One of the reasons why the Kindle Fire became overhyped when it was first announced was the Silk Browser feature added by Amazon. Even though the browser was perceived to have a substantial improvement on loading speeds, it quickly lost interest with Android users because it was exclusive to the Kindle Fire. Thankfully, some XDA Developers were able to tinker around with the browser and get it to run on rooted devices.

After being able to use the browser, the end result is actually based on personal preference. But yes, a number of users have mentioned that the browser is by no means any faster than the rest. Many discovered that the cloud-based caching of the browser resulted to more lags which only resulted to a down time of 1-3 seconds. Ironically, one way to make this faster is to switch off its accelerated page loading. We did, however, discover that the new browser is able to reduce bandwidth consumption; an advantage for users of a tiered data plan service.

If you are interested to install Silk Browser on your tablet, you just have to follow instructions located in the System folder. Or you can check out XDA website for the step by step instructions. Take note, however, that the browser does not work well with all ROMs and devices.

If you have used this browser already, let us know how your experience went by posting on the comments below.

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So the other night I got an alpha version of ICS installed on my Droid 3, and I have to say I am impressed. Hashcode has been hard at work since the release of the source code, and  had done some amazing things. I am currently using it for my daily driver and if you don’t mind being a guinea pig  give it a shot yourself. For being an alpha it is very stable, and  many of the main functions work. Here is the list from Hashcode’s blog of what works and what does not.

 Many of the base phone functions are now working. And that includes:

• Phone is usable in CDMA and GSM modes for making/receiving calls as well as 3G data.
• Wifi, Bluetooth, GPS all work
• HW acceleration is working tho sometimes .. “a work in progress” due to the Gingerbread version of our PVR driver.
• Audio is probably better than it was in CM7 (imho)

Here’s what will not be working (at least at the start of Alpha):

• The camera, and several video codecs.  They rely on a device which isn’t present in our kernel: “/dev/ion”.  I’m looking at re-writing it against our memory management unit.  Will take some time.
• Wifi Tether is broken at the moment and needs debugging
• Voice recognition needs debugging / fixes
• Data usage stats are “stubbed” in so that only the total will show, not the per app break down.   Needs kernel module fix.
• Dock Audio hasn’t been added to the build (I need to decompile the app and rewrite it)
• HDMI support hasn’t been added to the build (same as above and then troubleshoot through the hwcomposer).

Screencast currently does not work for ICS and I was having problems with my camera. So the best I could do is to get some screenshots of some benchmarks and general usage to give you an idea how it is progressing.

In Smartbench 2011 it is looking about the same as before when I ran it on gingerbread. The browser on the other hand it has almost doubled it performance, it truely is amazing how much better the browser is in ICS. The RAM is much less cluttered then it was when I used Gingerbread stock or with Motoblur, I generally would be sitting at 100 mb free before. Overall this build is looking great and I can not wait for this build to be finished. I few problems with compatibility issues with ICS, and  was happy to be able to use most of my favorite apps. Overall this is a great start for the Droid 3, and is more then enough to keep me from upgrading anytime soon to something like the Droid 4.

Image Credit: Anandtech

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If you’ve already gotten accustomed to the mobile version of Firefox, you will be pleased to know that there are some changes to its Android interface. Mozilla, the company behind the famous browser, released some photos of a futuristic Firefox for Android last Thursday.

At first glance, changes are not that visible and easy to spot. But if you look closely, you’ll see that there are really some differences with the new interface. One of the changes you’ll notice on a standard window is that the tab management has been moved to the right side of the location bar. At the same time, the location bar has been upgraded to rounded corners. A lot of the bigger redesigns of the browser have been targeted to the many Firefox-specific pages, much like the default Start page and the add-on manager. Moreover, the new open tab management window takes up the entire width of the screen. Compared to its new look, this lets you avoid making do with the crammed portion on the left-side gutter.

Before the official photos were revealed, there was much talk about a change in the design of the mobile browser. While this was nothing but a cover-up, the real changes are found under the browser’s technicalities. Among the biggest change it has gone through is that the current XML User Interface Language has already been ditched for the native Android code. Through this change, the browser gets launched by the Native Android code in just fractions of a second, compared to a few seconds.

If you’re finding these changes all too appealing, you will have to stop for a bit and see that these do not come without a cost. Once your Android Firefox makes use of the new interface, your current Firefox Sync will get disrupted. In addition, the current add-ons you have for your Android browser will need to be rewritten. Fortunately, they can easily be rewritten. Considering the hassle this can cause to the user, Mozilla was able to place a higher app speed value compared to relying on its app features. An added feature is the ability to track design changes with the use of the Firefox for Android Nightly Channel.

[Source: CNET]

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Customization Apps

1. Free Advanced Task Manager

As the name says, this program enables you to accomplish the basic routines quickly without eating up your phone’s resources. These tasks include viewing system information, monitoring battery power and memory usage, and closing and uninstalling programs.

2. Linda Manager

This app can be called the Android version of Windows Explorer as it provides similar file management functions. The phone will feel like a PC as you copy, paste or rename files and folders, change folder views, and navigate through directories.

3. PhoneWeaver

Profiles allow you to centralize control of your phones basic features such as those for volume, ringtone, and connectivity. With this app you can set up various profiles and manually or automatically shift to any them. Automatic profile changes can be triggered by time, battery life and even location.

4. Backgrounds

Most task manager types of apps provide a way to change the wallpaper but rarely do any of them provide a stock of excellent high-definition images. Consider this app if you’re the kind of Android user who values personalization tweaks on his phone.

Communication Apps

5. Opera Mini

If you want to save some money on your data subscription then you’ll need a fast loading web browser on your phone. Opera’s browser for mobile platforms does the job quickly because it uses their servers to compress web pages.

6. Google +

This is actually a packaged set of apps for sending instant messages, sharing videos and photos, and updating designated social groups via Circles. It’s Google’s official mobile social media platform.

7. WhatsApp Messenger

This is another communication tool geared towards social networking that allows you to sidestep SMS and MMS limitations, particularly the hidden and international charges.

Camera Apps

8. Camera360

Imagine combining the visual effects and the color and resolution modifying features of an image editor with your phone’s camera and this app is the impressive result. Photos you take with this app won’t look like they come from a phone’s camera.

9. Barcode Scanner 

Some retailers use barcodes that don’t just give the price but also tell you where to find product-related online resources as well. You can use this app with your Android phone to get both types of information by scanning barcodes and QR codes. The program is a two-way street as it also allows you to share files through QR codes.

10. CamScanner

You can basically turn your Android phone into a pocket-sized scanner with this app. Aside from digitizing photographed documents, the app enables you to turn the file into PDFs and then upload to a cloud account like Dropbox.

Entertainment Apps and Games

11. PowerAMP

This app has all the features you would expect of a media player. It supports a wide range of audio file formats, comes with an equalizer, arrange playlists, set specific audio as ringtones, and even download album art. Just like typical PC media players, you can also re-skin this app to add a customized look.

12. Ant Smasher

You press on the touchscreen to squash the ants. Most addictive games usually have surprisingly simple mechanics but engaging gameplay. This is one notable example as the game has currently garnered around 10 million downloads. The developer has even added a social media element by allowing you to squash shared pictures from your friends.

13. Army Sniper

First person shooters are always a popular choice. The phone tilting controls sets this apart from the usual sniper-themed games.

14. Talking Ben The Dog

Virtual pets are another type of interactive entertainment that has its own popular niche in the mobile game industry. As a retired chemistry professor (who happens to be a dog) Ben is not so much a pet as a companion.

Security Apps

15. Anti-Virus Free

This is AVG’s mobile security offering for Android phones. Like its PC counterpart, it’s a free security program that comes with relatively robust scanning and cleaning features.

16. History Eraser

Keeping your phone and browser history clean is one of the standard methods for avoiding malicious intrusions and security threats. This app can keep your Android phone spotless of any trace from logged calls to search histories.

17. Where’s My Android

Losing or misplacing your phone is not an uncommon accident. The typical attempt of calling it from another phone usually works unless the lost phone’s in silent mode. This app can bypass that setting and simultaneously turn the ring volume to maximum. It also allows you to locate your missing phone via GPS.

via slodive

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Developers of the Firefox version for Android tablets have given us a peek into their upcoming browser designed specifically for Android 3.x Honeycomb tablets.

The tablet version of Firefox is a successor of its phone version. Developers say that both versions have the same scripting and extensions support that makes the browser appealing.

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This is the first app I’ve seen to fully utilize Gingerbread-style menus:

It still is a bit slow though compared to Opera. That is to be expected from a third-party browser on a platform that’s also pushing its own optimized browser. However, it is an improvement from the previous builds of Firefox for Android, with noticeable performance bumps – it’s just not that big a bump.

If you want to try out the new build, all you have to do is hop on over to the Android Market and download it.

Source: Android Police

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Opera Mini is available now via the Android Market or m.opera.com for free.

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The Archos 8 sheds the typical widescreen tablet design and takes on a square form factor which resembles a digital picture frame. The Archos 8 features an eight inch touchscreen display, 600MHz ARM9 CPU, a thin, lightweight frame (12mm thick, 400 grams weight), unknown version of the Android OS, and is designed for basic web browsing, video playback, and usage as a digital picture frame. The Archos 8 will debut in May with 4 GB onboard memory and a suggested retail price of €149 ($202 USD). Last but not least, Archos also announced a new lineup of ARM Cortex-based Android tablets that will arrive in Summer 2010 and will include processors up to 1GHz and touchscreen displays from three to ten inches. Sweet!

[via UMPC Portal]

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Dolphin Browser

Here’s a quick video showing some of the features of the very cool Dolphin Browser by MGeek for the Motorola DROID.  The Dolphin Browser is a true Webkit-based browser that offers high-end features like multi-touch pinch/stretch zooming, tabbed browsing, and even finger gestures for accessing its many features.

It’s really quite impressive, and is available from the Android Market for the low, low price of free.  You can hardly beat that.

You’ll find the video of the Dolphin Browser in action after the jump.

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IBM's augmented reality browser

Augmented reality browsers seem to be the in-thing at the moment, and we can see why. If done well, they have the potential to be down right awesome. The issue with these applications, however, is that they rely heavily on plotted content. This week, news of two augmented reality browsers has hit the headlines. The first we heard about was by a Dutch company naming their product “Layar” and the second was by IBM for Wimbledon, called ‘Seer’. But first, what are they?

The applications runs on your Android phone and makes use of your camera, GPS, compass and pretty much anything else it can get its hands on. When in use, it turns the camera on and displays to you what it would be recording as a video on your screen. However, the application then adds to it points of interest and information that may not be directly visible to you because it is behind a build or two in the distance. As you pan your device around, new points of interest may appear, including distance and other relevant information such as images. The result is something rather surreal, but cool; you see the world as it should be on the display via your camera, but overlaid onto it is information on what you are looking at, accessible in a touch friendly way. Think 3D Google Earth combined with a camera that can see through walls while searching for ATMs, hotels and .. well.. anything.

You might be thinking that this is just a gadget-gizmo that can’t possibly be useful. Well, think again as the world’s largest and most successful software company also thinks they’re pretty useful too, and have written one for the upcoming Grand Slam Tennis tournament at Wimbledon, London. IBM’s augmented reality browser relies on all the toilets, drinking fountains and tennis courts being plotted into the database where the application draws its information.

This ultimately allows the application to read your environment and provide live data feeds telling you what is happening there at any given moment. This is a great idea for events where the boundaries of your environment are finite and controlled. Plotting everything throughout the world is somewhat more arduous, but with community support, these types of ‘augmented reality browsers’ could be exceptionally useful.

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