July 2010 Archives

Jul

Fresh Evo 3.0 Bringing FroYo To HTC EVO 4G, Based On Official HTC OTA Update

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in EVO 4G (Supersonic), Froyo 2.2, Mods, News, Sprint

Awesome ROM dev Flipz has sent out a beta of his newest ROM(Fresh Evo 3.0) to testers. Unlike other FroYo ROMs, such as CM6, Fresh Evo 3.0 is based on the official (but not final) Android 2.2 update (accidentally) released by HTC last night, rather than AOSP (Android Open Source Project) code. Hopefully, this provides an experience close to stock, but with minor improvements.

Fresh ROMs tend to provide better performance (both in terms of benchmarks such as Linpack, and in terms of usability – scrolling smoothness and so forth). They also remove all the bloatware bundled with ...

Jul

[Hands On] Gmote: Master Your PC’s Media Using Your Android Phone

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in App Reviews, Applications, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

I watch a lot of movies on my TV through my PC (rather than my 360, since Netflix says I have to have a Live Gold membership – stupid). This setup works just fine, since my PC sits right under my TV anyway, so my couch is just a few feet away. However, this means that any time I want to control the movie, I have to get up and go to the computer to do so – a definite pain. I made a few attempts at using VNC apps to do so, but they’re not well suited for such ...

Jul

[Updated] Want To Join The Android Police Team? We Are Looking For Quality Community Contributors

Posted by Android Police Team in News

Last Updated: October 18th, 2011

We here at Android Police love writing original content, scoping out and delivering news, and developing useful site tools and features. We also pride ourselves in taking time with our articles and maintaining high content quality.

We love crafting and sculpting our articles so much that it doesn't leave enough time in the day to cover everything we want and some news goes unpublished, some apps unreviewed, and some Android fans end up missing out on the info they wanted.

Android Police aims to be a community site, maintained and contributed to not only by the site founders but ...

Jul

WaveSecure (Phone Recovery And Security App) Developer Acquired By McAfee: McAfee For Android Coming Soon?

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, News

It was only 5 days ago we offered up our readers licenses to tenCube’s phone security and locator app, WaveSecure. We were utterly impressed by the app’s rich feature set, and its clear focus on presenting itself in a professional and well-polished fashion.

Apparently McAfee was of a similar opinion. In a lengthy press release (shown below), McAfee announced they had acquired tenCube (who develop WaveSecure). What does it mean? We’ll probably be seeing a McAfee-branded WaveSecure hitting the Android Market fairly soon, perhaps sporting some exciting new features. Given reports on the insecurity of mobile data, players like ...

Jul

171

[Updated, New Instructions, Mirror] BREAKING: HTC Releases Android 2.2 FroYo OTA For EVO4G [Download]

Posted by David Ruddock in Dev, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News

We’ve just received word that the EVO4G OTA to FroYo (internally known at HTC as update 3.26) is now available for download directly from HTC’s website. Link below.

Update #1: we just received another word from HTC that this is NOT the final update. The final is going to go out next week.

Update #2: all your settings should be preserved with this OTA. No data loss should occur.

You will lose root if you install this update. If you are running a custom ROM, please wait for your ROM developer to release the next version.

Download:

~~EVO~~

...

Jul

O.G. Motorola Droid Will Get FroYo Next Week, Says Verizon

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Droid (Sholes), Froyo 2.2, News, Verizon Wireless

Looks like Verizon isn’t looking to be a distant second in the race to FroYo, as they’ve just dropped word that the original Motorola Droid is scheduled to receive the Android 2.2 (FroYo) update sometime next week. Given that FroYo is a huge step up from Eclair (2.1), and the Droid commands somewhere around 30% of the Android market, this is big news. Take it with a grain of salt, though – Verizon has a history of delaying updates.

[Source: Engadget]

...

Jul

Antennagate Continues: Motorola Strikes Back (Again) – This Time, With A Little More Subtlety

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Droid X (Shadow), Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

Antennagate may be a little played out by this point, but you can’t blame Motorola for trying to capitalize on it for as long as possible.

After some pretty public back-and-forth between Apple and Motorola’s PR departments, Motorola has seemingly decided to get serious about the underlying issue, as well as work to address any questions and put any doubts to rest, by putting up a FAQ page dedicated solely to “Antenna Design and Call Quality.”

The FAQ seems to take the high road, steering clear of any references to specific devices or manufacturers. It’s actually rather enlightening, if you’re ...

Jul

Motorola Droid X And Samsung Captivate Open Source Code Released

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Captivate, Droid X (Shadow), Eclair 2.1, Motorola, News, Samsung

Last Updated: November 23rd, 2011

As part of the Android's open source Apache license, manufacturers are required to publicly release all of their own modifications and improvements made to the Android core. Today, both Samsung and Motorola decided it would be the perfect time to drop the Captivate and Droid X code to their respective open source sites.

This will allow ROM developers to figure out all those little quirks specific to the hardware and incorporate them into their releases.

Note, however, that the Android license doesn't cover proprietary extensions, such as custom vendor applications and widgets, and therefore does not require manufacturers to ...

Jul

Samsung Galaxy S "Tab" Tablet Spotted, Confirmed For Q3 2010

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Galaxy Tab

Last Updated: May 3rd, 2011

Samsung has confirmed that their Android tablet device, the Galaxy Tab, will be shipping in Q3 of this year. The Galaxy Tab has been rumored for some time now, and is very similar in design and function to the Galaxy S line of phones – which our own unboxings show are some pretty gorgeous pieces of kit.

As you can see, the tab truly does look like an oversized Galaxy S. While it’s certainly not ugly, the Tab doesn’t quite seem to pull the look off as well – this is a case where simply being blown up just ...

Jul

Milestone Reached: Android App Markets Reach 100,000 Submitted And 83,000 Active Applications

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, News

Today marks the first time we see the number "100,000" associated with the Android Market. Or, wait, no we don't - remember this, this, this, and about 5 million other posts? Let me try again.

Today marks the first time Android actually crossed the 100,000 apps mark, a whole month early from my earlier September projection, if we go by the unofficial app count from AndroLib.com:

Don't be confused by the discrepancies in the official count and AndroLib - as we explained before, they count many markets (not just the official Android Market) and don't account ...

Jul

Unlocked European Desires Getting Froyo And A Few Other Features This Weekend

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Froyo 2.2, News

HTC is not resting on its laurels with the latest version of Android. Hot off the heels of yesterday’s announcement that the EVO would be the first phone to receive an update to Android 2.2 (other than the Nexus One, of course), HTC has told Engadget that unlocked European Desires would be receiving the update this weekend, which would also include an App Sharing widget, 720p video recording, iTunes sync, and improved Caller ID.

Anyone who happens to have an unlocked European Desire should receiving a notification within the next two days telling you an update is available. It is ...

Jul

Samsung Shows Off All US Samsung Galaxy S Series Phones In This Promo Video - Share It With Your Non-Android Friends

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Captivate, Epic 4G, Fascinate, Galaxy S, News, Samsung, Vibrant, Videos

Samsung Galaxy S series phones - Captivate, Vibrant, Epic 4G, and Fascinate - are definitely the cool new kids on the block, and Samsung wants everyone to know that.

In this relatively lengthy promotional video, Samsung has showcased all 4 models (though, we don't get much of the Fascinate past the initial glimpse), highlighting some important aspects of these devices, such as:

Super AMOLED display
keyboard on the Epic 4G
1GHz Hummingbird CPU speed
3D audio
DLNA output
Android 2.1 Eclair (though, the Froyo upgrade is only 1-2 months away)
TouchWiz interface
HD video
Swype
social integration
apps and

...

Jul

It's Official: Android 2.2 FroYo Rolling Out To HTC EVO 4G Starting August 3rd, Possibly Earlier If You Ask Nicely

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in EVO 4G (Supersonic), Froyo 2.2, News, Sprint

EVO 4G owners, we have some great news for you today. According to the official Sprint press release that just came out, the Froyo update will be pushed out in waves to your devices starting August 3rd and continuing through the middle of the month.

Sprint will allow *any* EVO to receive the update without waiting for a notification by initiating the update request manually (Settings > System updates).

It's interesting to note that earlier today, Engadget spotted what looked like a slide from the Sprint's internal system, shining some light on the upcoming rollout process. The leak, which promised ...

Jul

UK Samsung Galaxy S To Receive Froyo Official By The End Of September

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Froyo 2.2, Galaxy S, News

According to the Samsung UK Twitter account, the Froyo update for all Galaxy S phones in the UK is on the way, and is set for release on every carrier by the end of September. They’ve given themselves a full two months of wiggle room, so this seems like a date you can put some faith into.

This is still good news for everyone outside of the UK. The update may still be in the development phase, but a September release means carriers in countries outside the UK should be receiving the update in the same timeframe (which is good, ...

Jul

Motorola Droid 2 User Guide Leaked

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Droid 2, News, Verizon Wireless

As usual, Droid-Life has come through with another leak – this time, it’s the Droid 2 user guide, available for your download and viewing pleasure here. We already know most of the details about it, including the launch date (soft launch on August 12), and the specs: