Pocket Casts

- Gavin

My cell phone serves many purposes, one of which is entertainment. The most important form of entertainment for me is podcasts. I am not a big fan of FM radio, and I do not stream music often in order to minimize data usage. I subscribe to 18 podcasts and listen to them daily. I also switch devices or flash ROMs on an almost weekly basis. The most tedious part of flashing a ROM or switching devices is setting up the new device. Trying to remember where I am on 18 different podcasts is just ridiculous. Enter Pocket Casts by Shifty Jelly. They not only offer multi-device syncing, but they also offer cross platform syncing with iOS devices. Now when I switch devices, I just enter my account info, and it picks up exactly where I left off. It also allows variable speed playback without having to use plug-ins. There are also settings to allow you to chose when to sync, download over cellular/Wi-Fi, and to download when charging. I have tried several podcast apps, and this one is the most refined, in my personal opinion. The developers respond to feedback quickly and push out frequent updates, so you can spend your $3.99 knowing you will not be abandoned.

Star Chart Infinite

- Sean

My app pick of the week, is one I did a full review of before.  I use this app on an almost daily basis, primarily now for entertainment for my 2 year old daughter.  From time to time, I still keep glaring at my screen in the sheer wonderment and excitement of our universe.  By simply moving the phone around you can make things appear on the screen like the constellations, exo-planets, our Solar system, meteor showers, nebulae, and so on.  Some of the features to this app, such as AR mode, are just amazing.  AR mode is augmented reality mode, where you can move your device around, and the app will display what’s in the night sky above you.  Normally it is a static view where you can move the screen images with your finger.  Other features, like the Hubble gallery, make this even more astonishing.  The Hubble gallery scrolls through images taken with the Hubble telescope.

Have sensitive eyes?  There is a night mode option as well.  All text and images (constellations) are shown in white, but at night that can be a little hard on the eyes.  Turn on night mode, and all images and text turn red – much easier viewing for you at night.  This app is currently on the Play Store; why not give them a try?

Dream of Pixels

- Derek

Have you ever wanted to play Tetris in reverse? Well, this is the game for you! The object of the game, as stated by the developer, is to unpack tetrimono blocks. This is instead of packing them, which, when you play the game, you’ll completely understand what that means. It is fairly simple, yet deceptively hard. You get the usual blocks (L-shaped, I-shaped, squares, Z-shaped, etc..), and you use those to take away from a giant grid of blocks. It has 5 modes to play. There are 4 standard modes (Classic, Pro, Nightmare, Shattered Dream) which are the games I described. There is also a Puzzle mode which gives you several shapes that you have to get the blocks to fit in properly. The game also has incredible visuals. The design is absolutely stunning on a tablet, but it’s a complete joy on your phone as well.

The game is a free download but is ad supported with the option to remove them for $2.90 USD. I would say it is well worth the money and time to check Dream of Pixels out.

Roundr

- Praneeth

Getting bored of viewing the screen on your Android device with rectangular corners? Then you need to try Roundr once. It is an open source application that that rounds the corners of your screen.

Tapping Roundr app after installing gives you a menu listing both General and Roundr settings.  General settings include options to enable Roundr, start on boot, and remove foreground notifications (requires root access). Roundr settings include options which allow you to choose from various corner designs (via Roundr extensions), app opacity, enabling/disabling corners, blacklisting apps from Roundr, corner radius, enable on lock screen, and overlap status bar.

Roundr is a free app downloadable from Google Play Store. However if you want to try different corner styles,you need to install Roundr Extensions for $0.99 USD. This extension pack gives you 10 new corner styles and the ability to blacklist apps and set corner opacity. You can follow the Roundr project work here at XDA-Developers.

500 Firepaper 

- Kevin

This gem is perfect for those of us too lazy to theme our phones but still want to change it up a bit. 500 Firepaper from SuperSU developer Chainfire is a live wallpaper that pulls images from 500px. You can adjust the frequency and categories displayed to get a fresh wallpaper every time you look at your phone or when it goes into Daydream mode.

The images are very high quality and can be somewhat memory intensive. Chainfire has already released a few bug fixes to help lower end phones.  If you want to be amazed every time you turn on your phone, grab 500 Firepaper as a free download from the Google Play Store.

Vonage 

- David

I’m one of those guys who likes to tinker with my Android gadgets and get them to do fun stuff that they weren’t exactly made to do, such as making phone calls from my Android tablets. With the Vonage app, there are very few steps to get you up and making phone calls from your tablet with your cell phone number showing up on the other person’s caller ID. Take a peak at our Vonage app review with full instructions if you need any clarification. This is hardly a must have app for tablet owners but rather a fun way to make phone calls from your tablet (make sure your friends and family are around when you do this…  you look really cool! Trust me). What are you waiting for? Grab that Nexus 10, download Vonage, and hold that sucker up to your head, and make some phone calls. Again, make sure your friends and family are around when you’re holding that big slab against your head making phone calls!

The post Android Fan Network’s Weekly App Picks appeared first on Android Fan Network.

-4.5-inch HD display

-the newest Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 400 processor featuring a quad-core CPU

-all-day battery life

-Android 4.3 Jellybean, with a guaranteed upgrade to Android 4.4 KitKat at the beginning of 2014

-No skins to clutter or slow the experience

-Stylish design with a comfortable curved back and 19 customization options, including interchangeable Motorola Shells and Flip Shells in seven colors as well as Grip Shells in five colors.

Straight from Motorola:

“Moto G goes on sale this week in Brazil and parts of Europe and will be available within the next few weeks throughout Latin America, Europe, Canada and parts of Asia. It will be available in the US, India, the Middle East and more of Asia in early January. Moto G will be in more than 30 countries with 60 partners by 2014.”

Please chime in on our Google+ page or below in the comments and let us know if this interests you.

Source: Motorola
Image: Moto Blog

The post Motorola Announces the Moto G $179/8GB $199/16GB Off Contract appeared first on Android Fan Network.

Moto G Announcement

Motorola has just announced their live event for tomorrow to unveil the Moto G. The live stream start at 9AM EST and will be on their G+ page and YouTube.

Here are the links for the event:

Google+
YouTube
Sign Up Page

The post Live Moto G Announcement November 13th on Google+ and YouTube at 9AM EST appeared first on Android Fan Network.

Is the Nexus 5 camera a little lacking in your opinion?  Does it seem just a bit flat and dull?  Well, it is a Nexus, so there is a Zip for that.  Developer Jishnu Sir has created a flashable zip file to improve some key areas of the Nexus 5 camera. Here is a list from his post for version 1:

1) Bitrate are as follows:

• Stock 720P@12 Mb/s.
• Stock 1080P@17 Mb/s.
• Modded 720P@20 Mb/s.
• Modded 1080P@26 Mb/s.

2) Audio Bitrate quality :

• Stock = 96000 Kb/s
• Modded = 192000 Kb/s

3) Image Encode Quality :

• Stock = 90.
• Modded = 99.

4) JPEG Encode Quality :

• Stock = 80.
• Modded = 99.

5) Modified hammerhead.camera.so for better sharpness of the pictures. Increased the Sharpeness to 90 from 75.

He is currently up to version 1.2, with or without noise cancellation, so make sure you read his change log. As always, read before doing anything, and have a backup handy just in case. Is this something you would try out? Already tried it? Let us know below in the comments or on our Google+ page. Happy flashing!

Source XDA

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The Nexus 7 2013 is just a few days old and surprisingly we now have an unofficial CyanogenMod 10.2 (based on Android 4.3) build available. Of course you need to have a custom recovery installed. Click here for TWRP. The install drill is the same, reboot into recovery, do a wipe data/cache and then install the CyanogenMod 10.2 zip followed by gapps.

For more details and download links head over to the original thread on xda.

The post Unofficial CyanogenMod 10.2 Build Available for Nexus 7 2013 appeared first on Android Fan Network.

AT&T LG Optimus G users can now try Android AOSP 4.3 rom, the rom is built from source. The only known issue is that NFC does not work, other than that everything seems to be working. Just place the zip file in the internal memory of your phone, flash via recovery and do a wipe data/cache or a factory reset and reboot.

For download links head over to the original thread on xda.

The post AOSP 4.3 Rom Now Available for AT&T LG Optimus G appeared first on Android Fan Network.

Link here >>>>> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.espn.espnfantasyfootball&hl=en

SCREENSHOTS

Features include:

•Team Management: Start/bench players, add, drop, and claim players off waivers, propose, accept or reject trades with other managers

•Fantasy Cast Live Scoring and Stats: Real-time scoring and detailed information for all your match-ups.

•Personalized Push Notifications for injuries, substitutions, and scoring updates.

•Fantasy News, Videos and Tweets from ESPN’s fantasy analysts.

•View and post messages to your league’s message board

Source: Google Play

The post ESPN Fantasy Football App Review appeared first on Android Fan Network.

In my case, I chose one of their very cool Miami Heat designs because my favorite basketball team is the Miami Heat as my skin of choice. If you also have a favorite sports team, you can use that as your skin.  Another option, if you have a favorite artist you can use one of their works of art as your skin.  If just want a cool design, they have many abstract designs to choose from as the sky is the limit for custom design choices. The skins are not just limited to phones as you can also put it on tablets, laptops, or even your favorite game console.

These Skins are not just appealing to the eyes as each skin is made with durable, automotive-grade premium vinyl for easy application and residue-free removal from state-of-the art digital presses so that they can provide vibrant photo quality graphics. These skins have been designed to perfectly fit the unique contour of your device. They are ultra-low profile ensuring they will not interfere with docks, chargers or other accessories.  The skin retails starting at $14.99 for all phones but it will be a little bit more expensive for tablets or computers due to coverage area.  I am very pleased with this skin it is very nice looking and looks extremely sharp on my Galaxy Note 2. Skinit didn’t disappoint me what so ever. I encourage everyone to check it out. I don’t think you would be disappointed if you were to purchase a skin from them.

The post Skinit Review appeared first on Android Fan Network.

iOS 7 vs Android Jelly Bean 4.2

In case you were saying to yourself “what are the differences between iOS 7 and Android 4.2” Well I did just that so you can stop searching.  Ok, lets step back for a second and start looking at the comparisons of what Apple is going to offer in their latest iOS 7 release that is not yet available and what Android Jelly Bean 4.2 now offers.  Android is ahead of the curve with its own unique features Android Fans come to know and crave each time Android puts out its updates. Starting with some Apple’s new features (not yet released) and a few of Androids features Android Fans are already enjoying.

iOS 7: Claims its going to Make the things you do every day even easier, quicker, and more enjoyable.  And while many of the apps may a look a bit different, the way you do things feels and looks the same.

Android 4.2: Jelly Bean improves on the speed and simplicity of Android 4.1 and also includes new features like Photo Sphere and a completely redesigned camera app, new Gesture Typing keyboard, Google Now with all new cards, and much more.

Everything in Android just feels fast and smooth. Navigating between home screens and switching between apps is effortless and a real time saver.  Jelly Bean improves features and performance throughout the system, including faster orientation changes, quicker switching between recent opened apps, and smoother and more consistent rendering across the system.  Jelly Bean has more reactive and unique touch responses, and makes your Android device even more responsive by revving up your device’s processor in an instant when you touch the screen, and slows it down when you don’t need it to improve life of the battery.

iOS 7 introduces some great new features like Control Center, AirDrop and Multitasking to name a few.  I have compared these iOS features and others with Androids Jelly Bean 4.2.

Control Center vs Android Widgets

Control Center gives you quick access to the controls and apps you always seem to need right this second. By simply swiping up from any screen, including the Lock screen, to do things like switch to different modes like Airplane mode, turn Wi-Fi on or off, or adjust the brightness or contrast of your display.

Android also makes it easier to customize your home screen.  As you have the ability to place widgets on the home screen, everything else automatically moves to make room.  When they’re too large, widgets resize by themselves automatically. If you choose to resize a widget, apps and widgets will now also move out of the way to make room.  This is a very smooth transition.  You can now quickly remove apps or widgets from any home screen by  moving them to the edge of the screen instead of moving to trash icon.  Launching apps and returning back to the home screen are now faster and effortless with Android.

Quick Look

Allows you to turn on or off different modes like Airplane mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Do Not Disturb. Lock your screen’s orientation or adjust its brightness.  You can also Play, pause, or skip a song  with ease.

Android 4.2, on the other hand, lets you place widgets on your device’s lock screen to give you quicker access to your calendar, Gmail, SMS messages, and even third party app widgets that you can download from Google Play.  Quickly launch Google Now by swiping up from the bottom edge of your secure lock screen.  You can even easily access the camera straight from your phone’s lock screen.

Notifications

iOS Notification Center  lets you know about new mail, missed calls, to-dos that need doing, and more.  And a new feature called “Today” gives you a convenient summary of today. You can access Notification Center from any screen, including the Lock screen. Just swipe down. And get up to speed.

With Android, and a swipe of your finger, you can get to your notifications as well.  You can now take action on notifications directly from the notifications shade.  Notifications from the same application are grouped together, and the first item is automatically expanded. You can also pinch out notifications to expand or pinch in to collapse them.  You now get an image preview in notifications after taking a screenshot. You can quickly share the screenshot directly from the notification.  You can now touch-hold a notification to identify the application that created it and turn off notifications from that application if needed, or just simply uninstall the application.  You can also remove Notifications that you read by swiping them away.

Camera

Camera in iOS 7 puts all your shooting formats from still, video, panorama, and now square  in plain view. With a swipe, you can capture what you want the way you want .   There are also new filters that let you do even more with each image. Give it a natural feel.  Increase the brightness or contrast.  Or just go to black and white.  You are the Artist and you have the ownership and what you desire is all yours.  You can apply many filters to still and square photos. You can pick a filter and see the effect before you even take the picture. Or just take the shot after shot and apply it later as you edit your visions. If you ever change your mind and decide no filter is the best, you have the opportunity to simply remove it.

Android 4.2 features a  redesigned camera with new tools for taking photos.  Tools like High Dynamic Range or HDR mode (on supported devices) that lets you see more detail in your shots by expanding the exposure range.  There is also a new photo editor that features new filters, borders, and other tools to easily customize your photos.  With the Photo Sphere feature, you can take panoramic images and wide angle shots that you can view and share on your phone, tablet or desktop computer or favorite social media.  If you so desire, you can quickly review photos you’ve taken without leaving the camera app, you can swipe from the camera viewfinder. To continue taking photos again, just swipe back to the camera viewfinder.

 iCloud Photo Sharing vs Google +

With the use of  iCloud, you can share your favorite moments with your favorite people by creating a shared photo stream which is pretty cool.  Allowing others to post photos, videos, and comments to your stream, and it all appears on everyone’s iOS devices automatically which is very similar to the Mac. The new Activity view lets you see the latest updates from all your shared streams in one place.

With Google +, you can also share Photos with your community, circles or publicly, and anyone you share with can experience them on Google+ view them on their desktop.  Photo Spheres are now also saved in Instant Upload.  As you swipe through the stream, large bold photos now fall into place with animations giving you a more unique browsing experience.  Google+ on tablets features a new magazines layout in the stream.  You can now create and manage Google+ Events right from your device. Posts and photos are saved to the event so you can relive it at any time.  There is also a Party Mode that lets you instantly upload and share photos during an Event so you capture all the right moments in one place.

 Air Drop vs NFC

The idea of sending a photo, video or a document to someone through a  text or email is great. But if that someone is right next to you, a text or an email suddenly feels like too many steps. With AirDrop for your iOS device, it lets you quickly and easily share photos, videos, contacts and anything else from any app with a Share button.  You can simply tap and  share, then select the person you want to share with. AirDrop does the rest using Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. There is no setup that is required.  And transfers are encrypted, so what you share is highly secure.

With Android Beam, it’s a bit different,  you can also easily share your photos and videos via NFC not Wi-Fi.  You can instantly pair your Android phone or tablet to Bluetooth devices like headsets or speakers that support the Simple Secure Pairing standard by just tapping them together.  Android Beam is ideal for sharing content like web pages, maps, videos, photos, and more with other people’s phones and tablets. You can quickly transfer content between nearby devices without a long setup process.  And transfers are also encrypted, so what you share is highly secure.

iTunes Radio vs Google Play Music

iTunes Radio features streaming radio stations you’ll love from day one  from the best selection of music. The more you listen, the more personalized it becomes. And it’s available on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac, PC, and Apple TV for free. It’s radio re-imagined.  You can access Featured Stations, stations inspired by music you choose or already listen to, and more than 200genre-based stations.  Build new stations while you listen, and control the balance between playing the hits and discovering less familiar songs.  View the History of everything you’ve heard or added to your Wish List. Then tap to download the songs you want from iTunes.

With the Google Play Music widget, now lets you give a  thumbs up to songs as they are playing and features a new design for better readability.  Playlist art is automatically created and is based on the album art of your songs in that playlist.  In the now playing bar, you can simply swipe between screens.  The Recent screen features larger album art.  You can also delete tracks within the app.  There is a Now Playing queue of tracks.  You can set a song as your ringtone from Play Music, and the new ringtone editor lets you crop that ringtone to the exact section of the track you’d like to use.  You can now discover all new music in Google Play by touching ‘explore similar artists’ and swiping between artists to instantly listen to previews of their music.  A new Sound Search widget lets you identify songs you hear and gives the option to purchase them directly from Google Play.  Google Play Music has come a long way and is getting better.

App Store vs Google Play

Apps Near Me is a new feature of the App Store in iOS 7  and it shows you a collection of popular apps relevant to your current location.   There is a new Kids category that spotlights the best apps for children based on age.   iOS 7 also keeps your apps up to date automatically, so you don’t have to bother.  You will no longer see that you have updates available like in the past.

With Android, there is a new set of recommendation widgets that use a variety of signals and content that people with similar tastes have purchased, like stuff that’s popular and interesting around where you live, and content people in your Google+ circles.  A new My Library widget, which displays all of your recent movies, books, music, and magazines and dynamically changes based on what you’ve been entertaining with recently.  Smart App Updates ensure that only the parts of an application that have changed will be downloaded when you next update it, saving time, bandwidth, and battery life.  This is very nice and saves lots of time.

 iOS in car vs Google Maps

iOS in the Car seamlessly integrates your iOS device and enhances the iOS experience with your in-dash system.  Now you can easily and safely make phone calls, access your music, send and receive messages, get directions, and more.

With Android you have Google Maps, you can upload your Photos to Google Maps directly from your phone, so others can view them on their desktop.  With support for offline maps, you can select an area  and later access it even when you don’t have a connection.  There is also a Compass Mode for indoor views and street view is more accurate and responsive.    You can also get indoor walking directions in Maps.

In Summary, how open is iOS 7 compared to Android.  Both iOS and Android have more features that differ slightly is some cases and significantly in others.  I think iOS 7 is getting better, however, it’s still playing catch up with Android.  The bottom line is you have more control over the features with Android compared to iOS.  If you are lucky enough to have an Android Smart Phone with a 5” display your experience is even that much better.  Do the “Jelly Bean” dance.  Bigger and better is yet to come in the very near future with Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie to be released, and that is when you will crave Android even more than you do now.  That is when it starts to get really interesting.

The post iOS 7 vs Android 4.2 appeared first on Android Fan Network.

Popular iOS app Vine coming to Android soon.

The other day I bought an iPhone 4s just for giggles and to see what was doing with Apple and their phones today.  After it was done syncing, installing all of my apps and having this iPhone 4s setup identical to the iPhone 4s I had a year ago (down to the wallpaper and last years text messages).  A very nifty feature I hope comes with “Key Lime Pie” to Android.  It would be nice if every time I switched Android devices, despite the manufacturer or carrier, when I log in to my new Android device it downloads, syncs and sets my phone up exactly the way it was on my older device.  I know Android has a backup syncing thing, but it’s not the same.

Anywhoo – The developers of the popular iOS app Vine are saying it’s coming to Android “soon”.  I think we all know or don’t know what “soon” means.  I remember waiting for Netflix on my Original Evo 4g and Instagram shortly after and both companies always said the app was coming to Android “soon”.  Ten years later we have Netflix and Instagram on our Android devices (ok…  maybe it wasn’t ten years but it sure as hell felt like it).

Take “soon” for what it is, a word.  What does “soon” mean to me?  It means it’s coming to Android for sure.  When?  Who knows, but we’re getting it.

Source: The Verge

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