Saturday 29 September 2012

Android Community

Android Community


Jetpack Joyride finally arrives on Google Play Store

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 03:30 PM PDT

After a year of waiting, the day Jetpack Joyride launches on the Google Play Store has finally arrived. Technically, Jetpack Joyride has been available on Android for a few weeks now through the Amazon App Store. Today, however, the game launched on the Google Play Store, offering its addictive gameplay to millions of Android users for the first time.


The game first launched on the iOS App Store last year, coming to Facebook back in May. During its exclusive tenure on the iOS App Store, it was the recipient of a bunch of different awards, including mobile game of the year from a handful of different websites. It’s safe to say that Jetpack Joyride has taken the mobile gaming world by storm, even if it isn’t quite as popular as Angry Birds.

If you’re new to the Jetpack Joyride scene, allow us to break it down for you: players will take on the role of Barry Steakfries as he advances through constantly scrolling levels, collecting coins and power-ups along the way while avoiding dangers such as lasers and rockets. As you progress through the game, you’ll unlock new jetpacks to use as you repeatedly try to beat your best scores. It’s an addicting game to say the least, so don’t download it unless you’re willing to have the hours fly by in what seems like minutes.

Jetpack Joyride was made by Halfbrick Games, the same studio that brought us the excellent Fruit Ninja. The game is available now for free on the Google Play Store [download link], so be sure to check it out. Just don’t blame us when you get horribly addicted to it.


Texas Instruments not backing away from mobile entirely

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 02:47 PM PDT

A couple days back, we heard that Texas Instruments was going to move away from the smartphone and tablet markets. Many thought that the company would halt production on its OMAP 5 chipsets as it looked to break into other markets like the automotive, industrial, and robotics industries. Today Texas Instruments clarified Wednesday’s reports, saying that it plans to remain a competitor in the mobile space.


Of course, it’s still going to expand into the markets mentioned above, but it won’t be at the expense of its mobile business it seems. Texas Instruments says that production on OMAP 5 is continuing, telling GSMArena that it is currently sampling its new chipsets and hopes that the first products running OMAP 5 chipsets under the hood will be available in early 2013. The OMAP 5 chip features a Cortex-A15 core, meaning that it should be quite be powerful when it eventually arrives. Make no mistake, OMAP 5 is definitely worthy of your attention.

However, while OMAP 5 might be something to get excited about, it’s probably a good idea for Texas Instruments to try to break into those other markets. Qualcomm has been hitting the mobile processor scene hard, and with Apple and Samsung both developing chips of their own, there is no lack of stiff competition for TI. If things with OMAP 5 don’t work out, TI will probably be very happy that it turned some of its attention to other industries.

For now, though, we can resume waiting for OMAP 5′s arrival with bated breath. If the first products housing OMAP 5 processors will be arriving in early 2013, perhaps we can expect some announcements around the beginning of the year? We’ll be keeping our fingers crossed.


Federal court gives Judge Koh jurisdiction over Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales ban

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 02:13 PM PDT

Here’s a bit of good news for ol’ Sammy: a US Federal circuit court of appeals has given Judge Lucy Koh jurisdiction over the Galaxy Tab 10.1 injunction that was put in place earlier this year. Before all of that courtroom drama went down between Apple and Samsung last month, Samsung was hit with a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1, banning its sale in the US. That ban was put in place because it was presumed at the time that the tablet was infringing on one of Apple’s design patents.


The jury in Samsung-Apple trial saw things differently, however. Though they declared a number of Samsung devices were infringing on Apple’s patents, they said that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 wasn’t infringing on the design patent in question. This led Samsung to request that Judge Lucy Koh lift the sales ban on the tablet, but since Samsung had chosen to appeal the sales ban with a different court, Koh said she couldn’t. Her hands were tied on the matter, since she didn’t have jurisdiction over the sales ban after Samsung chose to appeal the injunction with another court.

That court has given Koh jurisdiction over the matter, however, and now it looks like Samsung will get what its after. When Samsung initially requested that Judge Koh lift the sales ban, she said that the court probably would if it had jurisdiction over the sales ban. Now that Koh has that authority, it seems like it will only be a matter of time before Samsung can continue selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the US.

Both parties will be back before Koh on December 6, which is when she will decide on any preliminary devices on infringing Samsung devices. It’s unknown if she’ll decided on whether or not to lift the sales ban on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 before then, but you can bet that Samsung will be pushing hard for it regardless of when she actually makes her decision. Stay tuned.

[via Bloomberg Businessweek]


Google Play Store enters day three of 25 cent sale

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 01:28 PM PDT

Day three of Google Play‘s 25 cent app sale has kicked off, bringing a new round of discounted apps and games with it. We already saw some great deals on day one and day two, and there isn’t any lack of them today either. The sale will go on for five days in all, and is a celebration of Google Play recently hitting the 25 billion downloads milestone.


Angry Birds Space was one of the apps to take center stage on the first day of the sale, and Rovio is back again in day three, bringing the price of Amazing Alex – a game that has nothing to do with Angry Birds, mind you – down to $0.25. Other notable games that have been discounted to a quarter include Disney’s Temple Run: Brave and Mass Effect: Infiltrator, a mobile tie-in to BioWare’s most recent hit, Mass Effect 3.

There are plenty of other games on sale too, like turn-based strategy title Rebuild, Monsters Ate My Condo by none other than Adult Swim, Dragon, Fly! Full, and Zynga’s ZombieSmash. Looking at the application side of the sale, HD Widgets has been discounted, as have ezPDF Reader Pro, TuneIn Radio Pro, mSecure Password Manager, and PicSay Pro.

That’s a pretty excellent collection of apps, and we still have two days left to go in the promotion. If you’re interested in picking up any of these apps, have a look at the full list of deals for day three, where you can also conveniently purchase any of the apps that are on sale today. Keep it tuned right here to Android Community, as we’ll be sure to update you on this Google Play Store sale!


Google Maps updated with new high-resolution images

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 12:36 PM PDT

Google is on a roll with the Google Maps updates lately. Earlier this week, the company announced that it had updated Google Maps Street View to include a select number of underwater locations around the world, and today, it has updated Maps once again. This time around, the big G is adding more high-resolution satellite images and a number of 45° aerial images from many places around the world.


Specifically, 45° aerial images have been added for 37 US and 14 international locations. Google illustrates these additions with images of Pisa, Italy, and Winnipeg, Canada, and we have to say that they look very nice. These 45° images will come in handy if, for instance, you’re visiting a city for the first time and need to get a good idea of the layout. Alternatively, if you’re like us, you like to use Google Maps to look at all sorts of places you’ll probably never visit in real life, something else these 45° images are good for.

In addition to new 45° images, Google has included new high-def satellite and aerial images with this update. As an added bonus, the Google Earth app has also been updated with these new high-definition images. 17 cities and 112 countries or regions are covered in this update, giving you a high-definition look at some of the world’s cities and breathtaking landmarks. Google was kind enough to include a list of all of the cities and regions included in this update, which is posted below.

Cities with new high resolution 45° imagery:
United States: Ames, IA; Anderson, IN; Billings, MT; Bloomington, IL; Carmel Valley, CA; Cedar Rapids, IA; Coeur d’Alene, ID; Corvallis, OR; Danville, IL; Dayton, OH; Detroit, MI; Dubuque, IA; Elizabethtown, KY; Enid, OK; Florence, SC; Grand Forks, ND; Great Falls, MT; Gulfport, MS; Hartford, CT; Kankakee, IL; Kenosha, WI; Lafayette, IN; Lancaster, CA; Lansing, MI; Lewiston, ID; Los Banos, CA; Madison, WI; Medford, OR; Michigan City, IN; Olympia, WA; Pocatello, ID; Sheboygan, WI; Sioux City, IA; Sioux Falls, SD; South Bend, IN; Terre Haute, IN; Utica, NY.

International: Angers, France; Clermont-Ferrand, France; Coimbra, Portugal; Dijon, France; Grenoble, France; Livorno, Italy; Lyon, France; Newcastle, United Kingdom; Oberhausen, Germany; Palermo, Italy; Pisa, Italy; Toulouse, France; Troyes, France; Winnipeg, Canada.

Areas with new high resolution aerial updates:
Florence OR, Kellogg ID, Casper WY, North Platte NE, Concordia KS, Alva OK, Austin TX, Nevada MO, Chilicothe MO, Toulouse FR, Clermont-Ferrand FR, Angers FR, Nantes FR, Troyes FR, Lille FR, Thun CH, Lucca IT

Areas new high resolution satellite updates:
Canada, United States, Mexico, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina, Antarctica, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, Zambia, Angola, Malawi, Tanzania, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, Central African Republic, Nigeria, Cameroon, Chad, Niger, Benin, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Guinea, Sierra Leone, Mali, The Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, Western Sahara, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Turkey, Iran, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Poland, Lithuania, Finland, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Greece, Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzebekistan, Turkmenistan, China, Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, The Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, New Zealand

Looking at that long list, it becomes clear that Google Maps and Earth users are getting a pretty massive update today. All of this while Apple’s Tim Cook was apologizing to users about the sad state of Apple Maps today. Make no mistake, it has to feel pretty good to be Google these days. What do you think of this latest Google Maps/Earth update?

[via Google Maps Blog]


Clove shipping Motorola RAZR i on October 1

Posted: 28 Sep 2012 11:40 AM PDT

We’ve known about the Motorola RAZR i for a little over a week now, but today, we’re finding out when the new phone will ship in the UK. Retailer Clove has announced that it will begin shipping the device on Monday, October 1. This means that those who are eager to get their hands on the device don’t have too much longer to wait.


The Motorola RAZR i is the international version of the Motorola DROID RAZR M. Most of the innards are the same between the two phones, but there is one pretty big difference: the processor. The RAZR M comes packed with a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, which isn’t too bad, but the RAZR i is equipped with an Intel Atom processor clocked at 2GHz. That clock speed will definitely be keeping things on the quick side, and should prove to be a major selling point for the RAZR i.

While the RAZR i uses the same 2,000 mAh battery as the RAZR M, Motorola is saying you should get a little more mileage out of it in the RAZR i. Other than the processor, all of the specs are the same. The RAZR i boasts a 4.3-inch qHD edge-to-edge screen, 8GB of internal storage, an 8MP rear shooter, and 1GB of RAM. In all, it isn’t too bad a handset, so if you’re in the market for a new smartphone, you might want to give the RAZR i a look.

Keep in mind that you are going to have put down a fair bit of money to take home the RAZR i, though. You can get your hands on one for £342 ($555), so it is a bit on the expensive side. Still, it’s a nice looking phone with some good internals, so what’s not to love? Check out our story timeline below for more on the RAZR M/RAZR i!

Device Specifications and Information
Device Info
    Device Name : RAZR i
    Manufactuer : Motorola
    Carrier : NA
    Announced Date : September 18, 2012
    Release Date : TBA
    Also Known As :
Display
  • Screen Size : 4.3 Inch
  • Resolution : 1280x720
  • Screen Type : HD Super AMOLED
Dimension & Weight
  • Height : 4.82 Inch
  • Width : 2.39 Inch
  • Depth : 0.32 Inch
  • Weight : 126 Grams
Battery & Power
    Battery Type:
  • Lithium Ion
  • Battery Capacity : 2000 mAh
  • Talk Time : NA
  • Stand By Time : NA
Software
    Android OS:
  • 4.0.x
    Audio Playback:
  • AAC
  • AAC+
  • AMR
  • MID
  • MP3
  • WAV
  • WMA
    Video Playback:
  • h.263
  • h.264 / AVC
  • 3GP
  • MPEG-4 (MP4)
  • WMV
    Messaging:
  • SMS
  • MMS
  • IM
Hardware
    CPU : Atom Z2460
    CPU Clock Speed : 2000 Mhz
    Core : 1
    Ram : 1000 MB
    Internal Storage : 8 GB
    Front Facing Camera :
    Camera Resolution : 8 MP
    External Storage:
  • MicroSD
    Camera Features:
  • Auto focus
  • Flash
  • 1080p Video Recording
    Sensors:
  • Accelerometer
  • Ambient light
  • Proximity
    QWERTY :
Cellular Network
    Network Technology:
  • GSM
    GSM Band:
  • 850
  • 900
  • 1800
  • 1900
Device Connectivity
    Wi-Fi:
  • 802.11a
  • 802.11b
  • 802.11g
  • 802.11n
    Bluetooth:
  • A2DP
  • Bluetooth 4.0
    Location Features:
  • Compass
  • GPS
  • Cellular location
  • Wi-Fi location
    FM Radio :
    NFC :

[via Talk Android]


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