Posted: 04 Feb 2012 02:31 PM PST  Android Central member seanmacanally got an OTA notification on his rooted Verizon Galaxy Nexus, and with a little help from the great crew in the forums got the package pulled and uploaded for everyone to play with. A few caveats:
This doesn't seem to be an OTA that's going out in full force, so it very well could be some sort of internal testing version. Keep that in mind if you flash it -- things may not be working as well as you would hope. Manually flashing the OTA package is pretty easy, see the instructions here. And you're going to need the file, which you can download right here. Good luck, and have fun! Source: Android Central forums 
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Posted: 04 Feb 2012 02:08 PM PST  Whether looking to shake things up a bit, or help file your taxes there are plenty of application options available in the Android market. Lucky for you we take the time to check them out and see what's best, so let's hit the break and check out some of our favorites. read more
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Posted: 04 Feb 2012 12:37 PM PST If you have a Google TV unit of some sort or another, and plan to watch the big game tomorrow, here's a neat app you might want to try. Social GTV is a small utility that simply creates an overlay on your live television content where Twitter postings can be displayed. I'm not sure I would want to see a bunch of tweets on my screen while I'm watching a movie with the wife, but I can see how useful (and fun) this could be for things like Presidential election debates and primaries, my favorite series, or live sporting events like the Super Bowl. Setup looks pretty easy, you just fill in a few fields to let the app know what you want to see, set the position on screen and a background color, then start it up. Press the live TV button on your Google TV remote, and away you go. Now when Eli throws a strike to the end zone, or a referee make a questionable call, or the team you're rooting for scores you can see the social side of the Internet celebrate (or hysterically object) in real time. Sure beats flipping back and forth from the Twitter app to live TV, and will give the same result. To use Social GTV you'll need a Google TV (naturally) running Android 3.1 or higher. There's a free version that allows you to pick from the top trending topics, and a paid version for $0.99 that allows you to set things like tweets from specific users, custom hashtags, and @ replies to a specific user. Both versions have a language filter, which you might need if the Pats are losing and you follow me on Twitter. Hit the break for a download link. 
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Posted: 04 Feb 2012 07:09 AM PST  What such a product might eventually be is anyone's guess. A few possibilities could lie in the recently-leaked international roadmap. However, the registration of a trademark doesn't guarantee that any product with that name will appear -- we've seen manufacturers snap up trademarks without using them in the past. But we have to admit that the "Xpreia Sola" name would certainly fit in with Sony's established nomenclature. Any wild guesses about what, if anything, the "Xperia Sola" might turn out to be? Shout out in the comments! 
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Posted: 04 Feb 2012 04:44 AM PST  Brandon Watson, a major player in the resurrection of Microsoft's Windows Phone OS, specifically in his work with developers, has taken a job with Amazon. Watson confirmed his departure Friday on Twitter, and ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley tracked down that he'll be director of the Kindle Cross-Platform Team. Foley says that makes him responsible for for all of the first- and third-party Kindle apps, which would include Android's own Amazon Kindle application. Said Watson:
With a high-profile name like Watson, who was one of Microsoft's biggest cheerleaders for the revived Windows Phone platform (and a hell of a nice dude -- I've met him a couple times), you can't help but wonder what else Amazon has up its sleeve. Amazon's running what is believe to be the most successful forked version of Android with its Kindle Fire e-reader/tablet, along with its wildly successful Amazon Appstore. And now Amazon's picked up some serious Microsoft talent. No doubt that if anyone has the traditional manufacturers looking over their shoulders a little bit, especially in the tablet space, it's Amazon. On the other hand, while the Kindle family (and Kindle Fire in particular) may be moving a bunch of units -- up 177 percent over last year -- maybe they looked at Amazon's profit and shrugged. Either way, things are getting interesting. 
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Posted: 04 Feb 2012 03:57 AM PST  The Android Path application got itself a sizable update on Friday, bringing proper support for high-resolution 720p displays, as well as the ability to post to Tumblr blogs. Here's the full changelog for Version 2.0.30: New features:
Fixes and changes
If you haven't tried Path yet, think of it as sort of a Foursquare check-in app (minus the gamification) crossed with a small scale Facebook -- a smaller, more intimate circle of friends. And Version 2.0 of Path is gorgeous. The addition of a full settings menu is nice because now you won't have to log in from a desktop browser just to change notifications, or your name or other details. The ability to share activities to Tumblr is a nice addition as well. (Can Google give up some Google+ API love already?) But probably the biggest update is support for 720x1280 displays -- ie the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, HTC Rezound, LG Optimus LTE, Samsung Galaxy Note -- and countless other phones to come. (That probably makes the addition 320x480 display support seem a bit inadequate, but we're not going to complain about an app adding more resolutions -- as well it should.) Before this update for 720p, Path worked fine, but the on-screen buttons were tiny, like the bad old days when you'd jack up your monitor beyond any usable resolution. It worked, but it was tough. This is a welcome change. Head into the Android Market for the update, or we've got download links after the break. read more
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Posted: 03 Feb 2012 11:22 PM PST  It seems like there's a new Android phone coming out every week. As with all things electronic, the new stuff looks better than the old stuff. It's enough to drive anyone, especially an Android blogger, insane. But it's darn near impossible to justify buying a new phone, off contract and at full price, every couple of months. And let's face it -- sometimes we just love what we have. A lot of people stuck with the first Droid, or the Nexus One because nothing else has caught their eye just yet. There's a lot of variables, and there could be a lot of answers. So the logical thing is to just ask. Let us know in tonight's poll. 
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Posted: 03 Feb 2012 09:31 PM PST  We're back for another look at the best Android Phones, and this time we're heading down under. We've teamed up with our pals at Ausdroid.net for this one for the best Android smartphones available in Australia. So without further ado, let's get to it. And be sure to check out our other Best Phones lists below.
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Posted: 03 Feb 2012 06:22 PM PST  What is tethering? Besides the grounds for a giant debate about ethics (the kind that you can only find on the Internet) tethering, in this case, means to share the Internet connection from your phone with other devices. There are several ways to accomplish this -- connecting your phone to your computer via USB, setting up your phone as a wireless hotspot and router, and sharing a data stream over Bluetooth. All these connection types are built into Android, with native Bluetooth tethering new in Ice Cream Sandwich. Of course, different manufacturers can, and have, modified things so that these options are excluded -- at the behest of the carrier, of course. We'll talk more about why in a few minutes. Tethering itself is pretty easily done. USB tethering involves installing device drivers (Windows only) and plugging in your phone to a high-speed USB port on your computer, then using your computer's built-in connection manager to use the phone or tablet as a USB modem. Bluetooth tethering will need the phone paired with the computer, and the connection type set up correctly in your computer's Bluetooth settings. Wifi is the easiest way -- you just turn it on and connect as you would any other wireless hotspot. Except that many carriers, especially in the United States, have blocked tethering this way. You see, your carrier wants to charge you a premium to use your data plan from any device besides your phone. Nobody likes it, but it's in the terms you agreed to when you signed up. They have all sorts of ways to block tethering on their end, and they are pretty diligent about it. Android hackers and developers also have found ways to work around these blocks, and it's a big cat and mouse game. An inside source with one the the biggest cellular carriers in the world has specifically told me that if your usage pattern draws suspicion, there is no current method that can't be detected by you carrier, including the newer VPN methods. If you do it a lot, without paying the extra fees associated with it, you'll get caught. We're not going to judge anyone, and a few of us here at Android Central think charging extra for tethering is silly -- especially with data caps. Just know what may happen before you start so you don't get caught unaware. read more |
Sunday, February 5, 2012
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