Devices By Manufacturer - 24/534 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Apr

AT&T HTC One X+ Updated To v1.19.502.1 With Bug Fixes Galore, Full ROM Download Available

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in HTC, News, One X+

Even though HTC is now focusing on its new baby (and possible savior) the HTC One, that doesn't mean the company has completely forgotten about the last generation. AT&T's HTC One X+ has just gotten an update to v1.19.502.1. Sadly, this is still Android 4.1.1, but it does fix a few nagging issues.

The full change log is straight to the point. HTC is fixing bugs, and not much else:

AT&T Address Book Fixes
Bluetooth fixes
Wi-Fi fixes
Other minor bug fixes

One X+ owners can pull the update down manually, or wait for the OTA to show up on its own.

Apr

Were The Nexus 10 Book Covers Left Lying Around For Months Prior To Release?

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Google, News, Nexus 10

Just last week, we saw the launch of the elusive book cover for the Nexus 10 – the only official accessory of its kind to come out of the Play Store for the 10" slab. Since we spied it at the Nexus 10's original launch, all had been quiet. Presumably, the covers simply weren't ready to be sold.

Naturally, I had to pick one up and give it a shot. After all, I have something of a penchant for official accessories, and promised to give it a quick look. When the cover did show up, however, I noticed something curious.

Apr

LG Announces New York Event May 1 – Get Ready For The Optimus G Pro In The US

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in LG, News, Optimus G Pro

If Samsung makes a UI overlay for Android, LG will make a UI overlay for Android. If Samsung starts making bigger phones, LG will start making bigger phones. And if Samsung announces its new flagship device at a big New York City event, you can bet LG is going to announce its new flagship device at a big New York City event. Yes, the time has come for LG to (almost certainly) reveal the Optimus G Pro for US carriers.

The LG Optimus G Pro is very similar to the Note II in many respects. It has a 5.5-inch 1080p screen, big honking 3140mAh battery, and a quad-core Snapdragon ARM chip.

Apr

Google Updates Developer Guidelines For Tablet-Optimized Apps – Separate Screenshots And Verification Of Tablet UI

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Google, News, Nexus 10, Nexus 7

Google has been pushing developers to build tablet-optimized UIs for their apps since the Xoom was the hot new challenger to the iPad (haha). Okay, so that didn't work out very well, but with the release of devices like the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10, devs are finally starting to see the value of building a great tablet experience. Of course, it's not like you'd know. The Play Store is terrible at showing off tablet UIs, but that's about to change. Google is updating the developer console to verify tablet compatibility and break up screenshots for tablet/phone interfaces.

From now on developers uploading apps will have the option to verify they have adhered to the tablet UI guidelines for 7 and/or 10-inch slates.

Apr

Motorola Design Chief Promises 'Just Right' Size Android Phones In 2H 2013, Shooting For Cross-Carrier Branding

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, Motorola, News

Ever since the WSJ dropped a hint about the mythical 'X Phone' back in December, the rumors have not stopped flowing. Which is great because, according to Motorola's CFO, the 18 months of product pipeline that Google acquired weren't exactly wow-ing anyone. However, according to Moto's design chief Jim Wicks, the next generation of hardware will be fantastic.

The handsets have been in the works for the last eight months (so since around August, for those counting), and will target the segments of the market that's looking for a "just right" screen size. Said Wicks:

"Certain people like a large screen, but there's a sweet spot for consumers that we're currently exceeding in the market.

Apr

Google Improves Mobile Search With Easier Access To Rotten Tomatoes Ratings, Quick View Badges For Wikipedia

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

If you use Google Search on a mobile device, but prefer the web interface, then your experience just got a bit better today. For starters, if you search for Rotten Tomatoes, you'll see expandable sub sections with links to areas like movies that are in theaters. According to Google, "many sites" will have similar functionality.

Additionally, for some searches, you'll see a blue "Quick view" badge that you can tap to get easy access to a Wikipedia page on the subject. This is different from the knowledge graph cards in that the button appears next to individual Wiki links no matter where they appear in the results.

Apr

Verizon Announces RAZR M Software Update (Version 98.15.66), Brings Mostly Bug Fixes

Posted by David Ruddock in Device Updates, News, RAZR M

Verizon just announced a new maintenance update for the DROID RAZR M that brings various fixes to the device, including improved Wi-Fi connectivity, voice call volume, and visual voicemail connectivity. The camera's touch-to-focus is now also better, apparently, and the camera itself will take better low-light photos. Expect the update to roll out in the next week or two. You can see the complete changelog in the image below.

The last update to roll out to the RAZR M was Android 4.1, back in November. It'll definitely be interesting to see how quickly Moto updates this handset (and others) to Android 4.2 in the coming year.

Apr

AT&T Announces LG Escape Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) Update, Rollout Starts Today

Posted by David Ruddock in Device Updates, Escape 4G LTE, Jelly Bean 4.1, News

AT&T announced on its official blog that the LG Escape will be receiving an update to Android 4.1, and that said update should be headed to devices starting today. The first release of Jelly Bean includes things like expandable rich notifications, Google Now, and possibly some Project Butter smoothness enhancements (all LG handsets I've seen have them, at least).

AT&T's DriveMode app is also included in the update, so there'll be another piece of carrier bloat (arguably of the less than useless variety) in your app drawer.

AT&T Consumer Blog

Apr

Schmidt: Android Reaches 1.5m Daily Activations, Facebook Home Is Exactly What Android Was Designed For

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

Back in September of last year, Google chairman Eric Schmidt told us that Android had reached 1.3 million daily activations every day. Today, he tells us that number is up to 1.5 million, which is actually not that staggering of an increase. Andy Rubin said the number was 900,000 per day in June of 2012, so the increase from there to September was much, much faster than the increase from September to now. Still, it's an impressive number on its own. Oh and the total number of devices activated will cross one billion in "six to nine months." Not bad.

And what's the secret to all that success?

Apr

[Rant] Eric Schmidt Said Things (But Also Nothing) About Motorola's New Phones, Please Go About Your Lives As Normal

Posted by David Ruddock in Motorola, News, Rumors

This morning, at AllThingsD's Dive Into Mobile conference, Eric Schmidt was interviewed, and that interview was livestreamed. During that conversation, he said three words that are now sweeping the web. Leading up to said words was a question about Motorola, and the future role it would play in the mobile landscape, and as a part of Google. Schmidt provided a meandering, broad-strokes answer that really isn't important, but then started talking about future products. During that brief (like, literally one sentence) comment, Schmidt stated that he had seen some of Motorola's new products, and that they were 'phenomenal,' and that they should be thought of as 'phones-plus.'

At this point, it would be quite easy to devolve into a thousand word or so speculative essay based on various alleged 'leaks' surrounding Motorola's new products (examples of which I fully expect to see later today and tomorrow), and cross-reference a half-dozen or so articles in which Dennis Woodside - Motorola's new CEO - talks about disrupting the industry and doing new and exciting things.