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David Ruddock

David's phone is an HTC One X+. He is an avid writer, and enjoys imparting a legal perspective on Android news where it is relevant. He also doesn't usually write such boring sentences.

Follow @rdr0b11

Aug

And The JLab JBuds J4M Earbuds Giveaway Winners Are...

Posted by David Ruddock in Contests / Giveaways, News

You may not remember the contest we had last month for the JLabs J4M ruggedized headphones, but I suggest you check the review out - they're a pretty good set of very tough earbuds. We gave away three pairs of J4Ms, courtesy of JLab, as part of the review. And the winners are:

Jason Taylor, from Texas, who entered via Twitter.
Bruce Cheek of Illinois, who entered via Google+.
Keith McCrory of Ireland, who entered via Google+.

Congrats to all of you - you'll be receiving your brand-new J4M headphones as soon as we can get them out to you!

JLabs J4M Earbuds Review

Aug

Costco To Get DROID BIONIC With Dock, Battery, And Charger Bundle For Just $300?

Posted by David Ruddock in 4G, Bionic, News, Rumors, Verizon Wireless

Wow, this just might be the best deal we've posted in a while. Unfortunately, we're not 100% certain on the price, because the images we were tipped to don't exactly specify one. Still, based on the $300 mark we've been hearing, and Droid-forums' claim that their source says that's the number, we're starting to feel pretty confident in that figure.

If you look on the left hand side of that image, in the red area, you can see the text "Accessories Bonus Pack / $159.97 Retail Value / Includes Standard Dock / Vehicle Navigator Dock / Battery Dock and / Extra Battery." That's a lot of kit to bundle with a phone for just $300 on a new 2-year agreement!

Aug

Dat's Phat: DROID BIONIC Gets A Side Profile Shot, Has Junk In Trunk

Posted by David Ruddock in 4G, Bionic, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

Not really. Actually, the BIONIC looks pretty svelte in these images leaked by the good folks over at Pop Herald. Here's the BIONIC stand-alone, and side by side with the DROID X2:

While the BIONIC clearly is thicker than the DX2, it's not by that much. Of course, press shots (which these likely are) have a tendency to play with lighting and perspective in order to make a phone seem thinner than it might actually be, so until you hold it in your hand, it's all kind of relative.

Still, based on these images, it's thinner than I expected.

Pop Herald via Droid-life

Aug

AT&T, T-Mobile, And Sprint Galaxy S II Models Outed In Leaked Image?

Posted by David Ruddock in AT&T, Galaxy S II, News, Sprint, T-Mobile

Update: On further reflection, we're going to tentatively call this image a "rumor" for now, as we have no way to confirm its authenticity, but we have no reason to think these images are fake, either.

Finally, visual proof that unicorns do exist! Someone, somewhere, has leaked a shot of the upcoming Galaxy S II US market handsets headed for three of America's big four carriers (ATT, T-Mo, Sprint). Without further ado, here they are:

Where the image is from, we're not sure (pocketnow provided no details), but it could very well be a slide from Samsung's upcoming press conference to announce the arrival of the first US-friendly Galaxy S II phones.

Aug

Download: Phone Android Market 3.1.3 Adds +1 For Apps And Games, PIN For Purchases, And More

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Applications, News

Last Updated: September 30th, 2012

Download: Android Market v3.1.3 (mirror) (for all devices - does not require root, but you do need to enable 'Unknown Sources' in the Settings-> Applications menu.)

The Market update in this post is meant for phones only - there is no known update to the Honeycomb tablet Market at the moment.

Wow, Google is on a roll with the Android Market lately. Since the release of Market v3.0, a number of small updates have come to the Android Market recently, but this is by far the biggest yet. Google has added the long-awaited +1 functionality to the Android Market (which has been on the web version of the Market for quite some time), along with a few other goodies.

Aug

New Nexus S 4G Version Of Swype Will Be Coming To All Handsets This Week, Minus Sprint Branding

Posted by David Ruddock in Apps/Games, News

In an official communication with the company, we've been told that the Sprint-exclusive update to Swype on the Nexus S 4G will be coming to the Swype beta channel for all supported handsets this week.

The update will lack the nifty Sprint-specific skin of the Nexus S 4G version, but will contain the improved capitalization, the Swype-specific personal dictionary, and the new gesture support for launching apps like Twitter and Facebook, as well as editing text in a quick and efficient manner by providing gesture shortcuts for select all, cut, copy, and paste.

We've removed our links to the ported .apk in our previous post at the request of Swype, who have valid concerns about licensing of the Sprint-branded version which is currently floating around over at XDA.

Aug

Editorial: Why Removing The Market's "Just In" Section Is Good For Everyone - Except App Spammers

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Apps/Games, Development, Editorials

This Just In

If you've received the new version of the Android Market on your phone, you might have noticed among the legion of additions to the app a very noticeable subtraction: the "Just In" section. Some people don't like this.

In fact, there is a growing thread over at Google Support with a number of complaints about this change. Of course, the complaints are pretty exclusively from developers. Now, some of these complaints are made from a legitimate perspective - new developers who want exposure. Of course, the problem is that these developers can't actually determine what percentage of their app's "clicks" come from the "Just In" section - there seems to be a tacit assumption that it's a large number, without any evidence to back up this claim.

Aug

Chitika: Verizon Losing Android Market Share, AT&T And Budget Carriers On The Rise

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, AT&T, MetroPCS, News, US Cellular, Verizon Wireless, Virgin Mobile

Chitika released new Android market share figures today by carrier, and the results are somewhat interesting. Verizon, who previously controlled over 50% of the market for Android smartphones, has dropped to almost 40% over the last five months. Who's to blame? AT&T and small budget carriers, apparently (US Cellular, MetroPCS, Virgin Mobile).

August 2011

AT&T now makes up nearly 9% of all Android phones in the US - having more than doubled its share back in March, when it was a mere 3.5% of the pie. Smaller carriers control around 8.5%, up from around 3%. Here's the chart from March:

March 2011

It seems likely that low-end Android devices are having a big effect on these numbers.

Aug

DROID Incredible Gingerbread Update Needs More Testing, Delayed Until Further Notice

Posted by David Ruddock in Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, Incredible, News, Verizon Wireless

The DROID Incredible has remained without Gingerbread while its successor, the Incredible 2, has had it for well over a month. A Verizon support rep is now claiming that the Incredible's long awaited Ginger-bump has been put on hold pending final approval from Verizon's product team - which basically translates to: we're not happy with it yet.

It could be a single bug, or wider user experience problems. This means the delay may last anywhere from a few days to a few weeks - or more. We'll keep you updated if more information develops, but for now, your guess on a date is as good as ours.

Aug

DROID HD Makes First Appearance, Leaves Us Saying "BIONIC Who?"

Posted by David Ruddock in Motorola, News, RAZR / RAZR MAXX

Last Updated: October 18th, 2011

Motorola is apparently hard at work on another high-end handset known as the DROID HD - and boy, is it a good-looking piece of kit. Just take a look:

Left to right: DROID BIONIC, DROID HD

The DROID HD appears to be what the DROID X2 should have been - namely, much better in every respect. While it may have a qHD display (not confirmed - just presumed), in almost every other conceivable way, the HD looks like the Moto handset to have. The elephant in the room of course is the BIONIC, Motorola's upcoming dual-core monster 4G LTE device, which will likely sit at a significantly higher price tier than the HD.