How To Download US Only Apps On Your Android

Screw Google. Who says you can't download US-only apps on your Android? For this week's tip and trick of the week, I'm going to teach you how to download applications (paid or free) that are supposedly restricted to the Land of Milk and Honey. Above anything else, you need a rooted phone. Otherwise, this workaround is no good.

First, go to Google Play and download Market Enabler (free). 

You can use Market Enabler for downloading paid and free US-only apps on your rooted Android phone.

[ Google Play Download Link ]

After installation, Launch Market Enabler.

Go to the Actual tab and take note of the numeric code. That is your provider's code.

Next, go to the Settings list and long-press on a US provider - there's T-Mobile and Verizon. I usually select Verizon. Wait until a dialog box appears.

From the dialog box, select "fake this provider now." Grant SU (Super User) permissions when prompted.

Go back to the "Actual" tab and see if the numeric code is different from your provider's. It should either be 310004 (Verizon) or 310260 (T-Mobile).

Wait a couple of minutes. Then launch Google Play. You'll know it worked if paid apps are in USD ($).

So there you have it! You can now download US-only apps, paid or free at the Google Play Store. The app will not in any way affect the phone signal with your actual provider. But if you want to revert to the original setting, just go to the Actual tab and select Restore settings.

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Posted in: How To Guides,Tips and Tricks

Boid for Twitter (Alpha) - The Best Twitter Client For Android

I may be one of the few who like the official Twitter app for Android. Compared to most third-party Twitter apps, it has a cleaner looking UI. I'd go for clean and beautiful UI over functional clients like HootSuite or Tweetcaster any day. With that being said, wouldn't it be great if a Twitter client had a nice user interface but still was functional? Well my friends, you probably haven't meet Boid for Twitter.


Boid for Twitter is a unique Twitter client that takes advantage of Ice Cream Sandwich and makes use of its - must I say - overly used Swipe gesture. With just a swipe, you can access different tabs/columns which includes Profile, Direct Messages, Home, Mentions, Trends, and Favorites from left to right.


Incredible UI

On the top are icons for the tabs/columns previously mentioned.


On the bottom, you'll find on-screen navigational buttons which change depending which tab you are on. You can basically post tweets, search for tags and users, and hit refresh on all tabs.


Option to send direct messages and access your profiles vary with the opened tab.


So yeah, Boid for Twitter supports multiple accounts.

Twitter updates for all accounts will be unified on the Home column.

Assign colors to your profiles to help distinguish tweet updates from different accounts. Just select the profile from the Profile Column and choose from blue, purple, black, and yellow among many others.

Set the default column.
Whenever you launch Boid, you will be immediately taken there.

Pull to refresh.

Add/Delete a column.

Change the theme.
Currently limited to Dark, Light, and Dark and Light.

Post tweets longer than 140 characters.
The app supports Twtmore.


So far, only phones running ICS are compatible with the app. So if you have a non-ICS phone, you won't see it on Google Play no matter what you do. And may I remind you that Boid for Twitter is still on Alpha which means it could have few bugs here and there. The latest version is stable though. No force closing of any sort :-) Also worth mentioning is the fact that the Boid team is actively pushing out updates throughout each week. Last week's bugs could be this week's fix. 


What are you waiting for? Go download it at Google Play for free! Boid for Twitter may be on Alpha but it sure looks like its nearing its final release. For more information, feel free to visit the Boid for Android website. And if you're wondering what the team has in store for Boid, you might as well check their roadmap too. Hope you like Boid just as much as I do ;-)


[ Google Play Download Link ]

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Posted in: Android Social,App Reviews

ICS Sensation ROM for SGS2 by Crysis21

Sensation ICS for SGS2 is based on original Sammy firmware but with something extra - an HTC Sense 3 theme. According to the dev behind it (as stated on the original XDA thread), he is still working on a theme based on Sense 4.


Version reviewed in this post: 3.2 (there is now v3.4 available for download)


Developer: Crysis21 or @cristi_holdunu on Twitter.

Image source: Sensation ROM for SGS2 XDA thread

What works & Pros

• What works: Everything. Remember that Sensation ICS for SGS2 is based on original ICS firmware by Samsung so yeah. Everything works :-)
• Icons are different. I'm not familiar to HTC Sense 3.0 but icons of key applications are different. 
• Phone Dialer has a different UI. More beautiful than stock Samsung UI IMO.
• Great battery life. My phone lasts 14-16 hours on moderate internet usage (with backlight on minimum brightness most of the time. Lasts 12-13 hours on heavy internet and moderate phone use. I use Pulse, check out Streamzoo a lot, and have active sync for Facebook, Pulse, email, and Twitter/Facebook for LauncherPro widgets. Rarely text or call though.
• No sound on boot. I dunno with you but I like it. Crysis21 said he removed it in this version to prevent getting scolded at the library lol.
• Stock ICS lockscreen. Yes, Crysis21 removed the ugly slide lockscreen from Samsung and replaced it with the stock ICS version.
• Themed notifications drawer. It looks lovely. Also, there are more toggle selections to choose from - just slide across toggles to access them all.
• Select which toggles to display by going to QuickPanel Settings
• What I really like about the toggles is that positioning from last use is retained (as long as the phone doesn't restart).
• Themed status bar. The status bar is no longer black but bluish gray to match the notifications drawer. Battery status icon is blue and looks even cooler when charging.
• Recent apps view similar to stock Sammy. I like how it has the option to go to Task Manager so you can properly kill running apps.
• Samsung stock apps are pre-installed. Even though I barely use them, I think it's good that they're pre-installed.
• Option to remove Sammy apps. You'll have to flash an additional .zip file though, available for download at 7 Droids.
• Apps: Unless you uninstall original Sammy apps, you'll notice that there are two of almost everything - Gallery, Music Player, and Video Player; each from either Samsung or stock ICS firmware. Uninstalling Sammy apps would leave only stock ICS apps except for the Camera and Browser which remain to be stock Samsung apps.
• Turn of touch lights, battery saver, and all Sammy functions are still there.

Bugs & Cons

• Bugs: There's only one I noticed. The WiFi bug though it happens rarely. *Sometimes* when you turn on WiFi on notifications toggle, it just stays that way and never finds or connects to a suitable WiFi network. When this happens, you need to restart your phone or it will drain your battery when left that way.
• Stock Samsung Home Drawer. I just hate it.

Verdict

If themed Sammy ROMs is a guilty pleasure of yours - like mine - I certainly recommend Sensation ROM by Crysis21. I can't wait once it gets Sensation 4 theming though. I expect it would be just as stunning as Sensation 3 on the current version of Sensation ROM.

For installation, you can check the original XDA thread.

Screenshots

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Posted in: ROM Reviews

Streamzoo For Android - Way, Way Better Than Instagram

When I first heard about Instagram coming to Android, I was excited. The photo-sharing app has been limited to iPhones long enough to make me extremely jealous. And when I say jealous, I meant over Instagram and not iPhone. Just wanted to make that clear. So when it was released days ago, I downloaded it right away. And I was like...

MEH. This is it?

I've been using Streamzoo for a while now and in my opinion, it's much better compared to Instagram. In this post I will highlight all the cool features of this photo-sharing app and why I prefer it over IG.

Truly optimized for Android.
Instagram for Android is just an iOS port of the app to the green little robot. Streamzoo, on the other hand, is truly optimized for Android. You can use touch buttons (if your phone has any) but still navigate easily through the app without them.


Follow people and tags.
Unlike Instagram where you can only follow people, you can follow both people and tags with Streamzoo. People and photos which include tags you follow will show up on the Feeds section. For example, I follow the #SGS2 tag so when a photo is uploaded with this tag, it will show up on my Feeds. Tags are called "streams" in Streamzoo btw.

Clean interface.
I really don't get it with Instagram. The formatting is all wrong. Just check the feeds on Instagram and compare it with Streamzoo's. The difference is like day and night. From font color to positioning of icons, everything is cleaner and more organized with Streamzoo.

Collect points and badges.
Streamzoo has a reward system. You can collect points and badges by uploading photos and getting likes on them. Streamzoo adds limited-time-only badges during holidays to shake things up a bit in addition to their standard badges.

If you get enough points, you could make it to the Popular Wall and Leader Board.

More Social features.
Aside from commenting on photos, you can also send a private message to users. I met a lot of cool people with this feature and that makes it a little bit more social than Instagram. You can also share photos to social sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr. Tags assigned to photos will also show up on Tumblr.


Receive messages and be notified of mentions and comments.

Receive notifications for likes and follows.

Get shoutouts from people you follow for great finds.
You can also shoutout photos you like and share them to social networks like Facebook and Twitter but this will be limited to 1 every hour until you reach 2,500 points and get 20 likes on a single upload. 

Because not all photos look good in squares and one-time filters
Sure, square photographs look cute. But if you are into photography you know that not all pictures look good in squares. Streamzoo offers more options so you can crop photos in different dimensions.

Also, you can add filters and borders separately.

Use tilt-shift.

And adjust brightness, hue, saturation, and contrast!

The title of the photo can be separated from the description too. Although tags will be limited to 10 to prevent "over-tagging" which people often do on Instagram to get likes.


And yes, you can use emoticons on Streamzoo even if you didn't have an iPhone.

And did I mention, Streamzoo is a multi-platform app?
Not only does it support iOS and Android, complete access to the application is also possible via http://streamzoo.com on your PC. You can also upload photos via your computer. With Instagram, all you can do with your PC is change your profile settings and access everything else using your phone. But with Streamzoo, you can do anything you can on mobile via PC.


Clearly, Streamzoo is way, way better than Instagram for Android. One of the reasons why many of us (including me) use IG anyway is because most of our friends are there. 


Switch to Streamzoo, invite your Instagram-crazy friends over there, and give the photo-sharing platform the spotlight it deserves. And if you want to add me on Streamzoo, my user name is bloggingada :-)


Thanks to Musafir of Techie Ideas for introducing me to Streamzoo months ago. And congrats to Streamzoo for creating what in my opinion is the BEST photo-sharing app.
This article is in no-way related to a post from Talk Android which compares Instagram vs Android. All ideas from this post are original. But kudos to them for not sucking up to Instagram which most Android websites do. 

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Posted in: App Reviews,She Talks

Ultimate Survival Guide To Android App Sales

Every now and then, Android apps go on a mass-sale. It's crazy. Dirt-cheap crazy. Apps originally priced more than $2.00 go as low as $0.10. Two major sales had gone by on the Android Market Google Play Store and I've had my share of regrets. If people come up with survival guides for a zombie apocalypse, why shouldn't I make one to help you survive those crazy sales on Google Play?

Survival Tip #1 ~ Don't buy paid apps unless they're on sale.
When there's an ongoing sale, never buy paid apps on regular price. Sales usually last for days and who knows? Yesterday's regular purchase could be today's app on sale. There's a trend here: The 10 billion downloads sale lasted ten days, Google Play's first sale lasted a whole week, and Amazon's first year birthday celebration called out a seven-day sale. As soon as the sale starts, do yourself a favor and don't buy paid apps unless their prices are slashed.


Survival Tip #2 ~ Buy apps you like as soon as they're on sale.
As soon as an app you like goes on sale, buy it. Tomorrow, it may no longer be on sale. Don't make me say "I told you so."


Survival Tip #3 ~ When a kids' app goes on sale, buy it.
It doesn't matter if you don't have kids - yet. Chances are, you will have them a few years from now. So when a kids' app goes on sale - whether it's a book or some other educational tool - buy it. It will be forever tied to your Google account and synced to all your future Android devices :-) Years from now, your imaginary kids will be able to use them. Besides, if you have a babysitting stint going on, these apps will come in handy.


Survival Tip #4 ~ When a 3D game goes on sale, buy it.
When 3D games go on sale (RPG, racing, first-person shooters), buy them. It doesn't matter if you like them or not. 3D games on sale are the greatest bargains you will find. 3D games usually cost more than $3 but this priced is reduced to $0.99 or lower depending on the sale. Got many of my 3D games for $0.20 and $0.10 :-)


Survival Tip #5 ~ Check Google Play / Amazon Appstore every few hours.
Whenever Google Play or Amazon Appstore is on sale, check every few hours. Our biggest enemy (for those of us who live outside of the US anyway) is timezone difference. Even though apps are likely to be available for 24 hours on local time, the time frame of their availability varies. Here in my country for example, apps on sale (during the 10 billion downloads sale) refreshed every 9:00pm. Try to find out what time apps refresh on your part of the world whenever there's on sale. And check back in following days at the same time.


Survival Tip #6 ~ Don't forget the refund button
Except for 3D games which you can't test within 15 minutes after download (because of the extra data they need), don't forget the refund button for all other apps you purchase. This is especially true for tools, photography, and entertainment apps. Not all apps on sales suit our needs, particularly those belonging to these categories. So as soon as you download one, test it and hit the "Refund" button on Google Play right away if you don't like it. This happened to me for SoundHound and Magic Camera which turned out to be useless - at least, in my case.


Survival Tip #7 ~ Always have money in the bank
If there's one thing I hate about Google Play, it's that you can't download paid apps if you have no money in your debit card. Apple Store allows a few downloads even if you didn't have cash but once money is in, purchases will automatically reflect. With Google Play, the policy is easy: No Money, No Paid App. So if you use a debit card for buying apps, always have some money in it. $20 is usually enough to last you through a week of app sales.


All these tips are based on personal experience :-) I hope they can help you survive the next Android app sale. For more tips and tricks, don't forget to follow me on Twitter for a weekly update!

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Posted in: She Talks,Tips and Tricks