mini - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

HTC Is Bundling A Tiny Phone With Its Giant Phones (In China) Because That Will Make Things Easier

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in HTC, News

Innovation is great. You know what it does? It solves problems. Not problems like 'What is beauty?' because that would fall within the purview of your conundrums of philosophy. Innovation solves practical problems. For instance, "How am I going to stop this big mean 5" 1080p display from tearing my battery and hand a structurally superfluous new behind?" The answer, according to HTC? Use a mini phone.

Let's give HTC at least one paragraph of fairness: the secondary mini-phone doesn't sound like the worst idea once you hear what it can do. It can take Bluetooth calls, pair via NFC, display notifications, act as a remote when your phone is plugged into your TV, and even help find your phone if, for some reason, you lose the big one but still have the little one in your pocket.

Oct

Samsung Announces The Galaxy S III Mini, Same Nature-Inspired Design In A 4" Display

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Galaxy S III Mini, News

We were expecting this, but today Samsung took the wraps off of the Galaxy S III Mini, though, as Cameron pointed out yesterday, this isn't the same beast of a phone in a tinier display. Packing an unnamed dual-core 1GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, an 800x480 Super AMOLED display, and a 5MP rear shooter, this device is designed to fit in a mid-range slot on carriers' lineups.

Here's a full spec list:

4" WVGA Super AMOLED Display
1GHz dual-core processor
1GB RAM
5MP rear shooter
8 or 16GB built-in storage, microSD card slot
NFC
1,500mAh battery
Android 4.1
HSPA 14.4/5.76 900/1900/2100 and EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900

Samsung hasn't shared any details on pricing or availability yet.

Aug

Sony Continues Its Ice Cream Sandwich Rollout, Promises Updates For The Xperia Arc, Arc S, Neo, Neo V, Mini, Pro, Active, And Ray This Week

Posted by John Thompson in Xperia Active (Satsuma), Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12), Xperia Arc S, Xperia Mini / Mini Pro (Smultron / Mango), Xperia Neo (Hallon), Xperia Neo V (Haida), Xperia Pro (Iyokan), Xperia Ray (Urushi, ST18i)

It was only last week that Sony began to update the Xperia P with Ice Cream Sandwich, but it looks like the company is now going full steam ahead and bringing the update to no fewer than 8 more devices this week.

A post on the Sony Xperia Product Blog this morning said that the update will be coming to the arc, arc S, neo, neo V, mini, pro, active, and ray "starting from this week". Depending on the country that you live in, you may have to wait a little longer for the update, as it will have to be approved by local carriers before it's rolled out.

Feb

[New App] App Timer Mini Uses An Exceedingly Simple Concept To Effectively Enforce Time Management

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, News

KF Software House recently introduced a solution for the more time-constrained Android users among us, releasing App Timer Mini to the Android Market. App Timer Mini (ATM) does exactly what you may expect after reading its name. The app allows users to observe and track how long they spend using certain apps by placing a handy timer in the corner of your screen.

App Timer Mini's functionality is just as simple as it should be – users can select apps to be monitored, and customize the timer's aesthetics. When activated, ATM will automatically show a tiny timer in the corner of your screen when your selected apps are running.

Feb

It's Official: Samsung Captivate Froyo Update Now Available Through Kies Mini

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in AT&T, Captivate, Froyo 2.2, News

It looks like the Captivate is the next domino to fall, much as expected: AT&T just confirmed via twitter that the Froyo update is now available for Captivate owners through Kies Mini. Similarly, that support page we stumbled upon last week before being pulled has gone back up, and it looks just like it did then.

Obviously as the update is done through Kies Mini, you'll need that to start. Once you've got Kies all ready to go, you need to do a minor amount of jiggering to get the update installed. Not quite as easy as most OTAs, but nothing too strenuous either.

Jan

Four New Phones Join Samsung's Galaxy Family: The Ace, Fit, Gio, And mini

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Devices By Manufacturer, Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Fit, Galaxy Gio, Galaxy Mini (Tass), News, Samsung

Last Updated: May 14th, 2012

Samsung is well-known for its ubiquity in the feature-phone market, and it's starting to look like they'll be employing the same assault-on-all-sides approach with Android phones too. As if they aren't struggling already to keep their phones up to date, Sammy is now digging a deeper hole with today's announcement of four budget-oriented devices set to prop up the rather premium Galaxy S.

Galaxy mini

Starting from the bottom, we have the Galaxy mini, intended to be a "first smartphone" for those crazy, hip youths you keep reading about. Not quite sure where the fun springs from in a 3.14-inch QVGA device, but Samsung is betting heavily on the "flashy color stripe along the side" to shift units.

Jan

Samsung's Budget-Minded Galaxy Mini Revealed, Has Froyo - Cue Angry Mob

Posted by David Ruddock in Galaxy Mini (Tass), Galaxy Q, News

We won't lie - it's a slow news day in the world of Android. And with all the bad press Samsung's been getting today over an alleged filing of a class-action suit regarding the Froyo update on US Galaxy S phones, we're going to stay on the lighter side of things (for now).

Meet the Samsung Galaxy Mini. Isn't it adorable? Unfortunately, its diminutive size comes with an equally diminutive feature list:

240x320 screen (presumably less than or about 3" in size)
Android 2.2.1
Bluetooth 3.0
Device measures 4.3" x 2.4" approximately
microSD slot
TouchWiz UI

I can't imagine there's a Hummingbird buzzing inside this little guy, so it'll be interesting to see if the TouchWiz UI overlay makes the phone unbearably slow.

Jan

Dolphin Browser Mini Leaves Beta, Hits 1.0

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

My current browser of choice, Dolphin HD, gained a little brother a few months ago, when Dolphin Mini (beta) was born. It was lighter, faster, and more elegant, yet still functional and robust. After over 50,000 downloads and weeks of testing, the Dolphin team just released v1.0 of the Mini, meaning it's officially out of beta and stable for everyday use.

Improvements in the latest version include:

UI upgrade ( menu & toolbox )
Add Bookmarks Label
Add on demand/ enable flash plugin
Data backup & restore
Quick access to clean data

If you haven't given Dolphin Mini a fair chance yet, I suggest you try it out by scanning the barcode below or clicking it if you're on your mobile:

Dec

Dolphin Browser Mini Goes Into Public Beta, Offers Much Faster Performance All Around

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Applications, News

Do you feel the need for speed? Apparently you aren't alone, as Dolphin Browser Mini has just gone into public beta on the Market. The app offers numerous improvements over the regular version of Dolphin Browser as well as the HD version, including:

High speed responsibility [sic]

Speed Dial Homepage

Innovative Menu design

Infinite tabs browsing

Intelligent back & forward button

Like its ancestors, it also features a variety of innovative gestures, bookmark syncing, private browsing, and a host of other features not found in the stock Android browser. Here's a really nice cross-reference chart for those not immediately seeing the differences:

Notably missing? Themes support, one of the features that made the original two Dolphin Browsers so great.

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.