Android Community |
- iOS 5 Functionality has Already Existed on Android
- Sony Reader PRS-T1 hacked for full Android access
- LibreOffice team working on a free Android version
- Galaxy Nexus and HTC Rezound priced at $299 on Verizon, ads start 11-10
- Sony Video Unlimited now available on Tablet S, coming to other devices
- Screencast for Android updated, record right off your screen now with Audio
- Samsung releases source code for Stratosphere, Transfix, and more
- 11 Android games running on CyanogenMod’s TouchPad alpha
- Google Voice is getting MMS – raise your hand if you care
- Motorola Atrix 2 available next week at Costco
- Tips to make your Android feel new and fresh again
- Acer Iconia A500 now shipping with free cases [Deal]
| iOS 5 Functionality has Already Existed on Android Posted: 14 Oct 2011 09:39 PM PDT We’ve seen what a strong developer following has done for both Apple iOS and Google Android; it both promotes/protects the future of its existence and it makes the operating systems resilient to our fast paced technological society. Most importantly, it helps us realize that one company does not make a product great – and that it’s only as great as the innovative pioneers that join their bandwagon. Though iOS 5 incorporates a wide variety of features, can we really consider them all new?
The one feature in iOS 5 I’ve found most amazing thus far has been Siri Voice Integration. And frankly at this point in time, any other voice interpretation service is left in the dust. With Siri, there is no “pre-defined” way of requesting a task, it simply understands. Pre-iOS 5, Android dominated iOS in voice commands from the very intuitive Vlingo application to the pre-installed Voice Search and Google Car Home applications. Apple’s innovation through Siri’s “fuzzy logic” will make Android stronger – and soon I’m sure.
Unfortunately, this appears to be the only new material that iOS 5 has really brought to the table. iMessage allows iOS 5 users to message one another over their carriers network or WiFi, a feature Google Talk has had since its first debut on the T-Mobile G1 – the first Android device. Yes, its great to include an application such as iMessage, but I can’t see it fairing well against modern SMS texting, Facebook Messenger, or even Google Voice for iOS. Newsstand is a new application in iOS that collects one’s magazine subscriptions from the App Store. Is this really a new feature? If I buy a subscription from Nook for Android isn’t it doing essentially the same thing? Advertising relatively old functionality in technology as brand new seems silly to me. Along the same lines, “Reminders” was also introduced; a helpful tool that can be compared to Android’s Google Calendar and Jorte. Both released well before even the iPhone 4. Yes, iOS 5 integrates Twitter right into the OS. This is a great feature, but can also be accomplished through a simple download of the official Twitter app or TweetCaster in the Android Market. When Apple introduced the App Store, they knew relying on developers to produce amazing programs would be a great success. In iOS 5 it seems they are trying to rely less on these third-party applications and tie their functionality straight into their own pre-installed software. What happens when a crafty developer pushes an amazing app to the App Store that tops Apple’s standards? In the end, users will always choose what works best. This is the ideology that the Android OS has built its empire upon. And don’t forget, we will be live in Hong Kong, China for the Google/Samsung unveiling of the newest device to run Android Ice Cream Sandwich. Stay tuned-in 10PM EST on October 19th! )
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| Sony Reader PRS-T1 hacked for full Android access Posted: 14 Oct 2011 06:34 PM PDT Like the Nook, Nook Color and Nook Touch before it, yet another Android-based e-reader has fallen to the combined forces of tenacity and free time. Sony’s PRS-T1 came out just last month, and now a YouTube video points to a rooted or at least unlocked build in the wild. Details and instructions aren’t available, but rest assured they’ll make their way onto the various hack-friendly forums out there.
Sony’s e-reader line hasn’t reached the lofty heights of the Barnes and Noble Nook or Amazon Kindle just yet, but it’s got its fair share of fans. The video shows one running Android with full access to a launcher (in this case ADW) and the 6-inch device’s touchscreen and face buttons make for a pretty good replication of the standard Android interface despite the slow black-and-white screen. The video’s creator takes great care to note that not everything works, including everyone’s favorite avian abuse simulator Angry Birds. Check out the video below: If you’re interested in picking up a Reader PRS-T1 as a hacking platform for yourself, it’s currently going for about $150 at retail. Between this, the various Nook flavors, the upcoming Amazon Kindle Fire and the just-released HP Touchpad version of CyanogenMod 7, the community of Android modders has never had more options for cheap, hack-friendly tablets. We’ll be updating you with an install method just as soon as we can track one down. )
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| LibreOffice team working on a free Android version Posted: 14 Oct 2011 05:44 PM PDT If you’re a Linux user, odds are you’ve already heard of LibreOffice, a fork of the popular open-source suite OpenOffice. The project has been gaining steam in the last year, and now the developers say they’re targeting platforms other than desktops, namely Android, iOS and a web app. That’s great news for anyone who isn’t satisfied with the Google Docs app and doesn’t want to shell out $15 or $20 for QuickOffice.
If you’re not familiar with LibreOffice, it’s an alternative to the Oracle-sponsored OpenOffice, and like the original it’s a free suite that replicates Microsoft Office on Windows, Mac and Linux. The LibreOffice team broke off of OpenOffice last year over concerns that the new owners would abandon the project or start charging for it. LibreOffice is now the default word processor/spreadsheet/presentation manager for Linux distros like Ubuntu and Mint. The Document Foundation is actively developing an Android version, and they expect it to be ready by late 2012 or early 2013. They’ll be focusing on tablets at first with mobile versions to follow, though considering the structure of the multi-talented Ice Cream Sandwich, the porting process from tablet to phone may not be as difficult as it seems. Since LibreOffice is also getting a web version, we might be looking at a full-on Google Docs competitor, complete with cross-device syncing features. By the way, if you want to download LibreOffice for your less portable computers, head on over to the download page. )
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| Galaxy Nexus and HTC Rezound priced at $299 on Verizon, ads start 11-10 Posted: 14 Oct 2011 05:30 PM PDT Whoa, Nelly! Verizon’s list of upcoming devices has leaked, and it includes a couple of names that should turn heads. Both the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the HTC Rezound are listed at $299 with advertisements beginning on November 10th. Between this Droid-Life leak and a good bit of earlier info, this leaves little doubt that both devices will find there way onto Verizon’s shelves next month.
The Galaxy Nexus, AKA the Nexus Prime, is widely believed to be featured in Google’s Hong Kong announcement next Tuesday. Like previous Nexus phones it’ll serve as the development platform for the next version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich. Google has been hyping up the new software with the standard statue unveiling, and numerous photo and video leaks have given us a pretty good indication of the phone’s look and capabilities. The HTC Rezound was previously code-named the Vigor, and like the Galaxy Nexus it’ll use Verizon’s 4G LTE network. The phone features a 720p screen (also widely rumored for the Galaxy Nexus) and a top-of-the-line 1.5GHz dual-core processor. The Rezound has been a steady target of leaks since the summer. It’s important to note that the leaked Verizon information doesn’t represent a release date – the “minimum advertised price” list is just a guide for official ads. But given that other members of the list like the DROID BIONIC and the HTC Rhyme are listed at their current MSRP, it’s a safe bet that three hundred bones is what you’ll be paying for both the Galaxy Nexus and the HTC Rezound. This may or may not include Verizon’s frequent mail-in rebates.
Take a look at the version number of the Nexus – SCH-i515. It’s distinctly different than the GT-i9250, which passed through the FCC earlier this month with AT&T and T-Mobile radio bands. That’s a good indication that the Galaxy Nexus, or the Nexus Prime, or at least some comparable device will be making it to three different carriers soon. Keep an eye on Android Community this coming Tuesday night as we cover the Samsung/Google Hong Kong event. SlashGear will be covering the Ice Cream Sandwich and Galaxy Nexus unveiling live in China, beginning at 10AM Wednesday local time. That’s 10PM EST Tuesday evening in the United States. )
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| Sony Video Unlimited now available on Tablet S, coming to other devices Posted: 14 Oct 2011 04:37 PM PDT Are Netflix, HBO GO, movie rentals from the Android Market and a half-dozen other video solutions just not enough for you? Well take heart movie buff, Sony Video Unlimited is available now for the Tablet S, and it’ll be coming to other Android devices soon. What’s interesting here is that Sony isn’t limiting its distribution to its own tablets and phones – other manufacturers will be supported as well.
That’s a surprising move from Sony, who’s historically been a big proponent of the Apple-style walled garden. (Anybody remember ATRAC? Ugh.) The company says that it will soon release the Sony Video Unlimited rental app (formerly Qriocity) for a wide range of devices, dependent upon the software’s hardware requirements. The complicated dealings of video licensing will play a part too. “Video is complicated by some of the technical aspects of our deals with the studios… we have to make sure that the quality of our service is something that lives up to our standards and is something our studio partners are happy with too.” said Sony vice president Mike Aragon. Sony is uniquely situated among Android manufacturers. They have a historically strong brand and a decent following along with Sony Ericsson, but they bring something to the table that not even Google can match: media experience. Sony’s got properties and deals in TV, movies, music and video games, a position they’ve tried to exploit to push their own hardware in the past. There’s a fair bit of marketing going on here too, of course, but it’s promising to see the company opening up. [via The Los Angeles Times] )
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| Screencast for Android updated, record right off your screen now with Audio Posted: 14 Oct 2011 04:18 PM PDT Surely this isn’t the first time we’ve mentioned this app. It is one thing to take a screenshot of what is being displayed on your Android device, but being able to record full video in perfect quality as you flip through homescreens, demo a new game or anything else your heart desires is what we have here. We recently posted a review of Screencast and screen recorder and our only complaint was we didn’t have audio, that all changes today as they’ve just updated and have introduced audio recording to the application.
Obviously this application will require you to be rooted, but essentially you can record everything you do on your phone right from this application with full 25 fps and high resolution quality. Then play it back and share it with whoever you’d like. We ran it a few times during our initial review and demo linked to above and while it was a bit laggy at times and occasionally had a graphics glitch, the latest updates have fixed all that. Developers can use this to demo their newest game and post the video preview in the market and more, the possibilities with this application are up to you. Now we can record video and explain things as you go or capture the game and applications audio making this an all in one solution. Check out our early video demo below: ScreenCast screen recording demo (no audio) The developers of ScreenCast seem to be very actively updating this app and we only expect more great things to come. Many users requested being able to also record audio and today’s update brought just that — a toggle for audio recording at the same time and it works great and sounds perfect, no hissing or buzzing. The next update according to developers is the option to stream your video live as you record, that would be awesome. We wont get into too many details as you can see more in our review. For now head down to the Android market and give this a try by clicking here. )
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| Samsung releases source code for Stratosphere, Transfix, and more Posted: 14 Oct 2011 03:41 PM PDT Samsung has been doing all of the developers and Android tinkerers a solid lately and have been releasing the source code for many popular devices, often times before they even launch. They’ve now released said codes for the Stratosphere, Transfix, Galaxy Y Pro and more all before they’ve even been officially launched. Source codes and kernels are essential for developers to tweak and customize Android and build kernels and all those other things we all love about Android.
They’ve not only released the codes for low-range phones, the same thing has happened for the Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch and the AT&T SGSII although we are still waiting for the T-Mobile versions code to be released. With the way things have been going I see that dropping any day now. All the details and downloads can be found at the Samsung Open Source Center, don’t we wish everyone else was this quick? Samsung Stratosphere kernel source The Transfix and Stratosphere are both available now and while they might not be the best smartphones around, now developers can get them cracked open and start tweaking them for max performance or whatever else they have in mind. The links provided above for each respective device will take you to the kernel source download for said device. Enjoy! [via Android Police] )
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| 11 Android games running on CyanogenMod’s TouchPad alpha Posted: 14 Oct 2011 03:34 PM PDT The industrious guys at CyanogenMod have finally released their first version of CM7 for the HP TouchPad, and thrifty geeks all over the Internet are getting in on the action. The little people at Liliputing have put together a 10-minute video showcasing the TouchPad’s Android gaming prowess, and for the most part have come away with good experiences. The odd resolution and general bugginess of the Alpha software diminishes the games somewhat, but everyone should be able to find something fun to play.
The video spans ten popular Android games: Angry Birds (natch), Asphalt 5, Destinia, Dungeon Defenders, Fieldrunners HD, Guitar Hero 5, Pinball Deluxe, Robo Defense, TurboFly 3D, Wixed Lite and Zenonia 3. Most are at least serviceable, and Angry Birds ran like a champ, but Asphalt 5 was the only game that wouldn’t play at all. One of the biggest problems seems to be the TouchPad’s 1024 x 768 resolution, which is not a standard Android screen size. Check out the video below: Keep in mind that all of these are technically running as smartphone games, since CyanogenMod 7 is based on Android Gingerbread. Game compatibility and performance should improve as the CyanogenMod team releases more stable updates. I can’t wait to see what the TouchPad can do when the first Ice Cream Sandwich ports begin coming out. )
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| Google Voice is getting MMS – raise your hand if you care Posted: 14 Oct 2011 03:05 PM PDT Well folks, it’s Friday, October 14th, and the day that so many have waited so long for has finally arrived. The world waits with breathless anticipation of news concerning their favorite mobile devices. The Google Voice team is implementing MMS into its text messaging services at long last. Reports of college kids rioting in the streets outside the Google campus have not been confirmed.
In all seriousness, I’m sure that there are those out there who sincerely enjoy MMS, I just don’t know any of them. The Google Voice team is working on a work-around to allow users to see the multimedia messages – just set text messages to forward to your email address in the Settings section of your Android app or the Google Voice web site. The fix only works with one carrier so far, but more are coming soon. There’s still no way to view pictures or video in the app itself, but the developers say they’re planning on implementing it in a future upgrade. Maybe it’s because I never used text messaging regularly until I could get it for free (which started, incidentally, with Google Voice), but MMS never appealed to me. I know it’s an easy way for featurephones to share media quickly, but these days it just seems kind of redundant. And in any case, Android has support for MMS via the default messaging app. We’ll let you know when Google Voice supports the feature so you can party like it’s 1999 for free. [via Droid-Life] )
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| Motorola Atrix 2 available next week at Costco Posted: 14 Oct 2011 03:02 PM PDT We haven’t heard a lot about this device lately but Motorola is all set to roll out and ship their new smartphone for AT&T, the Motorola Atrix 2. It has leaked a few times over the past few weeks but we never saw much of it until just recently. Then at CTIA this week Motorola announced it will be for sale starting October 16th. As usual Costco has a few different things in mind and will most likely be undercutting AT&T with a better price, and bundled accessories, so you might want to hold off until we see what they have in store for the Atrix 2.
That isn’t all either, according to sources Costco will also be selling the just announced Samsung Stratosphere 4G LTE slider from Verizon starting next week. As usual you can expect them to beat the carrier pricing as well as the awesome return policy Costco is famous for. We haven’t heard anything regarding the new Motorola Lapdock 100 specifically for the Atrix 2, but as usual it will be supported especially since the new model will work with all future Motorola smartphones. We might see some sort of bundle deal with the new dock from Costco if we are lucky too. The Atrix 2 received some hands-on treatment a few weeks back and you can check that all out right here. As a little reminder the Atrix 2 features similar specs to the original but with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and the new Motorola UI, a 4.3″ qHD 960 x 540 resolution display, 1.0 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of internal storage. The new Atrix 2 should be a great smartphone but I’m still surprised they are pushing it with HSPA+ and not 4G LTE, that is about the only con I see here. Either way it will be available come October 16th from AT&T and should see some nice deals and bundles from Costco soon so stay tuned. )
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| Tips to make your Android feel new and fresh again Posted: 14 Oct 2011 02:23 PM PDT We all love our Android phones, but if any of you are like me I occasionally find myself wanting to change things up a tad. Most of us have the same phone for around 2 years while we are on contract, but if you've wanted some change in your Android world then I have a few tips to keep things fresh. From the obvious like new wallpapers, to changing the entire lockscreen and more so check it out below.
On Android the world is endless with possibility. From simple widgets to crazy custom roms, themes and more the options really are endless and you could tweak and change your phone weekly and probably never see the same thing twice. I just thought we’d share a few tips that here at Android Community keep our phones feeling new and fresh. Wallpaper Now this one is extremely obvious as everyone changes their wallpapers, I do this on almost a daily bases, but I’m worse than others. I’d highly recommend the application Backgrounds or the ever popular Backdrops by interfaceLIFT.com as they have some of the best wallpapers around. Something as simple as changing your wallpaper to a beach or the kids might help out for a few days. Also, I’m a big fan of Androids Live Wallpaper support and you can see our many featured LWP’s by clicking here. My personal favorite still has to be Vortex Galaxy for phones and tablets. Launcher The option to install 3rd party launchers that will change the entire feel of your homescreens and main interaction on Android is a unique feature that many love. I've been a huge fan of ADW for a long long time and currently use ADW EX. Launcher Pro is highly popular, and GO Launcher has been picking up steam lately and is another great alternative. This is also an excellent way to get rid of HTC's Sense UI if you'd like to try something else and will make your phone feel new. Same applies for Moto BLUR and Samsung's Touch Wiz. With custom launchers we can change icons, application tray look at style, add gestures and all sorts of other visual changes. Launcher Pro has awesome widgets that makes it one of the best options around. Widgets Widgets are just one of many unique features that make Android great. Being able to instantly enable Wifi, Bluetooth, set phone to silent, launch youTube or my music client and more all without going into the app list or fumbling through settings sure makes things simple and easy. Widgets can also change the entire look of Android and that is why it's made this list. Options such as Beautiful Widgets or HD Widgets will give you more customization then you can possible imagine. I change my weather widget almost every other week or so, giving me something new and unique often.
There are hundreds and thousands of different widgets available in the market, from clocks, weather, settings, apps and more. Give any of them a try and clutter up your homescreen and try something new. Lockscreen Custom ROM This is just a very small story, only touching the tip of the iceberg regarding Android and all the different options and customizations available. The few things outlined above are some of the quick and easiest ways to keep things unique, new, and fresh for your Android and we highly recommend you give them all a try. If you have any questions on what you’ve seen just drop us a line in the comment section below. )
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| Acer Iconia A500 now shipping with free cases [Deal] Posted: 14 Oct 2011 12:12 PM PDT The Acer Iconia A500 tab now appears to be selling for the same awesome low price of just $399 for the 16GB model, but we are now seeing various locations all offer up the tablet with a free official Acer protective case worth $30. While this isn’t a deal like the Target $299 offering, a deal is a deal and worth a quick note right. If you’ve been debating a new Android Honeycomb tablet and had your eye on the low priced Acer, now would be a good time to snatch one up.
Yup, it looks like Target might actually plan to start selling some tablets. Last time I went to Target all the Android tablets were under glass and the ones on display were out of battery, but the iPad sure wasn’t. It looks like the Acer Iconia A500 tablet is just selling with a free case at multiple retailers such as Target, Newegg and many others. The Acer A500 is a pretty well rounded device so for those wanting a great tablet with tons of ports and options, and Android 3.1 Honeycomb this is a perfect opportunity to get a free case at the same time. Feel free to check out our full A500 review to help you decide if this tablet is right for you, then head down to your nearest Target and get em while they’re hot. We are seeing a few Targets out of stock including our local store so you might need to get it online instead. Device Info
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Dimension & Weight
Battery & Power
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Hardware
 Cellular Network
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