The size of this ICS update for Galaxy Note is nearly 318.89 MB. So a WiFi connection is recommended in any case to update your device.

Samsung Premium Suite

Just to touch upon Samsung’s Premium Suite,  it’s basically a software package built to use the digital stylus & large screen space efficiently. Watch the official video put out by Samsung which demonstrates the use of the Premium suite apps on the Galaxy Note.

Galaxy Note users can either update their devices directly upon receiving the notification or use the Samsung Kies application to update via PC. Some developers say that the ICS version is 4.0.3 & has a build date of 4th may.

ICS Update notification screenshot by @blue13x & Source : AndroidPolice.

This article (Samsung Galaxy Note gets the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Update) was published by Mani Viswanathan on AndroidGram - Android News, Tutorials & Tricks.

Flipboard has been named as the iPad app of the year & even TIME magazine had featured the app in the Top 50 Innovations list.

The Android version of Flipboard is due for release. But Samsung Galaxy S III (or SGS3) comes with the official app which a developer from xda-developers managed to extract and released the .apk file (Download link has been added below).

For the moment, just play around with the app. I will review it when Flipboard releases the Android version officially.

Download Flipboard [Unofficial]

Thanks to Ajit & Raza for the info about the app.

This article (Flipboard for Android – Leaked SGS3 apk File) was published by Mani Viswanathan on AndroidGram - Android News, Tutorials & Tricks.

Instagram on Monday, agreed to the acquisition terms and conditions mutually put forward by both the parties. The San Francisco based company currently has around 13 employees. Now with this acquisition Instagram has made it clear that the basic functionality, features of the app won’t be affected either on the Android or iOS platform.

In fact, both the companies have made it clear that social sharing won’t be tweaked in order to favor Facebook. Instagram will be working closely with Facebook to improve it’s photo sharing experience.

Instagram “Independently” acquired by Facebook

Facebook’s Newsroom blog says,

We believe these are different experiences that complement each other. But in order to do this well, we need to be mindful about keeping and building on Instagram’s strengths and features rather than just trying to integrate everything into Facebook. That’s why we’re committed to building and growing Instagram independently.

Millions of people around the world love the Instagram app and the brand associated with it, and our goal is to help spread this app and brand to even more people.

We think the fact that Instagram is connected to other services beyond Facebook is an important part of the experience. We plan on keeping features like the ability to post to other social networks, the ability to not share your Instagrams on Facebook if you want, and the ability to have followers and follow people separately from your friends on Facebook.

Kevin Systrom, Instagram’s CEO & Co-Founder writes in the official blog post,

It’s important to be clear that Instagram is not going away. We’ll be working with Facebook to evolve Instagram and build the network. We’ll continue to add new features to the product and find new ways to create a better mobile photos experience.

I think you’ve got enough information about the Instagram acquisition. Now lets see what the Twitterverse had to say about this.

• Eldon ReTweets – rim shot. “@technosailor: Kinda like Techcrunch RT @eldon: so instagram to stay “independent”.
• Ajit Tweets - Two services I never use,Facebook and Instagram are together now. Piercentage of fuck given = 0.
• zerohedge ReTweets - NYT needs more color filters RT @dkberman: Remember this day. 551-day-old Instagram is worth $1BN. 116-year-old New York Times Co.: $967MM.
• iTannu ReTweets - And buy Air India ??? RT @madhuchhanda11: Vijay Mallaya needs to get in touch with Mark Zukerberg … !!!.
• Nicky Tweets - Looks like Facebook waited till Instagram was rolled out to android users too and then bought it.

So what is your personal view on this big acquisition ? Do you think this will change the way Instagram functions ?? Will you continue to use Instagram for Android or uninstall it from your device just because Facebook has acquired it ???

This article (Instagram Acquired by Facebook for $1 Billion) was published by Mani Viswanathan on AndroidGram - Android News, Tutorials & Tricks.

Probably this Android game app is the next big thing after Angry Birds Space and others. It was pushed into the Play Store on 6th February and has managed to get over 10,000,000+ installations till today. The user ratings & reviews are pretty good as well.

I’ve been playing this game for a week now and must admit I was slightly addicted to it for the first few days. If you download it then I promise (not quite literally) you’ll will be addicted as well, unless you hate drawing & funny stuff.

Draw Something doesn’t come with much customizations/options and focuses on the main gameplay i.e. ‘A’ draws something (from among 3 words/things suggested by the app) and ‘B’ guesses the drawing from a set of jumbled letters given on the screen.

If your friend can’t guess the drawing or clue given by you, then the pass button can be pressed. But remember this will end your streak and the match will restart.

The novelty of this app is that it sticks to the basics and allows you to explain the word (you pick from the 3) in whichever way you want. You can either simply draw the word/thing without clues or you can give hints to your friend in the form of words (synonyms or related stuff obviously), drawing plus words, etc.

You can either play with random users on Draw Something or with your friends (only if you have their IDs).

Draw Something – Features

Now I’m not going to offer a detailed review about the app. So will stick with some key features.

• 900+ Words (though some words were repeated a couple of times), 2500 in the paid version.
• 5 free bombs (i.e. you can change the list of words & jumbled letters 5 times freely).
• Obviously the Turn-By-Turn gameplay is the highlight of Draw Something.
• Video replays of your friends’ guess.
• Ability to change colors, brush size & trash the canvas.
• Impressive UI.

Known Bugs & Tricks

Along with some wondrous features this app does have some bugs.

• Loading the app is a problem at times.
• Buttons placed at the bottom of the screen are so close-by that you end you up sending the drawing to your friend instead of trashing it. So spacing needs to be re-looked at.
• Once you click on ‘Play’ you’ll be suggested three words to pick from, but you can easily avoid those three words (without wasting a bomb) by just pressing the hardware menu button.
• Restart Draw Something and you’ll be presented with a new list of words. You can call this a trick but for a developer it is a big bug (Unfortunately I got to know this, after all my bombs had blasted).

Try out Draw Something from the download link given below.

Download Draw Something Free

Finally, a thank you to Nicky for introducing me to Draw Something & yes the screenshot which contains the cat is hers. Looks good no ?

This article (Draw Something Free – Play the ‘Guess’ game with your Friends) was published by Mani Viswanathan on AndroidGram - Android News, Tutorials & Tricks.

It seems like the Android version of the popular photo-uploading app will hit the stores sooner than we expected. A few hours ago Instagram’s official Twitter handle sent out a tweet offering Android users an early access to the app.

So if you want to try Instagram out, then go to this link and add your email id to the possibly long list. I’ve already subscribed to their list, just hoping that I get a relatively early access to try the app fully.

If I get the Instagram for Android app then I’ll update this section or write a new post regarding it’s features & of course the changes from the iPhone version.

This article (Get Early Access to Instagram for Android) was published by Mani Viswanathan on AndroidGram - Android News, Tutorials & Tricks.

Making a Nokia device run an Android OS is commendable. Yes, the Android community has developers who make custom ROMs and release it every now and then but these people at NITDroid have done a commendable job.

There is certainly a list of apps or functions which won’t on this Nokia N9 ran by custom ICS 4.0.3,but that is understandable. The developers have named it ‘Project Mayhem’.

Watch the video released by NITDroid which demonstrates what I’ve written above.

Video of Nokia N9 running NITDroid’s ICS 4.0.3

Installation

Well since I don’t own a Nokia N9 I’m not in a position to try NITDroid’s custom ICS 4.0.3 on it. So just go through their official installation guide and check it out. Remember this custom ICS OS is released as Alpha, so test it at your own risk.

With this, the developers at Nokia might change their mind which is currently set only on Windows Phone OS. Nokia’s hardware is more than decent so a good operating software would augment their sales.

What do you think about this custom ICS version running on Nokia N9 ?

This article ([Video] Nokia N9 tastes Android Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.3) was published by Mani Viswanathan on AndroidGram - Android News, Tutorials & Tricks.

Around 4 -6 hours ago Rovio released the Angry Birds Space game on the Google Play Store but the surprising part is that there is no link on Rovio’s official announcement page.

Anyways, lets focus on the game for the moment. As the name of the game suggests this series of Angry Birds works on the zero-gravity principle which makes the game more interesting and really amplifies the ‘physics-based game’ tag.

The design and flash effects are brilliant but when I played the first few levels I found that the Birds look really small even when zoomed-in (max). And unlike it’s previous series(s) the zoom effect is not as smooth as you’d expect it to be. Perhaps, my phone was over-loaded at that moment.

Angry Birds Space Features

Since I have completed only the first 11 levels, I’m listing down the features which the developers have put up on the Play Store listings.

• Angry Birds Space comes with 60 levels which Rovio calls the ‘Interstellar levels’.
• New Angrier Birds.
• Additional powers have been given to these birds.
• Asteroids and TNT keep floating around when the game is on.

In the above image you can see a circular thing surrounding a hard mass, now when the birds pass through the circular covering/layer then the zero-gravity effect comes into place. So you’d need to assume the path sometimes as the gravity effect keeps on changing (courtesy: another layer placed inside the main circular wrapper.

Download the app from the Play Store either by navigating from your device or by using the direct download link.

Download Angry Birds Space

I liked Angry Birds Space, what about you ?

This article (Download Angry Birds Space Game from the Play Store) was published by Mani Viswanathan on AndroidGram - Android News, Tutorials & Tricks.

Now Rovio, the company behind Angry Birds, the popular physics based game has released an official trailer of it’s next version Angry Birds Space which is set to release tomorrow (i.e. 22nd March, 2012).

The trailer looks very impressive and we are in for a treat. Since Angry Birds Seasons was free to download we can expect Space to be free as well. Check out the official trailer released by Rovio on their YouTube channel.

Angry Birds Space Official Trailer

Remember the release date is 22nd March, so don’t forgot to test the app as soon as it’s available for download. To know more about Angry Birds Space check out the official page.

Update : Download Angry Birds Space

You can now download Angry Birds Space from the Google Play Store.

So did you like the concept of Angry Birds Space ?

This article ([Video] Angry Birds Space Official Trailer) was published by Mani Viswanathan on AndroidGram - Android News, Tutorials & Tricks.