announcement - 6/7 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Apr

Sony Unveils Its Own Pair Of Honeycomb Tablets - The S1 And S2

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, S1, S2, Sony

Last Updated: June 30th, 2011

The tablet news just keeps on coming. In the past few days, we've already caught wind of two Honeycomb tablets from Lenovo, and now Sony is officially revealing the S1 and S2 tablets. The event is being live blogged by the Wall Street Journal here, but thanks to an official press release we have plenty of details on both the tablets. First up, the S1:

9.4" display
Android 3.0 Honeycomb
"Off-center of gravity design" (check out this mockup for an idea of what this means)
NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor
Front and rear cameras
Wi-Fi and 3G/4G connectivity

And the S2:

Two 5.5" 1024 x 480 screens
Android 3.0 Honeycomb
NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor
Front and rear cameras
Wi-Fi and 3G/4G connectivity

Both tablets will also be joining the Xperia Play as PlayStation Certified devices, as they will be able to play PS1 games using on-screen controls.

Apr

Toshiba Announces The "Regza" AT300 10.1" Dual-Core Tablet... In Japan

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Tablets, Thrive / Regza / Antares / AT100, Toshiba

As of late, there has been a lot of talk about Toshiba's upcoming-but-still-unannounced (in the US anyway) Android 3.0 tablet, but now things are starting to speed up. Toshiba has officially announced the "Regza" tablet - the Japanese version of the tablet that we're pretty sure will be called the Thrive. It sports the same specs that we've known about for a while now:

1Ghz dual-core Tegra 2 processor
1GB RAM
16GB Internal storage, SD Card slot
5MP rear camera, 2MP front camera
10.1 inch, 1280x800 display
HDMI, miniUSB, and USB ports

It also includes a feature called Regza App Connect, which links the tablet up to other Regza devices.

Feb

[Updated] Sony Ericsson Expands The Xperia Brand With Gingerbread-Powered Neo And Pro

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Neo (Hallon), Xperia Pro (Iyokan)

The days where the Nexus S was the sole Android 2.3 smartphone are over, it seems - as are the days where Sony Ericsson had only one Android-powered Xperia-branded device.

SE just announced two new Xperia devices: the Neo and the Pro. Both pack 3.7-inch WVGA (854x480) displays, 1GHz Snapdragon processors, 2MP front-facing cameras, 8MP rear counterparts, Bravia graphics engines, and Gingerbread-based software, with the Pro adding a slide-out QWERTY keyboard to the mix. Additionally, the pair of smartphones will feature HDMI ports and Exmor R technology, which improves photo quality.

Sound like a good time? The Neo will be available "globally in selected markets" starting at the end of Q1, while the Pro will launch at the end of Q2.

Feb

Sony Ericsson Announces PlayStation Certified Xperia Play - Coming To Verizon Wireless, T-Mobile UK This Spring

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in News, Sony Ericsson, Verizon Wireless, Xperia Play (Zeus, PlayStation Phone)

It's hardly a surprise, but it's welcome news nonetheless: Sony Ericsson just announced the Xperia Play, also known as the PlayStation Phone. We're still waiting for the full specs on this PlayStation certified device, so be sure to check back here soon for all the official details!

Update: The Play will run Android 2.3 Gingerbread at launch, and will be compatible with 50 games, including such titles as Assassin's Creed, Guitar Hero, Dead Space, and Reckless Racing. Compatibility with PSOne games - presumably via the PlayStation Suite - is also in the pipelines.

Update 2: It's official: This spring, Verizon will become the first US carrier to offer the Xperia Play!

Feb

Sprint Announces The Dual-Screen Kyocera Echo - Coming This Spring For $199

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Echo, Kyocera, News, Sprint

Turns out the rumors were true - Sprint and Kyocera have partnered up to build the Echo, the world's first dual-screen phone.

The two 3.5" 800x480 screens offer 4.7 inches of real estate when combined, and can be used as:

One huge display ("Tablet Mode")
Combined displays, where one screen can show a keyboard while the other displays the email app ("Optimized Mode")
Two individual displays with each running a separate app ("Simul-Task Mode")
One single display, with the second hidden underneath ("Single-Screen Mode")

Unfortunately, the rest of the Echo's specs aren't nearly as innovative - its battery is puny (1370 mAh, though Sprint will include a spare), it doesn't have a front-facing camera, and there's no 4G connectivity to speak of.

Jan

Samsung Galaxy S 4G, Android-Powered Sidekick 4G "Coming Soon" To T-Mobile

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Galaxy S 4G, News, Samsung, Sidekick 4G, T-Mobile

So it's true: Samsung and T-Mobile have indeed built an HSPA+ version of the Galaxy S, although it didn't cause the Android 2.2 update for their current offering, the Vibrant, to be held back (contrary to what some had assumed).

Unfortunately, we don't know much about the phone yet - in fact, all we've been told so far is that:

It'll be called the "Galaxy S 4G" (not the "Vibrant 4G," mind you).
It will feature full HSPA+ connectivity, meaning that it will be able to reach theoretical download speeds of up to 21 Mbps. Up until now, T-Mobile's HSPA+ devices (the G2 and the myTouch 4G) have been limited to 14.4 Mbps.

Jan

CES 2011: LG Officially Unveils Optimus Black - The World's Thinnest Android Smartphone With NOVA Display

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in LG, Optimus Black (p970)

During the LG press conference (see our live coverage), LG officially revealed to the world the Optimus Black Android smartphone, previously known as Optimus "B."

This upcoming looker features a brand new NOVA display technology, which LG touts as "breakthrough, brightest, clearest, and most readable among mobile screens, with 700 nits of brightness (Nit: a unit of luminance equal to 1 candela per square meter)." The NOVA display supposedly performs very well under strong sunlight and uses up to 50% less power compared to LCD screens and AMOLED screens that are displaying a totally white image (AMOLED doesn't use energy to display blacks).

Dec

Motorola Tablet Teaser Site Goes Live With Countdown: Jan 5th At 4:15PM PST

Posted by David Ruddock in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Motorola, News

As yesterday's teaser video implied, it seems that we can expect Motorola's much-anticipated Android tablet at CES. Motorola has launched a small teaser site to generate media buzz about the launch, with a countdown that expires at 4:15 p.m. on January 5th, 2011. You can also sign up to receive e-mail notifications of any news on the announcement.

Motorola's tablet will be sporting a Tegra 2 system-on-a-chip, and will presumably be the first consumer device to run Honeycomb, a version of Android tailored for tablet use. Coupled with Verizon's network, it could set the bar for Android tablets from here on out.

Dec

JetBrains Releases IntelliJ IDEA 10 With Full Android Gingerbread Support In The Free Community Edition

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, Development, News

Android developers take note: Eclipse with the Android Development Tools (ADT) is no longer the only player in town when it comes to developing Android applications. JetBrains, the maker of IntelliJ IDEA, which was open sourced about a year ago, today released version 10 of their IDE, which, among other improvements, includes support for Android in the free Community Edition. All versions of the Android SDK are supported, including the recently released Gingerbread.

As an Android developer myself, I am constantly frustrated with Eclipse, constant IDE crashes, and millions of quirks that ADT seems to have. Therefore, I welcome the competition and will definitely be trying it out.

Dec

[Updated] Google Announces 2.3 Gingerbread! Here Is Everything You Need To Know

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Gingerbread 2.3, News

Last Updated: December 10th, 2010

The moment we've been waiting for so many months - it's finally here! I can hardly contain my excitement as I'm writing this, but both Gingerbread and the Samsung Nexus S were officially announced 30 minutes ago. As expected, the new OS bears the version number 2.3 and brings updates to the SDK and the NDK as well SDK tools and the Eclipse ADT plugin.

As expected, a lot of the OS improvements are under-the-hood, which will result in better gaming, responsiveness, and overall Android experience.

New Features/Enhancements

OS/SDK/NDK

The new OS features and enhancements include:

enhancements for game development, including a new concurrent garbage collector, more native APIs, faster event distribution, updated video drivers, and new sensors (gyroscope) - this is amazing for developers; expect gaming to get a lot more responsive and versatile
lots and lots of attention in the above bullet point has been given to the NDK - the Native Development Kit.