Abhiroop Basu - 2/19 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Abhiroop Basu is an opinionated tech and digital media blogger. As a doe-eyed twenty-something he started his first blog TechComet to comment on anything tech-related that caught his omniscient eye. Since then he has blogged for Android Police, Make Tech Easier, and This Green Machine. In the real world, Abhiroop Basu is a resident of Singapore and the Editor of The Digit, a subsidiary of The Potato Productions Group.

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May

LG's Quad-Core Optimus 4X HD Coming To Europe In June

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in LG, News, Optimus 4X HD

Last Updated: July 4th, 2012

LG has officially announced its foray into the quad-core smartphone space, with the launch of the Android 4.0 Optimus 4X HD. Unveiled just prior to MWC in February, the smartphone features NVIDIA's latest Tegra 3 Quad-Processor clocked at 1.5GHZ, with the 4-PLUS-1 architecture. Additionally, the device will have a:

4.7" (720p) True HD IPS display
8MP rear camera and 1.3MP front shooter
1GB RAM
16GB onboard storage
2150 mAh battery
Razor thin 8.9mm thickness
SHSPA+ 21Mbps connectivity

LG's assertion, that the 2,150mAh battery on the Optimus 4X HD is the biggest amongst quad-core smartphones, might be technically true as the Droid RAZR MAXX (sporting a massive 3,300 mAh battery) has only two cores.

May

Samsung Quietly Begins Rolling Out ICS To Unlocked Galaxy Notes

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Galaxy Note (GT-N7000), Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Samsung

Last Updated: May 23rd, 2012

The update for devices running Gingerbread to the latest Ice Cream Sandwich have been erratic at best. Although Samsung has promised updates for its smartphones and tablets, the overall rollout has been quite unpredictable with different markets getting upgrades before others.

There have been numerous indications that the Galaxy Note would be receiving an update to ICS at some point, however aside from the occasional leak there has been no official announcement. It looks like Samsung is finally starting to get their act together, as Devin Balentina reports that he has just received an ICS update notification for his Note.

May

Ubiquitous Wireless Power Fast Becoming A Reality As Samsung, Qualcomm And Others Unite To Develop A New Standard

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in News, Samsung

Amongst the smorgasbord of features Samsung announced for its newest flagship device the Galaxy SIII, the wireless charging accessory seemed the most no-brainer. Wireless power has been a dream for almost everyone, but aside from short-lived products, such as the Touchstone that was available for Palm's Pré phones, they have not really become a reality.

Today Samsung and Qualcomm, together with a group of other technology companies, announced a new initiative that aims to promote the "global standardization of a wireless power transfer technology". The appropriately named "Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP)" will help create an affordable wireless charging solution for a range of consumer electronic devices, from low power ones, such as Bluetooth headsets, to battery draining tablets.

May

Samsung Galaxy SIII 16GB Now Available For Pre-Order For £499.95 From Amazon UK

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Galaxy S III, News

Update: It looks like Amazon Germany also has the device up for pre-order for the slightly lower price of EUR 588.90 ($766.34). There is no release date indicated, but the earlier press release suggests it will be available from May 29th, 2012.

Samsung's next flagship smartphone finally launched last week and we spent many paragraphs proffering our opinions on it. Most of us cannot wait to get our grubby hands on it, but it looks like UK customers will be getting it pretty soon, as the Galaxy SIII has gone up for pre-order on Amazon UK.

The 16GB version of the Galaxy SIII in Pebble Blue or Marble White will retail for £499.95 ($806.67) and will be available from the expected release date of May 30th, 2012.

Feb

Verizon Reinstates Double Data Promotion For 4G LTE Devices From February 10th, Also Offers Buy One Get One Free On Droid Razr And Razr Maxx Phones

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in News, Verizon Wireless

It was disheartening when Verizon found and plugged the loophole that gave users unlimited data, but Big Red's latest promotion may get users flocking to its doorstep once more.

Similar to its earlier double data promotion, new or existing customers will get double the data (4GB in total) when they buy a 4G LTE smartphone from Verizon and sign up for a new $30 data plan, together with voice and texting.

Verizon is also hoping couples will take advantage of its buy one get one free promotion ahead of Valentine's Day. You can pick up a Droid Razr or Droid Razr Maxx and get the second one, of the same value, for free!

Feb

SFR Reveals Existence Of Android 4.0.5, Confirms ICS Update Roadmap For Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S, Galaxy SII And HTC Sensation In March 2012

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Defy+, Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy Pro, Galaxy S II, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid), Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12), Xperia Mini / Mini Pro (Smultron / Mango), Xperia Ray (Urushi, ST18i)

Just days after hearing about the leaked release of Android 4.0.4 for the Nexus 4G, French mobile phone company SFR has not only announced (Google Translate) which devices will be getting ICS in the coming months, it has also confirmed the existence of Android 4.0.5.

According to its post, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S will be receiving an OTA update to Android 4.0.5 sometime in March, while the HTC Sensation and Galaxy SII will be updated to Android 4.0. In addition, a number of older Android devices, including the LG Optimus Black, HTC Desire S, Desire HD, Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy Pro, and Motorola Defy+ will be updated to various versions of Android 2.3.

Feb

Galaxy Note Phablet Available For Pre-Order From AT&T And Best Buy US And Canada

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in AT&T, Galaxy Note (GT-N7000), News

Ever since Samsung announced the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note phone/tablet, we've had a lot of fun coming up with endearing names for this "tweener" device. It's certainly an interesting device and North American customers can finally get their hands on it in the next few weeks.

As promised by AT&T, the Galaxy Note is now officially available for pre-order from its website.

Similarly, Best Buy US also has the Note up for pre-order in Carbon Blue and Ceramic White.

Both Best Busy US and AT&T are offering the phablet for $299.99 with a minimum two-year monthly voice ($39.99/month) and data plan ($20/month).

Jan

Evernote Update Brings Auto-Titles, Quick Save, And Improved Layout

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Applications, News

I am a big fan of Evernote, using it everyday to manage my to-do list and work on long-term projects. However, over the years this "simple" note-taking suite has expanded with an unwieldy number of features, making it somewhat difficult to manage. So, it is always nice to see an Evernote update for Android that just aims to make the service better without adding further bloat.

The recent update (version 3.5), downloadable from the Android Market, adds smart titles, quick saves, better layout of images, and a number of crucial bug fixes.

My favourite update is the addition of "smart titles".

Jan

'Evi' Hopes To Be A Viable Android Alternative To iOS' Siri, But Server Failures Have Gotten It Off To A Rocky Start

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Android OS, Applications, News

Siri competitors for Android are a dime a dozen, but the latest alternative Evi may have the winning combination of a voice recognition engine that actually understands what you say and what (we hope) appears to be a natural language processor that can figure out what you want.

Unlike a standard search engine which performs keyword searches, Evi aims to answer your query with a specific response. So, for example, if want to know what the capital of France is, you would ask Evi "what is the capital of France?" and Evi would respond "Paris". Evi is also good with contextual questions, so if your next question is "is it dark there now?", Evi would understand that you want to know whether it is past sunset in Paris.

Jan

Developers May Favour Android Over iOS in 2012

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Android OS, News

Although iOS appears to currently be the platform of choice for developers, research firm Ovum suggests that Android is set to surpass it "in terms of importance to developers within the next 12 months".

Traditionally, the Apple App Store has generated higher revenues than the Android Market as users are more likely to download paid apps, thus luring developers. However the Android platform has been incredibly successful in the past few months and the number of app downloads have been significant, so it comes as no surprise that developers are bullish on Android's prospects in 2012.

Additionally, according to its latest "Developer Insights" survey, Ovum has found that almost all developers support both Android and iOS and interest in development for the BlackBerry and Windows Phone OS is growing.