Technology Today ( Apple,iPhone,iPad,Mac – Google,Tables,Android )
Android Help Links
Android
When an Android Phone Becomes a GPS Device
Aug 17th
I was on my way to one of my favorite art house cinemas, about 15 minutes away by car. Even though I go there three to four times a year, I always forget which exit to take. Fortunately, I had not one but two GPS devices on my dashboard: a popular model made by Garmin and an Android smartphone.
To my surprise, on the way there, it looked as if the smartphone was performing as well as the Garmin GPS device. But also to my surprise, sometimes they were both about as good as leaning out the window and getting advice from a stranger.
The smartphone found the exact name of the cinema but somehow placed it 75 miles and 90 minutes away. The GPS device seemed to nail it; I recognized the exit it told me to take and I took it. Then, following its turn-by-turn directions, I found myself blocks away in the middle of a residential street, with no cinema in sight.
Thanks to both, I missed the first 20 minutes of the movie.
As most users will testify, all GPS devices make mistakes, whether you have spent $2,000 for an in-car navigation system or one-tenth the price for the same features on a portable device.
Now drivers should be asking themselves: why do I need to spend even $200 for a GPS unit that sometimes makes mistakes when a just-as-smart (or dumb) smartphone can do the same thing?
Owners of smartphones that run the Android operating system are finding an even better reason: the navigation advice on an Android phone is free.
Google’s no-cost Maps app, bundled with Android smartphones, includes voice directions and turn-by-turn navigation, just like the stand-alone big boys. (This is a category in which Androids clearly trump iPhones. The iPhone’s Google Maps app does not offer these features.)
But is a free smartphone app as good as a device specifically designed for navigation? I set out to find out with a side-by-side test.
The manufacturers of navigation hardware, who have seen sales of stand-alone units drop almost 20 percent since their 2008 peak, argue that free and low-cost smartphone navigation apps and stand-alone devices can coexist. Each appeals to a different kind of person. Younger people are attracted to apps, while older drivers like stand-alone devices with larger screens, according to Bill Strand, Magellan’s senior product marketing manager.
To test this premise, I stuck Garmin’s Nuvi, model 2350LMT ($185), and Motorola’s latest Android phone, the Droid X2, onto the dashboard of my Audi. (There are hundreds of GPS models; I selected the Garmin as the representative because of its popularity.) Peering over this bank of devices, I took off with the children onto Los Angeles’s traffic-choked Ventura Freeway and down to Disneyland.
The Droid and Garmin both have 4.3-inch screens. The Droid’s screen was brighter and, with its reflective surface, appeared very sharp.
I typed in “Disney Grand California Hotel and Spa,” and the slight vibration let me know when a key push had been registered. By contrast, I often pushed the wrong button on the Garmin.
Each device’s maps were easy to follow and read; the graphics style comes down to personal preference. But if you like to catch a bird’s-eye view of your travels, only Google offers a satellite view of your route, much like its satellite view on a Google map on a computer. Graphic maps work just as well, but I found something satisfying about seeing what is really there on the ground.
When you approach your destination, Google Maps automatically switches to its familiar street view, giving a street-level shot of where you (hopefully) want to be. Using Google Maps to find my way home, I found it a bit discomfiting to suddenly see a photo of my house — that I hadn’t shot — as I drove up to it.
In navigation, seconds can mean the difference between getting off on the correct freeway exit or driving an extra 10 or 20 miles to the next one. Google Maps was generally quicker; at times, its voice commands arrived as much as three seconds sooner, which could make all the difference if your reflexes are not that snappy.
Google Maps also took first place when it came to searching for a destination. A search for the nearest Peet’s coffee stores on the Garmin took 27 seconds — and it never found the one closest to my home. The Garmin did not find it even when I was parked in front of the store. Perhaps Garmin’s maps supplier is a Starbucks fan.
Alas, speed does not always translate into accuracy. Neither of the devices was ever completely accurate, either in determining the shortest route or figuring out the location of an address.
While you can often change voices on stand-alone devices, switching to a female English voice, for example, instead of an American one, the Android smartphone used only computer generated speech. But it was very easy to comprehend and made no more pronunciation mistakes than any of its competitors.
On my trip to Disneyland in Anaheim, Google Maps missed the Disney Grand Californian Hotel and Spa by almost a mile, telling me to pull up in front of a cheap motel. But when a Google Maps user discovers an error, like that Disney hotel, he or she can report it directly from the smartphone. Users of stand-alone devices can report mistakes only by sending an e-mail or by visiting the company Web site. Not only does the smartphone give the system faster feedback, but it increases the likelihood that more people will report errors.
GPS companies generally update the maps free, but Google’s service does it instantly without any special effort. The Garmin and many other GPS units not only must be attached to a computer to update, but some devices, like those from Magellan, work only with Windows. Score another for Android.
When it comes to live traffic data and rerouting — I was driving partly during Carmaggedon weekend, when the 405 freeway was closed — it was a tie.
While all devices were pretty accurate in reporting accidents and slowdowns, the freeway system here means that it is almost always faster to simply stay put than to try to maneuver down side streets, which is what each device said as I crawled down the freeway.
But because traffic data is transmitted via an FM radio signal for stand-alone GPS units, it is available only if the device is plugged into the car’s power connector instead of running off its internal battery. An Android phone running Google Maps gathers traffic information even when operating via battery power. Score another for Android.
If you plan on using the Android’s Google Maps app on a regular basis, it might pay to have an unlimited data plan, as navigation apps tend to be data hogs.
So which would I use and which would go in the drawer with my floppy discs?
If you can bear the thought of prying your smartphone from your hands while you drive and you can stand not listening to your 10,000 songs for a while, the Android with Google Maps comes out on top. Its features equal and often surpass those of a stand-alone device.
And, of course, the price is going in the right direction.
12 tips for mastering Android
Aug 3rd
There’s so much you can do with Android that it can seem impossible to experience all the operating system has to offer. With these tips, tricks, and guides, we show you how to go beyond the tip of the iceberg to unearth Android’s most awesome features. Whether you’re new to Android, considering making the switch, or looking for new ways to make the most of your powerful device, we’ve got you covered.
Getting started
How to switch from iPhone to Android
If you feel locked into your iPhone, freedom has arrived! Learn how to transfer much of your data from your iPhone to your new Android device.
How to improve your Android app search
It’s all about the apps, of course, but there’s no need to waste time searching through thousands of possibilities. Narrow your search results with these simple steps.
How to easily share Android apps with friends and family
Once you’ve found the perfect app to record your workout or sync your music, it’s a snap to share it with the other Android users in your life. Learn how to show off your finds.
Adding accounts on Android in three easy steps
Just because your device asks you for only one Google account when you set it up doesn’t mean you can’t add more later. Learn how to quickly add multiple accounts.
Easy Android maintenance
How to back up your Android phone
Whether you want to try some advanced mojo or you just want to sleep better at night, you should back up your data. Android makes it easy. Learn how it’s done.
How to track data usage on your Android phone
Unlimited data plans are seriously endangered these days, so you should keep track of your usage. It’s easier than you’d think, and we show how to use several options.
How to see which apps are draining your Android device’s battery
Battery life is most Android users’ chief complaint. Learn how to avoid planning your day around recharging stations.
Playing it safe
How to choose the best Android screen lock
Security starts with your screen lock. Learn how to choose the best one for your needs.
How to protect your Android on public Wi-Fi
Public Wi-Fi access is both a blessing and a curse. Learn how to use a few simple precautions to protect your device when you’re surfing through public data streams.
How to check your Android device for rogue apps
If you know every app on your device and what it can do, you’re way ahead of the curve. Learn how to check to make sure apps aren’t secretly costing you or violating your privacy.
Advanced techniques
Root, ROM, restore: How to hack your Android OS
These videos show you how to monkey around in the inner workings of your device. They’re not for everyone, but they help you make the most of the power lurking in your Android device.
How to do a factory reset on Android
When all else fails, you can always restore your Android device to its factory-fresh state. Learn how to do it if you’ve installed the wrong ROM or want to sell it after an upgrade.
Source: CNet
Root, ROM, restore: How to hack your Android OS
Aug 3rd
In this first video, we show you how to gain root access on your Android phone or tablet using the program SuperOneClick (and we give a shout to Unrevoked for HTC phones). If you’re not able to watch the video, check out our written instructions on how to root your Android device.
How to install a custom Android ROM
So you’ve rooted your phone. Now what? How to install a custom Android ROM video and instructions details how to install a custom ROM, which is a heavily customized version of Android. Using a custom ROM can give you super-Android powers, such as better battery life, faster performance, and additional features.
How to restore your rooted Android to factory settings
Just because you’re about to upgrade your phone doesn’t mean that it’s worthless, but a lot of people want to receive a used phone in as close to factory-fresh conditions as possible. Our how to restore your Android to factory settings video and instructions explain how to restore your Android device back to the stock version of Android.
In all three of these, there are some important things to note. First is that rooting will void your phone’s warranty. Secondly, these procedures mess with the core interactions between your hardware and the operating system, so be careful. There’s a chance you could wind up with a bricked device. Third, for purposes of demonstration, the instructions are geared toward one phone model, the original Motorola Droid. If you have a different phone or tablet, please be sure to research the proper instructions for your device.
Source: CNet
How to see which apps are draining your Android device’s battery
Aug 3rd
If you spend a lot of your time on the move, you probably spend a lot of that time on your smartphone. With a myriad of apps in the Android Market and other useful functions at your fingertips, it’s sometimes too easy to run down your battery without realizing it. So how do you figure out which apps will limit your mobile time with your Android device by draining battery life? Follow these steps:
Step 1: Open the main settings area of your phone by pressing the Menu button and then choosing Settings.

Step 2: Scroll down in this menu to “About phone” and press it.

Step 3: On the next menu, choose “Battery use.”

Step 4: Look over the list of apps that are using the battery the most. “Display” is likely to be the top consumer on your phone at all times.

Step 5: If an app you’re not using at the moment is consuming a lot of battery power, you can select it and then press the “Force stop” button.

If you download a lot of different apps often, it’s a good idea to visit this area of the menu to see how much power each of them is using. And you’ll be able to spend less time with your Android device plugged in to the wall once you know which apps are the top battery drainers on your phone.
Source: CNet
Best Android Tablet Apps
Aug 2nd
Google Earth
Explore the world from the palm of your hand with Google Earth.
Use Google Earth to fly around the planet with the swipe of a finger. Explore distant lands or reacquaint yourself with your childhood home. Search by voice for cities, places, and businesses. Browse layers including roads, borders, places, photos and more.
For tablet users on Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), you can now enjoy a new Google Earth experience optimized for the large screen. With a new action bar, you can get easy access to search, reset-to-north, my location, and layers. Also, you can now explore the same photo-realistic 3D buildings that have previously only been accessible with the desktop version of Google Earth. Visit the Statue of Liberty in New York, the Taj Mahal in India, or the Sydney Opera House in Australia, all in their full 3D glory! To view 3D buildings on your tablet, just select ‘3D Buildings’ from the layer menu.
Android Market
USA TODAY on Android Tablet
Latest news, scores, weather, stocks and photos from USA TODAY on Android Tablet
The nation’s news. Now on the Android Tablet, Updated 24/7.
The latest news, scores, weather, stocks and photos you’ve come to expect from USA TODAY and now available in a beautiful new way, on the Android Tablet. Staying informed has never been this quick, easy or enjoyable.
- Read stories from USA TODAY’s News, Money, Sports, Life, Tech and Travel sections. Enlarge images and watch related videos. Download all stories to read offline; ideal when traveling.
Kindle for Android
Your Android tablet is a wonderful e-reader, and the Kindle for Android application brings Amazon.com’s collection of more than 750,000 digital books directly to your device. The app lets you purchase books any time you have wireless connectivity and read whenever you have battery life. Many classic books are free, and best-sellers start at just $9.99–less than what you’d pay for a print version in a bookstore. You can preview books before buying and read them on multiple Kindle devices, thanks to the app’s Whispersync technology, which transfers bookmarks and other annotations between devices.
Pandora Internet Radio for Android
A variety of cool, free Internet radio applications exist for the Android platform, but none offer the same quality music catalogue and customization options as the free Pandora for Android app. Pandora is easy to setup and use: Create and account, log in, simply pick an artist or band you like and the application creates a custom “station” based around that artist, with similar tunes, selected by other like-minded listeners.
Amazon Appstore for Android
Google’s official Android Market is a great place to find quality Android software, but the true app connoisseur always appreciates new options. Amazon’s Appstore is one of, if not the, best Android Market alternative-at least for “non-rooted” devices. It provides a number of unique features and offers, including a new, normally paid app for free every day, and a cool Test Drive feature for trying out new software.
Amazon Appstore for Android free on Amazon.com
Poynt for Android
Poynt is the only mobile, local-search application for Android you’ll ever need. The app uses your current location, based on GPS or user-input, to find the closest businesses, retailers, restaurants, gas prices, events and much more. Poynt offers a dedicated weather section, too. You can find local movie theatre listings and purchase tickets via Android. And the app integrates with your Google calendar and address book so you can quickly add contacts or events.
Amazon MP3 and Cloud Drive for Android
Amazon MP3 for Android is a must-have application for all mobile media enthusiasts. With simple navigation and a clean user interface, Amazon MP3 for Android makes it easy to find and purchase the songs and albums that you seek, over Wi-Fi or your cellular network. Free “Songs of the Day” mean you can frequently download new music without ever dropping a dime. And “Daily Deal Albums” are always available for $5 or less. The app also gives you access to all of you Amazon Cloud Drive music, via a cool, mobile Cloud Player interface.
Amazon MP3 from the Android Market
Twitter for Android
Any and all Twitter users with Android devices should download the most popular Twitter app on the Market: the official Twitter for Android app. The software boasts an intuitive and visually appealing interface&though not exactly optimized for tablets. More advanced, feature-packed apps exist-like Seismic for example-but Twitter for Android provides all the basic Twitter functionality you’ll need for free, with no ads.
Dropbox for Android
Dropbox, a cloud-based storage service, makes it quick and easy to share files between Web-connected devices, including PCs, tablets and smartphones. Dropbox apps exists for all major mobile platforms, and you get 2.0 GB of free storage just for creating an account-more if you recommend the service to others. You simply load up your Dropbox with content, launch the Android app and everything within your Dropbox is available to you via tablet. You can also upload new content while on the go.
IMDb Movies & TV
One of the few quality tablet-specific apps in the Android Market right now, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) app for Android tablets is the perfect tablet companion for the movie and TV aficionado. Find movie show times, watch trailers and rate films using the app’s slick UI. Read and write reviews. Search the massive IMDb collection of 1.5 million movie/TV titles and profiles for over 3.2 million celebs, directors and other show biz types, and much more.
Various Angry Birds Titles
Unless you choose to reside in the ground beneath a large stone, you’ve likely heard of the phenomenon that is Angry Birds. Born on the iPhone, but eventually ported to most major mobile platforms, Angry Birds is the most popular mobile game ever-and it’s free on Android, though you’ll have to deal with a few in-app ads. Launch different types of birds in attempts to topple obstacles, foil your various adversaries and save your unborn avian-spawn from total demise. If the first version isn’t enough for you, Angry Birds Seasons and Angry Birds Rio are also available for free download.
Download Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasonsand Angry Birds Rio via the Android Market
Best Android Apps
Jul 30th
Utilities
Gas Buddy (Free)
With gas prices still consistently rising, the quest for the cheapest nearby gas can be a frustrating and pointless task, especially if you are driving around wasting precious fuel to find a better price just for the heck of saying you did. Gas Buddy uses your location to quickly locate nearby gas stations and immediately give you the best price around. The app gives you a list and a helpful map of all of your options. Never again will you fill up only to drive by a less expensive station five blocks later.
Weather Channel (Free)
This is the weather app you’ll find yourself checking before you even crack the blinds in the morning. Besides offering accurate current conditions with extreme detail down to wind speed, humidity and UV index, the Weather Channel’s app offers hourly and 10-day forecasts for planning ahead, plus advanced features like animated weather radar.
Google Voice (Free)
With Google Voice, you get a free number for receiving calls, sending texts, and even receive access to your voicemail and text messages over the Web. With the Android app, you can even keep your true mobile number private by making outgoing calls using your Google Voice number instead. Another handy feature is voicemail transcription, which automatically transcribes your voicemails to text so you can read them like e-mail.
iTriage Mobile Health (Free)
Created by doctors, this app is designed to give users quick and easy access to medical info as well as nearby treatment facilities. With just a few clicks, users can find the nearest medical facility based on need (emergency, urgent care, pharmacy, etc.) and quickly use built-in Google Maps to navigate to the destination. The app also features a symptom-checker, doctor directory, and information about diseases and procedures.
Opera Mini Web Browser (Free)
We loved the drastic speed boost from Opera Mini on the iPhone, and it delivers the same shot of adrenaline on Android. Opera greases the wheels of the Web using special servers that compress pages prior to sending them to your phone. Besides using less bandwidth, pages appear in a fraction of the time, which makes it the go-to browser when you need to know who won the World Series in 1964, the colors of the Estonian flag, or the population of Miami in a flash.
Pulse News (Free)
This free app is a great reader for those who like to get their daily dose of news or gossip on their Android device. Pulse lets users select up to 30 online sources to pull from, and then creates clean, magazine-like pages that feature thumbnail photos and headlines from each source. Most articles or blogs can be easily read within the app, and the sources update in a flash. It’s the perfect substitute for your morning or evening Internet scan. Add sources like CNN, Gawker, Salon, Wet Paint, MSNBC, and Mashable.
Google Goggles (Free)
This app allows users to search for information by taking a photo of a book, landmark, barcode, business card, or work of art and inputting it into the visual Google search engine. The app can recognize products, give users historical information on landmarks, provide basic information on businesses, and copy down information from business cards. Essentially it is a visual search engine for your device. Yet another great app from Google.
Google Music Beta
Jul 29th

A better way to play your music.
Upload your personal music collection to listen anywhere, keep everything in sync,
and forget the hassle of cables and files. Watch a video

Listen anywhere, even offline.
You can get to your personal music collection at home or on the go. Listen from the web or any enabled device with the Music app available from Android Market. Not online? No problem. The songs you’ve recently played will automatically be available offline. You can also select the specific albums, artists and playlists you want to have available when you’re not connected.

Stay in sync, without the hassle.
Spend more time listening to your music and less time managing it. Once your music is online, it’s always available. Playlists are automatically kept in sync, and you don’t have to worry about cables, file transfers, or running out of storage space.

Your collection, now in one place.
Upload your personal music collection to a single library, even if it’s scattered across multiple computers. You can upload music files from any folder or add your iTunes® library and all of your playlists. And when you add new music to your computer, it can be automatically added to your music collection online.

Mix it up.
Create your own custom playlists with just a few clicks. Or use Instant Mix to automatically build new playlists of songs from your collection that go great together. All the playlists you create and all the changes you make to them are automatically available everywhere your music is.
Introducing Music Beta by Google
Mega-Music App Comparison: Google Music v Amazon Cloud Player v Subsonic v PowerAMP v Winamp
Jul 29th
Source: androidpolice.com
Listening to tunes on your Android device is serious business – no doubt about it.
It’s so serious that many of us are pretty well set in our ways for what we consider the “choice” Android music-listening application, and we aren’t willing to budge on it.
PowerAMP users, for example, swear by the application’s seemingly endless list of customizations and options. On the other hand, Subsonic devotees like myself are advocates of what is probably the most configurable music streaming experience in existence. But the big boys have come to play, and with Google Music Beta entering the foray, along with Amazon‘s still-somewhat-new Cloud Player, the war for musical dominance on Android getting louder by the minute. But who reigns supreme?
| Feature | Google Music | Amazon Cloud Player | Subsonic | PowerAMP | Winamp |
| Streaming | Yes | Yes | Yes (via server) | No | No (Wi-Fi sync) |
| Local Storage Playback | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Playlist Support | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Music Storefront | No | Yes | No | No | No |
| Multi-Format Playback | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Equalizer / Tone Adjustment | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Scrobbling | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Gapless Playback | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Internet Radio | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Lock-screen Music Controls | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Cost | Free (For now) | ~$10 For 20GB | $15 (for server) | $4.99 | Free |
That’s quite a few features to consider – and really, these apps are all a little different from one another in their music-acquisition philosophies, something that Artem felt made a comparison, in some respects, difficult. I disagree – aside from dedicated internet radio applications (ala Pandora, Grooveshark, etc), most of us probably just use one other music application. We’ve all probably chosen that application based on our individual needs, as well.
For example, I chose Subsonic because I have a very large (>100GB) music collection, much of which is in high-fidelity 320Kbps MP3 format, meaning the amount of space each of my albums takes up can be rather ginormous. This makes storing any substantial amount of music on my phone locally a little difficult, but Subsonic allows me to cache the last 10GB of I’ve streamed so that it can still be played offline – rather convenient when you’re trying to keep your data use down or have no signal. Also, I don’t want to pay for 100GB of Amazon or (eventually) Google storage. But I also have a pretty decent internet connection at home – so that factors in as well.
When it comes down to it, choosing a music app is all about what your needs are – so we’re going to break down the strengths and weaknesses of the major players.
#5 Google Music 3.0
You Should Use It If: You’re a beta-invitee to Google Music, have a vendetta against Amazon, and Subsonic is too complex or impractical for you.
Before I even delve into Google Music, be aware, I’m not a beta-invitee at this point, so I can’t legitimately comment on the quality of the service’s streaming, tagging, etc. Though I can say what I know about the Music application itself – it is about as bare-bones as you can get. But it does keep things simple – something Google is famous for doing well.
Unfortunately, I don’t think the Music application really is done all that well. The scrolling cover-art background is a nice touch, but when most of you albums don’t have artwork, it starts to look more bland than exciting. Google’s tagging recognition on tracks is generally good, and the various sort options lend an illusion of flexibility. In reality, they just take up space at the top of the screen. I think most of us are pretty content with hierarchical (artist -> album -> song) sorting. If I ever want the entire list of songs or albums on my phone, I’ll let you know.
Music has, essentially, no configuration options. It doesn’t have lockscreen music controls – something even Amazon Cloud Player can lay claim to. In combination with the actual Google Music locker service, Music becomes more robust, but only just enough to compete with Amazon‘s product, and even at that, it’s hard to see how Google’s service is any better.
#4 Amazon Cloud Player
You Should Use It If: Subsonic is a little too technical for you (or you don’t have an always-on desktop at home), you still want cloud-based music streaming, and you buy a substantial portion of your MP3′s from Amazon.
Amazon Cloud Player has burst onto the Android music scene seemingly out of left field. Unfortunately, its newcomer-status stills shows at this point – while it is very easy to set up, Cloud Player is a fickle application with limited configuration options. Though it does support the basics (a “Now Playing” list, playlists, shuffle), the application itself is nothing to write home about. In fact, I’ve found that while streaming over Cloud Player, any significant interruption to your connection will simply cause the player to skip to the next track and start downloading it, instead. Talk about annoying.
But, Amazon does offer you 20GB of cloud storage after one album purchase from Amazon‘s MP3 store, and any purchases made therein don’t count against your storage limit – quite the incentive to buy yet more stuff from the US’s favorite digital retailer. The Cloud Player upload utility isn’t terrible, either, but it’s by no means great.
Cloud Player also scans your device for locally stored tunes, so you aren’t limited to your Cloud library. Frustratingly, you can’t simply download single tracks for playback or storage, unless you want to add them one-by-one to a playlist or the now playing queue with a long press action. This is part of the reason I stick with Subsonic – I can pick and choose the tracks I want to download or play with checkboxes, and that’s not exactly revolutionary technology.
#3 Winamp
You Should Use It If: You use Winamp on your home computer, internet radio stations are something you enjoy, and you want to spend approximately zero dollars.
Winamp is hands-down the easiest among the top three music players to get up and running, particularly if you’ve used Winamp for Windows before (for the syncing side of things, that is). It’s also the only app on the list that straddles the fence between streaming and pure local playback, via its Wi-Fi Sync utility. Winamp won’t download tracks from your home computer’s library unless it’s connected via Wi-Fi and the library is visible on your network – something a lot of people may not be comfortable with.
Still, Winamp offers a lot of options (like a built-in list of internet radio stations, and free sponsored music downloads) for a free piece of software (it’s the only truly free service of the five), and it looks good doing it. But Winamp is, at heart, a local media player with a few tenuous connections to the net.
#2 Subsonic
You Should Use It If: You have a dedicated, always-on desktop computer at home with a robust net connection, a large music collection, and some patience to set everything up.
Subsonic is a great, great piece of software. But it requires a significant amount of setup on the PC end, and it’s not a true cloud service – it just uses your home computer or server to stream music to your phone. This does allow almost endless configurability of your streaming experience, which is really great if you’re even a semi-power-user like me. Unfortunately, the Android application does leave some things to be desired in terms of a real music experience.
Namely, Subsonic has none of the awesome volume, tone, and equalizer controls of PowerAMP (which is why you’ll see PowerAMP occupying the #1 spot below), and it just doesn’t look nearly as awesome. Subsonic holds its own – it has bitrate adjustment options right inside the app, it can support up to three individual Subsonic servers, and has cool menus for things like recently added or most played tracks.
You can also adjust how many songs Subsonic will stream in advance, and how much SD storage it can take up as cache (you can even set it to unlimited). Subsonic is the bona-fide music geek streaming service, and I don’t see myself switching any time soon. Also, be wary: the Subsonic server is free for a limited trial, but after that, you’ll need to cough up $15 to register your server for mobile streaming. You do get a nifty Subsonic domain prefix, though, to make the process of connecting to your server a lot easier to remember.
#1 PowerAMP
You Should Use It If: Streaming is either unimportant to you, or you don’t mind downloading from the cloud via another app and playing in PowerAMP, and being able to truly customize your music listening experience is a crucial deciding factor for you.
PowerAMP takes itself very seriously, and anyone who takes listening to music seriously can appreciate that. While PowerAMP definitely isn’t easy to set up by the average-person standard (though for most of us reading here, it’s probably very simple), it’s significantly less work than Subsonic, and there’s no doubt in my mind that it’s a much better application overall. Of course, PowerAMP doesn’t have any streaming or cloud access options, so you have to make do with local storage. Combined with any one of the above three streaming services, though, you can bridge the cloud “gap” with only a little extra work by simply downloading the tracks you want to listen to, and letting PowerAMP scan the directories they’re located in.
PowerAMP’s equalizer and tone controls are fantastic. It’s the only Android music player with gapless playback and crossfade options. It has more buttons than a 1960′s stereo – and I love it. It really is the music lover’s music app – and that’s why it sits atop our list. And at $5, it may seem a bit steep, but you’re getting more features and customization options than you can shake a stick at.
Conclusion
I ordered these apps in what I considered a fair evaluation of their utility and general good-ness, but really, any of them may cater best to your specific needs. If you can’t live without streaming, no amount of knobs and buttons will get you to switch to PowerAMP. Likewise, if you can’t tear yourself from Winamp’s radio stations and simple Wi-Fi sync, Subsonic might be a tough sell.
Google Music Beta Vs. Amazon Cloud Player
Jul 29th
Source: androidpolice.com
When Amazon Cloud Player hit the scene, my exact words were “Google Music who?” and now that Google Music Beta invites are starting to rollout to the masses, I can aptly answer that question.
I’ve used Amazon Cloud Player as the primary music player on my Android phone since its inception at the end of March, so I’ve become quite familiar with how it works. The service has its pros and cons (like any service, I suppose), but overall I am a big fan. Now that I have had a day or so to play with Google Music, though, I thought it would be appropriate to put these two in the ring together to see who would rise as the victor. Journey with me in this head-to-head deathmatch between Google Music Beta and Amazon Cloud Player.
Storage and Pricing
Before I get into the technical comparisons of each application, lets talk about how much music you can actually upload to each service and how much it will cost you.
Amazon Cloud Player
Amazon offers up 5GB of storage for free, so if you haven’t taken Cloud Player for a spin, there is really no reason not to do so. The price goes up from there at a dollar per gigabyte, though – all the way up to 1000GB. That should be more than enough to handle even the biggest music packrat’s collection, if you’re willing to shell out that kind of cash, that is.
Google Music Beta
Google has taken an interesting approach as far as storage capacity is concerned for beta testers – instead of giving a set limit in digital space, you have a song limit. 20,000 songs, to be exact. There is currently no way to increase that storage as of right now, but I have a feeling that model will change as time goes on and this service leaves its beta tag behind.
WINNER: Google Music Beta
On The Desktop
Logically, the best place to start the comparison is where the magic begins – with the uploader.
Amazon Cloud Player
This the first thing that you have to interface with in order to start enjoying your music on the go. If you currently use iTunes or Windows Media Player, it should auto-detect your tunes, but for some reason I could never get that to work properly, so I had to manually choose which folders I wanted to upload. I guess it’s not that big of a deal, but it’s clearly more of a pain than it should be.
The uploader itself is another annoyance altogether, as it is basically tethered to the browser. On two separate occasions, I accidently closed my browser while uploading music to the Cloud Drive, and *poof*… the uploader closed, too. Now, had I been able to get it to sync correctly with either iTunes or WMP, it may have only been a minor annoyance, but considering I had to select each folder that I wanted to upload individually… it was almost more trouble than it was worth, as I had to go through the entire selection process again (aside from the music that had already uploaded, of course).
The interface of the uploader is clean, easy to navigate, and basic. Exactly what is needed from something of this nature – it does what it’s supposed to to do without navigation woes.
Google Music Beta
Just like the uploader for Cloud Player, you can upload tracks from iTunes, Windows Media Player, and individual folders, but you also have the option to upload your entire music collection all in one go. Since Google is allowing beta testers to upload up to 20,000 songs, I opted to forgo the tedious process of selecting individual artists or albums and just dumped my entire collection to the cloud. Don’t be mislead by that statement though – when I say dumped that makes it sound like it’s a fast process… believe me, it’s not. As a matter of fact, it probably won’t be finished until next week (if I’m lucky).
One area where Amazon‘s uploader is a bit more functional than Google’s is the “other folders” area. As I stated earlier, that was the only way that I could the Amazon uploader to work efficiently for me, but it was quite easy – I picked the folders that I wanted to upload at the time. Unfortunately, with Music Beta when you choose “Other folders”, the folders that you select at that time are static. They will stay synced with your Music player all the time, which is kind of a pain if you just want to upload a few tracks from a random artist.
Back on the bright side, Google’s uploader is a standalone application, so I can just let it do its thing. It even hides itself in the system tray as to not take up any room in the taskbar, which is quite nice. Another very nice feature of Google’s uploader is the fact that it has options. You can control when to upload music, how much to upload at one time, and even how much bandwidth to allocate for the task. The one features that it is lacking over Amazon‘s uploader, however, is a pause button. If you need to stop the upload process for some reason, you have to close the program altogether, but it will pick up where it left off when you launch it again.
While both uploaders serve their purpose, and each of them have their pros and cons, I have to say that Google Music Beta is the better contender in this area.
WINNER: Google Music Beta
In The Web Browser
Now that we’ve covered the uploaders for each service, lets move on to the web-based player for each. Before I get started with the comparison, though, I have one gripe that pertains to both players: tags. Normally, I am a Winamp user on the desktop, which reads both ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags, so all of my tracks show up in the correct spot regardless of which tag they use. Cloud Player and Music Beta, on the other hand, simply do not. I’m not entirely sure how Amazon or Google go about reading the ID tags of uploaded music, but some of my tracks show up drastically different in the cloud than they do in Winamp. That really wouldn’t be so bad, but there is no way of fixing it within the Cloud Player or Music apps. [Update: It turns out that you can update the track info in Music Beta, but not within Cloud Player. Simply click the down arrow next to the track title and choose "Edit song info." Thanks to Rastor for pointing this out!] Now that I have that of my chest, we can continue with the comparison.
Amazon Cloud Player
If there’s one thing that I can say about Amazon Cloud Player’s interface, it’s that it still looks like a web app. Call it nitpicking if you want, but I prefer apps that look like more like native desktop applications. With that said, the interface is still quite clean and easy to navigate. The controls are very defined and easy to locate (see ‘em there, in the bottom left?) with volume, shuffle, and repeat all just a click away.
The library is simple and direct, offering varying ways of browsing through your music. You can sort by song, album, artist, genre, latest uploads, or latest purchase. It also offers a search function, which can be a Godsend if you’re looking for one track among many. It also includes simple playlist support, so creating a quick mix of your favorite tracks or a playlist to work out to is easy peasy.
Another really nice feature of the Cloud Player is that is allow for quick access to the Amazon MP3 Store, which makes purchasing music and adding it to your Cloud Drive a breeze. The best part about buying music directly from Amazon MP3 is that it doesn’t go against your quota in Cloud Drive, saving you precious space for future tunes.
Overall, I really like the Cloud Player web app. It’s easy to use and does exactly what I want it to do – organizes and plays my music.
Google Music Beta
Let me just start off by saying that I really like the Music Beta interface. It definitely feels more like a native application to me, which is a huge bonus in my book.
The controls are not as dominant as they are in Cloud Player, as they just sort of blend in down at the bottom. All of the features are still there – shuffle, repeat, and volume – but it also adds a thumbs up and thumbs down feature, similar to Pandora. I’m not entirely sure why thumbs down is included though, since you upload your own music collection. Why would you want to thumbs down music from your own collection? This could hint a bigger things for Music Beta, but I’ll leave the speculation for another day.
The library is quite similar to that of Amazon Cloud Player, with categories for songs, artists, albums, genres, and recently added tracks. It also includes some pre-made playlists for recently added tracks, free songs (if you choose the include the free tracks when you setup Music Beta for the first time – I did not), and tracks that have received your thumbs up approval.
I’m really not sure why track 2 isn’t showing up here, but I better figure it out… that’s my favorite track on the album!
What really sets Music Beta apart, however, is the Instant Mix playlist. Quite similar to iTunes’ Genius playlist creation, you select a track, click the down arrow, and choose “Make Instant Mix.” It will then create a playlist of similar music, saving you all of the hassles of doing such a task for yourself.
One thing that Music Beta is lacking in comparison to Cloud Player is an MP3 store. No buying music and quickly adding it to your library here – you have to upload everything, which is kind of a downer.
Like Cloud Player, Music Beta also includes a handy search box for quick access to any track – but wouldn’t it have been sort of silly for a music service provided by a search company to lack suck a feature?
Overall, I am a big fan of the web interface for Music Beta. Even though it’s lacking a store, it’s clean, very easy to navigate, very organized, and has the super-awesome Instant Mix feature.
WINNER: TIE (if you never plan on using the Amazon MP3 store, however, Google Music Beta easily takes this one)
On The Android
This one is the big deal. It can make or break the entire service depending on the app’s usability, interface, features, and everything in between. Without further ado, I give you the Android app comparison.
Amazon Cloud Player
For starters, the Amazon Cloud Player Android app is nice. We’ve talked about it before, and I love it just as much now as I did back then (as if it were so long ago). The ability to access both local media and music stored on the Cloud Drive from the same app is incredible – and the fact that that app displays them in separate interface instead of bundling them together is a huge bonus.
The interface is extremely intuitive, with the navigation controls along the top of the app and all media controls setting conveniently at the bottom. Just like the web app, the media controls standout from the rest of the Android app, which only adds to the usability.
The app has direct access to the Amazon MP3 store, so you can quickly and easily buy music and add it to your library on the go. The music becomes available immediately, so you don’t have to deal with the hassle of uploading music just to have mobile access to it.
Have some music stored in your Cloud Drive and want a local copy of it, too? No problem, the Cloud Drive app has that covered as well. You can download both single tracks or full albums from your Cloud Drive directly from the Android app, avoiding the need to grab the USB cable to get some new tunes on your device.
With all music apps, there is one feature that can break a great app down very quickly: the widget. If a music app has a bad widget, it almost kills the usability of the entire app. Fortunately for Amazon, the widget for Cloud Player is quite solid. It’s what you would expect from a music widget – basic controls, now playing, and quick access to the app. The fact that it’s also very clean isn’t a bad thing, either.
Google Music Beta
Google had a wonderful opportunity to save itself from the terrible monstrosity of a music app that ships with stock Android with this new incarnation. Unfortunately… that didn’t’ happen. As much as it pains me to admit it – this app is really no better than the stock app as far as functionality is concerned. Sure, it looks better – but a pretty face will only get you so far.
The interface isn’t quite as intuitive as it could be – sliding through the various categories is okay, but it just doesn’t seem to be all that practical. One of my biggest peeves with this app is the fact that it shows all of your media – cloud and local – all in the same list. If you have some of the same music on your SD card that you have in the cloud, it shows up twice, which is as annoying as it is ridiculous.
Just like the Cloud Player app, the media controls are along the bottom of the app as long as music is playing, but there’s one thing missing… the back button. What is it with Google and the lack of back buttons? I don’t get it. Sometimes I want to hear a track again, or perhaps I hit the next button on accident. Whatevs, Google.
When it comes to selecting an album to listen to, I absolutely hate the tap > dropdown > tap again thing that Google has going on with the Music Beta app. When I tap an artist, I want to see an album list without having to scroll. That is just an extra step between me and music that I’m not interested in dealing with.
Music offers a similar feature to Cloud’s ability to download tracks to your SD card – but it’s more like offline caching. Once you tell it to make an album available offline, it will download the album (this is set to happen only on Wi-Fi by default) and store it locally on your SD Card. It took some digging to find exactly where it stores these files, as it’s buried semi-deep: SD Card/Android/data/com.google.android.music/cache/music is where you’ll find all of the cached tracks (pictured above). Be aware, though, it doesn’t use properly named files, so you’ll have no idea which tracks are which.
If you’ve seen the widget for the original Google Music Player, then you’ve seen the widget for the new Music Beta as well – it’s the same exact one. It probably goes without saying, but I wasn’t impressed with the widget originally and, well, nothing has changed. Again, no back button. C’mon.
WINNER: Amazon Cloud Player
Summary and Conclusion
I realize this is quite long and for those that didn’t want to read the entire thing, here is a quick recap:
Amazon Cloud Player
Pros
- Easy to use uploader
- Very clean web interface
- Direct access to the Amazon MP3 store from both the web player and the Android App
- Incredible Android app; very well organized and intuitive interface
Cons
- The uploader is tied to the browser, which can be annoying if you close the browser by accident
- The web player still looks like a web app, not a native app
- Limited space/price per gigabyte
Google Music Beta
Pros
- Huge amount of storage while in beta
- Very nice uploader
- Intuitive, well designed web app
Cons
- No MP3 store
- Poorly designed Android app
- Terrible widget
OVERALL WINNER: Amazon Cloud Player
While Google Music Beta started off strong, the Android app was really the deal breaker for me. It’s lacking features that I feel are clutch in a good music app, and the interface isn’t as intuitive as it could be. If you’re just looking for a service to hold your music and allow you to stream it from any PC, then Google Music is definitely the way to go. But, if a good Android app is a must-have for you, then I just can’t recommend Music Beta at this point
In the end, though, it’s really up to you to decide which service you prefer.
Beautiful Widgets
Jul 10th
Beautify your home screen
Beautiful Widgets is a set of widgets designed for your Android devices. See why it is the best Android widgets and the only choice for thousands of users! Take your Android experience to the next level with the award-winning widgets that allows you to customize the look and feel of your home screen.
Now you can take your existing home screen and beautify it with widgets such as clocks with weathers, weather widgets, and a nice collection of toggle buttons to change the status of your devices features. Beautiful Widgets is in the top paid applications on Android since many months, learn why it is one of the best.
Are you worried about purchasing something that you do not like? No worries, the Android Market allow you to try any paid applications for 24 hours. A credit card authorization is created, but you are charged only if you keep the application for more that 24 hours.
Clock & Weathers
What are one of the two most importants things you always want to know? Yes, the time, and you want to be able to view it with ease. The other is the weather. While some people think that you
only need to look out by the window, it is not always as simple and most of us just prefer to use their devices and get more information, such as the current conditions, the temperature with the highs and lows. Not only it can find where you are using the geolocation from your devices, and geo-decode the city name from it, but there are many settings that you can change. Of course, basics like 24Hours/12Hours, C° & F° temperatures, are supported. The weather is working worldwide, and provided at your choice from Accuweather or by Google.
Animations & Forecast
You have access to the next days forecast, 3 days with Google and 4 Days with Accuweather. The latest let you tap the forecast to have more details. But the best part are probably the animations. While it is not possible to have the animations played directly on the widget, we have added one of the best generated weather animations, based on the current conditions! Watch the rain on your phone, the snow or the thunderstorms among the others! All of them in your hand. You might even want to have them playing when you unlock your phone (require a fast device for a better experience).
More and more widgets
Beautiful Widgets contains a few tricks to make your life on Android a better experience than it can already be. You have access to a few Toggles buttons: Brightness change, Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS, Silent, Silent with Vibrate, Mobile, Plane mode, 4G, Auto-rotate, Pattern (only for older Android version than the 2.2) and a Timed Silence. Not enough? The clock and weather are available in two size, you can also have a small weather widget, or another one with the forecast. It is up to you to organize your home screen and do all the combinations that you want! If that does not seems enough to you, you might want to know that we are working on adding new widgets. Beautiful Widgets has always been improved and will remain at the top, we provide regular updates and we are always working hard at pleasing our users!
Skins & Customizing
This is the key of Beautiful Widgets, not only it is fully featured, but also the customization options are incredibles. Changes the skins of the widgets, the color of the text, the layout, get notified on the temperature, have the weather refreshed when you want it to, change the weather icons, create your own skins, hide the background, etc.
Designed for Honeycomb
The new tablets Android running Honeycomb with larger screens need a new design for the settings.
Now, you can use the behavior of Honeycomb system settings. Beautiful Widget offer a different category for each skinned element. You can preview the differents layout for each widget configuration (4×3, 4×2…).
A new widget has been designed particularly for tablets : “SuperClock 4×3″.
You can put your tablet on its home station on your desk, and use it as real desktop clock.
Visit Developer’s Website›




















