canada - 4/5 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jul

Canadian HTC EVO 3Ds To Come With Bootloader Unlocked, Says Rogers

Posted by Matt Demers in EVO 3D (Shooter), HTC, News, Rogers

Canadian telecom Rogers have given Android users north of the border a bit of good news this afternoon, as they've confirmed that their release of the HTC Evo 3D will have an unlocked bootloader.

This response came from Rogers rep "RogersKatie" in the discussion thread below a blog post announcing their forthcoming Android products. This hopefully confirms the carrier's official stance on the matter, and isn't a matter of miscommunication.

As a Canadian consumer, this is a great step in the right direction when it comes to keeping our devices up to date and in line with Android devices in the United States.

May

[Review] Folder Organizer Brings Deep Customization to Organizing Apps

Posted by Matt Demers in App Reviews, Applications, Reviews

Last Updated: August 2nd, 2011

I've never been a big proponent of using folders on my home screen; I'm the kind of guy that can fit all the apps he uses frequently on a 5x5 grid. With the possible exception for a "Games" folder, I find them pretty useless. I mean, the app drawer itself is one big folder, and if there's anything I really need to access, it goes on my front page.

However, I've been playing around with a tool that's making the maintenance and use of folders a bit more practical. The aptly-named Folder Organizer adds a number of features to folders and transforms them from "drag to the icon" affairs to something a bit more automated.

Apr

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play And Arc Available From Best Buy Canada Tomorrow

Posted by Zak Stinson in Devices By Manufacturer, News, Rogers, Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12), Xperia Play (Zeus, PlayStation Phone)

Once again, we find that the selection of Android phones available to those in Canada is increasing both in size and quality. The next two additions to that ever-growing range of devices available in the Great White North are to be the Sony Ericsson Xperia PLAY and arc. According to a press release from Best Buy Canada, as of April 28th, these two great new handsets will be available on Rogers.

Either one of these Gingerbread-running beauties will cost you $99 on a new 3 year contract. That's no typo, 3 year contracts are the norm up in Canada (it's something we're working on.) But, hey, at least you get a sweet new phone for $99 and Best Buy will even throw in a $50 in-store gift card.

Apr

Canucks Rejoice: Nexus S and Motorola Xoom Now Available In Canada

Posted by Zak Stinson in News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Rogers, TELUS, XOOM

If you travelled back in time to the middle of 2010 and asked your average Canadian about the selection of Android devices available to them, you would not be impressed with their answer - it seems that up until this year, the Android selection in Canada was about 6 months behind the curve.

Canadians, myself included, can now stop bemoaning their second rate options. As of today, two major new devices, the Nexus S and the Motorola Xoom, have been made available to those in the Great White North.

The Nexus S has landed on Videotron, Mobilicity, Telus and Koodo as of today, with Wind and Rogers expected to release it in the very near future.

Apr

Canadians Rejoice - HTC Incredible S Now Available From Bell And Virgin Mobile

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Bell, HTC, Incredible S (Vivo), News, Virgin Mobile

It's not often that inhabitants of the True North are given the opportunity to purchase a half-decent phone before it lands in the US, but that's exactly the case with HTC's Incredible S - the magician of a handset is now available from both Bell and Virgin Mobile, with the former charging $99.95 and the latter upping the cost by just four cents. Of course, those price tags entail three-year contracts; if you want to buy the phone outright, you'll have to bear the expense of its full retail price - $499.95 if you're buying from Bell, or $499.99 if you choose Virgin Mobile.

Feb

Photoshop Fail - Best Buy's Asus Windows 7 Tablet Runs Android, Looks Like Eclair

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Off-Topic

It's always fun to poke at Android-related snafus that retailers, especially as big as Best Buy, make in their promotional materials, and today is one of those days.

Android Police reader Marc forwarded us an email from Best Buy Canada sent to Canadian customers yesterday that shows this impressive Asus Tablet PC, powered by Windows 7. Except, it has an Andy peaking out from behind and is clearly running a build of Android (it's not Honeycomb or Gingerbread by the looks of things and resembles Éclair).

Surely, that's probably incomplete information and this tablet exists in 2 flavors or dual boots Android and Windows, right?

Jan

Motorola's Dual-Core Ehtrix... Errr... Atrix 4G Coming Soon To Bell

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Atrix 4G (Olympus), Bell, Motorola, News

I couldn't resist this time - we love you, Canadians! And soon, you will in turn love Motorola, as it is bringing one of CES's most radical and breakthrough Android devices - the Atrix 4G - to The Land Owt & Aboot. Bell, Canada's 2nd largest mobile carrier, put up this "Coming Soon" page (available in French here), promising the Tegra 2 powered laptop commander... well, soon. There is no word on exact availability just yet, but Bell is offering a convenient signup form for when things start moving.

In case you've missed the announcement, the Atrix 4G was unveiled at CES last week, and we've got some brief hands-on time with it right over here.

Nov

Samsung Canada Announces Galaxy S Froyo Upgrade Timelines

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Bell, Captivate, Fascinate, Galaxy S, News, Rogers, Samsung, TELUS, Vibrant

Samsung, which has been under fire from consumers for repeatedly delaying Android 2.2. updates on their Galaxy S line of phones, recently posted an announcement for its Canadian customers on Bell, TELUS, and Rogers. In the announcement, Samsung apologized for delaying the long-awaited update and cited rigorous testing as the current stage of the rollout process.

Now, keeping in mind that these are just estimates, have a look at the upgrade timelines for your Canadian Galaxy S device:

Vibrant from Bell and Captivate from Rogers will be up first in the middle of December
Fascinate from TELUS will not get upgraded until all the way to the beginning of 2011

It's quite sad that Gingerbread, the Android version following Froyo, will be released long before Froyo itself makes it to the biggest flagship device series Samsung offers and long after their European and Korean counterparts.

Jul

Samsung Galaxy S Continues World Takeover, Headed To Rogers

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Galaxy S, News, Rogers

The Samsung Galaxy S has already invaded Canada by launching on Bell, but Samsung wasn’t content with just one carrier. Rogers Wireless has been confirmed to be receiving its own version of the Galaxy S, set for release some time this September.

There’s no word as to what version of the Galaxy S will hit Rogers, as there are a plenty of variations, some with LED Flash, some with a front-facing camera, and the Galaxy S Pro, which includes a physical keyboard. No matter the version, it will still include the usual TouchWiz UI, 4” Super AMOLED screen, and 1 GHz Hummingbird processor.

Jul

HTC Desire Headed To Canada On Telus

Posted by Ron Hamelin in Carriers, Desire (Bravo/BravoC), News

Android is getting some love from the great white North: the HTC Desire is coming to Canada on Telus. The Desire features:

Sony SLCD 3.7” HVGA screen at 800x480,
1GHz Snapdragon processor
5 MP camera with flash and video recording
3G (850MHz and 1,900MHz bands)
Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, GPS, Bluetooth 2.1
MicroSD slot with support for cards up to 16GB

Telus is also throwing in an 8GB microSD card for good measure, and the device will be running Android 2.1 with HTC’s Sense UI. Can you spot the difference between Telus’s Desire and the original? HTC has apparently chosen to start using SLCD screens on the device in place of the AMOLED display the European version possesses, presumably to make sure production capacity is high enough (due to the AMOLED “shortage”).