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Apr

HTC Incredible 2 Press Shots Surface, Evince DROID Branding

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in HTC, Incredible 2 (Vivow), News, Rumors, Verizon Wireless

Like all good things Verizon, the HTC Incredible 2 didn't remain hidden from the public's eye for long; following the release of a leaked RUU and a Big Red roadmap confirming the device's impending launch, PocketNow got its paws on the following triad of press shots:

From the looks of it, the Incredible 2 will be virtually identical to HTC's popular Incredible S, with the exception of a Verizon logo and the inclusion of a CDMA radio. In fact, Android Central reports that it'll sport the same 8MP camera, Android 2.2.1 firmware, and HTC Sense keyboard.

Also noteworthy is that, as shown by the eerie red robot eye, the Incredible 2 will most likely belong to Verizon's DROID family.

Mar

Samsung Galaxy S II Gets In-Depth Preview: Just As Thin And Powerful As We Hoped

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Galaxy S II, News, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Samsung

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Ever since its unveiling at MWC, the Samsung Galaxy S II has generated plenty of hype. But with no release date in sight, there's no telling how long it will be before we can get our hands on the device. Fortunately, Ukrainian site gagadget managed to get a preliminary version of the phone, and while it isn't clear how much is finalized, it does give us a good idea of what to expect from Samsung's next flagship handset.

The review starts off by listing the all-important specs, though most have been already been made official:

Dual-core 1GHz Exynos processor
4.3" 800x480 Super AMOLED Plus display
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
TouchWiz 4.0
1GB RAM
116 grams
8 megapixel camera with LED Flash and 1080p video capture
2MP front-facing camera
1650mAH battery

The device's build quality is a huge improvement over the original.

Mar

Hands-On Video And Photos Of The HTC EVO 3D

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in EVO 3D (Shooter), EVO View 4G, HTC, News, Sprint

After the Sprint press conference officially ended, they quite literally pulled back the curtains to reveal a large viewing area, with a team of Sprint and HTC employees available to demo the HTC EVO 3D and View 4G. While we weren't allowed to get our mitts on the EVO 3D, we were allowed to play with the View 4G a bit. In both cases, the employees on the floor provided a quick hands-on of the devices. We managed to snag some HD video of the demonstrations for both devices, as well as a few photos.

As a reminder, the EVO 3D specs:

1.2GHz dual-core Qualcomm CPU
1GB RAM
4GB ROM
8GB microSD card in box (supports up to 32GB)
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Sense UI
Glasses-free 3D display
WiMAX (4G)
Dual 5MP cameras for 3D recording

The EVO 3D uses a new port called micro high-definition link (MHL), which combines microUSB and microHDMI into one port.

Mar

Motorola XOOM + Android 3.0 Review: Sweet As Honey

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Motorola, Reviews, Tablet Reviews, Verizon Wireless, XOOM

Last Updated: February 8th, 2012

The Motorola XOOM: Ever since it was first teased at D: Dive Into Mobile, the Android community hasn't been able to take its eyes off the tablet's dual-core processor, gorgeous 10.1-inch display, and - last but certainly not least - Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) operating system.

Well now the device has officially gone on sale, and I've been ~~testing~~ falling in love with a review unit for the last few days. Typically, I end up hating devices that I adore at first blush, but the XOOM is an entirely different story - the device is far from perfect (where are the tablet apps?), but I have yet to find anything truly upsetting about it.

Feb

Quick How To & Hands-On: Get The Stunning Honeycomb Boot Animation On Your Rooted Android Device

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Development, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Last night, I spotted a tweet from simms22 linking to a video of the Honeycomb boot animation on a CM7ed Nexus S. This morning I awoke to a tweet from him with a link to download it. Update: about an hour ago, simms notified me that the original animation is the work of XDA member zul8er, and tnpapadakos then released an updated (fixed) version.

^{I think this is the first time I've ever seen his pretend pervertedness actually pan out.}

And indeed, sexy it is. For those who missed the boot animation the first go-round, we were impressed the when we saw it earlier this month on the XOOM, and it looks just as good scaled down.

Feb

Wirefly Unboxes Motorola XOOM: "The Next Generation In Tablet"

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless, XOOM

OK, so unboxings aren't exactly the most exciting videos on the web, but when they involve a certain tablet called the "Motorola XOOM," they're definitely worth a look. Such is Wirefly's latest creation:

Items of note:

Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) - boot times seem really fast
10.1-inch 16:10 display - larger than an iPad
1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor
32GB of internal storage
2MP front camera
5MP rear camera capable of recording 720p HD video

Interestingly, the video mentions a slot for a 4G SIM card, which is odd since Verizon and Motorola say the XOOM will require a ~~hardware~~ software upgrade to connect to LTE.

Feb

[Video] HTC Inspire 4G Hands-On: First Look At AT&T's First 4G Phone

Posted by David Ruddock in AT&T, HTC, Inspire 4G (Ace, Stallion), Videos

Yesterday afternoon I unboxed an HTC Inspire 4G, the first Sense UI-equipped smartphone I've used. And let me say right now: I'm impressed. The interface has very little lag, is quite nice to look at, and very informative on the Inspire's large 4.3" LCD display. Anyway, I'll just direct you to my video hands-on:

Our full review of the Inspire 4G will be making its way to you next week, so be on the lookout.

Jan

Hands-On Preview Of Android 3.0 'Honeycomb': The Android Tablet Era Begins Now

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, Other Reviews, Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Honeycomb is one of the biggest updates in Android history, so naturally, I jumped at the chance to try it out via the newly released Android 3.0 "preview SDK." What I found certainly wasn't disappointing - though it's important to remember that this is just a preview, meaning that not everything is in working order (for example, the emulator is so slow it made me want to tear my hair out at times, not to mention the frequent force close messages). Join us below for our first impressions of the new UI elements and other features found in Android 3.0 "Honeycomb."

The emulator's bootscreen is the same as it was for Android 1.6, 2.1, 2.2, etc.

Jan

Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc Shows Up In A Detailed Video Walkthrough, We Wipe Off Drool Yet Again

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in News, Sony Ericsson, Videos, Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12)

A couple of weeks ago at CES 2011, Sony Ericsson announced its latest Android handset - the sleek and sexy Gingerbread-running Xperia Arc. They've also invited the press, Android Police included, to attend a media breakfast where we ended up spending over an hour of quality time with the new device, documented in great detail here. If you have questions about the Arc, I highly recommend you dive into the above post, as it contains a plethora of useful bits and pieces, all wrapped in a convenient package.

Though the Arc was promised to land in consumers' hands sometime in Q1 2011 and no review units have been sent out just yet, the writers from an Italian blog HDBlog.it managed to get their hands on both the Misty Silver and Midnight Blue models and give the hardware and the interface a very thorough walkthrough.

Jan

ShootMe Adds Video Screencast Support, Revamps Interface [Hands-On]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Out of all the apps that require root privileges, I probably use ShootMe the most. Before today's update, it was the best and easiest way to take a screenshot anywhere in Android without hooking it up to a computer - just turn the program on, go to the screen you want to take a snapshot of, shake the device, and ShootMe snaps the picture. After today's update, however, ShootMe is no longer just a screenshot app - it's also a screencasting app. That's right, you can now use ShootMe to record videos of whatever you're doing on your Android device, up to 10 frames per second.