David Ruddock
Contributing since June, 2010
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3358articles
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About David Ruddock
David is the former Editor-in-Chief of Android Police and now the EIC of Esper.io. He's been an Android user since the early days - his first smartphone was a Google Nexus One! David graduated from the University of California, Davis where he received his bachelor's degree, and also attended the Pepperdine University School of Law.
Latest Articles
Apple is causing more mischief over in Germany today, having received an injunction from a Munich Regional Court against phone manufacturer Motorola for utilizing slide-to-unlock style lockscreen methods patented by Apple. Motorola intends to appeal the ruling. The basic point to take away is this: the court ruled that Apple's patent on the concept of moving a tracked image from left to right in order to unlock a phone is valid, and it seems likely that every slide-to-unlock implementation on Android would be infringing in their eyes.
ASUS Transformer owners will be forced to wait even longer for a promised update to Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0), the company revealed on its Singapore Facebook page late last night. Here's the statement:
According to Pocket-lint, Sony is planning to bestow PlayStation Certification onto upcoming HTC Android smartphones by the middle of the year. What does said certification entail?
We certainly aren't a console video gaming blog, but when reviews of the US version of Sony's PlayStation Vita started cropping up this morning, I couldn't help but take notice of the new mobile console system's software. Particularly, how... smartphoney it looks.
Yep, I'm 100% serious. Right now, on my phone, is an alpha, proof-of-concept build of Portal. No, it's not official (it's definitely not supported by VALVe Software in any way), but it is tantalizingly awesome. Now, before you ask, we aren't going to link to the apk - it's from a pretty sketchy source. But if you look hard enough, you'll probably be able to find it out there in some of the darker corners of the web.
In a move that is likely to upset every single AT&T customer to some degree, the nation's number two carrier has decided that its current upgrade fee (a cost tacked on whenever a current customer renews their contract and gets a new phone) isn't covering the rising cost of subsidized smartphones. The current upgrade fee is $18, and will soon be doubled to $36, matching the current fee at Sprint.
Why? That is the first word that pops to mind when I see this, LG's marketing campaign for its PRADA-branded smartphone.
With the DROID 4 now officially available, it was only a matter of minutes before Amazon Wireless and Wirefly unceremoniously beat Verizon's in-store and online pricing for the device.
Earlier today, when I read comments from Motorola executive Christy Wyatt over on PCMag explaining that lagging software updates could be blamed in large part on hardware variation, my first response was "really?" Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Motorola has iterated so much hardware in the last year that it has actually promised to cut down on the number of versions of Android handsets it will make.
After indicating it would not announce the Galaxy S III at MWC last week, Samsung has now all but confirmed to PCMag it won't be showing off anything particularly exciting in Barcelona this month - because they won't be holding any sort of press conference during the event. Yikes.
Sprint posted its fourth quarter earnings this morning, and they definitely painted a mixed picture of the company's financial position. On the one hand, the Alamo of unlimited data increased its subscriber base by 1.6 million in the last quarter, with big thanks likely owed to the addition of the iPhone to Sprint's lineup - giving them a significant advantage over their primary price point rival, T-Mobile.
Steve Kondik (aka Cyanogen) put out a public update to the situation with CyanogenMod 9 earlier today, and revealed a few interesting tidbits about Team Douche's progress. Here's a few excerpts we thought were particularly important:
Google Voice received its first major update in some time earlier today, undergoing a major UI refresh for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich devices (Gingerbread devices only see minor changes, such as the app icon), as well as new interface for Honeycomb and ICS tablets. Under the hood, SMS offline message queuing is now supported and works for multiple recipients.
Are you outside one of the eligible countries for the Chrome for Android Beta? Good news - we've pulled the .apk (the app installation file). Simply download the file from one of our mirrors, then run it from the Downloads menu on your device. Remember, this only works on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich devices.
If you're a BIONIC owner (sadly, I am), you've probably been itching for a major update to the device for quite some time now to fix a number of bugs, glitches, and other technological gremlins the phone has had since release. This latest update promises to excise quite a few of the BIONIC's worst software demons, including the dreaded black screen bug. The update has just hit Verizon's support site, so that means a rollout will likely be taking place in the next couple of weeks. Check out the changelog, below:
When it comes to high tech, downsizing is often looked at as a sign of progress. Microprocessors meant whole computers, for the first time, could fit on a desktop. LCD displays made them portable - in the form of laptops. Moore's law proved that chips that once would have been classified as capable of enterprise-level computing now occupy devices that easily fit in your pocket. And advanced lithium-ion batteries meant you could finally take yourself off the AC teat for an appreciable amount of time, and you could charge your gadgets over and over without worrying about the ridiculous cycling fatigue that plagued earlier rechargeable systems.
I don't like talking about "industry insider" rumors. They are inevitably wrong about one detail or another, end up being total speculation, or are just downright trolls. Those that are true tend to be the ones that are very detailed and often leak their way out days, or hours, before a device's launch. Rumors that circulate months beforehand? Not so much.
[Update: It's Official] ZTE Optik: 3G Honeycomb 7" Budget Tablet Coming To Sprint For $99 In February Online, March In Stores
A new tablet is coming to the Sprint network next month
A new tablet is coming to the Sprint network next month, though it's definitely on the budget-minded side of things. The ZTE Optik will be available to Sprint customers starting February 5th through Sprint's online store, with a brick and mortar appearance to follow on March 11th. Here's a quick breakdown on the need-to-know specs for the Optik:
Update: The link to the update is now working. Get on it!
Congress is a lot like a slot machine - once in a while, something good comes out. A new bill introduced by Representative Ed Markey of Massachusetts would require cellular carriers in the US to disclose to end users upon purchase of a mobile device any tracking software present on said device, or any such software that might be installed at a later date by the carrier, manufacturer, or OS provider (that would be Google for Android).