The 20 Best iOS And Android Apps Of 2012 (So Far)

Check out this article from Techctunch:

http://techcrunch.com/2012/07/08/the-20-best-ios-and-android-apps-of-2012-so-far/

Will Android Jelly Bean Be Coming to Your Device?

Will the exciting announcement of the Android's update to it's operating system Jelly Bean (4.1), I had to go out and find out if my devices were going to update to it...  Luckily for me, I think I am going to be rather good according to this site:

Which Phones and Tablets Will Get the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Update?

FYI, my devices are the Motorola Xoom and the Samsung Galaxy S III - didn't even bother looking up for my Samsung Droid Charge as that never even received Ice Cream Sandwich :)

Screen Shots with Samsung Droid Charge

So, I have accidently taken many screen shots using my Samsung Droid Charge, so I finally took the time to see how I did this... Check out this video to find out for yourself!



This is awesome that Samsung built this feature into this phone, so that you don't have to go out and purchase  3rd party screen shot software like Screenshot It.

Chameleon- A New Homescreen for Android Tablets

Check out this video for a look into a new home screen replacement that could be coming to Android tablets:



What I like best about this is how they use cool facial recognition to allow for multiple users.  This can be worth it just for that so that a family can have different user accounts and home screens for every user.  Being a new father, this would also be great so that I could set up security on the device for my daughter, and limit what apps and widgets were on her home screen.

They have taken the app to Kickstater, a cool place where people go to get funding for projects.  I am definately hoping this gets funded!  Click here to view the project on  Kickstater .

Here is their video to try to drum up some funding:



Here is a widget that shows some updated information on the possibility of funding:



(via Android Police)

Amazon Appstore Battery Drain Issues

Screen Shot from Artem's Phone

Artem Russakovskii, the founder of Android Police, recently removed the Amazon App Store because of battery drain issues.  Check out his full blog post on Android Police for more details on the issues he ran into with this here: http://www.androidpolice.com/2012/05/14/goodbye-amazon-appstore/.

Personally, I have not ran into this issue yet, but I use a different model of phone than Artem (Samsung Droid Charge), so the issue may not be affecting my phone, or I may have different programs loaded through Amazon App Store.

Artem also bring up an interesting point about supporting the developers who create the awesome apps.  If you are worried about losing all your purchases from the Free App of the Day, you may want to reevaluate this, as the end developers do not make any money off of doing that promotion (although it could be heavily debated about how much marketing buzz a developer would get from running the Free App of the Day promotion).

So, check out what is draining your phone!  Here is a great article that describes how you can check what is draining your Android Phone's battery (without downloading any apps even!): http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20073973-285/how-to-see-which-apps-are-draining-your-android-devices-battery/

Beer + Android = Best Idea Ever

Check out this link for the best way that we are using the Android OS yet:
Meet KegDroid: An Android/Arduino-Powered Keg In The Shape Of Our Favorite Robot: Your Argument Is Invalid
Unfortunately this isn't for sale yet... It was made by a senior Google engineer. I know that if this ever hits the market, he can count me in on the people that will purchase it!


For all the cool details, check out this video:

Siri for iPhone 4s Meet Iris for Android

In all the ads for the new iPhone 4s, the main portion of what they are marketing is Siri.  Siri is a voice recognition program that intelligently responds to your questions.  For an overview of all the things that it can do, click here.  Siri is only available on the iPhone 4s

There were some similar apps to this in the Android platform, but when Siri came out, one development team (Dexetra) went into an eight hour binge to come up with a comparative app for Android.  After the eight hours, Iris was born.  

To give you an idea of what Iris is capable of, check out these screen shots.  What is in white is what I dictated to the device.  In Blue is the answer from Iris (these were taken on my Samsung Droid Charge).

So, you can see a couple of things from this.  A: Iris has a bit of an attitude when it doesn't know the answer and B: It might be a little dated when it comes to the Jim Tressel reference...

Here is another mix up that Iris had in my testing...

Oh, and by the way, this is what a Pug Jack Russel mix really looks like (not quite the worst thing that one could imagine):

So, all in all, the Iris program has a bit to do to go all the way to Apple's Siri, but given that this program was only made in 8 hours, I think Android's version of Siri will only get better.  In the meantime, we can still sit back and enjoy all the mix ups that it is giving us.

Here are some links to some of the apps and devices that I talk about in this post:

Iris Android App