Monday, February 28, 2011

Android Phone Fans

Android Phone Fans

Things We Missed, You Shouldn’t [Feb. 28]

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 03:56 PM PST

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New week bringing a new month means plenty of new Android news. Today we learned both Samsung and Motorola plan to expand their tablet lineups, but that’s not the only thing going on this side of the mobile world. Check out everything fit for print below.

Motorola Working on 7-inch Tablet to Compliment XOOM

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 02:59 PM PST

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Among the many other tidbits Sanjay Jha dropped during today’s talk with Stanley Morgan investors was the revelation that Motorola is already working on a 7-inch Android tablet for release by the end of the year. The company just released their first tablet, the Motorola XOOM, during the final week of February, but Jha sees exploring various size options as beneficial.

That seems to be thinking on most manufacturers’ minds, with the likes of Samsung, Acer, and Viewsonic all offering tablets ranging in size. In the end, it is merely a matter of inches. Something tells me the time spent developing a product with the only selling point being its size could be better used elsewhere.

[via PCMag]

Chomp Makes Finding Relevant Android Apps Easy

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 02:01 PM PST

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If you want to find an easy point of detraction for Android, look no further than the Android Market. While recent enhancements such as an overhauled UI and a new web version for searching, finding, and installing apps have made the pain of locating new apps a bit more bearable, there is still much work to be done. Enter Chomp, yet another app crossing over from an iPhone counterpart.

The name wouldn’t tell you, but Chomp is an app discovery service that focuses on sorting apps by relevant keyword searches. If you want to see top restaurant guide apps simply search “restaurant guides.” If you want the best suggestions for music, type –you guessed it — “music.” Gone from the iOS version are app recommendations, as the makers of Chomp didn’t see the feature gaining much traction.

With a gorgeous interface, Chomp does make the task of finding new apps easier to navigate. From our time testing the app, it didn’t do much in the way of returning anything we wouldn’t have already seen recommended somewhere else. Music results such as Pandora and Shazam hardly unearth any hidden gems of the Android Market.

Of course, Chomp works great and looks great doing it, and at no charge for download there is no reason not to give it a spin. It just may replace the Android Market as the starting point for app searches for some of you users out there. Find it now in the Android Market.

T-Mobile to Eliminate FlexPay Plans

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 01:14 PM PST

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In an effort to provide pre-paid customers with an experience more similar to that of a postpaid contract customer, T-Mobile is doing away with their FlexPay plans and instituting a deposit system. The aim is to provide customers with poor or little credit to their names with an option that is more straightforward than FlexPay, a system that never really seemed to take off for the magenta carrier.

Depending on the result of a mandatory credit screen, customers will need to plop down a deposit ranging from $50 to $400 dollars. After this, the customer will receive many of the same perks as a postpaid customer, including handset subsidies. After 12 months of good standing, the customer can get their deposit back. Understanding that many customers may not want to run a credit check, T-Mobile will still provide pre-paid options as well.

[via TMoNews]

Official Gingerbread 2.3.2 ROM Leaks for the Samsung Galaxy S

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 12:47 PM PST

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Motorola’s Sanjay Jha might be gloating about Motorola’s desire to be among the first to offer Gingerbread upgrades and HTC may be dolling out timetables for the update coming to their handsets, but who would have thought that Samsung — the same Samsung that is still in the process of getting Android 2.2 Froyo on many of the Galaxy S handsets — would be the first to show us a leaked build of their official Android 2.3.2 ROM. That is what a thread over at XDA is reporting, anyway.

Along with a link to the ROM and its origina over at a Polish Android forum, the original poster Lorbas is claiming they have confirmation that this leak is the official working build of Gingerbread that will eventually grace the Galaxy S line of phones. We’ve been here before, and there is no telling when Samsung will actually get around to rolling this update out to current S handsets. Fingers crossed they have shaped up their act since Froyo, but we aren’t holding our breath.

[via XDA | Thanks, Andre Luz!]

More from Jha’s Investor Talk: Motorola Will Be Among First to Offer Gingerbread Upgrade, Google One of Moto’s Biggest Enterprise Customers

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 12:25 PM PST

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While news that the Motorola DROID BIONIC and other upcoming high-end devices from the manufacturer will get the same Webtop treatment as the newly released Atrix 4G might have been the juiciest bit of information to emerge from Sanjay Jha’s talk with investors at Stanley Morgan, a few smaller noteworthy points emerged.

The first concerns the path to Gingerbread upgrades for current Motorola handsets. While exact timeframes and specific devices were not discussed, Jha said that last year was an important in helping Moto hone their efforts in getting Android updates out in a timely fashion. He noted that Motorola was among the first to release Froyo upgrades, and plans to be among the first to release Gingerbread. We haven’t seen much news on this front recently, aside from a few pics of the Droid X with Gingerbread on board.

The other point of interest concerns Motorola’s attempts to win over an enterprise audience. While talking to investors about the measures Moto is taking to aid in device security, Jha mentioned some of the larger companies that have bought into Motorola hardware for business use. One of their biggest customers for the Motorola XOOM, he said, was Google. That may or may not mean many Google employees get a free XOOM to go along with their paychecks. Jealous.

[via DroidLife, PCWorld]

Get a NOOKcolor for $200 if You Act Quick [Deals]

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 11:55 AM PST

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If you have been looking into getting a NOOKcolor after all this talk of how easy it is to turn the e-reader into a full-fledged tablet with a bit of software tweaking, then your decision just got $50 easier. Through Barnes & Nobles eBay store, the NOOKcolor is being sold in conjunction with a coupon code that brings the e-reader’s price down from $249.99 to $199.99. Not bad, eh?

All you need to do is quickly make your way over to the eBay listing (before supplies run out or before 8AM PT on March 3rd, whichever comes first) and enter coupon code ‘CBARNESDD’ at checkout to save some strain on your wallet. Shipping is free. Jump on this one immediately.

[via eBay | Thanks, timmyjoe42]

Samsung’s CTIA Event to Focus on the Galaxy Tab, New Sizes on the Way?

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 11:40 AM PST

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Just last week we heard a rather flimsy rumor that Samsung might have yet another size variant of the Galaxy Tab lined up for launch at this year’s CTIA show in Orlando. A new posting on Sammy’s Facebook page seems to infer just that, with the question “What’s your Tab life?” and a mysterious chain of numbers underneath.

That chain of numbers, 78910, seems a bit less mysterious in context. The two flanking numerals, 7 and 10, could very well refer to the 7-inch Galaxy Tab and the upcoming 10-inch Galaxy Tab 10.1. This leaves 8 and 9, which could refer to two new 8 and 9-inch versions of the tab, or more likely to the rumored 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab. We will have to wait until March 22nd and Samsung’s next “Unpacked” event to find out, but the odds seem pretty good.

[via TabletGuys | Thanks, Mike!]

Webtop Coming to all High-End Motorola Handsets (Bionic Included)

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 11:15 AM PST

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One of the features that really sets the Motorola Atrix apart is its ability to dock into Webtop mode, opening capabilities that bridge the gap between smartphone and desktop computing. When this functionality was first unveiled alongside the similarly specced Motorola DROID BIONIC we immediately wondered why it wasn’t available on the handset. When questioning one of the product development leads at Moto’s CES event, the typical PR answer “We are only talking about the Atrix today, we can’t comment on other devices” smelled suspiciously of the functionality making its way to other devices. Sure enough, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha has confirmed today (via a Morgan Stanley investors report) that Webtop will feature in all of Moto’s high-end handsets from the second half of the year forward.

The function wasn’t initially announced for the Bionic due to timing, and may still not make it to the handset at launch. We assume future updates would bring the capabilities if that is the case, while other smartphones that remain unannounced should get Webtop out of the box. That has to be encouraging for many who see Webtop as a key reason they have considered getting the Motorola Atrix. We’ll have to wait and see if these other devices will match the power of the new AT&T handset, however.

[via Engadget]

Honeycomb Statue Takes its Place in Front of Building 44

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 11:06 AM PST

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Rather unceremoniously, the statues paying tribute to Android and its various sweets-inspired code names have added to their ranks. Honeycomb has now been immortalized on the lawn in front of Building 44 on Google’s campus. The statue features the Android robot and a bee perched on a piece of honeycomb, making this statue particularly unique among the bunch. The displays for Froyo, Donut, Gingerbread and the rest of the gang up until now featured only the food item in question without any embellishments such as robots or insects. You have to hand it to Google’s playful sense of humor when it comes to these things.

[via AndroidCentral]

Motorola: Rooted XOOM Ineligible for 4G LTE Upgrade

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 10:45 AM PST

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Our latest bit of Motorola XOOM news comes from the category “Things that Shouldn’t Surprise Us.” Answering a question posed in the Motorola Support Forums, one Moto rep has made clear that a rooted XOOM will be ineligible for the free hardware upgrade to a 4G LTE radio down the road. But before you start slandering Motorola for the decision, it should be known that another rep speaking in the same forum thread cleared the matter up a bit, stating as long as the XOOM is running the stock firmware that it shipped with, the upgrade process should go off without a hitch.

We take it this has a lot less to do with Motorola purposefully shunning the root crowd and more to do with the necessary firmware that will be flashed to the device alongside the hardware installation of the 4G radio. Otherwise it would be pretty difficult for Moto to get the proper hardware drivers running on your custom ROM. Still an interesting and important thing to note if you have been tinkering with your XOOM’s software and plan on taking part in the free 4G upgrade.

[via AndroidPolice]

Motorola Aims to Make Android Secure, Attract More Enterprise Users

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 10:28 AM PST

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For all the recent popularity Android has seen, the team behind its development has done surprisingly little to increase the security of the platform and make it more appealing to the enterprise market. On-device encryption has just shown up in Android 3.0 Honeycomb (and will most likely feature in future smartphone iterations of the OS), but businesses still don’t see the same level of security in Android that they already get with RIM and their BlackBerry lineup. Instead of waiting around for Google to make the changes themselves, Motorola is taking it upon themselves to dive headfirst into device security.

With the help of recent mobile security acquisition 3LM, Moto plans to develop a series of APIs for the Android platform that will enable the security features enterprise users desire. The APIs function at the OS level and allow for remote management using popular tools already in the market, with plans for Motorola’s own suite of corporate-level software to roll out this summer.

In an effort to make sure they succeed, Motorola will step aside and allow 3LM to operate as their own subsidiary. This means the APIs developed will be made available to other hardware manufacturers if they choose to use them. The hope is this will open the door for Android devices in the business place in the same way that Apple moved into that realm when they moved forward in securing their devices.

While we always prefer for such things to be implemented at the OS level for the sake of uniformity, any step toward a wider range of use for Android is a good one for the platform. Now companies just need to take notice.

[via InfoWorld]

Desert Winds Game Demoed on Android + Snapdragon, Beats PS2 Graphics [Forum Talk] [Video]

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 09:56 AM PST

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When we heard Android graphics would eventually near or surpass the performance of consoles such as the Xbox or PlayStation 2, we had trouble visualizing how. We didn’t know what, when, where, and who would blow us away. The Epic Citadel was pretty impressive, but I think a new king has shown up.

The folks at Southern Interactive introduced their new game – Desert Winds – and gave Pockett an exclusive preview of the demo running on Android.

They didn’t mention which Snapdragon chipset was being used exactly, but we can’t imagine anything less than a dual-core processor was being used with Qualcomm’s Adreno 3xx series of GPUs set to ship to OEMs this year. We had more on these chipsets in this post back in November.

Take a look at the video above and form your own opinion. I’m not sure how soon we’ll see games like this pop up regularly for Android, but we’ll be partying once that day comes. [Android Forums]

PressReader for Android Brings the World’s Newspapers Into One Neat App [Video]

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 09:08 AM PST

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We were given the ability to check out an unlimited account for an application and service called PressReader. It’s a newspaper portal that allows you to download the top papers from many of the world’s countries.

The service itself intrigued us – digital editions of hundreds of newspapers delivered daily to our cell phones? That’s a gold mine for news buffs. We weren’t sure how the application itself would rub us, though.

I came away with a very good taste in my mouth, thankfully. Newspaper content is presented as if they were fresh off the presses. You can zoom in on a section to start reading its text, but if that isn’t working out too well for you (on devices with smaller screens) you can jump into an individual article by clicking its title. A table of content viewer lets you jump from page to page or section to section with ease.

The best feature is its ability to play an article back using text-to-speech. Although I’m physically able to read, this is good for disabled and enabled folks alike. I’m sure there are more than a few of you lazy readers or busy bees out there who can’t sit down and read a paper every day, so this feature would be a godsend for anyone.

I didn’t like that you couldn’t specify download times for papers – 30 minutes or an hour after they’ve been released, for instance – but at least they give you the option to only pull papers down over WiFi. And you do have the option to disable automatic downloads for each invidivual paper you download.

On my Samsung EPIC 4G the application didn’t acknowledge my keyboard or the search button. It’s not too big of a deal as software-implemented input options are now standard on every Android device, but it was still a bit annoying.

Their all-you-can-eat plan starts at $29.99 per month that’ll let you get any newspaper, any time, any where. If you already read weekly editions of several popular titles, that already pays for itself.

You can also get a pay as you go plan for $.99 per download if you’re a more casual reader. Take a look at some of their other options at their website now. The application itself is free, so be sure to find it in the Android market if you do decide to take the plunge.

GameLoft Will Soon Be Using Unreal Engine 3 for Android Games

Posted: 28 Feb 2011 08:21 AM PST

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GameLoft has just announced a licensing agreement they’ve signed with Epic Games to develop multiple games on their Unreal Engine 3. The deal includes four games to start: two of them will be released in 2011, while another two will come the year after that. Tucked away at the end of the press release is a mention of Android. We’re not sure exactly how many of those 4 games will come out and for which Android devices, but we imagine those deets will make their way out soon enough. [EuroDroid]
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