Android Application Weekly 16 Sep 201

In this episode of the Android Application Weekly we demonstrate some apps that will keep you entertained, allow you to find out exactly what is playing on TV, and find events in your area. To download these directly to your Android smartphone or tablet just take a picture of the QR-Code using Google Goggles or any other QR-Code scanner or click on the app title link to be taken directly to the Android Market.

Air Attack HD – A lite and $2.83 full version



Air Attack HD is a fun shooter game where you pilot aircrafts and try to prevent the enemies from taking you down. Collect money and other items to increase your weapon’s attack power. At each checkpoint you can buy use the money you have collected to buy upgrades.



IntoNow – A free application 



Ever wonder what that show is playing on the television? With IntoNow you will be able to listen to what show is playing and get current information. Share the shows you watch with your friends through Facebook or the Into Now network.



Universal Password Manager – A free application



Protect and retrieve your passwords with Universal Password Manager. This app uses a master password to keep the information secure. Just input which accounts you want Universal Password Manager to record and just click on the account to bring up the information



GPS Status – A lite and $2.94 full version



GPS Status is an all-in-one tool that will display nearly everything that has to do with navigation. View the current GPS satellite locations to get your exact coordinates. Other tools that are included are a light meter, g-force meter, accelerometer, altimeter, speedometer, and more.



Eventseekr – A free application



With Eventseekr you will never run out of things to do. This is a great app that brings together tons of events occurring in your area to the palm of your hand. Pick which event looks interesting and view the full description to get more information.

Google Hypes Google Wallet With Some Help From Seinfeld

As Google gets its ducks in a row for the national launch of Google Wallet, the company is trying to spread the word of just what its NFC-using system will be capable of, putting together a teaser video and assembling a site with some early info on the system.

Google revisits a classic episode of Seinfeld, injecting itself into George Costanza's struggles with his overloaded wallet. With records of all his transactions stored on a smartphone, the reasoning goes, hapless George could have avoided this mess.

The Google Wallet site gives visitors a once-over of the system's features and abilities, explaining what hardware you'll need to take advantage of it, addressing security concerns, and discussing where you'll be able to use Wallet. Entering your ZIP code in Google's form will bring up a map showing the location of nearby retailers that are already set up with the needed hardware to process Wallet transactions.

If you're really digging the vision of Wallet that Google paints for you, interested parties can sign up to receive email notifications when the service is ready to launch. At first, Google says Wallet will just support Sprint's Nexus S 4G; hopefully we'll see that spread to the original Nexus S and other NFC-capable Androids in short order.

Tango Windows Phone Video Chat Demoed

Windows Phone 7.5 Mango hardware is bringing with it front-facing cameras to the platform, and you can't very well have those without needing a video-chat app. Since hearing about HTC's Titan and Radar, we've known that Tango (the multi-platform video chat company, not the most-Mango update) software would be coming to Windows Phone. Now Microsoft has put together a video to show us what we can expect from video calls with Tango.

Microsoft's Aaron Woodman demos the app with the HTC Titan, showing how calls are set up and giving us some early indication of video quality. While the audio's a bit hard to make out, video looks relatively crisp and clear, just like we'd expect it to, but there are some noticeable lag problems.

Tango's currently available for Android and iOS, and is coming soon to PCs and (obviously) Windows Phone.

Samsung Publishes Verizon Illusion Render

We've seen the Samsung Illusion for Verizon together with the Pantech Breakout LTE whenrenders of the two phones headed to Big Red surfaced on the internet. It now appears that Samsung itself has published an official press render of the Illusion phone, ahead of any other official announcement.

We're expecting the Illusion to land around the end of month but the specs aren't certain. Still, expect to see entry-level-like specs on the SCH-i110, like an 800MHz or even a 1GHz processor, HVGA resolution screen, and a three, maybe five-megapixel camera. Android 2.3 Gingerbread could be a nice addition and you can see Samsung's own TouchWiz user interface running on top of the Google platform. 

Motorola Droid Bionic Booting CyanogenMOD7 (Video)

Motorola announced the Droid Bionic two weeks ago and the phone is available for purchase since September 8. We're currently reviewing the device(we've already got the unboxing and the hardware tour) which seems to be already booting CyanogenMod 7.

Looking at the video below you'll see CyanogenMod 7 boot without a drop of sweat on the Droid Bionic. Work is in progress and there are many bugs plus plenty of things not working yet (like radio, charging, battery, graphics are a bit off, camera, audio and so on). On the bright side, touchscreen, accelerometer and adb are working and with the community hard at work, expect to see a fully working version for the Bionic soon.