Top Free Games for Android

Updated (3/12/2010) to Include Nesoid and Snesoid

My top 5 6 favorite free games (plus one for <$2) for android are:

• Nesoid & Snesoid - NES and SNES emulator for Android. This thing Rocks. To play games you  download ROM files to your memory card. Once added you you open the emulator and select the file/game you want to play. Theoldcomputer.com has tons of ROMs to download for NES and SNES.

• Cestos - Online multi-player game where you try to knock the other players balls off the screen or into a hole. Use your fingers to line up your shot and hope you don't hit a mine and knock yourself out! So much fun!

• Robo Defense - Line up your defense and try and stop the enemies from entering your tower. Kill enemies to earn more money and buy guns, flame towers, and cannons to stop them. 

• Trap! - Its kind of like the old school InkBall game for Windows tablet PCs. You draw lines to trap moving balls into boxes. You get bonus's and extra goodies by also trapping icons. Get 75% of the screen covered and your on to the next level.
  

• Graviturn - Uses the accelerometer to move the red and green circles around the screen. The objective is simple; remove all red dots from the screen while keeping the remaining green circles. Simple at first but gets much harder in the more advanced levels.
  

• Armored Strike Lite - Remember the old game Worms? It was one of my favorites. This game is just like it but with a little less functionality. Point and aim at your enemies and shoot missiles/grenades to damage your enemies . Be the last tank standing and you win.
  

• What The Doodle? (UK£ 1.00 or ~$1.60 US) - Okay well this is typically the 6th game but it also isn't free. Its an online pictionary type game where you try and guess the other players drawings. You get points for correctly guessing other drawings and also by having other guessers correctly get yours.
  

Using Bluetooth with your Car

I just purchased a new 2010 Mazda3 w/ Bluetooth capabilities and one of the first thing I wanted to do is hook up my Droid. I turned on my car's Bluetooth and was prompted to setup a passcode.  Next I turned the Droid's Bluetooth on by going to Settings -> Wireless & networks -> Bluetooth settings. Make sure your device is discoverable  Once you see the device you want to connect to, click on the device's name and type in the passcode you just created. Your devices should now be paired. Long press the device name and select Options... Make sure Phone and Media are both selected.

 

Once the device is paired you should be able to make and receive calls, listen to music, and get turn by turn directions all through the stereo system of your vehicle. Google Navigation pauses the music to give direction updates, when and where to turn, and then resumes playing music. When receiving a call the phone also automatically pauses the music and takes the call with ease. When the call is ended the phone resumes music playback.

My car also has a contact import feature that allows me to send contacts from my address book to the car's phonebook. I didn't find a quick native way to transfer contacts so I downloaded Bluetooth File Transfer. Accept the Bluetooth permission request and click Menu -> More -> Send contacts. Select the contact you wish to transfer then click Send.

Slacker Station Caching (updated 2/24/10)

Update 2/24/2010: I've been using Slacker 2.0 for about a day now and want to give a quick review of features.

• Cached radio stations are downloaded to your memory card so you can listen to slacker radio without a network connection. 
• Caching greatly increases battery performance. 
• Stations can automatically be refreshed overnight when phone plugged in.
• The interface is very smooth and responsive
• App comes with a nice widget with album art
• Share music your listening with friends via email, sms or twitter.

Slacker 2.0 Widget

Unfortunately, to enable slacker caching you need slacker radio plus which is $4.99/month but there is a 14-day free-trial period.  I personally don't mind paying the $5 a month since I can now use slacker while I'm at work with no cell service, at home though the web, and in the car via FM transmitter. Works as a nice satellite radio alternative.

Update 2/23/2010: Slacker 2.0 (v2.0.40) was released today with caching capabilities. I am downloading now and will post later with more info.  Enjoy!

Reader Jimmy S submitted a question asking:

Can you find me a way to continue using pandora at work.  My productivity has suffered since they blocked it.

I am not a pandora user so I don't know much about the android app. I do know that one feature that's missing is station caching.  I use slacker radio on both the desktop and android and before I switched to android, the blackberry slacker version had caching. Station caching ables you to listen without an internet connection; It works by saving the stations music to your internal memory card. It also saves battery life because its not using the network connection. Unfortunately, slacker 2.0, the version that supports caching, was announced at the 2010 CES and is not currently released. As soon as its released (hopefully 2-3 weeks) I will make sure to update the post.

Slacker 1.0.388 on Motorola Droid

Android Google Maps 4.0...now with buzz

4 days after I wrote about Google Maps 3.4 with Pinch Zoom, Google Maps  (v4.0 for Motorola Droid) came out with Buzz support. Post a buzz with or without a picture and view other people's buzzes(?) that are near you.

Swype Tips and Tricks [video]

As a follow-up to my previous post on Swype, I decided to make a video showing some tips and tricks. Its my first video so comments are greatly appreciated. 

Reader DCuTiE17 posted a question asking how to delete a word from the Swype Dictionary. If you watched the video above you remember that I added a word "hffvug". All you need to do to remove it is write the word and click the swype icon in the in the bottom left of the keyboard. You will then be prompted to remove the word from the Swype Dictionary.  

Android 2.1 for Droid rolling out 'this week'

Updated (2/14/2010)

Well motorola took back their statement on releasing the Android 2.1 update "this week" but they did release a page on their website that gives a timeline on update. The offical new statement for the Droid is:

The DROID by Motorola over-the-air software upgrade is expected to roll out soon

Motorola announced on their facebook page:

Hi all-- we know you are frustrated with the lack of details regarding Android software upgrades and we sincerely apologize for not being able to share info sooner. We're happy to relay the 2.1 upgrade to DROID will start to roll out this week, and we will have more information to share on other device upgrades laterthis week as well. Thanks for your patience and continued support.

And according to engadget the 2.1 motorola droid update will contain the following updates:

• Identified as 2.1 version 1, mirroring the update just pushed to the Nexus One last week.
• Google Goggles will be pre-installed
• The browser's now has multi-touch enabled, just like Google Maps 3.4
• No Flash support
• The home screen's still has the 2.0.1 look, no rotating 3D grid of app icons (people think its because the Nexus One doesn't have a slider and the icon grid was not designed for landscape mode.
• No active wallpapers
• The news and weather widgets introduced on the Nexus One are included. 
• No information if the Picture Gallery will be multi-touch and 3D same as on the Nexus One or not
• Music Player Application Updates
• Voice Recognition for text input screens