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Update: The deal appears to be over, with a final count of 2000 Nexus 7's sold, which is quite a lot for an eBay Daily Deal. We're betting on similar deals popping up in the weeks before Christmas, so we'll be sure to keep an eye out.
The word "unredacted" is experiencing quite a spike in usage this morning, on news that HTC and Apple are being required to produce the full, uncut version of their patent licensing agreement for use by Samsung's legal counsel. The document in question, which had previously been provided sans 33 words (some of which were, presumably, numbers), was requested by Samsung last week for the purpose of arguing against Apple's post-trial motions for permanent injunctions against infringing Samsung products. To be clear, this request is a part of the already-gone-to-verdict $1 billion trial that happened this summer.
Does the idea of an Android 4.0 QWERTY slider on Verizon with a WVGA display excite you? Then head on over to Verizon's website, and order yourself a Stratosphere II. Announced a couple weeks ago, the Stratosphere II is definitely on the low end of mid range, with a 4" 480x800 display, Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor, slide-out QWERTY keyboard, Android 4.0, and a 5MP rear shooter.
Oh, open source files. You might not know it, but it's awfully hard to write words about kernel source going live on Samsung's website, something we do quite often here at Android Police. But, if you're into this sort of thing, you're probably not too concerned with what I'm saying, so much as the links to those files, which I have. And I'm going to make you scroll to get them!
SwiftKey is definitely the 3rd-party keyboard of favor here at Android Police (just ask Artem or Cameron), and there's no doubt in our minds that it's worth four bucks. But at two bucks, it's an absolute steal. Today and tomorrow only (November 22nd and 23rd), SwiftKey will be on sale, and that includes the phone version as well as the tablet-optimized edition. That means for the price of one SwiftKey, you can get two! If you haven't already bought it, which I'm guessing a lot of you have.
If you head on over to Amazon Wireless this morning, you'll find the Xperia TL has had its price dropped to a mere penny on contract (new subscribers or upgrades).
Yeah, we know, Google goofed the Nexus 4 launch. It's a bummer. But if you didn't manage to get your order in, you can now obsessively check availability in your respective country using the Play Store Availability Checker. The site offers two view options: the whole Nexus device list for your respective country (link), or a list for a single device in all Play Store countries (link).
Square Enix have released their latest Android offering to the Play Store, in the form of the sequel to the mobile RPG Chaos Rings (which came out on Android last month): Chaos Rings Omega.
The latest and greatest from Verizon and HTC's ongoing DROID partnership marks something of a shift in strategy for the two companies. In the past, if you wanted an HTC "DROID," your options were basically limited to the Incredible brand, which has become decidedly, well, less incredible over time. And while the Incredible started out as a top-of-the-heap smartphone back in 2010, it too was quickly eclipsed by bigger, better phones. Verizon's approach to HTC from basically day one has been "the DROID phone that costs less than some other DROID phone we throw a lot more marketing money behind."
Just a quick reminder, the HTC DROID DNA is available starting today (November 21st) at a Verizon near you. HTC's latest addition to the DROID lineup is packing a 5" 1080p display, quad-core Snapdragon S4 pro processor, 2GB of RAM, LTE, NFC, and various other adjectives. And at $199 on a two-year agreement (less if you head to Wirefly), it's not a bad deal. Our review will be going up today, so be on the lookout.
It's coming. Black Friday (and Cyber Monday), an event so important to retailers in the US that the physical trampling retail employees to death hasn't stopped it. People go nuts for this stuff. And, when you see the "$100/$75/50%/3-hour-only sale" sign plastered onto something, bleary-eyed and over-caffeinated at midnight, or frantically deciding what to put in your digital cart on Monday morning before heading to work, making a bad decision can be all too easy. It's something that we've all probably done with a product of some kind at some point - it's too good to pass up.And that's how good, honest people end up with ancient Toshiba Thrives, or some off-brand Chinese tablet no one's ever heard of. You may not regret it today, or tomorrow, or even next week. But a month or two down the line, when that tablet is collecting dust in a drawer, or your smartphone has developed what you have lovingly come to refer to as "a bit of sluggishness" when Gmail takes 5 seconds to load, and your battery life is best measured in the amount of time it will take you to reach the nearest wall outlet, you'll start to regret that money you "saved." Or, the loved one (or not-so-loved-one) you got this device for will start seeking out a replacement / pestering you for a gift receipt.This holiday season, if you're looking for a deal on a smartphone or tablet, don't be led astray into unfamiliar territory - here are some tips you should heed, and some devices you should check out.
Update: The Nexus 10 32GB is also in stock in the UK and Canada, too.
Eight cores, in a mobile processor? Balderdash! But according to EETimes, that's just what Samsung's planning on unveiling in February at the International Solid-State Circuits Conference (that sounds so exciting).
The Amazon Appstore has been updated to version 4.3.14.3C, and this release brings a few new goodies, along with a much-needed Android 4.2 compatibility fix. Previously, switching users on an Android 4.2 tablet would require you to log into the Appstore on each user account every time you switched, this has now been rectified. A battery drain bug has been stomped as well, along with the typical "other bug fixes and stability enhancements."
HTC CEO Peter Chou has come out swinging against allegations that HTC is paying "$6-8 per handset" in royalties to Apple, calling the estimates "outrageous." Of course, those estimate were indeed just estimates, and they were also commented upon by HTC insiders at the time as being a little on the high side.
We all love Android, and we also love when Google releases a new iteration of our favorite mobile OS. Sometimes, though, even Google screws up a bit, and Android 4.2 is looking to be one of the most bug-ridden releases since Honeycomb. And, let's be honest: 4.2 isn't exactly the leap that 2.3 to 3.0 was, either. Chances are, if you're on Android 4.2, you've experienced at least one of the issues here. Some aren't that bad, but some can just ruin your day, and we're a little shocked Google missed them.
[The Android Police Week In Review] The Biggest Android Stories Of The Week (11/11/12 - 11/18/12)
The Android Police Week In Review & The Biggest Stories Of The Week
Welcome to the Android Police Week In Review - your source for the biggest Android stories of the week. Don't forget, you can catch a lot of these stories (and more) on our weekly podcast.
RadioShack has a holiday promotion starting Sunday that, if you're in the market for a Galaxy S III here in the states, you might be interested in (unless you're on T-Mobile - this one's only Sprint, VZW, and AT&T).
[The Android Police Podcast] Episode 36: I Need Wolf Blitzer Now
The Android Police Podcast: Episode 36
Welcome to the Android Police Podcast, Episode 36. Don't forget - the Android Police Podcast's live broadcast is every Thursday at 5PM PST (www.androidpolice.com/podcast). The unedited video version of the podcast can be found here - and will likely include various verbal expletives, technical snafus, tangents, and probably a good 5-10 minutes of pre-podcast banter as we prepare. Watch at your own risk!