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May

Android Finally Gains Native FLAC Support Starting With Version 3.1

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

While it doesn't affect those of you who have no idea what FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) is, today's Android 3.1 announcement (see the SDK release here) will make a lot of people who gave up MP3s for FLAC files happy. Forget happy - think ecstatic. Unlike MP3s, FLAC is a lossless codec, meaning it does not degrade in quality after compression, making it the perfect solution for audiophiles who really care about the quality of their sound.

After staring at the issue (#1461) (and I'm sure working hard on implementing support for it) for over 2 years, the Android team finally added native FLAC decoding to Android starting with Android 3.1, the latest iteration of Honeycomb.

May

[Visualized] Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Vs Motorola XOOM

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy Tab 10.1, Motorola, News, Samsung, XOOM

If you've been following the Google I/O coverage today at all, you are probably aware that Google and Samsung gave out about 5,000 Galaxy Tab 10.1 units early to all conference attendees. I didn't take the XOOM with me to the conference to avoid carrying extra bulk, so I didn't have a chance to compare the 10.1 to it while doing the deep dive first look.

Now that I got home and put the two side-by-side... let's just say it's not even funny how much bulkier the XOOM is. The 8.6mm Galaxy Tab 10.1 is not here to mess around, making the 13mm XOOM looks like a year-old clunker.

May

[Updated: It's Back!] Deal Alert: Verizon's HTC Thunderbolt Drops To $129.99 On Amazon For New Customers

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Deals, HTC, News, Thunderbolt (Mecha), Verizon Wireless

Holy mother of all hotness - Amazon has been absolutely killing it in the mobile deals lately, already firmly capturing our Deal of the Week spot with the sweet $174.99 HTC Thunderbolt deal.

Update 5/10/11: The deal is back for a limited time again! Judging by the last promotion, this one will expire sometime before May 15th.

Forget that - the new $129.99 Thunderbolt deal that just went live on Amazon Wireless is the lowest recorded for this phone to date, making the price of the first 4G LTE Verizon handset almost half of what you would pay at Verizon ($250).

May

Google Releases Android 3.1 SDK, Introduces API Level 12 And SDK Tools Revision 11

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Google didn't leave us waiting long for the Android 3.1 SDK; hot on the heels of this morning's unveiling, the software development kit for the latest version of Honeycomb has landed. With it comes a boatload of new APIs (no wonder the API level is now 12) - most notably resizable widgets, improved animation frameworks, and, last but certainly not least, a host of options for interacting with USB devices. In fact, the last item is perhaps the most important, as it will allow users to connect a wide variety of USB accessories to their tablet and interface with them easily.

May

Catch Notes Gets Updated, Gains Full Honeycomb Support For All Of Your Tablet Note Taking Needs

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News

The popular do-everything notepad app Catch Notes received an update today that includes full Honeycomb support and provides some advanced features specifically designed for tablets. Among the new features is an improved UI that makes the app much more intuitive on the larger screen. You can now expect to see multiple views on the same screen, which will make note input a much more fluid task, along with an enhanced note editor that will allow for much faster note taking, and better overall organization.

Also included in this update is the addition of context-aware controls in the action bar and a more intuitive tagging process.

May

[I/O 2011] First Deep-Dive Look And Hands-On With The Limited Edition Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Android Tablet

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy Tab 10.1, News, Reviews, Samsung, Tablet Reviews

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

Wow, what a day! Music, movies, APIs, alliances - the list of exciting announcements from Google I/O 2011 goes on and on today. While the rest of the Android Police crew is blasting through the bulk of the new stuff, I decided to unpack and play with the "Oprah moment" Limited Edition Galaxy Tab 10.1 that everyone here at I/O received as a gift. And let me tell you, this baby is fast, sleek, slim, and gorgeous. Let's see what we've got here, shall we?

This 32GB Galaxy Tab 10.1 is running a 1GHz dual-core processor - from the looks of it, it's the Tegra 2 rather than the Exynos, at least according to the Quadrant benchmark, which reports an NVIDIA GPU (see towards the bottom).

May

[I/O 2011] Google TV Will Be Updated To Honeycomb (3.1), Android Market In Tow

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Google TV, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

Last Updated: May 11th, 2011

A ton of Android news has already come out of Google I/O, but this time Google TV is thrown into the mix. GTV is set to see an OS update to Android 3.1 (Honeycomb) which means two things: developers will be able to create apps that will run on Honeycomb tablets and Google TV using the same SDK, and the Android Market will finally be a part of Google TV. Unfortunately, Google TV will not receive the Market update before the Honeycomb update, as they will both be released as one, OTA update.

While no exact date is available, the update is scheduled to be released sometime this summer.

May

[I/O 2011] This Year's Oprah Moment: "And YOU Get a Tablet!" [PICS]

Posted by Matt Demers in Galaxy Tab 10.1, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, Samsung, Tablets

Last Updated: May 11th, 2011

Well, we all saw it coming. After giving away phones the past two years (HTC Magic G2 in 2009, HTC Nexus One/Motorola Droid and HTC EVO 4G in 2010), Google I/O attendees will be leaving with shiny new Limited-Edition Samsung Galaxy Tabs. Here's our little (big) guy:

The Tab 10.1 will be available to the masses on June 8, but I/O attendees will be receiving it first. The Tab 10.1 of course will be running Honeycomb (and will be getting the upgrade to 3.1 in a few weeks), have a 10.1'' screen, 1Ghz dual-core processor, and sport 32GB of onboard memory.

May

Google Movies: Rent And Watch Movies On The Web (YouTube) Or Your Motorola XOOM Right Now

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Apps/Games, News, XOOM

When Google announced its new Movies service today, some of the details of the service's launch were omitted in the information overload that is I/O. But now that we've had a minute to regain our composure and, you know, investigate, we've got some exciting news about Google Movies: you can start renting and watching right now (note: only the United States is currently supported):

The catch is that you'll only be able to do it from your personal computer (via the Web Market or YouTube in the browser) or on a Motorola XOOM in the Videos app for the moment (we're assuming that means it's limited to Honeycomb Android devices for the time being).

May

[I/O 2011] Ice Cream Sandwich: One OS To Rule Them All

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Android OS, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Shortly after Honeycomb dropped, we were told that the next version of Android would bridge the gap between tablets and phones. That bridge was officially announced this morning at Google I/O: Ice Cream Sandwich.

Ice Cream Sandwich will be the newest version of Android, and it's going to bring the goodness of Honeycomb to phones, along with Gingerbread features to tablets. The update is due out in Q4 of this year, and the goal is to unify the Android experience across devices, which is a huge step towards ending fragmentation as we know it.

It's clear that between this and the Android Alliance, Google has really paid attention to the biggest problems in Android and is making a collaborative effort to efficiently address them.