Motorola - 36/79 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Aug

BREAKING: Google Signs Agreement To Buy Motorola Mobility For $12.5 Billion

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Motorola, News

Google has just announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. The search giant will be paying $40 per share, a premium of 63% from the closing price of Motorola's shares from last Friday. The actual acquisition is expected to take place in late 2011 or early 2012 pending regulatory approvals.

A partnership between the developer of the Android platform and a top 3 Android device manufacturer is likely to light a fire beneath the likes of Samsung, HTC, LG, and other Android partners. However, to quell their fears Google's press release clarifies that Motorola "will remain a licensee of Android and Android will remain open...

Aug

[Deal Alert] Sprint's Motorola Photon 4G Drops To $99.99 At Radioshack

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Deals, Motorola, News, Photon 4G, Sprint

Motorola Photon 4G, Sprint's latest dual-core Android phone and EVO 3D's only true rival, is only 10 days old, but it's not stopping Radioshack from folding its price sticker in half and throwing it on a sweet-sweet sale - $99.99.

The deal is available immediately at RadioshackWireless.com, though it's currently limited to new accounts, as it oftentimes happens (don't even look at it if you're upgrading). Throw in free FedEx shipping, and you've got yourself a pretty good price on Sprint's second best offering today, at least until the Galaxy S2, a.k.a. Epic Touch 4G, arrives later this fall.

Amazon Wireless and Wirefly both currently list the Photon 4G at $179.99.

Aug

Apple Is Now Going After Motorola Over XOOM Design

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, XOOM

Yesterday a German court sided with Apple against Samsung, disallowing the sale of Galaxy Tab 10.1 units in the European Union. Buried deep within this filing is mention of yet another complaint -- but this one is against Motorola, allegedly over the design of the XOOM.

This has been a back-and-forth battle between the two companies for sometime now, with Moto originally going after Apple for violating 18 patents in iOS and some Macs back in October of 2010. Apple quickly fired back, accusing Moto of violating six of its patents in the Droid, Droid 2, Droid X, and other smartphones.

Aug

Android 3.1 Finally Rolling Out To European Motorola XOOMs

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, XOOM

While the US variant of the Motorola XOOM recently received Android 3.2, the European version has been patiently waiting to leave version 3.0.1. That wait is finally coming to its end, as the official Android 3.1 OTA has started rolling out in Europe, according to Motorola EU's Facebook page. Of course, this is a staged rollout, so it may be days - or even weeks - before some users actually see it hit their device.

[Facebook]

Aug

CyanogenMod 7 Pre-Beta Released For Motorola Atrix

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Android OS, Atrix 4G (Olympus), Development, News

There is good news for Motorola Atrix users with a penchant for rooting and modding as the CyanogenMod Atrix Developers Team has just released a pre-beta of CM7.

User graemegb posted on the XDA Developers Forum yesterday with links to a post on ModMyMobile.com which had download links for the CM7 pre-beta and the accompanying Google Apps package.

According to the post the following components are working with the current pre-beta release:

2G/3G/H+
Calls and SMS
Wi-Fi
Audio
USB
GPS
Display
Touchscreen
Battery stats
Proximity sensor
Screen orientation
Internal storage and external SD card
Multimedia playback (videos, music)

Unfortunately, the Bluetooth and camera are currently not working, in addition to “everything else that wasn't included in the [above] working list”.

Aug

[Updated] FCC Filing Reveals Motorola Droid Bionic (XT875) Photos, User Guide, 4.3" Screen, LTE/World Radios, And Inductive Charging Cover

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Bionic, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

The Droid Bionic, Verizon's most anticipated and delayed phone of 2011 (alongside the SGS2), expected to show up around September 8th, just got a few details we were curious about confirmed in its FCC filing docs, along with a slew of photos. Hilariously, it looks like either FCC has been testing this phone in a warzone or they have a pack of wild puppies around the office, because the device looks like it's just been through battle and gotten a Purple Heart.

Additionally, among all the boring test reports, we have quite a few pages from the Droid Bionic's user guide, which not only confirm a 4.3" screen (not 4.5" as was suspected at one point), a dual-core 1GHz processor, and 1080P HD recording, but also highlight the Bionic's LTE and world radios, in addition to 3G.

Aug

Android 3.2 OTA Update Rolling Out Now For The Verizon Motorola XOOM 3G

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, News, XOOM

Motorola XOOM 3G owners, today is your lucky day. Okay, well, maybe not lucky, but still good - the OTA update to Android 3.2 has officially started rolling out. This update brings some subtle, yet nice new features to the Motorola tablet:

+ Screen Scaling Compatibility Mode:
Ability to switch to double pixel mode for selected applications.
When selected, application sub-windows and drop down menus are
also doubled. In addition, pixel doubling settings are saved for each
application.

+ SD Card Support:
New microSD card support allows you to use a file manager to view
all the important files, pictures, music, videos and more stored on
your SD card, as well as write content to your SD card via connection
to a PC or Mac.

Aug

How-To: Manually Update Your Verizon 3G XOOM To Android 3.2 HTJ85B (Rooted Or Unrooted, With Locked Or Unlocked Bootloaders)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Motorola, News, Tablets, XOOM

The Android 3.2 update for the Verizon 3G (soon-to-be 4G) XOOM can be flashed right now, before it hits your device over-the-air.

Custom Recovery

If you've flashed a custom recovery (and gave up the warranty), you can find update instructions over at MDW - in this case, you don't need our instructions below. This option is good for those with unlocked bootloaders (though if you're rooted, it seems the only update option right now is to install a pre-rooted update which will wipe your device).

Stock Recovery - Unrooted, Locked Bootloader

However, if you decided that unlocking the bootloader is not worth voiding your warranty or simply don't feel comfortable unlocking, you can still install the update before Verizon decides to push it to you, using the stock recovery.

Aug

Leaked Verizon 2011 Roadmap Reveals Launch Dates For A Slew Of Android Devices, Including Bionic, Stratosphere, Vigor, Revolution 2, And XOOM 4G Upgrade

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Bionic, Galaxy S II, HTC, LG, Motorola, News, Revolution, Samsung, Verizon Wireless, Vigor, XOOM

Last Updated: August 27th, 2011

Get ready, Verizon customers. IGN just leaked Verizon's alleged 2011 roadmap, and, unsurprisingly, it features Android quite heavily. While there aren't too many details on any of the devices outside of what we already know, it will give you a good general idea of what to expect from Verizon this year:

Samsung Stratosphere: Previously rumored as Verizon's version of the Samsung Galaxy S2, the Stratosphere is listed as a "4G Smartphone w/Android 2.3." While it isn't exactly confirmation, there is a chance that this rumor was spot-on. Prepare for its release on September 8.
Droid Bionic: Months after its original unveiling, the Droid Bionic is finally going to be available to purchase.

Aug

[Deal Alert] Motorola XOOM Wi-Fi 32GB For $440 With Free Shipping From eBay Daily Deals

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Deals, News, XOOM

Ah, the Motorola XOOM. What can we say about this tablet that you don't already know? Perhaps that you can get the 32GB Wi-Fi only model for $430 with free shipping from eBay Daily Deals for today only. Sure, it may not be the newest tablets on the market, but it is definitely still one of the most capable.