June 2011 Archives

Jun

[Weekend Poll] How Much Cellular Data Does Your Device Use Per Month?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Carriers, Editorials, News, Polls

Last Updated: September 3rd, 2011

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see How Much Has Owning A Tablet Impacted Your Computer Use?

It seems the explosive growth of smartphone use has had some unintended consequences: U.S. carriers are moving towards tiered data. While some carriers have had "soft" caps for years, we've recently seen a move towards hard caps. "Tiered" plans have long been standard in other parts of the world, but the simple difference is that US carriers charge significantly more across the board - be it basic plans (just minutes), add-on's (such as texting), or ...

Jun

Exclusive Download + Video: Root-Friendly Flashable Gingerbread Update For HTC Droid Incredible 2 [Leak]

Posted by Justin Case in Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, Incredible 2 (Vivow), News

Last Updated: June 27th, 2011

Yesterday, a signed Gingerbread RUU was leaked for the HTC Incredible 2 by MobileUnderground member Football. xgunther and I over at the AndIRC Incredible 2 chat repacked it and made it root-friendly.

Right now, you have to be one of the lucky few to be set S-OFF and rooted by AlphaRevX and running ClockworkMod recovery in order to flash the pre-rooted ROM. For those who are not that lucky (yet), enjoy the pictures and videos while we all wait for AlphaRevX to release the full unlock for the Incredible 2.

Note: Please note that we recommend against flashing ...

Jun

[Updated] Sprint Wisens Up, Plans To Allow Bloatware Removal On Future Android Devices

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Sprint

Update: For those of you that thought this was too good to be true, you may be right. It turns out that most of the bloatware is still unremovable on the EVO 3D, so we'll just have to wait and see how Sprint handles this moving forward.

Yesterday we told you that all the unwanted junk bundled with the EVO 3D could be removed like any other app, a feature that no other phone/carrier had previously offered. Personally, I thought it was a fluke and Sprint would quickly release an OTA update to lock these apps in place - but ...

Jun

[Tip] [Updated] Don't Want Bloatware On Your HTC EVO 3D? It Can Be Uninstalled Just Like Any Other App

Posted by Cameron Summerson in EVO 3D (Shooter), News, Tips

Update: It turns out that this may not be as encompassing as we originally thought. According to Reddit member apantek, only a very limited amount of bloatware can be removed, leaving the bulk of it untouchable (this has been confirmed by our own Jaroslav Stekl). The unremovable files include:

Facebook for HTC Sense
Flickr
Footprints
HTC Hub
Peep
Picasa web albums
Polaris Office
Ringtone Trimmer
Spider-Man
Sprint Zone
The Green Hornet 3D
TrimIt

So, while Sprint may be making steps in the right direction, it's not completely there yet.

---Original post:

One of the biggest pet peeves ...

Jun

Just In: Android Web Market Now Shows A Handy App Rating Breakdown Chart

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, News

Friday seems to be the Android web Market team's favorite day to release new features, no matter how incrementally small they may be. Today is no exception, as the web Market now includes a neat little breakdown chart of application ratings on each app page, together with a prominent average score. Have a look at the ratings for the Facebook app, which got an update today:

Every little bit counts, so thanks for this pre-weekend present, Google!

Cheers, Joseph!

...

Jun

Facebook For Android Updated To v1.6, Brings Pages, Video Uploads, And News Feed Improvements

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Following a lengthy period of beta testing (about 1 month), version 1.6 of the Facebook Android app is now in the Market. As expected, the update brings with it:

video uploads
access to pages
improvements to the news feed (though the expected comment liking did not seem to make it for some reason)

Not much to say here - the amount of new features is really not that extensive. Go grab the update from the Market or use our widget below and let us know what else you find (what are these "improvements" to the news feed for example?)....

Jun

[AtriX-Mas Continues] XDA Serves Up Gingerbread 2.3.4 For The Motorola ATRIX

Posted by Matt Demers in Atrix 4G (Olympus), Gingerbread 2.3, Motorola, News

As an Atrix owner, these past couple of days have been a bit of a "Christmas in (almost) July" celebration. First, we get confirmation that our bootloader will be unlocked with Android 2.3.4. After that, the phone is placed on sale on Amazon for one measly cent. Then XDA Developers say "screw that; we'll give you an unlock on Froyo!"

Now, in perhaps the biggest gift yet, the genius minds over at XDA have devised a way for users to install a pre-release build of Gingerbread 2.3.4 on their phones.

As with the bootloader unlocks, this

...

Jun

HTC EVO 4G vs. EVO Shift vs. EVO 3D: Battle Of The Specs

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in EVO 3D (Shooter), EVO 4G (Supersonic), EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), HTC, News, Sprint

It's June 24th, and you know what that means: the heir to the throne of the EVO 4G, one of Sprint's most successful Android devices ever, has officially gone on sale. But considering that reviews have been mixed and that purchasing the EVO 3D will lock you into a two-year contract, the buying decision is understandably difficult.

To help you find out whether Sprint's latest flagship phone is right for you, we've put together a handy-dandy table comparing the specs of all three members of the EVO family:

Spec type	EVO 4G	EVO Shift 4G	EVO 3D
CPU	1GHz

...

Jun

[Update: Now Available For Non-Tegra Devices!] The Amazingly Brutal, Yet Excellent Samurai II: Vengeance Hits The Android Market [Blood Warning]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Games, News

With today's Motorola XOOM release, we are finding ourselves searching for apps and games optimized specifically for larger screens and raw Tegra 2 power. It doesn't look like we'll have too much trouble, as quality games have already started pouring into the Market.

The good news: 2 hours ago, Samurai II: Vengeance appeared in the Android Market.

The not so good news: the game is carrying the tag THD (Tegra HD), meaning it is optimized for Tegra-based Android devices only, according to its description. This means the XOOM, the Adam, the gTablet, and the Atrix are pretty much the only ...

Jun

[Review] Cut The Rope On Android Shows Us What A Great Port Looks Like

Posted by Matt Demers in Game Reviews, Games, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Cut The Rope, which arrived to Android yesterday, is one of those "top shelf" iOS titles that has done so well for itself that it's become synonymous with mobile gaming. Of course, it isn't at an "Angry Birds" level yet, but it's permeated the public consciousness to a point where I've heard non-gamer friends talk about it with enthusiasm.

Cut The Rope is a puzzle game where you aim to feed a piece of candy to a green monster named Omnom. The candy is being held aloft by a piece of rope, which is affected by physics and is ...

Jun

Sprint's Q3 Roadmap Leaked - Samsung Epic 2 And "Full Touch 4G" Device In The Pipeline

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Epic 4G Touch, Samsung, Sprint, Within

The EVO 3D just came out today, but it looks like HTC's new flagship won't be the last high-end Android phone to grace Sprint store shelves this year. Quite the contrary - according to This is my next, whose editors have a nearly spotless track record where leaks are concerned, "Big Yellow" is gearing up to launch two new Android handsets, this time from Samsung: the Epic 2 and an as-of-yet nameless "full touch 4G" device.

The Epic 2, as its name implies, will be the successor to last year's Epic 4G. Sadly, This is my next reports that ...

Jun

[Leak] Motorola Droid 3 To Be Released On July 14th?

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Droid 3, News, Rumors

If there is anything that we don't know about the Motorola Droid 3 at this point, it's the release date. That last bit of the puzzle looks to have been found by Droid Attic though, as they have gotten a hold of an internal image from Best Buy that suggests a July 14th release date.

That release date is one week after VZW's rumored transition from unlimited to tiered data, so if you're thinking about making the switch to Big Red for this phone, get ready to watch those MBs closely.

[Droid Attic via Engadget]

...

Jun

[Download] Official Sideload Enabler For Motorola Bravo

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Bravo, News

It's been a few weeks since AT&T changed its stance on sideloading apps - but the changeover has been a slow process thus far, as there has been but one update pushed out. It appears that Ma Bell may be taking a different, albeit much easier, approach to enabling sideloading now, as it has released an enabler app for the Bravo into the Android Market.

It's an extremely easy process: install the app, configure your device to allow sideloading, and that's it. Once you're finished you can even uninstall the enabler, as it has served its purpose.

So, ...

Jun

[Unconfirmed] Telstra: Who Cares About Sense UI? We'll Put Stock Gingerbread On Your HTC Desire

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), News

Last week, HTC dropped the bomb: "due to memory constraints," Gingerbread would not be coming to the Desire. Then, less than 24 hours later, it flipped the script and said that Gingerbread will hit the Desire, minus a few apps. It appears that Australian carrier Telstra doesn't want to deal with the flip-flop, according to a statement on the software updates page of its site:

Due to the increased memory requirements of the ‘Gingerbread’ update, new software that does not include HTC’s Sense UI is being prepared.

Pretty bold, right? Now, I don't want to rain on anyone's parade, ...

Jun

Zinio And NVIDIA Team Up To Bring Hardware-Accelerated Magazine Reading To Tegra Tablets

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

One of the best things about having a tablet is that it can take the place of many other, usually not-so-techy, things in our lives. Paper products like newspapers and magazines, for example, are easily replaceable with a simple application. Zinio is a popular newsstand app that aims to take the place of the latter, and while it has only been in the Android Market for a short amount of time, it just received an update that makes it even more desirable.