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Apr

Google I/O 2011 Schedule For 20+ Android Sessions Now Available

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, News

Google I/O 2011 is almost here - can you feel it in the air? Personally, I'm counting down days to May 10th when I'll be waking up extra early to gallop over to the Moscone Center in San Francisco and try to attend at least some of the 22 planned Android sessions, including fireside chats and office hours with the Android team.

The [almost - there's 1 TBA] final schedule for these sessions is now up at the I/O site, so if you're one of the lucky attendees, have a look below or hop on over to this document to see the whole timetable in its full glory.

Apr

[Hands-On Video] DROID Charge: First Impressions

Posted by David Ruddock in 4G, Charge (i510), News, Samsung, Verizon Wireless, Videos

While Verizon has temporarily pushed back the release date of the DROID Charge after a 24-hour 4G LTE network outage yesterday, I did manage to get my hands on a review unit this afternoon.

The first thing I noticed was how sleek and futuristic this phone looks - it is just plain cool, in a way that no HTC or Motorola device even comes close to. The boot animation is probably the best on any DROID to date. It's shaped like it was designed to thwart radar detection - and it's pretty light to boot, a perception that is reinforced by the Charge's faux-carbon fiber battery cover.

Apr

Adobe Releases Major Update To Flash 10.2, Including Enhancements For Honeycomb

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Acer, Applications, ASUS, Eee Pad Transformer, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Iconia Tab A500, LG, Motorola, News, Optimus Pad / G-Slate, XOOM

The latest update to Flash 10.2 for Android (version number 10.2.157.51) hit the Market earlier today and introduced several enhancements, most notably hardware acceleration for 720p videos (mentioned here earlier), albeit only on Honeycomb tablets.

Browser integration in Honeycomb has also been improved, and "important bug fixes and security enhancements," including a fix to the "critical" vulnerability discovered a few weeks ago, have been made across the board - not just in Honeycomb.

The only problem - both of the Honeycomb enhancements above require a yet-to-be-released system update, which could potentially bear version number 3.1, at least according to the app's initial changelog.

Apr

Compared: HTC Droid Incredible 2 vs The Original Droid Incredible [Specs]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Editorials, HTC, Incredible, Incredible 2 (Vivow)

It's April 28th, the official release date for the 2nd generation Droid Incredible from HTC, and if you haven't studied this phone in detail yet, you're probably wondering just what exactly has changed since the original "Dinc" entered the market last April. Let's have a look, shall we?

Key Differences

Network

First and foremost, just like the Droid 2 Global Edition, the new Incredible 2 is a world phone with both CDMA and GSM frequencies. Verizon Wireless provides the following interesting numbers:

voice service in over 220 countries
data in over 200 countries
3G speeds in more than 125

Quite a step-up from the original already, isn't it?

Apr

[Like A Boss] Acer Iconia Tab A500 Rooted, Process Is Stupid Easy

Posted by Brad Ganley in Acer, Applications, Development, Iconia Tab A500, News

Good news, everyone! The Acer Iconia has been rooted and the process is so ridiculously simple that it's almost offensive. Seriously. Here is the entire step-by-step process to gaining full root on the Acer Iconia:

The link in that post goes to the XDA thread for a modified GingerBreak, an application for rooting devices in one click; no computer necessary. You simply download the modified APK, install it on your Iconia, run it, and become rooted.

I must say, I'm impressed at how simple and fast that was for a device that just came out, let alone the fact that it's got an operating system only a small handful of devices are running.

Apr

HTC ThunderBolt vs. Samsung DROID Charge: Battle Of The Specs

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Charge (i510), HTC, News, Samsung, Thunderbolt (Mecha)

Verizon's pair of LTE handsets are sure to confuse some shoppers - though one is from Samsung (the DROID Charge) and the other from HTC (the ThunderBolt), the two sport relatively similar feature sets and designs that somewhat resemble one another. So what's the difference? Well, aside from the Charge being $50 more expensive than the already-pricy ThunderBolt, there really aren't many differentiators - let's take a side-by-side look at their spec sheets:

Spec type	DROID Charge	ThunderBolt
CPU	1GHz Hummingbird	1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655
Display	4.3" Super AMOLED Plus	4.3" SLCD
OS	Android 2.2 (Froyo) with TouchWiz UI	Android 2.2 (Froyo) with Sense UI
Front camera	1.3MP	1.3MP
Rear camera	8MP with 720P HD recording	8MP with 720p HD recording
RAM	512MB	768MB
Internal storage	2GB	8GB (though not all of that storage is usable)
Included SD card	32GB	32GB
DLNA support	Yes	Yes
Buttons	Physical	Capacitive
Size	130 mm x 68 mm x 12 mm	122 mm x 66 mm x 13.2 mm
Weight	143g	177g
Battery capacity	1600 mAh	1400 mAh
Price on contract	$299	$249

As you can see, neither device is anything to scoff at, though - at least in my eyes - the fact that the ThunderBolt runs Sense UI turns the tide in its favor (despite the Charge's superior screen and slightly thinner profile).

Apr

Android 2.3.4 To Introduce Video Chat - No Need To Wait Until Google I/O

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

On Monday we told you that Google may bring video chat to Android 2.3.4, and that we expect an announcement at Google I/O. It looks like we got it half right - Google has officially announced Talk with Video Chat integration in Android 2.3.4, but we didn't have to wait until I/O to find out.

The service looks like it will work almost identical to its desktop counterpart: the status icon displays whether or not the person is available for video chat (or capable of it). Tap the icon to start a video chat session, and you're good to go. It's cross platform, too, meaning that you can chat with desktop users and other mobile users alike.

Apr

DROID 3 Display And Digitizer Assembly Shows Up Online, Is This Really The Targa?

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Droid 3, Motorola, News, Rumors

Well, I can honestly say that I didn't expect to be typing this today. It looks like things may be starting to unfold with the Bionic/Targa drama - as in, the Bionic may not be the Targa at all. Now you're curious, right? Allow me to explain, but keep in mind that this is all speculation.

We all know that manufacturers use code names for their devices. For example, the original Droid was codenamed "Sholes" while the EVO was called "Supersonic" during its testing phase. Several weeks ago, we saw some leaked images that were supposed to be the Motorola Droid 3, which suggested a codename of "Solana".

Apr

Shazam Temporarily Cuts The Crap, Lets You Tag Without Limit Until Next Year

Posted by Brad Ganley in Applications, Apps/Games

Shazam, the music tagging service that listens to a song and tells you what it is, has announced today that the free version of their app will support unlimited tagging until January 1st, 2012. While this is pretty cool if you're a Shazam user who doesn't want to pay $5 for Shazam Encore (or didn't grab it what it was Amazon's app of the day), it's still pretty laughable for people who have been using Soundhound the whole time. While I can appreciate what Shazam is doing here with the help eBay, who is sponsoring this unlimited tag-fest, I can't help but feel that Shazam should've done this on its own a long time ago.

Apr

The Wifi-Only HTC Flyer High-Fives the FCC, Gets Clearance For Landing

Posted by Brad Ganley in Devices By Manufacturer, Flyer

Well, it looks like the good old FCC has given their stamp of approval to the Wifi-Only HTC Flyer. As you can see in the image below, the sticker is ready for deployment and I, for one, couldn't be happier.

Now that the red tape has been cut through, we could start seeing the Wifi-only Flyer in Best Buys stores all across the land any time now (hopefully sooner rather than later). The Flyer is going to launch at Best Buy running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread or, as my friend Snoop calls it, Gingerbrizzle) and will be updated to Honeycomb in short order, says HTC.