Android and Me |
- Official Gingerbread ROM for the Galaxy S now unofficially available
- Verizon’s HTC Merge gets subjected to a strip search by the FCC
- Android’s market share depicted with a whole lot of colors
- Mobile developer in Austin for SXSW? Come one, come all, this is last call!
| Official Gingerbread ROM for the Galaxy S now unofficially available Posted: 03 Mar 2011 12:55 PM PST Forget about the Samsung Galaxy S Froyo update! How would you feel about a fresh serving of Gingerbread? We've heard for a while that Samsung's Android team has been hard at work on their Gingerbread update for the Galaxy S line, but if you're not in the mood to wait around for a long, long, long time (I can't remember, is that how long we waited for the Froyo update?) for Samsung to roll out the update you can grab it yourself over on XDA-Developers. According to Lorbas, the Gingerbread ROM for the Galaxy S comes directly from Samsung. The build is skinned with TouchWiz 3 and has a functional Android Market, Swype, and even GPS. As of now, the Android 2.3.2 Gingerbread build only works on the Samsung Galaxy S I9000 (European version), but we may see developers port the ROM to the U.S. variants of the Galaxy S sometime soon. To get a quick peek what Samsung's Android 2.3.2 build on the Galaxy S looks like, be sure to check out the video below.
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| Verizon’s HTC Merge gets subjected to a strip search by the FCC Posted: 03 Mar 2011 11:30 AM PST FCC filings are typically all the same. We get a model number, a few confidentiality letters and an image of where the FCC's label will be placed on handset. We're typically treated to a lot more details once the handset has launched, but who wants to scour the FCC for handset images when you can walk into your local carrier and play with the real deal? This time around, the FCC has decided to share the whole package all at once, giving us a close look at the HTC Merge and all its internal components. It's no secret that the HTC Merge would eventually end up on Verizon, but it's amusing that the FCC went through the trouble of covering up Verizon's logo on the front of the phone in all their pictures and yet somehow forgot that the handset's manual has Verizon's branding all over it. Verizon has yet to acknowledge that the HTC Merge is launching on their network. The official HTC Merge announcement stated that the handset would launch in early Spring. Since spring officiall kicks off on March 20th, we’re guessing Verizon has plans to launch the Merge right around CTIA (March 22-24), similar to Sprints launched the HTC EVO Shift 4G at CEA back in January.
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| Android’s market share depicted with a whole lot of colors Posted: 03 Mar 2011 09:51 AM PST We've known for a while that Android was ahead of the competition, but we've never really seen a complete picture of what the entire smartphone market looks like. Fortunately for us, Nielsen released a new report which depicts how each manufacturer stacks up in the various U.S. smartphone market segments from November 2010 through January 2011. Obviously, we always like to point out that Android's 29% market share is a couple points ahead of Apple's iOS, but it's interesting to note that there are really only three major players in the Android segment. Within the 29% share of the smartphone segment that's owned by Android, HTC has the lead with 41.3%, followed by Motorola's 34.5%, and Samsung's 17.2%. The remaining 6.9% is classified as "Other" and is made up by manufacturers like LG, SONY Ericsson, Dell, and Huawei. The second chart in Nielson's report shows how the smartphone segments break down by age groups. Android and iOS age segmentation are pretty consistent with Android coming out slightly ahead in the 18-24 demographic and iOS gaining back those points in the 55-65+ grouping. Since the Nielson report only shows data for a specific point in time, there's not really much else we can extrapolate from the numbers. We're hoping they release this same report every quarter so that we can start tracking how Android progresses over time among the different user age groups and how new handset introductions individually affect manufacturer's Android market share.
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| Mobile developer in Austin for SXSW? Come one, come all, this is last call! Posted: 03 Mar 2011 08:29 AM PST We’re almost a week from the start of SXSW Interactive- but more importantly we’re drawing near to one of the most epic Android parties of all time. Team Android at SXSW is shaping up to be THE Android event in Austin this year, and I’m not just saying that because we’re hosting it. Over 3500 of you have already signed up on the Eventbrite page, a number that still has us reeling. For those not familiar, Team Android at SXSW will feature device demos, product giveaways, open bar, free food- and here’s the part that matters to you developers- an on-stage app contest. We’re looking for ten apps to take the stage for rapid-fire pitches ending in a live crowd vote to name the Team Android Choice Award – Best Android App SXSW 2011. It’s a mouthful, I know, but it’s a title that will remind you how awesome it was to be selected by your peers through a night of extreme revelry. Plus you get a trophy. If you’d like to participate, the deadline for entry is tomorrow, March 4, 12pm CST. In the afternoon, we’ll make a post announcing the ten finalists. This is your last chance to get your app on stage in front of a packed house of Android early adopters and key influencers. To enter, simply fill out the entry form linked below: https://androidandme.wufoo.com/forms/team-android-choice-awards-sxsw-2011/ Event infoTeam Android at SXSW will take place on March 13, a Sunday night, with doors opening at 7PM. The app contest will start at 7:30 with demos and solid partying to follow. The bash is taking place at Lustre Pearl, one of the finest damn bars Austin has to offer. The party is open to the public but is currently extremely waitlisted, but we’ve got the bar til close and plan on going all night. A savvy SXSW’er should be able to find a way in during the course of the night. Event SponsorsLive online coverageFor those of you not able to make it out to Austin, we’ve got Streamly.TV broadcasting the entire event online. Aaron and Jake and the rest of the crew will be on hand all night to make sure those of you joining us digitally have a front row seat to all the action. On top of that, we’ve got the fine blogs IntoMobile and Netbooknews joining us to help cover all our blogging bases.
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