Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Nov

Verizon Launching $80 LG Vortex November 18

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in LG, Verizon Wireless, Vortex

We always knew Verizon and AT&T would be getting their hands on devices much like T-Mobile's Optimus T and Sprint's Optimus S; we just didn't know when they would start selling them. Well, you can now cross the former of the two off your list, for Big Red just announced that the LG Vortex will be coming to its stores come November 18th, along with:

Android 2.2 with full access to the Android Market
Bing Search and Bing Maps (ugh - why is this listed as a feature anyways?)
WiFi connectivity (no word on 802.11n compatibility just yet)
3G Mobile Hotspot capability, no doubt with a nice fat fee attached
Swype
Skype pre-installed
VZ Navigator as well as an array of pre-installed LG apps (hurray for bloatware!)
5 or 7 (who knows what that means) customizable home screens
microSD card slot with support for cards of capacities of up to 32 GB
a 3.2 MP autofocus camera
two colors - black and violet
a $79.99 price tag

Nothing too groundbreaking here, especially considering T-Mobile will sell you a nearly identical phone for just $29, but the folks over at XDA-developers may be able to hook the Vortex up with a few custom ROMs if nothing else.

Nov

Last Week's Best New Android Apps And Games (11/08/10 - 11/14/10)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Best Apps/Games/LWPs Of The Week, Games, News

Last Updated: April 13th, 2011

Welcome to the weekly roundup of the best new Android applications and games that went live in the Market in the previous week or so.

Please wait for this page to load in full in order to see the AppBrain widgets.

Best New Android Apps

Sheep Run Beta

RUN!RUN!RUN!
The sheep family is in danger now.
They need to run fast and use their wisdom to get across various obstacles, finally go back home.
SheepRun features challenging physics-based and puzzle gameplay. Each of the levels requires logic, skill to solve.

Sheep Run Beta

QR code for https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.casual.puzzle.sheeprun.free

Carbonite Access

This app allows Carbonite customers to access the files in their backup – anywhere, anytime.

Nov

Sprint 4G Now Officially Live In Sacramento, CA

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Epic 4G, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Sprint

Smack down in between the New York Sprint 4G launch on November 1st and the upcoming Los Angeles launch on December 1st, Sprint announced today that the California state capital is also joining the WiMax party, effective immediately. Sacramento residents will now be able to enjoy average download speeds of 3-6 Mbps and upload speeds of around 500 Kbps-1.5 Mbps.

Now does anyone know what phone the governator is sporting?

As Sprint’s 4G network expands, be sure to follow its growth on our up-to-date 4G Coverage Tracker, right here at Android Police.

Full press release below:

Sprint 4G Continues to Stake Its Claim in California with Sacramento Launch

Sprint Introduces a True 4G Network to the Golden State’s Capital

Expanding to 62 Markets Nationwide

OVERLAND PARK, Kan.

Nov

Interview with TweetDeck for Android's Max Howell

Posted by Stephen Tenerowicz in Apps/Games, Interviews, News

Last Updated: April 14th, 2011

Like many of you, I am a huge fan of TweetDeck for Android. In my opinion, it is the best Twitter application on the Android platform, hands down. I use it on a daily basis and find it fast, fluid, and a treat to look at. This excellent piece of software fills in the missing holes of the of the official Twitter application, providing a unified social media experience.

We just sat down with TweetDeck's developer, Max Howell, to find out more about him and his thoughts on Android. Keep reading for the full Q&A!

Android Police: What was the inspiration for TweetDeck in general (for the company and the product)?

Nov

T-Mobile G2 Overclocked To 1.9 GHz, Hitting 2800 In Quadrant

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Desire Z (Vision), Development, G2 (Vision), News

Who says the G2's processor is slow, eh? While its stock 800 MHz clockspeed didn't break any benchmark records, it's showing itself to be nicely capable of overclocking. Unlike the QSD8250 in the original Snapdragon, which gets rather unstable anywhere past the 1.13GHz (+15%) mark, the MSM7230 in the Scorpion of the G2 sails right on past +100% with apparent stability. The kernel was posted on XDA-Developers by member Flippy125, with the usual "NOT MY FAULT IF-" disclaimers, but also noting that the kernel runs stably for him.

The scores posted are quite remarkable: between 2700 and 2800 in Quadrant and 55-60 in Linpack.

Nov

Android 2.2 Froyo Coming To European Dell Streak Before The End Of The Month

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Dell, Froyo 2.2, News, Streak

Android 2.2 isn't new by any means, but if you're using Dell's five-inch Streak, it looks like you're only now going to receive the update:

Worse still, this only applies to Streaks in the UK - the rest of us will just have to keep holding out. Before you go off to silently pout in a corner, though, there is one more twist to this story - what's actually contained in the update:

To recap, it looks like Dell will soon be allowing customers to download the update directly from its website (much like Motorola has done with the Backflip and the Cliq for the update to Éclair), although actually installing the update will wipe all data from the device.

Nov

Movie Buffs Rejoice - Netflix Might (Or Might Not) Be Coming To Your Android Device Next Year

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Applications, News

Netflix for Android has been long in the making, and... well, it still isn't quite there yet. However, according to Netflix's Greg Peters, an app is coming early in 2011 - for "select devices," that is. Apparently, holes in the Android OS similar to those that often lead to piracy can also be used to bypass the common DRM system. Therefore, Netflix may have to work with individual manufacturers to add content protection to their devices. Great - even tighter restrictions are on the way.

Source: The Netflix Blog via Android Central

Nov

T-Mobile G2 And HTC Desire Z Get Their First CyanogenMod 6.1 Nightlies - Download Away

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Desire Z (Vision), Development, G2 (Vision), HTC, News

After getting rooted four days ago, the T-Mobile G2 and its European counterpart, the Desire Z, finally joined the ranks of fully unlocked Android phones, which give us the freedom to replace the ROMs on these devices with something better and more custom.

It took the CyanogenMod team a few days, but the very first CM 6.1 ROM is now available for download. It will work on both the Desire Z and the G2 due to the similarities between the 2 phones. Keep in mind, this is the first nightly build and not a final version in any way - it's not even a release candidate; therefore, bugs should be expected.

Nov

T-Mobile's Galaxy Tab Takes On A Life Of Its Own, Can Now Make And Receive Phone Calls

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Galaxy Tab, News, Samsung, T-Mobile

This article deals with a couple of advanced topics. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the terms, hit up our primers here:

It was only a matter of time, right? Samsung couldn't possibly have expected the US versions of the Galaxy Tab to remain phone-less, especially not after giving its European counterpart the privilege.

Nov

And The Winner Of The T-Shirt Design Contest Is… This Guy.

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Off-Topic

Last Updated: May 4th, 2011

About a month and a half ago, we announced our biggest contest yet - your creativity expressed as an official Android Police t-shirt design in exchange for an Android phone, courtesy of Samsung.

The contest went on for about 3 weeks and the results exceeded my wildest expectations. Countless submissions later, many sleepless nights of doing final edits, emailing back and forth with the authors, and organizing the apparel store, I had narrowed down the submissions to... are you ready for this? 29 final designs - designs that I would be proud to wear every day, showing my Android pride.

I must apologize again for taking this long - we hit a few snags, and learning from this experience, next time, I will make sure to come up with an even more detailed set of rules.