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Mar

Android 4.2.2 (Build JDQ39) For Verizon Galaxy Nexus Rolling Out To Testers, OTA Imminent?

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Carriers, Galaxy Nexus, News, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: March 3rd, 2013

In the pantheon of devices bearing the name Nexus, there is one obvious black sheep. The Verizon Galaxy Nexus never really got the update love that GSM Nexus devices have, and there was that whole Google Wallet debacle. While the updates haven't been flowing quite like owners had hoped, a version of Android 4.2.2 is now rolling out to Verizon testers. It may only be a matter of time before the update is official.

The JDQ39 build of Jelly Bean brings updated radios to the Verizon Gnex, which it definitely needs. The new version will also include all the 4.2 goodies like quick settings, lock screen widgets, and photospheres.

Feb

First Leak Of Touchwiz-ified 4.2.1 Shows Up For The Samsung Galaxy S III (i9300)

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy S III, Leaks, News, Videos

Given Samsung's recent track record with updates, there's been little question whether or not the Galaxy S III would receive Jelly Bean 4.2.x, but a leak that showed up today over at SamMobile removes all doubt of the build's existence. The leak shows off Samsung's take on some of the 4.2 modifications, including a fully TouchWiz-ified Quick Settings menu (which actually looks more useful than stock Android's).

Aside from that, it appears that Sammy has added several voice actions, which should allow you to control various parts of the OS through speech. Otherwise, it basically looks like the current TouchWiz builds on Android 4.1, including the Premium Suite, Multi-Window, and the like.

Feb

[New App] DashClock Facebook Extension Makes Your Clock More Social

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Applications, Apps/Games, News

DashClock is definitely the flavor of the week. Developers are falling all over themselves to build extensions for this multi-talented clock widget, and here's an interesting one. Whether you use DashClock on your lock screen or home screen, the new DashClock Facebook Extension could save you all kinds of frustration.

This app is simple – it displays your unread messages and notification count on the DashClock widget so you don't have to pop open the Facebook app as often. You will need to have the DashClock app installed, but Facebook itself is actually optional. You'll log in via the extension and can set the refresh interval from there.

Feb

Stock Android Isn't Perfect: Jelly Bean 4.2 Edition

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Features, Jelly Bean 4.2, Stock Android Isn't Perfect

Last Updated: February 7th, 2013

A few months ago I wrote "Stock Android Isn't Perfect," an article where I turned my usual harsh UX critique on stock Android, instead of just picking on TouchWiz and Sense all the time in my reviews. The article went over pretty well, and even got a few responses from Googlers! I didn't cover everything that was wrong with Android, though, and there have been a bunch of updates since the original article, so it's about time I wrote a sequel.

So we're officially making this a series now, and it'll serve two purposes: One, there's a new version of Android out, and more things to complain about; and two, to give credit where it's due, because, since I wrote that article, a lot of things have been fixed.

Jan

Android Open Kang Project 4.2 Expands To Samsung Galaxy S III And Nexus 10 In Second Release

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Android OS, Galaxy S III, News, Nexus 10

The lads at the Android Open Kang Project have been busy expanding the 4.2 version of their custom ROM, thankfully expanding on the three officially supported devices in the initial release. For Build 2, all four major US variants of the Galaxy S III are supported (but not the international version), as well as the Nexus 7 3G, and the Nexus 10 for good measure. Flash-ready ROM files are available on the AOKP website for the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, and Nexus 7 WiFi as well.

In addition to basic bugfixes, the AOKP team has added a bunch of customization options to the statusbar, lockscreen, and navigation bar, bringing back a fair amount of the settings found in older releases (though sadly there's no option for the now-outdated tablet UI).

Jan

AOKP Starts Over With Jelly Bean 4.2 - Build 1 For Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4 And Nexus 7 Available Now

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Jelly Bean 4.2, News

Good news, ROM enthusiasts: the Android Open Kang Project has released the much-anticipated first build of 4.2. Bad news: it's a completely new ROM, built from the ground up. That means that it won't be quite as feature-packed as you remembered, and device support is limited to the more popular Nexus models, at least for now. You'll also need to install a recovery that's compatible with 4.2 ROMs (the latest ClockworkMod and TWRP should do the trick) and do a full data wipe of your previous ROM. Warm up Titanium Backup.

For the MR1 release, only the Galaxy Nexus (Verizon and GSM flavors), Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 builds are available.

Dec

Apktool Updated To 1.5.1, Brings Android 4.2 Support, The Latest Smali/Baksmali, & Bugfixes

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Development, News

Apktool is a Windows/Mac/Linux utility for reverse engineering Android apps. It allows you to decode an app, change something, rebuild it, and pray it still runs. You're going to need something like this if you're into theming apps, hacking a feature onto someone else's app, finding security holes, or just want to hunt for info.

Apktool has been freshly updated to version 1.5.1, with the new headline feature being "Android 4.2 support." Here's the full changelog.

Android 4.2 support

Added -a / -aapt command on rebuild to specify location of aapt

Updated unit tests for 4.2 support

Closed file-handler when writing frameworks to file system.

Dec

CyanogenMod 10.1 Nightlies Available For The Google Nexus S, Nexus S 4G, And Asus Transformer Pad 300

Posted by John Thompson in ASUS, Development, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g), Samsung, Transformer Pad 300

Another day, another round of nightly builds for the upcoming CyanogenMod 10.1. This time, the latest release of the custom ROM that brings Android 4.2 has been made available on a further 3 devices: the Google Nexus S, Nexus S 4G, and the ASUS Transformer Pad 300 (TF300T).

Definition: A "nightly" is a bleeding edge release that is built on a daily basis, usually at night after a full day's worth of new code has been committed.

It could oftentimes be unstable and not properly tested, lacking any changelogs, but eventually evolving into alphas, betas, release candidates, and finally stable releases.

Dec

Oops – Google Calls Its Own Device An iPhone If You're Swedish

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Android OS, Jelly Bean 4.2, News

The Nexus line is still one of the few places you can find Android 4.2. The software on most Nexuses has zero interference from carriers and OEMs. That's great for Google as it gets to control the entire software experience. The downside is that there is no one else to point the finger at when something goes wrong. And something is pretty hilariously wrong in the startup wizard on the iPhone – I mean, the Nexus.

Anyone with their language set to Swedish gets the confused system dialog when setting up the device. Even if you don't read Swedish, you can probably pick out the word 'iPhone' right there in the pop up.

Dec

CyanogenMod 10.1 Nightlies Arrive For Samsung's Galaxy S, S II, S III, Galaxy Tab 2 7.0/10.1 [Updated]

Posted by John Thompson in Development, Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, News, Samsung

Update: More devices added - see the list below.

CyanogenMod 10.1 is continuing to bring Android 4.2 to more devices each day, and Samsung fans will be glad to know that nightly builds are now available for:

Galaxy S (galaxysmtd, galaxysbmtd)
Galaxy S II (i9100, i9100g)
Galaxy S III (i9300, d2tmo T-Mobile, d2att AT&T)
Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 and 10.1 (p5100, p5110, p3100, p3110)

Definition: A "nightly" is a bleeding edge release that is built on a daily basis, usually at night after a full day's worth of new code has been committed.