Android - page 95

Best Buy is offering up a $50 Gift Card to anyone who upgrades to a new phone before the end of the year. The promo is actually a bit confusing as you have to already have an existing mobile number and you must register that number before February 12, 2012 to be eligible for the promo. Then, when you finally decide to upgrade your phone, you must upgrade using the number you registered and then you will be provided with your $50 gift card. Whew, I’m glad I got that cleared that up.

A recent Match.com survey of Canadian smartphone users has revealed some interesting patterns surrounding one’s love life in regards to the mobile operating system they use. Cell phones have become a huge part in how we communicate and build relationships, whether through talking, email, or texting. 75 percent of Canadian singles seem to agree with that, and here’s what Match.com found out about their relationship habits and what mobile OS they happen to use:

Late last week, Valve released an official app for iOS and Android devices that allows gamers to stay connected to its Steam community wherever they may be. It was instantly popular with the Steam users who were able to gain access to it, but the only problem was, it was in beta testing and not many had that privilege.

But today the service is out of beta and available to all.

Starting April 5th, T-Mobile will begin capping the Domestic Roaming Data Allotment. Unlike their data throttling, once a user goes over their designated allotment,they will simply be cut off from data altogether, until they return to the T-Mobile network or connect via WiFi. While this change is unlikely to affect the majority of us (when’s the last time you used data while roaming?), T-Mobile will send out warnings via text message when your domestic roaming data allotment has reached both 80% and 100%.

I have some amazing news for our friends over in the UK. T-Mobile UK has announced that they will be bringing the UK its first mobile phone plan to offer consumers the freedom to make unlimited calls, send unlimited texts, and use as much mobile internet as they want – with no fair use restrictions. This is a breakthrough plan for the UK and one I wish all carriers would adopt. The Full Monty plan will kick off tomorrow and will be available via T-Mobile stores, online, telesales and in-direct partners.

Laaaaaaaaaaadies and Gentlemen, welcome to Friday Night Fights, a new series of weekly deathmatches between two no-mercy brawlers who will fight to the death — or at least agree to disagree — about which is better: Apple or Google, iOS or Android?

After this week’s topic, someone’s going to be spitting teeth. Our question: Should The iPhone Allow You To Easily Swap In And Out Batteries? A lot of Android phones let you swap in and out batteries if you’re low on power, but Apple’s never done so. Is this just another example of Apple hardware oppression, or do they have a good reason?

In one corner, we have the 900 pound gorilla, Cult of Mac; in the opposite corner, wearing the green trunks, we have the plucky upstart, Cult of Android!

Place your bets, gentlemen! This is going be a bloody one.

Yahoo has decided to do some pre-Spring cleaning and has announced they will no longer be supporting their lesser used apps. This may make some of you Yahoo app addicts sad, but for the rest of us, I’m sure we won’t mind. Yahoo has stated that as the mobile space moves at an insane rate, they too must keep up with what users want and are looking for in today’s market. That’s why they have decided to cease support of the following apps in order to make room for the future:

Whale Trail is a popular sidescroller that originated from the Apple App Store. The game can best be described as Tiny Wings meets Angry Birds on acid. Whale Trail is a colorful, charming, quirky and addictive game — not to mention one of my personal favorites.

As we’ve already told you, Whale Trail recently launched on the Android Marketplace. I got to sit down with the head of the company behind Whale Trail to talk about the pros and cons between developing for Android and iOS. 

It looks like Valve threw a few extra coals into their engine after hearing about the 3rd party Steam app that was released earlier this month. They were not going to let any other app take their steam and so they have now released the official Steam app onto both Android and iOS. I’d like to say users are ecstatic, but there seems to be a catch.

We all love our tech, and manufacturers spend millions of dollars making sure we get excited about it through commercial spots. Unfortunately, they don’t always hire the best voice-overs to dub these commercials, and we’re about to see what happens when Samsung goes out on a limb to hire a sailor for their latest Samsung’s “It’s Time To Tab” commerical. Be warned, this is not safe for work, or anywhere else that crude sailor mouthed language is prohibited.

One of my favorite developers, Spacetime Studios, has announced yet another great project they are working on. If you haven’t heard of them, they’re the guys behind the hit cross-platform MMO Legend Series. From Pocket Legends to Space Legends, they have done everything right in the realm of true cross-platform gaming, and are pioneers in what I believe will be the future of gaming. Their latest project falls in line with the Legends series, and is entitled Dark Legends.

New numbers show Android-based tablets are gaining on the reigning champ, Apple’s iPad. Although Android owns 39 percent of the tablet market, some question whether there’s a ringer: Amazon’s Kindle Fire. The device is the first non-Apple tablet to lay a hand on the iPad, but uses a highly-customized version of Google’s mobile operating system. How much of Android’s gains are due to its barely-recognizable distant cousin, twice removed?

Motorola Mobility sued Apple in a Florida court on Wednesday for violating 6 wireless technology patents found in the iPhone 4S and iCloud. The patents in question relate to antenna, software, data filtering, and messaging technology.

Google recently acquired Motorola for $12.5 billion and is in the process of merging with the company. While Google is not directly involved with this specific case, Motorola’s lawsuit can definitely be seen as another attempt to protect patent ammunition for the ongoing legal war between the top smartphone manufacturers. In fact, this is the closest Apple and Google have ever come to fighting in the courtroom.

There was an earlier report of Apple going after the Samsung Galaxy Nexus for violating its slide to unlock patent, which left most Android users scratching their heads. It was obvious that the new unlock feature in Ice Cream Sandwich was vastly different than the traditional slide to unlock, leaving many to chalk this up to another Apple patent trolling. Now we know this isn’t the case, thanks to a report in the Korean Herald, in which an unnamed Samsung official says:

Beginning March 1st, Google will roll most of its privacy policies into one new main privacy policy to cover the majority of its products. Google has been slowly working towards the goal of creating a unified and more personal experience across their products and the new privacy policy is just another step in that direction.

A smattering of journalist authors are freaking out over Apple’s license agreement for the free new iBooks Author tool.

ZDnet’s Ed Bott called the license agreement “greedy and evil.” PCmag.com’s Sascha Segan wrote: “Like iBooks Author? Apple now owns you.” Even Daring Fireball’s John Gruber called it “Apple at its worst.”

Et tu, Gruber?

What’s strange about these emotional responses to Apple’s legalese is that they fail the reality test. Apple’s iBooks Author terms are neither greedy nor evil; they don’t mean Apple’s “owns you;” and it’s certainly not the worst thing Apple has ever done.

Here. I’ll prove it.

Laaaaaaaaaaadies and Gentlemen, welcome to Friday Night Fights, a new series of weekly deathmatches between two no-mercy brawlers who will fight to the death — or at least agree to disagree — about which is better: Apple or Google, iOS or Android?

After this week’s topic, someone’s going to be spitting teeth. Our question: Which is better? Android’s three virtual buttons or iOS’s physical home button?

In one corner, we have the 900 pound gorilla, Cult of Mac; in the opposite corner, wearing the green trunks, we have the plucky upstart, Cult of Android!

Place your bets, gentlemen! This is going be a bloody one.

You see that alien looking band permeating through the aurora borealis? No, that’s not a UFO looking for fuel, it’s actually Nike’s latest fitness accessories made for today’s connected world. Nike wants to remind us that “Life is a sport, make it count,” and that’s exactly what the Nike+ FuelBand does — count. It counts your calories, steps taken, time, as well as a variety of other activity.

After a red-hot introduction and a hectic holiday period that left Apple looking over its shoulder, orders for Amazon’s $199 Kindle Fire tablet are slowing, cut in half to 3 million units for the first quarter of 2012, Friday reports claim. During the last three months of 2011, around 6 million of the devices flew off the shelves, making it Amazon’s best-selling product.

Rovio is at it again, this time with an Angry Birds Seasons update to celebrate the Chinese New Year and the beginning of the Year of the Dragon. In this blockbuster franchise update, our favorite angry aviators are allying themselves with the mythical mighty dragon to help thwart the imperial swine from swiping their offspring. This new theme features popping fireworks, glowing lanterns, and red envelopes bursting with money — all in celebration of China’s biggest and longest festival.

Android may not be every Mac user’s cup of tea, but it’s the biggest mobile operating system in the world, and it’s important to know what’s going on with Android — what it’s doing right, and what it’s doing wrong. Here’s the best stories that hit today over at our sister site, Cult of Android.

Steve Wozniak is a man who loves technology. He’s also a man who’s not afraid to tell it how it is. You’d expect a guy who co-founded Apple to be incessantly praising it while dismissing any advantages the competition may wield. Instead, he’s an open-minded guy who enjoys a variety of tech products, including Android. In fact, in an interview with the Daily Beast, Woz had much praise for the mobile OS that Steve Jobs was hellbent on destroying.

Android may not be every Mac user’s cup of tea, but it’s the biggest mobile operating system in the world, and it’s important to know what’s going on with Android — what it’s doing right, and what it’s doing wrong. Here’s the best stories that hit today over at our sister site, Cult of Android.