Last September, I took a look at Samsung’s home screen replacement called Pure Breeze Launcher. At the time, I went easy on them. It was pretty bad when it first came out, but I praised Samsung nonetheless for “thinking outside the box” (ugh). But that was then. And this is now. Pure Breeze Launcher [...]]]>

Last September, I took a look at Samsung’s home screen replacement called Pure Breeze Launcher. At the time, I went easy on them. It was pretty bad when it first came out, but I praised Samsung nonetheless for “thinking outside the box” (ugh). But that was then. And this is now. Pure Breeze Launcher has been tweaked, updated to work with Android 4 and boasts a “new modern user experience.” Too bad it still sucks.

The theory behind Pure Breeze Launcher isn’t all that terrible. A minimal way to keep all your apps organized, giving you constant access to what you use the most. But the execution is so poor, I’m still scratching my head trying to figure out what the hell Samsung is really going for.

If I had to describe Pure Breeze Launcher in one sentence? It’s like Samsung took Apple’s always-open-app-drawer approach, added the ability to make folders into an entire page and color coded it all. If I had to elaborate? Actually, one sentence is fine. There’s nothing to this launcher. Some frosted glass accents, crazy names for everything (the Kite?!) and a whole lot of bugs.

Even though it says Pure Breeze Launcher was updated for Android 4, it barely works on my Nexus S. Icons keep disappearing. I can’t scroll between pages, err groups, err the Kite. No wait… it didn’t start me off in the Kite. It started me off in the all apps page. So how do I get to the Kite… OK, press home again. So then to get to my groups… No, that doesn’t make sense, maybe I… Well my groups are supposed to be here… What?! There’s no icons, but pressing this blank area takes me to my groups… Well then how do I… SCREW IT.

But hey! You can have wallpapers now! Samsung is kind enough to start you off with a wallaper of a guy wearing some Adidas jersey shorts and an athletic shirt (at least I think that’s the PC term for “wife-beater”) fishing off a pier. Now that’s art.

Look, I really wanted to like Pure Breeze Launcher. I swear I did. The idea of the Kite, an endlessly scrollable area where you can throw apps and widgets and shortcuts sounds kinda cool. But it just doesn’t work. If fact, it drove me partially insane. Which is why I probably shouldn’t do this, but if you want, you can download the Lite version of Pure Breeze below. Just remember, I can’t be held responsible for any medical expenses incurred from trying to remove the memory of this thing from your brain.

Pure Breeze Launcher Lite Samsung San Jose Mobile Lab PLAY QR POWERED BY APPAWARE

“FIRE UP THAT TANNING BED AND BREAK OUT THE HAIRGEL! DJ Pauly D is here with a ton of fistpumpin’ fun.” Yes! It’s just what I’ve been waiting for! A game starring Jersey Shore’s DJ Pauly D that steals heavily borrows character design from the original Mega Man series! No, no. Wait a second. This [...]]]>

“FIRE UP THAT TANNING BED AND BREAK OUT THE HAIRGEL! DJ Pauly D is here with a ton of fistpumpin’ fun.” Yes! It’s just what I’ve been waiting for! A game starring Jersey Shore’s DJ Pauly D that steals heavily borrows character design from the original Mega Man series! No, no. Wait a second. This is all wrong. That’s exactly what I don’t want.

When DJ Pauly D was first brought to my attention, and I took a gander at the app listing, I was surprised. A solid 3.8 stars? I’ve used great apps that have been ranked worse than this. So I choked up the courage to drop $2 on this bad boy and hoped for the best.

Here’s the thing about DJ Pauly D – Beat that Boardwalk. The gameplay isn’t really all that bad. It’s like Streets of Rage, but without the fighting. Just moving up and down. And jumping. If I were giving this my opinion free review, I’d probably say something like, “with relatively solid gameplay, if you like Jersey Shore and have a spare $2 in your bank account, you might want to give Pauly D the game a shot.”

But this isn’t that review.

This is the review where I can barely hold back my loathing for the disgusting freak show that is Jersey Shore. Everything about the app amplifies that by about x50. From the email announcing the app (“The player did G.T.L. right when they get a ‘Guido Streak”, starting to look frail well the players know its time for ‘Going to the Gym’, and when Pauly D’s skin starts to look moon color the users know its time for ‘Going to get a tan.),’ to the app listing itself (“BOMB THE BOARDWALK! BOARDWALKERS, MUSIC AND BLING! PUMP IRON TO ACTIVATE JUICEHEAD MODE! STOP AND TAKE TAN! LAUNDROMATS KEEP YOU LOOKIN’ FLY!” yes I swear those are real quotes), everything screams, “this is what’s wrong with the youth of our nation!”

And did I mention the characters look an awful lot like the characters from the original Mega Man series? Way to stomp on my childhood.

I could never take a game like this seriously. Which is exactly why it’s the CrApp of the Week. If you’re a rich sadist, or there’s just something wrong with you, go ahead and download DJ Pauly D – Beat the Boardwalk. Or you can take my word for it. That $2 could be far better spent not doing virtual laundry, TAKING TAN and PUMPING IRON.

DJ Pauly D MEDL Mobile PLAY QR POWERED BY APPAWARE

So here I sit. Absolutely fuming mad. Because of one stupid game that looks and sounds like garbage. Really? The World’s Hardest Game? It’s not even hard in a fun way. It’s hard because it’s impossible to play on a small touchscreen. It makes me want to punch Joustin’ Beaver in the face (I [...]]]>

So here I sit. Absolutely fuming mad. Because of one stupid game that looks and sounds like garbage. Really? The World’s Hardest Game? It’s not even hard in a fun way. It’s hard because it’s impossible to play on a small touchscreen. It makes me want to punch Joustin’ Beaver in the face (I suppose I want to do that anyway). I hate it.

The game sounds simple enough (“You are RED square, avoid the BLUE circles and collect Yellow circles. Once you have collected all the yellow circles move to GREEN beacon to complete the level.”), but it’s meant to be challenging. I get that, I really do, but this game was not meant to be played on a touchscreen. I don’t exactly have pencil thin digits, but it’s not like I have Shaq hands. I can’t even see what I’m supposed to be doing once I put my finger on it. And the graphics suck so bad, and there’s such a small area to move around in, and you can’t zoom in, and annoying techno is assaulting my eardrums, and my dog has to go outside, and my text message noise won’t quit going off, and my girlfriend wants to know what I want for dinner, and I have no freaking idea, and next thing you know, my phone is on the other side of the room. Because I threw it against the wall. And showed it who’s boss.

I hated this game when it was in the Flash portal on Newgrounds, and I hate it even more now. You might think at this point that the game isn’t actually all that bad, and I just have a personal vendetta against it. Just play it for yourself.

World's Hardest Game Sufi Soft PLAY QR POWERED BY APPAWARE

Have a fantastically terrible Android CrApp you’d like to see covered? Let us know in the comments below.

Let’s face it: the official Twitter for Android app is only decent at best. Thankfully, there’s always been alternatives. From the glory days of Twicca, to the transition of Touiteur into Plume, third-party Twitter apps have stolen the show from day one. We’re always on the lookout for new Twitter clients, but things have been [...]]]>

Let’s face it: the official Twitter for Android app is only decent at best. Thankfully, there’s always been alternatives. From the glory days of Twicca, to the transition of Touiteur into Plume, third-party Twitter apps have stolen the show from day one. We’re always on the lookout for new Twitter clients, but things have been quiet for quite some time now. Until today, that is, when a demo video for Carbon for Android found its way online.

Carbon isn’t exactly new to the Twitter scene, but they are new to Android. Originally released as a webOS application, Carbon has made the jump to Windows Phone, and now the development team behind the app has Android in their sights. So just makes Carbon any different from the rest of the third-party Twitter client mafia?

The first thing that pops out from the demo video is the smooth gesture based UI. By swiping left and right, you can navigate through different layers of Twitter, only needing a few touches here and there to completely master the app. There’s a ton of flashy animations to accompany swipes that make the app look genuinely fun to use.

And there’s how Carbon for Android looks. It looks native. Like it belongs on Android. The official Twitter app for Android is made to work on multiple OSes. There’s practically nothing in the app made specifically for Android. Carbon not only features Android’s default on-screen menu button and blue highlights, it even uses the same blue circle from the notification window for a horizontal sliding info shade. It looks impressive to say the least.

There’s no release date for Carbon yet (or price), but the developers promise it’s coming soon. In my case, it can’t come soon enough. I’m dying to give it a shot.

Ah, it’s finally that time of year again. When warm spring air ushers in the end of a long, hard winter, and the beginning of the best month of the year for college basketball fans: March Madness. Whether you’re an all-season type of fan, or the kind that just tunes in for the tournament, chances [...]]]>

Ah, it’s finally that time of year again. When warm spring air ushers in the end of a long, hard winter, and the beginning of the best month of the year for college basketball fans: March Madness. Whether you’re an all-season type of fan, or the kind that just tunes in for the tournament, chances are you’re not going to be able to make it to a TV to catch all 67 games this year. But fret not fellow Android user. With NCAA March Madness Live for Android, you can view every tournament game and more right from smartphone.

Available now in the Google Play store, Turner Sports Interactive has released NCAA March Madness Live. Giving Android users complete access to all 67 live NCAA basketball games, brackets, social feeds, score alerts and a heap of other in-depth information on the tournament.

The initial app download is free, but certain features, like game streams, are unavailable until you pay a $3.99 fee. Once you pay for the live streaming, you can use the same login info associated with the Android app on your desktop computer for access to games there as well. Before you buy the streaming package, make sure to check the device compatibility list in the March Madness Live app listing. The app doesn’t work on tablets, and streaming is only available for devices running Android 2.2 and 2.3.

Who are you rooting for this season? Be sure to show your team pride in the comments. As for me, I’m going all green. Go Michigan State!

To download NCAA March Madness Live for Android, just use the handy download widget below.

NCAA March Madness Live Turner Sports Interactive, Inc PLAY QR POWERED BY APPAWARE

Torrent remote controllers, applications that give you access to various torrent clients on your PC from your Android device, are nothing new. However, a bona fide torrent client for Android is. Imagine being able to download and seed any and all types of files directly from your Android device. It may seem a little far [...]]]>

Torrent remote controllers, applications that give you access to various torrent clients on your PC from your Android device, are nothing new. However, a bona fide torrent client for Android is. Imagine being able to download and seed any and all types of files directly from your Android device. It may seem a little far fetched right now, but with a uTorrent client in the works for Android, it’s about to become a reality.

As Android inches closer to desktop replacement territory with hardware like the Transformer and software like Ubuntu for Android, traditional desktop apps well suited for post-PC devices are set to evolve at a rapid pace. Photoshop is one application that has made the transition with ease.

Photoshop Touch has set the standard for just how well desktop applications can work on post-PC devices. Advanced photo editing is well suited for the experience a tablet offers. For some who have replaced their laptop with a Transformer Prime, not having the ability to edit photos with their mobile computer would be a deal breaker. The same goes for torrenting.

Plenty of people rely on torrents for legitimate file sharing (not just pirating) all over the world. A complete uTorrent app for Android would likely push millions of users towards tablets and phones that can run the app.

If Google really wants to see Android hit the next stage of evolution, they need to push for software developers like BitTorrent, the folks behind uTorrent, to make applications for Android. Apple’s iPad may have a leg up on Android when it comes to app selection right now, but Android’s open market and flexibility gives it a huge advantage when it comes to which platform is best suited to make a smooth transition from desktop to mobile.

BitTorrent has gone on the record to say there’s no ETA for uTorrent for Android.

Back in early February, the Swype Twitter account announced an update to the ever-popular alternative keyboard would be coming soon. At the time, Swype didn’t say what the update would include. I reached out to them on Twitter for more details, and they confirmed that the update planned would indeed include Android 4.0 [...]]]>

Back in early February, the Swype Twitter account announced an update to the ever-popular alternative keyboard would be coming soon. At the time, Swype didn’t say what the update would include. I reached out to them on Twitter for more details, and they confirmed that the update planned would indeed include Android 4.0 support. Today, that update has finally been made available.

Of all the alternative keyboards to ever grace Android, Swype is undoubtedly the most popular. Instead of pressing each individual key to spell out words, Swype allows you to touch on the first letter of the word you’re spelling, and swipe your fingers through the letters in the rest of the word. Once you reach the last letter, lift your finger and voila, that’s all there is too it.

Hacked versions of Swype for Android 4.0 have been around ever since Ice Cream Sandwich was first made available to the masses. Unfortunately, the hacked versions of Swype have never really been bug free. The main purpose of today’s update to Swype is to get the keyboard fully functional on Android 4.0 and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

The latest version of Swype also includes downloadable languages for tablets, accuracy improvements and add-ons for DragonGo!.

To download Swype for your device, head on over to the Swype beta website and follow the instructions provided.

Many a benchmarking app has come and gone on Android, but there is one that has truly stood the test of time, Quadrant Standard. It’s been around since April of 2010, and with today’s update finally bringing multiple core and Android 4.0 support to the app, it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere any time [...]]]>

Many a benchmarking app has come and gone on Android, but there is one that has truly stood the test of time, Quadrant Standard. It’s been around since April of 2010, and with today’s update finally bringing multiple core and Android 4.0 support to the app, it doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere any time soon.

Quadrant Standard Edition has long been the standard in apps used to quickly benchmark Android phones. Many argue the validity of Quadrant benchmark scores, and how those scores translate into real-world use, but nonetheless, it’s the go to app for seeing what device can pull in the highest number.

The latest updated to Quadrant Standard not only features GUI improvements, polish translation and a bug fix dealing with low framerates on PowerVR SGX 540, it brings two long awaited features to the app: multiple core and Android 4.0 compatibility. Before today, Quadrant wasn’t optimized to give accurate readings on devices with multiple cores like anything from the Motorola Atrix on up to the Galaxy Nexus. Quadrant 2.0 fixes that.

Due to the changes made from Quadrant 1.x to 2.0, the way devices are scored has changed. So the score browser is a slightly limited for the time being, but that will be addressed in the next update.

To download Quadrant Standard, simply use our handy download widget below. Once you’re done doing that, you can report your score along with the device used, and any custom ROMs or kernels in the comments. We’d love to see what everyone’s scores are.

Quadrant Standard Edition Aurora Softworks PLAY QR POWERED BY APPAWARE

It looks like the Near Field Communications revolution is finally getting underway. After over a year of NFC chips being available in several different models of Android devices, major third-party developers are finally starting to incorporate the technology into their apps. Scanning tags is fun and all, but using NFC to share information in popular apps [...]]]>

It looks like the Near Field Communications revolution is finally getting underway. After over a year of NFC chips being available in several different models of Android devices, major third-party developers are finally starting to incorporate the technology into their apps. Scanning tags is fun and all, but using NFC to share information in popular apps between devices is where NFC really shines. An update to the Foursquare app allows you to do just that.

By using Android Beam, Google’s fancy name for peer-to-peer NFC communications, Foursquare users can now bump phones and transfer information like lists and places visited, along with initiating friend requests and checking in wherever NFC tags have been made available. Venues can now use NFC enabled tags, posters or other similar media that when tapped with an NFC equipped device running Android 4.0, will automatically prompt users to check in.

Foursquare’s Vice President of Mobile International Holger Luedorf recently sat down with Untether.tv and shared his feelings on NFC, and tools provided to Android developers to utilize the technology.

The user experience is great. You just hold your phone against the tap (point). The check-in screen automatically pops up with the right venue. You’re basically shaving very valuable seconds off the check-in process. We try to leverage the native experiences and APIs that are available through the platform as those usually drive the best user experience. We’re trying to leverage this because we feel that pinpointing someone down to a location through an NFC chip definitely has some value.Holger LuedorfFoursquare

Luedorf also mentioned that going forward, Android won’t be the only platform using NFC. When that day comes, the adoption rate for NFC should shoot through the roof.

If you have an Android 4.0 device with NFC (either a Galaxy Nexus or Nexus S), you can try Foursquare’s NFC features with the latest version of the app available in the Android Market.

Foursquare foursquare PLAY QR POWERED BY APPAWARE

It has finally happened, folks. The Menu button is officially dead. The Android team at Google just announced that Android no longer requires a dedicated Menu button. Of course, that doesn’t mean that some OEMs won’t try to stick it on their devices. But for all Google cares, the dedicated Menu button is a [...]]]>

It has finally happened, folks. The Menu button is officially dead. The Android team at Google just announced that Android no longer requires a dedicated Menu button. Of course, that doesn’t mean that some OEMs won’t try to stick it on their devices. But for all Google cares, the dedicated Menu button is a thing of the past. And in just a few months, all Google-approved Android devices will launch without it.

As some of you know, this plan to kill the Menu button was set in motion more than a year ago. It all started with the release of Honeycomb, which got rid of the Menu button on tablets — and most hardware buttons for that matter. However, it was unclear at the time if the same design would carry over to phones. Then the first Nexus 3 rumors started to arrive, and one thing in particular kept popping up: “No hardware buttons.”

After the release of Ice Cream Sandwich and the Galaxy Nexus, it was quite clear that Google was trying its best to simplify the Android user experience. At the same time, Google introduced a new UI element called the Action Bar, which the company calls the “the most important structural element of an Android app.” The Action Bar — and its overflow button — replace the Menu button while providing a consistent look and experience across all Android apps. That is, if developers start using it.

That’s where today’s announcement comes is. Google is urging app developers to stop using the Menu button and adopt the Action Bar instead. The company provided some clear instructions on how to do this easily, and even reminded them about the existence of its Android Design website. There’s absolutely no doubt that Google wants all Android apps to adopt this new UI design — and fast.

Of course, there are some of you who won’t be happy about the Menu button passing away. Sadly, there’s nothing I can say to ease your pain. Google has made a crucial decision to simplify and unify the Android UI, and that means that the Menu button has to go — and take the Search button with it. As for developers, better get started on that Action Bar, pronto.