Each week, Androinica.com recaps new and updated Android apps that you may have missed or might enjoy. The apps are picked according to developer requests, user suggestions, and browsing the Android Market. To submit an app for review, send us a note on Twitter.

Ring Dimmer

Android 1.6 or higher
$0.99 USD

Ever set your ringer to low because you were at work, and then missed a call later because you forgot to raise the volume once you left the office? If you answer ‘yes’ to that question, you might want to try out Ring Dimmer. By listening to your surroundings, Ring Dimmer knows what kind of volume to apply to the ringer. So if there’s just a little bit of light talking, the ringer will be low or normal. But if the phone picks up on car honking or music blasting, the ringer will be set to its maximum volume. There’s also a “Smart Vibrate” feature that adjusts vibration based on time of day and noise. Ring Dimmer is a niche product, but it’s worth a buck if you don’t want to constantly have to monitor your ringer settings.

Saving Yello

Saving Yello is sort of like Angry Birds. Really, sort of. Players pull back on a fish and launch him through obstacles in order to land in a fish bowl. Players earn extra points for sending Nemo’s buddy safely into his home without hitting the roof and doing so in as few attempts as possible. Some levels feature toys that the fish can destroy to earn more points. The game should be easily adaptable for anyone who enjoys physics-based games, and integration with OpenFeint sets-up competition to see who can rack up the most points and stars. The first 10 levels are free, but users will have to unlock the rest of the game for $1.

Tongue Tied

Android 2.2+ required
$1.99 USD

And while we’re on the subject of physics games, I think it’s safe to say that Tongue Tied is the best game in the genre that we’ve seen in a long time. Two dogs have their tongues tied together, which allows them to shoot forward to pick up bones, swing to different platforms, and reach spots that would otherwise be unavailable to a solo dog. Players of the game must figure out how to make the doggy duo swing to get treats and move safely through a range of obstacles. You’ll pick-up on some interesting moves along the way and quickly become entertained by the format of Tongue Tied. The game has 60 levels and 33 challenges to unlock more content. When you get really good at the game, you can push your top score higher by employing more difficult tricks. I haven’t approached that level of mastery yet, but the game has already proven to be quite fun.

Likes

Android 2.1+ required

As Facebook braces for negativity as it undergoes some major changes, a new third-party app focuses on the positive. Likes is an explorer of your area that lists all of the nearby locations and things that your Facebook friends have liked. The app showcases all of the activities, products, places, and people favored by your social graph. Landmarks, theaters, night clubs, restaurants, and retailers are among the many “Places” categories available. You can then filter those likes according to locations within 0.3, 1, 5, or 25 miles.

Unfortunately, Likes often fails to recognize locations. Three of my friends Like Sole Fly, a great sneaker store nearby, but Likes doesn’t show an address. Worse yet, dozens of the 2,000+ likes in that section seem to be nonsensical status updates and groups.

The app isn’t a lost cause though, because the “More Likes” section shows books, magazines, music, sports, and products that your friends like. It can be a good way to find people to ask for advice or share activities, get insight into gift ideas, or just see what’s popular among your network. Likes allows users to filter within their network (city, college, etc.) or just Friends, and perform search terms.

Cartoon Wars

Android 2.2+ required

Long ago, the Black and White Cartoon Tribe was subjugated by the Color Tribe. The BWCT’s revolted and waged war on the CT’s to win freedom for all in Cartoon World. The premise is a little heavier for what you’d expect from a game with fighting stick figures, but Cartoon Wars is a fun way to kill a few minutes here and there.

The game focuses on real-time strategy battles between the two waring tribes. Players send units out to destroy the Color Tribe’s towers, fire arrows to protect their own, and send in reinforcements when the opposition proves too strong. Sending in more units requires “mana” (points) that players accumulate during gameplay, and the opposition must be destroyed in a certain amount of time. Cartoon Wars features weapons and infantry upgrades for better attacks and defenses.

App Reviews & News of the Week

• Anomaly Warzone Earth HD is a fun tower attack game [Video Game Reviews]
• Decide for Android tracks product ratings, compares prices, and tells you when to buy [App Reviews]
• Madden NFL 12 for Android gets price cut and goes for just 99 cents for limited time only
• Google Wallet appears in Android Market workaround for AT&T and Verizon Galaxy Nexus, T-Mobile Nexus S
• Rhapsody launches Android tablet app for music streaming service
• Google updates Chrome to Phone & Docs to improve appearance, fix bugs
• Rypple blends social feedback and workplace productivity in Android app, plans to integrate Salesforce in the future
• Team6 announces new FlatOut: Stuntman Android exclusive racing game
• Mint.com Android app adds tablet support for personal finance management
• Sky Go brings live TV streaming to select HTC and Samsung Android phones in the UK next month
• Waze adds Foursquare and Yelp, new look to Android navigation app

With the proliferation of Android tablets on the market in the past year with specs ranging from cheap to spectacular, the decision to buy a tablet is becoming almost automatic. Now choosing which one is the right fit for you is much more complex. While most companies started with making a direct competitor to the iPad, Samsung was the first to focus on a different strategy, bringing their Galaxy Tab line to different sizes targeting very different user profiles.

But which one is right for you? I’m among those who found Samsung’s first foray into e-Reader 7″ territory with the original Galaxy Tab and its excellent successor the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus (expertly reviewed here at Androinica) too small for my overall usage, but I know there’s lots of people, my wife included, who think that around 10″ is too big outside of the house and sometimes inside as well.

If thinking in between, you’re about to have another option with the CES announced Galaxy Tab 7.7 4G LTE, but after a couple of weeks of considerable use to get a good feel for it, I’m going to make the case for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 being a great all-purpose size that could be just right.

The slick and classy look and finish are consistent with the other recent releases in the Tab lineup, other than the bottom speaker placement, on both sides of the Samsung connector. It looks great and has a nice feel to it, and while the display isn’t quite as spectacular as the Super AMOLED Plus, the TFT does look great for all the videos, text and games that will find their way onto your device.

I’m not going to focus on the specs in this review, because they are very similar to the other form factors except for the size. You won’t be sacrificing anything in power and it stacks up very well with its big brother. There is a hardware volume rocker, 3.5mm headset jack, power button, microphone, 2-megapixel front-facing camera, and a 3.2-megapixel rear auto-focus camera with a single LED flash. Available in 16GB or 32GB, white or grey, WiFi only or 4G LTE, you have a few customization options before you even pick one up.

Dimensions (W x H x D)
9.1 x 6.2 x .34 inches
230.9 x 157.8 x 8.6 mm

Weight
15.8 oz.
453 grams

As thin as the other 2011 Tabs or the iPad2, and around 3/4 of the weight, you feel a difference immediately when you pick it up.

So where does this form factor really shine?

The Bed Test

Above all else this one beats the 10.1″ tablets hands down as something to hold while you’re reclining or lying down. If you like to watch a movie, read a book or play a game in bed before unplugging for the night, I heartily recommend this size rather than something bigger. While I tend to let my larger tablet rest on my body when using it in bed – which I’m sure my chiropractor would say is a surefire pain in the neck – this one can be comfortably held two handed above you for as long as you want at that point in the night.

Even more important for many people and their reading styles is that it is still small and light enough to read one-handed for stretches, especially if you like to read lying on your side. While you feel this the most in bed, its still significant on the couch or in transit holding the larger tablets can be tiring or at least awkward.

Got Kids?

10.1″ tablets are fun with kids (with a little help vs ads from Famigo), as long as parents are holding them. The 8.9″ is just small enough that even really little kids like my almost 3 year old son can hold and use them comfortably. So if you have men, women and children all using the same tablet like in my house, this is a significant consideration.

Typing Flexibility

The amount of typing you plan to do on the tablet and how you like to do it should be a major consideration. Yes, there are a variety of keyboards available to make creative use of the real estate on a tablet, but I found the defaults work quite well here. For larger tablets I find myself either laying them flat or relying on bluetooth keyboard or docking station like the Asus Transformer or Prime. If you prefer to lay the tablet down and type two-handed for longer messages, the keyboard is just big enough to make this work. On a 7″ or 7.7″ anyone with even average sized hands would likely find that awkward or even unusable. On the other hand, if you prefer to type with two thumbs, in portrait mode this works quite well, and if you have larger hands it can work decently well in landscape. For a short message, holding in one hand while typing one-handed with the other worked well too.  For a soft keyboard, this might be the best size so far, giving you a wide range of typing activities that you could manage on this tablet.

Portability

That inch or so in each direction makes a big difference in how this feels when you’re taking it with you. While its not going to fit in any kind of jacket pocket like a 7″ may, it would fit very well in just about any woman’s purse, messenger bags, folios, briefcases or even a small backpack. Its also light enough that you could be carrying it by itself from meeting to meeting.

That also makes the rear camera for photos and video a little more manageable than on a larger tablet, though you’re still far more likely to get use out of the front-facing camera for video calls and conferencing.

Gaming

Games look as great on this as they will on a larger tablet. For games that need a bigger screen to control your actions on the screen, this is plenty big enough.

You’ll also do well for games that are more optimized for phones and seem a little too stretched out on a larger tablet will give you sore wrists and fingers, but this size makes them a lot more comfortable, but without feeling cramped. That’s especially true for those that use the accelerometer a lot, then you may have found yourself with tired arms all too often on a larger tablet.

Reading

I would far rather read on it for long periods of time than a 10.1″ tablet. Its still big enough that magazines can look good, and you don’t feel constrained. Web browsing, e-mail and social networks all look great and give you ample room for finer tapping. If reading is your main activity, especially on the go, then the 7″ or new 7.7″ might be a better fit, but again this one does well.

Movies

Online video, movies, photos and other kinds of content look fantastic on this tablet, and I found the sound and speaker placement worked well. The viewing experience is significantly better than you’ll find on smaller tablets, and while you’ll always appreciate a bigger screen for movies, you won’t be unhappy if movies are one of your many uses for this tablet.

Final Verdict

My first impression was that this is a beautifully light and thin device with a great screen, feels great in your hands, and could be held for a long time and used effectively in many different different ways. After two weeks of regular use, that first impression rings true, and I think Samsung might have a really good idea here.

While I’ve read some reviews that believe that this size has too narrow of a potential user base, I would beg to differ. The Tab 8.9 plays out very well as a jack-of-all-trades general purpose tablet, and there isn’t a single type of usage where it isn’t at least adequate to very good. It might even be the best of all when it comes to being able to use the soft keyboard effectively in a variety of ways. Yes, if your focus is on using it as an e-Reader then you might tend toward the 7″, and the larger tablets give you a bigger movie experience and with a hardware keyboard are better if you do a lot of writing. But as a versatile and very mobile device, I think it has the potential to emerge as a real winner for a lot of people.

With this versatility married to full full Android Honeycomb (and later ICS) functionality and the Flash capability and access to the full Market that comes with that, you may find yourself using this particular size of Tab for more than you ever expected. I expect your whole family will enjoy every minute of it, which might be a downside in some families, because you may find that your tablet belongs to everyone else.

One word of advice: get out there and feel these different sized tablets in your hands before you buy. This is becoming a very personal decision, and bigger certainly is not better for everyone. Decide what matters most to you, and make sure the size works well for all of those activities.

What is your favorite form factor of tablet, and why? Have you given 8.9″ a try?

The Toshiba Thrive, Toshiba’s first Android tablet, is a huge device. The Excite X10, Toshiba’s latest competitor in the ever-growing tablet market, is most definitely not. At 0.3 inches thin and 1.18 lbs, the Excite X10 is a compressed piece of hardware that looks like it put on its Sunday’s best and is ready to hit the town.

There’s no word when exactly the Excite X10 will hit the town, or retail stores to be more specific, but the tablet looks ready to compete. It has many of the requisite specs in today’s tablet market, including a dual-core processor (TI OMAP 4), 10-inch touchscreen, and 16 or 32 GB of space. The frame is the best design I’ve seen from Toshiba mobile yet, and the lightness and slender is the best that I’ve seen yet. Some hardcore gamers may balk at the OMAP instead of the improved graphics available with a Tegra 3, but all others have every reason to consider the X10.

Toshiba managed to take the things that were great about the Thrive – lots of ports and a big screen – and ditch the negatives without sacrificing too much. Users still have ports for USB, HDMI, and microSD, so connectivity options remain. The CES convention hall is too noisy to gauge audio quality, but volume was good, and placement of the speakers with SRS audio should lead to balanced sound.

The back of the Excite 10 is a durable magnesium alloy, the same quality used in Toshiba’s high-end laptop. Further impressing the premium feel is the scratch-reducing Gorilla Glass with an anti-smudge coating to reduce fingerprints. The device was manhandled all day, so we can’t validate those claims reasonably yet, but Toshiba says, “In everyday use, smudges will be reduced significantly.”

You’ll pay $529 for a 16 GB model and $599 for a 32 GB. The device is likely to be released in Q1 or Q2 2012.

Vizio has a four step plan for Google TV. Steps 1 and 2 are introduce the two new Google TV products announced at CES: the Vizio VBR430, a 3D Blu-ray player with some Google TV integration; and the Vizio VAP430 Stream Player, a mini set-top box that connects users to Google TV. Step 4 is to hopefully profit.

Of course, like the classic South Park bit, what exactly Step 3 will be is unclear. Vizio must find a way to entice users to embrace its new Google TV devices that have VIA Plus, Vizio’s system that is designed to enable “unified on-demand content” for multiple devices. The idea is that you’ll be able to access the same great video content on your big screen, tablet, or mobile phone. (Vizio is releasing a VIA Plus Phone and Tablet that has a built-in IR blast, universal remote control app, and HDMI output, and DLNA to enable continuous media options.)

VIZIO VBR 430

The VBR430 is a Blu-ray player with Google TV and VIA Plus built-in It has the common GTV features of Chrome browser and Flash videos, and supports DLNA and HDMI. The device comes with a QWERTY keyboard and has a customized interface built by Vizio. Price and availability details have not yet been announced, but pre-orders will begin this spring 2012.

VIZIO VAP430

The VAP430 is a Stream Player, a tiny box that connects to a television and introduces Vizio’s take on Google TV. Amazon Instant, HBO Go, Hulu Plus, Netflix, YouTube, and dozens more media streaming services, apps, and websites instantly become available on the television. There’s also an interesting little remote with a dedicated touchpad and integration designed to control all aspects of VIA Plus. Price or release date have not been announced.

UPDATE:

The contest portion of this project has completed. All 5 tablets have been given away already. Thanks to all who participated. You can still take the survey, but you will not win a tablet for entering.

———————-

Hello again. Unseasonable weather knocked out Internet service in my area, so I was unable to announce a winner for the first day of the Android Census contest. However, I’m happy to report that the first winner has been selected and an email has been dispatched. The Day 1 winner got first choice of the 5 tablets being given away.

So far, we’ve already received over 750 responses to the survey, and all tablets have been claimed.  If you have no clue what I’m talking about, here’s a refresher.

Androinica.com is conducting a survey of Android users across the globe. It’s quick and easy to answer the questions about what you think of Android, how you use your device, and what are your near future plans. Once completed, users who follow both Androinica and NVIDIATegra on Twitter can send ONE tweet per day to be entered into a random draw for a free Tegra 2 tablet. If you’d like to throw your hat into the ring, take the survey and follow the rules outlined to participate.

Please remember to only send One tweet to be entered in today’s competition. If you submitted a tweet following 12:01 AM Eastern this morning, you are already submitted.

Here’s a final call for all Android deals hunters. Today is the final installment of Google’s 10-day, 10-cent app sale to celebrate the passing of the 10 billion app download threshold. Google has partnered with several developers over the 10 days to offer premium apps for a dime, but the fun comes to a close today.

There’s still a deal to be had since the Android Market is selling Christmas albums at a discount price. You can find a select crop of full-lengths for only $3.99, and a range of carols for only 25-cents. Unlike the apps sale, the Market Holiday Blowout is limited only to the United States. (Google Music is restricted to the U.S.) Just head to http://market.android.com/music to see the selection.

Here are the final apps included in the promotion:

• Camera Zoom FX – A camera replacement app that adds filters, changes levels, and edits photos.
• Shine Runner – A racing game from the makers of Riptide in which players race a boat in order to make moonshine deliveries.
• TileStorm – a tile-based puzzle game with more than 100 maps and plenty of brain-teasing fun.
• Star Chart – an astronomy app that – you guessed it! – charts the stars. Point your app towards the sky and info on the stars seen is grabbed.
• Talking Ben the Dog – similar to Talking Tom Cat, you interact with a dog that can talk and likes to be played with.
• Apparatus – a fun puzzle game that requires you to build wooden apparatus to send a ball into a basket.
• Sentinel 3: Homeworld – a tower defense game on steroids.
• Hyper Jump – a time-wasting game where you race through levels and grab points.
• Color & Draw – an app for your kids to use as a virtual color book.
• Majesty: Fantasy Kingdom - a fantasy game in which you control a realm and have to build and defend it.
• Puffle Launch – An action game where you shoot of a cannon and try to avoid obstacles on your way to beating the level.
• Heavy Gunner- a FPS where you man a surface to air defense station and have to shoot down invaders from the sky.

Don’t you hate it when your elbow deep in some cake mix, and then your phone rings? Well, need not worry. Pantech is coming out with a device that’ll separate itself from the Samsung’s, HTC’s and Motorola’s of the world. The South Korean-based company plans to release a LTE smartphone called the Vega.

The Vega will carry a cool feature that should allow users to scroll or touch their phone’s screen without actually touching it (yes, you heard right). The new technology added is a gesture recognition software that almost mimics how the Microsoft Kinect works. This innovative technology will be part of a new Vega LTE line of phones due to hit the market in November. Consumers get to enjoy standard functions like answering calls and playing music — all operated via gesture.

Most information about this phone is mum, but rumored specs include the following:

• 4.5-inch display with 1280 x 800 pixels
• 1.5GHz dual-core processor
• 1GB of RAM
• An abnormal 1,860 mAh battery
• 16GB of internal storage
• NFC
• T-DMD mobile TV watching

It’s about time Pantech has decided to join the party of manufacturers offering Android power-phones. For so long the company has carried the cheap phone makers tag, and now it attempts to break loose from those shackles with the Vega LTE. I for one can’t wait to wave to answer a call or change a song all without bombarding my screen with annoying fingerprints. Checkout this YouTube video that shows the gesture technology in action. Enjoy!

Source: PhoneArena

In less than 12 hours, the world will be debating whether or not Ice Cream Sandwich lives up to the hype. To make sure you aren’t left out at the next virtual water cooler chitchat, be sure to watch the live broadcast of the Galaxy Prime/Nexus Prime/Ice Cream Sandwich unveiling at 10 PM ET. Google will stream the event at YouTube.com/androiddevelopers, but you can also tune-in to a special AndroidGuys podcast to see me and several other folks discuss the announcement live at Androidguys.com beginning at 9:45 PM ET.

And what will we see? Well, if these specs are to be believed, quite a bit. Japanese carrier NTT Docomo jumped the gun and posted its specs prior to tonight’s event, supposedly leaking what Google and Samsung will unveil at tonight’s event. The “Galaxy Nexus” that appeared in a leak spotted at Ameblo promises a phone with many of the things you spec hounds crave. While it’s true that the real star of tonight will be the direction change introduced by ICS, designed to merge tablets and phones, that doesn’t mean there won’t be a lot of people crying out for the next Nexus device that delivers that software.

Take a look at the specs below to see if this much-hyped, much-rumored, much everything phone will meet even half of the expectations people have been throwing at its feet. We’ll know soon enough!

via AndroidGuys

• Model: GT-I9250, GT-I9250T, GT-I9250M, SC-04D, SCH-I515
• Code Name: Tuna, Tuna 4G
• Straight size (length × width × thickness): 11.5 thickest part 136.0 × 68.0 × 8.8 / approx (mm)
• Weight: about 135.0 (g)
• OS: Google Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Version
• Chip Set: Texas Instruments OMAP4460
• CPU: ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore SMP (Dual-Core)
• Operating frequency CPU: 1.2GHz
• GPU: Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX 540
• Communication system (GT-I9250/GT-I9250M/GT-I9250M/SC-04D): W-CDMA, GSM
• Communication Systems (SCH-I515): LTE, CDMA2000
• Packet (GT-I9250/GT-I9250M/GT-I9250M/SC-04D): HSPA, EDGE, GPRS
• Packet (SCH-I515): LTE, EV-DO Rev.A
• The main display mode: HD Super AMOLED
• Main display Size: 4.7 inches Main display resolution of about: HD (720 * 1280)
• Maximum number of simultaneous colors Main display: Color touch 16777216 – capacitive (multi-touch)
• View 3D: Display a non-sub: main camera not equipped with the number of pixels: Approximately 5.1 million pixel main camera imaging element: CMOS
• Main camera features: AF
• Photo Light: LED
• Movie: 1080pHD (1920 * 1080)
• Shot 3D: Number of non-sub-pixel Camera: 1.3 million pixel camera imaging element sub: CMOS
• Water: Non-Dust: Non-Shock: non-authenticated Biotechnology: Non-
• Flash: support
• GPS: support
• ISDB-T (1seg): Non-
• RFID: NFC
• Infrared communication: non-
• Communication USB: 2.0
• Communications Bluetooth: 3.0 + HS
• Supported profiles: HFP1.5, HSP, A2DP, GAVDP, AVRCP, OPP, HID, PBAP, PAN
• Wireless LAN communication: IEEE 802.11 a / b / g / n (2.4GHz and 5.xGHz Dual-Band)
• Tethering: Support
• Wi-Fi Direct: support
• RAM: 1GB
• ROM: 32GB
• External Memory: 32GB microSD up to a maximum 2GB/microSDHC
• SIM Card: Size conventional battery pack: lithium-ion battery battery capacity: 1750mAh
• Wireless Charging: Non Colours: Black
• Manufacturer: Samsung Electronics

Multimedia Messaging Service is now supported – kind of – in Google Voice. While users still cannot directly receive MMS messages to a Google Voice number, the GV team has announced that it has partnered with Sprint to provide a workaround in a limited capacity.

Sprint subscribers are now able to send pictures and videos through MMS to a Google Voice number. The GV recipient will then be able to access the attachment through email. This is clearly not an elegant solution, but it’s an improvement over the previous set-up that not only didn’t provide MMS, but also didn’t notify a user that someone had tried to send them something. According to software engineer Ilya Frank, Google is working on having MMS messages viewable directly within the Voice inbox.

And just to reiterate in case you didn’t catch it the first time, the MMS must be sent from a Sprint customer. So if someone on AT&T, T-Mobile, or Verizon tries to send an MMS to a Voice number, it still will not work. Google is working with more carriers to enable this feature to work for non-Sprint customers as well. Current Google Voice customers must enable text-to-email forwarding in order for this to work.

1. Login to Google.com/voice and click the gear icon at the top of the page, click Voice settings, and select the Voicemail & Text tab.
2. Check the box next to ‘Forward text messages to my email:’ in the ‘Text Forwarding’ section.
3. Click ‘Save Changes.

Google Voice via Droid-Life

The myTouch brand has been an important part of T-Mobile USA’s Android lineup, and it’s traditionally been a name applied to a variety of HTC devices. T-Mobile announced today that LG has taken on the responsibility of building the new myTouch and the myTouch Q.

Both new myTouch phones are nearly identical. They are phones that have what power users may dismiss as last-generation specs but could be right for someone looking for a new entry-level or midrange Android phone. In fact, T-Mobile built this pair of phones specifically with new smartphone buyers in mind.

“When moving to their first smartphone, customers want a simple and uncomplicated experience without compromising on quality,” said Andrew Sherrard, senior vice president, marketing, T-Mobile USA. “With the introduction of these new myTouch smartphones paired with our worry-free data plans and fast 4G network, we’re making it easier than ever to step up to 4G experiences.”

The myTouch and myTouch Q both have skinned versions of Android 2.3 Gingerbread, a 5 megapixela camera that shoots 720p video, front-facing cameras for video chat, and support for T-Mobile’s 4G HSPA+ network. They will each come with a Set-up Wizard to ease the first launch, tips widgets to provide how-to’s, and the patented Genius Button that has built-in voice commands. The only major differences between the two are in screen size and keyboard. The myTouch has a 3.8-inch touchscreen while the myTouch Q has a 3.5-inch touchscreen with a slide-out QWERTY physical keyboard.

Yes, the rehashed myTouch name might confuse you Android vets, but that won’t matter to the new folks who these devices target. Both phones will go on sale in this holiday season (October – December). The myTouch sells in black or white, and the myTouch Q is gray or violet.

Left: myTouch / Right: myTouch Q