Android Community |
- Old Android Market missing out on 10 cent deals, get the new market here
- 10 Billion Apps promo, day 5: The Sims, Age of Zombies, and SlideIt Keyboard for 10¢
- Google vulnerability reward program could really tighten up security for Android
- Galaxy Nexus delayed because of Google Wallet conflict
- Android Market apologizes for downtime: Free Apps
- Android Community App of the Week: Brightness Rocker Pro
- U.S. Cellular upgrades the original Samsung Galaxy Tab to Gingerbread
- This toy soldier Android figure is not approved for nut cracking
- Coby shows off a quintet of Ice Cream Sandwich tablets for 2012
- Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 16GB just $369 from eBay Daily Deals
- Verizon reseller says the Galaxy Nexus releases December 15th
- HP going open source with WebOS
- T-Mobile HTC Sensation 4G performance and software update rolling out now
- Google updates Androidify with the Holiday spirit
| Old Android Market missing out on 10 cent deals, get the new market here Posted: 10 Dec 2011 10:42 AM PST In case you haven’t noticed, Google is running a promotion giving out some of the most popular apps from the Android Market up for just $0.10¢ each to celebrate hitting 10 billion downloads from the Market. This has been a huge hit with Android fans but yesterday I realized if you have an older Android Market on your device, you could be missing out on all these deals.
Looking at the photo above the new market (right) front and center it shows the 10¢ apps and once you tap you see all 10 of today’s premium apps. If you’re running the old Android Market (left) like many from T-Mobile including my very own myTouch 4G Slide or other phones that for some reason still have yet to receive the latest Android Market you are missing out on all these deals. There are probably hundreds of thousands of users with old markets spread across all the Android devices. My completely stock myTouch 4G Slide will NOT update to the new Android Market on its own and a quick Google search shows I’m not alone. If you happen to know what apps are being offered today for 10¢ you can find them, but you have no notification up top or any way of seeing them all in one neat place like the new Market. My friend kept asking what promotion I was talking about til I realized he wasn’t seeing them on his outdated Samsung Vibrant. If you have the old Android Market the only way to see exactly what apps are on sale is the web market by clicking here. Don’t you worry though because we have you covered. Download the latest Android Market below and enjoy everything it has to offer (including Google Music) as well as these amazingly awesome 10 billion app deals. Android Market v3.3.11 (new) — Download Download that on your phone and install right over the old market and you’re good to go — Enjoy! )
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| 10 Billion Apps promo, day 5: The Sims, Age of Zombies, and SlideIt Keyboard for 10¢ Posted: 10 Dec 2011 08:41 AM PST Google’s celebration of 10 Billion Android Market downloads marches on, and just like the last four days. there’s plenty of vastly reduced premium apps on offer. Google’s chosen some of the most loved apps on the Market and droped them to a ridiculous 10 cents/pence price. Today’s highlights, spotted early by the keen-eyed folks over at Reddit, include The Sims 3, quirky shooter Age of Zombies and SlideIt Keyboard, AKA “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Swype.”
The full list is as follows: Apparatus, The Sims 3, SlideIt Keyboard, Snowfall Live Wallpaper, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD, Season Zen HD (live wallpaper), Pano (panoramic camera), Drop7, Age of Zombies and Kids Connect the Dots. As usual the banner on the Android Market home screen isn’t up yet, so just use the links above as needed. Yesterday’s deals are still in effect at the time of writing, but they won’t last long! The flurry of amazing price reductions has put a serious strain on Google’s payment servers, and a lot of Android users are experiencing problems getting their apps to register to their accounts. Luckily Google is feeling generous, and if you can’t purchase the apps right away, the company might just give them to you. If you’d rather avoid the whole mess, wait until the evening to download your new apps – it’s worked for me so far. While you’re waiting, be sure to check out Google’s graphical breakdown of its app achievement. )
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| Google vulnerability reward program could really tighten up security for Android Posted: 09 Dec 2011 10:10 PM PST I’ve known about Chrome’s vulnerability reward program for quite some time, but never considered moving the design over to Android. Reddit user CunningLogic suggests it would give developers a monetary reward for their handwork while making Android more secure in the long run. Sounds good to me. Just like development within Chrome, the developers hard at work within Android have been extremely good at pointing out OS security flaws; with a form of payment, devs will get that extra incentive/motivation to tighten up loose ends and help make Android OS better.
It is known that compared to other mobile operating systems, Android is by far one of the most vulnerable. Carriers have even gone as far as offering protection applications (such as LookOut) for free in the Android Market to make sure their customers don’t have a bad experience on their network. It’s an obvious issue, and knowing your device is secure means the world to many. With the recently found Carrier IQ security vulnerabilities, it would be a great time to implement such a program. If developers have been preparing security patches and modifications for their love of Android, imagine how hard they’d work for a bit of cash too. And Chrome’s base reward is $500.00 – but if the bug appears to be “severe or interesting”, the value can rank up to $3133.70! Implement that in Android and you’ll add an entirely new team of energized developers! [via Reddit: CunningLogic] )
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| Galaxy Nexus delayed because of Google Wallet conflict Posted: 09 Dec 2011 09:08 PM PST After Verizon Wireless partnered with ISIS to support their future NFC payment service, there was skepticism whether or not this was indeed the reason Google Wallet was to be unsupported on the Galaxy Nexus. It turns out this little feature may be the cause for the seemingly infinite delays, and until Verizon and Google sort it out – we may not see the Nexus on shelves. A source over at Phandroid mentioned the new target date for the Galaxy Nexus will be December 15th, but don’t get excited quite yet.
The misunderstanding between Google Wallet needs to be mended soon, because many loyal Google Nexus fans are quietly rioting throughout the net. No, this is in no way destructive. But they all have one thing in common – they aren’t pointing the finger at Google, Verizon is taking all the heat. Considering an unlocked version is already available in Canada or internationally, Nexus fans can easily jump carriers if they’re due for an upgrade. Verizon should at least show some courtesy and announce their future plans of the Galaxy Nexus, not to just keep subscribers from changing carriers, but to let us know what the hold up is. I’m sure many would be more than understanding from the delays if there was a legitimate reason to postpone the device. It would only suit them to reach out to the public at this point. [via Phandroid] )
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| Android Market apologizes for downtime: Free Apps Posted: 09 Dec 2011 07:50 PM PST You may not have experienced it, but the Android Market (and even Google Wallet) had been down intermittently just yesterday and part of today. Apparently, Google’s answer to solving many of the accidental cancellations was to simply offer “free access to all the apps you attempted to purchase” during their 10 Billion Downloads promotion. The Android Market has been celebrating with 10 cent app sales, and the titles were so hot that they had caused issues during checkout.
Fortunately, a fellow over at Reddit posted a screenshot of a no-reply email from Google with instructions on how to obtain your “lost” app. it turns out that the application is located in your “My Apps” section of the Android Market and labeled as either “Purchased” or “Not Installed”. If you would like to avoid your chances at an Android Market problem, Google suggests that the most popular time people download applications is 9PM on Sunday – so I’d try to avoid this timeframe. Also, keep your eyes peeled for the $0.10 promotional deals if you haven’t already! Day 1 had titles like Asphalt 6 and Sketchbook Mobile. Day 2 consisted of Fruit Ninja, Beautiful Widgets and a few others. Day 3 saw ADW, Tetris and Homerun Battle – and today you can nab Need For Speed, Jelly Defense, and Farm Frenzy! Of course we’ll keep you up to date daily – so you can always check back with us if you can’t find them on your own! [via Reddit] )
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| Android Community App of the Week: Brightness Rocker Pro Posted: 09 Dec 2011 06:56 PM PST
Every week we bring you news about big apps, flashy apps, important apps. This week’s most notable addition to the Android Market is certainly Google Currents, and it’s definitely worth checking out (and adding Android Community via the Search function). But smaller apps that work great deserve at least as much attention, so we’re featuring Brightness Rocker Pro as our App of the Week. It’s a great little utility that grants you quick and unobtrusive access to your Android phone or tablet’s screen brightness. Brightness Rocker Pro does just one thing: when you press the volume button on your phone up or down, a slider for screen brightness appears just below the volume indicator. That’s about it as far as functionality goes, though in the best traditions of Android, there’s a lot of different ways you can set it up. The most important setting you can adjust is the fade delay, changing how fast the rocker dialogue disappears. You can also change which volume settings trigger the rocker – for example, if you don’t want it to accidentally appear while you’re in a call, disable in-call volume trigger. Standard features like quick access to the automatic brightness and application settings round it out, and if you want Brightness Rocker Pro to display a visual indication it can hang out in your status bar. But the fact that it doesn’t have to is part of why I love this app. Once it’s set up, you don’t need an extra widget on your homescreen or an icon in your notification tray to have access to the brightness settings. If you’re heading into a movie theater (before the previews, please!) or going out of one into a bright afternoon, just tap the volume and you can instantly set brightness to your liking. I find it particularly useful in a car dock, so I can quickly reduce the brightness for safer night driving without taking my eyes off the road. The app works with Honeycomb tablets, but since these usually have access to the brightness function built into the ever-present status bar menu, it’s less useful on the larger UI. I use Brightness Rocker Pro on every phone I review. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s well worth the $1.99 price in the Android Market. If even that’s too much for you and you’re OK with advertising, you can use the free version, Brightness Rocker Lite, though I’d encourage you to support the developer for a solid app.       )
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| U.S. Cellular upgrades the original Samsung Galaxy Tab to Gingerbread Posted: 09 Dec 2011 05:41 PM PST Still got your original Samsung Galaxy Tab from U.S. Cellular? Then today is a good day. Assuming that you’re still running the stock firmware, you can download an update to Android 2.3 Gingerbread from Samsung’s site and install it at your leisure. Better late than never, right?
Though Gingerbread won’t bring the full tablet interface seen on the Galaxy Tab’s younger descendants, there are definitely plenty of reasons to upgrade. Better resource optimization, an updated and generally smoother UI and better support for various apps should be reason enough for you to download. You’ll need a PC to initiate the upgrade; unfortunately, it can’t be done over the air or by simply jumping in to your recovery. We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that the Galaxy Tab has seen far more support in the dev/mod community than it has from Samsung or any of its carriers. The Gingerbread-based CyanogenMod 7 is a solid choice for a custom ROM with great reliability and support. It even includes tablet features in the latest version, like a lower-screen status bar. If you’re the adventurous type, you can try an early version of Ice Cream Sandwich and make all your buddies rocking the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus jealous. Device Info
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| This toy soldier Android figure is not approved for nut cracking Posted: 09 Dec 2011 05:14 PM PST If you’ve read an Android Community hands-on or review post in the last year or so, you’ve probably seen our adorable Android vinyl figures dotting the mobile landscape. We’re big fans. So is toy design factory Dead Zebra, home of Andrew Bell, who’s produced Google’s plastic mascots ever since the original green model came out. They’ve gotten into the holiday spirit with a special Toy Soldier model in a limited edition.
The Toy Soldier figure isn’t just a repainted version of the original figurine, it’s got a fairly unique feature: a wind-up key sticking out of his back, just like a real toy soldier. You can even turn it to “wind up” the Android, or remove it from the plastic body. Artistically it’s a pretty neat interpretation; check out the way that the Android’s eyes make up the buckles on the soldier’s hat! This is a limited edition figure, and it will only be available on Wednesday, December 14th. The first batch goes on sale in the Dead Zebra Shop at 11 AM Eastern Standard Time, with the second batch hitting the store just twelve hours later at 11 PM. there’s no price at the moment, and orders are limited to just two per address – and yes, they should arrive in time to stuff stockings. )
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| Coby shows off a quintet of Ice Cream Sandwich tablets for 2012 Posted: 09 Dec 2011 04:03 PM PST Not one to be left out in the cold, budget manufacturer Coby has announced no less than five new Android tablet,s all of them running Ice Cream Sandwich. The devices will cover the gamut as far as screen sizes for tablets go, with 7, 8, 9, 9.7 and 10inch varieties. There’s no specific launch date available, but Coby says that the tablets will be on hand at CES in January.
All five of the tablets will feature 1Ghz Cortex 8 processors and a full gigabyte of RAM, which should be enough to run Ice Cream Sandwich, even if it doesn’t exactly zoom. Naturally they’re WiFi only, but they’ll be equipped with HDMI ports and up to 32GB of storage – not bad. There’s no mention of the Android Market or Google apps, so they may not be included. We’ll see soon enough. The variety of screens doesn’t stop as sizes. Coby notes that the capacitive screens on the MID8042 and MID 9742 use a 4:3 aspect ratio like the iPad and HP Touchpad, while the MID7042, MID9042 and MID1042 weren’t specified, which probably means either 16:9 or 16:10. There’s no word on price, but given Coby’s position in the market, you can expect them to be competitive; whether you’d want the tablets over more expensive alternatives is yet to be seen. )
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| Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 16GB just $369 from eBay Daily Deals Posted: 09 Dec 2011 03:51 PM PST We know there is literally tons of options when it comes to Android tablets these days. With quad-core tablets getting ready to assault the market we should start seeing some excellent deals on older devices. Take the Lenovo ThinkPad tablet for example. It might not be the fastest or the thinnest but it has some extra special features that make it great for business users like the optional active stylus. For those not needing the best but also want a great dual-core tablet the ThinkPad is $130 cheaper than usual today being offered as the eBay Daily Deal.
We’ve covered the ThinkPad plenty in the past and it went on sale back in August for a hefty price of around $499. That does get you a 10.1″ IPS display, NVIDIA Tegra 2 dual-core 1 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, 16GB internal storage, Android 3.2 Honeycomb and even dedicated hardware buttons — a rare thing for Honeycomb.
I reviewed this beastly tablet at our sister site SlashGear so check it out for more details before you decide to buy. With an included stylus, IPS panel, and plenty of accessories from Lenovo this is actually a pretty solid tablet for business users — not to mention it has full sized USB and micro both. It is a bit fat and much heavier then it needs to be but for $369 it’s a pretty great deal. If this interests you then hit the link below and buy one yourself. Device Info
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[via Android Police] )
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| Verizon reseller says the Galaxy Nexus releases December 15th Posted: 09 Dec 2011 03:12 PM PST Once more, with feeling. After Verizon apparently cancelled the December 9th launch of the highly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the rumor mill is buzzing with December 15th as the popular date for the latest non-delay delay. After some independent investigating from Android Community, this appears to be the case. This is not a confirmation, but a second-party Verizon reseller said that the phone would be released next Thursday. We’ve also heard December 15th from another source, who wishes to remain anonymous.
This morning we called up Verizon’s customer support looking to order the Galaxy Nexus, on the off chance that the rumors surrounding its continued delay were greatly exaggerated. While we couldn’t order the phone itself, the Verizon representative said that it had indeed been scheduled for release today, but that the date had been changed at the last minute. The representative did not have a new date available to her, or would not give it. We then called a second-party retailer, which has its own chain of stores but also sells Verizon devices and service. The store had Verizon’s LTE version of the Galaxy Nexus in stock, but couldn’t sell it due to restrictions from Verizon. When we pressed for a release date, the manager kindly called Verizon on our behalf. The manager responded that Verizon would authorize them to sell the Galaxy Nexus at the opening of business on Thursday, December 15th. Once again, we stress that this is not a solid, confirmed date – it’s information acquired second-hand from someone who’d like to sell the Galaxy Nexus just as much as you’d like to buy it. But this new date jives the reports from other sites and we’ve now heard it from multiple sources, so it’s the best we can hope for at the moment. There’s nothing keeping Verizon from bumping its internal date back once again, if indeed Thursday is the day that the phone is scheduled to go one sale. Device Info
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| HP going open source with WebOS Posted: 09 Dec 2011 02:48 PM PST This isn’t technically an Android story, but we know there’s lots of Palm Pre and HP Touchpad users out there in the reading audience. After months of indecision over the future of WebOS, HP has decided to release open source code for the operating system, allowing anyone from hobbyists to manufacturers to create versions of WebOS for different devices. There won’t be any more hardware from HP featuring WebOS, at least not in the immediate future.
WebOS started as a new operating system, built from the ground up by Palm to compete with the iPhone. When the first two generations of the Palm Pre failed to impress and its former PalmOS and Windows Mobile Treo phones kept losing ground in the market, PC manufacturer HP bought the company in April 2010 and moved its employees to their largely stagnant mobile division. The company released a low-end WebOS phone, the Veer, and the HP Touchpad tablet. Neither managed to gain a foothold in the market, and HP decided to discontinue production on both devices, and completely shelved its plan for the Pre 3. The announcement came less than two months after the Touchpad was released. That’s where things started to get interesting. Once HP had decided to kill the Touchpad, they liquidated remaining stock in a firesale, pricing the $500 16GB version at just $100. They sold hundreds of thousands of tablets overnight. Immediately Android developers set to work on a version of Android Gingerbread for the 10-inch tablet, spurred on by renewed interest and a few small monetary prizes raised for the purpose. The CyanogenMod team was the one to finally release a stable, reliable version of Android for the Touchpad, which is still being updated. A version of the recently open-sourced Android Ice Cream Sandwich is already in the works. So what does this mean for Android users? Soon you may have yet another choice for your device’s operating system, if there’s a developer willing to modify WebOS’ open source code to run on your hardware. If you’re skilled in that area you’ll be able to try yourself. You can expect versions of WebOS for the most popular devices, like the Galaxy S II and the various Nexus phones, and at least a few tablet versions should be available as well. Whether or not it’s something you’d want to use depends on your personal taste and the skill of the developers. I hope that some of WebOS’ more unique features, like the card multitasking system and edge gestures. HP said that it will continue to add to the project. On a personal note, I’d like to say goodbye to Palm, Inc. Now that HP is basically throwing the last Palm project to the wind, it’s truly the end of an era for a company that helped define mobile computing for decades. So long, Palm – it was great while it lasted. )
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| T-Mobile HTC Sensation 4G performance and software update rolling out now Posted: 09 Dec 2011 01:14 PM PST Who loves updates and performance improvements? Today that is exactly what T-Mobile and HTC have lined up for the HTC Sensation 4G. Apparently the update started pushing out to users yesterday so we should be seeing this hit handsets today and over the course of the next few weeks. Sadly this is not Ice Cream Sandwich — you didn’t think it would come that fast did you? We do have some awesome improvements to detail below so stay tuned.
I’ll be patiently waiting for CM9 and ICS to land on my Sensation 4G but for all those running stock or would like the latest and greatest from HTC here’s what we know: they’ve improved stability, performance, battery life, security and a few other things. I wonder if the entire Carrier IQ disaster will still be included in this update, my guess is — probably. According to the T-Mobile support page this is the list of new features and improvements with the udpate. New Features Software stability Improvements to Trace dictionary A few important ones other than performance improvements is icon pixilation. better WiFi connectivity, and users screens should be more responsive. I know I’ve had trouble taking screenshots in the past on my Sensation 4G so hopefully whatever is mentioned there will address that issue. We stay on Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread with this build and you’ll most likely lose root so proceed with caution. Thankfully we can just unlock the bootloader with HTCdev.com. All details on the update can be found at the via below direct from T-Mobile. Device Info
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[via T-Mobile] )
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| Google updates Androidify with the Holiday spirit Posted: 09 Dec 2011 12:51 PM PST It is that time of year where the Holiday spirit and cheer starts to come out full steam. Google isn’t wasting any time and today have updated their highly popular avatar creating Androidify application. Boys and girls it’s time to redo your good looks and Androidify yourself with a nice holiday twist.
This awesome app that lets you turn yourself into a fancy Android robot has been around for some time so we all should know plenty about it. If you don’t then here is our hands-on from the Google Androidify booth. Once you create that awesome Androidify character feel free to check out BobbleDroids and make your creation a reality with a hand-made BobbleDroid. The new holiday update gives Androidify all sorts of new looks. We get santa hats, Rudolph red noses, make yourself a reindeer or even chime in the new year with custom shirts and more. I’ve been a big fan of Androidify since it was first released because it lets all us nerds (android fans) have a little fun with the Android robot. They also make excellent avatars for Twitter or Google+ if you haven’t done that already. Get it while it’s hot and have some fun! [via Google Blog] )
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