Category: android

5 Android Games You May Want To Try

Bob Freking Leave a comment

There are lots of Android games out there that you may have already heard about again and again, such as Dead Trigger, Angry Birds, Cut The Rope, Asphalt and the like as they come from very successful developers & titles. We just thought of sharing with you 5 games we never get tired of, or something we just discovered, so read on to find them out.

Into The Dead

Into The Dead is an endless running game, but it’s not like Temple Run nor Zombie Tsunami. It’s a first-person game where you run across various environments infested with zombies, and along the way you can arm yourself with power-ups and more.

into the dead

Just recently they updated it to work well with tablets, and the interface doesn’t feel rushed and cheap unlike other apps. You can download it here for free.

Duck Retro Hunt

Remember that game, Duck Hunt? Well, they put that into a 3D environment now and more. You basically shoot flying ducks, and it gets harder to shoot them down along the way.

retro

You can bring the gaming experience to your own world as it will make use of your device’s gyroscope & camera through augmented reality mode. You can get it here for free, or you can get it ads-free here for Php47.83.

Vector

vector

PARKOUR! Here’s a free-running game where you try to escape from a totalitarian world. The silhouettes create a minimalist effect and the soundtrack plus the story can get quite capturing – literally. Someone tries to chase after you and of course, you shouldn’t be captured.

You can download it here for free.

Music Hero

We used to be so engrossed with games like Tap Tap Revenge… until songs got so costly to play with. Music Hero is just like that with a little less and a little more. You can add your own music into the game and the notes it creates for it really synchronize with the beat.

music hero

What’s gone here is multiplayer mode, and we’re hoping that someone can make that a reality sooner or later. You can get the game here for free as well.

Shadowgun: Deadzone

Shadowgun: Deadzone is a third person shooter online game. It doesn’t end, and it doesn’t get boring as the game is online-based, and you get to play with different players all the time, even with your friends.

shadowgun

The game has been out for quite some time now, and the reason my love sparked for it once again is because of the 2.0 update which brought new maps and weapons. There are two modes in which you can play – Zone Control and Deathmatch.

If you’re in, you can go download it here for free.

So that’s about it. If there are anymore great Android games you’d like to share, feel free to pitch it down in the comments for everyone to see.

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Google I/O 2013: What To Expect

Bob Freking Leave a comment

Google’s next event is happening next month. Last year, they introduced the Nexus 7, Android 4.1 Jellybean, the now-abandoned Nexus Q and a lot more. Tickets for the event are all sold out, so let’s just go through the things that we might see this upcoming Google I/O 213.

GOOGLE IO

Aside from new services, Google-branded products are the most widely expected line-up that people are eager for. A brand new Nexus smartphone and/or tablet, a wearable tech crazier and more ambitious than Google Glasses and new features to be incorporated with the latest Android.

Nexus 7 Successor

The Galaxy Nexus & Nexus 4 was announced on an October, so maybe the Nexus phone still won’t be announced as early as next month. Instead, we might be seeing an updated Nexus 7. The tablet is expected to pack a 1080p display, which is entirely probable since it’s becoming a norm on high-end smartphones now. To power that is an S4 Pro CPU, according to reports.

nexus 7

It’s getting a lot of difficult competition now with the Galaxy note 8.0 & iPad Mini around, so expect it to become capable. While it doesn’t really have sense to have a camera on a tablet, maybe Google & Asus could slip one in it just to say it has it.

Android Key Lime Pie

We have no clues on the version number. In fact, we have no clues on anything. Since it’s expected not to be a big leap anyways, let’s say it’ll be 4.3. It could contain minor updates to already given features, such as battery percentage on the notification bar or so.

It can also bring features like a unified messaging app…

Google Babel/Babble

A lot of speculation has been made about Google Babble/Babel. The naming could be any, since Babble is related to speech while Babel is the biblical tower that created different languages across men. The service aims to unify the company’s messaging clients – from Google+, Talk, Hangouts & Voice.

babble

It’s probably going to be competing with iMessage and the like, and you can only imagine the users it will get especially with all the Android users out there. Communication will be a lot easier.

The New Google Play Store App

It’s been a long time since the Play Store had a design overhaul. Leaks have been going around already on what the next change will be, and it looks a lot lighter.

We’ve reported this before, and this one is expected to roll out to all Android devices as previous versions did.

Motorola X Phone

Ah, Motorola. Ever since Google bought the mobile phone maker, we haven’t seen any direct Google influence from their devices. The last ones we saw were the Razr Maxx HD, and rumors suggest a lot of ideas about the rumored comeback phone of Motorola.

You can believe two rumor paths here. First, they were saying it’s going to be revolutionary and that it was said to be build-to-order, meaning you can request for the specs you want. Second is that it’s probably not going to be that game-changing phone everyone wanted, but perhaps just a Motorola flagship (1080p display and all that or more).

And all these little things…

Google’s a big company with big plans. Of course it won’t be just this. It’s impossible that we won’t get to see another Project Glass demo, more software improvements and more service expansions (Fiber, Now & etc.). What about you? What are the things that you would want to see from the search giant next month?

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Facebook’s big announcement, the Facebook phone?

Bob Freking Leave a comment

This is probably one of the rumors that won’t just die. Ever since the HTC ChaCha and Salsa, there has been a long line of speculations about when the next Facebook phone will be out – and little by little, the puzzle pieces are forming the big picture as inch closer to the official announcement.

Facebook has already sent an invite for an event this April 4 (Pacific Time), with the words “Come see our new home on Android.” 

facebook

In our opinion, the announcement will most likely be a software rather than a handset – which is probably a launcher app for Android, or an Android phone running a Facebook UI. HTC has been long speculated to be the manufacturer of the said device, which is entirely plausible when you look at their past with Facebook and their dedication to a social-networking UI (Sense).

“A Facebook phone just doesn’t make any sense.”

-Mark Zuckerberg

The man behind Facebook has stated it last year that a handset doesn’t make any sense, but he explained that he wanted deep integration with mobile devices – which is why we’re really looking at software here, instead of a phone.

Unwired View gathered some of the patents that has been filed to give a glimpse of what we could be looking at soon, and it screams “Facebook Phone!” all around. We might be looking at a Facebook Feed on the lockscreen, a Facebook-integrated phonebook/dialer and a modified camera app.

patent

EVleaks tweeted an image of what is reported to be the HTC First, with no HTC branding on the phone itself. Sites have reported this to be the Facebook phone along with its rumored specs. We are a bit skeptical about the said leak as it seems like the HTC First moniker was just placed on top of the image.

htc first

The hardware side of things is still hard to grasp for us at present. The push forward that Facebook is probably aiming at is for you to be more integrated with Facebook – that you’re going to base your contacts on your friends list, your apps on Facebook apps, and your email on example@facebook.com.

A better Facebook app would be nice, since it’s still occasionally slow on loading stuff. Do you want a new Facebook launcher for your Android phone? Or rather, a reasonably priced Facebook phone? We’re going to find out soon, so stay tuned.

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Can Android take over the desktop space?

Bob Freking Leave a comment

We’ve theorized about this before but the idea wasn’t fully complete yet. Android is growing faster than ever, while Chrome OS is just starting to gain traction albeit still slow. What’s the connection? Well, it feels like Android is trying to get ready for the Desktop, slowly and still open to debate, but let’s discuss it shall we?

Just recently, Andy Rubin stepped down as the one in charge of Android; and Sundar Pichai, Chrome/App Head, took over. This development opened a lot of doors for the future of Android and Google as a whole.

FUTURE OF ANDROID

…it’s a great step for Google entering the laptop business. Maybe this is the push Chrome OS needs.

Google introduces Chromebook Pixel, 2560×1700 laptop

Google became serious in the notebook business with the Chromebook Pixel — and so far, it managed to get a lot of good reviews and impressions across the internet, except for one thing — the platform. Chrome OS is basically the same Chrome browser fitted into an independent operating system and it isn’t really the most practical OS to use on a laptop since it’s heavily based on the Cloud.

stats

However, if you look at Chrome years ago, it was barely noticed since the browser wars were all about Internet Explorer, Firefox and the rest. Look at it now, the growth spurt is evident, so we guess developing Chrome OS and Chromebooks is the next logical step for Google.

The market is currently experiencing massive shifts. In the past 2 years, the mobile industry has grown while the desktop market declined. Microsoft adapted touch into Windows 8 while, like we said, Chrome OS is starting to gain its ground through the also touch-enabled Chromebook Pixel and others like the $250 Samsung Chromebook. Include the report that Google Now will be making its way to Chrome and it all adds up.

ANDROID CHROMEBOOK

Android is one of the stories you may have heard over and over again, but its road to success was not without resistance. When they aimed at the tablet space, it was a major miss. Honeycomb wasn’t prepared at all for the market. Ice Cream Sandwich tried to fix that by merging both tablet & phone UIs, and it partly succeeded — to be followed up by further improvements with Jellybean.

Now, hypothetically, let’s look at the market Android is creeping into — the desktop market. Seen below through StatCounter, Mac OS X is still on the minority and Windows 8 adoption rate is still on the slow side in a world dominated by Windows 7. Chrome OS won’t make a dent here anytime soon but think about it: Windows 8 is on shaky grounds still and Windows 7 is surely about to decline soon.

Windows 8 can grow once Windows 7 users are forced to upgrade. The question is, do they want to upgrade? Well, if you think about it, it is debatable and too early to tell – but adoption rate is still quite slow though. According to BGR, Windows 8 has gotten a market share of 1.09% in November, 1.72% in December and 2.26% in January.

stats 2

We always get this argument that nothing can ever overpower Windows’ dominance, but maybe Microsoft is getting too complacent. Android has started supporting x86 processors quite some time ago, has great file management and has a growing ecosystem. It has all the things it needs to compete with Windows – safe for those .exe files, drivers and hardware support (printers, peripherals & etc.) that the consumer needs, but once developers start believing in it, they will follow anyway.

Server market is also on the huge. It’s going to be hard to challenge Microsoft in this area – even harder if you attempt to overthrow them – but Google could have their eyes set on the prize anyway as they really have a heated relationship with the Redmond giant, seen through their actions (dropping Exchange ActiveSync, not supporting Windows Phone with Google apps).

Of course, these things won’t happen immediately. It will take time since Android can’t even maximize 10-inch screens just yet. Microsoft needs to be on a lookout, since it has a lot to defend and protect against Google. Android can simply merge with Chrome OS anytime soon, just like how it absorbed both phone and tablet operating systems.

chrome droid

Google’s Eric Schmidt stated in a recent report by Reuters that they will remain separate entities and rather, they will only have commonalities as time passes. That could rule out the merging part for the foreseeable future, but that doesn’t necessarily mean Android won’t go desktop. Besides, it can take a decade before it could completely materialize.

All clues point to this road. Google already has an Android statue made out of Chrome for the world to see (though that confirms nothing). Is timing & polishing the only thing holding back the potential Android desktop OS?

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The race to break the OS duopoly

Ronnie Bulaong Leave a comment

During the course of the past six months, several companies have announced their new mobile platform hoping to break the Apple-Google duopoly. Today we’ll take a closer look at 5 of those operating systems and see which one has what it takes to be the next big thing in the OS wars.


yugatech1

Two of the candidates in this list (BlackBerry OS 10 and Windows Phone 8) are already out in the market, while three are still in the last phase of development and is scheduled to make its debut in the latter part of this year. Furthermore, the two OS out in the market are both closed source and the 3 upcoming platforms are all open source.

BlackBerry OS 10

Company: BlackBerry Ltd. (formerly known as Research In Motion)
Source Model: Closed source
OS Architecture: Real-time Microkernel (QNX)
Supported Programming Language: JavaScript, CSS, HTML
Supported App Framework: Qt/QML and HTML5
User Interface: BlackBerry 10 UI
Min. Hardware Requirements: Undisclosed
Announcement Date: January 30, 2013
Status: Available
Devices: Limited to BlackBerry handsets as of the moment

The BlackBerry OS 10, as well as the BlackBerry Tablet OS, is the product of the acquisition of QNX Software Systems, the company behind this Microkernel-based OS. As such, the platform shares some distinct features with its tablet counterpart just like the bezel-to-screen swipe gestures called Blackberry Flow and Peek for navigation and multitasking.

bb os 10

Apart from revamped UI, the BB OS 10 also boasts several new features including BlackBerry Hub, Balance, Time Shift Camera. Being known for providing one of the best keyboard in the industry, the on-screen keyboard of the BlackBerry Z10 has also seen a significantly improvement over the previous builds. The virtual keyboard bears the company’s renowned layout and is now capable of auto-predicting the next word that the user will type. The predicted word/s is displayed on top of a certain key and can be used by flicking upwards.

After a long period of silence, BlackBerry is starting to create a buzz in the mobile industry with the release of the highly anticipated mobile platform, the BlackBerry OS 10. The OS, along with the two new handsets (Z10 and Q10) that features it, has been regarded by many smartphone enthusiasts as the Canadian company’s last ditch effort to regain its place in the consumer and enterprise market. Now that the OS is out in the open, the key is for the company to back up their brainchild with aggressive marketing strategy.

Firefox OS

Company: Mozilla Foundation
Source Model: Open Source
OS Architecture: Monolithic (Linux Kernel)
Supported App Framework: HTML5
User Interface: Gaia
Min. Hardware Requirements:
Processor: 800MHz
RAM: 256MB RAM
Display: QVGA
Announcement Date: July 25, 2010 (Boot to Gecko), July 2012 (Firefox OS)
Status: In development, target launch on Q3 2013
Devices: Alcatel, LG Electronics, ZTE, Huawei, TCL Corporation, Sony

Deeply rooted in Mozilla’s core is the organization’s advocacy to promote openness, innovation and opportunity. This belief is reflected on almost everything that they do, including their latest endeavor the Firefox OS.

The goal is to build “a complete, standalone operating system for the open web.” In order to achieve this, Mozilla uses HTML5 in programming the platform and for developing applications. This allows developers to easily port their apps that are previously written for other platforms to the upcoming OS.

firefox os

In the recently concluded MWC, the organization announced the companies that joined their cause. These companies include several telcos and a handful of device manufacturers. At the convention, Mozilla also showcased a pair of handsets (Alcatel One Touch Fire and ZTE Fire) that sports the OS.

Sailfish OS

Company: Jolla Ltd.
Source Model: Open Source
OS Architecture: Monolithic (Linux Kernel)
Supported App Framework: Qt/QML
User Interface: Jolla UI
Min. Hardware Requirements: TBA
Announcement Date: November 21, 2012
Status: In development, target launch on Q1 2013
Devices: TBA

Equipped with more than enough knowledge and expertise about mobile OS, Jolla Mobile, the team that brought us MeeGo and MaeMo is back with a vengeance and is looking to make another mark in the industry with their upcoming platform dubbed as Sailfish OS.

sailfish os

The concept behind the OS is rather simple; merge Mer (MeeGo Reconstructed) and MeeGo’s architecture and further develop it using Qt Quick, QML and HTML5. The result that the team is hoping for is platform that “brings and fosters innovation to offer unique differentiation and a competitive advantage for OEMs and ODMs, chipset providers, operators, application developers and retailers.”
Jolla Ltd. has yet to officially name a mobile manufacturer that would carry their OS. It’s been said that the design of the phone will come from the organization itself, but because of the platform’s versatility, Jolla is confident that the integration of the OS to other devices should be a breeze.

Ubuntu Touch

Company: Canonical Ltd.
Source Model: Open source
OS Architecture: Monolithic (Linux Kernel)
Supported App Framework: Qt/QML and HTML5
User Interface: Unity UI based on Ubuntu 10.10
Min. Hardware Requirements: 1GHz Cortex A9 processor, 512MB RAM
Announcement Date: January 2, 2013
Status: Slated for Q4 2013 launch
Devices: TBA

Ubuntu Touch hails from a long line of Open Source operating system developed by Canonical for desktop users. With a slogan of “One Device To Rule Them All”, Canonical is looking to capitalize on their expertise in the desktop ecosystem and apply those in their upcoming mobile platform.

The mobile OS will sport a home grown, gesture-based UI called Unity UI which is inspired by the netbook-optimized version of Ubuntu. Unity UI bears some similarities with Blackberry OS 10’s UI, particularly in the navigation aspect, as both makes use of the every inch of the device’s display for basic operations. This eliminates the need for a physical button and makes it easier for users to navigate through various selections. The downside, however, is that it requires a lot of getting used to in order for the touch-based operation to feel natural.

ubuntu touch

Canonical’s goal is to provide users with the near-desktop experience on their mobile devices by integrating some of key components of the desktop version of the platform to the gesture-based UI. The company has yet to disclose the manufacturers who will use the Ubuntu Touch on their smartphones, but Mark Shuttleworth (Founder and CEO of Canonical, Ltd) mentioned that the first devices running on their Linux-Based OS is slated to debut on October of this year.

Windows Phone 8

Company: Microsoft
Source Model: Closed source
OS Architecture: Hybrid Windows NT Kernel
Supported App Framework: Microsoft XNA
User Interface: Windows 8 (Metro UI)
Min. Hardware Requirements:
Processor: Snapdragon S4 dual-core
RAM: 512MB (WVGA), 1GB for 720p
ROM: 4GB
Announcement Date: October 29 2012
Status: Out in the market
Devices: HTC, Huawei, Nokia and Samsung

For the majority of users, Windows Phone 8 may just seem like a major update to the last version of WP7.8 (Tango). This misconception may have sprung up due to the similarities that this OS and the previous generations share in common, especially in the user interface department. However, truth be told, there are more to Windows Phone 8 than meets the eye.

Probably the most significant improvement that WP8 has over previous builds is at its core. Instead of using a similar kernel as the pre-historic Windows CE, Microsoft utilized a Hybird (Monolithic – Microkernel) Windows NT kernel that is also being used on Windows 8. The use of this kernel has resulted to a significant improvement in the mobile platform’s ability to handle multi-core processors, higher screen resolution and storage expansion via Micro-SD card; three of the many things that users and journalists have been complaining since the debut of Windows Phone7.

windows phone 8

However, one of the major drawbacks that WP8 has is the fact that it cannot be installed on devices running on WP7. Microsoft explains that this is due to the hardware limitations presented by the earlier devices running on an older version of their platform. When this news made the headlines, it sparked an uproar in the WP7 community which also proved crucial to the success of WP7-powered handsets in the market. In the end, users are left with a hard pill to swallow; be content with their current device’s OS or move on to WP8.

As of the time of writing, both BB OS 10 and WP8 have a clear advantage over the other candidates in our list. In the case of BlackBerry, it has already established a following in the past; they just need to get things back on track to reclaim their spot in the upper echelon of the OS wars with BlackBerry OS 10. Windows Phone 8, on the other hand, is still on shaky grounds, but the single major edge it has over its competition is the fact that users can seamlessly transition from one Windows-powered device to the other since it also has a counterpart in the tablet and desktop scene.

yugatech2

As for the three upcoming open source OS, it’s still pretty early to tell whether these platforms will make it to the big leagues, let alone break the two-horse race between Android and iOS. Make no mistake though; each of these platforms presents a very interesting proposition for its potential users. So the effort is definitely there, the question is if it’s gonna be enough to be named as one of the greats in the industry.

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