2.1 - 4/5 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Apr

Android 2.1 Ported To G1 and MyTouch 3G By Cyanogen

Posted by John Thompson in Development, G1 (Dream), myTouch 3G (Magic), News

Early Android adopters will soon be able to use Android 2.1 on the G1 and MyTouch 3G thanks to Cyanogen, with the release of CyanogenMod 5.0.7.

The latest version of the ROM should be available to users in no time at all, with a public beta arriving at some point today according to Cyanogen’s tweet:

Some compromises may need to be made to allow Android 2.1 to fit on the G1 and MyTouch 3G due to limited available space on the devices - in fact, this is what is causing the delay before the release is live.

Nevertheless, this is still Android 2.1, and therefore a vast improvement with or without some extra features.

Apr

Android 2.1 Update For The European HTC Hero Delayed. Again. To June. Of 2011 (OK, Not That Last Part)

Posted by John Thompson in Devices By Manufacturer, Hero, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), HTC, News

Earlier today, TechRadar broke the unfortunate news that HTC Hero owners in Europe will have to wait even longer to get their hands on Android 2.1 than was expected. Despite originally being expected within the next week or so, it has been confirmed by HTC that the update has been delayed yet again, this time until June. In a statement HTC said:

"HTC will be providing a free update to Éclair for European HTC Hero variants. Starting in June, anyone owning an HTC Hero will receive an initial preparatory update, shortly followed by the full Éclair update.

For the full update, we would recommend using a free Wi-Fi hotspot or an unlimited data plan, otherwise standard data charges may apply."

There is still a glimmer of hope for users outside of Europe, as the statement mentioned only ‘European variants’, so those of you across the pond may see still see it sooner rather than later, although at this point I wouldn’t bet on it.

Apr

Sony Ericsson To Keep X10 Relevant With Multi-touch And 2.1

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Devices By Manufacturer, News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia X10 (es209ra)

Last Updated: April 18th, 2010

Sony Ericsson generated plenty of hype with the leaked screenshots and videos of its 'Rachel' UI on top of the Android operating system, but managed to stem the excitement a bit when it was revealed that it would be based on top of Android 1.6.

X10 fans can rejoice though, because according to the blog mobiles.co.uk, a Sony Ericsson rep told them that users can expect a 'very big update' in the second half of 2010.

Mobiles.co.uk has taken that to mean that yes, the phone will receive 2.1 with multi-touch enabled. I, as usual, remain a bit skeptical, due to the fact that the Sony has said in the past that the hardware is not capable of handling multi-touch.

Apr

Google Updates Fragmentation Statistics - 70% Still Stuck With Android 1.5 And 1.6, 23% Secretly Cry About It Every Night

Posted by John Thompson in News

Today the official Android fragmentation chart was finally updated by Google to show the most up-to-date breakdown of various versions of Android out in the wild. The data was collected from devices which accessed the Android Market between March 29th and April 12th.

Fragmentation of Android is my main concern for the future of the platform. With Google’s rapid release schedule, phone manufacturers are struggling to keep up with the latest versions and some new, low budget phones are being released with Android 1.5 or 1.6 instead of 2.1. Hopefully, this will be corrected in the next version of Android.

Apr

Motorola Twist: Another Crippled Android Phone For AT&T?

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in AT&T, Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, Flipout / Twist, Motorola, News

Well, we finally have some specs to match up with the mysterious photos that have been floating around the web for last few days of a new and very square Motorola Android handset.

Another Ridiculous AT&T Phone?

We held off on reporting on the picture itself, because the story of its existence and lack of any additional information made the entire thing seem suspect. Now, though, we have some more details as Android France has released the specs for the handset, purportedly named Motorola Twist, and if you look carefully, you can see that it supports the 850/1900 WCDMA radio bands, AKA: AT&T 3G.

Apr

BREAKING: Sprint HTC Hero Android 2.1 ROM Leaks - Final Release Imminent?

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), HTC, News

We just got word that a Sprint HTC Hero test ROM marked RUU_Hero_C_Sprint_2.20.651.1_signed_test leaked to the public at the xda-developers forum by damageless. Yet again, Android Police is the first Android blog to report it, as far as we know.

More details to come as we try to figure out what the deal is with this ROM.

Here is a link to the latest RUU from Sprint.
You cannot simply extract it. This still has root since it is a test release. I recommend just doing an adb pull of your system directory after you flash it. Don't do this when the final one comes out or else you might be stuck without root.

Apr

Samsung Moment Android 2.1 Pictures Surface - Insider Says Update Likely This Week

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Moment, News, Samsung, Sprint

A few days ago on April 2nd, a forum poster by the name of KansasCityJoe turned up at AndroidCentral.com forums out of nowhere and suggested he had a pre-release version of Android 2.1 on a Samsung Moment. KansasCityJoe, being a busy urban dude, has not posted any evidence, however, and other forum readers quickly called him out on it.

Fast forward 3 days to today and what do you know - Joe posted 7 pictures, indeed showing the Moment running Android 2.1. With all disbelievers squelched, Joe also added this interesting speculation:

Well word has it that they have found some more problems (I haven't seen any personally).

Apr

Droid Owners Have A Bittersweet Week

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Droid (Sholes), Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless, Videos

It’s been both a good and bad news week for Droid owners.

The Good News

The coveted Android 2.1 update has finally officially arrived to the device.

Android 2.1 was first available only on the Nexus One, a move that Google took some flack for. They were instrumental in pushing the Droid, and shortly after its release late last year, Google announced their first Google branded Android device, with features that other Android owners wouldn’t see on their phones for quite some time.

The Droid is the first major phone other than the Nexus One to receive an official update to 2.1, though it’s been available through unofficial channels for both this phone and others (even the G1 has a 2.1 update available) for quite some time.

Apr

Samsung To Add A Keyboard To The Galaxy S And Another Syllable To The Name

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Devices By Manufacturer, News, Samsung

Samsung Galaxy S Pro. That's a mouthful. It is also a beauty (supposedly...the picture below is just a render).

According to the legendary Eldar Murtazin, the editor of Mobile-Review and a well respected tech journalist, Samsung's going to be tacking on a keyboard to the already lustworthy Galaxy S. Because none of the good things in life are free, the privilege to have actual keys to pound on while you're definitely not texting and driving (really officer, I wasn't) will cost you additional 50 Euros (That's around $67 for those of us in the States).

The keyboard is really just the icing on the ~~cake~~ Eclair.

Apr

Motorola Droid 2.1 Already Rooted, Get Yours Now (With A Catch)

Posted by Android Police Team in Development, Droid (Sholes), Motorola, News

Last Updated: August 1st, 2012

A day barely passed since the over-the-air (OTA) Android 2.1 update for the Motorola Droid was converted into a simple download installable without having to wait your turn in Verizon's rollout line, and we're already getting word on the 2.1 firmware getting rooted.

Speeddymon over at AllDroid.org forums, together with one Zinx Verituse have figured out a way to root the new version of the OS (2.1) by slightly tweaking the update.zip file that is used to upgrade the Droid from 2.0.1. to 2.1.

Note that this root method only works when updating from an unrooted 2.0.1.

If you already upgraded to 2.1, you have to revert back to stock 2.0.1 first and then apply the update below.