Friday, April 6, 2012

Android Community

Android Community


Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 delayed to June, getting upgrade to Exynos quad-core

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 10:48 AM PDT

Big news appears to have hit the streets over the past couple of days regarding Samsung’s next onslaught of Android tablets. Earlier this week we reported the Galaxy Tab 2 with Android 4.0 ICS was delayed until late April although no reason was released. Today we are now hearing the Galaxy Note 10.1 has also been delayed, but with good reason. The delay is because it will be receiving a quad-core instead.

According to details gathered by PocketDroid the 10.1-inch Galaxy Note has been delayed to sometime in June as Samsung replaces the 1.4 GHz dual-core under the hood with their own in-house quad-core Exynos processor. It is possible that they’ll go with the Tegra 3 too, but most likely they’ll opt for their own silicon.

These details has seemingly been confirmed by a local economic newspaper in Korea the IPD but we will continue to hunt for more details as this is just hitting the wires. The Galaxy Note 10.1 features the same impressive S-Pen technology as the Galaxy Note, and will launch with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich on board. I personally don’t mind a small delay if that means we’ll be seeing a quad-core to compete with the Tegra 3. We’ll update with additional details once made available.


Google Play Store updated to v3.5.16 with fixes [Download]

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 10:35 AM PDT

Google has silently pushed another update out for the Android Market Google Play Store over the past day or so, and you’ll want to get it if you’ve been having any issues lately. The last update was version 3.5.15 and brought tons of changes and new features. This update rolling out now is only minor and wont change things too much visually like the last update has.

The update for the new Store should be hitting devices all weekend and most probably wont even notice it arriving but you can always manually check or manually update with the download links below should you not want to wait. A few were reporting market issues with paid apps from the new “all” tab not displaying correctly and other similar errors and those should all be fixed with today’s new market.

According to the folks over at Android Police the update also brought a few performance enhancements and users should enjoy a slightly quicker, more stable Google Play Store. I’ve been running it since early yesterday but I’ve not experienced any market issues to begin with either. Hit the download link below to get the latest Store yourself and let us know if you still experience any issues.

Play Store v3.5.16 Download


Football Manager comes to Android April 11th

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 10:14 AM PDT

Football season is over here in the US, and that means a long, boring wait through spring and summer before we see more pigskin action. But don’t worry, NFL fans: you can get some vicarious football thrills in the interim via Football Manager Handheld, a portable version of the popular PC and console game. Developer Sega says it’ll release the game next week for £6.99, and presumably its local equivilent currencies. Players can choose from football leagues in Australia, Belgium, Brazil, England, France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Portugal, Scotland, Spain and Wales. Hey, wait a second…

Oh that’s right, everywhere else in the world erroneously refers to soccer as “football”. Football Manager Handheld has you managing a team of lithe, padless punters instead of eleven meatheads bent on play-by-play violence. What a letdown.

In all seriousness, the full versions of Football Manager have become incredibly popular as a sports business simulator. The game’s unique design allows you to oversee every aspect of your soccer football team, from budgeting, hiring and firing players to choosing the formation on the field. The player never actually takes direct control of any of the footballers, but advises before and during games, literally coaching the digital players to victory.

The graphics on the Android version seem decidedly low-rent, but considering the content of the game, they don’t need to be fancy – and that means that users of older Android phones and tablets won’t be left out of the party. Sega will release the game in Europe for all Android devices 2.2 or later. There’s no word on when the game will come to other territories or if the European version can be bought by international owners, but there’s enough of a worldwide audience for the games that it’ll probably make the rounds some time in the future.

[via EuroGamer]


Custom Ice Cream Sandwich navigation buttons coming in AOKP

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 09:05 AM PDT

We’ve made no secret of our love for the Android Open Kang Project, known more informally as AOKP. Team Kang’s custom builds of open source Android 4.0 have become some of the most popular on the Galaxy Nexus and a growing number of other devices. Team member Zaphod Beeblebrox (a hoopy frood who really knows where his towel is) posted a preview of the upcoming Build 30, which has an interesting surprise in store: customizable shortcuts on the Galaxy Nexus navigation bar.

There have been quite a few mods for the nav bar already, but most of them are purely aesthetic, changing the color of the buttons or background. One of the more popular mods (which is already integrated into AOKP) is the ability to add the Search button and remove or rearrange the existing buttons. But the latest build will allow you to put a shortcut to any app next to the familiar Home, Back and multi-tasking buttons. It’s not limited to apps, either – like most launchers, you can put certain functions like the app drawer in there as well. You can even use your own icons to keep everything theme-friendly.

Words don’t really do this feature justice. Check it out in action below:

The integration isn’t quite as seamless as you’d think – as a necessity of Ice Cream Sandwich’s UI calls, you’ll have to rearrange the buttons manually in the Settings menu instead of dragging and dropping. And of course, devices without virtual navigation buttons (pretty much all smartphones besides the Galaxy Nexus at this point) won’t be able to partake. I’m wondering how this will work on the AOKP tablet ROMs. Build 30 should be out within a week or two for the Galaxy Nexus and following shortly there after for the two or three dozen supported devices. If you’re itching to try out Android 4.0.4, you can download Build 29 now.


HTC Q1 report shows profit loss but rising sales

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 08:28 AM PDT

HTC’s been in something of a slump for the last six months or so, showing flat or dropping sales in the face of competitors like Samsung and Apple. And while their first quarter of 2012 isn’t exactly showing an amazing turnaround, there’s light at the end of the turned for the Taiwanese manufacturer. When compared with the excellent numbers the company put up in 2011, HTC steadily cut its margin of losses in February and March, going from a n over 50% decline to just 16.6%.

In the January-March period in 2011, HTC had a total income of 104 billion NTD, about 3.5 billion US dollars. In the same period in 2012, they made just 67.8 billion NTD, or just under 2.3 billion dollars. While that’s a pretty dire drop, the losses are getting slimmer – March 2012′s income alone saw a 50% growth over the previous month, and is down a much smaller percentage from the previous year. It’s not exactly coming up roses, but it’s getting better.

And those numbers were all before the HTC One series went on sale in various markets. The One X, One S and One V are the cornerstone of HTC’s 2012 strategy, putting next-generation features and software into a family of phones that consolidates HTC’s formerly sprawling hardware lineup. The company has said previously that they’re focusing on a “Hero” device strategy, and though we’ve seen a few One X variants and entry market smartphones, it does indeed seem like HTC is releasing much fewer devices compared with a year ago. Hopefully that means that they’ll be able to offer more timely Android upgrades as well. It’ll be interesting to see how the One series affects HTC’s bottom line in another three months.


ASUS offers free GPS dongle for Transformer Prime owners

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 07:54 AM PDT

While a pretty awesome tablet in its own right, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime has been plagued with reception issues since its release, most notably in the WiFi and GPS department. It looks like ASUS has finally found a solution to the GPS issues, at least, which are speculatively due to the tablet’s all-metal chassis. Since radio waves can only be improved so much by software, they’ve gone the hardware route, and are planning on providing an external GPS dongle that plugs into the Transformer Prime’s docking port.

The device is being labelled the “GPS Extension Kit”, and ASUS says that it will be available by the middle of April. The device should be free, although to get it you’ll have to register on ASUS’ member site and fill out an application. Lest Transformer Prime owners fear ruining the aesthetics of their slinky tablet, it’ll fit flush with the body of the tablet and match the color. ASUS hasn’t said to what degree the dongle will help, but it certainly couldn’t hurt, and having the GPS antenna on the outermost part of the tablet is certainly a good start.

This is hardly an ideal solution – presumably if the Extension Kit is plugged into the Transformer Prime docking port, it’ll have to be removed to charge and, well, dock. Those who were hoping to use the tablet as a Google Navigation tool (a small but significant number of people) will be fighting some rather fast battery drain. ASUS seems to have solved the issue on the Transformer tablets they showed off at MWC with plastic backs or cutouts, so hopefully these post-launch measures won’t be necessary from here on out.

Device Specifications and Information
Device Info
    Device Name : Transformer Prime
    Manufactuer : Asus
    Carrier : NA
    Announced Date : November 09, 2011
    Release Date : December 19, 2011
    Also Known As : Transformer 2
Display
  • Screen Size : 10.10 Inch
  • Resolution : 1280x800
  • Screen Type : IPS+
Dimension & Weight
  • Height : 10.35 Inch
  • Width : 7.12 Inch
  • Depth : .33 Inch
  • Weight : 586 Grams
Battery & Power
    Battery Type:
  • Lithium Polymer
  • Battery Capacity : 6579 mAh
  • Talk Time : NA
  • Stand By Time : NA
Software
    Android OS:
  • 4.0.x
    Audio Playback:
  • AAC
  • AAC+
  • MP3
  • WMA
    Video Playback:
  • h.263
  • h.264 / AVC
  • MPEG-4 (MP4)
Hardware
    CPU : Tegra 3
    CPU Clock Speed : 1400 Mhz
    Core : 4
    Ram : 1024 MB
    Internal Storage : 64 GB
    Front Facing Camera :
    Camera Resolution : 8 MP
    External Storage:
  • MicroSD
  • MicroSDHC
    Camera Features:
  • Auto focus
  • Flash
  • 1080p Video Recording
    Sensors:
  • Accelerometer
  • Ambient light
    QWERTY :
Cellular Network
Device Connectivity
    Wi-Fi:
  • 802.11b
  • 802.11g
  • 802.11n
    Bluetooth:
  • Bluetooth 3.0
    Location Features:
  • Compass
  • GPS
  • Wi-Fi location
    FM Radio :
    NFC :

[via SlashGear]


Rumored Nexus Tablet pushed back to July – don’t call it a delay

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 07:02 AM PDT

The Internet is abuzz with the latest rumors surrounding Google’s first-party Android tablet, namely that it won’t be here as soon as many had hoped. Despite rumors that the “Nexus Tablet” could begin production as soon as April and go on sale in May, anonymous sources now claim that the device has been pushed back for a July release. The reasoning? They’re doing some tweaks to the internal hardware – which, by the way, is still a complete unknown – to lower the price. The tablet was already expected to retail for $200 or less to compete with the popular reader-tablets on the market right now.

To be blunt, this should surprise no one. Even if you’re going along with the popular rumor that ASUS has scrapped their ambitious MeMO 370T design to be Google’s hardware partner for the Google tablet, the time frame was always to close to Google I/O that a reveal at the conference seemed like a no-brainer. Google I/O is the company’s software-focused trade show dedicated to the latest in Android, Google TV, Chrome, et cetera, and it’s also a frequent venue for lavish hardware giveaways – which is probably why tickets sold out in half an hour. If Google’s got a new developer tablet in the works, you can bet it’ll show up there, and probably be sent home with attendees.

There’s still very little that can actually be confirmed about the device. ASUS is expected to be the manufacturer, possibly because they caught Google’s eye with the excellent Transformer family of tablets. Ice Cream Sandwich with its dual smartphone-tablet focus is expected to be the operating system – June or July is a little soon for Google to introduce a brand new version of Android, be it 5.0, Jelly Bean or something else. That said, a few tweaks (maybe Android 4.1) are not out of the question. In any case, you’ll want to keep a close eye one Android Community when Google I/O comes around. We’ll be there live to cover it.

[via The Verge]


Project Glass spotted on Google’s Sergey Brin

Posted: 06 Apr 2012 06:39 AM PDT

What’s the point of bein the co-founder of one of the biggest technology companies in the world if you can’t try out the latest and greatest toys? Such is the case with Sergey Brin, the Russian-American engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded Google with its current CEO, Larry Page. Brin was spotted rocking what appears to be a working model of Project Glass, Google’s ambitious wearable augmented reality display. Two photos of Brin and the “real” Project Glass were snapped by photographer Thomas Hawk.

The hardware on display roughly follows what we saw in model photos earlier this week, though it’s not quite as sleek or unobtrusive. The electronics housing slopes back on a glasses-style strut curving towards the user’s right eye, presenting a transparent screen. For Brin’s model the housing is a flat black instead of glossy white, and the display itself seems to be about 1-1.5cm thick instead of wafer thin. They definitely seem a little chunkier than the ones shown in the promotional photos, but keep the basic concept intact.

So how do they work? Brin presented himself to tech pundit Robert Scoble to show off the hardware. While Scoble wasn’t allowed to wear Project Glass himself, he could see the tiny screen operating through the transparent display. While Brin said that the final design may be self-contained, it’s possible that the Google executive had a remote battery or processing unit stashed in a backpack he was wearing at the time. He said that at this point, the software is (not surprisingly) pretty buggy. Google has announced plans for public tests of Project Glass, but hasn’t said when or where they’ll begin.

What say you, readers? For me the possibility of a truly augmented reality interface overcomes the “nerd factor” – but then, I work as an Android news blogger. My opinion may be just a tiny bit subjective.

[via SlashGear]


Time Warner Cable: ICS Android app will get video streaming soon

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 06:15 PM PDT

In a trend that’s frustratingly common among TV service providers, Time Warner Cable published an Android app – minus the TV streaming aspect that iOS versions of the app enjoy. TWC has been  talking up a functional upgrade for Android users for some time, but they finally came out with a semi-solid plan for adding streaming to the app, with a targeted release before Memorial Day (May 28th). There’s a catch, though: you’ll only be able to stream video if your device runs Ice Cream Sandwich.

Considering that just under three in every hundred Android users have Android 4.0, that’s definitely a downer. Time Warner says that the reasoning is that they need the extra security features in Ice Cream Sandwich to stream video over a private network – the app will only work when connected to your home network using Time Warner Cable Internet service, just like the iOS version. The reason for this restriction is the complicated licensing deals that come with streaming copyrighted video to a mobile device – it’s why you can’t watch Hulu on Android without paying for it. Time Warner can stream all they want into your home, but once you’re mobile, they no longer have those privileges.

The Time Warner blog post takes care to note how much easier it is to develop for iOS. Their exact words were:

Developing our video product for Android is not unlike tweezing one's eyebrows while using a disco ball for a mirror. We're going to get there, but it's going to happen one facet at a time.

That’s great, Time Warner, we feel so much sympathy for a multi-million dollar company that’s trying to serve its paying customers. It’s not like you’ve got some sort of responsibility to support the hardware that your customers have, instead of say, the hardware your software developers wish they had. We’re not crazy about the state of Android updates either, but that doesn’t excuse your lateness to the party on a platform that makes up half of the smartphone market. We’ll see how the Android video streaming – now over a year late – looks at the end of May.

[via Engadget]


Best Buy says HTC Rezound ICS update is still on for tomorrow

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 05:28 PM PDT

Sorry, Motorola DROID RAZR and DROID RAZR MAXX owners: turns out April 4th wasn’t your day, as previously indicated in a Best Buy leak. But according to yet another leak (which acknowledges the delay for the Moto phones) the Ice Cream Sandwich update is still going out to the HTC Rezound on Friday, April 6th, tomorrow. The update doesn’t offer an explanation for the Moto delays, but odds are pretty good that Best Buy made the mistake that we and many others did, assuming that the latest Gingerbread update was something a little more timely.

HTC has made a point of assuring customers that the Android 4.0 update was coming ever since the Rezound was announced back in November. We believe them, too: there’s already been a leaked version of the Rezound update that’s made its way out to the excited modders of the world. Given that it’s been a couple of weeks since that one escaped Taiwan, the update tentatively scheduled for tomorrow may or may not be a later version. In either case, you’ll want to comb the Android forums for one of HTC’s ROM Update Utility files to get your phone back to stock if you want the over the air update.

What are the odds that Best Buy’s internal sales systems are accurate? Since no one mentioned the lack of RAZR updates until after they had made a statement with their absence, we’d guess that it’s approximately 50/50. HTC has already proven to be a little more timely with their Android 4.0 updates that other major manufacturers, releasing ICS for the HTC Vivid on AT&T and some of its international cousins. Keep those Settings menus handy tomorrow, Rezound fans.

Device Specifications and Information
Device Info
    Device Name : Rezound
    Manufactuer : HTC
    Carrier : Verizon
    Announced Date : September 16, 2011
    Release Date : November 14, 2011
    Also Known As :
Display
  • Screen Size : 4.3 Inch
  • Resolution : 720x1280
  • Screen Type : NA
Dimension & Weight
  • Height : NA
  • Width : NA
  • Depth : NA
  • Weight : NA
Battery & Power
    Battery Type:
  • Lithium Ion
  • Battery Capacity : 1620 mAh
  • Talk Time : NA
  • Stand By Time : NA
Software
    Android OS:
  • 2.3.x
    Audio Playback:
  • AAC
  • AAC+
  • AMR
  • MP3
  • WAV
  • WMA
    Video Playback:
  • h.263
  • h.264 / AVC
  • MPEG-4 (MP4)
    Messaging:
  • SMS
  • MMS
Hardware
    CPU : Snapdragon
    CPU Clock Speed : 1500 Mhz
    Core : 2
    Ram : 1024 MB
    Internal Storage : 16 GB
    Front Facing Camera :
    Camera Resolution : 8 MP
    External Storage:
  • MicroSD
  • MicroSDHC
    Camera Features:
  • Auto focus
  • Flash
  • 1080p Video Recording
    Sensors:
  • Accelerometer
  • Ambient light
  • Proximity
    QWERTY :
Cellular Network
    Network Technology:
  • CDMA
    CDMA Band:
  • 800
  • 1900
Device Connectivity
    Wi-Fi:
  • 802.11b
  • 802.11g
  • 802.11n
    Bluetooth:
  • Bluetooth 3.0
    Location Features:
  • Compass
  • GPS
  • Cellular location
  • Wi-Fi location
    FM Radio :
    NFC :

[via Droid-Life]


HTC One X vs One S Benchmarks battle for the top spot

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 05:03 PM PDT

HTC has just unleashed their new One series of smartphones across Europe and will be coming soon to the US. In case you didn’t notice there was a flurry of reviews of both the HTC One X and the One S that hit the web earlier this week. You can see our awesome and detailed reviews from the links below but today I wanted to focus on benchmarks. Read on below to see who takes the top spot and is king of the mobile hill.

What makes these special and different aside from the screen size is the processors under the hood. The HTC One X comes equipped with the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor and a 4.7″ display. Then we have the One S being powered by Qualcomm’s brand new S4 “Krait” dual-core processor cranking along at 1.5 GHz. More doesn’t always equal better, and neither does speed. This is why the Qualcomm S4 is the same speed of the older S3, yet blows it away in all performance tests.

So what we’ll be doing is posting a few benchmarks showing both of these devices running the most popular tests. Showing where the Tegra 3 and all four cores just overpowers the dual-core, and then where the Qualcomm really shines. Obviously being different devices, on different carriers, one with LTE, one without, and of course screen sizes being different can all play a role. Instead of deeply breaking it all down we’ll just start with the most popular of them all — Quadrant.

Now this shows a few different things here. For one HTC devices always seem to be a little lower than others, possibly because the slowdown caused from HTC Sense UI. Clearly that is no longer the case with these phones just blowing away anything we’ve ever seen from benchmarks — especially while running stock Android builds for the masses. Many consider Quadrant the best of the best when it comes to benchmarks for Android, and here you can clearly see the One S and it’s Qualcomm dual-core takes the top spot, and does so with ease.

Next up on the list is AnTuTu mainly because it has emerged as one of the other go-to benchmark suites as of late for its well-rounded testing capabilities. Without further talk, here are the results.

Here the quad-core Tegra 3 shows significant increases in performance, as this also deeply tests the GPU and CPU both. A large part of the Tegra 3′s strong showing is thanks to the vSMP technology in the quad-core. Tegra 3′s floating point operation really shows up here. Using any of the available cores to complete a task.

While those are the few most important and most frequently used benchmarks for Android we also have some Linpack, Smartbench, and CFbench to round out the tests for those interested in seeing more. Linpack has been around for longer than most so we decided to run a few tests on each setting for you to see those results too. Linpack clearly favors the Qualcomm dual-core in this case, see for yourself below.

We have even more results from the other tests mentioned above below in the full gallery. Be sure to click through the gallery to see the full and complete battle, plus the photos are full sized so you can get all the details you’d like.

So what does all this mean? Well to the average user nothing really. Technology is going at such a quick pace that our phones are getting extremely powerful, beyond our means. Enthusiasts always want the best, and that will never change but the average customer wants one thing — and that is a good experience. While benchmarks can only tell part of the story the rest is with real-world use. In this case both of these phones run nearly identical software. Being powered by Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich and HTC Sense UI 4.0 and they run amazingly well, fast, and stable. Our in depth reviews below will attest to that.

When the AT&T 4G LTE equipped HTC One X hits the street later this month then we’ll truly have a real test on our hands. Being able to go head-to-head with the exact same device. One running NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 3, and the other running Qualcomm’s dual-core S4 Krait processor. Until then stay tuned for more hands-on from these phones, and some gaming using the Tegra 3 on that One X.

tegravsqual P1240895 P1240892 P1240896 X_cfbench htc_one_s_cfbench smartbench quadrant X_antutu_results htc_one_s_antutu_results x_linpack htc_one_s_linpack_results


Samsung Nexus S 4G Ice Cream Sandwich update rolling out now

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 04:51 PM PDT

Alright, Nexus S 4G owners, it’s your turn. After waiting on the GSM Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus phones, then the WiFi version of the Motorola XOOM, the CDMA Nexus S is getting its time in the sun with an official Ice Cream Sandwich rollout. If you’re still using the stock Gingerbread ROM, check your Settings menu to see if it’s rolling out to your region at the moment – the carrier says that it will begin sending out the updates this afternoon.

Nexus S GSM owners got an early looks at Ice Cream Sandwich back in December, but it was yanked almost immediately for further testing. All the current Nexus-class devices were updated to the latest version (4.0.4) of Android last week. The CDMA devices… weren’t. The Nexus S 4G is the first among them to get the update, but Verizon customers who bought a XOOM or Galaxy Nexus LTE are still waiting. CDMA XOOM owners have the most to be upset about, since they’re still rocking Honeycomb, assuming that they’ve stayed on the official software releases.

Why the delay? Google has decided not to support CDMA phones or tablets at the same level that they do for GSM and WiFi, owing to a quirk in the way that CDMA devices are authenticated on the network. When using CDMA a phone or tablet needs a unique software key that’s different for every carrier, and by its very nature cannot be open source. Therefore the CDMA Galaxy Nexus and XOOM were taken off the list of official developer devices… notably after most of the first round of early adopters got a chance to put down their hard-earned cash. Want to know when your Verizon Galaxy Nexus or XOOM will be updated? In the words of the Dread Pirate Roberts, get used to disappointment.

Device Specifications and Information
Device Info
    Device Name : Nexus S 4G
    Manufactuer : Samsung
    Carrier : Unknown
    Announced Date : March 21, 2011
    Release Date : May 08, 2011
    Also Known As :
Display
  • Screen Size : 4.00 Inch
  • Resolution : 480x800
  • Screen Type : Super AMOLED
Dimension & Weight
  • Height : 4.88 Inch
  • Width : 2.48 Inch
  • Depth : 0.44 Inch
  • Weight : 130 Grams
Battery & Power
    Battery Type:
  • Lithium Ion
  • Battery Capacity : 1500 mAh
  • Talk Time : NA
  • Stand By Time : 713 hours
Software
    Android OS:
  • 2.3.x
    Audio Playback:
  • AAC
  • AAC+
  • AMR
  • MP3
    Video Playback:
  • h.263
  • h.264 / AVC
  • MPEG-4 (MP4)
    Messaging:
  • SMS
  • MMS
Hardware
    CPU : Cortex A8 Hummingbird
    CPU Clock Speed : 1000 Mhz
    Core : 1
    Ram : 512 MB
    Internal Storage : 16.384 GB
    Front Facing Camera :
    Camera Resolution : 5 MP
    Camera Features:
  • Auto focus
  • Flash
  • 720p Video Recording
    Sensors:
  • Accelerometer
  • Proximity
    QWERTY :
Cellular Network
    Network Technology:
  • CDMA
    CDMA Band:
  • 800
  • 1900
Device Connectivity
    Wi-Fi:
  • 802.11b
  • 802.11g
  • 802.11n
    Bluetooth:
  • Bluetooth 2.0
    Location Features:
  • Compass
  • GPS
  • Cellular location
  • Wi-Fi location
    FM Radio :
    NFC :


NEC’s MEDIAS Tab N-06D looks cool, runs Gingerbread

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 04:27 PM PDT

Another week, another Asian tablet that’s releaseing already behind the times. This time around it’s Japanese phone giant NEC, whose MEDIAS line is getting a tablet entry in the form of the 7-inch MEDIAS Tab N-06D. While the slate is kitted out to be a decent little tablet, it’s unaccountably running Gingerbread, despite a release date nearly five months after the release of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Good grief, guys, even Motorola is starting to work on ICS updates at this point.

The MEDIAS tablet gets a dual-core 1.2Ghz processor, dual cameras, an infrared control port for commanding home theater equipment, NFC, Bluetooth 4, front and rear cameras and it’s all packed into a body just under 10mm thick. The tablet also gets an integrated TV tuner and antenna, for use with the DMB digital TV networks in Japan. It’ll even have access to DoCoMo’s LTE network, making it quite the compelling little 7-inch tablet. There’s no word on price, but hardware wise, it keeps up with the best 7-inchers from more widely-spread manufacturers. Oh, and Gingerbread. For the love of Pete, it’s running Gingerbread.

There’s a video below. I don’t speak Japanese, but I imagine the speechless young ladies are thinking something along the lines of, “Wow, look how handsome and confident he is, despite using software that’s a year and a half out of date.”

C’mon, NEC. Two or three months ago I could understand – products have long development cycles, after all – but now? Google publishes the open-source code for not one, but two tablet-optimized operating systems, and you have to go and release a ghastly smartphone-tablet beast. There’s no word on an exact price, but given all those specs it’ll likely be way over the $200 mark, the unofficial point where a smartphone OS on a tablet device has become “acceptable”. Don’t count on seeing this one ever get out of Japan, just in case you were wondering.

[via Tablet News]


Google CEO talks about Android and Google+ in open letter

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 03:35 PM PDT

Google had an awesome year in 2011 as the new CEO Larry Page took over. With Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich launching, the emerging of Google+ and everything else in-between. While it was his first year since taking the head position at Google today he’s decided to share an open letter with the public and shareholders about Google and updates everyone on their goals, focus, and plans for 2012.

While this first statement doesn’t relate directly with Android, Larry mentioned that YouTube has well over 800 million users every month. Talk about huge numbers. This is essentially Google’s state of the union address and if you’d like to read all the details hit the link above. Obviously they don’t give away anything too special in something like this, but Page quickly mentions Android, Google+ and how well they both are doing.

Starting off talking about Android’s huge success, reaching over 850,000 activations daily now. I’m sure many were hoping for some sort of hint regarding what is coming in the future but sadly we have no such luck. Larry talks about Google as a whole and they’ve build a beautifully simple experience across Google, and that they are bringing that from PC’s to smartphones and tablets. With things like the Google Play Store, Chrome and Google Docs all being available on all three, completely wirelessly, while remaining one. Everything sync’s to the cloud in a simple, easy to use solution. From tabs in the browser, music in Google Music, and documents while on the go. No cables or syncing is required and it all works seamlessly. He said “see the theme here” possibly hinting at Google Drive.

Good news on the Google+ front also. Stating that it has seen huge growth over the last few months of 2011 and they’re now proud to report over 100 million active users on Google+. This still doesn’t come close to Facebook but for the short period G+ has been around, it’s pretty impressive.

Larry Page goes on to talk about Google Search, disregarding the impossible, and even mentions they want our love and trust. If you’d like to read more about Google, Larry Page, or his open letter hit the link below and enjoy.

[via Google]


IMDb app updated with 720p HD video streaming

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 01:43 PM PDT

For all the movie buffs that are constantly going to IMDb on their Android phone or tablet like I always do, today we have good news. The folks from IMDb have just issued an update to the Android application solving some pesky bugs and bringing multiple video quality settings to Android. Most importantly full 720p HD playback of trailers.

They recently released an update that brought a whole new user interface to the Android application for smartphones and tablets making everything larger, better, and easy quick access to movie trailers and more. Today they’ve just pushed another update that will allow multiple options for video playback on both phones and tablets. As you see above you can choose the default for WiFi which I’ve obviously set to 720p, and then when using 3G/4G you can select to stream video in 720p, 480, or standard definition.

Watching a quick preview of Game of Thrones in full 720p on my Galaxy Nexus you can clearly see from the screenshot above how awesome video playback is now. Not only is it fast but it’s extremely crisp too although a few preview trailers had an odd gray bar on the bottom fourth of the screen. Now only if Netflix streaming looked that good, then we’d be in business.

IMDb App Link


HTC EVO 3D LTE prototype leaks in video

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 12:41 PM PDT

Hot off the news yesterday that HTC will be releasing an HTC EVO 4G LTE for the Now Network later this year we now have something even better, if you like 3D of course. A prototype has been spotted of an unknown HTC device with dual cameras, but this is most likely the successor to the EVO 3D. We’ll be calling this the HTC EVO 3D LTE for good measure.

Above is an image scoped out by the folks from The Verge showing what appears to be an HTC ONE device, similar to the EVO 4G LTE announced yesterday — only this one is sporting what looks to be two 8 megapixel cameras on the back. Some might still feel that 3D is a gimmick, as do I, but if they could fit it all into a thin package and not compromise on image quality for regular use then why not. Check out the video

The video above is an “official” making of video for the HTC EVO 4G LTE that was just released and somehow no one managed to notice the phone in the photo up top. This looks very similar to other designs in the past, and follows right along the same design guidelines of both the new EVO LTE, and the old EVO 3D. Could this be the next HTC 3D capable device? Or is it just a prototype that happens to make a cameo in the video and we will never see it? Who knows but we’ll have to wait and see.


Samsung confirms no 3D in Galaxy S III or other devices

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 12:29 PM PDT

Samsung no doubt makes some of the best Android smartphones and tablets available. Their new flagship, the Galaxy S III has seen a rumor or two suggesting 3D capabilities with dual-cameras and glasses-free 3D displays. The entire thought of 3D might sound like a good idea to some, and a bad one to others. Today Samsung has squashed that rumor and put their foot down.

With devices like the HTC EVO 3D and the LG Optimus 3D some were speculating that Samsung would also get into the action, not to mention the fact they are pushing it heavily with 3D TV’s. Some new reports from Engadget have quoted Samsung stating that they have no plans to bring 3D to the mobile markets. Here’s what they had to say:

Although Samsung Electronics is constantly exploring new technologies for our mobile devices, we have no immediate plan to include displays featuring 3D technology in our upcoming smartphones.”

If that isn’t enough to put the rumors and obvious fake fan-made leaks to rest then I don’t know what is. If you for some reason were hoping for 3D in the upcoming Galaxy S III you’ll be disappointed. I’m still not anywhere near being sold on the gimmick feature myself. I’d rather the Galaxy S III be amazingly thin, have an awesome camera and work great. Instead of two mediocre cameras, a fatter design, and a lower quality display — but that is just me.

Samsung’s statement doesn’t completely rule out 3D in their devices moving forward, but it’s safe to say we will not be seeing it anytime soon.

[via SlashGear]


Signal issues arrive after Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich update

Posted: 05 Apr 2012 11:54 AM PDT

Last week Google released the latest version of Android, version 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich to multiple devices. One of those, the Galaxy Nexus, appears to be having problems. We are now starting to see and hear multiple reports that users are experiencing signal problems and loss of signal since accepting the official OTA update. Below are multiple screenshots and links with all the information.

GSM Galaxy Nexus users are reporting signal problems, loss of signal after a matter of minutes of the phone entering standby and more. Turn off the screen and you lose the signal. I’m currently on Android 4.0.4 with my Verizon Galaxy Nexus thanks to CyanogenMod 9 so I can’t comment myself, everything is fine here. The problems appears to be more widespread then a few unlucky users too.

GSM Galaxy Nexus owners have been vocal about the issue over at XDA-Developers while trying to come up with a solution or solve the problem. Then you can see the huge thread of comments over at Google Code with some users having loss of signal for over 40% of the time the device is in standby, that is no good. A member from Google’s team has responded and is currently asking for bug reports as they look into the matter.

It looks like we are having more signal problems with the Galaxy Nexus, just like after it initially launched worldwide and on Verizon. Maybe we’ll get 4.0.5 soon to fix said issues. This appears to only be effecting the GSM Galaxy Nexus, I’m not finding reports from Nexus S users at this time.

Is your GSM Galaxy Nexus having this issue?

[via PhoneArena]