Posted: 22 Feb 2012 07:37 PM PST   We saw this coming and now, Apple, Google, Microsoft, RIM, Amazon and HP have all agreed to make developers’ lives a little more difficult by including mandatory privacy policies to go along with their apps before a user can purchase or download them. This is all thanks to California’s Online Privacy Protection Act which recently has been made to include mobile apps. There was no specific time table given on how long each of these big companies will have to comply with the act, but the Attorney General’s office will apparently be checking up with each individual company in about 6 months. If the Big 6 don’t comply, the AG has made it clear they’ll face a fat lawsuit from the state of California herself. Google was the first of the 6 to step up and declare that changes will be made to the Android Market “in the coming weeks.” When it comes to the Android Market, privacy policies are seemingly already in effect under the permissions tab, where a user can see what kind of permissions an app asks for from their device. With some minor tweaking, or a more prevalent pop-up when installing apps, seems Android is already covered. But, depending on Google’s new Market requirements (which haven’t been disclosed as of yet), developers could be facing the trouble of having to create full legal privacy policies for any and all kinds of user information they collect. This, of course, is all done to protect the user by giving them a privacy policy they will no doubt skip through, but it could give developers a much harder time when publishing their apps to the Market, seeing as now they will have to come up with “legal speak” to protect themselves in the event of lawsuit from an angry user. We’ll have to wait to see how it all plays out. It’s possible Google could give devs a nice legal template for permissions requested, making everyone’s lives a little easier. Or devs will have to call up their lawyer to draft something up. I guess the only question that now remains is… are you guys down wit OPP? (I’m sorry, you had to know that was coming). [Attorney General's Office | Via Cnet] |
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 06:04 PM PST   Google’s latest patent application will no doubt step on a few toes, but it appears that the boys at Mountain View are looking to enter into the desktop/laptop market if this recently revealed patent is any indication. Ever since Android dominated the smartphone and tablets markets, I’ve been waiting for Google to bring the Android OS into the only place it can go — the desktop market. To help Android transition into laptops and desktops, is a patent filed by Google in Q3 of last year (just now published in February) detailing a few multitouch gestures that can be done on a trackpad in lieu of a touchscreen. And while Android 4.0 works okay with a mouse, multitouch gestures are definitely the way to go, that is, unless clicking and dragging the screen all day is practical to you.  If nothing else, this uncovered patent adds more weight to previous rumors that Google could be implementing a “desktop mode” into the next version of Android 5.0 Jelly Bean. Could Google have a Jelly Bean netbook up their sleeves? Or are they simply trying to better accommodate Android OEM’s who want to manufacture tablet/netbook hybrids like the Transformer Prime? All I know is Android just got even more appealing with better support for Intel and x86 processors and soon, multitouch support right out of the box. Oooooh… Apple and Microsoft are going to be so mad when they see this. I’m sure most of you already have Android smartphones and tablets. Got room for a little more Android on your desk/lap? [PatentlyApple | Via AndroidandMe] |
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 03:20 PM PST  -  It looks like a couple of Sprint’s devices are about to hit end of life. One of them is quite recent. It’s the white edition of the HTC EVO 3D. Looks like black is the more popular choice with that particular phone as that version is safe. The EVO Shift 4G is also on the list. It was a mid-range alternative to the main EVO line with its unique keyboard compared to other EVO devices. Remember, just because these devices will soon be off store shelves doesn’t mean you won’t be able to buy it elsewhere or get software updates. That’s especially important for those of you with the white EVO 3D as that device is set to get Ice Cream Sandwich sometime soon. [via SprintFeed] |
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 02:56 PM PST  We ran into a bit of a surprise at Mobile World Congress – the full-blown Android booth. It had slides, Android toys, Android pins, a carousel of Android phones and tasty smoothies. Needless to say, we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. Google’s looking to continue the trend this year with yet another booth. While we don’t have much of an idea of what to expect yet, you can follow their progress of building this year’s booth in pixel-art style. by the time we hit Sunday all of those boxes and ladders should be gone and the entire booth should be ready to go. Take a look at last year’s booth fun in the video above. |
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 02:48 PM PST  the LG Optimus X3 is shaping up to be a fine device. Knowing almost everything there could be to know about the device, there are still cloudy areas here and there. One of those areas is the name: we don’t know what this thing will end up being called for store shelves. PocketNow claims to know all that, though.  They’ve heard from a source that LG will market this thing as the T-Mobile G4X in the states and the LG Optimus 4X everywhere else. The number obviously refers to the number of cores that would be inside this beaut – four, to be exact. T-Mobile’s name is due to it being part of the series that started the Android craze here in the United States. That series is known to have devices with stock Android and very little UI changes so you can expect the US version to follow that same path. This is expected to be shown off at Mobile World Congress and we’re only a few short days away from the event. As always, stick with us as we bring you live coverage of all the goings-on. |
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 01:48 PM PST  ASUS is gearing up to announce the ASUS Padfone, the phone and tablet dock that converges all your main computing devices into one. They used matryoshka dolls to depict the sweet smell of covergence you’ll smell when picking up this unique package. At the end they show “1 + 1 + 1 = endless possibilities.” That, of course, means phone + tablet + keyboard dock. Crazy, isn’t it? We’re so excited to see this thing in person that we can’t contain ourselves. We’ll try not to wet our pants between now and the 27th when this thing is announced at Mobile World Congress. Stick around for full live coverage! |
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 01:23 PM PST   Toshiba Thrive owners have been wondering what Toshiba’s plans for bringing the Android 4.0 update to the tablet were, and one lucky soul finally cracked an answer out of them. They mentioned on Twitter that they would look to bring Ice Cream Sandwich to the 10 inch version of the device by the end of Spring. They only said that they are “targeting” end of Spring, though, so if that comes and goes don’t get too mad at Toshiba. |
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 12:58 PM PST   HTC’s getting the Mobile World Congress hype train rolling. They’ve teased on Facebook that something fast will be unveiled in just five days – the day before Mobile World Congress kicks off. They did it with an image of an HTC-branded phone silhouette with the number “5″ on its display. Is it just a countdown or is there more meaning to the image? Who knows, but we’ll be keeping an eye on their Facebook every day leading up to the event to see if they post anything else. Let us know what you guys think in the comments section below. |
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 12:35 PM PST   We’re less than a week away from the Oscars award show this Sunday and Motorola’s planning to do a little special for nominees. They’ve introduced a special edition of the Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX. The device is the same internally but it has a red external chassis to give it that red carpet feel. It also comes with a fashion bag for women and a shaving bag and kit for men. On top of that, they’ll be getting a Motorola ELITE Silve Bluetooth Headset. While these great and illustrious gifts won’t be available to the general public, Motorola’s giving five users a chance to win one of their own! Tomorrow, February 23rd, simply tweet the hashtag #RedCarpetRAZR. Visit Motorola’s twitter account for more details and read on for the full presser. Feb. 22, 2012 |
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 11:53 AM PST   Take a look at the Android market, Google Docs fans – Google has just issued a pretty nice update. The biggest change, by far, is the addition of real-time document collaboration that desktop users have been enjoying for quite some time. Alongisde that, we’ve got an improved editor, support for rich text formatting, layout tools and cursor presence to know where you and your collab buddies are in any given document. You’ll want to get this massive update right away so make no delay. [via Google] |
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 11:44 AM PST   Those of you waiting for the official upgrade to Android 4.0 for both the Acer Iconia Tab A100 and Acer Iconia Tab A500 can cut the wait short with a little preview of what’s to come. Official builds have been leaked on XDA, and although there doesn’t appear to be any major issues, it’s worthy to note that this build may not be final. And it does break root. If you’re OK with all of that and want to see what’s in store for the April OTA updates, head here (A100) and here (A500). [Thanks Jerry!] |
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 11:25 AM PST  Hot on the heels of ASUS providing a bootloader unlock tool, someone has already gotten ClockWorkMod recovery up and ready to go for the masses to use. Beyond that, CyanogenMod 9 is also being teased for the tablet. In the video above, BumbleDroid takes us through the ROM in which he claims everything is working. If you look closely at the build number when he visits the About Tablet menu, you can see that it’s in RC0 status, meaning we should have a public release of RC1 before too long. He even mentions that the project is pretty far along and that we should be seeing a release sometime soon. If you want to prep your device for when that time comes, grab the newly available ClockworkMod recovery at the source links ahead. [AndroidRoot.Mobi 1|2 via Android Police] |
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 08:46 AM PST   A pair of new devices have surfaced for Verizon, though at this point we only have the names to go off of. Sources close to DroidLife have outed the LG Cayman and DROID Fighter, the latter without any manufacturer designation. Any information on the two devices is complete speculation, but both could end up being one of several new devices unveiled at Mobile World Congress next week. Employee workshops are being held for the Cayman and Fighter on March 29th and April 12th respectively, though those dates won’t necessarily coincide with either device’s release date. [via DroidLife] |
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 07:59 AM PST  Just as LG’s first dual-core handset denoted its power with the Optimus 2X name, so will the manufacturer’s first quad-core phone, PocketNow reports. The phone rumored as the LG X3, which is said to feature a 4.7-inch 720p display, will honor the four magnitudes of power provided by its Tegra 3 processor when it launches as the LG Optimus 4X HD. The name seems like a no-brainer when taking LG’s previous releases into account. References to a T-Mobile G4X have recently been spotted, suggesting that the sequel to the Optimus 2X will also make its way to that network. The T-Mobile G2X was the carrier’s branding for last year’s model. LG has been busy announcing a few of their handsets, including the Optimus 3D Max and Optimus 3D Cube, ahead of Mobile World Congress, but we suspect they will keep their biggest new addition under cover until their press conference in Barcelona this Sunday. [via PocketNow] |
Posted: 22 Feb 2012 07:12 AM PST   Since a leak back in the summer, we haven’t heard a whole lot about the Gingerbread update for the Motorola CLIQ 2. Moto had had plenty of time to work out the kinks and a post to the manufacturer’s support forums indicates the new software is entering its final phases of testing. Testers are being sought to receive the OS upgrade for the T-Mobile handset early. This soak test, which will be limited to 1,000 users, is typically the last step before a wider rollout (provided no last minute bugs are detected). It could be any where from a few days to a few weeks before Motorola and T-Mobile push the update to all users, but if you want to throw your hat in for the testing round (if it isn’t already full) head over to the source link below. [Motorola via DroidDog] |
Saturday, March 10, 2012
Update - 40
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