I’ll be the first to admit that I didn’t think this Amazon Appstore was going to work out, but with free $5 apps like today’s, it’s hard to not give them some love.  It’s almost become a regular morning tradition now – wake up, check email, Google Reader, Amazon Appstore…weird.

Enough of that rambling and on to SoundHound Infinity which as I already pointed out, is free today, but on normal days is $4.99.  It’s your standard “What’s that song!” app, but allows you to purchase the songs you find through Amazon, grab lyrics to them, and even search for videos by the artist on Youtube.  Might as well grab it if it’s free, right?  

Remember SPB Mobile Shell?  It’s now known as SPB Shell 3D and is available in the Android Market and at one heck of a steep $14.95 price tag.  We posted up our video walk-through of the beta of this software almost a month ago, so it’s not going to be new to any of our readers, but wanted you to know it’s there for the purchasing.  A couple of notes:  it’s not supported on tablets and also doesn’t allow live wallpapers for “performance” reasons.  So, a $14.95 price tag and can’t run one of the basic Android functions.  Anyone interested?  

Locking bootloaders is about to become a common subject that spans beyond the walls of Motorola, so to hopefully cause enough of a stir to either slow down this plague or eventually stop it, a petition has been launched.  With over 2,500 signatures in just a short couple of weeks, it’s time we flex a little DL community muscle and see if we can’t help this thing really move forward.

This is one of those battles that probably has too much money involved for us to really make a difference, but that isn’t going to stop us from trying.  While Motorola and the rest of the phone manufacturers would have you believe that they are locking bootloaders to protect consumers from themselves, we all really know that they are protecting the contracts they have signed with software companies and carriers.  This is a business after all, right?  It is, but there are other approaches that can be taken that have been successful without making customers feel like they don’t truly own a device they just paid $600 for.

So what do you say?  Should we all get to signin’?

Sign the petition.

Many of you noticed that that CRT-esque screen-off animation from the Nexus S and stock Gingerbread (Android 2.3) was missing from the leaked builds on the DROID X and 2 and wondered how to get it.  It’s now available below, although you’ll need to run a few adb commands to get it.

Instructions:

*Note* – This will likely not work on anything but Gingerbread.  I would not try to flash this on a 2.2 ROM.

*Note 2* – I have not tested this on a DROID2, just assumed it would work.  Be careful D2 owners.

UPDATE:  There is now a simple .zip file that can be flashed in Clockwork.  [Download]

1.  CREATE A BACKUP FIRST.
2.  Download this file to your computer:  framework-res_CRT_ENABLE.apk
3.  Rename it to framework-res.apk and place in your SDK/Tools folder.
4.  Connect your phone and run the following commands in adb:

adb remount
adb push framework-res.apk /data/local/tmp/framework-res.apk
adb shell
su
stop
rm /system/framework/framework-res.apk
cp /data/local/tmp/framework-res.apk /system/framework/
rm /data/local/tmp/framework-res.apk
reboot

5.  Your phone will reboot and with CRT screen-off set to “Go!”

Full support can be found at this XDA thread.

Cheers Max and Droidzfx!

Been a while since we saw a big roadmapped leaked out from Verizon, but today, our friends over at Phandroid appear to have the latest which details more phones than I think any of us can even comprehend at this point.  Over the next 2 months, we are expecting to see at least 7 above average Android handsets (some DROID, some not) that will easily keep Verizon on top of the game throughout the rest of the year and this is only one half of it.

So here we go!  

Every once and awhile a skinning experiment goes awry and our phones don’t turn out exactly how we want them to. I know here at Droid Life we can be pretty meticulous about how our Home Screens look, but some people… aren’t. Fugly Android is a Tumblr dedicated to those of us whose home screen fashion might need a little bit of policing.

My friend Amanda pointed this blog out to me yesterday and it’s actually a pretty fun read. If you ever want to feel better about the way your Android looks, look no farther than some of these monstrosities.

Thanks Amanda!
–
Matt Demers is Droid Life’s app guy, and he can’t tell you how many times he’s fiddled around with horrible icons. Contact him via Twitter or e-mail.

Along with the launch of Tap Tap Revenge 4 comes the activation of in-app billing for the first time on Android.  In-app billing allows developers to sell virtual goods from within their apps or even provide users with the option to upgrade from a free to paid version.  In Tap Tap Revenge’s case, users will now have the ability to purchase extra songs to battle it out with.  The hope here, is that more developers will look to Android as a legitimate mobile platform that they can make a living from, which in turn should give us better apps in the long run.

Several other apps are now taking advantage of in-app billing  as well:  Comics by ComiXology, Gun Bros, Deer Hunter Challenge HD, WSOP3, and Dungeon Defenders: FW Deluxe.

Via:  Android Developers Blog