News - 848/939 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Oct

Leaked myTouch Spec Sheet Reveals T-Mobile TV

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in HTC, myTouch 4G (Glacier), News, T-Mobile

The old myTouch 3G may not have been the most powerful Android device out there, so thinking of a phone that goes by the same name while promising to be T-Mobile's next flagship device may take some getting used to, but if this leaked spec sheet proves to be true, it might just be worth it.

Most of what we see above has already been announced, including the new myTouch's WiFi calling capabilities, but the sheet does pack one big surprise: T-Mobile TV. Unfortunately, not much is known about the service yet, but the third entry under the "Enhanced Multimedia Capabilities" section assures us that T-Mobile will be offering:

live TV as well as an on-demand option
free programming from ABC News Now, Fox Sports, PBS Kids, Disney, and Univision
family holiday movie favorites
"and more"

Otherwise, the sheet mostly confirms the specs we already knew, such as the 3.8" WVGA display, front-facing camera, and 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 processor.

Oct

Motorola Introduces MotoPrint - An App That Allows You To Print From Your Phone

Posted by Adam Litke in Motorola, News

At CTIA, Motorola recently demonstrated a new feature for Motorola Android phones called MotoPrint. The feature allows users to print documents from their phones to a supposedly "wide range" of printers.

MotoPrint, while still in beta, is able to print PDFs, Microsoft Office documents, and certain graphics via your local network printer. Currently, MotoPrint does not come with the phone, unlike the ability to copy and paste; instead, MotoPrint is an app that must be downloaded separately, presumably from the Market. While MotoPrint is not integrated into the basic features of the phone, it does have a very basic user interface.

Oct

Android At War: Google Mounts A Defense Against Oracle, But Can They Win? An Analysis

Posted by David Ruddock in Editorials, News

As we previously reported, Oracle America has filed suit against Google for (primarily) patent infringement. If you're not familiar with the case, I'll quickly summarize.

Oracle claims Google is in violation of seven U.S. patents previously filed by Sun Microsystems as part of the Java platform. Oracle now owns Sun. The alleged infringer, more specifically, is Android. If you want a more detailed explanation, read the next paragraph. If not, look at the pretty picture and continue.

The patents generally relate to the Java virtual machine (JVM). Apps on your Android phone run through the Dalvik VM (DVM), a Google / Open Handset Alliance developed alternative to JVM that utilizes portions of an open source Java implementation known as Apache Harmony.

Oct

Sony Ericsson LiveView Priced And Dated For Europe, X10s To Get OS Update In November?

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Android OS, Eclair 2.1, News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia X10 (es209ra), Xperia X10 Mini / Mini Pro (Robyn / Mimmi)

The lucky folks over at French tech blog JournalDuGeek got themselves some on-wrist time with Sony Ericsson's OLED Bluetooth watch/remote/alert terminal. If you're not familiar with the device, check out our coverage of its official announcement in September: Sony Ericsson Outs The LiveView Remote For Android Devices...

JDG posted some rather blurry pics of the device, whilst also disclosing a price and rough release date: €59 in November. Considering Sony are known for "aspirational" pricing, this is very pleasing if true. Not much was said about the device itself, and it is unknown as yet how legible the OLED screen is in sunlight.

Oct

HTC Desire Z Partial, Temporary Root Accomplished

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Desire Z (Vision), Development, G2 (Vision), News

Seems like the HTC phones are really taking up the lions share of Android news lately, doesn't it? First the G2 was rooted, and shortly after we learned that HTC did its best to prevent perma-rooting. And just this morning, we heard word that the Desire HD and Z are both being delayed. Quite a mouthful, we know - but now that you're up to speed: an enterprising individual by the name of kholk over at XDA-Devs has come up with a root method for the HTC Desire Z.

The method is very similar to the G2 method mentioned above - the process involves dropping a package on your SD Card and executing a few scripts.

Oct

T-Mobile On HTC G2: No Root For You

Posted by Adam Litke in G2 (Vision), News, T-Mobile

In case you have been living under a rock, you might not have heard that T-Mobiles HTC G2 was rooted - but only temporarily. After root was gained, it was discovered that HTC included a fail safe measure into the phone that removes root access upon reboot. This blatant attempt to stop users from rooting their phones is being called a "security measure" by HTC. T-Mobile sent the following response to Androinica after they posted an article about the inability to permanently root the G2.

As pioneers in Android-powered mobile devices, T-Mobile and HTC strive to support innovation. The T-Mobile G2 is a powerful and highly customizable Android-powered smartphone, which customers can personalize and make their own, from the look of their home screen to adding their favorite applications and more.

Oct

HTC Desire HD & Desire Z Delayed Due To "Google Testing"

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Carriers, Desire HD (Ace), Desire Z (Vision), News

Last Updated: August 13th, 2011

Bad news for our European friends: word from retailers is that the releases of the HTC Desire HD and Desire Z have been delayed until the end of the month. Why? The phones seem to be caught up in Google's testing process:

The relevant bit is in the first paragraph:

Apparently, both units have failed last minute Google TA (Type Approval) testing which is exactly what was said about the original Desire days before release!

Users from all over Europe (and even an Israeli) on XDA-Devs have confirmed the delay, with the revised release dates varying based on location. In every case, though, the dates are in the latter part of the month.

Oct

Rumor: BGR Says Sprint's Samsung Galaxy Tab To Launch November 14 For $400 On Contract

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Galaxy Tab, News, Sprint

One of BGR's sources at Sprint just dropped them a note saying the Samsung Galaxy Tab will be launching on November 14... for $399 with a 2-year contract. They also say that full retail price of the Tab will be $600.

Seems pretty stupidly-expensive to me. I suppose that comes from the current plethora of crappy, low-end, low price Android tablets on the market. Sure, this is the first high-end Android tablet to hit the market, but come on, now: the retail price is $30 lower than the equivalent iPad, which is 3" bigger and has the Apple markup. Then again, you can't get the iPad for cheaper on contract.

Oct

Adobe AIR Lands In Android Market, Doesn't Do Much Of Anything Yet

Posted by Brad Ganley in Applications, News

A while back we were shown a leaked release of Adobe AIR for Android and told stories of its incredible capabilities. Well, the time has come. Twitter is now lighting up with reports about it and it is now available in the Android Market.

Here is Adobe's explanation of AIR for Android:

Adobe® AIR® will let you publish ActionScript 3 projects to run as native applications (.apk) for the Android OS. These AIR applications can be delivered to Android devices through Android application stores such as the Android Market.

Developers can write new code or reuse existing web content to build AIR applications for the Android OS.

Oct

Universal Androot Hits The Market, Now Supports One-Click Rooting Of 23 Android Phones

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Development, Droid (Sholes), G1 (Dream), Hero, Hero (Sprint, HeroC), Milestone, Milestone XT720, myTouch Slide (Espresso), News, Nexus One (Passion), Streak, Xperia X10 (es209ra), Xperia X10 Mini / Mini Pro (Robyn / Mimmi)

Last Updated: October 16th, 2010

Update: As Artation has pointed out in the comments below, Universal Androot has since been removed from the Market for unknown reasons. If you're still heartbent on using it though, you can download it it from here.

If you can think back to the time Universal Androot was released, you'll recall the then small xda-developers startup that allowed for one-click rooting of a very limited number of phones, all of which had to be running Android 2.1 Eclair or lower.

Now, the app has hit the Market and is ready for prime time with support for a multitude phones, including devices running Android 2.2 FroYo (though, only limited to Nexus One before 2.2.1 and an older FRG01B Droid build), 2.1 Eclair, 1.6 Donut, and even phones stuck on 1.5 Cupcake, like the HTC Magic.