Android App of the Week: shopKick

shopKick is an application that allows users to track where they go and receive 'points' for visiting local retailers which they can later redeem for rewards. It's no strings attached, free stuff. You create an account and you are on your way. How it works:

-When you walk in to a retailer such as Walmart, Target, Best Buy, or Macy's, turn on your phone's GPS (if it isn't on already) and open the shopKick app. Most major stores have radio signals in the entrance, and your phone will pick it up and reward you with walk-in points. This is usually between 30 and 60 points.

-You can add a list of stores to your 'Faves' which gives you quick access to them. By clicking on that store every day, you can view their special walk-in kicks they offer and you get 1 point for opening their store.

-You get kicks, usually between 10 and 50, for scanning promotional product in the store. I personally don't do this, I just do walk-ins and click the ads, but for those of you who become enthusiastic about the app, it's a nice way to get extra kicks.

-You get badges (similar to PS3 trophies and Xbox achievements) for certain things, for people who have OCD about accomplishing everything.

The rewards:

25 kicks: 1 Facebook Credit

500 kicks: $2 Best Buy Certificate

625 kicks: $25 Hotel Cash card

875 kicks: $25 Restaurant.com Gift Card

1,250 kicks: $5 Macy's Gift Card

1,250 kicks: $5 Target Gift Card

1,250 kicks: $5 American Eagle Outfitters Gift Card

1,250 kicks: $5 Sports Authority Gift Card

1,250 kicks: $5 Arden B Gift Card

1,250 kicks: $5 Wet Seal Gift Card

2,750 kicks: E-Movie ticket

3,750 kicks: $15 iTunes Gift Card

10,000 kicks: Bluetooth Headset

35,000 kicks: Ray Ban Aviators

75,000 kicks: Coach Hand Bag

75,000 kicks: Xbox 360

92,5000 kicks: 55" Sony 3D TV

6,250,000 kicks: Princess Cruise Trip

For more details, see shopKick's Website.

Tweaks to Increase Your Android's Battery Life and Increase Performance Part 1

One of the biggest complaints about Android is its battery life. However the battery is only less than exemplary if you don't know how to properly control it. Here are some tips that have taken me months to find out and I'm going to share them with all of my readers.



Tip #1: Turn off Automatic Brightness, set static
1. Go in to Settings.
2. Click on Display.
3. Click Brightness
4. Un-check automatic brightness, and set it at a static amount (slightly less than half way).

This will make its o your phone's light sensor isn't constantly being ran and using your phones battery. Now your phone will by default have the same brightness no matter what environment you are in. Even if your screen is on average at a brighter setting now, you will still save battery since the scanner isn't always running.

Tip #2: Turn off Animations
1. Go in to Settings.
2. Click on Display.
3. Click on Animations
4. Select "No Animations".

This will make your phone seem snappier because rather than spending time to load animations and display them, your phone instantly goes to what you ask it to do. It will rely less on your phone to render new graphics, so it will actually be a performance enhance as well, not just a 'fake' performance enhancer.

Tip #3: Turn Screen Timeout to 30 seconds
1. Go in to Settings.
2. Click on Display.
3. Click on Screen Timout.
4. Select 30 seconds.

This will automatically lock your screen if you don't touch it within 30 seconds. You would be surprised how many times you lay your phone down on your lap while on the computer and forget to lock it.

Tip #4: Turn off Wi-Fi when you're not at home
1. Go in to Settings.
2. Click on Wireless & Network Settings.
3. Un-check Wifi.

This will disable your Wi-Fi connection and will use your phone's network settings (either 3G or 4G). This will save you battery life by not having your phone search for wireless signal all the time.

Tip #5: Turn Bluetooth off
1. Go in to Settings.
2. Click on Wireless & Network Settings.
3. Un-check Bluetooth.

This will disable your phone from searching for bluetooth devices, saving it battery life.

Tip #6: Clear your phone's browser cache
1. Go in to Settings.
2. Click Applications.
3. Click Manage Applications.
4. Click the All tab at the top.
5. Locate whatever browser you use (the default one, named Browser, or a downloaded one like Skyfire, Opera, Firefox, etc).
6. Click on your browser on the list.
7. Click Clear Cache.

This removes all the data you downloaded when you were surfing the web. Every picture, every word your browser loaded is saved in that cache. Now it's gone, and your phone is much happier and cleaner. This effects performance.

Tip #7: Change the frequency that Facebook tries to Sync your device to 4 hours
1. Open the Facebook application.
2. Go to the home Facebook page (the one where you can see icons for News Feed, Profile, Messages, Chat, etc).
3. Hit the Menu button on your Android Device at the bottom of the actual device.
4. At the top, click on Refresh Interval.
5. Select 4 hours.

This changes how often Facebook tries to talk to your phone. Outside of Facebook Chats, which are always pushed immediately to your phone, Facebook will try to sync your contacts once every 4 hours now rather than once every hour (the default). This saves you battery life and performance when it is trying to sync.

Some Nexus Prime Rumors Confirmed, Others Still Speculation

A Japanese website, Electronic Times, filed a few confirmations to settle the dust on the Nexus Prime rumors yesterday.

To start it off, the screen is confirmed to be a 4.5" Super AMOLED display rocking that amazing 1280x720 resolution. That means that Google's new Ice Cream Sandwich (99% confirmed to be version 4.0, not 2.4) will be shown off with amazing quality. On top of that, it is confirmed that the Nexus Prime will have a 1.5gHz dual-core processor. There is also a very good chance that it will be manufactured by Samsung, despite Google's recent acquisition of Motorola. We have yet to receive any news as to what kind of embedded GPU is in the NeP's processor. It's also believed that the unit will spot between 1GB and 1.5GB of RAM.

GZR Top 5 Android Phones - August

 GZR Top 5 Android Phones - August

Every month I'm going to give a ranking list of Android phones, starting with August.

Rank 1: Motorola Atrix

Specs:
Display - 4" qHD
Processor: NVIDIA Tegra 2 Dual-Core @ 1gHz
RAM: 1GB
Onboard Storage/SD Storage/Total Storage: 16GB/32GB/48GB
Camera: 5MP Rear, VGA Front.
Battery: 1930 mAh
Connectivity: 4G
Bonuses: Fingerprint scanner, laptop dock, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).

The Motorola Atrix is just a very nice piece of equipment right now. It has the standard in hardware right now (1gHz dual-core and 1GB of ram), but it also comes with an enhanced battery to accommodate for it's 4G and 3G radios using more battery life. It has a very nice amount of expandable memory, enough to do whatever you would need with it. It has a nice qHD display, and is 4", so movie watching is fairly decent (but not as good as a 4.3" display!). It still needs it's  Overall, a very good device and that is why it ranks #1.

Rank #2: HTC Evo 3D

Specs:

Display - 4.3" 3D qHD
Processor: Snapdragon Dual-Core @ 1.2gHz
RAM: 1GB
Onboard Storage/SD Storage/Total Storage: 8GB/32GB/40GB
Camera: 5MP dual-rear, 1.3MP Front.
Battery: 1730 mAh
Connectivity: 3G
Bonuses: 3D video recording @ 720p, 3D pictures, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

I'll admit, I'm not a huge 3D fan. But if we're talking about great phones, the Evo3D is undeniably number two. The hardware in it is superior to the Motorola Atrix for the most part. It has a larger display, faster processor, and can take 3D videos and pictures.Overall it was a very tough decision between the two, however the Evo3D did come out on bottom. While it's hardware is superior, the 3D effects and screen drain the battery life fast. At the same time, the Evo3D doesn't have the 4G-power-sucking hardware that the Atrix does. Also taking into account it's smaller battery, the Evo3D came out on bottom because of that. Smaller battery, no 4G (although it has better battery because of that), and smaller on-board storage (with this phone, you basically HAVE to get an SD card). It is great for media, however.

Rank #3: HTC Thunderbolt

Specs:

Display - 4.3" WVGA
Processor: Snapdragon Single-Core @ 1gHz
RAM: 768MB
Onboard Storage/SD Storage/Total Storage: 8GB/32GB/40GB
Camera: 8MP dual-rear, 1.3MP Front.
Battery: 1400 mAh
Connectivity: 4G
Bonuses: Adreno 205 GPU built into its processor.

The HTC Thunderbolt, when released, was a revolutionary device with it's 4G LTE connection through Verizon. That being said, the hardware at a glance looks a little lacking. It's rocking a very clear 4.3" WVGA display, however the juice behind that display is only a 1gHz snapdragon. That being said, the RAM is a little below industry standard right now of 1GB (Thunderbolt has 768MB). The storage is lacking, so you will have to get an SD card. The cameras in it are the best in the industry right now for smartphones (8MP rear is above-average and 1.3MP front is excellent). You do have 4G connectivity with the Thunderbolt, but unless you KNOW you are going to get 4G coverage, I don't recommend having it enabled seeing as how it's only rocking a 1400 mAh battery. If you buy an aftermarket 1930 mAh battery for the Thunderbolt, you will be very happy with this device. It's got surprisingly good loads for only having a single core (probably because of the Adreno GPU in it). It's biggest downfall is that it has yet to receive Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Overall, if you're looking for a 4G device from HTC and don't want 3D (like me!), the Thunderbolt is your best bet.

Rank #4: HTC Droid Incredible 2

Specs:

Display - 4" S-LCD WVGA
Processor: Snapdragon Single-Core @ 1gHz
RAM: 768MB
Onboard Storage/SD Storage/Total Storage: 16GB/32GB/48GB
Camera: 8MP dual-rear, 1.3MP Front.
Battery: 1450 mAh
Connectivity: 3G
Bonuses: Adreno 205 GPU built into its processor, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

Following up on it's incredible (no pun intended) father, the Droid Incredible, the DInc2 is a beast of a phone. It sports a 4" Super LCD screen with the 1gHz Snapdragon processor with the built in Adreno 205 GPU. It's got a relatively average battery size, which is fine considering the screen is relatively small in today's terms and it isn't a 4G phone. It has the best cameras that smartphones have to offer right now, and comes with a nice heap of storage. Overall, the Droid Incredible 2 is a very close phone to #3.

Rank #5: Motorola Droid X2

Specs:

Display - 4.3" TFT
Processor:ARM A9 Dual-Core @ 1gHz
RAM: 512MB
Onboard Storage/SD Storage/Total Storage: 8GB/32GB/40GB
Camera: 8MP dual-rear
Battery: 1540 mAh
Connectivity: 3G
Bonuses: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

The DroidX2 was an amazing phone to place after it's original DroidX. The DroidX was the flagship phone of its time, but the DroidX2 isn't quite that. Rocking a nice 4.3" screen makes it great for media, and having that nice 1gHz dual-core makes it super snappy for that big screen. It comes with a moderate amount of storage, but is expandable. It's got a nice rear camera, but no front one. Being a 3G phone, its 1540 mAh battery will last you a reasonably long amount of time. Running on Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the DroidX2 is a very nice phone brought to us by the recently Google-acquired Motorola Mobility. The hardware in this phone keep it on the list, although its 512MB of RAM is the reason it is #5.

comScore Reports on Mobile Phone Market Share

For those interested, here are the numbers as far as most popular manufacturers and most popular operating systems on phones right now. This includes smart phones and dumb phones.

Manufacturers:

#1 Samsung: 25.3%

#2 LG: 21.3%

#3 Motorola: 14.5%

#4 Apple: 8.9%

#5 RIM: 7.9%

 The Winner?

Samsung

Mobile Phone Operating Systems:

#1 Google: 40.1%

#2 Apple: 26.6%

#3 RIM: 23.4%

#4 Microsoft: 5.8%

#5 Symbian: 2.0%

The Winner?

Google

Everything you need to know about Android's Ice Cream Sandwich

Everything you need to know about Android's Ice Cream Sandwich

With the iPhone5 expected to arrive in November, Google has got to beat Apple to the punch and put their attempt in at taking a chunk of the new contract-base before Apple has a chance to even get their product out the door. Ice Cream Sandwich is Google's attempt to unify their smartphone and tablet operating systems in to one linear product. This will allow for better communication between devices, and should allow more room for developers to create unified products rather than them having to create one for smartphones and then recode it for tablets.

When is Ice Cream Sandwich expected to be released?

ICS is expected to be released in early October, but this isn't official yet. In all previous versions, Android has released major updates in response to Apple releasing a product. We got Gingerbread around the time the iPad2 came out, and Froyo around the time the iPhone4 came out. They have been combating Apple their entire lifespan of Android. Since the iPhone5 is slated to come out in November, it only makes sense that they release ICS around then as well. November also marks the 2 year anniversary of the original Droid from Motorola. They have a lot of good reasons to release ICS during November.

When will we see devices with Android 4.0/2.4 Ice Cream Sandwich on them? When will my device receive Android 4.0/2.4?

Also during November, the next rumored pure Google phone is supposedly being released. Google's Nexus series phones are created by Google and run Android (Google's Mobile Phone OS). They are always the first phones to receive updates to Android, and the next Nexus device (codenamed the 'Nexus Prime') will be no different. The device is rumored to have a 4" super AMOLED display that is rocking an amazing 1280x720 resolution (that's right, a 720p HD screen on a phone). Considering the screen size, you should expect to see the debut of ICS in amazing quality. Other devices will probably get the update within a few months of it being released, as Google intends to make all devices compatible with ICS very short after its release (as opposed to in the past where some phones waited months to not receive updates, ever).

Why the buzz? What's the difference?

Google has planned for ICS to be the unifying OS for both tablets and smartphones that run Android. Now, rather than a developer having to create an app for a smartphone and having to recode it to scale up to a tablet, Google's ICS Operating System will take care of that for them. Another benefit? No more operating system fragmentation that Android is so infamous for. This means greatly increased boot up and shutdown times on phones, as well as increased speed when you are accessing anything within the operating system itself. Another benefit is facial recognition and the activation of NFC (near-field communication) chips. Facial recognition will be available for all phones that rock a front-facing camera and can be used to unlock your phone. Developers will also have tools to incorporate facial recognition into games. With NFC devices active, you can expect Google Wallet to to arrive very shortly after that, so you can say goodbye to credit cards. ICS will bring all of the great features of Honeycomb (Android's tablet OS) and bring them to the palm of your hand. You will also be able to use USB devices such as a keyboard and mouse. So for a recap:

-Improved user-interface.
-Improved boot up / shut down speeds.
-Facial recognition in devices with front-facing cameras.
-Activation of NFC chips in applicable devices.
-More stable applications.
-No more OS fragmentation.
-Ability to use keyboard and mouse via USB.