Android Community |
- Wind-Up Knight is classic platforming fun in a 3D package
- Best Buy is selling the HP TouchPad you want with the HP computer you don’t
- Halloween is coming: We have Apps, Android ICS pumpkins, and holiday game deals
- Rumor: Nook Color 2 announcement coming November 7th to fight Kindle Fire
- MEGASTUNT Mayhem Pro for Android hands-on [Video]
- GameStop begins selling Android tablets with free games
- HTC Releases Thunderbolt Gingerbread kernel source code
- HTC EVO 3D dressed in Purple available from Amazon for just $50
- Motorola Xoom 2 models spotted in Verizon systems with 4G LTE and 64GB storage
| Wind-Up Knight is classic platforming fun in a 3D package Posted: 28 Oct 2011 05:10 PM PDT If you’ve got an Android phone that’s at least as powerful as the Nexus One/HTC Desire, and if you’re reading this, odds are excellent that you do, you owe it to yourself to check out Wind-Up Knight. It’s a classic sidescrolling platformer with up-to-date 3G graphics and a sense of humor to boot. It’s a free download in the Android Market.
You are a pint-sized paladin, sent to rescue the king’s daughter who has been kidnapped. Kidnap victim seems to be the primary occupation of princesses in video games, doesn’t it? The kind is quite anxious to get his daughter back – he warns you in his parchment email (“FWD: OMG PR1NC355 GET!”) that it will be on your quarterly review. An ad at the bottom that you can “get your own free hosting at GeoCastles” had me chuckling even before the first level started. Check out some footage of an early version below: Gameplay is a lot like the popular Wii and PC downloadable title Bit Trip Runner, in that your clockwork character runs without any direction. The player jumps or slashes via on-screen buttons, avoiding falls and spikes while constantly running through monsters. Graphics are impressive, even if the 2D gameplay is pretty simple – a perfect game for showing off your tablet to family members who might not appreciate more advanced controls. The first chapter of the game can be downloaded for free, with additional chapters available for a reasonable $1.99. )
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| Best Buy is selling the HP TouchPad you want with the HP computer you don’t Posted: 28 Oct 2011 03:57 PM PDT WebOS may be doomed, but there’s still plenty of interest in the HP TouchPad, due to the dual charms of insane firesale pricing and an increasingly stable Android port. If you missed your chance to pick one up when inventories were liquidated, everyone’s favorite evil electronics retailer Best Buy has your back. Not that you should show it to them. Limited stocks of 32GB TouchPads are available for the low, low price of $149… as long as you buy an HP-branded PC as well.
HP announced earlier that they’ve abandoned their plans to sell off the PC division, but that WebOS, the TouchPad, and most of the employees left in the mobile division will be let go. The limited TouchPad-computer sale will begin on November 1st, and laptops, desktops and all-in-ones are included in the “bargain”. Prices for the computers themselves weren’t mentioned – perhaps you could pick up a $300 netbook to qualify? Online customers will be able to purchase the combo as well. I suppose there are a few people who could genuinely take advantage of this. Christmas is coming up, so the chance to get a 10-inch tablet for even less than a Kindle Fire is alluring, assuming you were already planning on buying a computer and you’ve got another $150 to spend. And if you’re absolutely set on getting your TouchPad on, you could always sell the computer on Craigslist and eat the difference – it’s still a pretty amazing deal for hardware that cost $500 or more a few months ago. To get a good look at the Android community’s efforts so far, check out our hands-on of CyanogenMod on the TouchPad below: [via TechCrunch] )
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| Halloween is coming: We have Apps, Android ICS pumpkins, and holiday game deals Posted: 28 Oct 2011 03:43 PM PDT Halloween is just a few short days away (scary noises) and we have a few treats we thought we’d share before the weekend gets under way. First off we have some Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich carved right into a pumpkin directly from our friends at Google thanks to their @Android twitter page, then we’ve spotted a few more Android pumpkins and even a few Halloween games and deals. Be sure to follow down past the break and see all the spooky details.
The photo above was sent over from our good friends Google as we mentioned above, it was posted right on their twitter page at @Android, then because we are cool you can also follow us from Android Community at @Androids (with an s). Then thanks to the @Android page we’ve also spotted some Android fan art that goes right along with Halloween and you can see that thanks to @atrain729. Check out his neat pumpkin below then feel free to share your own Android spirit or carvings this Halloween with us from Android Community at our twitter account linked to above, or in the comment section below.
Then our friends at droidgamers pointed out that while there wasn’t an official announcement all of the games from the extremely popular developer Polarbit are currently on sale for just $0.99 for Halloween. Most of these are usually $2.99 and up and they offer some of the best games for Android.
Then for all of you gamers hoping to get into something a bit more scary this Halloween we have an awesome game called Twisted Lands: Shadown Town that is also on sale for just $0.99 in the Android Market. With twisted lands we have areas from the beach to the woods but people don’t usually return from either in this spooky town. You’ve crash landed and your wife’s gone missing and you can find creepy hidden objects and puzzles to find your way back but watch out for ghosts.
Get Twisted Lands: Shadown Town in the market right now while on sale for Halloween by clicking here. We didn’t stop there either, we have one of the best Live Wallpapers to help get you and your friends and family into the Halloween spirit and it’s called Haunted House HD. Feel free to check out our full review of that awesome live wallpaper by clicking here.
Then last but not least we have two more quick applications for the holiday. First, is the extremely popular Angry Birds that I’m sure you all know plenty about but now with a little Ham’o'ween flare as they call it. Full details about the new Halloween edition Angry Birds can be seen here. Second, is SwiftKey X and their neat new update that brought plenty of bug fixes for one of the most popular 3rd party keyboards for Android to date. And they’ve added an orange theme just for Halloween too. Get all the details on the latest creepy crawly Swiftkey X and download it now right here. We truly hope you enjoy some of the applications and pictures above and that you all stay safe this Halloween. We would love to see your Android costumes or pumpkin carvings this year or from the past so please feel free to share them with us in the comment area below. )
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| Rumor: Nook Color 2 announcement coming November 7th to fight Kindle Fire Posted: 28 Oct 2011 03:12 PM PDT We’ve known for a while that Barnes & Noble intended a second model of its successful Nook Color tablet for later this year, as the original passed its first birthday this week. The Amazon Kindle Fire may have hastened the bookseller’s plans: multiple sources claiming to be Barnes & Noble employees are reporting that kiosks and other retail goodies are showing up in bookstores ahead of a November 7th launch. That would put the Nook Color 2 on retail shelves a week before Kindle Fires begin shipping out from Amazon.
An anonymous B&N employee tells The Digital Reader that his or her store is building a huge new display in the center of the store especially for the Nook tablets and e-readers. Spotlight, LCD TVs, touch screen demonstration kiosks, the works. A manager told him or her to expect a major Nook announcement on the 7th to battle the Kindle Fire. That’s a pretty unmistakable indication that we’ll be seeing more Nook news soon. The biggest draw for the Kindle Fire is its rock-bottom price of $199, undercutting other Android tablets by hundreds of dollars and the current Nook Color by $50. That probably means that the Nook Color 2 will see a discount of at least that much, whenever it comes to market. The Nook Color currently runs a heavily modified and branded version of Froyo, and the Fire runs a likewise customized version of Gingerbread. The rivalvry between the two biggest player in the e-reader market is about to seriously heat up, and consumers will be on the winning side whatever happens. [via SlashGear] )
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| MEGASTUNT Mayhem Pro for Android hands-on [Video] Posted: 28 Oct 2011 02:49 PM PDT It’s game time again and we have a new racer monster truck rally game for Android called MEGASTUNT Mayhem. We have a lot of options regarding racing games and things of that sort but this is an entirely new level. It’s the perfect action sports game that mixes racing, showmanship and total destruction into one thrilling experience. Being able to drive around and cause carnage while hitting jumps and doing flips or barrel rolls with big ol tires. That is what we have here, so if it interests you check out our pictures and video below.
Big air and stunts along with crazy hard wrecks will earn you points and cash, plus the crowd will go wild. With multiple challenges, level up, vehicle add-ons and more they’ve really included almost everything you could want into a monster truck game. Check out a few of my photos and then watch a quick hands-on video where I see how bad I can wreck and jack up my wheels.
FEATURES Playing MEGASTUNT Mayhem on my Galaxy Tab was actually really fun and It might just be my new favorite racing and truck game in general for Android. The graphics are excellent and realistic with reflections, plus crashes and physics truly look awesome. With glass and truck parts flying all over the place you’ll surely feel right at the stadium during gameplay. The game developers, Level Eight, also mention they have huge plans for the game with multiple updates coming soon. We can expect to see more monster trucks, new vehicle mods and tweaks, as well as a few new game modes coming in the future. This was just a quick look and hands-on with a new awesome game for Android phones and tablets. Plus, A developer that plans to keep their app updated and bring more content for the same low price gets my vote so be sure and check it out. It’s available in the market right now by clicking here.      Bonus video
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| GameStop begins selling Android tablets with free games Posted: 28 Oct 2011 02:41 PM PDT Say what you will about GameStop, as many have and will, but you can accuse them of being anything less than shrewd business. To that end they’re expanding their mostly console and portable video game stock to include Android tablets from Samsung, Asus and Acer, starting in a few select stores today. The tablets will be pre-loaded with seven free games including Dead Space and Madden NFL 2012.
The first tablets on sale are the Acer Iconia Tab 100, Asus Eee Pad Transformer and Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The tablets won’t cost any less than they do at other retail locations, and if GameStop’s regular pricing structure is anything to go on, they’ll probably be more expensive than at least a few. But gamers hungry for a new mobile experience can practice the time-honored tradition of trading in old consoles and game discs for store credit, which can be used to purchase a new Android tablet. GameStop has already expanded its trade-in and used programs to cover general gadgets like the iPhone and iPod, and presumably, you’ll soon be able to trade in your Samsung Galaxy Tab or Acer Transformer as well. GameStop may integrate these tablets with its mobile streaming service Spawn Labs at some point in the future. This may seem like an odd move for a company so well-established in the lucrative game console retail space, but if you take a look at some of the games coming out for Android lately, it makes a lot of sense. Check out the graphics in Shadowgun or Modern Combat 3, and you’ll see almost the rival of any Xbox or PlayStation 2 game. Who knows what can be done with upcoming hardware like the quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 found in the Transformer Prime, and with HDMI output already on many Android devices and native controller support coming with Ice Cream Sandwich, Android tablets are beginning to look a lot like gaming hardware, to say nothing of specialized smartphones like the XPERIA Play. With downloaded games making up a bigger and bigger chunk of the digital market, GameStop finds itself in the same position that bookstores were five or six years ago. They can continue to make most of their profits off of software which will soon be available at the click of a mouse, or they can diversify and begin delivering the one thing that can’t be replicated with a broadband connection: hands-on, instant hardware gratification. It could be the difference between GameStop being the next Barnes & Noble (appropriately, since they used to be owned by them)… or Borders. [via SlashGear] )
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| HTC Releases Thunderbolt Gingerbread kernel source code Posted: 28 Oct 2011 02:05 PM PDT Well folks, time to let the good times roll and the custom ROMs flow. HTC has recently released the full kernel source code for the HTC Thunderbolt, although this isn’t for Froyo, no, this is for the recently released Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Now all of the hackers and tinkerers that make our custom ROM’s can get to work on the Gingerbread aspects of things. Good news for Thunderbolt users indeed.
Shown in the image below the source has finally been released and is available for download, coming in at just 89MB it shouldn’t take too long and we can expect developers are already knee deep in code. While this isn’t a big deal for the average consumer, all the users that make custom ROM’s or overclocking kernels and all those other things we love to mess with on Android, the source code is a big part of that. HTC hasn’t been the fastest to release in the recent past but we are glad to see this Gingerbread build arrive so quickly after the OTA (although the OTA did take forever.)
If tweaking and enjoying Gingerbread isn’t your thing now the cold and tasty Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is here there is also a 4.0 ICS SDK port for the Thunderbolt and if you’d like to give that a try more details are available here. Give all those developers and ROM makers a few days to sift through the kernel source code and I’m sure we’ll be seeing plenty of good things come out of XDA and RootzWiki soon be ready for some flashing. Device Info
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 [via Phandroid] )
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| HTC EVO 3D dressed in Purple available from Amazon for just $50 Posted: 28 Oct 2011 12:10 PM PDT I’m sure many of you loyal WiMAX supporters were jealous when you saw Verizon get the Plum colored HTC Rhyme, and immediately you wanted one for yourself just with a more powerful smartphone. Usually I wouldn’t post just because a new color is available but common, purple (plum) is just the best color on a smartphone I think I’ve ever seen. That and Amazon has the awesome dual-core EVO 3D for just $50 in the new beautiful color.
Best Buy had a short exclusive on the Plum EVO 3D and RadioShack offers it in white. Now Amazon can also partake in the fun while beating everyone else with their price. You can get the EVO 3D for $50 dollars with a new 2-year contract or for those will a full upgrade option, otherwise the price wont be so cheap.
This is the same EVO 3D we all love and reviewed here. What that means is you’ll get the same 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB internal storage and that 4.3″ qHD display and dual 5 megapixel cameras for all the 3D video your heart desires. Only now you can rock the EVO in style with a touch of purple, or plum. You can get it right now from Amazon Wireless by clicking here. Is Plum a color you’d consider in your next smartphone? Maybe for the ladies but what about you gentlemen? Device Info
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[via Phandroid] )
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| Motorola Xoom 2 models spotted in Verizon systems with 4G LTE and 64GB storage Posted: 28 Oct 2011 11:42 AM PDT The new Motorola Xoom 2′s have been getting plenty of love lately but we still don’t have anything too concrete regarding these tablets other than the few and far between leaked details. We’ve seen plenty of pictures and have heard rumors of a November launch date but are still waiting for confirmation. Recently they’ve been spotted in Verizon’s inventory system giving us hope they are coming soon.
Spotted in the Verizon cellebrite as the Pasteur (MZ617) and Fleming (MZ609) they’ve now been found in another system showing the same code-numbers, then 4G LTE and a 64GB option. According to sources the MZ609 is the smaller 8.2″ “Media Edition” Xoom 2 we saw in this updated post. While 4G is nice to see it was pretty expected, but now the option for a 64GB version is here we have everything we’d need. I sure would love to get my hands on a quad-core 64GB 4G LTE tablet, sounds great huh? Only concern would be pricing, and I’m getting worried just thinking about it. Like we mentioned above, if latest leaks are accurate we should be hearing more very soon and seeing these sometime mid November. [via Droid-Life] )
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