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Jan

Nexus One 2.2.2 And Nexus S 2.3.2 OTAs Rolling Out - Hath The SMS Bug Finally Been Conquered?

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Froyo 2.2, Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, News, Nexus One (Passion), Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Samsung

As disappointing as it may be to see the Nexus One - Google's first officially anointed developer phone - still getting Froyo-based updates, that's exactly what just happened. According to several Android Central forums members, a 558kb update to Android 2.2.2 (or build number FRG83G) is currently rolling out over the air to the N1, bringing "important bug fixes" with it.

In related news, the Samsung-built Nexus S - Google's second developer phone - also received an update today, though this one is Gingerbread-based. Its version number is 2.3.2, and, coincidentally, it is also said to bring "important bug fixes."

So here's the question: Given the fact that the two updates are rolling out at almost exactly the same time with the exact same description, could they both contain a fix to the infamous SMS bug?

Jan

Google: Android SMS Bug Is Real, Will Be Fixed Shortly

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Google, News

About a week ago, Engadget ran an article covering two bugs in Android's Messaging app:

The first involves an issue where users are directed to a different thread than the one they selected from the notifications bar or the main screen of the SMS app
The second occurs when users are directed to the right thread but end up having their messages sent to a different person than the one involved in the thread

Shortly after, Google changed the bug's priority from "medium" to "critical" on the bugs Google Code page to show that the company cares.

Now, an official Google rep has reached out to perturbed users on the Google Code forums:

Thanks to everyone for your patience while we've been investigating these reports.

Dec

Gingerbread SDK Closes A TapJacking Vulnerability

Posted by Stephen Tenerowicz in Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

With Android 2.3, users will have not only a slew of new features (I can't wait!), but also a fix to a security issue present in the previous versions of Android: TapJacking. TapJacking occurs when a malicious application displays a fake user interface that you can interact with, but actually secretly passes interaction events, such as finger taps, to a hidden user interface behind it. Using this technique, a devious developer could potentially trick a user into making purchases, clicking on ads, installing applications, or even wiping all of the data from the phone. All around, TapJacking is not good!

In previous versions of Android, an attacker was able to display the fake user interface by creating a customized notification (called a Toast) to obscure the real interface.

Dec

Gmail App Gets Big Update: Quick Folder Switching, Priority Inbox, And A Lot More

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, News

Update: This Gmail client update is only for devices with Android 2.2 or higher.

Gmail for Android received a substantial update from Google this afternoon - and the AndroidPolice team has agreed: some of the improvements are long overdue, while some of them are just plain cool.

The change blurb that you'll find on the Market page lists some of the biggies, but a major one (for us, at least) has been excluded: quick folder switching. In the top left corner of whichever folder you were in, there was a simple label indicating the name of the folder. This is now a button, similar to the account button at the top right.

Nov

Samsung Captivate And Vibrant Finally Get GPS "Fix" Via GPSSamsungRestore App

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Apps/Games, AT&T, Captivate, News, Samsung

The Galaxy S phones are, without a doubt, among the best Android phones out there, but for some time now, the handsets have been plagued by one potential showstopper - malfunctioning GPS capabilities. Worry not, though - in addition to an update that rolled out a few months ago, Samsung has developed an app called GPSSamsungRestore which is now available from the Android Market for all users of AT&T's Captivate and T-Mobile's Vibrant. So what does it do? It undoes any modifications to the GPS and basically reverts it to its original state. While it remains to be seen how reverting the GPS to its original, broken state fixes it, I suppose it can't hurt to give it a shot if you're a Captivate or Vibrant owner.

Oct

New Dropbox Beta v1.0.0.7 Arrives, No Longer Constantly Runs As Service, Uploads Files In The Background, Adds Apps2SD, Fixes Bugs

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Dropbox users, listen up. Today, the company released an off-Market beta version of the Android app that finally fixes a runaway always-on background service, adds Apps2SD support, and fixes a bunch of other bugs. As far as I can tell, the background service was introduced to allow uploading of files even if the app is closed, except a buggy implementation never shut the service down. In the new release, files are properly uploaded in the background, after which the service correctly shuts down.

If you haven't checked out the Dropbox Android app before, see our reviews here and here.

In an off chance that you've never tried Dropbox at all, then know this: it is the single most useful application I have personally adopted this year.

Oct

Motorola: DROID X Has Froyo "Issues" - Fixes Coming... At Some Point

Posted by David Ruddock in Droid X (Shadow), Froyo 2.2, News

Motorola has acknowledged the complaints of a number of DROID X owners who have upgraded to Android 2.2 and are experiencing "issues" related to the update. Some of the issues are minor, but a couple (failure to boot, kernel panic) are definitely not. Motorola is saying the bugs have been squashed, but the fixes will be incorporated into a yet-to-be-announced "future software release." Here's what a Moto employee on the DROID X support forum had to say:

If you have already upgraded to 2.2 for Droid X, you have found some new capabilities. Unfortunately, some owners also found new issues. Here are some of the known issues raised by forums members, with some information about each.

Sep

Samsung Vibrant GPS Fix Through Kies Has Known Issues, T-Mobile Urges Customers To Avoid It

Posted by Nate Kimmey in News, T-Mobile, Vibrant

If you just can't wait one more day for a GPS fix for your Samsung Vibrant... you're out of luck, because the recent update through Samsung's sync app Kies, which was supposed to fix all GPS issues, is raising problems of its own, according to T-Mobile.

No word on what the new issues actually are, but hopefully T-Mobile delivers an OTA update "soon" like they've promised. Of course, if they don't, there's always the simpler solution of hacking.

Source: Twitter via Talk Android

Sep

GPS Fix For CyanogenMod 6 On The Nexus One

Posted by Brian O'Toole in News, Nexus One (Passion)

Last Updated: September 15th, 2010

One of the most common complaints about the recent builds of CyanogenMod 6 has been that Nexus One owners’ GPS would suddenly take ages to get a fix or wouldn't get a fix at all. The most frequent solution posted has been to change your Mobile Network APN type to “default,supl” to enable A-GPS through your cellular network. However, for some people this still didn’t solve the problem, including myself.

Well, today on the CM forums, user kursed posted a fix that may be the end of many frustrated N1-ers’ woes. The fix involves resetting your location data using GPS Status with your SIM card removed, getting a fix, and then restarting your phone with the SIM inserted and getting a fix again.

Sep

SwiftKey Receives A Substantial Update - Multitouch, Better Voice Recognition, Less Lag

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Applications, News

One of the more popular tip-tap software keyboards got a nice little upgrade today. SwiftKey, an aftermarket keyboard that uses intelligent statistical methods as well as scanning of your SMS inbox to predict the most likely next word, now has support for multitouch typing. As seen previously on the Droid X’s keyboard, this greatly enhances possible typing speeds… unless you have one of HTC’s infamously erroneous older touchscreen panels, that is.

What, DroidSans not good enough for you?

Moving on with a more positive spin, SwiftKey claims to have nixed many bugs, as well as reducing or eliminating the lag that was plaguing some users.