April 2011 Archives

Apr

Lenovo's Honeycomb-Powered ThinkPad Tablet Leaked, Set For Release This Summer

In case you aren't sold on any of the current crop of Honeycomb tablets, Lenovo is about to throw their hat in the ring with the ThinkPad Tablet (also called the Think Slate). The folks at This is my next got ahold of a PowerPoint with all the specs, and this tablet can certainly hold its own amongst the competition:

NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor
Android 3.0 with custom Lenovo UI
1280 x 800 IPS 10.1" display
16, 32, and 64 GB models
USB, micro USB, mini HDMI ports
Full SD card reader
3G and possible 4G connectivity

Interestingly enough, the ...

Apr

[Weekend Poll] Thinness Vs. Battery Life: FIGHT!

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Devices By Manufacturer, Polls

Last Updated: September 3rd, 2011

This is the newest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see How Significantly Will The Number Of Cores Factor Into Your Next Phone Purchase?

In keeping with the more technical nature of the last Weekend Poll: what's more important to you - battery life or thinness? Obviously there is something of a balance there, but not all phones strike it well. So which is more important to you? Would you rather have a sleek, thin device with middling battery life? Or something of a porker that allows you to power-use all day without worrying about your phone running ...

Apr

HTC Flyer To Be Available For Pre-Order April 25 For $499

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Flyer, HTC, News

Everybody's favorite non-Honeycomb tablet is inching closer and closer to its US launch. The WiFi-only version of the HTC Flyer will be available for pre-order exclusively from Best Buy starting this Monday (April 25) for the rather competitive price of $499. It may be lacking in a dual-core processor, but hey, at least it won't be identical to the upcoming flood of Honeycomb tablets.

Source: Best Buy via Droid-Life

...

Apr

[Story Time] Sprint + Google Voice Integration: I Did It, And Here's How It Went

Posted by Brad Ganley in Carriers, Editorials, News, Sprint, Tips

Back in March, when we first heard about Sprint getting the Nexus S, we also heard about their fancy new Google Voice integration plan. The idea was simple: Let Sprint users do one of two things:

Use their current Sprint phone number as a Google Voice number, enabling all of Voice's awesome features to be utilized without having to create a group on Facebook to give out your new number.
Allow current Google Voice users to use their Voice number for their Sprint line without having to port the number to Sprint, because, a while ago, they went through

...

Apr

HoneyReader Is An Android Feed Reader Made Specifically For Honeycomb

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Last Updated: April 24th, 2011

While browsing the XOOM xda forum today, I saw this announcement of HoneyReader, a new application built specifically with Honeycomb tablets in mind. Because it doesn't have to support pre-Honeycomb versions of the OS or small-sized phone screens altogether, the authors concentrated on making it a great tablet experience, and I must say, their first take is pretty good.

HoneyReader uses the native to Honeycomb Fragments API that on the surface translates to fluid and flexible UI elements that can divide the screen into separately scrollable independent areas with their own lifecycles. If you're familiar with the CNN app, ...

Apr

104

[Giant Giveaway #1] Win A Free Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi For Doing Close To Nothing!

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Contests / Giveaways, Motorola, XOOM

Last Updated: July 18th, 2011

Earlier this week, I dropped a hint on Twitter that we have a few awesome giveaways lined up here at Android Police, and I really wasn't kidding.

To start things off, NVIDIA and Android Police have teamed up to give away a free Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi edition. The dual-core Tegra 2 tablet can be yours - all you have to do is enter by following the rules below.

More great - even better - prizes are coming up shortly, so be sure to keep following Android Police on Twitter, Facebook, and RSS.

Giveaway

And here is the ...

Apr

[New Game] Death Worm For Android. Need I Say More?

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Games, News

It's not very often that I get the honor of telling people about a game as awesome as Death Worm. Ah, that sparked your attention, yes? Read on to find out more. But first, some obligatory screenshots:

Death Worm by Playcreek is a new game that has recently been ported from iOS to Android, where you play the part of a giant worm-ish creature set to wreak havoc on everything possible. CJ Lippstreu over at SmartKeitai has done an excellent video review, so I'll let him take it from here:

You can snag this insane worm-on-human slaughterfest for ...

Apr

LG Releases G2x Source, Apparently Doesn't Know About The 90 Day Rule

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Dev, G2x (p999), News

We told you about Samsung dropping the source for the Sidekick 4G this morning, and now it's LG's turn to release some code. The lucky winner is... the G2x. That's right, this awesome new beast-of-a-phone has already received ClockwordMod Recovery and now it's about to get even better - as soon as devs get ahold of the source and start cooking up some homebrew Android goodness (CyanogenMod, anyone?).

It's hard to believe they've done in a week what HTC thinks could take 90-120 days of hard work and intensive decision-making!

You can get your hands on the download by ...

Apr

[Deal Alert] LG G2x On T-Mobile For $50 From CellHub

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Deals, G2x (p999), News, T-Mobile

Remember the T-Mobile G2x that came out just two days ago? Well, it looks like the folks over at CellHub are offering an unbelievable deal on this brand new Tegra2 powered device: with a new two-year agreement, you can score this beauty for just $50.

If you have never heard of CellHub, don't stress, because we hadn't either. We decided to do some digging and, come to find out, these guys are most definitely legit, rocking an almost 5-star score on ResellerRatings.

Update: Up to $100 now. Congratulations to those who snagged a $50 G2x. Even at ...

Apr

Google Cloud Music? - Rumors Of Partnership Talks Between Spotify and Google

Posted by Zak Stinson in Android OS, News, Rumors

The word on the web today is that Google is in negotiations with Spotify, the European answer to Grooveshark, to partner up on Google's upcoming music streaming project. CNET's source claims that during talks with major record labels, Google did a bit of name dropping and announced that they were hoping to work with the popular European music streaming service, although nobody from either Google or Spotify was available to comment on that rumor.

This isn't the only cloud music company that Google has shown an interest in. Back in May 2010, Google bought Simplify Media, a company ...

Apr

DROID X2 Press Shots Leak, With A Little Tweak To The Name

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Droid X2, News, Verizon Wireless

We've already seen videos and benchmarks of the not-so-well-kept-secret that is the Droid X2, and now we get to see some press shot goodness, along with a little bit of a name change. It turns out that it won't be called the DROID X2, but instead... DROID X². I told you the change was little. So, without further ado, here are the press shots:

That was kind of anticlimactic, wasn't it? Just like all the previous leaks, it looks almost identical to the original DROID X (sans camera button), with a tiny tweak in hue. The similarities stop there, though, ...

Apr

DROID Pro Update Is Rolling Out Now, Includes Bug Fixes and UI Improvements

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Droid Pro, News, Verizon Wireless

It looks like an update for the Blackberry-style DROID Pro has just hit the Verizon update network, which will bring the current software version up to 3.8.7. It's not as exciting as a Gingerbread update would be, but it does bring some welcome bug fixes and UI enhancements.

Also included in this update are several Exchange ActiveSync improvements, like calendar synchronization. The rest of this update consists primarily of bug fixes, a Bluetooth voice recording enhancement, and the addition of Verizon's V CAST Appstore.

According to Motorola's support forums, you should be able to pull this update now by ...

Apr

Android Takes Over Rogers.com - This You Need To See

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in News, Off-Topic, Rogers

Rogers, one of the top Canadian ISPs and carriers, wants you to know that it has some Android phones you can buy. It really-really wants you to know, in the most awesome way I've seen in a while (possibly ever). Have a look at the Android takeover of Rogers.com, which includes a brilliant intro and a landing page packed with Android news, videos, device info, and even a contest.

Alright, enough with this reading business - get to the watching part.

Source: Rogers via Mobile Syrup

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Apr

Another Gingerbread Leak Shows Up, This Time For... The Samsung Galaxy Ace [Download Mirror]

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Dev, Galaxy Ace, News

So this one came as a shocker to me: according to PocketNow, an official Gingerbread 2.3.3 ROM has been leaked for the Samsung Galaxy Ace. For those unfamiliar with the Galaxy Ace, it is a budget smartphone that's available primarily in the European market as part of a quartet of devices, including the Galaxy Gio, Galaxy Mini, and Galaxy Fit.

The update is probably not final and could contain bugs, so download it at your own risk. If it doesn't end up working for you, let us know, and if it does, well, let us know as well....