Android and Me |
- Video: Around the world in a single charge? Nice try, Qualcomm
- HTC One X gets early unboxing
- WSJ: Google to sell their own Android tablets this year
- Hulu Plus gets a brand new style on more Android tablets
- Blame your carrier for poor battery life on Android phones
- Samsung finally releases Galaxy S “Value Pack” update in Korea; US customers still in limbo
- CrApp of the Week: The World’s Hardest Game sucks. Period. So shut up.
- Confirmed: Android 4.0 coming soon to T-Mobile Amaze 4G, Sensation 4G
- Sprint is done with WiMAX devices, shows us their LTE map for 2014
- HTC One S brings Android 4.0 to T-Mobile on April 22
| Video: Around the world in a single charge? Nice try, Qualcomm Posted: 29 Mar 2012 06:20 PM PDT  Qualcomm has posted a cool video on their YouTube site promoting the impressive battery life that users can experience on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon line of processors. The premise of the video? Can a phone go around the world on a single charge? The video shows a mobile device taking videos from 9 cities in 8 different countries around the world, traveling over 36,000 miles along the way. In the top, right hand side of the screen, you’ll see a battery meter showing the Qualcomm battery draining as the trip progresses. What Qualcomm wasn’t expecting was the amount of negative backlash they’d receive for the video. Several users are bemoaning the fact that Qualcomm buried some key details at the end of the video in fine print, like the fact that they used an extended battery and turned the phone off on the plane (thankfully), and that the battery drained a significant amount to produce a 2 minute video. One of the gem comments came from user mutantemc, who stated: 2:04 minutes of battery? still better battery life than the iPhonemutantemc The full video can be found below, but you’ll probably want to venture over to the YouTube site for all the lulz.
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| Posted: 29 Mar 2012 04:39 PM PDT  The highly anticipated HTC One X hits European stores next Monday and we already know everything about the phone, but we haven’t seen it unboxed yet. Thanks to the French blog HTC-Hub, we can now check that off the list. Check out the video below and let us know what you think of the HTC One packaging. Is she The One you have been waiting on?
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| WSJ: Google to sell their own Android tablets this year Posted: 29 Mar 2012 03:33 PM PDT  We already reported the “Nexus tablet” was a done deal and now Amir Efrati of The Wall St. Journal is reporting that Google will sell Android tablets directly to consumers, through their own online store. Google attempted to sell the HTC Nexus One phone to consumers back in 2010 (I bought one), but that didn’t go so well as the top 3 carriers rejected it and Google was forced to shut the store down later that year. When the store closed, Andy Rubin said, “The global adoption of the Android platform has exceeded our expectations, the web store has not. It's remained a niche channel for early adopters.” The move to the new Google Play Store brand should help Google reach a wider audience as more people are forced onto the service. Millions of dollars are being spent to add audiobooks, magazines, and newspapers. Other additions to Google Play could include a unified gaming platform. Android chief Andy Rubin recently said, “2012 is going to be the year that we double down and make sure we're winning in that [tablet] space,” so this move fits in with the strategy of heating up lukewarm sales. Most of what is being reported today has already been discussed at length. Google has partnered with ASUS to release a 7-inch Android tablet around a price point $199. Digitimes has also echoed this rumor several times. Surprisingly, Samsung is also mentioned as a partner for Google’s online device store. Samsung currently produces the Galaxy Nexus for Google, so we could see the unlocked HSPA+ version finally go on sale to US customers. The price of the unlocked Galaxy Nexus has already dropped to $489 The usual “people familiar with the matter” also claim that the next release of Android, codenamed Jelly Bean, will become available “in the middle of this year.” Google should unveil the first details of Jelly Bean at their sold-out Google IO conference in June. Developing…
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| Hulu Plus gets a brand new style on more Android tablets Posted: 29 Mar 2012 03:16 PM PDT  Can’t get enough of TV? For only $7.99 per month, you could have unlimited instant streaming TV on your Android device with Hulu Plus. Today the company announced a new update to their Android app that introduces a clean design and support for additional tablets. As many of you already know, the video streaming service offers the current season episodes of popular shows including Family Guy, The Office, New Girl, Once Upon a Time, Parks and Recreation, Misfits and America's Next Top Model, and many more. Full series collections allow you to create an instant marathon with every episode of Community, Grey's Anatomy and Lost. In a company blog post, Hulu developers said, “This is just the beginning of our Android tablet rollout. Our team worked hard to build a fresh and engaging way to experience premium content on Android tablets, and we hope you enjoy it as much as we do.”  The new Hulu Plus show page. New features in the Hulu Plus app include horizontal "trays" so you can naturally swipe while browsing through TV shows and movies, large thumbnails with beautiful visuals, and a better organized content library so it's easy to discover new shows and keep up with the shows you are watching. Seven Android tablets can now download Hulu Plus including the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime, ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, Motorola Xoom, Motorola XYBoard 10.1, Toshiba Thrive, Acer Iconia and LG G-Slate. With the new update, Hulu now supports over 30 Android devices. The app currently has over 500,000 installs on the Google Play Store with an average rating of 3.3, but don’t let the low score concern you. The majority of the 1 star reviews are from people without a Hulu account or unsupported devices. Most reviewers give it 5 stars and praised the enjoyment they get from the service. If you already grabbed the latest Hulu Plus update, let us know what you think.
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| Blame your carrier for poor battery life on Android phones Posted: 29 Mar 2012 02:29 PM PDT  Android software updates remind us of the NBA draft lottery system. You think a handful of teams have a good shot at winning the 1st round draft pick, but the results often surprise you. When you hear that devices being upgraded from Android 2.x to Android 4.0.x are receiving a 66% performance boost and longer battery life, you get excited. “Wow, my phone might last an extra hour!”  Android 4.0 offers longer battery life. But then you realize you don’t own the HTC Vivid, and your device will have to wait. People with unlocked phones started seeing an upgrade to Android 4.0.4 this week, which is a good sign that things are moving forward. However, around 95% of you still own a device with an operating system that was first introduced in 2010. Carriers will tell you they are testing Android 4.0 and upgrades will be coming soon, and they are. A good portion of you with devices purchased in 2011 should see an update. Verizon just announced 14 devices that will be upgraded to Android 4.0, AT&T named another 10 devices they were supporting, T-Mobile has it coming soon to multiple devices, and Sprint could sell their first Android 4.0 device as soon as April 15th. So the good news is a large chunk of devices will eventually see a free boost in performance and longer battery life. And if you get tired of waiting, you can always buy a new phone (or just hack your old device).  Can't comment on software updates; Buy a new phone.
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| Samsung finally releases Galaxy S “Value Pack” update in Korea; US customers still in limbo Posted: 29 Mar 2012 01:23 PM PDT  Back towards the tail-end of 2011, and up into the very beginning of 2012, there was a lot of back and forth on whether or not Samsung would update the original line of Galaxy S devices past Android 2.3, Gingerbread. We first heard that Samsung would be releasing a “Value Pack,” or Android 4.0-lite, update for the Galaxy S with performance enhancements and certain features from ICS back-ported to Android 2.3. Just a few short days after the initial Value Pack announcement, a spokesperson with Samsung made it clear that no updates were going to be issued for the original Galaxy S. Apparently that information wasn’t accurate, because Samsung has officially released their Samsung Galaxy S Value Pack update today in Korea. Available now through Kies 2.0, the Samsung Galaxy S Value Pack update is exactly what it’s always been rumored as: a far cry from Android 4.0, but better than nothing. With the Value Pack update, Galaxy S users in Korea can expect performance enhancements and several features ported over from Android 4.0 like automatic font resizing, the ability to take pictures while filming video and face unlock (which Samsung has added blink detection to, making it somewhat more secure than Google’s version). US Galaxy S owners may be out of luck on this one. There’s been no word of Samsung’s Value Pack reaching the States anytime soon, and there’s little reason to believe it will. If that situation changes, we’ll be sure to update you. Any Galaxy S owners out there been waiting for this one? We’d love to know how the Value Pack update is, so be sure to share your experiences in the comments if you have access. We’d also like to know what you think of something like a “Value Pack” update. Is it nice to see Samsung is still working on software for older devices, or is a few back-ported features more like a slap in the face?
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| CrApp of the Week: The World’s Hardest Game sucks. Period. So shut up. Posted: 29 Mar 2012 12:33 PM PDT  So here I sit. Absolutely fuming mad. Because of one stupid game that looks and sounds like garbage. Really? The World’s Hardest Game? It’s not even hard in a fun way. It’s hard because it’s impossible to play on a small touchscreen. It makes me want to punch Joustin’ Beaver in the face (I suppose I want to do that anyway). I hate it. The game sounds simple enough (“You are RED square, avoid the BLUE circles and collect Yellow circles. Once you have collected all the yellow circles move to GREEN beacon to complete the level.”), but it’s meant to be challenging. I get that, I really do, but this game was not meant to be played on a touchscreen. I don’t exactly have pencil thin digits, but it’s not like I have Shaq hands. I can’t even see what I’m supposed to be doing once I put my finger on it. And the graphics suck so bad, and there’s such a small area to move around in, and you can’t zoom in, and annoying techno is assaulting my eardrums, and my dog has to go outside, and my text message noise won’t quit going off, and my girlfriend wants to know what I want for dinner, and I have no freaking idea, and next thing you know, my phone is on the other side of the room. Because I threw it against the wall. And showed it who’s boss. I hated this game when it was in the Flash portal on Newgrounds, and I hate it even more now. You might think at this point that the game isn’t actually all that bad, and I just have a personal vendetta against it. Just play it for yourself. Have a fantastically terrible Android CrApp you'd like to see covered? Let us know in the comments below.
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| Confirmed: Android 4.0 coming soon to T-Mobile Amaze 4G, Sensation 4G Posted: 29 Mar 2012 11:43 AM PDT  T-Mobile has officially confirmed that Android 4.0 will soon make its way to the HTC Amaze 4G and HTC Sensation 4G smartphones. An expected upgrade date was not provided in T-Mobile’s support system, though we expect T-Mobile wouldn’t make an announcement before a fairly imminent launch date. The announcement comes by way of updated support documents on T-Mobile’s site, suggesting HTC is putting the finishing touches on the Android 4 updates for these two devices, and is nearly ready to submit the final upgrade files to T-Mobile. As you’re likely aware, the update will contain HTC’s Sense UI 3.6, which runs atop the core Android 4.0 platform. Sense has been updated to bring multiple performance and stylistic enhancements to the platform. The wait will soon be over, T-Mobile HTC faithful, and you’ll soon be seeing the latest and greatest in Android versions hit your devices very soon. We will, of course, keep you appraised as we learn more from T-Mobile and HTC.
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| Sprint is done with WiMAX devices, shows us their LTE map for 2014 Posted: 29 Mar 2012 09:52 AM PDT  Sprint is gearing up to release their first 4G LTE device as soon as next month, so it’s no surprise to find out today that the carrier is done releasing new 4G WiMAX devices. Sue Marek of Fierce Wireless reports that Bob Azzi, SVP of networks at Sprint, said “While the company experienced success with its WiMAX handsets, including the HTC Evo, Sprint will not launch any additional WiMAX devices.” The upgrade to 4G LTE is part of Sprint’s multi-billion overall network strategy, also known as Network Vision. Sprint plans to finish building it’s LTE network by the end of 2013, but we think the buildout could even be extended til 2014. “Within the first half of 2012, Sprint customers should experience first-hand the wide-reaching improvements we have made in terms of boosting voice and data quality,” said Bob Azzi, Sprint. “With advanced smartphones and sophisticated wireless modems, our customers are using more and more mobile data, and one of our top priorities is to provide the best technology possible to improve our customers' experience.” We don’t have an exact launch date, but Sprint already announced the first major markets to receive LTE coverage. Sometime during the first half of 2012, Sprint customers will see 4G LTE and improved 3G coverage in:
Coverage will then expand to 10 markets by the end of June, but specific cities have not been named. Today tech reporter Sascha Segan tweeted a picture of Sprint’s LTE coverage map for 2014. Areas in green represent LTE coverage while areas in blue will be covered by roaming agreements with other carriers. Looking forward, the upcoming 4G LTE devices coming to Sprint that we know about include:
At this point most Sprint customers are kind of stuck in the middle. The best Android phones on Sprint are all WiMAX, but that will slowly be phased out this year. New subscribers will be encouraged to get a phone with LTE, but Sprint’s coverage will be sparse until next year. If you are in the market for a new Sprint phone, let us know what you plan to do.
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| HTC One S brings Android 4.0 to T-Mobile on April 22 Posted: 29 Mar 2012 09:05 AM PDT  We just learned that the HTC One S is launching in Europe next Monday and now we find out it should be available in the US next month. David Beren of TmoNews reports that the HTC One S is coming to T-Mobile around April 22nd. The carrier previously announced they would release the phone in Q2, put up a registration page for more info, and showed off the device at SXSW in Austin, but this is the first time we have a rumored launch date. The April 22nd date comes from an internal training document meant for employees, but we all know how product launches shift so it would be a week later. When it does finally arrives, the HTC One S will be the first new device that T-Mobile offers with Android 4.0. Earlier this week, a video appeared on YouTube that shows off a HTC One S running T-Mobile software. This version doesn’t have the T-Mobile branding like the device that I played with, so it’s likely an older model. From what we know the T-Mobile One S is pretty much finished and in the final stages of testing. We expect to receive an official announcement with release date and pricing in the coming weeks. Based on previous high-end phone launches on T-Mobile, we expect the HTC One S to debut around $199-249 with 2 year agreement. If you need a new phone on T-Mobile, this is the One to get. For those that don’t mind waiting till the summer, you might want to hold out and see what makes the Samsung Galaxy S III special.
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on Amazon, so hopefully Google can match or beat that price.
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