Droid (Sholes) - 16/17 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

May

Droid Incredible Delays Continue Due To Shortage Of AMOLED Displays

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

Although it’s been almost a month since the Droid Incredible made its debut, many people are still waiting for their new phone to arrive amid a plethora of delays.

Verizon’s CEO, Lowell McAdam, has said that the delay is due to higher than expected demand for the device, after being sold out just hours after release on Verizon’s web store.

The main cause of the delay is the AMOLED display, which is produced by Samsung. McAdam said that Samsung have increased production of the display, and demand should be met within 30 to 60 days.

With Samsung’s AMOLED display in high demand, manufacturers may have to contend with similar supply shortages for quite some time, as more high end smartphones hit the market.

May

Custom ROM Review: CyanogenMod For The Nexus One

Posted by John Thompson in Development, Tips & Tutorials

Introduction

We’ve covered custom ROMs a few times before on Android Police, telling you how and why you may want to try them out on your own Android device. If you want to install a custom ROM onto your phone, but don’t know which one to go for, you may want to consider Cyanogen, which is compatible with the HTC Dream, Magic, Nexus One and Motorola Droid.

I’ve been testing the CyanogenMod for the past few weeks, and have found it to be extremely stable, whilst adding numerous features that can’t be found on the stock version of Android 2.1.

Although Cyanogen is available for several devices, this review is based on Cyanogen 5.0.6 running on the Nexus One.

Apr

Google Cancels Plans For Verizon Nexus One, Recommends The Droid Incredible Instead

Posted by John Thompson in Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, Incredible, News, Nexus One (Passion), Verizon Wireless

If you were waiting for the Nexus One to hit Verizon anytime soon, the bad news is that you can wave goodbye to that ever happening as Google updated their phone sales website today, and the Verizon Nexus One is officially off the list.

The good news, however, is that instead of the N1, Google recommends you buy the Droid Incredible, calling it ‘a powerful Android phone and similarly feature-packed cousin of the Nexus One.’

Shortly after the changes were made to the site, the Boy Genius Report published a statement by Google that read

We won’t be selling a Nexus One with Verizon, and this is a reflection of the amazing innovation happening across the open Android ecosystem.

Apr

HTC Droid Incredible Review Roundup. Consensus: It's The Best Android Phone On The Market, Hands Down

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in HTC, Incredible, News, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Verizon Wireless, Videos

Last Updated: October 11th, 2011

The Incredible review units have been arriving to some of the big sites in the past week, and the embargo is now off. Here I've assembled a collection of the best available review posts and videos, so that you can get the full Incredible experience before committing to a pre-order.

The general consensus is: it's an amazing device, better than anything available in the US right now (Motorola Droid, Nexus One, etc) and yes, you should go get it. And yes, we should stop calling it incredible (as an adjective) in every review, but no, everyone will be still doing it.

Apr

HTC Droid Incredible Now Available For Preorder From VZW.com For $199 And No Mail-In Rebates, To Be Delivered on 4/29

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in HTC, Incredible, News, Verizon Wireless

Today Verizon finally made their newest superhero Android phone - the HTC Droid Incredible, available for preorder from VZW.com, a day after Best Buy opened up its own preorder site.

So why should you order online instead of buying it in a store where you can pick it up right away on the release date of April 29th?

Well, first of all, this monster of a phone which sports a blazing 1GHz Snapdragon processor and an 8MP camera, will cost you $299 and come with a $100 mail-in (this mail-in crap should die already - this is 2010 last time I checked) rebate in the store.

Apr

CyanogenMod ROM 5.0.6 For Nexus One And Motorola Droid Released

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, Droid (Sholes), HTC, Motorola, News, Nexus One (Passion)

A few moments ago, Cyanogen announced version 5.0.6 of his ROM for HTC Nexus One and Motorola Droid. This release contains a whole plethora of bug fixes and enhancements for the Nexus One and a few for the Droid.

The release follows the drama with Cyanogen and the Ultimate Droid ROM creator The BlackDroid, which you can read about here and here, which explains the note at the bottom of Cyanogen's announcement that reads

"PS: Expect Ultimate Droid v11 soon! :) :) :)"

Check out the full changelog here:

CHANGELOG

---- 5.0.6-Droid

* Fixed MMS Videos (PDR447, slayher, DroidMod all had a hand in this)

* Fixups to 4/5 column launcher

* Fixed ##program menu

* Fix fstab bug (DroidMod)

---- 5.0.6-N1

* Merged AOSP from Google as of 3/31/2010

* Ability to move installed applications between internal storage and SD (from Chris Soyars)

* Added libncurses, lsof, irssi, htop, bash, nano and powertop.

Apr

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

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor 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.

Apr

Secret Unlock Codes Found For Motorola Droid - Make Your Android Superhuman

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Droid (Sholes), Motorola, Videos

Wait, isn't an Android already superhuman or not human at all? Anyway… these videos were posted by a YouTube user DROIDshortcuts, most likely one of Motorola's marketing handles, and then sent over to us by the folks from M80 - a company that works with Motorola on promotions for the Droid.

These videos, shot in an amateur style, are actually quite funny and well made.

Our favorite is the pool one. What's yours?

Thanks, James from M80.

Apr

Google IO 2010 Attendees Get An Early Gift From Google - A Free Android Phone

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Droid (Sholes), HTC, Motorola, News, Nexus One (Passion)

As one of Google IO 2010 conference attendees, I've been wondering what Google had up its sleeve for this year's big gift. The price of the conference last year was sweetened with a free Android phone given to everyone attending, and I was hoping this year wouldn't be an exception, secretly hoping for a Nexus One or even better - a pre-release version of a brand new phone.

My wishes came true a few minutes ago when I received an email from Google informing me that all registered conference attendees would be getting a free phone sent to them before the conference even begins.

Apr

Droid Owners Have A Bittersweet Week

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Droid (Sholes), Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless, Videos

It’s been both a good and bad news week for Droid owners.

The Good News

The coveted Android 2.1 update has finally officially arrived to the device.

Android 2.1 was first available only on the Nexus One, a move that Google took some flack for. They were instrumental in pushing the Droid, and shortly after its release late last year, Google announced their first Google branded Android device, with features that other Android owners wouldn’t see on their phones for quite some time.

The Droid is the first major phone other than the Nexus One to receive an official update to 2.1, though it’s been available through unofficial channels for both this phone and others (even the G1 has a 2.1 update available) for quite some time.