Tag: google android

Best Free Android Apps for Reading

There are many people who like reading books from their Android smartphones but don’t like the book reader apps found in their devices by default. If you’re one of those people, and if you’re thinking of finding a new Android app for reading, my post will be useful for you.

I’ve downloaded and tried many reading apps, and here are, IMHO, the best ones among them. They are all free and can be downloaded from Android Market (If you’re new to Android and don’t know how to download and install apps from the Market, read our guide).

1. Cool Reader by Vadim Lopatin is probably the best reading app I’ve seen so far, and it’s the app I’m currently using on my Android-based Samsung Galaxy Ace.

The app supports a huge list of formats (fb2, txt, doc, rtf, html, chm, tcr, pdb, pml, epub and mobi), it’s easy to use and it looks cool. First, I like the default background – when you look at it, your eyes don’t hurt and it seems you’re reading a real book (you can change the background’s color and textures, and even put your own background, but the default one seems to be the best for me), you can almost feel that paper smell, too :) Second, you can easily jump to the needed page, search for some text, bookmark the pages… Very useful, an ideal app for reading fiction.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I like the page turning part, too. Besides, it can read books from .zip files, which is also very nice.

2. Moon+ Reader by Moon+ is the next free reading app I have in my Android smartphone. It supports txt, html, epub, umd, fb2, chm, zip and OPDS formats (no .doc support, unfortunately), has many visual options, different types of paging, many different themes (plus you can change between the Day and Night modes) and supports 28 languages.

Though I usually prefer to read books in Cool Reader anyway, Moon+ Reader is still a very good reading app. And this video will show you more about it:

3. FBReader by Geometer Plus is the third Android app for reading I can recommend. It’s really fast, but the number of supported file formats is not that impressive (epub, oeb and fb2).

You can download books with the help of FBReader or download them manually and read them in the app. The book reader already includes some famous English, French, Chinese, Russian and Polish libraries, too.

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September 5, 2011 | 0 Comments More

Top 5 Android Smartphones of 2011

Many great Android-based smartphones were released in 2011, and most of them were awarded with lots of attention and love. Of course, if we try to mention all those famous smartphones, it will be a list with many bullets, but here, we’ll try to put aside five of those we like more then others. I hope this list will help you if you’re going to buy your first Android smartphone or upgrade the existing one.

So here is out list of Top 5 Android mobile phones:

5. HTC Desire S

Maybe the HTC Desire S isn’t the best smartphone ever (no dual-core processor, after all, and the camera isn’t that gorgeous), but no one will argue if I say it’s still a great device, nicely built, elegant, fast and user-friendly. So no wonder it’s so popular now!

The HTC Desire S is first of all famous for running Android 2.3 Gingerbread while many high-end smartphones haven’t received this update yet. Besides, its hardware features are good, too: 1GHz Scorpion processor, Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon and Adreno 205 GPU. Together with 1.1GB of ROM and 768MB of RAM they ensure great performance and fast web-browsing.

The smartphone features a 3.7-inch S-LCD capacitive touchscreen (480 x 800) protected by the famous Gorilla Glass technology. As for the camera, it’s only 5MP (with auto-focus and LED flash), but it takes rather good 2592 x 1944 pictures and shoots 720p videos at 30fps. Plus the standard Li-Ion 1450 mAh battery is more than enough to make all these features work.

The HTC Desire S is a great choice for all those who want a good smartphone for a decent price. Today the unlocked version of the smartphone costs in the range of 450$-500$, but you can find even more affordable HTC Desire S deals online, starting with a free phone and around 13£/month (UK).

4. Google Nexus S

The Google Nexus S is the next smartphone in our list of 5 most famous Android devices. Just like the HTC Desire S, it’s based on Android Gingerbread, has a great performance, especially when playing games, using multiple apps or any other features at the same time.

It has a bigger display (4.0-inch Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen) than the HTC Desire S, so it’s a bit cooler, though the other features are almost the same – 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 processor (not a dual-core one again!), PowerVR SGX540 GPU, a 5MP rear-facing camera, 512MB of RAM and 16GB Storage.

The unlocked version of the Google Nexus S is much cheaper than the Desire S – you can buy it starting 400$ from most online retailers. So it’s a great choice for those who want a good smartphone without signing contracts with carriers.

3. Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

For a long time I was sure that my Nokia phone had the best sound ever. Then one of my friends said I just hadn’t heard the sound of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. Soon I got the chance to make sure my friend was right – the Xperia Play’s sound was really great, and even my Nokia couldn’t be compared with it…

Of course, good sound isn’t the main feature of Sony Ericsson’s smartphone. It’s a great choice for those who like gaming, too. It runs the newest version of Android OS, just like the first two devices we described. It also has a 4.0-inch LED-backlit LCD capacitive touchscreen with a slide keypad (not QWERTY, unfortunately, but a d-pad) and special gaming buttons.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play also boasts a 1GHz Scorpion processor with Adreno 205 GPU and 512MB of RAM. Its camera is only 5MP, but it’s rather good anyway.

2. HTC Sensation

Many geeks are now quarreling which Android-based smartphone is the best at the moment – the HTC Sensation or the Samsung Galaxy S II. Some say they’re both very good, others say the Sensation is better…

I personally think that HTC’s smartphone has to take the second place in this list, leaving the first one for Samsung’s device. Of course, it has great build quality and powerful features (Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 4.3-inch touchscreen, 540 x 960 pixels, 1.2GHz dual-core processor (dual-core at last!), Qualcomm MSM 8260 Snapdragon, Adreno 220 GPU, 1GB storage, 768MB RAM, 8 MP camera with auto-focus and dual-LED flash and many others), but something makes most people like the Galaxy S II more. I guess it’s the design…

Anyway, you can buy the unlocked version of the HTC Sensation from $550 or find better HTC Sensation deals with your local carriers.

1. Samsung Galaxy S II

So the Samsung Galaxy S II seems to be the best Android-based smartphone at the moment with its huge 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen display (480 x 800), Gingerbread, 1GHz Samsung dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and the cool 8MP camera with auto-focus and LED flash.

The Galaxy S II is stylish, slim, light, but durable and very fast. A great choice for those who can spare $600 on a smartphone.

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August 31, 2011 | 0 Comments More

Skitch App Released for Android

Skitch, a great application created by Evernote to annotate and edit photos, has been available for Mac for a while. Now the app is at last available for Android users, too. You can download it for free from Android Market!

Here is how the app is officially described:

“Calling Skitch for Android addictively fun is an understatement. It’s the perfect way to quickly draw attention to anything in a picture; take a snapshot of something awesome, draw an arrow and add a caption, then post the image on Twitter or Facebook. When you’re at a conference, snap a picture of the people you meet, annotate it with their names and save it into Evernote. Quickly sketch out a map, diagram or unicorn!”

If you like playing around with your photos, editing them, adding some notes on them or giving them sketch effects, here are several other great apps from Android Market you may like:

August 22, 2011 | 0 Comments More

How to Install and Uninstall Apps on Android

What’s the best thing in having an Android device? Right, Android has conquered half of the world thanks to the huge number of great apps available on the Android Market. So many of us want to have Android-based smartphones to get the opportunity to use those apps.

Some people are interested in getting different SMS-related Android apps, for others having Google Maps or Facebook apps is a must, some others need Adobe Flash or other similar applications. Android Market has more than 300.000 apps now, so almost anything can be found there.

The only question for some people is how to download and install the desired apps and how to remove them. If installing apps is more or less easy and clear, you can’t say the same about uninstalling – many people have no idea how to do it.

To tell the truth, when I got my first Android device, it took me some time to understand how I should install an app from Android Market. I tried to download them from my PC to move them to my phone later, but I didn’t manage to. Later I learned about the right way to install Android apps, and I would like to share it with you. Maybe this post will be useful for those who have just bought their first Android devices and experience the same difficulties I once had.

You probably already know that some Android apps from the Android Market are free, some others cost money, not that much though. It’s really easy to download and install both.

How to install Android apps

  • First of all, enter the Marketplace from your smartphone (no, you can’t download from your PC, unfortunately…). You’ll need an Internet connection – that goes without saying.
  • Find the app you want to install – either go to one of the categories (Applications, Games) or use the Search button.
  • Learn more about the app, read about its developer, permissions and so on. Usually user reviews are also available – they can also be very useful for you.
  • If you decide to install the app, just click on the Free (or Install) button if the app is free or the Buy button if the app is paid. If you’re going to download a free app, just click OK to accept the permissions, and the app will be downloaded and installed automatically. In case of a paid app, after accepting the permissions by pressing OK, you’ll most likely have to sign in to your Google Checkout account and click on Purchase now. That’s all.

How to uninstall Android apps

If there is an application on your smartphone you don’t want any more, here is an easy way to get rid of it.

  • Enter the Android Market and select My Apps (have a look at the screenshot above) – you’ll see the list of apps installed on your smartphone.
  • Select the one you want to uninstall.
  • Open the app, and you’ll see two options – Open and Uninstall. Select Uninstall – that’s it.
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August 17, 2011 | 0 Comments More

Ice Cream Sandwich to be Launched in October?

According to BGR’s mysterious source, Android’s Ice Cream Sandwich update will most likely be launched in October.

Earlier we thought the update was going to be released in the end of the year at best, but now it seems like Google is in a hurry… And if we think a little, we’ll understand why. Apple is going to launch its iPhone 5 in the end of September or in the beginning of October, so perhaps Google is afraid that the new iPhone will attract some of their potential customers, that’s why they hurry to push out the OS update as soon as possible – it will make many customers remain loyal, not “drooling over the iPhone 5.”

So most likely some upcoming Android smartphones will come with Ice Cream Sandwich pre-installed, and perhaps the next model of the Nexus will be the first one among them. There is also a chance that the first Ice Cream Sandwich devices will be launched via Verizon for two reasons: Verizon has many customers who own Android devices (the Motorola Droids in particular, with their expiring contracts…) and Verizon will offer the iPhone 5 when it’s launched.

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August 10, 2011 | 0 Comments More
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