07
Mar
image

Sprint has been mum about its 2011 lineup throughout this whole year until yesterday, when we finally got a break and caught wind of not 1 but 3 upcoming Sprint Android devices - the Nexus S 4G, the EVO 3D, and the EVO View tablet. The rumors were dropped to both Engadget and AndroidAndMe by an anonymous tipster, but both sites seemed confident in their sources, meaning it wasn't the first time the same credible tipster provided reliable information.

If you are sensitive to unconfirmed rumors and have trouble believing anonymous tipsters, even you will be pleased with what these pretty darn good hints planted around Sprint's own website.

07
Mar
no confidence in flyer

In what could be construed as a white flag being waved before even marching into battle, a new report is saying that HTC will only ship one million of their upcoming Flyer tablets between its launch (which is still unknown) and August. The news comes from a Chinese language newspaper, which also reported that the new slate would set buyers back $600.

The 7" tablet, which will march to the beat of its own drum (with a stylus and Android 2.3 with Sense overlay), has been met with largely ho-hum anticipation compared to larger, Honeycomb-running tabs like the XOOM, G-Slate, and Galaxy Tab 10.1.

07
Mar
sad about tbolt

You can chalk up another false rumor on the list of "impending releases" for the HTC Thunderbolt. The latest speculation to be debunked is that the March 10 date that had been teased is a no-go, according to a leaked Verizon chart picked up by Droid Life. The internal memo shows the much-delayed Verizon phone falling sometime after the iPad 2 launch (which is March 11).

This news makes sense, as, despite the anticipation for the first 4G phone on Verizon's LTE network, the iPad 2 launch would likely take priority with Big Red. The chart below, highlighting the launch of Apple's latest tablet, clearly shows the order of launches Verizon has planned:

thunderbolt-after-ipad2

To add another rumor to the list, our sources are telling us the end of March will be the real release date (possibly landing on the 24th).

06
Mar
sprint

Earlier this week, Sprint sent out an invitation to a special release event at the CTIA WIRELESS 2011 conference later this month. After a less than amazing showing at CES, and the "innovative" move they made with the Echo, Sprint is due for a highly anticipated device to come to their users. Thanks to an anonymous tip received by Engadget (though in no way confirmed or proved credible), you may now start anticipating.

Nexus S 4G

Last year, after flirting with the idea of carrying the first "Google phone", Sprint dumped the Nexus One and went with the EVO 4G.

04
Mar
htc flyer unsure

HTC took some flak by some during Mobile World Conference for showcasing a 7", single core, Gingerbread running tablet while all the other big dogs were fighting over who has the best 10", dual-core, Honeycomb-running monster. With the tablet market looking more and more like it will soon be the iPad 2 vs. three nearly identical Android competitors, I find HTC's decision to go in an entirely different direction refreshing and was therefore curious about Carrypad's recent hands-on with the slate.

One aspect of the stylus technology that was spotlighted in the site's hands-on was "palm rejection," which is the ability of the touchscreen to not react to one's hand while scribbling away with a stylus.

28
Feb
thumb_550_ddms

While rooted Android users have been taking screenshots on their phones for a while now, stock, non-rooted owners have been left out of the fun (there are some notable exceptions to this rule, like the EVO 4G). No longer, according to Paul O'Brien, one of the visionaries in the Android community, who posted the following in reply to Cyanogen (aka Android god):

image

We haven't been able to confirm what exactly changed in 2.3.3, but according to Android Central, screenshots are now possible without root "because of some changes in the way the SurfaceFlinger service handles what it captures from the framebuffer."

This newly uncovered fact means that all phones running Android 2.3.3 and above should be able to take screenshots regardless of whether they're rooted or not.

28
Feb
Engadget-Thunderbolt

Electronista picked up on a (now deleted) tweet from the infamous Verizon-affiliated tipster black_man_x that "Thunderbolts are go!!!!", suggesting that the launch of the HTC Thunderbolt is imminent.

fsrbiker-tweet

This is just a short while after GizmoFusion reported that it had received word of Verizon planning on releasing the device "as early as next week" (which is now "this week").

It is still a little unclear when Verizon's first LTE phone will launch, however the most recent rumours suggest the in-store date to be March 10. Although it could also be the 3rd or 4th.

This is a sigh of relief for Verizon and HTC after rumours surfaced that the LTE device would be further delayed due to horrid battery performance of two to three hours on a single charge.

26
Feb
IMG_20110224_202341

Fellow EVO 4G owners, were you envious when Sony Ericsson demoed the Xperia arc's full HDMI capabilities? Fear not - once again, the developer community has come to the rescue!

Android Central Forums user Orrebmas has developed a "limited time" public beta of FullHDMI, an app that lets you output any content on your EVO's display to your HDTV. Yep, that means you can finally get your Angry Birds on in full, 50-inch mode.

IMG_20110224_135457

Unfortunately, there are a few caveats. First, simply installing an APK file isn't enough; to get FullHDMI up and running, you'll also need to flash a custom kernel.

25
Feb
HTC Thunderbolt

Over the last couple of weeks, there has been quite the uproar over the HTC Thunderbolt, Verizon's first LTE phone. Most of the talk has been centered around the shipping date, with a rumoured release that slid from February 14th to the 24th to the 28th, then on to March 4th and 10th. After all this anticipation and disappointment, we may finally have a clue as to what is keeping this beast in its pen.

According to Engadget's sources, test units of the Thunderbolt are getting absolutely horrid battery performance. With reports of a full charge sometimes lasting two to three hours, testers of the new handset are said to be carrying another phone just to make it through the day.

25
Feb
HTC Aria

Just as promised, AT&T unleashed the Froyo update for the HTC Aria today. They provided a link to HTC's official download site, complete with instructions for applying the update and a warning that application will result in a hard reset of your phone. The mandatory reset does seem like a great idea, as the issues that plagued the Epic Froyo update were reportedly solved via a hard reset.

ATT Facebook

There hasn't been any word of major issues with the update - in fact, some users are praising it on AT&T's Facebook page, though this may be due to the small number of people who have actually gotten their hands on it.