Android Phone Fans |
- LG Optimus G Is Official (Again) – Arrives Next Week In South Korea, Everywhere Else In October
- Google+ Hits New Milestone – 100 Million Active Users Per Month, 400 Million Users Total
- Phandroid Phavorites: Trapster for Android [Hands-On Video]
- ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T gets small maintenance update
- Bad Piggies trailer shows the mechanic side of all pig-kind
- Amazon Kindle Fire root now available
- Press shots of 5 inch HTC device revealed, could be called the HTC One X 5 [Update: It's Fake]
- Latest Kindle Fire devices have high-security bootloader, workaround methods may be tricky
- Aston Martin is another luxury device that a tech-head wouldn’t be caught dead with
- Could Motorola DROID RAZR HD AND RAZR MAXX HD launch on Verizon this October?
- Leaked firmware all but confirms Samsung Galaxy Note 2 for T-Mobile
- Google acquires company behind iOS photo app Snapseed
- Benchmark results show quad-core CPU for ASUS PadFone 2
- Amazon introduces mapping API as alternative to Google
- Shazam expands its tagging capabilities, can now identify TV shows
| LG Optimus G Is Official (Again) – Arrives Next Week In South Korea, Everywhere Else In October Posted: 17 Sep 2012 07:07 PM PDT It may seem like dejavu, but LG is taking the opportunity of a slow news day to remind you guys not just that their recently announced LG Optimus G handset is not only official (yes, we remember), but that it will be coming to South Korean markets next week. LG touts the device as the first quad-core of its kind to launch with full LTE compatibility on board. For another refresher of the G’s specs, here’s some quick bullet points:
After the LG Optimus G goes on sale next week in South Korea, that device will hit “key” global markets sometime in October. Full press release can be found below.
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| Google+ Hits New Milestone – 100 Million Active Users Per Month, 400 Million Users Total Posted: 17 Sep 2012 05:46 PM PDT One year since Google+ opened to the public, Vic Gundotra announced today that Google’s budding social network has now officially hit the 400 million mark in total users, with 100 million active users per month. While that number sounds impressive, it still can’t hold a candle to Facebook’s 955 million active users per month. There’s still a lot to do, and with the growing number of consumers choosing Android and finding themselves sucked into Google’s ecosystem, it’s just a matter of time before everyone you know is on Google+. Whether or not they’ll be active, is another question entirely. How about you guys? Are you guys active on Google+ or any social network for that matter? Or has G+ begun to lose some of its luster? [Google+]
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| Phandroid Phavorites: Trapster for Android [Hands-On Video] Posted: 17 Sep 2012 05:10 PM PDT A few weeks ago, Trapster — one of the Android Market’s first driving assist applications — saw a sizeable update in the Play Store. For those unfamiliar with the app, Trapster looks to help smartphone users evade costly traffic violations by alerting users when the po-po are out tryin’ to catch ya ridin’ dirty (something I’m all too familiar with). The app takes crowd sourced data from other Trapster users in your area, and with everyone working together, the app will notify you of speed traps, red light cameras, road hazards and vehicle accidents — pretty much anything that has the potential to ruin your day while driving. In the latest update, Trapster added all new profile pages for users that displays karma points which can be gained for those successfully reporting accurate driving conditions. Think of it as Trapster’s way of keeping its users honest. Keep in mind, if you don’t set up an account and profile, you wont be able to report “traps.” Also new is the ability to share traps quickly and easily with your favorite social networks. That way you can help grandma avoid that DUI checkpoint on her way home. So, is the app worth a download? Well, I decided to give Trapster a spin in my hands-on video so you guys can see for yourself if it’s worth checking out. Enjoy. [Play Store Link: Trapster]
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| ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T gets small maintenance update Posted: 17 Sep 2012 03:37 PM PDT Owners of the ASUS Transformer Pad TF300T are reporting that a software upgrade has been pushed to their devices for immediate download and instalation. The changes which come with the upgrade remain unknown, though early signs are that this is a minor OTA update that might be fixing some bugs post-Jelly Bean. Check for it in the About Tablet section of your device’s settings menu, and fingers crossed that those of you with root will see these changes rolled into your favorite ROMs soon enough. [XDA, thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
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| Bad Piggies trailer shows the mechanic side of all pig-kind Posted: 17 Sep 2012 02:55 PM PDT Rovio’s teased Bad Piggies, a game where users play things from the perspective of pigs, for a short while now. Other than the fact that roles would be reversed we didn’t know much about the game. Would the pigs fight to take their dignity back using slingshots or would they be off fulfilling some other purpose? It looks like the latter is the sure answer. A new trailer was released exclusively on Yahoo Games’ website, and it shows gameplay elements that we honestly didn’t imagine Rovio would ever bring us. The game tasks you with building crazy contraptions and vehicles to give the pigs greater freedom of motion. Yep, those dastardly birds may be able to fly but pigs know a little bit about building things — you only need return to the story of the Three Little Pigs for evidence of that fact. But there’s no big, bad wolf this time: it’s just you, the pigs, and all the tools you need to make over a million combinations using the proper materials and Rovio’s new blueprint system. You can build helicopters, bicycles, small planes, cars with TNT attached to the front of them, and more. Unfortunately the pigs don’t seem to have any interaction with the birds from what we can see in this trailer, but perhaps Rovio has even more planned for us sometime down the line. It would be a shame to build all these crazy vehicles without being able to use them on someone. “As far as the gameplay goes, Bad Piggies and Angry Birds are complete opposites,” Petri Järvilehto, EVP of Games at Rovio said. “Angry Birds smash things up, Bad Piggies build stuff. The pigs are all about making plans and building things, even — and especially — when they don’t work!” Rovio’s calling this a long-term commitment with its vice president of franchise development Ville Heijari stating it’s “the sibling of Angry Birds, and it will get a lot of push over time.” The game is on its way to the Google Play Store September 27th, and you can believe this is one game that we’ll be dying to download once it hits. You’ll need to head to the source link to watch the trailer as we are not able to embed it. [Yahoo]
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| Amazon Kindle Fire root now available Posted: 17 Sep 2012 02:43 PM PDT Although hopes of an unlocked bootloader will have to subside until the development community can figure a way past it, the Amazon Kindle Fire does now have root unit. There are little advantages to doing it just yet, but it’s worth applying anyway if you want to make sure you can root your device before Amazon finds out about the exploit and patches it up. If you care to get this underway be sure to head to the source link for full download links and instructions. Proceed at your own risk, and remember that your device will get no sympathy from anyone should it suddenly come down with a case of digital hypochondria. [RootzWiki, thanks to everyone who sent his in!]
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| Press shots of 5 inch HTC device revealed, could be called the HTC One X 5 [Update: It's Fake] Posted: 17 Sep 2012 01:53 PM PDT HTC’s 5 inch behemoth that’s been rumored in recent weeks got more leaked specs over the weekend, and now we have even more information to sink our teeth into. Instead of the usual blurrycam goodness we’ve come to know, love, and hate over the years, press shots have now been leaked. The device looks quite close to what we’ve seen leaked so far, and if the rest of this image is to be believed we finally have a possible name: the HTC One X 5, the last character obviously indicative of the device’s screen size. If you don’t remember, HTC is said to be bringing a 5 inch slate that has Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 processor, 1.5GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and more. The device is a strong candidate for a good showing at HTC’s upcoming September 19th event, though there has been little official word to suggest this is exactly what we’ll see. The wait is only two days longer, though, so get back over to Phandroid.com this Wednesday for live coverage straight from New York. [via Engadget] UPDATE: Turns out the press shot is a fake. Well, not intentionally fake, but more or less a concept image conjured up by the mind of Dannix over on Flickr. Good work. Almost had us fooled. He has a pretty sick concept of an HTC tablet, if you guys wanna take a look. [Flickr]
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| Latest Kindle Fire devices have high-security bootloader, workaround methods may be tricky Posted: 17 Sep 2012 01:08 PM PDT The new Amazon Kindle Frie devices announced last week look to be coming to market with bad news for developers. An XDA contributor has spoken to fellow developers about the new Kindle Fire devices, and according to them the devices’ bootloaders are locked up very tight with techniques used for “HS,” or high-security, devices. The technique is apparently similar to the Nook Tablet’s encryption, and while that device quickly received a workaround at the hands of the development community the Kindle Fire might be a lot more tricky. You see, the Nook Tablet’s workaround used an exploit that used the external SD card as an alternate boot device. With the Kindle Fire’s lack of a memory card you can already see where the frustrations will set in. Fret not, though, as community discussions have already gone underway between developers to see what can be done about circumventing this unfortunate security. Whether or not they actually find something, however, remains to be seen. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
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| Aston Martin is another luxury device that a tech-head wouldn’t be caught dead with Posted: 17 Sep 2012 12:17 PM PDT Stylish phones from premium fashion, automobile, and accessory manufacturers around the world are nothing new. They always tend to be lacking in power, inflated in price, and sometimes don’t look all that great to begin with. Aston Martin, a company who I am only familiar with thanks to my good friend Pierce Brosnan, looks to be the next one into the game. Like the others, they’re also foregoing respectable guts for a lavish exterior and scary price tag. The device comes in black, silver, white, gold, and rose gold for colors, with the latter two being actual gold. It’ll run for $1290 without the luscious metal and $1590 with gold. A little steep, no? Unfortunately you are getting some bottom of the barrel specs for that asking price. For starters, you’re only afforded a 3.5 inch display. That may not matter to some, but it’s rather small in a world where even the iPhone 5 has increased half an inch. You’re also only getting an 800MHz processor and 256MB of RAM. What is this, 2008? But, of course, these phones are not aimed at those who tend to be technologically sound. It’s for those with big, fat pockets who need yet another status symbol to validate their well fortune. You can find it over at ePrice. [via Android Central]
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| Could Motorola DROID RAZR HD AND RAZR MAXX HD launch on Verizon this October? Posted: 17 Sep 2012 10:56 AM PDT Verizon and Motorola weren’t keen on releasing availability details for their newly-announced DROID RAZR HD and RAZR MAXX HD outside of a wide launch window of “before the holidays.” If our expectations are correct then this would mean any time before Thanksgiving as the holiday is treated as the unofficial start to the busiest shopping season of the year starting with Black Friday. Well, it looks like we might have a bit more of an idea of when to expect these powerhouse devices. A press release for the RAZR HD in Germany pegs October as its launch window, a lot more specific than Verizon’s initial window for the US. We could see it launching in the US around the same time, but it would be wise not to get your hopes up. We usually don’t see European releases of Motorola’s Verizon-bound phones until after Verizon’s versions launch so it’s plausible to suggest they could be targeting that same window. Unfortunately with so little to go on we aren’t comfortable burning a date into our minds without also burning a sense of caution right next to it. We’ll hope to get more information about its impending release as the weeks move on. [via Droid-Life]
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| Leaked firmware all but confirms Samsung Galaxy Note 2 for T-Mobile Posted: 17 Sep 2012 09:56 AM PDT Here is one of the more bizarre tech stories of recent months. After delays, poor marketing decisions, or some combination of both saw the original Samsung Galaxy Note launch on T-Mobile’s network last month, the carrier is all set to followup with the Galaxy Note 2 when it touches down on American soil. Leaked firmware compiled on September 15th all but confirms that the SGH-T889 is indeed TMo’s Note 2, and suggests that the phone will launch with a spec sheet that mirrors the international variant, including Jelly Bean out of the box and HSPA+ support (as well as quad-core processing). The Note 2 should launch in October (or early November at the latest), but nothing is set in stone right now. Samsung would like to launch on all major US carriers simultaneously. It’s odd that Samsung even launched with original Note with the Note 2 on the horizon, but releasing the followup to a device just about three months after it first hit shelves is a curious move any way you slice it. [via SamMobile]
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| Google acquires company behind iOS photo app Snapseed Posted: 17 Sep 2012 09:26 AM PDT Google is looking to bolster its arsenal yet again with the purchase of Nik Software, the company behind the popular iOS photo sharing app Snapseed. Snapseed, for those Android users who may have never encountered it, is from the same vein as the likes of Instagram and Hipstamatic, and could be leveraged by Google in several ways. Two obvious uses Google might find include image editing within Google+ as well as enhancements to the stock Android camera, though it is unclear at this time the exact intentions of the company. There is also no guarantee we’ll have any clarity on the matter in the near future, as Google often takes months to fully fold new acquisitions into their current plans. One thing is for certain: the acquisition likely has little to do with competing directly with Instagram or their parent company Facebook, nor does it likely signal the end of Snapseed for iOS, an app that was named iPad App of the Year in 2011 by Apple. [via Gizmodo]
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| Benchmark results show quad-core CPU for ASUS PadFone 2 Posted: 17 Sep 2012 09:03 AM PDT The followup to the ASUS PadFone has made an appearance in the AnTuTu benchmark database, and the results suggest a slightly beefed up phone-in-a-tablet is on our future. From the sound of things, ASUS is going quad-core this time, which seems like a no-brainer given the PadFone’s position as a top tier device in the company’s product lineup. All signs point to the manufacturer sticking with a Snapdragon, but in this case going with the S4 Pro as opposed to the dual-core edition found in the first PadFone. Otherwise we know very little about how the PadFone 2 will update the original, but there are rumors of 2GB of RAM. As with the Transformer line, we expect ASUS’ improvements to mostly focus on bringing the device in line with the current generation of high-end devices more so than a total redesign of the original concept. There is no word on when we might see the second edition introduced, but an introduction during CES in January seems plausible. [via PocketNow]
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| Amazon introduces mapping API as alternative to Google Posted: 17 Sep 2012 08:36 AM PDT Amazon is giving developers a pathway to bucking Google from their mobile apps if they so choose. As part of their mobile app SDK, the retailer-turned-tablet-maker has introduced a new maps API, which developers can utilize in their own applications to provide mapping functionality. The new API will provide similar capabilities to what Google offers, including the ability to pinpoint a user’s current location as well as overlay satellite imagery, points of interest, and local data. Where, exactly, Amazon is pulling its mapping data from remains a mystery. With the Kindle Fire line of tablets Amazon may have chosen Android for the operating system, but it has been retooled in a way so as to distance it from Google’s build. Google’s suite of mobile apps are also not included. The introduction of their own maps API only serves to further drive a wedge between the two. The move certainly won’t sit well with Google, but they have little choice given the free and open nature of the Android OS. [via GigaOM]
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| Shazam expands its tagging capabilities, can now identify TV shows Posted: 17 Sep 2012 08:03 AM PDT If you watch enough TV, you have probably seen a commercial or two with Shazam logo in the corner urging you to head to the app to instantly obtain more info about the advertised product. But that’s not the only way Shazam is getting tied into TV. The folks behind the song identification app have quietly been rolling out the ability to tag television shows, with the goal being to provide additional info about a show such as the cast and credits rather than provide identification. The functionality has been built into the current version of Shazam, but the company has been keeping the feature on the down-low until only recently. So if you were to tune into your favorite show right now, you should be able to pull up additional info. And it should be a lot easier with full TV shows. Those 30-second commercials are usually over before the app can even finish processing what is being watched. [via TechCrunch]
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