Sunday, June 10, 2012

Android Central

Android Central

Samsung Galaxy S III will use a different MHL to HDMI adapter

Posted: 09 Jun 2012 03:01 PM PDT

GS III

If you're planning on purchasing a shiny new Samsung Galaxy S III, and have an existing Android phone that uses a MHL to HDMI adapter for video out, you'll be needing to replace that adapter. According to Samsung the hardware differences -- the Galaxy S III uses a different pin layout than previous phones did -- make the old adapters incompatible with the phone. 

While it's a bit inconvenient, it's almost to be expected. There's even more stuff crammed inside a thinner phone, so hardware has been redesigned and things that plug in need redesigned, too. It's probably not a conspiracy to force everyone to buy a new adapter (most of us probably will never use one anyway), and the parts themselves retail for about $25 bucks for a Samsung branded OEM model. 

If you're in the UK or Europe, you can grab one at Clove (£20.82-- check out the video after the break), and we're pretty sure you'll be able to find them at your carriers store here in the US when the SGS3 launches. Just don't try your old one -- you don't want to be the guy who finds out what happens when you plug it in and turn it on!

Via: +Arne Hess

read more

Android Central international round-up - June 9, 2012

Posted: 09 Jun 2012 09:19 AM PDT

Android Central

The past week in international Android Central coverage has been dominated by two highly-anticipated new devices -- Samsung's Galaxy S III and Orange's new Intel-powered San Diego. We published our exhaustive review of the former, and a complete video walkthrough of the latter. And whereas the Galaxy S III may be the latest and greatest Android flagship, it's the San Diego which could be the true representation of the Android's future. We're sure plenty of consumers will find room in their pockets for Intel-powered Androids in the months ahead, and we found the San Diego to be a reasonably-priced handset that offers exceptional performance even on a single core. Stay tuned for our full review in the near future.

In other news, we received the first word that the "pebble blue" Galaxy S III has started shipping in Europe and Australia, marking the end of the delays surrounding that model. And UK networks O2 and Vodafone announced an infrastructure-sharing plan that could help both networks roll out 4G LTE coverage to more Brits, more quickly.

We'd definitely recommend you check out our full review of the Galaxy S III and walkthrough of the Orange San Diego, as well as the rest of the week's highlights linked below. (And watch out for our full review of the Sony Xperia P in the next week or so). If you've got international news, be sure to tip us at the usual address.

Special features:

News:

No extra free storage for AT&T and Verizon Galaxy S III owners! The horror!

Posted: 09 Jun 2012 09:07 AM PDT

Dropbox

So if you get the AT&T or Verizon version of the Galaxy S III, you won't be getting a free extra 48 gigbytes of online storage on Dropbox. That sucks, considering that our European friends have it, and presumably Sprint and T-Mobile will as well. (And it's little toughter for AT&T fans to swallow since you can only get the AT&T GSIII in a 16-gigabyte flavor -- OK, throw a microSD card in there, but still.) But, hey, that's the carriers' right. They don't want to pick up the tab, Dropbox doesn't want to give it away for free (not that we necessarily blame them after what some folks did with the SGSIII promotion), and so we won't be getting the extra free space, a fact Dropbox has been happy to advertise in its help forums:

U.S. AT&T and Verizon customers

Select carriers have opted-out of the promotion on phones otherwise eligible. Unfortunately, AT&T and Verizon are among these carriers not currently participating.

It's not like you can't get a buttload of free Dropbox space already, though, with the usual 2GB of initial space, plus another 500MB for each referral, up to 18GB. (And if you have a friend with an HTC One phone, you probably can finagle a bit more, too.) If it's not worth it to AT&T and Verizon in this case, them's the breaks. End of the world? Not hardly. And if you really do need that 50 gigabytes, you can always pony up the $9.99 a month (or $99 a year) in that old-fashion, capitalistic manner.

Source: Dropbox; thanks to everyone who sent this in!

CrackBerry Kevin World Tour: What accessories do I need for my Android phone?

Posted: 09 Jun 2012 07:05 AM PDT

HTC One X Accessories

While sounding off about my HTC One X experiences during Thursday's Android Central Podcast, I brought up the topic of accessories. When it comes to BlackBerry, I have my list of favorites, and usually go on a shopping spree after I upgrade to a new phone. A pair of charging stands (need for both nightstand and office desk), a case or skin or screen protector, car mount, spare batteries, extra chargers (I tend to leave them in hotels)... you get the picture, I'm a bit of an accessory junkie. For some items I prefer going OEM while for other items I prefer going third party.

This is the first time I'm really going all-in on an Android phone, and it's a fresh start for me on the accessory front. I took a stroll through ShopAndroid.com today and loaded some items up into the cart, but figured before checking out I should check in with the Android Central community and get their input. I could tell from the comments to my Mobile Nations World Tour post that there are a lot of smart people on this site with a lot of strong opinions. So help me out here. What are the must-have accessories that will help me get the most out of the Android experience?

Don't be shy. Let me know in the comments. I lucked in by already owning a matching pair of Beats for my One X, but that's all I've got.
Posted by at 5:37 AM

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)