Hands-on with Netflix for Android (video)

Netflix for Android

Netflix for Android is here… finally. It’s been a long time coming and we’re thrilled to be able to bring our instant queue with us wherever we go. Though technically only approved for a handful of HTC phones and the Samsung Nexus S, we were able to successfully get it up and running on at least one unsanctioned device — the Droid X (sporting a leaked copy of Gingerbread). So what’s Netflix like on Google’s mobile OS? Well, it’s a heck of a lot like the iPhone app. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to tell them apart if it weren’t for the tabs being moved from the bottom of the screen to the top. Still, we figured it was worth giving a solid once over and, as usual, you can find our impressions after the break.

Continue reading Hands-on with Netflix for Android (video)

Hands-on with Netflix for Android (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 May 2011 08:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Streamlines Android Market

Google’s senior VP Vic Gundotra at Google’s I/O developer conference in San Francisco, backed by a not-so-subtle allusion to Android’s competition. Photo: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

SAN FRANCISCO — Android’s explosive growth over the past three years has been a double-edged sword for its apps. On the plus side, there are more of them than ever. On the negative side, there are more of them than ever.

Google on Wednesday announced a slew of updates aimed at improving customers’ ability to find and buy apps in the Android Market, as well as developers’ ability to sell them.

“The biggest problem we have in the Market is discovery,” said Michael Novak, Android engineer for Groupme.com, in an interview. “Google has definitely heard the complaints from people like me, and these new features being rolled out are proof.”

Navigability issues have plagued Google’s app-shopping system on the customer end, making it hard for people to find the apps they want, or even to realize that there are apps they might be interested in. For their part, developers have complained that it’s easier to make money in Apple’s App Store than it is in the Android Market.

For customers, finding the most popular apps may get easier with one of the many new lists Google has added, each detailing the top performing apps in specific categories. The Twitter-esque top “Trending” list, for example, highlights the most-downloaded apps over the past seven days. If an app continues to be among the highest-downloaded over that seven-day period, it will move into either the “Top Paid” or “Top Free” lists, which cover popularity over a 30-day period.

Google’s addition of the “also viewed” and “also installed” lists add an interesting social component to the market. It’s almost taste-making through app downloads — if you like a particular application you’ve installed, you can browse a number of applications also installed by others who installed your particularly enjoyable app.

And while these new list additions make it easier for customers to search for new apps to download, it’s also better for app developers who want their apps to be showcased more prominently on the Market. More lists across more categories means more opportunities for a developer’s app to be seen by customers. And that means more opportunities to get paid.

Some think progressions like these are long overdue.

“These are features that Apple has had for years,” said industry analyst Michael Gartenberg. “These sorts of features are table stakes at this point in the game.”

Indeed, Google’s Android Market web store, a version of the store that’s accessible through your computer’s browser, first debuted in February. In contrast, iPhone users have been able to access the App Store by web browser since February 2010.

As Google tackles these problems, the market’s patronage continues to expand. Although historically the Android Market’s customer base has been focused on the United States and a handful of other countries, Google’s “Android developer ecosystem manager” Eric Chu says it’s important to pay attention to the burgeoning international market. Over 60 percent of the 400,000-plus daily Android device activations are now coming from outside the United States, according to Chu.

Google wants take advantage of this growing international market. Next week, says Chu, Android developers will be able to accept payment from 131 different countries across multiple currencies.

In direct contrast to Apple, however, Google’s app store has typically been lauded by open source enthusiasts for its lack of vetting process in accepting apps from developers. Submitting an app to Apple’s App Store requires direct approval from the company before the app can be sold to the public. Google’s process is more open.

This week has brought a host of different additions and expansions for the Android Market. On Tuesday, Google announced a movie-rental service addition to the market, which allows you to wirelessly stream films to your Android smartphone or tablet devices for a period of up to 24 hours after first renting the film. The current selection ranges in the thousands, with prices starting at $2 for older films and $4 for more-recent releases.

Google TV will receive access to the Android Market for the first time this summer, which may help the ailing television platform garner a larger following. Developers will also receive a Honeycomb 3.1–based software developer kit to begin building Google TV–specific apps at some point in the coming months.


Google announces new ways to discover apps on Android Market, more tools for developers

Android Market may have a lot going for it, but most would surely agree that it could use some improvement when it comes to discovering apps that you aren’t specifically looking for. Thankfully, it seems Google has indeed been aware of those concerns, and it’s now announced five new features that should go so some way towards improving things. Those include some newly revamped top app charts that promise to be “fresher” and country specific, a brand new Editors’ Choice section that highlights apps chosen by Google, a new Top Developers feature that places a special icon next to the name of developers that make the grade (currently more than 150), improved related apps on individual app pages and, last but not least, a new trending apps section that shows the apps growing fastest in terms of daily installs. What’s more, while all of those features are currently exclusive to the web-based version, Google says they’re also “coming soon” to the Android Market on both phones and tablets.

In other Android Market news, Google has also announced that it will be adding support for larger apps — up to 4GB — in June, and it will be giving developers the ability to exclude specific devices to avoid compatibility problems, or make multiple versions of an app available under a single Market listing, complete with aggregated ratings and stats. All that, plus personalized recommendations based on your apps (details on it are still a bit light), and paid app support for an additional 99 countries (coming within the next week or so).

[Thanks, Ian and ZZ]

Google announces new ways to discover apps on Android Market, more tools for developers originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 May 2011 15:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Carriers crack down on Android tethering apps, rain on our mobile hotspot parade

Android Tethering Apps

Well everybody, it looks like the free ride is over: carriers in the US have started to seriously crack down on Android tethering apps. Head on over to the Android Market site and try to install an app that turns your smartphone into a WiFi hotspot — there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be told, “this item is not available on your carrier.” We checked out a number of different tethering options and they were all blocked by T-Mobile and AT&T, which isn’t entirely new. Verizon has also joined the party and, while it missed at least one that we spotted, we’re sure they’ll all be gone in short order. Only Sprint has decided against banning such apps… for now. It looks like you might have to finally cough up for that tethering plan you’ve been desperately trying to avoid.

Carriers crack down on Android tethering apps, rain on our mobile hotspot parade originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 May 2011 15:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Plex plays nice with your Honeycomb slate after app update

We’ve praised Plex in the past for delivering us box-free XMBC and for it’s prodigious media streaming proficiency. Problem is, its app wasn’t optimized for the Honeycomb OS and the upsized screen real estate of Android slates — until now. With the updated code comes tablet-friendly layouts and fast-scrolling in all grid and list views so you can zip through your large local media library. It also includes direct play and internet streaming sans-transcoding (just like the recently revised iOS app) for sating those right now vid cravings. The improvements serve smaller Android devices as well, which makes the newly egalitarian app more enticing than ever before. Best of all, it’s still only five bucks.

[Thanks, Andrew]

Plex plays nice with your Honeycomb slate after app update originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Apr 2011 11:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HBO Go mobile app hands-on (video)

HBO Go has been live on the iTunes App Store and Android Market for just a few short hours, but we’ve already put it through the paces, poking and prodding on our iPad and iPhone, to see what all the hubbub’s about. We’re pleased with the hefty amount of video that HBO’s offering up here, and the interface is pretty intuitive as well. Still, browsing through the myriad content on the iPad’s larger screen is definitely a bit more leisurely than on the iPhone’s 3.5-inch counterpart. Both apps sport the same feature set, so searching for content, saving things to watch later, and blasting updates to Facebook and Twitter will work well on whichever device you choose. To make the deal even sweeter, it’s free for current subscribers, so there’s really no reason to not check it out for yourself — unless you don’t have HBO, in which case we have a video walkthrough embedded after the break.

Update: Sorry Android users, but it looks like the only supported versions for the Android app are 2.1 – 2.3.3. However, we’re getting reports that it does function in the browser — so long as you’ve got Flash installed, of course. We’re also told that the HBO Go site works just fine on the PlayBook as well.

Continue reading HBO Go mobile app hands-on (video)

HBO Go mobile app hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 29 Apr 2011 13:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAndroid Market, iTunes App Store  | Email this | Comments

Shocker! Free Android apps outnumber free iPhone apps

Good news for Android users who hate paying for stuff: according to new numbers from Netherlands-based mobile analytics group Distimo, there are now more free apps available for Google’s mobile OS than the iPhone, at 134,342 to 121,845. There are a few things to consider here: first, when one adds free iPad-only apps, the total number of gratis iOS apps increases to a more competitive 132,239. And then there’s Apple’s sometimes rigorous vetting process, which has probably played a role in its numeric slippage — after all, this report doesn’t highlight things like legality, repetition, or the overall number of apps dedicated to making farting noises. Also, Apple has a lot more premium apps, giving it the overall lead at 333,124 to 206,143 — but between Android’s rapid growth and what the report terms iOS’s relative stagnation, Distimo expects Google to take the top spot in five months’ time, outnumbering iPhone and iPad apps combined — a rough scenario for Cupertino to stomach, no doubt, but at least the company will still have Windows Phone to kick around a while longer. [Source link requires registration]

Shocker! Free Android apps outnumber free iPhone apps originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 22:04:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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NFL Mobile apps bring the draft to you live tonight on iPhone, iPad and Android

The first round of the 2011 NFL Draft kicks off around 8 p.m. at Radio City Music Hall but if you’re not one of the players collecting racks on racks of cash (assuming there is a 2011 season of course) you can still get live updates via the NFL’s apps for iOS and Android devices. The NFL GameCenter apps that have been kicking around for iPhone/iPod touch and Android phones have been updated for the 2011 season in Lite (free) and Premium ($1.99) forms, and should be able to ply on the go users with live updates and information on each pick. The couch companion intended iPad app (pictured above, no Honeycomb love this go-round) is making its NFL Draft debut and adds on to the smaller format versions by including live NFL.com video streams both from within the auditorium and from the studio, video highlights and interactive features. Check out the screens for a better look at the UI or just click the source links below to download the free app of your choice — you’ll have to find the apps for tomorrow morning’s Royal Wedding on your own.

NFL Mobile apps bring the draft to you live tonight on iPhone, iPad and Android originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 28 Apr 2011 18:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google Docs gets an Android app, we go hands-on with tiny spreadsheets (video)

Staring at spreadsheets crushed down to unreadable sizes on a 4-inch phone screen is far from pleasurable but, clearly there is a demand. In fact, we’ve been clamoring for a proper Google Docs app for ages, even though sometimes we’re not entirely sure why. It was only a matter of time before Google finally got around to appeasing us mobile workaholics and put an official app in the Android Market. Well, our masochistic prayers were answered — the Mighty Goog unleashed the new, native Google Docs for Android app and we rushed on over to the Market, clicked the install button, and gave it a whirl.

Continue reading Google Docs gets an Android app, we go hands-on with tiny spreadsheets (video)

Google Docs gets an Android app, we go hands-on with tiny spreadsheets (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Apr 2011 18:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft patents apps that let you buy things, Ballmer to go on licensing spree?

Many of us use apps to buy stuff these days, whether its grabbing the latest e-book from Amazon, or a Groupon for a day of pampering at the local spa. Seems obvious now, but it wasn’t (at least according to the USPTO) in 2004, when Microsoft filed a patent application for the idea — and that application was recently granted. The patent claims a way to make purchases through an network-connected portal with a “streamlined interface” (to “streamline” the process of parting you from your money, no doubt). The portal maintains a list of selling sites and exchanges info as needed to let buyers pick up what the seller’s putting down. Now, we aren’t intimately familiar with the ways shopping apps work, but the patent language appears broad enough to cover apps that make internet purchases without using a full-on web browser — though only a federal court can say for sure. The only other question is, what are Ballmer and his boys going to do with these newly granted IP powers?

Microsoft patents apps that let you buy things, Ballmer to go on licensing spree? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 22 Apr 2011 00:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink eBook Newser  |  sourceUSPTO  | Email this | Comments