Sunday, April 28, 2013

Android Central

Android Central

Samsung Galaxy S4 now available from AT&T and Sprint

Posted: 27 Apr 2013 03:37 PM PDT

Samsung Galaxy S4

One of the hottest phones of the year comes to two of the big four carriers in the states

We've all heard plenty about the Galaxy S4, and it seems like many of you have already made up your minds that the latest Galaxy device is indeed going to be your next smart phone purchase. Well today's the day if you're an AT&T or Sprint customer (or aspiring customer) to make it yours. Both carriers have the phone available in either "white frost" or "black mist", with 16GB of internal storage regardless of your color preference. Pricing is a touch different for each carrier, however.

If you are to order online, AT&T will be charging $199 on-contract for the S4, or $639 without a commitment. Sprint is looking like $149 on-contract if you're a new customer bringing your own number, or $249 for existing customers. Off-contract at Sprint is pegged at $599. As many are aware, there are often subtle pricing differences depending on the store you visit and the standing of your account, so it may be worth it to walk into a store today and find out. Pulled the trigger on one of these today? Many already have. Be sure to join the discussion in the forums.

More: AT&T; Sprint

Read our Galaxy S4 review | Samsung Galaxy S4 Forums

    

HTC posts factory image for HTC One Developer Edition

Posted: 27 Apr 2013 02:51 PM PDT

HTC One bootloader

A factory restore image is your way back to stock when you need it the most, so be sure to grab it and keep it handy

HTC has posted the 1.29.1540.3 factory restore images for the unlocked Developer Edition HTC One on the HTCdev site. Available in two flavors -- a zip file and a Windows RUU executable -- these files will allow anyone to restore their phone back to an out-of-the-box condition as long as there is access to the bootloader. That means no matter how bad you've screwed the system firmware up from monkeying around with it, you have an easy path back to stock settings. Then you can do it all over again. 

Posting two different versions is pretty nice, too. The Windows only RUU is simple to use for folks running Windows (just plug in the phone and run the program), but not everyone uses Windows. For those folks who use a Mac or Linux computer, the zip file and fastboot makes it easy to go back without building a VM with Windows to do so. 

Be aware that these images are only for the unlocked Developer Edition, so don't try to just flash them to your carrier model. Your favorite ROM developer will have something for you instead. It's recommended that everyone with one of the Developer Edition models have these files in a safe place "just in case", so grab the 980MB file at the link below.

Source: HTCdev

    

Apps of the Week: Scam School, Sixaxis Controller, House of the Dead Overkill and more!

Posted: 27 Apr 2013 11:19 AM PDT

Apps of the Week

Your weekly look at the apps we're using from day to day

You probably know it by this point, but every week we take just a little time for each of the Android Central writers to show off one of the apps they've been using on their own device in the previous week. They may not be the most popular or well-known, but they work for us, and we think that merits letting the readers know about them as well.

Another great random assortment of apps awaits you after the break, so stick around and see how we did with our picks this week.

read more

    

HTC First review

Posted: 27 Apr 2013 06:31 AM PDT

HTC First

Is it just reference hardware for Facebook Home, or a true candidate for your next smartphone purchase?

There are few things in the mobile industry that have been constant over the last few years, but one that has is the rumor of a mythical "Facebook Phone." The idea of a phone that could only interact with people and services around Facebook didn't make a whole lot of sense to most people -- and apparently it didn't make much sense to Facebook itself either.  Because rather than a proper Facebook Phone, at a press conference on April 4th we were given this, the HTC First.

In many ways the First itself isn't supposed to be the big story. You wouldn't be alone for thinking it is simply a hardware platform to show off what seems to be Facebook's true end-game -- the Facebook Home software. There are far more users in the world that own one of the recent flagships from HTC or Samsung that will install Home from the Play Store than there are who will buy (or even be aware of) the First. This realization certainly calls into question why Facebook even bothered to have its own phone made in the first place.

So does Facebook actually care about the success of the First, or did it ask HTC to throw together a cheap device from the parts bin to show off Home at the press conference? After spending some time with the device, we think it may be a bit more substantial than that. There are a whole lot of intriguing aspects of the First that may just have you considering it as your next device.

read more

    
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