Chris Dehghanpoor - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Chris is an Android devotee based out of Houston, TX. He enjoys indie rock, general geekery and long walks on the beach. If you can't find him online, he's probably playing Plants VS Zombies.

Apr

Motorola Rolls Out Froyo For Bravo - Users Applaud

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Android OS, AT&T, Bravo, Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, Froyo 2.2, Motorola, News

'Tis the weekend for Android device updates: unwilling to let European Samsung Galaxy S owners have all the fun, Motorola announced yesterday that Android 2.2 for the Blur-packing Bravo had begun rolling out in phases. They neglected to elaborate on how exactly these phases are structured, so unfortunately, we don't have much in the way of specific ETA's, but it's likely that you'll seen an update hit your device in the next few days.

Moto was kind enough to detail what exactly this update will change: (click to enlarge, or hit the release notes down below)

As an interesting aside, it's been barely 10 days since Motorola originally put out the call for users that would like to test the software, so I'm surprised it was released so soon.

Apr

Samsung Delivers Gingerbread-y Goodness To European Galaxy S Owners

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Android OS, Devices By Manufacturer, Galaxy S, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Samsung

When it comes to timely Android updates, Samsung's reputation has been less than spectacular, so I was fairly surprised to see that a Gingerbread rollout was taking place for select European Galaxy S owners right on schedule.

That's right, according to users on the revered XDA-Developers forum, the update began rolling out late last night (late for the US at least) via Samsung's Kies software - provided you live in Holland or Germany. Forum user 'downunder30' was nice enough to post some information about the update:

http://i56.tinypic.com/5kpmyp.png
PDA JVB Phone JVK CSC JV3
Baseband is I9000XXJVK
Kernel version 2.6.35.7-I9000XWJVB-CL118186
root@DELL102 #2
Build number GINGERBREAD.XWJVB
Firmware Version 2.3.3
File System RFS
Build date is Fri APR 8 16:39:27 KST 2011
http://i53.tinypic.com/149wdhw.jpg
Lights are always on for me

It seems that they're staggering the release for the rest of Europe, so try not to wear your mouse button out while constantly checking for updates, ok?

Apr

Best Buy Hearts Mobile, Plans Massive Expansion Of Mobile Brand With 600-800 New Stores Over The Next 5 Years

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Carriers, Deals, Devices By Manufacturer, News

For those who have been paying attention, it's pretty clear that the mobile space is exploding, thanks largely to the rapid adoption of Android, iPhone, and, to a lesser extent, Windows Phone 7 devices. With that in mind, it should come as no surprise that Best Buy is planning to expand their stand-alone Best Buy Mobile brand by 600-800 locations over the next five years.

Best Buy's been a fairly major player in the Android space, often offering phones at a steeper discount than the carriers in order to attract new customers. That strategy seems to be working, so keep an eye out for a Best Buy Mobile springing up in a mall near you.

Apr

Take Me Back, Baby: 3 Reasons I'm Staying With Android And Coming Back To Android Police

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Android OS, Editorials, Off-Topic

If you’ve been an Android Police fan for a while, you may recognize my name from some of my past posts. Beyond that, I was mostly active behind the scenes until I dropped this little bomb when I departed earlier this year.

The reaction to that article was pretty much what I expected - it was divisive and the conversation surrounding it was often heated. Ultimately, though, my goal was accomplished: people were talking about the problems surrounding Android and software updates.

You may be wondering, “If that was your departure letter, why the hell am I reading this? Go away iFanboy”.

Jul

Surprise Unboxing Of The T-Mobile Vibrant + Plus A Short Hands-On And Captivate Comparison (Pics)

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in AT&T, Captivate, Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, News, Samsung, T-Mobile, Vibrant

Try to say that title 3 times fast, eh? Yesterday I received a text from my fiancee letting me know that FedEx had just dropped off a package for me, and more specifically, Android Police. After the Samsung Captivate arrived the previous day, I wasn’t expecting any additional deliveries, so I had her rip it open, only to reveal that the awesome folks at Samsung sent a shiny new Vibrant our way as well!

I meant to keep this unboxing and hands-on specific to the Vibrant, but I couldn’t help allowing the Captivate to join in on the fun. I took plenty of side by side shots and video (to be uploaded later) highlighting some of the differences and showing how the Vibrant handles 3D gaming.

Jul

I Am Iron Meh: LG Ally Review

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Ally (Aloha), LG, Phone Reviews, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

If you’re a fan of a physical QWERTY keyboard, your Android options tend to be fairly limited. Your best bet would be to pick up the Motorola Droid, but if, for some reason, that phone doesn’t do it for you, you’re limited to either the Cliq or the Backflip – both developed by Motorola, and both gimmicky and under-powered. For some reason manufacturers seem to be avoiding high-powered QWERTY handsets like the plague, instead opting for touchscreen ‘superphones’, such as the EVO 4G, or the Nexus One.

Sure, these are nice handsets, but for those of us that just can’t get used to a touchscreen keyboard, QWERTY handsets are where it’s at.

Jul

AT&T’s Samsung Captivate Unboxing And Initial Hands-On!

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in AT&T, Captivate, Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Samsung, Videos

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Our friendly neighborhood FedEx employee stopped by this morning with our Samsung Captivate, so I figured I’d do a quick unboxing video, snap some pictures, and give you guys our initial thoughts before our review in a couple days.

The box itself is fairly boring, sticking with a generic “You bought a cell phone on AT&T!” design rather than trying to shake things up a la the EVO 4G’s eco-friendly box design, or Apple’s sleek iPhone packaging. Still, though, it’s what’s inside that counts, right?

Sliding the top off reveals a ‘quick start’ guide under which lies the phone itself, and below that, the charger, USB cable, and an above average set of ear buds.

Jun

[Giveaway] Vlingo Voice Control App Reviewed + We’ve Got 25 Licenses To Give Away!

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in App Reviews, Applications, Contests / Giveaways, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

The winners have been selected and contacted via email.

Enjoy your Vlingo licenses and look out for future AndroidPolice contests!

Living in Houston, you encounter some pretty horrendous traffic. Out of the 45 minutes I spend commuting(one way), about 20 are probably spent at a red light.

With all of that downtime it’s pretty tempting to reach over and check your latest email, or, if you’re like me, compulsively check the market for updates, but every time you do so, you’re risking injuring yourself, and those around you. We all know it’s dangerous to use the cell phone while driving, but how many of us actually heed those warnings?

Jun

Want Froyo On Your EVO 4G? Feeling Adventurous? Try EVOlutionV8 ROM

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Android OS, Carriers, Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Froyo 2.2, HTC, News, Sprint

This article mentions rooting and the flashing of non-stock roms. If you’re unfamiliar with either term, hit up our primers here and here for additional information

As with most popular Android phones, a community of developers has cropped up over at xda-developers, who are dedicating their time and leet programming skills to ‘cooking’ and releasing improved ROMs for the EVO 4G.

In this case, developer Avalunchmods has released an overclockable version of Froyo for the EVO 4G, ported from the leaked Nexus One FRF72 release, and it seems like it’s nearly good enough to be a daily driver. The ROM's biggest issue at the moment is getting the camera to work, but for users who don’t use the camera often, or just can’t wait to get Froyo running on their EVO, it’s probably worth checking out.

Jun

Yet Another Droid X Leak, This Time With Sexy High-Res Pictures

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, Droid X (Shadow), Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

This is certainly one of the worst kept mobile secrets in a while. It seems we can barely go more than a few days without more Droid X/Xtreme/Shadow or Droid 2 pictures leaking. In this case, it seems Mr. Blurrcam is on vacation and let his high resolution counterpart take a few more pictures of the Droid X.

There’s not a whole lot of new information at this point, but that’s to be expected considering the rate at which we’ve been seeing leaks. If you’ve somehow avoided catching any information on this phone over the last few weeks, here’s a recap of the rumored specs:

4.3” TFT FWVGA screen
720 MHz OMAP 3630 Processor
8 GB of internal storage (possibly 16GB)
8 MP Camera
720p Video Recording
mini-HDMI out
Wifi 802.11 b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1
MicroSD support up to 32GB
9mm at the bottom of the device flaring to 11mm at the top
Android 2.1 (possibly 2.2)
Dual LED Flash

It seems like every other blog has different specs listed for the phone, so take those with a grain of salt, but this more or less seems to be Verizon’s answer to the EVO 4G, and to be honest, I like the looks of the Droid X much more.