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

May

[Rant] Reality Check - HTC Has Plans For Bluetooth LE And OpenGL ES 3.0 But It Doesn't Make Them "Android 4.3 Features"

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Editorials, HTC, Leaks, News, One, Rumors

It's 4 a.m., I just read the 6th mention of the same misleading story in the last 24 hours, and it's time for a rant.

Yesterday, several "independent" reports all claiming to arrive at the same conclusion at the same time (does anyone properly credit their sources anymore?) appeared on the web suggesting HTC had just (*gasp*) leaked two new Android 4.3 features: Bluetooth Low-Energy and OpenGL ES 3.0. And it's done so via a public meetup organized by the San Francisco Android User Group. HTC is so careless that they've just published not one but two unreleased features coming in the next version of Android and therefore protected by strict NDAs.

Mar

[Rumor Smash] That Rounded, Gradient-Covered Rectangle Wasn't The Galaxy S IV, It Was An Expansys Placeholder

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Rumors

Rumors are tricky things. On the one hand, one of the best ways to verify that a suspicious-looking leak is legit is to examine the track record of the leakster. On the other hand, when an image comes out that's nothing but a rounded rectangle with a few gradients, it should be assumed that the picture is complete bunk or, at best, resembles a real device by virtue of adhering to predictable patterns. Those two principles collided, however, when the legendary @evleaks tweeted the following images that turned out to be Expansys placeholder photos.

Here's the rub: @evleaks is generally a very reliable source.

Feb

[Rumor Stomp] This Is Not The Galaxy S IV [Updated]

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Rumors, Samsung

Update: As we suspected, this really isn't official. In fact, it's a fan render that was published on The Verge's forums two and a half months ago. Mystery solved! (Thanks, c3vzn!)

-- end of update

The closer spring gets, the more rumors we can expect to see about Samsung's next-Next Big Thing (TM). Today's alleged leak comes to us via Twitter, and let's not beat around the bush - this is almost certainly not the Galaxy S IV. We'll begin where any photo analysis starts: the pixels. Take a look at the USB port in particular.

Jan

There Is A Significant Chance This Is Not A Real Render Of The HTC M7

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Rumors

Ah, after CES we were beginning to wonder when we'd get our next flurry of conflicting rumors. Today's comes in the form of what is being called an official render of the HTC M7. Trouble is, it's not. For starters, PocketNow claims that they're not made by anyone within the company, however according to someone who 'has access' to a photo of the handset, the front looks about right. Allow me to reiterate that point: the claim here is someone has allegedly seen an alleged photo that allegedly looks similar to this image, but only the front half:

Of course, this render has some issues just on the face of it as well.

Oct

Sprint's Galaxy Nexus Landing Page Accidentally (Doesn't) Tease Galaxy Nexus 2

Posted by Liam Spradlin in News, Rumors, Sprint

As Nexus season progresses, and as we approach Google's October 29th event, rumors and speculation are reaching a fever pitch. Tonight, we caught sight of a story over at Gizmo Fusion pointing out a suspicious Sprint landing page potentially teasing Samsung's mythical Galaxy Nexus 2 so many fans have been hoping for.

The page in question (which one of our readers, Freak4Dell, also noticed) is Sprint's landing page for the original Galaxy Nexus which, for at least two days now, has had an interesting title – "Samsung Galaxy Nexus 2 – 4g Android Smartphone from Sprint".

Just in case anybody out there took this as a sign that their Galaxy Nexus 2 prayers would definitely be answered, we should point out that this almost certainly doesn't tease an unannounced device.

Oct

These Photos May Not Show A Leaked Sony Nexus After All – Here's Why

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Leaks, Rumors, Sony

Earlier today, a couple of rather exciting photos found on Picasa began hitting news sites showing what could be a leaked device called the Sony Nexus X. Of course, during Nexus season, any rumor or glance at a possible new device is always exciting, but sometimes it's worth while to take a step back and consider whether what we're looking at is actually what it appears to be. Our penchant for putting leaked images under the microscope led us to do a bit of investigating.

After taking a look at the Nexus X photos, we have some doubts about their validity.

Aug

Gears And Guts Goads You To Grind Zombies Into Goo With Your Gas Guzzling Death Wagon

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Games, News

When you're creating a game, there are a few key things you need to include: a good atmosphere (be it an intriguing story or just some wildly immersive effects), good gameplay mechanics, and a good hook. What's going to grab the users' attention? Well, for Gears and Guts, all three of those requirements can be summed up with "driving cars into zombies." Oh, and did I mention there's a sweet soundtrack to go along with it?

This game ditches any attempts at a story and simply plops you down in a nice little town that's being overrun by the undead, hands you the keys to a muscle car and says "Now have fun." Gears and Guts offers the user the choice of either touch or tilt controls, which is an absolutely lovely change of pace from games that either force you into one or another.