Archive for the ‘application’ Category

Android Goes Adult!

Saturday, November 28th, 2009

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It’s official, Android is now “adult” and I don’t mean that as a metaphor for the platform growing up through development towards 2.0 Eclair.

The Android Market, like the Apple AppStore, prohibits mature/adult content so anyone thinking of making “naughty” apps has been left out in the cold. However, unlike the iPhone, Android allows users to install apps from third party sources with a tick in one simple check box, this means that developers of  apps which would not be allowed in the Market  are actually free to publish them elsewhere.

Well that elsewhere has now been provided by MiKandi.com and the MiKandi App Store, the “world’s first adult only mobile app store”. Here’s a look at their promo video:

There will always be contentious views over things like this but however you look at it, there’s a huge market for adult content on all media and this could in fact become a huge boost for Android! The concerns though are the lack of parental guidance and that’s something that Google may now look to implement.

Mik

via: AndroidandMe

Google Maps Navigation Released For Donut

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

As we know, Android 2.0 Eclair received a great update to Google Maps providing it with turn-by-turn navigation but until now it wasn’t available for other devices without “hacking”…heaven forbid! Well that’s all changing now as Google has released Google Maps 3.2.1 to the Android Market with Navigation for 1.6 Donut devices.

I’d test it out to let you know what it’s like but the installation is currently not working properly on my Cyanogen 4.2.5 ROM, there’s got to be some irony in there somewhere! So if you’re unrooted just go grab the Market update, it’s free of course, and if not then try find a work-around for the installation as I’m doing just now ;)

Update:

If, like me, you have been getting an installation error saying that “Package file was not signed correctly” try the following to remove your current maps apk:

Connect to adb and open a command prompt/terminal:
adb remount
adb shell rm /system/app/*Maps*
adb shell rm /system/sd/app/*Maps*
adb uninstall com.google.android.apps.maps

After this the update via the Market worked fine but I don’t see any sign of Navigation here in the UK

Mik

Sony Ericsson Timescape and Mediscape Walkthrough

Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009

Sony Ericsson have created a demo video to show us around the new Timescape and Mediscape apps/UI that we’ll be treated to in the Xperia X10.
Timescape aggregates all your communications while Mediascape is your media hub, surprisingly! It all looks rather slick, roll on Q1 2010.

Cheers,

Mik

New version of the Themes Creator released

Saturday, May 9th, 2009

thm-cr

Much like the Update Service, PC Suite and Media Manager, Sony Ericsson’s freely available theme creation tool has received a redesign. The interface is much more streamlined and easier to use. It even supports the inclusion of flash lite files as standby wallpapers. Here’s a small excerpt from Sony Ericsson’s site about the application:

It’s a brilliant free tool that lets you choose the colour scheme, decide on the graphic style, pick the background images … and so on. So now your phone can reflect your mood or your interests; you can make it more flamboyant or minimal, or angular or friendly … or just cooler.

You can download the new version from here:
http://www.sonyericsson.com/themescreator/

Screenshots after the break.

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Sony Ericsson Update Service… updated

Monday, May 4th, 2009

seus-splash

The people who’ve recently tried to update their Sony Ericsson phone firmware via the update service application have probably noticed that before initializing, the program updated itself… and then popped up with a brand new interface. Yep, the update service is the last of  Sony Ericsson’s holy trio of apps (PC Suite, Media Manager and the said service) to receive a GUI reharsh. I haven’t been able to spot any significant new functionality, but it’s as good as it gets right now, so there’s not much to ask for.

You can download the new version of SEUS (v2.9.5.16) from the support section of Sony Ericsson’s website. No need to bother if you already have an older one, though. Just start it up and it’ll perform the update automatically.
And yes, they finally did include a better icon. Screenshots after the break.

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Sony Ericsson to support JavaFX Mobile in upcoming feature phones

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

javafx

Sony Ericsson recently announced that it will support the brand new JavaFX Mobile platform in its upcoming phones. JavaFX makes it possible to extend the usability of Java ME.

“Sony Ericsson is committed to delivering innovative and energized user experiences to our consumers, working closely with partners who share the creativeness and vision,” says Rikko Sakaguchi, who is the Corporate Vice President and Head of Creation and Development at Sony Ericsson.

“We see JavaFX as a natural fit to our mobile software platform strategy to enable developers, both in-house and in our ecosystem, to create superior, innovative, expressive mobile applications and services. Sony Ericsson expects that JavaFX will have a great impact on the mobile content ecosystem and plan to bring JavaFX to a significant part of our product portfolio.”

You can read more about JavaFX Mobile right here.

Via: Sony Ericsson Developer World

Winners of the 2008 Content Awards

Monday, February 9th, 2009

contentawards

Sony Ericsson has just announced the winners of its 2008 Content Awards. They’ve put together quite a cool web awards show in 3D that you can watch over here!

The winners are:

  • Being Productive – Upvise, by Unyverse Pte Ltd, Singapore
  • In-Car Applications – GPSed, by Shape Services GmbH
  • It’s all about the Entertainment - Bubble Boom Challenge, by ZED
  • Lifestyle Choice – Mobiles’ Republic Media Explorer, by Mobiles’ Republic
  • Themes & Graphics – Flash Lite Wallpapers, by ustwo
  • Special Recognition – EcoMate, by Instituto Atlantico & UFC
  • XperiaTM Panels - Spb Traveller, by Spb Software

Congratulations from here! :)

Two new additions to Sony Ericsson’s Campaigns site

Friday, January 2nd, 2009

campaigns-banner

Sony Ericsson have recently added 2 new mini-sites to their ever-growing portfolio of… well, mini-sites, or campaign sites, as they like to call them.

So, the first one is about this app they developed, called ‘Find It’. As the site says, it “can help you locate a whole range of items: your tent at a festival; your car in a crowded car park; your hotel in a busy tourist area; your favourite spot on the beach .” Basically, it’s an app that allows you to tag locations, so that you can find them more easily later on (note, locations, not the TV remote). It requires the HGE-100 GPS enabler accessory in order to work and no, you can’t use your phone’s inbuilt GPS if you have one.
Sony Ericsson – Find it

The second campaign site is about some new and hopefully many upcoming motion-controlled… stuff. Wallpapers, games… other things you might want to be motion-controlled, you name it. They’ve even put up a video to hype you up. You know, one of those artistic type of videos that glue your eyes to the screen, despite the fact that they tell you little or nothing about what they’re actually about. After watching the video you are presented with two links. One of them takes you to the main page of PlayNow arena – nothing special. The second brings you to SE’s Fun & Downloads site to browse the (surprisingly many) motion-controlled games. Thankfully, there are a few free wallpapers as well, which are quite nifty.
Sony Ericsson – Moving the world

XPERIA SDK online!

Thursday, September 4th, 2008

It seems like it’s taken Sony Ericsson forever to get the X1 ready. But finally, we’ve got some news – a closed X1 launch webcast is due in roughly two weeks, and a few days ago the XPERIA SDK was published at Sony Ericsson’s developer site, with the press release being published yesterday.

The SDK (software development kit) will allow developers to create their very own XPERIA panels, and test them out in an emulator on the computer. You can check out all the documentation and features of the XPERIA SDK for Windows Mobile over at Sony Ericsson’s developer website. The download is 9.1 megabytes, and can be downloaded directly here.

Via: USEB Germany

MyPhoneExplorer 1.7 officially supports UIQ3 phones

Thursday, August 21st, 2008

One of the most awaited program updates is out: MyPhoneExplorer 1.7.

mpe

The changes at a glance:

  • full compatibility to UIQ3-Phones (P990i, P1i, M600i, W950i, W960i, G700, G900)
  • read/write access to notes on the phone
  • SMS-Chatfeature
  • universal filesync with filteroptions
  • its now possible to add exceptions in ruled events
  • its possible to create a backup also if the phone is not connected (Offlinebackup)
  • besides this there were alot of other changes and bugfixes which do not have enought space here

Get it at fjsoft.at! :)

Via UIQblog.