Android Phone Fans |
- Droid Landings Has Been Reactivated – Field Agents Await Instructions
- ACLU Concerned With Michigan Police Using Mobile Phone Scanners
- Its A Celebration! Spacetime Studios Gives Away Premium Pocket Legends Content For FREE!
- Compufon Attempts to be a Smartphone, Honeycomb Tablet, and Netbook at the Same Time
- White House App Puts the President in Your Pocket
- Motorola Asks Everyone What Cool Android Apps They’d Like to See, Gets Over 10,000 Votes for an Unlocked Bootloader
- DROID Incredible 2 Launch Nearing With Showcase App on the Android Market
- Toshiba’s Honeycomb Tablet Could Be Named Thrive, Say Trademark and Domain Filings
- Rogers to Release LG Optimus 2X As Early As Late Q3, Canadians Having Trouble Using quad-band T-Moble G2x on Networks
- Verizon Details Thursday’s 4G LTE Rollout; Not As Much of a “Mess” As We Expected
- ComScore: iOS Beats Android By a Lot When Non-Phones Are Considered [Duh]
- Motorola DROID Bionic Not Dead, Just Delayed to Incorporate Enhancements
- LauncherPro Plus is Now Available on the Android Market With Latest Update
- CNN for Android Phones Hits the Market
- Evernote for Android Gets a ‘Huge’ Update to Version 3.0
| Droid Landings Has Been Reactivated – Field Agents Await Instructions Posted: 19 Apr 2011 06:53 PM PDT
Its been almost 3 months since we’ve heard anything from Verizon’s “Droid Landing” Twitter page. If you thought we’ve seen the last of the landings you were mistaken. After a season of hibernation, it looks as if the Twitter page has come alive once again.
The way this works is Verizon sends out Tweets to followers of @DroidLanding and basically sends everyone into a bit of scavenger hunting frenzy, looking all over participating cities for hidden Droid phones. The clues are cryptic at first and become more obvious as the day progresses. The last time we saw the landings of the Droid X and Droid 2 smartphones from Verizon. This time is anybody’s guess (Charge? Bionic?). If this sounds like your cup of tea and don’t mind working a little bit for a free Droid phone, be sure to follow @DroidLanding on Twitter and maybe you’ll be lucky enough to have a sighting in your area. [Twitter]
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| ACLU Concerned With Michigan Police Using Mobile Phone Scanners Posted: 19 Apr 2011 06:17 PM PDT
The Michigan Police Department have a new device at their disposal and its being billed as a “mobile forensics tool.” The device allows an officer to bypass all security on a mobile phone and obtain private information such as call records, pictures, text messages and so on. If used as intended, this device could be a great help at aiding an investigation of a kidnapping or homicide (like the location of a victim’s last known where-abouts).
Now, this invasion of privacy has attracted the attention of the ACLU. Their main concern is with the devices being used on small, everyday traffic stops and violations. Although, we see no indication of any wrong doing or abuse, I can see how its something worth looking into. The Michigan police department have yet to release to the public information regarding the program but are asking for half a million dollars to disclose such info. If I was a Michigan resident, I would feel entitled to knowing what my rights are regarding this new technology being used in an unreasonable search of my phone. What I would really like to know is how you, a tax payer, would feel about your police department using devices like these and not disclosing how the information is being used, enforced and kept secured? Does the existence of such a device make you feel more secure in your government? Or do you see this as yet another way Big Brother can keep an eye on you? [Via TheNewsPaper]
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| Its A Celebration! Spacetime Studios Gives Away Premium Pocket Legends Content For FREE! Posted: 19 Apr 2011 05:05 PM PDT
Pocket Legends has been a big hit amongst the Android community ever since it first hit the Market last year. As one of the first massive multiplayer online games for Android, it drew in thousands with its addictive gameplay and MMO gaming on-the-go. In celebration of Pocket Legends’ 1 year anniversary, the developers of the game (Spacetime Studios) will be giving away its premium content for absolutely FREE. This premium content will remain free until Monday, May 4th, 2011 and will give you access to paid adventure areas such as:
The developers have also managed to work in some of the party festivities into the game world itself. You will notice a each Towne decorated with cakes, balloon and streamers for an added touch. Spacetime Studios has also taken the time to record a very special promo video on their Youtube channel advertising the celebration!
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| Compufon Attempts to be a Smartphone, Honeycomb Tablet, and Netbook at the Same Time Posted: 19 Apr 2011 03:58 PM PDT
Talk about device convergence. While we’ve already seen the tablet/netbook hybrids make their way to the forefront, Compufon looks to add another wrinkle into the fold – smartphones.Compufon boasts a powerful smartphone that you’ll be able to insert into a slate as if it were a video game cartridge. The processing power and storage option are on the phone as the tablet portion only provides a display and its own dedicated battery. (Which looks like it’ll be able to charge the phone while it’s inside.) They also have a case that has an accompanying keyboard which essentially turns it into a netbook.
The Compufon sports a 1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor, 16GB of internal storage, a 4 inch display with 960 x 460 resolution, a front-facing VGA camera, a rear-facing 5 megapixel camera with video recording, and will apparently run Android 3.0 whenever the software is made available. (Though we’re sure that this’ll only work when the phone is docked inside the tablet slate.) As for the tablet dock, it’ll be a 10.1-inch slate with a resolution of 1024×768. The dock includes its own front-facing camera, but the rear-facing camera is provided by the phone. Interesting stuff, I’d say. The tablephonetbook is expected to launch in the 4th quarter of 2011. Head on over to Compufon’s site for more details.
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| White House App Puts the President in Your Pocket Posted: 19 Apr 2011 02:47 PM PDT
OK, maybe you can’t literally get the president into your pocket (that’d be cool, wouldn’t it?) but you can keep up to date with the White House with their new Android app. You can watch live streams of big speeches events (such as the State of the Union Address), view photos, and view the latest news coming out of the White House. Doesn’t look too shabby, to boot. It’s a free app, of course, and can be found in the Android market.
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| Posted: 19 Apr 2011 01:42 PM PDT
In a poll that has clearly taken a turn for the worst (for Motorola, anyway), Motorola has asked their Facebook fans what types of new apps they’d like to see from developers. Unfortunately for them, they left the poll open to custom responses – you know who showed up for this juicy occasion. Rooters and developers the world over flocked to this opportunity to fight for their devices’ freedom and to let Motorola know that they want — nay, they need an unlocked bootloader. Over a dozen of these responses were left with subsequent votes on them totaling up to over 10,000. Doesn’t exactly fit Motorola’s original question, but the message has been sent. Let’s see how or if Motorola responds to the outcry. [via PocketNow]
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| DROID Incredible 2 Launch Nearing With Showcase App on the Android Market Posted: 19 Apr 2011 01:30 PM PDT
We’re on our way to the DROID Incredible 2 launch, folks – the device’s showcase app has just hit the Android market courtesy of Verizon. We originally hoped the device would be launched April 21st, but we’re well into Verizon’s usual announcement window and there is no press release to be found. This application does mean we’re very close, though, and we’re guessing things are all falling into place for an April 28th launch. [via Droid-Life]
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| Toshiba’s Honeycomb Tablet Could Be Named Thrive, Say Trademark and Domain Filings Posted: 19 Apr 2011 01:06 PM PDT
Toshiba’s been flaunting this Honeycomb tablet for months now, but they haven’t given us a name for it. (I’m getting tired of saying “Toshiba Honeycomb tablet” dammit.) New trademark filings and domain registrations say they may have finally settled on a name, though. The OEM filed for the name “Thrive” to identify their “tablet computer”. Doesn’t exactly confirm that this tablet computer will be running Android, but we can’t think of any other tablet Toshiba’s set to bring out. And then there are these domains – ThriveToshiba.com, ThriveTablet.com, ToshibaThrive.com, and TabletThrive.com. These don’t work yet and I’m sure Toshiba won’t be using all of them, but it seems to me like they have finally made their minds up. [USPTO via Engadget]
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| Posted: 19 Apr 2011 12:49 PM PDT
Many of our Canadian friends were happy to hear that the T-Mobile G2x would be a quad-band phone (which include support for the same spectrum AT&T uses) – something T-Mobile advertised in their formal announcement. The FCC confirmed that this would be the case and T-Mobile’s official specifications list for the device also confirms as much. Unfortunately, it looks like it may not be as easy as unlocking the device for use on one of Canada’s many networks that share AT&T’s bands. One lucky importer on XDA claims to already have the device but is having a mountain’s worth of trouble getting full connectivity on Bell’s network using his Bell SIM card inside the device, though is able to see Rogers’ 2G network just fine. Weird, right? His claims were contested, of course, with fellow XDA members hoping that whoever unlocked it didn’t do it right, but a ball of confusion has formed over the matter. It appears T-Mobile may have only included radios necessary to get 2G access on networks on that spectrum – meaning there is no case of false advertisement. They remain hopeful that there are 3G radios for AT&T’s (and all of Canada’s, really) network inside, though, and that it’s possible to unlock through the kernel or with a modified radio, but we won’t know what’s what until more folks get the device in their hands both in Canada and here in America. Canadians could just wait for the Optimus 2X, of course, but just as with any device launch, networks will be a bit late to the party. Rogers is said to not be carrying the device until Late Q3, but that window could become early Q4, according to new evidence procured by MobileSyrup. And the Optimus 2X doesn’t exactly give them the stock Android goodness that G2x users are already enjoying as of the 15th. (In-stores tomorrow for those who didn’t order online.) [Thanks for the XDA tip Charles!]
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| Verizon Details Thursday’s 4G LTE Rollout; Not As Much of a “Mess” As We Expected Posted: 19 Apr 2011 12:32 PM PDT
Verizon yesterday tweeted about new markets for their 4G LTE network. They said that a “mess of new cities and towns” would be getting it which led us to believe that a large portion of the list of confirmed cities they afforded us a few months ago would be included. If you were hoping to see that list sooner rather than later, here it is (other surrounding towns and cities for respective markets are listed in quotes):
Once you break it down like that, Verizon didn’t lie – that’s a long list of cities. It just doesn’t consist of the major cities we thought would get some 4G love. The rollout doesn’t stop here, of course, but Verizon’s not announcing any new expansions as part of Thursday’s party. [via @VerizonWireless]
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| ComScore: iOS Beats Android By a Lot When Non-Phones Are Considered [Duh] Posted: 19 Apr 2011 11:55 AM PDT
Well isn’t this quite a surprise? (Not.) ComScore, in an interesting but ultimately pointless report, has revealed that Apple beats Android by a wide margin if you’re counting mobile devices that aren’t necessarily phones. Yep, that’s right, when you take into account the iPod Touch and iPad, Android is but a small fish in a very big sea of mobile technology. ComScore’s findings has iOS beating Android by a wide 60% margin as there are 37.9 million iOS users opposed to Android’s 23.8 million. It’s certainly no surprise to us enthusiasts who know Android 3.0′s going through the pains of growth that Android handsets once had to suffer through. (And look how far that has come.) And yes, there have been tablets available long before Android 3.0 made its way to the forefront, but they were cheap uninspiring models with little to no marketing. As far as the apps ecosystem on Honeycomb tablets goes, that also is nothing to be proud of at the current moment. Simply put, Android is only flourishing on phones right now and everyone already knows it. Not much more to see or say here. [via ComScore]
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| Motorola DROID Bionic Not Dead, Just Delayed to Incorporate Enhancements Posted: 19 Apr 2011 11:13 AM PDT
The Motorola DROID BIONIC was one of the finer-looking devices at CES this past January so it was disappointing to hear that the device may have been cancelled in favor of a device everyone’s calling the Motorola Targa (Which isn’t a bad looking device, for the record.) The Wall Street Journal has heard it from a Motorola spokeswoman that that may not be the case, though – it’s simply delayed. They cite the desire to incorporate enhancements and new features as reasons for its delay. Verizon and Motorola originally gave us “Q2″ as a release window, and while we’re only over half a month into that frame, the lack of leaks suggest Verizon hasn’t gotten the device into the hands of testers for the final push. The new window, according to WSJ, is “sometime this summer” – not the most specific, but if they get this thing out early June they won’t miss their original “Q2″ promise, but “summer” gives them room to push this thing back to the end of summer and early fall. Yep, that’s quite a lengthy delay for a phone Verizon professed to be a staple of their DROID lineup. [via AndroidForums.com]
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| LauncherPro Plus is Now Available on the Android Market With Latest Update Posted: 19 Apr 2011 10:25 AM PDT
For those of you who were waiting on Federico to add the paid version of his widely-popular LauncherPro home replacement app to the Android market, get your wallets ready – it’s there. And with its arrival comes an update to bring that widget theme support out of beta. Designers can now change the look of the included LP widgets and users are now subsequently able to apply them. Other changes include bug fixes and reduced memory usage. Go on and head to the Android market to get the update, and get the full unlock there as well because Paypal is no longer a necessity to snap this app up. [Thanks Alex!]
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| CNN for Android Phones Hits the Market Posted: 19 Apr 2011 10:15 AM PDT
CNN finally made their way to Android when the Motorola XOOM launched but there was just one problem – their application was for Honeycomb tablets only. All that’s finally changed, though, as they have today released a fully-featured application in the Android market. Features include iReport tools, CNN Radio, live video, notifications of breaking news, a customizable widget and more. CNN’s mobile site wasn’t always bad to me, but I do prefer an app a lot more. Head on over to the Android market for this free download. [Thanks Tati!]
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| Evernote for Android Gets a ‘Huge’ Update to Version 3.0 Posted: 19 Apr 2011 09:44 AM PDT Evernote has dropped a bomb of an update for their Android application, bringing it squarely to version 3.0 with the addition of more features than you could shake a bundle of sticks at and then some. Everything from new sharing features, security options, to a revamped widget have been included. It’s a bit much to take in, so thankfully the Evernote crew put together a nice little video overview: They weren’t kidding about this update being huge. New features allow for mobile collaboration of shared notebooks, the ability to send items to Facebook, maps and location, and improved interfaces for the main app and widget make this the most comprehensive Evernote experience yet. Check it out in the Android Market by following the link below. Android Market Link: Evernote [via Evernote]
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