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Notion Ink Formally Announces Adam II Tablet, Features OMAP 4400-Series Processor

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Notion Ink continues to generate some interesting buzz. We recently told you about how it teased us with a mysterious Adam Android tablet, but Notion Ink has finally let the cat of of the bag by introducing its newest tablet, the Adam II. It comes boasting impressive features too. The Adam II tablet believes there’s no better way to take advantage of Android 4.0 than to feature a TI OMAP 4400-series dual-core processor powering the device. Oh and what’s more is the tablet is featuring a PowerVR SGX500-series core.

The tablet will feature an additional interesting feature. It will feature a slight variation of the Android OS. No it’s not a custom skin as most of us loathe, but rather the OS would have a new structure called the Modular Based Software Architecture, which would let users customize apps through a drag-and-drop system. Basically this allows users to access “every single hardware feature”, according to Norton Ink.

No word on when we can expect the device, but we anticipate it will be here sooner than later. But Notion Ink has stressed it plans to design many more of the parts in-house rather than outsource them to prevent any type of problems caused by outsourcing. Boy this mysterious tablet can’t come soon enough.

[via Electronica through Phandroid]

Google’s Sky Map Officially Open-Sourced

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One of Google’s more interesting apps is set for a major evolution. The Sky Map application has gone from being a modest app highlighting the Android platform’s capabilities to becoming one of the most popular apps on Android devices, as 20 million Android users use it. As part of the app’s continued growth, Google has decided to “donate the Sky Map to the community”.

Google is tag-teaming with educators and astronomy enthusiasts to bring the future of the Sky Map to the masses. It will collaborate with Carnegie Mellon University which will see further development of the Sky Map through a series of student projects. Moreover, Google has made the app open-sourced, allowing astronomers to “take the code and augment it as they wish”.

If you don’t have the Sky Map on your Droid, why not give it a whirl today? You can find it at the Android Market or using the QR code below.

Android Market

[via Google Research Blog]

Unofficially Official: DROID RAZR MAXX Arriving On January 26th

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It looks like we’re going to see the DROID RAZR MAXX and its beastly 3300mAh battery next week folks. We previously saw Motorola and Verizon staying mum on the anticipated phone’s release date initially, but eventually giving in and giving us a concrete date. Though we knew the phone would be out on January 26th, MOTO’s landing page immediately changed the availability date to “available soon”. Trying to stay coy, eh MOTO? Sounds as if Motorola and Verizon are on the same page and will be releasing the phone next Thursday, January 26th. That’s important too as it will give new owners the opportunity to play with their new 24-hour beast well before the 24-hour marathon MOTO is planning for on February 6th. Next week can’t come soon enough.

[via Droid Life]

Namco: “Freemium” Games Hurt Quality, Do Gamers Really Need Them?

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There’s no doubt about the impact of gaming in our society today. Much of pop culture and our social lives are impacted by gaming to a certain extent. Angry Birds went from being a small app to a pop culture reference in the form of mentions from celebrities and clothes with Angry Bird characters being sold in designer stores now as noteworthy examples. We see celebrities and famous figures discuss how they play Modern Warfare or Grand Theft Auto and the impact it’s had on their lives’, which in turn affects our lives. Let’s face it, we play games on our Android devices. What once was an afterthought because of our Sony PSPs, Nintendo DS systems, Xboxes— is now very much status quo and the norm to even the average and simplistic Android user.

The continuous advancements from the development of games allows for users to have respectable Android gaming experience at the very least. One significant thing about the Android platform is the significance of the choice of apps that users want to use: paid apps or free apps. This is especially relevant with gaming on Android. The Android platform caters to two main categories of Android gamers: the recreational gamer and the hardcore gamer. The recreational gamer (and even Hardcore gamers to a certain extent) can enjoy popular gaming series such as Angry Birds, Words With Friends and Shoot The Apple, at no cost to them generally speaking. The hardcore gamer can enjoy such games as Modern Combat 3, Grand Theft Auto III, Madden ’12 and Need For Speed just to name a few, for a premium price that is more than reasonable especially with the vast amount of content included in the various games. There’s a consensus that both gamer types love seeing games that are free, especially when they are free games that look and play at a high level. Knowing that, there’s a troubling trend growing among developers of Android games found in the Market— the “Freemium” model. Read on to find out why this is not only a bad practice among developers, but why it turns me as a gamer off to certain games, even if they look and feel great.

» Read the rest

Rovio Rings In The Chinese New Year By Releasing Angry Birds Seasons: Year Of The Dragon

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Rovio wants to ring in the Chinese New Year in style by bringing in the latest installment of the popular Angry Birds series. They’ve released the new Angry Bird Seasons: Year of the Dragon to the Android Market and it awaits your skills to defeat the newly transformed Mighty Dragon. You’ll need to postpone your planned festivities by going through the various levels and earning special achievements in order to save those precious eggs. As an added incentive, developer Rovio wants everyone to partake in the joyous moment as well by making this latest installment of the game completely free.

If you don’t have the game, grab it today. Be sure to hit the Android Market link or scan that QR code listed below.

Android Market

 

 

T-Mobile Set To Quietly Launch New Promotional Data Plans

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Now what do we have here…? T-Mobile is quietly preparing to launch two promotional bundles for new and existing customers. T-Mo News reports beginning January 25th, T-Mobile will offer the Unlimited-Premium 5GB and 10GB data plans that will add in the Smartphone Mobile Hotspot and MobileLife Album Plus services for free. Sounds great and all, but you’re probably wondering what the significance is. Well the included Smartphone Mobile Hotspot and MobileLife Album Plus is an additional value of up to $19.98 for customers. In addition, the Smartphone Mobile Hotspot provides the ability to share a 4G connection with your other gadgets and is normally a $14.99 value.

What is surprising about this leaked information is that it seems that T-Mobile is not going out of its way to mention or promote this promotion to customers. It seems that most new and prospective customers will likely be unaware of this big deal, but then again— that’s why you fine readers have us here at Talk Android to give you the needed heads up.

If you’re interested (and I know a lot of you are out there), the promotion is available to both new and existing customers on any legacy contract, classic and value rate plans who choose to upgrade to the Unlimited-Premium 5GB or Unlimited-Ultra 10GB rate plan. If you do end up splurging on this great promotion, let us know how T-Mobile’s 4G speeds and mobile hotspot feature is working out for you in the Comments section below.

[via T-Mo News]

 

Brass Monkey Raises $750k In Seed Financing, Looks To Turn Android Devices Into A Wii-Type Controller For Browser Games

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While using your Android device as a controller is nothing new, Small development company Brass Monkey has just made a potential breakthrough. They developed and released SDKs for Android and iOS devices not too long ago which allowed those devices to act as a remote controller for Flash-based, Unity3D-based and desktop games and apps. There was some understandable excitement generated at the idea of using your device as a sort of Wii-type controller, but there was one problem– there was no support for being able to play games on a web browser until now. Brass Monkey has officially enabled the ability to play games right through your browser.

It works in a pretty straightforward manner too. Using the brilliant mind of Francois Laberge of Emotely, Brass Monkey developed the necessary technology to convert devices into controllers and run games on the browser using HTML5 for both the interface and communication layers (with HTTP and WebSockets). That means Brass Monkey has turned browsers like Safari, Firefox or even Google’s own Chrome into virtual gaming consoles that work with your device and turn it into a controller. Moreover, the same SDKs Brass Monkey released to developers includes the ability to create games similar to those from Wii, Xbox, and PS3 consoles. Pretty neat, isn’t it?

Of course this technology is still quite young and needs to be developed further. Brass Monkey realizes this and has announced it has raised over $750,000 in seed financing from various investors. Also, it’s development efforts have not gone unnoticed. It was after all a finalist in the 2010 MassChallenge which is a competition for networks and startups. CEO Chris Allen is excited about the direction of the company and has since announced an Android version is in the works and will arrive to devices by March, while there is an iOS version out now. How many of you all will be trying out this cool concept? Be sure to sound off in the Comments section below and let us know what you think of the cool technology.

[via Tech Crunch]

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Wallpaper [Review]

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Let’s face it, you love your live wallpapers— especially if they’re running on premium devices. Many Android owners love the fact there’s plenty of options when it comes to choosing a unique live wallpaper which enhances the overall Android experience. While it is true that many live wallpaper skins may be sluggish because of a slower processor and/or using a resource-hogging custom UI skin or launcher, there are indeed a handful of gems available just ready to be sought out and downloaded by users. This is especially true if you find a gem that is specifically optimized for your device. That’s what happened to me last month when I was browsing around and stumbled upon The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim wallpaper, which is optimized for Tegra-based devices. Read on to see what’s unique about the wallpaper and why it deserves a look or two.

 

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Call Of Duty Elite Companion App Now Available In The Android Market

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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is already one of the best games on consoles and PCs around. And as you might remember, we previously talked about how game developer Activision planned on introducing a social media element called Elite for Android, which would greatly enhance the overall experience of the game, right? Although the companion app encountered some delays, I am happy to announce friends that Modern Warfare 3 is about to get better than it already is— the Call of Duty Elite app is now available in the Android Market and ready for you to download. There are some pretty useful features too:

 

  • Check your Career Summary for deep details on your multiplayer activity. Analyze your progress over time to see which areas you need to improve in and which areas you excel in.
  • Review Recent Matches to track your performance on a match-by-match basis.
  • View and edit your Custom Classes on the go. Push your changes into the game so you’re ready to play the moment you load up multiplayer.
  • Track your Challenge progress to help you work toward the highest XP gains.

The big kicker among the features is being able to view and edit your Custom Classes on the go. That means you can make the necessary changes to your Class during your literature lecture or conference calls instead of having to wait until you get home and firing up your console or PC.

The Call of Duty Elite companion app is available free in the Android Market today or using the QR code below. While the Elite service is available for free, there’s also the ability to subscribe to the Elite service for even more features for a nominal monthly fee.

Android Market

 

[via Droid Gamers]

Quad-Core HTC Edge Gets Name Change

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The leaks are beginning to go from a trickle to a pour from HTC as we approach Mobile World Congress. We previously mentioned something about a little quad-core-powered monster called the HTC Edge, but the gang at PocketNow stumbled upon some additional information about the device. In what is an unusual move to say the least, HTC has decided to change the identity of the device, going from codename Edge to Endeavor. While the Endeavor looks to be the official name of the device, HTC will likely retain the Edge codename, which would be useful in identifying the device in different markets around the world as they would have different names (ex. think of the HTC Status also being known as the ChaChaCha). Sure the name Endeavor isn’t as edgy (no pun) as the Edge, but perhaps HTC wants to generate some chatter and additional buzz and talk before formally unveiling the phone to us in February.

Look for more information about the Tegra 3-powered device to continue to pour out especially as we get near the start of MWC.

[via PocketNow]

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