Monday, April 2, 2012

Android Central

Android Central

Nexus S 4G gets a new 4.0.4 leak

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 12:44 PM PDT

Nexus S 4G

Android 4.0.4 has leaked for the Sprint Nexus S 4G, and is ready to flash with Odin. It bumps the system up to IMM76D, like the rest of the devices running 4.0.4, and contains a new set of images as well as a new radio. We've seen Ice Cream Sandwich leak before for the Nexus S 4G, and this ROM looks to be pretty much the same type of case.

It's officially signed off by Google with release keys, but that doesn't mean anything for the radio and Sprint specific network code inside the ROM itself. You'll be flashing this one at your own risk -- but should be able to roll back to stock in case of any issues easily enough. The folks in the forums are giving it a go, and early reports are looking good. Be sure to chime in with your own experience if you give it a shot.  As for when we'll see anything official from Google and Sprint, nobody that knows is saying. 

Source: Brief Mobile; via Android Central forums

Samsung Galaxy Nexus my way: Jerry Hildenbrand

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 12:11 PM PDT

Galaxy Nexus

The other night on the Android Central podcast a great idea was born. Someone, and forgive me for not remembering who, wanted to know how our phones are set-up. I promised to kick off a series from the various AC staff members showing just what software we have running on our devices. I trade back and forth between the Samsung Galaxy Nexus or the T-Mobile Galaxy S II (dat cam!), but both are set up the exact same way. One is just more TouchWizzy than the other. Hit the jump and I'll break it down.

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SAWS | The Puridium War - first look

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 07:53 AM PDT

SAWS | The Puridium War

A couple days back we mentioned that SAWS | The Puridium War (which I'm going to just call SAWS from here on out) couldn't get here fast enough. Turns out it got here pretty fast after all, and is now available in the Google Play Market for download. We've been fooling with it for a couple days, and let me tell ya, if you're a mobile gamer you have to give it a try. Think part tower defense, part third-person shooter, and part space adventure and you'll have an idea of how it all works.

You're PFC Lucas 11, and it's your duty to protect the Puridium crystal from a horde of monsters hell bent to eat it. You have an assortment of weapons and special items at hand in the store, a few are in-app purchases but most are obtainable by just playing, and turrets to help you fend them all off. It's flat out fun, and as I mention in the video after the break, it hits the right spot between hard and easy to be enjoyable to play. You'll get good at it, but the endless maps keep getting harder until you die. If you find it's your style of game, it's one you'll keep installed and play. And a big shout out to the developers for making great extras available in the store for an average player. Nothing there costs so much that you'll never be able to get it, even if you're a casual player. That's something we rarely see beside paid in-app purchases.

Mobilwerx has designed the game to play an a laundry list of devices, with versions for Open GL 1.1 devices like the HTC Desire, to a full HD version for the latest quad core devices like the Transformer Prime. I've tested it on the Transformer Prime and the Galaxy Nexus, and it works great. Hit the break and have a look at a video and some game screens, and click the download link.

More: Mobilwerx

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From the Editor's Desk: More quick hits

Posted: 01 Apr 2012 07:02 AM PDT

Phil Nickinson

It's another working weekend. Yeah, that's two in a row. For now, some more random thoughts:

  • Go download the Android Central Forums app right this second! Don't read the rest of this column until you do. (It's also available from the Amazon Appstore, too.)
  • We don't do April Fools jokes. For one, they're 99 percent not funny. (For reals. Look at the sites that try to pull them off today and tell me I'm wrong.)  For another, you can't do them as good as Google. Go ahead. Fake some screen shot. Pretend that some phone has some long-hidden feature. Whatever. You can't beat 8-bit Google Maps. (Which, by the way, should totally exist outside of April 1.) You can't beat Gmail Tap for Android  -- which, by the way, may be the greatest troll since some site tried to tell you every single phone released that year would get Froyo. (Yes, our bullshit meter goes back that far.) You can't beat the other ones Google's done today. To quote my Austrian/Russian/Brazilian/American high school soccer/Spanish/English/life coach: "If you're going to do something ... Don't."
  • Lulz at SwiftKey, though.
  • So we got an unconfirmed tip (never mind how other blogs might have misreported it) about what we might see Wednesday at the Sprint/HTC event event in New York City. On one hand, the prospect of something based off the HTC One X -- with a bigger battery and a microSD card -- sounds pretty good. That said, I'm not sold on the AMOLED screen we were told about, but stranger things have happened. We've had other people tell us it's a departure from the HTC One X. On one hand, that's cool. A bigger batter and expandable storage never is a bad thing. On the other had, that would mean a divergence from the HTC One line as we saw it at Mobile World Congress. So much for continuity?
  • The FUD got a little ridiculous this week. Yes, you can securely wipe your phone before giving it away.
  • Yes, Jerry posted a slightly NSFW video from MiKandi about its new "Adult Mobile Theater." Some folks got their panties in a bunch, and that's OK. Different strokes, consenting adults and all that. I rather enjoy that we're willing to do stories that others won't touch. If it offends you, if you don't want to read it, it's cool. Don't read it. (That said, there are a lot of crappy adult apps out there, if you'll recall.)
  • Know what offends me? When a developer's apps are rehosted and shared outside the Google Play Store without their permission. Why is that considered OK? 
  • If you didn't listen to the podcast yet, you missed out on a bunch of talk about why your phone might get a different version of Android than a similar phone.
Posted by at 5:52 AM

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