November 2010 Archives

Nov

The Mother Of All Deals: Motorola Droid Pro, Droid X, Droid 2, And Droid Incredible On Sale For A Mere $0.01 At Amazon

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Deals, Droid 2, Droid Incredible, Droid Pro, Droid X (Shadow), Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

Wow... that's the only word I have to describe what Amazon Wireless pulled this morning. Amazon and Wirefly oftentimes offer killer deals compared to the carriers (like yesterday's $50 Droid Pro Wirefly deal), but this one is just ridiculous. All of the Droid phones, including the newly released Droid Pro, are exactly 1 penny over at Amazon Wireless for new Verizon customers:

Droid Pro (see our Droid Pro unboxing and first impressions)
Droid X (see our Droid X review roundup)
Droid 2 (see our Droid 2 review)
Droid Incredible (see our Droid Incredible review roundup)

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Nov

360° View Of HTC Merge Discovered On Verizon's Site, Quickly Pulled

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Merge, News, Verizon Wireless

An Android Central forums member managed to find the 360° view Flash file for the HTC Merge, and Phil @ AC was smart enough to grab a video of it in action before it was pulled. It's nice to finally be able to see how this guy looks all the way around - a screen and keyboard shot only gets you so far, after all.

A bit gaudy for my tastes, but I'm a simple kind of man.

[Source: Android Central]

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Nov

Ubuntu Hacked Onto Samsung Galaxy Tab

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Galaxy Tab, Mods, News

As the saying goes, where there's a will, there's a way - and there's always a will among the guys (and gals) at XDA-Devs. This time around, it's booting Ubuntu on the Samsung Galaxy Tab; unfortunately, though, it's not without a fair number of kinks at this point.

XDA member dviera88 discovered that the method used to boot Ubuntu on the Epic 4G also works on the Galaxy Tab (unsurprising, given just how similar the two are). He's provided a nearly 13-minute video detailing how to get it up and running and providing a quick usage demonstration. Heads-up, though: it's ...

Nov

Qualcomm Unveils 2011 Dual Core Snapdragons: 5x CPU Performance, 1/4 Power Consumption, GPU Rivaling PS3/XBOX 360

Posted by Nate Kimmey in News

Despite all this talk about upcoming phones and tablets running on the Tegra 2 processor, you may want to stop and consider the new offering in the Snapdragon line of processors from Qualcomm. Taking a 28-nm dual core beast (MSM8960), the company promises speeds up to five times their current offerings, as well as 75% less lower power usage.

But the real shocker here is the updated GPU, which Qualcomm claims is capable of delivering gaming performance equal to the of an Xbox 360 or PS3.

We should certainly wait for some real life tests and comparisons to Tegra 2 ...

Nov

NEC, Casio, And Hitachi To Jump Into The Android Game Next Year

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in News

NEC, Casio, And Hitachi, known as NEC Casio Mobile Communications since their merger in 2009, have been pretty quiet about their Android plans so far. However, after seeing Panasonic take the plunge yesterday and announce its plans to enter the Android market in 2011, NEC Casio couldn't hold it anymore and spilled the beans today.

According to Keitai Watch, the company plans to begin selling Android devices starting with Japan in 2011, and the rest of the world in 2012. Out of the 12 million projected worldwide device sales, 50% or so would be smartphones, and 40% of them ...

Nov

HTC Releases Source Code For T-Mobile G2, myTouch 4G, And Droid Incredible Kernels

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Droid Incredible, Froyo 2.2, G2 (Vision), HTC, myTouch 4G (Glacier), T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

It's always nice when a manufacturer is nice enough to allow the community to see the source code used to keep device kernels ticking, particularly as this source code can help with troubleshooting and ROM development. They are, to a certain extent, required to do this by the GPLv2 license, but it's still pretty great for all you XDA junkies. Well, if you guys were lusting after the latest source code for the kernels of the T-Mobile G2, the myTouch 4G, or Verizon's Droid Incredible, you can finally stop lurking around, for HTC has, at long last, made the ...

Nov

LG Vortex Now Available: $79.99 From Verizon, Free From Wirefly

Posted by Nate Kimmey in News, Verizon Wireless, Vortex

Last Updated: November 19th, 2010

Specs

The LG Optimus One, the latest Android phone to hit all four national carriers (though AT&T has yet to announce its version), has finally launched on Big Red as the Vortex. Before deciding if this entry-level phone is right for you, be sure to take a look at the specs:

Android 2.2 with custom LG launcher and widgets
3.2-inch 320x480 (HVGA) screen
3.2MP camera
600 MHz processor
WiFi 802.11 b/g
170MB internal memory
1500 mAh battery

Deals

If you're planning on buying the phone directly from Verizon, you may want to re-consider, as it will cost you $79.99 ...

Nov

Ready For Black Friday? Verizon Discounting Plans, US Cellular Offering Cheap Phones Galore

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in News, US Cellular, Verizon Wireless

Now that everyone and their cousin's friend are preparing for Thanksgiving and the national shopping day that follows (Black Friday), we're starting to see some great deals popping up, especially from carriers looking to sway over new customers.

One such carrier, US Cellular, announced today that it will be offering "door-busting" bargains on all four of its Android phones in celebration of Black Friday, beginning November 22 and ending on the 29th. Their deals aren't really mind-blowing in comparison with some of Wirefly's recent deals, but they're quite a bit cheaper than US Cellular's regular prices:

Samsung Mesmerize

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Nov

Remember The Milk Updated To v1.4, Adds Push Syncing Support

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Remember The Milk is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful task management solutions on the market, and its Android app is pure awesomeness. It is extremely polished, and I rely on it reminding me about my tasks, including various Android Police business, every day.

One feature that the RTM app has been lacking is push syncing support, instead making us select a potentially battery-killing polling interval (mine was set to every hour). As I've found out from my own observations, frequent sync is really devastating to the battery life, and should be avoided as much as possible. ...

Nov

Best Buy Takes Over And Peels Off The Yahoo Homepage In A Holiday Campaign, EVO 4G Leading The Pack

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Off-Topic

Here I was, innocently browsing the Yahoo homepage today (I use it as a random site to test my tethered connection), minding my own business. Imagine my surprise when the main navigation column suddenly started peeling off to reveal a so-dear-to-my-heart EVO 4G. Continuing to watch this technique, I observed a flat screen TV and a Blu-ray player before finally seeing the perpetrator on the right - Best Buy. While I'm not usually a fan of Flash ads, this one amused me and reminded me of the upcoming holidays with all the presents that still needed to be bought. Have ...

Nov

Motorola Droid Pro Now Available From Verizon For $179.99, Amazon For $150, Wirefly For Only $50

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Droid Pro, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

The Motorola Droid Pro, Android's first real answer to Blackberry candybar style phones with a full QWERTY keyboard, is now available across the web and in VZW's retail stores.

You can view our unboxing and first impressions of the Droid Pro over here or skip over to the specs to help you make your decision:

CDMA/GSM/UMTS bands
HVGA 320×480 3.1" capacitive display with medium pixel density (160dpi)
TI OMAP 3620 1GHz CPU
512 MB RAM
2GB ROM
1GB built-in storage
5MP dual LED flash with auto focus
802.11 b/g/n WiFi
candybar form factor with a full QWERTY keyboard
Android 2.2

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Nov

Samsung Canada Announces Galaxy S Froyo Upgrade Timelines

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Bell, Captivate, Fascinate, Galaxy S, News, Rogers, Samsung, TELUS, Vibrant

Samsung, which has been under fire from consumers for repeatedly delaying Android 2.2. updates on their Galaxy S line of phones, recently posted an announcement for its Canadian customers on Bell, TELUS, and Rogers. In the announcement, Samsung apologized for delaying the long-awaited update and cited rigorous testing as the current stage of the rollout process.

Now, keeping in mind that these are just estimates, have a look at the upgrade timelines for your Canadian Galaxy S device:

Vibrant from Bell and Captivate from Rogers will be up first in the middle of December
Fascinate from TELUS will not get

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Nov

Millennial Media Report Shows Android Continuing To Take Over

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in News

Millennial Media has released their Mobile Mix for October, and at first sight, the results are fairly impressive. Before diving in, though, it's important to note that the statistics are based on ad clicks, rather than a population sample. However, that doesn't mean they don't help express the overall trends, so with that in mind, let's take a quick look at the highlights.

· This month, for the first time, Android tied with iOS as the largest Smartphone OS on our network, with an 8% increase month-over-month and 37% impression share on our network.
· Apple, the leading device

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Nov

Sony Ericsson X12 "Anzu" Previewed, Found To Be A "Suicide Committed By Blowing Yourself Up With A Stick Of Dynamite"

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12)

Last Updated: January 11th, 2011

Just about a week after Sony Ericsson's latest plaything was first leaked, Mobile-Review's Martin Elm has gotten his greedy hands on the device, and frankly, his initial impressions make the phone seem seriously underwhelming.

Rather than making a truly competitive high-end device, SE appears to have taken the original X10, which never sold well to begin with, and tweaked it here and there without making any major changes.

On the hardware front, Sony Ericsson's bumped the camera's megapixel count from eight to twelve, although Mobile-Review found that the prototype they handled was limited to taking stills at 3MP, ...

Nov

135

Lookout Launches Lookout Premium for $30/Year - We Have 5 Free Licenses To Give Away

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Applications, News

Last Updated: November 24th, 2010

Lookout Premium

Lookout Mobile Security, a free Android app that secures your device from viruses in addition to backing it up and allowing you to remotely locate it, yesterday launched a premium service that we've been expecting for a while. The Premium version is offered as an optional upgrade to a fully functional free base version for an annual fee of $29.99 or a monthly fee of $3. That's a pretty hefty price to charge, especially since regular, free accounts already have access to so many features, so let's take a look at the extras that you get: