Yahoo will host an Android vs iOS Fanboy Smartphone Challenge at SXSW 2015 and I’ll be representing Team Phandroid

Newsflash everyone – I’m a fanboy. An Android fanboy.

On Monday, March 16th at SXSW in Austin, Texas, Yahoo is holding a Fanboy Smartphone Challenge. They’ll be putting an Android enthusiast and an iOS lover head to head in the ultimate fanboy showdown. Thanks to a little bit of luck and years of praising our Lord and Savior, Matias Duarte, I have been chosen to represent the Android faithful in glorious battle.

What does it mean to be an Android fanboy? Well, simply put, I live, breathe, eat, and sleep all things Android. A normal day for me consists of playing with an abundance of Android powered devices; from phones, to tablets, to TV consoles, to smartwatches, and even face computers. Besides owning an absurd amount of gadgets, I’m often found geeking out, talking about Android to friends and colleagues, writing about Android here on our beloved Phandroid or social media, and generally consuming as much Android related news as humanly possible. I also may or may not own way too many mini Android figurines, collectible pins, stuffed plushies, and enough swag to start my own second-hand Android store. It’s not an obsession. It’s just a hobby that I’m very passionate about.

For Yahoo’s Fanboy Smartphone Challenge, I’ll be put through a series of tasks against my opponent, which will be done game show style. I’m hoping that I can use my Nexus 6, since my opponent will be using an iPhone 6, though Yahoo wasn’t too confident in hooking my Nexus 6 up to their A/V system. I did inform them that the Nexus 6 works beautifully with a Chromecast, however they sent me a Nexus 5 so that I could use it with a Slimport to HDMI adapter just in case. To be a little honest here, that kind of upsets me a little bit, seeing as I may not be able to use my daily driver, not to mention a phone that’s a year newer, and capable of activating voice commands while the screen is off – something my opponent’s trusty iPhone 6 cannot do. Oh well. I’ll turn it into a positive. My opponent is going to need all of the help that he can get. I don’t mind starting with a handicap.

It’s worth mentioning here that this game show will be done in pure jest. This is all in good fun. I’m not one of those fanboys that hates the other platform. In fact, I surely can recognize a positive when I see one and I’ve been known to praise Apple where applicable. Their products may not be for me, and I may not agree with everything that they do, but Apple does get a lot of things right. It doesn’t matter if you’re first to bring a product to market if it’s a horrible product or an implementation that isn’t very user friendly. This is why the general media sees Apple as the Jesus of computing. When Apple enters a market or launches a service you can bet that there will be little to no snafus along the way (well, except for people getting lost and bending phones). And speaking about markets, almost no one can drive a market like Apple can. I’m excited to see what they’ll do with mobile payments and wearables this coming year. Their success only means additional success and greater adoption for Android Pay and Android Wear.

Anyways, this event sounds like a blast and I’m excited. If Yahoo wants me to be a fanboy, I’ll gladly ham it up and be a their fanboy. I’ll be on stage wearing my Androidify’d t-shirt, Android beanie, wearing my Moto 360, and by the sounds of it rocking both the Nexus 6 and Nexus 5. Praise Duarte.

If you’re in Austin at SXSW this Monday, be sure to stop by Yahoo’s Brazos Hall at 12pm to see it all go down. Sadly, there won’t be a live stream for all of you to watch at home, but Yahoo has told me that they’re planning on posting the recorded video promptly at YahooTech.com. Wish me luck!

HTC and Valve team up to make the HTC Vive, a virtual reality headset [VIDEO]

A lot of what HTC has announced at MWC has been expected, but one thing that wasn’t expected was a virtual reality headset. It makes perfect sense, of course. Everyone from Microsoft to Samsung is getting into the VR game. HTC teamed up with Valve to create their VR headset, and it looks pretty dang cool.

It’s called the “HTC Vive.” It offers a 90Hz refresh rate and they built it to be very light so it can be worn for a long time. It will have a wireless controller that will help you interact and manipulate objects in the virtual reality environment. Valve teased the device last week and said more details will come at GDC, which is also happening this week. Expect to hear more about HTC Vive soon. In the meantime you can check out their awesome website.

Namco and the creators of Crossy Road team up for new Pac-Man game based on level 256 glitch

In case you didn’t mark your calendar, Pac-Man officially turned 35 years old today. To help celebrate, Bandai Namco and Hipster Whale — creators of the smash hit game Crossy Road — have released a trailer for an upcoming game based around Pac-Man’s infamous level 256 glitch.

The level 256 glitch was actually bad code in the original game that caused it glitch up upon reaching level 256. You wont find the same level progression here, with Pac-Man 256 being an endless runner like PAC-MAN DASH!, but featuring a more classic top-down isometric view. Player must navigate around ghosts and munch on glowing fruit to stay alive while a huge ever-present glitch keeps the action moving forward. It’s actually a similar gameplay mechanic to the one we saw in Crossy Road, so it’s not too much of a surprise.

As is the trend these days, Pac-Man 256 will be a freemium title when it launches later this summer with in-app purchases. Exactly what those will be remains to be seen, although we have a feeling it will something like those found in Crossy Road. We’ll keep an eye out for more details as we approach Pac-Man 256’s launch.