Androinica

Meshin Beta

| FREE | Meshin

Androinica » Android Apps Alert #81: FedEx, NBA, ex.fm, Path, and more - Androinica

Androinica.com takes a look at new apps in the Android Market each week, then wraps them all in a nice little package to share with you, our lovely readers. In this week’s edition of Android Apps Alert, we take a look at a few handy utilities, exciting games, and music makers that you may want to put on your Android phones and tablets. Enjoy! The NBA lockout has ended and basketball fans will see their favorite players this Christmas. But you can take to the virtual courts right now and play this augmented reality game where players challenge each other in how many baskets they can score. King of the Courts is a incredibly simple game where a user taps the screen when a bar approaches a target zone. The closer a white meter is to a green meter, the better the shot. Whichever player makes the most baskets in a given amount of time becomes the King of that court and rules the leaderboard. Courts are set-up as designated locations, so you can be the king at your house, job, bus stop, or even the arena of your local franchise. Kings can make it tougher on their challengers by putting up roadblocks, and there are contests and bonuses available to those who are most successful. The game isn’t very exciting, but the competitive aspect and potential for real-world rewards might make it worth downloading. Android 2.3.7+ required Tegra device required Zen Pinball THD is a pinball game. You really can’t describe it any simpler than that because that’s what the game boils down to. But Zen Pinball makes up for what it lacks in complexity with great graphics and challenging fun. The game includes OpenFeint to show global leaderboards as well as competition between friends, so there’s always an incentive Read More

PasteQR

| FREE | Throrïn's Studio

Androinica » Android Apps Alert #80: Happy Thanksgiving Edition - Androinica

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! You’re probably still digesting turkey and scouring the web to find some Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals. We’ve already spotted a few that may interest you, including a handful of app deals, so check those out first and prepare for the season. But in the mean time, here are some Android apps to download this holiday weekend. Android 2.2-2.3 required If you liked the look and feel of the Android 4.0 keyboard but don’t yet have the privilege of Ice Cream Sandwich, there’s an app for that. Ice Cream Sandwich Keyboard is a straight-forward port of the ICS stock keyboard that has been made to work with Android 2.2-2.3 devices. The keyboard has the visual improvements we discussed previously, as well as much better voice input (that will cut down on poor speech-to-text transcription). There’s also a great auto-correction filter that can be set from modest to very aggressive, and advanced settings to fine-tune keyboard convenience. (Pre-Froyo phones can search for similar apps compatible with their device.) $0.99 Android 2.2+ required Most alarm clock apps ask you to wake up to the sound of annoying chirping or a particular song. RSS Alarm asks you to wake up to the sound of your favorite website or podcast. The app functions as any other alarm clock, only the alert sound it uses is a reading of an RSS feed selected by the user. So when 7 AM strikes, the text-to-speech engine will start reading aloud the latest article from a designated feed. Users can enter in an RSS manually or connect to Google Reader to import. RSS Alarm uses the default TTS service that you have designated, so the voice can be robotic and tough to discern when you wake up in the morning. (Download iVonia or another TTS Read More

Hooked - best games for you!

| FREE | Hooked

Androinica » Hooked filters Android Market to find the games best for you [App Reviews] - Androinica

Evaluated version: Pros: Smart game recommendations, has stats for personal gaming habits and ratings Cons: Social features limited to Facebook account link There are thousands upon thousands of apps in the Android Market. Despite much discussion about which app store has the most apps, people rarely stop to think that the average consumer will only use a fraction of those apps and games. How does someone decide which titles make it to their Android device? Hooked wants to lend a helping hand. Or at least a thumb. Hooked is an Android 2.1+ app that recommends quality games. Mixing user responses, preferences, and frequent activity, the app figures out which games would be best for a specific person and not what’s topping the charts of the Android Market. So if you’re constantly playing 3D racing or fighting games, Hooked can detect you’ll probably get more enjoyment out of Shadowgun than you would from Doodle Jump. Beyond saying, “Install this,” Hooked includes some good search and similarity features. To go back to the Shadowgun example, I can search for that app and find that people who play that app often play N.O.V.A 2 as well, which tells me that’s another shooting game that I might want to consider. Or, I could just search for a keyword and filter according to maturity, category, rating, or freshness. And as I browse throw the results, I can get install links or bookmark that app for consideration later. Hooked also advertises that it has social features, but they seem half-baked. There’s a stream showing what people have played, but there’s no way to follow those people who might have similar tastes as me. However, you can connect to a Facebook account and see what your other friends using Hooked are playing. Game recommendations are constantly evolving as Read More

shopkick

| FREE | free stuff while shopping

Androinica » 5 more great Black Friday and holiday shopping apps - Androinica

Last year, we reviewed 6 Android Shopping Apps for Black Friday and Beyond in an attempt to help you quickly and efficiently hit the mall (or web) to kick off the holiday season. Some of those apps are still great tools to have, but a few new contenders popped up to be your desired shopping app for Android Holiday 2011. Here are a few tools to load up now as you get ready for the shopping blitz kicking off this week. ShopAdvisor is less about BlackFriday and more about long-term savings and comparison shopping. A user scans, speaks, or writes in the name of a product they wish to buy. Searching for an item, like a PlayStation 3, can return thousands of results, so the app provides options for filtering and sorting to find the right product. Shoppers can then compare how much the product costs and locate deals online or in their local store. But if you’re not ready to purchase at the moment, add it to a Watch List that serves a bookmark. ShopAdvisor will then alert you at a designated time (December 20, for instance) or when an item drops to a certain price you’ve selected ($200). The app is a great tool for shopping with confidence. Smart Aisles will collect all of the Black Friday deals from major stores and have them posted within the app. Users can even plot their Black Friday course as the app shows a map with locations of places offering deals, then lists the specific products that are on sale. Beyond Black Friday, Smart Aisles is a deal and coupon hunting app. It finds offers from local retailers and sorts them according to value, which takes into account current and former prices, as well as ratings and reviews for that product. Users Read More

Nosh

| FREE | Firespotter, LLC

Androinica » Android Apps Alert #79: Apps for Music, Food, Photos, and Games - Androinica

Forgive the delay but sickness and dedication kept me from recapping the best new Android apps the last two weeks. On the bright side, we did have some good Android app reviews and some fun things happen in recent weeks. Still, that’s no substitute for letting you know which great new Android apps should be loaded to your phone or tablet, so let’s get back to business with the latest edition of Android Apps Alert, our weekly recap of what’s hot. Android 2.1+ required Days prior to Google’s rumored release of additional streaming or purchasing features coming to Google Music, a different kind of music discovery engine debuted on Android. 8tracks is a music streaming service focused on sharing and recommending songs. Members upload eight or more songs into a playlist and then shares it with other members, who are able to stream that mini-mixtape on demand. Members can follow DJ’s who make the best playlists, see trending playlists, search for lists with certain titles or artists, and refine results according to genre. The downside is that 8tracks doesn’t actually support creating mixes within the app. Sure, you’re more likely to upload songs from the desktop, but it would be nice to be able to mix things up whenever the mood strikes. Either way, 8tracks is a cool way to hear what others are listening to and discover what songs you should be playing. Android 2.1+ required, U.S. only Facebook account required Myxer Social Radio combines the worlds of social and entertainment by creating a platform that allows members to listen to music with their friends. Myxer creates a personal streaming room in which your friends – online or IRL – can listen to the same song as you, synced in real-time. The app also supports chat, so you can make Read More

TabbedOut

| FREE | ATX Innovation, Inc.

Androinica » TabbedOut tracks bar or restaurant tab, pays for it at the end of the night [Android App Reviews] - Androinica

It’s a busy Friday night at your local watering hole, and you don’t want to constantly reach for your wallet every time you get a drink. You also may want to avoid wading through the crowded bar area to settle up at the end of the night and argue with your bartender that your tab doesn’t seem very accurate. Enter TabbedOut, the mobile payment solution that tracks your drinks and pays the tab directly through the phone. TabbedOut maps a number of nearby locations that can run a digital tab (the service works only at participating merchants). A unique code is produced for the tab, given to a server/bartender, and then drinks are ordered throughout the night as you normally would. When it comes time to leave, TabbedOut sends the linked credit card – stored securely and encrypted – info to the venue. A tip can be added for your server, a tab can be split between friends, and you can pay on your way out the door. Actually, you can pay even if you’re not in the same city, so pick up your brother’s restaurant bill on his birthday since you can’t make it home that weekend. The TabbedOut process is designed to simplify the night-on-the-town payment system. In addition to being able to make one payment at the end of the night and even get a built-in tip calculator, users get a receipt for each tab. This makes it easy to store .pdf files for budgeting or expense reports, and all of that information can be archived within the app. As an added bonus, the app has numbers for local cab companies for those occasions when you might have had one too many. Unfortunately, the ease of use is limited to a select group of places. TabbedOut is available Read More

ActionComplete Task & To-Do

| $1.99 | ActionComplete LLC

Androinica » Android Apps Alert #77: Social Overload Edition - Androinica

The "daily deal" trend started by Groupon isn't exactly just about getting cheap coffee and 2-for-1 massage vouches. Fab.com also offers daily deals, but it's focused on fashion, accessories, books, and "inspirations" that are on sale - "up to 70% off retail." Fab's offerings tend to be of a higher quality and last longer than what you expect from a deal site, especially since it sells things like interesting timepieces, chairs, collectibles. The app shows new items, highlights those that are ending soon, and even shows a list of what's coming up over the next week. Users can shop directly within the app and see a countdown clock as a reminder of when they need to checkout to guarantee purchase. If you're into shopping but not into retail, sign-up at Fab.com and then download this app. Wanna get away? Me too, so let's use Skyscanner to find the cheapest flights anywhere. Skyscanner is a meta-search engine that queries more than 600 airlines to find the most cost-effective and enjoyable flight. Travelers can search for a specific, airport, or "Everywhere" if they just want an excuse to hop on a plane and get away from it all. The app then returns a long list of flight options that can be sorted by airline, price, or departure time. Users can then filter to get weed out undesirable flights, or see a chart showing prices over time. Once someone finds the right flight, Skyscanner can mark it as a favorite for later use or provide a link to book it directly over the phone or through another party's website. The Android Market is rumored to have published 500,000 apps since it debuted three years ago. Thousands of those apps have been abandoned, removed, or replaced by better options, so the number isn't really what's Read More

Winamp

| FREE | Nullsoft, Inc.

Androinica » WinAmp finally comes to Mac. Android app adds wireless sync, equalizer, and FLAC - Androinica

WinAmp has been one of the things that I’ve missed most since switching from Windows to Mac for my primary computer. But the Music Software Gods have finally answered my prayers as WinAmp for Mac is now available for download. And to make matters even better, the WinAmp for Android app just got a major update to be compatible with the desktop and add a few premium features. The new WinAmp for Mac desktop application, like its PC counterpart, supports wireless sync. Users can mark an entire library or just a set of playlists to be placed on a device using Wi-Fi connections. Once the two devices are paired over the same network, it’s very easy to transfer music without needing to connect wires. (Note: the Mac OS WinAmp client should be available for download at WinAmp.com later this morning. It is for the moment pretty barebones in comparison to the PC version.) WinAmp for Android also added the ability to customize the home screen of the app, browse according to folder rather than ID tags, and play music with a 10-band equalizer. The equalizer allows users to adjust settings that increase bass, treble, or others levels to get the audio sounds just right. You can also use that to listen to the Spinner MP3 of the Day, which is available in the latest version. Getting these Pro features requires a one-time $4.99 in-app purchase Combined with better controls for headsets, crossfading, gapless playback, and album art gesturing, this is a big upgrade for WinAmp. There are apps that offer equalizers but not streaming, or wireless sync but not as easy. WinAmp manages to cram key features into one app, which should prove valuable. Will that be valuable enough to unseat the current solutions – doubleTwist, PowerAmp, etc. – people already Read More

Assistant

| FREE | Speaktoit

Androinica » SpeaktoIt Asisstant – Android’s boost to voice search & command [Beta] - Androinica

Evaluated version: Pros: Cons: Android Voice Actions are nothing new. We’ve been telling our phone to search and change functions since last year, and apps like Vlingo have enhanced those functions even further. However, voice is all the rage now that Apple has introduced Siri, a voice search and command tool that not only provides hands-free navigation, but does it in an interactive way. SpeaktoIt Assistant is a beta Android app that does some of the same ask-and-answer features as Siri. It’s a virtual assistant that listens to commands and takes action. There’s playful banter with your assistant named Sam, who will provide some canned responses if you say something dirty or ask her to marry you. And when you get serious to ask a question like “How many liters are in a gallon,” Sam will actually locate the answer and respond. Better yet, it can even provide an answer when told to convert 44 gallons into liters (166.56). Beyond “searching” by voice, SpeaktoIt actually searches for answers and reads them back to the user. Someone asking about the capital of Canada will learn that it is Ottawa. Someone saying define “esoteric” will learn the meaning. On the occasion that the app cannot locate an answer on TrueKnowledge, Wikipedia, or other sources, it performs a Google search that users can browse. Sam, or whatever name you give to your customizable assistant, can perform a number of tasks. It can find a wedding planner or funeral home nearby by saying “Find…” or post a message to Facebook by saying, “Tell my friends…” (You can link to Foursquare, but checkin by voice is not very good at the moment.) As for commands, SpeaktoIt still has ground to cover. It is excellent for being able to start song playback by searching for music, and Read More

Drunk Man

| FREE | GameLinkMe

Androinica » Drunk Man: Helping a drunk walk is harder then you think [Game Reviews] - Androinica

Evaluated version: Pros: Simple, weirdly addictive Cons: Can't change level or character How can such a simple game be somewhat hard to play? Well, this is what you get with the game Drunk Man. The object of the game is to control the main character David. As the story goes David gets himself plastered on his wife’s birthday and now she’s mad at him. His wife tells him to buy a very nice gift for her or sleep outside of the house. This is where you’re suppose to help him walk his drunk behind as long as possible to get to the gift shop. There are two ways to play this game, one is using touching, another is using the accelerometer — all to control the drunken man. The first is touching to control, which allows you to tap the right half of your screen and hold if he leans to the left and touch and hold the left when he leans to the right. Second, you can control the man by using your phones accelerometer by holding it according to the man’s status. The goal is keeping the man up right for a long period in time achieving a high score, which is measured in meters walked. In order for you to be ranked you need to score a 78, this sounds easy but trust me it’s really hard. When I started playing the game I was using the touch control feature, but when I switched to the accelerometer feature controlling the man became much simpler. At the end of the day the game play on Drunk Man isn’t really complicated, but that’s what makes it enjoyable. This game is perfect if you’re on break at your job or when your brain doesn’t want to think and just go on Read More