11
May
Motorola_XOOM

Yesterday at Google I/O, The Goog announced the next version of Honeycomb (Android 3.1), and said that the first tablet to see the update would be the Verizon version of the Motorola XOOM. Motorola followed up that announcement with an official statement today, including when the other XOOM variants could expect to see to get some updated Honeycomb action.

XOOM owners will be able to enjoy some nice improvements with this update, including support for the new Movies feature in the Android Market, resizable widgets, full support for the newest version of Adobe Flash player (10.2), which brings drastic improvements to performance and stability; and support for USB peripherals like game controllers, keyboards, and mice.

10
May
google-tv-logo3-m
Last Updated: May 11th, 2011

A ton of Android news has already come out of Google I/O, but this time Google TV is thrown into the mix. GTV is set to see an OS update to Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) which means two things: developers will be able to create apps that will run on Honeycomb tablets and Google TV using the same SDK, and the Android Market will finally be a part of Google TV. Unfortunately, Google TV will not receive the Market update before the Honeycomb update, as they will both be released as one, OTA update.

While no exact date is available, the update is scheduled to be released sometime this summer.

10
May
9xeaae
Last Updated: May 11th, 2011

Well, we all saw it coming. After giving away phones the past two years (HTC Magic G2 in 2009, HTC Nexus One/Motorola Droid and HTC EVO 4G in 2010), Google I/O attendees will be leaving with shiny new Limited-Edition Samsung Galaxy Tabs. Here's our little (big) guy:

9xeaae

The Tab 10.1 will be available to the masses on June 8, but I/O attendees will be receiving it first. The Tab 10.1 of course will be running Honeycomb (and will be getting the upgrade to 3.1 in a few weeks), have a 10.1'' screen, 1Ghz dual-core processor, and sport 32GB of onboard memory.

10
May
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Shortly after Honeycomb dropped, we were told that the next version of Android would bridge the gap between tablets and phones. That bridge was officially announced this morning at Google I/O: Ice Cream Sandwich.

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Ice Cream Sandwich will be the newest version of Android, and it's going to bring the goodness of Honeycomb to phones, along with Gingerbread features to tablets. The update is due out in Q4 of this year, and the goal is to unify the Android experience across devices, which is a huge step towards ending fragmentation as we know it.

It's clear that between this and the Android Alliance, Google has really paid attention to the biggest problems in Android and is making a collaborative effort to efficiently address them.

10
May
hcomb31_gaming_peripherals
Last Updated: May 11th, 2011

Google just announced during the keynote presentation that Honeycomb is officially being updated to Android 3.1. The update will begin rolling out today for owners of the Verizon Motorola XOOM 3G - no word yet on when the WiFi model and other 3.0-rockin' tablets will receive the update, though.

hcomc31_multitasking

They mentioned a few key improvements they've made with 3.1, though we're sure they only just scratched the surface. For example, they've improved multitasking to now allow more apps to run simultaneously. To make sure the performance doesn't suffer, though, they have a system in place that automatically halts and shuts down apps as available (presumably without making any sacrifices in terms of usability).

09
May
t-mobile-logo-1

Good news for G2 users: it looks like the Android update fairy may be smiling upon you! According to TMoNews, a Gingerbread update for the G2 is in the works and it should be ready "soon."

Screen-shot-2011-05-09-at-4.06.55-PMwtmk

In a nutshell, this update should bring improved battery life, some UI improvements, and a better keyboard. There really isn't a whole lot of other information available, but we'll definitely be keeping an eye on the situation and let you know as soon as more info drops.

Source: TMoNews

09
May
hi-256-0-46cd8e8cc5a9269cf46726de83ae40b512c33e21

Everyone's favorite search-by-picture app, Google Goggles, received an update today that brings a few new features to the table, like better history search with notes support, better business card recognition, and adds the ability to suggest a better result.

Now, when you snap a picture with Goggles, you can add a tag to the photo that becomes searchable within your personal history. For example, if I snap a pic of something and add the tag "this was great!", I can later search my history for the word "great" and get a quick display of both note and photo. Pretty rad, yes?

08
May
hi-256-0-cebb14a080486962e8ce1e8c18391aa11bb390f6

It's been a while since the last ADW Launcher EX update, but it may just have been worth the wait. The author of ADW EX has implemented some major changes and fixes for version 1.3.0. Check out the change log below:

ADWLauncher EX v1.3.0

Changelog:

  • Completely redone the app drawers code from scratch to improve memory usage and scrolling performance, even with transparencies, live wallpapers, etc
  • Scroll snapping on the vertical drawer/4d drawer “a la launcher 2″. (option enabled by default)
  • True” home screen looping (enabled by default) ported from ADW2.
  • New theme management screen with added functionality (and more will come)
    • Dock and dockbar background customization moved into the new theme management screen.

06
May
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We've all heard the rumors surrounding the shortage of Eee Pad Transformers, but now an ASUS spokesperson has come forward to let us all know the real deal: demand. One would assume that a company like ASUS would be able to predict that putting out the most economical device in its category would generate a lot of demand, but apparently it doesn't work that way.

ASUS spokesperson David Chang said that they would be dropping 100,000 Transformers in May, with an additional 200,000 to be shipped in June. If that still doesn't meet demand, Chang said that they would "have to continue to ramp up production in order to fulfill our customers' demand."

Sounds like good news for everyone that has been patiently waiting to get their hands on this tablet-netbook-hybrid...

05
May
image

CyanogenMod 7.0.3, an incremental release for CM 7, is now live at cyanogenmod.com. While we're waiting for the official changelog from Cyanogen himself, I can tell you that it does not contain Android 2.3.4 (it's still based off 2.3.3) - that's been saved for CM 7.1 (if you can't wait for 2.3.4, you can update to it by using the nightlies). It does, however, contain important security fixes, among other things. We'll update this post as soon as we get the details.

Update #1: Here we go, the changelog is up - not much there, as you can see:

This update contains a bug fix for our update notification system, as well as an important security fix.