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May

Victory Is Ours! HTC: "We've Listened, Will No Longer Be Locking The Bootloaders On Our Devices"

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, HTC, News

Ladies and gentlemen, minutes ago HTC announced that they have been listening to us all along and will reverse their stance on locking bootloaders! The statement comes directly from the CEO Peter Chou and reads:

There has been overwhelmingly customer feedback that people want access to open bootloaders on HTC phones. I want you to know that we've listened.

Today, I'm confirming we will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices. Thanks for your passion, support and patience," Peter Chou, CEO of HTC

Devices with locked bootloaders can still be rooted and usually partially unlocked. They could even enjoy custom ROMs (see the Droid X ROM community), but because the system kernel cannot be replaced, these ROMs cannot be considered complete - they can change things on the surface but not under the hood.

May

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[Update: Honeycomb Is Still Not Supported] Updated Netflix App Should Work On More Devices Now, Including Some "Unsupported" Ones

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

UPDATE: Unfortunately, this update doesn't work on Honeycomb devices.

When the Netflix app first dropped, it only supported a handful of devices, which (naturally) caused a not-so-positive reaction from the bulk of the Android community. The result? A slew of hacked .apk files that allowed Netflix to operate correctly on unsupported devices.

Those days are gone now, though - Netflix has pushed an update to its official app that removes the "device check", so it should work on ~~all~~ most devices (Android 2.2 and above, of course). To test that theory, I gave it a go on my OG Droid running CM7, and it worked flawlessly.

May

T-Mobile: The G2x Will Get Gingerbread By Summer

Posted by Cameron Summerson in G2x (p999), News, T-Mobile

Earlier this month, we got a hold of a Gingerbread leak for the LG G2x, and all seemed pretty official with that build, so we expected to see an official announcement fairly soon after. It's been a few weeks now, and while nothing concrete has surfaced from T-Mo, we now have a little more info on what's gong down:

Yeah... summer is pretty vague. Is that the beginning of summer? Or the end? We can't say for sure - but at least we have a little better idea of when the update may actually hit.

[Twitter via TmoNews]

May

[Deal Alert] Amazon Wireless Is Slaying Prices For Memorial Day Weekend

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Atrix 4G (Olympus), Charge (i510), Deals, EVO 4G (Supersonic), EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), Infuse 4G, Inspire 4G (Ace, Stallion), News, Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g), Revolution

If you've been considering a new phone purchase lately, then this weekend is probably the best time to pick a new handset, as Amazon Wireless is dropping prices like crazy. Check out some of the deals that you can get:

HTC Inspire 4G (AT&T) - $0.01 with two-year agreement (new or upgrade)
Motorola Atrix 4G (AT&T) - $79.99 with new two-year agreement; $99.99 with upgrade
Samsung Infuse 4G (AT&T - $129.99 with new two-year agreement; $179.99 with upgrade
Samsung Droid Charge (Verizon) - $179.99 with new two-year agreement; $199.99 with upgrade (doesn't apply to family plans)
HTC EVO 4G [White] (Sprint) - $59.99 with new two-year agreement; $149.99 with upgrade
HTC EVO 4G [Black] (Sprint) - $79.99 with new two-year agreement; $179.99 with upgrade
HTC EVO Shift 4G (Sprint) - $49.99 with new two-year agreement; $129.99 with upgrade
Samsung Nexus S 4G (Sprint) - $49.99 with new two-year agreement; $99.99 with upgrade
LG Revolution (Verizon) - $149.99 with new two-year agreement; $199.99 with upgrade

...and there's more where that came from.

May

[New App] LBE Privacy Guard Is Like Windows' UAC For Rooted Android Devices

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

In the Android world, privacy is a huge concern for most users. We've seen our fair share of malicious software, questionable apps, and out-of-place permission requests. If privacy is something that you hold near-and-dear to your heart, then we have an app for you.

This app is for rooted users only!

It's called LBE Privacy Guard, and in a way, it's quite similar to UAC (User Account Control) in Windows. Basically, LBE "listens" for your apps to request certain permissions and then pings you with a dialog asking to either grant or deny access. For example, if you have an app installed that requires access to your SMS messages, but you see no valid reason that this app would need to access your messages, then you can simply deny access.

May

Google Wallet And Google Offers Are Official, Pay With Your Phone Using NFC

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News

A few days ago, we told you that Google was most likely going to announce a mobile payment service using NFC. Today, that announcement is official, and it's called Google Wallet. Wallet is exactly what the name suggests: a payment service that aggregates all of your credit cards, coupons, loyalty cards, and more, into your Android phone. You can then not only use your phone to pay, but it will also enter your customer loyalty information automatically, as well as redeem any coupons that are loaded into your Wallet using NFC (near field communication).

Here are a few bullets about Wallet, how it works, and what to expect:

This service is going to officially launch this summer, but a beta program is already underway in San Francisco and NYC.

May

[New App] The Wall Street Journal Has Finally Come To Android Phones

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

Remember that version of the Wall Street Journal app that was made for Android tablets (but not Honeycomb tablets)? Yeah, it didn't make a whole lot of sense to us, either. Fortunately, the folks over at the WSJ have finally decided to release an app specifically designed for phones.

Now you can access everything that you love about the WSJ from the palm of you hand. Don't have time to read an article as soon as you see it? No worries, the app allows you to save articles so you can read them later. If you're in the giving mood, you can also easily share content through various social networking sites or email.

May

[Deal Alert] LG Revolution On Wirefly For $200

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Deals, News, Revolution

If you're lookin' to score the newly-released LG Revolution, but the $250 price tag is a bit steep for you, then hop on over to Wirefly, where you can get VZW's newest 4G LTE device for $200. I realize that may not be the deal of the century, but c'mon - a deal is a deal, right?

Not sure if this is the device for you? Check the specs:

4.3 inch 800*480 display
1GHz Snapdragon processor
16GB Built-in Storage
5MP rear camera with 720p video capture
1.3MP front camera
Android 2.2
4G LTE

So there you have it - if you want a 4G LTE phone, but the Droid Charge or HTC Thunderbolt aren't your cup of tea, then this is the way to go.

May

Looking To Pick Up An Asus Transformer? Use NowInStock To Keep Tabs On Retailer's Stock Status

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in News, Transform

Official word from Asus is that they can't make enough Transformers to keep up with demand, something that's perhaps not surprising given that the tablet maintains high-end specs but a low-end price. Luckily for some users, keeping a hawkish eye on (r)etailer's websites has allowed them to snatch one up when the seller was lucky enough to get a few in stock. Now, however, there's an easier way, called NowInStock.

The service keeps tabs on a whole host of retailers and checks the stock situation every minute so that it's always up to date. Not only that, but as you can see, it shows the specific model and the price - impressive.

May

mSpot Gets Update, Combines Your Music With Internet Radio

Posted by Cameron Summerson in App Reviews, Applications, News, Reviews

Last Updated: August 1st, 2012

Up until now, there have been two types of music services to choose from (aside from local media, of course) - streaming radio like Pandora or Slacker, or personal content streaming with services like Google Music or Amazon Cloud Player. mSpot is looking to change the game, however, by combining the two.

The updated mSpot Music app really is a great idea - it combines your personal music collection with streaming music discovery radio. This is the type of service that I have wanted for quite some time now, because while I love to listen to my own music collection, I'm always looking for new artists to check out.