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Oct

An HTC Knight On The Horizon - Is This Sprint's Next Blockbuster?

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), HTC, Knight, Sprint

Last Updated: January 4th, 2011

As if Samsung's Epic 4G and HTC's EVO 4G weren't enough to keep Sprint's customers happy, an anonymous tipster just let XDA-developers in on another device that might be headed to the nation's third-largest carrier: the HTC Knight. He didn't exactly provide a heap of information about it, but he did give XDA the following excerpt from an XML file, presumably part of an instruction manual:

3. Make sure to activate your device before you operate the handset by setting up the Google account on the device. 4. To view the contacts on the device, select “Contacts” and push “Menu” button, select “Display group > All contacts > OK”.

Oct

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare - Force Recon Now Available For Select Android Devices - And It's Free!

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Apps/Games, Games, News

Thanks to @maxisma, AndroidSpin found that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare - Force Recon is now available for download via GetJar. The good news: it looks pretty damn fun - it's reminiscent of PaperBoy, but with a lot more shooting and blood. But there's bad news, as well: before you get too excited, you should know that there's a decent chance your device may not be supported. I haven't looked at the supported devices list thoroughly (it's long, I'm lazy), but it looks like you need a trackball to play.

To download the game, head on over to GetJar and hit the "Download App" button towards the top right.

Oct

[Updated] Itching Thumb: An Amazing, Free Task Switcher - You Want This. Now.

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Apps/Games, Development, News

Update: Thanks to commenter Xcom923 (below), I rebooted my phone and have it working! It's freakin' awesome!

Meet Itching Thumb, an absolutely amazing task switcher that's very similar to the one found on WebOS. There's not much I can say that rivals what's shown in the video:

For those who are unable to watch the video or who are unfamiliar with WebOS, it's basically a "card" system - similar to CoverFlow (but with a customizable style). These screencaps illustrate what I'm talking about fairly well:

_{Left: the cards are flat as you scroll; you can drag an app to the top of the screen to close it (shown).}

Oct

Rumor: T-Mobile's Samsung Galaxy Tab Launching November 10th

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

Seems like T-Mobile's looking to one-up Verizon on the Samsung Galaxy Tab, both when it comes to pricing and when it comes to the release date.

According to TmoNews' latest "dealer ninja" (the one who conjured the screenshot above), the Tab will be launching on November 10th, one day earlier than the date destined for Big Red's version of the tablet. While the screenie offers nothing in the way of price (other than "TBD"), the rumor mill's been there, done that, and pretty much confirmed that T-Mobile's Tab will be costing you $399 on contract and $649.99 off. Not too bad, but be sure to hit up our full comparison between this and the iPad here to make sure the Tab's pricing is right for you.

Oct

Alpha Froyo ROM Released For ZTE Blade / Orange San Francisco

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Blade, Devices By Manufacturer, Froyo 2.2, News, ZTE

Here's some great news for owners of the budget flavour-of-the-month, the ZTE Blade. Saddled with Éclair at birth, the dudes over at MoDaCo's ZTE Blade section have given their phones a new lease of life with a Froyo port from the domestic Chinese model to their beloved Orange San Francisco.

The ROM is very much in the Alpha stage right now, but even so it is very exciting news for those of you who have heard of the Blade. For those of you scratching your heads in bewilderment, stay tuned - our ZTE Blade review will be up early next week.

Oct

[Updated With Mirror] Motorola Cliq Gets Manual Update To Android 2.1 Éclair

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in CLIQ / DEXT (Morrison), Eclair 2.1, Motorola, News

Last Updated: October 24th, 2010

It's been a long and difficult journey for Cliq owners, but it looks like the finish line may just be around the corner – Motorola is now allowing a limited number of users to test out the update to Android 2.1 Eclair.

Jealous? Don't be - thanks to the folks over at Android Central, the rest of us get to join in on the fun too. Unfortunately, the process isn't exactly as simple as an OTA, so here's how to do it:

Download the update file (it should be called "Blur_Version.2.1.5.MB200.T-Mobile.en.US.zip") ~~from~~ ~~here~~.

Update: It was bound to happen sooner or later - the file at the link above has been pulled.

Oct

Giant Gingerbread Statue Arrives At Googleplex

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Gingerbread 2.3, News, Videos

What do we have here? Why, it's a giant Gingerbread statue getting installed over at Googleplex, right next to Froyo and the rest of the gang. It's not exactly what we'd been expecting and hoping to see today, but it's a start. Last time the Froyo statue was installed, we got the SDK a week later. Bring it on, Google!

Source: YouTube via morrildl Twitter

Oct

QuickDesk 0.4 Now In The Market, Brings QuickPanel Task Switcher, UI Redesign; PRO Version Coming

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

There are a couple of Android programs that are so brilliant and well done that you can't imagine your life without them. For me, these programs are Launcher Pro, Titanium Backup, and QuickDesk. QuickDesk is ingenious and always makes those who see it for the first time beg me to tell them what it is. Minutes ago, Faruq, the QuickDesk developer, published a completely redesigned and long awaited version 0.4 to the Market, and it is good. Damn good.

To give you a brief background on the app, with QuickDesk, you double tap on the Home button and a quick overlay pops up on top of the current app without taking over and destroying whatever is going on on the screen.

Oct

Samsung's Galaxy Player 50 Runs Android, Shows Up In An Ad, Goes Up For Preorder

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy Player 50, News, Samsung

Back in September, Samsung announced 4 new media players, one of which was of particular interest to us - the Galaxy Player 50. Out of the bunch, the Galaxy Player 50 was the only device running Android - it's what iPod Touch is to an iPhone, a Galaxy S phone without a ~~chromosome~~ phone.

What we have here today is Samsung's official video ad showcasing the player's capabilities, using a hilariously crooked finger, as Wired commenters pointed out. Seriously, once you see the finger, it's the only thing you can look at - I even had to rewind and re-watch to see the player itself:

The player sports the following specs, some of which, like the camera, are quite measly:

WiFi (obviously)
3.2 inch screen
Android Market access
FM Radio
GPS
DLNA support
Comes in 8GB and 16GB flavors
2MP camera (ouch)
Android 2.1

The Galaxy Player 50 is currently up for presale in France for €200 (8GB) and €250 (16GB).

Oct

Broadcast Networks Block Google TV, Stay Stuck In The '90s

Posted by Brad Ganley in Google TV, Internet TV, Logitech, News, Sony

Google TV hasn't been in the wild for long, but major content providers like ABC, CBS, and NBC are already blocking their content from Google's awesome little TV companion. This, as you might have guessed, sucks.

With the advent of TV on the Internet, broadcasters have shown us time and time again that they just aren't ready to embrace the fact that we can get their content from sources other than our TVs. Luckily, says Reuters, Google is reported to be in active negotiations with the networks to get this content back on. As I'm sure you've guessed already, that essentially means that Google is figuring out how much money the networks are going to demand.