Gingerbread 2.3 - 15/19 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Dec

Google's Nexus S Now Officially On Sale At Best Buy: $200 With Contract

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Gingerbread 2.3, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), T-Mobile

As promised, Google's Samsung-made Nexus S went on sale today at 8 a.m. at Best Buy stores across the United States (online sales start at 8 a.m. EST). Google's flagship phone - the first to natively run Android 2.3 - retails at $199.99 with a 2-year T-Mobile contract or $529.99 unlocked and without a contract. To promote the release of the phone, Best Buy is offering free overnight shipping if you choose to buy this phone online.

The recently unveiled device is a modified version of the Samsung Galaxy S and sports a 4.0" WVGA "Contour Display" SAMOLED screen, 1 GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor, 16 GB of internal storage, HD video playback, a gyroscope sensor and NFC support.

Dec

For Developers: Live On The Edge - Upgrade To The Latest Eclipse ADT (Currently v9.0.0) Before It Is Released [How-To]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Android OS, Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Tips & Tutorials

We, Android developers, spend our days staring at a computer screen, most likely at one of Eclipse's windows. Eclipse is an amazing IDE in theory, but it never quite feels complete and polished, mostly due to the fact that it's powered by open source enthusiasts and is based almost entirely on plugins (if you want to get it to do anything useful, that is).

Being Android developers, the plugin we are using every day is ADT - Android Development Tools, written by Google engineers, mostly @tornorbye and @droidxav who I've been conversing over twitter lately and annoying with filing numerous ADT bugs (hi, if you're reading!).

Dec

New Nexus Wallpaper Escapes From The Samsung Nexus S, Leaks Into The Forums

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Samsung

The Nexus S isn't exactly a huge upgrade from Google's original Jesus phone (in fact, it could be considered a downgrade in some respects), but it does feature one potential selling point: Gingerbread. That said, there's no reason those of us with non-Nexus S phones should have to wait in order to enjoy the update's new features, as the leaked Gingerbread launcher and 2.3 keyboard have shown us.

Today, Android Central Forums member Upstreammiami tweaked the Nexus live wallpaper in Éclair and Froyo to make it nearly identical to the default wallpaper on the NS. Obviously, since the phone isn't available yet, Upstreammiami wasn't able to grab the files directly off Samsung and Google's creation; therefore, this isn't a direct port.

Dec

Google Starting Near Field Communication (NFC) Push In Portland, Oregon

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Gingerbread 2.3, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju)

Wondering how and when that newfangled Near Field Communication (NFC) techology in the Nexus S will be put to good use? Thanks to a new post on the Google Mobile Blog, we now know where the Goog is starting off: businesses. Specifically, they're looking to help businesses use the nifty tech to share some info about themselves to curious people passing by.

How does it work? Google is sending out kits, complete with window decals, to businesses around Portland. The businesses can set up the kit, set up an info page on Google Places, and slap the decal on the window; if somebody is walking by and is curious about a business, the idea is that they can just briefly hold their phone up to the decal and additional information about the establishment will be pulled up on the phone.

Dec

Gingerbread SDK Closes A TapJacking Vulnerability

Posted by Stephen Tenerowicz in Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

With Android 2.3, users will have not only a slew of new features (I can't wait!), but also a fix to a security issue present in the previous versions of Android: TapJacking. TapJacking occurs when a malicious application displays a fake user interface that you can interact with, but actually secretly passes interaction events, such as finger taps, to a hidden user interface behind it. Using this technique, a devious developer could potentially trick a user into making purchases, clicking on ads, installing applications, or even wiping all of the data from the phone. All around, TapJacking is not good!

In previous versions of Android, an attacker was able to display the fake user interface by creating a customized notification (called a Toast) to obscure the real interface.

Dec

Misunderstanding Over, LG Optimus One Line To Receive Gingerbread

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Gingerbread 2.3, LG, News

LG definitely struck a nerve In the Android community when they said that their LG Optimus One series would not be updated to Android 2.3 due to not meeting the hardware requirements, when it has already been stated that all phones running Froyo (such as the Optimus One) were capable of running Gingerbread. Well, LG have not only retracted that statement and offered an apology, they've delivered a great piece of news: every phone in the Optimus One line will get updated to Gingerbread!

LG will upgrade all Optimus One smartphones currently using the Froyo OS to the next version of the Android OS, Gingerbread.

Dec

MoDaCo's Paul O'Brien Releases Gingerbread Launcher For Android 2.2, Now Available In Market

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

Our (OK, mainly Brian's) man Paul O'Brien of MoDaCo has been hard at work porting the Gingerbread launcher to Froyo (Android 2.2). What's different? Well, frankly... not a lot.

The major differences are that there's a bit more green and that the app drawer fades in/out. In my minute or two with it, that's about all I noticed, and really, that's all you can ask for at this point. That said, if you're using vanilla Froyo now, there's really no downside to using the Gingerbread launcher.

Nothing revolutionary, but given the amount of fervor over Gingerbread, the launcher and the keyboard may be just enough to whet your appetite and hold you over until some official releases start rolling out.

Dec

NFC In Gingerbread Is Crippled - It's One-Way-Only, And Not The Way We Want

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Gingerbread 2.3, Google, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Samsung

Last Updated: February 9th, 2011

Update 2/9/11: Writing/transmitting via NFC is now possible thanks to the 2.3.3 update.

One thing that was very much anticipated in the Nexus S and Gingerbread in general was NFC (Near Field Communication) support, which is a feature we've never seen before on an Android device. In fact, the vast majority of us took it to mean that it will allow you to use your phone as a credit card, which would indeed be very exciting and insanely cool. Unfortunately, that's not the case here; rather, the technology will allow the Nexus S (and other NFC-capable Android phones) to act as a glorified barcode scanner of sorts.

Dec

Awesome: Android-Gingerbread-Skeleton-Zombie Painting Found In The Official Gingerbread SDK

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Gingerbread 2.3, News, Off-Topic

Google loves putting Easter eggs into their products, and whoever sneaked this late Halloween piece into the official Gingerbread SDK release over at Google is a real master. This is art, people! Found among the boring buttons and icons in the depths of the new Android SDK at this path: platforms\android-9\data\res\drawable-nodpi\platlogo.jpg, this painting is a work of a pure genius:

Source: Android Central

Dec

[Updated: With Working Text Prediction] Gingerbread Keyboard Now Available For All Rooted Android 2.2 Devices

Posted by Stephen Tenerowicz in Development, Gingerbread 2.3, News

Having finally seen the Android 2.3 Gingerbread release happen, I can't tell you how happy I am. All I can say is that this is better than Christmas and New Year's Eve combined!

Amidst all this holiday spirit and joy in the air, one amazing person (Peter Alfonso of Bugless Beast) has already ported the Android 2.3 keyboard to rooted 2.2 devices. Be sure to thank him kindly for the following Android 2.3 keyboard port. I should warn you, however, that at this point the keyboard does not have a proper functioning dictionary, auto-correct is not working, and multi-touch is not active.