Ron Amadeo - 16/19 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Ron Amadeo

Ron loves everything related to technology, design, and Google. He always wants to talk about "the big picture" and what's next for Android, and he's not afraid to get knee-deep in an APK for some details. Expect a good eye for detail, lots of research, and some lamenting about how something isn't designed well enough.

Oct

[Exclusive] The Ice Cream Sandwich Gallery Is Likely Getting A Built-In Photo Editor; We've Got The Feature List

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Exclusives, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Last Updated: June 5th, 2012

Google is working on building a photo editor into the Android Gallery. That much we're certain about - we've got the icons for it. It's not 100% confirmed that this will actually ship, or if these features or icons are final, but do you really think they'd do all this work and throw it out?

With the disclaimer out of the way, here's the icons and descriptions, ripped right from Ice Cream Sandwich's creamy center.

Update 10/18/11: Confirmed during the ICS unveiling.

Tools

Redo

Undo

Colors

Exposure

Fix

Artistic

Crop

Rotate

Flip

Straighten

Sharpen

Redeye

Note: All the tool icons were white on transparent, so I gave them a black background.

Oct

[Exclusive] Here Is What The Gmail, Email, And Calendar Ice Cream Sandwich Widgets Look Like

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Exclusives, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Last Updated: June 5th, 2012

Well look what we have here. Somehow we've managed to come across pictures of a few Ice Cream Sandwich widgets. Specifically Gmail, Email, and Calendar. And to answer your next question, no, sadly, we can't hook you up with a download. We'd love to, but the widgets would actually need ICS to work.

It looks like they are all getting a nice coat of polish - we've helpfully included the old Honeycomb widgets for comparison (there are no equivalents of these in Gingerbread as far as I know, outside of an old and ugly simple calendar widget).

Gmail

The lack of labels here is a little alarming, but we have no idea if any of those messages actually have labels.

Oct

Canadian Galaxy Nexus Spotted In Wi-Fi Alliance Database

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Galaxy Nexus, News

Don't you just love databases? It looks like our friends to the north will be getting in on some delicious Ice Cream Sandwich action with their very own Galaxy Nexus model, the GT-I9250M. This time it's the Wi-Fi Alliance database giving us poor addicts just one more drop of Nexus news.

The "M" at the end of "GT-I9250M" means that this version is destined for Canada, just like the Canadian versions of the Galaxy S (GT-I9000M) and the Galaxy S II (I9100M).

Sadly there isn't anything else to glean from this filing other than "it has Wi-Fi." These guys sure are wordy.

Oct

Screencast Video Recorder Gets 2.0 Update, Adds Audio Recording, 25% More Oomph

Posted by Ron Amadeo in News

Screencast is quickly becoming the ultimate app demo tool.

Today Screencast added a new weapon to its arsenal: audio recording. You can now record and narrate right from your phone. They've also made the recording 25% faster, so you can do all that and still have a decently smooth video to show off.

For those who don't know, Screencast allows rooted users to capture shockingly good video of their on-screen antics - definitely check out our review if you haven't heard about it.

The 2.0 update also brings a home screen widget, search key activated screenshots, and everyone's favorite: bug fixes!

Oct

Galaxy Nexus Shows Up In Verizon MAP, Listed At $299.99 (Ditto For The HTC Rezound)

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Verizon Wireless, Vigor

Nexus news is leaking like a sieve over at Verizon. This time it's from something called "Verizon MAP" (Apparently that's "minimum advertised price"). The latest tidbit of info is one of the last important bits, the price! It's $299.99.

Before you freak out about the November 10th date; that's not necessarily the launch date - more like the earliest possible launch date. We've got a least a month to go.

All this news also applies to the HTC Rezound (formerly the Vigor), which is apparently going head-to-head with Google's frozen flagship. Good luck with that.

Source: Droid-Life

Oct

[Update: It's Official] Google Voice MMS-To-Email Rolling Out To Some Sprint Users

Posted by Ron Amadeo in News, Sprint

What? Google Voice is getting a feature update? People still work on Google Voice?

Update: Well, it's official. Just like suspected, it's currently only working for Sprint customers, and text to email forwarding must be enabled. Not to worry, though, El Goog is working on incorporating this feature into the Voice inbox.

They're also working with other wireless carriers to enable the feature for all Voice users as soon as they can, so just sit tight if you're not on the Now Network -- shouldn't be too long. [via Google Voice Blog]

Apparently, Google is taking a baby step towards one of Voice's longest running feature requests: MMS.

Oct

Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Prime) Hits Verizon Computers, It's 4G

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Verizon Wireless

Another hour, another sign ICS and the Nexus Prime are coming.

Did I say Nexus Prime? I meant Galaxy Nexus. That's pretty much official now. Verizon's Device Management system is giving up the goods this time, listing the Galaxy Nexus (I have to get used to that) in its database.

Also official is the 4G LTE modem, as if Verizon would let anything go out the door without one. Unfortunately. like most company programs, this database looks old and redundant, so it doesn't look like there's much more information to glean from this screenshot. It's not a world phone, if you were somehow expecting that, but that's all there is to see.

Oct

[Rumor] The New York Times Says The Google Music Store Is Almost Ready To Go

Posted by Ron Amadeo in News

Google Music's Music Store is ready to rise from the ashes. The New York Times is claiming Google and the record companies are close to a deal to make the music store a reality. Finally, we will be afforded the privilege of paying the record companies for their music.

If you don't remember, Google Music was originally slated to launch with a music store when it came out 5 months ago, but the deals fell through. Google resorted to launching a "music locker," which allowed you to upload songs from your computer to cloud storage, and then stream the music to your devices or a browser.

Oct

@Android Hits Twitter, Shares Pretty Ice Cream Sandwich Statue Picture

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

So I hear this new twitter thing is all the rage. The Android team has seen fit to set up shop in the twitterverse alongside @androiddev with @Android. Yes, somehow "@Android" wasn't taken.

So far tweets have consisted of the usual "Hello World" and the (awesome) Ice Cream Truck video. The one fresh bit of info comes from the account's avatar - it's a surprisingly big picture of the new ICS Statue. Check it out:

Source: Twitter

Oct

[Update: Now With Video!] Ice Cream Sandwich Statue Shows Up At The Googleplex

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Another snack just arrived at Building 44. The Ice Cream Sandwich Statue finally joined all his friends in front of Android HQ!

Update: We have video!

The Gingerbread and Honeycomb statues had unpacking videos, ~~hopefully they took one this time too.~~ Be here October 18th for all the hot (cold?) Ice Cream Sandwich news. Everything is starting to fall into place.

Source: Micheal Soland's G+ via androidos.in