Friday, August 3, 2012

Android and Me

Android and Me

August is officially Samsung Galaxy Note month

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 04:19 PM PDT

galaxy-note-tv-ad

Samsung has two new Galaxy devices slated to be revealed this month, and we have good reason to believe both will be a part of the Note family.

On August 15th, Samsung Electronics America will be holding an event to celebrate “the unveiling of the next Galaxy device.” There’s good reason to believe the event will be held to showcase the Galaxy Note 10.1 for the US.

Originally detailed back at Mobile World Congress, the Note 10.1 has yet to surface in the US. According to Cnet, the division of Samsung that originally sent save the date notices for the August 15th event usually deals with non-smartphone releases. Not only that, but Samsung doesn’t seem to be making a big splash about this event. Which would make sense for a device that was already revealed some five months ago.

Two weeks after the August 15th event, Samsung has announced today it will be hosting a Samsung Unpacked event on August 29th, in Berlin. Samsung reserves Unpacked events for their biggest announcements. The only device capable of garnering this much attention from Samsung is the highly anticipated Galaxy Note II.

Rumored to launch with a 5.5-inch display, 12-megapixel camera and in both dual-core Snapdragon and quad-core Exynos configurations, the Note II is easily the biggest Android device launch we currently have on our radars.

Hopefully, with the Note II being announced in late August, we’ll see the device released in the US before the end of the Holiday season. If so, it would be competing with the newest model of the iPhone, possibly the Droid Razr HD and a rumored five Nexus device from a slew of manufacturers. This fall is going to be great for mobile competition.

Verizon Galaxy Nexus working its way towards update to Jelly Bean; 4.1.1 binaries released

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 04:08 PM PDT

verizon-nexus-hands

We’ve been keeping our eyes peeled for any sign of good news in regards to an update to Jelly Bean, Android 4.1.1, coming to the Verizon branded Samsung Galaxy Nexus. There’s undoubtedly going to be some form of a wait still ahead for Verizon Nexus users, but with the release of Jelly Bean compatible binaries (drivers) last night, we know the process is moving forward swiftly.

Originally removed from the AOSP due to a lack of binary support, the Verizon Galaxy Nexus was shuffled back into the AOSP fold shortly after Google I/O. Last night’s release of Verizon Galaxy Nexus compatible binaries for Jelly Bean build JRO03H (the same build that WiFi only Xooms are running) is a good sign that an update is on its way.

Of course Verizon still has to tweak and test Jelly Bean until they feel it’s ready to run on consumer devices, and that could take as long as they feel is necessary, but we know that from a development standpoint, the update is ready for the next phase.

Along with the Verizon Galaxy Nexus, just about all other Nexus devices have seen binary updates. Unfortunately, the Sprint Galaxy Nexus is still being left out.

As much as we wish we had some kind of time frame for when an official update to Android 4.1.1 will hit the Verizon Galaxy Nexus, we still have no idea. Just know that it is on the way.

HTC Rezound Android 4.0 update now available from Verizon

Posted: 02 Aug 2012 07:20 AM PDT

htc_rezound

After countless rumors, leaks, and missed release dates, the Android 4.0 update for the HTC Rezound has finally arrived! Verizon has posted documents detailing the new update along with download/installation instructions on the Rezound’s software update page. Those not willing to wait for Verizon to push out the update can grab the RUU and manually install it on their device.

If you’ve read through any of our Android 4.0 update stories for HTC devices lately, you probably know everything the update will include. The highlights included the in the 299MB 3.14.605.12 build will be HTC Sense 3.6, Face Unlock, advanced notifications and a new brower, but Verizon is also throwing in Wireless Alerting System, improved VPN support for Sysco AnyConnect and enhancements to the VCAST Media Manager.

While it’s taken HTC an excruciatingly long time to update its phones to Android 4.0, we’re glad to see that HTC has been working extremely hard this past week to get the updates pushed out to multiple phones. Is there room for improvement? Certainly, but as iut stands right now, HTC is ahead of the curve when compared to Samsung, Sony, Motorola and all other main Android OEMs.
Posted by at 8:02 AM

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