July 2011 Archives

Jul

Cincinnati Bell Releases Froyo For The Motorola Milestone XT720, And It's Pre-Rooted

Here is something that you don't hear every day: a carrier released a rooted ROM as an upgrade. That's right - regional carrier Cincinnati Bell pushed an update to its Motorola Milestone XT720 users today, and the update instructions include rooting the device and using Titanium Backup to restore apps. I know, it's hard to believe, so here's a snippet from the official upgrade PDF:

Yeah, believe that. This is indeed an unprecedented move coming from a carrier - after all, most carriers (and manufacturers) fight the rooting community tooth and nail. Because of this, I say to you, Cincinnati Bell - kudos, and you have my respect.

Jul

FlightTrack Gets Update, Now Optimized For Honeycomb

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Popular travel companion app FlightTrack received an update today that brings a few bugs fixes, as well as support for Honeycomb tablets. The updated interface really takes advantage of the screen real estate provided by most tablets, offering a large map-based overview of all flights that are being tracked and two new widgets. The flight search has also been optimized, creating a more intuitive experience across the board.

The standard version of FlightTrack will set you back $4.99, and the Pro version an additional $4.99, but judging by the near-five-star rating in the Android Market, it seems to be well worth the money.

Jul

[Deal Alert] Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi 16GB $450 (10% Off) On eBay

Posted by David Ruddock in Deals, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, Samsung, Tablets, Tips

It seems retailers just can't get rid of the Tab 10.1 - and shrewd consumers are coming out ahead. You can pick up a Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi with 16GB of internal storage for just $450 on eBay (free shipping) sold by DataVision.

The Galaxy Tab 10.1 is probably the best Android tablet you can spend you hard-earned dollars on at the moment, and at this price (10% off retail), it's certainly not a bad buy. And we definitely liked it. This is the smaller 16GB model, presumably the most popular choice among consumers - so it's a bit odd to see retailers are having to put up discounts to offload them already.

Jul

[Deal Alert] Barnes & Noble NOOK Color For $189 From eBay Daily Deals

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Deals, News

The NOOK Color is probably one of the most popular Android tablets on the planet - and it's not even a full-fledged tablet out of the box. Regardless, it's quite easily hacked, and because of this, has been embraced by the Android modding community. In a world of dual-core processors and ten inch screens, it's no powerhouse, but for price and portability, you can't beat it. Here's a look at the hardware specifications:

7 inch, 1024x600 display
800MHz TI processor
512MB RAM
8GB built-in storage

It runs a custom version of Android 2.2 out-of-the-box, but can easily be modded to run custom firmware, like CyanogenMod 7, for example.

Jul

Settlers Of Catan Finally Released For Android - But It's Definitely Not Cheap

Posted by David Ruddock in Games, News

Long have board game geeks awaited the Android debut of the most popular and inventive board game since, arguably, Monopoly. The Settlers of Catan has finally arrived on the Market, but it comes with an admission cost - approximately $4.31. But, given the game's immense popularity worldwide, something tells me fans won't have a problem coughing up the bucks.

In the game, you'll find all the classic Catan gameplay, spruced up with sound effects, game statistics, interactive tutorials, and new scenarios - as well as a choice of which board art (US, German, or Classic) to use. You can also download the Seafarers expansion via in-app purchase, which adds 10 more scenarios.

Jul

Investment Firm Vanguard Releases Two Android Apps - One For Clients, One For Advisors

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

If you have investments or a retirement plan with Vanguard, then you'll be pleased to know that it released an Android app to the Market. The app allows you to access up-to-date info about your account, research investments, perform many types of transactions, and get the latest news from Vanguard and Reuters. If you find a story that you think may be of interest to friends and family, you can easily share it through email or social media.

If you're a Vanguard advisor, you weren't left out in the cold, either: there was also an app released specifically for you.

Jul

Skype V2 Now Working On More "Unsupported" Handsets

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, Droid Charge / i510, EVO 3D (Shooter), Galaxy S II, News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid), Thunderbolt (Mecha)

Yesterday, Skype with video was officially released to the Android Market. There was one problem, though: it was only supported on a small number of seemingly random handsets, like the Nexus S (but not the Nexus S 4G), Desire S, Xperia neo, and Xperia pro. Thanks to the ingenuity of skilled Android modder 0mie, that's no longer the case.

With 0mie's modded version of Skype 2, video chat should be fully working on a number of recent phones, including the Thunderbolt (running Gingerbread), Sensation, EVO 3D, Galaxy S II, and Droid Charge. In theory, this should work on any phone running Gingerbread (as long as it has a front facing camera, of course), so if you test it out on any phone that we haven't already mentioned, drop us a line in the comments with the results.