Android and Me |
- Six reasons why you might want to wait for the Nexus 3 [Part 1]
- Video: How to take apart your HTC Thunderbolt
- Swype wants you to stroke and poke its 3.0 Beta update, now with tablet support
- Motorola Droid X, Defy get CM-7 ported despite locked bootloaders
- Video: Huawei MediaPad to have 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor
- Motorola Droid 3 gets manhandled on camera, gives away its secrets
- Meet Sprint’s new mid-end Android phone: the Samsung Conquer 4G
| Six reasons why you might want to wait for the Nexus 3 [Part 1] Posted: 13 Jun 2011 05:50 PM PDT  With so many amazing Android devices coming out, it’s hard not to give in to temptation and just buy one. You can’t blame us; we just can’t resist it. Like a kid at a candy store, we go crazy over things like 4G speeds, qHD resolution, dual-core processors and 1GB RAM. By the time we get to “3D display,” we already have our credit cards out. Of course, like everything in life, you have to take the good with the bad. There’s a price to pay for those mouth-watering features. And it usually includes a couple Benjamins and two years of your life. In case I lost some of you, I’m talking about the $200 price and two-year contract these phones frequently have. Two years is a long time, especially in the Android world. Two years ago we only had a handful of Android phones to choose from, and the Motorola Droid didn’t even exist yet. Knowing how fast the Android platform changes, it’s in your best interest to buy the most future-proof Android phone possible. Well, I’m here to tell you that phone is the Nexus 3. Sadly, the Nexus 3 won’t be released for a few more months. But if you’re a person with patience, the phone could be well worth the wait. Here are the first three reasons why: NVIDIA Tegra 3It’s a known fact that NVIDIA is releasing its next-gen mobile processor, Tegra 3, in the second half of this year. This new chip is ahead of everything that’s currently available in the market, and NVIDIA isn’t afraid to tell you all about it. The company is already demoing devices powered by this monster of a chip, and the reaction from most people can be summed up in one word: Wow. Aside from being able to pump out more eye-candy than a Michael Bay movie, Tegra 3 also packs the following features:
Why am I telling you this? Because we have it on good authority that the Nexus 3 will powered by Tegra 3. But you don’t have to take our word for it. Just look at some of the clues laying around. Like how NVIDIA’s road map fits perfectly with the usual release time of the “Google Phone.” Or how the company already confirmed it’s working closely with Google on the next version of Android. It doesn’t get any more unofficially-confirmed than that, folks. It’s easy to see why it would be a bad idea to buy a Tegra 2-powered device right before it’s going to be blown away by something five times better. Are you ready for console-quality gaming on your Android phone? I certainly am. Ice Cream SandwichAs we heard at Google I/O, the next version of Android–code named Ice Cream Sandwich–is coming out later this year. Starting with Eclair and the Motorola Droid, Google has always released a new version of Android accompanied by an Android phone–except with Froyo. And we expect Ice Cream Sandwich to be no different. According to Google, Ice Cream Sandwich will be the company’s most ambitious Android version yet. In other words: If you thought Honeycomb was amazing, just wait ’til you see Ice Cream Sandwich. The Android team will mainly focus on making Android a unified OS that runs everywhere. Basically, Ice Cream Sandwich will blend Gingerbread, Honeycomb and Google TV into one delicious dessert. As a result of this OS mix, Ice Cream Sandwich will bring Honeycomb’s holographic UI to Android phones. With a new launcher, a new multitasking UI and richer widgets in tow. But that’s not all. Google also gave us a sneak preview of some ground-breaking features Ice Cream Sandwich will have. Like head tracking, where the camera tracks your face and zooms in on it when you’re talking. Or how it uses your head’s movement to move an object on the screen. You can watch the Android team talk about Ice Cream Sandwich on the video below, starting at around 14:00. With Ice Cream Sandwich, Google will also take NFC to the next level. The company will introduce a new feature called 0-click sharing that uses the NFC chip to share information between devices. Users will be able to share apps by tapping their phones together. Or send a YouTube video to their tablet by tapping it with their phone. All in all, pretty amazing stuff. Of course, Google will make this functionality available to developers via an API. Speaking of NFC … NFC supportIt’s no coincidence that the Nexus S was the first Android phone to support NFC. Google has big plans for the technology, and you can expect every Nexus device to support NFC from now on. With new apps and features designed completely around NFC, the technology is fast becoming something you really need to have, if you want to enjoy everything Android has to offer. Having said that, there aren’t that many Android phones with NFC support out there. In fact, Google’s very own Nexus S is currently the only one that has the chip. But that’s about to change. According to Google, the Android world is about to be flooded with NFC-packing Android devices–including the Nexus 3. If you plan to use any of the countless NFC apps and features Google will release in coming months, buying an Android phone right now could be a very bad idea. If these three very good reasons aren’t enough to convince you to wait for the Nexus 3, make sure you read part 2 of this article by following us on Twitter. In part 2, we’ll talk about the other three equally important reasons you might be better off saying no to the Sensation–I mean temptation–and just waiting for the Nexus 3.
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| Video: How to take apart your HTC Thunderbolt Posted: 13 Jun 2011 04:14 PM PDT  Ever wondered what your HTC Thunderbolt‘s insides look like? Here’s your chance to check it out! The guys over at DirectFix have put together a video, giving us a full tear down of Verizon’s first 4G LTE smartphone. DISCLAIMER: This will void your warranty. Proceed at your own risk. Special thanks to our friends at DirectFix. Be sure to check out their video after the break! Learning how to disassemble your device is not only fun, but it can also be of great help in the future (and some of you probably had to do it already). While a bigger display is always nice, it is also easier to break. If you happen to dislike insurances, you’ve probably replaced a digitizer (or other parts) before. That’s when these nifty videos come in handy. Has anyone out there opened up the Thunderbolt already? Have you ever needed to follow one of these tutorials? Let us know what you think of the video, and be careful if you try to open yours!
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| Swype wants you to stroke and poke its 3.0 Beta update, now with tablet support Posted: 13 Jun 2011 04:13 PM PDT  If you have over-sized fingers like me, you’re probably a big fan of Swype. For those of us who like the alternative keyboard, Swype is really a life saver. That’s why I’m happy to tell you that it is now getting even better. The guys and gals behind the popular keyboard just pushed out version 3.0 of Swype Beta. Although the page seems to be down right now, you can get the app here once they get everything in order. This new version of Swype brings a handful of new features, like Predictive Tap and a horizontal word suggestion bar. But most importantly, Swype now supports Honeycomb devices. Which you can even change the position of now. As you can see in the video below, you can place the Swype keyboard on the left, center or right of your tablet. While not the most mind-blowing feature ever, I bet some people out there will find it useful. This new version of Swype also adds support for a few more resolution sizes. Which now includes: HVGA, WVGA, FWVGA, QVGA, WQVGA, WSVGA and qHD. What say you, is this update enough to make you a Swype believer? Or will you stay a stock keyboard kind of guy? Or maybe you use another alternative keyboard? Let us know in the comments. Meanwhile, you can watch these overdramatic and funky demo videos from Swype and get your stroke and poke on.
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| Motorola Droid X, Defy get CM-7 ported despite locked bootloaders Posted: 13 Jun 2011 11:45 AM PDT  Locked bootloaders are a hot topic nowadays. Most Android fans prefer to play around freely with their devices. And Motorola hasn’t been so good about letting us do that, since they insist on locking them. If you’re like us, I bet you thought the Droid X and Defy were about to become old, obsolete devices. Think again. CyanogenMod-7 is here to resuscitate them with some custom ROM goodness. It has indeed been a hard quest for our beloved developers to put CM-7 onto these devices. After countless hours of hard work, cvpcs and Quarx have figured out a way to port it over. All that coding and testing is not easy, though, so the ROM does not yet work perfectly on these devices. CM-7 for the Motorola Droid XThe developer that ported CM-7 to the Droid X has actually posted a video as proof of this righteous deed of might and courage. So this leaves a lot of questions! Such as what works and what doesn't! From what I could tell by playing around with it, the following definitely work: Radio, Wifi, USB, Charging, various sensors, lights, vibration, standard bluetooth. The following MAY or MAY NOT work (unable to tell for sure yet): GPS, 3G/data, camera, camcorder, bluetooth audio. And the following definitely do NOT work yet: audio (this includes phone calls, speakers, microphone, etc).cvpcsRootzWiki As already mentioned, the ROM has just been ported, so things are not expected to run smoothly… at least not yet. The developer, cvpcs, is still working on it and claims many features may not be working because he has yet to finish the Libaudio driver for the Droid X. He might have to rewrite the whole thing from source, if he doesn’t find a good alternative. But, this does indicate cvpcs is definitely set on making this work. Cvpcs mentions that he’ll be needing testers starting sometime this week. He’ll be posting more information about it on rootzwiki.com, as well as on his own blog. Stay tuned for more details, if you want to get in on the testing action! CM-7 for the Motorola Defy[1]This one is actually ready to download and install. If you’re feeling adventurous, head over to XDA and follow the instructions. Though you may experience issues here and there, this port is actually not having too many problems. Everything is running well, except for 720p video recording and WVGA photos.
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| Video: Huawei MediaPad to have 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor Posted: 13 Jun 2011 11:22 AM PDT  Everyone is jumping on the Honeycomb tablet bandwagon, but many manufacturers are simply not known for making high-end products. Such as Huawei, famous for making entry-level smartphones. Could it be Huawei is about to step it up in the tablet market? It sure seems they’re working on a very good tablet: the Huawei MediaPad. There’s not much information known about the tablet, but the specs we do know are actually quite impressive. As we’ve only seen in the HTC Flyer until now, the processor is clocked at 1.5 GHz. The MediaPad’s is equipped with a dual-core Snapdragon, which is simply outstanding (especially coming from Huawei). And the 1280×800 screen resolution is on par with your typical Honeycomb tablets. But remember: this is a 7-inch screen and pixel density will be much higher, making the image more defined. The Huawei MediaPad will ship with Honeycomb (Android 3.x), but this is to be expected of most tablets by now. Although Huawei is not on our list of favorite manufacturers, this tablet has the potential to be a big game-changer for the company. We can also expect this tablet to be fairly affordable, given the history of Huawei products. What do you guys say? Will you consider purchasing this tablet? Stay tuned for future news on this device, and hit us up with your comments below!
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| Motorola Droid 3 gets manhandled on camera, gives away its secrets Posted: 13 Jun 2011 11:09 AM PDT  Not content with merely showing its many features on video, the Motorola Droid 3 just submitted itself to a full-body pat down from a Chinese blogger. The Chinese website XNA.cn got their hands on a Motorola Droid 3 this morning (known as the Milestone 3 overseas) and published everything you could ever want to know about the device. Including the following specifications:
As seen in the pictures below, the phone will launch with a new version of MotoBlur (or whatever we’re calling it now). This is both pro and a con, depending on who you ask. Thankfully, you can expect the hacking community to root this device faster than you can say CyanogenMod. It’s hard to believe the Motorola Droid was released almost two years ago. And here we are today, buzzing over leaked photos of the Droid 3 like bees on a flower. If anything, this tells you how much the Android world changes in just a year and a half. Today’s cutting edge Android phone is next year’s free, low-end one. With these specs in tow, the Droid 3 is starting to look like a worthy successor to its forefathers. But will it be able to win our hearts and minds against other phones like the HTC Sensation 4G or Samsung Galaxy S II? We’ll see. Gallery
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| Meet Sprint’s new mid-end Android phone: the Samsung Conquer 4G Posted: 13 Jun 2011 07:36 AM PDT  Never mind that Sprint just added two new phones to its Android line-up, the carrier is not going to stop pumping out Android devices any time soon. According to Pocketnow, what you see below is the Samsung Conquer 4G–Sprint’s next mid-end Android phone. Don’t let the “mid-end” tag fool you though; phones like this were considered high-end some months ago.
It’s interesting to see how the front-facing camera is making its way to average phones like the Conquer 4G. At this rate, it won’t be long before we see them popping up on low-end, free Android phones. Another feature that makes the Conquer 4G stand out is the Android version. While other companies (I’m looking at you Motorola) are still releasing phones with Froyo, the Conquer 4G will launch with Gingerbread pre-installed. The Samsung Conquer 4G will supposedly become available around July 24th, with a price tag between $50 and $100. What say you? Is this the droid you’re looking for? Gallery
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