Tips & Tutorials - 8/21 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jun

[Updated: Now On Amazon Too] Toshiba Thrive Pre-Orders Live On Toshiba Direct Starting At $429, Shipping In Mid-July

Posted by David Ruddock in News, Tablets, Thrive / Regza / Antares / AT100, Tips & Tutorials, Toshiba

Update 6/14/11: All 3 Thrive variations are now on Amazon as well, for those who prefer themselves some tax-free shopping.

Ever since we saw Toshiba's then-unnamed tablet at CES in January, we've carefully put our ears to the ground to learn all we can about this surprisingly capable device. Today's Thrive news, then, has us excited - pre-orders have started, and all iterations of the tablet (8/16/32GB) will be shipping on the same yet-to-be-announced date next month (Toshiba's site now says "Mid-July").

Unlike the Office Depot pre-order, Toshiba Direct allows you to order the thriftier 8GB model, which comes in at a very reasonable $429.

Jun

[Update: Over] PSA: Psst - You Can Get One Last Sprint Premier Yearly Upgrade, Here's How

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in News, Off-Topic, Sprint, Tips & Tutorials

Last Updated: October 14th, 2011

Please note that this offer ended on July 31, 2011. Please do not contact Sprint about getting an override on your upgrade anymore!

Last week we posted a poll asking Sprint customers which phone they were hoping to get next. A few commenters complained that they were victims of the Sprint Premier split, wherein people who were at the lower end of Premier previously were moved to Premier Silver, thereby losing their annual upgrades. We've heard quite a few people ~~bitch~~ complain about this since the split happened, but we're happy to report that Art from the Sprint Premier team stopped by to let us know that Premier Silver customers can actually get one more upgrade restored.

Jun

Transformer Owners: Use These Handy Widgets To See The Battery Level Of Your Dock

Posted by David Ruddock in Apps/Games, ASUS, Eee Pad Transformer, Tips & Tutorials

The ASUS Transformer is a nifty piece of tablet kit, particularly because of its super-awesome keyboard dock that comes with its own extended battery. But Transformer owners have complained that they're essentially left in the dark about the status of the dock's battery - because by default the only battery status displayed is that of the tablet itself. This means that you'll just see a nice, full battery for hours on end until suddenly your little green bar starts to drop precipitously, indicating the dock has finally run out of juice.

Some would say this doesn't matter that much, but I can empathize - I'm kind of an info-nut myself, I like to know what's going on with my device, and if I had an external battery, I'd want to know the remaining power figures.

Jun

Real-Time Transit Schedule Updates Now On Google Maps For Android, Desktop, And Mobile

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Applications, News, Tips & Tutorials

Google announced a new update to Maps that would bring a much sought-after feature for those who use public transit in major cities: real-time updates that provide the whereabouts of busses. No longer will you have to hang out wondering when the bus is actually going to show up, because with the help of Maps, you'll have all of that info in the palm of your hand.

El Goog has teamed up with transit agencies to make this update happen, but there is one downside (for some people, anyway): it's only in four US cities as of right now. The lucky four are Boston, MA; Portland, OR; and San Diego and San Francisco, CA.

Jun

Motorola XOOM Folio Case With Built-In Keyboard Now Available, Will Set You Back $85

Posted by David Ruddock in Motorola, News, Tips & Tutorials, XOOM

Do you wish your XOOM was an ASUS Transformer - but leather? Motorola's got a new keyboard / leather folio case out for the XOOM, and it's on sale for a pretty reasonable $85. Spiffy. It's unknown if the keyboard is connecting via Bluetooth, but that seems like the most obvious way to go about doing this, as there's no mention of any sort of charging functionality, so we assume it's all done sans wires. You can get it from Verizon here. Oh, and the $85 price tag includes free 2 day shipping. Sounds like a deal to us.

via AndroidMixer

Jun

Fring For Android Updated, Finally Supports Nexus S (2.3.4), Thunderbolt, DROID Charge, Galaxy S II, G2X

Posted by David Ruddock in Applications, Charge (i510), Flyer, G2x (p999), Galaxy S II, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Tips & Tutorials

So, you bought that fancy new Nexus S/DROID Charge/Galaxy S II/G2X/Flyer with a front-facing camera, and you were excited to make video calls. Then you noticed there isn't any native video chat client for Android (yet - Talk will have this integrated soon). Then you heard about fring, which is pretty cool. Then you tried to install it, only to discover it didn't work. Then you probably had a sad.

Well, frown no more - fring has been updated to support all sorts of front-facing camera-having devices (like the ones in the title, plus the HTC Flyer). The update has also included general bugfixes and improvements to audio quality, so head on over to the Market and check it out!

Jun

Is Your HTC Sensation Having Touchscreen Problems?

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Devices By Manufacturer, News, Sensation / Sensation 4G (Pyramid), Tips & Tutorials, Videos

Last Updated: July 31st, 2011

Having had the HTC Sensation in-hand for about a week, our unit has developed some troubling issues with its touchscreen. Namely, the panel often misses first presses, and also struggles with fast brushing movements.

The first issue results in great frustration when typing, as auto-correction of words does not work without the first letter. It also means you often have to tap several times on icons on the homescreen to launch an application.

With the second problem, the malfunctioning results in very choppy scrolling, in the app drawer or in Twitter applications such as TweetDeck. Frequently the touchscreen will register a brushing touch as a press, and will select whatever your finger happened to be passing over at the time.

Jun

[Download] Rooted Official EVO 4G Gingerbread Update, Fresh Out Of The Oven

Posted by David Ruddock in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, News, Tips & Tutorials

Update: Link to the de-odexed version added. Happy flashing!

This article deals with a couple of advanced topics. If you’re unfamiliar with some of the terms, hit up our primers here:

Rooting Explained + Top 5 Benefits Of Rooting
Top Android Apps Every Rooted User Should Know About: Part 1 (Apps 1-8),Part 2 (Apps 9-16), Part 3 (Apps 17-25)
Custom ROMs Explained And Why You Want Them
How To Fully Back Up And Restore Your Android Phone Using Nandroid Backup
How To Flash A Custom ROM To Your Android Phone With ROM Manager + Full Backup & Restore
So You Want To Know About Bootloaders, Encryption, Signing, And Locking?

May

13 Ways CyanogenMod 7 Makes My Android Phone Feel Future-Proof [Deep Review]

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, EVO 4G (Supersonic), News, Other Reviews, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Tips & Tutorials

Last Updated: July 24th, 2011

After spending almost a year with my EVO 4G in what was essentially rooted stock condition (Fresh ROM, based on stock Sense, minus bloatware), I finally got frustrated to the point that I was ready to make the jump to CyanogenMod and see just how much better the fully unlocked stock Android experience with CM improvements is.

The Sense ROM offered by Fresh, even in its supposedly optimized form, was starting to get quite slow and would sometimes start choking for no reasons whatsoever. Whenever I was installing apps, I could forget about getting any useful response out of the phone - I had to wait till it was done in order to avoid frustration.

May

[Deal Alert] LetsTalk.com Memorial Day Sale

Posted by David Ruddock in AT&T, Deals, News, Sprint, T-Mobile, Tips & Tutorials, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: May 30th, 2011

Update Memorial Day: Well, Amazon prices didn't drop today. Our Amazon rep hasn't gotten back to us to confirm, but @AmazonWireless has tweeted that the "all 4G phones free" sale wasn't real, so I'm writing off the Amazon part of this sale as a hoax. :(

LetsTalk.com

Deals - we got 'em. While Amazon is having their own Memorial Day Android handset sale over at Amazon Wireless, LetsTalk.com wasn't about to be outdone. Here's the most relevant (not all-inclusive) deals, including the 20% off coupon code for Verizon phones (the code is: 7c7f3319) (prices that beat Amazon's are italicized, and we've provided Amazon's prices for comparison).