Dual File Manager, Powerful All in One File Manager

Dual file manager is a very powerful utility for not only managing your folders but thanks to its embedded features such as ...

*. Thumbnail generating for apk, audio and videos...

*. Zip file handling (Zip, gZip and Tar).

*. Search for files within archives.

*. Bookmark files.

*. Sort (with different views, etc).

*. Dual screen ability.

*. Check archive integrity.

*. Open files with different apps.

These are some of the main functions. But unless you're a power user I don't think you're gonna need to bother with the Dual file manager. Anyhow for all you nerdy experimenting (yikes ;-) ) geeks go to this market page for more.

Speed-up Your Android OS with ES Task Manager App

If you're usually annoyed by hang-up apps or if they're "successfully" slow down the phone thus sucking out the power from your battery then ES Task Manager app is an excellent solution. With it you can schedule to kill apps, free memory, uninstall apps, and can include to its "kill list" the applications that you want to be terminated as soon as they're loaded, etc are just few of the main functions.

You can customize the widget to suit to your needs such as ...

*. Add the widget refresh time (which helps to update it's current operations) but don't use frequent refresh times since it can leave you batter with some unnecessary loads thus sucking out its power.

*. Set to show how much battery is available.

*. Show available memory and CPU loads.

*. Change the theme.

There are two (originally) themes that come with it that you can choose from and even if you're a newbie still the GUI is pretty straightforward and easy to use nonetheless. easily kill applications that are on or not on the list. For installing and downloading pleases visit this es taskmanager market page.

AppMonster, Back-Up Your Installed Apps on Android Phone!

If you want a single app that let's you manage all your already installed apps on the android phone for tasks such as backing up or safely removing, etc then AppMonster is a great utility and it is FREE!. So make sure you have android 1.6 or higher (not working on Honeycomb I think) before proceeding.

It will let you...

*. Install and uninstall apps directly from SD memory cards.

*. Back-up - Remember it won't back-up the installed files but only will move the .apk installer files only.

*. Easily browse apps with list views, etc.

*. You can use it to downgrade a choose app as well (switch to an earlier version in other words).

So why is it useful?? well let's say that you recently changed to a new phone and wanted to get all the old app collection that you had on the old phone, then use the appmonster and get all that restored to the new phone with ease.

If you're interested in it then please go to this appmonster market page for more.

Color Flashlight, "Create" A Flash Light Out of Your Android Phone

Not all the phones include a real flash light. But hey! the phones that has 16M colors and other fancy features, they do have their real benefits nonetheless. For instance thanks to power of that screen and the battery the Color Flashlight android app can "create" a virtual flash light on your screen for helping you to dance at night ;-) seriously it really helps at night.

But to be honest it won't replace a real flash-light but still it is not bad and hey it's free and you've got nothing to lose so why not give it a try.

*. You can change the color of the light.

*. Add some effects to the light such as - scroll or slide, etc.

*. Emergency light effects - police or emergency, etc.

It takes very little space and requires android 1.6 or higher. Go to this android market page for downloading and installing.

Honeycomb Support Isn't That Catchy Complains Experts!

Android honeycomb is a great move by the Google point of view. Well not from their perspective it is good from our point of view too when considering the fact now that we finally have a mobile OS that is opensource and is optimized for tablets but still according to some pcworld experts the app support for Honeycomb ain't that impressive.

He is not saying that Google should be giving like thousands of new apps on the market or something like that. It's too early for that. But for what he's saying I do agree for that too. For instance if you head back to android market there aren't any tabs or options to filter out apps that aren't for Honeycomb for instance. I wrote a post about USA today's honeycomb app earlier today but it took me a little while before I found it.

No nothing in android market didn't help me. Yes may be there aren't much of apps to talk about so may be Google is a bit shy to add new "options" in the market page to avoid the "embarrassment" I suppose but they should give something for a start in my opinion.

Anyway let's hope within the coming weeks they put a lot of efforts to fix that if they are serious about beating Apple for iOS!.

USA Today's First Android Honeycomb Optimized App (for Xoom!)

Yes now like few days after the Motorola Xoom is out USA Today has released an app of their own which is Tablet PC + Android 3.0 optimized. So basically what it does is, well it let you read news from the USA Today on your bigger looking tablet PC screen.

So from starting with news, sports, pictures, weather, stock market updates, etc. They have released apps for other platforms such as iPhone/iPad, GoogleTV, window slate PC's and Chrome web store are just a few to name.

You should still be able to run the older smart phone app version but one of the benefits of having a tablet PC optimized app is that not only it'll run faster with your hardware but since it supports larger resolutions... it won't waste your screen either. 

Get the app from this usa-today app market page.

HTC Merge, Latest CDMA Android Smart Phone Coming Soon!

According to HTC this is their first ever android CDMA world-phone. As always it basically looks pretty much the same like their other phones. They seriously lack some inspirations. Anyway it has a 3.8 touch sensitive screen with 16M color depths.

A 5MP camera with HD video recording (at 720p resolutions) coupled with the HTC sense it runs Android 2.2 Froyo edition. It is a slider phone and has a roomy keyboard (QWERTY) and comes with 3G roaming world-wide. So according to HTC if you're traveling a lot then Merge is built out exactly for you.

Apart from the 3G network support it also has Wi-Fi and Bluetooth too. It is expected to hit the market around spring of 2011. So travelers... hold on to your seats !.

Source: this prenewswire htc merge article.

Decently Powerful HTC Desire S, Anotherl Latest Android Phone from HTC!

Packed with a 1Ghz processor, powered by the Android 2.2 version (Froyo) 768MB of RAM... in comparison with the Wildfire S series it still a bit short but hey it is certainly capable of handling some "loads" without a doubt.

Other hardware specifications are as follows...

The screen is a 3.7 inch touch sensitive with pinch and zoom features (480 x 800 resolution). Internal memory is 1.1 GB. 5MP back camera with HD video recording.

Supports long list of multimedia file types aac, .amr, .ogg, .m4a, .mid, .mp3, .wav, .wma (Windows Media Audio 9) and for videos 3gp, .3g2, .mp4, .wmv (Windows Media Video 9), .avi (MP4 ASP and MP3), .xvid (MP4 ASP and MP3). Yes let's beat Apple through their arrogance!.


3.5 mm stereo jack. 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are included for wireless networks. GPS with internal antenna. Apart from the android OS it comes with the famous HTC sense (a customized user interface... which is pretty impressive actually).


With the battery it weights 130 grams. Up to 430 hours for GSM of standby time + talk time of 590 minutes. It is a solid piece of work no doubt. But hey HTC! why all your phones look alike.. seriously why??

NEC MEDIAS E-04C Updates Details!

Few days ago I wrote about the current world's most thinnest android phone called the NEC MEDIAS E-04C. In that article I said that within few days NEC has scheduled a meeting in which they're gonna give a demonstration, etc. Well guess what... few hours ago it was held and they released some of the hardware details and its release date, etc as well.

It will come with android 2.2 Froyo edition and will be released in March 15, 2011 in Japan. At its most thinnest point it has a thickness of 7.7mm (top thickness 8.7mm) and comes with a 4 Inch 854 x 480 LDC touch sensitive screen.

The camera is a 5.1 MP one and has the ability to take HD videos at 720p but what is confusing is that according to them... it has a "quick shot" interval of 1.1 seconds (the interval between one pic capture to the next) and others such as the HTC Inspire 4G on the other hand has 0 "waiting" seconds. So not quite sure it if is something that they're proud of. 

For wireless networks you'll get 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The battery has a standby time of 360 hours while on 3G.

Best Android Phone T-Mobile MyTouch 4G?

Best android phone means the one that suits your needs the most. In that sense it depends on your needs. Something that is the "best" for someone does not necessarily mean is best for you either. So if you want an android phone that has a great look n feel, durable design, easy to use and 4G ready then T-Mobile MyTouch 4G worth your attention!.

Below are the main hardware details...

*. 3.8 Inch touch sensitive screen with 400x800 resolution (TFT) display with 16 Million colors.

*. Comes with the Swype keyboard support.

*. Runs android 2.2 Froyo.

*. 768MB RAM.

*. 4GB internal storage (preloaded) + 8GB memory card is also included in the "package" (full memory support up to 32GB via microSD slot.

*. 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 4G support.

*. Powered by a single core 1Ghz scorpion processor.

*. VGA processor - Adreno 205.

*. 5MP backside camera with geo tagging, LED flash and auto-focus.

*. FM Radio.

*. 3.5 mm stereo jack + micro USB port.

Standby time is about 552 hours (2G) and Up to 432 h (3G). As usual it has the HTC's customized user GUI called the HTC sense too. As said it has the Swype keyboard (virtual) but if you don't like it you can disable it.

Under the 4G network test run by the cnet touch4G reviewer, you can play Youtube video or any online videos with HD on without any buffering errors or "waiting". Although the processor and the GPU must have helped by it pretty much depends on the quality of the wireless network nonetheless.

Thanks to DLNA support you can stream your captured videos directly to a supporting devices such as HDTV for instance. The 5MP camera again according to Cnet, seems to have pretty decent pictures (have a look at the below pic) too. But slightly loss of quality is visible under bit darker conditions.

Actual photo taken from the 5MP camera (from Cnet.com)

Although the call quality seems to be the only major drawback of the T-mobile MyTouch 4G. Not only the audio quality is low but while trying to make video calls on 4G network for instance was troublesome too (you know sometimes video only and other times no video but audio, etc). Although this could be a software problem rather than a hardware (hopefully).

The battery has been recorded to survive about 6 hours  of talk time and 10 days of standby time which is pretty decent. So if you can cope with the low call quality then the MyTouch 4G ain't such a bad choice considering other hardware and software features it pack with.

Motorola Xoom With Android 3.0 Is Out!, Is it Impressive or Not? (Review)

Before releasing the Xoom, it became one of the most widely talked Tablets within the past few weeks or days perhaps. The reason is actually pretty simple behind that statement. It was the first Tablet to ship with Google's latest Android mobile OS called the Honeycomb + it has a dual core processor (with the Nvidia Tegra2 GPU).

Few hours ago after it was released!.. I was browsing the web and came up with a pcworld review on the Motorola Xoom. And below are some of the briefed information as I went reading through it. 

The design

Solid design (on the physical side) with decent weights + really good looking slimmer characteristics with a rubberized finish on the top, black metal at the bottom... and it seems that Motorola has designed it for the landscape mode especially.

A 2MP front facing camera, SIM tray (with embedded microSD slot), power and volume control at the outer body which can be accessed with ease. It has two stereo speakers to the left and to the right and the USB (micro) + HDMI output slots are located at the bottom.

The button locations are perfectly made if you want to mount it on a dock which can be purchased separately. Anyway, below are some of its main hardware details...

*. Dual core processor (with each core running at 1Ghz).

*. 1GB of RAM.

*. 32GB of internal storage.

*. 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 4G supported.

*. 10.1 inch screen with 1280x800 resolution (150dpi) at 16:10 aspect ratio.

*. Has a battery which fully charges 3.5 hours!.

*. 1.6 pounds (including the battery).

Now still the microSD slot memory upgrade it not supported. But don't worry it's not about physical support only a hardware or software update WILL do it. And Motorola will bring it pretty soon.

The unimpressive display :( ... well let's say somewhat

From high resolution pictures to viewing "things" within the OS seems to be having some quality issues (grid lines, etc). Although this may have nothing to do with the screen which is pretty good actually (150 dpi) so let's hope this is a bug in the Honeycomb. The quality issues is apparently can be seen with the videos as well.

File Transfers

It is fast!. In comparison with the Apple's iPad the Xoom is fast. From transferring things from and to USB or PC, etc the wait time is minimized dramatically.

Software

The OS seems OK but can't blame the Honeycomb since it is kinda a totally different version than its predecessors... apps that are designed for latter versions seems to have problems (some of them) too such as software crashes, etc. But the ones that are on board seems to be working just fine.

The Xoom supports few different both video and audio files such as H263/4, mp4 but the previously supported .wmv is not working for some reason. The battery according to Motorola is designed to run up to 10 hours of HD video playback. Go to here for a list of files supported by honeycomb (currently).

Both the 2MP front and the 5MP back cameras are working quite well (including LED flash, etc).

Conclusion

Well the apparent problem actually comes with the screen and its image issue. So hopefully this could be due to a bug in the OS or the GPU drivers which can be fixed via software updates. Unless it is a bug in the actual screen which is beyond repair (unless you swap it ) ...

But when considering 4G support and a powerful processor and RAM the Motorola Xoom android tablet is a pretty decent product. But ain't at the level of "positive" impressions that the Apple iPad delivered at the time it came around. Go to this endgadget xoom review article for more pictures and info.

Huawei IDEOS, Very Affordable Android Phones From India! (Latest)

Android phones come in various hardware and software variations these days thus giving the users a lot of different choices. Recently LG announced the cheaper Pecan smart phone with pretty impressive characteristics but the latest news is that the Huawei has launched another very cheaper android phone series called the IDEOS.

To be honest I haven't used them ... but when looking at the pictures and videos they look really promising nonetheless. The prices varies according to the included hardware such as ...

*. Runs android 2.2 Froyo version.

*. Powered by a 528MHZ processor.

*. 256 MB of RAM.

*. 200 MB of internal memory.

*. 2.8 inch touch sensitive captive screen. The color depths are limited to 262k (no 16M here) but still for their cheaper price  this is pretty decent.

*. 3.2 MP back camera.

*. Fully supports Facebook and Twitter type online social web services.

*. 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

*. GPS with digital compass and rotate sensitive G-sensor.

*. Max memory support up to 32GB via microSD slot.

*. Uses the 205 Adreno GPU that is seen on many other similar smart phones.

Well as a conclusion.. it lacks 16M color support or 512MB + RAM or high-end mobile CPUs but still for a price range around Rs. 8499.00 in my opinion this is actually one of the cheapest than you can get nonetheless!.

Flirtomatic Android App, Flirting With People Made Easy!

OK let's face it. Everybody likes to flirt ;-). The Flirtomatic is actually an online service where you can chat, make new friends, rate your friends. If you're too lazy to register then you can use your current Facebook account as well.

Flirtomatic android app is pretty easy to use actually. Although the GUI would have been more "sexier" but still it is pretty decent. It lets you get updated information such as "who checked me out" or inbox for new messages too. The search function is also pretty good (they currently have a list of 3 million profiles).

You can also send "gift box" directly through the message editing app sections. So I'm pretty sure you wanna try it out. If you insist ;-) then go to this Flirtomatic android market page for more.

Few Tablet PC Optimized Android 2.2 Froyo Apps!

I think by now, everyone is aware that the upcoming android Honeycomb is a tablet PC optimized mobile OS. But until it arrives, there are a few emerging Tablet optimized apps for the current contender Android 2.2 Froyo that you can use.

So what is the benefit/s of these "optimized" apps anyway??

I don't know... just kidding. Seriously, Tablet PCs in general have a bigger screen, different hardware characteristics. So an app that is designed to run on an android phone would still run on the Tablet but the would run a bit slower and may or may not be able to give a "spacious" GUI interface either.

Here are few of the apps that you can use on the Android 2.2 but still they are optimized to be used on Tablets.

*. The NYTimes app.

The app is free for a limited time only. So better get some use out of it while you can and if it looks good then you might consider purchasing it. What is does is obvious, so I'm not gonna write about it but to mention a few...

1. Read news, videos, pictures, etc via this android app and if you find anything useful then it lets you to share it directly through your Faceebok or Twitter or even using e-mails with ease.

2. Can change font size and view modes, etc as well. Get it from this Nytimes app market page.

*. CNN app.

Another free android app which is designed for both phones and tablets. It lets you read headlines directly from CNN and can configure only to show things like Tech, World or Asia, Business... etc only updates, etc as well. You can also change the font size and it even has an offline mode too. As with NYTime app you can share the stories via social networks, etc.

Get it from this CNN android market page.


*. Angry Bird Game!

Well this is not a surprise when considering its popularity. Don't think anyone need an introduction to this. So if you want to play angry birds for android on a tablet PC optimized "environment" then you should get it from this official angry bird market page.

Source: this tomsguide 20 android tablet pc tips article.

JuiceDefender, Let it Save Your Anroid Phone's Battery Life!

Android phones are getting quite powerful. Now you can buy dual core + few days ago nvidia announced their quad-core versions (still yet to come) as well. But the more powerful they get the more power hungry they'll be. So an android app for enhancing the battery life is something very very useful. So in that case you should try out the JuiceDefender (I know .. the name doesn't make any sense ;-) in a way it does though :( .

Usually apart from the obvious CPU and RAM and memory loads 3G/4G and Wi-Fi are among the killers of your battery. So what the juicedefender does is pretty simple. It intelligently manages these connections (like switching on or off only when needed, etc) thus reducing the load on the battery.

*. If you aren't much of a tech geek then just use the provided the "presets" that are optimized quite well.

*. It has three basic profiles - default, aggressive and extreme (don't think you need an introduction to that).

*. Easy to customize thanks to the intuitive GUI design.

*. It even shows you by how much it has saved your battery life too.

Now the developers are kind enough to provide us with a fully featured trail period. So you have plenty of time to jump into a conclusion. So go to this official JuiceDefender battery enhancer developer page.

Androidify App, Create "You" Looking Android Geek!

Well the idea is pretty simple. If you want a nerdy ;-) looking android type individual who looks like "you" (well there are restrictions ;-) ) then ... um you should try out the Androidify (developed by Google).

You can create both dudes and dudees in ;-) different colors, cloths... hair, sun-glasses or without them. Oh ya they also have pretty decent boots as well.

Hello.. I'm . I'm.. you :(

After creating your android personality then the app lets you to share it with among your friends too. For downloading and installing go to this official androidify market page.

Battle for Mars Lite Game App, Fight Aliens Inside Your Android Phone!

You know I was kidding right? there aren't any aliens inside your android phone ;-). But hey if you want a little action to "recharge your battery" then you should try Battle for Mars lite. As I put into the name .. the idea is simple, just use weapons and robots to fight an alien race.

What!.... ;-)

It has a paid version as well. But in the free version you'll get....

*. 17 different units.

*. 6 different types of buildings.

*. 3 alien races.

*. 1 map only for the "lite" version (free). Altogether it has 16 Maps which is available in the paid version.

The game won't have amazing 3D effects but still not bad for a 2D game for killing some time. It's just not about using brute-force ... just gotta fire up your brain ;-).

Go to this battle for mars market page for downloading and installing.

SlideScreen Android App, A More Meaningful Home Screen!

Android has done a pretty good job at giving us a easy to use yet effective Home screen, no arguments there. But giving it a complete different look n feel (including different widgets, etc) can be a time-consuming task assuming that you have to re arrange or even have to find new or different apps all over again.

But the SlideScreen is an amazing app (which is available in both free and the paid version) that gives you the ability to completely change how your Home screen on your best android phone looks.

*. Shows summary of Gmail, SMS/MMS, Facebook, calender or Google reader ... just a few to name.

*. summarized news feeds.

*. Stock market updates.

*. Twitter integrated.

*. Missed calls alerts.

*. Easily drag and change the "bar" location.

Now these are just a few to name. And currently it does not support multiple gmail logins. But according to the developer it will be added in a never version soon. You can also customize colors, etc used in the app for identifying easily multiple updates....

The only difference of the pro version is that it has no ads. 

So if you want to install the Slidescreen then go to this android market page for more.

Few Tips for Using Blogger's Official Android App

Sometime ago Blogger released their first ever app for android which helps you to blog via using your android phone once the app is installed. They have a great post on googlemobile blog which gives few tips that can come in handy while using it.

Pretty powerful when u know how to use it!...

1. If you have to insert pictures then attach them while you write. 

I think the idea is that, let's say that your internet speed is a bit low "thanks to the signal" and since it can take a while for the uploading to complete, so to avoid some difficulties (you know the usual waiting ;-) ) make sure to insert pics while you type so hopefully when you're finished it'll be uploaded completely.

2. GPS might come in handy!

Since most of the phones come with GPS in built you can let your readers know your current location (pretty cool if you have a social friendly site for instance). So using the new blogger app (after setting it up) it'll automatically tag your current location.

3. Easily Switch different blog accounts

If you write for more than one blog, then by tapping into the "arrow" type orange button you can easily switch in between different blog sites/accounts.

4. Find your posts with ease

Unlike on PC's, since you have limited screen space available on a touch sensitive screen you must get the maximum out of that "space". The blogger android app has a "list" icon on the upper right corner which lets you to see a list of both published and draft posts with ease. So use it too.

5. Use the "share" feature

When using android apps I think you're familiar with the "share" feature that comes with most of them. So whenever you come across something nerdy ;-) use that share feature to send it directly to blogger app ... which makes it easy for you to embed those interesting links, photos, videos, etc blog-post.

So these are not advanced tips but most of the time (including me) we have a tendency to overlook the most obvious factors. If you don't have it already then go to this blogger app for android market page.

Rumors of Sony's Upcoming Dual Screen Android Tablet

Kyocera few days ago revealed a dual screen android phone that can be converted into a tablet called Echo. Now the idea is not new but it is interesting because there are still some of use left who'd like an android based tablet that can be used and carried around + that can be "converted" into a cell phone as well.

Sony also seems to be interested in the idea since it let's them to dominate that portion of the android mobile market (hopefully). So it is said that they are developing a dual-screen tablet (that runs android of course) when closed looks pretty "sexy" (you know slim ... slim however not necessarily mean "sexy"... what hell am I saying.. back to the news). It was first code named the S2.

They say that it comes with...

This "was" how it looked like before they closed the "project"...

*. 5.5 Inch larger touch sensitive screens (2).

*. 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth should be there.

*. Front and rear cameras.

*. The processor is based on Tegra 2 SoC and runs the upcoming android honeycomb.

Other hardware details are still unknown.. but if it is true then we should hear about it pretty soon (hopefully).