Beat mutants in post-apocalyptic Help Me Jack Android game

Have you ever wondered if you have what it takes to survive after a nuclear apocalypse? Well, fortunately, we're getting a lot of practice now as post-apocalyptic type of adventure games have become one of the trends in mobile gaming, following a pop culture boom. The latest to test our survival skills (well, mostly to exercise our fingers and brains) is Help Me Jack: Atomic Adventure. It is an adventure game set in a world after a nuclear incident has irradiated most of the world and where you have to escape from mutant monsters, you know, the stuff that dreams are made of.

The world is on the brink of becoming a nuclear wasteland, as mutants have taken over after a catastrophic nuclear accident. Enter Jack and his merry super hero squad (you're part of it!) as they try to save what is left of humanity, exploring the lost cities and trying to round up to those who have been kidnapped by the mutants and finding out the cause of the genetic mutation. There are over 200 levels in this game, and your goal is not just to kill whatever mutants you can see, but also to rescue the scientists and doctors who are humanity's last hope.

As you go through the game, you'll rescue those who were captured and then train them to fight against the mutant monsters. You can also customize classes to be either Warrior or Shooter. The graphics look outstanding and the storyline seems to be more interesting than just your average point and shoot game. You also have the option to have open-ended gameplay so that you can replay previous missions when you have new partners or need to review it for critical missions.

Help Me Jack: Atomic Adventure is available for free download from the Google Play Store. There are items that can be purchased in-app, so better set your permissions before letting other people play the game on your device.

OPPO N3: 7075 aluminium alloy, electric rotating camera

Although the scheduled media event is still a good few weeks away, OPPO isn't missing a beat in trying to tease its fans with what the OPPO N3 might be. It has practically confirmed now the material to be used for the smartphone, a durable yet lightweight aluminium alloy used in aircraft as well. But the most interesting bit doesn't come from the horse's mouth. The OPPO N3 is now believed to sport a rather strange electric rotating camera.

There was some speculation and even one or two teasers that the OPPO N3 would bear some space-age kind of material to seemingly prove its mettle. Now, the company's own Facebook account has revealed that to be true, pointing to the 7075 aluminum alloy. This material was primarily used for planes but also graduated into other vehicles, from spacecraft to bicycles. This alloy is known for its durability but also for being less resistant to corrosion and more expensive. It will be interesting to see how OPPO plans on reconciling those differences.

But perhaps more attention, if not ridicule, will be showered on the smartphone's camera. While it will have a rather high main camera, one with a 16 megapixel 1/2.3-inch sensor, like the N1 before it the OPPO N3's camera will similarly rotate to provide both back and front coverage. However, there is now word that the upcoming model will do it differently, if not more strangely. According to the latest rumor, the rotation will be driven by a motor instead of through the user's manual control. It is doubtful that such a mechanism will be faster than manually turning the camera, but perhaps the change has been triggered by people breaking off their cameras in trying to turn them. Or perhaps they realized that the feature wasn't as intuitive and that users needed some guidance in discovering and using the feature.

Whether or not that pans out, we will definitely know on October 29. The rest of the expected specs for the OPPO N3 is like a laundry list of every desirable feature, like a fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 805, 3 GB of RAM, and a less overwhelming 5.5-inch but still only Full HD screen. Still no news of CyanogenMod on the device, but the OPPO N3 is admittedly an intriguing device in itself already.

SOURCE: OPPO

VIA: Weibo, MyDrivers

Story Timeline

• OPPO N3 leaked photos reveal an even stranger camera


• More Oppo N3 images leaked


• New Oppo N3 leaked pics, event set for October 29

Zeiss intros the VR One, ready to rival the Samsung Gear VR

Uh oh. Looks like the Samsung Gear VR has an upcoming rival. A new virtual reality handheld device called the Zeiss VR One has just been introduced. Samsung has not fully released the Gear VR and now it needs to prepare for another battle in the virtual reality world.

Carl Zeiss technology is more commonly found on cameras but now, the company is venturing into virtual reality even if it’s still in its early stages. It seems that consumers are also looking into this technology but there are not much options except for Samsung's. But now, the Zeiss VR One is here with an even affordable price tag of $99.

What’s good about the VR One is that it works with any smartphone of a specific size. As Zeiss is an expert in optics, the VR One is guaranteed to offer a better viewing experience. For app developers, the VR One uses an open source Unity3D SDK so you can develop more apps for the device. The SDK allows simpler programming of the apps that will be then used in the VR One. SDK is available for both Android and iOS. No word on a Windows Phone version yet.

You can watch videos and pictures with the ZEISS VR ONE media app. You can also enjoy YouTube to watch and stream 3D and 2D videos. Play around with StreetView to check out places you haven't visited in Google image’s database. The VR One actually displays two images side-by-side but the user sees them as only one image. You can view a slide show, change transition, zoom, and activate or deactivate repeat mode. To jump to the next video or photo, enable Side Tap by tapping on the right side of the device. Tapping on the left will show the previous image.

YouTube browsing is made more fun with the VR One. There’s also a search field that lets a user look for new videos but it’s not clear how one can type the keywords. As for the StreetView function, imagine looking at a 360-degree panoramic view of a place you haven’t been to. Tap on the front of glasses to “walk” forward.

Features of the Zeiss VR One include a leading-edge optical design and ZEISS precision lenses, an innovative slide to position the smartphone exactly, enough air ventilation openings to avoid fogging and ease airflow, stereo side-by-side format for 3D videos and photos, 100-degree field of view, 53-77mm interpupillary distance coverage, and an AR Cube.

Supported devices include those with display size between 4.7 and 5.2-inches only like the Samsung Galaxy S4, HTC One M8, Sony Xperia Z2, Huawei Ascend P7, Nokia Lumia 930, Xiaomi M13, and LG G2. Pre-order for the VR One has already started in the United States, Europe, and Asia but no information on exact availability yet. We’ll let you know soon.

SOURCE: ZEISS VR ONE

Story Timeline

• Early Gear VR games will come without price tags


• Internal document leaks release date, pricing of Samsung Gear VR


• Land’s End is a gorgeous game for the Samsung Gear VR

Microsoft has Android Wear keyboard that draws on smartwatch

While smartwatches are definitely catching on, particularly for the early adapters of technology, the idea of having keyboards on the watchfaces are still pretty much a novelty. Given the small screen space, it does feel weird to have a full-fledged keyboard on your wearable. Microsoft has come up with a sort of alternative to that, with its newly-released keyboard that actually lets you draw the letters and characters on your smartwatch that runs on the Android Wear platform, particularly if it's square or the Moto 360.

The "analog keyboard" has been released as a prototype, and works with square-faced Android Wear smartwatches with a 320 x 320 resolution or the Moto 360. You can use the virtual keyboard to write out messages, for those times when it is too private to dictate to your wearable device. You can also use it for when you search for something on Google, particularly to write out things that you don't want others to know you're looking for (like how to boil an egg perhaps). Drawing on the smartwatch also helps for symbols that you can't distake like @ # and even numbers.

Other virtual keyboards have come up with a workaround to typing out things on your smartwatch's small surface. Minuum has a non-qwerty keyboard that takes advantage of the small screen to reprogram how you use it, even with round-face wearables. But Microsoft is probably the first one to have used the idea of drawing on it. While it is less awkward than using a keyboard on the device, it still takes some getting used to writing on it, particularly if you're writing a pretty long message.

You can download Microsoft's prototype keyboard from their website, but it is not yet available on the Google Play Store. You also need to follow the instructions (included in the zip file download) carefully, especially if you're a Moto 360 owner, since it normally requires a USB for the install process.

VIA: The Verge

Story Timeline

• Minuum shows how it's done on Android Wear smartwatches


• Android Wear 2.0 rumored to arrive this October 15

Our Favorite Android, iOS, and Windows Phone Apps of the Week

Fall is a busy time for technology. New smartphones seem to debut every other day (the Xperia Z3v and the Desire Eye for example), and the same can be said for the apps that power them. Here's some of the new software that will make that pocket-friendly hardware even better.

Read more...

Microsoft Created an Android Wear Handwriting Keyboard

Smartwatches are still trying to answer a lot of questions, chief among them being, "What do people actually what to do with them?" Their small size means many platforms will need to be reimagined to fit their screens, and Microsoft Research is trying to tackle the most important one—texting.

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Road Smash 2 is a 3D racing game for high-end devices

In an Android world filled with racing games, you guessed, Road Smash 2 is yet another one of those games following in the grand old tradition of Need For Speed and Gran Turismo, where the games carry real-life licensed cars that gamers use for their road racing fetishes.

The game is developed by Creative Mobile’s Fun Factory, who spared no expense in getting these real-life car licenses just to place them in the game and into your mobiles. We have to warn you though that this is a 3D game, and will eat up resources like a hungry lion – the game is optimized for higher-end Android devices like the Samsung Galaxy S3 or better, the Nexus 4 or better, and the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 or better. If your device’s specs is within the vicinity of these, then you can give this a spin.

The game focuses on arcade racing of course, with locations featured from around the globe. There’s a single player campaign mode with 75 missions and some bonus side missions as well. And what is a car game without the customization? Boring, of course, so the developers made sure you get tons of upgrading and painting and re-painting.

Lastly, there is also an online/social portion where you can compete with your friends. Grab the game at the Google Play Store via the source link, which like the developer’s other games is a free download with IAP. Take it for a spin and tell us what you think.

SOURCE: Google Play Store

Story Timeline

• Gameloft's GT Racing 2 arrives in the Play Store


• Red Bull Air Race app now on Android


• Anki Drive race gaming soon to support Android devices