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Cameron Summerson

Cameron is a self-made geek, Android enthusiast, horror movie fanatic, and musician. When he's not pounding keys here at AP, you can find him spending time with his wife and kids, plucking away on the 6-string, or watching The Texas Chainsaw Massacre on repeat.

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Feb

ASUS Continues To Tease Its Mobile World Congress Announcements, Here's What We Know So Far

Posted by Cameron Summerson in ASUS, News

Like other companies, ASUS hasn't been shying away from teasing what it has in store for Mobile World Congress. While we can't say for sure what the Taiwanese company has up its sleeve, we can make some pretty good guesses based on the pair of teasers to hit its YouTube account thus far.

Divided We Stand, Together We Rock

So, what do we have here? A matryoshka doll taken apart with the words "Divided we stand," then put together with the text "together we rock" across the screen. Great... but what does it mean? What comes next can probably answer that question: 1+1+1 = endless possibilities.

Feb

[New App] Nova Launcher Hits The Market, Brings An Awesome Custom Launcher To Android 4.0 Phones

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

The stock launcher in ICS is, without a doubt, the best launcher that Google has ever produced. It offers some great features that previously required the use of a custom launcher, like customizable dock shortcuts and drag-and-drop folder support. Despite being a definite improved over its predecessors, it's still not perfect.

With that in mind, the devs behind WidgetLocker took the ICS launcher to the lab and made it even better. The result is a blazing fast new launcher called Nova Launcher. Nova builds off of the stock 4.0 launcher while retaining the same look and feel, but brings advanced customization and improved features to all Android 4.0 handsets.

Feb

Sony Releases Android 4.0 Beta ROM For Some Unlocked 2011 Xperia Smartphones

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Xperia Arc S, Xperia Neo V (Haida), Xperia Ray (Urushi, ST18i)

Back in December of '11, Sony [Ericsson] released an Android 4.0 alpha ROM for the Xperia Arc S, Neo V, and Ray. The Sony dev teams has now released an update to this ROM, bringing into its beta stages.

Since the previous release, Sony has made a number of improvements to the ROM, including an updated UI, improved lockscreen, activated GSM modem and FM radios, and a quick dialer.

Unfortunately, Google Apps are not available for this ROM, nor are Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, as they're both still waiting for approval before they can implemented into the product.

If you intend on flashing this ROM, however, you need to be aware that it's intended primarily for developer use, and there are still a lot of quirks.

Feb

Samsung And AT&T Intro The Rugby Smart For March 4th, A Rough And Rugged Mid-Ranger For $99 With Two-Year Agreement

Posted by Cameron Summerson in AT&T, News, Rugby Smart

Rumors of an upcoming ruggedized handset for AT&T made their way around the 'net earlier this week, and that handset is now a reality on Big Blue. The Samsung Rugby Smart is a waterproof, dustproof, and extreme temperature-resistant mid-range handset, perfect for the outdoorsman (or anyone who is prone to destroying devices):

3.7-inch 480*800 Super AMOLED display
4GB internal storage, microSD card slot
5 MP rear shooter
1.3 MP front camera
Dustproof
Waterproof (submergible up to 1 meter for 30 minutes)
1650mAh battery
Android 2.3

If the Rugby Smart sounds like the rugged handset you've been waiting for, you can make it yours on March 4th for $99 with a two-year agreement.

Feb

Life Without AT&T: T-Mobile's Plan To Rejuvenate Business With An LTE Network Rollout In 2013

Posted by Cameron Summerson in 4G, News, T-Mobile

Wow, what a year 2011 was for T-Mobile. We watched as AT&T tried to purchase T-Mobile USA to no avail, while Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T all launched the iPhone 4S and made progress towards their own respective LTE networks.

In fact, the latter two items hurt Magenta so much that its revenue dropped 3.3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2011. Ouch. Don't underestimate the underdog, though; T-Mo has a plan. A plan to draw in more customers, make 4G services more affordable, and, best of all, launch its own 4G LTE network.

Since T-Mobile is the last of the big four to announce its LTE plans, it's also going to be the slowest to get started.

Feb

Toshiba Thrive (10.1 and 7) To Get Android 4.0... At The End Of Spring

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Thrive / Regza / Antares / AT100, Thrive 7

Remember the big ol' port-tastic Toshiba Thrive 10.1 and its seven-inch baby brother? Well, Toshiba has been running around telling folks on one of those social sites that it will be bringing ICS to this pair of Android tablet "at the end of spring."

Yes, spring.

When we hear end of spring, we automatically think sometime around mid-to-end of June, which is, well, quite a ways off. Of course, this isn't an 'official' statement per se, but considering the word came directly from Toshiba's PR Manager, it does carry some weight.

How does that feel, Thrive owners? Are you willing to wait four more months to get 4.0 on your beloved tablet?

Feb

[Update: It's Back] Verizon's LTE Network Down Again, Leaving Many Users Across The Nation Without Data Connectivity

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Verizon Wireless

Big Red has been having a difficult time taming the "world's largest 4G network" over the last several weeks, as we've seem more than enough outages occur. Today marks the next installation of Verizon's 'sorry, LTE is down' saga, with users across the nation left without any mobile data connection whatsoever (myself included).

Update: According to Verizon, service has been fully restored.

After a brief issue this morning, 4G LTE service is fully restored.

— Verizon Wireless (@VZWnews) February 22, 2012

It's worth noting that these types of outages don't generally affect 3G-only devices, as they handle 3G network connections differently than LTE device do.

Feb

Android 4.0 ROMs Leak For The Acer Iconia Tab A500 And A100 Ahead Of April Release

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Iconia A100, Iconia Tab A500, Leaks, News

Acer tablet owners across the country were elated (well, most of them were, anyway) when Acer announced that Ice Cream Sandwich will be coming to the A100 and A500 in April. Thanks to a new leak that made its way to XDA, though, the wait for April just got a lot shorter. Ice Cream Sandwich ROMs for both devices landed in their respective forum on XDA earlier today, bringing a taste of Android 4.0 to the duo.

While early reports have been pretty positive, it appears that these aren't quite final builds just yet. Most noticeably, the "Acer Ring," which is supposed to appear in the official OTA builds, is absent from these leaks.

Feb

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Google Docs For Android Updated, Brings Real-Time Collaboration, Rich Text Formatting, New Layout Tools, And An Improved UI

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

The Google Docs for Android app just received an update that makes it even more like its desktop counterpart. It brings a number of new features to both phones and tablets:

Create, view and edit Google documents with our new Android editor
Rich text formatting (bold, italics, underline, font color, background color)
Layout tools (bulleted lists, numbered lists, indentation)
Real-time collaboration - see edits from others in seconds
Cursor presence and highlighting

Here's a look at the new interface:

Unfortunately, this new interface only applies to standard documents; spreadsheets still use the mobile web interface inside of the app. Hopefully El Goog is working on an update to improve that interface, as well.