Dungeon crawlers have been a staple of the gaming genre for over a decade. There have been ample choices on the Android platform for this genre. Games are finally starting to fill this gap and one of the best choices is Heroes Call. Created by Defiant Development, Heroes Call is a beautiful top down dungeon crawler that is well worth your time.
Portal Game Unofficially for Android Devices
February 15, 2012 By Leave a Comment
The über popular puzzle game Portal is making its way to Android- unofficially. Developers not associated with Valve (the makers of Portal) have created a beta, proof-of-progress version of the game.
In case you somehow missed it, Portal is a first-person puzzle game in which you’re equipped with a portal-shooting “gun”. You can launch two portals at a time, walk in one and [Read more...]
and quot;TabCo and quot; Really Wants you to Wonder What They're up to, Tries too Hard
July 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S07KAn0ETjo[/video]
I don’t really know if this is Android news or what, but it’s certainly tablet news. Company “TabCo” is attempting to bait the world with suspense, with a “Who is TabCo?” catch phrase. They’ve basically bashed all the android tablets released so far for not one-uping Apple, and they practically guarantee they’ll give you an “Aha!” moment and trump the competition.
In case you missed it, they did some skywriting over Apple’s developer conference saying “Forget the Fruit.” They took things a step to the less than humble side and kind of ruined it by flat out saying on their site “we’re the people who had the balls to skywrite over the Apple WWDC!” They made some mock focus group videos and are basically just taking the whole “mystery” thing to the point that it’s eye-roll worthy. There is seriously no other hints to what the heck is going on, but apparently we’ll know before the end of summer. I’m not exactly shaking from anticipation.
Overclocking Motorola Xoom To 1.7Ghz Dual Core
June 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Today we rooted and flashed a custom kernel onto our Motorola Xoom to unlock the full potential of the hardware which includes external SD card support as well as overclocking the Dual core CPU to 1.7Ghz .Thanks to the files and guide provided by XDA, we were able to successfully install the Tiamat kernel onto the Xoom which allows for the most potential out of the Tegra 2 chip. There have been numerous stress tests done on the chip and it is running stable at 1.7Ghz which is “probably as far as the Tegra chip will go.” Although the kernel does not work on some devices and can cause hangs, you can always use the 1.6Ghz overclock which should work better and is still a huge improvement over the stock 1.0. Another feature included is the charging LED is now active while the device is on and charging, whereas before the LED would only be on if the device was powered off.
We ran a Quadrant test benchmark on it to see how it stacked up against other phones and dual core devices and it ousted every Android device on the market, as expected. The Motorola Atrix and the Xoom got roughly 2500 on a benchmark score when ran at stock speeds; after rooting and installing the Tiamat kernel the benchmark score reached 4108! If the Xoom was having ANY difficulty running multiple applications before, it has been fixed entirely with this update.
You can visit the XDA website below to read the official thread on flashing, unlocking, and rooting your device. As always, be extremely careful as this has the possibility to brick your device (make it a really nice 26 ounce paperweight) if the proper steps are not followed. We nor XDA are responsible for anything that happens to your device, use at own risk! These posts are aimed towards the 3G Verizon Xoom, not the Wifi version.
XDA guide for unlocking, rooting, and flashing the 3G Verizon Xoom
Engadget has a post on their website which has a response from Motorola in regards to have an unlocked and rooted device when the 4G LTE upgrade comes around; Motorola states that it is not an issue and if any Xoom that is sent in for the upgrade will receive the installation of the 4G modem no matter what, even if they are unable to install the “software” for it basically saying “if you can hack your own software onto it, you can put ours on it too.”
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXpi3vnTjhI[/video]
Motorola Atrix 4G: One Step Closer To Custom ROMs
June 7, 2011 By Leave a Comment
XDA developers have gotten one step closer to porting our favorite custom ROMs, like Cyanogen Mod, to the Motorola Atrix 4G. Using this program they are able to load scripts before the Android OS starts which can allow for custom ROMs to be installed on it. Although a large amount of developers have slowly stopped messing with the Atrix due to the locked bootloader, hopefully this will restore some faith in the modding community and bring our favorite mods and tweaks to the Tegra2 phone. The 2nd Init scripts are ported from the Motorola Defy which has had CyanogenMOD running on it for some time now, so hopefully this will open a door for a large amount of possibilities. As of right now there are a few Gingerbread ROMs that are available for the Atrix, but not many. The stock OS that comes with the Atrix, and the Droid X2, doesn’t seem fully optimized for the device so tweaking by XDA and other web developers can make these phones well worth their dollar.
Head here to the original XDA post to read more about the breakthrough: XDA
HTC Thunderbolt Gets Rooted
March 18, 2011 By Leave a Comment
It didn’t take long for the crack-team over at XDA Developers to accomplish the rooting of the new HTC Thunderbolt. Announced yesterday at approximately 11:35pm on the XDA Forums, the full root was a success, and are currently setting up instructions for all of those who are looking to do the same. So if you’re interested in doing so, you should jump over to XDA Forums and keep an eye out for further instructions!
Android 3.0 Animations Shown in API Demo [VIDEO]
February 24, 2011 By Leave a Comment
[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9nxx066eHE&feature=player_embedded[/video]
A new Honeycomb video has come out from the folks over at AndroidDevelopersBlog that shows off a bunch of the new animations in Android 3.0. The API Demo’s include cloning, bouncing balls, custom evaluator, default layout animations, events, hide-show animations, layout animations, loading, multiple properties and reversing. If you’re an Android developer, then you definitely will want to check out this video.
Google Releases Android 3.0 Platform Highlights!
January 27, 2011 By Leave a Comment
More updates on the tablet-optimized Honeycomb OS is always good news, right? Well Google has just released the Android 3.0 platform highlights, which covers a bunch on the new UI, graphics, keyboard, UI framework, and even apps. If that wasn’t enough there’s a handful of new screenshots that Google’s provided to accompany the sweet enhancements that we just can’t wait to get our hands on. More images and details below!
UI Framework:
- Developers can use a new UI components, new themes, richer widgets and notifications, drag and drop, and other new features to create rich and engaging apps for users on larger screen devices.
Support for mulitcore processor architectures:
- Android 3.0 is optimized to run on either single- or dual-core processors, so that applications run with the best possible performance.
High performance 2D and 3D graphics:
- A new property-based animation framework lets developers add great visual effects to their apps. A built-in GL renderer lets developers request hardware-acceleration of common 2D rendering operations in their apps, across the entire app or only in specific activities or views. For adding rich 3D scenes, developers take advantage of a new 3D graphics engine called Renderscript.
Redesigned Keyboard:
- The Android soft keyboard is redesigned to make entering text fast and accurate on larger screen sizes. The keys are reshaped and repositioned for improved targeting, and new keys have been added, such as a Tab key, to provide richer and more efficient text input. Users can touch-hold keys to access menus of special characters and switch text/voice input modes from a button in the System Bar.
Rich Multimedia:
- New multimedia features such as HTTP Live streaming support, a pluggable DRM framework, and easy media file transfer through MTP/PTP, give developers new ways to bring rich content to users.
System Bar:
- This is like the notification bar we are used to on Android today, only it has been moved to the bottom of the screen. You’ll receive notifications there, but it will also house the navigation buttons now.
Customizable Home Screens:
- You get 5 homescreens that are as customizable as ever. They’ve enhanced the setup though and made it easier to navigate.
Browser:
- Browing has been re-vamped. New tabbed browsing, incognito mode and bookmarks presentation are all included. You can also sync your bookmarks with your current Chrome account and enjoy a better experience on non-mobile sites.
Email:
- The Email application uses a new two-pane UI to make viewing and organizing messages more efficient. The app lets users select one or more messages, then select an action from the Action Bar, such as moving them to a folder. Users can sync attachments for later viewing and keep track of email using a home screen Widget.
Enhancements for enterprise:
- New administrative policies, such as for encrypted storage and password expiration, help enterprise administrators manage devices more effectively.
New types of connectivity:
- New APIs for Bluetooth A2DP and HSP let applications offer audio streaming and headset control. Support for Bluetooth insecure socket connection lets applications connect to simple devices that may not have a user interface.
UI BUILDER IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ADT PLUGIN
- In-editor preview of objects animated with the new animation framework.
- Improved drag-and-drop in the editor, with better support for included layouts.
- Visualization of UI based on any version of the platform. independent of project target. Improved rendering, with better support for custom views.
Android Market Gets Some Dramatic Changes; Some Not All Good
December 13, 2010 By Leave a Comment
The Android Market has undergone some serious changes, and for the most part, we’d say it’s for the better. From adding new categories for Widgets and Live Wallpapers to increasing the .apk file size cap, this should be the Market’s more important update so far.
“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.“
One of the major changes that have been made involves the new .apk file size limit. The new cap has been increased to 50MB, to allow better support for richer games. Another not-so-popular change that’s been made is the refund window change. It’s been dramatically reduced down to just 15 minutes. Clearly we’re not the only one’s who think this is probably the worst change of all.
Overall this is a great change for the Android Market, and after this update we should be seeing some pretty impressive apps coming our way.
HTC MyTouch 4G Source Code now Available
November 18, 2010 By Leave a Comment
HTC has been releasing the source codes for majority of their new devices, although the MyTouch 4G has been falling behind, until now. Developers can now get their hands on the source code for the MyTouch 4G straight from HTC’s Developer Center. Well, what are waiting for?
