Pumpy umpy umpkin!

It isn’t just another Monday early in the morning surrounded by zombies in the metro. Today’s actual Halloween and all of that finally makes sense. Werewolves, vampires, homework, bats, zombies, tidying up, ghosts, rats, taxes, guts… Today is the day to face our inner fears by making them fun.

Most of us we aren’t kids no more, but we cannot lose Halloween spirit: we have to laugh at our daily monsters and enjoy as a kids doing it. Halloweenize yourself, that’s the treat, OK? Let us show you some Android tricks:

Let’s start by Halloweenizing your Android. The best way is by setting a wallpaper that matches Today’s festivity. We’ve discovered a really nice one developed by Pimpdroid: Free Halloween Live Wallpaper. It contains up to 16 free Halloween-related live wallpapers (there are even more in the Pro version, €1.23). It’s made up by a simple green figure set in a black background and a live scanner-effect. If you want to change theme colour or the structure (surface style) you will need to upgrade to the Pro version. In the free version you can adjust brightness, hide/show surrounding grid, choose refresh rate or hide/show structure. The live wallpaper has been optimize for a low battery consumption and proper CPU perfomance. Pimpdroid has also released another similar live wallpapers with Android figures.









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According to this Halloweenizing mood, there’s a way to fully change your Android icons, dock, wallpaper and app drawer: by applying a Halloween theme to your launcher. If you’re using GO Launcher EX you can try this one. It’s set in a comic-layout in which the icons are mainly surrounded by ghosts. Its appearance is childish. However, that’s just our opinion, that’s a matter of taste.









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Perhaps you feel too older to dress up as a zombie (although there isn’t age limit for that). If you want to get a smile out of your kids anyway, here you are an app to do it: ZombieBooth. Take a picture of yourself or use a photo from your gallery. Crop the photo to the face mark. And that’s it! That’s the way you look as a zombie! Tease your zombie twin, tap the screen quickly and he will try to bite your finger. Shake your device to change the zombie style. Your kids and friends will love it.









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Finally, a Halloween game: Pumpkins Vs. Monsters, a puzzle game in which you have to avoid monster catching you by killing them using rows of pumpkins.  Don’t let them reach you. In order to achieve it you’ll need to put three same-color pumpkins in a row and throw them to the monsters. The pumpkins are your main weapon, but since you have to wait them to appear, you have another resources to kill the monsters. You can put on their way mines and dynamite while you’re waiting for the pumpkins to show up. Although gameplay and graphics are simple, the game is challenging and high-addictive. Beat’em all!









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Let the little children come to Android, and stop keeping them away

Extra, extra! A fresh-made videoreview on Android apps and games for kids has been released. Don’t are you fed up of saying “No!” to your kids when they ask for playing with your Android device? That wouldn’t bother you if there wasn’t important stuff in there, would you? Android developers have released apps and games that solve this issue. What you will find in this videoreview is a virtual blackboard to foster your children creativity, a parental control tool and a restricted apps dashboard for kids. Leave your kids alone with your device and don’t worry about it. Thus, the apps reviewed are Kids Doodle – Movie Kids Paint (by Bejoy Mobile), Android Parental Control (by Smart App Cloud) and Kid Mode: Kids Games + Videos (by Zoodles).

We hope you and your kids enjoy them

A few words by Ms Grace

AndroidZoom’s anniversary is here and I’ve been asked to write about my opinion about it all. So here I am. It’s me, I’m the girl who writes half of  the reviews that you come across at AndroidZoom. The one that has yet to give a five-star rating.

The truth is, up until last may, I hadn’t actually used an Android device. I had seen some friends’ phones and maybe even played with them a little but I hadn’t had the experience of using them fully. I knew about its advantages and main features but I hadn’t tried them in detail, although I was interested in the popular phenomenon. It’s not only that iPhones are far more expensive, but also there was a lot of people around telling that they have a disproportionated cost.

I knew little about the wide and endless word of applications. I only used the main ones such as mail, Whatsapp, Facebook and Twitter but I thought I didn’t want to spend my free time playing little games or trying new or bizarre applications that you never even knew they existed. Far away are the times of endless hours playing Nokia’s snake. We all grow, you know.

But as soon as I entered the world, I was hooked. They say that once you’ve known what good is like, you don’t want to settle for less. And that’s exactly what happened to me. Because the universe of applications is as addictive as it can get; and as anything good these days, it’s all about the user. I know what you’re thinking right now: “well, she works in AndroidZoom, what could she tell us?” Yes, it’s true, I do. Working in an Android company trying to explain to our users what I feel about something that didn’t concerned me until a few months ago. I can only ask you to trust in me, because I’m a user as you are and my story may be the same as yours.

I play around with a ton of apps each week and narrow down them. I can smell the scent of an app cooked in a garage from the suburbs and a game mass developed. Yes, I’m neither a programmer nor a producer, but I have what I need to undertake this job. Anyway, what I can tell for sure is that Android applications are meant to satisfy the user completely: they give response to his most basic needs (morning alarm, cooking recipes, communication), and most importantly, they create needs. Did you ever imagine you could not live without those little games like Angry Birds or Jewels? Or that you couldn’t spend one hour without checking the mail outside home? Or even talk to your friends via whatsapp, whatever. This new light in our behaviour, as all changes, has its own perks and drawbacks.

On the one hand, we depend on our devices too much. Some people are completely addicted and can’t seem to have a normal conversation in the daily social events without checking if they got new mail every five minutes. Others have lost the much healthier habit of reading in the public transport or the wait rooms. We have too much to learn about mobile usage. Who knows if our breed will receive lessons about it at school in the same way that I learnt nutrition at high school.

On the other hand, apps have made our life so much easier in so many ways. We don’t need to spend money on calls or messages, we can easily send a whatsapp to our friends in case we’re late for dinner. They’ve made the boring moments less boring. We’ve organized ourselves better and we’re constantly reminded of the upcoming events. We can share what we’re doing at all times and post a picture so everyone can see it. We can look up something we don’t know at the moment (a word, a movie) and we can even tune a song we don’t remember so SoundHound does the work for us.

What did I do before I knew you?

I honestly don’t know. Thank you, Android, for making life easier and for keeping me connected to the rest of the world.

Ms. Anne G., writer at AndroidZoom.com

AndroidZoom: two light-years

Dear AndroidZoomers,

Two years ago today, AndroidZoom took off. When we started, Android had just been updated to version 2.0 Eclair and the most used OS was BB RIM. Android had only a few more than 20,000 apps. There were a few more than a million Android devices around. Angry Birds hadn’t been launched yet.

In that scenario, we had to bet. We had to zoom in on something. Those subtle vibes that tell you whether something is going to be okay had to be acknowledged. We had to give time and pay due attention. If we were going to start something, we should be able to be faithful to it till the end.

Although it’s hard to believe at this point, AndroidZoom wasn’t developed. It was crafted, done with the right mix of business, eager ambition, hope and talent. Then, that charming green bot grew and blessed us when it gave us the go-ahead in its own, quiet way.

It seems that our bet was right, though. It seems indeed that those vibrations haven’t betrayed us, because if they had, neither we’d be writing this nor you’d be reading it. Big smile here.

Nowadays, AndroidZoom is still a small family where we see each other’s faces every day and where we can keep the innocence needed to not lose the users’ point of view of everything. We’re glad that AndroidZoom is also a place where we can try to help a young starting developer at the same time that we chat with large and well-known companies. We’re proud of every new “congrats”, “think you should” and “thanks” we receive. It can sound as a cliché, but there’s still room to learn something, however small it may be, from every concise comment sent to us. We share what we know, as we firmly believe that’s the only way for Android to glow and grow. Beyond the discourse about how open source philosophy may become something useful to make the world a better place, there’s also a strong commitment with users and developers alike. That’s us and that’s how we work. We wouldn’t know how to do it otherwise.

During the last few weeks, we have been working frantically on a lot of improvements invisible to the naked eye, but that will soon allow us to offer a thousand and one new features. In the meantime, AndroidZoom remains a leading site for Android apps and games, somewhere to glance through, read any of our nearly two thousand reviews done to date and let yourself amaze by discovering applications you wouldn’t even imagine. Since we’re talking here about reviews, let us tell you that, from the early beginning, we chose that AZ would be a place where users go through the best Android apps at their whim. At that point everything was rather messed up, so we tried to tidy it all in the best possible way. Later, we add our reviews to the pot, which explained pretty quickly how much an app is worthy of downloading and whether we’ll like a game beforehand, as if they were that close friend we’re always asking about. Reviews had to be –and so still are- brief and straightforward instead of long and boring technical explanations, ideally conceived to be read on a mobile device.

At the same time, if you kindly visit our Facebook you’ll find, to name just one thing, AZCartoons every other week. Here at this blog, our editor team excels at presenting new apps that have passed over other sites and we launched, not so long ago, our brand new Youtube Channel where we find out great Android videos and (be this a big AND written in caps) our videoreviews are uploaded each week. Lastly, those of you who follow us on Twitter are up to date with remarkable reviews and news. Ultimately, let’s wonder at all how much can be done with our favorite toys.

There’s a huge competition among developers, and keep in mind that the best is yet to come. Market will be as good as they are its best apps. We’re expectant for natural selection to show off in the Android ecosystem. At the moment you are reading this, there are more than 150 million Android devices roaming out there, we’re celebrating the imminent advent of Android 4.0 and there are more than half a million apps uploaded.

Seen this way, the wholesale transformation Android has undergone in really seems to had started more than two years ago, two light-years away indeed. Two long light-years that have gone by quickly for Androidzoom, and that’s only the start of a journey we don’t know where it’ll take us.

That’s about it. Thank you; wish you all have a great day.

AndroidZoom team.

More kids with phones

We’re still on our week devoted to kids. Kids, who sometimes lighten up our day and other times can be little monsters. But we don’t want them to use the wrong applications, do we?

So that’s why today we’ve chosen two kid friendly games that will have your child entertained and learning at the same time. In addition, we’ve included also a parental control app to prevent your kids from using the wrong applications or the ones that you don’t consider appropriate for them.

Kids Doodle is a simple application  that turns your device into a blackboard where kids can draw and paint with virtual crayons. It’s especially made for them, so it’s really easy to use and only includes a few buttons: new dooddle, crayons, undo, rubber and movie. Perfect for those with artistic aspirations.

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Kids Numbers and Maths Lite it’s a great way to entertain your children while they get familiar with numbers and simple math operations. This app includes several activities in which they have to solve easy exercises, always narrated by a sweet voice and done with a touch response system that’s appropriate for them. The developer is specialized in education games, so you can check them all out if you’re interested.

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Last but not least, Android Parental Control, the one that we talked about. This app is not adressed to the kids, but to the parents instead and it’s used for selecting the applications that you don’t want your kids to use (they would need a password for that). In addition, you can enable Safe Sandbox, which only shows the allowed apps. Perfect solution to protect your children and your important data.

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Have you found this week’s posts useful? Do you have kids that use your smarthphone? How do you protect them and your files? We hope you’ve enjoyed our kids friendly week, have a nice weekend AndroidZoomers!

Kids with Android Phones

Nowadays, kids are familiar with technologies sooner than ever. They start playing with the remote control, using the computer to play games and paint, playing with the smartphones… even if they don’t know what they’re actually doing. But they love it. Every day more, kids are dropping the typical games we used to know and love and are giving in to the extremely-addictive-yet-not-appropriate-for-their-age world of technologies.

We wouldn’t think of giving a kid an Android phone (or any other device whatsoever) but we believe phones can be the parent’s best ally when it comes to having the kid entertained and calmed while you’re doing something important or simply need time to relax.

This post is about that. It features three popular kid friendly apps that your child can enjoy while learning at the same time (and you do other stuff). We also wanted to include one particular game that you can use together.

First of all, we have Wood Animals for Kids, an application that features several simple games for children that can teach them about animals and their sounds and activities. The app is very complete and taken care of. There are three languages available, advice for parents and a guidance through the game. It’s nothing new but it’s still a great app for children. There’s a paid version with more animals and activities.

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Secondly, we have Kids Mode: Kid Games + Videos, which lets you set a dashboard for kids. You can add as many apps as you can and even lock the app. In addition, it includes didactic games (art studio, storybooks, baby songs and kid cartoons) for kids aged 1 to 8. There’s also parental control information that sends you a weekly report on what your kids have been playing and a violence filter.

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Lastly, Moon Secrets, which is a pretty special app. It’s especially made for putting your kids to sleep and it features a short story with a relaxing tune and animations which you and your kids can interact with. You can let them read it or you can read it yourself, but they will sure enjoy it and want to repeat it some other nights.

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Social news, social knowledgement

This week’s first videoreview is about news. Today’s videoreview features three excellent social news applications, which keep you informed of everything that’s going on in the world and also, everything that happens in your favorite social networks. This way, you can read about everything you’re interested in on the same app. These combinations offer similar features but each has its advantages and disadvantages and you should watch the videoreview and choose the ones that fits you best. Discover Pulse News, my6sense: Smart & Social News and Taptu – DJ your news. Be informed. Know everything.

Posted in AndroidZoom. No Comments »

Loving food, enjoying eating

It’s time to feed our starving stomach with some interesting food-related apps. In the last post, we’ve reviewed three recipe-like apps to improve your cooking skills. This time, we want to approach the issue in a different way. Thus, we’re introducing you three new apps: an useful one, a fun game and a social network all of them related to food, although not on how to cook it! Do you remember your parents saying “don’t play with your food”? Ok, it’s time to forget it, at least for a while.

Let’s start with Grocery Helper, is an app monitor the usage of your grocery items. It allows you to design your own grocery list in a few taps as well as maintain the inventory level of an item. You have to select among all the categories, the items you want to buy and, the unit and the quantity . Lots of stores have been integrated into the app. This way you can also select where you’re going to buy each item. Actually, unit, location and store fields are editable. Once all the items selected, Grocery Helper will generate your own shopping list. Bear in mind that you can generate as many list as you can naming them as you want (type of items, stores, etc). Although the interface could be improved, the idea is really useful: leave the paper shopping list at home, and add a new use to your smartphone.

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Stand O’Food® is a simple and entertaining game in which you embody a waiter hired by a Burguer Restaurant franchise. The purpose of the game is to serve the customer’s demands as fast as possible in order to maximize the profit of the restaurant. Check the order and tap to choose the correct ingredients for cooking the sandwich. You have to invest your money in upgrading condiments and equipment. There are two game modes: Quest and Lunch Rush, with more than 100 levels and more than 80 different sandwiches to create. Challenging game, perfect timewaster.

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Tasterous is a social network for sharing, commenting and rating restaurants and dishes. It’s cross-platform and works similar to other photo-sharing social networks like Mobli or Instagram, although it also includes a check-in system like Foursquare. It uses GPS to show nearby bars and restaurants. Check them out and discover reviews by other users. Follow them in order to increase your community of “food” reviewers. Share places, photos, comments and ratings through other social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The app is set in a user-friendly interface. Thus, you won’t have problem to get the hang of it, specially if you’re used to Foursquare, Instagram and other similar social networks. However, Tasterous is a new concept of social network. It’s the end of uncertainty regarding restaurant choice. Go and order after reading a review of your friends and contacts.

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Cooking, playing with food and finding the best restaurant nearby

This Friday’s videoreview features three applications related to food. One is a very complete recipe tool that uses your food preferences and the grocery stores nearby in order to list your recipes (Food on the Table). The other is a classic restaurant management game for the little spare moments (Stand O’Food) and the last one is a geo locator that shows the restaurants nearby and the comment’s people are making about them (Tasterous). Watch it and discover the great advantages and features that they include.

Eat, play and eat again.

A tasty Ice Cream Sandwich

Not bad the ICS features we introduced in yesterday’s post, aren’t they? Well, that was just the starter. We hope you left some room for dessert. Just guess what it is…

Communication and sharing

In this regard, the main feature is the new design of the phonebook which now is called “People”. The new scenery looks like a magazine: all social networks and communication channels available are fully integrated within contact tabs. Thus, we’ve gained a fast access to all social content from our friends. What’s more, our own contact profile is located at the top, over the letter A.

The voicemail is now accessible from the phonebook app. You can even play the last voicemail from the recent calls log. No need to do it from third apps.

Gmail has been also enhanced both appearance and performance. There’s a new smart toolbar that shows different options depending on what we’ve selected as the most important actions for us. The UI is even clearer and easier to use. What’s more, it includes, by default, offline searching.

Calendar’s app has been also adapted to the new ICS layout. You can “Pinch-to-zoom” to check your own tasks for a specific day. This way you can fully manage your schedule in an improved way.

Camera and Gallery

You probably heard rumours about this feature. Camera and gallery have deeply changed in this last Android version. Camera access is now faster and easier. Everything is more accessible. It brings by default filters and photo effects Instagram-like. What’s more, you can take panoramic pictures without downloading any additional third party app. And it does it amazingly because, instead of taking lots of pictures and crunch them all together, it uses a new technology. It “records” a video and then it generates the panoramic photo. And it really works.

Regarding video recorder, ICS provides a continuos auto-focus and zooming while recording. Snapshot while recording has been also integrated as well as time lapse mode. Important enhancements.

Gallery has been re-designed to adapt it to the ICS layout but, in addition, now is easier to create folders and to sort one by one, by album, date or even location. Android 4.0 comes with a built-in screenshot utility what was a well-known Android user’s demand.

Web surfing and connection

As well as the launcher (dock and app drawer), the default ICS browser came to compete with the most popular browser on the market. By now, website can be easily saved and there’s a incognito mode. Navigation is quite more intuitive and faster.

Regarding connection, ICS lands with built-in Wi-Fi Direct which is aim to unseat Bluetooth as the only method of device data transfer. Wi-Fi Direct and Android Beam allows to create ad-hoc networks between compatible devices. This way, users can connect to nearby devices over Wi-Fi no need of any tethering or root access. Compatible devices with Wi-Fi Direct is the only requirement. The evident advantage is that Wi-Fi direct is way faster than Bluetooth and works in a larger range.

In summary

Although there are still a lot of questions that deserve straightforward answers, e.g. screenshots without becoming root, how much intrusive G+ may be or what will happen to every 2.2 or lower current devices, what we know for sure is that Android not only isn’t losing heart, but stepping up indeed. If there was anyone left who still believed that Ice Cream Sandwich would be little more that an update able to fix just a bugs and make a superficial make-over, there it is a new breed between Gingerbread and Honeycomb that enhances, improves and at the same time will try to put to an end the black legend of Android fragmentation.

What do you think? Is it worth to sink our teeth into this delicious dessert? We’re looking forward it, the same way we’d like to hear your comments and prospects about this long awaited, much anticipated, Android 4.0.