Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Android Central

Android Central

Moving info from device, AOKP ROM's [From the Forums]

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 04:40 PM PDT

From the Forums

With Tuesday comes to end of the long weekend for some and that means trying to get back into the swing of things after having consumed copious amounts of chocolate. If you're looking to get caught up on all the latest, check out what's new on the blogs and in the Android Central forums:

If you're not already a member of the Android Central forums, you can register your account today.

Adobe Reader adds eSignatures capability - Electronically sign and send documents without printing or faxing

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 04:06 PM PDT

Adobe

Adobe has rolled out their latest improvement for their Adobe Reader application and it solves an issue that you may have ran into in the past. Adobe Reader now includes the Adobe Echosign feature for allowing you to sign, annotate and even request signatures on the go across all of their offerings be it on smartphone, tablet or desktop:

  • Ink Signature Tool – Users can electronically sign a document by hand-drawing their signature with their finger on a touchscreen.
  • Send for Signature – Users can connect to Adobe EchoSign to get others to sign documents electronically, enabling senders to track and manage the status of documents online. In addition, signed contracts are archived in the cloud, making it easy for users to retrieve documents from anywhere, at any time, via a Web browser.

In addition to the Echosign feature being added, Adobe has also improved upon other features in the app as well such as annotation of documents, sticky note comments for PDF files and a new form fill option that allows you to fill out forms, save them and then forward them off to others. The full press release and download can be found past the break.

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HTC One X screen flex 'flaw' -- should we worry about it?

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 03:45 PM PDT

Android Central

In the process of reviewing the HTC One X, CNET UK flagged up a potential build quality issue. On four different review units, they reported that pushing down on the edges of the screen caused it to flex and produce a series of discoloured pixels on the display. Going back to the Creative Director at One & Co, HTC’s design consultancy, they received the response, “we would never let that ship.”

So that would mean retail units shouldn’t be affected, yes? Well, no. See, I purchased a shiny new HTC One X on Three UK, and should I press down on the edges of the screen, I see exactly the same as CNET reported. HTC haven’t confirmed anything either way, but based on my retail unit alone I’d say that there’s little point in denying it.

A more important question should be, should you worry? Is this a reason to not buy the phone?

Any kind of design flaw is not exactly welcome, especially in such a high end, expensive device as the One X. But you have to press -- really press -- on the sides of the screen to replicate this yourselves. How many of us do that in general day-to-day use? Apart from this one time, in the name of research, I am pretty much sure that I won’t be doing it again. Neither will you guys most probably. The HTC One X is exceptionally well made, so much so that perhaps some have been looking for reasons to score it down. After all, how many of us have done something like this whilst trying out a new phone for the first time?

This is really a non-issue. If you’ve already bought a One X, or are planning on doing so, don't worry and enjoy it. I know I’m enjoying mine a whole lot, and that’s all that matters. Oh, and don't forget to check out our extensive review as well, just in case you need a little help deciding. 

Source: CNET UK

From the mail bag: Accidentally erased everything!

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 02:26 PM PDT

Data reset

Kelly writes,

HELP! While attempting to remove an email account from my phone I erased everything. Now all I get is the phone set up screen. Since I do not have a phone account I fear that I have lost all my applications and everything. Can I restore it, or at least download the basic apps that were on the phone when I bought it?

Yikes! Sometimes the settings can confuse the best of us, and we imagine this sort of thing happens from time to time. For most people, it's an easy fix. Go through the setup you're seeing and get signed back in to Google. The apps that came with the phone will still be there, and anything you downloaded from the Android Market is still available, just not installed.

You can find all the apps you installed from Google here: https://play.google.com/apps. Make sure you're signed in on your web browser, and open each one you want to re-install and they will be sent right back to your phone.

Good luck, Kelly!

Have a question you need answered? (Preferably about Android, but we're flexible.) Hit up our Contact Page to get in touch!

POGO Games bring Poppit, Word Whomp and other favorites to Android

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 01:51 PM PDT

POGO Games

If you have ever been bored on the computer and looked to kill some time, odds are you have stumbled across some of the POGO Games. Today the folks at EA have made some of the classics from POGO available on Android devices. Bringing titles like Poppit!, Word Whomp, Turbo 21, Sweet Tooth 2 to Android is a great thing.

In addition to access to these free games, you have the ability to unlock World Class Solitare, and if you are interested in joining Club POGO you will gain access to 40 more games, plus the removal of adds. If you want to get down with some of your computer classics, be sure to hit the break and download this today! 

Download: North America; rest of world

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Netflix update brings stability improvements and improved volume control UI

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 01:24 PM PDT

Netflix

Every ones favorite content streaming service, Netflix, has gone and pushed out a minor update to their Android application into the Google Play Store today.

It still isn't the app we all want it to be, but it gets the job done. Todays update brings with it promised stability improvements, along with a handful of fixes for some pesky bugs. We also get an improved UI for the volume control function. Probably not top of your list of priorities, but it's still nice they're working on it. Download links can be found after the break.

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HTC One S review (European version)

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 12:11 PM PDT

HTC One S

HTC knows it has to deliver in 2012. The past few months haven’t been kind to the veteran Android manufacturer, with tumbling revenues and unrelenting competition from Samsung and Apple. And so, as it hopes to reclaim some lost glory, HTC has launched its new range of “hero” handsets, the HTC One series.

Much of the media attention since the HTC One announcement at Mobile World Congress has been focused on the new flagship product, the One X. And with good reason -- the One X is a fantastic phone, and one that makes smartphone history as the world’s first quad-core phone. But equally alluring is the X’s smaller, sleeker sibling, the HTC One S -- a 7.8mm-thick, metal-framed device powered by a next-gen Snapdragon processor. Unlike the polycarbonate-clad One X, the One S retains the classic HTC aluminum unibody design, with both vanilla and plasma-fried flavors unveiled at MWC. Though it lacks the pin-sharp 720p display found on the One X, the One S nevertheless is a premium product.

But now that it's actually available to purchase, where does the 4.3-inch One S fit in the broader Android landscape, and has HTC been able to cram all this high-end hardware into the phone’s slender shell without compromising in other areas? Find out after the break, in our definitive HTC One S review.

 

The Good

An unbelievably thin phone with superlative build quality. Performance is speedy thanks to the Snapdragon S4 CPU. There’s also the same fantastic camera that’s found in the One X, and great battery life to boot. HTC Sense 4 compliments ICS rather than replacing it.

 The Bad

USB storage is limited to 10GB. Although superior to other PenTile displays, the One S’s qHD screen will be a turn-off for some, as will the lack of removable storage and battery.
Conclusion

The One S will inevitably live in the shadow of its big brother, but it’d be foolish to overlook this device. Despite its position in the middle of the HTC One series, this is no mid-range handset. The One S is a smaller, sleeker, leaner version of the X (with much better battery life, we might add), and it’s just as capable a smartphone as HTC’s new flagship. If you can get past the lower screen resolution, it’s definitely worth a look.

Inside this review

More info

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ICQ changes gears to focus on mobile, releases new ICQ Messenger for Android

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 11:48 AM PDT

ICQ for Android

Back in 1996 when Motorola was still building the Motorola StarTac, a PC based instant messaging program called ICQ was released. It eventually grew to over 100 million registered users but after a while, many other instant messaging programs showed up and ICQ sort of fell off. Now though, the company is making another strike at the mobile business having released a new ICQ for Android and a whole new set of features to go along with it:

  • Send and receive FREE unlimited messages.
  • Send photos to all your friends including ICQ, Facebook and Google Talk contacts. You can also share your location with all your friends.
  • Chat with Facebook, Google Talk, studiVZ, Mail.ru and AIM friends directly from your mobile phone using one single app.
  • Sign in with your mobile number – the ICQ app automatically finds phone contacts already in the network.
  • Get social feeds from ICQ, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr.
  • Stay connected to ICQ simultaneously from any platform, whether it's mobile, PC, web or even tablets.
  • Enjoy offline mode - read received messages on ICQ and review chats even when there is no connection.
  • Get the new privacy and safety capabilities to help you avoid unwanted messages.

I'm not entirely sure if ICQ will ever reach the masses the way it did in the 1990's but the new messaging app does have a lot to offer, you'll find their full press release and download past the break.

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How to manually update your Nexus S 4G to Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 11:18 AM PDT

Nexus S ICS

So you've got the Sprint Nexus S 4G, and you're well aware that the official Ice Cream Sandwich update is coming. But what if you don't want to wait? The crazy cats in our Nexus S 4G forums have the manual download and install method, and it goes a little something like this:

  1. Download this file from here http://android.clients.google.com/pa...g/TAMkDR3z.zip (Thanks to LateNiteWithJme at Android Central!)
  2. Rename it to update.zip (Windows users careful not to get a double ".zip" extension) and place it on your sdcard.
  3. Shut down phone
  4. Boot into bootloader (Volume Up+Power) then from bootloader screen choose RECOVERY (Navigate Vol Up/Down and select with Power).
  5. From stock recovery choose to install update.zip
  6. Sit back and relax for a few and you should boot into official Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0.4 !

And that's it. Enjoy, tell your friends, and hit the link below if you need some help.

More: Nexus S 4G forums

Motorola announces the MotoACTV in Argentina

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 11:07 AM PDT

MotoACTV Recently Motorola has been going all in on rolling their devices out to new parts of the world. The most recent addition is the MotoACTV, the all in one sports band to Argentina. Having just recently received a number of updates, the MotoACTV is a rather powerful tool for those of us who enjoy keeping active and tracking the activities we do. Be on the lookout for the device to hit the stores, and be sure to share with us how you enjoy it!

Source: Motorola

Amazon Appstore now allowing in-app purchases

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 09:32 AM PDT

 

The Amazon Appstore has been a great alternative to the Google Play Store for many users for various reasons. Whether you enjoy grabbing the free app of the day, or you are unable to get access to the Google Play Store, Amazon has been there for you this year. Until now Amazon did not offer an in-app purchase option for developers, so this meant that they got their money when the app was originally purchased, or never. Many developers utilize in-app purchases for things like buying extra coins, removing ads, upgrade and many other things, and now they will be able to do this through the Amazon Appstore. If you are a developer, Amazon has put together some sample code and other resources for your use, so be sure to check that out for even more details.

Source: Amazon

From the forums: An Open Letter to HTC and Sprint - How About a Compromise?

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 08:26 AM PDT

HTC EVO 4G LTE

From Starfleet Captain:

Dear HTC,

As a customer and consumer, I want to thank you for the excellent phones that you continue to make every year. My very first HTC—made smartphone was the Windows Mobile 6.1 device called the Touch Diamond on Sprint. Since then, I was in line before dawn to pick up the HTC Evo 4G on the day it was released, and a year later, the HTC EVO 3D. I want you to know that I have greatly enjoyed these best in class devices over the years.

After reading through the press releases from your company and Sprint for your new upcoming device, the HTC EVO 4G LTE, as well as the many first impression reviews on the web, I can only conclude that you have another blockbuster winning device on your hands. I, for one, as has become a yearly tradition it seems, plan on being in line on the morning of the release of this excellent smartphone. That being said, many consumers in the Android community seem to take issue with a design decision on this device.

Read the rest in our EVO 4G LTE Forums

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit [Android Game Review]

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 08:17 AM PDT

Before anyone can say anything, I know, I'm bad at racing games. I was bad at the ones you sat in at the arcades with an actual steering wheel, bad at ones on consoles with funny button configurations and control schemes, and I'm bad at ones that use accelerometer support to simulate a steering wheel, too.

Thing is, it was on sale I love you guys and gals, so I decided to bite the bullet, make a fool out of myself on video, and see what these newfangled touch racing games are all about. And that's exactly what I did.

Let's get the talk about the awesome graphics out of the way now. They're awesome (some of the best on Android, of course), but when your game is made by a huge studio that's used to producing AAA games, I'd expect nothing less. Still, racing (and subsequently crashing into everything in front of me) was still a visual treat, and that's to be commended.

Gameplay-wise, it's racing. Be default, automatic transmission is enabled, but you can switch to manual if you're feeling particularly skilled. The game starts you off with a little tutorial that teaches you how to do 180-degree turns easily and stuff, and let me say, had that not been there, I would have been even worse come recording time.

There's a couple of different options once you get out of the tutorial, like quick racing or playing through the career mode. Quick race is just what you'd think: you select some options based off of what you've got unlocked (what role you're playing, your vehicle, the time of day, etc.), and then you're off.

Career mode pits you against a computer-played adversary, whichever role you don't choose. You can pick between the cop and the street racer, and depending on which you choose, that tailors your mission objectives. More often than not, the cop is trying to catch the racer and the racer is trying to avoid being caught. Pretty straightforward stuff.

As you continue to race, you'll earn bounty (even if you lose), and after you collect so much bounty, you'll "level up" and unlock another, better car to use. Keep earning bounty and leveling up, and eventually you'll have the sweetest car in the game.

Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit also has a bevy of in-game achievements, like drifting for 25 seconds or getting five roadblock hits. Each achievement seems to unlock another, better tier of the achievement (like drifting for 50 seconds), so there's plenty to work on while you race around the world unlocking cars and earning cash.

Sure, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit might not be the newest game out on Android, but that doesn't detract at all from how solid a game it is. Awesome graphics, tight controls, lots of missions and careers to play, and achievements all make it worthy of your time and money.

We've got download links after the break.

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Tapatalk v2.0 out of beta, ready for updating

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 07:31 AM PDT

Tapatalk

Tapatalk, the app that makes browsing vBulletin forums a breeze from a smartphone, has come out of its Version 2.0 beta and is now available for downloading. The biggest feature is an improved UI with multiple theme support, improved moderation tools, a nicer conversation style, and cloud-based account sync.

The official Tapatalk app runs $2.99 in Google Play. And, yes, we'll be updating our own Tapatalk-based Android Central Forums app in short order.

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ShopAndroid Daily Giveaway #47: OtterBox Commuter for Droid 3, Case-Mate Tough Case for Vivid & more!

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 07:27 AM PDT

Today's ShopAndroid.com Daily Giveaway will feature the OtterBox Commuter for Droid 3, Case-Mate Tough Case for HTC Vivid, Incipio Feather Ultralight Case for Samsung Droid Charge, and the Seidio Spring-Clip Holster for HTC Inspire 4G.

Leave a comment below stating which item you'd like to have for your Android device, and you'll automatically be eligible to win! Check back next week when we announce the winner from today's giveaway.

OtterBox Commuter Series Case for Motorola Droid 3

The OtterBox Commuter Case features three layers of protection for your Motorola Droid 3.  A clear protective film covers your screen preventing scratches, a durable silicone mid-layer help absorb impact, and finally the one-piece custom molded polycarbonate shell that brings it all together encasing the entire device-- making it an excellent option for the outdoor user.

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Toshiba unveils 7.7-, 10.1- and 13.3-inch Excite tablets

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 07:12 AM PDT

Toshiba Excite 7.7

Toshiba this morning announced a trio of new tablets, ranging from 7.7 inches to 10.1 inches to a whopping 13.3 inches, all bearing the "Excite" name. (What you see in the picture above is the Excite 7.7, which we took for a beta test drive at Mobile World Congress back in February.) The three tablets have a lot in common, most notably that they're powered by NVIDIA's Tegra 3 processor.  Each has a 5-megapixel rear camera and 2-megapixel front-facing camera, runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and is covered in Gorilla Glass.

So it's the physical attributes (and pricing) that really differentiates them. Here's the breakdown:

  • Excite 7.7: Has a 7.7-inch AMOLED display at 1280x800 resolution (196 ppi). Is 0.3 inches thick and weighs 13.4 ounces. Available in June for $499.99 for 16GB, $579 for 32GB.
  • Excite 10: Has a 10.1-inch LED display at 1280x800 resolution (149 ppi). Is 0.35 inches thick and weighs 1.32 pounds. Available in May for $449 for 16GB, $529 for 32GB.
  • Excite 13: Has a 13.3-inch AutoBrite LED display at 1600x900 resolution (138 ppi). Is 0.4 inches thick and weighs 2.2 pounds. Available in June for $649 for 32GB, $749 for 64GB.

One noticeable (but not really surprising) trend is that pixel density goes down as screen size goes up. That's prone to happen, and we shutter to think where the Excite 13 pricing might have ended up if it tried to compete with the iPad's 264 pixels per inch. Regardless, Toshiba's been putting out some some sleek hardware after the relatively uninspiring Thrive line. Will the new Excites compete on any sort of scale? We'll see. But they've at least got a chance. We've got the full presser and pics after the break.

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Deal of the Day: Incipio Feather Ultralight Hard Shell Case for Samsung Galaxy Note

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 06:38 AM PDT

Deal of the Day The April 10 ShopAndroid.com Deal of the Day is the Incipio Feather Ultralight Hard Shell Case for Samsung Galaxy Note. Feather is made of an ultra light, ultra strong polymer that's light as a feather, and offers form-fitting durable protection without the added bulk. Feather features a soft touch matte finish, and is so thin that it allows the Galaxy Note to be used with many of the docks on the market.

The Incipio Ultralight Hard Shell Case is available for just $14.95 today only, 40% off the regular price.  Get yours while supplies last!

Contest Winners: ShopAndroid Daily winners, Speck cases, and Android Central swag!

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 06:27 AM PDT

Android Central Contest Winners

If you're a registered member here at Android Central then you know our forums always have a contest happening. And if you're not registered, well -- now is as good a time as any. This week's winners are as posted after the break, and if you were chosen watch your email as we'll be following up during the week. Stay tuned for more upcoming contests folks. Congrats to the winners!

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Google Play Music introduces labs features: Desktop notifications, HTML5 audio and 5-Star ratings

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 05:52 AM PDT

Google Play Music

Google has long since been known as a company that enjoys placing some not quite complete features on a few of their products out there to mix things up. Those items usually fall under a beta or "labs" moniker and that's exactly what they've done with Google Play Music now. While most of use are making use of Google Play Music through the Android app Google offers, there are a number of folks who also like to use it on the desktop as well and for those folks Google has introduced:

  • Desktop Notifications - Find out what's playing without having to switch back to your Google Music tab. A notification will appear at the start of each song with the song title, artist name, album title, and album cover. This lab only works in the Chrome browser.
  • HTML5 Audio - Listen to your music without the need for Flash. Works in all browsers that support MP3 playback with HTML5 audio: Chrome, Safari 3.1+, and IE 9+.
  • 5-Star Ratings - Rate songs on a 5-star scale rather than thumbs-up or thumbs-down.

With Google making changes to Google Play Music for desktop users, we kind of have to wonder if they're also going to working on labs for their mobile version as well. Can you all think of any features you'd like to see added that would be of use? Sound off in the comments.

Source: Engadget

DroidDoodle: Project Glass tests are going just fine, thank you

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 05:37 AM PDT

Google's Project Glass
You know it's gonna happen.

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Grab an unlocked Tegra 3 model HTC One X from Daily Steals

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 09:54 PM PDT

it's a steal?

We usually don't worry too awful much about the various people importing and hawking unlocked phones on the Internet, but sometimes things just need passed along. The deals site Daily Steals has the unlocked, Tegra 3 version of the HTC One X up for sale, and if you want to part with $630, you can get your hands on the world version. We're not going to get in the middle of the debate over which version is best, and chances are the average user would see zero difference between the two, just know that it's very possible the only way to get the quad-core version is to import one.

Note that this won't have 3G/4G (or 11G) of any sort on T-Mobile (it lacks the 1700MHz band) unless you live in one of those freakish areas where T-Mo also transmits on AT&T's frequencies. And it also lacks network optimizations for AT&T, but for the most part it will work just fine. If seeing how smitten Phil and Alex are with theirs makes you want one of your own, here's your chance.

Source: Daily Steals

Thanks everyone who sent this in!

Disabling HTC apps on Sense 4.0 probably isn't a very good idea

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 09:40 PM PDT

Sense Dialer

One of the things folks really (really) like about Android 4.0 is the way you can disable system applications from the settings menu. It doesn't delete them, but it does keep them quiet and out of the way while perusing the app drawer. Anything that gives more control to the user is a good thing, and we're just as glad to see it as you guys are. Adios, City ID!

But for some apps, it makes very little Sense (pun intended, tip your waitress, try the veal) to try to zap them away -- especially core components of the operating system. HTC Sense 4.0, at least the software versions floating around of the One X and One S review units, has a couple listings that make you just want to try it. There's an entry called "phone" and an entry called "dialer". There's also two separate contacts apps listed, one is a measly 8k and the other is a measly 28k. Don't disable any of these unless you're sure about what you're doing. If you disable one of the contacts apps, your dialer and phone app stop working. If you disable the other, the whole phone UI resets. If you disable either the phone or dialer apk, let's just say that the debugger goes hawg wild (as opposed to normal hog wild) and things get a little wonky.

We're sure there's a rhyme and reason to what's going on with duplicate apps, and we have our guesses. But until devices ship with final software to folks who can take the time to look at them and play a bit, we're going to go on record and say don't disable the core Sense apps. Android hackers will soon build a list of what's safe to disable or delete, and what isn't. For now, if you've lain your hands on one of these beauties, enjoy it as-is. We are!

Discuss in the Android Central forums

Ice Cream Sandwich factory images now available for the Sprint Nexus S 4G

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 08:09 PM PDT

Nexus S 4G

A few days back, Sprint announced the update to Ice Cream Sandwich was ready to go, and today Jean-Baptiste Queru (the AOSP guru at Google) has announced that the sojus factory images are available as well, bringing the Nexus S 4G up-to-date with the GSM versions.

These aren't files to update your phone. On the contrary, they are there to restore your phone back to stock if you've knocked it out of whack whilst fooling with it. As JBQ recommends, if you're running a stock version of Gingerbread on your NS4G, just wait for the OTA -- it's coming. But if you're the adventurous type, you could use these images to get your NS4G to the exact state it would be if all OTA updates were applied -- ICS IMM76D. It takes a bit of keyboard wizardry while in Fastboot, and it will wipe everything. Know this going in.

No matter which way you're going to roll with it, you'll find all the help a person could ever want in the Nexus S 4G forums. High-tail it in there and join in the frenzy.

Source: +Jean-Baptiste Queru; Google

Nexus S 4G forums

Internal calendar, big green arrow point to T-Mobile's HTC One S launching April 25

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 06:27 PM PDT

T-Mobile HTC One S

It looks like T-Mobile's gonna roll out its HTC One S on April 25 -- at least according to this leaked internal screen shot and big green arrow. The timing's as good as anything, we suppose, and trust us when we say you TMo fans are going to want this in your hands sooner rather than later. It's a little slice of sexy.

But T-Mobile employees aren't the only ones getting their learn on. We're running our own HTC One S clinic in our aptly named HTC One S forums. Come on in, sit down, and ask away.

Source: TMo News

Tumblr for Android gets overhauled with a new UI, better photo browsing and more

Posted: 09 Apr 2012 05:59 PM PDT

Tumblr

Use Tumblr for your blogging services? If so, you'll want to fire up the Google Play Store and grab the latest update available. This release brings a whole new UI to the app as well many other improvements that have sorely been needed:

  • More responsive, faster-loading dashboard and blogs
  • Better photo browsing
  • Notifications for multiple blogs live in one place
  • Tumblr Radar

Sadly, Tumblr left tablet optimization out of the mix so you'll still have to find other ways to make use of it on any of those devices -- we're sure you all will figure it out though. Either way, it's a worthy update. You can jump past the break for some more screenshots and the download link.

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Google Android News Android Forums

Signs For The Sprint Galaxy Nexus LTE On The Rise? Could Be Coming As Early As This Sunday

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 03:50 PM PDT

Well, if you’ve been thirsting for some G-Nex love on Sprint’s network, the wait might be shorter than you think.  Thanks to our friends over at Phandroid, they’ve spotted some signage at one of the Sprint store locations for the up and coming Google experience device.  Question is, will the device come with LTE?  If Sprint knows what’s best for their customers, it sure better.  The sign makes no mention of LTE, a feature you’d think a carrier would want to tout, if indeed it’s on board.  And even if it is on-board, not many of you will benefit much from it.  Unless you’re in the Atlanta, Houston, Kansas City, San Antonio or Baltimore area don’t count on it.  According to the signs, we should see a launch this Sunday, April 15th.  The other question is, does one get this device over the HTC Evo 4G LTE?  What makes the decision difficult is deciding whether to go with an LTE-less device but get timely updates from Google being a pure stock ICS device, or go with the high spec’d Evo 4G LTE which is LTE ready but could be left in the dust for while in the update dept, given HTC’s track record for not updating a device in a timely manner.  The only other device I could see making this decision even harder, would be if Sprint sprang the deadly trio by tossing the rumored Galaxy Note on their network.  Hot damn, wouldn’t that be something?  Feel free to toss your thoughts in the comments section below.  

source: Phandroid

 

Unboxing of the HTC One V [Video]

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 01:39 PM PDT

We’ve all heard plenty about the HTC One Series, especially the One X and the One S. There is another handset in the series, though, called the One V. The website Netbook News has located the budget handset for sale in Taiwan, on Chunghua telecom. It cost 10,000NT, which is around $325 USD, off contract. That’s a pretty sweet deal.

The One V is considered low end because it has a SLCD2 screen with 420 x 800 pixels resolution, along with a 3.7-inch display. It will be equipped with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box, along with HTC’s Sense UI. The One V has a uni-body aluminum shell, just like the HTC Legend. It will contain a 1GHz single-core Qualcomm processor, 512 MB of RAM and 4GB of built-in storage. The microSD card slot will let you expand the memory up to 32GB. You can expect a 5 MP camera and Bluetooth v4.0. It will also have the new HTC ImageSense software so you can do nifty things like shoot pictures while you’re filming a video, or use the camera in low-light situations. This handset uses a regular-sized SIM card slot, while the other One series phones need a Micro SIM.

Check out this video to see the HTC One V get unboxed, as well as a gaming test with Shadow Gun and Temple Run. Several benchmark tests are run as well, such as vellamo, quadrant, antutu, sunspider, and nenamark 1 and 2. Let us know what you think about this HTC offering in the comments.

Click here to view the embedded video.

source: Netbook News

 

 

LG Optimus 4X HD faces up to HTC One X in benchmark tests

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 12:18 PM PDT

As sure as night follows day, benchmark bickering follows the release of a new Android device. I guess we never really outgrow the childhood “My Dad’s bigger than your Dad” complex. Only a couple of days ago we showed you how HTC’s One S performed and now it’s big brothers turn as the One X goes head-to-head with LG’s Optimus 4X HD in a battle of the quad-core titans.

Techblog got its hands on both devices and put them through popular benchmarking tools Quadrant, AnTuTu and NenaMark2. Not surprisingly the results were relatively similar with each phone performing stronger in certain areas. Quadrant saw the LG score a very respectable 4,512 with the HTC posting a market leading 4,909. LG came out the narrow winner in the AnTuTu test posting a 11,147 over HTC’s 11,030.  Finally the HTC managed 47.6 fps ahead of the LG which managed 44.5 fps in the NenaMark test.

So whilst all the publicity and hype is firmly set around the HTC device it’s encouraging to see that LG’s flagship phone more than holds its own against the best in the market. The true test as always will come down to which one performs every tasks better, no doubt a story for another day. Will you be considering the Optimus 4X HD as an alternative to the LG One X? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

source : Techblog

via : engadget

Google Play Music lab features go live

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 11:32 AM PDT

Google showed further commitment to improving its Google Play Music services today by switching on a few new labs features. Google fans will no doubt be familiar with the companies famous labs projects, labs features are generally experimental options or works in progress that Google allow users to add onto existing products for testing purposes. Some make the final cut and others never see the light of day.

There are 3 new features introduced which you can enable and disable at your leisure :

Desktop Notifications
Find out what’s playing without having to switch back to your Google Music tab. A notification will appear at the start of each song with the song title, artist name, album title, and album cover. This lab only works in the Chrome browser.

HTML5 Audio
Listen to your music without the need for Flash. Works in all browsers that support MP3 playback with HTML5 audio: Chrome, Safari 3.1+, and IE 9+.

5-Star Ratings
Rate songs on a 5-star scale rather than thumbs-up or thumbs-down

 

You can switch these features on by clicking the link below however don’t forget that they are experimental and not the finished article. Be sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

 

source : Google Play Music

Tapatalk 2 Graduates from Beta, Now Available In the Google Play Store

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 11:11 AM PDT

If you are an avid forum user you already know how much of a pain it can be trying to do so from your phone. The best option in this case was always to use the Tapatalk app as long as the forum you visit supports the app. Now that ICS is around, some users found that Tapatalk didn’t play nicely with the new OS and it was obvious a refresh was in order. Enter Tapatalk 2. The newest iteration from the folks at Tapatalk has graduated from its beta stage and is now available in the Play store.

Tapatalk 2 addresses all the prior issues people were having with ICS and also includes some new features as well. Along with a slightly new look and feel, Tapatalk now features a cool cloud syncing feature. This is probably the most notable addition to the app and it syncs “all your forum accounts among all mobile devices with Tapatalk installed.” Sign in to one forum and you will now have cloud syncing of all the other forums you have used with that same email address. Pretty slick. Other features include forum recommendations, theme support, better look and feel, and an improved interface. The app is still going to run you $2.99 but if you were on the OG version of Tapatalk you can snag the update for free. Hit up the links below for the update or to grab the app for the first time and be sure to let us know in the comments how you like the new digs! Oh, and don’t forget to visit our newly revamped forums, too!

qrcode

Google Play Store

 

Spring Cleaning: How to clean up and speed up your Android smartphone

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 10:28 AM PDT

It’s Springtime which means it’s time to clean out the clutter in your life. While it’s important to do it in your home or office, you shouldn’t forget to do it with your smartphone. Like any clutter, it’s actually better to do it periodically so things don’t “pile” up, but hey, even if it’s once a year, it’s better than never. With most people on 2-year contracts, it’s nearly impossible to never do some cleanup and keep your phone running like it was the day you first turned it on. Also understand that it’s not always about the slowness of your phone. Many phones have limited storage space and you might be experiencing errors from lack of free space. In either case this guide will make sense.

If you really want to clean and start anew, the best way is to do a factory reset, but it makes sense to avoid it if you can. Try these six steps and you could avoid the headaches of a reset and get rid of the sluggishness you’ve been experiencing. Even if you think you phone is running okay, I still recommend going through this short guide to keep things from “piling up” down the road. Some of these steps won’t pertain to you so don’t feel like you have to complete each step. Hit the break to get started.

#1 Delete old text messages. If you do any amount of texting, you will be surprised how many pile up, and you really don’t need them. Grab Delete Old Messages from the Google Play Store. This is a simple free app that will delete all messages based on your specifications. For example, you can tell it to delete all messages older than 1 month ago. It offers more fine tuning options for pro users, but this free version should suffice. I’m not a heavy texter so I chose to delete all messages older than 2 months. If you text upwards of 500 messages per month, I would go no more than one month, and 1 or 2 weeks might make more sense.

#2 Uninstall unused apps. We’re all guilty of downloading an app to try and then forget about it. Now is a good time to look at all your apps, and if you aren’t using them, just uninstall them. Most of you veterans know how to do this. With ICS and some manufacturer UI’s it’s easy to do it from your launcher drawer. Just open your launcher drawer and long press on any app you want to uninstall. If you have ICS or the manufacturer UI has the built-in feature, you will see an option to uninstall. Just drag the app icon over that. If you don’t see the option, then the best way is to open the Play Store, tap the menu, and tap my apps. This will show all the apps installed on your device. Just tap the ones you want to remove and tap again to uninstall.

#3 Clean the cache from your apps and browser. Cached files are temporary files created by all your apps. These can take up a lot of space and drain you memory, especially for apps you don’t use often.  There are a number of apps that will clear out your cache and some will even go so far as deleting text messages (step #1), but I like Easy Cache Cleaner. Upon opening the app, it will scan all your apps and tell you the total amount of cached files. I had over 507MB the first time I ran it. At the top, you will see the option to “Clean All.” Go ahead and tap that. The whole process from opening the app to clearing all your cache will take less than a minute. Unfortunately a lot of these apps don’t work with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich so you will have to manually delete the cache for each app. Just make sure to click “Clear cache” NOT “Clear data.” If you don’t have ICS, you can still clear your cache by using this method as well, if for whatever reason you don’t want to delete all the files.

#4 Move apps to your SD card. If you have an older phone with limited internal storage, it’s a good idea to move some of your apps to your SD card. Just grab Apps2SD from the Google Play Store. All apps aren’t eligible to be moved to your SD card so Apps2SD takes out all the guess work. It will let you know which apps can be moved and for those that aren’t eligible now, it will notify you when things change. I would start with the apps that you don’t use often, but don’t use this option to move unused apps. If you don’t plan on using an app then please uninstall it from your device as mentioned in step #2. Apps2SD happens to have a built in cache cleaner so you can utilize this app instead of Easy Cache Cleaner from step #3.

#5 Delete unused files on your SD card and on your device. I know you’re thinking there must be something wrong with me because I just told you to move apps to your SD card, and now I’m telling you to clean it up. Utilizing your SD card for apps is okay, but you should go through it and look for files that are not needed. Sometimes apps that you’ve uninstalled leave folders behind. Delete all those. Look at your photos. Do you really need all of them? The same with music. Delete what you don’t need. You can do this by connecting your phone to your computer via USB or through an app called Astro File Manager from the Google Play Store.

#6 Remove deleted (or trashed) emails. If you’re using the stock email app (not gmail) there could be a lot of unwanted emails in your trash. Unfortunately there isn’t an easy way to “delete all emails” in the trash folder so you might have to actually remove the email account from your phone and set it up again. This will start things from scratch, but if your email is IMAP based, this won’t be a big deal. If you’re using a POP account, you will lose all your “non trashed” emails that are on your phone. In that case you might have to manually delete them which won’t be any easy task. If you can live with it, I highly recommend just deleting the account from your phone and setting it up again. It won’t take long at all.

If you follow these 6 steps, I think you will find your phone will be back to how it worked when you first got it. If you find that these things just aren’t enough, than you should consider a factory reset. You need to make sure you’ve backed up everything that you want BEFORE doing it. If you are going to go this route, you should download MyBackup Pro to back up what you need. Please understand, if you’re aren’t rooted you will not be able to save game progress data or your usernames, passwords, and other settings for your apps. Some apps do have a back up feature so for any of those, make sure to back up that data to your SD card. For most devices you can perform a factory reset by going to menu/settings/privacy and selecting factory data reset. Make sure you don’t have “delete SD card contents” checked. Again, I want to be clear, by doing this, you delete everything on your phone and unless it’s backed up, you won’t be able to retrieve it.

If you have any other recommendations please add them to the comments below.

Amazon Launches In-App Purchases For Developers

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 10:11 AM PDT

Amazon has finally answered the cries from both developers and its customers by finally launching the in-app purchasing system after what was seemingly an endless development. In a nutshell, it allows for developers to sell additional paid content from within an app. Since developers can just use Amazon’s distribution system instead of having to create their own, it just makes more sense and gives added convenience in order to gain additional revenue. Check out how the new feature works by taking a look at the video after the break.

 

Click here to view the embedded video.

 

 

 

source: Amazon App Store Dev

Major U.S. wireless carriers team up to fight cellphone theft

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 08:02 AM PDT

For those of you that like to buy used phones on eBay or Craigslist, we have some good news. The four major wireless carriers are teaming up along with the U.S. government to build a central database of stolen cellphones. I don’t understand why this wasn’t started years ago.

Currently, Verizon Wireless and Sprint block any phones that have been reported stolen. Unfortunately AT&T and T-Mobile don’t, but now all four will work together in an effort to reduce crime and hopefully the resale value of stolen goods. Many of these stolen phones end up on eBay or Craigslist, and some are even exported to China, Latin America, and Africa.

Of course, nothing is foolproof because hackers might be able to use software to alter the identity of any stolen phones. Unfortunately even that’s not considered a crime, but hopefully that will change with legislation. Either way, the carriers need to do something and this is a start. Final details are yet to be worked out, but the proposed outline has.

source: wsj

 

Latest Galaxy S III rumor: Home button and five columns for icons

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 06:51 AM PDT

It’s time for another round of Galaxy S III rumors. Sorry, I don’t have a fake picture or an official release date so settle down. The latest involves some design elements, which I don’t think will shock anyone out there. Apparently the Samsung team has been torn with keeping the hardware home button that’s been synonymous with the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II. It’s either that or no hardware buttons much like the Galaxy Nexus. It looks like the home hardware button has won so you can expect to see it on the final product. The other interesting tidbit is that they will go with a five column layout for icons, which is basically how the Galaxy Note is. Just about every other device has a 4 column layout. The Galaxy Note is a 5.3-inch screen so it made sense to go with five columns. We certainly don’t expect the Galaxy S III display to be that large, but it could be in the neighborhood of 4.8-inches to make it work.

source: ddaily
via: pocketnow

Android 4.0 Factory Images Officially Available For The Google Nexus S 4G Smartphone

Posted: 10 Apr 2012 06:41 AM PDT

 

Happy days continue for owners of the Google Nexus S 4G smartphone. The much-anticipated Android 4.0 update is officially on its way and now the “soju” factory images are officially available as well, which officially brings Sprint’s version of the Nexus S current with the GSM versions of the device. Android AOSP wunderkind Jean-Baptiste Queru takes some time to make some key distinctions of the newly available factory image:

“This is meant to be used by people who built and flashed their own custom version of AOSP and wish to return to the factory state. If you’re currently running an official retail build, I simply recommend that you wait for the OTA”.

In summary folks: the factory image is meant for those who well you know… fiddled or tinkered with their device by adding a custom ROM for example– and want to flash their device back to its stock state. If you’re on stock Android now, you’re probably better off waiting for the actual OTA update instead of flashing your device to the latest build. When attempting to flash the factory image to the Nexus S 4G, please be aware that there’s a known bug in the bootloader, you’ll have to boot into whatever version of Android is on your device, and then return to fastboot and restart the flashing sequence.

Happy flashing all!

source: Google Code
via: Jean-Baptiste Queru+
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