All things Android UK

@AnyDo soon to hit the web and killer features

2012-01-21T23:05:00.001Z

Android task management app AnyDo are set to unveil their web app within the next few weeks according to my Twitter exchange with them yesterday.

If you have not come across AnyDo yet, it is a fantastic new task management app for Android which has a beautiful user interface and also some killer features that makes it stand out from the plethora of task management apps that are available in the Android Market.

I have featured AnyDo on All Things Android UK before. Click here to read my previous article which highlights the key features at the time of writing.

However, since then they have introduced another killer new feature as I mentioned above that adds another dimension to task management on your Android phone.

What AnyDo does, that no other task management app that I am aware of does, is monitors your missed calls and allows you to easily create tasks for them.

So, here's how it works. When someone calls and you miss the call, the next time you take a look at your phone, AnyDo prompts you that you have had a missed call and gives you the option to call them back now or later. If you select the option to call them back later, AnyDo automatically creates a task for you so that you don't forget to return that important call. Such a simple idea but very very cool!

The next big thing that the guys at AnyDo are working on is their web app which they say they are working flat out to deliver as soon as possible.

I exchanged tweets with them yesterday to see just how close they are to making this available and their response was that it would be within weeks.

When this is made available, you will be able to stay productive online as well as when you're out and about.

If you're interested, head over to their website and you can register your interest in the web app so that they will notify you when it is available.

Finally, once this web app is complete, they then plan to focus on getting their iOS apps out so, following on from my article a few days ago, this will eventually be another app that can keep you productive across all platforms.

Exciting stuff and my first choice for task management. Oh, and did I forget to mention, It's FREE!

Automatically controlling your phone's profile

2012-01-21T14:45:00.001Z

There are a number of automatic profile switchers available for your Android phone. One of my personal favourites as regular All Things Android UK readers will know if Phoneweaver by SBSH Software.

In my opinion, the brilliance of Phoneweaver is its plethora of features. You can change all sorts of settings on your phone based on time, locations, connections and calendar entries. It's a great app for if you want the full feature set.

This might not be required for everyone and some people may just want a simpler profile switcher, that is more light weight. If that is you, I would look no further than Timeriffic.

This profile switcher focuses completely on setting your profiles based on time. It allows you to modify the same kind of settings as Phoneweaver and is well worth a look.

It is also free!

Android and Apple can work together

2012-01-09T23:37:00.001Z

Football Live Scores from Skysports

2011-12-12T23:07:00.000Z

It's been a long time coming but Skysports have now released their Football Live Score Centre on the Android Market and very impressive it is too.

The app allows you to follow live scores, commentary, league tables and match stats, while also allowing you to view results, listen to Sky Sports News radio, view player profiles and team line ups.

It brings you the latest football news and also allows you to specify your favourite teams so that you can keep an eye on the latest news, scores and results quickly and easily.

The app gives you access to the English leagues from the Blue Square Premier and upwards, the Scottish Leagues from the Scottish third division and up, as well as the top leagues in Spain, Italy, France, Germany and Holland.

There is even a 3D pub finder that will point you to the local pub that is showing live skysports in 3D.

If you want an app to keep abreast of the latest Football scores, download this one from the Android Market now for free by clicking here.

Review of the Google 10 Billion app promo...so far

2011-12-12T21:51:00.001Z

The amazing Google promotion of 10 days of premium apps for 10p is in full swing at the moment and has taken the Android world by storm but how do people think it has been going and what do people think of the selection of apps that have been made available.

I commented on Twitter earlier that I felt the selection of apps have been quite game-centric which is great for all you gamers out their but there are so many great apps out their that I personally would have liked to see a little more variety.

This is not to say that there have not been some fantastic titles (both apps and games) been made available and that it has not been a fantastic treat to be able to pick up these for such a paltry sum.

Highlights have been:

Swiftkey X
This for me is the best and most intuitive Android keyboard available. It's integration with Gmail, Twitter, Facebook, your SMS messages and your blogs in order to learn your writing style means that it never ceases to amaze me at how it predicts what your next word will be with such accuracy.

It's available in a large number of languages and supports multiple keyboard styles.

This keyboard is well worth the usual price but for 10p it was an absolute steal.

Try it free from the Android Market here. You will get it's magical predictions for one month for free but if you see it repeated for 10p during what remains of the 10 day promotion (some apps have been repeated so far) make sure you snap this one up.

Beautiful Widgets (Available Today)
If you are looking for some of the best looking home screen widgets on the Android market then look no further than Beautiful Widgets.

Beautiful Widgets contains clock and weather widgets, date widgets, toggle buttons, skins/themes support, as well as 5 day weather forecasts, weather animations, and moon phases.

If your phone supports it, Beautiful Widgets also offers Weather live wallpaper OpenGL Accelerated which makes for many effects.

You can also configure the app to auto refresh your weather when your phone is unlocked. You can customise the apps that are launched when you tap on the hours, date or forecast details on the widgets.

This is one of Google's Editors choice apps and is

Other highlights have included:

Soundhound (Available Today)

Sims 3

ADW Launcher EX

Flight Control (Available Today)
So these are some of our highlights so far but we have a few more days to go so it will be interesting to see what else is made available for 10p. Keep an eye on the All Things Android UK twitter feed (@AllAndroidUK) for more musings on this great promotion.

Review of the Google 10 Billion app promo...so far

2011-12-12T21:51:00.000Z

Soundhound (Available Today)

Sims 3

ADW Launcher EX

Control your Android over-the-air with AirDroid

2011-12-05T21:46:00.001Z

If anyone saw the All Things Android UK twitter feed earlier today, you will have noticed that I was excited to tell you about a cool new app that I had come across today.

That app is AirDroid. AirDroid is an app that allows you to remotely control your Android phone within your internet browser over WiFi. While this is not the only app that allows this, it has much more to it's feature list and it is extremely slick. The app also gives you a bunch of handy tools on your phone itself. I will cover these features later.

In order to sync your phone and your PC, you simply need to connect them to the same wireless network and then browse to a specific URL in your PC browser. AirDroid supports Google Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Internet Explorer.

You are then prompted to enter a random password that appears in the app on your phone. There is even the option to specify your own password within the app if you prefer.

Once logged in, you have access to the following features from your browser:

Files

Transfer your files between your phone and your PC
Cut, copy, paste, rename and delete them on your SD card
File search
Export files as a Zip file

SMS Messaging

Read, send, delete and forward text messages from within your browser
Group texting

Contacts

Create and Edit your contacts
Group contacts
Search
View and delete call logs

Applications

Install, uninstall and backup apps
Search apps
Carry out batch processing

Photos

Preview, delete, import and export images
Set photos as your wallpaper
Photo slideshow on your desktop

Ringtones

Search, preview, delete or customise ringtones
Import and Export ringtones

Music

Play music
Search your music
Import and Export
Set music as call and alarm notifications

Clipboard

You can also share text between phone and PC using the clipboard

As you can see from the screenshots, the web user interface is extremely easy on the eye and a pleasure to use but the guys on the AirDroid team don't stop there.

If you open up the app on your phone, another sumptuous user interface greets you along with the following useful features:

Device Status

Realtime ROM and SD Card memory usage
Battery status
CPU Usage
RAM Usage
Boost your handset with the single touch of the Release Memory button

Task Manager

Kill or uninstall running apps
Batch uninstallation

Apps Manager

Uninstall apps
Share apps
Check details of user and system apps

File Manager

Cut, copy, paste, rename and delete files
Send/Share files
Create visible or hidden files and folders
Sort files

All this is available in a free app and it is now firmly installed on my Android phone. I envisage that I will use this virtually every day.

Download AirDroid for free from the Android Market by clicking here.

@AnyDo Task Management - Simple yet stylish

2011-11-22T22:13:00.001Z

Every now and then I come across a new app that is so stylish, it just has to be given the attention that it deserves.

This week I came across across Any.Do a free task management app that has a stunning user interface and has it's strengths in it's simplicity. You just need to take a look at their classy looking website (http://www.any.do/) to realise that this is a company who place a lot of emphasis on design. Having said this, they have not compromised on functionality while designing this great looking app.

What is also refreshing about this one is that they have developed on the Android platform before developing their iPhone app. It's so often that this is the other way and we Android users are left waiting to get our hands on the app.

If you're looking for a simple task management app with a great interface and that does what it says on the tin, then I would seriously consider giving Any.Do a go.

You can add your tasks by voice or by typing them in, drag and drop your tasks in order to prioritise them, sort them by date, priority or folder, set reminders and you can add notes to your tasks. There is also a home screen widget provided with Any.Do

Once you have completed, your tasks simply swipe your finger across the task to mark it as complete and then when you want all your completed tasks to disappear you simply shake the phone and, hey presto, you only see your outstanding tasks.

The app syncs with Google Tasks and the developers are promising future integrations with other web based task management apps such as Producteev and Remember the milk (amongst others).

They are also developing their own web and chrome apps so you might not need these syncs with third party task managers.

Don't get me wrong, this app is not yet perfect. For example you can currently only install it to your phone rather than to SD therefore it's footprint on your phones internal storage is quite large but I would hope that the developers might consider changing this in the future. I suspect that one reason they have designed it this way is because if you installed it to your SD card, you would not be able to use the home screen widget (this is a limitation in Android) but they could work around this in the same way Evernote have done. They have created a separate Evernote Widget which means you can install Evernote to SD and then install the Evernote Widget separately to your internal phone memory which means a much smaller footprint.

For me, the sheer usability and the fact that the app looks great helps me to see past this flaw and I would strongly recommend taking a look at this app.

UPDATE SINCE THIS ARTICLE WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED (23/11/2011): Any.Do have informed me today that installation to SD is going to be available in their next update - Great news!!!!

If All Things Android UK had an App of the Month section, this would be the entry for this month.

Ice Cream Sandwich and Samsung Galaxy Nexus now official

2011-10-19T21:15:00.000+01:00

So today was the day that Google officially announced their new Android operating system, codenamed Ice Cream Sandwich. There have been lots of speculation as to what Android 4.0 will bring and Google have not disappointed with an exciting list of new features.

Google have attempted to merge the best features of the Android 2.x phone versions with those of Android 3.x (Honeycomb) with the aim of providing an operating system that is equally at home on your smartphone or your tablet.

So, what are the key features? Well here are the highlights (not an exhaustive list):

Refined UI

The user interface has evolved with Google promise "makes common actions more visible and lets users navigate with simple, intuitive gestures". Animations have been refined and a brand new, easy to read typeface called "Roboto" has been introduced in Android 4.0.

System and Action Bar

Google have introduced a number of virtual buttons which appear in a new System Bar at the bottom of the screen and they are present in all apps. This gives the user easy access to important areas of your device such as your contacts. It is also possible to access each application's contextual options in the Action Bar at the top of the screen.

Multitasking

This has been improved in Android 4.0 with the introduction of a Recent Apps button that will let you jump between one app to another in the System Bar.

Voice control

A new voice engine allows you to dictate text and you can then tap underlined text to replace the words from a list of suggestions

Face Unlock

Yes, with Android 4.0 you can unlock your handset using facial recognition technology. Cool eh?

Home Screen Folders

Arrange apps and shortcuts into folders. This has previously only been possible using 3rd party apps in the past.

Improved Notifications

On tablets, these appear in the Status Bar while on phones they stay where they were at the top of the screen in the notification bar.

Resizeable Widgets

You are now able to resize your widgets making for a much more customisable UI.

Graphical data displays

Android 4.0 now shows you exactly how much data you are using over Wi-Fi or mobile data. You can see this broken down by each app and you can also set up warning levels to help stop you from racking up large data charges.

Favourites Tray

On phones you can set up a customisable favourites tray which can contain apps, shortcuts or anything else you might want to include.

Camera Improvements

These include:

New UI
1080p video
Zero shutter lag
Picture stitching panoramic mode
Stablised zoom
Continuous focus
Re-designed gallery app with photo editor

Improved Apps

There have been improvements to the following apps:

People App - Improvement mean for easy integration of all social networks
Calendar - Re-designed and incorporating multilple calendars (personal, work, school, social agendas etc)
Email - Improved auto completion, nested mail subfolders
Visual Voicemail is now included

As I said, this is not an exhaustive list, you can see the full new features on the Android Developers site.

I cannot finish this article without also mentioning the other major announcement from today which was the introduction of the first Android 4.0 handset, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

This new handset is expected to hit our stores next month and packs the following impressive specs:

4.65" 1280x720 (720p) HD Super AMOLED screen
1.2GHz dual core processor
1GB RAM
16GB/32GB Internal memory
1080p Video
5 megapixal rear camera
1.3 megapixel forward facing camera
NFC (Near Field Communication) support
Bluetooth 3.0
Wi-Fi
HSPA+ which allows speeds of up to 21Mbps)

Sounds pretty impressive to me and it will be interesting to see if this handset makes the most of the great new features in Ice Cream Sandwich.

Android alternative to the iPod Touch on the way

2011-10-10T22:34:00.000+01:00

Samsung have today announced an Android alternative to Apple's iPod Touch. There will be a number of different Samsung Galaxy WiFi models available, all running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), with the base model undercutting the iPod Touch by around £20.

All models will feature:

1GHz (Single Core) Processor
Full Android Market
Skype video calling using the front facing VGA camera
3.2MP rear facing camera
Wireless sync using Samsung AllShare

So, what models will we see one the shelves:

3.6" Screen, 8GB: £150
3.6" Screen, 16GB: £170
5" Screen, 8GB: £200
5" Screen, 16GB: £220

These devices are due to be available by November.

All Things Tech UK is launched!

2011-10-02T21:14:00.001+01:00

All Things Android UK is branching out and is today launching All Things Tech UK. All Things Tech UK is your one stop shop for all your tech and gadget purchases and is operated by the award winning online technology retailer More Computers.

As well as stocking the latest Android tablets and smartphones, All Things Tech UK also stocks a large range of PCs, laptops, netbooks, printers, as well as TVs, iPods and other MP3 players.

You can also purchase your printer ink and other accessories from us.

So why not check us out at All Things Tech UK and next time you are looking to purchase your tech, make sure you make All Things Tech UK your first port of call.

Amazon Kindle Fire not a challenge to the iPad (currently)

2011-09-28T20:31:00.001+01:00

So Amazon have today announced their Amazon Kindle Fire tablet which is their long awaited Android tablet. This neat 7" tablet will go on sale in the US on 15th November for a fantastic price of $199 (around £130).

Many people (including The Guardian) are saying that this is expected to be the biggest challenge to Apple's iPad and with the access to 100,000 movies and TV shows to purchase or rent (with Amazon Prime members enjoying unlimited access), a dual core processor, access to the Amazon Appstore, it's own web browser (known as Amazon Silk), free cloud storage via Amazon Cloud and access to 17 million songs via the amazon mp3 store, this device sounds like it is a real contender.

Unfortunately, there is one huge catch which is the reason why, unless Amazon resolve this, it will not break Apple's dominance.

The catch is that it is only going to be available in the US. Amazon have not announced any plans to release it internationally.

Surely, they will do this eventually but we have still yet to gain access to their appstore or their cloud drive.

Come on Amazon, we are willing you to win this battle, let your friends here in the UK have your Kindle Fire.

Tesco Groceries app works...It's Official!

2011-09-25T22:01:00.000+01:00

I have used it before and always found it pretty slick and easy to use but today my thoughts were validated by my wife who used the Tesco Groceries android app for the first time yesterday and all our shopping arrived as expected today.

My wife had initially been concerned that app would be cumbersome and that it would extend the length of time that it would take to complete our online shopping. However, the fact that our favourites were automatically stored from our previous purchases and the easy of use of the Tesco Groceries app meant that the task was completed quickly and easily.

The Tesco Groceries app is a great looking and well laid out app that makes for a great user experience.

The app is free and, once logged in, has the following features to help to make your shopping experiences a good one:

Book your delivery slot.
Add products to your order manually, by scanning the barcodes if you still have one of that item in the cupboard or use your voice to add them.
Browse departments, shelves and aisles.
Browse your "favourites".
Seamlessly integrates with any outstanding order made on your PC.
Add/Remove products from an existing order
Checkout

The Tesco Groceries is the complete solution to being able to do your weekly food shopping while you are on the move and has worked well for me (and now my wife) everytime I have used it.

Samsung Galaxy Ace Issues resolved

2011-09-14T21:38:00.000+01:00

The Samsung Galaxy Ace, sibbling of the Galaxy S2 is one of the most affordable Android handsets around at the moment. This handset is pretty good but there have been some reports of a couple of annoying glitches with it. A number of users were finding that the handset would restart without warning or sometimes the user would find that WiFi had switched itself off and you would get an error when you try to switch it back on.

I have one of these handsets and I too hit the issues but I have good news. The upgrade to Gingerbread seems to resolve these issues.

As Samsung don't yet support over the air upgrades, in order to upgrade your firmware, you would need to download the Samsung's Kies PC Suite which allows you to upgrade your handset via USB.

Simply plug in your phone and start up Kies. You should then be prompted with the Firmware upgrade.

Happy upgrading and good luck!

SBSH Software CEO Amit Regev talks exclusively to All Things Android UK

2011-09-09T21:21:00.000+01:00

I managed to steal some time with Amit Regev, CEO at mobile app developer SBSH Software earlier this week and asked him a few things about their commitment to the Android platform and what SBSH have been up to. I also managed to get him to give All Things Android UK a bit of an exclusive about the latest software application they are about to release.

Here is the our interview:

Thank you for taking time out to of your busy schedule to talk to me. Let’s start by you introducing yourself. Tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into the world of mobile computing.

“Hi Matt and thank you for giving us this great opportunity to share some insights with our users!

As for myself, I’m 29 years old, born in Israel and living in Tel Aviv for the past several years. I’ve been playing with computers ever since I was a little kid and always loved to disassemble and build things. My parents might add this wasn’t always with great success. :)

I started playing with mobile devices during my high school years. I remember ordering from eBay my first PDA device: Shiny blue Handspring Visor Deluxe, which was somewhat like the cheaper, plastic made, version of the Palm pilot devices back then.

A few years and a dozen or so mobile devices later I decided to write my first mobile application. This was designed for the newly released Pocket PC 2002 platform by Microsoft (later renamed to Windows Mobile, years before the first iPhone was released). The application, called Birth2day, used to aggregate all birthdays information from one’s contacts list and present a neatly organized list on the Pocket PC Today screen concept introduced by Microsoft, which is much similar to the Android Home screen we know today.

The mobile market was just starting and the growth was amazing. We grew very quickly and introduced some of the best selling apps for Pocket PC devices back then, including PocketBreeze, PocketWeather and iLauncher. We were among the very first to bring weather data to mobile devices with PocketWeather!”

You had fantastic success with Windows Mobile. I remember using some of your Windows Mobile apps myself. What was it that brought you to the Android and how have you found the transition?

“For us, the move from Windows Mobile to Android was the natural move, following the demand of our users.

With the decline of Windows Mobile devices for the last few years and the growth of the newer Android and iOS platforms, we were seeing a growing demand from our users looking for our best selling apps for their shiny new Android and iPhone devices.

We knew we had to quickly adjust with the changing demands and move our development resources to these new and growing markets.

To be honest, I believe our move wasn’t as fast as it should be for a company that operates in such a dynamic market, but we definitely learned from our mistakes and have been running forward with exciting news since then – and much more to come!

From a user stand of point, I find the Android platform to be the next step in the Windows Mobile evolution. Or better put – what Windows Mobile should have become. This explains why we feel so comfortable with Android developments.

Unlike iOS, I find that Android adopted many of the UI concepts that were first introduced with Windows Mobile, but re-introduced them the right way. This includes the Home screen and widgets design – as a direct follow of the Windows Mobile Today screen and plugins; Tap-and-hold context menus which are now full-screen touch-screen friendly, unlike the Windows Mobile context menus that required a stylus and much more.”

Regular readers of All Things Android UK will know that I have featured your current apps previously but for the benefit of anyone who has not read my previous articles, why don’t you tell us about the apps you already have available on the Android Market?

“To date, we have three apps on the Market.

The first, SafeWallet Password Manager. Our best selling password manager client for Android. With SafeWallet, users can manage all their passwords and online logins in one secure application. SafeWallet is also available for all other major desktop and mobile platforms, including cloud and local syncing and much more! Our recent updated introduced new Firefox Extension integration that lets users manage their online identities automatically!

Our second app is PhoneWeaver Profile Manager. One of our best selling apps back in the Windows Mobile days, which Android users just love! PhoneWeaver makes your Android way smarter – by letting users create smart and automated profiles to control their phone. PhoneWeaver profiles can fully control your phone and can be activated based on time, your agenda, power connection and even location!

Our third app, CallWeaver, was silently released on the Market just a few days ago. We plan to officially announce it in the next couple of days. CallWeaver Call Filtering let users create call-filters and filter your incoming calls only to those you wish to receive during different times of day. The super-awesome surprise it brings is the seamless integration with our PhoneWeaver. When using the two together users can activate call-filters directly from their PhoneWeaver profiles!”

You clearly have a strong commitment to the Android platform. What does the future hold?

“Our plan is to focus on what we do best – develop the market leading productivity and utility apps for Android. To be sure we don’t spread too thin we plan to focus our development on our current existing three apps, with one additional new app that will be introduced in a matter of days!

I’ll be glad to take this short interview as an opportunity to share with our users and the All Things Android UK readers some first details about our upcoming Android release: PocketBreeze. Many of our users are familiar with PocketBreeze back in the Windows Mobile days as one of the world’s best selling Today screen plugins, and we’re all super excited to bring it to Android, just in a few days from now! For those not familiar with it, PocketBreeze is a Home screen widget that brings all of your agenda and important meetings directly to your Home screen, making sure you never miss an important meeting!

With this interview, we’ve also released the very first screen capture showing the new PocketBreeze interface! This capture is showing the static display of PocketBreeze, but there is much more to it once you get this one loaded to your Android!

In addition to PocketBreeze we got super exciting plans for our SafeWallet project. In a matter of weeks from now, we plan to introduce a full cross-platform scale solution based on the SafeWallet technology that will help users secure the way they use their PCs and mobile devices altogether. We started this process with the most recent SafeWallet for Windows release and plan to have more exciting announcements arriving in upcoming weeks!”

Would you like to share some general thoughts about the Android OS in general and where the platform is going - as you see it from the developer’s side?

“The Android platform is growing amazingly fast these days, with a lot of efforts pushing tablet devices. We just started testing a Honeycomb tablet device a few days ago and there are some amazing things happening out there.

My personal feeling is that Honeycomb for tablets is still not fully baked and Google will need to polish things some more if they’d like to get the success they’re seeing with Android phones. Knowing Google I’m sure their tablet OS will improve rapidly and will bring a superb user experience.

The main barrier for mobile devices remained interaction with users, which still rely almost solely on touch screens. I believe that in upcoming years we will see amazing new developments that will allow users to interact with their phones in new ways – such as relying much more on voice commands and other ways of interaction. I’d love to see how I’m going to use my phone in 10 years from now!”

I would like to thank Amit for taking the time to speak to us when I’m sure he very busy finalizing the release of Pocketbreeze.

It sounds like there are interesting times ahead with SBSH’s apps and you can be sure that All Things Android UK will follow their developments and share the news with your right here.

Transform your Android experience with SPB Shell 3D

2011-09-08T22:19:00.000+01:00

There are a number of great launcher apps out there on the Android Market, apps such as ADW Launcher, Launcher Pro and the excellent Go Launcher EX, but none of them transform your Android experience quite like SPB Shell 3D

SPB Shell 3D boasts silky smooth 3D animations that take the Android experience to another level, with customisable panels, 3D carousel, widgets (Calendar, Weather, Birthdays, Contacts), world times in 3D, the ability sort your apps into folders and lots more.

You might think that with all the lush animations that are provided with SPB Shell 3D, you might expect performance to suffer but, in my experience, this is just not the case. SPB Shell 3D is very slick and extremely smooth. I have also not experienced any impact on my battery life.

When SPB initially released SPB Shell 3D they only supported Android phones, there was no tablet support for SPB Shell 3D. However, they have now incorporated an experimental tablet support option in SPB Shell 3D. This is the early stages of their steps towards making SPB Shell 3D an option to transform your user experience on any Android device.

So, you might ask, are there any negative points to make about SPB Shell 3D? Unfortunately, for me there is one and that's the price. At the time of publishing this article the price of SPB Shell 3D is £9.35 on the Android Market which is pretty costly for an Android app, even one that is as slick as SPB Shell 3D.

However, if you are looking for an app that will transform your Android user experience completely, you would be hard pressed to find anything that fulfils that requirement better than this and therefore, it might just be worth parting with your hard earned cash.

One thought, now that SPB Shell 3D includes tablet support, if you have an Android Phone and an Android Tablet, you could run SPB Shell 3D on both which would mean that you would technically have paid £4.68 per device which feels slightly better.

I seriously think that if SPB could find a way to reduce the cost down to around that price, SPB Shell 3D would sell by the bucket load.

It is a great launcher and is my launcher of choice. You just have to be able to justify spending almost a tenner for an app.

Andypad is unleashed!

2011-09-01T07:47:00.001+01:00

The wait is over! After months of hype, rumours and lots of excitement, the Andypad and Andypad Pro are now available to order.

You can pick up the Andypad for £129 or the equiped Andypad Pro for just £179.

So if you want one, head over to http://www.andypad.co.uk and order yours today. Current delivery estimates for orders placed is the week commencing 12th September.

Returning to DGT GTD for task management

2011-08-30T21:44:00.000+01:00

Some time ago a published a few articles about a great Android task management app that was in the making called DGT GTD (Article 1, Article 2 and Article 3).

I was actively using this app for managing my tasks because of the vast range of features that DGT GTD which included tasks with subtasks (to unlimited hierarchy levels), adding contexts to tasks, the ability to create checklists and shopping lists, and last but not least, it's sync with online task management app Toodledo.

Unfortunately, I stopped using DGT GTD but not because there was anything wrong with the app. I always found it to work really well, it had the most complete feature set of all the other task management apps I had tried and I always found that the app was evolving all the time. It was getting better and better.

No, I left it behind because I really couldn't get away from my dislike of the Toodledo user interface, which I found disjointed and cumbersome to use. The user experience in my opinion was nowhere near as slick as it could have been.

I moved away and tried Producteev which has a great web User interface but no native Android app (although it is in development), Doit who's web app and android app are pretty good and a number of others which were ok. However, I recently heard that Toodledo had been given a major re-design of it's UI and I was pleasantly surprised when I gave it a try.

So, I'm back using DGT GTD and the app has continued to move on with further new features.

I have been speaking with the Developer in the last week about what his future plans are for DGT GTD (which he describes as being in the Alpha stage of development but I have seriously seen finished released software that is less functional than this) and he has told me that he is aiming to bring the alpha stage of development to a close once he has completed the following new features:

Implementation of Notebook and Goals which are new features of Toodledo
Dropbox backup
Advanced repeat options
Attachments
Sync with Calendar and Google Tasks

Following this, as he moves into a Beta development phase, he will look to re-design the user interface to make it more customisable. So it is fair to say that he has got some big ideas for moving this great app forward.

DGT GTD is available for FREE from the Android Market. If you would like to utilise the Toodledo sync you must also download the separate sync extension (which is also FREE) from here.

If you use Pure Calendar Widget there is also an extension for DGT GTD that allows you to manage your tasks from within Pure Calendar Widget. This can be purchased (cost at time of publishing: £1.15) from the Android Market by clicking here.

So for complete task management, DGT GTD with Toodledo is a great all round solution.

Andypad will soon be here! Will you be buying?

2011-08-30T13:31:00.000+01:00

So, we now have 1 day until the launch of the highly anticipated AndyPad and AndyPad Pro. There has been a lot of hype about these reasonably priced and the fact that they have pretty good specs (especially the AndyPad Pro - Not sure how good the AndyPad will be with it's resistive screen).

Check out my article here which will give you details of the AndyPad Pro specs, I'm sure you will agree that the unit sounds pretty capable.

We eagerly await some reviews and I am hoping that the good people at AndyPad might find it in their hearts to send me one for review (fingers crossed). :)

So, what do you say? Will you be putting your hand in your pocket and purchasing an AndyPad when they are released on the 1st Sept?

Archos 43 Internet Tablet Review

2011-08-23T22:26:00.000+01:00

Those friendly folk at Archos sent me one of their Archos 43 to try out and I thought you might be interested to hear what I thought about it.

Archos describe the Archos 43 as a "palm sized tablet". It has a 4.3 inch screen so some might argue that this cannot be desribed as a tablet when the screen is a similar size to a number of the newer Android smartphones and I would see this as a device that would be more comparable to Apple's iPod Touch. Comparisons and terminology are not so important from my perspective, what I am most interested in is how the device performs.

So, what is the technical specification of the Archos 43? It runs Android 2.2 and features the following specifications:

ARM Cortex A8 1GHz processor
480 x 854 resistive touchscreen
8GB and 16GB Internal Memory versions
Micro SD slot
720p HD Video Playback
2MP HD Camcorder
WiFi
Bluetooth
G-sensor

First impressions of the Archos 43 are good. The build quality feels solid, the unit feels good in your hand and is very light, and when you power it up, the screen is very sharp. The device is also pretty nippy. In the time that I used it I found that it never seemed to lag and from this perspective the experience was great. The battery life also cannot be faulted.

Naturally, as we have come to expect from Archos, where this tablet excels is in it's media player. The HD video playback is fantastic and the music player is great. And, yes, as with the other Archos models, the kickstand is included for your video watching comfort.

The web browsing experience on this device is good although multi-touch is not supported so there is no pinch to zoom and you have to rely on the Android zoom in/out buttons in order to take a closer look at the websites you are browsing. This is not a major problem but it may just put some people off.

Where this tablet does frustrate however is with the screen. Such a shame as, although the screen is pretty sharp (as I mentioned earlier), it is also resistive and, as a result, the touch interface really lets this device down. I found it very difficult to type out an email without it being littered with mistakes as a result of the touch interface.

This to me plays into the argument as to whether this device should have been branded as an Internet Tablet or whether Archos should have marketed it as a PMP. In my view, the latter would have been better as you may have got away with the unresponsive screen where as screen responsiveness is a key element to someone buying a tablet.

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot to like about the Archos 43, especially if your primary purpose for it is as a media player because this is where it really excels. If this is the purpose you have in mind for it and you are not too concerned about tapping out emails on the device then I don't think you would be disappointed in the Archos 43.

However, if you are looking for an all round tablet experience, you might want to look elsewhere.

All Things Android UK is back!

2011-08-14T21:05:00.000+01:00

You may have noticed that there has been slightly less android news coming out of All Things Android UK.

This is because I have been on holiday for two weeks so with the exception of one article, All Things Android has been very quiet.

I am now back so you can expect more news, reviews and All ThingsAndroid in due course.

Watch out for my review of the Archos 43 tablet (kindly sent to me for review by Archos), news about new android phones/tablets, the latest android apps and anything else android related that I can unearth.

Skype adds more video calling support

2011-08-06T13:50:00.001+01:00

Skype for Android has released an update that adds more device to it's video calling support.

Previously only a handfull of devices were supported for video calling but the list has now grown to include the Samsung Galaxy S and S2, HTC's Desire, Sensation, and Flyer, as well as a number of other devices.

Some of the devices listed as being supported do not have front and rear cameras (e.g. the HTC Desire) but if this is the case, you can just use the rear camera to project your video to the person you are talking to.

Download the latest version from the Android Market if you have one of the devices listed (the full list of devices is on the Android Market):

https://market.android.com/details?id=com.skype.raider&feature=search_result

Amazing deal from Giffgaff @giffgaff

2011-07-30T14:51:00.000+01:00

I have recently purchased a 3G Android tablet and I wanted to find a cheap sim only deal so that I could use 3G when I am not within range of a wireless network.

I took a look around and then came across this amazing deal from Giffgaff. For £10 per month (and this is pay as you go so you are not committed to this) they give you:

250 UK minutes
Unlimited UK Texts
Unlimited Mobile Internet

On top of this, you could even pay nothing for this as a result of their Payback scheme.Under the scheme, for every person you refer to Giffgaff, you get up to £5 (depending on how the referral happens) which can either be credited against your airtime, paid to you in cash into a paypal account or donated to charity on your behalf.

Giffgaff is run on the O2 network so you can be assured that it is part of one of the big networks.

So, if you are looking for a fantastic mobile deal, I would wholeheartedly recommend Giffgaff.

You can order a free sim directly from All Things Android UK by clicking the button below:

Time2Touch price reduced

2011-07-26T22:18:00.000+01:00

I brought you a an article on the 21st featuring the Time2Touch Android. At the time I quoted that the price of this tablet was £199 but the team at Time2 have since reduced the price of the tablet to £179. For this price you get:

Time2Touch tablet (see my previous article for specs)
Protective Pouch
Power Adapter
USB cable
USB Adapter
Earphones
User Manual
One year warranty*
Free next day delivery*

*See terms on the Time2 website

They have also announced two tablet bundles:

Time2Store (£189) includes all of the above plus:

8GB Micro SD Card

Time2Roam (£239) includes everything listed above plus:

3G Dongle
In-car charger

The Time2 are hoping that these new offerings will make their tablet look even more enticing than it did previously. I have not yet had the pleasure of trying one of these tablets out but I am hoping that I might get the opportunity sometime soon. If I do, I will post a full review on here.

Quidco release their Android app

2011-07-26T15:02:00.000+01:00

Online cashback site Quidco have today released their Android app so you can now collect cashback while on the move using your Android phone.

Features include:

Personalised offers and deals
Discover paid check-ins
Generate in-store cashback
Voucher codes
Manage your Quidco account from within the app

You can download this from the Android Market by clicking here. Please bear in mind that this is a beta version at the moment but it looks pretty good so far.