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Just over a month ago, Samsung sent out free Galaxy S II's to a few of the developers behind CyangonMod with instructions to get CM working on the uberphone as soon as possible. The first real sign of progress came a few days ago when they released a video showing CM7 running on an SGSII along with a message that nightlies would be following soon. Well, we're happy to report the first official build is now available to download and install.
The all-around awesome Galaxy S II has made debut all over the world to the tune of major success, but nary a peep (aside from the occasional rumor) has been heard about any versions of the phone bound for the US. Today, however, we have a new detail in the form of two blurry shots of the Sprint variant (dubbed the Within), and... well, let's just say anyone who's seen pictures of the GSII before knows what to expect, because not a lot is different here. Of what is shown, the most notable difference (aside from the Sprint branding) seems to be the shape of the camera.
Nearly a month ago a Gingerbread build for the Samsung Epic 4G leaked, and if Sprint's website is any indication (and it is), the finalized update may be nearly ready to go. The official product listing for the Epic now says the device ships with Android 2.3 - a pretty strong suggestion indeed, and not likely to be a typo.
Google Maps continues the march of progress, officially adding traffic support for 13 European countries today. Aside from the obvious benefit of being able to see traffic in Maps, Navigation will now re-route you based on traffic conditions.
Android has grown at an amazing pace in the past year, and so has our reader base. With that in mind, we have a simple question for our readers: how long have you been an Android owner? Were you one of the 'Droid front-runners, or did you join the game a bit later? Sound off in the poll below, and feel free to share some details in the comments below.
It's hard not to love SetCPU developer Michael Huang. He's been on the overclocking frontline for many devices, including the Samsung Galaxy S II and Motorola XOOM, and now he strikes again with an custom tweaked kernel (update: to clarify, the kernel source isn't available, so this isn't a rewritten kernel - he used a hex editor to modify it) for the HTC EVO 3D that allows for a stable 1.8GHz. With a few minor tweaks the kernel should work for the Sensation as well, although he hasn't had time to get it working without a device in hand.
All of Motorola's recent devices (save for the XOOM) have featured bootloaders that are locked down like Fort Knox, and despite publicly stating that they would be reversing that policy, the company has yet to take any action. Although they stated they wouldn't begin making bootloaders unlockable until late 2011, many people held out hope for the newly-released Droid 3. An apparently lost hope, unfortunately, as a Motorola Support forum admin has confirmed that the hot new Droid is as locked as its brethren.
A new update for Google Maps was released today and brings some impressive new functionality. Artem put it well (although perhaps not exactly eloquently): "it's #$%^ing amazing... Google keeps blowing minds." In a nutshell, Transit Navigation (as it's officially dubbed) brings exactly what you'd expect - it helps you navigate public transport. In their words:
We know Android continues to grow at an amazing rate, with 500,000 Android devices activated per day and an activation growth rate of 4.4% per week (as an aside - if that growth rate is correct, that means the number of activations would double roughly every 16 weeks, based on the Rule of 72.) But how is that raw growth reflected in market share, given the rapidly expanding smartphone market? Turns out pretty well, according to comScore:
For every Windows Phone 7-inspired app, launcher, or theme we've written about, a half-dozen more, often clones, go unmentioned. But every now and then we find something we haven't seen before, and this is one of those times. It's called WP7Contacts, and as you would surmise, it's a contact manager inspired by Windows Phone 7.
Notch another victory for the Android community: shortly after Motorola publicly stated they would be moving towards unlockable bootloaders - even retroactively where possible - it appears that the Gingerbread update for the Atrix does just that. Brief Mobile laid hands on a leaked early build of the Android 2.3.3 update, and to their delight, found that unlocking the bootloader was as simple as using a simple console command.
P3Droid of MyDroidWorld has scored an early (debug) Gingerbread build for the Samsung Fascinate, and it's apparently quite polished. So far P3 and Justin (of AndIRC) are the only two to have laid hands on the build, but the issues they have found are that Tetris force closes, Google Maps isn't pre-installed, and some market apps don't show. Otherwise, they say it's a very solid build. P3 has provided a quick (37 second) video preview:
Love it or hate it, Angry Birds is a massively popular game. Even if it may be a bit played out and past its prime, that doesn't make this any less entertaining: T-Mobile created a real-world, life-size Angry Birds Live game in Barcelona, controllable via an Android device. The results are cooler than you'd expect, and the short (1:40) video is worth a watch.