17
Nov
IMG_3334
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

So... what can I say? It's the Droid Pro, Android's answer to the Blackberry, the Blackberry running Android - in short, the phone that's supposed to kill off RIM once and for all. But is it? Our review unit just arrived in the mail today, and while I'm not ready to do a full review just yet, I am ready to give you my initial impressions as well as an overview of what's in the box. Ready? Read on!

The Unboxing

IMG_3334

The box is standard fare for a Droid device - black, gray, and red, except for the Droid Pro name, which is inscribed in white.

16
Nov
CM6

We have good news and bad news (x2), world. The good: the first CM6.1 build for the Samsung Galaxy S has been released. The first (and worst) bit of bad news: at this point, it looks like it's for the GT-i9000 only, and not the US versions of the SGS (though I'm no dev, so I'm not positive). The other bad news: this is apparently a very bug-laden release ("Holy crap, it's full of BUGS!").

Developers codeworkx and coolya have been working on this for quite some time, while keeping the very impatient SGS owners regularly updated on their progress via the CM forums.

16
Nov
screen
Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

What a nice surprise to come home to: Samsung was kind enough to send us the T-Mobile variant of the Galaxy Tab, and boy, is this thing beautiful. So far, I've only had about 30 minutes to play with it - just enough time to setup my email and preferences, do a little web browsing, and, naturally, play a game of Angry Birds (or 5... you know how it is).

box box_contents

Obviously, I only have limited impressions and a gaggle of pictures thus far - but the full review should be forthcoming in a few days, so be sure to check back.

16
Nov
MCP-90-Yoon

Given all the heat Google TV's been taking from the networks lately, the platform needs all the good news it can get - and Samsung might be giving it some come January 2011. Samsung Hub has just learned that the world's largest television manufacturer is indeed working on a Google TV-powered set, which Boo-Keun Yoon, Samsung's President of Visual Display Business, plans to unveil next year at CES.

What the blog didn't learn was what the actual TVs would look like; in fact, the only detail they provided was that the company's "open" to using Intel's processors as opposed to its own offerings.

16
Nov
PANASONIC

If the Samsung Galaxy S taking over sales of the iPhone 4 in Japan is any indication, Android is growing at an insane rate, and isn't showing any signs of stopping. And that's exactly why Panasonic is choosing our favorite mobile OS in its return to the smartphone market. Starting early next year, the company plans on selling multiple smartphones in Japan, although sales in other countries will not begin until 2012.

"We misjudged the speed at which smartphones would be taken up in the Japanese market," Osamu Waki, head of the company's mobile communications unit said at a news conference.

16
Nov
image

What a day for Froyo! First, we had the Dell Streak, which has been long overdue for some frozen yogurt, and now not 1 but 4 more phones are receiving their Froyo updates. They are:

  • Vodaphone HTC Legend in the UK
  • Vodaphone Galaxy S in the UK
  • Galaxy A and Galaxy S in Korea

Interestingly enough, it's the carrier specific version of HTC Legend that is receiving Froyo, even before its carrier agnostic, unlocked brothers. The situation is usually the other way around because releasing through a carrier involves additional testing steps that normally slow things down. We'll take it though!

16
Nov
image

Exactly a week after getting rooted and only a few days after getting its very first CyanogenMod nightly release, HTC Desire Z and T-Mobile G2 owners can now upgrade to RC1 (release candidate 1), bringing it up to speed with the rest of the devices supported by the CM team. Apparently, these guys move at light speed.

G2/Desire Z owners should consider themselves lucky, as Cyanogen himself owns a G2 and maintains this CM branch - that's when you know you are in good hands.

Not much has changed in terms of installation instructions, so I'll jump right into it:

This version is a release candidate, but you will find it stable for everyday use.

16
Nov
image

As we mentioned over the weekend, the UK Dell Streaks were on the verge of finally getting that sweet, delicious Froyo upgrade, and now we are able to provide the rollout schedule in more detail.

Starting November 15th, which is pretty much now, carrier unlocked devices will start to receive OTA (over-the-air) notifications allowing the Froyo update to be downloaded and applied. Carrier locked Streak OTAs will follow later on in December due to having to jump through extra hoops, i.e. the carriers, before any updates can be allowed to trickle in. Your Streak will check for a firmware update upon boot but you can force the check manually by going to Settings > About > System Updates.

15
Nov
galaxy-tab-att-lg

It all started as a despicable rumor, but now AT&T's charged ahead and made it official - its version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab will indeed cost $649, which is $50 more than the other carriers' versions and $30 more than the cheapest 3G-capable iPad. Disappointing as that may seem, a $50 virtual gift card for Samsung's Media Hub is included, as is a bunch of bloatware nobody wants (sigh). At least you get relatively cheap pay-as-you-go plans - $15 for 200MB of data and $25 for 2GB of it.

On the other hand, US Cellular will also be piping the seven-inch tablet, albeit for $399 on a new two-year contract and $499 off contract, the same as Sprint.

15
Nov
garminfone

Granted, this particular bit of news is only valuable to the (very) small crowd of people who purchased the T-Mobile Garminfone, but it's nice to hear nonetheless. The good news: Garmin has released an update to Android 2.1 (Éclair). The bad: it's a manual update.

The update process isn't complicated per se - but it's definitely more work than an OTA:

1. Download the software update package for your Garminfone which can be found here: http://www.garminasus.com/en_US/support/software/006-B1130-00.update

2. Connect your Garminfone to your computer using the USB cable provided in your box

3. Select "File Transfer" mode when the "USB connected" dialog appears

4.