Brian O'Toole - 7/18 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Brian O'Toole

Having learnt his writing techniques reading e-Books of Sherlock Holmes, Brian now spends his time /kicking, lurking, SSHing and encoding.

Nov

Angry Birds Updated: 45 New Levels, New Storyline And A New Bird!

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Apps/Games, Games, News

Just when you thought your torment was over, Rovio have struck back with a glut of new levels. Some pigs just never learn, do they? Also included in the update is proper QVGA support, a dour-looking boulder bird, as well as fixes for some graphical issues. Best part about it? Rovio haven't removed the bug found on reddit that allows you to skip locked worlds, so you can go straight to these new levels even if you haven't passed the worlds before it.

So what are you waiting for? Go grab it from the market right away!

Nov

T-Mobile G2 Now Has Permanent Root, Desire Z And Desire HD Come Along For The Ride

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Desire HD (Ace), Desire Z (Vision), G2 (Vision), HTC, News

People want to own their phones. Try as they might to frustrate their customers, networks and manufacturers are fighting a losing battle against the hacking community. The latest victory is an enormous one: the HTC Vision, better known as the T-Mobile G2 and Desire Z has finally been defeated. That pesky eMMC chip locking up the /system of the G2 has been circumvented, and full, glorious, permanent root has been attained:

12:04 < scotty2> -rw-rw-rw- root root 0 2010-11-09 03:00 test

Yep, that's full read and write permissions there, and it's permanent too. The #g2root channel has had an idea of the method to use for almost a month now, but have only just finalized the solution.

Nov

[Updated: Now In The Market] Opera Mobile 10.1 Beta Now Available For Android, Pinch To Zoom And YouTube Support

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Applications, Apps/Games, News

It's been but a few weeks since Opera's announcement of Opera Mobile for Android at their Up North Web conference, and now the browser is out there navigating the maze of tubes that is the Internet. While they didn't quite meet their "within the month (October)" promise, we can forgive them for wanting to polish things a little further.

However, glancing at Opera Mobile for the first time, your look might be one of the askance variety; "What's this? It looks just like Opera Mini!". While this is true, the real differentiation in the Mobile version versus the Mini version is beneath the hood.

Nov

Nexus One Learns A New Trick: T-Mobile's WiFi-Calling Now Possible Via Community Hacking Effort

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Applications, Apps/Games, News

The Nexus One may be growing long in the tooth, but it's still surely one of the most active phones when it comes to development. Hence this hack should come as a surprise to no-one: T-Mobile's WiFi-Calling functionality has been extracted from one Vanilla Froyo running device (the G2) and injected into another, the one and only Google Phone. While this will obviously only work on N1s on the T-Mobile network, it comes as a welcome distraction to those of us waiting for the imminent Gingerbread OTA.

XDA-developers member Rsotbiemrptson has put together a short guide on installing the hack yourself, reprinted below:

Instructions:
1.

Nov

[ROM] Team Whiskey Releases Obsidian, Their First Froyo ROM For The T-Mobile Vibrant

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Development, News, T-Mobile, Vibrant

If you're a Vibrant owner interested in custom ROMs, then today is your lucky day. With their Éclair ROM amassing a 400-page thread in under a month, it's safe to say that Team Whiskey's new Obsidian release is going to draw the crowds. Posted on XDA-Developers just moments ago, let's take a look at just what this ROM has to offer:

Obsidian is the first release of Android 2.2, Froyo, from Team Whiskey. Obsidian is a build that follows closely to its sibling releases. A fast, efficient, dark themed power house that's sure to please the daily driver and power user alike.

Nov

Google Instant Rolling Out For Froyo Devices, Enter Keys Start Feeling Unloved

Posted by Brian O'Toole in News

Launched to much hyperbole back in September, Google Instant is now making the transition from your desktop browser to your mobile device. Those of you graced with the goodness of Froyo can now experience the same mind-melding AJAX tomfoolery on your handset as you do on a computer. As in the desktop version, Instant is an optional function and you can easily switch it on and off right from the search page. You may have also noticed that it requires significantly faster internet connection speeds to work properly, so in the case of a mobile device you're probably best sticking to using it only on WiFi or in strong 3G/4G areas.

Nov

Google Adds Change Log Field To Android Marketplace App Pages

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Applications, Apps/Games, News

Good news, developers: Google is finally giving you the opportunity to formally submit a description of changes to your app in its latest version. Many devs were doing this in the description field already, but were constrained by the character limit in place. This new option frees up some space in the description for ... well, further description, and is sure to please some application developers out there. No sign of the ability to respond to user comments, though, sorry.

Source: Android Market Help via DroidReign

Nov

First Hints At Gingerbread UI Given By Latest Google Maps Update

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Applications, Gingerbread 2.3, News

Google Maps was updated to version 4.60 last week, and you may not have noticed it on the surface, but contained inside were some interesting resources providing an early glimpse at the style direction Gingerbread is set to take. Freenode IRC member canadiancow rather astutely spotted that there was a folder contained within the 4.60 APK that included icons and styling for API level 9, whilst we're currently on level 8 with Froyo. He changed all references to level 9 down to level 8 and recompiled the APK, and voilà, this is what Maps will look like (on left):

Obviously not a great deal has changed, but we are liking the new styling on the buttons, and the slight-transparency on the pop-up dialog.

Nov

Exploit Found Allowing Permanent Deletion Of Files On G2's /system Partition (NAND Memory)

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Desire Z (Vision), G2 (Vision), HTC, News

You're probably aware of one of the slightly more irksome facets of the G2 that is stymying attempts at custom ROMs, namely the locked down /system partition, where the OS is kept. Heretofore it has been impossible to tinker with this internal memory in a permanent fashion. All alterations were reverted on the next boot, leading to solutions like Paul O'Brien's VISIONary soft-root.

Well, Mr. O'Brien isn't the kind of fellow you can restrain with NAND lockdowns, and with a flourish today he unveiled his latest hack. His program, G2 Google Goggles Remover, is a proof of concept which he says will permanently delete the Google Goggles application from your G2.

Nov

HTC Desire HD Receives Its Second OTA Since Launch, Fixing YouTube Bug, Solving Proximity Sensor Woes Too?

Posted by Brian O'Toole in News

Well, let it not be said that HTC are ignoring the hardships of Desire HD early-adopters. Merely a fortnight after its release to retail, the Desire HD is receiving its second over-the-air update. While the first one promised "screen control and photo message compatibility enhancements", that clearly wasn't enough, as today's update once again addresses "screen control" issues whilst also solving a hitch with crashing of the YouTube app.

Those affected by the dreaded proximity sensor issues we previously reported have yet to fully confirm that this latest update fixes the problem once and for all, but the smattering of positive murmurs spread about the XDA-Developers Desire HD sub-forum gives us hope that this may well be the case.