Android OS - 147/164 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Oct

[Updated With Mirror] Motorola Cliq Gets Manual Update To Android 2.1 Éclair

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in CLIQ / DEXT (Morrison), Eclair 2.1, Motorola, News

Last Updated: October 24th, 2010

It's been a long and difficult journey for Cliq owners, but it looks like the finish line may just be around the corner – Motorola is now allowing a limited number of users to test out the update to Android 2.1 Eclair.

Jealous? Don't be - thanks to the folks over at Android Central, the rest of us get to join in on the fun too. Unfortunately, the process isn't exactly as simple as an OTA, so here's how to do it:

Download the update file (it should be called "Blur_Version.2.1.5.MB200.T-Mobile.en.US.zip") ~~from~~ ~~here~~.

Update: It was bound to happen sooner or later - the file at the link above has been pulled.

Oct

Giant Gingerbread Statue Arrives At Googleplex

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Gingerbread 2.3, News, Videos

What do we have here? Why, it's a giant Gingerbread statue getting installed over at Googleplex, right next to Froyo and the rest of the gang. It's not exactly what we'd been expecting and hoping to see today, but it's a start. Last time the Froyo statue was installed, we got the SDK a week later. Bring it on, Google!

Source: YouTube via morrildl Twitter

Oct

Samsung Promises FroYo Update For All Galaxy S Versions In November [Update: UK Only]

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in AT&T, Captivate, Epic 4G, Fascinate, Froyo 2.2, Galaxy S, Mesmerize, Samsung, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, Verizon Wireless, Vibrant

All together now: finally! After several broken promises and recalled updates, Samsung's just announced that Android 2.2 FroYo will be available through a "brand new version of Kies" (that's Samsung's software upgrade system) early in November for Galaxy S owners in the UK, while "all operator versions" are "expected" to be available by the end of November (hopefully that includes the "operator versions" of the Galaxy S that Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile are currently carrying here in the States). One could complain that it's about four months late, and that's likely due to the evils of custom UIs - but then again, it's better late than never, right?

Oct

Motorola Droid X FroYo Source Code Released, Developers Go Wild

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Droid X (Shadow), Froyo 2.2, Motorola, Verizon Wireless

This isn't the first time the Droid X has had its source code revealed to the world, but it's a first for the frozen yogurt kind (MotoBlur-ridden as it may be). That's right - despite some acknowledged issues with the update, Motorola has decided the pressure of the GPLv2 license was too much to bear and handed over the source code for the Droid X's FroYo update. Hackers, developers, and anyone else interested, tinker away!

Note: If you have any confusion regarding Android's dual Apache/GPL licensing, head over to this excellent ArsTechnica article that explains it in great detail.

Source: Motorola via Droid Life

Oct

Weekend Tablet Rundown: Japanese Carrier Gets Custom Samsung Galaxy Tab, Advent Vega Won't Have Market... At First?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Devices By Manufacturer, Galaxy Tab, Gingerbread 2.3, News

Two-for-one on this post: Japanese carrier KDDI revealed this morning that they'll be selling a customized version of Samsung's upcoming Galaxy Tab. On a similar tablet note, it looks like the Advent Vega will be joining the list of budget Android tablets that won't have the market. Turns out we've never covered the Vega either, so I'll provide a few extra details on it. Let's start with the Galaxy Tab: what's custom about it?

First and most obviously, it comes with a slightly redesigned appearance - white edges (bumpers?) along the top and bottom, capacitive buttons that are rotated for landscape use (versus the normal portrait orientation), and a custom dock.

Oct

Real HDMI Dev Voluntarily Pulls App From Market Over Motorola Droid X Issues, Android Market Model

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Droid X (Shadow), Froyo 2.2, News, Verizon Wireless

On September 30, developer gman announced he would be pulling his popular Droid X app Real HDMI from the market. Now, it looks like that time has come and gone, as the app is no longer available for download from the Market, AppBrain, or anywhere else (as far as we can tell). He provides 3 main reasons for having done so:

Issue #1 = Droid X 2.2 is broke and I can't fix it.
There is (at least one) critical bug in the Droid X 2.2 that causes a statistical chance of the Droid X LCD Driver to crash when transitioning from HDMI ON → OFF.

Oct

Android 2.2 (Froyo) Update Begins Rolling Out For Samsung Galaxy S - In The Nordic Region

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Captivate, Epic 4G, Fascinate, Froyo 2.2, Galaxy S, News, Samsung, Vibrant

We have good news and bad news for Samsung Galaxy S owners. The good: the Froyo update source code released a few days ago is now officially being rolled out by Samsung. The bad news: they're starting with the Nordic countries... then "gradually" moving across Europe, Asia, North America, Africa, and everyone else.

The word "gradually" isn't exactly encouraging, and neither is the fact that North America is towards the end of the list. Still, the news alone should be enough to brighten the day of a whole bunch of people.

[Source: Samsung via Engadget]

Full press release:

Samsung GALAXY S Offers New Android 2.2 Upgrade

New platform upgrade provides enhanced experience on the go

SEOUL, Korea – October 18, 2010 – Samsung Electronics Co.

Oct

HTC Desire Z Joins Rank With The T-Mobile G2, Has Its Source Code Exposed To The World

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Desire Z (Vision), Froyo 2.2, HTC

Looks like T-Mobile's G2 isn't the only HTC-built Android device having its source code outed today - the Desire Z (better known as the international version of the G2) has just had its source code revealed as well.

We shouldn't expect to see anything too surprising here since the Desire HD, which runs the same new version of Sense UI, has already had its firmware leaked. However, rest assured we'll keep you posted just in case somebody over at xda-developers or the like discovers a gold nugget hidden inside the code. Or something. Permanent root, anyone?

Source: HTC Developer Center via Android Central

Oct

Motorola: DROID X Has Froyo "Issues" - Fixes Coming... At Some Point

Posted by David Ruddock in Droid X (Shadow), Froyo 2.2, News

Motorola has acknowledged the complaints of a number of DROID X owners who have upgraded to Android 2.2 and are experiencing "issues" related to the update. Some of the issues are minor, but a couple (failure to boot, kernel panic) are definitely not. Motorola is saying the bugs have been squashed, but the fixes will be incorporated into a yet-to-be-announced "future software release." Here's what a Moto employee on the DROID X support forum had to say:

If you have already upgraded to 2.2 for Droid X, you have found some new capabilities. Unfortunately, some owners also found new issues. Here are some of the known issues raised by forums members, with some information about each.

Oct

Samsung Releases Galaxy S Froyo Update Source Code

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Android OS, Froyo 2.2, Galaxy S, News

This article deals with a couple of advanced topics. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the terms, hit up our primers here:

Today, Samsung updated its open-source portal with what seems to be the final Android 2.2 source code for JPM Galaxy S i9000s. This might not mean much right now to those of you running carrier-branded Galaxy S phones (Captivate, Vibrant, Epic 4G, Fascinate), but it is a positive indication of things to come and may mean that the Froyo ROMs for your handsets will be showing up sooner rather than later.