News - 695/939 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

May

Google Rolling Out Music Beta Invites To Verizon XOOM Owners

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Verizon Wireless, XOOM

When Google announced its highly anticipated Music beta service at I/O last week, we were told that, aside from I/O attendees, Verizon XOOM owners would be among the first to get to use the service. Holding true to that, Google has officially started sending out the invites this morning.

As far as we know, this is exclusive to Verizon customers right now, with no word when owners of other models (or other devices) can expect to get the invite (aside from attendees with their Galaxy Tab 10.1's).

Have any of you received your invite yet? Drop us a line when you do and let us know how you feel about the service.

May

DROID X2 Shows Up On Verizon Accessory Page; Still Unannounced

Posted by David Ruddock in Droid X2, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

Continuing in the grand tradition of letting its less-than-flagship phones remain relatively free of fanfare leading up to release, Verizon (and Motorola) have let slip that the DROID X2 is probably coming soon, with the addition of an accessory page for the device on Verizon's website.

In case you've forgotten, the DROID X2 is the dual-core, qHD-display packing successor to the wildly popular DROID X (the most popular Android phone to date, in fact). The X2 will be dropping with Gingerbread and the latest iteration of Motorola's not-MOTOBLUR overlay when it lands supposedly some time this month (maybe May 26).

May

Sprint EVO 3D Pre-Orders Start Today At RadioShack, But Don't Tell Anyone - It's A Secret!

Posted by Cameron Summerson in EVO 3D (Shooter), News, Sprint

If you've been eyeballing the HTC EVO 3D in anticipation of a launch date, then you'll be glad to know that we're one step closer to achieving that goal. In a semi-unofficial manner, pre-orders for the 1.2GHz dual core, 4.3 inch beast have started at Radioshack - but don't expect to see anyone shouting from the rooftops to let you know about it. You see, while you can pre-order with a $50 deposit starting today, this is apparently a deal only for the informed crowd (such as yourselves), as it can only be honored if you specifically ask for it.

Oh, the release date, you ask?

May

Security Vulnerability In Most Versions Of Android Allows Attackers To Steal Your Login Credentials

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Android OS, News

Regardless of where you sit in the tech world, there is one thing that affects us all: security vulnerabilities. Unfortunately, our little green robot is no exception this rule, and The Register recently dropped a report on a potentially bad exploit.

Apparently, in Android 2.3.3 and below, there is a vulnerability that would allow attackers to collect digital tokens that are stored on the device after users login to Google Calendar, Facebook, Twitter, and "several other accounts."

Here's how it works: when you login to an account, an authToken is stored locally on your device for 14 days, allowing you to re-access the service without hassle.

May

Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Available For Pre-Order On Verizon Beginning May 19th For $199.99, Out May 26th

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Games, News, Verizon Wireless, Xperia Play (Zeus, PlayStation Phone)

Last Updated: August 1st, 2012

Verizon released a press-release today (see below) confirming the availability of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play. The device is set to hit VZW shelves on May 26th for $199 with a two-year agreement, but customers can pre-order the device online beginning May 19th. Voice plans start at $39.99 a month and the compulsory unlimited data plan is $29.99.

This 4" smartphone boasts a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon II processor with Adreno 205 GPU, a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, a VGA front-facing camera, and mobile hotspot capability. Of course, this Android 2.3 device is also known as the "PlayStation Phone", and it comes pre-loaded with seven game titles, including Madden NFL 11, Bruce Lee Dragon Warrior, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline, The Sims 3, Star Battalion, Crash Bandicoot, and the perennial favorite, Tetris.

May

[Download] Samsung Kernel Source Code For The Infuse 4G

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Development, Infuse 4G, News

Last Updated: November 23rd, 2011

Remember the Samsung Infuse 4G? Yeah, the one with 4.5-inch screen and 1.2GHz processor that just hit AT&T shelves two days ago. Well, continuing with its newly-found source-code-release motif, Samsung dropped the code for the Infuse 4G over at the Open Source Developers Center.

Let the homebrewing begin! Hit the link below for download.

[Open Source Developers Center]

May

Samsung Launches Lab.dev Remote Device Testing Service For Developers

Posted by David Ruddock in Development, News, Samsung

File this under "super awesome developer things" - today Samsung launched its brand-spanking-new developer portal for Android, along with an awesome new service: Lab.dev RTL (Remote Testing Lab).

Basically, it gives you, the developer, access to any of Samsung's line of Android devices for remote testing of applications and other such developer-y things via your web browser and the Java plugin. Basic members of the developer portal receive 10 "credits" of testing time per day - or 150 minutes. Premium members get up to 100 times that much, but that program remains "invite only" for the time being.

You can, presumably, buy additional credits - should you so desire.

May

[Rumor] Amazon Getting Ready To Launch Two Tablets In 2011; One May Pack Quad-Core Kal-El SoC

Posted by Zak Stinson in News, Rumors, Tablets

Rumors of Amazon's first foray into the tablet world seem to be solidifying. Today, BGR received a tip adding credibility to the potential "family" of devices that the online giant is supposedly prepping. While these devices remain squarely in the realm of rumor, the few details that can be gleaned are pretty juicy.

The tip gave some info on two different tablets: "Coyote," an entry level tablet that will be running NVDIA's dual-core Tegra 2 processor, and "Hollywood" - a higher end device powered by NVIDIA's forthcoming quad-core Kal-El SoC.

As of yet, there is no word on any other specifications - at all.

May

T-Mobile Is Getting A Triad Of New Android Phones On June 8th: HTC Sensation, Samsung Exhibit 4G, And Samsung GT2

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Exhibit 4G, GT2, News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid), T-Mobile

It looks like June 8th is going to be quite a day around T-Mobile, because three new Android devices should be hitting the shelves. Among the three devices is the HTC Sensation - the highly anticipated 4.3 inch beast that rocks Sense 3.0. Not to distract from the others that are dropping at the same time, though, here is a spec-sheet rundown of each.

Samsung GT2

As the lowest-end of the three devices, the GT2 is a sequel to the Samsung Gravity T, but this time it's packing Android under the hood.

3.2 Inch display
Slide-out QWERTY keyboard
800MHz processor (they call it "impressive" - ha!)
3MP rear camera
Android 2.2

While this phone clearly isn't breaking any records, it appears that the younger generation may be the target audience for this text-centric device.

May

Trillian For Android Sheds Price Tag, But Gains Ads In The Process

Posted by Matt Demers in Applications, News

Cerulean Studios, creator of the popular cross-platform IM client Trillian, recently announced that all versions of the aforementioned product would transition to a free-with-ads model, as opposed to a paid download. Even though this change took place about a week ago, it looks like the Market listing has finally been updated to reflect accordingly.

Users are still able to subscribe to a paid service that is ad-free and adds new features, like the ability to view chat histories online. Users who've paid in the past will have their purchases honored, and will be able to transfer them over to other platforms.