Android Phone Fans |
- Android Leading in Smartphone Marketshare AND Data Usage
- T-Mobile To Announce Launch Date For HTC Sensation Tonight?
- Verizon Cracking Down on Users Illegally Tethering On Their Network
- Apps of the Day: Speedoku, Food Truck Follower & More
- Nokia: Android is Killing Us in China and Europe
- Motorola Mobility Site Redesign Tips Off New XOOM, Two Ultra-Slim Phones, and Targa?
- TomTom Heading to Your Android Market Soon
- Sprint Makes Their AT&T-Mo Merger Opposition Official With Appeal to the FCC
- Lookout Finds 25 Newly Infected Android Applications, Google Swiftly Removes Them
- HTC Play to be Name of Game Marketplace?
- Sprint Sends Email Dangling EVO 3D in Front of Our Faces, Still No Release Date
- T-Mobile Hosting Launch Event for Three New HTC Phones on June 8th
- Did Motorola drop Tegra 2 in favor of TI OMAP in the Droid Bionic?
- Samsung Opens New AMOLED Production to Alleviate Supply Strain
- Pantech to Launch First US Android, the Crossover, June 5 on AT&T
| Android Leading in Smartphone Marketshare AND Data Usage Posted: 31 May 2011 06:21 PM PDT Hey, everyone! It’s that time again! Time for some more fun facts and general statistics from around the mobile world! This time brought to you by the Nielsen statistics company. Almost every week we receive some new statistics shedding light on how Google’s Android mobile OS is taking over the tech world and, in the process, is taking a huge steaming heap of… gumdrops on rival Apple’s iOS.
Besides the normal “Android leading in smartphone market share,” (pictured above) in a new report by Nielsen, Android users are also consuming more data on their handsets than any other mobile OS. With 582MB of data consumed on average in just the first quarter of the year in comparison to iOS users who only used about 492MB. Nielsen gathered this information from around 65,000 cellphone bills around the U.S.
I’ll go ahead an play devil’s advocate for a quick second. I wouldn’t be surprised if a lot of that data usage had something to do with the amount of unauthorized tethering we’ve seen carriers begin cracking down on as of late. Even though I’m sure most Android elitists will have you believe that Android users are generally more tech savvy than iOS users, resulting in more navigating of the world wide web and its wonders therein. So how about you guys? If you could guestimate how much data you use in a month, where would you fall? I happen to know for a fact that 582MB of data would be a slow week for me. Mmmmmm… data. Andy must feed. Om nom nom. [Via NielsenWire]
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| T-Mobile To Announce Launch Date For HTC Sensation Tonight? Posted: 31 May 2011 05:07 PM PDT With a heavily rumored June 8th launch date, T-Mobile’s HTC Sensation could be launching Wednesday of next week. We have yet to receive an official launch date from T-Mobile but it looks like that may be happening tonight with T-Mobile USA’s latest tweet. Apparently, they have a “sensational” announcement coming later tonight for all you tweeps.
Don’t worry if you’re not too big on the whole Twitter scene. Since I’m both a Twitta-holic and the night shift guy here at Phandroid, I will be keeping on a VERY close eye on T-Mobile’s Twitter stream and bring you the very latest as it develops. [Via Twitter]
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| Verizon Cracking Down on Users Illegally Tethering On Their Network Posted: 31 May 2011 04:41 PM PDT
I always knew this day was coming… Today, we have been receiving a flood of reports from Verizon users that their days of “illegal” tethering have finally caught up with them. That’s right. The Verizon data police are cracking down and dishing out warnings for users attempting to tether devices like Xooms and laptops on their network without paying for Verizon’s optional tethering data plans. Users are reporting that they’re seeing a Verizon warning page instead of their favorite website with a number to call if they would like to upgrade their plan (example below).
Carriers have always taken their data network very seriously and we’ve already seen similar cases like AT&T coming down hard on illegal tethering by sending out text messages to those they suspect of using an unauthorized devices on their network. Still unknown is how these carriers are determining if a user is say, just watching a lot of YouTube videos on their handsets or actually using a tethered device. The thing that worries me is I can see this possibly happening in the future where carriers completely shut out rooted users from their network altogether. To me, this as just the beginning. Can anyone on Verizon report back if you are seeing this warning message or not and are currently “illegally” tethering? Also provide as much detail as possible (ROM, tethering app, device, etc.).
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| Apps of the Day: Speedoku, Food Truck Follower & More Posted: 31 May 2011 03:42 PM PDT We’re fresh off of Memorial Day weekend and absolutely could’t wait to take a look at more apps and games for you guys. There is more of the latter than the former, but that’s ok – everyone loves games! (We think so, anyway.) My personal favorite of the bunch sits on top, but anyone will tell you that’s my inner foodie talking. The games listed aren’t too shabby, either, and are either free or cheap to get started with. Take a look below.
Food Truck Follower – I don’t know about you guys, but I often crave a good taco, burger or whatever from a nice food truck. Unfortunately, these things can be so hard to track down that you’ll be back to work before you can say ”Can I get two tacos with extra cheese and sour cream?” It’s limited to 18 cities starting out, but the folks behind the app are working on tracking down more. Find it for free in the Android market. [Market]
Magic Cuts – Magic Cuts is a modest puzzle game that sees you cutting shapes up into equal parts. It’s not a new concept, but it’s a fresh addition to the genre and will cost you nothing to take it for s pin. There isn’t much in the way of sound, unfortunately, but the visuals are pleasing enough to make us forget that. (And it’s our understanding that a lot of folks don’t like background music anyway.) [Market]
CandySwipe – CandySwipe isn’t unlike any Bejeweled clone out there, except instead of jewels you’re trying to get rid of candy. You swipe around to get as many pieces in one swipe as you can. An ice cream cone acts as a wild card and you can also go back over a piece you’ve already swiped in case you missed something. You can face your friends or an automated timer, and all of this fun can be had with a lite version consisting of 10 levels or a paid version for $2 with no ads and 20 levels. [Market - Lite | Full]
Hockey Fight Pro – I live in Wisconsin, which technically makes me half Canadian. (Don’t worry, I’ll explain later.) Anywho, even with such close ties to the country who adores this sport the most, the only thing that interests me about Hockey are the fights. There’s nothing like seeing two massive-looking dudes (who only appear beefy because of their pads) skate up to each other, throw off the gloves and go blow for blow. And the refs don’t even stop any of it! Now, you can skip all the puck and stick action and get straight to the fighting with Hockey Fight Pro. Grab it for $1.02. [Market]
Speedoku – It plays how the name sounds: you rush to solve Sudoku puzzles and you get more points for solving them faster. I’m not the biggest fan of Sudoku myself, but I know how wildly popular this game has become. The twist added in Speedoku gives those bored with the genre another fresh take that should keep them quite busy. $.99 in the Android market to play. [Market]
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| Nokia: Android is Killing Us in China and Europe Posted: 31 May 2011 03:26 PM PDT The article title is sweet enough, but let’s spell it out anyway. Nokia’s new CEO Stephen Elop, who was largely behind the manufacturer’s decision to partner up with Microsoft after dissing Intel and Symbian, says Android is killing them in China and Europe. Shocker!
For China, he cites “mismanagement” as the reason why Android’s gobbled them up. In Europe, he put it bluntly – Android is just kicking our ass and it’s because some of those phones can be had for cheap. (Though, as I’m sure you’re aware, those were not his exact words.) Here are the quotes for each region respectively:
The funny thing is that China and Europe shouldn’t be the only regions they worry about. Monthly and quarterly trends show Android phones outpacing onces made by Nokia. Nokia has yet to bring any consumer devices to market with anything other than Symbian OS installed and it’s clearly hurting them. They’re failing to gain developer, consumer and enterprise mindshare in the smartphone sector opposed to Android and iOS. And even when the Windows Phone 7 venture takes off, we’re not all that sure they’ll be better positioned to take out the current kings of the smartphone operating system war. Although Microsoft has had prior experience in mobile and made quite a reputation back for themselves in the early 2000s, they’re failing to rejuvenate interest in their products as fast as they had hoped. Things could always change, but the Android boat is clearly the most lucrative one to be on right now when talking about third-party operating systems and Nokia has to suffer the effects of going against the current just like everyone else. [ZDNet]
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| Motorola Mobility Site Redesign Tips Off New XOOM, Two Ultra-Slim Phones, and Targa? Posted: 31 May 2011 02:08 PM PDT It’s not often we get too excited about site redesigns, but when they possibly reveal new devices we get a little giddy. PocketNow has gotten evidence of an imminent redesign of Motorola Mobility’s site. Said redesign looks to be launching alongside a few new devices that we haven’t heard of before.
Firstly, there’s the Motorola XOOM 2, an obvious follow-up to the original. We’re not sure how Motorola’s looking to build this thing, but we’re sure they want to build a device that they can sell within that $400-$600 range off-contract. Then there’s the Motorola Slimline and Motorola Zaha two ultra-thin Android phones. The Motorola Targa also seems to be pictured here as the images appear in the order of the timeline you see in the upper-right side of the images. We know nothing about these devices. Hell, we don’t even know if this leak is to be trusted. But if these phones are real, we might have a lot to get excited about from Motorola’s lineup coming this summer and fall. Check out PocketNow for more.
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| TomTom Heading to Your Android Market Soon Posted: 31 May 2011 01:20 PM PDT
Is TomTom a big enough name to pry you away from the Google Maps gravy train? If so, you’re in luck – they’re currently working on their Android application. This doesn’t come as much of a surprise considering TomTom has collaborated with others in the past on Android for unique navigation applications. Unfortunately, we don’t know how exactly “soon” is as that’s all they gave us as far as any time frame goes. [PocketsGPSWorld]
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| Sprint Makes Their AT&T-Mo Merger Opposition Official With Appeal to the FCC Posted: 31 May 2011 12:51 PM PDT
Sprint’s been joining committees and speaking their mind on a merger that is sure to shake up the United States wireless industry, but they’d never officially appealed to the FCC. Until today, that is. They’ve requested that the merger be blocked under the usual grounds of stifled competition, innovation and protection of consumerism. Here is the appeal in bulletpoint form:
There’s not much more to be said, really. And Sprint does make very valid points that I’m sure a vast majority of consumers and other carriers agree with. Will it be enough to persuade the FCC to block the acquisition from going through? AT&T and Deutsche Telekom have already faced stiff resistance from several governing bodies of our nations, but such is always the case in mergers. (And some pretty big ones have gone off without a hitch in the past, even when a majority of folks wanted otherwise.) [Sprint]
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| Lookout Finds 25 Newly Infected Android Applications, Google Swiftly Removes Them Posted: 31 May 2011 10:43 AM PDT Yep, it’s that time of the month again. This time, the folks at Lookout were alerted to another malware infestation running wild in the Android market. Dubbed “DroidDreamLight”, this new attack does a lot of the same things DroidDream did – stealing IMEI numbers, model names and numbers, and more.
The application still has the ability to upload that information to a remote server, but permission must be granted by the user. (We’re not sure how exactly the user is asked for said permission.) First thing’s first – download Lookout, run a scan and be sure to scrub your phone of the following: Magic Photo Studio Mango Studio E.T. Team BeeGoo After that, don’t worry as Google has already removed these applications from the Android market. Some 30,000 – 120,000 folks are said to have these applications on their phones, but no word was said on who was subject to the underlying malicious functions. We’re sad to see Malware running rampant and it doesn’t appear this sort of stuff will go away any time soon, but at least folks like Lookout are being proactive in tracking it down and Google is there to take care of the situation right away. Be sure to brush up on your downloading skills and make sure you aren’t at risk with the following tips from Lookout:
And in case you were wondering, that red Android figurine up there is supposed to be evil. Yea, he looks scary.
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| HTC Play to be Name of Game Marketplace? Posted: 31 May 2011 10:21 AM PDT
The USPTO comes through in the clutch again! Remember a while back when HTC invested $40 million into on-demand game streaming service OnLive? Back then, I questioned whether or not HTC would be jumping into the content distribution arena, something the company has never done before. This came not long after they invested money into similar technologies for music and video. It would appear that HTC’s set to launch their own iTunes store, so to speak, but we still can’t say for certain this is true. It’s interesting to note that “HTC Play” may end up being rejected, for obvious reasons. Sony Ericsson has already outed their Xperia PLAY, and while both companies are planning to or are already using the names for completely different things, HTC may have to think up a new one. Another interesting tidbit – they filed to have the trademark registered the same day that Sony Ericsson did the Xperia PLAY. Here’s HTC’s description of the services that they hope to deploy under this name:
Long story short, HTC Play was definitely a big candidate for the name of this content delivery service, but they’ll most likely end up going with something else. And the important thing is that they are, in fact, bringing a content delivery system. Other choice names to watch out for are HTC Read, HTC Watch, and HTC Listen for books, video and music, respectively. [PocketNow]
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| Sprint Sends Email Dangling EVO 3D in Front of Our Faces, Still No Release Date Posted: 31 May 2011 09:57 AM PDT
Sprint might not be ready to give up the release date of the HTC EVO 3D, but they don’t mind teasing us with the handset and a “coming soon” tag. An email has been sent out to stir up even more anticipation for the glasses-free #D smartphone. Front and center is the 3D gaming capabilities (you’ll see Spider-Man Total Mayhem comes preloaded), which should offer a great experience on the 4.3-inch qHD display, but might do a number on battery life. Did we mention there still is no release date? Most recently rumors suggested the final weeks of June, and we’d say any date in June could be likely.
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| T-Mobile Hosting Launch Event for Three New HTC Phones on June 8th Posted: 31 May 2011 08:53 AM PDT
Rumor has it HTC is launching a bevy of phones on June 8th including the highly anticipated Sensation 4G. A job listing searching for “tech savvy” individuals to work a T-Mobile event on June 8th has those rumors looking more and more likely. The description says the event taking place in Houston, TX is being held to “showcase 3 new HTC phones.” It could always be a coincidence, with no phones actually launching on the 8th, but we won’t have to wait too long to find out. And if HTC is showing off the Sensation 4G, what could the other two devices be? The HTC DoubleShot (AKA myTouch Slide 4G)? We’ll have to think on that one. You can see the full job post below. Who wants to apply?
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| Did Motorola drop Tegra 2 in favor of TI OMAP in the Droid Bionic? Posted: 31 May 2011 08:10 AM PDT
When Motorola unveiled the Droid Bionic at CES in January, one of the central focuses of the device was its NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor. We know the story since then. Rumors began swirling that the phone was to be cancelled in favor of a different device, to which Moto responded that the Bionic would still ship, albeit after some modifications. Which brings us to a recent benchmark test submitted to NenaMark purportedly from the dual-core handset. Curiously, the benchmark indicated an Imaginations Technologies PowerVR SGX 540, a graphics processor not found in the Tegra architecture. It is however part of TI’s OMAP 4430 platform. Could this be an indicator of one of the changes Moto has made to the Bionic? Other than the benchmark, we have nothing to support the notion the Motorola has switched to a TI chipset, but it would not be unprecedented. TI’s OMAP series has featured heavily in Motorola’s high-end handsets beginning with the original Droid. The upcoming Droid 3 features the dual-core 4430. Could the Bionic eventually feature the same chip? It’s definitely possible, definitely food for thought. Take it as a rumor for now. [via IntoMobile]
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| Samsung Opens New AMOLED Production to Alleviate Supply Strain Posted: 31 May 2011 07:51 AM PDT
AMOLED technology provides some of the most gorgeous displays we have seen to date, but their primary manufacturer, Samsung Mobile Display, has had a hard time meeting demand. Supply shortages have resulted in several instances of handsets downgrading display technology for later production runs, but Samsung is hoping to make that a thing of the past. A new 5.5th generation production line has just opened two months ahead of schedule. The line is capable of using larger glass substrates than could be handled before, which has a twofold result of lower costs and increased production. The new factory line can pump out three million screens per month, and is currently focused on mobile display production to meet demand for the Samsung Galaxy S II. At full capacity the factory will be outputting 30 million per month. [via Engadget]
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| Pantech to Launch First US Android, the Crossover, June 5 on AT&T Posted: 31 May 2011 07:14 AM PDT
Pantech is bringing their first Android phone to the US, and it’s coming to none other than AT&T. The budget-priced Pantech Crossover will be available June 5th at the price of $70 on a new contract. You’ll get about what you pay for, as well. The phone ships with Android 2.2, a 3.1-inch display, 3MP camera and a 600MHz CPU. The phone does feature a slide-out QWERTY keyboard in a package that looks pretty sturdy, making it fairly unique in AT&T’s Android lineup. Full press release below.
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