Android OS - 53/164 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Apr

Movie Rentals From Google Play And YouTube Now Available In Australia

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Google, News

Despite Australia's historically diverse movie industry, up until recently, Aussies found Google's Play and YouTube services devoid of films available to them.

But no more! As of late yesterday, Australian Google users can access both the Movies page on Google Play and the YouTube counterpart. They'll have access to countless movies, both from US studios (e.g. The Walt Disney Company, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, NBCUniversal, Village Roadshow Pictures and Lionsgate) and from Australian producers (e.g. Roadshow Films, Icon Film Distribution, Madman Entertainment, Hopscotch and Transmission Films). Viewing options include your desktop browser (of course) as well as Android phones and tablets, so long as the Google Play Movies app is installed.

Apr

Acer's Iconia Tab A500 Getting A Taste Of Ice Cream Sandwich Two Days Ahead Of Schedule

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Iconia Tab A500, News

It looks like owners of Acer's Iconia Tab A500 have something to be excited about today – according to various reports, an official update to Ice Cream Sandwich has begun rolling out. Users began reporting the update just this afternoon, indicating that Acer is pushing ICS to A500 owners a full two days ahead of the official start date.

Photo courtesy of XDA user indukwe

You may remember that the A100 also saw an early update to ICS, with rollout beginning three days ahead of schedule. Users from around the world are reporting success with today's rollout, though there is some debate as to whether the "Gen2" variant of the Iconia Tab A500 is yet able to grab the update.

Apr

[Breaking] Google Drive Cloud Service Accidentally Exposed On Google's French Blog

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Google, News

The headlines keep rolling in today - first, Google began selling the Galaxy Nexus online, and now, Mountain View has accidentally published details about its ~~exciting~~ interesting... new cloud service.

Update: In a nutshell, you'll be able to make and share documents and presentations, in addition to having access to your videos, photos, Google Docs, and PDFs; Android interaction will include an app for both phones and tablets.

The news was posted earlier today on Google's French blog before being taken down shortly thereafter; however, Google+ user Gerwin Sturm managed to catch it just in time. Here's the translation, as per Google Translate:

Posted by Sundar Pichai, Senior Vice President, Google Chrome & Apps

Today we launch Google Drive, a centralized space where you can create, share, collaborate and store all your documents.

Apr

Acer Iconia A100 Ice Cream Sandwich Update Rolling Out Early To Some Lucky Users

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Iconia A100, News

Prepare to mash the System Update button, A100 owners: the promised update to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich, or ICS) has apparently been rolling out since yesterday. Word came to us last night from Canadian reader Graham, who provided a handy-dandy picture as proof:

An XDA thread confirms Graham's update wasn't a fluke, with users all around the world receiving the update. So far the thread is 10 pages long but contains little by way of comments on the user experience after the update, but it does look like the ICS update is preceeded by a smaller 17MB update. Other than that, we have little by way of details at the moment.

Apr

Ice Cream Sandwich Update (2.14.531.1) For T-Mobile's HTC Amaze 4G Leaked

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Amaze 4G (Ruby), Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Leaks, News, T-Mobile

Remember way back in December when T-Mo hinted an Ice Cream Sandwich update for the HTC Amaze? Almost five months later, the page has not been updated and an official software update has not been released. Thanks to veteran XDA user Football, however, Amaze owners can download a leaked version of the official ICS update. Considering that the Amaze recently got S-Off capability, it's looking like users have a lot to be excited about this week.

For those interested, this update contains software version 2.14.531.1. Though the download was only posted earlier today, several reports of success are rolling in already.

Apr

Dan Rosenberg's Presentation On Android Modding For The Security Practitioner Is A Must-Read

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Android OS, News

While not everyone who owns an Android device roots, the Android modding community is at the very heart of everything we love about our little green buddy. Security researcher Dan Rosenberg recently gave a presentation where he elaborates on root and modding methods, as well as expounding on the security implications of modding Android phones.

Rosenberg also had quite a lot to say about how carriers influence the Android landscape. Said Rosenberg:

"Of the 10 vulnerabilities that I discovered and used for rooting on Android, 9 of them are related to "stupid" file permissioning not present in the stock Android code, but introduced by the manufacturers"

This won't come as any surprise to anyone who's not fond of carrier skins.

Apr

Pixel Qi Reveals Next-Generation Display With Retina-Like Resolution, "Massive Power Savings"

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, News

You may remember Pixel Qi, an ambitious display maker looking to provide users with brilliant displays that not only save energy, but which are actually readable in sunlight. Since we covered their 7" and 10.1" displays way back in May, the company has continued working, announcing in a blog post yesterday a new display which "matches the resolution of the iPad3 screen, and its full image quality including matching or exceeding contrast, color saturation, the viewing angle, and so forth with massive power savings." In the post, Mary Lou Jepsen, founder of Pixel Qi, goes on to explain the display's special low power mode which "runs at a full 100x power reduction from the peak power consumed by the iPad3 screen."

Of course, the new display's ratings in the table above are "proposed" and not quite official just yet.

Apr

Google Wrests Controls Of GooglePlay.Com From Squatter

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Legal, News

After what was a pretty obvious application of the ICANN anti-squatting policy, it seems Google has now gained control of GooglePlay.com from an ad-serving Japanese squatter. Google filed a complaint under ICANN anti-squatting regulations, and after the case's short stint at the National Arbitration Forum (a non-court but legally binding decision-making body in the US), Google now shows as the registrant of GooglePlay.com.

A quick 'whois' of the domain yields the following:

Registrant Name: DNS Admin
Registrant Organization: Google Inc.
Registrant Street1: 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Registrant Street2: 
Registrant City: Mountain View
Registrant State: California
Registrant Postal Code: 94043
Registrant Country: US
Registrant Phone: 16506234000
Registrant Fax: 
Registrant Email: dns-admin@google.com

While the page in question still loads, it shows that the domain has been seized (according to Google Translate), and a change in registrant information usually indicates that either the squatter has given up the domain freely, or a decision has been reached and the domain seized by ICANN, beginning the process of transfer of ownership.

Apr

HTC Unloads Kernel Source Code For A Bevy Of Devices, Including The One V

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Desire HD (Ace), HTC, myTouch 4G Slide (Doubleshot), One V (Primo), Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid), Sensation XE, Vivid

HTC, keeping up with its recent pattern of speedy source release, has dropped official ICS kernel source code for a heaping handful of devices, perhaps most notably the One V, a member of HTC's new One line which hasn't yet debuted in many countries.

Other devices include the US variant of the Vivid and several iterations of the Sensation, with the Desire HD and myTouch 4G Slide's Gingerbread (2.3) kernel source also being dropped.

Those interested in tweaking or developing with the official kernel source of the above devices should head over to HTC's Developer Center (linked below) to grab the downloads.

Apr

[Updated: Mexico/Brazil Added] Acer Clarifies A100 And A500 ICS Update Date - Starting April 27 In The US

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Acer, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Iconia A100, Iconia Tab A500, News

You're probably getting used to OEMs being conveniently vague about dates of Ice Cream Sandwich rollouts. Well, Acer has seen fit to set the record straight and clue everyone into the update schedule for the Iconia Tab A100 and A500 Android tablets. Both devices will begin getting the update on April 27, which is a mere 10 days from now. The A200 got its update way back in February.

Update: Mexico and Brazil updates clarified:

The aforementioned April date is only for the US variant of the devices, though. Latin America is actually getting its updates under way a few days earlier, but sadly, Iconia A100 owners in Canada will have to wait until May 3.