Android Central |
- Motorola Droid 4 OTA update pushing out now
- Google goes back to selling phones, Sense 4 smoothness [From the Forums]
- Ask AC: The T-Mobile HTC One S uses Carrier IQ?
- Motorola RAZR launches in Costa Rica
- Panasonic Eluga on sale in the UK, available for £369.99 SIM free
- ASUS Eee Pad Transformer update rollout begins today
- AT&T HTC One X will have free Dropbox space, company spokeswoman affirms
- Nikon releasing wireless DSLR dongle, allowing control of your camera from your Android device
- T-Mobile HTC One S launches tomorrow - we've got your answers today!
- New Android 4.0.4 factory images available online
- ShopAndroid Daily contest winners!
- Google Docs is now Google Drive - we take it for a spin
- Gmail free storage upped to 10GB, 25GB for paying Google Drive customers
- Google Drive cloud storage service launches, 5GB free space for all
- Virgin Mobile Canada launches signup page for upcoming HTC One S release
- ShopAndroid Daily Giveaway #57: OtterBox Commuter for RAZR MAXX, Krusell Hector Case & more!
- Google gets back into the phone sales business, offering Galaxy Nexus for $399
- Samsung reveals U.S. Ice Cream Sandwich update list
- Deal of the Day: Case-Mate Barely There Case for Galaxy Nexus
- AT&T breaks own smartphone sales record in Q1, iPhone still dominates
- O2 confirms it'll stock 'next Galaxy', references to 'Galaxy S3' in official app keep us guessing
- Google preparing to launch Google Drive this week with up to 100GB of paid storage?
- Motorola Droid RAZR/MAXX update rolling out now
- LG Optimus Vu does its 5-inch, 4:3 thing in white next week
- Virgin Mobile getting rid of grandfathered plan options with new smartphone purchases?
| Motorola Droid 4 OTA update pushing out now Posted: 24 Apr 2012 05:21 PM PDT
If you own a Motorola Droid 4 and haven't already received notice of the OTA update, you will definitely want to check for updates right now! Unfortunately this isn't ICS, but this update does bring a couple of great enhancements along with it, including improved battery life. Beyond just the battery life enhancement they have also done the following
Pretty good update for you Droid 4 owners, so be sure to check it out, and let us know in the forums how it works out for you! Discuss more in the forums!
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| Google goes back to selling phones, Sense 4 smoothness [From the Forums] Posted: 24 Apr 2012 04:54 PM PDT
It's been a good day in the world of Android. Plenty of news and rumors rolled out today, so if you missed out on anything -- get yourself caught up. You can skip on back a page or two or head on into the Android Central to discuss all the latest.
If you're not already a member of the Android Central forums, you can register your account today. 
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| Ask AC: The T-Mobile HTC One S uses Carrier IQ? Posted: 24 Apr 2012 04:09 PM PDT
Thermalx, in our T-Mobile HTC One S Q&A, writes,
Ah ha! A good question, and one I'd meant to cover sooner. As part of our Ultimate Sense 4 Guide, we'd done a separate post on Privacy and the Tell HTC Experience Log. That covers analytics and other data that that Sense itself can collect. But it's not necessarily on your phone, and it's not necessarily the only analytics tool a carrier is using. When you first go through setup on the T-Mobile (US) HTC One S, you'll be asked whether you want T-Mobile to be able to collect diagnostics information. The section reads as follows: 
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| Motorola RAZR launches in Costa Rica Posted: 24 Apr 2012 03:23 PM PDT
The RAZR is due to go on sale on major Costa Rican carriers from the first week of May. Check past the break for today's full press release from Motorola. 
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| Panasonic Eluga on sale in the UK, available for £369.99 SIM free Posted: 24 Apr 2012 03:10 PM PDT
First seen at Mobile World Congress, the Eluga is Panasonic's first real attempt to break into the international Android market. The 4.3-inch, dust resistant, Gingerbread phone has been available in Japan for a few weeks now, but right on cue the predicted April launch for Europe has arrived with news of its availability in the UK. Online retailer Expansys are offering the Eluga for £369.99 inc VAT, and are showing as in stock. While it may not be breaking any records, the Eluga is a solid mid-range device with an Ice Cream Sandwich update promised for the Summer. Before handing over any of your cash though, don't forget to check out our hands on from Barcelona. Source: Expansys 
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| ASUS Eee Pad Transformer update rollout begins today Posted: 24 Apr 2012 02:18 PM PDT
ASUS has began pushing out an update for the Eee Pad Transformer (TF101) today, and the change log is online chock full of the things users really wanted it to be chock full of. In case you're not up to snuff on the state of ICS for the original Transformer, some users are having issues with random reboots since getting the OTA to Android 4. It's not one of those things that effects everyone, which makes it that much harder to troubleshoot, but hopefully ASUS has a handle on it with today's news. There's other goodies there as well -- check it.
Short, sweet, and to the point. Exactly how an update should be. According to ASUS the update started going out today (April 24) so start checking for version 9.2.1.21 and shout out when you see it. Source: ASUS 
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| AT&T HTC One X will have free Dropbox space, company spokeswoman affirms Posted: 24 Apr 2012 01:48 PM PDT
The AT&T HTC One X has found itself in the hands of a few lucky Android Forums members, and some of the biggest questions poised have had to do with storage. Remember that the AT&T One X has 16 gigabytes of internal storage, whereas the international version has 32GB. Of course, HTC Sense 4 devices come with 25 gigabytes of free Dropbox storage (for two years).
Writes VarsityHacker:
And, sure enough, going back to AT&T's announcement of the One X, Dropbox isn't mentioned anywhere. Put down the pitchforks, though. AT&T spokeswoman Jackie Vettorino has some good news, telling Android Central "HTC One X consumers will also get the 25 GB Dropbox storage as part of HTC Sense 4." Repeat: The HTC One X will get the extra 25GB of Dropbox storage as part of HTC Sense 4. Partner that Dropbox space with what we've seen today from Google Drive (plus every other storage service out there), and things aren't looking quite so dire. More: Dropbox on the HTC One X; HTC One X forums 
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| Nikon releasing wireless DSLR dongle, allowing control of your camera from your Android device Posted: 24 Apr 2012 01:11 PM PDT
Heading to market in late May, camera manufacturer Nikon are launching a wireless dongle that will enable control of your DSLR from your Android device. Quick wireless transfer of your photos is also on the menu, bringing a whole new world of quick photo sharing with it. Imagine, sharing high res, professionally shot photographs through Instagram, Facebook or Google+ without the pain of transferring between devices. The dongle will also open up your Android device as a live display and remote shutter for your camera. This sounds like a pretty useful feature, and seeing a company like Nikon embrace mobile technology is refreshing. Initially the dongle will only be compatible with the Nikon D3200, and will cost $60. Source: Nikon; via Droid-Life 
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| T-Mobile HTC One S launches tomorrow - we've got your answers today! Posted: 24 Apr 2012 12:42 PM PDT
Just a quick reminder, boys and girls, that the T-Mobile HTC One S (you've read our full review, right?) goes on sale tomorrow, April 25. If you're still on the fence, our own Phil Nickinson is hosting a Q&A in the forums right this very second! 
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| New Android 4.0.4 factory images available online Posted: 24 Apr 2012 11:53 AM PDT
Factory images for Android 4.0.4 (IMM76I) have been made available for yakju variants of the GSM Galaxy Nexus, as well as a newcomer -- the takju build. First things first, these images are a way to return your yakju Galaxy Nexus to its factory state should you get in there and muck things all up with custom software, or for advanced users to switch from a non-yakju build to yakju. They are handy as all get-out, and have saved much bacon -- including all of us here at one time or another. You'll need fastboot up and running, and have a limited knowledge of how to flash images or read scripts. It's not hard, and if you hit a snag there's a forum full of Android lovers to help you out. Now, about this takju thing. You might have noticed that Google decided to start selling unlocked Galaxy Nexus phones in the U.S. online today. These phones are a different model -- takju. The takju image is Android 4.0.4 (IMM76I) with some minor differences to include Google Wallet. And what's more -- flashing it to any unlocked GSM build works just fine. Source: Google Developers. More: Google Groups 
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| ShopAndroid Daily contest winners! Posted: 24 Apr 2012 11:37 AM PDT
If you're a registered member here at Android Central then you know our forums always have a contest happening. And if you're not registered, well -- now is as good a time as any. This week's winners are as posted after the break, and if you were chosen watch your email as we'll be following up during the week. Stay tuned for more upcoming contests folks. Congrats to the winners! 
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| Google Docs is now Google Drive - we take it for a spin Posted: 24 Apr 2012 10:30 AM PDT Welcome to the Google Drive era. Google Docs has been folded into GDrive, but it's still the same productivity suite you've come to know and love. And now it's got some pretty serious cloud sync (even more so than previous) behind it in the form of Google Drive. The idea is that you can collaborate on anything. Everything. Someone share a PDF? You can comment on it, and the OP will get a notification that you did so. There's a desktop client for all this, too, and, yes, it's basically Google's version of Dropbox. All your former GDocs files show there, and opening them opens them either in Google Docs, or in a respective native app (for instance, I use Foxit for PDFs.) We've got a slew of screenies after the break. 
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| Gmail free storage upped to 10GB, 25GB for paying Google Drive customers Posted: 24 Apr 2012 10:29 AM PDT
We're not seeing the changes reflected in our own accounts just yet. But considering the fact that Gmail updates are usually rolled out over the course of a few days, it shouldn't be too long before we start to see our extra storage space. Google says it'll continue to slowly add to the new 10GB free allowance every day, just as it's been doing since Gmail launched with 1GB of space back in 2004. Source: Gmail blog 
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| Google Drive cloud storage service launches, 5GB free space for all Posted: 24 Apr 2012 09:47 AM PDT
Google's worst kept secret in recent years is finally official -- Google Drive, the company's cloud storage service, has been announced. The service offers 5GB of storage for free, with paid storage also available offering up to 16TB of space. Being a Google service, much of the focus of Google Drive is on its web interface, available now at drive.google.com. Like cloud storage incumbents Dropbox, this provides users with a way to manage existing synced content (including Google Docs), as well as uploading new files and sharing between other Drive users. There's also a fully-featured Android app, which replaces the old Google Docs app and offers the ability to upload content from Android phones directly to the cloud. And there's even a Google+ style camera upload feature to facilitate easy sharing of photos and videos. The app's available right now on the Google Play Store (and as an update if you've already got Docs installed), and we've got it linked after the break. On the desktop side, Google Drive takes the form of a synchronization app, similar to Dropbox. Your Google Drive appears as a special folder on your computer, from which you can manage through your favorite file manager. Like Dropbox, the Drive desktop app integrates pretty seamlessly into Windows. In the announcement on its official blog, Google focused on Drive's collaborative capabilities -- something Docs users will be familiar with -- as well as the ability to search more than just text in a document or spreadsheet. Drive apparently incorporates OCR (optical character recognition) in addition to image recognition, similar to Google Goggles and Google Image Search, meaning a photo of a particular landmark would be recognized as such. Here's how the pricing works out for Google Drive --
Check the source link to get started with Google Drive. We'll have a full hands-on feature up later today, so keep watching! Head past the break for Google's official introductory video. Source: Google Drive; More: Google Blog 
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| Virgin Mobile Canada launches signup page for upcoming HTC One S release Posted: 24 Apr 2012 09:19 AM PDT
The HTC One S is "coming soon" to Virgin Mobile Canada, and in exchange for your email address, the carrier will notify you as soon as the device launches. In addition to news as it happens, submitting your email address between now and May 17 will earn you a chance to win one of two S smartphones. As per contest rules, the retail value of the prize is set at Cdn $600, a possible hint at what Virgin will be charging. Officially speaking, the carrier hasn’t gone official with a release date or pricing, though we’ll keep our ears tuned to the great white north for more information. Virgin Mobile’s signup page can be found at the source link. Source: Virgin Mobile Canada; via mobilesyrup
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| ShopAndroid Daily Giveaway #57: OtterBox Commuter for RAZR MAXX, Krusell Hector Case & more! Posted: 24 Apr 2012 08:27 AM PDT Today's ShopAndroid.com Daily Giveaway will feature the OtterBox Commuter Case for Droid RAZR MAXX, Krusell Hector Large Universal Case, Body Glove Phantom Case for XOOM, and the Incipio Bond Street Leather Case. To become eligible to win one of these featured accessories, leave a comment below telling us which item you want for your Android device. We'll randomly select one lucky winner and announce them next week! OtterBox Commuter Series Case for Motorola Droid RAZR MAXXSafeguarding the screen from scratches and the corners from bumps and shocks, the OtterBox Commuter Case offers a unique design with reliable strength for your Motorola Droid RAZR MAXX. The case features three layers of protection: A clear protective film, durable silicon mid-layer, and a one piece custom molded polycarbonate shell. There is access to all ports and buttons of the RAZR MAXX, and even silicon plugs to keep dust and debris from your ports. 
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| Google gets back into the phone sales business, offering Galaxy Nexus for $399 Posted: 24 Apr 2012 08:02 AM PDT
The rumors were true -- Google once again is selling unlocked smartphones on its own, with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus going for $399 in the Google Play Store. The phone Google's offering is an unlocked pentaband GSM device, same as what many of us had imported previously. The "pentaband" part means that it'll work on AT&T and T-Mobile 3G/4G networks. And because it's unlocked, you can take it out of the country and pop in another carrier's SIM card without needing an unlock code. Google's tried selling phones before, starting with the original Nexus One in early 2010. That ended poorly, with customer support issues dogging Google, HTC and T-Mobile (which at launch was the only carrier to officially support the N1). Google finally shut down the phone store in May 2010 and said the Nexus One would come to retail stores. That didn't happen. Later, the remaining Nexus One stock was offered as a developer device. So what happened? Google's Mario Queiroz told us at Google IO in May 2010 that "The web store as a direct distribution model is really a very small part of the overall Android strategy. With the Nexus One we had the objective of bringing to market a very technologically sophisticated phone, which we did, which really set a new bar for quality. And I think you've seen a lot of the phones in the market today, that have come to market in the past few months, have been influencing, in many ways ... by what the Nexus One was able to do." Sweetening the deal is that Google Wallet -- which for some time has been official only on the Sprint Nexus S, and now on the Sprint Galaxy Nexus -- is preloaded on this GSM device. For our part, this is the way Google should sell Nexus devices. Unlocked GSM versions, able to work on networks worldwide. And, of course, it's what some are calling the one "true" Nexus because you're able to build for it directly from the Android Open Source Project, with no pesky CDMA licensing restrictions keeping that from happening. (We don't quite subscribe to that "True Nexus" theory ourselves, though.) Devices in Google Play right now is open only in the U.S. But Andy Rubin, in a blog post this morning, says it'll be coming to more countries. The obvious follow-up question is this, though: Google won't be stopping at selling phones at Google Play, will it? Buy now: Galaxy Nexus at Google Play 
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| Samsung reveals U.S. Ice Cream Sandwich update list Posted: 24 Apr 2012 07:22 AM PDT
For the past several months we've had a general idea of which U.S. Samsung phones and tablets are slated to receive an update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. But today the manufacturer has stepped in with a full carrier-by-carrier breakdown of which devices are set to get the latest version of Google's OS. The big picture is that if you've got a Galaxy Tab or Galaxy S II-class phone, chances are you're in line for an ICS update later in the year. The only real surprise comes from T-Mobile, which doesn't have any confirmed devices, though Samsung promises a list in the "coming months." There's also no mention of the original Galaxy S, but then that stopped being news a few months ago. Unfortunately there are no specifics offered about exactly when these updates will begin rolling out (except for the Nexus S, of course, which already has its ICS update). Though with ICS for the international Galaxy S II already rolling out to handsets in Europe and Asia, we're hopeful S II owners in the U.S won't have too much longer to wait. Source: Samsung Support; via: Samsung Mobile USA 
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| Deal of the Day: Case-Mate Barely There Case for Galaxy Nexus Posted: 24 Apr 2012 06:55 AM PDT
The Case-Mate Barely There Case comes in black, pink, amethyst, and is available for just $14.95 today only, 40% off the regular price. Get yours today! 
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| AT&T breaks own smartphone sales record in Q1, iPhone still dominates Posted: 24 Apr 2012 05:58 AM PDT
AT&T this morning announced its first-quarter 2012 earnings. The carrier sold a Q1 record 5.5 million smartphones -- 78 percent of them iPhones. That leaves 1.2 million Android and BlackBerry smartphones to make up the difference. AT&T didn't give a breakdown of non-iPhone sales, but it is worth noting that the heavily marketed Samsung Galaxy Note wasn't available until Feb. 19, so it missed half the quarter. AT&T added 726,000 subscribers for the three months ending March 31, and saw its lowest churn in seven quarters. Source: AT&T 
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| O2 confirms it'll stock 'next Galaxy', references to 'Galaxy S3' in official app keep us guessing Posted: 24 Apr 2012 05:33 AM PDT
Following yesterday's 'next Galaxy' revelations from Vodafone, O2 UK has confirmed that it'll also be carrying Samsung's upcoming (and as yet unnamed) flagship smartphone for 2012. Again, we're not too surprised, as in the UK it's the norm that major handsets like the 'next Galaxy' appear on all major networks. In related news, references to a "Galaxy S3" have been spotted within the listing for the Samsung Mobile Unpacked app that was released last night. The name is tucked away in a list of keywords at the bottom of the description in the Google Play Store. This is far from confirmation of the official name, but it's yet another piece of the puzzle, and it wouldn't be the first time an "Unpacked" app has provided hints about future Samsung products. In any case, we can bet Samsung will keep us guessing over the next week, as the May 3 announcement approaches. Source: Google Play, @O2 
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| Google preparing to launch Google Drive this week with up to 100GB of paid storage? Posted: 23 Apr 2012 11:04 PM PDT
By now, Google Drive is no longer a secret. It has appeared enough times now to not only say it exists and is in development but to say that it's coming soon. The exact details behind its offerings haven't fully made their way to the internet but some information coming from Reuters may give further insight into what is already known:
Google will be looking to target both consumers and businesses with Google Drive so keeping up with competitors such as Dropbox, Box and Evernote will be vital for them. If the information we've heard thus far is accurate, they'll be well positioned to do so by taking advantage of some of their already existing products such as Google Images, Google Docs, Gmail and even Google+. When will it arrive to masses? No one is certain as of yet but it could be as early as this week, with some saying Tuesday will be the day. Source: Reuters, Image Credit: Life at Google 
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| Motorola Droid RAZR/MAXX update rolling out now Posted: 23 Apr 2012 09:45 PM PDT
For you night owls with the Motorola Droid RAZR and RAZR MAXX, know this: A decent little update, which we first told you about a few days ago, is now available. No, it's not Ice Cream Sandwich (not yet, anyway). But here's what you can expect in software version 6.12.181: Device Features:
Network Connectivity:
Email, Messaging & Data:
Applications & Widgets:
MotoCast Updates:
That's quite the changelog, actually. To download the update, you can either wait for it to push, or go to Menu>Settings>About Phone>System updates to get your download on. And if you need a little extra help, hit the forums links below. Source: Verizon; More: Droid RAZR forums; RAZR MAXX forums 
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| LG Optimus Vu does its 5-inch, 4:3 thing in white next week Posted: 23 Apr 2012 08:24 PM PDT
Tired of big black slabs? How's about a nice big white slab? The LG Optimus Vu is bringing its 5-inch, 4:3 aspect ratio in white starting next week, the Korean manufacturer announced today. As you'll recall from our last encounter with this massive beast at Mobile World Congress, the Optimus Vu is a stylus-happy phone/tablet hybrid that pretty much was a direct response to the Samsung Galaxy Note. It's not all bad, but boy howdy is it ever big. We've still got no idea if it'll ever hit the States, nor do we really know if that'd be a bad thing. Source: LG 
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| Virgin Mobile getting rid of grandfathered plan options with new smartphone purchases? Posted: 23 Apr 2012 07:11 PM PDT
A new text message is currently being sent out to Virgin Mobile USA customers with what may be an in important announcement if you're looking towards picking up a new device from them anytime soon.
At first glance, it may appear as though Virgin Mobile might be releasing some new smartphone plans, but that's not the case. When you visit the link they're advising folks that anytime you upgrade now you're required to pick from one of the already existing plans available. This looks to imply that if you're on grandfathered plan, they'll no longer allow you to keep it when upgrading to a new device. Anyone else on Virgin Mobile get this message or any further clarification in it? Thanks, Brian! 
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Motorola sends word that its current international flagship device, the 
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