Sunday, April 15, 2012

Update - 148



Posted: 06 Mar 2012 05:00 PM PST
While you folks already know, thanks to various announcements, that certain devices would be getting Ice Cream Sandwich, Big Red has decided to reiterate and solidify these announcements with a list of their own. While yes, we’ve known for some time that ICS would be coming to most of these devices, it’s nice that Verizon has gone and made it official. There isn’t a time table from in regards to when these devices will see the official update but it’s safe to say that we can assume it will be roughly around the announced times from the respective manufacturers.
If you haven’t been keeping up you can hit the break to see if your device will be getting its own taste of the very sweet OS and while you’re at it, check out the original announcements so you can get an idea of what kind of time line you’re looking at. Enjoy!
HTC (Announcement):
  • HTC ThunderBolt™
  • DROID Incredible 2 by HTC
  • HTC Rhyme™
  • HTC Rezound™
Motorola (Announcement):
  • Motorola XOOM
  • DROID BIONIC™
  • DROID RAZR™
  • DROID RAZR™ MAXX™
  • DROID 4
  • DROID XYBOARD 8.2
  • DROID XYBOARD 10.1
Samsung (Announcement):
  • Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1
  • Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 7.7
LG (Announcement):
  • Spectrum™ by LG
Posted: 06 Mar 2012 03:53 PM PST
Yeah, yeah, there is a new name for the Android Market now, Google Play. For those of you who are just dying to see what the name change and new logo looks like on your phone, don’t go downloading any silly apk file. You can do it directly from within your phone in about 30 seconds flat.
  1. Go in to Settings and then Apps.
  2. Look for Market under the “All” tab and press clear data.
  3. Now open Music Play or Google Music.
  4. Hit that little Market icon in the bottom tray.
  5. Confirm Google Play upgrade.
  6. BOOM!
There, now you have the new Google Play app on your phone and now you won’t have to wait for that pending update that is right around the corner. :-D




Posted: 06 Mar 2012 03:15 PM PST
Google and Apple’s mobile operating systems continue to go from strength-to-strength. Jumptap, market leaders in targeted mobile advertising have today revealed that according to February figures, Android and iOS currently make up 91% of the mobile OS market. Based on data from Jumptap’s network of over 95 million monthly users, figures show that Android leads the pack with 58.8% with iOS boasting 32.2 %. Back in January we brought you Nielson’s Q4. findings showing Android sitting at 46.3%, it’s good to see that even the launch of Apple’s iPhone 4S did little to slow Android’s momentum.
The biggest losers were Blackberry who hit a record low with only 6.7%. Symbian continues to die a slow death whilst Microsoft’s Windows Phone OS still barely registers at all. Paran Johar, Chief Marketing Officer  at Jumptap said “With Google activating 850,000 mobile devices daily, it’s no surprise that Android has continued to outpace every other OS on the market, What advertisers should take away from this data is the importance of advertising cross-platform. Both the Android and iOS operating systems continue to grow while the remaining competitors represent only a fraction of the market.”
Eric Schmidt made the bold statement at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, stating  “If Google gets it right, there will be an Android in every pocket” At the current rate of growth it seems that perhaps Schmidt’s claims may not be as far fetched as first thought.

source : jumptap
Posted: 06 Mar 2012 02:47 PM PST
Okay I’ll admit it, when I am out in public I secretly think to myself when looking at random people, “pew pew, got you.” What I mean by that of course is that if I had a Nerf gun or laser tag device I’d run around and shoot them at random folk. Now before you look at me like I am weird and all you can’t admit that you wouldn’t do the same or at least think about doing the same. When I saw the XAPPR AR idea I got excited about this becoming a reality. Well AppTag Laser Tag looks to throw their hat into the ring as well. As they put it:
“Imagine over 1,000 people all playing together across an entire city, or 10-20 friends battling it out in a park!  AppTag will allow for Real World First Person Shooter Games…it’s like Call of Duty in the real world!”
How can anyone not like a “real world” Call of Duty-esque experience? Well much like the Laser-etched Galaxy Nexus backplates there is a campaign to make this a reality and all they want is some help from us folk in the form of a donation. Their goal of $30,000 has already been reached but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t continue to donate. Those who pledge money from now until the end of the campaign (9 days from now) will get a guarantee of delivery from the first batch and at a discounted price to boot! It will come with a free app so that you can play immediately when the gun is delivered. You can get it all for $39.99 for a single unit or $74.99 for a two pack and it will be available in June online and in stores.
The company is also releasing the SDK for the developers to build their on augmented reality app that takes advantage of these guns. You can hit the source below to donate and get in on this augmented reality laser tag campaign. Like I said you have nine days to get in on the discount pricing and first-batch shipments. I know I’m going to. Enjoy!

source: Kickstarter Campaign
Posted: 06 Mar 2012 02:23 PM PST
The lawsuit wars continue between Apple and Google and Motorola. U.S. Circuit Judge Richard Posner ruled yesterday that Motorola and Google must hand over details on the development of Google’s Android operating system as well as information regarding the recent [pending] acquisition of Motorola by Google. Apple’s lawyers claim "The Android/Motorola acquisition discovery is highly relevant to Apple's claims and defenses”, but Motorola has opposed the request, stating "Google's employees and documents are not within the 'possession, custody, or control' of Motorola, and Motorola cannot force Google to produce documents or witnesses over Google's objections.”
So there we have it, another interesting twist in the tech-giant soap opera drama that is Apple vs. The World. We’re sure to see more from Apple as time goes on, especially since the Google/Motorola acquisition poses an immediate threat to the company.
source: bloomberg
Posted: 06 Mar 2012 02:16 PM PST
Mark your calendars, Android users – Temple Run by Imangi Studios is coming your way on March 27. And for free, no less. Android users can finally experience the endless gameplay and the thrill of grabbing gold coins while avoiding demonic monkeys. This game has been widely popular on iOS, with over 40 million downloads. It’s also been the Top Grossing App and Top Free App in January 2012.
There had been a few delays on the release date, but we now have just a few short weeks left to wait. Head over to the
Android Market
 Google Play Store on March 27 to download your copy.
Imangi Studios Brings Temple Run to the Android Marketplace March 27
WASHINGTON, D.C. – March 6, 2012 – Imangi Studios today announced that Temple Run, the Top Grossing App and Top Free App in the App Store in January 2012, will be released for Android devices on March 27. Free to download, Temple Run challenges players to test their reflexes as they race down ancient temple walls and along sheer cliffs. With endless gameplay, players collect coins as they jump, slide and run to escape the evil monkeys guarding the temple while avoiding obstacles.
"We are excited to finally share the Android release date with our fans who have been so enthusiastic and supportive of Temple Run," said Keith Shepherd, co-founder of Imangi Studios. "By expanding to more mobile devices, we hope to provide the same addictive and fast-paced gameplay to an entirely new group of players."
The iOS version of Temple Run for iPhone and iPad boasts over 40 million downloads in the App Store since its debut in August 2011.
About Imangi Studios
Imangi Studios was founded by husband and wife team Keith Shepherd and Natalia Luckyanova in 2008. With the addition of artist Kiril Tchangov in 2009, the three-person studio has developed mega-hit Temple Run, which has been downloaded by 6% of the entire United States population since its release in August 2011. Based in Washington, D.C., the self-funded, fully independent studio previously developed Harbor Master,geoSpark, Hippo High Dive and Max Adventure for iOS.
Posted: 06 Mar 2012 02:01 PM PST
According to sources close to Korean news site MT.co.kr, Sony plans on releasing a new LTE smartphone in the second half of this year. Not to be confused with the Xperia Ion which is already slated for international release, this will be an entirely new device and will be heading to South Korea as early as June.
It is believed that this new device may actually be the recently benchmarked Hayabusa (LT29i), and should retail for around €493 ($650). We originally spotted this device back in January when we got a hold of a leaked Sony smartphone roadmap. The LT29i Hayabusa is believed to have a 1.5GHz dual-core S4 Snapdragon processor, Adreno 225 GPU, Android 4.0, and according to the recent Nenamark benchmark test, a screen resolution of 720 x 1,196. I have to go on record here and say I believe that last one is a complete error on somebody’s part. Either way we should know more soon and will keep you posted.
source: MT.co.kr
via: Xperia Blog
Posted: 06 Mar 2012 12:09 PM PST
If you’ve attempted to visit Android Market online in the past hour or so, you’ve been greeted with a surprise. The market has been rebranded and rebooted to become the now unifying force known as Google Play. As a celebratory kick-off of the new arrival, Google is slashing prices on everything: books, videos, music, and of course apps.
To celebrate, we'll be offering a different album, book, video rental and Android app at a special price each day for the next week in our "7 Days to Play" sale. In the U.S., today's titles include the collection of top 40 hits Now That’s What I Call Music 41, the popular game Where’s My Water, the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and the movie Puncture for just 25 cents each. In addition, you’ll find great collections of hip-hop, rock and country albums for $3.99 all week, detective novels from $2.99, some of our editorial team’s favorite movies from 99 cents, and our favorite apps from 49 cents.
Those are some tremendous deals all around, and the apps available are no exception. Big name titles like World of Goo, SHADOWGUN, Dead Space and others have seen tremendous drops down to the low price of  49 cents.
The Play time isn’t limited to the US either. UK residents report the same deal for just 49p, in addition to the other deals mentioned in the quote above.
Head on over to
Android Market
Google Play to pick them up now.
Be sure to check back tomorrow as well. New deals are happening each day for the next 7 days. Start playing!
source: Google Play
Posted: 06 Mar 2012 11:49 AM PST
If you guys are like me, then you spammed the Check Update option on your original Transformer for the ICS update that was available Late-February. While I fell in love with my tablet all over again because of the update I noticed that as the days progressed my tablet would randomly reboot itself. Sometimes it would reboot it four – five times in a row before it would stay on. Then about an hour later it would reboot itself yet again. While it never rebooted in the middle of using it, watching it reboot itself randomly became rather frustrating. Heck, sometimes it would look up in the middle of a boot cycle. It appears that I am not in the minority with these experiences. Other users are reporting lock-ups during reboots,  and other various bugs as well.
Like the Transformer Prime update and its update problems Asus has taken to announcing that a fix is in the works for the original Transformer ICS update. While users have reported that uninstalling apps, updating widgets and factory resets have helped, this is not a good premise for Asus; especially considering their Hopes to have the next Nexus device and the first roll out of Jelly Bean. Asus writes in regards to the TF101 issues:
“Thank you to everyone who has given us feedback regarding the ICS TF101 update.We apologise for the issues some users have been experiencing and we'd like to assure you all that we are working on a fix. We don't have an exact date for release yet but we're aiming for early next week.”
They also had this to say:
“The issues been experienced are down to such a wide variety of reasons that there isn't one interim solution. We've heard of users finding successful solutions through factory resets, wiping rogue apps and deleting/updating widgets though.”
Hopefully this update will arrive next week if all goes according to plans. Are any of you folks out there having these issues? If so, sound off in the comment section below or hit the forums to have an in-depth discussion. Stay tuned as we will update you as to when the update will hit for sure.
source: Eurodroid
Posted: 06 Mar 2012 11:36 AM PST
I’m not sure anyone saw this one coming, but Google just announced that the current Android Market apps, Google Music, and the Google eBookstore will become part of a new store called Google Play. There are some that are speculating that this shift has something to do with the fact that the Android Market is not generating as much money as Google hoped, and that Google Music, Movies, and Books just isn’t all that successful. It’s been shown over and over that Apple’s App Store is more successful in terms of generating revenues.
Over the coming days, everyone with Android 2.2 and higher will get an update to their Android Market app. After the update, you will now go to the Google Play Store for all your needs. Videos, books, and music (in countries where they are available) will now be known as Google Play Movies, Google Play Books, and Google Play Music apps. You won’t see any changes with anything you’ve already purchased or downloaded as they will now be available through Google Play.
Google is also celebrating this change with a “7 Days to Play” sale. Google will be offering a different album, book, video rental, and Android app at a special price each day for the next week. Today’s titles include collection of top 40 hits Now That’s What I Call Music 41,the game Where’s My Water, the novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close,  and the movie Puncture for just 25 cents each. You will also find collections of hip-hop, rock and country albums for $3.99 all week, detective novels from $2.99, the editorial team’s favorite movies from 99 cents, and Google’s favorite apps from 49 cents.
Google is marketing this as cloud-based, but wasn’t it always? They’re also taking the approach that they are making things easier by putting everything in one place, but again wasn’t that already the case. This is simply a new marketing approach. Will it generate more money? Only time will tell. Checkout Google’s quick introduction video and let us know what you think of the new name?
Click here to view the embedded video.
source: google blog

Posted by at 12:06 PM

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