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Sep

Editorial: Let Android Be Android

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Editorials

Last Updated: January 17th, 2011

Introduction

I've had this article in mind for quite some time now, but haven't mustered up the courage to do it in fear of upsetting fanboys. But when the Fascinate shipped with Bing rather than Google as the default search engine, I could hold off no longer. For a Google Android phone to ship with a search engine other than Google, the search engine I know, love, and use on a daily basis (and I'm pretty sure I'm not alone here) is unthinkable; not offering a way to change it is even more of an outrage. Of course, Verizon isn't the only one committing this crime; AT&T did essentially the same thing with the Motorola Backflip, T-Mobile bastardized Sense on the MyTouch 3G Slide, and Sprint's had its share of Android-related evilness too (Sprint NASCAR?

Sep

CyanogenMod 6.0.0 Final/Stable For HTC Hero CDMA Released

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, Froyo 2.2, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), HTC, News

Last Updated: August 1st, 2012

CyanogenMod 6 is one of the most popular Android custom ROMs, and for a good reason - besides supporting a myriad of devices, it is built from AOSP (Android Open Source Project), which means no extra garbage that normally comes installed by carriers and customizations/improvements for the people, by the people (the CM contributor community is huge).

Sprint has abandoned our beloved HTC Hero (it was my first Android device a bit under a year ago now and holds a special place in my heart) but the Android community hasn't. The Hero lives on - in fact it has been enjoying Android 2.2 Froyo for a while now in alpha/beta/RC form, not thanks to Sprint yet again.

Sep

T-Mobile UK's HTC Desire Froyo Update Now Officially Rolling Out

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Froyo 2.2, HTC, News, T-Mobile

Unlocked HTC Desire owners have been enjoying their chilled Froyo update for over a month now, and today T-Mobile UK announced that its customers are finally going to be able to catch up to the rest of the pack.

Want to know what Froyo can offer you on top of Éclair? Check out our Everything You Need To Know About Android 2.2 Froyo roundup.

Over at T-Mobile UK forums, Sorcha from the T-Mo team posted the following announcement:

Hi all,
We have some exciting news for all our Desire users.
The 2.2 firmware update (FroYo) will be available from today and will be sent over the air (OTA) direct to your phone over the coming weeks.

Sep

CyanogenMod 6 Achieves A New Milestone... Motorola Milestone That Is

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, Froyo 2.2, Milestone, Motorola, News

This article mentions flashing of custom ROMs. If you’re unfamiliar with this term, hit up our primer here:

Custom ROMs Explained And Why You Want Them

CyanogenMod 6, a very popular custom Froyo ROM for a whole slew of Android phones, has given thousands of Android users something device manufacturers tried to take away - absolute freedom in customizing your Android experience. One glaring omission from the bunch is the Motorola Milestone, which Motorola decided to lock down way harder than its US counterpart, the original Droid.

All of this changed the other day with the announcement of Milestone support for CyanogenMod 6.1.

Sep

Verizon Page Teases Froyo Update for DROID X - Really, It's Coming. When? Good Question

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

With a leaked 2.2 build for the DROID X already floating around, Froyo for the DROID X is not a matter of if, but when. Unfortunately, "when" is best answered as "soon." This was the speculation after the leak, but soon has not come nearly soon enough. Given Motorola's very stern warning regarding copyright infringement on the leaked version, the delay is probably owed to Moto patching up the exploits that have allowed the DROID X to be rooted and its bootloader security to be circumvented (à la Birdman and Koush).

Regardless of the reason behind Moto's delay in updating the DX to 2.2, it seems Verizon's having trouble containing its excitement over the Froyo jump.

Sep

Gartner: Android Will Be #2 Mobile OS In 2010, Could Be #1 By 2014

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Devices By Manufacturer, News

Gartner, one of the top research and analysis companies in the world, has run the numbers and decided that Android could very well hold the #1 spot by 2014. Nokia's Symbian OS is likely to hold the top spot until 2014, and the analysts aren't certain Android will have taken the lead by then:

Symbian will remain at the top of Gartner's worldwide OS ranking due to Nokia's volume and the push into more mass market price points. However, by the end of the forecast period, the No. 1 spot will be contested with Android, which will be at a very similar share level.

Sep

Galaxy Tab On Its Way To Verizon, Sprint, And AT&T?

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in AT&T, Froyo 2.2, Galaxy Tab, News, Sprint, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: October 25th, 2010

The Galaxy Tab is really shaping up to one awesome tablet, and if this latest rumor from the Wall Street Journal turns out to be true, a lot of people will be able to experience it for themselves.

Apparently, "three people familiar with the matter" told WSJ that Samsung already has deals with Verizon, Sprint, and AT&T that involve a certain 7-inch tablet - deals similar to the ones made for the Galaxy S line of phones. Obviously, this means more people would be able to experience the wonders of Android blown up to a 1024x768 resolution on a 7" diagonal display (although, if you ask Google, there aren't many to be had yet).

Sep

The State Of Android Fragmentation: Lookin' Pretty Good, Still Much Better Than iOS Fragmentation

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Cupcake 1.5, Donut 1.6, Eclair 2.1, Froyo 2.2, News

It's that time of month again: Android's platform distribution numbers are up for the period ending September 1, and things are looking pretty good. Android 2.1 is up to nearly 41.7% of the market, and 2.2 checks in at 28.7% - between the two, 70% of Android phones are running 2.1 or better.

Android 1.5 and 1.6 still measure at a combined 29.5% of all devices. Obviously, any number above 0 isn't good, but as long as the rate is dropping, we'll take it.

In early August, we found some data from Chitika which suggested that fragmentation is worse in iOS than Android.

Sep

Lego Just Became Cool Again - This 15" Android Logo Replica Is Ready To Take On Darth Vader Himself

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Editorials, News

To be honest, I had completely forgotten what legos were (probably just a symptom of old age), but those little toy bricks aren't going away anytime soon, especially if structures like the one our tipster just shared with us keep on coming.

Yessir, what we're looking at here is a 15x12-inch replica of the Android logo made entirely out of legos. What's more, the robot was planned entirely through a custom C program. Sound cool? Grayson Wendell, our tipster, the builder of the replica, and the writer of the custom C program, also added in an Android-powered iPhone, just for kicks.

Sep

Archos 32 PMP - I Mean Internet Tablet - Now Available For $150

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in 32, ARCHOS, Froyo 2.2, News

Sure, it's no Galaxy Tab, but the Archos 32, which just began shipping today, does offer some bang for your buck.

With specs like:

a 3.2 inch 400x240 resistive touchscreen
an 800MHz ARM Cortex A8 processor
802.11 b/g/n WiFi
BlueTooth 2.1 + EDR
a G-sensor

it's not exactly at the top of the Android tablet heap (or even the Archos tablet heap), but for $149.99, what more could you ask? Other than, of course, a name change (seriously, how does a 3.2-inch device qualify as a "tablet" rather than a "portable media player?") and an operating system that isn't FroYo.