It's time for another Android Police Week In Review, where I put things in lists. You can catch of lot of these things in our weekly podcast, too, because who reads things?
Features
- Ron go hands-off, voice-on with Samsung's S-Voice, and it sounds like it's too bad you can't tell it to suck less at understanding you.
Reviews
- The EVO 4G LTE: it's like Frida Kahlo, as painted by Pablo Picasso. I really know absolutely nothing about art. It's ugly, is the gist here.
- The Toshiba Excite 10 is just the opposite of everything its name would lead you to believe it was if you were highly gullible.
- SPIGEN Klasden Levanaus backpack: I know what you're thinking, and no, they couldn't make the name any more German-sounding.
- Logitech Keyboard for Android 3.0+ Devices: yes, that is what it's called. And yes, Logitech's marketing department had that day off.
Carrier 411
- Verizon's ending your unlimited data plan for good. And then they're going to steal your lunch money, and your girlfriend.
- T-Mobile wants you to know it wants you to pay for tethering. Good luck getting blood from that stone, Mr. Humme.
Rumor Roundup
Android at Arms (legal news)
- US Customs won't let HTC's phones in, says HTC: "a $20 cover is crazy. I don't even like this club."
- And yes, this means your EVO 4G LTE isn't coming on time. But hey, it's that many fewer days to wait between getting your phone and having a network you can actually use it on.
- The Amaze 4G is apparently having the same problem, but let's face it, having people not buy this phone is probably a good thing.
- And Microsoft got some Motorola phones banned too. So basically, the ITC is like an angry IRC admin.
Code Google
- Google music now only allows 4 device deauthorizations per year. THE HUMANITY! But they're fixing it so custom ROMs hopefully won't count.
- Sprint now supports direct billing for Google Play Books, Movies, and Music. Don't tell your kids.
- The Googlerola deal has been approved in China, so Google can finally start not interfering in any way with Motorola's operations.
The Hotsheet (device news)
- Samsung has a 181-page manual for the Galaxy S III that you can download. That's the joke.
- The Galaxy S III's full ROM is also up for grabs. The eye-tracking feature works, but in order to activate it, you'll have to put one hand on your head, stand on one foot, and chant "The eye is all-knowing. The eye is all-knowing. The eye is all-knowing." while staring unblinkingly at your phone for 30 minutes. And then post it on YouTube.
- The GSIII has been rooted, too. Hooray! *confetti*
- LG's Optimus 4X HD is headed to Europe in June, but don't worry, that cartoony wanna-be TouchWiz UI will make sure everyone knows your phone is nowhere near as badass as its name might have them think.
- Speaking of which, LG's also decided to steal HTC's Sense marketing scheme for its TouchWiz clone, which makes Wiz-Sense.
- The PadFone is coming, and its would-be owners are already drooling over how many questions they'll get as they repeatedly put it in and take it out of its shell for hours on end at their local Starbucks.
- The Sensation 4G is finally getting Ice Cream Sandwich, just in time for CyanogenMod 9 nightlies.
- The unlocked Galaxy Note has CM9 nightlies, too. They're huge. I'm sorry for that one.
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Motorola has unleashed an updated
list of promises to be brokenICS OTA timeline for many devices. - Device updates: Transformer TF101, LG Revolution.
App Updates
- Machinarium for Android, reviewed: just go buy it.
- Sonic 4 Episode II THD review: someone get me a Sega Genesis controller so I can actually beat this game, and then throw it at the person at Sega who designed these touch controls.
- VLC for Android has hourly alphas, because someone apparently has that kind of time on their hands.
In Other News
- NVIDIA is going to try and make live game streaming services suck less, because it's pretty much a humanitarian crisis on a massive scale right now.