sandwich - 2/2 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

CyanogenMod 9 Music App Officially Released For Download, Coming To Market Soon

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Development, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

All-around awesome guy Andrew Neal has released the result of his project in recent months: a new music app that will be coming soon to CyanogenMod 9. The good news is that you can download it now, before it's merged, and install it on your device. The (pretty major) bad news: it's only available for phones running Ice Cream Sandwich. So unless you've got a Galaxy Nexus, ICS-running Nexus S, or any phone rocking CM9, you're pretty much S.O.L. on this beauty.

What's so great about the new music app? In a nutshell: custom themes (and even the default theme is much more of a head-turner than the stock Android music app), gesture/motion controls, custom notifications, custom lockscreens, and more widgets.

Jan

[Poll] Some Users Are Reporting Frequent Lock Ups And Reboots After Ice Cream Sandwich Update For Asus Transformer Prime

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in ASUS, Eee Pad Transformer Prime, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Yesterday, Nvidia's CEO announced that the Ice Cream Sandwich (that's Android 4.0 for those of you new to the game) update for the quad-core Asus Transformer Prime would begin rolling out immediately. Sure enough, users started receiving the update, and we managed to snag and host the OTA ourselves (as well as help you prevent it from breaking root). For most, the update brought everything you'd expect from the hot new version of Android: even smoother, snappier performance, sleeker transitions, and various other perks. But for some, it appears that the update has seriously screwed up their device.

According to a six-page thread over at XDA, there are a number of users (though likely a very, very small percentage) who are having some pretty serious issues after updating, regardless of whether or not they were rooted beforehand.

Jan

[Weekend Poll] Ice Cream Sandwich Takes Android To A Whole New Level Of Usability And Polish - But Is It Good Enough For Your Parents To Use? [Fixed]

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Polls

Update: I had the wrong poll displayed for about an hour after posting. Sorry everyone - correct poll is live!

Let's face it: when Android first officially dropped, it was ugly as hell and not exactly designed with non-techies in mind. But as we've seen in the past 3 years (and a few months) since then, things have come a long way (albeit gradually at first) - the look, feel, and usability of vanilla Android became a major focus in the last year or so, especially with Gingerbread (2.3), Honeycomb(3.0), and Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0).

^{Left: Cupcake (1.5). Right: Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0)}

Again, while it just plain looks a lot nicer now, things are much deeper than what can be shown in a screenshot.

Dec

[Weekend Poll] Do You Prefer Hardware Or Software Buttons?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Did You Get An Android Device For The Holidays?

In tablets, having buttons on-screen rather than built into the body is standard operating procedure. On phones, however, there's really only one that eschews physical buttons for software, and that's the Galaxy Nexus. Still fuzzy on what I mean? Take a look at the comparison shot below, lifted from our review of the Galaxy Nexus:

^{On the left, the Galaxy Nexus, with its three software buttons displayed on-screen. On the right, a Motorola Atrix, with its four hardware buttons at the bottom.}

Dec

Official Demo Android 4.0 Update For The Huawei Honor (U8860) Released

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Huawei, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

In a major "Surprise!" moment, Huawei has officially released what looks to be a demo build of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) for the Honor (model number U8860). Details are incredibly light at the moment, since all we're really going on here is a product support page that's been Google Translated from Chinese to English and contains next to no information:

According to the poster at XDA, the posted update is actually just a "demo" (beta?) and not the final version. A Huawai Senior VP (Yu Chengdong) has been sharing pictures and some details via Chinese social media service Weibo (auto-translate is including such gems as, "I use black Honor, equipped with the latest 4.0 version of the operating system Andrews.

Nov

[Update: Now Available For Pre-Order From Other Retailers] Official ASUS Transformer Prime Site Goes Live, Pops Up On Amazon For Pre-Order

Posted by Brad Ganley in ASUS, Eee Pad Transformer Prime, News

Update: Looks like it's now available for pre-order from several other retailers in the US and Canada, including Best Buy, TigerDirect, B&H, and GameStop. Go here for more info.

We've been talking about it for a couple of weeks now and have even seen some nice hands-on action and a video, but, finally, the official site went live for for the ASUS Transformer Prime last night. In case your memory is failing you, here's a quick refresher on this sexy beast of a tablet:

8.3mm thick
Weighs 86g
NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 Quad-core CPU
Android™ 3.2 Honeycomb (4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Upgradable)
Full QWERTY keyboard with touchpad and USB port, while also extending the battery to 18 hours when combined with the mobile dock
Ultra-wide 178⁰ viewing angle and ultra bright Super IPS+ panel protected by scratch resistant Corning Gorilla Glass
MicroSD Card Reader
Micro HDMI port
8MP rear auto-focus camera with LED flash and back-illuminated CMOS sensor

And here is that video of it running Ice Cream Sandwich:

You can check the official site for the full workup of in-depth features and specs, of which there are a lot, as well as check out some sexy pictures of the new tablet.

Oct

[Weekend Poll] What Ice Cream Sandwich Feature/Improvement Are You Most Excited About?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see What Is Your Primary Portable Music Player Device?

Whew... it's certainly been an exciting week in the world of Android, hasn't it? Arguably the most anticipated update to the OS yet was finally officially revealed to the world, and it managed to meet - and exceed - virtually all of our expectations. For a quick run-down of the major changes, check out Cameron's primer or browse through the plethora of ICS posts from the last few days. Alternatively, you can watch the full 1-hour reveal.

So, what's your favorite aspect of the ICS update?

Oct

[Weekend Poll] Are You Waiting For The Galaxy Nexus/Nexus Prime To Upgrade Your Phone?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Galaxy Nexus, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Will The Amazon Kindle Fire Light Up The Tablet World?

The next Nexus device, at least unofficially dubbed the Prime, has been very highly anticipated, especially as the scheduled reveal (originally October 11th) neared. Unfortunately, the announcement has been postponed due to the passing of Steve Jobs, and is now reportedly scheduled for October 27.

The Prime is rumored to pack some serious power, packing anything from a 1.2 - 1.5 GHz dual-core CPU, a high-end 5MP-8MP camera, 1GB of RAM, a fairly large (4.3" - 4.65") screen packing a 1280x720 resolution, and perhaps most notably, will usher in the next iteration of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS).

Oct

[Updated] Samsung And Google Postpone Nexus Prime And Ice Cream Sandwich Announcements

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Samsung

We've been hearing about the Nexus Prime for months now, but things have really been heating up in the past week or so: first, Samsung released an official teaser trailer about the event and gave us a glimpse of the device's side profile. And yesterday, we had two conflicting sets of specs "leak out" (though obviously neither was confirmed). Finally, the official AndroidDevelopers YouTube account put up a video called "Android ICS Launch," set to stream during the Samsung Unpacked event in which the Prime and ICS were set to be revealed.

Update: Samsung's own blog confirms the delay.

May

[Weekend Poll] I/O 2011 Aftermath & Recap: What Has You Most Excited?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Applications, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Polls

Last Updated: September 3rd, 2011

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see How Important Will Customization Be In Determining Your Next Android Purchase?

Google I/O 2011 is all wrapped up, and boy was it eventful. In case you missed them the first go-round, we provided a handy-dandy list (with videos embedded) of the keynotes and Android sessions from both the first and second day. The first keynote, especially, was really quite fascinating and provided a good review of where Android is headed. But at 55 minutes, it's probably a bit much to ask people to watch something quite that long (alternatively, you can read my on-the-fly notes).