Sunday 28 November 2010

Android Community

Android Community

Lockscreen Gestures coming to DROID via CyanogenMod

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 09:20 PM PST

Oh the glory of custom ROMs. Bringing in many new and creative features, that would just take too long to be implemented on official releases for the inpatient, we are all thankful for these ROMs. CyanogenMod has now released a version that allows lockscreen gestures.

Lockscreen gestures will allow you to not only unlock your device with a drawing, but upon doing so, you will be instantly directed to the application in which that gesture is assigned. So you can set a certain set of swipes to open up the Android Market, and draw a letter to open up TweetDeck, the possibilities are essentially endless.

You can check out the ongoing discussion with download links and instructions over at the CyanogenMod Forums.

Note: If you are using the Lockscreen gestures in CyanogenMod, set your sensitivity to 3 or 4 for the best results – if it’s too low, you’re going to have problems.

[Via Twitter]

)


Install the Android Market on the Android Emulator

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 09:02 PM PST

Developers and curious users have been wondering for quite some time now why the Android Market was not present in the official Android emulator. Most likely because Google doesn’t want users to rate or test apps when they’re not on an actual device, it has been no where to be found on any of the virtual devices available.

However, due to the determination of the ever persistent Android community, we now have a way to port the Market app over to the emulator. Varunkumar Nagarajan, along with some help from XDA, has put together a quick guide on how to actually accomplish this.

In a pretty detailed and intensive process, Nagarajan, from Varun’s ScratchPad, has laid out the process in an easy to follow 8-step tutorial. It’s pretty extensive, so it’s best to check it out directly from the source here.

[Via Varun's ScratchPad]

)


Further details released of Motorola Olympus and Etna devices

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 01:40 PM PST

It’s a well known fact that Motorola has plans for smartphones and tablets featuring the NVIDIA dual-core Tegra 2 processor. First thought to be a Verizon exclusive under the DROID name, it is now not only believed to be coming to AT&T, but hitting the network before Verizon with a January launch date.

However, this could be for some very beneficial reasons. The Verizon handset, currently code named Etna, is expected to hit Verizon in February or March of next year and will fully ready for it’s 4G LTE network.

The AT&T version (internally known as the Olympus) is getting early impressions mentioning that it is “very fast, and the new screen is beautiful.” These two next-gen devices are sure going to be impressive. From the ultra fast and power saving Tegra 2 to the new screen we can expect these to join the Nexus S as the top devices of early 2011.

[Via BGR]

)


Gingerbread GRH47B Build Spotted

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 01:07 PM PST

As we near closer and closer to the release of Android 2.3 Gingerbread, we are beginning to see more and more activity of it’s different builds hit developer’s applications. Android developer Christophe has noticed that a new build of Gingerbread is using his application.

This is the not first time he has spotted Gingerbread, a few days ago he noticed the 2.3 build GRH14B was hitting his application. The full string reads:

Dalvik/1.4.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.3; Nexus One Build/GRH47B)

So hopefully this new build was a final tweaking build, and we are nearing closer and closer to the official release of the highly anticipated Android update.

[Via AndroidCentral]

)


Ameri-Smartphone Moon over Japan – Sharp Corporation to Release Galapagos Android Devices

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 12:53 PM PST

So you’re walking around a city in Japan, it’s about five or ten years back, what do you see? Japan-born electronics as far as the eye can see. Now you’re in that same city, it’s 2010 – what do you see? iPhones. Tons of iPhones. And what else do you see a spattering of? Android-based phones. Just a spattering, but they’re on the rise. In a country known as the Galapagos Islands of mobile phone markets for their wonderful and varied selection of devices and systems, a new wave is cresting, a wave of American-made mobile tech – and app developers are in the mood for surfing.

Gfk Marketing Services Japan reported recently that smartphone sales are up to 16 percent of the cell phone market, a market that makes around 35 million USD a year. And that means the apps are rolling out. One month ago, Rovio Mobile introduced a Japanese-language version of Angry Birds. Today it ranks #6 most popular on smartphone app downloads. Spokeswoman Erin Gleason of Foursquare says “We will be focusing on internationalization in the next couple of quarters, and we feel that Japan is an important market for us,” noting that they’d be arriving in Japan soon, though details wont be sent out until early 2011. Designer Hawken King, creator of the 350 yen ($2.99 in the USA and only for iOS) app “Facemakr” has had about 20,000 people download his app so far, about half of them American, a third of them Japanese.

Mark Hiratsuka, director of Snapp Media, speaks about areas in Tokyo comparable to Silicon Valley: “We’ll soon see a wave of outside prospectors flooding in for the gold in the hills of Omotesando and Harajuku, … Right now, only the very smartest developers are aware of the potential here. We’re about to see that bust wide open.”

Currently the only group carrying iPhone is Softbank Corporation, while Android, seeing the quite obvious potential in expanding in Japan, will soon expand from just being available alongside iPhone with Softbank to also being distributed through NTT DoCoMo and KDDI Corp. Soon Japanese electronics makers at Sharp Corporation will be revealing Android-based devices by the name of, what else, Galapagos. Super neat!

NOTE: We’ve heard whispers of this Galapagos in tablet form before!

[Via Yahoo! News]

)


Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)