David Ruddock - 112/142 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

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

Jun

Transdroid Torrent Manager Removed From Android Market By Google

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Apps/Games, News

I never know how to feel about torrent (in this case, management) applications. On the one hand, torrenting is a brilliant and efficient way to share information in a collective and low-cost (read: free) fashion. On the other, it's the single largest gateway to piracy in existence. And it could kill you.

But it's clear torrenting applications are very much legal. So why has Google removed a popular torrent management application, Transdroid, from the Android Market? There's a number of such apps on the Market, and Transdroid's competitors are still standing. TorrentFreak thinks they know what's up.

Transdroid's developer page featured a screenshot showing an obvious example of copyright infringement in action, seen below:

This could easily be seen as encouraging illegal behavior, which definitely violates the Android Market Developer Program Policies:

Illegal Activities: Keep it legal.

Jun

comScore: Android Accounts For Only 2.7% Of All Tablets In The US

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, News

We often hear smartphone and other market share figures bandied about by various analysts and market research firms - but comScore tends to be a pretty trusted name in the industry, particularly when it comes to web traffic figures, so we take these numbers as being fairly reliable.

In their most recent web traffic survey of "non-computer" devices (tablets, phones, media players), comScore evaluated traffic on a per-nation basis, and the results don't paint a pretty picture for Android tablets.

Raw percentage as part of all "Non-Computer Devices"

If you break down the raw percentages above, Apple's iPad represents over 97% of all tablet web traffic in the United States.

Jun

Google's 15-Minute App Return Window Unlawful In Taiwan, Google Pulls Paid Apps In Response

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Apps/Games, News

Well, this is an interesting turn of events for the Android Market's universally-despised 15-minute app return window. According to the Taipei Times, the Taipei City Government was recently alerted to Google's Android Market return policies - policies that violate Taiwanese consumer protection laws requiring any product bought over the internet to have at least a 7-day "trial period."

Earlier this month, the Taiwanese government gave Google a 15-day ultimatum to revise its app return policies to include the mandatory 7-day trial period, but Google refused to comply. Faced with a $1 million fine for non-compliance, Google, after negotiations with the government broke down, decided yesterday to remove all access to paid apps for Android devices in Taiwan.

Jun

Rumor: The Next Nexus Phone May Be Built By Samsung, Has Super AMOLED HD Display

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Rumors, Samsung

We're as skeptical of oddly-specific rumors as the next blog, but given the source, we feel it'd be negligent of us not to pass on this information to you. A couple weeks back, we reported on a BGR-exclusive story that leaked information about the next Google Nexus Android phone.

Now, "Prime" is rumored to be the device codename being tossed around at the Googleplex for the upcoming handset, but BGR's exclusive source has reason to believe that name will make it to end consumers. There's also the fact that this name has been bandied about before and bears a certain pop culture reference - so we're not exactly sure how legit it is, or if it's just an affectionate/humorous pet name until the device gets a real label.

Jun

[Deal Alert 2] EVO Shift 4G Now Free At Wirefly On New 2-Year Agreement

Posted by David Ruddock in Deals, EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), News, Sprint, Tips & Tutorials

Last week, I listed the EVO Shift 4G in my roundup of the best Android phones under $50, but that was when it was priced at $40 on AmazonWireless. Wirefly has now gone and beaten that price silly, offering the QWERTY-keyboard slider phone for the low, low price of "free" if you open a new Sprint account, or add a new line to your existing plan.

The EVO Shift 4G does have a tiny 3.6" display, but it's also packing a next-gen single core Snapdragon processor and a big 1530mAh battery - along with a fresh update to Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread.

Jun

[Deal Alert] DROID Charge Now Just $129.99 At Wirefly On New 2-Year Agreement

Posted by David Ruddock in Charge (i510), Deals, News, Tips & Tutorials

I'm not a big fan of the DROID Charge, but hey, to each his own. And apparently consumers haven't been such huge fans of the phone's notoriously high original MSRP ($300 on upgrade or new agreement), making it the most expensive subsidized Android phone to date.

Well, Wirefly has started playing hardball, and after having dropped the Charge down to $180 a month or so back, they've gone price-slashing yet again: you can now pick up the Samsung DROID Charge for $129.99 on a new Verizon account with a 2-year agreement, or when you add a line to your existing plan (sorry, it's still $200 if you want to upgrade).

Jun

CyanogenMod 7.1 Release Candidate 1 Available Now For Most Supported Devices

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Development, Gingerbread 2.3, Tips & Tutorials

This article deals with a couple of advanced topics. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the terms, hit up our primers here:

Rooting Explained + Top 5 Benefits Of Rooting
Top Android Apps Every Rooted User Should Know About: Part 1 (Apps 1-8),Part 2 (Apps 9-16), Part 3 (Apps 17-25)
Custom ROMs Explained And Why You Want Them
How To Flash A Custom ROM To Your Android Phone With ROM Manager + Full Backup & Restore
So You Want To Know About Bootloaders, Encryption, Signing, And Locking?

The latest version of Android's most popular custom ROM, CyanogenMod, is now available for most of the officially supported Android phones on the CyanogenMod device list.

Jun

Lodsys Patent Trolling Continues - What Should Android Developers Do, Google?

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Apps/Games, News

Update: Cory Trese's infringement notice was apparently sent to him by mistake - whatever that means. He received a call from Lodsys stating they'd like all the materials they sent returned. What's happened? Who knows, but as someone in our team chat room sarcastically stated - maybe they forgot a zero somewhere.

We received this tweet from Cory Trese yesterday, developer of a game called Star Traders 2, in regard to a settlement offer he received from Lodsys LLC (a patent troll shell corporation):

This isn't a friendly letter. In fact, it's probably downright terrifying as a prospect to most developers, and understandably so.

Jun

Two New Sony Phones: Meet The Xperia Ray And Xperia Active - With Maria Sharapova

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Xperia Active (Satsuma), Xperia Ray (Urushi, ST18i)

Last Updated: August 20th, 2012

Update: Now with video goodness. In fact, you can watch Maria Sharapova (don't get too excited) talk about the Xperia Active. And hey, she knows about active lifestyle phones, because she's sporty.

Catch the other videos about the Ray (here, and here) and the Active (here). You know, if you want. Also, the word "lifestyle" was definitely used in describing the design of the Ray. I felt queasy.

Today at CommunicAsia (we've never heard of it, either) Sony-Ericsson announced two additions to the Android-powered Xperia line of smartphones: the Ray and Active. Both phones are niche sort of "lifestyle" devices, and will probably be marketed more heavily in Japan than the rest of the world.

Jun

[Updated: Existing Customers Can Keep Unlimited Data] Editorial: Why Verizon's Tiered Data Plans Will Punish Everyone - Not Just Heavy Data Users

Posted by David Ruddock in 4G, Carriers, Editorials, Verizon Wireless

Update: According to two separate Verizon memos intercepted by Droid-life, existing Verizon customers can keep their existing data plan pricing when renewing or upgrading. Unfortunately, as with all offers of this type, just how long it will last remains to be seen. But, given that the BIONIC is coming some time soon-ish, it seems very likely that existing Verizon customers will be able to get the device without being forced into tiered data.

This should sate a lot of potentially angry current Verizon customers, but will definitely punish those coming over from AT&T for the iPhone 5 later this year.