Snake Extreme is a game of Snake developed by mToy. You might be thinking that every snake game is alike, but you’re sadly mistaken. This game has two gamemodes, four speed levels, and customizable controls. It’s currently rated 4 stars in the Android Market. The two gamemodes in this game are very similar, though they have to be because it’s still a snake game. It has Classic which is the standard snake game we all know and love. Then there’s Extreme. Extreme is weird because every time you pick up a bobble, not only does your trail get longer but a green block randomly appears. Now, green blocks are ones that kill you when you hit them, blue blocks are the ones you pick up, and red blocks are your trail. So for every blue block you pick up, a green one randomly appears and a red one adds itself to your trail. This eventually becomes a challenge if you’re either unlucky or get too far. I often find myself picking one up and immediately flying into the newly spawned green block and losing. This is probably only because I play on crazy fast. Now the speeds are pretty simple, there’s slow, medium, fast, and crazy fast. I find myself thinking the game is too easy if I play anything but crazy fast. The only bad part about this game is the high scores. They’re only remotely, not locally, and the submission method for scores is terrible. I’ve had so much trouble getting their server to load and so I just stopped trying to submit my score to them. Other than this minor inconvenience, the application is probably the best snake game on the Android Market and it was the first application that I ever got for my Droid. I’d have to agree with the Android Market rating of 4 stars, only because of the terrible high score system.
- Aaron Weiss
Download :
CyanogenMod 5.0.6 (N1 and Droid) Released
Just a quick update to mention that CyanogenMod 5.0.6 was released today for the Nexus One and Droid. This release features various fixes and a few new features including a 5 column app drawer, auto-rotating home screen via accelerometer, a few new camera features, and animated GIF support in the browser (what did we ever do without it?).
Nexus One users may also notice a slight improvement in 3G performance. In my tests, I’ve seen a roughly 500 kbps increase in speed after the update on the AT&T network.
You can view the full changelog here.
You can grab the update using the previously reviewed CMUpdater app or with ROM Updater (available on the Android Market - QR code at the end of this post) or you can download it manually using the following links:
- Brad Hoagland
Download ROM Manager:
App Review - doubleTwist
It goes without saying that every smartphone on the market today is compared to Apple’s iPhone. One point often made is the ease of media syncing on the iPhone via iTunes. Apple has vehemently disallowed third party devices from working in iTunes. As a user of both an iPhone and a Nexus One, I definitely initially missed the ease of use and one-stop syncing that iTunes offered on my Android device.
However, an excellent solution exists for the shortcomings of iTunes called doubleTwist. The goal of doubleTwist is to provide a universal media syncing solution for a wide range of devices. It features the ability to read your existing iTunes library and sync media from iTunes to your non-Apple device. It also supports the ability to import playlists from iTunes into the doubleTwist application. As with iTunes, you are able to specify specifically which playlists you would like synced to your desired device. doubleTwist has support for syncing music, video, and photos. New features include an integrated podcast search (with podcast subscribing and syncing on the list of upcoming features), integrated Android Market search, and access to Amazon’s music store. The Android Market access from within doubleTwist is a nice feature, however, you must currently scan an app’s QR code using your Android device to access and install the app on your device. Downloading/purchasing and queuing functionality similar to that of the App Store within iTunes would be a welcome feature.
doubleTwist supports a large number of devices in addition to Android including, Palm Pre, Blackberry, and current Windows Mobile devices (Windows only). Apple’s iPod and iPhone devices are also supported for those that may feel that iTunes is bloated and slow. There is even planned support for the Nintendo DSi.
doubleTwist also includes some social networking features such as Twitter and Facebook integration.
The developers of doubleTwist seem to be very actively improving and expanding the application. I have found this application invaluable for managing the media on my Nexus One. With it I am able to keep the media on both my iPhone and Nexus One identical and up-to-date. The application is fast, lightweight, and very stable. I recommend it for anyone wanting to expand their iTunes library to non-Apple devices or simply start a completely separate media library and break free of the “walled garden” of Apple.
- Brad Hoagland
Download:
Replica Island is a game developed by Team Replica in which you play as a small green android. Your goal is to locate a mysterious artefact known as The Source. The game boasts 40 levels and 3 endings as well as a decent control scheme. You control your android with the directional pad and jump/fly with the blue button seen on screen. The red button can be used to crush or control enemies. On each level, you collect pearls or golden bobbles similar to rings from Sonic. However, these are not dropped when you get hit and don’t act as health. Instead, you collect 20 of these and you are awarded with temporary invulnerability. Your health is essentially 3-hits and after that you die. To complete a level, you must gather 3 red gems in the level. Each level is referred to as a “memory” and the game isn’t entirely linear in that you occasionally skip around between the levels. The levels can be challenging but some are also very easy. The game is given a 4.5 stars on the Android market and I have to say that I agree with this rating. It’s a very fun game with a unique storyline and lots of gameplay.
- Aaron Weiss
Note : Please ignore any clipping in the screenshots, the game doesn’t look like that.
Download :
