06
Feb
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Update: We're still getting over the fact that Sony Ericsson just aired a slightly longer version of this ad in front of the millions of people watching the Super Bowl - check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M4lxuoGgbxs

Sony Ericsson's upcoming "PlayStation phone," the Xperia Play, has been leaking left and right pretty much since its inception, and therefore it's no surprise that its first official commercial was also reveals via a leak.

Droidnytt.no, a Norwegian Android fan site, published the following video showing our little green friend getting thumbs attached to his hands for easier game controller handling, all in the creepiest way imaginable.

06
Feb
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Remember the 15-second preview of Motorola's XOOM Super Bowl commercial that was leaked online a few days ago? Guess what - it's Super Bowl Sunday, the ad just aired in front of millions of people, and Moto immediately released the whole thing on YouTube, so that those of us who missed it could inspect just what exactly Moto's creative genius has been up to lately.

Unsurprisingly, the ad's 1984 theme (remember the teaser?) continues to implicitly take silent jabs at Apple, introducing the XOOM as "the tablet to create a better world."

So, does the full 1 minute ad impress or has Motorola failed to showcase the product properly?

04
Feb
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Super Bowl XLV is going down this Sunday, and while most people can't wait to see the Steelers face off against the Packers, Android fans have another reason to be excited: Motorola plans to air a commercial for the world's first Honeycomb tablet during the big game.

However, for those of us who simply can't wait any longer, Motorola's released 15 seconds of the ad - check it out:

As you can see, Motorola has decided to take yet another jab at Apple and the iPad's lack of customizability - not exactly the most innovative approach, but so long as it piques the public's interest, it should suffice.

01
Feb
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Whether you believe the rumors about Samsung's Android upgrade plans or not doesn't really matter - the company has proven again and again that when it comes to older devices (read: released more than 3-4 months), your chances of an update drop dramatically. Froyo has been around for over 6 months now, but 3 out of 4 flagship Galaxy S devices in the U.S. (Captivate, Fascinate, Epic 4G) are still sporting outdated and Flashless Eclair builds, while the rest were only just upgraded in the last month or so. And this is just Froyo - let's not even talk about Gingerbread.

31
Jan
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It appears that Motorola's ad campaign for the XOOM is underway, with the following ad released today by ShareMoto. As in the previous, and I would say much more successful Tablet Evolution ad, Apple plays a big part, being compared to the Big Brother from 1984. Motorola then flies some [impressive] specs around and... that's it. No pictures of the XOOM - nothing. If this is indeed their Super Bowl ad they are planning to air during the game this Sunday, I will be very disappointed. You can do better, Moto. You didn't let us touch or play with the tablet at CES - at least let us see it in your own commercials, OK?

30
Jan
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Last Updated: April 5th, 2011

HTC Thunderbolt, announced at CES earlier this year, may only seem like it's underpowered compared to the dual-core offerings, but according to a very early unboxing by someone named Michael, it's quite a beast with some very admirable features. I don't know how Michael got his hands on this device so early - perhaps he's a tester, a ninja reviewer, or a VZW employee receiving Thunderbolt training (I'm most likely inclined to side with the latter), but he does spill some interesting details that I've summarized below, conveniently mixed in with some specs.

Oh, and this is the same video that was used in this post to cross reference the UPC codes - the problem was the original 720p video disappeared off the Interwebs only to resurface from ahart814's cache last night, except in a not-as-awesome 360p resolution the original video is back online.

28
Jan
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Rovio Mobile's award-winning Angry Birds. 20th Century Fox's upcoming Rio. A perfect match?

2011-01-28 19h36_45

Rovio and 20th Century Fox obviously think so - they've teamed up to develop a new version of Angry Birds based entirely on Rio. They say it's coming to "app stores" in March (hopefully that includes the Android Market), and will feature 45 levels to call its own. Check out this cinema-quality teaser video Rovio released:

Looks like the Angry Birds brand isn't going away anytime soon - which could be either good news or bad news, depending on how you look at it.

28
Jan
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Next Wednesday, Google will be holding a press event to showcase Honeycomb and discuss Android at large. Team Android is going to give attendees an "in-depth look" at Honeycomb, news regarding the Android ecosystem, and a number of hands-on opportunities while at Google headquarters in Mountain View.

androidevent

The presentation will be streamed live at www.youtube.com/android starting at 10AM next Wednesday, so everyone will get a chance to tune in for the latest and greatest in the world of Android and Honeycomb.

Considering this is being labeled a press event, it's probably just an opportunity for Google to give Honeycomb some hands-on exposure to the major media outlets and blogs alike.

24
Jan
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A couple of weeks ago at CES 2011, Sony Ericsson announced its latest Android handset - the sleek and sexy Gingerbread-running Xperia Arc. They've also invited the press, Android Police included, to attend a media breakfast where we ended up spending over an hour of quality time with the new device, documented in great detail here. If you have questions about the Arc, I highly recommend you dive into the above post, as it contains a plethora of useful bits and pieces, all wrapped in a convenient package.

Though the Arc was promised to land in consumers' hands sometime in Q1 2011 and no review units have been sent out just yet, the writers from an Italian blog HDBlog.it managed to get their hands on both the Misty Silver and Midnight Blue models and give the hardware and the interface a very thorough walkthrough.

20
Jan
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Launcher Pro, my favorite launcher replacement, got updated today with a much requested feature - homescreen transition animations, available to all LP users, not just Plus. In addition to the usual and very smooth slide effect, we now have 4 more: Scale, Rotate, Flip, and Cube. All are smooth, except for the Cube transition, so I would advise against using it until Fede makes it a bit more snappy. Out of 5 transitions (including the regular slide), my favorite is definitely Flip. What's yours?

Excuse the poor frame rate in the screencast - unfortunately, that's ShootMe's max for the time being

snap20110120_145808_wm snap20110120_145823_wm snap20110120_145835_wm

snap20110120_145854_wm snap20110120_145912_wm

Source: Launcher Pro