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Nov

CyanogenMod 6.1 RC1 Now Available For T-Mobile G2/HTC Desire Z

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Desire Z (Vision), Development, G2 (Vision), HTC, News, T-Mobile

Exactly a week after getting rooted and only a few days after getting its very first CyanogenMod nightly release, HTC Desire Z and T-Mobile G2 owners can now upgrade to RC1 (release candidate 1), bringing it up to speed with the rest of the devices supported by the CM team. Apparently, these guys move at light speed.

G2/Desire Z owners should consider themselves lucky, as Cyanogen himself owns a G2 and maintains this CM branch - that's when you know you are in good hands.

Not much has changed in terms of installation instructions, so I'll jump right into it:

This version is a release candidate, but you will find it stable for everyday use.

Nov

Dell Streak Android 2.2 Froyo Update For Unlocked Devices Rolling Out Now, Carrier Specific In December

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Dell, News, Streak

As we mentioned over the weekend, the UK Dell Streaks were on the verge of finally getting that sweet, delicious Froyo upgrade, and now we are able to provide the rollout schedule in more detail.

Starting November 15th, which is pretty much now, carrier unlocked devices will start to receive OTA (over-the-air) notifications allowing the Froyo update to be downloaded and applied. Carrier locked Streak OTAs will follow later on in December due to having to jump through extra hoops, i.e. the carriers, before any updates can be allowed to trickle in. Your Streak will check for a firmware update upon boot but you can force the check manually by going to Settings > About > System Updates.

Nov

Google Maps For Android v4.7 Adds Support For The New Google Hotpot Recommendation Engine, Guns Straight For Yelp

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Applications, News

Unveiled earlier today, Google's new service, called Hotpot, promises to recommend places to you based on an extremely simple rating system that allows scoring and ranking establishments from one to five stars. Additionally, you can rate individual characteristics, such as food, service, and atomsphere, as you can see below. Hotpot's release was accompanied by a simultaneous refresh of the Google Maps Android app (version 4.7), which brought along the fairly significant addition of Hotpot to the Places component of the app.

^{I'm far too generous}

Hotpot itself is accessible on any computer, but you'll obviously find rating and discovering places far more convenient while on the go.

Nov

Android 2.1 Update For T-Mobile Garminfone Available For Manual Installation; All 10 Owners Ecstatic

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Eclair 2.1, Garmin, Garminfone, News, T-Mobile

Granted, this particular bit of news is only valuable to the (very) small crowd of people who purchased the T-Mobile Garminfone, but it's nice to hear nonetheless. The good news: Garmin has released an update to Android 2.1 (Éclair). The bad: it's a manual update.

The update process isn't complicated per se - but it's definitely more work than an OTA:

1. Download the software update package for your Garminfone which can be found here: http://www.garminasus.com/en_US/support/software/006-B1130-00.update

2. Connect your Garminfone to your computer using the USB cable provided in your box

3. Select "File Transfer" mode when the "USB connected" dialog appears

4.

Nov

Android 2.2 Froyo Coming To European Dell Streak Before The End Of The Month

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Dell, Froyo 2.2, News, Streak

Android 2.2 isn't new by any means, but if you're using Dell's five-inch Streak, it looks like you're only now going to receive the update:

Worse still, this only applies to Streaks in the UK - the rest of us will just have to keep holding out. Before you go off to silently pout in a corner, though, there is one more twist to this story - what's actually contained in the update:

To recap, it looks like Dell will soon be allowing customers to download the update directly from its website (much like Motorola has done with the Backflip and the Cliq for the update to Éclair), although actually installing the update will wipe all data from the device.

Nov

Motorola CLIQ 2.1 Éclair Update Now Officially Available, Complete With The Longest Installation Instructions EVER

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in CLIQ / DEXT (Morrison), Eclair 2.1, Motorola, News

Motorola CLIQ owners have been waiting for this day for a very-very-very long time, but, believe it or not, it's finally here. Following the leaked version from 3 weeks ago, the official Éclair for you phones (but not CLIQ XT just yet) is now available from Motorola - not as an OTA, but as a downloadable .zip.

Why Motorola put together the longest update instructions I've ever seen, with more warnings than a prescription drug, is beyond me - it seems to me like the same effect could have been achieved via the existing OTA (over-the-air) update mechanism Android already supports.

Nov

Overhauled Evernote v2.0 Lands In Android Market

Posted by Brad Ganley in Applications, Apps/Games, News

Following a beta testing phase that has been going on for about a month now, Evernote, the fantastic note-taking service, has finally updated the public market version to 2.0, bringing a lot of cool and much-needed changes and features. Whether you're using Evernote to organize your documents for work or to streamline your notes at school, these are the changes you've been waiting for.

The first change, which was arguably the most necessary, was the whole interface of the app. The older version kind of...sucked horribly. The new version is shiny and clean, demonstrating all of the new powers that were bestowed upon the new Evernote for Android.

Nov

Facebook's Updated Android App v1.4 Live In The Market Now - Brings Groups, Places, Improved Notifications, Fixes

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Today at the Facebook Mobile event, Mark Zuckerberg announced the newest version of the Facebook Android app with support for Places and Groups. We didn't have to wait long, as the update hit the Market mere minutes after the announcement (don't you just love how instantly apps go live in the Android Market, as opposed to some other markets we won't be naming here?).

Here is the changelog:

Groups: share posts with small groups of friends
Places: share where you are with friends, see where friends are, discover places nearby
Improved Notifications - view comments and updates within the app
Various bug fixes

Download

Appbrain link

Nov

Rumor: T-Mobile G2 Getting WiFi Calling OTA Tomorrow

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in G2 (Vision), HTC, News, T-Mobile

It's always been interesting to me that although the $29.99 Optimus T ships with tethering capabilities, the G2 has no such feature. Of course, it's been rumored several times before that the feature is on its way, but as of today, G2 users are still in the dark.

That may all be changing soon though, as a recent leaked screenshot from TmoNews indicates that an OTA update that will begin rolling out tomorrow and finish its trip on November 8 will not only grant you tethering, but will also bring about WiFi calling. Interestingly enough, T-Mobile seems to be expecting users to discover tethering on their own though, as the screenshot instructs employees to tell customers that T-Mobile does not currently offer a tethering plan.

Oct

Android 2.1 Now Rolling Out For Sony Ericsson Xperia X10, X10 Mini, X10 Mini Pro

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Eclair 2.1, Sony Ericsson, Xperia X10 (es209ra), Xperia X10 Mini / Mini Pro (Robyn / Mimmi)

Right on time, Sony Ericsson's begun rolling out the update to Android 2.1 Eclair (build number 2.0.A.0.504) for the Xperia X10, X10 Mini, and X10 Mini Pro. Judging by what we're seeing on Twitter and from what our tipster told us, it's only available in Scandinavia for now, so we can only hope that other regions will get to join in on the fun soon enough.

Our tipster also mentioned that Universal Androot does not work, although a bit of digging through the forums revealed that SuperOneClick does indeed root the phones, even after the update. On that note, where's our Froyo?