By 
Alright, if you haven’t heard, it’s April Fool’s day. I’m sure by now, there’s already a fair share of “hilarious” April fools pranks being posted around the internet. That’s the main reason I always unplug from the internet on all-hallows-fools-day and of course — trust no one. But just because I wont compromise my journalistic integrity and prank our trusting Phandroid readers doesn’t mean my family, outside of the internet, is safe. Growing up as the middle child, I’ve always been known in my family as the mischievous one and April 1st is my time to shine.
So, what kind of hijinks did I get myself into? Well, a few weeks back I found a couple of spoof apps in the Google Play Store and no, I’m not talking about those “screen crack” apps. Shake to Charge and Solar Charger (also found WiFi Hacker which has since been removed) were some of the most intriguing. Upon checking their comments, I noticed there was a good amount of users who were actually surprised the apps didn’t work as advertised (the apps actually give full disclosure in their descriptions that they are fake — but really, who reads those anyway?). To the tech savvy like you and I, sure, we know that something like shaking to charge your phone or solar charging would be impossible without implemented hardware, but to the uninitiated, a simple app that enables these functions seems perfectly plausible. 
After a good laugh from the Market comments, I decided to pull one over on my friends and family and see if they would fall for these spoof apps. Sure enough, they bought it. Hook, line, and sinker. Here’s a video I uploaded of them attempting to charge their devices using these new fangled, unconventional methods. Ha! I even went the extra mile and pranked my little cousin into thinking that my phone had actually “come alive” using AndroidLost to speak to her. That’s a great full featured app that I will cover more thoroughly in a future video. For now, enjoy my Android April Fools 2012 video below.
April Fool’s Day can be a whole lotta fun for people like me. Although, I believe a good April Fools prank should involve actually fooling someone and not just your everyday prank like thumbtacks on a toilet seat or a random sucker punch shouting, “APRIL FOOLS!” Either way, I hope you pranksters will find some fun today using these apps. Oh — and if you can think of any others, feel free to drop some good suggestions in the comments. I’m on my way to church where the congregation can be a little too trusting when it comes to my expertise with Android phones. (Maniacal laugh).
[Google Play Links: Shake To Charge | Solar Charger | AndroidLost]
Ha, it uses the Gyroscope.
Nice one Chris.
I do not think this would sound plausible to anyone other than a complete idiot who had absolutely no idea of how the world works…
how is it not plausible to people who don’t read tech blogs? There are things like flash lights that charge from being wound or shaken. If people were told such technology was expanded to cell phones, a ton of people would believe it.
true , i thought it was plausible too, mainly because of the gyroscope..and I am not a complete idiot. Besides if anyone would have told me 5 years ago that id have a cell phone with no buttons that i could use to browse the web, play console quality games on, and has a built in GPS and i can use the camera to scan barcodes, QR codes, and just identify logos and products….buy movie tickets on, you get the idea……i would have told them they were nuts..These 20yr olds think its unheard of is my point, when the tech we have now was unheard of not 5 to 10 years ago…its arrogance…..i wouldnt be surprised if this Shake to Charge becomes a reality in the next few years…..but im sure WhoaManWtf absolutely believes wireless charging is a reality. These kids take tech for granted because theyve grown up with it. I had cassettes with magnetic tape to play music in my 20s, lol……but im tech savvy so I stream everything these days.
lol right? I mean i’m only 24, but even i remember a time before cell phones, back when i had to blow my cartridges before putting them in. Back when snake was the premier mobile game. When the idea of an mp3 player was mind blowing. I was ecstatic to find out console games could be more than 2 players. Some people just have no perspective.
+10 for the first reference of snake I have seen on phandroid.
I was startled when using the shake to charge app.
After I shaked till full charge my s2 squirted out something outta the speaker slot…
South Park reference?
Awesome :)
You sir, have just won the interwebs.
That’s odd mine came out of the headphone jack.
So what you’re saying is, it came into your ears?! :S
ur not very nice to your cousin, lol
Anyway, I put surface transducers in all the rooms in the house and attached them to proximity sensors in a new prank I’m calling “theme song house”, every room has its own theme song and the walls start to play it when someone walks in. My family was not amused (but I was)
Awesome
Chris, why are you kicking the dog at 2:41 ?
She’s tougher than she looks xD
What was that last app? I gotta get my son with that.
Android Lost.
@Gamercore:disqus lmbo @phone talking. I played a similar prank on my 5yr old nephew. I have Splashscreen installed on my laptop and on my phone. He was playing some online game, I was laying in bed a few feet away, and decided to remote in and start moving the mouse around. He was freaking out lol
I don’t understand, the app and site just look like useful features to get information from your phone like a normal security type app. How do I get it my phone to talk??
install app, then follow instructions provided during setup. voila!
this app?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androidlost&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5hbmRyb2lkbG9zdCJd
hahahahahahah awesome. the little girl was like O_O ITS TALKING.
My dad knows I root phones and mess around with them a lot. We were at a hockey game and during intermission i pulled up my tazer app. At the time I had the MyTouch 4g and the tazer app for that was badass. It vibrated really loud and flashed and was just perfect. So I told him I was able to rewire my device to send a small shock and I said, “It’s pretty strong wanna feel it” and just went at him with the tazer app on. He yelled, “don’t do that” and tried to get away. I laughed my ass off and he turned bright red when he realized how silly it sounded thinking I could shock somebody with my phone. Ahh, the fun we had….
I don’t know what’s funnier in the reviews for the shake to charge app, those who think it’s real and swear it works, those who think it’s real and complain that it doesn’t, how clueless both groups are or the reviews from those who get it subtley calling them morons.
My “Shake to Charge” app is actually working!
http://bit.ly/dI3hcF