Android Market Online Receives UI Change, Improves Screenshot Navigation

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The folks over at Google have heard the crowd when it came to the online web version of the Android Market.  The update consist of two major little itsy bitsy features that have seemed to have been missing from day one.  Numero uno was the fact that “next” and “previous” buttons were non-existent in regards to screenshot navigation.  Furthermore, if you wanted to close the screenshot out you had to search for that needle in a hay stack of an “X” button.  In steps team Google to satisfy the crowd.  Now, when you log into the Android Market online you’ll find those ever missing previous and next arrows on your screenshot or you can simply just click on the screenshot itself to get to the next pic.  In addition, you will also receive the ability to rotate the screen right side up.  Lastly, you can simply click anywhere outside of the screenshot to close it out.  No more pesky searching for the tiny X button.  If you want to see it all for yourself, head on over to the Android Market via the source link and check it out.  Let us know what you think in the comments below.

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SwiftKey X hits public beta today on Android Market

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If you are looking for a better onscreen keyboard for your Android device, a new app has landed in the Android Market that you might want to check out. The app is a public beta, so don’t expect it to run perfectly. It is called SwiftKey X and builds on the TouchType SwiftKey keyboard to offer cloud personalization and it has a new prediction engine. The app also has a bunch of UI improvements according to the developer.

The SwiftKey typing experience can be customized to the user by integrating data from Facebook, Twitter, and Gmail as the SMS messages are sent. The typing style is fine tuned to match the way you use your phone for more efficiency. The prediction engine is also able to adapt the touch sensitive areas of the keys to allow predictions based on the way the user types.
There is a host of other features in the new beta app. The settings menu is redesigned from other versions of the app, it has a next gen fluency interface engine, the response times are improved, and the battery usage is reduced. The app also has improved typo and spelling correction. Any word can also be removed from prediction, not just words populated dynamically. Check out the Android Market page for all of the details.

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Verizon Chomp can now search apps across V Cast Apps, Android Market, and more

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If you are a Verizon Wireless customer with an Android device that likes to download new apps, Verizon is offering a special version of Chomp. Chomp is an app that will allow you to search for their apps based on things like genre and more. You could run a search for a specific type of app, like a barcode scanner for instance, and find all the apps you want. Verizon is offering a special version of Chomp that will search across three places at one time.

The three places that Chomp searches include V Cast Apps, the Verizon Wireless mobile storefront, and the Android Market. It’s important to note that only the version downloaded from V Cast Apps allows the searching function across all three sources. Chomp lets the user find an app based on what the app does and offers price information across the storefronts and more.
“Cross-store search is a huge milestone both for Chomp and the broad landscape of apps,” said Ben Keighran, chief executive officer and co-founder of Chomp. “Not only does this help minimize the app discovery problem, it also adds a valuable layer to the app search experience, providing app seekers with options that will expose the best apps for the lowest cost.” The Chomp app is available free to Verizon users right now.

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Backbreaker Football 2 an Xperia Play Exclusive now Available

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Backbreaker Football by NaturalMotionGames is a very popular arcade style Football game for all those Football fans. Things are about to get even better, mainly for those that own the Xperia Play already or have pre-ordered with Verizon and that is because they have just announced Backbreaker Football 2:

Vengeance


Backbreaker 2 is available in the Android Market now, launching for the Xperia Play exclusively and you can get it now by clicking here. They have listened to the fans and added the few things that would make a great game and I can’t wait to get the Tegra optimized version of Backbreaker 2.

The million-selling Backbreaker Football is back with a vengeance – and this time YOU tackle! Backbreaker 2 again raises the bar for graphics, physical animation and pure fun. You spoke, we listened: tackling, trucking, jumping – it’s all here! Take down the ball carrier in Vengeance Mode, or fight your way to the endzone in the classic Tackle Alley mode. Whatever you do – this is the best Backbreaker yet, so enjoy the ride!

The biggest change and most notable new feature is the ability to tackle. It was a great game but was arcade style offensive running only, no actual offensive plays and no defense whatsoever. Things are about to change and we are all in for some exciting Football. Being able to juke and spin around defenders, then switch it to Vengeance mode and start tackling should make for hours of fun. I personally loved the first one and can’t wait to try out Backbreaker Football 2.

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Android Market movie rental service being blocked on rooted devices

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This is a surprise to read and hear. From Google, Team Android, and everything being “open” this sure looks to be a little different. Obviously Google makes all the rules, and we talked about that in the Skyhook case, but this latest bit of news comes as a bit of a shocker. All we have is a comment on a Google Support page so this may not be completely true, hopefully its not.

Google recently added Movie Rentals to the Android Market starting at the low price of $1.99 to rent a movie. This great service has a lot of people excited and I’ve used it myself and streamed it over HDMI out on my G2x and it works great. Sadly we are now seeing a report claiming that if you are on a rooted device, movie rentals will not be available. Users are reporting that they are receiving this error, “Failed to fetch license for [movie title] (error 49)” and when looking for suggestions on the Google Support Page this was the grim response:

You’ll receive this “Error 49″ message if you attempt to play a movie on a rooted device. Rooted devices are currently unsupported due to requirements related to copyright protection.

Something I hope is wrong and simply the first reply we have seen. Hopefully this weekend or Monday we will get more information regarding this. If this is the case it would be a turn in the wrong direction from things being “open” in the android ecosystem. I have complete faith in the dev and hacking community that something would be figured out for us “rooted” users quickly anyways. Just look at Netflix, it launched for a few devices and now is available on just about any phone as long as your rooted. So we will see how this all plays out over the next few days or week.

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TweetComb, Tablet Optimized Twitter App, Now Free in Market

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We gave you a quick look at TweetComb, the first, Twitter client, optimized for tablets not too long ago. The app was definitely pretty, if not a little less intuitive than we’d have liked for it’s $2.99 price tag. Starting today though, the apps creator, Chris Stewart has made it, and another of his apps, Newsr, free to download on the Android Market.

TweetComb is a great example of a tablet app, especially when such optimized apps have been a bit scarce as the Honeycomb platform is only just starting to spread to other apps. If you don’t have it yet, and are in to the whole Twitter thing, go ahead and grab it. It blows top apps for phones, such as TweetDeck and the official app out of the water on a tablet. If you do already have it, don’t worry! The developer has promised a refund to those who paid for the app, with details on his twitter.

Stewart’s other tabler Optimized app is Newsr, a Google Reader client. It may not be quite as pretty as Pulse News Reader, but with automatic Google Reader integration and use, once again, of the UI fragments, it is definitely plenty easy to navigate. The other plus Newsr has over Pulse is that it automatically maintains any organization you have for existing subscriptions in Google Reader, rather than making you add them to a page manually.
These apps are both great examples of what people can do with the extra screen real estate of a tablet, and offer some pretty unique features over their competitors. Give em a try for free, now in the Android Market.

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Pizza Hut App taking orders on the go, Available in Android Market

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It is a shame I didn’t know this app was released yesterday because it sure would have came in handy. I was running errands and trying to hurry and get pizza in time for the Miami vs Bulls NBA Playoff game, I had to hurry and call it in and go through all that hassle. This was just yesterday, and now Pizza Hut has released an easy, and convenient app for Android to allow just that, ordering pizza on the go right from your android phone for delivery or pickup. I go a little hands-on today, just a few hours late.

I went ahead and took a few photos of the app for you all to see just how quick and easy it is to order Pizza Hut with Android. It is something I’ve always wanted and seen friends with those “other” smartphones do in the past. It is quick, easy, smooth and very well made. It has a great user interface and with the flick of a finger you can scroll to S, M, or L sizes, as well as scroll through the thumbnails of topping. I’ll go for some meat-lovers myself.

Start screen you can sign into your account so all your past orders and address are ready to go for easy ordering, or just get right to “Start an Order”

Delivery or Carryout, and choosing your location by zip code sure is easy.

One of my favorite features online is conveniently added to the app, and that is “Previous Orders” as I usually order the same thing on game days or sporting events for the group. It is one click away.

Without getting to involved here because after all this is only a pizza app, here is how you select the topping you would like with the flick of your finger the top scrolls through all your choices. It is pretty, animated, and has actual images of the toppings. Overall it is a nice touch, I like it.
So for those that absolutely love pizza go ahead and get this app in the Android Market right now and start ordering some pizza on the fly. We get pizza a few times a month so I’ll be sure to use this app plenty. When the NBA Championship time comes I’ll be ordering my usual party pack that is saved in my account. Get the Pizza Hut App by clicking here.

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K.I.S.S With “GO Weather Widget Skin Simple” For Android

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Still looking for the right weather widget for your home screen?  Just want to keep it simple?  Look no further.  GO Weather Widget Skin Simple brings the “KISS” methodology directly to your smartphone.  With an LG weather widget look, you get everything you need all in one place.  The app does require that you have GO Weather v 1.9 or above to apply it, so if you don’t already have it, you can grab it here.  The themed widget offers a multitude of widget sizes and functionality such as up to date weather on a set city or your current location, accurate icons depicting current conditions, temperature, wind gauge and time of day.  The app definitely offers a nice and clean streamlined look for your expensive investment of a smartphone.  Ready to download it?  You can head on over to Talk Android’s popular apps database (QR code available) or you can snag it from the Android Market.  Hit the break for more screenshots and don’t forget to let us know what you think of the widget in the comments below.    

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Google announces new ways to discover apps on Android Market, more tools for developers

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Android Market may have a lot going for it, but most would surely agree that it could use some improvement when it comes to discovering apps that you aren't specifically looking for. Thankfully, it seems Google has indeed been aware of those concerns, and it's now announced five new features that should go so some way towards improving things. Those include some newly revamped top app charts that promise to be "fresher" and country specific, a brand new Editors' Choice section that highlights apps chosen by Google, a new Top Developers feature that places a special icon next to the name of developers that make the grade (currently more than 150), improved related apps on individual app pages and, last but not least, a new trending apps section that shows the apps growing fastest in terms of daily installs. What's more, while all of those features are currently exclusive to the web-based version, Google says they're also "coming soon" to the Android Market on both phones and tablets.

In other Android Market news, Google has also announced that it will be adding support for larger apps -- up to 4GB -- in June, and it will be giving developers the ability to exclude specific devices to avoid compatibility problems, or make multiple versions of an app available under a single Market listing, complete with aggregated ratings and stats. All that, plus personalized recommendations based on your apps (details on it are still a bit light), and paid app support for an additional 99 countries (coming within the next week or so). 

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Android Market upgrading app size limit to 4GB

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Along with many other things as of late, Google just tipped everyone off about another great change coming to the Android Marketplace. The change I’m talking about today is application size. Currently applications in the market are limited to 50MB. In general this is a pretty large size for most apps and has worked great for a long time, but with the ever changing technology and games getting bigger and better along with hardware such as the Tegra 2 dual-core chip, games and applications have also increased in size.

the 50MB limit we have now was fine until we started getting more intense games and graphic enhancements. Today Google announced they are increasing this to 4GB, a huge increase in app size limit. This will eliminate almost all secondary installs. Like when you download Gun Bro’s but then start the app only to find out you need to download an additional 150mb of data to the SD card. This issue will be gone once the 4GB limit is included.
This is just one of many changes coming to the Android Market, another thing Google mentioned today was the option for developers to “exclude” or blacklist devices from installing their particular app. So when a developer doesn’t support a certain device yet, or an older phone they can simply blacklist that model so users wont install it only to have issues later that blow up his email account. These are great things to come for both users, and developers.

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Android Market launches movie rentals, thousands of titles available from $1.99

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Google just announced movie rentals in the Android Market at its I/O conference. Chris from the Android services team just hit the stage at Moscone and demonstrated renting movies on the Android Market from your phone, tablet or PC with a single click. "Pinning" mirrors the experience with apps and books, you can select it on your PC and download to the device in the background for offline viewing. Movies are live in the market right now, support on all Android 2.2 or higher devices is expected "in a couple of weeks" and tablets will get support bundled with their upgrade to Android 3.1. On the PC, it ties back to the recently expanded YouTube rental service, and makes that per-movie VOD price a bit easier to swallow. 

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