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Update: Here's a snapshot of that ridiculous 1080p display in action. Be sure to check out Ron's hands-on with the phone, in which he describes said eye-melting resolution.
Chances are if you're a Galaxy Nexus or Nexus 7 owner (or soon to be Nexus 4 / Nexus 10 owner), you probably have reason to head into the developer options menu once in a while. Or like me, just once ever to enable USB debugging. Regardless, if you go looking for these options in Android 4.2, you won't find them. That's because Google has - for whatever reason - hidden them from view in this latest update. Probably to prevent ordinary consumers from finding them, you know, for all the damage those highly dangerous developer options could cause.
The much-awaited One X+ and VX for AT&T have finally had their availability dates hammered down - both handsets will be released this Thursday, November 16th. The X+ is HTC's refresh of its flagship One X handset, though aside from some additional memory, the first Tegra 3 processor with LTE, and a spiffy new all-black pain job, it's basically the same phon. Those upgrades are substantial, though, and should make it a serious contender this holiday season. The One X+ ships with Android 4.1 and Sense 4+, while its predecessor is still awaiting an upgrade to the same.
On Saturday evening, HTC and Apple issued a joint press release indicating the two companies had settled their ongoing legal slapfight. Under a confidential 10-year licensing arrangement, they have agreed to what essentially amounts to a rigid patent ceasefire. Even future patents are covered under the deal (there obviously will be exceptions to any deal, but that's the gist).
[The Android Police Week In Review] The Biggest Android Stories Of The Week (11/4/12 - 11/11/12)
Welcome to the Android Police Week In Review
Welcome to the Android Police Week In Review - your source for the biggest Android stories of the week. Don't forget, you can catch a lot of these stories (and more) on our weekly podcast.
Have you been chomping at the bit to figure out when you'll actually be receiving that Nexus 4 or Nexus 10 from the Play Store that you're definitely going to buy? Well, here's your answer, straight from Google: orders will begin for both on the 13th, and those orders will start shipping the same day. No pre-orders will be taken. So, if you go for overnight shipping, you could theoretically have sweet Nexus goodness the very next day - November 14th. To put an asterisk on this statement, if your country has the Nexus 4 / 10 set for release on the 13th, too, the above probably applies to you, as well. We can't say for certain, though.
Wi-Fi, or Bluetooth? It's a question that most audiophiles have answered resoundingly when it comes to wireless sound: Wi-Fi, of course. Uncompromised fidelity (from the original audio source), more stable connection, fewer interruptions, and did I mention fidelity? In the last year or two, though, we've basically seen Wi-Fi speakers pushed into a corner of the market, as a niche product, while ever more ubiquitous Bluetooth speaker systems have taken the lead.
Update: The promotional code has been taken down - probably because too many people tried to use it. Bummer.
As part of a statement on the general state of software updates at Motorola, VP of Product Management Punit Soni has revealed that a new early update testing program will be unveiled, known as Test Drive.
[The Android Police Podcast] Episode 35: My Desk Is A Helicopter
The Android Police Podcast: Episode 35
Welcome to the Android Police Podcast, Episode 34. Don't forget - the Android Police Podcast's live broadcast is every Thursday at 5PM PST (www.androidpolice.com/podcast). The unedited video version of the podcast can be found here - and will likely include various verbal expletives, technical snafus, tangents, and probably a good 5-10 minutes of pre-podcast banter as we prepare. Watch at your own risk!
Since I reviewed the SuperTooth Disco, oh so long ago (I still had my Nexus One!), I've never found anything quite like it. It was loud, it was heavy, big, and frankly, a bit silly looking. It was also exceptionally good value for money. It's like that big, old pickup truck from the 70's - a modern substitute is really no substitute at all.
Verizon's 4G LTE Rollout Will Be Complete By Mid-2013 - And This Actually Has Some Cool Implications
On an investor call earlier this morning, Verizon Wireless CFO Fran Shammo said that the carrier's buildout of its 4G LTE network will be completed by mid-2013. This is after an earlier estimate of the end of 2013, putting the company a full six months ahead of schedule.
Humble Bundle For Android #4 Just Announced: 5 Brand-New Android Games At The Price Of Your Choosing
Humble Bundle is one of our favorite ways to donate to a great cause while also getting awesome stuff in return, and a brand-spanking-new group of games is up grabs this morning as part of Humble Bundle for Android 4.
Sony announced today on it's official Sony Mobile Developer blog that the Xperia S "experimental AOSP support" project, first announced by JBQ back in August, is no more. It was an interesting idea, to be sure - a non-Nexus device that would be supported both with the help of members of the Google developer community, as well as AOSP maintainer JBQ, on the AOSP main branch.
Does a new mid-range Android phone on AT&T get your juices flowing? And by new, I mean one that was actually already announced last month? Fantastic, because I'm here to tell you about the Galaxy Express, Samsung's newest phone on AT&T that isn't a Galaxy S III. Here's a really big picture of it:
If you head over to ASUS's download page for the Transformer Pad Infinity (TF700T), you can grab the newest firmware update for your Infinity - 10.4.4.20. The update is available for US, Japan, China, Taiwan, and Worldwide variants of the TF700T, so make sure you download the correct firmware. Some folks over at XDA have been playing with the update, but until now, a changelog has been elusive.
According to Reuters, analyst firm Strategy Analytics has determined that during the third quarter of 2012, the Galaxy S III was the world's best-selling smartphone. Now, there is one small caveat that does put a slight damper on this rather big achievement for Samsung, and that's the fact that the iPhone 5 was slated to launch at the end of Q3, which always slows down current-gen iPhone sales. It's also pretty unlikely Samsung will hold onto this title for Q4. The numbers? An estimate of 18 million Galaxy S III's sold in Q3, and 16.2 million iPhone 4S's.
Can you patent a shape? That is a question so many media outlets have been asking since Apple's more generic design patents have gotten more legal attention, and unfortunately, it's resulted in a rather severe oversimplification of just what a design patent is, and what it can protect. Yesterday, Wired reported that Apple finally received a long-awaited design patent on the shape of the iPad, a patent which lists none other than Steve Jobs himself as a co-inventor (and, of course, Jonathan Ive).
The Xperia T and TX, the latter of which I quite recently reviewed, are slated to receive an over-the-air update globally in the next week* (*unless you're on AT&T, in which case the ETA is: haha, good luck), and it's packed with features. Features that do things. Here's the breakdown.