Android Community |
- Casio’s Paper Writer V-N500 tablet will set you back $2,500
- Google’s Nexus 10 tablet leaks – Android 4.2 and Exynos 5250 1.7 GHz dual-core
- Verizon Galaxy Note II leak shows November 29th launch date
- Google adds natural geography to Google Maps
- Penny Arcade’s On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 launches on Android
- HTC announces Best Deals to bring bargains directly to smartphones
- HTC reveals Q3 financial results and it doesn’t look good
- Grand Theft Auto: Vice City coming to select Android devices
- Samsung beats Nokia to remain world’s largest phone seller
- Google’s Vic Gundotra posts photos taken with Nexus 10 tablet
- Apple publishes “Samsung didn’t copy iPad” statement (but points out not everyone agrees)
- Zombie Driver THD coming soon to Android
- Halloween Edition Werewolf Android collectible launches October 30th
- T-Mobile Galaxy Note II capable of 4G LTE – could come in future update
- LG Nexus 4 leaks again with £389 price tag and two color options
- Gameloft’s Zombiewood lands on the Play Store – Get out your guns!
| Casio’s Paper Writer V-N500 tablet will set you back $2,500 Posted: 26 Oct 2012 10:47 AM PDT We’ve seen our share of head-scratch inducing tablets throughout the years, but Casio‘s new Paper Writer V-N500 might just take the cake. The new tablet is aimed at business professionals, and comes complete with a front-facing 5MP camera that can scan the documents you put in front of it. Documents can be placed inside the included cover (which is water and shock resistant, by the way), putting them up close and personal with the tablet’s camera – something that should make scanning a breeze.
It’s a cool idea, but the ability to scan documents with your tablet is going to cost you some serious dough. Casio will begin offering the Paper Writer V-N500 in Japan next month, sticking it with a price tag of ¥200,000. That equates to about 2,500 American dollars, so be prepared to plop down a hefty chunk of change if you want to take this bad boy home with you. The Paper Writer V-N500 comes with a 10.1-inch screen running at 1280×800 resolution, along with a dual-core OMAP processor clocked at 1.5GHz. You’ll be working with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box, so don’t expect the best specifications when you go to pick this one up. With the Paper Writer, you can designate symbols to dictate where you want your document to be saved – for instance, link one folder to the dollar sign symbol, and all of your financial reports will be saved to that folder. We have to give credit where credit is due – that’s a pretty cool feature. Is it $2,500 cool though? We don’t think so, especially considering the other average specs this tablet boasts. In any case, it’ll be out in Japan next month, with Casio saying that it should release in other regions shortly thereafter. [via The Verge; via Computerworld]
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| Google’s Nexus 10 tablet leaks – Android 4.2 and Exynos 5250 1.7 GHz dual-core Posted: 26 Oct 2012 10:38 AM PDT Whoa, get excited guys. Say hello to the Nexus 10! We are getting our first look at Google and Samsung’s brand new Nexus 10 tablet in all its glory thanks to an entire gallery of photos leaked by BriefMobile. While many of the specs were already known, this confirms some of the previous rumors and puts everything to rest just days before Google’s official event. Read on for the full rundown and a few more pictures.
According to the pictures, details provided, and the screenshot the Samsung Nexus 10 will be an amazing tablet — that’s for sure. With a 10.1-inch 2560 x 1600 true HD display, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, yes Jelly Bean, and here’s the kicker. The Nexus 10 will be powered by Samsung’s brand new Exynos 5250 1.7 GHz dual-core processor. No it isn’t a quad-core, but it should be blazing fast based on the Cortex-A15.
Along with that beautiful and truly “retina” quality HD display comes 2GB of RAM 16GB of internal storage (micro-SD is doubtful) and a 5 megapixel camera — which we saw samples from this morning — then the usual NFC, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, and everything else that will make this tablet amazing. For those keeping track at home, the Samsung Exynos 5250 1.7 GHz dual-core is the same one being used in Google’s brand new Chromebook, and should be plenty fast even with just two cores. This is just breaking and surely we’ll be getting tons of additional details soon so enjoy the few photos below, then hit the source link for the full rundown. They’ve got tons of screenshots showing Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, the all new Gallery app, improved pulldown bar with “Quick Settings”, multiple user accounts (which may or may not be on Android 4.2) and more. It’s safe to say this is the most impressive sounding tablet with the highest specs we’ve seen yet. I’m not a fan of the rear design personally, but love the massive dual front facing speakers. What do you guys think? Give me this for $349 and I’ll be happy!       [via BriefMobile]
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| Verizon Galaxy Note II leak shows November 29th launch date Posted: 26 Oct 2012 10:20 AM PDT The Samsung Galaxy Note II is looking to be a popular smartphone this holiday season, but one of the biggest carriers in the states isn’t being too open about when we can expect it to arrive. With T-Mobile’s Note II already available now, we were hoping to know more about Verizon’s plans by now. Yesterday they opened pre-orders for the phablet, but didn’t give an official release date.
Verizon’s Galaxy Note II is available right this minute with pre-orders starting at $299 and a new 2-year contract, but we aren’t sure when it’ll ship. After going through the process on their website it states shipping “by” November 27th. Today however a leaked document over at Droid-Life shows Verizon is planning November 29th as their official Note II launch date. They could ship the 27th with delivery being two days later on launch day. Although we’re sure a few will select 1-day shipping and get them early. Home button branding aside, the Galaxy Note II will be an amazing smartphone on Verizon with 4G LTE. We were able to enjoy and review the T-Mobile Galaxy Note II — so take a peek here. The Note II rocks a 5.5-inch 1280 x 720p HD display, Samsung’s latest 1.6 GHz quad-core processor, 2GB of RAM, an awesome 8 megapixel camera and tons of enhanced apps for their S-Pen stylus. With T-Mobile’s already available, AT&T’s hitting the shelves on the 9th, and US Cellular quickly following it looks like Verizon will be the last one to this party — again. For those looking to get the impressive new phablet known as the Galaxy Note II on Verizon hit up their pre-order page now, and we’ll report back once we hear an official release date from Big Red themselves. Stay tuned! Device Info
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| Google adds natural geography to Google Maps Posted: 26 Oct 2012 09:11 AM PDT Google has certainly been busy updating Maps in the month of October, and now, they’ve rolled out a new feature that shows terrain, color gradations to depict vegetation, and labels for natural land formations. This helps Google Maps provide even more detailed information to users of its service. Google Maps users can now find great forests, mountain ranges and other natural formations more easily.
This update for Google Maps comes at the perfect time. Apple just launched its own Apple Maps, and it came under a large amount of scrutiny. Google’s continuing efforts to improve its service with this update, improved Street View, and even going to the Grand Canyon, clearly put it miles ahead of the competition. Google actually offered information similar to this for a long time, but it was not on by default. Now, it’s a fixture of the Maps service, and it is a great improvement.
The update is rolling out as we speak, and you should start seeing it soon, if you don’t already. It will be apparent very quickly when the update goes live, as it makes drastic changes to the appearance of Maps. October has certainly been a great month for Google Maps; let’s hope they keep this momentum going forward through the rest of the year. [via Google Maps Blog]
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| Penny Arcade’s On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3 launches on Android Posted: 26 Oct 2012 08:31 AM PDT Penny Arcade, the gaming website best known for its hilarious comics, has launched its most recent game on Google Play. On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness 3, which is already available on PC and Xbox, has made its way to mobile devices, including our beloved Androids. The game brings classic RPG mechanics and Penny Arcade’s unique sense of humor along with a classic video game visual style.
The game is available on Google Play for $2.99. Penny Arcade says the game is “now optimized for your mobile thingy.” The game includes the original game plus The Lair of the Seamstress DLC and Fanfiction packs. It has a “rejiggered UI to maximize screen real estate.” The game is receiving good reviews from Android users, but some are saying the controls do not work great. In spite of this, they have given the game good scores, clearly showing that Penny Arcade’s sense of humor is carrying the game and making it worth checking out. It does include two control schemes, which should at least give players a choice and help make the controls more comfortable. Penny Arcade also says they plan to bring more free content to the game down the line.     
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| HTC announces Best Deals to bring bargains directly to smartphones Posted: 26 Oct 2012 07:57 AM PDT HTC has just revealed a new service for smartphones designed to bring deals directly to device owners. It will make its Android debut on the HTC One X+. It will make its initial launch in the UK, Italy, Germany, France, and Spain. It offers 17,0000 deals from popular services such as LivingSocial, Trip Advisor, and more.
Of course, no deal finding service would be complete without plenty of other sorting options. Users can sort deals by popularity, overall price, percent off, and when said deal expires. Users can bookmark, review, and share deals with others. Besides the One+ and select Windows phones, HTC plans to launch this service on HTC One X and One S. A firmware update will hit for these phones that will add the new feature. HTC has not announced when the firmware updates for these devices will hit the market. HTC also said they are working to add more deal providers. They are also working on partnerships with mobile providers, but they did not detail exactly what these partnerships will bring. [via SlashGear]
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| HTC reveals Q3 financial results and it doesn’t look good Posted: 26 Oct 2012 07:26 AM PDT HTC has revealed Q3 2012 financial results, and unfortunately, things are not looking so good for HTC. Both revenue and profit are down by around 50%. In all, HTC made NT$70.2bn ($2.4bn), which is a drop of 48-percent from Q3 2011 and 23-percent from Q2 2012. Operating profit was NT$4.9bn ($167m). This is a decrease of a staggering 76-percent year-on-year.
HTC managed to cut costs in Q3, which helps in the short term, but in the long run, it means R&D spending is down, which could have negative results going forward. Overall, operating expenses were down 29-percent year-on-year. They spent NT$12.6bn ($431m), with the greatest cuts coming from sales marketing. Things are not quite as dire as they were in Q1 of this year, but it’s still not good. Things are only expected to get worse for Q4, with HTC predicting a 1-percent operating margin and revenues of around NT$60bn ($2.1bn). Hopefully, 2013 will be a better year for HTC. Perhaps the launch of the J Butterfly in Japan, and the eventual launch of a 5-inch+ phone in the US will help them turn things around. [via SlashGear]
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| Grand Theft Auto: Vice City coming to select Android devices Posted: 26 Oct 2012 06:51 AM PDT Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is coming to an Android device near you. Rockstar games has just announced that they are bringing the game to select Android devices in conjunction with the 10th anniversary of the initial release. Rockstar calls the mobile version an “Anniversary Edition,” but they do not detail exactly what extras will be included that were not in the original.
GTA: Vice City follows the story Tommy Vercetti as he runs around causing havoc in an 80s themed Miami. It features plenty of hilarious cultural jokes and references to shows like Miami Vice. Personally, I think it’s one of the best games in the Grand Theft Auto series, and I cannot wait to check it out on Android. Rockstar specifically said that the game will have “native high-resolution graphics and several enhancements unique to the iOS and Android platforms.” Rockstar previously released Grand Theft Auto III to Android, and it sold a ton of copies. GTA: Vice City takes all the innovative gameplay from GTA III and makes it better. If the Android version comes out as good as the PS2 version back in the day, Android gamers will be in a for real treat. Rockstar did not announce a price or release date, so we will keep you posted as soon as we hear more.
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| Samsung beats Nokia to remain world’s largest phone seller Posted: 26 Oct 2012 06:23 AM PDT In the battle for cell phone supremacy, Samsung has come out on top yet again. This marks the third quarter in a row that Samsung was able to beat Nokia for the number on phone seller. Previously, Nokia had that title for an impressive 14 straight years. Apple brought up the rear, coming in at a respectable third place.
In terms of smartphones, Samsung holds 31.3% of the market, which is more than double that of Apple’s 15%. Clearly Samsung is seeing a noticeable increase in its hold on the market due to the incredible success of the Galaxy line of smartphones. With Samsung launching the Galaxy Note II on Verizon and AT&T in the coming weeks, it appears that they have no intention of releasing the spot as top smartphone seller. Of course, Nokia’s second place numbers are nothing to scoff at. They sold 82.9 million phones in Q3 2012, which is obviously a ton of devices. That being said, it is a drop of 22.2%. Nokia currently holds 18.7% of the cell phone market. Third place Apple holds 6.1% of the market, and coming in behind them is LG, with 3.1%. [via SlashGear]
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| Google’s Vic Gundotra posts photos taken with Nexus 10 tablet Posted: 26 Oct 2012 05:59 AM PDT If anyone was actually questioning the existence of the Google Nexus 10, it’s time to stop. Yesterday, we had a manual leak for the device, and today, we have a top-level Google executive taking and posting pictures to his Google+ page with the device. At this point, it’s become quite clear that Google is releasing a 10-inch version of its popular tablet.
The photos he took are rather beautiful. They are listed at 2048×1536, which is about 3MP, but I imagine the camera is capable of much a much higher resolution than that. Either way, the photos definitely look great, even if the resolution is brought down from uploading them to Google Plus. Now it just begs the question: did he put them up on purpose with the Nexus 10 tag, or did he simply forget that Google+ would reveal the camera the photos were taken with? I think at this point it is safe to say that Google is going to announce the Nexus 10 at its event on Monday. There are just too many hints pointing to its existence. The more leaks and rumors that come out about the event, the more excited we get. As always, we will keep you posted on all the latest rumors and leaks regarding Google’s upcoming event, and everything else Android. [via AndroidCentral]
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| Apple publishes “Samsung didn’t copy iPad” statement (but points out not everyone agrees) Posted: 26 Oct 2012 02:20 AM PDT Apple has followed court orders and publicly published acknowledgement of a UK court ruling that Samsung did not copy the iPad, though there’s a sting in the tail. The statement – which is linked from the Apple UK homepage, but you may have to hunt a little to find it since it’s buried right down at the footer – sticks to the court-mandated minimum font size, but also takes the opportunity to remind readers that courts elsewhere in the world thought differently.
“While the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement,” Apple’s statement reads, “other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad.” It references the German ruling as well as the recent US jury decision which awarded Apple over $1bn in damages from Samsung. Apple lost its appeal in the UK against the pro-Samsung judgement earlier this month, having argued that the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9, and Tab 7.7 were too similar in design to its iPad. The company’s statement also makes use of the judge’s final summary, in which he describes Apple’s iPad as “a cool design” and dismisses Samsung’s rival slates as “not as cool.” In all, it’s probably not quite what Samsung was hoping for, but it will certainly be widely spread. As well as appearing on Apple’s site, the statement will also be published in various newspapers and magazines in the UK.
[via SlashGear]
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| Zombie Driver THD coming soon to Android Posted: 25 Oct 2012 03:21 PM PDT With Halloween coming up next week the zombies are starting to come out of the darkness and grace the world of Android. Earlier we mentioned a new Gameloft game Zombiewood, but what we have for you below looks even better. Last year we showed you an amazing looking Tegra 3 game called Zombie Driver THD, and it’s finally coming soon.
Zombie Driver THD is bloody and gory, but it looks freaking awesome. We first mentioned this back in November of last year, and just two weeks ago it finally launched for PC and consoles — with the Android version coming soon. How soon? We have no clue but have a feeling it will be just in time for Halloween. Possibly even next week. As far as we know this will launch as an NVIDIA Tegra 3 exclusive, just like we reported back last year. The graphics are stunning, the explosions are detailed and full of fireballs, and the physics as you drive through hoards of zombies is epic. Without ruining all the excitement about this impressive looking THD game check out the brand new official Zombie Driver THD launch trailer released just last week: Looks amazing right? With Zombie Driver THD on Android you’ll get to enjoy all sorts of vehicles to cause mayhem, not to mention flame throwers, missiles and everything else you've just seen from the epic game trailer above. When we first saw this game 11 months ago it looked awesome and we expected it to arrive sooner, but now that it’s almost here it is time to get excited. We can’t wait to enjoy this on our Tegra 3 powered Android phones and tablets. Thoughts?   
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| Halloween Edition Werewolf Android collectible launches October 30th Posted: 25 Oct 2012 01:52 PM PDT Who’s getting ready for Halloween? If you’re one of the die hard fans of Android then you’ve probably seen or purchased a few of the extremely popular Dyzplastic Android Mini Collectibles. They’ve launched a few collectible series and always manage to sell out in a matter of minutes. Just in time for Halloween they are teasing us with their new limited edition “Werewolf” Mini.
If you’re like us, and many of our friends (Rick) you probably have every Android Mini collectible released by Dyzplastic and certainly will want this new model. It’s a Halloween edition, Werewolf style, and also rocks a sports jersey #12. This will be joining our collection here at Android Community soon, that’s for sure.
The folks from Dyzplastic are having fun at Twilight’s expense stating this limited edition is how Werewolves should be, “back when vampires didn’t sparkle and werewolves played basketball!” These little collectibles always manage to sell out within a matter of minutes so you’ll certainly want to be ready and waiting for when they go on sale. When do they become available you ask? You won’t have to miss out on any Halloween activities and candy eating as they’ll be selling their newest family member a day early, on the Devil’s Day. You can get the limited edition Halloween collectible on October 30th at 11PM (EDT), and again on Halloween morning (the 31st) at 11AM (EDT) right from DeadZebra.com as usual. Enjoy and have a safe Halloween!
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| T-Mobile Galaxy Note II capable of 4G LTE – could come in future update Posted: 25 Oct 2012 01:32 PM PDT The popular Samsung Galaxy Note II is officially available here in the US from the folks at T-Mobile, with other carriers coming soon. We’ve already been enjoying their new “faux 4G” HSPA+ capable smartphone for a few days but now we’re hearing of a little surprise under the hood of the Note II. It looks like the T-Mobile Galaxy Note II could in fact support their upcoming 4G LTE network.
Essentially T-Mobile currently does not have a 4G LTE (long term evolution) network. Verizon and AT&T are the two with an actual LTE network worth mentioning. Currently T-Mobile relies on their ultra-fast HSPA+ 42 network throughout the US for blazing fast data speeds. T-Mobile is set to launch and start testing their first official 4G LTE networks in early 2013. While reviewing the T-Mobile Note II the folks from AnandTech noticed the device actually has support for 4G LTE, and is essentially the same as AT&T’s model. In other words, once T-Mobile’s 4G LTE network arrives they’ll be able to push a software update to their Note II enabling those faster 4G LTE radios under the hood for use with their new network. T-Mobile has issued a statement on the matter, and here’s what they had to say according to The Verge.
That basically tells us that yes, T-Mobile will indeed be allowing 4G LTE to operate on their Galaxy Note II which was released just yesterday, it just won’t work “automatically” and will require a software update. T-Mobile is currently busy transitioning all their towers to allow support for 4G LTE and are set to launch initially early 2013. Reports indicate they expect to cover more than 200 million Americans by the end of 2013. Hopefully their purchase of MetroPCS helps the rollout, and we hear more on this LTE soon. My next question is: Does T-Mobile’s Galaxy S III have the same fate? We’ll look into that and report back. Device Info
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| LG Nexus 4 leaks again with £389 price tag and two color options Posted: 25 Oct 2012 12:56 PM PDT It seems that Google and LG’s Nexus 4 just can’t manage to stay out of the news. The new flagship LG smartphone that will be Google’s newest Nexus is going to be unveiled to the world on Monday at Google’s Android event, but we’ve seen more leaks the past two weeks than I’m sure anyone had imagined. Those folks from CarphoneWarehouse are at it again. Reportedly leaking the price, and color options.
At this point we know almost everything there is to know about the LG Nexus 4, but now the leaked screenshot from Carphone Warehouse online inventory is rounding out the story. According to their sources and system, Google will be releasing both a white and black LG Nexus 4. I’m interested in seeing how that crystal reflection technology on the back of the device looks in white. I’m guessing it will shine like diamonds. The leak also states a price, something the earlier pre-order page did not. This leaks seems to suggest the Google LG Nexus 4 will launch and be available for £389 unlocked and SIM free in the UK. Now this could very well just be a placeholder because it sounds a bit high. Do the math on that and it ends up being around $628 USD. Don’t get out the pitchforks just yet, we seriously doubt Google will be asking anything over $399-$449 for this device — especially if they indent to sell it right on the Play Store. They’ve been all about budget pricing lately. For now we’ll just have to patiently await Google’s Android event that takes place Monday morning. We’ll be hearing about the Nexus 4, Android 4.2, and most likely that Samsung Nexus 10 tablet too. It’s going to be an exciting Monday in the world of Android so stay tuned. Would you buy the LG Nexus 4 for £389? [via MoDaCo]
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| Gameloft’s Zombiewood lands on the Play Store – Get out your guns! Posted: 25 Oct 2012 12:39 PM PDT With Halloween just around the corner today we have an awesome new game from the folks at Gameloft to share with everyone. It’s always a good time for zombie shooter games on Android, but this Halloween Gameloft has released an awesome free game called Zombiewood just in time on Android and iOS. This epic top-down shooter is completely free and available now.
Gameloft teased us with a trailer of the game last week, but now all you Android fans can get in on the action-packed shooting madness right this minute. This isn’t just your average zombie game though. Gameloft has the setting take place in the soulless city of Hollywood where the green screens can’t save you from hordes of enemies. Gameloft touts awesome graphics, free-to-play, over 20 awesome weapons to kill the waves and waves of enemies in this survival style game and more. You’ll enjoy a Hollywood style game taking place in 11 different movies, with 10 unique game modes for hours of fun. Check it out: This game looks to offer plenty of Android fans a good experience this Halloween weekend so get ready for to take on waves of zombies throughout LA. The graphics are pretty impressive, you can upgrade the weapons, and Gameloft even promises content updates will come soon with more movies, weapons, outfits and non-stop action. The game has some pretty impressive graphics so not all devices will be able to participate in the gory zombie fun. Head to the Google Play Store and try it today!
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