Brad Ganley
An Android power user, Brad consumes most of his free time with unhealthy amounts of cell phones and cell phone related things when he isn't playing with his son. Brad is also an avid movie-watcher and tea-drinker.
28
Sep

Motorola Defy Can Take Anything You Throw At It (Or Throw It In)

Posted by in DEFY (Jordan), Motorola, News
Last Updated: November 22nd, 2010

A video has come to our attention the shows just how harshly you can treat the Motola Defy. It can take all the Hulk-smashings that inevitably result from using Motoblur for more than 10 minutes - in addition to being flushed down a toilet when you're done.

The video is about 3 minutes long, but all the action happens in the first 45 seconds.

The phone gets unapologetically dropped from shoulder-height then thrown into a glass of water, followed by a long length of having Motoblur. Those are the three worst things you can do to a phone, and the Defy takes it all in stride.

27
Sep
19121-a-box-from-amazon-com-is-pictured

Next Up To Try And Overthrow The Android Market: Amazon

Posted by in Apps/Games, News

Hot on the heels of plans for Verizon to create their own market for Android, Amazon.com has decided that they will now create their own app market. Developers reportedly started receiving emails about a business opportunity from Amazon on September 25th. At that time, there were very few details aside from the fact that it was happening. Now, there is a bit more clarity from our friends at TechCrunch:

Okay, some details:

    • For each sale of an App, we will pay you a royalty equal to the greater of 70% of the purchase price or 20% of the List Price as of the purchase date (70/30 is standard, this 20/80 split is somewhat odd and confusing)
    • The List Price is apparently in place so that you can’t sell your app cheaper on other “similar services” — meaning other app stores, presumably
    • The “similar services” should also include the forthcoming Chrome Web Store, if I’m reading this correctly
    • There is a $99 fee to be a developer in this program (the same as Apple’s iOS developer program)
    • It seems like if your app is available on other platforms, you have to make sure to update it at the same time on Amazon’s store that you do in any other store (this will piss off a lot of developers)
    • Apps will have to be laced with Amazon DRM — meaning they will only work on devices they approve (obviously)
    • Amazon has the right to pull any app for any reason (obviously)
    • Apps can also be shown on amazon.com (this is up to Amazon)
    • You can offer free apps
    • The app store is U.S.-only (at least for now)
    • This part is interesting too: “We have sole discretion to determine all features and operations of this program and to set the retail price and other terms on which we sell Apps.”

    As of right now, that's all we know.

    27
    Sep
    motorola-droid-2

    [How-To] Get FM Radio Working On Your Rooted Droid 2

    Posted by in Droid 2, News

    This article deals with rooting. If you’re unfamiliar with the term, hit up our primer here: Rooting Explained + Top 5 Benefits Of Rooting

    There was initially some doubt as to whether or not the Motorola Droid 2 actually contained the proper hardware for FM radio. We can safely lay that discussion to rest because, as of today, the developers at XDA have gotten a fully working port of the FM radio app from the Droid X onto the Droid 2. While it takes a good amount of knowledge to get this done, it doesn't take very long. In reference to how well it works, you are going to have to decide that for yourself.

    27
    Sep
    verizon_fail

    Verizon To Jump On The Capped Mobile Data Plan Bandwagon

    Posted by in News, Verizon Wireless

    It looks a lot like Verizon is going to follow in the much-criticized footsteps of AT&T and their tiered data plans, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal. Before you scream "travesty!", consider this: Nielson (the company that analyzes everything so others don't have to) has reported that 99% of the 60,000 phone bills they had looked at would benefit from a tiered pricing structure.

    The average monthly consumption of mobile data has risen from last year's 90MB up to 298MB this year. This is, obviously, nowhere even close to 5GB that some "unlimited" plans include but also takes non-smartphone users into account.

    24
    Sep
    2

    Box.net App Lands In The Android Market

    Posted by in Applications, News
    Last Updated: July 2nd, 2011

    The official app for Box.net made its entrance into the Android market today, giving you a powerful alternative to Dropbox. While the free service offered by Box.net only offers half as much storage capacity as Dropbox (1GB), the Business offering ($15/mo) gives you a litany of awesome features that Dropbox just can't touch.

    image

    Official press release follows:

    Palo Alto, Calif. – September 23, 2010 – Cloud content management provider Box.net today announced that its Android app is now available for free on the Android Marketplace. The Box for Android app makes it easy for users to access, share and manage their business content on-the-go from all devices that support Android OS  2.0 and above, including the HTC Droid Incredible, Motorola Droid X and Samsung’s Galaxy S series.

    24
    Sep
    screen6

    T-Mobile G2 Pre-Order Now Live For Existing T-Mobile Customers - $199.99, Order By October 4th For Delivery By The 6th

    Posted by in G2 (Vision), News

    As promised and exactly on time, the pre-order page for the upcoming T-Mobile G2 has gone live on T-Mobile's website. Unfortunately, it looks like only existing T-Mobile customers are allowed to submit their preorders, with everyone else being left to dry for now.

    The upcoming flagship Android phone will cost you $199.99 after a mail-in rebate on a contract or $499.99 without. That is inline with Best Buy's preorder deal from 2 weeks ago and $50 more than Radioshack's preorder, which is currently the best deal available.

    screen6

    Those in need of a refresher on this bad boy's specs can find them below:

    • Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ MSM7230 mobile processor
    • Slide-out QWERTY keyboard, unique Z-hinge design
    • Android 2.2 OS
    • 3.7” S-TFT WVGA display
    • 512 MB of RAM, 4 GB of internal memory
    • 8-GB SD card, expandable to 32 GB
    • 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and autofocus
    • 720p HD video capture
    • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n
    • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR + A2DP stereo
    • 3.5-mm stereo headset
    • 4.68” (L) x 2.38” (W) x .58” (H)
    • Weight: 6.5 ounces
    • Included battery: 1300 mAh Li-ion
    • Talk time: up to 6.5 hours
    • Standby time: up to 17.5 days

    Whether you will want to reserve now or try to wait for deals which Amazon Wireless and Wirefly will undoubtedly launch soon is up to you.

    23
    Sep
    freshhh-square

    Fresh ROM 3.3.0.1 Based On The Latest EVO 4G OTA 3.29.651.5 Now Available For Download

    Posted by in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News

    Last night we posted about Flipzmod3's caffeine-fueled rampage on the new OTA update for the HTC EVO. The OTA got rooted really-really fast, and now we have a fully-working, stable ROM based on it.

    screen3

    Last night, flipz, the author of Fresh ROM, sent out a test version of Fresh ROM 3.3.0 to all the donors/testers, and we did our job well. We nitpicked every tiny little bug, and the result is that tiny little .1 at the end of the public release flipz announced this morning, with fixes for all known bugs. Here's the changelog so you know what to expect going from Fresh 3.2 to 3.3.0.1:

    Changes from Fresh Evo 3.2.0.0 to 3.3.0.1:

    • Based on a new Sprint OTA (3.29.651.5)
    • New kernel by HTC (ge2fb08e)
      • Modified slightly to allow apps2sd and remount to work
      • Has fps unlocked by default, straight from HTC’s source!

    23
    Sep
    image

    New EVO 4G Radio v2.15.00.09.01 and PRI v1.77_003 From The 3.29.651.5 OTA Now Available - Download And Flash Away

    Posted by in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News

    flipz, the chef behind Fresh ROM (one of the first and still best ROMs for HTC Hero and EVO 4G) has wasted no time picking apart and giving us pieces of the new over-the-air update for the EVO. In his latest blog post, flipz gives us the new PRI v1.77_003 and the new radio v2.15.00.09.01.

    If you're not too keen on what a PRI or radio are exactly, don't be ashamed. Here are the basics:
    • PRI: Flipz himself said it best in this quote: “… a connection between your phone and the radio… responsible for carrying both voice and data.”  Essentially, updating your PRI increases the efficiency of how your handset and its radio unit talk to each other.

    22
    Sep
    thumb_tall_Evo_Rooted_ROM

    The New HTC EVO 4G 3.29.561.5 Update Already Rooted

    Posted by in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), HTC, News

    Earlier, HTC and Sprint announced that they would be rolling out an update for the EVO 4G to fix some issues. Very shortly after the announcement (not the update itself, which literally went live 30 minutes ago, but the announcement of it, mind you), a rooted version of said update was released by the insane, caffeine fueled developers at XDA. Normally, after an update such as this you would have to wait for some kind dev to root the update or take advantage of Unrevoked Forever. Apparently, though, the Android community was ahead of HTC themselves in releasing the OTA update.

    22
    Sep
    DroidXroot

    [How-To] Root Your Motorola Droid X Running Android 2.2 Froyo

    Posted by in Development, Droid X (Shadow), Froyo 2.2, News

    This article deals with rooting your Android phone. If you’re unfamiliar with this term, hit up our primer here: Rooting Explained + Top 5 Benefits Of Rooting

    If you installed the Froyo OTA update this morning on your Droid X and lost root, fear not! The Droid 2 root method works swimmingly with the Droid X update and is a painless as painless can be.

    Stephen Bird (AKA birdman), of Droid X custom ROM fame, posted this tweet not 12 hours ago:

    2010-09-22 11 55 25

    The link in the tweet points to this page at XDA Developers which provides a one-click root for the Droid 2.

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