3 - 3/4 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Mar

[Analysis] Is Today's Galaxy SIII Leak The Real Deal? Probably Not

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Galaxy S III, Off-Topic, Rumors, Samsung

Today's suspected Galaxy SIII leak caused quite a stir in the Android community, of course sparking concerns over validity, likelihood that Samsung would choose such a form factor for the upcoming flagship, and just when we may see the real thing up close. A great summary of the leak on Reddit, and the subsequent comment thread got me thinking, though: just how likely is it that the leak is real? In short the answer is a resounding "not very."

At first blush, the leak seems convincing - for starters, the shot in question has all the moire-patterning of a digital photo hurriedly snapped of a computer monitor, implying that whoever leaked the image didn't have time to save the file and risk being caught.

Mar

NVIDIA and BioWare Release Mass Effect 3 LWP For Tegra Devices: It's Not Fancy, But If You Like Mass Effect, You'll Probably Love It Anyway

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, News

Those who know me or follow me on Google+ know that I love Mass Effect. Actually, that may be a bit of an understatement; I've had 4 characters that played every single mission and side-mission in both the first and second game, and I just finished the trilogy a few days ago. And now, I have a new way to show my love: with a new Mass Effect 3 live wallpaper (LWP) from NVIDIA and BioWare.

What makes this particular wallpaper "live"? Two things: the reapers falling down from the sky (those meteor-looking things you see in the shots above), and the scrolling - no matter your system scroll speed, it moves a little slower and more rubber-bandy.

Mar

Sony Spokesman Says The Company Likely Won't Go Quad-Core Until 2013, Cites Battery And Performance Concerns

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in News, Sony

Sony brought some sleek new devices to MWC, but we were surprised to see nothing truly groundbreaking - specifically, a lack of quad-core CPUs. CNET Asia got a few minutes with Stephen Sneeden, product marketing manager for Sony Mobile, and he clarified the companies stance, saying that we likely won't see quad-core phones from the company until early 2013.

"We're going to join quad-core when we feel that the performance matches the battery efficiency," he said. "Because right now we don't feel that is there. What we are going to be doing in the second half of the year is moving to the Cortex A15 architecture, which we feel outperforms the current quad-core architecture.

Feb

Bump Gets Updated To "Totally New" Version 3.0, Includes New Design, Mutual Friends, And More

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

Bump, a wildly popular wireless transfer app for Android and iOS, got an update to version 3.0 today, bringing several enhancements to the table. Perhaps the most notable among these is the completely redesigned interface, which Bump Technologies Inc. describes as both simple and beautiful. The UI appears to have been updated to a more ICS-cohesive design, bringing a tabbed interface and "action overflow" button to enhance functionality.

Besides the new UI, Bump has made contact transfer touch-free, enabled the transfer of "as many photos as you want" in one bump, and added an interesting feature that allows users to discover mutual friends by scanning through both parties' phonebooks.

Feb

LG's Tegra-3 Sporting P880/X3 Specs And Quadrant Leak - And It's Every Bit The Beast We Expected

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in LG, News, X3/P880

Shortly after CES ended, we heard word of a new phone from LG that would be the first to sport NVIDIA's impressive new quad-core CPU, the Tegra 3. Other specs were rumored to include a 4.7" 1280x720 display, 16GB on-board storage (plus a microSD slot), a 2000mAh battery (!), an 8MP camera in the rear, and a 1.2MP front-facer.

Now, the extremely reliable Paul O'Brien of Modaco has word from a source that those specs are correct - the sole exception is that the front-facing camera is 1.3MP (not 1.2). The build used in the shots sent to him runs Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.3) and the latest kernel from NVIDIA, and suggests little UI customization by LG.

Dec

[Update: On Sale For $3 Until 12/29] Time To Beat People Up And Steal Cars, Right On Your Mobile - Grand Theft Auto (GTA) III Is Now In The Android Market

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Games, News, Videos

Update 12/22: The game is now on sale for $2.99 (40% off) until 12/29. If you're not sure whether it's worth three bucks, check out our review, then hit the link below to buy.

GTA III

QR code for https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rockstar.gta3

Rockstar Games' infamous GTA franchise has reached the Android Market, right on the dot and as promised - the game is available in the Android Market right now. To my pleasant surprise, despite rumors of Samsung Galaxy S II incompatibility, the listing shows it as installable to my Epic 4G Touch SGSII just fine. Yay!

So, what are you waiting for? Those hookers and drug dealers aren't going to beat themselves up, are they?

Dec

Google's Monday Android Surprise? Ninja's Nexus Unboxing 3 - This One Might Take You A While

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy Nexus, Google, News, Videos

Every Nexus release thus far has been accompanied by a neat YouTube-based Nexus Unboxing ~~video~~ craziness (see 1 and 2). The Galaxy Nexus launch in the U.S. is no exception - in fact, it turns out to be the subject of Android's tease this past weekend (which some folks found kind of disappointing considering the level of expectations reached something like FREE NEXUS FOR EVERYONE!!11, ICS for all devices, and the release of Majel).

Ninja's Unboxing 3, as before, takes over the fake YouTube video page, but this time gets down 8-bit style. 3 levels later, and... never mind, I won't tell you how it ends - nobody likes spoilers, right?

Jul

Confirmed: Motorola Droid 3 Has Locked Bootloader

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Droid 3, News, Verizon Wireless

All of Motorola's recent devices (save for the XOOM) have featured bootloaders that are locked down like Fort Knox, and despite publicly stating that they would be reversing that policy, the company has yet to take any action. Although they stated they wouldn't begin making bootloaders unlockable until late 2011, many people held out hope for the newly-released Droid 3. An apparently lost hope, unfortunately, as a Motorola Support forum admin has confirmed that the hot new Droid is as locked as its brethren.

Motorola painted a big bull's eye on itself when it started locking bootloaders, and now the company is certainly taking its time remedying the situation.

May

Another Reason To Look Forward To HTC Sense 3.0 - Its 18 Gorgeous Weather Animations [Video]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in EVO 3D (Shooter), EVO View 4G, Flyer, HTC, News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid), Videos

The upcoming version of Sense 3.0, found on such devices as the HTC Sensation, Sensation 4G, EVO 3D, Flyer, and EVO View 4G, will offer polish of unprecedented quality to the custom software layer HTC puts on all of its non-Nexus devices. The new lockscreen widgets and quick controls, spinning homescreens, updated camera software, and snappiness are just some of the features Sense 3.0 brings to the table (some nice demos here).

And here's another one - the Sense Weather has gotten a complete makeover - if you thought the regular Sense Weather widgets were to die for, wait till you see what 3.0's got in store.

Jan

Android 3.0 Honeycomb Gets Huge Feature Breakdown, Preview SDK Released

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Development, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

The Android Developers Blog just announced the availability of a "preview" of the upcoming Android 3.0 SDK. Developers can start getting their Honeycomb on immediately, as the preview is available via the Android SDK and AVD manager as part of the Android SDK.

But even more exciting is the fact that the Android Developers page has been updated with a plethora of information regarding Honeycomb and its features. Where to begin?

What You Can See

The brief breakdown of Honeycomb's new elements according to Google:

New "holographic" UI
Bottom "system bar" for global status and notifications
Action bar for in-application controls
Redesigned home screen customization
Revamped "recent apps" menu
New keyboard
Improved text selection/copy/paste (multiselect, clipboard, and drag-and-drop)
Streamlined USB file transferring
Completely updated set of standard apps, including: Gmail, Calendar, Browser, Gallery, and Contacts