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Friday, August 05, 2011

Motorola Droid 3 Lightning Review: Another Summer Sequel [Lightning Review]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5828038/motorola-droid-3-lightning-review-another-summer-sequel

The original Droid was the phone that put Android on the map. Two sequels later, here we are with the Droid 3. But is it more The Dark Knight Rises or Spiderman 3?

Like

The Droid 3 is solid. Like tank solid. Assembled from magnesium alloy and glass and a soft matte plastic, it won't have complaints of cheapness hurled at it like say, the Nexus S. The keyboard has a satisfying clickiness to it and the added row of number keys—five rows!—is an unexpected source of phone joy. The Droid 3 is le snappy. Motorola's custom UI is tastefully implemented and relatively unobtrusive. Though it makes some parts of Android—like the home screen—look chintzy, it makes other areas—like the messaging app—look less ugly and rudimentary than stock Android. And the screen improvement (now 4-inches with qHD resolution), is solid, if not quite jaw-dropping, when it comes to picture quality.

No Like

Carrying the Droid 3 around is not unlike lugging a rock around in your pocket. It's dense, it's bulky, it's covered with hard angles. It's a trade off you've gotta make for top-notch build quality and a keyboard, but it doesn't make it more enjoyable. The sliding mechanism is stiff and grating (just like the previous models). Apparently there are users out there who like it very much. I don't. And where's the 4G LTE?

The Droid 3 doesn't do anything new—it would've been nice if the Droid 3 was a bit slimmer and lighter, but for existing Droid owners who love what they have and just want the same thing, but faster, stronger and better, that's exactly what this is. For everybody else, if you need a keyboard—particularly a rare 5-row keyboard—and are on Verizon, this isn't a bad place to start.

Specs
Motorola Droid 3
Network: Verizon
Screen: 4-inch, 960x540 Gorilla Glass qHD Display
Weight: 6.0oz
Processor: 1GHz, Dual-Core TI OMAP4430
Storage: 16GB internal + up to 32GB SD Storage
OS: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) + Custom Skin
Cameras: Rear 8-megapixel, Front 0.3-megapixel
Price: $200 with two-year contract

The Week's Best Android Apps [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5828267/the-weeks-best-android-apps

DSLR Controller: It's still in Beta but DSLR Controller lets you control your Canon DSLR with your Android phone or tablet. It's expensive-ish at $8.50 but for photogs you're able to tinker with ISO, shutter speed, aperture, exposure compensation and zoom, not to mention live view, auto-focus, manual-focus, the histogram, grid display, bulb capture, continuous capture, white balance...the list goes on. Could be useful.

The Week's Best Android Apps FOX Sports Mobile: If you're not satisfied with the ESPN or Live Scores on Android, Fox Sports just released an app to help you keep track of scores, videos, breaking news, your local teams and more. You can personalize the app to display the relevant news stories and scores about your team and keep track of all the popular sports. Pretty solid for sports fans.

The Week's Best Android Apps Streamzoo: As Instagram isn't available on Android, people need to look elsehwere for their photo sharing needs. Streamzoo is a photo and video sharing app that lets you share the pics you take, along with being able to hashtag and organize 'em. Of course, you can add hipster filters, borders and tilt shift effects to make your picture look snazzy. Supports Twitter and Facebook too. [via Androinica]

The Week's Best Android Apps Light Flow: It doesn't work for every phone but you can take control of the notification light on your Android light. You can change colors, cycle through 'em all, program apps to work with it and a whole ton of other customization. It's a small tweak but one that makes your phone, yours. [via Phandroid]

The Week's Best Android Apps Visidon AppLock: It's a security app meant to protect other people (not you) from opening apps on your smartphone. But unlike password or gesture-based security systems, Visidon uses facial recognition software to do so. So if you're protecting Gmail with Visidon, let's say, the app will prompt a facial scan before it reveals Gmail. If it's you, it quickly registers and opens Gmail. If it's not you, users are prompted to enter a password. If they can't do that, then no peeky at my teeties.

Skype: Skype's 2.1 Android app just got updated to add 2-way video calling to a wide range of Android phones and tablets now, including Samsung's Galaxy S, S II and Galaxy Tab; HTC's Desire, Thunderbolt, Sensation and EVO 3D and 4G; plus a bunch of Sony Ericsson devices.

You can keep up with Casey Chan, the author of this post, on Twitter or Facebook.

The Week's Best Android Apps [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5828267/the-weeks-best-android-apps

You can keep up with Casey Chan, the author of this post, on Twitter or Facebook.

The Best Apps of the Week [Video]

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5828268/the-best-apps-of-the-week

In this week's app roundup: songs, made EPIC; DSLRs, controlled by Androids; trail maps, downloaded to your iPhone; photos, edited by a touch; sharks, made interactive; Rdio, iPadified; Skype, also iPadified; notifications light, customized and much, much more.

The week's best iPhone apps

GLMPS: When you snap a photograph, you're capturing a frozen moment in time. But what if you captured the wrong moment? You're never getting the better, not snapped photograph back! GLMPS is an iPhone app that captures a video clip of the few seconds before you snap your photo so you'll always have a memory of what was going on before. Sort of like a mix between GIFs and those pictures in Harry Potter! With GLMPS, there's a bit more context to those blurry iPhone shots you've expertly managed to take but forgotten where you took them. Free

See the rest of this week's best iPhone apps

The week's best Android apps

Ultimate Sharks: SHARKS! It's Shark Week folks and that means a constant loop of scary shark videos, lovely shark bites and messy shark attacks on TV during dinnertime. But you want MORE sharks don't you? You want to know what makes these beasts tick even though you don't want to take a dip with them. It's understandable. The Ultimate Sharks app, made by Discovery as a pseudo-companion app to Shark Week, gives you lists (10 deadliest sharks), tons o' videos, high res pictures and even 3D interactive sharks that respond to your touch. $5

See the rest of this week's best iPad apps

We are so crazy about apps right now you wouldn't believe it. If you have recommendations, tips, or just want to let us know about your own app, drop a note in the comments or shoot me an email.

Rdio's iPad app gets approved by Apple, we go eyes-on

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/04/rdios-ipad-app-gets-approved-by-apple-we-go-eyes-on/

Were you excited to try Spotify, only to be dismayed by the lack of native iPad support? Enter Rdio's latest update to its iOS app, now with gratuitous support for Cupertino's sweetheart. Just like its iPhone and iPod touch forebearer, slate fans can now stream music, cache songs, futz with playlists, all while being "social" with friends on the service. Like the company's other mobile apps (on iOS, Android or Blackberry) -- and its cross-Atlantic Swedish rival -- one has to spring for the pricier $9 monthly sub to unshackle from web-only streaming and enjoy portable bliss. In our quick run-through, we found the app to be slick and fast, and searching for obscure music was painless. With most of our friends strewn across other streaming platforms, the community features fell on deaf ears -- so clearly your mileage will vary. Rdio's offering a week-long trial gratis, so go-on and give it a whirl yourself.

Gallery: Rdio iPad app eyes-on