Recent Posts From And Geeks

• ClickCal makes creating calendar events easy

  Posted: Thu, 05 May 2011 15:23:41 +0000

  When it comes to calendars, the easier the better. The more steps I have to take, the less likely it is I will use it. Seeing as how using a calendar is a pretty easy way to stay organized and on top of your life, I’d say that it’s a good thing. Still, entering in events on my Nexus can be something of a pain, if for no other reason than my having to use the touchscreen keypad to create the event. Really, it’s no big deal, since I do it all the time anyway. But if there’s a free way to cut down on that time, all the better. That’s why I’m working with ClickCal. It uses voice and pictures to create a more intuitive calendar.

  Instead of typing in the details to your event, you can simply snap a photo of whatever it is — an email, a business card, a save the date, or anything, really. It will then show up in ClickCal, even giving you a thumbnail preview of the pic. When you open up the date you’ll see the full picture, which should serve as a reminder of what needs doing. It won’t parse the image for the relevant info and enter it in as a calendar entry, though you could probably charge a few bucks for such an app. But it will make it easier to create events.

  You can also create an audio note to go along with the app. Again, I can see room here for transcription as a premium service. But for a free app, the audio note will suffice. And, if you so desire, youcan type in the information and just use the photos and audio as a supplement. But if you have a way to avoid typing on a virtual keyboard, why not take it?

  The app syncs with Google Calendar, so you’ll see all of your normal calendar events in ClickCal. You’ll also see your ClickCal events in Google Calendar, but you can’t view the audio and visual from there. In other words, if you switch to this you’ll probably have to make it your main calendar app.

  If you have problems staying up with your calendar — and I know there are tons of you out there — ClickCal might help you use it more often and more efficiently. You can grab ClickCal for free from the Market. It’s worth a try, at least.

  Via xda.

  This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all thingsAndroid! Also a great source of info about Android Phones.
  
  ClickCal makes creating calendar events easy

• ID songs and get lyrics with SoundHound

  Posted: Wed, 04 May 2011 15:10:29 +0000

  Sometimes having a library of music and a horde of streaming apps just isn’t enough. OK, for consumption purposes it is. But for total immersion? There are plenty of other music apps that are necessary for Android. Last week we touched on Lyrics App, which provides you with lyrics to the song that is currently playing. That does one thing and does it well. But what if you want more? That’s where SoundHound comes in. It, too, gives you lyrics, but it also gives you plenty of other features. It’s a must have for anyone who uses their Android as their primary music device.

  In addition to a song’s lyrics, SoundHound also gives you the artist information. I always dug this about Pandora. Normally I just let the songs play, but if I’m bored on a train, for instance, I’ll use the app to read up on my favorite artists. This isn’t an immediately available feature in the Android music player, unfortunately. But with SoundHound I can still get that artist information while I’m on the go, even if I’m not streaming through Pandora. It makes for slightly less boring commutes, at the very least.

  The top feature of the app, and one you don’t often see for free, is song recognition. Just play a song, and SoundHound can identify it — in as little as four seconds, they say. This feature has been around for quite a while now, and I have to say that it’s one of my favorite smartphone developments. It just happens so often that I’m listening to something and just don’t know the artist or song title. This is an instant solution.

  The complementary feature, though, blows me away. You can sing or hum into your microphone, and SoundHound will try to identify the song. It’s not perfect, of course, because some people, yours truly included, are tone deaf. If you can’t carry a tune it’s going to be tough to ID a song. But if you can fake it while humming then SoundHound will try to figure out what song is at the tip of your tongue. This is even better than song ID, because you don’t always have the song around to play for the app.

  The app includes unlimited song IDs thanks to an ad-subsidized version. Because you don’t have to pay, I recommend youimmediately download SoundHound from the Market. You can pay $4.99 for an ad-free version, too.

  This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all thingsAndroid! Also a great source of info about Android Phones.
  
  ID songs and get lyrics with SoundHound

• Imagining the Amazon tablet

  Posted: Tue, 03 May 2011 14:58:43 +0000

  While we don’t know much about it, we do know that Amazon will release a tablet later this year. We can assume at this point that it will run Android. Amazon has run some trick plays in the past, but I doubt they’ll go so far as to create their own mobile OS, especially since they recently released their own Android app store. There is huge potential here for Amazon to one-up the market and have the device this holiday season. With a few lucky breaks it might even generate iPad-like hype. This all has me wondering what the Amazon tablet will look like. What will it bring to the table that other tablets do not?

  Today, both Rob Jackson of Phandroid and Kevin Tofel of GigaOm brought up some ideas. They’re quite different, but both are tantalizing. If Amazon somehow incorporated both, they would certainly move to the front of the Amazon tablet market. The question, of course, is of how practically feasible they are. We’ve seen many great ideas that have been poorly executed. While I love the idea of an e-ink display and cloud music storage, Amazon has to find a way to make it work for everyone.

  In his article, Tofel wonders about how Amazon can leverage its cloud storage service. “The company could keep the price of its tablet lower than competitors by reducing the amount of flash memory available and bundling 20 GB of Cloud Storage with the purchase of a slate,” he writes. This sounds like a great idea in theory, and at first I thought that it was obvious enough that Amazon just had to do it. But cloud streaming does come at a cost, even if Amazon is providing the storage space as part of the tablet package. It requires an internet connection, which means you can either stream it over WiFi at home (or at a hotspot), or over a mobile network. The latter can get costly. While I do like the idea of bundling cloud storage with an Amazon tablet — it makes too much sense — it should not replace physical storage.

  The idea Jackson raises is a bit more enticing:

  The device Quanta is making for Amazon supposedly has E-Ink capabilities. While Digitimes has been known to shoot from the hip, they’ve also got solid inside sources within supply chains and this all seems feasible to me.

  How feasible is this, really? The device would then require dual displays, one for e-ink and the other a high-resolution one. I’m not sure how Amazon would go about blending the two, especially if, as Tofel believes, they go with 7-inch model. Would there be a display on each side of the device? Would there be a way to slide in an e-ink display? I’m trying to think of ways they could make this work, and I’m not coming up with anything solid. That is, unless Amazon finds a way to have one display handle both functions — in which case I will push and shove my way to the front of the line. E-ink is far superior to any other display for reading text, and its addition to an LCD display would make for a near perfect tablet.

  It sounds as though Amazon will have this ready for a second half release, which leaves us plenty of time to speculate. It also means that we should be seeing some more solid details in the not so distant future. I have confidence that Amazon can come up with a compelling design; my Kindle is still one of my favorite devices. But the most fun part of this tablet might be the imagination of what it can be. Because, in all likelihood, it won’t quite live up to our dreams. Which is OK. Shoot for the stars and reach the moon and all that jazz.

  This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info aboutAndroid Phones.
  
  Imagining the Amazon tablet

• Streaming HBO on your Android

  Posted: Mon, 02 May 2011 17:12:08 +0000

  

  Remember how we talked about HBO on Android a couple of weeks ago? That was mainly DirecTV related, and at the time they were saying that they’d get their HBO GO app out for Android and iPhone later in the year. Who knew that later in the year meant two and a half weeks, and who knew that it would work for cable providers other than DirecTV? That is apparently the case. On Friday the app dropped, and in case you missed it on every other Android blog, well, you’ve found it here. If you are a subscriber to AT&T U-verse, Charter, Cox, Dish, Suddenlink, FiOS, or Comcast’s Xfinity — and of course DirecTV — you can download the app from the market. You’ll need an HBO subscription, of course. But with that, you can watch your favorite HBO shows anywhere. Now, if only Cablevision would get on board.

  This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info aboutAndroid Phones.
  
  Streaming HBO on your Android

• Why I’ve switched back to Twitter for Android

  Posted: Fri, 29 Apr 2011 14:00:48 +0000

  Twitter addicts have plenty of choice on Android. There’s TweetDeck, Seesmic, Plume, TWIDROYD, HootSuite, TweetCaster, and others, so no matter what your Twitter habits you have an app that that fits your needs. Yet I’ve run into something a bit frustrating in the past few weeks. Even though I have stored plenty of apps on my SD card, I’ve been getting that obnoxious “your phone is running out of space” notification. Clearing data works temporarily, but it always seems to get back to that 20MB warning level. It has led me down a path I didn’t think I’d take. I’m back to using Twitter for Android.

  Back in December I enumerated the reasons why I didn’t use the official Twitter app. At that time it was a clunky app that had way too many bugs. With all the alternatives, most of all TweetDeck, I found no need for the official app. There was only one catch: I couldn’t delete the official app. That made for some space issues.

  Since then I rooted my device, and I tried using Titanium Backup to remove the app. Yet every time I uninstalled it, there it was, back on my applications list. I’m sure I did something wrong, and that if I were a more savvy Android user it would be off my device by now. Alas, it stuck around. Thing is, at around 2MB it is a pretty lightweight app. Compare that to Plume, which is more than 5MB, and TweetDeck, which was hovering around 9, and it’s downright efficient. That played a major part in my decision.

  Well, to be clear, TweetDeck was out not only because it took a lot of space, but because it crashed constantly. It seemed as though every time I didn’t check it for a few hours it would take 30 seconds or a minute to actually load, and then it would immediately crash. I expect more from a 9MB application. And so it went in the garbage, replaced by Plume. But Plume is kinda big, too, and combined with the official Twitter app and my ongoing space issues, it also got the axe.

  And so here I am, back with the official Twitter app. It’s not the greatest. It does that annoying quote retweet, rather than the simple and accepted “RT @”. But other than that, I haven’t run into many things it does worse than other apps. And, again, it’s smaller than the other apps, so I have more room for other apps on my disk. It’s not an ideal solution, but when it comes to managing the space on your phone, everything is a compromise. The new, improve Twitter for Android will do just fine.

  This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info aboutAndroid Phones.
  
  Why I’ve switched back to Twitter for Android

• Qik provides a multi-platform video chat interface

  Posted: Thu, 28 Apr 2011 14:00:35 +0000

  One feature we’re starting to see on nearly every new smartphone is a front-facing camera. This was actually a pretty big deal back in 2008, when RIM was reportedly going to place on on the original BlackBerry Bold. That never happened, though, and it was two more years before front-facing cameras became a fad. Now they’re out in the wild, which makes video conferencing a cinch. You have a few options when it comes to this, and Qik might be the best among them.

  Qik started as a mobile video sharing platform, which made plenty of sense. Before there were front-facing cameras there were rear-facing ones, and people used these to create videos from their smartphones. While uploading to YouTube was a clear option, Qik created its platform strictly for mobile. It has since been acquired by Skype, and so it has expanded its reach. Now it covers video calling, and it might be the most complete solution on the market.

  Your iPhone-using friends might enjoy FaceTime as their video calling solution, but that is only available to Apple users. Qik provides a multi-platform solution, so you can chat with your iPhone and Android friends alike. You can use whatever network is available — 3G, 4G, or WiFi — and still make the call work. Of course, you’ll need a front-facing camera for it to work, but as long as you have that and a data connection, you’re good to go.

  You can still create videos and upload them so that your friends can see. These include live videos, which you can share via Facebook and Twitter. You can also go into friends’ video feeds and see what they’ve been up to. The app connects to your contacts list, so you can see which of your friends is using Qik, and which are available for a video call.

  One feature they’re really promoting for this is video mail. That is, when someone isn’t available for video chat, you can still record them a video message and email it to them. It seems like a simple enough feature, and really, it’s one you can do if you have even a rear-facing camera. Qik is offering this for free through June 1, at which point it will become a premium service. I’m not sure I see the value in it, since you can just record a regular video file and attach it to an email. Unless the interface is uber-convenient, I don’t see many people paying for it. But it’s worth looking into during the trial period.

  The app is free, and you can take advantage of the non-video-conferencing features if you don’t have a front-facing camera. Check out Qik at AppBrain.

  This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info aboutAndroid Phones.
  
  Qik provides a multi-platform video chat interface

• OfferedApp lets you get premium apps for no money

  Posted: Wed, 27 Apr 2011 14:02:30 +0000

  Nothing in life is free. Everything comes with a cost, whether direct or hidden. So when I get press releases that claim users can get premium apps for free, I automatically do the calculation in my head. Is it worth my time? Is it worth the possibility of being added to a mailing list? Those things cost time and incur frustration. That makes them not free, at least in my book. But if you have some free time and want to keep your wallet fatter, check out OfferedApp. You just might find the app you’re looking for.

  It’s a pretty simple idea, one we’ve seen executed in different forms throughout the internet’s history. Instead of paying for the app with money, you fill out a survey. Once you finish, OfferedApp provides you with the premium app, usually valued between one and 10 dollars, for free. It sounds like a good deal if you’re an app hound on a budget, but it’s important to realize the cost of it all. Again, just because the app doesn’t make your bank account lighter doesn’t mean it’s free.

  

  When you go to OfferedApp.com and click the Get App button, you will be immediately prompted for your email address. This is the first cost. Right within the OfferedApp privacy policy you can see that you’ll be getting email from third parties. “WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO SELL, RENT OR TRANSFER YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION TO our participating service providers, as authorized by you, which include: lenders, agents, and debt management firms FOR ANY PURPOSE IN OUR SOLE DISCRETION.” Clearly, this is a cost of doing business. You are not getting the app for free.

  Then, of course, is the time it takes to complete a survey. I’m not sure how long this takes, as I’m not going to give them my email address. But think about it this way. Today’s app is a golf game that normally costs $7. Say the survey takes 10 minutes. Is 10 minutes of your time worth $7? Or can you find a more valuable way to spend that 10 minutes? Your time is your most valuable resource, since it’s the one over which you have the most control. Your bank account might not get any lighter, but you are squandering a precious resource by taking these surveys. It’s just something to keep in mind as you see “free app” pasted all over OfferedApp.

  This isn’t to say that you should necessarily stay away from OfferedApp. It’s to say that you shouldn’t think that you’re getting some spectacular deal here. The apps might not cost you money, but they will cost you the time it takes to fill out the survey, and it will cost you your personal information. To me, that’s not worth it. To others, it might be. I guess if there’s a $10 app you’ve been stalking and it shows up, you might be willing to spend a few minutes (and your personal info) to get it for free. I just don’t see the consumer ultimately coming out ahead in this transaction.

  This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info aboutAndroid Phones.
  
  OfferedApp lets you get premium apps for no money

• Save your Android battery with WiFi Status

  Posted: Tue, 26 Apr 2011 15:10:14 +0000

  Android users who stream a lot of media will inevitably run into battery issues. The faster the bitrate, the more battery the function will consume. I know plenty of people who counteract this by carrying multiple batteries — one friend carries two in his pocket. But for most of us, the best solution is to implement practices that help save battery life. Via Phandroid, there’s an app that can help you in many ways. It’s called WiFi Status, and it makes sure that you turn off WiFi when you’re out of range.

  When you’re around a WiFi network, it’s always best to connect. It actually helps save battery life, since your handset isn’t constantly receiving signal from the mobile network (a signal that varies in strength a bit more than WiFi). But if you forget to turn off WiFi when you leave, you can experience substantial battery drain as your phone searches for another open signal. The more you move around, the more it searches, and therefore the more it drains your battery.

  Here’s the kicker. When you leave WiFi signal range, the WiFi icon disappears from your status bar, reverting to the normal cellular signal notifier. There’s a good chance, then, that you don’t even realize that your phone is searching for WiFi signal (unless you come in range from one and see the available network notification). WiFi Status places a notification in your status bar if you have WiFi on and you’re not connected. This seems like it should be a function native to Android, but at least the app is free.

  This can be an integral app for those who stream media. Streaming over WiFi is always optimal, but if you leave the network and forget to turn it off your streaming can suffer later, due to a dead battery. This is a small app that can help fix that issue. You can get WiFi Status for free in the Market (via App Brain).

  This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info aboutAndroid Phones.
  
  Save your Android battery with WiFi Status

• Could Spotify power Google Music?

  Posted: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 17:29:30 +0000

  Why start your own music service when you can partner with an existing one? It appears that Google might have asked itself this question. Last week we heard that Google’s talks with music labels were slowing, perhaps to a halt. Apparently they keep wanting more, and the idea of adding a subscription service to its already planned storefront and music locker is causing some issues. While I still think a deal will get done, Google has to explore other options in case one does not. One possibility, as Greg Sandoval of CNET reports, is a partnership with Spotify. That could certainly make things intersting.

  For those unfamiliar, Spotify is a service that provides unlimited streaming music. It is similar in many ways to Grooveshark, except that the music is licensed. Well, that, and it is only available in some European countries. The company has stated its desire to enter the US market, though. What better vehicle to bring them there than Google and Android? Spotify, of course, denies this, but that’s to be expected. When you talk to official spokespeople you rarely get answers. Considering both Google’s and Spotify’s current positions, it’s not difficult to imagine that they’ve spoken, at least casually, about a partnership.

  

  Of course, both of the companies face the same issues of licensing. There’s a chance that their combined forces might help them broker a deal with record labels, but there’s also a chance that it leaves them in the same position. While getting Spotify to the US is a worthy goal — and I’m sure it would do well, considering the robustness of its offering — it would essentially act in a similar manner as Google Music. I’m not sure what that means for a potential partnership, but it would probably be difficult for Spotify to ever make it to the US if Google does get its way.

  The most likely case is that Google is using Spotify to gain leverage. Again, I’m not sure how this helps move along talks — it’s not as though the labels would be compelled to provide a combined Google/Spotify with a better deal on licenses. Still, Spotify does have a good thing going, and it would be wonderful to see that service in the US. If things go according to plan for Google, we’ll see something similar one way or another.

  This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info aboutAndroid Phones.
  
  Could Spotify power Google Music?

• Will Apple beat Google to cloud music services?

  Posted: Fri, 22 Apr 2011 15:00:11 +0000

  As I’ve repeated ad infinitum, the one area where I think Android most sorely lags behind Apple is in music management. It’s not that Android lacks options. There are plenty of media players that have desktop sync apps as well, and most of these also sync with iTunes. That makes things a bit more convenient, but it’s not quite like Apple, which has made ubiquitous its iTunes media player (at least on Apple computers) and its iTunes store. Android doesn’t have that native function. There was hope, and for about a year we’ve been anticipating Google’s next move in that regard. It was a disappointment late last week when we learned thatGoogle’s talks with record labels stalled. Yesterday we got further disappointing news.

  This was more of an emotional disappointment than an actual setback for Google. Though their talks with record labels might have hit a temporary impasse, I expect something will still get done in the near future. It’s really in everyone’s best interests. Google needs to deliver its Android users a better music experience, and record labels, perpetual whiners about declining income, stand to make significant bank on the deal. But to have Apple beat them to the punch? That just hurts. According to a Reuters report, that just might be the case. Commence sobbing.

  

  It’s not so much a bad thing for Android users that Apple gets to the music locker service first. Again, Google will almost certainly get there in due time. But no matter how much we wish it weren’t true, there is definitely a mobile rivalry between Apple and the Android platform. Apple has been first to basically everything, and Apple fanboys and girls routinely brag about it. For once I wanted to see Android launch something that Apple didn’t have, even if Apple was set to get it in the near future. Alas, it appears that Apple will again be first.

  Then again, with sketchy details it’s not clear whether Apple’s offering will be as robust as the one Google has proposed. That is, there is no mention of whether Apple will allow users to upload their own songs, or will only have online access to songs purchased from the iTunes store. If it’s the latter, we can forget about the disappointment. That’s wholly limiting, and probably doesn’t provide value to those who get their music from a variety of sources (including their own CDs). Google’s eventual launch might be more powerful, too, since it would provide a more robust service.

  The Reuters article contains another bright spot. It quotes an anonymous label executive as saying, “They keep changing what they’re asking for.” That might sound bad, but in the next paragraph it becomes clearer. The hold up, it turns out, might center on Google’s desire to also offer a subscription service. This would allow it to stand out from iTunes in another way. It would also give Android users an array of choices, which is really the backbone of the entire platform. Want to store your own music in the cloud? Go ahead. Want to buy tracks and albums from a music store? You got it. Want to pay a monthly fee to access an entire library of songs? All the music in the world is yours, my friend.

  I really do want to reiterate that this is more of an emotional thing than an actual disappointment. It’s not as though Apple’s launching of a music locker will preclude Google from doing the same. In fact, I’m certain that we’ll see Google reach an agreement with the labels in short order. But in a mobile environment where Apple seemingly is the first to everything, it would have been nice to see Android come out with something first — and something better than Apple will ever launch. Looks like only the latter will eventually be trie.

  This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info aboutAndroid Phones.
  
  Will Apple beat Google to cloud music services?