Android 2.3 - 4/6 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

Sony PlayStation Suite And PlayStation Store Official, Bring PSOne Games To Android Devices

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Games, News, Sony, Sony Ericsson

Sony's new PlayStation Suite isn't the PlayStation Phone (or the Xperia Play) we were expecting, but it's arguably something even better for those of us who love gaming but hate the idea of giving up our current Android device(s).

Sony claims that PlayStation Suite will offer "legendary original PlayStation content" and says it will be a "cross platform, cross device" PSOne emulator. In reality, it's limited to Android 2.3 and beyond - a version of Android only one currently available handset runs (and it's not Sony's own Xperia X10). Still, PS Suite does look intriguing, especially when you consider Sony's "PlayStation Certified" program for hardware manufacturers, which will, supposedly, ensure a high-quality gaming experience.

Jan

Sony Ericsson Confirms That Xperia Arc Running Android 2.4 Was A "Misconfiguration"

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12)

During CES 2011 Sony Ericsson's newest smartphone, the Xperia arc, was sighted running Android version "2.4".

A few weeks ago there were rumours that Honeycomb, Google's next iteration of the Android platform, would actually be Android 2.4 and not Android 3.0. Although it was later confirmed that Honeycomb will indeed be Android 3.0, rumours suggested that an incremental update to Android was being readied. The About section of the Xperia arc, displayed below, appeared to confirm that there was indeed a version 2.4.

However, yesterday a post appeared on the Sony Ericsson Product Blog confirming that the version numbers "higher" than 2.3 appearing in the display of the Xperia arc phones was merely a "misconfiguration" and "nothing to get too excited about".

Jan

CES 2011: Deep Dive Preview Of The Sony Ericsson Xperia arc - Video Walkthrough And Details Galore

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Gingerbread 2.3, News, Sony Ericsson, Videos, Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12)

Last Updated: January 11th, 2011

Following on from their press release on Wednesday, Sony Ericsson invited the media this morning to a designated conference room at the Hard Rock Hotel for some play time with their newest Android device. We spent over an hour with the handset to get an idea of what to expect when it hits the market.

The reps there acknowledged the difficulties they had experienced with their previous Android handsets, and showed what appeared to be decisive commitment to putting those hold-ups behind them. With the Xperia arc (sic), Sony Ericsson has trumped its competition at CES with the first Gingerbread device to be announced since the Nexus S.

Jan

Sony Ericsson Announces Razor-Thin Smartphone: The Xperia arc

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12)

Sony Ericsson has announced its first of a "new generation" of Xperia smartphones, christened the Xperia arc. The super-slim device measures 8.7 mm at its thinnest point and weighs just 117 grams. It packs:

1GHz Qualcomm processor
4.2" 854 x 480 display
8.1 MP camera (with HD video recording and LED flash)
8GB microSD (upgradeable to 32GB)
FM radio, Bluetooth, and GPS
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

Engadget managed to spend some time with the Xperia arc, and they highlighted the fact that it's "really thin."

Sony Ericsson phones generally have better-than-average cameras and the arc appears to be no exception: it ships with the "Exmor R" mobile sensor with a f/2.4 lens, enabling "the capture of high quality, bright pictures and HD videos even in low light."

Just a short while ago, Sony Ericsson confirmed that they would not be updating their Xperia X10 line of smartphones beyond Android 2.1 Éclair, so it's unclear whether the Xperia arc will be upgraded beyond Gingerbread.

Jan

Velocity Micro Announces 3 New Cruz Tablets Running On Android

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Cruz Tablet, News, Velocity Micro

There really are a lot of tablets being announced at CES 2011, and Velocity Micro just launched their new lineup of Android tablets as well: the 7" Cruz Tablet L37, the 8" Cruz Tablet P38, and the 10.1" Cruz Tablet L510.

The 7" L37 has a 1024x600 capacitive touch screen, while the 8" P38 has a 1024x768 screen, and both come with 802.11n WiFi and 4GB of internal memory. The 10.1" P38 has a 1366x768 capacitive touch screen and runs on the NVIDIA Tegra 250 Chipset with a 1GHz dual-core CPU.

The tablets all feature front and rear facing cameras, 3G data options, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS and eCompass functionality, HDMI out and, sticking to its eReader roots, Velocity Micro will be pre-installing the Amazon Kindle app on the tablets.

Jan

Android Platform Version Chart Updated: Froyo Dominates, Éclair Still Strong, Cupcake And Donut On The Way Out

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Cupcake 1.5, Donut 1.6, Eclair 2.1, Froyo 2.2, Gingerbread 2.3, News

As per usual, Google has updated their Android Platform Version Chart, which gives us a clear indication of how many devices are running each version of Android, based on Market usage. The results won't shock anybody, but they do say good things about the current state of fragmentation in Android. Froyo continues it dominance, taking over half of the chart, while Android 2.1 still remains strong with 35%, likely due in large part to the massive number of Galaxy S phones still running it. Our obsolete friends, Cupcake and Donut, continue to fall into obscurity, although devices running them are unlikely to be updated.

Dec

Run, Run, As Fast As You Can: A Round-Up Of Gingerbread ROMs

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

Last Updated: January 2nd, 2011

Introduction

A few days after releasing the Android 2.3 SDK, Google officially pushed Gingerbread to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP). Shortly thereafter, developers (such as the CyanogenMod crew) immediately started working on their custom ROMs based on the AOSP code (e.g. CyanogenMod 7).

It has only been a few days since CyanogenMod released version 6.1.1, their most recent stable update, so it's still likely to be a few weeks before a stable release of CM 7 is available. Nevertheless, a group of eager CM developers and enthusiasts have taken the liberty of packaging early unstable releases of CM 7 (with Android 2.3 Gingerbread) for a variety of Android devices.

Dec

[Breaking] Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) Being Pushed To AOSP Right Now!

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

Prepare your party gear and break out the keg, people: Google is officially starting the push of Gingerbread to AOSP (Android Open Source Project) as we speak. Jean-Baptiste Queru just announced that fact, saying he was going to begin pushing the code to the AOSP, and the process is expected to take a few hours.

What does that mean for you? ROMs built on AOSP code (such as CyanogenMod) will now have access to Gingerbread, so expect CyanogenMod for Gingerbread (CM7?) to start cooking shortly. Since the code is now finalized, it also means that Google will likely start pushing out the Gingerbread update to the Nexus One.

Dec

Gingerbread SDK Closes A TapJacking Vulnerability

Posted by Stephen Tenerowicz in Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

With Android 2.3, users will have not only a slew of new features (I can't wait!), but also a fix to a security issue present in the previous versions of Android: TapJacking. TapJacking occurs when a malicious application displays a fake user interface that you can interact with, but actually secretly passes interaction events, such as finger taps, to a hidden user interface behind it. Using this technique, a devious developer could potentially trick a user into making purchases, clicking on ads, installing applications, or even wiping all of the data from the phone. All around, TapJacking is not good!

In previous versions of Android, an attacker was able to display the fake user interface by creating a customized notification (called a Toast) to obscure the real interface.

Dec

MoDaCo's Paul O'Brien Releases Gingerbread Launcher For Android 2.2, Now Available In Market

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

Our (OK, mainly Brian's) man Paul O'Brien of MoDaCo has been hard at work porting the Gingerbread launcher to Froyo (Android 2.2). What's different? Well, frankly... not a lot.

The major differences are that there's a bit more green and that the app drawer fades in/out. In my minute or two with it, that's about all I noticed, and really, that's all you can ask for at this point. That said, if you're using vanilla Froyo now, there's really no downside to using the Gingerbread launcher.

Nothing revolutionary, but given the amount of fervor over Gingerbread, the launcher and the keyboard may be just enough to whet your appetite and hold you over until some official releases start rolling out.