Android

Impulse buyers, beware. Loopt is jumping on the deal-a-day bandwagon, pushing alerts for deeply discounted goods and services in its location-aware social-networking app for iPhone (iOS) and Android.

Loopt's new "Reward Alerts" program, announced today in time for next week's South By Southwest technology and music conference, will push notifications for instantly redeemable deals.

However, to keep its daily deal from being a dime a dozen, Loopt will push a few high-value deals at various times throughout the day. Deals are based on your location, possibly down to the city block if the provider wants, and … Read more

Motorola grabbed the spotlight a few weeks ago when it introduced its Atrix Android-powered smartphone. The handset isn't just a fairly impressive smartphone, it also has the capability to combine Voltron style with a type of dock that turns it into a laptop replacement.

Motorola is calling the gadget a "webtop" computer. It's not meant to be a user's main computing device--it uses the handset as a primary brain, so it's underpowered when compared with even a Netbook--but it's an interesting competitor to other not-as-laptop portables, like tablets.

And despite having its own tablet on the market, the Xoom, … Read more

Welcome to the 411, my column answering all your questions about cell phones and cell phone accessories. I receive plenty of questions about these subjects via e-mail, so I figured many of you might have similar queries, too. At times, I might solicit answers from readers if I'm stumped. Send your questions and comments to me at nicole.lee@cnet.com. If you prefer to remain anonymous, let me know in the e-mail.

Question: I'm a Verizon customer, and very soon my upgrade is up. I've had a Motorola Q, and now a BlackBerry Tour, and quite frankly, I love having a QWERTY keyboard without all the slide-out stuff. However, I'm also totally a techie, and while the Motorola Droid Pro seemed like my dream phone at the time, that came out quite a while ago in "cell phone years," and from what I read it was just "OK." I'm thinking I might have to switch to a more touch-screen-based phone, since they get all the best capabilities, but I really don't want to if there is something else on the horizon.

Is there something that I should just wait on that would be more for me, or am I just likely stuck with either the Droid Pro, or a more touch-screen phone like the iPhone (which I will definitely wait for its future versions since Verizon is switching over to 4G, and the current Verizon iPhone is already in a way dated) or one of the many droids?--Jonathan, via e-mail

I wouldn't want to force you to switch to a touch-screen phone if you're not quite ready, but you're right that the touch screen is where it's at if you want a high-end smartphone.… Read more

Update: This post was updated on March 1, 2011 to reflect graphical options we previously overlooked in the Dungeon Defenders game. We'd previously stated that the iPad version of the game had more aliasing than the Xoom, but overlooked an option in the game to smooth out the graphics and have since updated the 3D graphics section. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused. Thank you.

The tablet wars will be in full swing in the next couple of weeks. Last week, we witnessed the opening salvo with the release of Motorola's Xoom. The Xoom is … Read more

Losing a cell phone is never an ideal scenario, but Sprint is now offering smartphone customers an additional protective measure if their handsets go astray. Starting today, Android and BlackBerry users who sign up for the carrier's Total Equipment Protection plan not only can get a new phone, but also they'll be able to wipe their missing handsets.

The service, which will be included in the plan's $7-per-month charge, offers a number of features. Subscribers can back up and erase contacts on the lost device, remotely lock a smartphone, and track a device via GPS while seeing … Read more

HTC has confirmed that at least four of its existing Android smartphones will see Gingerbread in the second quarter of this year. A company representative informed SlashGear that update would arrive on the Desire, the Desire HD (the global version of the Evo 4G), the Desire Z (the global version of the T-Mobile G2), and the forthcoming Incredible S.

Looking at HTC's track record for releases, I might also look for Gingerbread to come to Sprint's Evo 4G, Verizon's Droid Incredible, and a few others. What's more, I anticipate that the Wildfire S and Desire S will get Android 2.3 as well, considering they, too, were announced at Mobile World Congress earlier this month.

As mentioned, the T-Mobile G2 and myTouch 4G are U.S. versions of the Desire Z and Desire HD, so expect those handsets to get the update as well. Depending on how far apart the Android updates get, these phones should be powerful enough to handle another release or two.… Read more

Today's show title comes from this scene in Billy Madison, but unfortunately Adam Sandler got no recognition at last night's Academy Awards.

We thought James Franco and Anne Hathaway made a cute couple of hosts, and we appreciated James's #oscarsrealtime updates but we also agree with Roger Ebert and the LA Times, who gave critical reviews of the remarkably tame ceremony.

As usual, the Oscar food puns for each nominee were borderline more entertaining than the show itself.

Last week we talked about a Facebook app called Breakup Notifier that would send you a message when your crush changed his or her relationship status to "single."

Well, an "accidental" change in the Facebook developer's code permanently disabled access to such notifications, so creator Dan Loewenherz clever shifted his focus to a new project called the Crush Notifier.

The Facebook Crush Notifier lets you purchase Facebook credits that allow you to select crushes in your friend list. Those individuals are notified in an anonymous e-mail, and have the option to rate you back.

If you're selected as well, you'll receive a similar message- unfortunately… Read more

The Motorola Droid Pro is a fair approximation of a BlackBerry handset, minus the inferior keyboard and the fact that it doesn't come close to matching Research In Motion's security measures. Add the Divide for Android app, launching today in private beta, and suddenly the handset has a chance of fulfilling business professionals' Android dreams.

The awkwardly named Enterproid start-up has created an app (and platform) called Divide. It adds a secure, corporate-friendly business profile to the Android phone, akin in concept if not in technical specifics to a partition on your computer's hard drive.

With it, … Read more

Our guest on today's episode of The 404 Podcast is Russ Frushtick, the games and tech editor for MTV Multiplayer, but the ESRB has assigned him an AO rating for Adults Only, so he won't be visiting Australia anytime soon. Similarly, Australia also refuses to welcome the latest Mortal Kombat game due to excessive violence.

The real story, however, is Australia's outdated rules for video game classification that currently only accommodate a maximum MA15+ rating, so video games that surpass these limitations are automatically banned in the country.

Since Australian adults still have access to mature media in its other myriad forms, it doesn't make sense that local gamers can't also enjoy video games with similarly "explicit" content.

And speaking of risque video games, a U.K.-only Nintendo Wii title is promising "flirty fun for all" with its latest adult-friendly release, called We Dare. The trailer for We Dare illustrates gameplay in the form of four consenting adults using the Wii remote to control virtual versions of party games like Spin The Bottle, Kiss Under the Mistletoe, and the ever-popular Take Off Your Clothes.

The We Dare trailer is a perfect example of vendors using viral marketing to hype up the release of video games that may not be as fun as the videos suggest.

The Dead Island trailer is making similar waves for two reasons: because of its graphic nature that makes sensitive babies like Wilson and me squirm, but also because it doesn't show footage of actual gameplay in Dead Island.

Game previews often show cut scenes or, worse, videos exclusively created for the trailers, which leaves plenty of gamers feeling cheated when the gameplay doesn't even come close… Read more