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Top 5 Back-to-School Apps for Android Tablets

Summer is going to be over before you know it and that means scholars from middle school to grad school will once again be hit with heavy homework assignments and reading materials that don’t exactly qualify as beach-worthy thrillers. Filing back into the classroom can be a shock to your system after a few months of lazy days or working – suddenly everyone expects you to keep it together, show initiative and know your stuff. Luckily there’s an app for that. Here are five apps for Android tablets that will help keep you organized in and out of the classroom.

1. My Class Schedule

my-classroomThis is the app that is going to save your life because it will be running your life for the next 10 months or so. No need to waste valuable brain space remembering where you need to be or what you ought to be doing when you’re using this app for Android tablets. You probably guessed that it knows your class schedule. It also knows when exams are coming. And it knows what homework is due when. My Class Schedule can even remind you to hit the books when you have unfinished assignments or a test next Tuesday so you never have to convince a prof that your dog ate your essay. (Free)

6 Awesome Android Apps for Gadget Geeks

swiss-army-knife-androidThe app world for Android (and iPhones/iPads) is ever-changing, so don’t be too annoyed that this is still yet another list of apps. This list is on the practical side of life, so you should find at least one in here that’ll be of some use to you. Personally, I use ColorNote myself at least daily.

1. ColorNote Notepad Notes

Here is a free app that will help you become more organized. You can color code your notes (or lists) to keep track of them more easily. There are widgets to display them in your launcher and reminders can be configured to remind you either once or on a recurring basis.

Google Video Chat on Android

Video Chat Coming to Android Phones

Google Video Chat on AndroidI just got a call, a video call that is, from one of my Google friends with an Android smartphone. The call came in over my Google Talk client built into Gmail, and at first I thought it was just a regular voice call, but when I clicked Answer, there was my friend walking along and talking.

He had of course called to rub in the fact that he (already) had an Android phone with video chat 😉 I totally took it for granted how clear the video actually was. Keep in mind that he was walking, and I could see the sky and trees behind him, yet the video was not jumpy and there were no dropouts. Color me impressed.

Sony S2 Android Tablet

Sony Shows Off 2 New Android Tables

Sony S1 Android Tablet

Last but not least, Sony is now in the Android tablet game, joining existing entrants Samsung, Motorola, et al. Well at least their announcment is on the books as the tablets won’t be released until later this Fall.

Sony showed off 2 models at their press conference: the S1 and S2, which is a dual-screen clamshell. Both S1 and S2 will run Android’s 3.0 version (Honeycomb) which is what the Xoom also runs.

Samsung Digital Camera Can Be Controlled With Android App

The Samsung SH100 is a pretty standard, but quality, Wi-Fi digital camera. It packs an impressive 14.2MP, has 5x optical zoom and takes MicroSD and SDHC cards.

But it’s also got a hidden secret. Download the associated Android app for your smartphone and you can control the camera over WiFi using your phone, take photos with it and even view your photos afterwards.

Google Rolls Out Web version of Android Marketplace; Uses Poor Domain Name

Finally, Google has rolled out a Web-based store to browse the Android app marketplace.  Not that mobile phone users didn’t have access to the app store before, but it was only from their smartphones.

You can visit the new marketplace on the Web at Market.Android.com.  Unfortunately, Google stumbled a bit here, because while the domain name is Market.Android.com, the title and branding is set to “Android Market”. However, if you visit AndroidMarket.com, you will end up at Robotic Magazine’s website.

I think Google needs to open up the checkbook and buy this domain out, so users get to where they really want to go.

Android Gingerbread 2.3 to have NFC support

NFC in AndroidWe’ve covered NFC tech in the past, notably the work done by Nokia and tititag (now touchtag). Now a vendor with a lot more marketplace clout is adding NFC support to one of its products, namely Google to its Android mobile OS.

The next version of Android, v2.3 (Gingerbread) will include support for the industry standard of NFC (Near Field Communications). So how will this benefit you? Well NFC will allow you to interact with other NFC and RFID-tagged devices to perform acts such as transferring money (think credit card payments), ‘beaming’ data, reading info, all by simply coming within range of those devices and with few button presses.

This is welcome news for NFC enthusiasts as it will probably (hopefully) give it a welcome boost in uptake.

Was Steve Jobs ranting about Google and Android or simply defending iOS?

Hit play on the YouTube video (it’s just audio) and listen to Steve Jobs defend iOS’s ‘closed’ nature versus Google and Android’s ‘open’, and as he put it, fragmented approach. It’s quite characteristic of a company having a healthy fear of their competition. After all, it wasn’t that long ago that Apple was dominating the sleek, sexy smartphone market, while Android was merely talk and slideshows.

But today, Android is chalking up major wins because of its ‘open’ nature that has it working on numerous devices from many handset makers and even more crucially on many different carriers. Notice how Jobs failed to mention that little point. He also questions the numbers (of Android handsets sold), when a more astute observation would be how quickly Android adoption is occurring. But I’m sure he knows that fully well and this is just part of his dilemma. …

Car Home for Android improves your navigation

Car Home for Android

A new version of Car Home is out for Android 2.2.  It includes GPS navigation of course, but better still is voice-control and contacts list. The new version allows for more customization.

Although Google says its only available for Droid and the Nexus One, users (in the comments) are noting how they have gotten it to work on different handsets. Your mileage may vary of course.

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