Posted: 23 Mar 2012 06:03 PM PDT Sony’s Xperia S made a splash a CES in January, but as with most high-profile phones, it took a while for Canadian carriers to get on the trolley. That trends may or may not continue, but it looks like either way Canadians will get a crack at the company’s new flagship. Earlier today MobileSyrup reported that Sony’s official Facebook page posted the new that the Xperia S was headed to Canadian carrier Rogers. Hours later the Facebook update had vanished, and Rogers contacted the blog to deny the news.  It looks like Sony will instead be selling the phone unlocked, as it does with most of its smartphones. “I can confirm that while this device will work on the Rogers network, we will not be selling it directly,” A Rogers representative told MobileSyrup. Sounds like an unlocked phone to me. That’s a shame for Canadians who want the high-end phone with a subsidy, since the unlocked version will surely be in the $500-600 range. On the plus side, it’ll mean that Canadians (and maybe even Americans!) will have easy access to a carrier-agnostic version of the Xperia S. There was no mention of a price or date on Sony’s Facebook page. The S is the largest and most advanced phone that Sony’s produced to date, with a 4.3-inch 720p screen (an impressive 341 PPI) a dual-core 1.5Ghz processor, NFC capability with an included set of tags, and a jaw-dropping 12.1 megapixel camera. Unfortunately it’s running Android 2.3, but Sony has (say it with me, kids) promised an Ice Cream Sandwich update some time in the future. The phone has already made its way to the UK and greater Europe, and will be making it here to the US at AT&T’s Xperia Ion, minus the swanky transparent menu buttons. For a review of the British version, check out our sister site SlashGear. |
Posted: 23 Mar 2012 05:30 PM PDT Gameloft is one of few companies that qualifies as a top-tier game publisher in the Android realm, and it looks like they’ve got big plans for all of their upcoming games. Plans of a very specific nature: PocketGamer reports that Gameloft will be placing in-app purchases in every game it releases for the remainder of the year, on every platform, for both smartphones and tablets. The company made the announcement during its financial report, adding that all its upcoming games will also have social elements.  In-app purchases are basically the downloadable content (DLC) of the mobile world, and they’re a polarizing subject to be sure. Essentially operating on a “freemium” model, most games with in-app purchases are free, but require small payments to add new levels or get otherwise unobtainable items. Many games allow you to advance at an accelerated pace with purchases, such as exchanging small amounts of real money for in-game currency. Some of the most popular games on Android, iOS and Facebook operate in this manner and are extremely profitable. A good example from Gameloft’s stable is The Oregon Trail: Settler, now #36 in the list of the most popular free games on the Google Play Store. Social additions are a mixed bag as well. Many games will connect to users’ Twitter or Facebook account to send out automatic updates on the players; progress and achievements are delivered to friends and followers (often with maddening frequency). Search Twitter for “achievement” and you’ll find millions of nearly identical auto-tweets from whatever games are trending at the moment. For better or worse, Gameloft seems to be adopting the driving strategy of one of its biggest rivals, Zynga. Plenty of players and pundits don’t appreciate this move towards microtransactions, but there’s no arguing with the money it’s bringing in. Just a few of Gameloft’s upcoming titles are The Dark Knight Rises, Ice Age, The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, My Little Pony, Littlest Pet Shop and Men in Black III. |
Posted: 23 Mar 2012 04:47 PM PDT It might not have 3 legs and a pico projector but the Motorola DROID 2 R2-D2 is still speeding along over on Verizon. Today they’ve just announced and detailed a new software update for the aging smartphone that will finally bring it to Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread, as well as a few much needed bug fixes for all you Star Wars fans.  The details come right from Verizon themselves, and usually this means the update is only days away and could start rolling out at any time. For those that have not joined the dark side and rooted the update will bring a host of security patches and updates, improved battery life, improved 3G data connectivity and hotspot features, as well as fix some bugs. The update appears to be quite small so nothing major is going on here. All the usual Verizon branded apps like Navigator will be updated to their respective latest versions and Motorola appears to have fixed some issues with camera settings being wiped when you reboot, and the device turning on my itself at times. It’s doubtful that the smartphone will ever see Ice Cream Sandwich officially but if those XDA developers use the force I’m sure we can get some ROM’s running on it. As usual the update will break root and probably kill any previous bootloader cracks previously possible for the Motorola device so use caution if that concerns you. The update should start soon so be sure and check often and leave us a comment once it finally lands. Device Info
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Posted: 23 Mar 2012 04:43 PM PDT Most of the Android phones on the market have some method of external storage, almost always in MicroSD card form. But a few notable phones like the Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus lack this capability, as do several high-profile upcoming phones like the HTC One X. A little company called Sanwa aims to correct these oversights with the Sanwa USB Reader, a gadget that’s nothing if not descriptive: it plugs into a standard MicroUSB port and adds a full-sized USB port and standard SD/MicroSD slots, plus another MicroUSB port, presumably for pass-through charging.  There’s just one problem: this little gadget is not universal. Right now the only popular devices it supports are the Samsung Galaxy S II and Sony’s Tablet S, with some Japan-only Sony and Toshiba models thrown in for good measure. Of course the Galaxy S II already has a MicroSD card slot, but I suppose it could still be useful for its other functions, and will (probably) work with Samsung phones that are simple enough. Most of this is a moot point for a lot of our readers anyway, since the reader is only available in Japan, for the local equivalent of around $40. Anything running Honeycomb or later should be able to take advantage of USB host mode, which (in theory) allows just about any USB storage device to be hooked up and accessed with a file manager. This being the case, most Android tablets can access the ports added by this little gadget with either a cheap adapter or a first-party accessory to do the job. Of course, those aren’t quite as flexible as Sanwa’s device, but I’d bet yen to donuts that they’re more reliable. [via Everything USB; via TalkAndroid] |
Posted: 23 Mar 2012 04:21 PM PDT We see tons and tons of random applications or development in the world of Android but every once in a while I see something interesting and unique like Flash Blink that I just have to share with our readers. Meet Flash Blink, an app developed to use the camera flash on our Android smartphones to notify users of an incoming call. No more irritating ringtones, just use that flash.  Senior member and developer over at XDA named faiyyaz has developed Flash Blink, and it works with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich too. The app doubles as a torch or “flashlight” app like we’ve seen before, but using the LED for notifications is pretty neat. Obviously the developer or Android Community can’t be held responsible if your LED burns out, but we did want to mention it just in case.  The app seems to be in the early stages but is moving along quite quickly. Some users with the DEFY are reporting the LED stays on after you answer the call, so that could be irritating. Annoying vibrations that are sometimes too weak, or ringtones that aren’t loud enough can be a pain. If you want to know for sure that your phone is going off let that bright LED notify you instead. The developer states that the app is in the early stages like we mentioned above, and he will be adding tons more features in the future, as well as hopefully fixing any device bugs or adding additional support. For now head to the XDA links below to give it a try yourself. Would you use this, or is it a little extreme for a notification? XDA Flash Blink thread [via XDA] |
Posted: 23 Mar 2012 03:30 PM PDT Variety is the spice of life, and in the mobile world this tenet is demonstrated best with Android hardware. When it comes to variety, Android phones and tablets beat all comers. So it was with some anticipation that I received Sony’s Tablet P, a singular device that sets out to put an impressively-sized screen in a small body that’s made possible by a folding hinged design, achieving more portability than anything in its class. But a novel idea doesn’t necessarily make a good product, so I put it through Android Community’s regular review regimen. Does the Tablet P stack up to the competition? Read on to find out.  Hardware The Tablet P is entirely unique among current mobile products – not just Android tablets, but the entire mobile space. The closest mainstream device that it could be compared to is Microsoft’s cancelled Courier project, though various other folding designs have been tried (and usually failed) by smaller companies. In its primary design goal, the Tablet P succeeds: it’s a full-sized Honeycomb tablet that can fit into a large pocket or small purse easily. Folded up, it’s about the size of a big television remote or a fat checkbook. Completely expanded, it’s the size of a thick 7-inch tablet with an odd aspect ratio. Closed, the Tablet P presents its Sony, PlayStation and AT&T emblems plus a hole for the 5 megapixel camera. The silver plastic encompasses most of the top and bottom, and both lids slide off to allow access to the SIM card and MicroSD card (2GB) respectively. On the bottom half of the right side sit all the connections and controls: power button an jack, MicroUSB cable (which unfortunately doesn’t charge the unit) and a tiny volume rocker. The rest of the exterior is bare, save a microphone/headphone jack on the bottom.  Unfold the tablet’s impressively strong hinge, and you’re greeted with dual 5.5-inch touschscreens on the top and bottom. That hinge is an important detail, by the way: you’ll be using this moving part every time you pick up the device, so it’s good to know that the part is stiff enough to hold the screens apart at any angle from 1-180 degrees. The screens (1024×480 each, for a combined resolution and size of 1024×960 and just over seven inches) are bright and clear, with plenty of response in their capacitive surfaces. A note on ergonomics: they’re surprisingly good. Owing mostly to the cunning and natural curve of the outer case, the Tablet P feel extremely comfortable when held in two hands. Holding it with the upper screen angled towards you feels something like a Nintendo DS – or rather, what the Nintendo DS would feel like if it weren’t shaped like a box. Even holding the tablet fully open in a more traditional position is comfy, thanks to a good, solid grip at nearly every point.  Software Regrettably the Tablet P comes loaded with Android 3.2, despite the fact that Ice Cream Sandwich was available months ago. Sony promises to rectify this, though there’s no hard information on when we’ll get the update except “after April” (allowing AT&T time to distribute it). That said, this non-standard form factor needs a considerable bit of software engineering, going far beyond the standard Android Manufacturer skin – which is nonetheless present. The tablet runs on NVIDIA’s tried and tested Tegra 2 platform, with a gigabyte of memory to help it along. This makes it admirably responsive and much quicker than I was expecting. And that’s a good thing, since Sony’s custom skin pervades the interface everywhere. You’ll find Sony apps for music, photos, video, RSS, even for connecting to WiFi networks. Other extras include Evernote, Foursquare, and a pre-installed Flash player. Crash Bandicoot, one of many games available on the included PlayStation Store, is free.  The curious form factor that defines the tablet actually effects the software very little. Most apps adjust to the odd aspect ratio in one of two ways: they either fill out across both screens (most of the time) or use up all of the top screen (some of the time). Honeycomb’s built-in resize function for older Android apps is able to adjust the view to one or both screens. Sony’s apps in particular make good use of the split, with play or display functions up top and menu or keyboard functions on the bottom. The problem comes with the apps that don’t quite work. The Android Market (which, interestingly, will not update to the Google Play Store) is chief among these, since it only ever uses the top screen and won’t work at all in portrait mode. Since I’ve found no way to correct this, I have to assume that the problem will persist with at least some apps, though there’s no way to know which. Benchmarks don’t inspire much confidence: Quadrant scored the Tablet P in the 1800 range, well below the norm for Tegra 2 devices. Media  The split-screen design makes the Tablet P an interesting proposition for media. Movies and music, are artificially stinted since videos can only play on one screen or be bifurcated. Photo viewing is a problem for the same reason. (Regular web browsing isn’t really affected by the split.) Sound is a problem too, thanks to tiny speakers obscured by the plastic lids on either side of the case. To be blunt, video and audio just aren’t a good experience on the device. If you plan on listening to much music you’ll need both a bigger MicroSD card and a decent pair of headphones. Oddly, the same things that cause problems for movies and music make the Tablet P nearly perfect for gaming, if you stick to Sony’s PlayStation Store. The form factor creates a natural controller grip with the huge bezel acting as a buffer for your fingertips. Gameplay above and controls below mirror the old Game & Watch toys, and it’s a surprisingly fun experience. The cameras are best ignored. Sure, you could take snapshots with the 5 megapixel rear, and you can video chat with the VGA camera, but the quality isn’t anything to write home about. Battery The 3,080mAh battery on the Tablet P is well below average for Android tablets, probably due to the necessity of getting it all in one side of the device. Used normally it’ll last all day on WiFi, but you’ll need to keep a close eye on the bar for journeys out on AT&T’s HSPA+ network. Do a lot of gaming or streaming video, and you’ll need to keep the rather bulky laptop-style charger close at hand. Running straight through with basic web browsing and apps, you should get 6-7 hours of battery life.  Wrap-Up The Tablet P is a novelty, and at certain tasks it excels. Those tasks are playing emulated PlayStation games, fitting into small spaces and making your friends go “oooh”. Unfortunately, there aren’t many use cases where its unique design comes in handy, and quite a few where it’s a considerable drawback. As much as Sony should be applauded for trying out new ideas, even executing them as well as could probably be expected, there’s not much to recommend here beyond some great ergonomic design and a compact size.  The Tablet P is, almost literally, less than the sum of its parts. Two 5.5-inch displays don’t make an 11-inch tablet, a clamshell design doesn’t make a a thick device thinner, and the addition of lots of Sony software and tweaks doesn’t make Honeycomb an easier pill to swallow. Combine that with a $399.99 on-contract price at AT&T (and nowhere else, for the moment) and you’ve got an interesting experience that doesn’t justify a large cost and commitment. The one exception is if you absolutely love PlayStation games, and can live with the relatively small library in Sony’s PlayStation Store.                Device Info
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Posted: 23 Mar 2012 02:57 PM PDT The Samsung Galaxy Tab 11.6-inch model is nothing more than a rumor for now. Previous rumors suggested this tablet would be coming with a retina or better quality display, and be Samsung’s next flagship tablet with an impressive and high resolution Super AMOLED HD screen and more. While these are only still rumors at this point a new picture over on Samsung.com has us wondering again.  I was skeptical at first after seeing this picture, but after taking a few things into consideration I’ve changed my mind. At first glance for those familiar with Samsung’s legal battles with Apple, you’d see this and say it is the Galaxy Tab 10.1 N from the German markets. The redesigned original Galaxy Tab 10.1, but there are a few things that lead me to think otherwise. According to AndroidandMe the picture was spotted on Samsung.com on the Samsung Exynos 5 dual-core processors product page. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 and N are dual-core Tegra 2 powered tablets. Not Samsung’s new and upcoming Cortex-A15 dual-core 5250.  The image above clearly shows it being promoted with the new 5250 and not the older Tegra 2 processor. While the design is similar to the 10.1N this appears to be something different. The speaker grills are slightly larger, and it looks pretty long — possibly an 11.6″ tablet. Samsung recently announced the Galaxy Tab 2 in a 10″ model and the Galaxy Note 10.1 also. Both of those as we saw at MWC (and linked to below) come with a darker color aluminum and a much larger speaker grill, leading us to believe the image above isn’t those either. The chances that is indeed a new 11.6″ model is possible, running on the still unreleased Samsung Exynos dual-core 5250 or possibly even their quad-core processor that we are expecting to see in the Galaxy S III. For now this is all just speculation and could quite possibly be a mockup or placeholder image, or that could be the next Galaxy Tab, in an 11.6-inch size that has been hiding under plain sight. If Samsung does release a brand new quad-core or fast dual-core 11.6 tablet with a 2560 x 1600 resolution and 16:10 screen ratio, running on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich I’ll be getting my wallet out really fast. Thoughts on the image? [via AndroidandMe] |
Posted: 23 Mar 2012 01:58 PM PDT Archos recently released Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich for the G9 series of their Android tablets. It has only been available for a short time but it looks like they are on top of things and have already started fixing some minor bugs. If you own an Archos G9 and recently updated to Android 4.0 ICS this latest firmware update today should solve some of those WiFi issues some have been reporting. More details and change-log after the break.  Their naming scheme is a bit confusing but the Archos G9′s are currently running on Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich, but the build from Archos rolling out today is 4.0.5 — not Ice Cream Sandwich, but that is the version of Archos’ own firmware. Apparently with ICS they’ve had a few issues with WiFi going extremely slow after being on for more than a few minutes. Some users have also reported no audio or audio issues with HDMI-out and streaming video or games. Archos has quickly fixed the problems and the update is available now for those interested. As always the update should arrive over the air for the devices, but you can manually go to Archos.com and download the update yourself should you chose to take that route. For more information and the full change log head here to get started. We wish all manufacturers issued updates this fast, because Ice Cream Sandwich for the Archos tablets has only been available for a few weeks. If you’ve been having any of the above mentioned problems get the latest firmware and let us know in the comment section below how things go. Device Info
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Posted: 23 Mar 2012 01:13 PM PDT Motorola’s not so popular Motorola Xoom tablet received Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich back in January so we can rule that out for this impending update. Like usual, Motorola is sending out emails for their soak test update that is coming soon for the Xoom. We don’t have any details yet but its possible the Xoom will receive Android 4.0.5 in the coming weeks.  Now most likely this is a small bug fix type of update coming from Motorola and going out privately to their feedback networks. Something major like Android 4.0.5 like we’ve seen rumored lately would probably be pushed directly from Google in a more controlled manner. This update is slated for the WiFi Xoom only at this time and will be available to a few lucky members of the Motorola Feedback network. If you’ve received updates from them in the past you’ll probably get this too. As usual feel free to shout off in the comments below once you see the update as we’d love to see or hear what all it includes. Maybe this will prep the Xoom for the 4.0.5 update that is rumored to be here in the next few weeks. Stay tuned for more info. Device Info
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Posted: 23 Mar 2012 12:47 PM PDT Out from the camps at AT&T are a few red hot comments regarding the recent T-Mobile layoffs. In case you missed the news T-Mobile will be closing 7 call centers and over 3,000 employee’s will be out of a job. Today AT&T has made a few comments on the matter basically blaming the government and the FCC for the layoffs. More details after the break.  Apparently when T-Mobile and AT&T were looking to merge these call centers all would have stayed up and running, and shutting down the merger is the reason the centers will be closed, as T-Mobile is forced to make cutbacks. Showing their wings today, Jim Cicconi, AT&T’s EVP of external and legislative affairs made a quick comment about the situation and blames the FCC. Normally, we'd not comment on something like this. But I feel this is an exception for one big reason — only a few months ago AT&T promised to preserve these very same call centers and jobs if our merger was approved.”He also goes on to say that AT&T predicted that without the merger T-Mobile would be forced to make multiple layoffs and cutbacks – and that is now exactly what seems to be happening. This is basically AT&T saying it’s all your fault, or we told you so. If you’d like to read more and here the thoughts and comments right from the source head to AT&T’s blog. I would call this type of quick jab at the government and the FCC something of poor taste but AT&T does have a point here, even if I didn’t want the merger to go through myself. Thoughts on the situation or the comments? [via The Verge] |
Posted: 23 Mar 2012 11:40 AM PDT Samsung and their Galaxy S III have both been a hot topic lately. With little details on the phone, or the rumored quad-core processor that will be under the hood. While we are still hopeful for any quad-core the new Samsung Exnyos 5 dual-core looks quite impressive too. New details are confirming support for high-res displays and even USB 3.0 and more.  First off I wanted to mention USB 3.0 as that isn’t talked about much in the mobile space. Obviously this is still relatively new and not very widely adopted on PC’s even though it was released in 2008. USB 3.0 would greatly increase charging speeds as it offers over twice the rating that 2.0 offers. Getting all that into a micro-USB connector might not be too easy, but I’d love to fully charge my phone twice as fast. Who wouldn’t? Maybe we will see this on some tablets in the future? Most of the new details on Samsung’s Exynos 5 dual-core SoC aren’t all that new over the quad-core chip, and is pretty technical that won’t make sense for most users. What it comes down to us Samsung’s next-gen processors will be fast, blazing fast. Using two, or four Cortex A15 chips rather than the older, more power hungry A9′s like the Tegra 3 we could see some impressive results from Samsung. Qualcomm has taken the same route with their S4 processors but Tegra 3 and its 4 cores is still leading the pack for now. Not to mention already here and widely available. For all the dirty details and numbers hit the via link below. What it comes down to is the Exynos 5 dual-core supports USB and SATA 3.0 standards, offers support for huge resolutions like 2560×1600, reaches speeds around 2.0 GHz, and could potentially have performance that beats both the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core, and Qualcomm’s new and unreleased similar dual-core processor. I can’t wait to see the Exynos 5 and the Galaxy S III. |
Thursday, April 19, 2012
Update - 288
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