Android Community |
- Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 Plus hits retailers November 13, get yours for $399
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus rocks a PenTile Matrix display
- Samsung Stratosphere gets the first Verizon LTE Micro-SIM
- Angry Birds Seasons updates for “Ham’o'ween”
- Asus Eee Pad Slider review via SlashGear
- Android scores 27% of worldwide tablet sales in Q3 2011
- Iris, an alpha, free Siri alternative for Android
- More than 1/3 of apps eventually removed from the Android Market
- LG Optimus Hyper Facade event in Germany is awesome
- Google opens streaming film rentals to UK Android users
- PowerSkin debuts battery case for HTC Amaze 4G
- Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich brings native stylus support
- Steve Jobs had pledged “thermonuclear war” on Android
- Samsung Galaxy Note gets a price cut, hits UK November 1st
- Race of Champions headed to Android, graphics look amazing
- Ice Cream Sandwich SDK ROMs already in the works
- Google engineer: Ice Cream Sandwich source code coming after Galaxy Nexus
- Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime landing page rolls out
- Google Maps updated to support NFC and different screen resolutions
- DROID Bionic CyanogenMod 7 dual boot [Video]
| Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 Plus hits retailers November 13, get yours for $399 Posted: 21 Oct 2011 10:53 AM PDT It appears that Samsung is ready for another round of “It’s Time to Tab” commercials. Today Samsung has officially announced the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7 Plus will be available across a wide array of retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, Fry’s and many other retailers starting November 13th. The new Galaxy Tab 7 Plus features Android 3.2 Honeycomb and will come in both 16GB and 32GB variants. Pre-orders will start at select retailers on October 23rd.
Officially announced back in September we actually have already seen a few pre-orders for the new Tab and reported them already listed at Amazon just yesterday. For more details on the new Tab all the info is in the official announcement. We have a 7.0″ 1026 x 600 resolution display (no 1280 x 800 here), Android 3.2 Honeycomb, 3 megapixel camera around back and a 2MP shooter on the front. a 1.2 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM and will come in a 16GB and 32GB model.
Along with the top of the line dual-core processor we have the usual proximity, accelerometer, digital compass, gyro and ambient light sensors. The Galaxy Tab Plus will come with the TouchWiz UI over 3.2 Honeycomb and we’ve also heard a 3G/4G connected version will be coming to shelves soon. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7″ Plus starts at just $399 for the 16GB model and it can be yours on November 13th. Who will be buying or is the low screen resolution enough to make you opt for something different? )
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| Samsung Galaxy Nexus rocks a PenTile Matrix display Posted: 21 Oct 2011 10:30 AM PDT There has been plenty abuzz about Samsung and Google’s latest and greatest, the Galaxy Nexus, but one thing we haven’t heard talked about much is the display. Yes it is amazingly gorgeous coming in at 4.65″ and having a large 1280 x 720p resolution, but we’ve had many questions and comments asking about the panel type. Yes the Samsung Galaxy Nexus uses a Pentile Matrix display but don’t worry it still looks great. What is the difference between RGB and PenTile you ask? All the details are after the break.
How this works is the way the pixels are displayed on the screen. For an example the original Galaxy S used the Super AMOLED display and while it looked awesome, used a PenTile display where each sub-pixel shares colors instead of getting their very own. This not only makes the display a little on the fuzzy side but it also gives the screen that blue hue, as well as the color green being a little underwhelming. The Galaxy S II however, uses the newer Super AMOLED Plus from Samsung and the “Plus” is Samsung’s way of saying they are using a full RGB color display instead of the cheaper PenTile that shares colors and pixels. The image below is a perfect example of this:
The device might be old but this same situation was a big deal when the original Google Nexus One was released and you can see those images by clicking here. No Samsung didn’t forget to add the “Plus” to the new Galaxy Nexus rocking Ice Cream Sandwich, in order to achieve that high 1280 x 720 resolution and keep the awesome colors and contrast of an AMOLED panel they had to compromise a bit. So why does this matter? Using the PenTile in real world scenarios for users will result in slightly less detail and a loss of sharpness, not to mention the color hue we talked about earlier. Is this a bad thing or a game changer? I don’t think so. For those with eagle eye vision they may be able to spot the differences, but one thing the Galaxy Nexus has going for it is the higher resolution. The 1280 x 720 resolution offers a much higher pixel density close to that of the iPhone’s “Retina” display. So all the pixels are that much smaller and crisper, so while we do have a PenTile display on board the screen should still look gorgeous. The cons of the PenTile will be much less noticeable on the higher resolution the Galaxy Nexus comes with compared to, say, the original Galaxy S that sports a 800 x 480 resolution. Obviously I would’ve loved to see the Galaxy Nexus come with a Super AMOLED Plus full RGB display and the high resolution, because anyone would, but I’m perfectly fine with the PenTile for now and will gladly pick up the Nexus come launch day. In case you missed any of our coverage of the new superphone feel free to check out our Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich portals just linked to, then watch our hands-on videos seen below and decide for yourself if the screen is beautiful or not. Galaxy Nexus hands-on Ice Cream Sandwich hands-on Device Info
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 [via FlatPanelsHD] )
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| Samsung Stratosphere gets the first Verizon LTE Micro-SIM Posted: 21 Oct 2011 09:25 AM PDT Verizon’s latest Samsung phone, the Stratosphere, has an interesting surprise hiding underneath its battery cover. As far as we can tell, it’s the very first Verizon LTE phone to use the teensy Micro-SIM standard. The Micro-SIM will be Verizon’s standard phone identifier going forward – you can see a Micro-SIM slot on the DROID RAZR in our hands-on coverage.
This isn’t the first device to use the tiny SIM card on Verizon – that honor goes to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. The iPhone 4S also gets a Micro-SIM card that’s technically unlockable, although with Verizon’s unique CDMA bands, there’s nowhere to take it once you do. But the Stratosphere has the first Micro-SIM that uses Verizon’s ever-growing 4G LTE network, and if current trends are any indication, it will be the first of many. The Stratosphere is Samsung’s latest QWERTY slider phone, a distant cousin of their original Galaxy line sporting Android Gingerbread. The overall design is a lot like the Epic 4G, including its Super AMOLED screen and 800 x 480 resolution. At $150 on-contract it’s a pretty good deal if you want a full QWERTY phone, instead of the thin slate form factor that seems to be all the rage. We’ll have some hands-on coverage of the Stratosphere soon. Device Info
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| Angry Birds Seasons updates for “Ham’o'ween” Posted: 21 Oct 2011 09:04 AM PDT It was a dark and stormy night, that most wicked evening of All Hallows Eve, when a vengeful cry was heard across the land. It sounded like “Sqwaakk!” That’s right, fans of suicidal avian destruction, the latest version of Angry Birds Seasons is available now. “Ham’o'ween!” pits the Birds against their old enemies in 45 new levels of physics-based carnage.
The latest version of the venerable mobile franchise includes new Halloween-themed levels set in pumpkin patches, haunted houses, and other generalized creepy locales. Some of the destructible environments include exploding pumpkins, jackolanterns, and the familiar precariously placed wood, stone and glass buildings. The puzzles are as fun (and frustrating) as ever, so if you’ve been jonesing for you next Angry hit, you won’t be disappointed. Like all Android versions of Angry Birds, Angry Birds Seasons is a free download. So head on over to the Android Market to get your copy. Then say goodby to your productivity for the next few hours. )
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| Asus Eee Pad Slider review via SlashGear Posted: 21 Oct 2011 08:35 AM PDT The folks at SlashGear have got their hands on another high-profile Android tablet, this time Asus’ multi-talented Eee Pad Slider. The tablet is a lot like its Transformer brother that’s been on the market for six months already, except that the Slider model builds the keyboard right into the body. When not in use, the slider’s keyboard tucks up underneath it, not unlike a 10-inch version of a QWERTY smartphone.
Unfortunately the extra time in coming to market hasn’t made the Slider any better. The keyboard mechanism, while smaller than the Transformer’s removable dock, makes the overall device clunky and heavy. Even worse, the keyboard itself is cramped and cheap-feeling, making the size and weight tradeoffs hard to swallow. The screen locks into a 45 degree angle once the keyboard is engaged, making for a stiff and immobile typing experience that doesn’t hold a candle to a traditional netbook or full-sized laptop. In other areas the Slider seems to perform well enough. The combination of a Tegra 2 processor and Honeycomb should be familiar to tablet enthusiasts by now, and the mostly untouched software is fast and smooth. The larger bulk allowed Asus to use a 5 megapixel camera instead of the Transformer’s 3 megapixel one, and while the photos aren’t exactly stellar, they’re serviceable. See the HTC Jetstream for an even better shooter. The battery lasts a disappointing 6 hours, a far cry from the Transformer’s 12 when docked with its keyboard.
Overall, the Slider is a unique tablets that doesn’t deliver on its central promise. Perhaps if Asus had been able to get it onto store shelves quicker there’s be a market, but with excellent alternatives like the Galaxy Tab 10.1 already available and the Transformer Prime expected before the end of the year, there’s just not a lot to recommend. At $479 USD, there are plenty of better choices out there for a little less or a little more.       Device Info
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| Android scores 27% of worldwide tablet sales in Q3 2011 Posted: 21 Oct 2011 08:05 AM PDT Things are looking up for Android’s tablet aspirations. Though the iPad is still the market leader, Android tablets are slowly carving out a space, to the tune of 4.5 million shipments in the last three months. That’s 26.9% of the worldwide market, edging up towards the iPad’s 66.6%. The growth is considerable, since not long ago the iPad made up a huge 80% chunk of sales.
Unfortunately a large percentage of Android tablets are still running on Gingerbread or Froyo, essentially translating a smartphone interface into a 7-10″ screen. According to Google’s latest activation and OS percentage numbers, only 3.4 million Android devices are running Honeycomb, despite a worldwide total of 6 million. Smaller, cheaper tablets are still firmly in the Gingerbread space, even for new offerings from the likes of ViewSonic and Velocity Micro. But there’s hope on the horizon for cheap Android tablet everywhere in the form of Android 4.0. Ice Cream Sandwich features a scalable interface equally suited to smartphones and tablets, and according to Google engineers, the OS will be open-sourced by the end of the year. After that, it won’t be long before OEMs begin to make new tablets to take advantage of Ice Cream Sandwich, and the Android developer community won’t take long to get Ice Cream Sandwich onto current tablets of all sizes and price points. The upcoming Asus Transformer Prime is suspected to be the first commercial tablet with Ice Cream Sandwich. Check out our hands-on looks at the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich below: Galaxy Nexus Hands-on Ice Cream Sandwich Hands-on
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| Iris, an alpha, free Siri alternative for Android Posted: 21 Oct 2011 07:32 AM PDT
Iris isn’t a true Siri competitor – in fact, it’s not even as useful as Google’s own Voice Actions (which, by the way, can replicate most of Siri’s functionality in a less user-friendly way). It uses search algorithms to try and immediately answer queries, not unlike a voice-powered version of the old Ask Jeeves or WolframAlpha. While Iris can handle easy questions like the current time or some universal pop culture references, complex problems stumped it. For example, it couldn’t direct me to the nearest gas station or tell me when the next Aggie football game would be played. Developer Dextera claims that the first version of Iris was made in just eight hours, and on that note, it is impressive. If it can integrate into other Android services and APIs, it might even begin to look like its iPhone inspiration. IN the meantime, it’s a free download, so there’s no harm in giving Iris a try or sending some feedback in. )
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| More than 1/3 of apps eventually removed from the Android Market Posted: 21 Oct 2011 06:59 AM PDT
The research firm says that over the three-year life of Android, more than 500,000 apps in total have been published on the Market, out of about 320,000 apps that are currently available. Of the apps that were removed, 78% percent were free, a significantly larger percentage than the current free-to-paid ratio in the Market. Android developers are also a lot more likely that iPhone developers to submit multiple apps – on average, each Android publisher has four or more active apps available at any given time. In September, 42,000 new apps were submitted to the Market. According to my estimates and not accounting for Android’s continued growth, that means that the Android Market should offer at least 400,000 different apps by the end of the year. On the other side of the mobile divide, Apple’s App Store has around 500,000 apps available right now, and on iOS only 24% of apps were removed by Apple or retracted by their developers. All these numbers point to just one thing: the Android Market should easily surpass the App Store sometime next year, as previously predicted. [via TechCrunch] )
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| LG Optimus Hyper Facade event in Germany is awesome Posted: 21 Oct 2011 06:16 AM PDT I have seen a lot of marketing stunts in my day and none of them are as cool as the one LG had last month in Germany for the Optimus. I don't know exactly how they pulled it off. The event had a building that was used for the projection surface and LG made the video so that it overlaid the real building perfectly. The building was dark in comparison to the bright 3D projections.
That made it look as though the façade of the building was changing with all sorts of wild effects from whales peeping out to ice skaters and lots of other stuff. I really like when the building looks like it morphs into an Android mascot standing there. It has a very steampunk look to it with steam poofing out. You have to watch the video below to see just how cool this is. I can only image it must have been much cooler to see this going on in person where you could see the 3D effects. The show was created by Façade Mapping Image Show. [Thanks Robert!] )
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| Google opens streaming film rentals to UK Android users Posted: 21 Oct 2011 04:57 AM PDT If you are an Android fan in the US, you have been able to rent and stream movies from Google via the Android Market for a long time. If you were an Android user in the UK the only way you could stream those rentals is by using a hack. We talked about that hack to let the streaming work in the UK back in August. You no longer need to hack things to rent movies on your Android device right from the Android Market in the UK.
Google has announced that its movie streaming service has now launched officially in the UK on Android phones. The films are offered on the Android Market starting from £2.49 each. To start users in the UK will have a library of 1000 films they can rent and stream. Android fans in the UK will need to install the Video app to watch the mobiles and once you purchase a film you can watch it anytime over the first 30 days of purchase. The rentals are also available online from the Android Market as well. The rented films will be offered on any device that the user can log into during the rental. That means you can watch it on your Android smartphone, Android tablet, office computer, and the HTPC at home. [via Telegraph] )
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| PowerSkin debuts battery case for HTC Amaze 4G Posted: 21 Oct 2011 03:46 AM PDT Over the last few months, there have been several expanded batteries launch for Android smartphones. These batteries will give the phones they fit about twice the run time with the downside of making the device much fatter and ensuring no cases will fit. PowerSkin has the solution for the person looking for more run time from the HTC Amaze 4G and not wanting a fat battery.
PowerSkin has a new power case for the smartphone that has an extra 1500mAh of power inside. The outside of the case is made from silicone so it will help protect the device if you drop it. The extra juice will help the smartphone by adding up to 410 more minutes of talk. It will also add more time for your video watching and gaming. I am sure this case will add bulk to the Amaze 4G as a larger battery would. However, at least with the case you can take it off if you want to have a thinner device for some reason. The case will hit T-Mobile stores next week for $69.99. You can check out our review of the HTC Amaze 4G. )
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| Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich brings native stylus support Posted: 21 Oct 2011 03:24 AM PDT We already know that Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will be getting all sorts of cool new upgrades and features. The tweaks will be many and a tip has surfaced today that those wishing for a stylus for their device will love. Google has confirmed that ICS will bring with it native support for a stylus allowing the tablet or smartphone to be controlled with the users fingers or a stylus.
Apparently, an API first spotted by Reddit can differentiate between a stylus, finger, mouse, and eraser. It will also support pens with up to three buttons. It sounds like this will be the operating system for the designers out there that want to draw directly on the Android tablet. If you are wondering the existing tablets that have pens, the HTC Flyer and the Samsung Galaxy Note both had custom pen-control software. Google also expects that the new native support for a stylus will also boost the precision for gestures on the screen. Handwriting recognition is also possible, but Android has no native handwriting recognition engine at this time. The coming of a native stylus control system for ICS leaves questions as to what Samsung and HTC will do with their proprietary systems. Both had held their system would be adopted by devs. [via SlashGear] )
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| Steve Jobs had pledged “thermonuclear war” on Android Posted: 21 Oct 2011 02:40 AM PDT No matter what you think of Apple or the business practices the company uses, you have to admit that the firm makes some fantastic products in the smartphone and tablet range. I think no matter your smartphone of choice, we were all a little saddened by the passing of Jobs. Today we have learned from the AP via an early release copy of the biography on Steve Jobs that he was very set on destroying Android and Google.
According to the biography, Jobs had called Android a “grand theft” of iPhone technology and had vowed that he would go to “Thermonuclear war” to kill Android. According to the biography, Jobs had a meeting with Eric Schmidt when Schmidt was CEO of the search firm. Allegedly, in that meeting Jobs refused to consider any settlement of the suit between Apple and Google. Jobs is said to have quipped that Apple had “plenty of money” and the only settlement he wanted was for Android to stop using Apple ideas. According to the biography Jobs said, “I want you to stop using our ideas in Android, that's all I want.”
[via SlashGear] )
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| Samsung Galaxy Note gets a price cut, hits UK November 1st Posted: 20 Oct 2011 04:59 PM PDT We have more details on that huge Samsung Galaxy Note today, not only did Samsung just release the source code but now it appears they’ve dropped the price too. For those looking to buy this is a good sign, and the release date in the UK has been moved from November 17th to November 1st. Online retailer the Clove announced both the price cut and that the device will be available come November 1st.
Good news all around. Getting a price cut and a sooner release date is a win win. According to sources, Clove said, “It looks like Samsung may have realized the initial price of £559 for the Note was perhaps a little too high – it’s now been dropped to £495.” If you’ve got the cash and would like the throw this 5.3″ dual-core powered superphone slate up to your ear, the chance might be yours sooner than we expected. Check out our hands-on with the Galaxy Note Being this close to the release date the prices listed above are most likely accurate and what we’ll see at launch, but as usual they could change at the last minute. With the Galaxy Nexus coming soon and at a lower price users will have to decide if the larger screen on the Note is worth it or not. Watch the video and look over our hands-on coverage above and decide for yourself, then in a few more weeks you can pick up the device that suits you. Device Info
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| Race of Champions headed to Android, graphics look amazing Posted: 20 Oct 2011 04:36 PM PDT I’ve played a few great racing games on Android such as Asphalt or Bang Bang Racing but this new game shown below looks incredible. From the popular game developers Invictus Games comes a brand new racing game for Android, and that other popular mobile platform I wont mention. Just looking at the screenshots has me excited already. With stunning graphics and awesome real-life cars I can’t wait to try it. Hopefully they have an NVIDIA Tegra HD version in the works.
Race of Champions is a yearly event and Invictus has built this game to release right along with the annual race this year, taking place in Germany. ROC is like the X-Games with cars instead of skateboards, brings the best drivers from around the world with all types of styles and races to one huge event. We are hearing the screenshots above while actual game footage come from an iPad, so most likely the graphics will look even better once this game hits for our NVIDIA Tegra 2 powered Android tablets.
Just like the actual racing event each year, Race Of Champions the game will include off-road, drag, and circuit racing. As well as various other types and challenges for drivers and their elite skills. We are hearing the game will support cross platform multiplayer so we may end up being able to race against some of those iDevice wielding drivers and our friends. According to the official Invictus ROC webpage we should be seeing Race of Champions sometime in October or early November well before the actual event kicks off later this year. Race of Champions should be available on both Android in the Android Market, and iOS within the next few weeks and we’ll be sure to get some hands-on time and report our findings — I can’t wait to give this game a spin. A few more screenshots and their official video are below.     [via Android Police] )
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| Ice Cream Sandwich SDK ROMs already in the works Posted: 20 Oct 2011 04:30 PM PDT Ideally, ROM developers wait for the open-source, AOSP version of the latest Android release before building a new ROM. But there is something of a work-around: industrious programmers can take pieces of the SDK and cobble together a working phone or tablet ROM. A good example is the various community-authored versions of Honeycomb based on its Software Development Kit. Now preliminary versions of Ice Cream Sandwich based on the recently-released SDK are already making their way onto the Nexus S.
As the Gingerbread developer phone, the Samsung Nexus S and Nexus S 4G are some of the easiest Android phones out there for industrious Android modders to work on. An SDK port is never perfect – lots of features will be buggy or just plain nonfunctional, and the overall stability will be much lower than even an alpha ROM release. Even so, at least one enthusiast has crammed the SDK software onto the phone, and posted his delicious results for the world to see. You can’t install the port on your own Nexus S just yet, but honestly, you probably don’t want to. At least one Google engineer has stated that the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich AOSP source code will be released not long after the Galaxy Nexus, meaning that the CyanogenMod team and others should be getting started before the end of the year. If you just can’t wait, keep your eyes open – SDK versions should be popping up all over the place in the next few weeks. Check out our hands-on looks at the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich below: Galaxy Nexus Hands-on Ice Cream Sandwich Hands-on [via PC World] )
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| Google engineer: Ice Cream Sandwich source code coming after Galaxy Nexus Posted: 20 Oct 2011 03:38 PM PDT Google stepped on a few toes in the enthusiastic developer and modder communities when it refused to release the open-source code for Honeycomb, yours truly among them. But it looks like that won’t happen again: according to Google’s Android engineer Dan Morrill, the source code for 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will be released sometime after the Galaxy Nexus. He posted the news in a Google Group dedicated to the AOSP build of Android.
Morrill’s exact words were, “We plan to release the source for the recently-announced Ice Cream Sandwich soon, once it's available on devices.” Assuming that Google follows its patterns of behavior established with the Nexus one and Nexus S, that means it’ll only be a few weeks after the November debut of the Galaxy Nexus before the ICS source code makes it into the hands of manufacturers and developers. Google still hasn’t released the Honeycomb source code, and may never do so, claiming that the operating system isn’t ready for both phones and tablets. Of course, one of the defining features of Ice Cream Sandwich is that it’s equally at home on a smartphone or a tablet. We’ve yet to see Android 4.0 running on tablet hardware, but if the landing page for the Transformer Prime is any indication, the wait may soon be over. Once the code is released, you should begin to see community-authored ROMs for existing phones almost immediately, with manufacturer and carrier updates to Ice Cream Sandwich following in the next few months. Check out our hands-on looks at the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich below: Galaxy Nexus Hands-on Ice Cream Sandwich Hands-on [via PC World] )
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| Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime landing page rolls out Posted: 20 Oct 2011 02:55 PM PDT Those of you who were disappointed that the Galaxy Nexus missed its Prime moniker are in luck: it looks like the tablet formerly known as the Transformer 2 will get it instead. Asus has pot together a landing page for the “Eee Pad Transformer Prime”, thrilling Android tablet fans and children of the 80s together in one fell swoop. The page is quick to point out the tablet’s Nvidia Tegra 3 “Kal-El” quad-core processor and thin new design.
The website doesn’t mention a release date ,but if you believe Asus’ Jonney Shih, they’ll be announcing the second-generation Transformer on November the 9th. Other confirmations that Mr. Shih was nice enough to divulge include a super-thin 8.3mm frame and a 10-inch screen, likely the same one as in the original. The signature keyboard dock looks a little different, which probably means it won’t be interchangeable with the previous generation. Pricing and availability are up in the air, but considering how successful the original Eee Pad Transformer was at $399, I can’t see Asus messing with it too much. Check out the sci-fi preview video of the Transformer Prime below: One interesting thing I notice: have a gander at those navigation buttons on the screen. They don’t look anything like standard Honeycomb, but they don’t look exactly like the Ice Cream Sandwich navigation buttons either. That means one of two things: Asus has taken liberties with Honeycomb and done a little skinning, or those are the tablet versions of Ice Cream Sandwich’s nav buttons, reworked for a larger interface. Okay, maybe three things: it’s a production render and there’s no way to make any real judgement either way. But given how much Asus has been talking up Ice Cream Sandwich, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see the Transformer Prime launch with Ice Cream Sandwich or get a quick upgrade. We wait with breathless anticipation for the official announcement, tentatively set for November 9th. Check out our hands-on looks at the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich below: Galaxy Nexus Hands-on Ice Cream Sandwich Hands-on [via Droid-Life] )
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| Google Maps updated to support NFC and different screen resolutions Posted: 20 Oct 2011 02:33 PM PDT Google isn’t wasting any time it seems, Google Maps has just received an update in the market adding a few notable features just in time for the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich. First off, the size of Google Maps will now be smaller or larger based on device screen resolution. Devices with qHD or Galaxy Nexus 1280 x 800 resolution displays will have a different, larger download to support the higher resolution on the display and older devices will see smaller download sizes and times.
Then more importantly, we now have NFC support in Google Maps. While this doesn’t matter to most users currently, this will be a big part of Android moving forward with Ice Cream Sandwich and the new Android Beam. For more information on Beam click here. In Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with Android Beam users will be able to use NFC to simply tap phones together and share content. From Youtube videos, pictures, web site links and pages, and of course maps. If you’d like to share the map with a friend just tap your phones together and initiate the Beam. Most likely we’ll be seeing similar updates to YouTube and other applications over the next few days as we get closer to the Galaxy Nexus launch date but today Google Maps is already on board. There is a possibility other features are also included here with the latest Google Maps, but nothing was mentioned in the release notes. Either way go ahead and download it now from the Android Market. If you are wondering what Ice Cream Sandwich is (you should already know) you can see all of our coverage by clicking here, and in the video below. Galaxy Nexus and 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich hands-on
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| DROID Bionic CyanogenMod 7 dual boot [Video] Posted: 20 Oct 2011 01:31 PM PDT Right after it was released and well over a month ago we got our first look at CM7 on the DROID Bionic, but today we have another video to tease all of you Bionic owners with. This shows it actually dual booting into CM7, and I want it already. Apparently the developer hashcode was able to get CM7 booting on the DROID3 and the same little trick is working just great for the new DROID Bionic, check out the video below.
Now what we have here is the DROID Bionic booting the the regular old Blur infused Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but after some tweaks and trickery is dual-booted into CyanogenMod 7, something many owners are patiently waiting to get on their own devices. Obviously this is new and still very much a work in progress but eventually we should see more coming from this project. For now it’s still in early beta stages, but the developer does provide a few details and information for those daring enough to take the journey themselves and give it a try. This is pretty involved and you should be careful with anything of this sort, obviously. Just a few days ago the source code for the Bionic was released so hopefully that will help things out where it can. As usual, feel free to see our full DROID Bionic review by clicking here. Now for the video – Bionic dual boot CM7 All of the information and details to see how this works and try it for yourself can be found over at RootzWiki. — Thanks Steve! Device Info
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Even though most of the “new” features in Apple’s iOS 5 can be 
Interesting news out of the ever-speculative analyst space today: according to 
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