Monday, 4 July 2011

Android Community

Android Community

Happy 4th of July from Android Community

Posted: 04 Jul 2011 11:40 AM PDT

Hanging out with friends and family during the holidays or weekends like this past one is what life is all about right? Well today is Independence Day and we here at Android Community want to wish each and every friend, follower, reader and everyone else a very safe and happy 4th of July. We hope you have all enjoyed the weekend, whether it was work or play or a little of both.

I’m sure you Android lovers have been flashing custom roms, getting the latest CM7 nightly or all those other fun things we all do, and I’ve been right there with you. Today being a celebration of our freedom that we all love and enjoy we are taking the day off at Android Community to be with the ones we love and appreciate. We hope you will all do the same and be right back here tomorrow morning to continue with our other favorite thing, and that is Android!

Here are a few simple quotes that I’ve always liked during this time of year:

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better. ~Albert Camus

and

Freedom is never free. ~Author Unknown

They are short and they are sweet but if you read them and think about it for a minute you’ll see why I picked them. While you are all here you might as well head over to our Tabletpalooza Giveaway. I also figured I’d link to a few firework apps or wallpapers for Android so check this out as well.

Android Firework Apps

Thanks for stopping by on this amazing day, we hope you enjoy it as much as we all will. Happy 4th of July again from Android Community.

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HTC Sense smartphones sell over 9.3 M units in Q1

Posted: 04 Jul 2011 07:27 AM PDT

HTC is one of the most popular makers of Android smartphones on the market today. The company also has one of the most liked custom UIs in its Sense platform. According to HTC, the smartphones it sells with Sense are being purchased in impressive numbers. HTC has offered up some impressive numbers from Q1 2011. According to HTC, it sold 9,313,500 smartphones with Sense onboard.

For Q2 2011 the company shipped 11 million smartphones total. That 11 million figure is more than twice the number it sold in the same quarter of last year. The strong demand in the US and Asia offset the reduced demand in Europe for the smartphone. Asia in particular is expected to drive a higher growth rate throughout the year with solid gains in the US expected as well.

I wonder though how much of the sales of HTC smartphones with Sense are more to do with them only coming with the UI installed. If you have the same phone at the same carrier for the same price and could get it with or without Sense installed, which would you buy? I bet the purists that like to mod and hack their phone would certainly want the Sense free version.

[via Infosyncworld]

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Nexus S 4G gets video calling with Skype hotfix

Posted: 04 Jul 2011 04:20 AM PDT

Last week was big for Android users that are also fans of Skype. Video calling finally came to the Skype app on Android. The downside was that only a few select smartphones got the Skype video calling update. The update to the Skype app brought video calling to the HTC Desire S, Sony Ericsson Xperia neo, Sony Ericsson Xperia pro and the Google Nexus S.

Last Friday the video chat APK was offered up to allow video calls to be made using Skype that would let other devices use video chat, but it was unofficial and didn't work with all handsets. If you are not using one of the officially supported handsets for video chats, you might try the APK. If you are using the Google Nexus S 4G smartphone a hotfix landed Friday just for you.

The hotfix added support for video calling to the Nexus S 4G allowing video chatting alongside its slower 3G sibling that got the video calling in the official launch. Skype will continue to roll out other fixes that enable video calls for other device users.

[via Twitter]

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Samsung Says TouchWiz Update for Galaxy Tab 10.1 is “Coming Soon.” Tells What’s in Store

Posted: 03 Jul 2011 07:06 PM PDT

In order to launch its Galaxy Tab 10.1 with the latest and greatest version of Honeycomb (3.1), Samsung had to delay its planned TouchWiz UI overlay. To some purists, myself included, this was great news, but some people enjoy the benefits manufacturer skins bring. If you happen to be one of the latter as well as the owner of a Galaxy Tab 10.1, Samsung promises TouchWiz is coming soon and has delivered some details on what to expect with the update.

The update will be downloadable to your device, and if you set up a Samsung account on your tab, you will be notified when the update is available. It is not confirmed, but presumably you will need a Samsung account to get the update, as the Google IO Edition Tabs did when the 3.1 update was available for them. So if you plan on downloading the TouchWiz update, you may as well sign up now.

The update itself brings several new features aside from TouchWiz, including a tablet version of Swype, Samsung’s Hubs, mobile printing, several enterprise features and four preloaded apps. That’s a lot of cool bonuses to lure you into giving TouchWiz a try, and I imagine that’s exactly why Samsung threw them in there. If you are on the edge about whether to give the update a shot, let us break it down for you.

It was back in March that we got our first look at TouchWiz UX (the tablet version). Some of the coolest features include a mini apps tray, which works similarly in concept to the dockbar in ADW launcher, but then launches apps in its own window on top of your current activity, and an enhanced settings pannel and clipboard. This will be the first major UI skin for Honeycomb, so it is a bit hasty to pass judgement on it, by lumping it with phone skins. Samsung seems pretty confident this will be a new wave of UI skin, so we’ll have to wait and see what, if any effects it has on performance and battery life.

To sweeten the deal Samsung will throw you a few free apps, including tablet-optimized Swype, Amazon’s Music Cloud Player and Kindle apps, as well as a mobile printing, app, Zynga’s Words with Friends game, and FindMyMobile, a gps tablet locater/remote wiping app. If that’s still not enough there is always Samsung’s Media, Music, Readers and Social Hubs. Essentially these are media aggregators giving you quick access to your contacts/facebook updates/music/etc. The Media Hub does, however, offer movie and TV rentals, a trend we’re seeing pop up more and more in manufacturer software.

Will all this be worth letting Samsung skin your device? The answer for now, maybe. If you have a Samsung phone with its TouchWiz UI and you love it, chances are pretty high you’ll like this too, if you absolutely hate when someone gets in the way of you and your pure Android, then probably not. If you’re on the fence, I definitely wouldn’t rule it out. Once the update is released you can bet we’ll give it a thorough hands on and let you know how it runs.

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