15
Aug
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BREAKING: Google Signs Agreement To Buy Motorola Mobility For $12.5 Billion

Posted by in Motorola, News

Google has just announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. The search giant will be paying $40 per share, a premium of 63% from the closing price of Motorola's shares from last Friday. The actual acquisition is expected to take place in late 2011 or early 2012 pending regulatory approvals.

A partnership between the developer of the Android platform and a top 3 Android device manufacturer is likely to light a fire beneath the likes of Samsung, HTC, LG, and other Android partners. However, to quell their fears Google's press release clarifies that Motorola "will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open...

14
Apr
android_skype

[Updated] Exclusive: Vulnerability In Skype For Android Is Exposing Your Name, Phone Number, Chat Logs, And A Lot More

Posted by in Development, Exclusives, News
Last Updated: June 5th, 2012

Update #1: Skype is investigating the issue, we've been told.

Update #2: Skype's official first response can be found here.

The safety of our personal information is often a concern of mine - who has my email address, my phone number, my date of birth? How can I keep my private information safe while still enjoying the internet? These concerns have prompted me to take a deeper look at Android apps more than once, and often this can yield some frightening information.

On April 11, a leaked version of Skype Video hit the web and, having a Thunderbolt, I had to try it.

11
Mar
taptu

[Review] My Taptu: Social Media + News + Eye Candy = Success

Posted by in App Reviews, Applications, Apps/Games, News, Reviews
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

If you, like me, are constantly checking what's going on in the world of technology, science, world news, entertainment, gaming, music, and a million other things - on top of social networks like Facebook and Twitter, have I got an app for you. Picture, if you will, an Android app that will aggregate all of these news feeds and your social media streams into a cohesive and, quite frankly, sexy interface. You just imagined My Taptu, my new favorite news reader.

My Taptu's interface is really easy to grasp immediately and adding feeds, modifying the existing feeds, adding your Facebook and Twitter, and sharing all of this information just could not be any easier.

17
Nov
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[Updated] New Options In The Android Market App Publishing Interface: Promo Videos, High Res App Icon, Feature Graphics

Posted by in Android OS, Apps/Games, Development, News

Whoa! Only a few hours after sending out a notification about a big Market maintenance, Google sneakily updated the Market publishing interface with a variety of new options, pointing to nothing less than an updated Market likely to launch very soon, probably together with Gingerbread. The presence of higher resolution graphics underscores Google's newly embraced support for tablets and TVs, and possibly suggests that Market web interface we've been waiting for since Google I/O is finally around the corner.

Here are all the new options available to developers publishing their apps, in addition to the 2 screenshots and the promotional graphic+text (I can't think of a place where the latter is used):

  • High Resolution Application Icon - 512w x 512h, 24 bit PNG or JPEG (no alpha).

05
Oct
snap20101005_011709_wm

[Breaking, Hands-On] Skype For Android Now Available For Download In The Market For All Phones! Still No Calling Over Mobile Data In The US

Posted by in Applications, News

After months and months of waiting for a voice-enabled Skype to be out on Android and giving Verizon users an evil eye for that exclusive deal Skype signed with the largest US carrier, I am here to tell you that less than 2 hours ago, Skype officially hit the Market. This time, the long-awaited app is no longer restricted to Verizon, so download away (Android 2.1+ required)!

Update: the official Skype blog post is now live, including an intro video. It also acknowledges problems with Galaxy S phones.

Download

Without further ado, fire up that download and then read on for the details.

28
Sep

Motorola Defy Can Take Anything You Throw At It (Or Throw It In)

Posted by in DEFY (Jordan), Motorola, News
Last Updated: November 22nd, 2010

A video has come to our attention the shows just how harshly you can treat the Motola Defy. It can take all the Hulk-smashings that inevitably result from using Motoblur for more than 10 minutes - in addition to being flushed down a toilet when you're done.

The video is about 3 minutes long, but all the action happens in the first 45 seconds.

The phone gets unapologetically dropped from shoulder-height then thrown into a glass of water, followed by a long length of having Motoblur. Those are the three worst things you can do to a phone, and the Defy takes it all in stride.

07
Sep
image

Froyo ROM Leaks Out For the Acer Liquid

Posted by in Acer, Froyo 2.2, News

For one of the first phones out with a Snapdragon, this sure has been some time coming. Over at the MoDaCo Android forum, poster LIQUID_USER managed to obtain what he has described as a “very early build” for Acer’s 3.5”, Éclair-running slate. Despite this somewhat unofficial status, the build Acer_LiquidF_0.007.00_EMEA-GEN1_05.01.01) is said to be quite stable, with most device functions working as normal, including wireless tethering and Adobe Flash.

As expected, performance benchmarks have increased but the CPU still can’t quite catch the Nexus One at its current clocking (on the other hand, the Acer Liquid’s GPU drivers have always produced better results than the N1, which has sparked a porting project over on XDA-Developers).

11
May
EXCLUSIVE: AndroidPolice.com's Nexus One Is Running Android 2.2 Froyo. How Fast Is It Compared To 2.1? Oh, Only About 450% Faster

EXCLUSIVE: AndroidPolice.com's Nexus One Is Running Android 2.2 Froyo. How Fast Is It Compared To 2.1? Oh, Only About 450% Faster

Posted by in Exclusives, HTC, News, Nexus One (Passion)
Last Updated: June 5th, 2012

Upcoming Frozen Goodness

Folks, we have a Nexus One. We also have Froyo. In fact, we have the two mixed together in the most delicious frozen-yogurty Android 2.2 kind of way you can imagine.

Not much has been officially released by Google about Android 2.2 - probably less than any other release to date. We all have a hunch about some new features but Google wouldn't officially confirm or deny any of them, other than the one about Flash 10.1.

They're saving it for May 19th-20th, and we're OK with that.

However, one of our team members has been playing with a Nexus One running Froyo for about a week now, getting more and more visibly excited every day.

15
Apr
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It's A Droid And It's Incredible - Meet The Droid Incredible!

Posted by in Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, HTC, Incredible, News, Verizon Wireless

Farewell rumors, hello solid information! Verizon has just put out a press release nailing down some details on the HTC Droid Incredible. We're all well acquainted with the stats by now, but we were unaware of the potential release date or price.

Well, on April 29th, for a cool $199 (After a $100 mail-in rebate) on a two year contract you can head down to your local Verizon store to get yourself some Snapdragon-powered, HTC Sense driven, Droidy goodness! Why wait for the Nexus One! Speaking of, I think mine's starting to feel a little Droid envy...

The full press release with additional details on how you can fondle this beauty are pasted below.