News - 772/945 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Feb

Google Takes A Swing At Facebook: Removes Contact Syncing With Nexus S Update

Posted by Zak Stinson in Applications, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Nexus One (Passion), Nexus S (Crespo/Soju)

Today, Google got the ball rolling on Gingerbread updates for the two official "Google phones", the Nexus One and Nexus S. While this is exciting, long awaited news for owners of the Nexus One, the Nexus S crowd may have some reason for disdain.

One of the things that got me really excited when I bought my first Android phone was the ability to import the numbers and email addresses of all my Facebook friends to my contact list automagically. No longer did I have to look it up on the Facebook webpage or, God forbid, call them and ask.

With the Gingerbread update for the Nexus S, Google has disabled this feature.

Feb

MenuPages Enters The Android Food App Foray

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, News

Ever heard of MenuPages? I hadn't until today, but I guess I live in a cardboard box. The popular website now offers an Android app for your convenience - but what's MenuPage's big feature when competing against the likes of UrbanSpoon and Yelp? You may have guessed it has something to do with menus.

MenuPages indexes the (wait for it, it's mind-blowing) menu contents of any restaurant their service lists, meaning you can search by the exact food you want, as opposed to browsing through broad genres of cuisine. Pretty nifty for foodies like myself, and I can say right now that this app has made a home on my phone for the foreseeable future.

Feb

Google Releases Final Honeycomb SDK, SDK Tools r10, And ADT Plugin 10.0.0

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News

It's definitely an exciting day for Android developers - first, Motorola confirmed that their XOOM tablet will be open for development, and now the the final Android 3.0 SDK is available. Additionally, the SDK tools and ADT plugin have been updated to versions r10 and 10.0.0, respectively, with the following improvements and additions:

UI Builder improvements in the ADT Plugin:
New Palette with categories and rendering previews. (details)

More accurate rendering of layouts to more faithfully reflect how the layout will look on devices, including rendering status and title bars to more accurately reflect screen space actually available to applications.

Feb

This Changes Everything: Motorola XOOM's Bootloader Will Be "Unlockable/Relockable"

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless, XOOM

Sure, the first part of that title might sound like a Steve Jobs quote, but Motorola's latest tweet merits the expression:

That's right - unlike almost all other Motorola devices in recent memory, the XOOM will ship with an unlocked (or at least "unlockable/relockable") bootloader. That means modders will be free to create custom ROMs and kernels for the tablet - not as surprising as it would be were the XOOM not a flagship Google device, but still very reassuring.

Now, Motorola, about your other devices' bootloaders...

Source: Motorola (Twitter)

Feb

The Peak Of Desperation - Google I/O 2011 Tickets Going For As High As $2000 On eBay

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Google, News

Google's upcoming I/O conference generated quite a bit of commotion earlier this month when all of the tickets offered to the public sold out within 59 minutes in a messy mash-F5-to-get-through-the-crashing-servers rampage. In fact, it got so ridiculous that at first Android Police ended up with no tickets of our own either (don't worry though, I will still be there to provide coverage).

Considering most of the public attention at the conference will be concentrated around Android, it is pretty incredible just how popular it became since last year, when tickets were available for 50 days after going on sale. Whether this year's attendees are after an inevitable prize that historically comes with each ticket (a free phone 2 years ago and 2 free phones a year ago) or are really interested in Google's technologies is unclear, but what is clear is the desperation around making it to the event.

Feb

Wirefly Unboxes Motorola XOOM: "The Next Generation In Tablet"

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless, XOOM

OK, so unboxings aren't exactly the most exciting videos on the web, but when they involve a certain tablet called the "Motorola XOOM," they're definitely worth a look. Such is Wirefly's latest creation:

Items of note:

Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) - boot times seem really fast
10.1-inch 16:10 display - larger than an iPad
1GHz dual-core Tegra 2 processor
32GB of internal storage
2MP front camera
5MP rear camera capable of recording 720p HD video

Interestingly, the video mentions a slot for a 4G SIM card, which is odd since Verizon and Motorola say the XOOM will require a ~~hardware~~ software upgrade to connect to LTE.

Feb

Kaspersky Mobile Security Comes To Android

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

Anti-virus and anti-malware products by Kaspersky Lab are known as some of the best computer protection solutions for your desktop and notebook, and today the company announced availability of Kaspersky Mobile Security for Android.

The features of Mobile Security include:

anti-theft protection (including SMS Find, Remote Block and Delete, and SIM Watch)
anti-spam protection
privacy protection
anti-virus protection and firewall

The app can be downloaded from Kaspersky's servers and isn't available directly from the Android Market. The cost is rather high - $29.95 per year, although it is still comparable to products like Lookout Premium.

Official press release follows:

Feb 22, 2011 10:36 ET Kaspersky Mobile Security Expands to Support Android and BlackBerry

WOBURN, MA--(Marketwire - February 22, 2011) - Kaspersky Lab, a leading developer of Internet security solutions that defend against computer viruses, spyware and all forms of malicious software, now offers protection and peace-of-mind for BlackBerry and Android smartphone owners, in addition to Windows Mobile and Symbian devices.

Feb

AT&T's Motorola Atrix 4G Now On Sale - $149.99 At RadioShack And Amazon, $129.99 At Walmart

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in AT&T, Atrix 4G (Olympus), Motorola, News

AT&T has officially started selling the Motorola Atrix 4G for $199.99 with a 2-year contract.

Additionally, true to its word, RadioShack has also started offering the Android 2.2 smartphone for $149.99. The dock will set you back a further $329.99 when bought with the phone or $479.99 when purchased separately.

_{The advertisement for the Atrix 4G on the RadioShack website.}

Not to be outdone, Amazon has the device for $149.99. The phone and dock can be purchased as a bundle for $499.99 (after a $100 mail-in rebate and purchase of the Data Pro 2GB/4GB plan with tethering), while the dock on its own costs $499.99.

Feb

Motorola XOOM Will Cost $599 On Contract, Launching On February 24th [Official]

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless, XOOM

Verizon's latest press release confirms rumors that the Motorola XOOM will cost $599 with a 2-year contract and $799 without (though we already knew the latter price thanks to Verizon's website) when it launches this Thursday.

Data contracts will start at $20/month for 1GB of data, with Verizon confirming once again that the XOOM will be upgradeable to 4G LTE in Q2 of 2011 at no extra charge.

Read more about it in the official press release:

MOTOROLA XOOM TABLET TO BE AVAILABLE ON THE VERIZON WIRELESS NETWORK ON FEB. 24

“Best of Show” Winner at 2011 Consumer Electronics Show Delivers the World’s First True Tablet Experience, With Upgrade to 4G LTE in Q2
BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and LIBERTYVILLE, Ill.

Feb

A Must-Have New Game: AirAttack HD. It's Not Your Dream Game, It's The One After That

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Games, News, Videos

So, as you can see, I'm quite excited about AirAttack HD. Now multiply it by 10, and you'll get to the level of my fascination about how polished everything is in this game. Created by Art In Games, AirAttack HD came to Android a few days ago without much fanfare, but didn't have any trouble reserving a spot in our weekly roundup.

However, it wasn't until an hour ago that I finally got to try it out, and let me tell you, every single little thing about this game is top notch. Cream of the crop. Perhaps it's the relatively low expectations that Android games have been setting in the past, but I am here to tell you that the bar has been raised and set firmly so high that I am prepared to call AirAttack HD the overall best Android game created to date.