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As a side effect of the version fragmentation that Android suffers from, even the latest apps tend to support Android versions a few years old. For example, most of Google's apps nowadays have a minimum requirement of Android 4.1 or 4.2. If you're still stuck on 2.3 Gingerbread, at least you'll get to keep using WhatsApp.
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- There's a much more detailed post on the Android Developers Blog about this news, which also apparently includes the deprecation of Honeycomb. That means the oldest version of Android with GMS support is - or rather, will be - 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich.
Welcome back to another week of the Android Police Podcast. To catch us live on Hangouts On Air every Thursday at 5:30PM PST (subject to change as per the calendar widget below), just head over to androidpolice.com/podcast. For the unedited video show, click here. As always, we'll take your questions at 530-HELLO-AP and also at our email address: podcast at androidpolice dot com.
Hurry up, ladies and gentlemen! If you sprint to Walmart between November 20th and 26th, you can apparently pick yourself up a very vintage Moto X running none other than Android 2.3. Those on-screen buttons and #HOLOYOLO accents look pretty spiffy on this fine Gingerbread device, don't they?
Remember the BlueStacks App Player? It's been around for a pretty long time now. How long? Until just recently, the software that allowed users to run Android inside of Windows was powered by Gingerbread. Now the emulation software is making the leap to Ice Cream Sandwich, and while it's still two years behind the times, at least it looks somewhat modern. Well, until more devices make the transition to KitKat, that is.
In the storied history of ugly phones, there are few that can stand up to the horrendous might of the Casio G’zOne Commando. This device may not be a looker, but it's rugged and now it has a spiffy new software update. Version C771M140 is available to download now for anyone still hauling the original Commando around.
At a time where phone networks in the UK are fighting over 4G spectrum, it's easy to forget that not everyone is willing, or able, to spend £40 a month on a fast mobile phone - just ask those public sector workers who are striking over pensions today.
Pop quiz: How long does it take for a new version of Android to be widely adopted? A new version of Android comes out, AOSP updates, OEMs adapt it to a myriad of devices, and carriers test the updates. That process. How long does it take?
Panasonic Set To Enter European Smartphone Market With The Eluga, A qHD Phone Packing NFC
Panasonic Set To Enter European Smartphone Market With The Eluga
Until today, Panasonic had been keeping their high end Android phones to themselves in the Japanese market. That's about to change with the advent of the Eluga. Panasonic announced the new device today in Hamburg for release some time in March. We're promised that the phone will be waterproof and dustproof, which is great for all those times that you have your phone out in a dusty rain storm.
Remember the LG Phoenix? Yeah, the kind of lackluster little handset that hit AT&T back in April of 2011. Well, turns out that AT&T/LG didn't actually forget about this little guy - in fact, LG just announced an update that brings it up to Android 2.3. It's not coming in the same OTA fashion that we've all gotten spoiled to over the last couple of years, so you'll actually have to work for it if you're ready to say goodbye to Froyo forever.
More than a year after Android 2.3 Gingerbread made its debut, the Samsung Captivate (AT&T's Galaxy S clone) is finally getting its share of the goodness.
Remote controls have been around in one form or another since the middle of the 20th century, and little about them has changed in that time. They still comprise mainly of lots of buttons, most of which you have no idea how to use, and they're not exactly aesthetically pleasing to look at.
While there have been plenty of Netflix builds available for download to be sideloaded onto "unsupported" devices, many users have been waiting for an official update to be pushed out by Netflix.
If you're a myTouch 4G user, we have some great news to bring to you today! A post has been written on the T-Mobile support forums announcing that the Gingerbread rollout will begin with a limited pilot starting from today, and it will reach all myTouch 4G users by the end of this year.
If you're the proud owner of a Droid Incredible 2, then you may want to grab it and check for updates, as the official Gingerbread update started rolling out for some users late last night. Aside from bringing Android 2.3 to the device, the update brings numerous bug fixes and enhancements:
A couple of weeks ago, HTC said that, after months of hard work and failed attempts from its engineers, Gingerbread would not be coming to the Desire. Naturally, this brought on an onslaught of negative feedback from Desire owners, and HTC quickly backpedaled, stating that Gingerbread would be coming to the Desire, albeit a bit stripped down. It appears that this update was easier to put together than originally thought, as the build has now reached the testing phase, according to HTC's official Facebook page.
Don't feel like waiting for Samsung and AT&T to get around to officially rolling out a Gingerbread update for the Captivate? Thanks to SamFirmware, you don't have to; you can flash an early build of the update now, provided that you're comfortable with running leaked and likely somewhat buggy firmware.