When you stop to think about it, often the most popular of mobile game apps are not really all that complicated in concept. Angry Birds is really only about flinging various birds at increasingly difficult structures. Cut the Rope is about using angles to maneuver candy into a monster’s mouth, and Temple Run is no different. It is a simple concept that is addicting, funny and entertaining, all rolled into a simple little free game. Temple Run has been a favorite of iOS users for some time now, and now Android users get to join in on the fun.

The premise is fairly simple. You are an explorer who has taken an idol from a jungle temple, a la Indiana Jones. You are being pursued by angry monkeys around a maze of temple walls, bridges and rock outcroppings in your attempt to get away. Along the way, you avoid obstacles like broken rope bridges and suddenly disappearing ground beneath you. If you trip, the monkeys catch up. If you trip again, they catch you. If you miss an obstacle, you might find yourself face first into a tree or taking a dive off a wall into the waters below.

You collect coins as you run, which can be “spent” in the game’s store to unlock new characters, boosts and upgrades. There are achievements to strive for, and a multitude of courses that are randomly selected as you start out, making it impossible to learn the route you will be running. The longer you can last, the faster the game gets, and the more difficult. Expert players find themselves reaching an almost meditative zone where the world around them disappears as their full attention is spent rapidly flicking and tilting the screen to try and keep their character from careening off a cliff.

There is no “end” or “win” to the game, your character keeps running until he or she finally dies. Eventually, the game gets too fast for the best human reflexes to keep up. However, some players have gotten truly impressive scores. You might be wondering what fun a game can be if it’s unwinnable. But the truth is, it isn’t the game itself you are trying to beat, it’s your own best score, and that itself, is challenge enough. Most players are also content with aiming to complete the list of achievements the game offers as a winning goal. Plus, you will find that once you start playing, it’s nearly impossible to put the game down, and you’ll have that itch to try just one more time to reach your last best score.

The controls are simple, just flick the screen right or left to direct along the maze, upwards to jump, backwards to slide under obstacles, and tilt the device to run to one side or the other. The graphics are well done, but you won’t be paying attention to them unless you’re watching someone else play. Blink, and your character dies. For a free game, you really can’t beat this one for entertainment. You lose nothing except time, so head over to the market and try it out. And don’t forget to duck.

One of the few pet peeves Android owners typically report about owning an Android device is the lack of consistency with receiving software updates. While iPhone owners are indeed locked into the world of Apple and are subject to its rather draconian control over all iOS devices, one of the upsides is that iOS device owners can all upgrade their devices when the newest version of the OS is released, and typically without too much concern about whether they own the newest model or a model already three years old. Android owners, unfortunately, know all too well how the lack of standardization affects who gets what in the Android community.

Android devices as young as only a year old, depending on its hardware specifications, might be sporting a version of the Android OS that was cutting edge 24 months ago with no real hope of being able to run the upcoming release of Android expected out in a few months. Android 5, Jellybean, has already been announced for the later part of 2012, while many device owners are still waiting for Android 4 Ice Cream Sandwich. Some, will never see it.

Because of the lack of processing power to run later versions of Android, most of the lower end Android devices on the market are still running 2.1 Eclair and 2.2 Froyo. This is most common with the Android devices being sold for pay-as-you-go services such as Virgin Mobile. However, mainstream carriers with more up to date Android devices started announcing the rollout of 2.3 Gingerbread mid-2011. Most devices, even older ones, should have Gingerbread by now. Given how buggy Gingerbread has proven to be, though, some choose to downgrade back to 2.2 Froyo and are choosing to opt out if their devices are scheduled for the Ice Cream Sandwich release.

So will your device get Ice Cream Sandwich? Should you get it? If your carrier does automatic push out over the air, you might not have a choice, so if you plan to stick with a lesser version of Android, research what it will take to downgrade your particular device using the program Odin. If your device is newer, chances are you will be getting Ice Cream Sandwich, which is indeed a nice upgrade to Android with several great new features.

A full schedule of release dates for current devices can be found here at Computerworld.
Be aware that even if your device is scheduled to get the upgrade, you should do a double check on your device specifications and make sure it can handle the system.

The very title of this post might make you look twice. Downgrade your version of Android? Why on earth would you want to do that? After all, isn’t Android about cutting edge technology, the newest and best, customizability and all that? What good does it do you to downgrade back to a previous version? Well, there are, of course, a couple of reasons. The very things that are given as Android’s greatest strengths also have a tendency to be its greatest weaknesses, and sometimes going ahead too far, too fast can be bad for your device, requiring a step backwards. Before you decide to downgrade, take a moment to consider why it might be necessary.

Android is constantly adding new features to each release of the operating system. While these features keep Android competitive, they also require more strain on the hardware. There is no real uniformity of specifications for Android devices. The variations of processor strength, onboard memory, RAM and even apps pre-installed by the carriers are wide. A version of Android that works great on one device might not work so great on another, almost solely because of hardware limitations. If you own an older Android device, the version of the software it shipped with was probably the best version of Android at the time, and the device designed to run with that version.

That’s not to say Android devices are designed to not be upgradable, but it does mean that the longer you own your device, the less likely it will be to handle larger, more complicated versions of the Android OS. Android phones two years old currently are not very well equipped to handle the current version of Android, 2.3 Gingerbread, and will likely not be able to handle Android ice Cream Sandwich at all.

You might decide to downgrade if, after installing the most recent version of Android, your device suddenly becomes slow, unstable or otherwise buggy. You might discover that some of your favorite apps do not have current versions designed to work with the newest OS, or don’t work as well as they once did, making your phone lose functionality. In some cases, if your phone is having problems with a version it should be able to run, downgrading to an older Android version takes the strain off of the processor.

Downgrading is about as complicated as rooting, or installing a new ROM on a device, that is to say not too bad, but perhaps not for the beginner. There are many ways to do it, but one of the more simpler methods can be found at Techatlast.com.

As with any decision regarding your technology, research, research, research the compatibility of your device with any procedure you would like to do to it, whether it is rooting, upgrading or downgrading. Waiting until someone else has done it first and posted on a forum somewhere about the experience can save you a lot of hassle and the need to downgrade at all.

These days it is just basic responsibility to prepare and keep yourself safe. Even if you expect nothing to happen. Emergencies don’t let us know when they are coming, that is why they are emergencies, and the best any of us can do is to prepare for them and hope we don’t even need to take advantage of our preparations. Cellular phones have been saving lives ever since they hit the consumer market. From the stranded hiker who manages to get a signal, to the kidnapped kid who activates his phone’s GPS, to the victims of 9/11 who managed to get calls out from planes, the ability to talk from anywhere, or look up information from anywhere, has been a game changer in our society. It’s even changed how emergency response personnel go about processing an emergency situation.

Your smartphone can be a lifesaver for you if you are looking to keep yourself safe from harmful situations. From muggings and robberies, to storing critical medical information on your device, your Android can be your panic button at a time when seconds matter. To begin with, iSafe is an app you may want to consider installing on your device. If you are in an unknown area and want to know how safe that area is, iSafe can recognize your location and give you information on crimes having been reported in that area. The app not only gives you up to date neighborhood crime information, but also weather and allergy reports for that area as well.

Police have encouraged the use of safety whistles for decades. If someone yells for help, studies have shown that fear for one’s personal safety might prevent would be help from interfering, which is why first responders now encourage people to yell “Fire!” when they need help, as a fire will usually bring everyone running. The use of a whistle works the same way in creating a noise that gets people’s attention and might bring the curious to the spot. The problem is, few people carry whistles. An app like Personal Safety Alarm works the same way. It is a simple app that activates an alarm when the red button on the screen is pushed.

If you foresee a time when someone might need to know medical information about you, and how to contact next of kin in an emergency situation, check out ICE (“In Case of Emergency”). This app allows you to input your medical information, doctors’ numbers, who to call if something should happen, and even places a widget on your lock screen so emergency responders can access the information if you are incapacitated. This app is known to have saved the life of an epileptic already.

If someone is in need of a discreet way to call for help, such as a potential abusive or kidnapping situation, bSafe is a must have app. Upon initialization, the user can designate “guardians” who will be contacted with a help message in the event that help is needed. Guardians can track the phone via GPS online if needed as well. Being prepared is always smart, even if you think you don’t need it. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst, especially if your life events take you into situations where preparedness is needed.

For media fanatics hungry for movies and TV shows on their mobile devices, the question of being able to watch live streaming or DVRed shows at home on their mobile devices has been a constant quest. Sling player opened the door of possibilities for mobile users on the go who want to enjoy their at-home programming. Other devices, such as the Vulkano, followed suit, and all work pretty much the same way. You hook up the device to your television, cable box or Tivo, and your home’s wireless network. After installing the corresponding application on your mobile device, you can then access your home entertainment system via your phone, as long as both have a connection to the Internet.

Jumping on the bandwagon, Hauppauge introduced the Broadway-HD streaming device, which works in a similar fashion to Sling player in that it takes your media from your home entertainment center, and broadcasts it over the Internet to a webpage which you access via your mobile device. It is important to note, however, that this device is different from the Sling Player and Vulkano player in that it does not access your DVR, only live video coming in via your antenna or cable box. There is an included IR blaster that will allow you to control channels, but the product webpage does not specify that it can be used with a device like a Tivo. Given the connections it is capable of, it might be possible. However, little has been written about the use of this device with a DVR device.

It can, however, be connected to a video camera, making it ideal as a home surveillance device for access via your mobile device when you are away. See what is going on at your house any time, as long as the device and the camera are on and connected to the Internet. Setup is a breeze, with a variety of connections such as analog A/V in and S -Video. You will need to physically connect the device to your router during initial setup, but after that, the device can perform wirelessly.

For Android and iOS devices, you navigate to a specific webpage via your mobile browser, where you can then control the device and view streaming media. The device takes incoming video and converts it to the high quality compressed format H.264 which is supported by most mobile devices and Android right out of the box.

One thing to be aware of if choosing to purchase this device as a DVR of any sort, is that some webpages have outdated information saying the device can record. This seems to be a discontinued feature in the device, and more recent shipments of the hardware do not include the necessary components for recording. If you purchase from somewhere that says the Broadway records, this is inaccurate information. If recording media or accessing your DVR is important to you, you may want to consider Sling or Vulkano. However, if you need a more cost effective way to watch live media, the Broadway is your device!

Have you finally realized the American Dream and moved into your own place? If you have, you might be surprised to realize just how much of home ownership is all about the little things. When you first move in, forgetting to get things like lamps, waste baskets and shower curtains can make for an uncomfortable first night. Once the trip to Wal-Mart for necessities is done, you may now be realizing that you will have to keep a schedule to maintain your household.

Do you know when trash pickup is for your neighborhood? Recycling? When was the last time you had the AC serviced? How often should you clean? Getting into the habit of home maintenance can be daunting, but your Android device can help. These apps are great for the homeowner to keep on track and make sure everything at Chez Android Owner is going smoothly.

For starters, if all those appliances and your leaky roof are mystifying, you may want to consider House Maintenance Schedule for your Android device. Like Car Minder allows you to keep track of your car’s servicing and repairs, so does this app help you track the same things for your home. In this app, you can keep logs of maintenance services, schedule reminders for annual events such as flushing the water heater, septic tank management and maintaining the HVAC system, and other maintenance schedules by months.

You can schedule 6 month reminders for twice-yearly maintenances such as changing smoke detector batteries, cleaning gutters and cleaning stove vent filters. There are also 3 month reminders for things like air filters, and monthly reminders for gardens and other items. It will give you alerts on your phone when something is due and allow you to check off as things are done.

Is your house in desperate need of a cleaning? Not sure where to start? Try House Cleaning Planner for Android. This app allows you to make a specialized “to do” list with alarms for reminders and notes to add any special information to the task. You can set priority, and arrange tasks to do by room. As things get done, check them off the list. Because of the reminders in this app, it works great for reminding you when to take out the trash and do other weekly things as needed, by alerting you when you preset the tasks.

Keep your home safe and livable by tackling home maintenance one step at a time. Don’t become overwhelmed; let your Android device organize things for you. Remember, scaling a mountain begins with the first of many steps!

Have you finally had enough of Apple’s proprietary fingers all over your smartphone? Do you want more freedom to customize your device without needing to hack it? Are you worried that some of your favorite iPhone apps won’t be available for Android if you make the switch from iPhone? Have no fear. With a little planning, researching and determination, transferring your data and favorite apps to a new platform, while it can be some work, is becoming less difficult as free programs designed to transfer data, as well as the ability for Google accounts to sync with many different kinds of platforms, become more prevalent.

To begin with, if you are thinking about moving to Android from iPhone, the first thing you will need is a Gmail account. They are free and easy to set up within minutes. Your Gmail account will become your master account between your devices, syncing your data between the two and providing an online backup of your contacts and calendar information. Once you have the account set up, you can synchronize your iPhone contacts to your Gmail account by setting up an Exchange account in your Email, Calendar and Contacts selection in the Settings, General area of your iPhone. Make sure you choose to set it up as a Microsoft Exchange account on your iPhone and not the offered Gmail account selection.

            From Google Sync Support:

            Open the Settings application on your device’s home screen. Select Mail, Contacts, Calendars and choose Add Account.  You will need to select Microsoft Exchange, NOT Gmail. In Email, enter your full Google Account email address. Leave the Domain field         blank and enter your full Google Account email address as the Username. Enter your       Google Account password and hit Next at the top of your screen. Choose Cancel if             Unable to Verify Certificate appears. When the new Server field appears, enter            m.google.com. Choose Next and select the Google services (Mail, Calendar, and       Contacts) you want to sync. Unless you want to delete all the existing Contacts and   Calendars on your phone, select the Keep on my iPhone (or iPad or iPod touch) option.

What this will do is put all of your iPhone contacts and calendar info into Gmail, which will then sync with your new Android device and transfer existing data over to the new device. Be aware that some Outlook appointments don’t copy over, so look in to that if you find certain items have not transferred.

If you are worried about not having your favorite apps that provide a certain amount of functionality on your new device, you needn’t worry. It is estimated that a good 2/3rds or more of the games you enjoy on one platform will be available on another, especially between iPhone and Android. As far as utility applications or specialized applications, while a specific app might not be available for Android, there is most likely an alternative app that will do the same job, and often it will cost less or be free as opposed to many iOS apps that you would normally have to pay for. The website www.alternativeto.net is a great place to start to look for apps that do the same thing across platforms. For example, Shopping List Pro might be your app of choice for making shipping lists, but Out of Milk for Android is suggested by AlternativeTo.com  as a replacement.

Make a list beforehand of all your iPhone apps, and research which Android apps will do the same thing, so you will have a list of apps to install on your new device, making the transfer easier. Enjoying Android and what you can do with it will be easy if you bring over some familiarity from your old device, and you will be surprised how uncomplicated it can be.

This might be a surprising topic, given how gung ho Android users are about their ability to augment and customize their Android devices, especially ones that have been rooted. Indeed, one of the reasons many Android users choose Android over other phones is because of its reputation as an easily hackable and customizable phone. Rooting your Android device not only gives you access to many locked features and apps you can’t use if the phone were unrooted, but it also allows Android to live up to its reputation as a free spirit, unencumbered by the trappings Apple loves to put on iOS devices. It isn’t often that you hear arguments against rooting Android devices. For many, it’s almost a given that you will root it as soon as you buy it and get it home.

No doubt, you can do a lot more with a hacked device than without, but it would not be fair to consider rooting without also considering the reasons why you might not want to. To begin with, Android is a very customizable system even without the rooting. Unlike many other mobile OSs out there, you can change themes, wallpaper, functionality and a multitude of other things with applications you can find in the legitimate app marketplaces, many of them free. Unless you want to install a completely different version of Android like CyanogenMod, most people are satisfied with the launcher and home screen tweaks they can find in the Market for their devices.

Another thing to consider is the very real possibility of bricking your phone if you do it wrong. Depending on your device, your phone can be insanely easy to root with a simple app like z4root that hacks your phone simply by running the app, or you could end up having to download three programs to your desktop, run your device in a special mode with a complicated dance of button presses as the programs run, or even more involved methods of rooting involving making use of command lines on your computer. If I’ve lost you already, rooting isn’t for you. It might not be worth voiding the warranty of your phone, only to break it and be unable to replace it. granted, most rooting mishaps can be fixed with a factory restore, but permanent problems have been known to happen. Rooting is not a process for beginners, no matter how “easy” the method claims to be.

Another thing to consider is the very real possibility of malware. While not as in depth as the iTunes store, the Android app markets do make a good effort to keep miscreant software out of their offerings. Rooted devices can download anything, but that also means hackers can sneak malware on to your device, and most people never bother to read what permissions they are giving a newly downloaded app anyway. Rooting your device will compromise the security of the device, no matter what security apps you have installed.

Another downside to rooting your device is that you often lose the carrier-enabled push out upgrades to your device. If your carrier sends out new versions of Android over the air, your rooted device might not get these any longer, forcing you to upgrade the system automatically. And that often requires you to re-root the device again. As before, these are not activities for beginners. If you have trouble with anything, rooting voids your warranty and often your carrier repair gurus won’t even talk to you if they discovered you rooted your device. And if they do, be prepared for a lecture.

This is not to say, though, that you shouldn’t root your device if you truly want to. It’s your device, do with it what you will. Just make sure that you are fully informed about the pros and cons of rooting and what you can expect to open yourself up to should you decide to proceed.

Yet another popular iPhone app has hit the Android world and is being hailed amongst Android users. Instagram is an app now available for any phone running 2.2 or above. It’s a photo sharing app that allows users to post photos to social media, and to Instagram’s own network, but goes far beyond a mere photo sharing feature. Imagine if Flikr and Retro Camera cross pollinated: Voilà you have Instagram! The app allows you to take photos, run them through a digital filter, add hashtags for social media searching, and a number of other handy things.

Originally launched in the iTunes store back in 2010, it didn’t take long for Instagram to rack up over a million users. Two years later, that number has doubled, especially with the addition of Android users. Right after the release of the Android version, Instagram was acquired by Facebook to better integrate it with social media photo sharing. This caused some grumbles from users about monopolies, but in the long run, it means Instagram will continue to get funding, and therefore updates, and it should more fluidly integrate with Facebook as a Facebook app.

The digital filters included in this free app are include borders, tint adjustment, polaroid, lighting, and chromatic adjustments. This means you can make any picture taken with your phone look like it came from your dad’s old Instamatic or Polaroid camera, giving it a vintage look. You can add borders and blur effects as well, turning your photos into works of art.

You can also add hashtags, which are a type of keyword inserted into a social media post metadata that allow other users to search for that post via that hashtag. A sample hashtag can include #Italytrip, and this hashtag inserted into your Instagram photos of your vacation means your social network friends can look for them. Your friends can also comment on your photos as well. Hashtags are especially popular on Twitter, if this is the social media network you make most use of.

As a simple, free app, Instagram works great as a standalone photo modification app. however, if you want your friends to see your creations, it’s also a powerful social sharing app. Give it a try and see how you like it!

With another Earth Day having just passed, and with the upcoming release of the LG Optimus Prime, billed as an eco-friendly Android device made of recycled materials, the question of how better to go “green” using your smartphone is bound to come up. Turns out, your Android device can help you in many ways become a more Earth-friendly consumer. Your device can help you keep recycling schedules, learn to compost, learn eco-friendly gardening, and a number of other skills.

Are you worried about your carbon footprint when you travel?

Try Ecorio. This carbon footprint calculator helps you keep track of your emissions footprint by using your GPS system on your device to track your travel and your driving efficiency. It can suggest less traffic heavy routes to save gas, and if you  must burn fuel, you also have the option of purchasing carbon credits through Google Checkout in the app itself. Carbon credits work by donating money to green-friendly enterprises and developments, such as wind farms and biofuel research, to offset the incurred carbon Karma of burning the fuel you are using.

Do you want to drive in the HOV lane?

If you want to encourage carpooling, check out Carticipate, an app that lets you coordinate with potential carpoolers in your area. Obviously you want to establish a relationship with potential carpoolers so you aren’t just driving off with strangers every morning. But if you can hook up with others who work in your area, everyone can save gas.

Do you like keeping up with the green news of the day?

Check out Eco Buzz Widget for your Android device. This app works as a specialized RSS widget that displays headlines from green blogs across the Internet concerning developments in environment and sustainability, right on your phone’s home screen. You’re guaranteed to learn something new every day, from poachers in Africa hunting endangered species to efforts to stem rainforest decimation.

Do you want to do more recycling, but your community doesn’t have dedicated recycle pickup?

Check out the iRecycle mobile app for Android. This app can give you the nearest location of recycle centers and drop off sites, as well as tips on how best to recycle your trash.Your Android device can be your eco-friendly encyclopedia, with the right apps to keep you on track to a greener lifestyle.