T-Mobile LG G2x

The T-Mobile G2x with Google is built to entertain in a way that makes it stand out from other phones in the market. This phone delivers power and speeds that blow the competition out of the water.

While this phone is fine for everyday use, where it really stands out is in the realm of HD gaming—from anywhere. The G2x features rich 3D graphics that allow users to get immersed in the action like never before. In fact, in many cases, the 3D graphics on this brilliant 4-inch screen could be considered console-worthy. For phone gamers, that means sharper action and more intensity on the latest games. And this phone’s lightning fast speed also comes in handy for surfing the web and streaming videos and movies on the go.

LG Revolution

The Android-powered LG Revolution is Verizon Wireless’ first LTE phone. By supporting 4G-LTE broadband, the Revolution is able to provide users with some of the industry’s fastest download and upload speeds. It also features Wi-Fi and mobile hotspot capability that lets users establish 4G connection with up to eight Wi-Fi devices.

Android 2.2 technology equips the Revolution with Google Mobile Services, including Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk, Google Voice and access to the Android Market, all of which perform with fairly good quality. And the Revolution is also one of the first phones to support the new Netflix app for Android – it even comes pre-installed on the phone.

LG Thrill 4G

The defining feature of the LG Thrill 4G (available through AT&T) is simple: It’s a 3D phone. It might be tempting to blow off the 3D claim as a gimmick, but even without 3D capability, the Thrill is a pretty handy device. The phone comes pre-installed with quite a few apps, including a 3D camera, 3D gallery, 3D games and a 3D help guide, as well as demos of games including Asphalt 6, Gulliver’s Travels, Lets Golf 2, Movies, and NOVA, all in 3D.

And because you’re probably asking yourself how a 3D camera works, here’s the deal: The phone comes with two rear-facing cameras that work together to produce a double image that appears to be 3D (without glasses).

T-Mobile myTouch and T-Mobile myTouch Q

The myTouch and myTouch Q are both fan-favorite LG phones from T-Mobile. Both have a beautifully simple design and full touch-screen, and both are Android-powered. The difference comes with the keyboard.

While the myTouch is a completely touch-sensitive smartphone, the myTouch Q is equipped with a slide out keyboard for those who prefer the feel of actual buttons, rather than typing on a screen. Both phones even feature a Genius Button that responds to simple voice commands by making calls, sending texts, and searching the web. Undoubtedly, both phones are a great choice whether you’re looking for something simple as a first smartphone or something sleek and advanced to keep up with changing style and technology.

LG Spectrum

The LG Spectrum (available on Verizon) is a brand new addition to the LG lineup, but don’t be deceived into believing this is just “another” Android phone. The Spectrum shows off a beautiful 4.5-inch True HD display, which makes this a great phone for watching video or streaming TV shows and movies.

As far as the camera goes, the Spectrum has almost no shutter lag, unlike many other Android phones, and full 1080p video can be recorded using the phone’s video function. And, with the right service plan, the phone’s 4G connection can be shared with up to 10 other devices! This drains the battery pretty quickly, but it’s a very impressive feature. Which makes sense, after all, because this is a very impressive phone.

This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info about Android Phones.

The top 5 LG phones on the Android platform

TripIt

How does an app survive over 10,000 ratings in the Android Market with a 4.5-star rating? By being one of the best in its field. TripIt has the travel thing down right. It’s a simple premise, too. All you do is forward your confirmation email to a tripit email address, and it automatically populates the app with your travel information. This includes not only flights, but also hotels, restaurant reservations, cruises, and more.

There’s a social element on top of this, too. You can share your travel plans with friends on Facebook. Maybe you just want to brag a bit. Maybe you’re looking for companions. Or maybe you just like to let your family and friends know what’s going on. In any case, it’s an available feature with TripIt.

Best of all, TripIt is free. You can, however, add a premium service for $49 per year. TripIt calls it “your own personal travel assistant.” Basically, it monitors deals for you, so you can always get the best deal on travel amenities. It also includes alerts while you’re traveling.

Get TripIt from the Android Market.

WorldMate

One of the more established mobile travel apps, WorldMate has made its way to Android. Not only that, but it has picked up the vaunted Editors’ Choice tag. It provides many of the same services as TripIt, but it does add some interesting effects, even on the free version.

Managing your itinerary works the same. You just forward the confirmation email, and WorldMate organizes it all in the app. It’s after that, though, that WorldMate gets interesting. It pulls from Google Maps to lay out your itinerary. This can work well for driving directions, since you’ll have everything already plugged into the device. (And really, how many of us have gotten lost going from the rental car depot to our hotels?) Speaking of rental cars, you can book one right through the app, or otherwise book a car service. You can also book hotels from the app, if you haven’t done so already.

This really is an all-in-one travel app. The only thing you can’t do, really, is book your flight right from it. As with TripIt, WorldMate has a premium tier as well. This includes calendar syncing, flight alerts and statuses, and the stripping of ads. But with a little elbow grease and ingenuity, you can take care of most of those features for free right from your Android smartphone.

Get WorldMate from the Android Market.

Orbitz

While TripIt and WorldMate help you organize your travel plans, Orbitz can help you book them. That is, it lets you do most anything you can do on the Orbitz website. Find your flight, and then add a hotel and rental car to the package. Once you go through the motions and book your travel itinerary, Orbitz will store the information in offline mode, so it provides that same valuable feature that the other travel apps do.

Not only does Orbitz add value in its ability to book trips right from the mobile app, but it also has mobile-only deals. You could actually save money on, say Chicago hotels, if you check the mobile app and find the right deal. There’s also the option to call an agent right from the app, just in case there’s anything you want to ask.

While TripIt and WorldMate do a better job of storing and displaying you travel information, Orbtiz’s advantage is its ability to actually book those arrangements. It might not be a selling point for infrequent travelers, though the mobile-only deals do make it enticing. For the busy traveler, it could prove extremely useful.

get Orbitz from the Android Market.

TripAdvisor

The previous apps have focused on storing travel information and, in one case, booking itinerary. Yet they leave out one stage: planning. An app such as TripAdvisor can complement any of the apps above. It helps you with research, so you know what you’re getting into when it’s time to book.

Think of TripAdvisor as the Yelp of travel. It provides user reviews of hotels, restaurants, and other attractions at hundreds of destinations. You can get information on the amenities, read what other users have to say, and even call the location if a number if readily available. There are even forums, where you can get more information on your travel plans. Add in photos, and it’s a great research tool.

TripAdvisor can be a companion at any juncture. Whether it’s researching a destination before booking, or it’s finding something to do while you’re on the road, this app can be your guide.

Get TravelAdvisor from the Android Market

This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info about Android Phones.

4 Android travel apps you should know about

Pictured above is the NOVO7, which is actually the world’s first Ice Cream Sandwich tablet. It’s a 7-inch device that features a 1GHz processor with 1080p HD video output — not top of the line, but certainly not assembled from the scrap heap. It’s not much with the rear camera, just 2 megapixels, and the front-facing one is just VGA. While there are some downsides, the upside is considerable. That is, the device is selling for just $100. That’s a pretty magic price point. Can it work for this device?

The problem with most cheap Android tablets — the $200 ones you see in Best Buy and Walmart, and on Amazon.com — is that they run Android 2.2 or 2.3. If they ran Honeycomb it might be a different proposition. But with an older OS there’s something of an issue. Advanced users could root the device and install a custom version of Honeycomb. This device, however, comes with Ice Cream Sandwich right out of the box. The hardware might be generic, but the software will help compensate for that.

The downshot is that the device only ships from China, and it costs $60 to get stateside. That is, you’re probably better off waiting on it. If they ever ship $100 units to the US, though, it might be a bargain. If not, at least you won’t have spent a lot of money finding out.

Via Phandroid.

This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info about Android Phones.

Will cheap Ice Cream Sandwich tablets sell?

Sprint claims that it uses the data collected by Carrier IQ to “analyze our network performance and identify where we should be improving service.” In that way it’s something like a SCADA, wherein the company is trying to manage its network by gathering as much data as possible. Of course, Sprint has available to it all sorts of other data via Carrier IQ, and their marketing department will likely benefit greatly from it. Will they simply not use the data that they receive — that they pay for — because there has been something of a controversy? Call me a skeptic, but I don’t think it will.

Via The Verge.

This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info about Android Phones.

Sprint admits to installing Carrier IQ on devices

Garden Guide

The Food Gardening Guide, from America’s leading magazine on organic gardening, is a comprehensive gardening app, providing an abundance of expert advice on Crops, Techniques, and Resources.

This app has a balanced mix of beautiful illustrations (as seen in the Crops section), concise articles (as seen in the Techniques section), and links to additional gardening information in the Resources section .

As far as free Android apps are concerned, this is a great one-stop gardening app.

Gardenate

Gardenate is $2.50, but worth every penny.  This is a complete guide to growing popular garden vegetables (with local planting information) for the US, Australia, New Zealand, and UK.  The garden calendar shows the vegetables and herbs you can plant every month.

You can successfully “grow your own” vegetable and herb garden using the information from this app and the Gardenate online community.

Remember to Water

This app helps me remember to water my indoor plants (the ones I completely forget about until they turn brown!), both at home and at the office. It’s simple and keeps me organized by putting my plants on a watering schedule that I create.  How simple is it? Take a photo of you plants, set how often you want to water each and get a reminder. You can set the time of day when you want the reminder to appear. Done!

Each of these gardening apps is readily available online for download to your Android phone or tablet.

Do you have a favorite gardening app? Feel free to share with us!

This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info about Android Phones.

Explore Your Green Thumb with Android Apps

I could sit here and enumerate all the features that BeyondPod offers, but if you can imagine it, BeyondPod likely does it. My favorite features include automatic scheduling of podcast downloads, quick fast forward (which skips you a few minutes ahead), sleep timer, and playlist generator. The home screen widget is also excellent. Best of all, BeyondPod comes in both smartphone and tablet versions, you have a fully optimized app no matter your preference. Again, at $2 I can’t find an Android podcast app that does more.

Here’s the deal. First you have to go download the basic BeyondPod app. You can get it here for smartphone and here for tablets. Those are free, and they’ll provide you with a 7-day full-feature trial. But you might not want to take advantage of that in this instance. See, the unlock key is on sale only through today. It might extend further, but we have no idea. Head to the Market again and download the unlock key for $2. Now enjoy.

Via Android Police.

This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info about Android Phones.

Podcasting delight: BeyondPod $1.99 this weekend

The inspiration for this came from an app I found yesterday afternoon: Cigarette Fighter. It claims to help beat cigarette cravings by letting you “slice” a cigarette — basically tapping the touchscreen. Yet the app has a 2.2 average rating, and half of the people rated it one-star. After download the app really quick, the poor rating made sense. It’s just not that fun. Moreover, there’s not enough forced interaction with the screen. There are better games to accomplish this end.

Balloon tapping games seem perfect for these purposes. They force you to tap the screen constantly, but in measured and purposeful ways. I particularly like Custom Action Tap, since it has the rage comics guy on it. There isn’t too much of a difference between it and other balloon tap apps, so you can go through the market and find any one you want. The point isn’t the specific app, but rather the action of tapping the screen frequently and purposefully. That helps keep the hands engaged. It can be a wonderful outlet whenever a cigarette craving comes on.

(It won’t stop the nicotine withdrawal, unfortunately.)

Want to get your mind completely off cigarettes and wean yourself off of the focus on what your hands are doing? There are other ways to accomplish that. I’ve been really digging BrainJiggle lately. It doesn’t involve the hands too much, but it takes your mind off of whatever was previously preoccupying it. I’ve never been a smoker, so I don’t know if it can take your mind of that specifically. My buddy is giving it a try, though.

The general rule I found when talking to people about this is that an app focused on quitting cigarettes probably can’t help. It’s too narrow, and it likely misses much of the nuance involved in the addiction. There are apps can help, but they’re not directly related to the topic of smoking. Apps that keep the hands or the mind busy will work less, because they help fill some of the voids associated with smoking cigarettes.

This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info about Android Phones.

Can you use your Android to stop smoking?

Where is the damn clicker? It’s a line that nearly everyone has uttered multiple times. For some reason some people — perhaps most people, or at least it seems that way — are incapable of putting the remote control back in its proper place. Or, for that matter, any place in plain sight. We’ve reached a point as a society where it’s more acceptable to stare at a blank screen than it is to actually get up and change the channel.

It was only a matter of time before someone developed a way for our smartphones to control our TVs. Apple actually jumped out on this one, releasing an app that lets iPhone and iPad users control Apple TV units from their smartphones or tablets. But that’s one specific device. This new development for Android lets you use your smartphone to control everything on your TV.

It’s from Griffin, and it’s called the Beacon. It’s the boxing bell looking device pictured above. You hook that up to your TV, and after installing an app it lets you use your smartphone to control what you watch. It’s pretty bloody brilliant, even if it was an inevitable development. It’s even brilliant when you consider that before long we’ll be able to control our TVs from our smartphones without using special hardware.

Plenty of folks will find this advantageous, because they’re far less apt to lose their smartphones than their remote controls. Also, if you do lose your smartphone, you can always give it a call to locate it. Not so much with the remote — and those remote locator systems are pretty junky. (I know from experience, because pops tried everything to prevent us from losing the damn clicker.) This might cost a bit up front, but it will save you frustration.

You can get the Beacon TV unit at Best Buy for $70. The app is ,a href=”https://market.android.com/details?id=com.dijit.urc&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5kaWppdC51cmMiXQ”>free on the Market.

Via Android Police.

This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info about Android Phones.

Controlling your TV from your Android

While there’s been plenty of hype for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, it’s not the only Android tablet Samsung plans to release this year. In fact, they’ve recently released the follow-up to their 7-inch Galaxy Tab from last year. It’s a bit early, since it was supposed to hit shelves on November 13th, but right now you can grab the new Galaxy Tab 7-inch device. As with the 10.1, the 7-inch version ranks among the best Android tablets on the market. Even better, it doesn’t suffer from the same pricing pitfalls as its larger sibling.

While I absolutely love the Galaxy Tab 10.1, I do feel that the pricing is all wrong for it. The WiFi-only version is priced right in line with the iPad, while the 4G versions — available through both Verizon and T-Mobile — require two-year contracts that involve monthly payments of at least $30. Even moderately heavy tablet users will require the 5GB plan, which costs $50 per month through both Verizon and T-Mobile. Those are some heavy costs.

Hardcore Android users might be pleased to pay the price. T-Mobile makes it even easier, requiring only $399 down, though the remaining $250 gets paid off in $10 monthly increments. But hardcore Android users will probably pay this price because they have no use for the iPad. Like it or not, Apple still dominates the tablet market. That makes it difficult to move a significant number of units that are similarly priced. That’s why I like the Kindle Fire’s chances. Amazon decided to compete on the one plane that Apple refuses: price. And that should win them customers.

The 7-inch Galaxy Tab comes in at a more affordable $400 for the 16GB version, and $500 for the 32GB. That actually beats the BlackBerry PlayBook, even though the latter is not yet a fully functional tablet. While Samsung would probably better serve the market by pricing the 7-inch Galaxy Tab a bit lower, they’ll probably do OK with this pricing level. They’re almost certain to sell more units than the 10.1, given the iPad comparisons.

Via Phandroid.

This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info about Android Phones.

Samsung releases the 7-inch Galaxy Tab

It was only a matter of time before GameStop got into the tablet gaming market. They’re already taking iPad and iPod trade-ins, which signals a start to their platform expansion. There were also rumors that they’d release their own gaming-centric Android tablet. While that could still happen at some point, they’ve gotten a head start by offering a number of existing Android tablets — pre-loaded with seven games.

If you check out their website you’ll see a number of tablets, and there are a few high-end ones among them. The most attractive is the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Verizon and T-Mobile both offer this, but the tablet itself costs $650 and requires a two-year commitment to a costly data plan. The GameStop version, which obviously does not include cellular connection, costs just $500. They also have the Asus Eee Pad, another Android tablet that has gotten positive reviews. You can also bundle the tablets with a controller, making for an even more compelling gaming experience.

Here’s what you’ll get in terms of the free games: Dead Space, Madden NFL, Monster Madness, Sonic CD, Re-Load, Riptide GP and Cordy. The tablets aren’t available at every GameStop store. From what I’m told it’s only the highest-volume stores. But if you go to that website link you can order one online, or you can find a store that carries them.

Via BGR.

This post originated at AndGeeks.com - home to all things Android! Also a great source of info about Android Phones.

GameStop gets into the Android tablet game