Devices By Manufacturer - 481/532 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Aug

Verizon Begins Rollout Of Flash To The Original Droid

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Android OS, Droid (Sholes), Froyo 2.2, Motorola, Verizon Wireless

Sure, FroYo for the Droid Incredible was out and about this morning, and FroYo for the original Droid rolled out a while ago, and now we've got even more update news, this time for owners of the original Droid.

If you recall, (don't worry, I don't either) the first FroYo update for the original Droid brought many things, but downloading Adobe Flash player from the Market was not among them. Well, according to an email sent from Verizon to Engadget, a second OTA update will be rolling out soon that will enable the download.

Anyone seeing the update on their OG Droid yet?

Aug

[UPDATE: It's Coming Tomorrow!] HTC Droid Incredible FroYo ROM Floating Around, Still No Release Date

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in EVO 4G (Supersonic), Froyo 2.2, HTC, Incredible, News, Verizon Wireless

[Update @ 1:10 PM EST by Aaron] Looks like the update is rolling out starting tomorrow. Nice!

Despite the fact that FroYo for the Droid Incredible's big brother - Sprint's EVO 4G - was officially released a few weeks ago, the Incredible itself has yet to receive the update.

We still don't have an official release date (although there are countless rumors floating around), but we may now be one step closer: a new FroYo ROM for the Incredible has been released. It isn't clear whether this is a leaked version of the update that will (hopefully) be rolling out over the air soon, or if this is just something put together based on another device's update.

Aug

Samsung Fascinate Making Its Way Into Verizon Warehouses

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Fascinate, News, Verizon Wireless

We still have no official word on when Verizon will be launching the Samsung Fascinate, and with the not-so-reliable track record of rumors and speculation in the Android community, we're not looking to hazard a guess.

Still, it's nice to know things are moving along: a Phandroid tipster says that Verizon warehouses are starting to receive shipments of the device. On the downside, while the Fascinate is in the Verizon system, it hasn't made its way into their equipment guide.

Phandroid ventures the guess that it will be launching sometime in September, based on the (admittedly convincing) argument that there are no other Android devices launching in the month, other than the R2-D2 Droid 2.

Aug

Froyo Root For HTC EVO 4G Released

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Froyo 2.2, News

Last Updated: December 15th, 2010

This method is majorly out of date. Generally, every update breaks the current root method, and a new one must be found. By now, this is 3-4 cycles old. Please check XDA-Developers forums or unrevoked for alternate (and current) methods.

This one is sure to make plenty of people happy: it looks like there's finally a root method for the latest EVO OTA. The method was discovered by XDA-Devs user Dan Wager and is based on Sebastian Krahmer's Droid 2 root - although this seems to achieve root by downgrading to Android 2.1 and flashing unrevoked. Just like the Droid 2 root, the method is new and thus still pretty complex:

Make sure your phone is unplugged from your computer until I tell you to plug it in!

Aug

T-Mobile G2 Running On New MSM7X30 Chipset: Native 720P 30FPS Recording And Playback, Better 3D Performance And More

Posted by David Ruddock in Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, G2 (Vision), HTC, T-Mobile

Last Updated: August 27th, 2010

Based on a tweet by Cyanogen, the G2 isn't going to be sporting another rehash of the Snapdragon family of chipsets that has come to dominate HTC devices for the past 6 months.

You may remember back in November of 2009 (or maybe not, I didn't) that Qualcomm demoed an updated family of chipsets for mobile multimedia devices. The name of that chipset is the remarkably catchy MSM7X30 (really has a ring to it, no?), and it's bringing a little more to the table than its predecessors.

We already knew the G2 would be shipping with HSPA+ connectivity (the first phone to have it), but that's only one of the goodies Qualcomm's upgraded chipset will be offering:

720P video encoding (recording) and decoding at 30FPS
Integrated 2D/3D GPU's with OpenGL ES 2.0 and Open VG 1.1 API support
5.1 surround sound output
Up to 12 megapixel camera support
Integrated GPS
Support for processor speeds between 800MHz and 1GHz (Scorpion CPU's, same as Snapdragon's)

All of this considered, the G2's spec sheet could really cause some heads to explode.

Aug

Motorola Charm Now Available On T-Mobile: $0 On Wirefly With New Contract, $50 On Upgrade

Posted by David Ruddock in CHARM, Motorola, News, T-Mobile

Today, T-Mobile announced that the Motorola Charm is now available, and the pricing options out there in the wild are a bit confusing to say the least.

Wirefly currently has the best deal - you can get the Charm for $0 on a new T-Mobile 2-year contract priced at $59.99 a month. But, if you're a current T-Mobile customer, unless you plan on terminating your current contract, you'll have to fork over $50 and renew your agreement.

Oddly, Wirefly's price for the unsubsidized device is $329.99 which is $60 more than T-Mobile's. Both American retailers are also being undercut by Telus Canada’s recent release price of $250 CAD.

Aug

HTC EVO 4G Car Dock Finally Hits Sprint Stores - Priced at $59.99, Charger Not Included

Posted by David Ruddock in EVO 4G (Supersonic), News

Over 2 months after the HTC EVO 4G became available to Sprint customers nationwide, HTC has finally made available its official EVO 4G "car upgrade kit." What does it include? When you open the box, you'll find the actual phone "dock" which uses the EVO's micro-USB port to provide power to the phone, as well as the windshield-mountable platform/base. You'll probably also find a lengthy warranty and instruction document of some sort (sorry if we spoiled the surprise).

Take note, no car charger or USB cable is included with this "kit" - they must be purchased separately. There are some additional issues to weigh before you purchase the car dock as well:

The phone's rear camera is blocked by the dock (dock blocked, if you will)
The USB connector is not capable of data transfer (will not work with your car's UBS stereo)
The SD card is inaccessible while the phone is docked (no SD apps, pictures, or music)
The "Car Home" app currently only displays in portrait mode

Given these issues, this may be the most disappointing "Car Upgrade Kit" ever released.

Aug

Motorola Droid 2 Rooted

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Development, Droid 2, News, Verizon Wireless

Looks like a dev over at XDA-Devs (where else?) has managed to root the Motorola Droid 2. As this is the device's first root and it was just released, it's not surprising that the method is still dependant on manually typing a number of commands. The process requires adb and Motorola drivers to be installed, and involves pushing and executing the root file with ADB. While it doesn't look overly complex, it's probably not something suitable for more novice rooters.

Setup:
- Install adb (here) and Motorola drivers (here)
- Download attached archive
- Extract to a directory, I used c:\Droid2Root
- Make sure you have USB degugging enabled
- Change connection to PC Mode

Process:
- Open command prompt
- cd c:/wherever-your-sdk-tools-folder-is
- adb devices (to verify the connection)
- cd c:/Droid2Root
- adb push rageagainstthecage-arm5.bin /data/local/tmp/rageagainstthecage-arm5.bin
- adb shell
- cd data/local/tmp
- chmod 0755 rageagainstthecage-arm5.bin
- ./rageagainstthecage-arm5.bin

- let the process run until it returns you to c:/Droid2Root
- cd c:/wherever-your-sdk-tools-folder-is
- adb devices (to verify the connection)
- adb shell (you should now have a # prompt)
- exit

- cd c:/Droid2Root
- adb push Superuser.apk /system/app/Superuser.apk
- adb push su /system/bin/su
- adb push busybox /system/bin/busybox
- adb shell
- chmod 4755 /system/bin/su
- chmod 4755 /system/bin/busybox
- exit

I'm sure there are certain steps that could be streamlined or eliminated, so please feel free to make a suggestion and I'll edit the post.

Aug

Deal Alert: Move Over, Vibrant - AT&T Samsung Captivate Now Also A Penny On Amazon.com For New Customers

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in AT&T, Captivate, News, Samsung

Remember the $0.01 Samsung Vibrant deal Amazon put up last week in response to T-Mobile's $99.99 sale? After running for a few days, the promotion ran out (the Vibrant is now $69.99), only to be replaced by another one, this time for AT&T customers.

That's right, the Samsung Captivate now costs a cool 1 penny for new accounts and comes with a free activation and 2-day shipping. This is the best deal on this phone to date, and it will probably last only a few days, judging by how long it took the Vibrant deal to vaporize.

Hit up the AT&T Samsung Captivate AmazonWireless page to feed Amazon that penny and pick one of these bad boys up.

Aug

Motorola Droid 2 Review: A Bit Of Makeup But Not A Complete Makeover

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Droid (Sholes), Droid 2, Droid X (Shadow), Froyo 2.2, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: October 22nd, 2011

General Overview

The original Droid was a revolutionary phone, not just because it saved Motorola from certain bankruptcy but also because it revealed the wonders of Android to the masses.

For the first time, an Android device was being marketed in a way that appealed to an average American. Not only that - the Droid was Google’s officially anointed Jesus phone, up until the Nexus One came along, meaning it was the first to get Android 2.0, the first to get Google Navigation, etc.

That sets a pretty high bar for the Droid 2, and if you read our review roundup, you already know that most other bloggers thought that, while it is certainly a worthy successor to the most popular Android phone ever, it doesn’t raise the bar or set a new standard for Droids going forward.