11
Oct

The Direction Android Smartphones Are Headed, Why It Might Be Bad, And How Google Can Stop It

Posted by in Editorials

We constantly hear about how smartphones are the evolutionary next-step in personal computing. Laptops sat atop this pedestal in the late 1990's, and tablets may soon come to share this title with their smartphone cousins.

But there's a glaring issue with smartphones: the players in the smartphone industry are to smartphones what Taco Bell is to choice of meat in your burrito. There's not a whole lot of wiggle room, and it's an increasingly take it or leave it sort of affair. HTC's new boot restore on the G2 and Desire Z, Motorola's eFuse bootloader protection, and Apple's extensive efforts to thwart jailbreaking on every iPhone software update are all evidence a trend that is decidedly against the spirit of personal computing.

07
Oct
androot

Universal Androot Hits The Market, Now Supports One-Click Rooting Of 23 Android Phones

Posted by in Droid (Sholes), G1 (Dream), Hero, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), Milestone, Milestone XT720, Mods, myTouch Slide (Espresso), News, Nexus One (Passion), Streak, Xperia X10 (es209ra), Xperia X10 Mini / Mini Pro (Robyn / Mimmi)
Last Updated: October 16th, 2010

Update: As Artation has pointed out in the comments below, Universal Androot has since been removed from the Market for unknown reasons. If you're still heartbent on using it though, you can download it it from here.

If you can think back to the time Universal Androot was released, you'll recall the then small xda-developers startup that allowed for one-click rooting of a very limited number of phones, all of which had to be running Android 2.1 Eclair or lower.

Now, the app has hit the Market and is ready for prime time with support for a multitude phones, including devices running Android 2.2 FroYo (though, only limited to Nexus One before 2.2.1 and an older FRG01B Droid build), 2.1 Eclair, 1.6 Donut, and even phones stuck on 1.5 Cupcake, like the HTC Magic.

21
Sep
Screen-shot-2010-09-21-at-10.13.03-AM

DROID X 2.2 Update Coming Tomorrow? Seems Like It

Posted by in Droid X (Shadow), Froyo 2.2, News

It seems the DROID X's overdue update may be coming a day sooner than previously thought.

Wait, didn’t we just say yesterday that it would be coming on Wednesday?  Yes, yes we did.  I’d say right now that 9/22 looks pretty likely at this point.

Kellex on Droid-Life

Droid-Life has pointed eager X users to Verizon's support page for the device, which has been updated with a PDF espousing the delights of Android 2.2, along with various DROID X-specific changes. There's also a PDF with instructions on how to get the update- but we've yet to see any confirmation that anyone has actually gotten it.

14
Sep
droid-x-froyo-phone-300x358

Verizon Page Teases Froyo Update for DROID X - Really, It's Coming. When? Good Question

Posted by in Droid X (Shadow), Froyo 2.2, News, Verizon Wireless

With a leaked 2.2 build for the DROID X already floating around, Froyo for the DROID X is not a matter of if, but when. Unfortunately, "when" is best answered as "soon." This was the speculation after the leak, but soon has not come nearly soon enough. Given Motorola's very stern warning regarding copyright infringement on the leaked version, the delay is probably owed to Moto patching up the exploits that have allowed the DROID X to be rooted and its bootloader security to be circumvented (à la Birdman and Koush).

Regardless of the reason behind Moto's delay in updating the DX to 2.2, it seems Verizon's having trouble containing its excitement over the Froyo jump.

22
Aug
motorola-logo-big

Motorola Responds To Leaked DROID X 2.2 Update: Stop That, Or We'll Sue You

Posted by in Droid X (Shadow), Motorola, News

Despite a lot of fun Motorola hardware leaks lately (even some love for AT&T), Moto would like to remind us that they aren't much friendlier than Apple when it comes to unintended dissemination of their intellectual property.

The recently leaked update to Android 2.2 for the DROID X has been quite a popular download for daredevil users, and apparently Motorola has taken notice. While the ROM is now undoubtedly in the hands of every modding and development community member who has any interest in it, that isn't stopping Motorola from issuing cease and desist letters (e-mails) to those hosting the file.

21
Aug
Capture

Coming Soon: Stock Android 2.1 For Samsung Galaxy S

Posted by in Eclair 2.1, Galaxy S, Mods, News, Videos

It seems a few community developers (@barakinflorida) have been inching towards releasing a functional, bone stock version of Android 2.1 for the Samsung Galaxy S (That is, without Samsung's TouchWiz interface). Their efforts are paying off, as this video shows.

The only big issues remaining lie in getting the camera/camcorder to actually, well, work. A relatively minor inconvenience, and a problem many developers have struggled with when developing full-ROM releases for phones with UI overlays.

Android 2.1 is starting to seem a little dated to be utilizing for development of ROMs - maybe a stock FroYo update will follow?  But now that members of the CyanogenMod team are working on a CM6 build for the Galaxy S, it's hard to say if there will be much demand for a stock Froyo.

11
Aug
image

Official Motorola Droid Android 2.2 Froyo Update (Still FRG01B) Now Being Pushed Out OTA

Posted by in Droid (Sholes), Froyo 2.2, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

It's been 8 days since the original Android 2.2 Froyo update for the 1st Motorola Droid leaked out online, and Verizon has been taking its sweet time to make it available to the masses, leaving us guessing whether FRG01B was indeed the final version of this Éclair->Froyo update and whether serious stop-ship bugs were discovered.

Turns out, nothing has changed - FRG01B is exactly the version that Verizon started pushing out to the Droids a few hours ago. So if you haven't flashed the update a little over a week ago, you just missed out on 8 sweet days with the frozen deliciousness.

30
Jul
htc-evo-4g-camera

[Updated, New Instructions, Mirror] BREAKING: HTC Releases Android 2.2 FroYo OTA For EVO4G [Download]

Posted by in Dev, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News

We’ve just received word that the EVO4G OTA to FroYo (internally known at HTC as update 3.26) is now available for download directly from HTC’s website. Link below.

Update #1: we just received another word from HTC that this is NOT the final update. The final is going to go out next week.

Update #2: all your settings should be preserved with this OTA. No data loss should occur.

You will lose root if you install this update. If you are running a custom ROM, please wait for your ROM developer to release the next version.

Download:

27
Jul
froyoincredible

Official HTC Droid Incredible 2.2 OTA Update ROM Leaked: All Features Work, Requires Root

Posted by in Droid Incredible, Froyo 2.2, News

The following post by XDA member scuccia popped earlier today on the HTC Droid Incredible section of the XDA forums:

Here is a Stock 2.2 ROM with Sense based off the upcoming Froyo OTA. This is completely stock with the additions of su, Superuser.apk and busybox.
Everything has been confirmed working. Camera, camcorder, Wifi, bluetooth, GPS, MMS, etc...
A full wipe and 2.x radio is required.
If you don't have a 2.x radio already you can find instructions instruction here.
Get the ROM here!
There are quite a few new additions that have been included. HTC Flashlight, FM Radio widget, Calculator widget, SMS widget, Sync all widget, profile widgets, 3g mobile hotspot, genie widget, App sharing program, messaging app changed a bit, 720p recording, built in flash on camcorder, and more stuff that I can't think of off the top of my head.

27
Jul
Motorola-Milestone

Android 2.2 FroYo Ported To Motorola Milestone (Build FRF91) By dext3r

Posted by in Froyo 2.2, Milestone, Mods

ModMyMobile forum member dext3r has released a Milestone update image containing Android 2.2 FRF91, known as MotoFrenzy. Because of the Milestone’s still-locked status, it has been notoriously difficult to port updated versions of Android to. This should help to assuage fears that the Milestone was forever doomed to run Android 2.1.

Download Links:

  • MotoFrenzy v0.1a (Full image, needs to be flashed with OpenRecovery (ADB Recovery)
  • MotoFrenzy v0.1b (Incremental, link goes to post, download is at bottom of first post; you must register to download)

The only major issue with this image is a non-functional camera, which shouldn’t be too much for Milestone users to give up for a little FroYo.

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