Android Community |
- DROID Charge Heading To Verizon Tomorrow
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Arriving First On Verizon With 4G LTE?
- Sony Ericsson defends sluggish XPERIA Play PSOne game sales
- NOOK for Android updated: Tablet UI, Digital Magazines, more
- Confirmed: HTC Sensation dump shows signed bootloader
- DROID X2 set for May 26 launch
- BeBook Live 7-inch Android tablet coming June 21 in UK
- Samsung Galaxy S II updated: Swype swiftness, auto-brightness fix
- LG Optimus Pad arrives in UK today
- HTC Flyer hits shelves today
- Android Community App of the Week: HBO GO
- Adobe Flash for Android updated to 10.3 focuses on Android 3.1
- Netflix for Android finally released for certain HTC phones and Nexus S
- Samsung Infuse 4G rooted via SuperOneClick
- 5 new ways to discover great apps on Android Market
| DROID Charge Heading To Verizon Tomorrow Posted: 13 May 2011 10:28 AM PDT The Samsung DROID Charge is slated as the second smartphone ever to be running on Verizon’s 4G LTE network, but up until now its release date has remained a mystery. Delays of its launch may have been caused by the LTE outage a few weeks ago, but even after the network came back on, there was no news on a firm date. But fortunately today it’s just been confirmed by Verizon that the DROID charge will finally be launching tomorrow.
The DROID Charge sports a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display along with Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 interface layered over Google’s Android 2.2 Froyo. Inside, you’ll find a Qualcomm 1GHz single-core processor, 1.10GB onboard memory, and a microSD slot for expandable memory up to 32GB. It also features a 1.3-megapixel front camera and a 8-megapixel back camera with LED flash and 720p recording. Samsung’s DROID Charge will cost you $299.99 with a new two-year contract from Verizon with data and talk monthly plans starting around $70 a month. To find out whether its worth the price, check out our Chris Burns’ full review of the DROID Charge. And for a second opinion, check out our Vincent Nguyen’s full review as well. Press Release: )
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| Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Arriving First On Verizon With 4G LTE? Posted: 13 May 2011 09:30 AM PDT At Google I/O earlier this week, every attendee got to walk away with a limited edition Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet. We reviewed the slate and compared it with the Motorola XOOM and the LG G-Slate and we even did an epic unboxing battle to which you can vote a winner for a chance to win the limited edition tablet. And what’s even better? Now we get word that the ultra thin and lightweight tablet may be heading to Verizon as its first carrier and sport speedy 4G LTE.
The guys over at DroidLife were tipped with some Verizon inventory screen images that showed four mystery SKUs with model numbers and specs that suggested they may be the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The tablet is listed as SCH-1905 which falls inline with Samsung’s typical model numbering and looks to be coming in both white and black as well as in two storage capacities of 16GB and 32GB. In a second and third image we can see clearly that the SKUs in question will come running Android 3.0 Honeycomb and be a 4G LTE tablet. Currently, there are no details on when this device would be ready, but since Samsung has scheduled a big press event for May 26th, it’s highly possible that a Verizon 4G LTE Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 slate gets unveiled then.
[via DroidLife] )
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| Sony Ericsson defends sluggish XPERIA Play PSOne game sales Posted: 13 May 2011 06:58 AM PDT Sony Ericsson has dismissed suggestions that poor sales of its PSOne classic games available for the XPERIA Play are a cause for concern, arguing that it’s a matter of awareness rather than lack of appeal. PlayStation LifeStyle [article offline at time of writing] spotted that Sony Ericsson’s five PSOne launch titles had all been downloaded less than 1,000 times, suggesting adoption by XPERIA Play owners was less than impressive.
Of the five, Destruction Derby managed the most downloads (500-1,000) while Cool Boarders 2, MediEvil and Syphon Filter all sputtered to 100-500. Jumping Flash came in last with an unimpressive 50-100. According to Head of Market Development at Sony Ericsson, Dominic Neil-Dwyer, this isn’t a bad start:
As we warned in our review of the XPERIA Play over at SlashGear, the boost in gaming titles for Sony Ericsson’s platform that’s expected when the NGP arrives later in 2011 (and, we now know, which the S1 and S2 tablets will support) may come too late for the smartphone. By then, a single-core handset – even one with dedicated gaming controls – may be looking distinctly old-hat. [via GottaBeMobile] )
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| NOOK for Android updated: Tablet UI, Digital Magazines, more Posted: 13 May 2011 06:38 AM PDT Barnes & Noble has updated its NOOK for Android app, with a new tablet-friendly UI and the introduction of NOOK Newsstand periodical support. Over 140 titles are available through the digital magazine system, including ESPN and The Economist.
As for the interface, that now gets a library grid view, while book margins and line spacing are also tweaked. The ebook purchasing system has been reworked, and the ArticleView system from the NOOKcolor has been dragged over to the general Android app. The new UI works on Android 2.1+ tablets, including those running Honeycomb, with 7-inch or above displays; smartphone users will merely get some performance enhancements. The NOOK for Android app is available as a free download from the Android Market, V CAST Apps from Verizon Wireless, Samsung Apps, GetJar and AppsLib. Press Release: )
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| Confirmed: HTC Sensation dump shows signed bootloader Posted: 13 May 2011 05:51 AM PDT One of the best things about the Android operating system is the hackable and open nature of the OS. You can unlock mod, change and do pretty much what you want. Comparatively, the iPhone is locked down with a constant fight between hackers and Apple to find and patch holes that allow the phones to be jailbroken. Recently, many of the big names in the Android smartphone market has been doing things like offering unlocked bootloaders for some phones.
Both Motorola and Sony Ericsson have recently decided to play nice with modders and phone hackers. HTC is apparently not to the point yet where it wasn’t to offer its users the ability to load their own custom ROMs. The latest system dump for the HTC Sensation has surfaced, and the first things noticed was that the bootloader is signed. This is particularly troublesome considering that the Sensation is one of the more anticipated devices coming to market. Without something unexpected happening, this signed bootloader will mean no custom kernel, ROMs, or recovery. There is a chance someone might be able to unlock the Sensation in a manner similar to what happened with the Thunderbolt. We can only wait and see what the smart and crafty hackers will be able to do when the Sensation has been around for a while. This is sad though, anyone can sign up to unlock the Xperia Arc bootloader. Will this keep you from buying the Sensation? [via Androidpolice] )
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| DROID X2 set for May 26 launch Posted: 13 May 2011 05:32 AM PDT We mentioned just yesterday that the DROID X2 dummy devices were turning up hinting at a launch soon. The launch now has a specific day for us to look forward to. The smartphone will land on May 26, almost exactly two weeks from today. This smartphone was originally expected to land today, but was delayed. This will be the first dual-core Tegra 2 Android smartphone on the Verizon network.
A launch date of May 19 is pegged for fulfillment orders, which presumably means that pre-ordered devices will ship on that day. I would imagine that would put the smartphone into the hands of several pre-order users ahead of the official launch date. This is going to be a very popular smartphone and most of you will already know all about the device. In case you have somehow missed the specs of the DROID X2, they are very nice. The smartphone is tipped to use Android 2.3 Gingerbread. It has a 4.3-inch qHD screen that has a resolution of 960×540. The processor is the dual-core Tegra 2 I mentioned already, and it will run at 1 GHz. The rear camera is 8MP with 720p video recording, and the phone has 1080p output. Internal storage is 8GB via SD card that is included. [via Droid-life] )
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| BeBook Live 7-inch Android tablet coming June 21 in UK Posted: 13 May 2011 04:45 AM PDT We have already talked quite a bit about the BeBook Live tablet that runs Android. We mentioned earlier this month that the launch date was tipped for this summer. What we didn’t have then was the actual launch date to mark in our calendars. That official launch date has now been revealed by BeBook as June 21. That date comes from an email BeBook sent out in the UK.
That email also had the RRP for the BeBook Live at £229. The price in the States has been pegged at $280. That will make it a very reasonably priced Android device that may prove to be quite popular. The device has Android 2.2 onboard. The machine has a 1GHz Samsung Cortex processor under the hood as well. In all the hardware is very nice considering the price the tablet will sell for. The tablet has a 7-inch multitouch screen, and the resolution is 800×600. Other hardware specs include 512MB of SDRAM, 4GB of internal flash storage and a microSD card slot. As is typical, that microSD card slot will support up to 32GB cards. The front camera on the device will allow for video conferencing and chat, and it has HDMI output. The BeBook Live should prove to be just as hackable as the Nook Color and I think it will end up being popular with people looking for an entry-level tablet with decent hardware. )
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| Samsung Galaxy S II updated: Swype swiftness, auto-brightness fix Posted: 13 May 2011 03:18 AM PDT Samsung’s Galaxy S II may be fresh to the market, but that hasn’t stopped the company’s engineers from pushing out updates. In fact, we’ve seen two firmware updates arrive through Samsung’s Kies app in short order, bringing the GSII up to i9100XWKE2.
The first left Swype more responsive and apparently also addressed some connectivity issues, while the second fixed the Galaxy S II’s automatic brightness. The firmware is also rootable, which is good news for those looking forward to all the third-party hacks we’re promised. You’ll need to hook your Galaxy S II up to Kies in order to download the update – we’ve tried through the smartphone’s onboard firmware update tool, and it can’t find any new builds. Let us know how you get on in the comments, and if you’re still on the fence regarding the GSII then check out our full review! )
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| LG Optimus Pad arrives in UK today Posted: 13 May 2011 02:23 AM PDT The HTC Flyer isn’t the only tablet arriving in the UK today. Carphone Warehouse has confirmed that the LG Optimus Pad – aka the T-Mobile G-Slate in the US – is now on sale, offering Android 3.0 Honeycomb and a 3D camera array for stills and video.
Your money gets you a 10.1-inch display – which can show 3D footage, as long as you wear the bundled red/cyan glasses – along with twin cameras, WiFi, 3G and Bluetooth. Inside is NVIDIA’s dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 chipset. The Optimus Pad will be available from £299.99 on a £25 per month (24 month) contract, which includes 5GB of data, or for £749.99 stand alone. More details on the tablet in our full review of the G-Slate.
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| Posted: 13 May 2011 02:17 AM PDT HTC is working its way through releasing the various devices it announced back in February at MWC 2011, and latest to hit shelves is the HTC Flyer. The 7-inch tablet has arrived in EMEA, undercutting the iPad 2 in mainland Europe at least, at €649 $929) for the 32GB 3G + WiFi model, while the 16GB WiFi-only Flyer is priced at €499 /$714).
Unlike in the US, both come with the digital HTC Scribe pen as standard. That can be used to draw, annotate documents or create handwritten notes, which can then be synchronized with Evernote. The Flyer also has twin cameras and marks the debut of HTC Watch, the company’s new streaming movie and TV service. The HTC Flyer will initially be available in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Romania. Carphone Warehouse has just confirmed that it will be offering the tablet in the UK from £129.99 on a £25 per month (24 month) contract with Talk Mobile, which includes 5GB of data, or for £599.99 stand alone, in both CW and Best Buy stores. HTC’s own online store is here, where the WiFi-only Flyer is £479.99. Press Release: )
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| Android Community App of the Week: HBO GO Posted: 12 May 2011 03:17 PM PDT Hello everyone and welcome to the Android Community App of the Week! This week we present you with HBO GO, something we have been waiting for and wanting for a while now. Yes it has been available online via the HBO GO website but now you can get it right on your android phone, anywhere you go, just like the name implies. We announced it back in April when it first went live, and showed you the teaser that HBO released a while back also. Today we are going in a little deeper and giving you an inside look at HBO GO for Android.
HBO GO is available in the Android Market, get that here to start, and the best part is — it’s free! Sort of. It is pretty simple actually, if you are an HBO subscriber you can access all the movies, series, shows, comedy and content your little heart desires. As long as your plan is unlimited, because it might add up quick. All you need to do is sign in (I used my Cox Cable log-in) and from there you get everything HBO has to offer. I did say an “inside look” so now I’ll go ahead and show you how it is once your signed in and ready to go. It has a very simple, intuitive, and user friendly interface and and browsing through the menus you can see they took their time. It is smooth, and clean and easy to understand. I like the layout as well.
From there you can choose any category you’re in the mood for, if you want movies they have everything from Avatar, to chick flicks for the ladies like shown below. Buffering for a full movie seems fast as well. On my G2x with T-Mobile 4G, Avatar started in about 5-7 seconds and ran for more than a few minutes without a single hiccup. You can choose your favorite series and watch anything you have missed from last week, or from last year. When I mention last year I’m talking about great series such as Big Love, or one of my favorites Boardwalk Empire, they have every episode so you don’t have to miss a single one. For all you parents out there you can also control all of the content, or late night viewing. In the profile settings there is everything from parent controls, to series pass, and preferences. You can control everything you want with parent controls, they give the user a pretty wide list of options to suit your needs. A much needed feature if you have kids using the app. Obviously you need to be a HBO subscriber so it isn’t actually free, but it sure is nice to have such a well designed application that works great and is free, but charging for both wouldn’t be very cool so it is pretty expected. The last thing I want to mention that I think is a great idea is a new thing for HBO GO users only that will allow you to see sneak peaks, and the latest weekly show of your favorite series early. Like I said this is only for HBO GO users for now and it is a great idea to get more people using it. Here you can see a sneak peak of the show Game of Thrones Episode 5 that is not until next week, and I’ve read they will be allowing users to see the next week show a few days early starting with episode 7 and after. I’m not sure if all series will get that special treat, but it is pretty exciting.
Sadly it is not available for Honeycomb tablets yet, and that would be a perfect place for something like HBO GO. I’m assuming they have something in the works that they will release soon. One of my favorite things is the ability to stream anything I want, then mirror it over HDMI out on my G2x right to the TV. So if I’m out of town visiting family and don’t want to miss the latest episode of my favorite show I can throw it up on the big screen right from my android phone. That is awesome. In closing I’d like to mention that this is the first release for android, fixes and changes are probably on the way soon as well as a Honeycomb version. I tried backing it up to transfer to my Xoom but that was a no go, it didn’t work but it was worth a try. I mention fixes and changes, but I didn’t notice any issues throughout the last week or so that needed any immediate attention. I’d rather have a Xoom version than anything right now. That is it folks, head over to the Android Market and get HBO GO, or just click here. I hope you enjoyed this weeks App of the Week and next week we will try to bring something completely free. Thanks for reading.        )
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| Adobe Flash for Android updated to 10.3 focuses on Android 3.1 Posted: 12 May 2011 02:48 PM PDT It looks like today Adobe has silently rolled out Flash 10.3 for Android today, available in the Android Market now. It was recently updated to 10.2 and there was comments about the next Honeycomb update in the release notes that were quickly removed. This time there seems to not be much for release notes or a changelog except for 10.2 stuff.
From reading over some of the changes from 10.2 it looks like this release should have brought changes for a few things including enhanced browser integration for Android 3.1 as well as hardware acceleration (not just a presentation on acceleration like 10.2) Although while reading over the market link you can clearly see adobe mentions they recommend Honeycomb users update to Android 3.1 first. So clearly there is some changes for that. After digging a little bit and finding a full set of Adobe 10.3 for Android release notes you can see they mention OMAP 4 processors, the Galaxy S, EVO fixes, as well as hardware acceleration for 3.1 Honeycomb. There is also a fix for those streaming things that are longer in length like over 1 hour long. It looks like they are paying attention to the issues that real users have been having and are updating accordingly, so that is good to see. Hopefully they continue to access the power of Android 3.1 and the Tegra 2 to bring an even better experience for us. Full 10.3 Release Notes
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| Netflix for Android finally released for certain HTC phones and Nexus S Posted: 12 May 2011 01:26 PM PDT Well, what do we have here. It looks like the LG Revolution wont be getting Netflix for Android first after all. Even though it is the featured phone on the Netflix websites Android section. Today Netflix has announced that they are now offering Netflix for Android coming to select HTC phones, as well as the popular Nexus S. I’m sure they’ve worked with Google so the S should have been in the list to begin with.
Today they have begun the rollout of Netflix for Android, and that is their words. Hopefully a larger list of compatible devices will be added very soon. Currently they are only listing the HTC Nexus One, the Incredible, EVO 4G, G2 and the Nexus S like I mentioned above. They do list specific Android versions with each phone so that may be an issue, we will look into that. They list 2.2 and 2.3 for the Nexus One, but only 2.2 for the EVO and many users are on 2.3 with leaks or custom roms. They do mention they plan to add to the list of supported devices rapidly, so that is good to hear. Hopefully sooner than later. For those that have a Netflix account and a supported device the Netflix Android App is available in the Android Market now, get it here. Obviously this is the first release for Android so the app doesn’t have a lot of functionality. Stop and start playback, start from where you left off on your TV, managing your instant queue and things of that sort. It is a good start and better late than never. Hopefully they will get to updating the device list, and features soon. iOS users of Netflix just got subtitles support, so hopefully many changes are coming soon. I think I’ll go watch some Daniel Tosh or Tosh.O now that I have Netflix for my Nexus One. Full Press Release below: )
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| Samsung Infuse 4G rooted via SuperOneClick Posted: 12 May 2011 12:03 PM PDT Well folks it is just that easy. As always the wonderful developers from XDA have done it again and now the brand new Samsung Infuse 4G from AT&T has been rooted with a single click. It doesn’t get much easier than that. Using the ever popular SuperOneClick method you simply run the program on your computer, and you are rooted. More details below.
Just a few short days ago the Infuse 4G was announced and shortly after we had a hands-on and unboxing. It sure is a pretty device with that huge 4.5″ screen and extremely thin body, just barely thicker than the SGS II. For those that don’t know it is a single-core Galaxy S phone with a huge 4.5″ screen and is capable of handing AT&T’s 4G speeds (they are activated too). The SuperOneClick method has been around for a long while, it works on basically every android phone that isn’t NAND locked or have some other type of lock down issues like most Motorola phones have of late. So this should be a relatively easy thing for anyone looking to root, most likely you have done if before but if not feel free to let me help you. Lucky for you guys things have got pretty easy in the rooting game, before it was a much more involved experience. To root your Infuse 4G follow some short instructions below or ask any questions if you are worried over at the XDA Forum. Instructions: Download SuperOneClick v1.9.1 You NEED to put your phone on USB Debugging mode From here you run the SuperOneClick application on your computer and follow the on-screen instructions, it is very easy and there isn’t much room for mistakes so it should be a fast process. Finish that and your done. Easy peasy. For those worried here is a slightly older, but very helpful video guide that explains it. [via Droid Life] )
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| 5 new ways to discover great apps on Android Market Posted: 12 May 2011 11:38 AM PDT Yesterday at Google I/O it was almost all about Chrome, but they also covered a lot about the Android Market and had quite a bit to say regarding some much needed improvements. Having an app be discovered by the users has always been a challenge for Android. I know a few great game dev’s that had a hard time getting their apps into the eyes of users. Google has introduced 5 great new ways to discover all the newest and greatest apps on the Android Market, a very welcomed improvement.
Along with the I/O keynote, the Google Mobile Blog was getting into all of the exciting changes to the market and I am here to go over them for those that might have missed it. My personal favorites are the new “Editors Choice” apps and “Trending Apps”. This will be a great way to find those popular apps you might not have known about, or ones that are taking off and in the trending list.
I must say the Trending apps is a great idea, just like Twitter you can see what is trending and “hot” at that moment. So for people busy with work, or for some reason didn’t come to AndroidCommunity to get the latest news and missed that a popular new game was just released, you will now see those in the trending list if they get enough installs. Here is a screenshot from the I/O keynote showing some of the changes on a chart as well.
For a team like Google, that makes most of their huge sales numbers from being the best at indexing things like Google searches, and search results. I am pretty confident with saying I’m sure they have came up with a pretty good system or algorithm for showing us the latest and greatest apps. Things are starting to look up for the Android Market more and more, long gone are the days where the market is one of Android’s weakest links. Soon it will be one of the strongest. [via Google Mobile Blog] )
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