Hasta La Gadget!

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.

Permalink   |  Google Docs for Android  | Email this | Comments

If you’ve done any Kindling on your Xoom or your G-Slate or your Transformer or whatever little slice of Honeycomb you’re calling home, chances are you’ve noticed the app isn’t exactly optimized for the relatively big screen of your slate. Well, now it has been. As promised, Amazon has just pushed an update to the Kindle app that makes it decidedly more 3.0-friendly. Gone is the ugly list of books, replaced by a lovely grid of titles including cover art. Just tap to start reading. Text itself within the books is higher-res and page turning seems snappier too. Worth the download? For sure — especially since it’s still free.

Continue reading Amazon updates Kindle app for Honeycomb, shows that tablets really do exist

Amazon updates Kindle app for Honeycomb, shows that tablets really do exist originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 21 Apr 2011 15:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Android Market  | Email this | Comments

Believe it or not, we’re still rooting for Ruslan Kogan and the rest of his Aussie compatriots, but the company’s announcement today of an Android 2.2 set-top TV box with full Market access is, as usual, equal parts intriguing and unbelievable. The Kogan Agora Internet TV Portal: Powered by Android is priced at A$149 with a 1GHz Cortex A8 processor from Samsung, 512MB of RAM, 2GB of flash storage, HDMI output and three USB ports for external storage, that it claims will bring the full internet — including everyone’s favorite Angry Birds — to your TV screen. According to the sales page it’s expected to ship May 27th to anywhere you like, as long as it’s in Australia or the UK. We’ll mark our calendars to see if it beats official Google TV boxes to Market access in the living room (we’re still waiting for the TV shown off last year), but in the meantime check after the break for a press release with more details on this box, a familiar looking 7-inch tablet that also claims access to the Market’s thousands of apps and a couple of netbooks. Finally, we spotted a video from ARM fan Charbax checking out what could be the OEM version of the TV box at CeBIT, so that’s included after the break as well.

Continue reading Kogan’s Agora Internet TV Portal promises Android Market access, our LCDs remain skeptical

Kogan’s Agora Internet TV Portal promises Android Market access, our LCDs remain skeptical originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Kogan  | Email this | Comments

Open up Android Market on your Android device today and (most of) you will see a familiar set of three headings — Apps, Games and My apps — bidding you welcome. Do the same on your Sony Ericsson Android phone, however, and the last item in that list might no longer be there. That’s because SE has decided to introduce its own “channel” to the Market, wherein you’ll find a load of Xperia handset-specific junk software and other specially curated bits that your smartphone is adjudged to be in need of. The change means you’ll need to open up your menu to get at your own apps, but that shouldn’t be an entirely unfamiliar activity for Android users. Sony Ericsson may be the first manufacturer to pull this switcheroo, but it’s following in the well-worn footsteps of Verizon and T-Mobile in the US. And speaking of carriers, Sony Ericsson says this change is operator-dependent, so if you’re nice and lucky, your operator won’t bother to roll this out. Sadly, our Xperia Arc has already been infected.

Sony Ericsson sets up its own channel in Android Market, relegates ‘My apps’ link to a menu item originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 13 Apr 2011 08:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  Sony Ericsson Product Blog  | Email this | Comments

It’s been one week since Google pulled the PSX4Droid emulator from the Android Market without warning, and today its lead developer has decided to take a stand — ZodTTD’s made a new version of the app free of charge, and is hosting it at his personal website as a downloadable APK. He now claims that not only did Google pull his app, the company has frozen his developer accounts, effectively restricting his ability to publish to (and profit from) the Android Market until this gets sorted out. We can’t confirm his story at this point — and we hear things may not be quite as cut-and-dried as he claims — but we can tell you that if you happen to have a legally-obtained PlayStation BIOS and ROMs sitting around, you’re only a few clicks away from being able to use them on your Android phone. Not a bad deal, eh?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

ZodTTD makes PSX4Droid 3.0 free, claims Google booted him from Android Market originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Apr 2011 04:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  ZodTTD  | Email this | Comments