Tips on How to install the Huawei Ascend a new keyboard

The default keyboard for Huawei Ascend comes with a multitouch, but what if you want to change and install a new keyboard. This is a thing unique to Android platforms because there are numerous keyboard options.

First, you need to install some new keyboards.

There are many different options when it comes to Android keyboards. Play around with all of them and see which one fits you best.
Better Keyboard It will allow you to change and fine-tune the keyboard to make it your own.
 
SwiftKey is another option that provides impressive word prediction, including a feature that predicts the next word you havent even begun to type yet.

Its now ready to switch a new keyboard:
1. Tap the applications launcher

2. Scroll over and tap Settings

3. In the settings menu, scroll down and tap Language & keyboard

Alternate Text
If you have a custom keyboard installed, you will see an option to toggle it on and off with a check box. In order to have it appear as a selection, the box next to your myTouchd keyboard must be checked.

4. Tap on Input method

5. Find the name of the keyboard you want to activate, and tap on it.

Alternate Text

6. Press the Home button
 If you want to test it to make sure it is activated, just press the Search key, and your keyboard will pop up like in the image above.

Read More..

Tricks How to Disable Default System Applications on HTC Sensation

Many users have been looking answers on how to disable some applications on their HTC Sensation that dont suites their likings. Since advance users knows it that it is impossible to remove, delete, uninstall and disable those system bloatwares without rooting the phone. We found some guide over XDA-developer by way of temporarily rooting HTC Sensation will get access to somewhat disable the said system default applications or bloatwares.

Note: this guide is for advance users only that may know some tweaks about Android devices.
You may find the instruction here on this thread over XDA-developer.

Read More..

The HTC M8 to be launched on 25 03 2014

It seems that we finally know the date – 25.03.2014 looks like the day when HTC will launch their new flagship device and the HTC One (M7) successor – HTC One M8 which is rumoured to be called "HTC One+" or "HTC One 2" or just " HTC One (M8)".

About the device itself we know pretty much already. Recently we wrote about the design (The HTC One 2014 (M8) design exposed) and weve seen some popular mock-ups made by hamdir in HTC One 2014 (M8) target renders, a visual compilation of all the leaks. I must say this all looks promising and we still hope to see HTC M8 equipped with Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 instead of an already one year old Snapdragon 800 SoC.

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

Read More..

Boston moves 76 000 city employees police teachers and students to the cloud with Google Apps

Posted by Bill Oates, CIO, City of Boston

Editors note: Today’s guest blogger is Bill Oates, Chief Information Officer of the City of Boston. See what other organizations that have gone Google have to say.

In November, the City of Boston was named the #1 Digital City in America by the Center for Digital Government. While this recognition is based on a variety of measures, a key element is the city’s efforts to engage and connect with constituents using mobile technology and social media. As a tech-savvy city, we’re always looking for the best IT tools to help our government run smarter, innovate more effectively and provide better services for our citizens. Our most recent innovation was the successful migration of 76,000 email accounts from a collection of our premise based systems, mostly Microsoft Exchange, to Google Apps. Not only are all city departments, including the Boston Police Department, now on Google Apps, but every teacher and more than 50,000 public school students each has an individual Google Apps account.

Our new unified, cloud-based communication system is pretty big change from our old set-up. Our agencies worked together to manage their mail environments, with resources focused on mail administration and working across the group structures. Our largest department, the public school district, operated on a very separate environment that was in need of a major technical upgrade.

As the city evaluated an upgrade to communication and collaboration infrastructure, we clearly saw cloud services as the most cost effective, supportable platform to address our future needs. In 2013, following an extensive review of the market, the city initiated a rigorous RFP process that attracted an wide array of bids, including multiple Microsoft and Google cloud offerings. A selection committee composed of members from our City IT organization, Boston Police, and Boston Public Schools evaluated 10 proposals based on both cost and technical capabilities. The committee unanimously chose Google Apps based on its ability to meet the needs of a fast moving city while providing a secure cloud environment.

Going Google on such a large scale has many benefits. We gained reliability and security compared to our prior configuration of Microsoft Exchange servers, which required extensive upkeep, upgrades and patches. The Boston Police department, for example, now has a reliable, scalable system that supports its 24/7 operation with Gmail’s 99.9% uptime guarantee. More than 3,000 police employees, including 2,100 sworn officers, use Google Apps to communicate with one another as well as to streamline reporting processes.

All in all, we’ve securely moved more than twenty million email messages to the cloud. Every city employee — from police, to education, public works, transportation and beyond — has a Google account and a boston.gov email address accessible from any device, anywhere. We are confident Google’s secure, FISMA-compliant cloud environment ensures that city data is safe and private.

The Google Apps platform now sits at the center of our drive to infuse innovation in every aspect of city government and enhance collaboration. After 20 years in office, Mayor Thomas Menino is departing – making way for incoming Mayor Marty Walsh, and we’re proud to hand the new administration the country’s most advanced, fully-functioning, cloud-based communications system to keep our city at the forefront of technology innovation.

Read More..

How To Upgrade OS Android Samsung Galaxy Fit from Froyo to Gingerbread

How To Upgrade OS Android Samsung Galaxy Fit from Froyo to Gingerbread?

Since you do not understand everything about how to upgrade the OS to Android, the post I will discuss on How to Upgrade OS Android Samsung Galaxy Fit from Froyo to Gingerbread?

What is OS? OS is an Operating System that is used on a device, such as Android we are discussing today. In addition to Android there are also Windows, Linux, etc. that I can not mention one by one. Well, but is it possible for us to upgrade it? Whats own upgrade? Upgrade is a step in which we will enhance the ability of the OS we are using today to a newer operating sysytem, in this case I upgrade from OS Froyo to Gingerbread for Samsung Galaxy Fit S5670.

Steps Upgrade OS Android Samsung Galaxy Fit from Froyo to Gingerbread:
1. Prepare in advance the tools we need. As ODIN Multidownloader, File .ops, and firmware that we use.
2. If you do not already have it, please download ODIN Multidownloader and file .Ops for Samsung Galaxy Fit here
(for file .opsnya different for each devices). For the firmware you can find yourself well. Here I only explain a few steps alone.
3. After you download all the equipment, first open your Multidownloader ODIN. Then insert the file .Ops in place, and check One Package (if you use the One Package, if not leave it alone).
4. Then Enter the firmware into place, (File firmware berkestensi. Tar, if still in the first extract rar please.)
5. Then once everything is ready, plug the phone.
Download your favorite Android in by pressing the Mode Down, Home, Power simultaneously. After appearing in yellow on the upper left Multidownloader ODIN and it was a sign already detect it, please click on START
6. Never unplug the cable from your computer, because it would thwart the upgrade process and the risks that occur on their own responsibility.
7. Wait until the process is complete. Highlighted in yellow on the upper left ODIN became blue. Completed.

Read More..

What is Mobile Wi Fi Hotspot in a mobile How to use

Most smart phone and smart android phones already have this feature built in to the phone. wi-Fi hotspot simple meaning wireless access point, Wi-Fi hotspot is sharing internet between wi-fi devices.

You have wi-fi hotspot device you can share internet connection to your friends smart phones, and other wi-fi enabled devices. Ex.smart phones, laptop, etc..,.

I am going to explain how to Active Wi-fi hotspot and how to share internet connection on your samsung galaxy y android phones.

You can follow these simple steps

• Go to menu > settings > Wireless and networks.
•  Select Tethering and portable hotspot.
•  Select portable Wi-Fi hotspot settings.
• Select Configure portable Wi-Fi hotspot settings.
• Type Your Hotspot Network SSID Name.
• Select Security type open > save 
• Select (Tic) portable Wi-Fi hotspot.

Now you can share internet other WI-Fi enable devices. Enjoy.

Read More..

How to Lock your Android Phone or Tab

Dont like your kids to use with your mobile or someone to read your emails, SMS, pictures videos on your Android Dives? Don’t worry, now you can lock it with a password, pin, and pattern Unlock.  You can follow the easy steps below to configure your android dives.

This the step you can follow

• Go to Menu > Select “Settings” > select “Location and security”

• Select “Screen lock”

• Choose you want lock type (None, pattern, pin, password)

Want to access your phone use your security type to access your phone.

Read More..

VMware to Bring Traditional Windows Apps and Desktops to Chromebooks

Posted by Rajen Sheth, Director of Product Management, Chrome

Cloud applications allow flexibility, scalability and security and enable a work-anywhere environment, but many of our customers still use traditional desktop applications. Desktop as a Service (DaaS) helps bridge the gap between the cloud and a traditional desktop by allowing you to run your traditional software in the cloud and have applications appear on your Chromebook similarly to how they run today. An example might be your Windows based accounting application.

Chromebooks have continued to help more and more customers over the last year. According to NPD, Chromebooks made up 21% of U.S. commercial laptop sales in 2013. Customers prefer the low total cost of ownership, the central web-based management console and the fact that they dont need any additional security or anti-virus software. These are reasons why businesses large and small are adopting Chromebooks.

Today, customers can fully embrace the cloud with Chromebooks using VMware Horizon™ DaaS®. VMware and Google are working together to make the migration of legacy applications even easier, by using the HTML5/Blast experience from Chromebooks. This means you can work with Chromebooks and connect to a Windows experience running VMWare™ Horizon View.

As the countdown to Windows XP end of life continues, deploying Chromebooks and taking advantage of a DaaS environment ensures that security vulnerabilities, application compatibility and migration budgets will be a thing of the past.

VMware Horizon DaaS enables customers to centralize other desktop environments and manage these as a cloud service. Initially available to customers as an on-premise service or by VMWare vCloud Service Provider Partners (VSPPs) offering DaaS in the cloud or within hybrid deployments. Users will be able to access their Windows applications, data and desktops using VMware’s Blast HTML5 technology to their Chromebook.

This technology is available now by bringing together VMware Horizon View 5.3 and Chromebooks as an on-premise service and will be available soon as an application that can be installed from the Chrome Web Store. To find out more follow this link.

Read More..

Changes to the SecretKeyFactory API in Android 4 4

Posted by Trevor Johns, Android Developer Relations team

In order to encrypt data, you need two things: some data to encrypt and an encryption key. The encryption key is typically a 128- or 256-bit integer. However, most people would rather use a short passphrase instead of a remembering a 78-digit number, so Android provides a way to generate an encryption key from ASCII text inside of javax.crypto.SecretKeyFactory.

Beginning with Android 4.4 KitKat, we’ve made a subtle change to the behavior of SecretKeyFactory. This change may break some applications that use symmetric encryption and meet all of the following conditions:

1. Use SecretKeyFactory to generate symmetric keys, and


2. Use PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1 as their key generation algorithm for SecretKeyFactory, and


3. Allow Unicode input for passphrases

Specifically, PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1 only looks at the lower 8 bits of Java characters in passphrases on devices running Android 4.3 or below. Beginning with Android 4.4, we have changed this implementation to use all available bits in Unicode characters, in compliance with recommendations in PCKS #5.

Users using only ASCII characters in passphrases will see no difference. However, passphrases using higher-order Unicode characters will result in a different key being generated on devices running Android 4.4 and later.

For backward compatibility, we have added a new key generation algorithm which preserves the old behavior: PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1And8bit. Applications that need to preserve compatibility with older platform versions (pre API 19) and meet the conditions above can make use of this code:

import android.os.Build;
 
SecretKeyFactory factory;
if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.KITKAT) {
   // Use compatibility key factory -- only uses lower 8-bits of passphrase chars
   factory = SecretKeyFactory.getInstance("PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1And8bit");
} else {
   // Traditional key factory. Will use lower 8-bits of passphrase chars on
   // older Android versions (API level 18 and lower) and all available bits
   // on KitKat and newer (API level 19 and higher).
   factory = SecretKeyFactory.getInstance("PBKDF2WithHmacSHA1");
}

Join the discussion on



+Android Developers

Read More..

New partnership to bring Android to the open road

In this multi-screen world, switching between our different devices should be easy and seamless. Common platforms allow for one connected experience across our phone, tablet and PC, so we get the right information at the right time, no matter what device we’re using. But there’s still an important device that isn’t yet connected as seamlessly to the other screens in our lives – the car.

To help address that gap, today we’re announcing a new partnership that will bring Android, the world’s largest open platform, to the open road. Google has teamed up with automotive and technology leaders Audi, GM, Honda, Hyundai and Nvidia to form the Open Automotive Alliance (OAA), a global alliance aimed at accelerating auto innovation with an approach that offers openness, customization and scale.

Today, millions of people already bring Android phones and tablets into their cars, but it’s not yet a driving-optimized experience. Wouldnt it be great if you could bring your favorite apps and music with you, and use them safely with your cars built-in controls and in-dash display? Together with our OAA partners, were working to enable new forms of integration with Android devices, and adapting Android for the car to make driving safer, easier and more enjoyable for everyone. Putting Android in the car will bring drivers apps and services they already know and love, while enabling automakers to more easily deliver cutting-edge technology to their customers. And it will create new opportunities for developers to extend the variety and depth of the Android app ecosystem in new, exciting and safe ways.

But this is just the beginning; we welcome other automotive and technology companies to join the OAA, to work together to build a common platform to drive innovation in the car and bring Android to the open road. Learn more about the OAA at openautoalliance.net, and stay tuned in 2014 for more updates coming soon to a car near you.

Posted by Patrick Brady, Director, Android Engineering

Read More..

How to copy ROM zip file to the freshly wiped device

Have you ever been in a situation where you mistakenly (or not) wiped the content of the internal storage (including system partition and virtual SD card) on your phone or tablet and unfortunately it doesnt support external storage? Now you cant flash desired custom ROM because you removed it and the device cant be booted due to wiped system partition. Dont worry - its very easy to fix!

Here are the steps you need to follow to copy the correct rom.zip package to your internal storage:

1. Download this mini-sdk package and extract it to c:mini-sdk
2. Rename the custom ROM package you want to flash to "rom.zip" and copy it to c:mini-sdk
3. Connect your device to the PC
4. Boot your device in recovery mode
5. Open a command prompt on the PC (cmd.exe), type and confirm each command with ENTER:
6. cd /d c:mini-sdk
7. adb shell
8. mount /data (error might mean that /data partition is already mounted)
9. on Android 4.2 and above: mkdir -p /data/media/0
10. on Android 4.1.2 and below: mkdir -p /data/media
11. exit
12. on Android 4.2 and above: adb push rom.zip /data/media/0
13. on Android 4.1.2 and below: adb push rom.zip /data/media
14. Wait for a few minutes until the file is copied. It will looks like command shell is not responding, but that means its still copying. Wait patiently until youll see blinking cursor again.
15. Depends on your custom recovery, use the navigation keys to flash the custom rom.zip package in a typical way you used to flash custom ROMs. It should be on your internal storage now. Done!

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

Read More..

How to generate a kernel log after random reboot

Once in a while, a software bug in the kernel will cause a random reboot, so in order to help kernel developers to fix and troubleshoot the reboots, a kernel log need to be submitted to the developer for further analysis and hopefully lead to a bug fix.

Most Android kernels have "RAM Consoles" to save the necessary kernel logs immediately after reboot in the RAM.  The users can then retrieve this RAM log on a subsequent reboot to submit to kernel developers. Here is a quick tour on how to do that.

[ Using ADB ]

1. adb shell
2. su
3. cat /proc/last_kmsg > /sdcard/last_kmsg.txt
4. exit
5. exit
6. adb pull /sdcard/last_kmsg.txt

File last_kmsg.txt will be located in the same location as adb.exe executable.

[ Using android terminal app ]

1. su
2. cat /proc/last_kmsg > /sdcard/last_kmsg.txt
3. exit
4. exit
5. adb pull /sdcard/last_kmsg.txt

File last_kmsg.txt will be located on your SD-card.

[ Using Root Explorer / ES Explorer with Root ]

1. go to /proc folder
2. copy last_kmsg to /sdcard/
3. rename last_kmsg to last_kmsg.txt

File last_kmsg.txt will be located on your SD-card.

The best method to share the last_kmsg.txt content is to upload it to pastebin.com and send a link to the developer.

Source: faux123 (Google +)

Have any questions or comments? Feel free to share! Also, if you like this article, please use media sharing buttons (Twitter, G+, Facebook) below this post!

Read More..

How to upgrade official firmware on Samsung Galaxy S II I9100

If you are a new user of Samsung Galaxy S II I9100 and you wanted to upgrade your phones firmware to any latest updates, all you need is a personal computer or laptop and install a software program called KIES, you can download it via Samsung official support.
You cant do it over the air or OTA like any other android smartphones by using software update option, Yes you can see a software update option in phone under settings and you need to specify your samsung account details as well.. but  as of now its doesnt work on Samsung Galaxy S II I9100.

Aside from Kies update you can also manually upgrade the device by a way of using ODIN downloader tool and an original firmware.

This method is  not recommended for beginners since it will cause some problems and sometimes mess up the phone, called bricking.

If you want to learn by this method you may visit XDA-developer, many advance users in there shares a useful tweaks and tips about Samsung Galaxy S II I900 firmware.

Read More..

Transport for London uses Google Maps to help people navigate the city’s transit systems

Posted by Phil Young, Head of Online, Transport for London

Editors note: Today’s guest blogger is Phil Young, Head of Online for Transport for London, one of the world’s biggest and most integrated metropolitan public transport systems. See what other organizations that have Gone Google have to say.

Each weekday, more than six million journeys are made on buses in London and over three million on ‘the Tube,’ as our 150-year-old underground system is affectionately called. Transport for London (TfL) oversees those transit systems -- as well as the trams, taxis, riverboats, the Barclays Cycle Hire scheme and the main roads throughout London. We are responsible for keeping London moving and growing and making life in the city better.

As part of a ground-up redevelopment of our increasingly popular website we are putting interactive mapping at the centre of our travel information to make it easier for travellers to see their options and get around faster than ever before. To do this, we’re introducing Google Maps for Business and Google Places API as part of our site to give customers one consistent, easy to use way of navigating around.

Our web services grew organically over time, resulting in over 70 different websites for the numerous services we offer. In 2007, we made a big step forward, visually integrating these sites with a common look and feel. Our website now receives over 250 million visits annually and the International Association of Public Transport named us the best public transport authority website in the world. But, theres still so much more we knew we could do to help our customers get from point A to point B and better integrate all of our work into one single site, with a load of new functionality.

We released the beta of the new TfL site in June and expect to go live with the final version early in 2014. One of the great things about the new site is that it uses responsive design to give a great experience on any device - mobile, tablet or desktop. We chose Google Maps for Business because it offers the best combination of usability, accuracy and user experience. It was the best tool to help integrate new functionality such as:

• Moving from five different map platforms to one comprehensive map
• Revamping our ‘Journey Planner’ with integrated Google Maps, which makes it really easy to use
• Integrating an ‘Interactive Roads’ tool that highlights areas affected by incidents or events on the map
• Adding a ‘Nearby’ feature, which shows real-time information on all the transport services that are around your current location. This includes arrival times of the next bus or train and even how many Barclays Cycle Hire bikes are available at any given docking station at that time.

We’ve built all of this around a single API which we’ll soon be sharing with developers as part of our open data portal. This will make it so much easier for new and improved smartphone apps to be created.

In 2014, we’ll move the site out of beta and begin to develop more personalised features, based on a single user login, to make planning journeys, checking on status or buying and managing tickets so much easier.

Read More..

How to Hard Reset Samsung Galaxy phones

Do you want to reset your galaxy phone default factory settings.

How to reset.....??????
Go...select... press......press and hold.....type this .......etc....ok

Dont worry. It is simple. I explain how to it works.
Hard reset you phone delete, lose your personal data. First of all charge your phone batter and backup your important, personal data.
Take out your SIM card and SD card.

To reset your phone dial this code   *2767*3855#

Wait until finishing reset and automatically reboot phone. Do not press any buttons, do not touch any place will reset and reboot.
Now your phone is reset default factory settings. This code is work most samsung phones reset.

Read More..

20 Android Games You Should Download To Your Phone

1. Angry Birds

The amazingly popular iOS game moved to Android , earning over two million downloads during its first weekend of availability.

The Android version is free, unlike the Apple release, with maker Rovio opting to stick a few adverts on it rather than charge an upfront fee. The result is a massive and very challenging physics puzzler thats incredibly polished and professional. For free. It defies all the laws of modern retail.

2. Bebbled

Bebbled is your standard gem-shuffling thing, only presented in a professional style you wouldnt be surprised to see running on something featuring a Nintendo badge with an asking price of £19.99.

You only drop gems on other gems to nuke larger groups of the same colour, but with ever-tightening demands for score combos and scenes that require you to rotate your phone to flip the play field on its head, Bebbled soon morphs into an incredibly complex challenge.

3. Red Stone

Theres an awful lot of square-shuffling games on Android and Red Stone is one of the best. And one of the hardest. You start off with a big fat King square thats four times of the normal pawn squares, then set about shuffling things so the fat King can get through to an exit at the top of the screen.

Its hard to accurately describe a puzzle game in the written word, but seriously, its a good game.

4. Newton

Released a few months back in beta form, Newton is a maths/physics challenge that has you lining up shots at a target - but having to contend with the laws of nature, in the form of pushers, pullers, benders (no laughing), mirrors and traps, all deflecting your shot from its target.

The developer is still adding levels to it at the moment, so one day Newtonmight be finished and might cost money. But for now its free and a great indie creation.

5. Sketch Online

Surprisingly free of crude representations of the male genitalia, Sketch Onlineis a sociable guessing game where users do little drawings then battle to correctly guess whats being drawn first. Its like Mavis Beacon for the Bebo generation. The version labelled "Beta" is free, and if you like it theres the option to pay for an ad-free copy. But Google cant make you. Yet.

6. Drop

Some might call Drop a game, others might classify it as a tech demo that illustrates the accuracy of the Android platforms accelerometer, thanks to how playing it simply involves tilting your phone while making a little bouncy ball falls between gaps in the platforms. Either way itll amuse you for a while and inform you of the accuracy of your accelerometer - a win-win situation.

7. Frozen Bubble

Another key theme of the independent Android gaming scene is (ports of) clones of popular titles. Like Frozen Bubble, which is based around the ancient and many-times-copied concept of firing gems up a screen to make little groups of similarly coloured clusters. Thats what you do. Youve probably done it a million times before, so if its your thing get this downloaded.

8. Replica Island

Replica Island is an extremely polished platform game that pulls off the shock result of being very playable on an Android trackball. The heavy momentum of the character means youre only switching direction with the ball or d-pad, letting you whizz about the levels with ease. Then theres jumping, bottom-bouncing, collecting and all the other usual platform formalities.

9. Gem Miner

In Gem Miner you are a sort of mole character that likes to dig things out of the ground. But thats not important. The game itself has you micro-managing the raw materials you find, upgrading your digging powers and buying bigger and better tools and maps. Looks great, plays well on Androids limited button array. Go on, suck the very life out of the planet.

10. ConnecToo

Another coloured-square-based puzzle game, only ConnecToo has you joining them up. Link red to red, then blue to blue - then see if youve left a pathway through to link yellow to yellow. You probably havent, so delete it all and try again.

A brilliantly simple concept. ConnecToo used to be a paid-for game, but was recently switched to an ad-supported model - meaning it now costs you £0.00.

11. Titres

Once youre successfully rewired your brains 25 years of playing Tetris in a certain way with certain buttons and got used to tapping the screen to rotate your blocks, its... Tetris.

It hinges on how much you enjoy placing things with your phones trackball or pad. If youre good at it, its a superb Tetris clone. Lets hope it doesnt get sued out of existence.

UPDATE: While Titres seems to have been removed from the Market, theres now an official Tetris app available to download.

12. Trap!

Not the best-looking game youll ever play, with its shabby brown backgrounds and rudimentary text making it look like something youd find running on a PC in the year 1985. But Trap! is good.

You draw lines to box in moving spheres, gaining points for cordoning off chunks of the screen. That sounds rubbish, so please invest two minutes of your time having a go on it so you dont think were talking nonsense.

13. Jewels

Coloured gems again, and this time your job is to switch pairs to make larger groups which then disappear. That might also sound quite familiar. The good thing about Jewels is its size and presentation, managing to look professional while packing in more levels than should really be given away for free.

14. OpenSudoku

We had to put one Sudoku game in here, so well go with OpenSudoku - which lives up to its open tag thanks to letting users install packs of new puzzles generated by Sudoku makers. Its entirely possible you could use this to play new Sudoku puzzles for the rest of your life, if thats not too terrifying a thought.

15. Abduction!

Abduction! is a sweet little platform jumping game, presented in a similarly quirky and hand-drawn style as the super-fashionable Doodle Jump. You cant argue with cute cows and penguins with parachutes, or a game thats easy to play with one hand thanks to its super accessible accelerometer controls.

16. The Great Land Grab

A cross between a map tool and Foursquare, The Great Land Grab sorts your local area into small rectangular packets of land - which you take ownership of by travelling through them in real-time and buying them up.

Then someone else nicks them off you the next day, a bit like real-world Risk. A great idea, as long as you dont mind nuking your battery by leaving your phone sitting there on the train with its GPS radio on.

17. Brain Genius Deluxe

Our basic legal training tells us its better to use the word "homage" than to label something a "rip-off", so well recommend this as a simple "homage" to the famed Nintendo Brain Training franchise.

Clearly Brain Genius Deluxe is not going to be as slick, but theres enough content in here to keep you "brain training" (yes, it even uses that phrase) until your battery dies. The presentations painfully slow, but then again that might be the game teaching you patience.

18. Coloroid

Coloroid is aery, very simple and has the look of the aftermath of an explosion in a Tetris factory, but it works. All you do is expand coloured areas, trying to fill them in with colours in as few moves as possible - like using Photoshops fill tool at a competitive level.

19. Cestos

Cestos is sort of a futuristic recreation of curling, where players chuck marbles at each other to try and smash everyone elses balls/gems down the drain and out of the zone. The best part is this all happens online against real humans, so as long as theres a few other bored people out there at the same time youll have a real, devious, cheating, quitting person to play against. Great.

20. Air Control

One of the other common themes on the Android gaming scene is clones of games based around pretending to be an air traffic controller, where you guide planes to landing strips with a swish of your finger. There are loads of them, all pretty much the same thing - weve chosen Air Control as its an ad-supported release, so is technically free.

Read More..