Saturday, January 19, 2013

App of the Day: Cat vs Dog. It's War

Here is a simple little app I ran across.

In this game 2 sworn enemies battle it out to see who is boss of the neighborhood. The dog on one side flinging bones and the cat on the other side flinging cans. The goal is to be the first one to knock the other one out and claim victory.

Other items in your arsenal include stink bombs and a band aid to heal. Plus, a couple of other things.



Google Play Rating: 4.5
AOAM rating 3.0

I gave it a lower rating because it's pretty simple. I would have liked to see different items to fling. I would also like to see different levels. Having different elevations to have to fling objects from would have been nice. Obstacles getting in the way of your shot would have made it more interesting as well. Maybe even the addition of weather would have added more depth.

Perhaps the developer plans to update in the future to add more content to the game. Still, a nice little time killer to keep you occupied for a while.


Here is the link to the app: Cat vs Dog

I hope you enjoy the app. Please take the time to share via Google+, Twitter, and/or Facebook. The option to do so it at the top left of the blog. And, if you are a Google+ member, please take the time to add  Android OS, Apps, and More to your circles so you don't miss any future posts from of us. Feel Free to leave a comment here on the blog as well.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

How to Add a Bookmark to Your Android Desktop for Chrome.

Here is a guide how to add a website bookmark to your Android Desktop for Chrome. I did this one my Nexus 7.

Step 1: Open your Chrome Browser. Conveniently, I have it right on my desktop already.


Step 2: Click on bookmarks. I have my chrome open to Most Visited. If your's opens up to a webpage you will have to click on the 3 dots on the upper right and then click Bookmarks.


Step 3: Press and hold the bookmark you want to add to the desktop. If you don't have any bookmarks you will have to add one by putting a website address in the address bar, going to the site, and then pressing on the star to save it as a bookmark. For this example I will be using Box Office Mojo as the bookmark I want to add to the Desktop.


Step 4: Tap on Add to Home Screen from the pop up menu. (The volume control showed up when I took a screen shot. It does not need to be there.)


When you go back to your desktop the Website icon will be there ready for use. 


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Friday, January 11, 2013

Sub $250 10" Tablet. Wow!

The battle of cheap tablets seems to be heating up again. This time it's the 10" tablet market that is getting flush with cheap tablets.

Enter the Velocity Cruz D610 and Q610 10 inch tablets (actual screen size is 9.7") that are due to be released in the spring of 2013. Both will run Android 4.1 Jellybean.

The D610 Specs stack up like this:

1024 x 768 screen resolution
1.5ghz dual core processor
1gb ram
8 gb of storage
Micro SD slot
Mini HDMI
Micro USB
and a front cam support VGA resolution


One the surface this seems not to be at all impressive. However, we are talking about a 10" screen instead of a 7 inch screen. For those willing to live with the anemic specs but really wanting a 10" screen, $199 may just the right price for them to take the plunge into the tablet market.

What really may create a stir in tablet market is the Q610

The Q610 specs stack up like this.

1024 x 768 screen resolution
1.5ghz quad core processor
1gb and 2gb ram (we will assume that the large storage ones will have more ram)
16gb, 32,gb, and 64gb storage
Micro SD slot
Mini HDMI
Micro USB
0.3 megapixel front cam and a 2 megapixel rear cam

Other than the fact the screen resolution is pretty poor compared to several of it's competitors in the 10" inch tablet market, the rest of it's specs are impressive enough for it to compete. And the $249 price tag is definitely going to raises several eyebrows.

Keep in mind the Velocity isn't considered to a high quality tablet maker. But, the dirt cheap pricing will likely  entice bargain buyers to purchase a tablet from them. Something Velocity is definitely shooting for with these tablets. Getting the bargain buyers to pull out their wallets and say yes, I want that tablet.

And they are not the only ones entering the 10" tablet market with ultra cheap tablets. Both Archos and Polaroid will be releasing 10" tablets in the near future as well. Polariod, it seems, will be releasing their tablets in the spring as well. A release date for the 10" Archos tablets has yet to be provided.

The big question is how this will shake up the 7" market for tablets as the price range for these 10" tablets will be about the same.

I hope you enjoyed this article. Please take the time to share via Google+, Twitter, and/or Facebook. The option to do so it at the top left of the blog. And, if you are a Google+ member, please take the time to add  Android OS, Apps, and More to your circles so you don't miss any future posts from of us.







Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Pitfall Harry is back. This time for Android

Some of you may be old enough to remember the video game Pitfall. It was released back in 1982 for the Atari 2600 console system. Selling over 4 million unit it was on of the most popular games for any game console previous to the introduction of the NES game console in 1985. In fact, it was even a better selling game than the top 2 original Xbox games ever. Xbox was released some 19 years after in 2001. A rough estimate has it ranked in in the top 125 videos games of all time according to what I could figure looking at the limited info I gathered from Wikipedia.

For those of you who are not old enough to remember here is a little back story about the game.

The original game cast you in the role of Pitfall Harry. A daring adventurer seeking his fortune in the forbidding jungles in parts unknown. Searching for diamonds, gold, money bags, and silver, he must run a gauntlet of dangerous adversaries and lethal traps. In his way are various deadly animals ( crocodiles, rattlesnakes and scorpions). If the was not enough, he had to jump over rolling logs, using vines to swing over pits and quicksand traps, plus navigate a maze like environment full of dead ends.

The objective of the game was to collect all the 32 treasures with in a time limit of 20 minutes and gain the most points.

Over the years the game has seen several different versions including, Pitfall II: Lost Caverns, A remake of Pitfall II, Pitfall: The Mayan Adventure (released on several console platforms as well as PC), Pitfall: Beyond the Jungle, and Pitfall: the Lost Expedition released in 2004.

8 years from that date it was brought back to life and released as a brand new game for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.back in August of last year (2012).

Well, as an early Christmas gift for Android users, it became available on December 21, 2012.

Here is a little video that was posted on Youtube showing a brief glimpse of the game and a download link for Google Play .



I hope you enjoy this app. Please take the time to share via Google+, Twitter, and/or Facebook. The option to do so it at the top left of the blog. And, if you are a Google+ member, please take the time to add  Android OS, Apps, and More to your circles so you don't miss any future posts from of us.


Friday, January 4, 2013

New Google TV Devices to Debut at CES



Several new devices running Google TV are set to debut at CES (Consumer Electronics Show) next week. New names to Google TV include Asus, Hisense, and TCL which will be displaying products that will be launching within the next few weeks as well as updated offerings from LG, Sony and Visio.

In addition we can expect new Apps for Google TV as well.

Here us a short video displaying some of the features of Google TV



2012 was a big but mixed year for Google. It has some great launches. The Nexus 7 came out to great fanfare and has been living up to it's claims quite nicely. The Entire Nexus line has been flying off the shelves at a good clip. Jellybean Android OS has turned out to be a winner for Google as well.

Then there was the Nexus Q. It was pulled off the market almost as quickly as it was launched. Perhaps it was just not ready for prime time. Google TV has suffered from mixed reviews since it was first launched/

 Will the addition of new brands and an upgraded exprience breath back life into the struggling Google TV concept? I am thinking that my Magic 8 Ball would come back with an answer "Cannot Predict Now".

We will just to have to wait and see who things shake out in the next few coming months.

I hope you enjoyed this article. Please take the time to share via Google+, Twitter, and/or Facebook. The option to do so it at the top left of the blog. And, if you are a Google+ member, please take the time to add  Android OS, Apps, and More to your circles so you don't miss any future posts from of us. 




Thursday, January 3, 2013

Android Jellybean now the 3rd most used version.

New data was released by android.com on the distribution of the OS versions. It is compiled by from information gathered from the Google play store as to what versions are being use to access the site during the most recent 14 day period.

Here is the break down as of January 3rd 2013 compared to December 3rd results.
Source: developer.android.com/dashboards/index.html



December 3rd 2012                                     January 3rd 2013


Cupcake: 0.1%                                            Cupcake: Data not provided

Donut: 0.3%                                                Donut: 0.2%

Eclair: 2.7%                                                 Eclair: 2.4%

Froyo: 10.3%                                              Froyo: 9.0%

Gingerbread: 50.8%                                    Gingerbread: 47.6%

Honeycomb: 1.6%                                       Honeycomb: 1.5%

Ice Cream Sandwich: 27.5%                       Ice Cream Sandwich: 29.1%

Jellybean: 6.7%                                           Jellybean: 10.2%

The results show that Jellybean saw an increase in distribution of more than 50%. Gaining a share of 10.2% since it's release in June of 2012. Ice Cream Sandwich also gained a little as it was released to some devices since Jellybean came out. At it current pace it does not seem that Jellybean will be able to catch Ice Cream sandwich or Gingerbread as it is due to be replaced in May of this year by Key Lime Pie.

But, It maybe be able to hit 20% market saturation before Key Lime Pie is introduced. That would be a pretty good accomplishment and would definitely help with the fragmentation issue as the top 3 versions would likely hold a 60% share of all version by the time Key Lime Pie is introduced.

Please feel free to post a comment with your thoughts on this article. Input is appreciated.

I hope you enjoyed this article. Please take the time to share via Google+, Twitter, and/or Facebook. The option to do so it at the top left of the blog. And, if you are a Google+ member, please take the time to add  Android OS, Apps, and More to your circles so you don't miss any future posts from of us.









Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Ubuntu Smartphones in 2014

For those of you not familiar, Ubuntu is an open source OS that is produced by software maker Canonical. Where open source OSes are not new, Android is open source as well, Ubuntu will be a new addition to the smartphone market.



As of now the phone OS market is pretty concentrated on very big names. Apple has iOS, Google has Android OS, and Windows has Windows 8 OS. RIM is also a player, though much smaller one, with their Blackberry OS.

Cononical will have do some really impressive things to pull market share from the three biggest players in the smart phone market.

What may make Ubuntu for smart phones special is you will be able to dock the device to a keyboard, monitor and mouse pretty much emulating a desktop experience. Newer phones have enough processing power that you could you could have both a desktop and phone OS of Ubuntu on your phone. Motorola has already attempted such a pairing. but was not successful at it. It will be interesting to see how Cononical fairs with their attempt.

2014 may seen like a long way off as it's just the second day of 2013 but, there are already demo models floating around the UK.

What can you expect from Ubuntu based phones. Lots of the things you get from other phone based OSes. An app store is said to already be in the development stages. It will have multi-touch gesture support. Voice commands will also be part of the implementation. There will also be support both Cortex A9 and Intel Atom processor architectures. This means it will work on both entry level and high end smartphones.

In short. the full smart phone experience.

This is a pretty bold move for an open source OS that some still consider relegated to a small segment of the population. Though a very loyal segment. I for one think it is great that there will be one more player in the smart phone OS market.

Ubuntu looks like it might very well have a chance of breaking into a super competitive marker place if it can deliver on it's claims. I am sure there will be plenty of Ubuntu loyalists who hope 2014 comes quick.

I hope you enjoyed this article. Please take the time to share via Google+, Twitter, and/or Facebook. The option to do so it at the top left of the blog. And, if you are a Google+ member, please take the time to add  Android OS, Apps, and More to your circles so you don't miss any future posts from of us.