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Oct

System Info Widget Review + Giveaway Of 20 Copies. Is It The Geekiest Android Widget... Ever?

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in App Reviews, Applications, Contests / Giveaways, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

This contest is now over. We have selected the winners - see if you are one of them towards the bottom of the page.

Ever wondered how much RAM is available on your phone? What about the internal storage space available? Or the precise signal strength? If you answered yes to any of these questions, System Info Widget may be the perfect widget for you and your inner geek.

The Review

What you're looking at above are the four widgets Jason Calhoun, the developer of the System Info Widget, gives you out of the gate. Of course, these can be customized in every which way, from the looks to the basic functions, so keep reading for a more in-depth look.

Sep

[Review] Battery Life Still Crappy? Try Doubling Your Juice With An Extended Battery. We Review A $12 3000mAh And A $63 3500mAh For EVO 4G

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Other Reviews, Reviews, Tips & Tutorials

Last Updated: July 26th, 2011

Welcome to part 2 of my article series centered around getting that precious time between charges of your Android devices to be as long as possible. I'm reviewing EVO 4G products because that's the handset I personally own, but there is nothing stopping you from extrapolating my findings and exploring similar products made for your own devices.

The EVO comes with a battery containing a similar or maybe slightly larger amount of juice than most phones - 1500mAh. A portable powerhouse, my EVO can eat through its full charge long before the day ends, especially if I'm using my favorite WiFi tethering app for a few hours.

Sep

No Super AMOLED On The Samsung Galaxy Tab, But It Still Won't Suck

Posted by Brad Ganley in Galaxy Tab, News

Yeah, Samsung knows you WANTED a Super AMOLED display on that Galaxy Tab but, unfortunately, it looks like that won't happen. We just saw the video (below).

After I dried my eyes, Samsung's executives in the video reassured me that the Super TFT they opted for instead is still great looking and offers even better battery life than super AMOLED. They also said that the Super TFT was developed in parallel to the Super AMOLED (so it's not old news) and is the best TFT display that you can get. Does it look as good?

No. I'm not sure if it's the screen glare in this picture or what, but at this point, I'd rather have that Galaxy S than the Galaxy Tab.

Aug

[Updated] Primo Battery Cube Review: Extra Juice On The Go + Giveaway

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Contests / Giveaways, Other Reviews, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

A couple of weeks ago, Engadget ran a piece on a new product from a company called Phonesuit aimed at smartphone users with MiniUSB and MicroUSB charging ports (this should cover every Android phone as far as I know). Shortly after Engadget's piece, we were contacted by Phonesuit and offered a review unit, which we gladly accepted.

This contest is now over. We have selected the winners - see if you are one of them towards the bottom of the page.

What Exactly Is PrimoCube?

Primo Battery Cube, or just PrimoCube, is a $40 device that attaches to your phone's MicroUSB or MiniUSB power port and feeds it delicious juice - 1000mAh of it at full charge to be exact.

Aug

Samsung Unleashes Galaxy S Phone Accessories: Desktop, Car Docks, and Spare Battery Charger; Teases WMG160 HD Media Streaming Device For The US

Posted by David Ruddock in Galaxy S, News

It’s hard to say if it called for a full-blown press release, but Samsung today issued a statement announcing the availability of official Samsung-branded accessories for Galaxy S devices in the US.

What kind of goodies can users expect? Well, as the title suggests, Samsung has produced some very shiny photos of a desktop dock, a car dock/charger, and a spare battery charging system (they’ve apparently caught on that many Android users go through multiple batteries in the course of a day). You can see them in all their glossy black plastic glory below:

Sunglasses not included.

Tomfoolery aside, these are necessary accessories for a phone as robust as the Galaxy S; the car and desktop docks/chargers in particular.

Aug

Official Nexus One Accessories Still Available For Purchase Directly From HTC

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Nexus One (Passion)

When Google closed up shop at their now ghost-town of a webstore, Nexus One owners were left without an outlet for official accessories, particularly the elusive HTC Nexus One Car Phone Holder (aka car dock).

With eBay sellers demanding upwards of $200 (and that’s used) for a device that once retailed for $59.99, it seemed Google and HTC had hung Nexus One owners out to dry. But now, HTC’s US online store (run by LetsTalk.com) and its UK sister site are offering up Nexus One goodies, Car Phone Holders included, once again.

I, for one, breathed quite a sigh of relief knowing I could still obtain my Nexus One car dock without handing over what currently represents my effective life savings.

Jul

HTC EVO 4G Owners, Here's A Battery Tip For You: 2 Extra 1500mAh Batteries + Battery Charger For $10, AndroidPolice Tested And Approved

Updated: HTC EVO 4G, Hero, Incredible Owners, Here's A Battery Tip For You: 2 Extra 1500mAh Batteries + Battery Charger For $10, AndroidPolice Tested And Approved

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in EVO 4G (Supersonic), HTC, Sprint, Tips & Tutorials

Last Updated: July 23rd, 2010

EVO 4G is notorious for its battery problems - they've been plaguing the phone since before it even came out. I personally don't think the battery life is too drastically different from the Hero, for instance, but it's still pretty bad. Chances are that if you want to last through the day, you won't.

Update #1: These fit the HTC Hero too! (Thanks to @xMPoly for the tip)

Update #2: Fit the Droid Incredible perfectly as well! I wonder if it's good for all HTC phones.

There are countless battery tips out there, most of which either don't do anything or force you to turn off so much of your phone's functionality that you might as well buy an iPhone (ziiiiing?).

Jun

The Promised EVO 4G OTA v1.47.651.1 Is Here - Not Froyo

[Updated: Sprint Pulls The OTA Due To Bricked Phones]. The Promised EVO 4G OTA Update v1.47.651.1 Is Here - Not Froyo, Details Inside

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in EVO 4G (Supersonic), HTC, News, Sprint

Update #1 11:11AM 6/28/10: Sprint published the official announcement, though only listing the original 3 update points from 4 days ago. Go to the thread and voice your concerns to them if you've bricked your EVO with this update.

Update #2: 6:00PM 6/28/10: Sprint pulled the update because of numerous reports of bricking legitimate unrooted phones. More info as soon as it's available.

If you guys remember, 4 days ago a BGR connection at Sprint leaked information regarding an OTA update for the EVO 4G scheduled to arrive on June 28th and fixing the following issues:

Improvements to Wi-Fi performance

Exchange Active Sync improvements which include a fix to issue including new account set up, PIN policy usage, and Exchange Server 2010 Calendar Sync

Addresses Social Networking Sync issue with Facebook application which can improve battery performance

It looks like he wasn't lying, as a 21.43MB v1.47.651.1 OTA did hit EVO 4G this morning:

It is currently not known what exactly was changed, although from what I could gather from the comments over at Engadget:

802.11n was indeed enabled
the grounding issue that prevented the touchscreen from working when the phone is laid flat was fixed (my EVO definitely suffers from that - take a look at this video around 1:40)
the 30fps limit was NOT fixed
you can select the resolution for HDMI video out
the update reportedly breaks the unrevoked root Edit: confirmed

A whole slew of users is reporting that the update bricked their EVOs.

Jun

EVO 4G DamageControl v3.0 - Fast, Improved Battery Life, Tweaks

[EVO 4G ROM] DamageControl v3.0 - Fast, Improved Battery Life, Tweaks

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, Eclair 2.1, EVO 4G (Supersonic), HTC, Sprint, Tips & Tutorials

What a day for EVO 4G ROMs! Hot on the heels of the release of Fresh ROM for EVO, another former HTC Hero ROM developer damageless, notorious for his DamageControl Hero ROM, announced his version for the EVO.

DamageControl v3.0 is damageless' and his partner TrevE's first crack at customizing the EVO and making it both faster and much more battery efficient. First, a little introduction:

I am proud to present the first DamageControl ROM for the HTC Evo!

The ROMs I release are always focused on stability, speed, and ease of use.

My partner, TrevE and I, continue to present ROMs that are easy to update through an application that is bundled with the ROM, DCUpdater (based upon cm-updater).

Jun

Fresh Evo 0.1d - Better, Faster, More Battery Efficient, With Bloatware Apps Removed

Updated: [EVO 4G ROM] Fresh Evo 0.2 - Better, Faster, More Battery Efficient, With Bloatware Apps Removed

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, Eclair 2.1, EVO 4G (Supersonic), HTC, Sprint, Tips & Tutorials

EVO 4G users, listen up! Flipz, the creator of one of the best custom ROMs for CDMA HTC Hero - Fresh ROM, has dropped his first version of a custom ROM for the EVO 4G a few hours ago.

The ROM is faster and more efficient than the stock ROM due to optimizations and bloatware removal (yup, the bloated apps provided by Sprint and some HTC ones are moved to the SD card and disabled!). It also comes with some visual changes.

Android 2.1 Eclair for now but will be updated to 2.2 Froyo as soon as humanly possible.

Of course, if you know Flipz, this is all just the beginning.