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Feb

HTC Desire HD, Desire Z, Incredible S Set To Join The Gingerbread Club, But...

Posted by David Ruddock in Desire HD (Ace), Desire Z (Vision), EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), G2 (Vision), Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, Incredible S (Vivo), Merge, News, Thunderbolt (Mecha)

SlashGear has confirmed with HTC today that the Desire HD, Desire Z, and Incredible S (along with the standard Desire) will be receiving the bump to Gingerbread some time in the second quarter of this year. But, there's a potential caveat: US phones might not be included.

It remains unknown if HTC was also referring to carrier-branded versions of the aforementioned devices in its statement, and if it was, if those devices would be receiving updates at the same time as their unlocked, HTC-branded siblings. Phones in this category include the HTC Thunderbolt and Inspire 4G (both based on the Desire HD), as well as T-Mobile's G2, the EVO Shift 4G, and possibly the HTC Merge (all based on the Desire Z).

Feb

[Hands-On] WiMAX Hits CyanogenMod 7 Nightlies - One Moar G, Way Moar Speed

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Mods, News

Last night, Cyanogen revealed on Twitter that WiMAX had officially landed in CM7, via the latest nightly. No small feat, given that the team had to write their own code entirely from scratch. And while CM-based builds with WiMAX have been floating around for a few weeks now, this is the first official release - effectively addressing the last major qualm many EVO owners had with CM.

I have to say, WiMAX in CM7 certainly doesn't fail to impress: I managed to hit 6.5 Mbps download and 1 Mbps upload. In 3 tests, I averaged 5470 Kbps download and 1041 Kbps upload - handily beating the roughly 4.5-5 Mbps download I hit on stock-based ROMs.

Feb

[Updated] CyanogenMod 7 RC1 Now Available For 17 Android Devices

Posted by David Ruddock in Gingerbread 2.3, Mods, News

Warning: This article contains information about flashing custom ROMs to your phone. If you're at all new to this, give our complete guide to custom ROM flashing a read.

Well folks, the day has finally come: the Gingerbread-based CyanogenMod 7 Release Candidates have landed for 17 Android devices. These "RCs" are suitable, generally speaking, for everyday use and have been road-tested enough that TeamDouche feels they're almost ready for prime time. Hit the links for the individual threads, which contain instructions and download mirrors:

Happy flashing, and be sure to read the instructions if this is your first go.

Feb

[Videos] WireFly Reviews The HTC Thunderbolt, Compares It To HTC EVO 4G And Verizon iPhone 4

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in HTC, Thunderbolt (Mecha), Verizon Wireless, Videos

Last week our friends at WireFly unboxed the HTC Thunderbolt, but spent little time actually using the device. They left us with a few tantalizing tidbits though, saying "this phone cranks," and promising a full video review, as well as head-to-head comparisons with the iPhone 4 and the EVO 4G. Yesterday, the last of the three videos went up - let's take a look.

Video Review

The review video is just over 8 minutes long. The first few minutes are spent running through the system, and from the 4:10 mark onwards, they run some benchmarks and compare the scores to other devices.

Jan

HTC EVO Shift 4G Joins The Permanent Root Club

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), HTC, Mods, News, Sprint

The title says it all, people: those enterprising individuals over at XDA-Developers (where else?) have conjured up a permanent root for the EVO Shift. As this is the first method available, the process isn't quite so easy as it's become for other devices. Still, it's not too outrageously complicated, either.

The steps:

Step 1
ok download this file and extract it to the root of your sdcard
www.thebcblends.com/shift/Shift-root.zip
Step 2
make sure you have adb properly setup on your computer before continuing
temp root using either visionary or z4root
open up command prompt and cd to your sdk platform-tools directory
then type adb shell then su
if you havent already u must press allow on your device to enable su perms
Step 3
check the md5sum of both of the files to make sure they match
Code:
md5sum /sdcard/Shift/hboot_orig.bin
Code:
md5sum /sdcard/Shift/hboot_eng.nb0
386c19451e8dd18f9b98fad6b11be4c0 hboot_orig.bin
60ec1006e6ec2e8acb370d6aad35b17e hboot_eng.nb0

if these do not match do not continue redownload the files then check the md5's again

Step 4
Flash the eng spl!!!

Jan

HTC EVO 4G: Fix Music Streaming And (Maybe) Boost Your 3G Speeds With A Simple Hack

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

This morning, I noticed an interesting thread in the EVO subsection of the XDA forums that claimed to be able to fix music streaming (which was broken in some apps after the latest OTA), while boosting 3G speeds by .2 to .6 Mbps. As the process is very simple and easily reversible, I gave it a go - but decided that I was going to use SpeedTest to benchmark the changes. Unfortunately, what I found wasn't what I expected.

Before doing anything, I ran the test three times. Before the fix my average download speed was 938.67 Kbps. After I ran the fix, my speed dropped to an average of 782 Kbps.

Jan

Makes Sense: Li-Ion Batteries Have Overcharge Protection Chip Inside

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

Certainly makes sense (get it?), doesn't it. Nearly every EVO owner I know has, at some point or another, complained about the fact that their battery life drops about 5-10% as soon as they unplug it. Well, it turns out that's because of there's an overcharge protection chip inside Li-Ion batteries.

XDA user willy900wonka decided to tear his extended EVO battery apart, and lo and behold:

What I found was that a 8205 chip is used to provide protection and prevent over charging and over-discharging. Here is a quote from a google search.
S-8205A/B Series Applications-Optimized-Battery-Protection Circuits.
All contained voltage detectors are of high precision between 15mV and 100mV depending on the function.

Jan

Sprint Officially Announces HTC EVO Shift 4G: Available January 9 For $150

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), HTC, News, Sprint, Videos

Sprint's just sent out the official press release announcing the HTC EVO Shift 4G, and it looks like just about everything we've heard is true - right down to the price. Need a refresher on what this baby EVO is packin'?

Android 2.2
3.6" 480x800 screen
5 MP camera
720p camcorder
2GB microSD card (support for up to 32GB)
WiFi
800 MHz CPU (likely the same one found in the G2)
1 GB ROM
512 MB RAM
$150 with 2 year contract, after $100 MIR

^{EVO Shift 4G: Now with 100% more keyboard!}

Our friends over at Wirefly have had the chance to give the Shift a 10 minute video review.

Dec

[Exclusive] HTC EVO Shift 4G Appears In Best Buy's System: $150 With Contract, $550 Without

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), HTC, Knight, News, Sprint

Last Updated: January 4th, 2011

If you've got your eye on Sprint and HTC's latest WiMax-capable baby, you're in luck - an anonymous source at Best Buy has just sent us the following shot of their system:

It appears the EVO Shift 4G, or SKU 1768561, will retail for just $149.99 on contract. As an unexpected (but very welcome) surprise, shoppers looking to upgrade to the phone from an older device will be charged the same $149.99 as new customers, provided they also sign up for a new two-year contract.

Those of you who prefer to buy your devices off-contract will be coughing up $549.99, while those who would rather go with a one-year agreement will be handing over $299.99.

Dec

HTC EVO 4G Receiving Update - Brings Swype, Updates Sprint Apps, And Adds Some Spam

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

Update: This breaks root! If you're already rooted, download and flash the rooted version of the update. Thanks Steven.

If you had Swype beforehand and you install the update, you may have issues with it. If you do:

... go into the installed applications settings (not the swype settings). First you must clear the application data, then uninstall the application. Then you must shutdown the phone. Then, of course, you must turn it on again. Then you can tap & hold in any text entry field, and you’ll get an “Input method” selection dialogue where you can select Swype again.