Android and Me » Contests

Midweek Madness! Win a newly released Dark Knight Andy shirt

Clark Wimberly — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:54:48 +0000

It’s officially the middle of the week and that means it’s time to give stuff away in an attempt to get you over the hump. Some of our friends just released a new Android mashup tee we thought might be relevant to some of your interests. Starting today, you can order Dark Knight Andy (along with some other Android shirts) over at darkknightandy.com.

To get things started right, they’ve given us a half dozen shirts to give away to you, the loyal reader. We’ve even got a couple ways to win, meaning the crafty entrant can score multiple entries to the contest.

First, you can leave a comment on this post. Tomorrow, we’ll pick three winning comments at random. To leave a comment on this post, you’ll have to be registered here at Android and Me, but you probably already knew that was coming. We’ve got plenty more user-only contests coming up soon, consider this a warning (an awesome warning that comes with free stuff).

Second, you can tweet to win. All you’ve gotta do is tweet the hashtag #DarkKnightAndy and you’ll be automatically entered to win. On Saturday, we’ll pick three random tweeters. To make entering easy, we’ve included a tweetbox below:

You can feel free to change it up, just make sure you leave in #DarkKnightAndy, as that’s how we’ll be tracking the entries. As always, we’ll be using RowFeeder to make sure we catch every single one of your tweets.

If you don’t win, don’t worry. You can always score the shirt at http://darkknightandy.com, which begins shipping tees next Tuesday, November 8.

DIY Costume Contest – Win an ASUS Slider prize pack from Shadowgun and NVIDIA

Clark Wimberly — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 21:17:22 +0000

To celebrate the long-awaited release of Shadowgun into the Android Market, we’ve paired with @NVIDIATegra to give away an awesome tablet prize pack, featuring the ASUS Slider, a Jawbone Jambox Bluetooth Speaker, and a $25 Amex gift card to get you started in the Tegra Zone.

So how do I win?

Since we are nearing Halloween and we are a community of do-it-yourselfers, we figured a costume contest was in order. And not just any contest, but a DIY costume contest.

Hello, I'm from the internet.

We’re talking cardboard, foil, duct tape- anything you’ve got laying around the apartment or in the garage that can be strapped together to potentially win a brand new tablet.

The theme? Futuristic sci-fi bounty hunter, of course! Take a look at our Shadowgun review to get a sense of the game. The protagonist is a hulking badass who runs around in flack armor shooting stuff with large guns. We figured this would make for some awesome costumes.

To enter, simply build a ridiculous costume and submit a photo here on this post, as a comment. You can post it to Twitter, Flickr, Google+, Facebook- anywhere! In case you want to actually rock the Shadowgun look on Halloween, we’ll leave the contest open til Nov 1st. Just make sure you come back here and share the link with us. The Android and Me editors will review all the entries and select a winner the day after Halloween.

I like free stuff and all, but even I have limits.

If you want to participate but aren’t in a cardboard cutting mood, we’ve still got something you can win. Just for tweeting a link to this contest, you could win a limited edition Android and Me t-shirt. We’ve only got a handful left and we usually don’t print a design twice.

You can tweet whatever you’d like, just make sure to mention @androidandme and Shadowgun (that is how we are tracking entries). If you’d like the latest updates on future contests, make sure to follow @NVIDIATegra.

Happy Halloween and good luck!

We look forward to seeing all your DIY costumes and hope everyone has a very happy (and safe) Halloween. Make sure you eat plenty of candy and play plenty of Shadowgun. Then come back here to see all the entries. PS: This contest is open to anyone, regardless of geographic location.

To get the creative juices flowing, here is a high-res wallpaper of the main character in Shadowgun. Click for full size. Or click here for one with the logo.

Midweek Madness: This week, two will win an LG G2x!

Angie Wimberly — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 17:38:00 +0000

Update: The contest is closed! We have our winners! Congratulations to our first winner through Twitter, @theasiansteve and our second winner Karla (KarBar) from the comments on this post. Check your emails for further details. Hope you both enjoy your new G2x!

You know the old adage, “Two is better than one.” Well, we’re following that advice for this week’s contest. You’ll have not one, but two chances to win an LG G2x!

Big shout out to NVIDIA, again, for coming through with an excellent prize to pass on to you readers. This contest will be open until Friday at 12PM CST when we will announce the winners. Read on after the jump for details.

How to enter

This contest is closed!
Normally we ask that you either tweet or leave a comment to win, but this time we’re doing both. To win the first G2x, we ask that you tweet a link to this page with the hashtag #MidweekMadness and mention @androidandme. The winner will be chosen at random via RowFeeder monitoring. You can enter once per day. For your convenience, you can tweet using the box below:

Please follow us, so that we can send you a Direct Message to make sure you know you’ve won. We had a winner in the past who missed the Mentions we sent and ended up forfeiting the prize. Let’s not have that happen to you!

For the second G2x, the winner will be determined by a random draw from the comments on this very post. All you’ve gotta do is leave a comment below. Make sure you use a real email address, so we can contact you if you win. We’ll announce a winner on Friday at 12PM CST. Check the site for an update, or keep an eye on Twitter to see the results. Good luck!

Sorry, but we have to restrict the winners to US participants only!

Win a Motorola XOOM powered by the NVIDIA Tegra 2

Clark Wimberly — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:29:51 +0000

Good news, everyone! NIVIDIA has been awesome enough to ship us a box of four brand new, WiFi-only Motorola XOOM tablets featuring the new NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core processor. We’ll be giving away all four over the next few weeks, starting today with a simple Twitter contest.

We have a feeling most of you know exactly what this beast is capable of, but for those not in the know we’ll run through the specs. The XOOM is running Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), has a 10.1 inch screen, has dual cameras (5MP rear, 2MP front), and of course is sporting a dual-core 1ghz NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. Because it’s got a Tegra inside, it’s also got access to TegraZone, a curated mini-market featuring the newest and best 3D games Android has to offer.

Check the video below for our poolside unboxing (it was a nice day out) or scroll down below for contest details!

Win a XOOM on Twitter

To be entered to win our first XOOM, all you’ve gotta do is craft a tweet with two key pieces: the hashtag #iwantaxoom and the Twitter handle @NVIDIAtegra. For example, you could tweet,

Man! #iwantaxoom with the @NVIDIAtegra 2 for the awesome games.

Or you could say

I’m a nerd so #iwantaxoom with an @NVIDIAtegra to do homework. And to adjust my glasses with the front facing camera.

The key to remember here is to include #iwantaxoom and @NVIDIAtegra. If you do so, you’ll be automatically entered in a random drawing, to be held Monday morning (5/2/11) for a free, brand-spankin’ new WiFi-only XOOM. You can use the tweetbox below or you can tweet to your heart’s content through your own apps/channels, just make sure to include the key phrases. Good luck!

If you’ve got any questions, please leave a comment here and we’ll get you an answer. If you don’t use Twitter, stay tuned! We’ve got more XOOMs coming soon and they will be given out through non-Twitter channels!

Contest provided by Android and Me. Prizing provided by NVIDIA. Contest is US residents only (sorry, legal request!). Any questions regarding this contest should be directed to clark@androidandme.com

We have a winner! With almost 3k entries counted, the lucky XOOM-owner-to-be is Jacob Stroop, aka @israel941. Congratulations Jacob! And the rest of you, stay tuned, we’ve got more XOOMs coming your way soon!

Midweek Madness! Win a BodyGuardz Dry Apply to protect your Android phone

Taylor Wimberly — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:02:44 +0000

Wednesdays can be very lame so we are back with another Midweek Madness contest to give out some free Android goodies. If you are going to spend $500 on a new smartphone, you want to be sure that your protect your investment. This week we have three coupon codes for a free BodyGuardz Dry Apply of your choice ($24.95 value).

Dry Apply offers protection for your Android device like any other scratch-proof transparent film, but it has the added benefit of a quick setup thanks to its liquid-free installation.

BodyGuardz Dry Apply takes only minutes to apply and provides unparalleled scratch protection without adding bulk like standard cases, which can often change the sleek appearance and impair the functionalities of devices.

Dry Apply is currently available for several of the most popular Android phones, including the Motorola Droid 2, HTC Droid Incredible, HTC EVO 4G, Samsung Epic 4G, Motorola Droid X, Samsung Fascinate, and the Samsung Vibrant.

Additional features include:

Each box includes 2 complete protectors, 1 squeegee and 1 lint-free cleaning cloth
Dry application proprietary adhesive (no water needed)
Immediately clear (no waiting to dry out)
Anti-microbial in the adhesive inhibits mold
Nano scratch-resistant technology
UV resistance prevents yellowing
8 mil thick protection film

Win a free BodyGuardz Dry Apply!

If you would like to win a free BodyGuardz Dry Apply, just leave a comment and tell us why.

Example: I want a free BodyGuardz Dry Apply for my [Android phone model] because [insert reason why].

Like previous Midweek Madness contests, we will give you 24 hrs to enter. Tomorrow morning we will review the entries and select 3 lucky winners. Extra points will be given for creativity and humor.

If you don’t win the contest or want to go buy a Dry Apply right now, then just head over to our Android accessories store or visit the official BodyGuardz site.

Update: And the winners are – Sam K, Atx, and Barry Bragg. Expect an email shortly with your coupon code.

Don’t be a Slacker this Mother’s Day

Taylor Wimberly — Fri, 07 May 2010 00:40:49 +0000

Ok guys, Mother’s Day is this Sunday. If you order from Amazon, there is still time to overnight your gift (you can’t go wrong with the Kindle).

Or…you could win your mom a free subscription to Slacker Radio Plus. In order to celebrate Mother’s Day, Slacker has created a special radio station for Mom and they are allowing us to give away five 1-year subscriptions to their Radio Plus service.

If you have never heard of Slacker, some of you Android fans might be familiar with Pandora. Slacker allows you to listen to free personalized radio on your mobile phone, with millions of songs from 1000s of artists. The services are similar, but Slacker offers 4x the music catalog of Pandora. This is because they work with the labels and they constantly provide fresh content.

The application is free for anyone to download(see QR code), but users can also sign up for a Radio Plus account with premium features.

The benefits of Radio Plus include:

No ads: Upgrade and you’ll never have to hear an audio ad or see a banner ad again! You’ll enjoy unlimited and uninterrupted listening with Slacker Radio Plus.
Unlimited skips: With Slacker Radio Plus you can skip as many songs as you want. Basic Radio listeners are limited to 6 song skips per hour, per station.
Complete song lyrics: Want to sing along? Slacker Radio Plus subscribers get complete lyrics to all available songs. You can read the lyrics as you listen to your favorites.
Unlimited song requests: Create perfect custom stations by requesting an unlimited number of your favorite songs. Simply search for any artist and pick the songs you like to add to your station.
Station caching: This let’s you enjoy your station whether connected or not and gives you about 5x the battery life vs. streaming.

How to win

Happy Mother's Day from Slacker Personal Radio.

To enter the contest, just leave a comment on why your Mom is “the best”. Our readers will filter up their favorite entries using the comment voting system. The contest will run for 24 hrs and we will post the five winners tomorrow night. Please fill out the email field when leaving a comment so we can contact you if you win.

Winners

Ok so the comment voting idea didn’t work out, so we randomly selected 5 winners. Look for an email from Taylor to confirm your free 1yr subscription to Slacker Radio Plus.

Andrew
hiddengopher
Shawn Hunt
J4ck.exe
Scott Peterson

GeoQuiz: Learn about the world, brag about your score

Guest Blogger — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 23:05:47 +0000

GeoQuiz by Brain Cafe is a multiple-choice quiz game that purports to ‘test your knowledge of the planet Earth and all its wonders’. Sleek and well-presented, GeoQuiz is part game, part visual tour of Wikipedia.

Open up the app and you’re greeted with a bright, simplistic menu screen more reminiscent of an iPhone app than your typical Android game. Pick a category (choose from topics like ‘People’, ‘Capital Cities of the World’ or ‘The Great Explorers’) and you’re taken to a simple game screen with a question on the left and a set of four possible answers on the right. Whether you pick right or wrong, an information screen will pop up explaining the facts behind the question. Thoughtfully, there’s a Wikipedia link to the relevant topic included with every answer.

Complete a quiz and your score is saved in the app’s records. Feeling the need to brag about your intellect? You can even tweet your score and time from within the game.

The Good:

It’s pretty. From high-res menu photos to bright buttons and crisp transitions, GeoQuiz comes across as clean and attractive.
You might learn something. Most answers include detailed information about the facts behind the question, and if you want to know more, there’s a built-in Wikipedia link for every answer.
No 3D or flashy effects. This means GeoQuiz runs great on older phones such as the T-Mobile G1 and HTC Magic.

The Not-So-Good:

Some answers are missing explanations. Most of the quiz answers include detailed information explaining the facts behind the question, but around 10% of questions lack this detail.
Questions often repeat themselves, occasionally in the same quiz.

Final Verdict

GeoQuiz is easy to pick up and play for a few minutes at a time. The perfect casual time-waster for when you need a quieter, more cerebral game experience.

Note: This review was submitted by Xander Bennett as part of our app review contest.

Yelp: Businesses, restaurants, reviews.

Guest Blogger — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 22:38:08 +0000

As a college student, I frequently find myself scrambling for the nearest food option, bank, or gas station. When the frenzy that is my life slows down and I have a spare moment, I enjoy exploring the city and finding new restaurants.

Yelp, an application based on the popular website, allows me to accomplish these goals with its easy to navigate menus and great search functionality. I have the option of choosing to browse through a variety of categories (ex: Restaurants, Coffee, Banks, Gas, etc), to search for a specific type of item (ex: tacos, Mexican food, etc), or simply to search for a certain restaurant (ex: McDonald’s … although I wouldn’t recommend it). Yelp offers the ability to search locations close to you using the phone’s GPS, or to input an address or city, in case you want to search for places elsewhere. Furthermore, once in the list of items, Yelp allows you to filter by price, or if it’s late at night, to display only those locations that are currently open.

But the best part is Yelp’s extensive library of reviews. Nearly every restaurant I browse through has tons of reviews as well as user-submitted pictures, allowing me to discover new food that I know I will like. Once I have found what I am looking for, Yelp smoothly integrates with Google Maps and Navigation with a “Directions to Here” option below the address. If you’re not running Android 2.0+ yet, it gives you the option to view the directions through the browser. The hours and phone number (you can call right from the app!) of the business are also listed, along with the website and much more. Even if you’re not interested in finding new restaurants, Yelp is a great tool for finding those you already frequent when you are in an unfamiliar area, or for finding bars, banks, and gas stations. Yelp also offers many exclusive sales and specials through the application (for example, one of my favorite local restaurants offers a discount if I simply mention the word “Yelp”).

Finally, Yelp offers the ability to login to your already existing Yelp account (or create one) in order to save history, submit reviews, and add photos straight from the app. You can also add bookmarks for quick access to your favorite locations.

Pros:

Simple, easy to navigate menus and search
Integration with Google Maps and Navigation
Sync with your Yelp Account
Ability to submit photos from app

Cons:

There is no way to sort by distance
As of now, you can only save a draft of a review from the app, and then must submit it through the website
no check-in feature like the iPhone version

Final Verdict

Whether you’re looking to find new food options, or simply looking for the closest Starbucks, Yelp is the app for you. With the ability to both browse and search for nearly any business, find phone numbers, and navigate through Google Maps, Yelp is your one stop app to access your community.

Note: This review was submitted by Michael Ewart as part of our app review contest.

Zillow: Is that house for sale?

Guest Blogger — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:32:49 +0000

In my neighborhood, as I walk my dog around every few days, I often wonder if any of the houses there are on the market. What’s more, I think about how they compare with my home’s value. Enter Zillow: an app on the Android Market that aims to answer these questions.

Apart from searching active listings in your general area, the app can display historical data such as property values, previous sale dates, factual information (bedroom/bathroom count/square footage/etc.), and comparables for other homes in the area. This is done by utilizing your GPS location, pulling up an inlay of Google Maps, and then overlaying the data as clickable houses. Red means “For Sale”, Purple means “For Rent”, Yellow means “Sold”. Often these listings are coupled with pictures pulled from the same listings hosted on Zillow.com.

In addition, you are able to search for a particular property and see all of this same data, which makes it very useful for people who want to either check out a home they may be interested in purchasing (or renting), or just to satisfy their own curiosity. Much like in Google Maps, there are layers that can be applied, so the user can view the map of houses in Satellite view, Traffic or, if available, using Street View. These all make for fun ways to search for homes, and make it that much easier to develop an informed decision, all from the palm of your hand.

Pros:

Uses familiar Google Maps to overlay data on
Has a separate list view for immediate listings with pertinent data
Listings include historical data, sale prices, pictures and comparables in the area
Constantly updates with Zillow.com
Includes selling realtor’s contact information

Needs Improvement:

Sold houses lose pictures and other data after sale
Not all addresses have data available (may not be a bad thing)
Doesn’t include MLS # in the listing, so must go by address

Final Verdict

Overall this app is a great tool for the average homebuyer and provides up to date information on homes that are available for purchase or rent. While not all important details are included, there’s no doubt the information contained therein is a powerful tool for making an informed purchasing decision.

Note: This review was submitted by Eric Johnson as part of our app review contest.

NewsRoom: Attractive, fun, and lightweight feed reader

Guest Blogger — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 21:01:50 +0000

NewsRoom is an app that pulls all my favorite rss web content to my Android phone, and allows me to scroll through it much more quickly than using the browser.

I used the free trial before quickly deciding it was worth the $4.99 to have this gem permanently on my phone. The UI is stunning, especially compared with the other RSS readers out there. It makes my aging myTouch feel like a cutting edge piece of technology again – a rush I lost after the release of the Droid and N1. The user can seamlessly scroll through articles with the swipe of a finger and drag the article up or down to switch between the full article and the overview.

NewsRoom features 4 customizable home screens that allow you to organize your feeds (up to 36) in any order. The screens display rich icons bearing the website’s logo, and for those of us who are easily amused, they animate when selected to open or to be moved. NewsRoom even offers widgets, although they are nothing more than feed shortcuts placed on the home screen.

The developer, Trileet, is a friendly and responsive bunch. I had an issue not being able to install the paid version and they quickly found a solution.

If I could reserve one nag, it would be the lack of sync with Google reader. The native search on NewsRoom is pretty intuitive, but it does get tiring searching little results on a little screen. Until I snag the upcoming Mini 5, it would be nice to run searches for web content while on my desktop.

The app is lightweight enough to use on any version of Android, although the search can be slow, especially on slower speeds or a high traffic network.

The Good

The stunning UI makes this app fun and my phone feel state of the art again.
Delivers on its promise to quickly and easily deliver your favorite web content without opening a browser.
The four home screens are attractive and easy to use.

Not so Good

This app does not sync with Google Reader.
NewsRoom does not cooperate with landscape mode for easier reading.
The widgets are nothing more than shortcuts to your favorite feeds. They do not show actual content.

Final Verdict

I highly recommend NewsRoom. It is fast, customizable, simple, and delivers on its promise. Well worth the $4.99

Note: This review was submitted by James King as part of our app review contest.