Droid Sector » Apps

Honeycomb update for Logitech Revue

Jeff — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 08:25:37 +0000

If you tired of waiting official update for Revue, there are another way. Just flash two leaked updates and enjoy Honeycomb on your device. I just did it and it works great.

What you need to do:

Flash the first beta update (mandatory).
Flash the second user-debug update.

Most apps working just fine, including Plex, Google Music (streaming), IMDb, Palmary Weather (widget), File Expert, Dropbox. Not many apps for Google TV right now on Android Market, but you can easily side-load apk files.

Unfortunately streaming audio not working yet in Digitally Imported Radio and TuneIn Radio.

I was afraid of lack of transcoding in Plex for Google TV, but it plays 99% of files, including 20 GB 1080p video file over WiFi! Very impressive. Also Revue can control via IR-blaster your TV, AV receiver and even Xbox 360 (just setup the video source as as Microsoft MCE-500). And I like full-size keyboard, if you need a small remote, install Logitech Harmony app on your Android phone.

How to stream video to Android device from remote PC

Jeff — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 14:44:04 +0000

A few days ago I’ve read on Google+ about upcoming version of Plex for Google TV and decided to test it on my Asus Transformer. I was looking for a way to watch movies on a TV screen. Connecting tablet with HDMI cable and using MX Video Player did the trick, but with local files only. DLNA apps and VLC Direct were not very convenient nor reliable.

After installing Plex server on my HTPC and adding folders with movies, TV series and music, I was able to play media on another computer, phone and tablet. Plex automatically downloads the information about media files and presents it very nicely.

It also keeps track of watched videos and maintains playback position. Media files are transcoded if necessary, so no problem with unsupported codecs on Android devices.

The same Plex app can also work as remote for a Plex client running on Mac or PC (server part is also available for Linux and compatible NAS devices).

On the left you can see how Plex looks on a computer screen, very similar to XBMC and other media centers designed to be controlled with a simple remote control. You can also stream content from over 150 popular online video, music and photo sources like Apple Movie Trailers.

MX Video Player: best AVI/MKV player for Android

Jeff — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 18:15:00 +0000

Recently I tested several video players on Asus Transformer tablet. From my past experience, the most demanding task is playback of MKV file, so I tried to play 720p video with 2 audio stream and 2 subtitles.

The winner is MX Video Player, which was able to use hardware acceleration for smooth video playback and allows to switch audio streams and subtitles on-the-fly. Interface is good with native Honeycomb support. Swiping on different areas of the screen will ajust volume, brightness and playback position. Zoom video as you like with multi-touch. MX Video Player also keeps watch time and position for all files, and you can manually mark any file as finished.

Market link: market.android.com/details?id=com.mxtech.videoplayer.ad

Other tested players: RockPlayer, Mobo Player and VPlayer. If you know another good player, please post comments below.

What it’s like to share an article from one of these magazine apps

Jeff — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 17:22:30 +0000

Hey Dan, I was just reading an interesting piece in that new iPad magazine. I think you’d really dig it.

Isn’t it amazing how it’s 2011 and we can just share these things quickly? Remember when you first used email and you were like, whoa dude, did you just send a letter to a possibly hot possibly girl in Cambodia? And you mean to tell me that she is going to be able to read it before I’m done saying this senten holy crap she wrote back already! Remember that? So since it’s 2011 this is going to be so much more amazing, yeah?

Alright, let me find this bad boy. For some reason* I can’t search this app so let me simply swipe my way through every page of every issue until I see the article I mentioned. I appreciate your patience. Ok here it is. Hey also for some reason* I can’t directly email this or select it to send it to you, so let’s do this right. You ready?

(*The pages are just dead images. There is no text to search or copy lol.)

Ok, download Futurio from the App Store. Got it? Love the sound of FREE, yeah. Take that, 1999. Ok, now, scroll on over to issue #9, the one with the poorly compressed JPEG on the cover, oh wait, now it looks better. Ok, buy (sike!) that one. It’ll take a few minutes to download. No, we can’t play Words With Friends while we wait, are you nuts. Hell yeah the download would break and probably be impossible to continue later.

Got it? Oh sorry, yeah, I’m eating a chicken confit sandwich. I had time to make it while the thing downloaded. Anyway, the article, the article… Right, it’s on page number, uh, well, ok it’s a big red page towards the back. Got it? Ok, it’s down at the end. No, scroll down. More. More. More. Ok there it is.

I know! I also thought Amanda would love it. You should totally send it to her.

Can’t agree more – these news and magazine apps seems to be better than websites until you try to share an article.

Source: mrgan.tumblr.com

Lifehacker article: which Phone Is Best for Power Users?

Shush! Ringer Restorer

Jeff — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 14:34:18 +0000

How many times you forgot to turn the phone ringer back on after a movie or meeting? This free app will activate itself when you silence your ringer using the volume buttons. Once your ringer is off, it asks you how long to stay silent.

Shush! Ringer Restorer on Android Market

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45 000 tests prove Android browser is faster

Jeff — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:53:10 +0000

Great analysis from Blaze comparing browser performance:

We set out to discover which mobile browser is truly faster – when used on real sites. Our goal was to measure the true mobile browsing experience, and see which device comes out ahead. 45,000 page loads later, this report summarizes our conclusions. We can now give a definitive answer to the question: which browser is really faster, from a user’s point of view?
The results surprised us.

First of all, we found that Android’s browser is faster. Not just a little faster, but a whopping 52% faster. Android’s Chrome beat iPhone’s Safari by loading 84% of the websites faster, meaning Safari won the race only 16% of the time. While we expected to see one of the browsers come out on top, we didn’t expect this gap.

Secondly, we saw that despite the optimized JavaScript engines in the latest iPhone & Android versions, browsing speed did not get better. Both Apple and Google tout great performance improvements, but those seem to be reserved to JavaScript benchmarks and high-complexity apps. If you expect pages to show up faster after an upgrade, you’ll be sorely disappointed. Read on to get more info about both findings, as well as additional comparisons such as WiFi vs. 3G and mobile sites vs. regular sites.

Source: www.blaze.io

Smart Rotator – enable auto-rotation for selected apps only

Jeff — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 01:04:08 +0000

Are you tired of switching auto-rotate setting back and forth? This tool can help you auto switching it.

You can set auto-rotate setting for each app, when you open/close those apps, it will help you turn on/off auto-rotate setting automatically.

Install

Sneak Peek of Cut the Rope for Android

Jeff — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 14:15:58 +0000

The game that matches Angry Birds in popularity in Apple AppStore is coming to Android.

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Best retail apps for Android phones

Jeff — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:12:44 +0000

Whether you own a small retail chain or sell items out of your brother’s apartment, there’s an app for that. Developers are beginning to produce mobile tools to help retailers operate their businesses. These apps help with everything from clocking in to checking out a customer to creating sales reports.

But sorting through hundreds of apps and finding those true gems that can help run your business is difficult. iTunes doesn’t have a retail category — in addition to being far from search friendly. Meanwhile, the new web-based Android Marketplace is a little more search friendly, but the lack of a retail category again stands as a roadblock.

So, we put together a list of the best mobile apps for retailers. This list was the product of multiple keyword searches across various app categories, from productivity to business. Data of how many reviews, star-ratings, and approximate number of installs are provided, as available.

Be sure to let us know if you’ve found a helpful retail app that we’ve left off the list.

Android Apps

Point of sale (POS) – 3.5 stars with 33 ratings | 1,000 – 5,000 installs | Free

This application acts as a simple point-of-sale solution for android devices. Has the ability to manage goods, complete transactions, and process returns.

Inventory Droid – 4.5 stars with over 160 ratings | 1,000 – 5,000 installs | $4.99

Packaged with a free PC extension, Inventory Droid is a great app for managing store inventory. Can use the integrated barcode scanner to quickly upload and update inventory information. Comes with the ability to backup and restore data.

CHARGE Anywhere® Payment App – 4.5 stars with 7 ratings | 1,000 – 5,000 installs | Free*

Accepts cash, credit, check, or ACH payments for $9.99/month plus per-transaction fees. Can integrate with optional Bluetooth module to swipe credit cards and print receipts. Also features reporting, the ability to tax and tip, and QuickBooks integration.

Credit Card Machine – 4 stars with 20 ratings | 5,000 – 10,000 installs | Free*

Can swipe credit cards and print receipts via external device (not included). Processes all major credit cards and creates a viewable transaction log with history details. Includes option for touch screen signatures. Requires Paynet Systems Merchant Account.

Credit Card Terminal – 4 stars with 25 ratings | 1,000 – 5,000 installs | Free*

Allows user to process credit card transactions at a rate of $25.00/month, 24¢/transaction, and 2.09% qualified. No termination fees for cancellation.

Intuit GoPayment – 4 stars with 68 ratings | 10,000 – 50,000 installs | Free*

Developed for iPhone and Android. This app offers two different pricing models based on processing more or less than $1000 a month: no monthly plan and higher rates for under $1000, and a monthly plan with reduced rates for over. Provides the option for both swipe and keypad data entry, and offers support for a couple different card readers. Users can qualify for a free card reader on the Intuit website.

Square – 4.5 stars with over 4,000 ratings | 100,000 – 500,000 installs | Free*

Developed for iPhone, iPad, and Android. Requires no monthly fees or contract and provides free Square credit card reader by mail after sign-up. Membership does require providing date of birth, SSN, and passing a credit check. Per transaction and weekly charge limits are determined by your credit score.

USAePay – 4 stars with 14 ratings | 1,000 – 5,000 installs | Free*

Can integrate with bluetooth devices for card swiping and receipt printing. Includes mobile POS option that can sync inventory with sales transactions. USAePay account required for use.

Ratings and prices were found from the Android Market.

Michael Koploy is an ERP Analyst for Software Advice. Software Advice is a free resource for buyers interested in retail inventory control software. The original article can be viewed at: Best Retail Apps for the iPhone, iPad, and Android Phones.

How to convert old Market links

Jeff — Sun, 27 Feb 2011 22:15:22 +0000

The new Android Market site is great, but there are still a lot of old links that begin with market:// and work only in the phone’s browser. This extension for Google Chrome will replace these links with links to http://market.android.com.

Install from Chrome Web Store