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May

Watch The Keynote And Android Sessions From Day 2 Of Google I/O 2011 Now On YouTube

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in CR-48, Development, Google, Google TV, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, Revue, Videos

Ahh, Google I/O, how we'll miss you for the next 365 days or so. The last 2 days have been filled with anticipation, knowledge, surprises, excitement, and fun - the perfect recipe for happy developers. As a developer myself, I've picked up heaps of new information, especially from the SDK Tools and ADT session by Tor Norbye and Xavier Ducrohet, and viewing the keynotes was simply a blast.

As you may have seen yesterday, day 1 keynote and sessions were already posted last night, and now the same fate reached the sessions and keynote from day 2. As before, you can view the whole list by visiting the YouTube page of GoogleDevelopers or simply watch the embeds on this page.

May

[I/O 2011] Android Market To Support And Host Apps Up To 4GB In Size; 15-Min Return Policy Tweaked

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Apps/Games, Development, News

One problem that Android app developers (specifically game developers) have had to face is the size limit for apps in the Android Market, because up until now it's been a measly 50MB. For most apps that is more than enough, but for others - like graphically intense games, for example - it's not even close, so developers had to jump through hoops and implement downloading of additional resources manually. Remember Spectral Souls with its 1GB of data?

Good news, though - today at I/O, Google announced that as of June 2011, the Market will support apps of up to 4GB (well, 4GB + 50MB) in size, which should be large enough to house just about any game we could possibly want on our devices.

May

[Weekend Poll] How Important Will Customization Be In Determining Your Next Android Purchase?

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Polls

Last Updated: September 3rd, 2011

It's that time of the week again folks - time to hit the polls. This week's question is one that'll allow you to express what you think an Android handset should let you do in terms of customization, modification, and other various tinkering (think rooting, custom ROMs, kernels, etc). Basically, we want to know how important it is for you, as a consumer, that your next phone be easy to customize. Or if that really isn't important at all.

Let us know in the comments what ROMs, rooted apps, and other goodies only available to the rooted/unlocked users among us that you just can't live without.

Apr

Another Day, Another Source Code Delivered: Samsung Releases The Source For The Galaxy Prevail

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, Galaxy Prevail, News

Last Updated: November 23rd, 2011

Earlier this month Boost Mobile announced the Samsung Galaxy Prevail, the first decent Android handset to land on the Sprint prepaid subsidiary. It's slated to be released just two days from now, and keeping up with its seemingly new demeanor, Samsung has already released the Froyo kernel source code over at the Open Source Developers Center.

While its tiny 3.2 inch screen and crummy 2MP camera certainly don't make this phone anything to write home about, I think it's nice that Sammy is paying attention to the little guys and big guys alike.

You can grab the source download by going here.

Apr

24 Hours Later: The LG G2x Gets ClockworkMod Recovery

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, G2x (p999), News

That's right, less than 24 hours after its release, the LG G2x has received a test version of ClockworkMod recovery, thanks to Android developer @ChrisSoyars. Do note that as this is an initial release, it may still have a few bugs, but everything seems to be working exactly as it should.

The original post in the source thread provides a download link and installation instructions, but there's a catch: it's Linux specific. Don't fret if you're on Windows, though; XDA member mapin0518 has provided instructions on how to get it working on Microsoft's OS. The method is still a bit buggy, however, as it has worked for some users and not others.

Apr

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc Gets Root

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, News, Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12)

Thanks to the hardworking devs over at the XDA-Developers forum, the Xperia arc(sic) has been rooted. The pair responsible for the breakthrough, Bin4ry and zdzihu, released the how-to info early this morning (or late last night for you insomniacs). It seems like a pretty simple process: Unlock the bootloader, download Bin4ry's file, and flash it with fastboot.

This currently only applies to the UK version of the device, but it is expected to be ready for phones running the global firmware sometime tonight. Head over to the XDA thread for more info and download links.

Source: XDA via Xperia Blog

Apr

Samsung Galaxy S Gingerbread Source Code Now Available For Download

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, Galaxy S, Gingerbread 2.3, News

I'm not sure what has gotten into the folks at Samsung as of late, but they seem to be on top of their game. They dropped the source code for the DROID Charge and Fascinate last week, the Gingerbread update for the Galaxy S started rolling out for European users this weekend, and this morning, the source code for the aforementioned 2.3 update hit the Open Source Developers Center. Ergo, we can almost certainly expect to see some custom Gingerbread ROMs for the Galaxy S in the coming weeks.

To download the source, head over to the Open Source Developers Center, search for "GT-I9000_OpenSource_GB.zip," download, and enjoy.

Apr

Google Bids Almost $1 Billion On Patent Portfolio To Protect Android, Chrome

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Development, Editorials, News

Well, not solely for Android and Chrome - but presumably those products are the headliners affected by this patent bid. Google is currently bidding on a collection of over 6,000 patents held by Nortel Networks, which is selling the portfolio as part of bankruptcy proceedings. Google tossed its name in the hat with an initial offering of $900,000,000 - not exactly chump change.

Many of the patents relate to wireless technology (such as LTE) and data networking, but undoubtedly Google found some of them to be in the particular interest of protecting Android and Chrome, as Google's General Counsel indicted on the company's blog.

Mar

Rumor: Motorola Is Developing Its Own Mobile OS, Android "Shooting Itself In The Foot"

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Motorola, News

In what can only be described as a truly "WTF" moment, an inside source has informed Information Week that Motorola is in the process of developing its own web-based mobile OS. The question everyone is undoubtedly wants to ask is "why?"

The insider cites Motorola's frustration with Google's support of manufacturers, Android's fragmentation problems, and the difficulty of product differentiation in an Android-saturated smartphone market. These things together, says the tipster, have led Moto to believe Google is "shooting itself in the foot." The source of this rumor cites the fact that Motorola has quietly been picking up numerous former Apple and Adobe employees to work on the project over the past few months.

Mar

Apple Sues Amazon Over Use Of 'App Store' Name

Posted by David Ruddock in Apps/Games, Development, News

Amazon's upcoming Android Market competitor, the Amazon Appstore, is in hot water for its namesake. On Monday, Apple filed a lawsuit in a California federal court claiming Amazon had infringed on its trademark of the phrase "App Store." Apple applied for a trademark to this name way back in 2008, but it wasn't approved until January of 2010. Since then, Microsoft has filed a dispute with the trademark office alleging that the grant was improper. That complaint's outcome is still pending.

In the meantime, Amazon may have a difficult time asserting that its use of "Appstore" (as opposed to "App Store") doesn't violate Apple's trademark - it's hard to deny that Apple's App Store is a well-know name in the mobile world.