Liam Spradlin - 10/100 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Besides being an avid Android fan and blogger, Liam is a photographer with a degree in both Anthropology and Sociology. He can usually be found reading through blogs, taking photos, or studying ancient pottery. Liam has been known to leave on international trips at a moment's notice, and can't resist a new challenge.

Follow @LiamSpradlin

Mar

PSA: LG Intuition's Latest Update Wreaking Havoc, Should Be Avoided For Now

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Intuition, News, Optimus Vu, Verizon Wireless

Owners of LG's Verizon-connected Intuition (otherwise known as the Optimus Vu) would be well-advised to avoid an update that began rolling out recently. The short version of this story is that the update is wreaking havoc on handsets –users who have already accepted the update are reporting constant app errors, an inability to connect to the Play Store, camera/gallery failure, and more. You can read users' impassioned responses to the flawed firmware here, here, and here.

It should be noted that although some users report total loss of photos and contacts, user files should still be present on the device.

Mar

Deal Alert: Motorola Droid Razr HD Drops To $0.01 On Amazon Wireless For New Accounts

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Deals, RAZR HD / RAZR MAXX HD, Verizon Wireless

In January, we saw Motorola's Droid Razr HD drop to just a penny on Amazon for customers looking to upgrade their old devices. Sadly, the deal didn't extend to new customers (though at $19.99, not much complaining could be done).

If you were hoping to hop onto the big red network with the Razr HD for a more enticing price, Amazon's got your deal – the phone is now just a penny for new customers (and additional lines). Upgrades on the other hand will cost customers $89.99, strangely enough.

Though the Razr HD launched last fall, its specs still hold up against the competition.

Mar

Open Garden 2.0 Comes With Channel Bonding, Enhanced Reliability, Same User-Friendly Mesh Networking

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Everyone's favorite mesh networking startup Open Garden today announced its 2.0 refresh at LAUNCH festival, having allegedly already served 2.1 million installs since version 1.

Readers would be forgiven for not remembering exactly what Open Garden is, or why it's interesting – we last covered the app in its beta stage.

Basically, the idea behind Open Garden is to create ubiquitous internet access by linking various smart devices together and sharing a common internet connection in a mesh network. For example, if your smartphone is connected to the internet, Open Garden would allow you to create a mesh network to which your tablet, another phone, a PC, or all of the above could connect.

Mar

Google Pares Nexus 7 Cover Selection, Axing Gray Version, Kicking Pink Version Out Of The U.S.

Posted by Liam Spradlin in ASUS, Google, News, Nexus 7

In what seems to be a fairly arbitrary move, Google has trimmed the fat from the Play Store's Nexus 7 cover selection. The lineup, which formerly included pink, light blue, and gray, has been cut down to just the light blue color in the US, with the pink cover variant appearing outside the US. The gray cover has been axed completely.

Mar

Waterfield's Smart Case For The Nexus 10 Quick Review: It's Like Giving Your Tablet A Sixty-Dollar Hug

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Nexus 10, Other Reviews, Reviews

Since the Nexus 10 was released last October, I've been hunting for great accessories to go with it. There's no word on the official-looking dock we saw in Google's "Happy Holidays" video, nor has there been even a mumble about the flip cover we spotted when the Verge got an exclusive hands-on.

Personally, I'm fine without the flip cover, and I can do without the dock, but having owned Samsung's sleeve for the original Galaxy Tab 10.1, I wanted to find some sort of stylish carrier for my slick new 10" tablet. I soon arrived at SFBags.com, home of a great variety of cases, sleeves, and carriers for all sorts of devices, including the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10.

Mar

Launch Of Play Gift Cards In UK Imminent? Google Updates Help Files With UK-Specific Information

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Google, News

A mere seven months ago, we saw the launch of Google's Play Store gift cards, a much wished-for addition to the store front that made gifting the store's digital content almost as easy as it should be. Unfortunately for international users, though, the cards were only destined for the US at launch. When "redeem pages" popped up in the UK's online and device-based stores in mid-December, many thought the cards would hit retail stores in time for the holidays. Alas, the holidays came and went with nary a peep from Goog on the subject.

Now, however, we seem to have another promising development that should return hope to UK Play patrons – Google has updated its "Gift cards & Google Play balance" help files with UK-specific information.

Feb

Sony Offers Xperia E Owners The Chance To Test Out Experimental Firefox OS Build

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Development, News, Sony

The Xperia E, Sony's low-end Jelly Bean-powered smartphone which was announced back in December may have another trick up its sleeve yet. The manufacturer is offering owners of the device the chance to test out Mozilla's fledgling Firefox OS on the device via a downloadable ROM. Meant for "advanced developers," the ROM comes with a few warnings from Sony, chiefly that you should know what you're doing before you get started.

The ROM is thus far labeled "experimental," and comes with its own set of limitations: for starters, there's no radio connectivity. This means no cellular, Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth capability. Additionally, the SD card "might be unstable" and touch screen sensitivity is not fully calibrated.

Feb

Pushover Updated With DashClock, Pebble Watch Support

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Pushover, a "simple push notification service" that essentially allows web services, scripts, and a lot more to send notifications to your mobile device, got an update recently to version 1.6 (and soon after, 1.6.1), which brought on a couple more nifty features.

Namely, the update brings support for DashClock, the popular clock/information widget that has gained immense support in its first few weeks of existence. Now DashClock can show you how many Pushover notifications are waiting for you.

The update also brings support for the lauded Pebble Smartwatch, allowing the gadget to receive forwarded notifications, provided you've got the Pebble app, and the watch is paired with your phone.

Feb

[Video] Watch ASUS' (Hilarious) Padfone Infinity/Fonepad Unveiling In Its Entirety

Posted by Liam Spradlin in ASUS, Fonepad, Padfone Infinity, Videos

Yesterday, we attended a press conference at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona where we were treated not only to the unveiling of ASUS' new Padfone Infinity and aptly-named Fonepad 7" tablet phone (with which we later got some hands-on time), but also to the dazzling (ly awkward and hilarious) antics of a "tech illusionist," and plenty of other awkward moments.

We were able to share a pretty detailed account of the event, along with a short video, but those who want to see the full unveiling from start to finish can now do so, thanks to ASUS' own YouTube channel.

Feb

Google Intros Google+ Sign-In: 'Simple And Secure, Minus The Social Spam'

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Google, News

Google, in a bid toward continued competition with the other social networks, today announced Google+ Sign-In, a unified login that can be utilized across the web, as well as Android and iOS apps to make sign-in and sharing much simpler. Think Facebook connect but, in Google's words, "minus the social spam."

Google, in a post to the Google+ Developers Blog, emphasized four key points of focus for Sign-In's first release, the first of which being the idea that "simplicity and security come first." Basically, the sign-in process will work like that of Facebook – choose your G+ account, review the permissions the website or app wants access to, approve, and you're set.