Aaron Gingrich - 35/72 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Aaron Gingrich

Aaron is a geek who has always had a passion for technology. When not working or writing, he can be found spending time with his family, playing a game, or watching a movie.

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Apr

Amazon Pulls A "Me Too!", Selling Viewsonic gTablet For $280 Today

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Deals, gTablet (SMB-A1002), Viewsonic

Some of you may remember that daily deal site Woot marked the Viewsonic gTablet down to just $280 (twice). Amazon (Woot's parent company) has decided they'd like to do the same, so for the third time in just a few weeks, you can score the dual-core, Tegra2-rockin' tablet for only $280. Although it's sold through Amazon, the order is fulfilled by Woot.

Need a refresher on the specs? No worries, I can totally play it lazy and copy-paste what we've said before:

The very hackable ViewSonic gTablet... sports a speedy dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 CPU, a 10.1" 1024×600 TFT display, a front-facing camera, 512MB RAM, 16GB ROM, and USB host capabilities...

Apr

Business Insider Wants To Know Why Anyone Would Ever Buy An Android Phone; Let's Show Them.

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Off-Topic

Silicon Alley Insider - the Tech section of Business Insider - posted a survey this weekend under the headline "WHY WOULD ANYONE EVER BUY AN ANDROID PHONE? Take Our Smartphone Survey And Tell Us!" Eye-catching, to say the least. The survey is 12 questions, and asks what phone (OS) you use, what your next one will use, and so on... it's all fairly standard.

The results of the survey aren't immediately available, but the site promises to publish them in a few days. SAI is generally pretty (*ahem*) Apple-friendly, but then again, they do give Android the credit it's due, so who knows what the results will show.

Apr

[Updated: Sold Out] Woot Has The Tegra 2-Packin' Viewsonic gTablet On Sale For $285 Shipped - Again

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Deals, gTablet (SMB-A1002), News, Viewsonic

Update: It's sold out already, sorry everyone!

Back on March 23, Woot featured the Viewsonic gTablet as their deal of the day, selling the tablet for just $285 out the door. It sold out then, but it looks like they managed to get their hands on a few more, as it's the deal of the day once again. In typical Woot fashion, the description is hilarious (it's the same one as last time) - just check out the first paragraph of the product description:

There are already plenty of side by side comparisons to help you decide between a ViewSonic gTablet and an iPad.

Mar

Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi Root Now Available (Sans Bricking Feature)

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Development, News, XOOM

In typically blisteringly-quick fashion, the hackers at XDA have managed to root a Wi-Fi XOOM in no time at all - good news, considering that the root method for the regular XOOM was bricking the Wi-Fi models. It's worth noting that unlocking the XOOM's bootloader (which is required for root) wipes the device.

The current method does require some ADB commands, but certainly nothing tricky. Still, for those who are hesitant, it's likely that an automated method won't be far behind. The instructions, as posted by Xaositek:

This is it guys... HUGE props to MADindustries and modplan!

Download the Motorola WiFi Xoom Root Zip file and unzip it.

Mar

Official Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) ROM Leaked For Samsung Galaxy S I9000

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Galaxy S, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Samsung

You might want to take a seat for this one: an early Gingerbread build has leaked for the Samsung Galaxy S I9000, and is now available for download. The file first landed in the hands of one Tricky103, and shortly thereafter was downloaded from Samsung's internal database and uploaded to a public mirror courtesy of iammodo.

Installation instructions are ~~virtually non-existent in the post, so you should probably know your way around modding already before attempting this~~ (update) turns out installation instructions aren't there because it's super simple: just use the three button combo to flash the new ROM.

Mar

[Weekend Poll] Now That The Amazon App Store Is Here, What Are Your Thoughts?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Apps/Games, News, Polls

Last Updated: September 3rd, 2011

This is the newest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see AT&T Is Buying T-Mobile USA; As The Dust Settles, What Are Your Thoughts?

We saw it coming from a mile away (and knew all the details), and now it's finally happened: the Amazon Appstore officially launched on Tuesday, March 22. So far, with the exception of a minor hiccup, it looks like the launch has been fairly smooth. Now that you've had a few days to test the waters, we'd like to know what your thoughts are on the Appstore.

As always, you can vote in the poll below, and we encourage you to drop us a line in the comments to voice your opinion.

Mar

Sony Ericsson To Update Xperia X10 To Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) - But Not For Everybody

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Gingerbread 2.3, News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia X10 (es209ra)

They may have publicly stated that the Xperia X10 wouldn't be receiving further Android updates just a few months ago, but it looks like Sony Ericsson has had a change of heart: they now say the phone will receive an update to Android 2.3.3 (Gingerbread) sometime in late Q2 or early Q3. You can apparently thank the Xperia PLAY, arc, and neo, as the company says similarities in development of these devices has made it easier to bring the update to the X10.

Unfortunately, there's a catch - the update will only be available for "generic trade kits." In other words:

Today, Xperia^TMX10 is available in the market both in generic trade version and in versions customized for operators.

Mar

Verizon, Sprint Rule Android Market Share Among US Carriers. AT&T? Downright Embarassing

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Carriers, News

According to the latest from ad network Chitika, Android market share is far more lopsided than you probably imagine. That Verizon is the largest is perhaps not surprising, given the data we've seen time and time again. What is surprising is just how much of a lead they have: the company accounts for a whopping 51.4% of the market. Sprint comes in at second with 25.3%, while T-Mobile pulls up third with 16.8%. Meanwhile, AT&T checks in with a measly 3.6% - embarrassingly low, to say the least.

Given how much of a push T-Mobile has made with Android, it's perhaps surprising to see that they only have 16.8%; then again, they are the smallest of the four, and it's understandable that their market share would suffer commensurately.

Mar

PSA: Don't Blame Root And Unlock For Thunderbolt's Network Issues - Verizon Is Suffering From 3G And 4G Outage

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in News, Thunderbolt (Mecha), Verizon Wireless

Droid-Life has just confirmed what Justin's been hearing: that Verizon's network is having issues. Apparently both 3G and 4G are affected, and Thunderbolt activations are also reportedly being held up. No word on what the issue is or what areas are affected, but Droid-Life has asked readers who are experiencing issues to drop a line with the details in the comments, so that would be a good place to check.

Justin Case and TeamAndIRC have been fielding complaints/accusations/questions from angry rooted Thunderbolt owners who think their root method may be to blame. Don't worry - that's not the case; your rooted Tbolt has nothing do with it.

Mar

Hands-On Video And Photos of The HTC View 4G

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in EVO View 4G, HTC, News

The second of our HD videos from yesterday's Sprint press conference has finally been uploaded (no thanks to the ultra-crappy WiFi everywhere...). Once again, a quick recap of the specs:

1.5GHz single-core CPU
1GB RAM
32 GB internal storage
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), will be updated to Android 3.0
Sense UI
WiMAX (4G)
Stylus

As mentioned in our hands-on with the EVO 3D, the View 4G features a new connector port dubbed MHL. It combines the functions of microUSB and microHDMI into one port. For more details, hit up our primer.