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Well, that was pretty fast, actually. The DROID Incredible 2 has successfully been unlocked by AlphaRev - that means 100% rooted and (soon) ROM-ready. Instructions and a download will follow soon - so hold tight, we'll keep you updated on this one.
In probably the least subtle unofficial announcement possible, the Cut The Rope developer team (via Twitter) sent us a message with this picture:
We've all seen "roundup" lists of smartphones before: who's got the best display, who has the quickest processor, the newest OS revision, the biggest battery - but let's face facts: that kind of stuff is for nerds (like all of us here at AP - and most of our wonderful readers). So we're going to try out something new - call it a pilot episode, if you will.
Nielsenwire released new smartphone figures this morning, with a focus on data consumption. Topping the list of the data consumers amongst the smartphone OS's was, of course, Android.
Surprise, surprise - Rovio's has issued the next major content update to Angry Birds Rio early! The Carnival update is now available on the Amazon Appstore (unfortunately that's the only place you can get it for now).
I've been thinking about writing this editorial for some time now. And today, with the announcement of Panasonic's upcoming Toughbook Android tablet, I finally decided to go for it. The point this article is trying to make may not be abundantly clear in the title, so let me see if I can get it across as a question: Is it just me, or are there a suspiciously large number of companies in or planning to enter the Android tablet market?
Update: In a new Facebook update, HTC explained that some apps would be cut to allow enough space for the Gingerbread update. Looks like it was all about internal storage after all, rather than RAM.
Update: The EVO Shift 4G will be getting this OTA on the 17th if you initiate the update check manually, and by June 20th, it should start rolling out to all devices automatically! So be on the lookout for it on Friday.
CrunchGear is reporting that the Italian site HDblog has received exclusive details on Samsung's least-publicized new tablet product: the Galaxy Tab Seven (aka, the Galaxy Tab 2). The Seven will be the successor to the wildly unpopular Galaxy Tab, which debuted last fall to almost universally poor reviews (though our own Aaron Gingrich thoroughly enjoyed it). The Galaxy Tab was the first major-manufacturer Android tablet, and it seems based on the new tablet's specifications, Samsung learned a lot from the Tab's less-than-successful run.
Take this with a massive grain of salt, but BGR has just let loose an article detailing what they claim will be either the next Nexus phone or, if not a Nexus, simply the new Android reference handset. Far more exciting than that is what BGR's source has told them what kind of features the phone will be packing:
Update: Don't install this app until it gets an update - it will turn your GPS on every 10 seconds to update your location info, and won't stop unless you Force Stop it from the Manage Applications screen. It was at 68% on my phone's battery usage menu after 6 hours of doing little with my phone aside from checking e-mail sporadically. Yuck.
Update 6/14/11: All 3 Thrive variations are now on Amazon as well, for those who prefer themselves some tax-free shopping.
The DROID 3, like the DROID 2, has been pretty lax about showing itself off prior to any sort of official announcement from Motorola. Today, the DROID 3 has been all but fully revealed by a member over at XDA China. Two things from that post immediately caught our attention: a qHD Pentile display, and 512MB of RAM. Both of them should make you queasy.
Remember how we ran that story last week about Virgin Mobile laying the smackdown on manufacturer UI overlays? We liked that. But Virgin Mobile wants the Android community to know that they shouldn't consider the prepaid carrier a safe haven for illicit activities like rooting or custom ROMs - not that that's any different from all the other carriers. Here's what Virgin had to say:
If you've been following the saga of attempts to get a custom recovery running on the LG Revolution, you might be aware things hadn't been going so well up until last night. Particularly because most attempts to load custom recoveries onto the Revo previously ended in bricked phones and nerdrage. Well, no more (sorry for the craptastic picture):
The ASUS Transformer is a nifty piece of tablet kit, particularly because of its super-awesome keyboard dock that comes with its own extended battery. But Transformer owners have complained that they're essentially left in the dark about the status of the dock's battery - because by default the only battery status displayed is that of the tablet itself. This means that you'll just see a nice, full battery for hours on end until suddenly your little green bar starts to drop precipitously, indicating the dock has finally run out of juice.
Do you wish your XOOM was an ASUS Transformer - but leather? Motorola's got a new keyboard / leather folio case out for the XOOM, and it's on sale for a pretty reasonable $85. Spiffy. It's unknown if the keyboard is connecting via Bluetooth, but that seems like the most obvious way to go about doing this, as there's no mention of any sort of charging functionality, so we assume it's all done sans wires. You can get it from Verizon here. Oh, and the $85 price tag includes free 2 day shipping. Sounds like a deal to us.
Surprise, surprise - Rovio's about to issue the next major content update to Angry Birds Rio early! The Carnival update will be available on the Market shortly (exactly how long, we don't know), and we already have the basic changelog:
If you've been watching the blogosphere over the last few days, you might have seen an article or two about a "complaint" filed with the FCC over Verizon's block on tethering applications in the Android Market.