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Nov

[Update: Now In The Market] Download: Get The Ice Cream Sandwich Keyboard On Your Phone (Minus Voice Dictation), No Root Necessary

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Update: This keyboard is now in the Android Market. Hit the widget below to grab it from there.

Ice Cream Sandwich Keyboard

QR code for https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=inputmethod.latin.ported

For those who are anxious to get their hands on Ice Cream Sandwich, another bit of Android's newest iteration has slipped out. This time, we've got the ICS keyboard. While it doesn't include the live voice-to-text functionality we were impressed by at Google's announcement (though there are options related to the microphone button in the keyboard's settings), it does bring some nice improvements to the table over Gingerbread's keyboard. It's important to note that this keyboard is only compatible with phones (it doesn't play nice with tablets), and since the package isn't signed by Google, it's not exactly official.

Nov

Dr. Dre's 'Beats' Are Here To Stay, Putting Boom-Chick-A-Boom In Your Phone

Posted by Charles Beel in Android OS, HTC

Love 'em or hate 'em, Beats are a hit. Annual sales of the pricey headgear are reported to approach half a billion dollars a year. During a recession, no less! My favorite Android handset maker, HTC, has even entered into a partnership with the company that promises to play your music "the way it was meant to be heard." I can't personally speak to the quality of the sound, but I'm sure any enhancement would be lost on me; audiophiles would turn their nose up at the paltry 192kbps quality I rip my CD collection to.

The New York Times recently ran a piece that digs deeper into the Beats phenomena and why Dr.

Nov

Chainfire Does It Again – Mobile ODIN Lets You Flash Firmware Right From Your Device, EverRoot Keeps You Rooted Through It All

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Applications, Development, News

ODIN is a handy, yet powerful tool for Android-powered Samsung devices that allows users to flash firmware updates and kernels using a relatively simple interface.

Looking to channel the power of the ODIN tool into something a bit more, well, mobile, developer Chainfire has released Mobile ODIN, a tool that allows rooted users to flash firmware straight from the app's interface.

What's more, Mobile ODIN Pro comes with a tool called EverRoot, which will ensure that no matter what you're flashing, you'll maintain root privileges, even if you're attempting to update your device with a leaked version of official firmware.

Nov

Nook Tablet Rooted, Looks To Continue Where Its Predecessor Left Off

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Barnes & Noble, News, Nook Tablet

A new device being rooted may raise few eyebrows nowadays, but for those of you looking for a nice cheap little tablet, the Nook Tablet has taken the first step to becoming yet another hobbyist's favorite. Given the enormous popularity of the Nook Color before it, this bodes well for the future of the Nook Tablet. However, with the release of the $200 Amazon Kindle Fire, no longer is the $250 Nook Tablet alone in American cheap-tablet market, so this development may well help to convince would-be buyers. Over at XDA-Developers, poster Indirect has tested the proven zergRush method on their own Nook Tablet, as well as created a batch file for Windows users to help automate the process.

Nov

[Getting To Know Android 4.0, Part 5] Everything Changes In Contacts, Even The Name!

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Features, Getting To Know Android, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0

Last Updated: August 10th, 2012

GTKA4.0 is back! (That's right. We're cool enough to abbreviate now.) Welcome to Part 5: Contacts. The Contacts app has seen the biggest change of any app from Gingerbread to Ice Cream Sandwich. Everything is different. It's not even called "Contacts" anymore, It prefers to be called the "People" app. We've got a lot to cover.

Unfortunately, unless you have a Nexus device (I don't), it's almost impossible to get a hold of a fully functional, stock Gingerbread contacts app. The closest I can get is a non-syncing emulator, which doesn't have enough options, and the Cyanogenmod 7 contacts, which has way too many options.

Nov

[Poll] Do You Use Your Tablet In Portrait Or Landscape Orientation?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Tablets

In my review of the Galaxy Tab 8.9, I found that performance didn't seem to be quite up to snuff. A commenter noted that that was reportedly because the Tab 8.9 was designed to be used portrait mode, so the system has to rotate what's on the screen by 90°. And surprisingly enough, when I took another look at the tablet I noticed that it seemed to be true - things were smooth as can be when using it in portrait mode - it's simply that, unless an app requires it, I always use tablets in landscape.

So I'm curious: excluding when apps require a certain orientation, which way do you use your tablet the most?

Nov

[Weekend Poll] Google Music Is Here, But Will You Use It?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications

Last Updated: November 26th, 2011

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see How Many Apps/Games Do You Have Installed (Excluding Pre-Installed)?

Google debuted its official music store this week, and it's clear that the company has made a serious effort to bring to market a product that is geared towards consumers and artists alike. But can it crack a market that's already well-saturated (not to mention lead by the juggernaut that is iTunes)? Let's take a quick look at some of our post-launch coverage of the service:

Google Music is now out of beta. Contrary to what was initially planned, the cloud music service will remain free up to 20,000 songs.

Nov

Barnes & Noble Claims Microsoft Illegally Expanding Its Patents To Crush Android

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Barnes & Noble, Legal, News

Things are getting a bit more interesting in the ongoing fight between Microsoft and Barnes & Noble. You'll remember that earlier this year, Microsoft began suing B&N for refusing to fork over Android-related fees from the Nook Color. Barnes & Noble has responded, alleging in its motion that Microsoft "is using its licensing practices to improperly broaden the scope of its patents in an attempt to dominate mobile operating systems such as Android that threaten Microsoft's monopoly in personal computer ("PC") operating systems." It may sound odd at first that Microsoft would be at Android's throat over PC operating systems, but indeed, it was recently discovered that Microsoft attempted to compel Google to provide its Android strategy, including information about Android's current abilities as a PC platform.

Nov

[Download] Updated Android Market v3.3.12

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Last Updated: April 26th, 2012

An update to the Android Market bringing it up to version 3.3.12 surfaced late Friday night. This version seems to be an incremental update to the previously available 3.3.11 - in fact, we're not really sure what exactly changed between the two. A cursory run through all the menus didn't yield any obvious additions, although these improvements could be all under-the-hood.

My initial thought was it's somehow related to the Music announcement, but since the Music tab started showing up without any Market updates in 3.3.11, it must be something else. The only hint on the entire Internet comes from T-Mobile which insists you will need 3.3.12 in order to see the free songs every week, but I am skeptical.

Nov

iZac Becomes The First Android-Powered Bartender – Fun, Ingenious, And Open-Source

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Development, News, Off-Topic

You might remember this video, which cropped up earlier this month, showing off an Android-powered contraption that mixed drinks automatically. Well, it would appear that the device, lovingly named iZac, (after a barbot from the popular show Futurama) has made its official debut, mixing real cocktails for patrons at the Creative Sandbox in Sydney.

Right now, iZac can handle dispensing up to six liquids, and the Android interface includes an "I'm Feeling Lucky" option, which ostensibly creates a totally random concoction for those feeling bold.

While iZac already looks fantastic, it will be interesting to track its progress and future refinement, as the inventor, Nick Johnson notes several things that he'd improve in a second iteration.