XOOM - 2/13 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jul

[Update: Delayed] Motorola Is Beginning The Soak Test For Jelly Bean On The WiFi Motorola Xoom

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, XOOM

Update 7/24/12: The soak test has been delayed for unknown reasons:

So it begins. Motorola has just begun rolling out the initial soak test (read: not yet public) update for the WiFi Xoom (sorry, Verizon users) to Jelly Bean. As in previous versions, users who signed up for this update will be among the first to use the new OS, provide feedback and then, assuming there aren't major problems and bugs get fixed, the update will roll out to everyone else.

Of course, as with ICS, the Verizon Xoom is getting left behind. This is likely because Verizon needs to do extra testing to ensure that the network radios work and everything is functioning properly.

Jul

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean Being Released To AOSP Right Now

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Android OS, Galaxy Nexus, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Nexus 7, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), XOOM

Jelly Bean was announced at Google I/O just recently, but a posting from Google's Android open source guru, Jean-Baptiste Queru has confirmed that Android 4.1 is hitting the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) repository right now. Time for the developers among you to update your clients to get all the official bits.

This release will be tagged as android-4.1.1_r1 in AOSP. While the source is going live now, the full proprietary binaries for Google-blessed devices won't be rolled out until later. Google plans to directly support the Nexus 7, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S, and Xoom through AOSP. Be aware that the addition of the Jelly Bean code to AOSP doesn't mean any OTA updates are on the way.

Jun

Verizon 4G Xoom Android 4.0 Update Now Rolling Out, Manual Download Available

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Verizon Wireless, XOOM

It's been a long time coming, particularly for the pioneer Android tablet, but the Ice Cream Sandwich update for Verizon's 4G Xoom is rolling out today as expected. The update brings the Xoom to the very latest version of Android available - 4.0.4.

An over-the-air rollout has started today, but if you are too impatient to wait for that, you have the option of installing the update manually (this method requires the use of a USB host cable):

Download the update here.
Place the file on a USB stick.
Turn off the device.
Enter Recovery by pressing Volume Down at the "M" logo, then pressing Volume Up.

Jun

[Update: Rolling Out June 4th] The Verizon 4G Xoom Is Finally Getting Its Official Ice Cream Sandwich Update

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Verizon Wireless, XOOM

Finally, after a bajillion years of waiting, the first Android tablet is finally getting its very own update to Android 4.0, finally. Finally. As some of you may recall, the WiFi model received an ICS update months ago, but the 3G/4G version, which has been plagued with problems since launch, including lack of advertised flash support and an actual 4G modem, is only just now set to get the OTA update.

The update, thankfully, will be to version 4.0.4, so none of this lagging a few point releases behind. The update should be rolling out "soon", so if it follows Verizon's usual rollouts for the device, Xoom LTE owners should expect to see it anywhere between now and a week or so from now.

Mar

Hulu Plus Update Finally Brings Tablet-Optimized UI To Select Devices

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, Eee Pad Transformer, Eee Pad Transformer Prime, Flyer, G-Slate, News, Tablets, VTAB1008, XOOM, XYBOARD / XOOM 2

If you're at all into TV, you've heard of Hulu. Chances are, you're watching something on Hulu right now on your PC, phone, XBOX360, Wii, Roku, PS3, iPad, 3DS, or any of the other supported devices. The list is pretty long, but until today it had one glaring omission - Android tablets. Sure, some tablets, like the Kindle Fire, HTC Flyer, or the Vizio VTAB, were already supported, but they were running Gingerbread and didn't have a proper tablet UI. Well, no more.

Hulu has released an update to the Hulu Plus (app available to Plus subscribers for $7.99 a month) that introduces a brand new tablet-optimized interface and support for the following tablet devices:

Asus Eee Pad Transformer
Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime
Motorola Xoom
Motorola XYBoard 10.1
Toshiba Thrive
Acer Iconia (although it's unclear which Iconia exactly, because the A100 is incompatible - they probably mean the A500)
LG G-Slate
HTC Flyer
Vizio 8" Tablet

It was puzzling to see no mention of any Galaxy Tab variants on that list, most notably the 10.1, and I've confirmed it's indeed listed as incompatible.

Mar

Update Rolling Out To The Xoom Wi-Fi Right Now, Brings Android 4.0.4 (Build IMM76), Quicker Screen Rotation, Improved Exchange Support, More

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Motorola, News, XOOM

Last Updated: June 2nd, 2012

The hits just keep on coming today, as Android 4.0.4 begins rolling out to the WiFi Xoom. The update carries with it a few new features, including quicker screen rotation, the ability to immediately lock the device when you press the power button and more. Users can check out the rest of the changes in the full press release below.

Thanks to some clever XDA members, the update is available for download now, if you don't feel like waiting. We've gone ahead and created a few mirrors for you here, or you can hit the source link for more info before downloading (which you should do anyway).

Mar

Verizon Releases List Of Devices To Get Ice Cream Sandwich, Few Surprises Enclosed

Posted by David Ruddock in Bionic, Droid 4, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 7.7, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Incredible 2 (Vivow), News, RAZR / RAZR MAXX, Rezound, Rhyme, Spectrum, Thunderbolt (Mecha), Verizon Wireless, XOOM, XYBOARD / XOOM 2

Verizon Wireless has just made public an official list of handsets on the network poised to receive Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OTA updates, most being devices for which such updates were a given at this point:

HTC:

HTC ThunderBolt™

DROID Incredible 2 by HTC

HTC Rhyme™

HTC Rezound™

Motorola:

Motorola XOOM

DROID BIONIC™

DROID RAZR™

DROID RAZR™ MAXX™

DROID 4

DROID XYBOARD 8.2

DROID XYBOARD 10.1

Samsung:

Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 10.1

Samsung Galaxy Tab™ 7.7

LG:

Spectrum™ by LG

No timeframe was provided, but this is probably the most authoritative ICS update list you'll see out there, if for only one reason: in the end, it's Verizon that decides whether or not a device on its network gets updated.

Feb

First Official CM9 Nightlies Now Available For Galaxy Nexus GSM/CDMA, Nexus S GSM/CDMA, And Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi/LTE

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Development, Galaxy Nexus, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g), XOOM

Last Updated: March 2nd, 2012

Just under a week after receiving almost unprecedented support from the Android community to fund the purchase of new build servers, the CM team has begun pumping out CM9 nightlies for a handful of devices. There's no question - the CM team is moving quickly, and the release of so many nightlies in such a short time span is exciting, to say the least.

Koushik Dutta, in a Google+ post earlier this evening, expressed appreciation, confirming that CyanogenMod "was able to purchase 3 top of the line, ridiculously geared, build servers," which will soon have an automatic build schedule. Dutta also indicated that CM7 nightly builds will be up and running again soon.

Feb

Motorola Xoom Family Edition Rooted (Again) Following Latest OTA Update

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Development, News, XOOM

After learning that yesterday's XYBoard root (which was thought to work on all Gingerbread/Honeycomb Moto devices) didn't play nice with Motorola's Xoom Family Edition, highly respected security researcher Dan Rosenberg decided to have a look, hoping to bring root back to the FE.

In a post to his blog earlier today, Rosenberg announced that he has found a working exploit for rooting the Xoom Family Edition. Rosenberg has again beaten others to the punch, namely a developer called Evil_DevNull, who Rosenberg calls out in the post for the alleged plagiarism of a previous FE exploit.

The post goes on to explain the "stupidest root ever," making clear a convenient vulnerability that was evidently begging to be exploited:

The first few arguments cmdclient supports are “ec_recovery”, “ec_btmac”, “ec_snid”, “ec_skunumber”, and “ec_imeiwithbarcode”.

Feb

Verizon LTE Xoom Is Getting An Update (HLK75H), But It's Not Ice Cream Sandwich Yet

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News, Verizon Wireless, XOOM

Yes, we were excited too, but it looks like owners of Verizon's LTE Xoom still have to wait a bit for ICS. The tablet is about to receive a software update (HLK75H) "soon". Verizon's support page doesn't specify when. There's not much to the update, though. Your tablet will now support dual International Mobile Subscriber Identities (IMSI), as well as a bugfix for restoring data connectivity after exiting Airplane Mode.

In other words, this update is for the subset of the already small group of people who own Verizom Xooms that use their tablets for frequent international travel. Meanwhile, the rest of us are still waiting for Ice Cream Sandwich to land on the LTE Xoom.