eclair - 2/6 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Dec

Android Platform Version Stats Updated Again, Froyo Now Dominant

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Cupcake 1.5, Donut 1.6, Eclair 2.1, Froyo 2.2, News

If you love devouring Android stats, Google's Android Platform Versions sub-site, which is updated about once a month, just got refreshed with the latest batch of data. Last month, Froyo ate up some 36% of the pie, while Éclair was found to be running on about 41% of devices, with the remaining 23% being taken up by Cupcake and Donut.

As you can see for yourself in the graph above, this month was quite a turn-around - Froyo (at 43.4%) finally stole the throne from Éclair, which was left with 39.6%. As for 1.5 (Cupcake) and 1.6 (Donut), they each gobbled up 6.3% and 10.6%, respectively.

Nov

Virgin Mobile USA's Cyber Monday Deal: $75 Off Samsung Intercept ($174.99, No Contract)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Deals, Intercept, News, Samsung, Virgin Mobile

The Black Friday is long gone, but another, potentially even bigger event, called Cyber Monday, is now upon us. Cyber Monday is what happens when the Black Friday goes online, and Virgin Mobile USA does not disappoint. The carrier, which uses Sprint's network, is offering its only Android handset, the Samsung Intercept, for a whopping $75 off. The deal is valid for the duration of Cyber Monday, so hurry up if you want this 800MHz Android QWERTY slider for $175, with free shipping. The beauty of Virgin Mobile USA, of course, is its plans starting at $25 a month, with NO contract to sign.

Nov

Android 2.1 Update For AT&T's Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Delayed Yet Again

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in AT&T, Eclair 2.1, News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia X10 (es209ra)

Despite the fact that Gingerbread is set to be released in the next few weeks, some of us are still waiting for an update to a version of Android two decimal places behind - Android 2.1, aka Éclair. Such is life for owners of AT&T's Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 who, after jealously watching as Scandinavian X10 owners received the update on Halloween night, are being told that 2.1 has been delayed yet again for their devices. This time, SE is blaming "especially rigorous" testing as the cause of the procrastination, stating that there are "technical requirements that must be met" in the US that are apparently not an issue in other countries.

Nov

Android 2.1 Update For T-Mobile Garminfone Available For Manual Installation; All 10 Owners Ecstatic

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Eclair 2.1, Garmin, Garminfone, News, T-Mobile

Granted, this particular bit of news is only valuable to the (very) small crowd of people who purchased the T-Mobile Garminfone, but it's nice to hear nonetheless. The good news: Garmin has released an update to Android 2.1 (Éclair). The bad: it's a manual update.

The update process isn't complicated per se - but it's definitely more work than an OTA:

1. Download the software update package for your Garminfone which can be found here: http://www.garminasus.com/en_US/support/software/006-B1130-00.update

2. Connect your Garminfone to your computer using the USB cable provided in your box

3. Select "File Transfer" mode when the "USB connected" dialog appears

4.

Nov

Motorola Backflip Finally Officially Hits Android 2.1

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in AT&T, Backflip, Eclair 2.1, Motorola, News

It's hardly the latest and greatest, but it's a hell of a lot better than what users of the AT&T Backflip were stuck on previously - that's right, a manual update to Android 2.1 Éclair for the much ballyhooed device is now up on both AT&T's and Motorola's servers.

It's not an OTA (over the air), and it comes with an installation guide worthy of a novel, just like the Cliq yesterday. Unlike the Cliq upgrade, however, Backflip owners have a choice of an automated online upgrade tool in addition to the manual approach. Hey - we'll take our dessert regardless of the delivery method.

Nov

Motorola CLIQ 2.1 Éclair Update Now Officially Available, Complete With The Longest Installation Instructions EVER

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in CLIQ / DEXT (Morrison), Eclair 2.1, Motorola, News

Motorola CLIQ owners have been waiting for this day for a very-very-very long time, but, believe it or not, it's finally here. Following the leaked version from 3 weeks ago, the official Éclair for you phones (but not CLIQ XT just yet) is now available from Motorola - not as an OTA, but as a downloadable .zip.

Why Motorola put together the longest update instructions I've ever seen, with more warnings than a prescription drug, is beyond me - it seems to me like the same effect could have been achieved via the existing OTA (over-the-air) update mechanism Android already supports.

Nov

AT&T Motorola Bravo And Flipside Now Available For $130/$100 From AT&T, $0 From Amazon And Wirefly

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in AT&T, Bravo, Flipside, Motorola, News

No matter what you say about AT&T (i.e. how long can they keep locking down sideloading no their Android phones?), at least their commitment to Android has definitely picked up compared to only a few months ago.

Today, as expected, 2 more new Android phones are available on AT&T, namely Motorola Backflip and Motorola Flipout.

Motorola Bravo

The Bravo is a slightly more upscale of the two, but still fails to impress me in any way other than being DLNA-enabled. To refresh your memory, here are the Bravo specs:

TI OMAP 3610 800 MHz processor
No physical keyboard
512 MB RAM, 2 GB ROM, 2GB microSD preinstalled
3.7", 854 x 480 FWVGA screen
802.11 b/g/n WiFi
MOTOBLUR
3MP camera with auto-focus (ugh)
DLNA-enabled
1540 mAh battery
Android 2.1

The Bravo is available from AT&T for $129.99, but also showed up on Amazon for $0.01 and Wirefly for free.

Oct

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, X10 Mini, And X10 Mini Pro To Start Receiving Update To Android 2.1 In November

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Eclair 2.1, News, Xperia X10 (es209ra), Xperia X10 Mini / Mini Pro (Robyn / Mimmi)

Try to contain your excitement, here: Sony-Ericsson will begin rolling out an the update to Android 2.1 (Éclair) for the Xperia X10, X10 Mini, and X10 Mini Pro devices starting November 1. As sarcastic as we are about being updated to an already out-of-date version, it's still a huge step up from the current Android 1.6. Major features of the updates:

Xperia X10:
• HD video recording with continuous auto-focus for high quality videos
• Upgrade of the Android platform to Android 2.1
• New back up and restore application, with extended content back up
• 5 homescreens for apps, widgets, shortcuts and folders
• Social phonebook which automatically syncs contact pictures from Facebook and shows when your friends are online

Xperia X10 mini and X10 mini pro:
• Improved Bluetooth functionality with support for sending and receiving pictures, contacts and more
• New backup and restore application with extended content back up
• Automatic synchronization of your contact pictures between Facebook and your phone book
• Improved ways of handling pictures, audio, text and numbers in your messages
• Upgrade of the Android platform to Android platform 2.1

Android 2.1 brings a slew of benefits on its own, so their "Upgrade of the Android platform to Android 2.1" entails an awful lot of changes on its own.

Oct

Sanyo Zio And Samsung Transform Now Hitting Sprint Shelves

Posted by Brad Ganley in News, Samsung, Sanyo, Sprint, Transform, Zio

The first two of Sprint's latest three-phone, mid-range lineup are now arriving to various Sprint retailers, such as Best Buy, sprint.com, Wirefly.com, and others. While they aren't the powerhouses that we've gotten used to, the Sanyo Zio and the Samsung Transform are good introductory-level Android devices for people who want to dump their feature phones for smartphones without having to shell out the big bucks. They are joining the ranks of Sprint's other low-to-mid-range phones, such as the Samsung Intercept and the HTC Hero.

Sanyo Zio

The Sanyo Zio offers a 3.2-inch touchscreen, mobile hotspot, and a 3.2MP camera with autofocus.

Oct

Universal Androot Hits The Market, Now Supports One-Click Rooting Of 23 Android Phones

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Droid (Sholes), G1 (Dream), Hero, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), Milestone, Milestone XT720, myTouch Slide (Espresso), News, Nexus One (Passion), Streak, Xperia X10 (es209ra), Xperia X10 Mini / Mini Pro (Robyn / Mimmi)

Last Updated: October 16th, 2010

Update: As Artation has pointed out in the comments below, Universal Androot has since been removed from the Market for unknown reasons. If you're still heartbent on using it though, you can download it it from here.

If you can think back to the time Universal Androot was released, you'll recall the then small xda-developers startup that allowed for one-click rooting of a very limited number of phones, all of which had to be running Android 2.1 Eclair or lower.

Now, the app has hit the Market and is ready for prime time with support for a multitude phones, including devices running Android 2.2 FroYo (though, only limited to Nexus One before 2.2.1 and an older FRG01B Droid build), 2.1 Eclair, 1.6 Donut, and even phones stuck on 1.5 Cupcake, like the HTC Magic.