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Feb

Channel 4's 4oD Comes To Android In The UK, Provides You With Your Inbetweeners Fix On The Go

Posted by John Thompson in Applications, News

If, like many people in the UK, you like to sit down to a bit of The Inbetweeners or The IT Crowd in the evening, or maybe you just like your news delivered by Jon Snow, you're going to like what we're about to tell you: Channel 4 has finally made its 4oD app available on Android.

Using the app, you'll be able to watch content from Channel 4, E4 and More4 without paying a penny, although like most other catch-up TV services, the content will be ad-supported before you begin to watch your show. Like the web version of 4oD, you can access shows for 30 days after they air, and go through the archives to pick out memorable episodes from the past 30 years.

Feb

[Update: Rolling Out Now] Verizon Pulls A Miracle Out Of Its Hat, Will Release ICS For The HTC Thunderbolt Soon

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Thunderbolt (Mecha)

Update: The OTA is rolling out now. Go get it! Thanks for the heads-up, James!

We didn't think it was possible. We thought it was abandoned, left on the side of the road where no one would ever find it. Yet here, through the fog, a light comes shining through: Verizon is actually releasing Ice Cream Sandwich for the HTC Thunderbolt. Assuming that users haven't already thrown theirs into a lake by now.

The support page says the update is "coming soon", so we can't confirm exactly when the OTA will roll out, but the important thing to take away here is that it's real, it's definitely coming, and it won't be long now.

Jan

Motorola Atrix 4G Gets The Soak Test Treatment, ICS May Be Coming Soon

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Atrix 4G (Olympus), News

If you're an Atrix 4G owner, I've got a case of the feels for you. When the handset came out, it was one of the first pieces of hardware with a dual-core processor and it seemed like it would last forever. So far, though, it hasn't managed to get ICS. We all get burned by manufacturer updates but this one seems particularly harsh. Which is why I'm glad to bring a bit of good news: Motorola appears to be beginning its soak test program for the handset.

A tipster has sent in the above screenshot announcing the program, and a thread on XDA corroborates the story.

Nov

AT&T Is Rolling Out Ice Cream Sandwich For Samsung Captivate Glide For Real This Time On November 10th

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Captivate Glide, News

Back in September, we heard that AT&T was rolling out Ice Cream Sandwich for the Samsung Captivate Glide. Well, it turns out, that was delayed. How long, you ask? Until tomorrow, it seems! According to a blog post by AT&T, the upgrade should be available starting November 10th via a download on Samsung's website. There will not be an OTA.

Android 4.0 simplifies common actions and includes a new typeface optimized for high-resolution screens to improve readability.

The many new features include the new browser with improved page loading, tabbed browsing, offline reading and desktop mode. There are new lock/unlock features such as the ability to unlock directly to the camera, text messaging, phone dialer, or home screen, or you can use Face Unlock which lets you unlock your screen using facial recognition technology.

You can easily swipe away notifications with the new notifications bar and multitasking is easier with the new Recent Apps Shortcut that lets you switch between apps quickly. There’s even a setting to help your track your data usage.

Nov

LG Viper On Sprint Finally Getting An OTA Update To Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Sprint, Viper

It's hard to believe that any high(er) end phone released within the last six months shipped with Gingerbread, but sadly, that's the case. Sprint's first LTE smartphone, the LG Viper, was one such device. Thankfully, the company is now pushing out an OTA update that will bump the Android version up to 4.0. It may not be the latest and greatest that Google has to offer, but it's still a huge improvement over Gingerbread.

Sprint's full changelog basically highlights some of the many features that ICS has over GB, so it's unclear if the OTA brings any other enhancements to the table (because a massive OS upgrade isn't enough, right?):

To see if the update is available for your device, head into Settings > About Phone > System Updates.

Sep

AT&T Xperia Ion Android 4.0 Update Is Available Right Now Via Sony's Companion App

Posted by David Ruddock in Device Updates, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Sony, Xperia Ion (Aoba)

If you're the owner of an Xperia Ion, you've probably been absolutely foaming at the mouth for an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich. Today, AT&T announced that the update is available for everyone, just hit up Sony's website and download the Sony companion app for Windows or OS X. It does not appear this will roll out as a standard OTA update, so you'll have to download the app to get it.

The update will bring faster mobile hotspot and Wi-Fi speeds, apparently, as well as improvements to Exchange Active Sync. Of course, all the features that come with Android 4.0, like face unlock, will be wrapped up in this there as well.

Sep

Verizon Officially Launches The Galaxy Stellar For Free On Contract And After Rebate

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Galaxy Stellar (SCH-I200), News

When we last heard about the Samsung Galaxy Stellar, a mid-range device coming to Verizon, Aaron was left wondering why this device was alleged to cost more than the Galaxy Nexus on contract. Well, now we have the answer: it doesn't! The 4" LTE device will be free with a 2-year contract, though that's after a $50 mail-in rebate.

The device packs the specs you would expect from a phone that's launching with a (mostly) free price tag:

Additional features:

4G LTE – customers can expect fast download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps in 4G LTE coverage areas

4-inch WVGA display (800 x 480)

Android^™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich – support for Google Mobile^™ Services including Gmail^™, YouTube^™, Google Talk^™, Google Maps^™ and access to more than 600,000 apps available to download from Google Play

Suite of Amazon apps includes Kindle, Shopping, MP3, Zappos, IMDB and Audible

1.2 dual-core GHz Snapdragon^™ application processor

Front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video chat and 3.2-megapixel rear-facing camera with auto focus

Backup Assistant Plus – media management and online storage service designed to help customers store and access media content such as music, videos, pictures, documents and contacts.

Aug

Motorola RAZR M 4G LTE Pics And Specs Leaked Ahead Of Announcement

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Motorola, RAZR M, Verizon Wireless

Aside from some FCC filings, the Motorola XT907 has been a unknown quantity as we get closer to Moto's September 5th Verizon event. Now the details are in the open, and it's looking like the device will be called the RAZR M 4G LTE (yeah, that's a mouthful). This phone will be a small but welcome bump up from the current generation RAZR devices, but it's no RAZR HD.

On the hardware side, the new RAZR phone will be running on a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 MSM8960. That is a chip we see in a lot of devices these days, but it works very well with Qualcomm LTE radios.

Aug

HTC Reiterates Via Facebook That Desire S, Thunderbolt, And Other Devices Will Receive ICS By August

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in HTC, News

Today on Facebook, HTC took to answering some user comments about ICS timelines for a few of its flagship devices. In particular, the manufacturer confirmed that both the Desire S and the Thunderbolt would be receiving updates to Android 4.0 before the end of this month. The latter in particular is good news, as rumors have been circulating that the Thunderbolt would not receive the upgrade after its similarly-specced sibling, the Desire HD had its frozen dessert plans cancelled.

Furthermore, HTC pointed out that all the devices the company has announced an Ice Cream Sandwich update for (read: these) will receive said upgrade by the end August.

Aug

Android Platform Distribution Updated: ICS Up To Almost 16%, Jelly Bean 0.8%

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Android OS, News

Google has again updated the current platform version numbers, and they show a reasonably good uptick in the usage of Android 4.0 variants. However, Google's new baby, Jelly Bean, is still bumping along at less than 1% even with all those Nexus 7 tablets.

Last time Android 4.0 was almost 11%, so those new devices and updates are definitely helping. Gingerbread was, and still is the majority of devices, but it's dropped a few points from roughly 64% to a touch over 60% now. As a reminder, Gingerbread is 20 months old now, and there's really no reason for it to still be so prevalent when ICS has had over half a year to build.