News - 825/946 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Dec

[Updated] Notion Ink Sparks Yet Another Gingerbread Release Date Rumor - This Time, December 6

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Adam, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Notion Ink

I woke up this morning to a slew of tip emails stating that Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) is definitely coming out on December 6. I initially decided to pass it up (at this point, I'm so sick of Gbread rumors that I almost don't care anymore), but for the sake of you, dear reader, I thought I'd pass it along. The reason for the latest rumor is that Notion Ink posted on their blog stating the following:

6th December is another big day for Android and you will find out how fast Notion Ink can work. (Eden is extremely compatible with 2.3)

Having said that I'm sick of all the rumors, it follows that I'm also now extremely skeptical (hell, even pessimistic) every time I hear a new one, so this may just be my own annoyance...

Dec

Video Of Barnes & Noble NOOKcolor Running Android 2.2.1 AOSP Surfaces, But Details Are Scarce

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Development, News, NOOKcolor (Encore)

Details are stupidly scarce on this right now - there isn't even an XDA thread, and Google's not showing any hits either - but YouTube user jacememes has uploaded a video of a NOOKcolor running an Android 2.2.1 AOSP (Android open source project) build. That's certainly a fast turnaround time, given that the device was just rooted a few days ago.

The video was shot with an Android phone, so it's not the best quality, but it's more than enough to show what it needs to. Unfortunately, it's fairly short - 1:41 - and about 40 seconds of that time is just the NC booting up, meaning that in the following 1:01, it's slow because it's still loading everything.

Dec

Test Pictures Taken By Sony Ericsson PlayStation Phone Show Up On Picasa

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Play (Zeus, PlayStation Phone)

By now we've already seen the PlayStation Phone in a video or two, a number of pictures, and the usual batch of rumors. However, one of the few things we haven't known about the device is what its camera will be like. Well as of today, you can officially cross camera quality off the list of unknowns - four pictures taken by a certain "Sony Ericsson Zeus" have just hit Picasa:

A little digging revealed that all of these pictures were captured by a 5MP camera (with an aperture rating of 2.4 and a focal length of 4.1mm), and as the second one shows, it is indeed accompanied by a flash.

Dec

Sony Ericsson's PlayStation Phone ZEUS Z1 Makes Surprisingly Clear Appearance On YouTube

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Devices By Manufacturer, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Xperia Play (Zeus, PlayStation Phone)

Well, this one's a bit special, isn't it? In a marked shift from the traditional blurrycam espionage, what we have here is a nice, calmly filmed tour of the no-longer-mythical Zeus device. While there isn't a great deal of new information presented in the video, we do catch a glimpse of a PlayStation icon in the menus. The software is labeled Gingerbread in the About screen, despite a distinctly Froyo-esque appearance. As for the hardware, the Zeus sports an impressively large display and a curvy (if rather large) waist-line. We also get a glimpse of the camera and flash on the back, as well as several Sony Ericsson logos in various places.

Dec

Samsung Sells Three Million Galaxy S Devices In The States Alone, Becomes #1 Android Manufacturer In The US

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in AT&T, Captivate, Continuum, Epic 4G, Fascinate, Mesmerize, News, Samsung, Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, Verizon Wireless, Vibrant

If you thought the news that Samsung shifted more than a million Galaxy Tabs was impressive, just wait 'til you hear this one: the company today announced that over three million of its Galaxy S smartphones have been sold in the US alone. This not only means that Sammy now owns 32.1% of the Android market in the US; it also makes Samsung the #1 supplier of Android devices in the US. Unfortunately, it's clear that the rollout of Froyo hasn't been able to keep up with the devices' sales.

via Engadget

Samsung Mobile Named #1 Android Smartphone Provider Based on Retail Sales in U.S.

Dec

Chitika: The Motorola Droid Is Still The #1 Android Device, Followed By HTC EVO 4G And Droid X

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Devices By Manufacturer, News

Every few months, our pal Daniel Ruby, research director for ad firm Chitika, takes a look at the market capitalization of Android devices. As of early November, the original Motorola Droid still holds an astounding lead in the market with nearly 19%. The HTC EVO 4G checks in to second place with 12%, followed by the Droid X at 10%. The Incredible (7%) and Vibrant (5%) round out the top five.

It's impressive to see that the Droid still has such a massive hold on the market, especially since it's been discontinued for a few months now. At the same time, that hold has fallen from the pant-crappingly high of 34% we saw back in June.

Dec

Samsung Breaks 1 Million Galaxy Tabs Sold, Shooting For 1.5M By End Of Year

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Galaxy Tab, News

Last Updated: July 2nd, 2011

Holy crap, that was fast. Less than a month after being released in the US (and a bit longer in some parts of the world), Samsung has managed to move over 1 million Galaxy Tabs - which may or may not be surprising, given the range of opinions on the device (although I just thought it was super). Despite the Tab being available in 64 countries, roughly 100,000 of the sales are in Samsung's homeland of South Korea. (Minor note: it's not clear whether this is units sold by Samsung to stores, or units sold by stores to consumers.)

_{Yes, this is a Galaxy S, not a Galaxy Tab.}

Dec

Logitech Revue, Meet Recovery Mode

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Google TV, Logitech, News, Revue

Last Updated: December 4th, 2010

While Android hackers figured out how to boot Sony's Google TVs into recovery mode sometime ago, the Logitech Revue has been waiting for something similar. But now the wait is over, thanks to @Stericson, who took no more than a day to accomplish the task on his Revue unit, sent to him by Google.

While we are now one small baby step closer to having root access, I feel obligated to remind you that Sony's Google TVs have yet to see any real attempts at root or software mods of any kind, despite having had access to recovery mode for over a month now.

Dec

Deal Alert: Archos 5 500GB Android Tablet Sees Its Lowest Price Yet - $255 (49% Off MSRP)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in 5, ARCHOS, Deals, News

The Archos 5 has never been the most popular Android tablet - it has its plusses and minuses, but the 500GB version at almost half off that popped up on Amazon today may make you forgive and forget some of its flaws. Considering that with the Market hack, Archos 5 gets full access to the Android Market, this little device could end up being the largest portable media hub you can get for the price.

Handy price history, courtesy of CamelCamelCamel (I just love that site name) below:

Source: Amazon

Dec

All Droids (Excluding The Pro) Now Part Of Verizon's Holiday Buy One Get One Free Offer

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Deals, Droid 2 Global, Droid X (Shadow), HTC, Incredible, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

With the cheapest one costing $149.99, Verizon's Droids aren't exactly stocking stuffers, but at least the price comes with double the value now. That's right - the infamous BOGO (buy one, get one free) deal has now been extended to the carrier's flagship Android devices... all except the Droid Pro, that is. Additionally, the original Droid 2 is excluded from the ad despite being part of the deal, most likely because its global brethren already appears in the ad. However, why the Droid Pro is being left out of the fun is anyone's guess.