October 2011 Archives

Oct

Microsoft Getting Royalties From Over Half Of All US Android Phone Sales, Plus: An Interesting Android Licensing Infographic

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Legal, News

Yesterday, Microsoft announced its latest Android licensing deal with Taiwanese manufacturer Compal, marking the company's tenth such agreement to date. While such a small manufacturer in terms of market share makes little overall difference in Microsoft's profits derived from Android, its deals with HTC and Samsung, combined with various smaller manufacturers like Compal, means it now receives royalties from over half of all Android smartphones sold in the US (the figure may be even larger on a global scale).

The major holdouts on the graphic above are Motorola Mobility and LG, though Moto is obviously the majority of that 47% chunk of green.

Oct

New Data Shows Android Has Surpassed iOS For App Downloads, But Still Has Far Fewer Apps Downloaded Per Person

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Apps/Games, News

An analysis of recently compiled data by ABI Research indicates that Android phones are for the first time downloading apps in greater numbers than Apple's iPhone. This would seem like a milestone, but ABI's research also shows that while the total number of apps downloaded onto Android devices in the last quarter exceeds that of the iPhone, Android handsets outnumber iPhones by a factor of 2.4 to 1.

This means that Android users are still downloading far fewer apps on an individual basis than iPhone owners - ABI suggests by a ratio of 2 to 1 one, in Apple's favor.

The growing marketplace for app revenue on Android is clear, as Android growth continues to outstrip the iPhone by a significant margin, app developers are turning their attention to the mobile OS that was once considered a lost cause in terms of making a profit.

Oct

GSM Version Of The DROID RAZR Spotted At FCC - Headed To AT&T Or US Regional Carriers

Posted by David Ruddock in AT&T, Carriers, Droid RAZR / RAZR MAXX, News

The clever folks over at WirelessGoodness located an FCC filing today that indicates with a fair degree of certainty that a GSM version of the upcoming DROID RAZR is headed to either AT&T or US regional carriers, as the phone does not support T-Mobile frequencies. The filing doesn't say anything about the RAZR itself, but it does contain a part number matching the RAZR's unique non-removable battery, the first on a Motorola smartphone.

While the phone will likely be renamed for regional carriers or an AT&T release, there's every reason to think it'll otherwise be pretty much the same phone. In fact, with the LTE radio removed, the GSM version of the RAZR could be even thinner than it's already svelte 7.1mm Verizon sibling, due to come out early next month (November).

Oct

[Update: $30 At Amazon Wireless] Deal Alert: HTC EVO Design 4G $50 With New Agreement At Wirefly

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Deals, EVO Design 4G, News, Sprint

So, you want to jump over to Sprint, but don't need the fastest device on the planet? ~~Both Amazon Wireless and Wirefly have a good deal going on the~~ ~~just released EVO Design 4G~~ ~~by HTC: $50~~. Update: It's still $50 at Wirefly, but Amazon Wireless just dropped the price to $30. Of course, this requires a new two-year contract, so all current Sprintsters will be stuck paying $80, which still saves about $20 over the in-store price.

Specs:

4-inch qHD display
1.2GHz single-core Snapdragon processor
5MP rear shooter with HD video capture (720p), 1.3MP front cam
Android 2.3.5 with Sense
WiMax

Speed demon?

Oct

Gameloft Offering Order And Chaos And Backstab HD For Just $0.99 Each (Regularly $6.99)

Posted by David Ruddock in Deals, Games, News

As part of a special Halloween promotion, Gameloft is offering two of its premium titles (as well as Uno) on the Android Market for a paltry $0.99 each for a "limited time." We assume this means until Halloween, but Gameloft's app descriptions don't specify.

Order And Chaos is the largest (and really only) MMORPG on Android, and with your $0.99 purchase you'll receive a free 3 month game subscription, after which you'll have to pay a monthly fee to continue accessing the game. Order And Chaos recently suffered a security breach, compromising numerous players' accounts, and the sale may be an attempt to mitigate some of the fallout from that gaff.

Oct

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 7] Contapps Contacts & Dialer Is An Undoubtedly Impressive, Beautiful Dialer Replacement

Posted by Liam Spradlin in App Reviews, Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer

Continuing on the quest for the perfect dialer to replace Android's stock phone application, I've come across Contapps Contacts & Dialer, an app I had never heard of until I began scouring the market. For a free dialer app, it has a lot to offer, and I'm surprised that it isn't more popular.

At A Glance

Contapps is a dialer replacement that is simple, practical, and well-designed, with enough extra features to make it feel new. While it may have a couple of redundancies or inconsistencies, it's definitely a great dialer, and definitely has a shot at being my everyday dialer solution (at least until I get my hands on Ice Cream Sandwich).

Oct

Samsung Stratosphere Rooted, Here's How To Do It

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Dev, News, Stratosphere

So, you recently picked up the Samsung Stratosphere on Verizon and want to get the most out of your new toy. It's no secret that when it comes to getting the most out of any Android device, root access it the key. Fortunately, KnightCrusader over at RootzWiki just dropped the info on how to gain root on the Stratosphere.

The process seems to be pretty straightforward: a little ODIN action, some adb commands, and a kernel flash -- that's pretty much it. If you're feeling up to it, check out the instructions below. If you happen to hit any snags along the way, hit up the source thread over at RootzWiki for help.

Oct

Samsung Transform Ultra Drops Boost Mobile Exclusivity, Coming To Sprint

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Sprint, Transform Ultra

The mid-range Samsung Transform Ultra was recently announced for Boost Mobile, a pre-paid subsidiary of Sprint. It looks like the Now Network loved this little guy so much, though, that it just had to snag its own version, too -- but don't expect many (or any, really) changes over the Boost Version.

The Transform Ultra is sporting a 1GHz Snapdragon processor, 512MB RAM, a 3MP rear camera and VGA front-facing, with a 3.5-inch display, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, and Android 2.3. Neither pricing nor availability were included in the announcement.

Oct

[Updated: Here Are The Winners!] Giant Giveaway #10: Win One Of Two 16GB White ASUS Eee Pad Sliders For Doing Next To Nothing

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in ASUS, Contests / Giveaways, Eee Pad Slider

Last Updated: October 27th, 2011

Can you believe we and NVIDIA have already conducted this many giveaways? It seems like just yesterday we were giving away the Motorola XOOM, and...

Never mind; let's cut to the chase: this time around NVIDIA has been generous enough to sponsor a giveaway of not one, but two white 16GB ASUS Eee Pad Sliders powered by the Tegra 2 processor and fueled by a wide range of available games from the Tegra Zone.

Tegra Zone

The Slider, for those with less-than-ideal memories, is the keyboard-tablet hybrid we reviewed just a few weeks ago. It's not quite perfect - it is, after all, subject to Honeycomb's shortcomings - but it's still an excellent tablet, especially compared to its Android-based competition.

Oct

[Updated: Here Are The Winners!] Book Giveaway #10: We're Giving Away Five Copies Of Android For Programmers: An App-Driven Approach

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Contests / Giveaways, Dev

Our friends over at informIT are back with another new book on programming for Android. This time around, though, the book places more emphasis on learning directly by creating apps - in other words, learning by doing. The book is Android for Programmers: An App-Driven Approach, and it packs 16 fully coded Android apps as examples.

The Book

Written by Paul J. Deitel, Harvey M. Deitel, Abbey Deitel (quite the family affair...) and Michael Morgano, the book is 512 pages long and can be had for $29 for the eBook, $36 for a paper copy, or $49 for both.

Contains 16 Fully Coded Android™ Apps
The professional programmer’s Deitel® guide to Android™ smartphone and tablet app development and the Eclipse IDE with the Android Development Tools (ADT) plug-in
Billions of apps have been downloaded from Android Market!