20
Dec
xda-developer-icon

XDA University Is Live, With Guides For Developers And End Users Alike

Posted by in News

Most college kids are at home this time of the year, celebrating the end of finals and/or nursing hangovers. But the ROM's scene's number one destination is hosting classes all year round at the the new XDA University site. XDA-Developers has been working on the extension of the main site as a destination for newcomers to the world of root, custom ROMs, and other Android modifications, as well as a place to learn about more serious Android development. The site is live now at XDA-University.com.

xda university

What is XDA University? Well, it's somewhere between a textbook (the introductory page even describes itself as "this book") and a limited wiki.

10
Oct
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Hallelujah: Google Finally Fixes High Resolution Contact Sync, Updates Web Contact Sync With Brand New UI

Posted by in Google, News

Folks, I can't believe it myself, but this day has finally come - Google seems to have finally sorted out all its backend and frontend issues with Google contact sync. Jelly Bean's 720x720 hi-res contact support was surely a nice addition, but ended up almost completely useless in our earlier tests: Jelly Bean Bumps Contact Photos To Hi-Res 720x720 But Google Sync Continues To Clobber It With Low-Res Mush.

As of today, all the problems I ran into before are resolved. Removing and re-adding an account on my Nexus 7 now syncs the contact photos in full resolution, whereas before they would either disappear altogether or end up washed out.

08
Apr
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PSA: You Can Now Send CyanogenMod Builds To ROM Manager With One Click Right From The Web

Posted by in Development, News

Getting CyanogenMod builds onto an Android device has always been easy as pie, but who is going to say no to yet another, even simpler method? While redesigning the CyanogenMod Downloads page, the CM team recently added a really subtle ability to send downloads straight from the web right into ROM Manager - all with just one click, a-la Chrome to phone or Amazon's 1-click purchasing.

In fact, the change to the site was so subtle that it went unnoticed by us for a week until Koush posted this video to his YouTube account:

Brilliantly simple, isn't it? Even if you don't flash builds often, you should still find this option handy.

07
Feb
2012-02-07 13h29_16

[Updated: Here Are The Winners!] Book Giveaway #14: Use Your Web Developing Skills To Create Android Apps With "Building Android Apps With HTML, CSS, And JavaScript"

Posted by in Contests / Giveaways, Development
Last Updated: February 15th, 2012

You're already a web developer, master of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You have a great idea for an Android App, but your particular skill set doesn't help you create that app. Or does it? O'Reilly media just released a 176-page 2nd edition of "Building Android Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript" by Jonathan Stark and Brian Jepson that explains how to do just that.

This contest is now over. Here are our winners, selected at random:
  • Simmy
  • Daniel Harris
  • Geremy Hamlett
  • superkrrk
  • John Halbert

Congratulations, guys - all of you will be contacted for your information in the near future!

12
Dec
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BOLT Browser Closes Shop Due To Economic Circumstances

Posted by in Applications, News

BOLT Browser, which touted tabbed browsing and high speeds in an effort to provide a capable replacement for Android's stock browser, has been discontinued due to economic circumstances, according to the app's website:

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The news came earlier today as BOLT's listing in the Android Market vanished, and the app's website closed down, leaving only the above note. While BOLT may not have been the most robust browser solution for Android, it's always a little sad to see an app go like this, especially considering the fact that BOLT debuted only a couple of months ago.

That being said, there are plenty of other alternatives available for users who want a little more from their mobile web experience, and BOLT users won't have a hard time filling the gap.

11
Dec
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Kick-Ass! Web Android Market Now Allows App User Review Filtering By Device Model, Latest Version, And Specific Star Rating

Posted by in Development, Google, News

Looks like the new Email Developer feature that the web Android Market received on Friday was just the icing on the cake! While it was nice to finally have the ability to contact developers without having to go through the device Market, it was still a pretty minor addition. Don't fret - Google was nowhere near being done - you can now:

  • filter user reviews by device model, currently limited to All and individual devices registered to your account.
  • filter user reviews by app version, currently limited to All or Latest
  • filter user reviews by specific star rating

Here, have a look (the sample app I used was Christmas HD, if you are curious):

image image image

The beauty is - you can combine filters and, for example, narrow down to only 1-star reviews made by users of HTC EVO 3D that used the latest version of the app.

09
Dec
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Google Adds 'Email Developer' Feature To The Web Market, Makes Addresses Public - What Could Possibly Go Wrong?

Posted by in Development, Google, News

I sure love these Google Fridays - the Android team tends to release quite a few little updates to the web Market that make us feel warm on the inside, and it turns out this week is no exception.

You can now email developers with a question or a bug report right from the web Market - a feature previously available only in the device Market. For example:

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The email url is a simple mailto: link, which should pop up your favorite email client (Gmail in my case). This change should most definitely increase helpful feedback to developers as well as provide users with an ability to ask pre-sales questions.

27
Sep
hi-256-0-e6e045871a3e73f36a817fdcb1d8d8e475850b63

[Update: AT&T And Sprint Support Added] Smozzy Bucks The System, Lets T-Mobile Customers Browse The Web Without A Data Plan

Posted by in Applications, News

Update: If you've been itching to try this workaround on a non-T-Mobile phone, then now's your chance. The Snozzy dev has added experimental support for AT&T and Sprint, and untested support for Verizon, Virgin, Cricket, Straight Talk, US Cellular, and Viaero. Since the latter group is completely untested, there's a good chance that it will be extremely buggy, if it even works at all. If you decide to give it a go, make sure to drop us a line and let us know how it turns out!

With all this talk of data plans - unlimited, tiered, throttled... whatever - one developer decided to find a way to circumvent the system and gain access to the web without paying carrier prices.

30
Jul
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Android Web Market Gets A Spiffy Screenshot Navigation Update [Video]

Posted by in Apps/Games, News

The Android web Market only just received its last update that introduced app install histories 5 days ago, but the Android team is at it again today with a new, much smoother way to navigate app screenshots.

Rather than display blocks of 3 screenshots navigable via little hard-to-click dots on the bottom like it used to do, the new navigation offers a pleasant, smooth UI scrollable sideways. It's easier if I just show you (or you can click through to any app with more than 3 screenshots, such as IMDB here):

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A small update, but pleasant nonetheless.

25
Jul
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[Neat] Android Web Market Now Shows Handy Charts Of App Install Histories

Posted by in Apps/Games, News

In a quiet update to the web Market, Google today rolled out these handy charts showing on each app page a 30-day history of installs. The charts can help gauge relative popularity of a given app throughout the last 30 days of its existence, but are relatively basic and not very practical.

Still, we'll take any addition to the Market that doesn't make it worse. I suppose it's actually kind of fun to see what effects new releases, updates, and promotional campaigns have on applications - for example, take a look at the chart of SwiftKey X, which recently went through a major revamp.

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