Jul

Motorola Droid 2 Launches August 12 With FroYo (And… R2-D2?)

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Droid 2, Froyo 2.2, News, Verizon Wireless

All kinds of Droid 2 news floating around the interwebs the past few days. We already knew it was coming in August and replacing the original Droid, we caught some blurrycam shots a little over a month ago, and Gizmodo caught a hands on a week later. In case you’ve been AFK for the last few months, it will slot in just below the Droid X:

5 MP Camera
3G Mobile Hotspot
1 GHz CPU
8 GB onboard memory
8 GB mSD card installed, support for up to 16 GB
Dark chrome color (rather than black)
Roughly the same size as the original

As speculated last month, new reports seem to confirm that the D2 will ship with Android 2.2 (FroYo).

Jul

The Current Droid Incredible OTA Update Situation - Froyo Is Coming

Posted by Ron Hamelin in Android OS, Froyo 2.2, Incredible, News, Verizon Wireless

Many blogs and websites have reported over the past several days that an OTA update was coming for the Droid Incredible which included the following updates:

720p video recording (sweeeeeeet!)
Verizon’s mobile hotspot app
Integrated Skype app
Cool new “Droid” boot animation

For the record, I’ve had my Incredible since the beginning of May and have seen only one minor update (update 1) since then. Apparently, this most recent OTA was a "rolling" update and was supposed to hit Incredible owners over the last week or so.

Image credit: Droid-Life

If you haven’t yet received your OTA update, I may have a possible reason why.

Jul

[Updated 7/22]: Cyanogen Mod Nightly For HTC EVO 4G Released

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Froyo 2.2, HTC, News

Last Updated: July 22nd, 2010

[Update – 7/22 7:45 AM EST]: The unrevoked root method doesn’t work with CM6 – you must either use Toast’s method or SimpleRoot. Thanks for posting up your results guys, keep them coming!]

Cyanogen, the biggest name in Android ROMs, has released their first FroYo ROM for the HTC EVO. While still a “nightly” build, many users are reporting it is very stable. However, as with most FroYo ROMs to day, there are a number of things that don’t work just yet – although it is the only FroYo ROM with working cameras.

The more significant issues right now:

No sense – it’s AOSP (stock Android) with ADW Launcher running over top
No 4G
Google Apps must be reinstalled
No FM Radio

There are a ton of smaller issues as well.

Jul

Vodafone Releasing FroYo Update For Nexus One Soon

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Froyo 2.2, News, Nexus One (Passion), Vodafone

Vodafone Germany has been sending out a few interesting tweets lately, and the official word seems to be that Android 2.2 should be rolling out to Nexus One users sometime in the next few days (presumably, those are business days). Granted, we’re working with Google Translate on this one, but it’s probably safe to assume the translation is solid.

I’m a bit surprised there’s even a fuss at all, as the finalized FroYo update has only been rolling out to US N1 users for a short while, and no other phones have yet to receive official FroYo. Still, there you have it – should keep customers happy.

Jul

HTC Incredible Receives Some Froyo Love With Sense Via Sky Raider ROM Beta 1.0

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Development, Froyo 2.2, HTC, Incredible, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: July 13th, 2010

While its author openly claims the ROM is far from perfect, most Incredible owners would probably be happy to give this new ROM, codenamed Sky Raider, a whirl simply to see what Froyo+Sense feel like on their rare, practically extinct, phones.

While have not yet tested Sky Raider ourselves, the installation should be familiar to most rooted Incredible owners who have flashed a ROM before.

Note: this ROM appears to require a full wipe (system/user data or “factory” reset).

Download

Sky Raider 1.0 Beta for HTC Incredible:

Original: http://www.multiupload.com/WPEA12PICE
Mirror: http://www.mediafire.com/?woga5n4m5dc

Directions:
1. Download the ROM from the link above
2.

Jul

CyanogenMod 6.0.0 Release Candidate 1 Hits The Streets For Nexus One, Dream and Magic Devices (Download Links In Post)

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Development, Dream, Magic, News, Nexus One (Passion)

The long-awaited first beta (release candidate) of CyanogenMod 6 is available for download on the HTC Nexus One, Dream, and Magic devices as of 10:15PST this evening. While Cyanogen’s site is experiencing some seriously debilitating traffic, we’ve managed to get links to all the downloads for those of you eagerly awaiting a taste of what CyanogenMod 6 will bring to your phone. Additionally, Cyanogen has said it will be available via ROM Manager very shortly.

Download Links

Download Links For HTC Dream/Magic

http://kanged.net/mirror/download.php?file=update-cm-6.0.0-DS-RC1-signed.zip CyanogenMod 6 ROM For Dream/Magic
http://kanged.net/mirror/download.php?file=gapps-mdpi-FRF91-signed.zip Google Apps FRF91 Addon (Required, flash after ROM)

Download Links for Nexus One

http://kanged.net/mirror/download.php?file=update-cm-6.0.0-N1-RC1-signed.zip CyanogenMod 6 ROM For Nexus One
http://kanged.net/mirror/download.php?file=gapps-hdpi-FRF91-signed.zip Google Apps FRF91 Addon (Required, flash after ROM)
http://android.chemlab.org/android/nexus/radio-4.06.00.12_7.img Radio Image (This must be flashed before the ROM)

Instructions For Installation

Here are the instructions for the Dream and Magic, ala XDA Forums:

It's important to know that the "DangerSPL" (or DeathSPL or Haykuro's SPL or whatever you prefer) is a prerequisite for Dream/G1 users.

Jul

Google Android 2.2 Froyo Web Browser Versus Apple iOS4 Mobile Safari In JavaScript Benchmarks: No Contest

Posted by David Ruddock in Froyo 2.2, News

It’s rather surprising this comparison took such a long time to take place, but nonetheless, ArsTechnica published the image below comparing the performance of Android 2.2’s web browser against iOS4’s mobile Safari in two respected JavaScript benchmarks.

SunSpider

The SunSpider JavaScript benchmark measures the amount of time a certain number of various JavaScript operations take to complete. A lower score means the operations completed more quickly, and the Nexus One running Froyo beats the iPhone 4 in this regard by a sizeable ~50%.

V8

The V8 benchmark (an open source benchmark maintained by Google) tests the robustness of a phone’s ability to move through rigorous JavaScript actions found on many modern, complex web pages.

Jul

CyanogenMod 6 Alpha For HTC Hero Now Supports CDMA (Sprint) Devices

Posted by David Ruddock in Development, Froyo 2.2, Hero, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), HTC, Tips & Tutorials

Lox of the CyanogenMod developer team that unveiled an alpha release of CyanogenMod 6 for the HTC Hero GSM has now added support for CDMA (Sprint) HTC Hero devices.

Instructions and download links below, courtesy of Lox on the CyanogenMod forums:

INSTRUCTIONS:
- First time flashing CM to your Hero (or coming from another ROM)?
1. Unlock your device and install Amon_RA's recovery image
2. Do a Nandroid backup!
3. Update your radio if necessary
4. WIPE
5. Install the ROM
5. Optionally install the Google Addon
- Upgrading?
1. Do a Nandroid Backup!
2. Install the ROM (your Google apps will be backed up automatically)

DOWNLOAD LINKS:

Latest version: 6.0.0-Hero Test0 - 07/05/2010
Download: http://www.4shared.c...ro-test01-.html
Mirror: http://www.multiupload.com/XFIYDLORRO
MD5Sum: 30a58622af949489a64960faf6c09a89

Additional mandatory kernel update for CDMA users
Download: http://www.4shared.c...DMA-kernel.html
Mirrors: http://www.multiupload.com/X319MX7FW0
MD5Sum: 5d142c87711c6539de54ccdc47f83312

Google Addon: FRF91
Mirror: http://www.multiupload.com/HPAU548UGU

Install CM6 alpha on your CDMA Hero?

Jul

ROM Devs Bringing FroYo, 720p Video Recording to HTC Desire

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), Development, Froyo 2.2, News

Well, this is pretty exciting. Two ROM developers by the names of Maja and udK over at (where else?) XDA-Devs have ported FroYo to the Desire, and enabled 720p video recording – pretty neat stuff. The ROM (v1.0) isn’t quite ready for mass consumption yet – it’s still in testing (v0.3 is available for now, though). Still, it’s definitely something to look forward to, and we’ll be sure to update everyone once the FroYo/720p ROM is released.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: the fact that our phones are great to begin with, and that ROM devs continue to unlock more goodies for them, is just too cool.

Jul

Rumor: Android 2.2 Headed To Droid July 13

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Droid (Sholes), Froyo 2.2, News, Verizon Wireless

Just like with any rumor, you should take this with a grain of salt… however, unlike some other recent rumors, this one seems fairly plausible. Droid Life is reporting that, according to “reliable sources”, the Android 2.2 update rollout for the Motorola Droid will begin on July 13, just two days before the launch of the Droid X.

When the Droid X was announced, they made it clear that the phone would receive the 2.2 update sometime in late August, while the original Droid would receive the update in late July. The thirteenth may not be late in the month, but it still doesn’t completely discredit the rumor.