Android Community |
- NOOK Color Gets Fandango, Evernote, and Several Exclusives
- Apple Expected to Lose Case to Crush Android Amazon Appstore
- Lou Ferrigno Cast as Android vs Steve Jobs as Himself via Facetime for Epic Smartphone Film
- Acer Iconia Tab A500 to get Android 3.1 update July 5 at least in Germany
- Asus Eee Pad Transformer 2 with Tegra 3 and Ice Cream Sandwich expected in Q3/Q4
- Hulu Plus App starts Android roll out
- HTC EVO 4G+ packs WiMAX into Sensation
- New Bill Would Require Stricter 4G Definitions
- New Multi-Core Benchmarking System CF-Bench Tested on Sensation, EVO 3D, Galaxy Tab 10.1, A500, G-Slate
- Droid Bionic Still On Schedule, Tweets Moto
- LG Thrill 4G Official on AT&T
- EVO 3D Pre-Orders Arriving Starting Today
- Verizon Directs Employees How to Handle End of Unlimited Data Plans
| NOOK Color Gets Fandango, Evernote, and Several Exclusives Posted: 23 Jun 2011 10:44 AM PDT That wily Android tablet we all know and love, the one put out by Barnes & Noble by the name of NOOK Color (or NOOKcolor if you remember how it was written at the onset) is now popping with several new titles this week! Included in this release are several apps that we’ll get to later in this post and some excellent digital picture books with over 15 never-before-seen interactive Disney Cars and Cars 2 titles. PLUS there’s 50 new “I Can Read” books – that being books that help your kids read, of course, plus brand new interactive versions of New York magazine, Motor Trend, and more.
Along with what’s already been listed, Barnes & Noble have worked with developers to bring several new fabulous apps over to the NOOK Color platform including Fandango, Evernote, Seesmic, Aces Hearts (card game which is a NOOK Color exclusive,) Astraware Tradewinds 2, and a collection of Bible-centric apps I’m sure SOME of you will be rather thrilled about. Strange that the folks at Barnes & Noble would present such a release with said religious-themed releases in it, seems controversial, wouldn’t you say? Beyond that, Barnes & Noble lists the current top five downloaded apps on the NOOK Color platform as being Angry Birds, Astraware Mahjong, Quickoffice Pro, Drawing Pad and Aces Jewel Hunt. Along the Disney Cars 2 line, a movie that’s certainly fast approaching, are 15 interactive NOOK books for kids, this adding to an already decent collection of similar books which kids can tap, push, and have read to them in an interactive environment. For a rather deep understanding of what it means to work with and own a NOOK Color, head over to SlashGear where your humble narrator has presented a “Week With” look at the device including photos, video, and everything you’ll need to bring you up to speed on Barnes & Noble’s impressive full-color reader device. )
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| Apple Expected to Lose Case to Crush Android Amazon Appstore Posted: 23 Jun 2011 10:23 AM PDT So you’re aware of the fact that the Amazon Appstore, which we’ve got a bit outline of for you in Android Community 101: Amazon Appstore, has the word “Appstore” in it, right? Apple knows this too, and thinks that they own it. Apple’s legal department is and has been worried that the word Appstore might infringe on their trademark ownership on the term “App Store”, a fight they’ve got to fight for every sort of infringement like this lest they loose the title for their very own – that’s how the US legal department sees it. In this case though, it’s become apparent today, Apple’s case is being seen as moot.
The case is being presided over by US District judge Phyllis Hamilton who has today stated publicly that she doesn’t believe Apple has sufficiently demonstrated confusion amongst customers. Because of this, she says she’ll “probably” deny the motion for Amazon to have to change their name. Any of you Android fans out there confused whether you’re shopping for an Android app on Amazon or in the iTunes / Apple App Store? Amazon maintains that the term “App Store” is a generic term and that Apple cannot possibly have exclusive rights over it. Hamilton continued, noting again the confusion Apple’s been trying to prove amongst customers:
This case, if you’re wondering, goes by the name Apple Inc. v. Amazon.com Inc., 11-01327, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (Oakland). If you’re wondering where you can access each of these separate App Stores, I suggest you purchase either an Apple product or head, again, to our post entitled Android Community 101: Amazon Appstore. Simple stuff, really.
[via SlashGear] )
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| Lou Ferrigno Cast as Android vs Steve Jobs as Himself via Facetime for Epic Smartphone Film Posted: 23 Jun 2011 09:13 AM PDT What in the world is going on here, you might ask? An art project created by some rather creative folks over at little-known UK Phone site MyPhoneDeals, one with a rather amazing looking bit of artwork and a creative story to go with it. Look at this magnificent vision of a war-torn London being bashed by none other than a head-shaved Steve Jobs and an Ice Cream Sandwich eating Android! Steve’s for a lightening filled iCloud leaping through the air ready to crush the nonplussed Android with an Android logo printed on his front, and they’re taking the whole city for a joyride in their mutual hatred for one another!
This image is accompanied by a report of the battle being done between the two factions in the streets, Jobs on one side yelling “Customize THIS you naked openly-fragmented trash can!! Hyuk hyuk [sic]” while the Android responds that he’s “happy with its own cloud”. The whole battle began, says the report, when the Android passed by the Apple store on Regent Street, dropping bits of a gigantic Ice Cream Sandwich on approximately 48 people who were lined up for the iPhone 5 (which is said to be being released late this year or sometime in the first half of 2012, last we checked. Word of other mobile OS fighters are spoken of as well, you’ll be able to see them in the image above as well if you look carefully: see the bubbly purple item in the center of the ground – that’s a BlackBerry. See the fruit next to the feet-up man in the debris? That’s a Mango, symbolizing the newest Windows Phone 7 OS. All of this is punctuated at the end of the story with word that MeeGo was seen running into a burning building several states away in Wisconsin before it collapsed – we hardly think so. Click the image in the gallery below to get the full sized version for wallpaper download if you wish – we’re currently in the process of finding out the artist.  [via MyPhoneDeals] )
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| Acer Iconia Tab A500 to get Android 3.1 update July 5 at least in Germany Posted: 23 Jun 2011 06:39 AM PDT The Acer Iconia Tab A500 has been around for a while now and has lured a few folks looking for an Android tablet to purchase. Last we spoke of the A500 it was on special over at Target stores. The tablet has Android Honeycomb 3.0 onboard already. Acer Germany has announced that the A500 will be getting an update on July 5 to the latest version of Honeycomb.
The OTA update will bring the A500 to Honeycomb 3.1. The update should bring some improvements to the tablet with better performance and improved multitasking. The A500 has a 10.1-inch screen, Tegra dual-core processor, the screen resolution is 800 x 1280, and it has 16GB of storage onboard. The front camera is a 2MP unit and the rear camera has 5MP. The tablet also sports the obligatory Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity as well. The battery promises up to eight hours of use per charge. The Honeycomb 3.1 update is expected this month in the US. The announcement from Acer Germany about the 3.1 update came via the company Facebook page. We reviewed the A500 when it launched. [via Tabtech] )
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| Asus Eee Pad Transformer 2 with Tegra 3 and Ice Cream Sandwich expected in Q3/Q4 Posted: 23 Jun 2011 04:20 AM PDT The Asus Eee Pad Transformer has proven to be a popular little tablet on the market. The Transformer is notable for its cool keyboard dock that makes for much easier typing and extends the runtime of the tablet too. Asus has one of the more popular tablets next to the iPad 2 and is looking down the line to the next version of the Transformer according to sources in Taiwan. Asus sold about 400,000 Transformer tablets in the first half of the year and will certainly sell more of the next version too.
The Taiwanese sources claim that Asus will become one of the top customers of NVIDIA and will be using the Tegra 3 chipset inside the Eee Pad Transformer 2 tablet that will run Ice Cream Sandwich. The Transformer 2 is expected to land in October or November. The same sources claim that the quad-core version of Tegra will also see duty inside a new Chromebook notebook from Asus. Asus is expected to sell the Transformer at a breakeven price of $399 in the US. The money is expected to be made on the high margin keyboard dock that most buyers are expected to purchase. Asus has more Android offerings coming too with the Eee Pad slider with the integrated keyboard expected next month and the MeMo Pad is expected by the end of the year. The sources in Taiwan also claim that the PadFone will get Tegra 3 and IceCream Sandwich this year. [via Notebookitalia] )
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| Hulu Plus App starts Android roll out Posted: 23 Jun 2011 03:37 AM PDT I have a subscription to Hulu Plus and when I want to catch up with some of the network shows that my DVR won’t hold Hulu Plus is a great thing. The service has had an app that will run on the iPhone and iPad for a long time now to let you check out Hulu Plus content. Other smartphone platforms haven’t had an app though leaving users in the dark. Hulu has announced that the roll out of an Android Hulu Plus app is now going.
It’s important to note the Hulu says in the first phase of the Hulu Plus roll out to the Android platform only six devices will support the service. The smartphones include the Nexus One, Nexus S, HTC Inspire 4G, Motorola Droid II, Motorola Droid X, and the Motorola Atrix. Hulu says that over the year it will add a number of additional headsets to the supported devices list with other devices being supported later too. I would assume those other devices would include tablets and perhaps set top boxes using Android. The app is free to download, but to view the content you need a monthly subscription to the Hulu Plus service. You can download the app and get a week worth of free service if you want to try it. The app needs Android 2.2 or higher for the OS. [via Hulu] )
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| HTC EVO 4G+ packs WiMAX into Sensation Posted: 23 Jun 2011 12:48 AM PDT HTC has quietly launched the HTC EVO 4G+, a new 4.3-inch qHD dual-core Android smartphone that’s basically the company’s latest Sensation variant. While ostensibly a WiBro Android smartphone for the Korean market, there’s a fair chance that the EVO 4G+ could get a US launch on WiMAX networks.
Like the Sensation, there’s a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 1GB of internal storage and an 8-megapixel main camera with autofocus and a dual-LED flash, capable of recording 1080p HD video. Up front is a 1.3-megapixel camera, and there’s MHL HDMI support for the USB 2.0 connection. HTC also throws in GPS, Bluetooth 3.0, a 3.5mm headphone jack and a microSD card slot. Connectivity includes both HSPA/WCDMA and WiMAX (WiBro) support, along with quadband GSM/EDGE. There’s HTC’s Sense UI on top of Android, complete with HTC Watch for renting or purchasing video content, DLNA wireless streaming, stereo speakers and more. No word on when it will launch in Korea, nor indeed when it might make it to North America. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in!] )
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| New Bill Would Require Stricter 4G Definitions Posted: 22 Jun 2011 02:37 PM PDT 4G has been a bit of a bitter subject for those who have any sort of technical understanding of the topic. There exists an organization, the International Telecommunications Union, who set the standard for what would constitute 4G long before the first “4G” network was deployed. To this day not a single “4G” network meets those requirements. Now a bill has been presented to the U.S. House of Representatives to force wireless carriers to provide more information to consumers about what constitutes their 4G network.
Lets start with a brief bit of history about what all these G’s mean. “G” as its being used stands for generation. The first generation of mobile telephony, what we would no call 1G, was analog signals, your words would be turned directly to a signal, and an analog voltage would be broadcast by your phone. 2G was digital. Voice was sampled and digitized, and phone waves consisted of 1s and 0s. 3G mobile connectivity is what helped propel mobile data to the prominence it has today. For a network to be considered 3G it had to be capable of reaching a peak data rate of 200 Kbits/s. Networks such as EDGE (often called 2.5G by U.S. carriers), HSPA, and CDMA are examples of 3G technologies. The ITU, the organization responsible for the minimum 200 Kbits/s peak for 3G, has a similar definition for 4G. 4G is supposed to be a new generation of mobile communication. 4G, according to the ITU, should support all information, voice and sms as well as data, over IP packets. Furthermore, a 4G network should be capable of achieving theoretical speeds up to 100 Mbits/s while mobile, and 1 Gbit/s when not. There is a big gap between theoretical and actual speeds, but none-the-less, not a single network in the U.S. meets those requirements. In response to how muddied the situation has become, a bill is being presented to the U.S. House of Representatives to force carriers to be more transparent. The Next Generation Wireless Disclosure Act, should it pass, would have the FCC work with carriers to establish a legal definition of “4G.” Further restrictions would include a required posting of a devices speed, reliability, coverage, pricing, and technology standards at sales locations. The bill has the support of FCC commissioner, but the carriers have yet to make a statement. Should this bill pass, you can bet Android phones will be among those to have network information provided. [via CNN] )
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| Posted: 22 Jun 2011 02:13 PM PDT So we got wind of a brand new app on the block, one that may well replace our favorite dual-core benchmarking application Smartbench 2011 in a heartbeat. Of course, we’d never wish such a thing to happen, and given that we’ve recently had such awesome fun with that benchmarking system, we wish them only the best, but let’s have a look at another option here. This is CF-Bench, a benchmarking tool that’s got support for testing multiple cores on your Android device, allowing you to test both native and managed code – joyous day, let’s see who gets the best!
Thus far we’ve tested a pocketful of dual-core devices on LG, HTC, Samsung, and Acer, but we’re going to rely on YOU to grab the rest. Not only does this benchmarking system compare your scores in the following ways: Native, Java, and Overall, it give you quantifiable scores on more internal factors than any benchmarking system we’ve ever seen in the past. This application not only benchmarks your entire system in a matter of around 3-5 minutes, it does so for free. You’ll notice the ad right after the title of the app when you open it. And open it you shall! This application is free on the Android Market and, if you’ll take a look at the developers collection of apps, sits right next to some excellent other apps you may have heard of in the past such as Chainfire3d. Below you’ll see several devices that we’ve tested so far, each of them a dual-core device several of them using an NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core 1GHz processor, and we need your help to complete the circle! You know what that means – testing time! This app has been tested behind the scenes by the developer but is BRAND NEW on the market when this post is posted – less than 100 downloads! Grab the app from the market for free now and get to testing!
Then here’s a temporary graph until we get the much more awesome method of showing you these scores up and running. Does the winner surprise you? Each device is listed in order of total overall score.
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| Droid Bionic Still On Schedule, Tweets Moto Posted: 22 Jun 2011 01:27 PM PDT Motorola’s Droid Bionic was a big hit at CSE this January, but we’ve yet to see it, with rumors of delays and even cancelation swirling around. A tweet from Motorola just a few hours ago has explicitly confirmed that the Bionic is indeed set to be released this summer. The question is, will the Bionic come out on top, or be too little too late at this point?
If nothing else, the Droid Bionic will be the first phone to bring the current top of the line specs to Verizon’s 4G LTE network. With Verizon’s new tiered data plans starting in just a few weeks though, only those who already have a Verizon device will be able to enjoy its unlimited 4G by the time it comes out. If you are on Verizon though and have been holding off for an LTE phone, this may just end up being the one to get.
The Droid Bionic was announced in January, and was said to be hiding a Tegra 2 processor under its 4.3″ qHD display. Moto’s tweet mentions that their team is working on a few new updates, but doesn’t give any specifics. At six months since the announcement, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to guess there may have been some hardware updates, other than the redux of its physical design. It is also possible that Motorola’s working on improving its webtop software, which we saw the Bionic working with at the beginning of the month.
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| Posted: 22 Jun 2011 12:58 PM PDT What was up until this point known as the LG Optimus 3D is now the LG Thrill 4G, a device which still totes the 3D capabilities but rolls with G-G-G-G in the name to let you know that it’s extra gangster. One of the items AT&T is pushing for this device and we’re happy to see is their developer program supporting the 3D environment. Nothing pumps your device up like some good apps, and nothing tears your device down like a 3D feature with a limited amount of apps you can use it with. Thusly – develop! This device is also apparently the first AT&T device to come pre-loaded with Qik for use over wifi – video chat in crystal clarity.
AT&T notes that this device is a YouTube 3D Lead Phone, noting that yes, it will still be coming with the YouTube 3D app pre-loaded as we saw on the LG Optimus 3D. This leads into their talk today in NYC about how they’re pushing for a whole 3D social media environment – LG, AT&T, and depending on where you’re living at, Texas Instruments are all pushing for this 3D sharing space in which everyone would have this same device (or different devices with the same 3D capabilities) collecting and sharing 3D media with one another.
This device also comes packed with some full games from Gameloft that’ll satisfy your 3D tastebuds to the max: Let’s Golf 2, Asphalt 6 and NOVA. You can get a better look at what’s going on in our full review of this device or by checking out the hands-on video here: The image you see at the far top of this post is the device as we’ve seen it, that being the LG Optimus 3D tied to no carrier. The image you see next is the AT&T version of the device, looking by all appearances to be essentially the exact same setup, but officially tied to AT&T in the software. Below you’ll be able to see our Hands-On with 3D video as filmed of the LG Optimus 3D – expect a very similar experience on the AT&T version of the device:
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| EVO 3D Pre-Orders Arriving Starting Today Posted: 22 Jun 2011 12:36 PM PDT Those who took the time to pre-order the newest installment in the EVO legacy from HTC should be getting those devices in the mail starting today. We’ve got reports pouring in from all over the United States telling us that, indeed, Android fans are getting their pre-ordered devices, some having gotten a shipping notice in their email box, some having received nothing but the package. All will be happy to know that you’re MORE than likely going to be getting your pre-ordered EVO 3D before the regular Friday release date – hooray!
For those of you still on the fence, you should know that we’ve taken the time to write up a rather intricate review of said device for your consumption. In this review you’ll see everything from hardware to software, benchmarks to example photos and video (both 2D and 3D), to a rather inebriated looking angry Andy messing with the chassis. Get away from there you naughty naughty Android, you know you shouldn’t be dranking so much oil in the afternoon! For a lovely preview of said device, I’d like to offer you two items. First, an example of how nice the back-facing cameras takes macro photos:
Then the hands-on video that includes a mini look at the DEMO of the 3D Spiderman game this device contains. Now you should know that this is not the only 3D device that’s being jammed out the doors these days. There’s also the LG Thrill 3D, a device that up until now was known only as the LG Optimus 3D, a device that, yes, we do have a full review of right here. Take a look and get to comparing! Also let us know the condition of the devices you’re getting in the mail because we’ve got at least a couple accounts of the boxes being a bit hit – more than likely though this is because of the shippers, not the manufacturer or the carrier. )
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| Verizon Directs Employees How to Handle End of Unlimited Data Plans Posted: 22 Jun 2011 11:56 AM PDT We’ve got our hands on a retailer email sent out to at least SOME locations across the US, we’re assuming basically all, this email detailing the way Verizon employees are to handle customers asking about the unlimited plans ending and tiered data plans beginning. What you’ll see is an epic story filled with drama, intrigue, and lots of big capital letters for EMPHASIS. Verizon isn’t going to have any red on its hands when all this is said and done, $30 a month slayed and massacred for ever and ever amen.
What this plan details is how existing customers will indeed be Grandfathered in to their unlimited plans just so long as they’ve already got an unlimited plan before 7/7/2011 rolls on through. In addition to this, users who already have an unlimited data plan “will be able to upgrade and keep” their unlimited data feature, this rule not ending at any known time thus far – whether or not this means people will be paying more when they “upgrade” is still unknown. Of course more than once, this email notes that lines added after 7/7/2011 will not be able to choose a $29.99 unlimited data plan because it will not exist for new customers. This goes for both existing customers without the plan already and new customers -who also obviously don’t have the plan. They also mention Business Discounts which apparently only apply to the users primary line, this discount ENDING on 7/7/2011, henceforth applying only to $50 and higher data packages on that same primary line. The full list the Verizon employees are said to be passing on from this point on are thus: Feature Phones Smartphones Data Package All packages are the same for 3G and 4G LTE devices. The most enjoyable bit of the release was the following exert:
Aka push it!
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