Topic: Android phones & apps thread

[Morari]

I've been signed up for Google Music since the closed beta. I've yet to try it out though. I have over 1,200 individual songs though. The thought of uploading them all is daunting to say the least. Besides, I don't know that I'd ever really use the service. I can't think of any situation where I would personally rather stream my music from Google than just listen to it locally on one of the many capable devices I have.

It's been hinted at, but I haven't seen it spelled right out... Does the service replace your uploaded tunes with higher quality files from their library? I have a lot of old Napster files that weren't too great back then, and have only gotten worse as times goes on. Sadly, only about half of my collection is lossless, so that might be an appeal if true.

[MegaByte]

You don't upload them manually. It uploads them in the background after you tell it which folders to grab.

[TJ Spyke]

It still takes quite a long time though, it also appears that you can't upload songs that have DRM.

I am uploading my library to it, but like Morari I can't see any situation where I would likely even use it.

[Stogi]

It's not that bad really. Just open up the manager before you go to sleep. It'll be done before you wake up.

I've already uploaded over 10,000 songs. Took me about 3 or 4 nights.

[Morari]

Let it go at night? I'd have to turn all of my torrents off then! Seriously though, it's still not a reason for me to use it. Not unless Google is going to let me redownload everything in high-quality, lossless form afterward.

It's an interesting service, but it doesn't have any appeal for me. I don't buy into the "cloud", not for anything.

[Stogi]

It's nice if you have an android phone. And even if you don't, it's nice to have playlists that you've constructed easily findable on the internet. No need to reconstruct them on Grooveshark. Plus, if you have a wide variety of obscure songs as I do, it's nice to be able to play them outside of my home.

[BranDonk Kong]

I flashed Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0.1) onto an HTC HD2 at work today and played with it for a little bit. It's very, very nice. It really is a perfect blend of Honeycomb and Gingerbread, with some other nice touches. Hopefully my Thunderbolt gets a real version of ICS soon. It amazes me how the HD2, a Windows Phone, is probably the most supported Android phone that is not a Nexus device.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Android reaches 10 Billion Downloads - Google Celebrates with 100 $0.10 Apps
10 Apps a Day $0.10 Each
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2011/12/10-billion-android-market-downloads-and.html

We wanted to celebrate and share this milestone with you, the people who made it possible. So what better way than by offering you more of the apps you love? We partnered with some of the top Android developers to make a bunch of great apps available at an amazing price. Starting today, and continuing for the next 10 days, we’ll have a new set of awesome apps available for only 10 cents each.

Today’s apps:

Asphalt 6 HD: http://goo.gl/KNYbR
Color & Draw For Kids: http://goo.gl/n0qtX
Endomondo Sports Tracker Pro: http://goo.gl/cnZz2
Fieldrunners HD: http://goo.gl/vu44s
Great Little War Game: http://goo.gl/cro3L
Minecraft: http://goo.gl/o0GlB
Paper Camera: http://goo.gl/wtnOC
Sketchbook Mobile: http://goo.gl/kqv44
SoundHound: http://goo.gl/QoxqC
Swiftkey: http://goo.gl/rhmY7

[BranDonk Kong]

GTA3 launches December 15th...on dual core Android phones and tablets. It's also going to be available for the iPad and iPad 2, and iPhone 4 and 4s.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Free 50GB of cloud storage to all Android users
http://blog.box.com/2012/02/android-users-get-50gb-free-get-your-box50gb-and-enter-the-box-mobile-giveaway/
sign up by March 23 to get it.
and a chance to win 20 Galaxy Tabs too.

[BranDonk Kong]

On a side note (or just a different subject I guess), Dead Space was just updated for Ice Cream Sandwich. It fixes an issue where it would only play in portrait mode, even in landscape (so almost half the screen was missing). I might have to throw $6.99 at it, it's pretty amazing for a cell phone/tablet game.

[BranDonk Kong]

There a bunch of apps for $.49 in Google Play (the new Market), including one of the coolest apps I've ever used, Paper Camera. Dead Space and Shadow Gun are in there too...and N.O.V.A. 2 as well.

[BranDonk Kong]

Modern Combat 3 is on there for $.49 now too, if you're into FPS.