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A few weeks ago, the Android community notched another victory: HTC formally announced it would no longer be locking its bootloaders, though they hadn't really worked out all the details yet. Add another device to the "it won't be locked, we just don't know how or when" list: the HTC Sensation.
Android's hottest new tablet - the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 - is now available for pre-order at Best Buy. As we've heard before, New Yorkers have an especially sweet deal: Best Buy will be opening up sales today at noon at their Union Square store, and the first 200 purchasers will also get a free leather pouch. For the rest of us, the Tab is slated to go on sale on June 17.
Two weeks ago, an Android Central tipster noticed that Google had officially stated that they wouldn't allow rooted devices to use Android Movies.
Nielson's latest statistics show little change over last month's, with Android, iOS, and BlackBerry holding first, second, and third place, respectively. Admittedly, the numbers for Android and iOS dropped a percent each to 36% and 26% while BlackBerry moved up a percent to 23%, but still - relatively unchanged.
In typical speedy fashion, the official Gingerbread update for the Motorola Droid X has already been rooted and mirrored for mass consumption. Two versions are available, as is usual for releases of this nature: odexed and deodexed. The instructions aren't exactly simple, and you have to know what ROM and version you're currently running in order to properly update (then again, chances are that if you're rooted and ROMed in the first place, you probably already know those details).
Update: Verizon has reneged on their previous tweet - unlocked HTC devices will be able to be activated on Verizon's network. Huzzah.
Official word from Asus is that they can't make enough Transformers to keep up with demand, something that's perhaps not surprising given that the tablet maintains high-end specs but a low-end price. Luckily for some users, keeping a hawkish eye on (r)etailer's websites has allowed them to snatch one up when the seller was lucky enough to get a few in stock. Now, however, there's an easier way, called NowInStock.
Official word just came our way from Verizon that the LG Revolution will be available at Verizon beginning tomorrow. Let's be honest: the Revolution is not an exciting device, and as with the Charge, is probably overpriced for what it is. But then again, it's not as though the Revolution is sub-par, either:
Could Samsung have learned a lesson from the Galaxy S Froyo update shenanigans? The company will be shipping their hottest new device, the Galaxy Tab 10.1, with Honeycomb 3.1 rather than 3.0. No shipping with out-of-date software here - and pretty speedy turnaround, given that Honeycomb 3.1 probably hasn't been available to manufacturers for too long. Then again, the 10.1 doesn't have TouchWiz yet and won't until after release, so there was no custom UI to slow the update.
The O.G. Samsung Galaxy Tab (7") may not pack quite the same horsepower as the Viewsonic gTab, but it's still a damn fine piece of kit, and today Woot is selling it for just $260 + $5 for shipping. Even better, it's the 16GB Sprint 3G + WiFi model, meaning those of you who want to sign up for a service plan can do so. The catch: it's a refurbished model.
When we posted on the work-around for enabling the Netflix app on unsupported devices, more than a few of you weren't thrilled to hear that the fix didn't work on the Thunderbolt. We knew a fix would come eventually, and now we're happy to report that the developer community has delivered; they've found a way to get the Netflix app working on the Thunderbolt. Unfortunately, there is a bit of bad news, too: it only works on devices that are rooted and running a Gingerbread ROM.
The Playstation phone Xperia PLAY may not have quite hit store shelves yet, but it has been up for pre-order for a few days now. Amazon and Wirefly are both stepping up their game in an attempt to beat Verizon's price of $200 with contract, though, and have discounted prices accordingly. Specifically, Amazon has dropped the price for new accounts to just $100, and upgrades are $150. Wirefly has pegged both prices at $150, but hopefully they reflect Amazon's lower price in order to stay competitive. Then again, Wirefly includes a $25 Android Market Card and free backup service for life.
The Motorola Droid X2 has only been out for a day now - and still can't be purchased via Verizon brick-and-mortars yet- but we've already managed to land one for review. I haven't had much time with it, but I do have some unboxing and hands-on pictures to go along with the initial impressions.
Is the HTC DROID Incredible 2 a groundbreaking phone? Hardly. With the Incredible 2, HTC has simply taken an already great handset and refreshed the hardware. The result is a phone that's evolutionary rather than revolutionary - but as it turns out, that's not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, it's actually quite a good thing - the DInc2 is a great device, and I wouldn't hesitate for a second to recommend it to friends or family.
What you see there is a tesseract. In case you're not quite sure what that is (I wasn't), the short definition is "the four-dimensional analogue of a cube." Or, to be more specific (for those of you as nerdy as I):
When he covered the official release of the Netflix app earlier today, Cameron said, "If your device didn’t make the cut, though, I wouldn’t sweat it too hard – you know how resourceful the Android community can be." Well, the app hasn't even been out for a day yet, and already there's a way to get it running on non-supported devices. The only caveat is that you must be rooted. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to work on the Thunderbolt.
Word via DroidLife's tipsters is that an update for the HTC Thunderbolt is rolling out now. As this just started happening, details are a bit light at the moment, but Kellex surmises that this is the same update we heard about a few weeks ago, and we're inclined to agree.