It seems like the Android Market has been experiencing a hiccup throughout the evening, with many users reporting issues downloading apps or updating apps they already have.
The folks who created Craigslist Craigsnotifica – the popular Android app for Craigslists buffs which was removed from the market yesterday – have updated us to let us know that the application has now been restored to the Android market. Google originally accused them of breaking the Android market ToS, but it appears Google may have misjudged and have since restored the application. The world will no longer be ending, folks. If you already had it installed – great! If you don’t, I suggest you go and do that: this app rocks.
ADWLauncher, a well known and popular home screen replacement app, developed by AnderWeb, is getting a bit of a makeover. Actually, more of a “new version”, as the developer has now released a paid version of the app, dubbed ADWLauncher EX, or as I like to call it, ADW on crack. The EX 1.2.2 version has been released and can be downloaded at our database here or on the Android Market.
The app competes directly with home replacement apps such as Panda Home, aHome, Open Home, LauncherPro and Sweeter Home, among several others. What’s the difference between ADWLauncher and ADWLauncher EX? Well, aside from the price tag of $3.14, there are tons of tweaked functionality, lots of extras and definitely some more add ons. Hit the break for the details and to check out the pics and video. Don’t forget to let us know what you think of the app in the comments below.
WidgetLocker, by TeslaCoil Software, is a lock screen replacement app that offers a great deal of extras along with personal customization. The app assists in preventing you from requiring needless multiple steps to drill down and get back to an apps interface. You can do it all directly from the lock screen. The app allows you to place shortcuts and widgets on the lock screen, much like you can on your home screen. Moving apps around are equally as simple, you just long press and drag to reposition an app or shortcut. The functionality allows you to stay interactive with certain apps, like music players and podcasts while not accidentally unlocking the phone and touching unwanted applications. Read More…
You ever just wanna blow stuff up? Yeah, me too. Then you might be interested to know the folks over at Clapfoot Games have provided an outlet for you. Their latest version of Tank Hero for Android, is a neat, 3D and fast paced shooting game which allows you to take out the enemy using weapons like howitzers, heat seekers and cannons. Game play is intense, and there are quite a number of levels to keep you busy, with the developer promising to add even more. Hit the break for more details and then head on over to the market for the download. We’ve also added some more pics for you as well. Don’t forget to let us know what you think of the app in the comments below. Read More…
For those of you who do not want to take the risk of rooting your device, Launcher Pro is a great free app for customizing your device’s UI. An updated version of Launcher Pro (v.0.8.3) is now available in the Android Market. While it’s not a huge overhaul of the last version of Launcher Pro, there are some neat added transition effects.
For those of you who have tried out the new Launcher Pro, what are your thoughts? Leave a comment!
Yesterday we reported that the Kongregate Arcade, an app that brings over 300 gaming titles to your Android phone straight from the developers websites, was available on the Android Market. Well, today we are reporting that Google has removed the app from the Android Market.
We hear almost regularly of Google pulling certain Android apps from the Market. Though they generally are pirated wares and malicious programs, every once in a blue moon a big name app will get the axe, as was the case with Kongregate. Kongregate, if you recall, just reached the Market yesterday along with 300+ Flash-based games in tow. As the Android Developers Distribution agreement doesn’t allow for the distribution of apps that link to downloads of other apps — and as someone working on the Kongregate app either overlooked or ignored — it has been yanked right out from under our collective nose.
All is not lost, however. Just because the app isn’t allowed to be moved through the Android Market doesn’t mean it isn’t perfectly fine to distribute through other channels. The app can still be downloaded from Kongregate’s website and installed on your phone manually, so all is not lost this time.
Could this be the year that Sony Ericsson (SE) finally get’s it right! Only time will tell, but they are certainly heading in the right direction. During the SE press breakfast at CES in Las Vegas I had the chance to chat with Steve Walker, the head of global marketing for SE. He certainly indicated that the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc was just the first in a line of high end super phones that they feel target the market much better than the previous devices have done.
The previous SE range of Android phones had excellent design characteristics but may have failed somewhat on the software front. SE were criticized for being slow on the distribution of updates and the delays were blamed on the software. Those phones tightly integrated the software with the operating system which meant releasing updates was very complex and time consuming.
Enter the next generation of Android super phones from SE; the Xperia Arc is the first SE Android super phone that treats the software additions as separate applications. What does this mean to the end user? It means that the underlying operating system and the applications themselves can be updated independently and should allow SE to distribute updates in a more timely manner.
Will the Xperia Arc change the user’s perception of SE and make U.S. adoption of their devices more widespread? Only time will tell. There are missing components that may hinder the popularity of the soon to be released Xperia Arc. The radio inside the Xperia Arc only supports HSDPA and not the high bandwidth 4G being released by the major carriers this year. It also fails to include a Front Facing Camera and I personally see this year a big year for video chat. As the bandwidth increases through the carriers, the video chat experience should be much cleaner for the end users. Also missing in the unit we played with was an ambient light sensor and Near Field Communications (NFC) compatibility. None of these exclusions are show stoppers, but you would have expected Sony Ericsson to pull out the big guns for the first device of the year in it’s super phone category.
Sony Ericsson Arc
According to Steve Walker, Sony Ericsson wanted to focus on the form factor of the device by making something that is slim, light and incredibly comfortable to use. We certainly can’t criticize them for that and they have succeeded extremely well with the Xperia Arc.
We also know about the other ‘minor’ device they sprang on the world at the end of last year and is set to be released early this year, the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. The first Android phone designed as a game machine with a slide out game controller and we are assuming, PlayStation game compatibility similar to the Sony PSP.
Sony Ericsson Xperia Play with Sony PSP
This year is sure to be an interesting year for Sony Ericsson. They are very popular in other countries around the world, but have so far failed to impress it’s U.S. audience. I for one am eager to try out the range of devices they plan to develop and release throughout the year.
In keeping with the rumors, Playstation has released their official Android app… but only in European markets. The app is currently said to be short on functionality, but we’re sure that Sony will continue to work on it as it exands out to new markets. Features of the new app include:
Check out your PlayStation Network trophies and keep up to date with your friends’ games and online status.
Discover all the latest games, news and hardware for your PlayStation 3, PSP and PlayStation 2.
Read all the announcements on the European PlayStation.Blog.
Share your favourite products or news with your friends on Facebook, Twitter or via e-mail.
If you find yourself in France, Germany, Spain, Italy, the Netherlands or the UK, check out the new app below, and let us know what you think in the comments.
Take notice, good-willed developers. One popular method to perfect a beta app before going live to Android Market is to offer it as a direct download to a small group who can test it, submit bugs, suggest changes, and overall provide a tight-knit system for feedback. That’s exactly what cyberniko on XDA intended to accomplish with the beta launch of a game called Iron Soldiers. But he got more than he bargained for.
Another member of XDA allegedly downloaded the unsigned APK, signed it himself, and submitted to Android Market as if it were his own game. Essentially, he released the developers game as his own, before the game ever came out of beta. If it’s true… what a sham and what a shame.
The offending developer, DavinciDevelopers, unpublished the allegedly stolen game from Android Market, but their information is still cached on the Googlewebz. That developer has a number of titles for sale on Android Market, and I would suggest (if this is all true) that nobody purchase a title from them. Other forms of boycott may include buying, rating 1 star, uninstalling, a returning to Android Market with whatever reason you may choose.
The game is still in beta and you can download it here. Check out the REAL developer’s site at Vuxia.com. The game looks pretty neat and the 6-months of work really shows- Iron Soliders seems very polished. Perhaps an unfortunate incident will lead to more fertile pastures… I know I’m eager to check out more from Vuxia after seeing some screenies and hearing some concepts.
Learn from another developer’s mistakes if you’re working on your own app or game. Sure, launch a beta in a forum to help the dev process along, but make sure you protect your APK and cover your butt by whatever means necessary.
I just want to leave a little disclaimer that the accusation of stolen property haven’t been confirmed as true/false and I’m going by what the developer announced in their own thread on XDA as it seems to be a reputable report.
Everyone has been patiently waiting for Google to work out their issues with the TV and online media networks and provide updates that will give us access to the Android Market so we can all experience the full potential of the Google TV platform. That hasn’t been good enough for a group of users over at GTVHacker.com who have been working day and night to try and break into the Logitech Revue box and gain root to work around the current limitations. A few days ago they posted that they had managed to root the Logitech Revue box by soldering a few wires and attaching a serial device.
While the solution they found is not something that the everyday user is able to achieve, and we certainly caution anyone who wants to try this at home, they have rooted the device, found a way to bypass the blocks the online media sites have imposed and also side loaded the Android Market application.
The hack is known a the BreakVue hack and they are currently working on a release package to go along with the hack that will significantly increase the functionality of any Logitech Revue Google TV box.
Will all this trickery going on, they have recorded some videos of the device doing much more than it’s supposed to and shared this with everyone on YouTube.
The first video shows a few of the applications they have installed, including the Android Market which is still not working correctly in this video:
The next video shows the bypass system they have been working on to give access to the sites that are currently blocking access to any Google TV devices. The site they are demonstrating is Hulu.
The final video is more of an overview of all the functionality they have managed to achieve so far with some pretty annoying overlay music:
If you enjoyed these videos, be sure to check out GTVHacker.com to find out the latest status, issues and guides for getting the most of your hacked Google TV box.
Now lets just hope someone gets going on the Sony products and gives us the same functioality as these guys have done with the Logitech Revue with Google TV.
This hack shows the Android Market running on the Logitech Revue Google TV box. It’s not an easy hack, but it is possible. It’ll require a little more than just a couple of software tweaks, or flashing BIOS…no this one requires something a little more hardware intensive for those so inclined to try it out. We showed you here how GTVhacker rooted Google TV and this video below demonstrates a little more application use after the hack.
Mr. Taylor appealed Google’s decision, noting that:
In addition to the applications that infringe upon your terms of service, I had many ‘legitimate’ applications listed that cause no harm to any devices or networks, or infringe on your terms of service in any way.
While it’s a shame that the Market also loses Taylor’s other, innocuous apps, I find it hard to sympathize with him. Certainly, if you know your app violates the Market’s terms, it’d be wise to find another way to distribute it in the first place. In the case of the EliteBomb apps, I don’t think the Android community has suffered any great loss regardless.
Have you made your New Year’s resolution yet? More often than not, it’s usually to get in shape while shedding a few pounds, am I right?. Well, FitnessKeeper Inc wants to help you fulfill that resolution by making their popular fitness app, RunKeeper Pro, free from now through the end of January. The popular app normally runs you $10 bucks and assists in keeping track of your workouts via GPS, tracking all of your fitness activities including distance, time, pace, calories, and path traveled using Google maps. And since you’re getting the pro version, there’s no annoying advertising. As stated in the app market, the pro version also provides audio cues, customized interval workouts and now integrates with RunKeeper Fitness classes. So, if you’re ready to get a jump start on that age old resolution, then head on over to our app’s database for more info or hit up the source link and get your workout on. Or, you can always ignore this and go get another beer.
The Android Market continues to swell at an enormous rate, adding new apps and games faster than most expected. Officially, Google puts the number of available titles at 100,000 but we know it’s higher. How high exactly? Androlib.com has pegged the figure at 200,000 apps.
To be clear, an ‘app’ for Android does include Live Wallpapers, widget apps, soundboards, ringtones, and other goofy stuff. It’s also worth noting that carriers and handset makers don’t tout unofficial numbers, they wait for something to come down from Google.
It’s not necessarily the actual figure we care about, it’s the growth as illustrated in the graphs. It’s hard to argue Android is doing anything else but rocketing skywards. Another interesting detail found in Androlib stats show that more than 2.5 billion apps been downloaded from the Android Market. Watch the number grow by the second!
Back in November we brought you a look at ADWLauncher freaky beta. I know when I first saw it, I was all over the place trying to get a copy of the beta release. Now AnderWeb has finally launched the highly anticipated application to the market, called ADWLauncher EX.
First impressions of this application. FAST! It is really fast, very clean and talk about full customization. There really isn’t anything you can’t do with this home replacement. Rather then just vomit up some stuff about this app I’ll let the developer tell you what this is all about.
¿What makes ADW different?
It’s highly customizable, almost in every aspect you can think of
-Hundreds of themes to enjoy!
-Screens editor to add,remove and swap your desktop screens.
-Icons editor to create your own customized shortcuts or edit existing ones
-Customizable main dock with support for fixed shortcuts from 0 to 5.
-Customizable hidden dockbar easy to trigger with support for unlimited icons with scroll. Just swipe up your finger over the main dock to reveal the hidden one, swipe down to return to the main one!
-Lots of settings to play with: colours, animations, sizes… you should dig in!
-5 different app drawer styles/behaviors
—3D Nexus One like application drawer
—2 different plain vertical drawer styles, the “old one” and a new fast and smooth one
—2 different Iphone-like horizontal application drawers, a traditional paginated one and a new one with continuous fling
-Different desktop transitions: new animations while navigating through your desktop screens. Try them all, they’re crazy!!!
-New Icons configurations/look and feel: Tweak your desktop icons, change its sizes, add coloured backgrounds, change font size, color, etc!
-New fast presets mode: Quickly change the whole desktop configuration by 1 click!
-Editable desktop icons for applications, shortcuts and folders!
-Lots of code improvements
-More, more more to come!!
I don’t think I really need to say anything more then what you have just read. I highly recommend this application if you are on LauncherPRO or even the previous AWD.Launcher, you need to go buy this one ASAP. It is currently the best home replacement application on the market, in my opinion.
Click or Scan the QRCode below to find out more information about the ADWLauncher EX application.
Summary and Downloads:
Application: ADW.Launcher EX
Developer: AnderWeb
Cost: $3.43
We just received an e-mail from Google that sums up the changes that have been happening in the Market over the past few weeks. The majority of information has been widely disseminated and discussed in gory length(15 minute refund window), but let’s just get it all out on a single page.
Hello,
We’re writing to inform you about some changes to Android Market that require your attention.
As we mentioned in an email sent last week, we’ve been updating Android Market with several new features that may affect your applications. That update is now complete and the features are now active:
* The purchase refund period is now 15 minutes, and the maximum size for .apk files is now 50MB.
* The details page for every app now displays the app’s "Promotional Graphic" assets at the top.
* Market is now capable of filtering based on screen sizes and densities. NOTE: Filtering based on GL texture compression formats is not active at this time, but will be available in early January 2011.
* Applications are now automatically added to new Live Wallpapers and Widgets categories, as appropriate.
We’ve also activated two new features on the Publisher site:
* The maximum size of the description field for an application is raised to 4000 characters.
* A minimum of two screen shots is now required for all applications. You can supply up to eight screenshots for each application.
Additionally, we’ve recently redesigned the categories on Android Market to better support users and developers. We’ve split some popular categories, renamed others, and added completely new categories. At this time, we recommend that you take a look at the categories and ensure that your applications are assigned to the best categories for them. For details, see the Android Market Help Center:
Finally, we wanted to bring to your attention that Android Market now offers a new form of payment for users on the AT&T network — Direct Carrier Billing. This payment option lets Android users on the AT&T network purchase applications more easily.
Thank you once again for your continued support of Android Market.
Gotta love Twitter! Today, EA Mobile has tweeted that they are dropping several of their most popular games for Android to only 99¢ each. For a limited time, you can grab titles like The Sims 3, Need for Speed Shift, Tetris and FIFA 10. And don’t forget, if you beat the game in under 15 min, you get to return it for a full refund! Just kidding, take your time and enjoy playing. Let us know how well these games are optimized for your Android device in the comments below.
I’m sure that, by now, most of you have heard about the new Android Market, and all the changes it brings to the table. Changes like skimming down the window for a refund on an app from 24 hours to 15 minutes. Now, Google has started sending an email to developers, making the change official. It’s all pretty standard stuff beyond the refund window, but let’s not forget about AT&T customers now being able to bill apps to their phone bill.
Hit the break for the full email text, and be sure to let us know what you think in the comments!
Good news, AT&T customers! You’ve just joined T-Mobile in the “bill my carrier account” club for your Market purchases. Hopefully this will alleviate some of the hangups customers have with attaching a credit card to any sort of account.
Naturally this could very well be a double edged sword. I’m talking to you awesome parents out there who gave your kids an Android device, of course. I’ve never been involved with AT&T so I’m not sure what kind of protection AT&T offers to block these sorts of transaction. Erring on the side of caution, it may be best for you parents, or whomever, to take any necessary precautions to prevent a heart attack when you open your next bill. Be it calling AT&T to prevent any potential charges, or prepping a switch and hanging it over the mantle in a stern warning to anyone on your family plan.
Android Developers Blog says they have been rolling out this change along side the general market update over the past several days. Any of you AT&T Phandroidians have an experience on the topic to share? Good or bad.
I’ll admit that I have some mixed feelings about the new Android Market that is being slowly pushed, but it seems that some developers are also unhappy with the changes. One of the biggest complaints right now is the Developer Console, which seems to be very buggy and not properly displaying apps. Here are some examples:
I’m sure as the new Market hits more and more devices, we may start seeing some additional complaints from both users and developers alike. Are you a developer and are having issues with the new Android Market? Leave us a comment below and share your thoughts and experiences.
Looks like our friends overseas, the Great Brits, will be seeing some new Android Market love before December’s end as well. We’ve been seeing the new Market roll out here in the US on several devices already, such as the Nexus One and the Samsung Galaxy Tab. Google seems to be wasting no time at all pushing the update out to the rest of the world. Unfortunately, UK residents will also have to endure the brutal decrease in the amount of time one can refund an application. Like us, they too will have 15 min to return an application instead of the previous 24 hrs.
With a focus on improving discoverability and merchandising, we’ve introduced a new carousel on the home and category screens. Users can quickly flip through the carousel to view promoted applications and immediately go to the download page for the application they want. Developers have been very active in creating great Widgets and Live Wallpapers. To make it easier for users to find their favorites, we’re introducing two new categories for Widgets and Live Wallpapers. Applications that include Widgets and Wallpapers will be automatically added to those new categories. We’ll also be adding more categories for popular applications and games in the weeks ahead. In addition, the app details page now includes Related content, which makes it easier for users to quickly find apps of similar interest.
Have you received the update yet? Don’t forget to let us know what device you’re using in the comments!
Users of Android smartphones on AT&T’s network will now be able to charge their Android Market purchases to their monthly phone bills.
Good news, AT&T customers! You’ve just joined T-Mobile in the “bill my carrier account” club for your Market purchases. Hopefully this will alleviate some of the hangups customers have with attaching a credit card to any sort of account.
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