Hit Playstation games launched in Android Market for Xperia Play

Five Sony Playstation games have been released in the online app store Android Market, developed for mobile devices based on Google Android. Particularly, for android smartphones the hit games that have been launched include shooter Syphon Filter, action MediEvil , snowboard simulator Cool boarders 2, race Destruction Derby and Jumping Fish . The price of each game is $6.38. It is expected that the range will be expanded in the coming weeks.

At the same time one must remember that as of now these games can only be played on Xperia Play and not just any android device.

Games, originally developed for PlayStation One, have appeared in the Android Market just before the upcoming launch of game centric Android-smartphone Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. The gadget was announced during WMC 2011 in February this year. The smartphone runs Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), has 4-inch display with a resolution of 854×480 pixels and is equipped with two cameras (0.3 megapixel front and 5.1-megapixel main).

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play has under its hood – Snapdragon processor clocked at 1 GHz, 512 MB RAM and 400 MB of internal memory. The device supports microSD (up to 32 GB) memory card and microUSB 2.0 interface. Weight of the gadget is 175, and it is expected to be released in the US this spring.

The fact that owners of Android-smartphones will be able to play PlayStation games was revealed just two weeks ago. It was reported that support for console games will be available in android smartphones and the tablet PCs that run on dual-core processor Tegra 2 from Nvidia.

PSOne Emulator App Pulled from Android Market

Gamers toting Android devices will be disappointed to learn that the popular first-generation PlayStation emulator PSX4Droid has been pulled from the Android Market.

It's had a good run, PSX4Droid, and it certainly made the summer of 2010 an entertaining one. However, the days of PSX4Droid have come to an end, as the developer responsible for the application, ZodTTD, yesterday received notification that his application had been taken off the Android Market.

"PSX4droid v2 was pulled by Google due to "Content Policy violation" as noted here," he said via Twitter. "Trying to determine what can be done."

Zoom

ZodTTD goes on to speculate that the timing of the removal could indicate the arrival of the Xperia Play, Sony's upcoming Android smartphone that will have the ability to play PlayStation games. Throwing yet more weight behind that theory is the introduction of five Xperia Play-exclusive PS One titles to the Android Market: Syphon Filter, MediEvil, Cool Boarders 2, Destruction Derby, and Jumping Flash.However, in contrast to ZodTTD's theory we've got Joystiq reporting that another PSOne emulator for Android, fpse, remains available on the Market. 

Google has yet to provide a compelling comment. All the search giant has done so far is confirm that it removes applications that violate its policies. 

Android app picks for April 2, 2011

 On Air (Wifi Disk)

Sometimes it’s not always convenient to just hook your device up to your USB cable and connect it to your computer. To get over that, I make use of a free app called On Air. Basically, using WiFi and the app you can now access the contents of your memory care either through WebDAV, FTP or even AppleTalk. On Air is easy to use, you just open it -- click on the power button and select which protocol you wish to use. After that and connecting to the secure IP address it assigns from you can then browse and transfer files to and from your device. Simple, awesome and free. [Market Link]

Titanium Media Sync

This application launched almost two weeks ago, but I wanted to give the developer some time to work out some of the issues, and for me, it's at a point now where it seemsto be workiTitanium Media Sync is from the same team that brought you Titanium Backup, and promises to let you backup any folder on your phone with the cloud using Dropbox. The interface is simple enough. Once you link the application with your dropbox account, you simply select the folders you want it to watch, and let it take care of the syncing for you. One thing I really like about this application as opposed to some of the others I've tried is that it allows you to configure when it can sync your media, so I have mine set to only check for new files when it's on wifi AND on an AC charger. The application still has a few quirks, but the developer is quick to update the application. If you're looking for a backup solution, be sure to check it out. $2.96 in the market. [Market Link]

Simple Calendar Widget

Keeping track of upcoming events is always something that I struggle with, and I have tried many different ways. After poking around for a bit I came across Simple Calendar Widget, which is just as the app title says, very simple. The widget has the option to show just one upcoming event, or multiple, and it shows you the current date, along with the upcoming events date, time and location. The font color and size is customizable for your preference, and the widget is a 4-by-1, so it doesn't take up a lot of room on any screen. For free, this is a must have for your Android device. [Market Link]

Five Guys Burgers & Fries

Five Guys released an Android app not too long ago, which is awesome for them but also bad news for my wasitline, because it means I’ll likely be eating there more often now. With the app, users can find the nearest Five Guys location, order food from that location and then pick it up, allowing you to skip the line. There is also an option to save your orders to a Favorites list, which will enable faster ordering in the future. It’s available for free in the Android Market and a dangerous one for anyone who likes Five Guys. [Market Link]

Android Application Weekly 2 Apr 2011

In this episode of the Android Application Weekly we demonstrate some apps that will keep you entertained, mix different music tracks like a professional DJ, and turn your Android into a spy camera. To download these directly to your Android device just take a picture of the QR-Code using Google Goggles or any other QR-Code scanner to be taken directly to the Android Market.



Whiteboard Pro – A lite and $0.99 full version



Whiteboard is a widget based application that allows you to save notes directly on your homescreen. Save audio, texts, or marker notes and assign an alarm to remind you. The paid version has many more options than the lite.



DJ Studio – Demo and $5.25 full version



DJ Studio provides professional style turn tables that allow you to mix various music tracks. Add sound effects, scratch, or sync. Save the audio directly to your Android device to future playback.



Join Me – A free application



The Join Me app and free Join Me service is brought to us by LogMeIn, the company behind the popular remote desktop LogMeIn Ignition. The service allows a computer screen to be shared to many users during a meeting or any other occasion in which you would need to share onscreen documents. There are features that allow instant messaging to take place as well as a phone chat line. There is a premium service available that costs around $30 a month that give a dedicated account.



Picplz – A free application 



Picplz is a great program for anyone that likes to share candid photos. The app will automatically launch the camera to take photos with may be shared over multiple social networking sites at once. Download interesting photos that others have taken and save them as wallpapers.



Securet SpyCam – Demo and $4.89 full version



Securet SpyCam is a unique app that allows you to turn your Android device into a spy camera. Securet SpyCam will capture video or photos when there is movement in the camera view. There are even options to stream a live webcam feed to the Securet SpyCam app.

Google to use Android phones as Credit Cards

Google is keen on starting a partnership with both MasterCard and Citigroup in order to enable Android mobile phones users pay for their calls by using a method called ‘near-field communications’ (NFC).

This partnership presents itself as a serious step, the first being an NFC system that was already installed on a Nexus S handset. Not only Google got interested in this sort of payment. Apple appears to have the same interest in “NFC” chips for its ‘next in line’ releases.

The Wall Street Journal said about the matter: “The planned payment system would allow Google to offer retailers more data about their customers and help them target ads and discount offers to mobile-device users near their stores. Google isn't expected to get a cut of the transaction fees.”




There could be new applications available to help credit card users make transactions via their mobile phones. Eric Schmidt, Google’s Chief Executive revealed Google’s intentions of improving the mobile phone’s knowledge of its possessor. Advertisements about location or shopping history can be easily constructed. Mr. Schmidt was also adamant about the possibility of making payments by only using a cellular phone.

Japan has already been using NFC for a few years. There have already been talks made by Everything Everywhere concerning this type of system to be used in the UK, in cooperation with Barclaycard. O2 will also develop a mobile transaction application.

Google wants to create a better function of their ads and have more success by accessing mobile shopping. Apple is still reluctant to use such a technology like NFC on their next iPhone. It is still considered new and not yet worthy of mass inclusion in their products.

Android App of the Week: SnapTax Lets You File Your Taxes from Your Phone

There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is, if you know that filing your taxes is going to be a complex affair involving many investments and assets and dividends, SnapTax, from Intuit, is not going to help you. The good news is, if you have a really simple tax return ahead of you, it’s about to get even simpler! SnapTax is Intuit’s mobile version of the popular TurboTax software, and will allow you to take a photo of your W-2 form using your phone, from which it will glean all relevant information for your tax return. So, for all you non-home owners who are scraping by with wages or unemployment and filing with the 1040EZ, SnapTax will get your return done in…well, a snap. You can pick it up for free from the Android Market.

Android Ice Cream might stop fragmentation, sundae a sign?

One of the most used words when someone wants to criticize Google’s Android OS is the “fragmentation.” So it’s very convincing that the Ice Cream update of the popular operating system will address the issue. According to Bloomberg Business Weekreport posted last week, Mountain View, California will limit smartphone manufacturers and wireless carriers from tweaking the open-source Android operating system, obviously to stop the growing fragmentation.

What does this report means? Well, Google will try its very best to give their mobile and tablet operating system a solid barrier from “designers.” Apparently, some manufacturers are not updating their Android smartphones to sell more phones. I don’t need to name some of them because it will eat half of this post.

Anyway, the report added that if a manufacturer wants to license Android, they need to receive approval from a now-strict curators of Android. Oops! Goodbye TouchWiz and HTC Sense?

Surprisingly, Google’s search engine is now celebrating the tasty Ice Cream sundae’s 119th year anniversary. Is this a big sign that this quarter will be the start of a cleaner, and a more unified Android operating system? One of the best signs that Android is trying its best to end fragmentation is the list of the upcoming Android devices that will arrive this year. Most of them (like the HTC Thunderbolt, Motorola Atrix 4G) are using FroYo version, which is not the latest version of the fast-growing OS.

According to our very own Carlo Diokno, the Android Ice Cream update might hit some smartphones this quarter, the same quarter that the rumored Apple smartphone will arrive, the iPhone 5 (although some are speculating that Apple might delay the iPhone 5 until next year).

Aside from Apple’s iOS devices, Google is also facing another rival coming from Microsoft, the Windows Phone 7, that will soon get a best friend from Europe, the hardware-popular smartphone maker Nokia.

Shame on You: Pirated Android App Really Shameware

A pirated version of an Android app is actually a Trojan that "shames" someone who installs it by sending an SMS message to all his contacts telling them of his piracy.

The original app is called Walk and Text, and costs $2.10 in the Android Market. The app uses the camera on the back of a smartphone to show a user a visual of his upcoming surroundings, which will supposedly prevent the user from running into the street or across a set of train tracks.

[Of course, since many tend to look down as they text, it's also possible they will see only the ground, unless they retrain themselves to hold the phone perpendicular to the ground as they walk. For us, that seems really hard to do.]

The pirated version is available from unofficial Android app markets, and once installed and redirects the pirate to the legitimate app in the Android Market, while also sending the following SMS message to the phone's entire contact list:

"Hey, just downlaoded [sic] a pirated app off the internet, Walk and Text for Android. Im stupid and cheap, it costed [sic] only 1 buck. Don't steal like I did!"

Finally, a message pops up on the phone's screen:

"We really hope you learned something from this. Check your phone bill ;) Oh and dont forget to buy the App from the Market."

Security firm Avast took a look at the pirated app, and made some conclusions that resulted in a huge blow-up in the comments section, including threats of a lawsuit. That contentiousness came from Avast's original post, which determined that data from the pirated app was sent to a URL owned by Georgi Tanmazov, CEO of Incorporate Apps, the developer of a number of Android apps including the legitimate "Walk and Text" app.

The conclusion of the original post was that the app was a sort of punishment by Incorporate Apps to pirates. According to some of the Incorporate Apps comments in the post, which has since been rewritten, "We argued about a previous version of our Apps being stolen and hijacked on numerous forums and I guess people tried to get back on us in some way."

The rewritten post offers other alternative theories as to the URL and to why data would be sent to it.