Android and Me » Angie Strickland

ShowClix turns Nexus One Android phone into mobile ticket scanner

Angie Strickland — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 07:01:23 +0000

If you are looking to open up a new venue and you need an easy to use ticketing system, check out ShowClix Axess. The full-service ticketing solution allows promoters to use Android phones to scan tickets and check-in users to events. Customers can bring in their printed tickets or use their smartphone to check-in with QR codes.

A full list of features include:

Scans 1D & 2D barcodes
Scans print@home eTickets, hard tickets, and mobile tickets
Fast barcode recognition – 1 to 2 seconds per scan
Online and offline scanning
Find and check in ticket buyers who arrive without their ticket
Voice search
Check out and reentry mode
Works with multiple entrance points
Lightweight
Touchscreen

This has to be one of the most innovative uses of the Android platform I have seen. I wish some of the venues in my area were hip enough to give it a try. The service also looks ripe for some integration with some of the social check-in platforms like Foursquare or Gowalla.

“Axess is the product of years of frustration with the existing barcode scanning options that have been available to our clients. The introduction of Axess and our new ticket scanners carries the innovation of our web-based platform to the door of the venue. Our new ticket scanners aren’t just easy-to-use and affordable, they’re also packed with features that give our clients more flexibility and control over the way they admit ticket buyers into their events. Venues and event promoters finally have a better option when it comes to barcode scanning.”Joshua DziabiakShowClix CEO

Get a glimpse of a physical HTC Legend

Angie Strickland — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 20:03:00 +0000

Some renders of the HTC Legend have been floating around for awhile, but now the folks over at Engadget have some actual photos. See for yourself – the device looks about as expected with no new details beside these photos.

The aluminum casing is looking pretty nice, and I know it’s a small detail, but what looks to be the speaker has a nice dot pattern. We’ll keep a lookout for any more sightings.

Two Minute Drill – LightUp

Angie Strickland — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 05:32:41 +0000

We gave you a preview of LightUp awhile back, but now that the full version is available we wanted to give you a more in-depth view of what it has to offer.

Basically, you trace a path from one square to the next to turn every square blue. Start on the green square and move to the white squares. In normal mode, you aren’t able to overlap any squares – you’re only allowed to touch each square once in order to win the level. The other modes, multi and backtrack, offer other options for game play. Multi bisects the puzzle into two paths to where you have two starting points and two ending points. Backtrack allows you to overlap squares in order to reach ones that you normally would get stuck trying to get, but works this function into where you usually have to overlap at least once in order to win. If you get stuck, you can always either shake your phone or press menu to restart the level.

Two Minute Drill – LightUp on Vimeo.

Right now the full version is 50% off at $1.99, though I’m not sure how long that will last. It offers 125 unique levels. The lite version allows you to play each different mode and each level of difficulty, but there are fewer levels available overall. You must beat the easy levels on normal mode before you are able to progress to the other modes and levels of difficulty.

My favorite part of it is the funky galaxy music. Clark likes to make fun of me when I get stuck on the hard levels, but I’m usually able to figure it out after a number of tries. Take a crack at it and let us know what you think.

Spotlight on an awesome Android plush bag

Angie Strickland — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:22:03 +0000

Thanks to one of our forum user’s crafty friends, this really well-made Android plush bag came to life. We thought it was too cool to not share with as many Android fans as possible, so here it is in all it’s glory.

It features a zipper mouth opening, water resistant material, and detachable arms and legs. Here’s the kicker, though, it’s not for sale! I think if it were, it would be a very popular item, so if anyone could actually make that happen, go to it. Otherwise, I will just have to hope I have a friend who wants to give me a birthday present as cool as this. Many thanks to laihiu for sharing this with us.

New Facebook app thankfully appears for Android users

Angie Strickland — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:02:16 +0000

Love it or hate it – Facebook is still a giant; and in case you haven’t caught wind of it yet, they have released a new app for Android users. The new app has improved common Facebook features (that were somewhat of a nightmare before when using their mobile site), but I’m hoping that more changes will keep rolling in to make it better and easier to use.

If you get the app and take a look around, you will really notice layout improvements that have helped the content breathe a lot better. In using the mobile site, I really got frustrated a lot with how often links were sandwiched together (last image in gallery below) to where it was almost always an issue of having to go back and try to click the link you actually wanted. With the app, you get a lot more of what you would need to browse through your friends, news feed, profile, wall – all that good stuff – with much less effort.

Facebook app home screen

My favorite improvement so far is the home screen. It gives you six simple icons for your News feed, Friends, Photos, Profile, Notifications, and taking a photo. The gallery below goes through each one to show what all they have to offer, which again, I’m really happy with the layout improvements they have made overall. It just always helps to have a customized experience.

Another thing I really enjoy using now is the Photos section. Once you click into an album, the images get about as large as possible on the screen, with navigation that appears over the image once you touch the screen. Comments also float over the image, which is nice to see, since that also allows for the image to really be the hero.

Of course there are a few pitfalls users have been noticing, but these issues are still being confirmed with Facebook.

For one, you can’t access your Inbox to send or receive messages. And there isn’t support for Events, either.. Jason Kincaidon TechCrunch

Fan page link doesn't work

As for my own issues, I was unable to access our fan page through the app, or even through the mobile site. I tried a few things to find access to it, by placing a link on my wall and placing a link in my status, but whenever I clicked them, I was always taken to the home page of the mobile site. Also, whenever I tested the “Take photo” option on the app’s home screen, everything worked well, except for when I clicked on the image I uploaded it took me back to the mobile site.

However, I don’t think these small gripes are at all overshadowing the other steps they have taken to improve the use of their site. I am not the most frequent user of Facebook, but as far as what I do use it for I’m definitely happy with the changes. Of course, we always love to hear your personal experiences, so please share if you have any suggestions for future updates, or comments on the existing app.

Go local with Gowalla

Angie Strickland — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 18:20:45 +0000

The popular location-based app Gowalla for the iPhone has recently been made available for use on Android devices, allowing users to share their location with other Gowalla users and through social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

For now Android users can try a lightweight web app, but soon there will be a full native client.

@mohdabdurraafay you can use http://m.gowalla.com on Android. A native app in the works. No Symbian timeline yet.Gowallaon Twitter

It’s good to see Foursquare get some competition. Gowalla has a nice site that you can look through to get more details about how to use their app, or you can check out their video below to see some of the features in action.

We were able to meet one of the Gowalla devs at the most recent Austin Android User Group meet-up, and it seemed like they were working hard to deliver a great client. Do we have any Foursquare or Gowalla users here? Which do you prefer to use, or to the new users, which would you prefer to try?

Scoreloop asks Android to challenge iPhone

Angie Strickland — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 19:42:09 +0000

Mobile social gaming technology provider, Scoreloop, explores a new avenue by allowing users to play other users across platforms. Their service allows a player on an Android device to challenge a player on an iPhone in an online battle (some demo games are available now with more on the way). Scoreloop has only been available for the iPhone but now can be integrated on Android, which includes the following features:

Online High Scores
Achievements
Player Challenges – Players challenge friend or foe on social networks like Facebook, by email, or using Scoreloop’s auto matching system which pairs opponents with like skill
Profiles – Track a buddy’s standing and brag about Challenge records
Social Network Integration – Publish scores and achievements to a wall and invite friends to join in on the fun
Cross Promotions – Discover what friends are playing by intelligent cross-promotions based on their gaming activities
Virtual Currencies – Reward players with Coins for attaining achievements or completing Challenges and let them use these to unlock or extend game content

Scoreloop emphasizes that

With the Core Social white-label solution for both the Android and iPhone platforms, these features can be directly integrated into a game’s user interface. In contrast to other gaming platforms that push their own user interface and brand, Core Social allows developers and publishers to retain ownership of both their brand and user experience.

Integration services are available for free to developers and publishers. To find out more about how to get started, visit Scoreloop and take a look at their demo of the game Bug Landing.

Get Santa’s Voice for Your TeleNav GPS

Angie Strickland — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 22:46:15 +0000

Want to give a little to a good cause for kids this Christmas, or even just a reason to laugh? TeleNav now has a Santa voice available for your GPS for $0.99 and a pretty silly video that helps you get the idea of what it would be like to rely on Santa for directions. Watch the video for yourself or check out Todd doing his thing in the gallery.

From TeleNav

Tired of the same old voice giving you GPS directions day in and day out? Looking for another way to get into the holiday spirit? We have just what you need …

Beginning today and running through the month of December, we are offering Santa’s voice for just $0.99 and we’ll donate ALL proceeds to Toys for Tots. So now you can get Santa to help guide you around this season and help children in need at the same time.

You can purchase and download Santa’s voice either via your phone or our website:

Via your phone:

Launch TeleNav GPS Navigator
Select “Share and More”
Select “Preferences”
Select “Navigation Audio”
Select “Guide Tones”
Select “Santa Claus”

Via our website:

Go to TeleNav.com
Select “My TeleNav” on the top right (you’ll need your PIN number to login)
Select “My Settings”
Select “Device Settings”
Select “Santa Claus”

The Santa Clause voice is only compatible with TeleNav GPS Navigator v. 5.5 and 5.8. To find out which phones support these versions, click here.

No, Santa won’t yell at you (Todd’s version is..umm..unique) if you decide to ghost-ride (although please don’t – we don’t condone it!). Here is a sample of what the TeleNav GPS Navigator Santa voice sounds like.

Thanks for helping us support Toys for Tots! Please drive safely!

Is Android a Trojan Horse?

Angie Strickland — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 19:37:25 +0000

Google holds a pretty intimidating role in many markets, and therefore isn’t always the most welcome contender. We had a feeling this might be the case, and in this video, we hear an opinion of Google’s role in the GPS market with Google Maps Navigation.

GPS Business News interviews Jim Nardulli, the vice president of worldwide sales for mobile navigation software house, Nav N Go, and reveals a bit of dissent towards Google’s marketing strategies.

It’s very clear to me that Google Maps Navigation, for free, ad supported, is just another ornament that they are hanging on the Trojan horse of Android.

I could be glib and say that Google has a very nice advertising app that also has navigation as a feature, but that would be disingenuous, I suspect.

Do you trust your search results if you know that the first five are paid for? That’s a question. I don’t have the answer.

Nardulli emphasized that Nav N Go is in business to connect with the consumer and that they are not in the business of competing with their customers. What do you think of Google’s role and how they are affecting smaller companies? Is Android really a Trojan horse poised for attack?

Twitter gets a new mobile site

Angie Strickland — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:33:45 +0000

Recently Twitter rolled out a new mobile website, and since Twitter offers a little greatness to everybody, we thought we’d explore some of the updates they’ve put into place.

On the Twitter blog, user experience lead, leland, summed up the changes like so:

Our new mobile web site is previewing today, just point your phone’s browser to http://mobile.twitter.com. Its got a great new look, and has some great new touches that will make your mobile experience on Twitter a bit more fun and a lot more helpful. Let us know if you agree and especially tell us how we can make it better.

old Twitter

Older reviews of the interface complained that it was too crammed and difficult to read, and wished there were more icons and images to break up the amount of text. In doing a simple image search for twitter mobile you’ll find a few images of the old interface, which definitely show how much of an improvement the current design changes are.

Twitter has always exhibited nice and clean, friendly design, so it’s great to hear that they are making sure their mobile site keeps up with that standard on all fronts. Take a look in the gallery below to see some examples of the improvements.

What do you think? Do you even use Twitter mobile or do you access Twitter through a specific client? Sound off in the comments.

Android and Me » Angie Strickland

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