Droid (Sholes) - 13/17 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Aug

Second Droid OTA Coming, Brings Flash Support

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Droid (Sholes), Froyo 2.2, News, Verizon Wireless

It looks like the Droid has a second over-the-air update headed its way. The first, which started being pushed out yesterday, was FRG01B and brought Froyo to the most popular Android around. However, a Verizon email tells us that this second update will give Droid owners the ability to download Adobe Flash 10.1, leading us to believe that it is indeed the leaked FRG22 build.

If you’re already enjoying Froyo on you Droid, keep an eye out for a second update, and let us know when it comes.

Source: Verizon Email via Android Central

Aug

Chitika Mobile War Reveals Lots Of Goodies: Android Device Market Cap, iOS Fragmentation, And More

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in EVO 4G (Supersonic), News

Last Updated: August 1st, 2012

Our friend Daniel Ruby, analyst for ad firm Chitika, has released a new tool for tracking Mobile usage stats. The page is chock-full of goodies (at least, for those of us nerdy enough to dig stats). The most interesting highlights:

The original Motorola Droid still commands nearly 30% of the Android market (29.9%)
The HTC EVO 4G has taken second place at ~8% (7.96)
The iPhone accounts for 57% of iOS usage; the iPod accounts for 22% and the iPad clocks in at 21%
For all the fuss over Android fragmentation, iOS fragmentation is worse. More details on the chart below.

Aug

Official Motorola Droid Android 2.2 Froyo Update (Still FRG01B) Now Being Pushed Out OTA

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Droid (Sholes), Froyo 2.2, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

It's been 8 days since the original Android 2.2 Froyo update for the 1st Motorola Droid leaked out online, and Verizon has been taking its sweet time to make it available to the masses, leaving us guessing whether FRG01B was indeed the final version of this Éclair->Froyo update and whether serious stop-ship bugs were discovered.

Turns out, nothing has changed - FRG01B is exactly the version that Verizon started pushing out to the Droids a few hours ago. So if you haven't flashed the update a little over a week ago, you just missed out on 8 sweet days with the frozen deliciousness.

Aug

Universal Androot App Offers One-Click Root On A Multitude Of Devices (G1, Nexus One, Droid, Droid X, Hero, X10, Streak, And More)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, Droid (Sholes), Droid X (Shadow), G1 (Dream), Hero, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), Magic, News, Nexus One (Passion), Streak, Xperia X10 (es209ra), Xperia X10 Mini / Mini Pro (Robyn / Mimmi)

Looking for an easy way to root your Android Device? Universal Androot may just be what the doctor ordered. The one-click root fad seems to be catching on and Universal Androot is an app that covers multiple Android devices, making it easier for those who may be reluctant experience the mighty wonders of root.

Universal Androot is the simplest root/unroot method I have seen to date and probably the safest - it has been confirmed as working by multiple users (apparently it uses the same exploit used to 1-click root the Motorola Droid X).

Note: This application just gives you root and does not unlock the /system partition or the boot loader on those devices that have them locked, such as the Droid X.

Aug

Motorola Droid 2 Quadrant Score Leaked - It’s A Monster

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Droid 2, Froyo 2.2, News, Verizon Wireless

A picture of a Droid 2’s Quadrant benchmark results has been released, and its score is the best stock store to date at 1,458. This is especially impressive considering the phone is apparently straight from the box.

Compared to the Droid X’s score of roughly 1,100, it’s even more impressive. Because both devices sport nearly identical hardware configurations, the difference most likely comes from Froyo - while the Droid 2 runs Android 2.2, the X only runs 2.1.

Granted, a benchmark’s real-world applicability is questionable (after all - Linpack famously runs about 400-500% faster on 2.2 compared to 2.1, but that certainly doesn’t mean the phone is 5x faster).

Aug

Verizon 2010-2012 Roadmap Leaked, Shows A Whole Lot Of Android Love

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Fascinate, Galaxy S, HTC, Motorola, News, Samsung, Verizon Wireless

There have been plenty of rumors lately about the iPhone launching on Verizon within the next several months. Looking at Verizon’s incredibly successful history with Android and the Droid brand, it seems unlikely; and in case you thought that Verizon might be giving up on Android, think again. A Verizon roadmap leaked by Boy Genius Report shows that the Big Red has plenty of new Android goodies in store for us over the course of the next year.

Roadmap

Droid Pro

First off, a new addition to the Droid family. Along with the Droid X, Droid 2, and Droid Incredible, Verizon will be launching the Motorola Droid Pro.

Aug

Another One Bites The Dust: Original Motorola DROID Officially “Out Of Stock” On Verizon Website

Posted by David Ruddock in Droid (Sholes), Droid 2, Motorola, News

With the release of the DROID 2 fast approaching, the death of Motorola’s first Android phone was an unavoidable casualty in the name of progress. While the DROID platform lives on in the Milestone and Milestone XT, a certain piece of Android philosophy has died today with the DROID. Verizon’s website shows the DROID is no longer available:

The DROID 2 will undoubtedly ship with yet another iteration of Motorola’s now-infamous encrypted bootloader, and without the flaws that made the rooting of the DROID X possible. While the likelihood of new and exciting exploits allowing root access on the device emerging is high, Motorola has clearly taken a hard-line stance against the Android development and hacking communities.

Aug

DROID Gets A Double Scoop Of Froyo

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Droid (Sholes)

As if having their handsets leaking out like crazy wasn’t enough, Motorola’s latest builds of Android 2.2 for the original DROID have slipped out on the MyDroidWorld forums.

Starting with a rooted version of FRG01B on the 20th of July, Chief of Staff p3droid has now dropped another build on the DROID community, FRG22. Claiming it to be Motorola’s latest, and the fastest DROID ROM yet, p3droid has already gone ahead and rooted it for those feeling adventurous enough to try something new.

The update.zip can be flashed as an upgrade over existing installs, but as usual be careful as some users have reported bugs when not doing a clean-wipe before installing.

Aug

Motorola Droid Android 2.2 Froyo OTA Is Now Live! Download Yours Now (FRG01B)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Droid (Sholes), Froyo 2.2, Motorola, News

Last Updated: August 20th, 2010

What a great day for Motorola Droid owners - your Froyo update that you've been patiently waiting for is finally here. You can upgrade your ESE81 (that's your old Éclair) to what is now called FRG01B (this is your Froyo) using the link below.

It is unclear yet whether the upgrade is showing up when you ask the phone to update in Settings > About > System updates but we have preliminary reports that it is not. However, you can upgrade manually using the procedure below.

This post will be updated throughout the day.

Warning #1: Applying this update will unroot you if you are currently rooted, pending further notice.

Jul

CyanogenMod 6 (CM6) RC2 For Nexus One, Droid, Dream, Magic, G1, MT3G And RC1 For EVO 4G Released

Posted by David Ruddock in Development, Froyo 2.2, News

CyanogenMod users rejoice: Cyanogen and the CM team are continuing to work feverishly to get CyanogenMod 6 into official release territory.

CyanogenMod 6 Release Candidate 2 ROMs for the Nexus One (and unofficially, the Droid), Dream, Magic, G1, and the MyTouch 3G are now available for download, along with Release Candidate 1 for the HTC EVO 4G.