display media on TVs very easily. For example, a music streaming app will be able to play music to a set of connected speakers if it’s integrated with Zapstreak. Photo apps can share users’ creations on a big screen with the Zapstreak. Video apps, when properly encoded, can be streamed to view on a TV, which may be the most exciting part of the Zapstreak proposition.

In speaking with Stefan Bielau of Fusion Sheep, he says that their goal is to reach connected TVs in particular, with the idea that their service will allow users to beam content without any hardware in between. Of course, any DLNA device is hypothetically usable with the service. This includes the Xbox 360 and PS3, and Stefan Bielau even mentioned an old wifi-enabled radio he was able to use to stream audio from a Zapstreak app.

While Zapstreak are not ready to reveal what will be using their SDK, especially as signups are still occurring. However, their plan, at least in the middle term, is to hopefully integrate some functionality in non-media apps, potentially utilizing Zapstreak to stream live audio to a TV. In its current incarnation, it may be difficult for an Android equivalent AirPlay Mirroring implementation to come through this.

As well, Android and DLNA appear to just be the start of thigns for Zapstreak: the plan is to launch on Windows Phone and iOS in the future, and to even get to a point where they could share to an Apple TV. Signups for the Zapstreak SDK are available from their website.

May 2, 2012

One often mocked feature of my HTC EVO 4G is its convenient kickstand. People just love to comment on that flimsy piece of plastic that allows me to prop my phone precariously on its side calling it ‘excessive’ and ‘worthless’. However, for the few times I watch movies or display clocks, (such as the previously reviewed DoubleTwist Alarm) the ability to stand my phone on its side is an overlooked convenience. Most phones, however, do not come with this inherent feature, and for those who read from them at night or just want to keep notifications in view at a desk are left wanting. A recent KickStarter project has an almost stupidly simple design that delivers a consistent and flexible hold for basically any device while still allowing for charging. Podprop is a stand for any electronic device, be it an tiny iPod Nano to a gargantuan PSP and anything in-between.

Made out of a durable polyurethane foam this stand can be placed on any surface, flat or not. The stand has two grooves in its central well to allow for portrait and landscape display, and it is encased in a durable vinyl coating that firmly grabs onto anything that does not fit in the well; allowing for viewing at any angle and greater device compatibility. At the bottom of the well is a hole that allows chargers and cords to be inserted through a small channel that runs along the base so the Podprop stays flat on the ground even while charging.

The Podprop is debuting in four colors and will be exclusively be made in America. A bonus for fans of a previous blog post about the Pebble E-Paper watch; the Podprop was specially designed with that product in mind. So, help give the Podprop a chance, retailing for around $15 this is a cheap buy that is only possible with the aide of the internet.

May 1, 2012

GREE, the Japanese gaming behemoth, has been making their push into the US with a San-Francisco-based studio that has been cranking out original titles. So far, their efforts have focused on iOS primarily with Alien Family and Zombie Jombie, games which aren’t current available on Android. However, GREE’s about to twist turn people’s worlds upside down, with the release of their first Android title: Dino-Life.

This social game has players trying to breed that most elusive of creature, whose skeletons line our museums to this day: the dinosaur. There’s a total of 60 dinosaurs in the game, with the ability to crossbreed their dinosaurs in order to create new ones. With their cavemen characters, players can go on quests in order to help them on their quest of creating new dinosaurs.

The game’s art style is designed to be whimsical, colorful, and friendly, making it perfect for a younger audience. This is their first US-developed Android title, and will be an Android exclusive, at least for a certain period of time. According to Eiji Araki, SVP of Social Games, GREE International, Inc., “GREE is excited about the recent advancements in Google Play and its potential to expand the free-to-play ecosystem on Android. Dino Life is our first Android title and exemplifies our commitment to offer unique gameplay mechanics, great social features and highly-stylized art in each game. This game is another step towards creating an ecosystem of games free from geographic or operating system restrictions and is limited only by the imagination of the gamer and the developer.”

It remains to be seen how the game will perform, but given GREE’s international experience, it may just do well on a platform craving original content. Right now on iOS, GREE US isn’t quite up with Zynga’s ranks – their highest ranking game is at #103 in Top Grossing – but given the initiative that GREE has been putting forth to launch new titles, it’s quite possible Dino-Life – available now from Google Play – could be their next big hit.

Apr 30, 2012

When talking about the competition for mobile operating systems, it seems as if the discussion has focused around iOS versus Android. Sure, Microsoft is tilling around with Windows Phone, and Blackberry’s still making phones, but the two contenders in the ring are definitely iOS and Android.

That may be the status quo at the moment, but does anyone believe that it will be this way forever? Of course not. Technology changes too much for it to stay this way forever. Short of the entirely unexpected happening, there are a few plausible scenarios out there that could reshape the mobile market as we know it.

Maybe Apple refuses to take up larger device sizes, and users begin to flock to Android in droves as they become more useful?

Maybe Google, through diplomacy or by force, shrinks the number of devices on the market, drastically shrinking the number of current issues that the OS has, making it more on par with iOS, and it starts to even overtake iOS in more than just user numbers? What if it’s regarded in the mainstream as a superior product?

Maybe Windows Phone 8 will give Microsoft a real contender. Perhaps by offering the kind of top-down OS integration that Apple has played with, they can fill a need with interoperable phones, tablets, and computers that will spearhead Microsoft’s mobile push.

Maybe the new Lumia 900 and its marketing campaign along with low 2-year contract price will get people using WP and anticipating the aforementioned WP8.

Maybe developers will get tired of trying to deal with the thousands of Android devices out there, and just abandon the platform, setting it back for a while.

Maybe that rumored Facebook phone, especially if it comes with access to their vast library of apps and games that run on their web platform, will become a key contender.

Maybe Amazon decides to stop forking Android and go with their own OS, and developers start to abandon Android for the possibly more-profitable platform. They could start selling Kindle phones, and suddenly Google might find Android far gone.

Maybe those Google Glasses replace the phone as we know it, as we all walk around in an augmented reality world, and actual phones become a thing of the past.

Maybe the Mayans were right.

It’s hard to picture a world in the near future where iOS and Android aren’t duking it out as the top 2 operating systems, but what were we saying three years ago, when BlackBerry was still strong and the iPhone was popular, and the iPad was still a rumor?

Maybe something unexpected will happen.