Android OS - 143/164 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Dec

T-Mobile UK's Samsung Galaxy S Now Receiving Froyo Update Over The Air, T-Mobile US Still Sleeping At The Wheel

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Froyo 2.2, Galaxy S, News, Samsung, T-Mobile

While Galaxy S owners here in the States are still (im)patiently awaiting the update to Android 2.2, it looks like users on T-Mobile UK's network are already enjoying the wonders of Froyo. Yes, the update that was initially scheduled for September is only now rolling out.

Luckily, T-Mobile's European brother has (slightly) sweetened the deal with a nice twist - although the update was originally supposed to be made available exclusively through Samsung's Kies software for Windows-based PCs, the carrier has seen fit to add an OTA version into the mix. That doesn't mean Kies has been completely left out of the fun, though - if "reasons out of our [T-Mobile's] control" interfere with the OTA update, users can still hook their phones up to their (Windows-based) computers, start up Kies, and download the update in the same manner most other European carriers are having users do.

Nov

[Updated] Android 2.3 And 3.0 Discovered On Nexus One In Adobe AIR Performance Tests

Posted by Stephen Tenerowicz in Gingerbread 2.3, News

Note: As Frandroid has shown us via the comments below, the OS version and build are easy to fake, and the Honeycomb results were indeed faked by them. Whether the Gingerbread ones are also fake or not is not confirmed, but all signs point to that.

We just spotted Android 2.3 (aka Gingerbread) and 3.0 (aka Honeycomb) on Adobe's AIR Benchmark site, which was designed to test Adobe AIR performance on mobile devices. Interestingly, both new Android OS builds were running on a Nexus One, with no Nexus S or GT-i9020 (the handset rumored to be the Nexus S) in sight.

Nov

New Version Of MIUI ROM Now Rolling Out Over The Air, Bringing Built-In Theming, Better Folders, CPU Management, And Major Speed Increase With It

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Development, Froyo 2.2, Google, HTC, Milestone, Motorola, News, Nexus One (Passion)

The MIUI ROM is definitely one of those things you'll either love or hate, but judging by the waves the arrival of the latest version of the mod has been causing, the community (or at least most of it) is of the former opinion. And rightly so, if you ask me - the ROM is now even faster, features user-creatable (and downloadable) themes, and pinch-to-zoom on homescreens, among many other additions. While it still has a detectable iPhone aroma about it, it's arguably worth it, if for no other reason than the fact that its system animations zip along at 60 FPS, which is more than three times higher than those of a stock Nexus One.

Nov

[Updated] New Leaked Photos Of Samsung Nexus S Running Gingerbread Show Up, Blurrycam Style

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Gingerbread 2.3, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Samsung

The folks over at XDA-developers have prepared an exclusive treat for all of us who are patiently (and impatiently) awaiting both Gingerbread and the Nexus S. One of their sources managed to get ahold of the upcoming flagship device from Samsung, which, as we all know, runs Gingerbread. He even spilled some beans on the specs:

ArmV7 CPU

Open GL ES Supported

512 or 328MB Ram (Not 100% known)

1GB or 2GB Internal Memory (Not 100% known)

800×480 Screen Resolution

4″ Screen Size

SuperAmoled2 – Possibly

720P HD Video

Update: There was an update posted over at XDA claiming that the CPU is indeed a dual core Orion Cortex A9 running at 1GHz:

UPDATE: 11/25/10 13:20 PST: According to our source we have a Confirmed Dual Core Orion 1GHz CortexA9 running inside the Nexus S, we Can’t verify this ourself and are waiting for further verification.

Nov

Android 2.1 Update For AT&T's Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Delayed Yet Again

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in AT&T, Eclair 2.1, News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia X10 (es209ra)

Despite the fact that Gingerbread is set to be released in the next few weeks, some of us are still waiting for an update to a version of Android two decimal places behind - Android 2.1, aka Éclair. Such is life for owners of AT&T's Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 who, after jealously watching as Scandinavian X10 owners received the update on Halloween night, are being told that 2.1 has been delayed yet again for their devices. This time, SE is blaming "especially rigorous" testing as the cause of the procrastination, stating that there are "technical requirements that must be met" in the US that are apparently not an issue in other countries.

Nov

EVO Shift 4G Specs Leaked, Could Be Sprint's Desire Z

Posted by Nate Kimmey in EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), Froyo 2.2, Knight, News, Sprint

Last Updated: January 4th, 2011

XDA-developers, who originally leaked details on the phone under the codename HTC Knight, have now provided more information on this bad boy, now known as HTC EVO Shift 4G (model number PG06100). Most of these specs aren't too surprising, but do leave a lot of room for questions:

Android 2.2

Sliding QWERTY Keyboard
3.7″ Screen
800Mhz Processor or 1Ghz Dual Core Snapdragon according to a different source
512MB RAM
5 MP Camera or 8 MP according to a different source
Sprint 4G

Assuming the 800 MHz processor and 5 MP camera are correct, then this is almost definitely Sprint's version of the Desire Z (the same as T-Mobile's G2).

Nov

Acer To Reveal 5, 7, And 10-Inch Tablets Tomorrow. Which Ones Will Run Android?

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Acer, Froyo 2.2, News

According to multiple sources, Acer is planning a special event tomorrow in New York to announce three tablets - one 5-inch (not much is known about it), one 7-inch (is expected to run Android 2.2), and a 10-inch (is expected to run Windows 7). Acer showed off a tablet several months back with a front-facing keyboard with a 7-inch screen; there's a good chance this is the same product but with some revisions.

The 7-inch tablet looks somewhat like a Kindle, mostly because of the front-facing physical keyboard, and could possibly be launching sometime before Christmas. It was also rumored to be running on the Tegra 2 processor with Android 3.0, but its release has been hastened in order to compete with the Galaxy Tab.

Nov

HTC Releases Source Code For T-Mobile G2, myTouch 4G, And Droid Incredible Kernels

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Froyo 2.2, G2 (Vision), HTC, Incredible, myTouch 4G (Glacier), T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

It's always nice when a manufacturer is nice enough to allow the community to see the source code used to keep device kernels ticking, particularly as this source code can help with troubleshooting and ROM development. They are, to a certain extent, required to do this by the GPLv2 license, but it's still pretty great for all you XDA junkies. Well, if you guys were lusting after the latest source code for the kernels of the T-Mobile G2, the myTouch 4G, or Verizon's Droid Incredible, you can finally stop lurking around, for HTC has, at long last, made the code for these handsets available.

Nov

[Updated] New Options In The Android Market App Publishing Interface: Promo Videos, High Res App Icon, Feature Graphics

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Android OS, Apps/Games, Development, News

Whoa! Only a few hours after sending out a notification about a big Market maintenance, Google sneakily updated the Market publishing interface with a variety of new options, pointing to nothing less than an updated Market likely to launch very soon, probably together with Gingerbread. The presence of higher resolution graphics underscores Google's newly embraced support for tablets and TVs, and possibly suggests that Market web interface we've been waiting for since Google I/O is finally around the corner.

Here are all the new options available to developers publishing their apps, in addition to the 2 screenshots and the promotional graphic+text (I can't think of a place where the latter is used):

High Resolution Application Icon - 512w x 512h, 24 bit PNG or JPEG (no alpha).

Nov

Major 6-Hour Google Market Maintenance Coming This Thursday. What Could It Be For?

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, Gingerbread 2.3, News

As a registered Android developer, today I, along with thousands of other devs, got the following email from the Android Market Support team. The email informed me that the developer console, which is the interface used for publishing new apps, will be unavailable this Thursday, November 18th from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. PST. The customer-facing Market itself will continue working just fine (or so I hope at least), but no new applications or app updates will be allowed.

Now, what could this update be for? It could be as simple as the promised Market housekeeping that was announced 5 days ago, although it seemed far less serious, and I got the impression that it did not require any downtime.