Android Community |
- Notion Ink Adam Still in Business, Closer to the Blue
- Samsung Galaxy S II accessories show up on Clove
- Adult Swim tests the Android Waters with Robot Unicorn Attack
- Samsung Galaxy S II gets first commercial
- Spotify for Android updated: Faster, frugal streaming music
- Motorola ATRIX priced and dated for Orange UK
- Samsung 2GHz dual-core Smartphone incoming; Exynos to take on Snapdragon
- Vodafone UK releases Samsung Galaxy S Gingerbread update
- Verizon Q2 pricing leaked, what DROID is right for you?
- Android App Downloads pass 3 Billion
- DROID TV turns your Android into a mobile television experience
- T-Mobile G2x Review
- T-Mobile’s strange Royal Wedding Commercial
| Notion Ink Adam Still in Business, Closer to the Blue Posted: 18 Apr 2011 10:37 AM PDT It appears that Notion Ink is definitely still pushing the Adam tablet regardless of their deep drop-off in coverage since the launch of the device. Incase you do not know, Notion Ink is basically a startup company that launched an Android tablet a few months ago, blogging their way through the process of creating it all the way from nearly the beginning of the process up to the day of pre-releases. They began blogging in April of 2009, and now that the tablet is out, the updates have come with much more space in between than ever before. This weekend came a post that noted feature updates coming to the tablet soon as well as an official release of a program dealing with the tablet in Bangalore.
What Rohan Shravan, the main dude in charge of making sure you know all about Notion Ink and their Adam tablet, is promising soon is a more synchronized, more clean, and more useful tablet update. One of these updates includes the Book Promise – this would have been out sooner, says Shravan, but their licensing agreements took longer than they expected. A similar situation went on back around CES 2010 when the device was supposed to be handed out to reviewers – this did not happen, said Shravan then, again because of licensing agreements being delayed and FCC regulations taking longer than expected. Shravan launches into a written-word poetry session with the following:
Eventually Shravan gets to noting that Notion Ink will be starting a project that ties together contributors from “colleges, clubs, various groups and, from diverse fields.” This project, says Shravan, will create in the end a mature “front and back end” system that’ll be a scalable model “optimized for the goal and comprehensive enough to cover a majority of creative domains.” What does that mean? No idea. Maybe a social networking system that works off and online with coupons and whatnot. Here’s perhaps hoping for the best! [via Notion Ink] )
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| Samsung Galaxy S II accessories show up on Clove Posted: 18 Apr 2011 10:36 AM PDT Accessories for the Samsung Galaxy S II (aka the Samsung Galaxy S 2) have popped up on the British cellphone site Clove. Looking at what’s going to be available there’s a wide range of both mobile and desktop options. The list includes a USB Gender Adapter, MHL Adapter, Sound Station and vehicle dock. There’s also a home desktop dock and extended power battery pack. Or users can just get another 1650 mAh battery and Spare Battery charger for work.
Mobile docks are very beneficial in that they will guard against distracted driving. They also do double duty as a portable charger. But there’s also a really good desktop dock there that will give users an ideal viewing angle while charging your Galaxy S II. And it can be rotated as both portrait or landscape modes. The 1300 mAh extended battery pack doubles as a protective case for the Galaxy S II as well. With it, users can extend their phone’s talk time to 4 hours in 3G. All the listed Galaxy S II accessories range in price from £12.49 plus VAT to £54.16 plus VAT. And while Clove has listed them on their website, the accessories won’t actually be available for purchase until mid-June. [via Clove] )
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| Adult Swim tests the Android Waters with Robot Unicorn Attack Posted: 18 Apr 2011 09:46 AM PDT Nickelodeon’s popular Adult Swim division is testing the waters by releasing their first Android app, a game called Robot Unicorn Attack. The app will sell for $1 and have Open Feint Support. But the good news is, that if the sales of the game go well, Adult Swim will then port “Heavy Metal” and “Christmas Editions” of the game to the Bot from iOS. Currently, both are only on iOS platforms and have been selling very well.
That means users will likely see Adult Swim’s other top-performing games come to the Android Market. Popular titles like Amateur Surgeon and Five Minutes to Kill (Yourself) have been very popular on the iTunes App Store and will likely be next down the pipeline. In addition, there’s plans to also launch the signature Adult Swim app on the Android platform next month. The Adult Swim app will allow viewers to watch episodes and clips of Robot Chicken, the Venture Brothers and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, staples on the Nick at Night channel. Adult Swim has enjoyed over a million downloads through the iTunes app store and it’s sure to make a splash in the Market Place where there’s a wider array of users to ply their wares. And Adult Swim is singularly focused on the mobile market, with plans to experiment on multiple platforms, with Android being the first. If users don’t have access to an iPhone and want to check out Robot Unicorn Attack, they can play a free Flash version at AdultSwim.com or on Facebook. [via Joystiq] )
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| Samsung Galaxy S II gets first commercial Posted: 18 Apr 2011 09:18 AM PDT A cute commercial advertising the realistic display of the Samsung Galaxy S II has appeared on youtube. The video shows a cute little girl trying to reach for a fish swimming in the Galaxy S II’s live video background so she can put it back into the fishbowl. After a few tries, she gives up and does what most kids would do, she puts the Galaxy S II into the fishbowl! The tag line reads … “Too Realistic?”
Course, Samsung is VERY quick to put in a title card that this shouldn’t be done in real life as the water will certainly drown your Galaxy S II, but it’s a very cute commercial nonetheless. At the heart of the display is the Galaxy S II’s Super AMOLED Plus screen, which Samsung pitches as “truly vivid.” The suggestion is that who cares about 3D when you have a display so realistic that it looks real? Frankly, I’d rather have that any day. But there’s more under the hood than Samsung’s realistic Super AMOLED Screen. There’s the 1.2 GHz XMM6260 Dual-core processor which we reported last week screams in benchmark testing. Other specs include an 8MP camera rear facing camera for HD video and stills. It’s a pretty impressive rig. The only downside is that it looks to be delayed for a US launch til the Fall. But good things come to those who wait.
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| Spotify for Android updated: Faster, frugal streaming music Posted: 18 Apr 2011 08:14 AM PDT Spotify for Android has been updated, with the new version being quicker to load, having a tweaked UI and reducing its demands on battery. The tweaked app also now allows users to choose which storage device to keep cached tracks on, for Android devices with more than one memory card; music sync over WiFi is also said to be improved.
There are also fixes for voice search and missing cover art, along with how audio restarts after phone calls. Devices with dedicated media buttons are also supported in v0.4.9 too. The Spotify app for Android is, as before, a free download. However you’ll need a premium account with the service in order to actually use it when mobile.
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| Motorola ATRIX priced and dated for Orange UK Posted: 18 Apr 2011 03:59 AM PDT Motorola’s ATRIX smartphone will drop in the UK in early May as an exclusive with carrier Orange, with the handset being offered from free on £35 ($57) or above contracts. Meanwhile the Motorola HD Multimedia Dock (along with a USB keyboard, mouse and a remote control) will be offered at £49.99 ($81) during May (and then be £129.99 afterwards); existing Orange customers upgrading in May will get it free.
The Lapdock – with a full keyboard, screen and battery – will be £299.99 normally but offered at “reduced price points” on certain tariffs. Business customers can get the ATRIX and Lapdock bundled together free. The cheapest ATRIX tariff is £35 per month, on a 24 month contract, which includes 600 minutes, 750 MB data allowance, unlimited texts, 50 MMS and unlimited wi-fi (subject to fair usage) per month. You can pre-register interest here and check out our review of the AT&T version here. Press Release: )
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| Samsung 2GHz dual-core Smartphone incoming; Exynos to take on Snapdragon Posted: 18 Apr 2011 03:42 AM PDT Samsung’s Galaxy S II may have gone through an overclock before it even launched, taking the dual-core CPU to 1.2GHz (and handily matching the HTC Sensation) but apparently the company has even higher ambitions for mobile processors in the coming months. According to Korea’s Maeli Business Newspaper, Samsung is planning a 2GHz dual-core smartphone “by next year”.
“We are planning to release a 2Ghz dual core CPU-equipped smartphone by next year,” an unnamed Samsung exec told the newspaper. “This product will have the data processing capacities of a regular PC” he continued. Although the exact nature of the processor is unknown, it’s believed to slot into Samsung’s Exynos branding. Samsung is also expected to begin offering the Exynos chips to other manufacturers, taking on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon in the process. [via Engadget] )
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| Vodafone UK releases Samsung Galaxy S Gingerbread update Posted: 18 Apr 2011 03:06 AM PDT Vodafone UK has begun to push out the update for the Samsung Galaxy S, updating the smartphone to Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Vodafone looks to be the first UK carrier to offer the update.
The first signs of Gingerbread for the Galaxy S were spotted over the weekend, with the new firmware being flagged up in several Nordic countries. According to Vodafone’s change-list, the handset will get a “simpler and slicker” UI, the new Gingerbread keyboard, boosted power and camera management, and the ability to lock it into 2G mode. To install the new firmware, you’ll need to hook your Galaxy S up to a PC running Samsung KIES. Let us know how you get on in the comments! Press Release: )
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| Verizon Q2 pricing leaked, what DROID is right for you? Posted: 17 Apr 2011 10:18 PM PDT DROID… You’ve all seen the commercials, and the red eye on all of the top tier Verizon Wireless Android Smartphones. So what is right for you? I guess this varies from person to person depending on needs, availability, pricing and all those other exciting things like 4G LTE or a front facing camera. They are tough choices with phones getting better and better lately. It seems they all are just awesome.
The Thunderbolt is here, many of you might have passed on it, so what is next you ask? I’ll tell you. We have the Samsung Droid Charge, the HTC Droid Incredible 2, the exciting LG Revolution, and last but not least the Motorola Droid X2 . A few weeks ago I saw a few tweets saying Verizon was behind everyone in terms of phone options, it looks like things are about to change. You passed on the Thunderbolt because it was a single-core phone, but the same thing applies for the Droid Charge and the Incredible 2. They are both amazing devices though, so do we move on to the others? There isn’t a lot known about the LG Revolution yet, it may or may not be a dual-core phone, but all other aspects make it a real winner. From how things are looking with our review of the LG G2x it looks like LG has plans to make a big impact on Android. So that might be my first choice, but that is just me. The Samsung Droid Charge is everything you love about the Galaxy S, but with a larger screen, and it’s the upgraded AMOLED + version also. It is a great device for someone that wants an upgrade, but doesn’t need the best of the best. It is also a 4G LTE phone so it is similar to the Thunderbolt in that aspect. It also costs the most at $299. Same thing goes for the LG Revolution. It also features a bright and rich 4.3″ screen, as well as the 4G LTE network, but like mentioned it may or may not be dual-core, so this is more of a personal preference as it also has 4G. Take note the more expensive phones are the two that feature 4G. Last brings me to the Motorola Droid X2, This phone has everything you could possibly want in a mobile phone, but the 4G LTE. It is dual-core, has HDMI out, qHD high-res 4.3″ screen and more. It is the most powerful phone in the lineup, but then it lacks the front facing camera, as well as the 4G LTE, yet is the cheapest. So this makes it a hard choice also, do you want top tier specs, or faster performance. I would go into more detail and break down all the prices, but you can see them in the leaked photo above. The pricing does seem odd to me, why the Charge costs the most is sort of confusing. So what would you get? What phone fits your needs best, do you need the 4G performance for while at work, or do you want to multitask and game with the Tegra 2 dual-core in that X2? It is a hard choice for a Verizon customer. We would love to hear everyone comment below on what you think, or what phone you plan to get, and why. So please share your thoughts. Thanks for reading. [via Phone Arena] )
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| Android App Downloads pass 3 Billion Posted: 17 Apr 2011 03:59 PM PDT In it’s first quarter 2011 earnings call, Google let it be known that over three billion apps have been downloaded from the Android Market since it opened. The tally reflects a 50% increase in Android app downloads since the last quarter of 2010. Google didn’t go into details over what apps had been downloaded multiple times, meaning that the tally could be reflecting a percentage of apps that have been re-downloaded to replace and app that had been deleted. But even with that possibility, it’s still an impressive tall.
Google also reported that they are currently activating more than 350,000 Android handsets every day. Doing the math, that’s nearly 128 million smartphones a year. With that kind of traffic, it isn’t surprising that Android’s 3 Billion app download mark happened so quickly. And with competitors like the Amazon App Store for Android and proprietary app stores from Samsung, Sony and other handset providers, it could be far higher than Google’s estimates. It also means that the 4 Billion mark will likely happen sooner than 3 Billion did. According to AppBrain, there are currently nearly 170,000 apps in the Android Market alone. Of those, the App site rates about 38% as being of low quality apps. Google has been known to remove under performing or useless apps every quarter, so the number tends to fluctuate. But the trend is ever moving upward with quality continuing to gain ground. That’s really going to be the key to continuing Android’s upward trend in downloads.    [via Androinica] )
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| DROID TV turns your Android into a mobile television experience Posted: 17 Apr 2011 03:38 PM PDT Everyone is still looking for that killer app that will rival iTunes for media consumption. Sure there’s audio options out there including Double Twist and Pandora, but what about for watching your favorite TV shows? Hulu for Android is still not out. YouTube has the market cornered on viral videos. What about watching real shows? Droid TV may be that killer app. But not for everyone.
Droid TV works by downloading television episodes and storying them on the Android’s SD card. So, it means you need at least 2GB free for every episode you want to watch. It also requires Android handsets running Android 2.1 (Eclair) and above with a minimum screen resolution of 480×800. And the most killer requirement is that you need a processor that’s at least 1Ghz, which is fine if you have an HTC Thunderbolt, but anything older than last June and you’re probably out of luck. As we reported last week, tablets are becoming the entertainment option of choice over TVs and PCs. So that makes having a mobile video solution even more important. Advantages of downloading over streaming are obvious. You can download episodes when you’re in a WiFi hotspot or at home, save them and you’re on your way. And that will save your precious bandwidth, which these days is far from the “unlimited” advertised. It also means a buffer free experience, which is something streaming options can’t guarantee. Subscriptions for Droid TV start at $6 for six months. Here’s hoping it’s a legal app that escapes Hollywood’s notice.    [via Android Me Up] )
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| Posted: 17 Apr 2011 03:14 PM PDT Welcome to Android Community’s review of the T-Mobile G2x, T-Mobile’s first dual-core device, LG’s first dual-core device, and back when it when people called its very close relative the Optimus 2x, the first dual-core period. All that doesn’t matter though because there this sassy little lady is, and it’s bumpin. Over the past few days we’ve been putting this phone through some wild tests and real-world use tests, even playing some games on it, and here we’ve got the first big verdict.
Hardware This phone is long and thin, having a 4-inch screen, one notch smaller than what HTC is quickly claiming as their trademark gigantic 4.3-inch competitor. The display is bright, very bright, coming at you with a LCD IPS screen at 480 x 800 pixel resolution and yes, the touchscreen is both capacitive and very, very sensitive – there’s NEVER a time when you’re going to be tapping over and over again like some of you’ve wondered aloud in the posts leading up to this one.
The entire unit measures in at 4.90 x 2.50 x 0.40 inches (124 x 64 x 10 mm), weighs 5.00 oz (142 g,) and has a camera on the back as well as the front. The front-facing camera weighs in at 1.3 megapixels while the back boasts an 8 megapixel camera with auto focus, image stabilization, smile detection, geo tagging, multishot, and panorama abilities, as well as an LED flash. You can record in 920×1080 (1080p HD) for video on this back camera, and of course you’ll be video chatting the night away with the front.
Volume on this device can be adjusted with the up and down buttons along the right, power button, headphone jack, and HDMI port (with lovely plastic cover,) are along the top. On the left there’s absolutely nothing, and on the bottom there’s a couple of fabulous bigtime speakers and a microUSB port for all of your power charging and data transfer needs. Of course if you’re the kind of person who would rather do this sort of thing via microSD card, you can get at that behind the full-body battery cover on the back.
Also under this battery cover you’ll find the 1500 mAh battery and right between the battery and the camera lens, a location to slip your T-Mobile SIM card. The battery cover is clever in that instead of making it all plastic, (light, but appearing cheap,) or all metal, (looks nice but feels heavy,) LG has mixed the two, adding a single metal strip down the center as a gesture that not only adds some class, it ties it directly to the G-Slate which appears so far to be inextricably brand-tied to the G2x in more ways than one. Best friends forever!
Then there’s the metal band around the entire border of the device, revealing another major speaker at the top of the phone on the front right above the T-Mobile logo. Again, light and powerful. The front of the G2x is covered with curved Gorilla Glass. This adds a layer of elegance to an already classy device, all of these things together making what’s easily one of the nicest feeling Android phones on the market today.
Inside, you’re going to find a fat and awesome Dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 1GHz dual-core processor, pumping power for all your high-demand apps and wackiness through this phone like its ambrosia. Sidenote: that’d be a great name for a processor, don’t you think? There’s also 8 GB storage, 512 MB RAM, and that microSD slot can handle up to 32GB. As for connections you’ll get Wifi 802.11 b/g/n, EDGE, Dual-band 4G UMTS/HSPA+ (Bands I and IV,) and Quad-band GSM (world phone) 850/900/1800/1900 MHz. Also jam some video and/or games into your television with HDMI and DLNA, and go wild with your accelerometer, compass, and GPS. And use the phone as a wifi hotspot. And a partridge in a pear tree. Software What you’re going to get here is a Vanilla Android 2.2 Froyo experience. What that means is that it’s exactly as Google intended it to be inside this phone, few to no modifications other than the addition of a few apps and features, all of them welcome, believe it or not: Need for Speed Shift HD, N.O.V.A (demo,) T-Mobile TV, Zinio (magazine app,) and Qik (video chat.) Qik, if you’ve not used it before, allows you to video chat to other people with Qik, record videos and share them (in a very user-friendly environment,) and send video mail. Simple and well done. Definite competition for Skype (whenever it officially comes out with video chat for Android.)
The couple of games that come with the phone, Need for Speed and N.O.V.A., will blow you away. Need for Speed needs no extra download so you’ll be able to jump right in – it’s a racing game with a fantastic soundtrack that’s so smooth, you’ll basically have a heart attack. For extra fun, play it via HDMI cable, using then your device as the steering wheel and your gigantic television as your display. For an example of what N.O.V.A. has to offer, check out our peek at the G2x back at CTIA – it’s still just as tight: N.O.V.A. is not a brand new game and it doesn’t require a dual-core processor to work, but it sure as heck looks massively impressive on this device, that much you can be sure of. Beyond that, everything is slick. Have a look at how fast everything loads up – no pauses: Camera The cameras on this device, again, are a 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera for video chat and an 8-megapixel back-facing camera with the ability to record at 1080p.
You’ll have just noticed that while the front-facing camera’s video and photo capabilities are rather mortifying at 1.3-megapixels, it’s not really meant for much other than live video chat – recording is just a bonus. On the back-facing camera, it’s nothing but excellence. I need say no more. See a few more examples of photos and video back in our bigger G2x 8-Megapixel Photo and 1080p Video Examples post. Phone and Performance Calling in and out has seemed to have no issues whatsoever with volume and clarity. The one issue that we’ve seen that MIGHT end up being an issue is that, and this only happened once, but it’s that concerning, a phonecall was dropped at the same moment the device dropped T-Mobile’s 4G signal and moved to 2G. That said, download and upload speeds have seemed alright but have been recorded as not very fantastic. See our extended test back in our G2x Speed Tests Around the City post and see an example right here:
As for further performance, this phone’s been quite amazing when it comes to opening and playing gigantically demanding games and movies, and it’s been nothing but fabulous when it comes to browsing and doing everyday tasks. No complaints here! Have a look at our full G2x Dual-Core Optimized Benchmarks post and check out a couple examples here:
Battery The battery on this device has been surprisingly excellent. While we’re still having less than favorable results with battery time on the LTE version of 4G phone the HTC ThunderBolt, T-Mobile’s 4G seems to have little to no effect on the battery at all. One full day of medium to high use has seemed to be about the amount of time you’ll be able to use this phone without a need for a charge. That’s impressive when you understand fully what this phone is capable of. When I write this review, the phone has been up with no charge for 15:30 hours with medium to high usage, (see that video up there with the games being flipped in and out? I just did that,) and the battery is still at 45%. I played about 30 minutes of a high def video on the phone as well (Tron Legacy, to be exact, check out the post where you see that example back [here].)
Wrap-Up There are some people comparing this phone to the AT&T ATRIX 4G. Don’t do that. It may have a few of the same guts, but this phone is the class. The form factor here is enough to be worth the average $200 a top-tier smartphone these days ought to cost, but surprise! It’s selling for cheaper than that. The media collectors on this device are slick, and the media presenters on this device are double-slick. The screen size is perfect (unless you can’t get enough of the slightly larger 4.3-inch screen that HTC is putting on basically every phone they’re releasing, and the phone feels excellent in the hand and in the pocket.
LG and T-Mobile have more than likely agreed upon a Vanilla flavoring of this Android device’s user interface so that it might pump up to fully modern once Android 2.3 Gingerbread is first available to it. The phone has two of the largest cameras available on the market today. There’s a beautiful metal strip with Google engraved in it. The screen is one of the most responsive yours truly has ever engaged with.
So wait, what’s bad about this phone? Connection speed, field of play, and the flash hole. The hole is on the back of the phone, basically a crater where dust and pocket lint will more than likely be getting caught as one keeps this device cycling through one’s pocket. Field of play is limited by the stripped-down nature of the Android operating system as it exists without a manufacturer-added user interface plopped over it. This limits the phone to advanced users of Android – but what does that mean? It means that utterly new newbs probably wont be able to understand the inherent possibilities jumping around inside this phone, but they’ll still very much enjoy it. Finally, the connection speed – we discussed this in short in the post above, and it is an issue if you plan on downloading apps without Wifi on the regular – if you’re a Wifi lover, you’re golden! Should you buy this phone? Of course you should! It’s freaking amazing, and especially if you want to compete with the upcoming power of the G-Slate, you’re going to need the overclockable power of the G2x on your side. It’s a race to the top! Yours truly reviews phones VERY often and uses a single Android at a time for a carry-around. Will the G2x replace the phone I’ve been carrying around for the past couple of weeks? Sure it will! At least for a couple more weeks, that is.                       )
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| T-Mobile’s strange Royal Wedding Commercial Posted: 17 Apr 2011 03:11 PM PDT Most of the time, commercials are very direct in advertising a product. And sometimes the product is omitted entirely and … well, they’re just down right strange. That’s the case with T-Mobile’s Royal Wedding video which not only has gone viral, but has probably gotten as many views as it would on television. And it’s just in time to ride the wave of the Royally obsessed.
The whole concept of the ad is a celebration of the Royal Wedding of Prince William of Wales to Lady Kathryn Middleton in Great Britain. But instead of the stately pomp and circumstance we would expect from a Royal Wedding, there’s a procession of dancing that is more akin to the television show GLEE. And what really sells it is the lookalikes producers cast of the British Royal Family as they strut down the center isle. And the ones they cast as Charles, Camilla, and the Princes are dead ringers. The whole tag line is “Life is for sharing,” and no doubt is focusing on the mobile ability to share what happens in our life on social networks using mobile phones. But nowhere do you see one. And face it, nowhere do you see that British Royal Stiff upper lip. Just sheer celebration. It’s strange, it’s kitchy, but hey, it’s also fun. And if the wedding at Westminster Abbey were like this dancing celebration, it’d certainly be a moment worth sharing!
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