Friday, December 24, 2010

Second Installment of the Text Review--Tango

So, the site is still down and as such we have for you the second installment of the written review.

Today's review, in the spirit of the Holidays, is on an application that can help bring people closer together despite the greatest of distances. This App is called Tango, and like last night's app review it makes use of your phone's camera.

Unlike last night's review however, Tango works similar to the way FaceTime (or "video chatting" as we mortals call it) does on the iphone 4. Unlike the iphone, however, Tango reaches a broad spectrum of users as it is available to both iphone and android users, is available on wifi, 3g, or 4g, and lastly and perhaps most significantly, doesnt require a front facing camera.Thats right, now you can show your loved ones across the country your babies first Christmas, or you can send your friend a video showing that you really did beat his high score all from the comfort of your own home using nothing more than your android or apple based mobile phone.

To see a list of phones that Tango is available for check out this link http://www.tango.me/product/phones.php and be sure to check the drop down menu on the right to select your phone's manufacturer.

Once again, to download this application directly to your phone scan the box below with the "Barcode Scanner" application

Second Post of the Night, We Really Are Back!

Well this is kind of a cop out post since I'm just going to copy word for word what Kuan Yong said (he works for youtube)But it is an app that I have used quite a bit (going back to the lazy college kid stereotype) If you don't feel like reading the whole report I'll sum up what he says at the end.

Control YouTube on the desktop, or the TV... with the YouTube Remote app for your phone
If you’re like me, you love watching YouTube on your smartphone. My phone is always with me, which means my favorite YouTube videos are never more than a few taps away. Sometimes though, mid-watch, I wish I could get a big-screen experience of that video. What if there was a way to wirelessly “connect” my phone to a much larger screen, like a Google TV?

Cue YouTube Remote, a new Android app that we’re launching in the Android Market today.

YouTube Remote creates a virtual connection between your phone and YouTube Leanback. To ‘pair’ your phone with your Leanback screen, simply sign into YouTube Remote on your Android phone, and to YouTube Leanback on your Google TV or computer with the same YouTube account. Just like that, you've connected your powerful multi-touch Android screen with the biggest screen in your home. Once connected, you can use the rich browse and discovery interface on YouTube Remote to find and queue up videos to watch, and send them all to Leanback with a single tap. With YouTube Remote you can play, pause, skip forward and back and even control the sound volume.


YouTube Remote is currently in beta and contains new and experimental features that are not in the official YouTube Android app. Please give us your feedback and help us improve the product - we'll integrate the best features from this beta app into the official YouTube Android app in the coming months.

Again, you can download YouTube Remote now on the Android Market. It’s currently available only in the US but we’re working hard to make the app available in more countries very soon. To download, go to the Android Market app on your phone and search for “YouTube Remote”.


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Summary as promised:

Youtube remote allows you to connect to your computer (not through wireless, not through usb, not through bluetooth, more so through magic and allows you to control your music. Not only play and pause, but you can skip forward through a song or skip over a song entirely. You can also set up playlists of videos/songs to be played through. To set it up, all you have to do is log in to your youtube account in the app and log into the same account on your computer (or google tv as he mentions) and the app and screen of your choice will say "remote connected" there ya go. Search some songs and hit play and you're good to go. This I have found is extremely useful for parties where everyone wants to be the DJ or when you want to listen to some music whilst sitting (leaning?) back on the couch. I'm sure there are many many more uses for this, but those are two that I recommend. Hope you enjoy.

As Kuan says, to get the app simple open the android market and search for "youtube remote"
Also, this app is only available in the US for the time being, but Kuan also says this may be changed eventually.

We're Back! Sort Of...

So a couple of weeks ago I posted that around the 18th 2guys1droid would be up and running at full tilt again. Well clearly that isn't the case and unfortunately it has nothing to do with either Marty or Myself. The online service that we use to make our handy video tutorials ( we wont mention any names) is currently down with nothing but a "recording is unavailable" message. While for the past few days this has obviously deterred us from putting up any new material I am going to go against the internet God's will and supply you with a less conventional text based app review.


The first app in our (hopefully short) series of written out reviews is on an interesting application that I came upon by chance a few days ago. The application is called IP Webcam and is exactly what it sounds like.

When you open the application you will see a screen similar to the one below.


On this screen you can see that there are various options such as adding a login name and password so only certain people can view the feed as well as options regarding the video quality. For people on the original Motorola Droid, the dimensions of the video are locked. The quality slider is adjustable, however in my experience doesn't really change anything. This isn't to say that quality is bad, since it isn't, but it just doesn't noticeably change. The frames per second was also locked for me, however, this too didn't really seem to have any effect on the video that was being broadcast as the video was much choppier than 30fps when viewed on the webpage. The port I didn't mess with and left where it was at 8080. If you scroll down there are some other self explanatory options as well as the button to start the streaming.

When you click the button to start the server it will tell you the ip that it is streaming to so you can access it.

You then must go into your web browser such as mozilla firefox or google chrome for example and enter the ip you are provided in the app. Upon doing this you should either be prompted with a login dialog or a list of links. If you are directed to a login then enter the credentials you set up otherwise click the link for your desired method of viewing. That is really all there is too it, a very simple yet interesting app to have. Some of the recommended uses would be as a form of surveillance however, I, like most of you, bring my phone with me when I go out so this seems like a moot point. I just keep it around as another one of those "look what my phone can do" applications.

If you want the app you can get it by scanning this with the app "barcode scanner"

Friday, December 3, 2010

Hang With Us!

So, as all of you know as well as we do, It's been nearly a month since our latest blog post. Don't despair, we haven't given up, we haven't left, instead we have recently come upon the dreaded period of or school lives known as exam week. And while we may be suffering, this is good news for you, our loyal followers, since this means that in roughly a short week or two we'll be exploding with a whole new barrage of app reviews (we have some good ones), tutorials, and all around interesting posts. Check back around the 18th when Marty and I are off from school for a bunch of great new posts that you guys have been waiting for.

-2guys1droid Team

Friday, October 22, 2010

App Review: Time lapse

So, as promised on our facebook page (at right) we have an application for those of you that are photographically inclined. The application is called timelapse and, as you may imagine, it allows you to use your phone to create timelapses. Check out the videos for the app review and the second video is an example of a timelapse that I made. Unfortunately, the timelapse settings I used had the frame rate set too high so the video doesn't look as good as I would have liked. If you make a timelapse you are especially proud of send it in and it may be featured on the site. Send any submissions to 2guys1droid@gmail.com.




Here is the finished timelapse (too fast, but just an example)

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Skype Unlocked

So, many of you may be familiar with skype and its video and audio chatting capabilities for pc's and mac's but what you may not be aware of is that there is also a skype app available for our much loved android devices. Unfortunately, this application has been limited to only allow for wifi connectivity to make calls (who would pay for a phone plan if you only had to pay cents a minute for calls around the world). Fortunately for those of you who constantly travel for work or simply have a loved one or colleague over seas the skype app has been hacked. Thats right some smart techies have been able to crack skype's coding and have made it possible to make calls using skype over nothing more than 3g. To download this hacked .apk file simply click here and enjoy. Keep in mind, however, that this application is for use at your own risk and any problems you may or may not encounter are neither ours nor the aforementioned techies fault. Either way, if you do choose to download it we hope you enjoy the new found freedom.

Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Who Wouldnt Want a Droid 2 for a Penny?

Thats right, you read that right. Amazon.com has an offer going on right now that allows you, our faithful readers, to get your very own Droid 2 for only one cent. here is an image for you to see for yourself.

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Trouble Shooting - Droid + iTunes + DoubleTwist

Okay, so a month or two ago, we posted the video about how to sync iTunes to your Droid via DoubleTwist. For most, it was helpful. But for some, three major questions arose.

(1) Where are my music files going so I can view/delete/arrange them?
(2) My Droid isn't being recognized by DoubleTwist on the "devices" list
(3) Why can't I transfer my purchased music from iTunes to my Droid?

This video addresses all of the three above questions, so hopefully this will stop the massive influx of music-related emails. If it STILL doesn't work, email me pronto.