update - 52/129 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jul

Android Asset Studio Gets A Major Update – New UI, Device Frames, Clipart, And More

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Design, News

Bringing some exciting news to the Android design world today, Roman Nurik announced via Google+ that the acclaimed Android Asset Studio received a major update.

First off, the whole site has received a new layout/UI inspired by ICS and its holo themes. Next, the much-beloved Device Frame Generator (which has been making app screenshots gorgeous since last October) got a huge update. The generator now allows users to create beautifully framed images featuring Samsung's Galaxy SIII, Galaxy Note, Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, and Google's own Nexus 7 tablet. Further, users can choose whether the resulting image will have a shadow and/or screen glare (or appear rotated) before saving the finished product.

Jul

AT&T Galaxy SII Skyrocket's Official Ice Cream Sandwich Update Rolling Out Now Via Kies

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Galaxy S II Skyrocket, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Months after AT&T's Samsung Galaxy SII Skyrocket got a leaked build of Ice Cream Sandwich, it looks like the device is finally getting an official update. Users at XDA began reporting the update earlier today, indicating that it is available over Kies. Unlike March's leaked build, the official update brings users to Android 4.0.4, rather than 4.0.3, and (of course) carries a different build number. Here's a snippet from the update's build.prop:

ro.build.description=SGH-I727-user 4.0.4 IMM76D UCLF6 release-keys
ro.build.fingerprint=samsung/SGH-I727/SGH-I727:4.0.4/IMM76D/UCLF6:user/release-keys

Of course, rooted users would be advised to wait for a pre-rooted build of the update. Everyone else needs only to fire up Kies, look for build i727UCLF6, and grab the update.

Jul

Sprint Is Rolling Out A Small Security Update To The Galaxy S III - The Second Since Release

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Galaxy S III, News, Sprint

The Galaxy S III on Sprint has been seeing a considerable amount of update action in the short time since it's been released. Back on June 29th, the device saw a security update and now, according to Sprint's community website, a second "Google security updates" OTA software patch is headed to the device.

The carrier hasn't offered any details on what the update fixes, beyond that today's update is Google-related, while the previous update is just a generic security update. Still, it's interesting to see that the device has received multiple security updates within less than a month. We haven't heard of any major security issues, so this may just be a bit of proactive protection.

Jul

CyanogenMod Team Talks Jelly Bean, And We Like What We're Hearing

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News

When Jelly Bean was announced, it's as if you could hear the entire Android community speak in unison: CM10! Anyone who has been around the block a time or two knows, though, you just don't ask for ETAs on CM builds. Of course, it wouldn't really matter if you did at this point - the JB source code isn't even available yet. However, the CyanogenMod Team took the time to address many of the questions on everyone's minds on their G+ earlier today, and we have to admit - it all sounds pretty good.

The post starts by addressing the version number; since JB is an incremental update to ICS will it be CM9.1?

Jul

ASUS Transformer TF101 Gets Update To Version 9.2.1.27 Bringing Bug Fixes, Not Much Else

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Eee Pad Transformer, News

Owners of ASUS' original Eee Pad Transformer have something to be excited about, as the update to software version 9.2.1.27 began rolling out earlier today.

While the update isn't too exciting (keeping the device at Android 4.0.3), it does bring a handful of fixes that TF101 users have been waiting for for some time. Among them are fixes for video playback, Chrome performance, and various app performance issues. Unofficial user reports indicate that the update may also bring smoother performance overall. Here's the full (official) change log:

9.2.1.27 Release Notes

Fix Chrome browser and black screen issues

Fix "Mobile Dock Battery saving mode" bug

Fix movie playback hang issue

Enhance MyLibrary and Vibe performance

Enhance AppBackup stability

Enhance Email stability

Update translation for Settings

As usual, users looking to grab the update manually need only check for system updates in their device's Settings menu.

Jul

PSA: Developers, You Can Now Sign Up For Early Access To The New Android Developer Console

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, News

On day one of Google I/O, the Play Store team announced an upcoming brand new version of the Android Developer Console - a publishing interface developers use to, you guessed it, publish apps to Google Play. The completely redesigned UI contains improvements based on feedback from the past several years and is fantastic. For further details, hit the link above or just watch this video:

As promised, you can now sign up to be first in line to give the private beta a go by following this url. Approval is not immediate, but at least you'll get there before everyone else.

Jul

The Galaxy Nexus Is No Longer Available For Purchase From Google Play In The US

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Galaxy Nexus, Google, News

If you just felt a disturbance in the internet, as if millions of Android users cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced, here's why: the Galaxy Nexus is no longer available via the Google Play Store. This comes after Apple won an injunction against the sale of Google's flagship device last week. As of now, the device is not allowed to be sold in the US which includes, but is obviously not limited to, online sales from Google.

At the moment, the site merely offers users the chance to sign up to be notified when the device will become available.

Jul

HBO GO Update Brings Support For Android Tablets Up To 4.0.4

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Applications, News

Back in May, HBO updated their HBO GO app to support Ice Cream Sandwich, but even then the app was still missing support for tablets, a major issue for an app designed for streaming video. Fortunately, they've rolled out an update today to address that problem, bringing support for tablets running anything up to Android 4.0.4 (sorry, no Jelly Bean support here yet). Oddly enough, HBO's MAX GO app was also updated today, but still lacks support for tablets.

As per usual, you won't be able to use the app unless you already have a cable package and a subscription to HBO.

Jul

Motorola MOTOACTV Updated To Version 7.10/7.11, Bring A Host Of Bug Fixes

Posted by Nate Kimmey in ACTV, News

Motorola has released yet another pair of updates for their Android-based sports watch, the MOTOACTV, bringing the version number up to either 7.10 or 7.11, depending on your model. The 7.10 update is only for devices that already have the golf features installed, while the 7.11 update is only for some versions of the 8 GB ACTV that do not have the golf features. Fortunately, you don't have to do anything to determine which update to download - simply plug your ACTV into your computer and the MOTOCAST software will download the appropriate update.

Both version of the update include the following bug fixes:

Fix “Application Force Close” in WORKOUT and NOTIFICATIONS.

Jul

Download: Latest Google Play Store v3.7.13

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, Google, News

Last Updated: January 6th, 2013

The latest version of the Play Store is no longer 3.7.11 - say hello to v3.7.13. I haven't found anything different from 3.7.11 just yet - it likely only contains bug fixes. There's no reason to lag behind, however, so if you're running a Play Store with a version lower than 3.7.13, jump right to the download mirrors below. Before you do that, let me point out a few things.

Upon playing with the Store further, I did discover a new feature compared to v3.5.19 that I didn't mention last time - inline app links in search suggestions. Take a look at searching in 3.5.19 (on the left) and 3.7.13 (on the right) - direct app links are now mixed in with suggested spellings.