phone - 9/18 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Feb

LG Optimus L3, L5, And L7 Android Phones Officially Announced: 3.2-4.3", Coming In The First Half Of The Year

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in L3, L5, L7, LG, News

Yesterday on their Facebook page, LG Mobile teased that something was coming today, with a heavy emphasis on "L". As promised, they revealed just what the L is today via a press release, and it turns out to be 3 new Optimus smartphones: the L3, L5, and L7. While the press release is light on actual details (but heavy on marketing mumbo-jumbo), they do reveal that the L3 will have a 3.2" screen and launch in Europe in March with Gingerbread (Android 2.3). The L5 and L7 will be 4" and 4.3" respectively, and both will pack Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) and ship sometime in the first half of 2012.

Feb

Panasonic Set To Enter European Smartphone Market With The Eluga, A qHD Phone Packing NFC

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Eluga, News, Panasonic

Until today, Panasonic had been keeping their high end Android phones to themselves in the Japanese market. That's about to change with the advent of the Eluga. Panasonic announced the new device today in Hamburg for release some time in March. We're promised that the phone will be waterproof and dustproof, which is great for all those times that you have your phone out in a dusty rain storm.

Here's a list of the key specs:

4.3" qHD display
NFC
8GB of onboard memory
8MP camera
Dual-core 1Ghz processor
Android 2.3

All in all, the device sounds like a fantastic device...for early 2011.

Feb

LTE-Enabled Motorola Droid 4 Goes Live On The Verizon Network For $200 With Contract, $550 Without

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Droid 4, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

The latest RAZR-looking, 5-row-keyboard-sliding, LTE-packing Droid incarnation - the Motorola Droid 4 - went live today on VZW.com and at Verizon Wireless stores nationwide. The Droid 4 is the first LTE-enabled device in the family which makes it much more appealing to those of you who have been shying away from Moto's iconic line due to data speed constraints.

The Droid 4's full specs include:

1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP4430 processor
1GB of RAM
Android 2.3.5 (Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich upgradable in the future)
4-inch qHD "scratch-and-scrape resistant" display with Gorilla glass
16GB internal memory, up to 32 GB microSD card supported
Full 5-row LED edge-lit laser-cut QWERTY keyboard
8MP rear shooter with 1080p HD video capture
1.3MP 720p HD front-facing camera
802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi
4G-LTE
179g (6.31oz)
2.8 (w) x 5.0 (h) x 0.5 (d) inches
CDMA 800, 1900 EVDO REV A/LTE B13 700
1785 mAh battery
Talk time - 12.5 hours, standby time - 8.5 days

Compared to the Droid 3, this device is faster and better all around - it has a faster processor, supports faster data speeds over LTE, and doubles up on the RAM (1GB vs 512MB).

Feb

[Public Disclosure] Vulnerability In HTC Android Devices Exposed Wi-Fi Credentials To Apps Which Knew How To Ask (But, Thankfully, Didn't)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in HTC, News

A serious vulnerability that affected the way some popular HTC Android phones handle 802.1x usernames, passwords, and SSIDs was disclosed publicly today by engineers Chris Hessing and Bret Jordan. The bug allowed applications with only an ACCESS_WIFI_STATE permission to read your Wi-Fi SSIDs, usernames, and, most importantly, passwords on at least the following devices:

Desire HD (both "ace" and "spade" board revisions) - Versions FRG83D, GRI40
Glacier - Version FRG83
Droid Incredible - Version FRF91
Thunderbolt 4G - Version FRG83D
Sensation Z710e - Version GRI40
Sensation 4G - Version GRI40
Desire S - Version GRI40
EVO 3D - Version GRI40
EVO 4G - Version GRI40

Of course, if a malicious application also happens to have access to the Internet, SMS, or other means of sending out information, credentials could leak out from a vulnerable device to a remote location.

Jan

Sky Go Coming To Android Devices "Next Month", Allows Users To Watch Live TV And Anytime Content On The Move

Posted by John Thompson in Applications, News

Sky Go, a service which allows Sky TV customers to watch live and archived content on the go, has been available in the browser and on iOS devices for 7 months now, and according to Holly Knill, the head of Sky Go, it's finally coming to Android devices next month as well.

Customers running "a selection of Android smartphones starting with Samsung Galaxy and HTC handsets" will be the first to have the opportunity to test the new Sky Go app, but there is no mention of support for any other devices in Sky's post just yet. Presumably, the app will be rolling out to select devices in order to iron out any lingering bugs that are found once it is released into the wild, and hopefully it will be coming to many more devices, including tablets, in the future.

Jan

Galaxy Note Goes On Sale February 19th On AT&T For $299 With Two-Year Agreement

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in AT&T, Galaxy Note (GT-N7000), News

Are you one of literally dozens of users who believe that your 4.5" smartphone is too small, that 7" tablets are too big, and that styluses never got the shot they deserve on a modern smartphone? Then mark February 19th on your calendars, friends. The Galaxy Note from Samsung is landing that very day (pre-orders start on February 5th).

The Galaxy Note is unique enough in its own right. Part phone, part tablet, the device attempts to be it all for the power user who can't quite decide which device they want. For what it's worth, the stylus looks to be one of the best attempts at integrating writing with the familiar touchscreen.

Jan

[Hunt For The Best Dialer, Part 9] exDialer Delivers Beautiful Theming, Simple Functionality In A Lightweight Package

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Applications, Hunt For The Best Dialer, Reviews

Modoohut's exDialer application, an extremely light-weight, easy-to-use, theme-able dialer app, brings a lot to the table as yet another alternative to Android's stock dialer, especially considering that it is totally free.

At A Glance

Though exDialer's theming options are impressive, the default theme itself (inspired by the famous MiUI ROM) is gorgeous, and I haven't exchanged it for another skin since first downloading the app weeks ago.

The app itself is exceedingly easy to use, and has a footprint of a mere 1.35MB, making it lightweight. The only drawback in this respect is that exDialer automatically installs exContacts, an app that basically serves as a shortcut to exDialer's built in contacts system.

Jan

[Weekend Poll] If Android Ceased To Exist, What OS Would Your Next Device Be?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Ice Cream Sandwich Takes Android To A Whole New Level Of Usability And Polish - But Is It Good Enough For Your Parents To Use?

A few days ago, redditor fernandizzel posted a hypothetical poll: "If MS & Apple had their way and Android ceased to exist one year from today, what OS would you use?" The choices were fairly obvious: Blackberry, Windows Phone, iOS, or Other. A second question was also posed: "If Google supported one platform in particular by providing better apps such as gMail and Maps, would you prefer that OS?"

As promised, he posted the results the next day.

Jan

[CES 2012] Intel And Lenovo Announce Medfield-Powered K800 Lenovo Smartphone, Headed To China In Q2

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Lenovo, News

Last Updated: January 11th, 2012

Intel and Lenovo just announced the world's first Intel-powered Android smartphone: the K800. It utilizes Intel's Medfield mobile platform, with what we assume is the Atom Z2460 1.6GHz processor. Intel and Lenovo claim that the new Medfield platform is a "no compromise" mobile processor in terms of performance and battery life, though no exact figures were quoted. It actually looks pretty similar to Intel's reference device, and will be available in China (no US availability announced) some time in Q2.

Intel also demoed said reference device on stage, but didn't tell us anything we don't already know. Intel was keen on showing off the battery life of its reference device, which while it only has a 1440mAh battery, manages an impressive 8 hours of 3G talk time, and a full 5 hours of 3G web browsing.

Jan

[CES 2012] Fujitsu Has A Quad-Core Tegra 3 Smartphone In The Works And Yes, It Sports Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Hot on the heels of the unveiling of Fujitsu's ES IS12F, the world's thinnest smartphone, a leaflet circulating at CES today indicates that Fujitsu has something even more awesome in the works. It would seem that Fujitsu is on the brink of revealing a (yet unnamed) smartphone that packs not only Ice Cream Sandwich, but a quad-core Tegra 3 processor.

Little else is known about the mystery device, but judging from the specs we have so far, this phone sounds like a dream machine. It's unclear whether we'll get to see the device at CES, but we'll be here to cover any and all details as they are revealed.