Android OS - 136/164 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jan

T-Mobile & Dell Officially Announce Dell Streak 7: First T-Mobile 4G Tablet, Coming Soon

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Dell, Froyo 2.2, News, Streak 7, T-Mobile

Looks like T-Mobile's not planning on resting on its laurels in the 4G tablet wars: they've just officially announced the Dell Streak 7 will be coming in the following weeks. At the same time, they're also promising to increase 4G speeds in the coming year, aiming to double download speeds. Impressive, especially considering just how far behind T-Mobile was in coverage just a few short years ago.

^{Extra-large image for an extra-sexy tablet.}

The Streak 7 is an absolutely stunning tablet (from the looks of it), and packs some damn fine specs:

7" WVGA screen (Gorilla Glass)
1 GHz Tegra 2 dual-core CPU
Android 2.2 (*facepalm*) with Market support
5 MP camera around back, 1.3 MP front-facing camera (with Qik)
16 GB memory out of the box
SWYPE

Notably, the tablet will run Froyo, rather than Gingerbread or Honeycomb.

Jan

Android 2.4 Is Real, Possibly An Incremental Gingerbread Upgrade

Posted by Brad Ganley in Android OS, Gingerbread 2.3, News

It's been a very confusing ride trying to figure out the official version number of Honeycomb, what exactly Honeycomb will be, and what devices will get it. Thanks to CES 2011, though, we're finally getting some answers.

At first, we all assumed that Honeycomb would be Android 3.0. Then we saw some evidence suggesting the existence of a Android 2.4. After that, we got the official, final word on the matter: it's 3.0.

Today at CES, a member of Tweakers.net got his hands on one of those new Sony Xperia Arcs that turned out to be running what looks like an early build of Android 2.4.

Jan

It's A Phone! It's A Laptop?! It's The Motorola Atrix 4G

Posted by Stephen Tenerowicz in AT&T, Atrix 4G (Olympus), Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, Froyo 2.2, Motorola, News

Last Updated: January 11th, 2011

The Atrix 4G may not be the only dual-core powered Android phone announced this year at CES, but it certainly seems to be the only one that claims to 'redefine the line between a phone and a laptop'. It's able to blur said line by featuring the relatively unique 'Laptop Dock' accessory, which, for all intents and purposes, will convert your Android phone into a netbook running Motorola's 'Webtop' application.

Details on the actual Webtop interface are sparse, but Motorola did spill the beans on the internals powering the Atrix 4G:

Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core 1 GHz processor
1 GB RAM and 16 GB internal memory
HSPA+ 4G compatibility with AT&T
4 inch qHD display
5 MP rear camera with LED flash
VGA front-facing camera
Fingerprint scanning security (located on the back of the device)
Android 2.2 (Froyo) with MotoBlur (which looks to be refined, I might add)
Wi-Fi b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
1930 mAh battery for 9 hours talk time

Note the incredibly beefy battery - 1930 mAh is probably the largest mobile phone battery we've ever heard of.

Jan

Google: Android SMS Bug Is Real, Will Be Fixed Shortly

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Google, News

About a week ago, Engadget ran an article covering two bugs in Android's Messaging app:

The first involves an issue where users are directed to a different thread than the one they selected from the notifications bar or the main screen of the SMS app
The second occurs when users are directed to the right thread but end up having their messages sent to a different person than the one involved in the thread

Shortly after, Google changed the bug's priority from "medium" to "critical" on the bugs Google Code page to show that the company cares.

Now, an official Google rep has reached out to perturbed users on the Google Code forums:

Thanks to everyone for your patience while we've been investigating these reports.

Jan

Motorola Announces The Xoom Honeycomb Tablet

Posted by Anuj Ahooja in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Motorola, News, Tablets

After a surprise from Andy Rubin at D:Dive Into Mobile, a tease from Motorola themselves, and many rumors surrounding it, the Honeycomb powered Motorola Xoom is finally official. Announced today at CES, the Xoom will pack a dual-core 1GHz Tegra II processor, 1GB of DDR2 RAM, and vanilla Android 3.0. The Xoom eschews the recent trend of 7-inch displays on tablets, and instead opts for a 10.1-inch 1280x800 (16:10) (gorilla glass) display, which should complement the 720P video playback capabilities nicely.

Along with an amazing screen, the Xoom has both a rear 5MP camera with LED flash, HD video-recording, and digital zoom; and a front-facing camera for video conferencing on Google Talk for tablets.

Jan

T-Mobile G-Slate, Made By LG, Launching "In The Coming Months," Bringing HPSA+ And Honeycomb With It

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, LG, News, Optimus Pad / G-Slate, T-Mobile

Come on, you thought LG was just going to sit there and watch Motorola rip up the Android 3.0 tablet scene?

Quite the contrary - the company has just announced the G-Slate, a HPSA+ Honeycomb tablet headed T-Mobile's way. It's also going to feature the new Google Maps (version 5.0) as well as Google Books and Google Talk.

The closest you'll get to a release date is "in the coming months," and the processor, RAM, display, and other specs have yet to be announced, but we'll be sure to update the post if we happen to come across any additional information.

Jan

Android Platform Version Chart Updated: Froyo Dominates, Éclair Still Strong, Cupcake And Donut On The Way Out

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Cupcake 1.5, Donut 1.6, Eclair 2.1, Froyo 2.2, Gingerbread 2.3, News

As per usual, Google has updated their Android Platform Version Chart, which gives us a clear indication of how many devices are running each version of Android, based on Market usage. The results won't shock anybody, but they do say good things about the current state of fragmentation in Android. Froyo continues it dominance, taking over half of the chart, while Android 2.1 still remains strong with 35%, likely due in large part to the massive number of Galaxy S phones still running it. Our obsolete friends, Cupcake and Donut, continue to fall into obscurity, although devices running them are unlikely to be updated.

Jan

Honeycomb Confirmed To Be Android 3.0, Demoed In Official Google Video

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Last Updated: November 2nd, 2011

We've seen quite a few tablets running Honeycomb as of late (and I'm sure there are still a lot more to come - after all, CES is only just beginning), but up until now, we haven't had a chance to get a good look at the OS itself. The wait is now over, however - a teaser video for the OS was recently uploaded to YouTube via androiddevelopers, Google's official Android developer account. Google has since made the video private (thus not allowing the general public to view it), but luckily, we managed to grab a backup of it before they did so:

As you can see, Google has completely rethought the Android interface in an effort to make it more tablet-friendly - clearly, Google didn't purchase BumpTop for nothing.

Jan

ASUS Announces Eee Pad Slider And Eee Pad Transformer, Mixes Honeycomb Tablets And Physical Keyboards Into One Delicious Mix

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in ASUS, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

If you love the idea behind ASUS' recently announced MeMO tablet but want a physical keyboard, you'll be delighted to know that the company has just announced two more Android tablets in the Eee Pad line - namely, the Slider and the Transformer.

For the most part, the two share the same specs:

Honeycomb
Tegra 2 processor
512MB RAM, 1GB ROM
10.1" 1280x800 capacitive IPS display
1.2 MP front-facing camera, 5 MP rear
Mini HDMI port
Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n

However, there are also some key differentiators between the Slider and the Transformer - for example, the former includes a USB 2.0 port, while the latter comes with 16, 32, or 64 GB of eMMC storage (as opposed to the Slider's 16 or 32 GB of flash).

Jan

ASUS Eee Pad MeMO Honeycomb Tablet Official, Makes Styluses Cool Again

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in ASUS, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

It's been a long time since I was excited about putting a stylus to a touchscreen, but ASUS' new Eee Pad MeMO might just have what it takes to win me over. For starters, it's running Honeycomb, has a dual-core Qualcomm 8260 CPU clocked at 1.2GHz, and features both a 1.2MP front-facing camera and a 5MP rear counterpart.

The specs are only half the story, though - the tablet will also come with Media Note, which is a glorified notes app, as well as Painter, a painting app where the included capacitive stylus could really come in handy.

The MeMO will also ship with phone functionality of some sort, and ASUS will be selling the MeMic, a stereo Bluetooth headset, to complement it.