June 2010 Archives

Jun

Google Maps 4.3 Update Rolls Out 3 New Awesome Features

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Today Google released an updated version 4.3 of its popular Google Maps Android application. The update brings the following features:

reviews for places now contain more detailed ratings of individual qualities, such as food, service, selection, atmosphere, value, and more
public transit stations now contain schedules, making half of the public transportation apps out there instantly obsolete, especially considering that Google Maps on Android supports getting directions via public transport
adding friends in Latitude, which is Google's version of foursquare, is now very easy - in fact some of you (*cough* @Stericson *cough*) have been doing nothing but

...

Jun

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HTC Aria Rooted Two Days After Release, Instructions Are Live

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Aria (Liberty), HTC, Mods, News

This article mentions rooting and flashing of non-stock ROMs. If you’re unfamiliar with either term, hit up our primers here and here for additional information

After being out for just two days, the HTC Aria has been rooted. Turns out the method Android hacker and XDA-Devs forum member Eugene373 (you may remember him as the man who also rooted the MyTouch 3G Slide last Tuesday) used to hack the Slide works for the Aria as well.

The full root is a 19-step process, and while it isn’t exceedingly tricky, it isn’t simple either – first time rooters, beware. The root ...

Jun

No More Invites - Google Voice Opened To Public

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, News

Great news for those of you in the US today, as Google has now moved Voice out of private and into public beta. The service, among other things, allows users to:

choose a phone number and then funnel all calls through this new number
have multiple phones ring simultaneously
manage a variety of rules, treating each contact differently (sending straight to voicemail, playing an out of service message, etc)
transcribe voicemail messages straight to their inboxes.

Users may place phone calls through Google Voice without using their minutes, and phone calls made to any of the 50 states or Canada ...

Jun

802.11n Available For Rooted EVOs And Incredibles, (Maybe) Officially Coming Soon To Incredible

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Devices By Manufacturer, Droid Incredible, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Mods, News

As if the EVO and Incredible weren’t already great phones, it turns out both are capable of 802.11n.

Incredible

An FCC filing by HTC was posted a few days ago, revealing that the Droid Incredible packs a chip that supports 802.11n, though currently not supported by the OS itself. Speculation around the interwebs is that it means such support will be added in a future update from HTC. I’m slightly less convinced of this than the rest of the blogger-army, but more on that in a minute. Regardless, the Android-hacking community already came up with a way to enable 802.11n ...

Jun

Samsung Expands Galaxy S To T-Mobile – Introducing Samsung Vibrant

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, News, Samsung, T-Mobile, Vibrant

Last Updated: June 23rd, 2010

Last week, Samsung announced the Galaxy S for AT&T would be named the Captivate. Today, they have announced the same phone for T-Mobile will be called the Vibrant, and boy is it (still) one sexy piece of kit.

In case you need a refresher on the details, based on AT&T’s spec page:

Android 2.1 with Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 user interface overlay
4” AMOLED Screen
1 GHz Hummingbird CPU
16 GB internal storage (and support for a 32 GB microSD card)
802.11n, FM Radio
Bluetooth 3.0
5 MP camera (no flash), 720p video recording

Couple this with the fact ...

Jun

First Motorola Droid X Commercial Shows Up, Contains Lots Of Easter Eggs - Can You Find Them All?

First Motorola Droid X Commercial Shows Up, Bursting With Easter Eggs - Can You Find Them All?

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Droid X (Shadow), Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless, Videos

In preparation for the Droid 2 and Droid X launch, Verizon has put out its first commercial, in the best Droid traditions, complete with the "Droid" sound at the end.

Did you even notice how much information this video just provided? Besides the flashing X symbol, pointing at the model being advertised, can you spot all the other easter eggs? Switch to full screen and up the video quality to 480p to see the details better.

For the impatient ones, the list comes after the break. But don't spoil the surprise - watch the video first.

Here are the easter ...

Jun

Samsung Galaxy S Already Rooted!

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy S, Mods, News, Samsung

This article mentions rooting and flashing of non-stock ROMs. If you’re unfamiliar with either term, hit up our primers here and here for additional information

Well, this didn't take long. A samdroid.net admin by the name of LeshaK just announced that he had rooted Galaxy S, after playing with the open source code released by Samsung earlier:

Now we have
1. Full Root access from adb
2. Root in terminal via 'su'

More detailed instructions are posted in the thread.

While I haven't seen anyone verify LeshaK's statement yet, if true, this is going to make the upcoming ...

Jun

Sling Player Mobile For Android Goes Live Early - Available On The Android Market Immediately For $30

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

The long awaited Sling Player Mobile application is now officially available on the Android Market, with download numbers <50 (i.e. moments ago).

Sling promised the app would go live tomorrow but pulled the trigger early and launched it today instead (though I guess it is tomorrow in some time zones).

Update: their Android page is now live.

Things are looking good - so far all 3 reviews are 5 stars, though this may change when we get more installations. Here are the snaps from the Android Market as of a few minutes ago:

You can download by scanning this ...

Jun

Google Officially Updates Us On Froyo Status - FRF72 Was Not Final, Release Date Still Unknown, "On Its Way Shortly"

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Froyo 2.2, News

We've been watching the semi-official "when will Froyo come out" thread at Google support forums for quite a while, and lately have been seeing more and more unhappy Nexus One and other Android users, complaining about Google's failure to deliver Froyo in a promised "within a few weeks" timeline.

Today, after the release of iOS, things have really heated up - there are now over 1275 responses to the thread, all wanting to know the same thing - when will Froyo finally come out?

To ease up the tension, from time to time, Google's awesome PR machine in the ...

Jun

Play DivX, H264, MKV, and AVI Files On Your Android Device Using RockPlayerBase

Posted by John Thompson in Applications, Apps/Games, News

One of Android’s major shortcomings is its lack of compatibility with many audio and video file types. Fortunately, doubleTwist stepped in to fix the audio problem, but what about video playback? That’s where RockPlayerBase comes in!

Compatible with a plethora of video formats, including MKV, AVI and DivX, RockPlayerBase combines great compatibility with a simple interface. Controls are overlaid on the screen, so you can still see the video track whilst using the controls.