Development - 13/86 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Nov

Motorola Adds Electrify M To Bootloader Unlock Program - No Developer Edition Required

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, Electrify M, Motorola, News, US Cellular

Following the ATRIX HD, the recently announced Electrify M destined for U.S. Cellular is Motorola's newest member of the bootloader unlock program. The Electrify M is basically the RAZR M with minor visual tweaks but, unlike its Verizon sibling, won't come in a separate, more expensive developer-friendly flavor. Instead, like the Photon Q on Sprint and the RAZR i/HD outside of U.S., it's unlockable out of the box.

An unlocked bootloader means Electrify M owners will have full blessing of US Cellular and Motorola to customize software on their devices and flash custom ROMs, in exchange for losing the warranty, of course (in case there is any confusion, Motorola specifies: "Once you get the unlock code, your device is no longer covered by the Motorola warranty; in other words, please don't blame us if things go wrong, even if they appear unrelated to unlocking the bootloader.").

Nov

Samsung Posts Galaxy S III Mini Open Source Code, Modders Try Not To Make Austin Powers Jokes

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in Development, Galaxy S III Mini, News, Samsung

It never rains, but it pours. Yesterday Samsung posted the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean source code for both new Galaxy Tab models and the AT&T Galaxy Note II. Today they're keeping the open source train rolling with the first available code for the new Galaxy S III Mini, the flagship model's 4-inch brother-from-another-mother. The 4.1 code is available now from Samsung's developer website.

If you're wondering why the GSIII Mini needs separate code from the standard Galaxy S III, remember that it's actually quite a different beast under the hood. Aside from the 4-inch 800x480 screen and other mid-range specs, it's running a 1Ghz dual-core STE U8420 processor, with completely different architecture from the Exynos chip in the international model and the Snapdragon powering the LTE version.

Nov

Motorola Announces ATRIX HD Developer Edition With Unlockable Bootloader

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in ATRIX HD, Development, Motorola, News

Welcome to the newer, friendlier Motorola, where every would-be Android modder is catered to. After creating developer editions of both the new Droid RAZR M and Droid RAZR HD for Verizon (the first from the manufacturer-carrier combo since the XOOM) Google's new acquisition is spreading the love to AT&T. The company announced the ATRIX HD Developer Edition, complete with unlockable bootloader, via its Twitter account today. There's currently no price or date available, beyond the fact that it will be available soon.

If Moto follows its pattern with the Verizon phones, the ability to unlock the bootloader will not be made available to customers who bought their phones from the carrier, on-contract or otherwise.

Oct

Samsung Releases Open Source Kernel Files For Note II On T-Mobile, Sprint, US Cellular, Plus AT&T's Galaxy Rugby Pro

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, AT&T, Development, Galaxy Note II, News, Samsung, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular

Now that we've seen Samsung's Galaxy Note II go up for grabs at T-Mo, Sprint, and US Cellular, it's time we began expecting to see Samsung drop kernel source code for the carriers' respective variants. That's just what Sammy has done, recently releasing the open source kernel files for SGH-T889, SCH-R950_USC, SPH-L900_SPR, and a bonus device – AT&T's Galaxy Rugby Pro, lovingly called SGH-I547_ATT.

Oct

There Is Hope For AOSP Support Of Sprint's Galaxy Nexus After All As Google Releases "Experimental" Binaries

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, Galaxy Nexus, News, Sprint

The Galaxy Nexus variant on Sprint might actually have a chance of being officially supported by Google in AOSP after all, which would be a big step in the right direction for carrier-branded Nexus devices.

If you remember, neither Verizon's nor Sprint's Galaxy Nexus was supported by the Android Open Source Project at launch, with the Verizon's version joining the program over half a year after its release. Even though the Nexus S 4G is fully supported, Sprint's GNex variant remained absent from the Nexus Binaries page and was therefore completely unsupported by the Android team.

When the Android 4.1.2 binaries (i.e.

Oct

[Update 2: It's Official] Developers From India Can Now Sell Paid Apps In The Play Store

Posted by David Ruddock in Apps/Games, Development, News

Update 2: The Android Developers blog has just posted on this, nearly a month later, officially (and finally) announcing the addition of India to the list of supported merchant countries, meaning Indian developers can now sell their apps and games on the Play Store. See the original story for more information.

Update: India has since vanished from the list of support countries for merchants. We've reached out to Google to shed some light on the situation, but for now, it appears merchant support for India has been put on hold.

Following the addition of a number of countries way back in April, Google has updated the Google Play for Developers site to indicate that developers in India can now sell apps on the Play Store.

Oct

Quick Hands-On: CyanDelta Updater Brings You Incremental CM Updates, Eliminates Nightly 200MB Downloads

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Applications, Development, News

Many of you probably already know how I feel about CyanogenMod – I swear by it, especially on my EVO LTE. Nothing beats it in terms of bringing a (mostly) stock experience to your device with just the right amount of tweaks and extra features. Plus, there are nightly updates that satisfy my need to stay on the bleeding edge and get a daily fix of… fixes. The only downside to this is that each nightly update (for my EVO, anyway) hovers around 180MB, a download that takes just a little more time than I care to spend sometimes.

Enter CyanDelta Updater.

Oct

Everest (Motorola Xoom 3G) Gets First Experimental CyanogenMod 10 Build

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Development, News, XOOM

Earlier this evening, CyanogenMod's Google+ page published an announcement that read "Who says Everest is in Nepal?". That's right – the Motorola Xoom 3G (GSM) variant has joined the list of CM-supported devices, getting its first experimental build dated 10-17.

Steady Hawkin, in a comment to the announcement, notes that the experimental build is "still a WIP," and encourages users to report any issues they may encounter.

If you're a Xoom GSM owner looking for some CM10 action, just keep an eye on the CyanogenMod download center's Everest page (linked below) for the latest builds. As CM's announcement notes, mountaineers need not apply.

Oct

Google Play Has A Brand-New Developer Console: Completely Overhauled Interface, New Statistics, And More

Posted by David Ruddock in Apps/Games, Development, News

If you're a developer publishing apps on Google Play, the developer console is probably something you're checking every day compulsively. And Google understands that just because you're a developer, you don't need to look at something ugly and boring to track your apps' download and ratings stats, or manage their publication status. Back at I/O in June, Google showed off a bunch of new console features that were "coming soon."

And today, Google is finally unveiling those features in a brand-new version of the developer console, and you can start using it right now. Just head over to the console, and hit the "Try the new version" button (as Google has previously done with Gmail and Analytics), and you'll be good to go.

Oct

exclusive-upcoming-gmail-for-android-4-2-will-finally-have-pinch-to-zoom-swipeaway-deletearchive-video

[Exclusive] Download: The Unreleased Gmail 4.2 APK With Pinch-To-Zoom And More

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Development, Exclusives, News

Last Updated: October 15th, 2012

Ok, guys. Start your engines - here's the download and instructions you need to get the leaked Gmail 4.2 up and running on your device. Keep in mind that this is an unreleased version so some things may be buggy or broken, though I haven't run into any problems.

If you somehow don't know what I'm talking about, we have the next, unreleased version of Gmail, and we're finally allowed to share it with you. Gmail 4.2 finally has pinch-to-zoom, a nifty new swipe-to-archive/delete feature, and a bunch of other things. Just for fun I'll embed the video again: