Android Central |
- Announcing the winner of the HTC One X+ giveaway
- Samsung launches flip phone with four cores and two screens for China
- What to watch out for if you're buying a cheap Android tablet today
- HTC One X+ now available in Canada from TELUS
- Black Friday is on at ShopAndroid.com - Save 15% on ALL Android Accessories!
- Verizon Droid DNA on the Nokia Qi charging stand
- Black Friday Android app sale round-up [updating]
- Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 getting Premium Suite upgrade
- Three UK to carry LG Nexus 4
- Amazon UK slashes Kindle Fire to £99 for Black Friday
- Granny Smith updated with 9 bonus levels and 'expert' mode
- Setting change lets Nexus 4 pick up limited LTE signal in Canada
- LG Nexus 4 - a second opinion
| Announcing the winner of the HTC One X+ giveaway Posted: 23 Nov 2012 04:04 PM PST
About a week ago we set up a little giveaway in the Android Central forums, where a lucky person was going to win themselves a shiny new HTC One X+ from AT&T and AC. Today is the day when the contest was shut down, the numbers were randomized, and we picked a winner. Join me in congratulating i love storms for the awesome One X+ he has heading his way. So, i love storms, enjoy that beauty and be sure to put the great camera on it to the test. I'm jealous! 
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| Samsung launches flip phone with four cores and two screens for China Posted: 23 Nov 2012 12:04 PM PST
Samsung has never been shy about introducing outlandish new hardware, and so its latest high-end hardware for China shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. The Samsung SCH-W2013 sports a vintage flip phone chassis with up-to-date internals from the Korean manufacturer. Inside there's a 1.4GHz quad-core CPU, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, expandable via microSD card. The screens are both 3.7-inch SuperAMOLED dealies at WVGA (800x480) resolution. On the software side, it's powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and Samsung's TouchWiz UI; presumably both have been tweaked to accommodate the unusual form factor. Connectivity comes in the form of two SIM slots -- one for GSM, and one CDMA-flavored. Even more outlandish is the fact that the W2013 is apparently designed for (and marketed by) actor and martial artist Jackie Chan. Engadget reports that the phone was unveiled at an elaborate charity concert, where Chan was on hand to collect his very own W2013. As for pricing, the phone is a luxury device, and so will reportedly run you somewhere in the region of $3,000 (yes, that's the correct number of zeroes). Any takers? Source: Samsung; via: Engadget 
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| What to watch out for if you're buying a cheap Android tablet today Posted: 23 Nov 2012 10:55 AM PST
Today's Black Friday in the U.S., and across the country, turkey-filled Americans will hitting the stores looking for bargains. If previous holiday sales are any indication, there are sure to be plenty of low-cost Android tablets looking to lure buyers in with the promise of a big-screen Android experience on the cheap. Just because a tablet doesn't cost the earth, doesn't make it bad. The Nexus 7 has proved that you can get a decent Android-powered tablet without breaking the bank. Nevertheless, there are some things you'll want to watch out for if you want to avoid being sold a dud. We went through some of these points a few years back in a post-Christmas tablet guide, but it's time we brought it a bit more up-to-date. 
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| HTC One X+ now available in Canada from TELUS Posted: 23 Nov 2012 09:26 AM PST
With the HTC One X+ having already been released across various regions, it's now time for launch in Canada. TELUS has now made available the re-vamped version of HTC's earlier premium handset, the One X. With a faster quad-core Tegra 3 CPU, 64GB of storage, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of the box and LTE, you can pick this one up for $130 with a new three-year contract or $650 outright. Head on over to the TELUS site to place your order or pick one up in store. If you're not sure what the device is all about, go ahead and check out our full review of the European version. More: TELUS 
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| Black Friday is on at ShopAndroid.com - Save 15% on ALL Android Accessories! Posted: 23 Nov 2012 08:43 AM PST
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| Verizon Droid DNA on the Nokia Qi charging stand Posted: 23 Nov 2012 08:42 AM PST We've taken a look at the Energizer Qi charging pad back with the HTC ThunderBolt, and it's working great with the new Droid DNA, as well as the Nexus 4. But it's not exactly a looker. Another option out there is Nokia's DT910 wireless charging stand. It's also fairly expensive at $69, but it looks and acts more like a traditional dock, leaving your phone standing up, so you can still see what's going on while it charges. Here's a quick video from HankSC in our Droid DNA forums showing how Verizon's latest looks on it. You might also have to search around a little bit to find out. It's currently sold out on Amazon, and AT&T's showing a week to ship it. More: Droid DNA forums 
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| Black Friday Android app sale round-up [updating] Posted: 23 Nov 2012 07:23 AM PST
Black Friday is upon us, and the thrashing mobs are either stampeding the malls or pounding the F5 key on their favorite retail sites. We're keeping an eye on Google Play to see what prices have been slashed. Let us know in the comments if you find any more! 
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| Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 getting Premium Suite upgrade Posted: 23 Nov 2012 05:53 AM PST Samsung continues its tradition of hefty upgrades for its Galaxy Note line with the announcement of a new "Premium Suite" upgrade pack for the Galaxy Note 10.1. The upgrade pack, which also includes Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, introduces enhanced "multi-window" multitasking and hover-based "air view" controls for the S Pen -- many features that'll be familiar to owners of the Galaxy Note 2. Interestingly, Samsung has combined multi-view with its windowed app support, allowing multiple smaller versions of certain Samsung and Google apps to be run in windowed mode, in addition to being docked side-by-side in full screen mode. Other additions include "easy clip," which lets you tag image cut-outs on the screen and copy them to the clipboard, various improvements to the S Note application, and an updated version of Photoshop Touch. As the updated software is based upon Android 4.1, it also includes the standard Jelly Bean features we've come to know, including Google's "Project Butter" performance enhancements, and predictive search through Google Now. The update is available now in Germany; other countries should be following shortly. 
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| Posted: 23 Nov 2012 05:27 AM PST
British mobile operator Three has confirmed that it'll carry the LG Nexus 4, in a video on its official YouTube channel. One of the first UK networks to carry the Galaxy Nexus, Three lost out to O2 this time around, as an exclusivity deal has meant other UK networks have so far been unable to offer the phone for sale directly. Three's also trumpeting the Nexus 4's 42Mbps DC-HSDPA capabilities, which its network supports. There's no information on availability or pricing just yet, but as O2's exclusivity deal reportedly lasts just a month, we should see the Nexus 4 in Three stores sooner rather than later. Update: Three has now published a press release indicating its on and off-contract pricing --
Source: Three on YouTube 
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| Amazon UK slashes Kindle Fire to £99 for Black Friday Posted: 23 Nov 2012 02:44 AM PST
Black Friday isn't traditionally a UK shopping event, but some retailers are catching on and offering deals on this side of the pond. One such retailer is Amazon, who is reaching the end of their Black Friday deals week in the UK with todays special on their own Kindle Fire tablet. The base model, the 7-inch 8GB version, usually retails at £129 for the ad-supported model. For today only Amazon has knocked £30 off this price making the Kindle Fire available for an astonishing £99. The Kindle Fire is a competent enough tablet for the price, and for under £100 is huge value for money. Included as part of the deal, all UK customers are eligible for a months free trial of the LOVEFiLM streaming service baked into the Kindle Fire, as well as a months free trial of Amazon Prime. Source: Amazon UK More: Hands on with the UK Amazon Kindle Fire 
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| Granny Smith updated with 9 bonus levels and 'expert' mode Posted: 23 Nov 2012 02:43 AM PST
Granny Smith has been one of our favorite games lately, and thankfully the developer has been quick about bringing out updates with fixes and new levels. The last update brought a whole new world of space-themed gameplay, and this one is adding another 9 "bonus" levels. These levels are dispersed among the other levels, which gives the game good replay value. There's also now a toggle to select a "hard" mode in the settings, which makes the thief move faster, brings trickier jumps and requires at least one apple to move on to the next level. Haven't grabbed Granny Smith yet? It's probably the best $0.99 you'll spend on a game this week. You can take a look at the Google Play Store link above. 
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| Setting change lets Nexus 4 pick up limited LTE signal in Canada Posted: 23 Nov 2012 02:43 AM PST
So, the LG Nexus 4 has a dormant LTE capability inside, and no it's not going to magically start working with LTE. Or is it? Kind of, is possibly the best way to describe what we're now starting to see. Seems some enterprising types up in Canada have been fiddling with things and amazingly have managed to kick LTE into gear on TELUS and Rogers by changing a setting in Android's testing menu (*#*#4636#*#* in the dialer app). It all stems from an apparent compatibility with LTE band 4 on the 1700MHz and 2100MHz frequencies, due to the existing radio assembly supporting LTE on those bands. It looks like for some reason LG decided to leave a fully functional LTE radio on the N4, but disable it through a software setting. In Canada, LTE band 4 is supported by TELUS, Rogers and Bell. Outside of Canada, your HSPA+ Nexus 4 won't be able to pick up any LTE reception, unless you're in one of the very few markets AT&T has enabled LTE on band 4. It's a neat trick, make no mistake, but before we all go running off to try and do this we should remember a few things. Just because it's possible, doesn't mean we'll be able to make good use of it for a number of reasons. Firstly, it's no use anywhere outside of Canada right now. Secondly, the Nexus 4 is not approved for use with LTE anywhere in the world at this moment in time, and as such it will likely be patched out in the future to avoid LG getting into hot water with the regulators. Remember, the Nexus 4 is marketed as a HSPA+ phone for a reason, and regulations have a part to play in that. Technically, it's unlawful to use LTE on these bands without regulatory approval, even if all it takes to enable it is a quick setting change. (It's also slightly baffling as to why LG would've left LTE radio software in a non-LTE phone -- presumably this is a hang-over from the Optimus G rather than something specifically designed for the N4.) In any case, click on past the break for a walkthrough video of how it all came about. Source: XDA Developers via Android Central Forums 
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| Posted: 22 Nov 2012 06:25 PM PST
LG's Nexus 4 is the best Google-branded handset since the Nexus One, and if you live in the UK, Europe or anywhere else LTE coverage isn't yet widespread, then you should buy one at your earliest convenience. If you were wondering whether the Nexus 4 is worth your money, there's your answer. But you probably already knew that if you've read Phil's exhaustive review of the phone. So I'm not going to re-hash everything we've already said about the Nexus 4 -- instead, this "second opinion" piece is going to focus on a few interesting aspects of the phone, and pick out some less-discussed areas for comment. Read on after the break. You just might learn something. 
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