According to the notes in the latest update for the Amazon Appstore that was released today, you can now “Test Drive” apps from directly within the Appstore rather than having to do it through a browser at Amazon.com. For those not familiar, “Test Drive” is a way for users of Amazon’s store to check out apps before purchasing them to see if they indeed would like to purchase them. The on-app version is a “beta feature” that comes with Appstore version 2.6.53. Amazon is making it available to select devices at this time, but plans to roll it out to many more over the next few months. So far, I’m not seeing any Test Drive love on either the Galaxy Nexus or One X.

For whatever reason, I cannot get any phone to update to this new version. Should you find a way, be sure to let us know if the Test Drive feature works well or not. This could be worth giving Amazon another shot…well, maybe.

Update:  If you click on this link from your phone, it should download the latest version with Test Drive. 

Total Commander, one of the most powerful and popular Windows file managers has made its official arrival on Android. If you were looking for the ultimate tool to help you manage your phone, this would probably be it. It has a great top menu that allows you to quickly access pictures, SD card, root files, bookmarked items, etc. From there, you have all of the standard copy/paste/move functionality, zip or unzip, text editor, and search that you would find in normal file managers, yet this app just seems to do it so effortlessly. A 2-panel swiping lets you jump between top directories and your current directory location easily, there are plug-ins for FTP Clients and LAN support as well, plus more.

Download Link (Free)

(Feel free to click around the Lytro image if you are bored.)

This morning, our boy Ron wrote up his opinion on the “fanboy” situation that plagues almost every tech community. Whether you own an iOS or Android or Blackberry device, someone is bound to call you a fanboy because you chose one over the other. At one time, Apple users were pegged as being the worst fanboys, but since, it has grown to include other platforms as well. Hell, even in the Android game you are starting to see groups of users band together as “Nexus fanboys” and/or “Motorola fanboys.” It really doesn’t matter what piece of technology is in your hand or on your desk, someone is bound to have a problem with it and thus refer to you as biased or as a fanboy.

But during his piece, Ron talked about removing the blinders and embracing “good” technology overall rather than siloing yourself into one platform or brand. I’ll just say that as someone who runs an Android site and has dedicated his life to the platform, even I find myself branching out to other areas of tech until I find something I truly love. For example, my favorite tablet to this day is still probably the Blackberry Playbook. Had that sucker actually had an app ecosystem, I probably still be using it. On a computer level, brace yourself, I use an iMac and a Macbook Pro. I’ve been through every version of Windows since the early 90s and in the last year made the switch to OSX. So far, it has been a breath of fresh air.

So I’m just curious, since I know that many of you own iPads and other non-Android products, what your mix of technology is. Windows or Mac? iPad or Android tablet? Anything else?

A newish tablet UI called Chameleon, that we first reported back in mid-March, is now seeking backers via Kickstarter. The tablet UI was once just a side project, but after receiving enough feedback during their initial preview, they decided to make it come to life, hence the need for funding.

If you are not familiar with Chameleon, think of it as a living set of tablet screens. It can adjust based on data connection, location, time of day, etc. But rather than just being a blank slate of emptiness (aka normal Android tablets), it can be customized using live tiles with weather, Twitter, photos, Gmail, calendars, and more. Using gestures, you can swipe around to activate functions, flip home screens or launch into your app drawer. It really is quite the interesting take on a tablet UI, and one that we fully support as a team that tends to get bored with the stock Android tablet experience.

So, why the Kickstarter? Again, they need to funding to make it happen. If you support them, they will give you early access to it before being published to the Google Play store. It will cost you $5 to get in on that, but if previous UI overhauls are any indication on price, this thing could sell for much more. 

See what I did there? While the rest of the world is spouting off in their best Honey Badger voice, “Oh my gosh, the Android is just sooo fragmented,” I took the other route. OpenSignalMaps posted this report that shows off the thousands of different devices that have downloaded and installed their app. They even used the words “fragmented” in their findings, however, I’m just not buying the idea that having multiple devices available is a sign of fragmentation. I look at it as choice. Oh who am I kidding, I’m really just sick of every non-Android site with nothing to write about, finding another reason to bring up “fragmentation.” The platform seems to be doing just fine if you look at every market share analytics report over the last 2 years. Again, I’m over it.

But hey, check out these neat charts! Samsung clearly has taken over the world of Android. HTC is a distant second. Verizon is the top carrier. ZTE somehow is smacking T-Mobile in the face. And AT&T is no where to be found.

If you hit up the source link, you can actually hover over each of those tiny boxes and it will tell you which phone, carrier or manufacturer it is. Have fun! 

Evernote has always been one of the top Android apps, but today’s update took it over the top. A new UI with panel swiping and easier navigation made this not just a “must have” but a “if you don’t have this, you are completely silly” type of app for Android users. The search functionality is as good as it gets, the tagging and organizational abilities are something all apps should build from, and the fact that their dev team is staying current with Ice Cream Sandwich is worth an applause. Grab the file from the Play Store link below, but be sure to watch the video as well if you are new to Evernote. 

The big news of the day (other than Tim now joining me at Google I/O), is the WSJ report that talks of Google including multiple partners in their “Nexus” or lead device program. Their goal is to sell unsubsidized phones (full retail) directly through the Google Play Store to partially remove carriers from the situation. Now, people that buy these phones would obviously have to purchase a plan from a carrier, but there wouldn’t be contracts and you would be free to use your phone on the carrier of your choice, assuming their network supports it.

After this news broke, I asked for you to react in the comments. While reading through those reactions, I noticed some of the same points or questions being made over and over and wanted to attempt to address them here. Jump below to see what we’re thinking over here at DL.