Sunday 8 April 2012

Android Community

Android Community


Nook Touch hack enables multi-touch on e-ink

Posted: 07 Apr 2012 07:05 PM PDT

The Nook Color and Nook Tablet get the most attention out of Barnes & Noble’s e-reader line, at least from an Android modder standpoint, but many forget that all of the Nook devices run Android – and all have been thoroughly modded. Even the humble Nook Touch has been thoroughly rooted with custom apps and ROMs, though the e-ink reader’s hardware limitation prevents some of the more basic Android tasks from being completed. One of those can be disregarded now: XDA members wheiltijohnny and Mani100 have devised some custom code that enables multi-touch gestures for the diminutive e-ink reader.

The mod should be a simple one for anyone who’s already rooted their Nook Touch: just load their ZIP file into ClockWorkMod recovery, flash it, and you’re good to go. The results are impressive considering the hardware that they’re running on. Multi-touch gestures work just as you’d think they would in the web browser and games like Angry Birds (naturally). While the Nook Touch’s e-ink screen means that it can’t display animations as fast as normal LCD screens, and certainly not as fast as your fingers, three or four frames per second is more than enough for most tasks.

Black and white isn’t ideal for anything but reading (and possibly the more sedate versions of sudoku) but’s perfectly serviceable for most applications. The Nook Simple Touch, the latest version of the hardware, costs just $99 in the US. Not bad for a device class that cost $300 or more a few years ago, and a bargain for those who can modify it to their liking.

[via Liliputing]


ASUS confirms GPS dongles for Transformer Prime owners

Posted: 07 Apr 2012 06:28 PM PDT

Yesterday we posted scattered reports coming from members of ASUS’ official support forums, indicating that the company was planning on releasing free GPS dongles called the “GPS Extension Kit” to combat the tablet’s well-documented lack of signal. Now ASUS itself has told AllThingsD that indeed the program will go forward, with signups for the free extension beginning on April 16th (two Mondays from now). All owners of the Transformer Prime should be eligible for the free GPS dongle.

The Eee Pad Transformer Prime has a hard time locking on to signals from global positioning satellites, possibly because of its all-aluminum case. If that is indeed the cause, no amount of software modification (and there have been many official updates since the problem came to light) would completely solve the problem. Many users have reported unusually low WiFi reception as well, but this problem seems to have been at least somewhat mitigated by software tweaks.

According to a post on the XDA forum earlier this week, the dongle will fit into the Transformer Prime’s docking power on its bottom edge. While the poster said that it would fit flush with the tablet itself and match the color of the exterior casing, he or she didn’t say whether there would be some kind of pass-through port. Without a pass-through, the Transformer Prime will be unable to charge or dock while the GPS dongle is inserted – making for a very cumbersome extension of something that probably should have been fixed during QA. Later models of the Transformer shown off at MWC in February do not feature the full-body metal design.

Device Specifications and Information
Device Info
    Device Name : Transformer Prime
    Manufactuer : Asus
    Carrier : NA
    Announced Date : November 09, 2011
    Release Date : December 19, 2011
    Also Known As : Transformer 2
Display
  • Screen Size : 10.10 Inch
  • Resolution : 1280x800
  • Screen Type : IPS+
Dimension & Weight
  • Height : 10.35 Inch
  • Width : 7.12 Inch
  • Depth : .33 Inch
  • Weight : 586 Grams
Battery & Power
    Battery Type:
  • Lithium Polymer
  • Battery Capacity : 6579 mAh
  • Talk Time : NA
  • Stand By Time : NA
Software
    Android OS:
  • 4.0.x
    Audio Playback:
  • AAC
  • AAC+
  • MP3
  • WMA
    Video Playback:
  • h.263
  • h.264 / AVC
  • MPEG-4 (MP4)
Hardware
    CPU : Tegra 3
    CPU Clock Speed : 1400 Mhz
    Core : 4
    Ram : 1024 MB
    Internal Storage : 64 GB
    Front Facing Camera :
    Camera Resolution : 8 MP
    External Storage:
  • MicroSD
  • MicroSDHC
    Camera Features:
  • Auto focus
  • Flash
  • 1080p Video Recording
    Sensors:
  • Accelerometer
  • Ambient light
    QWERTY :
Cellular Network
Device Connectivity
    Wi-Fi:
  • 802.11b
  • 802.11g
  • 802.11n
    Bluetooth:
  • Bluetooth 3.0
    Location Features:
  • Compass
  • GPS
  • Wi-Fi location
    FM Radio :
    NFC :


Samsung Galaxy Nexus LTE headed to AT&T claims rumors

Posted: 07 Apr 2012 05:15 PM PDT

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is Google’s current flagship device, not because of the hardware but because of the software. Being the first to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich has made it incredibly popular. While many are using it on AT&T, T-Mobile and others unofficially with the unlocked version, new reports are claiming AT&T is in the final stages of releasing an LTE edition themselves.

According to reports from Andro Rev this isn’t a rumor, but actually been confirmed by sources very close to the matter. Only time will tell of course. Apparently AT&T is testing 4G LTE powered Galaxy Nexus phones with standard size LTE SIM cards, not micro-SIM like the iPhone 4S and recent Verizon devices. With phones and SIM’s in testing that means they are possibly in the final stages, and we could see them available from the carrier within the next month.

At the same time they could also be testing 4G LTE Samsung Galaxy S III phones, although that might be a bit of a stretch. We know they are coming this summer so you can’t rule that out. Andro Rev seems to know the SIM card SKU numbers and more, making this sound all but confirmed at the moment. Obviously until Samsung or AT&T make any announcements, we’ll be sure to keep this in the rumor bin.

Would you sell your unlocked HSPA+ capable international Galaxy Nexus for an AT&T 4G LTE model with more storage, or opt for something better like the HTC One X or the Galaxy S III?

[via Phandroid]


NVIDIA Tegra 4 roadmap leaks with 2.0 GHz quad-core

Posted: 07 Apr 2012 05:02 PM PDT

NVIDIA’s current flagship Tegra 3 quad-core processor is the current king of the hill, getting all the attention as of late. While we’ve been comparing it to other offerings from the competition a new slide has leaked today possibly showing off their new Tegra 4 coming later this year. The current Tegra 3 is still new, but they’ve already got the next big thing in the works.

NVIDIA’s CEO himself has said we can expect a new Tegra line every year, and that appears to be the case according to the leaked slide provided by VR-Zone. What you see below is possibly a roadmap showing what’s in store from the folks in green. With 2.0 GHz quad-core processors, LTE and more on the way.

With Tegra 3 still being in its infancy we should probably take this with a grain of salt, but the specs and timeline seems pretty accurate and highly possible. The current Tegra 3 is made up of four A9 processors and it only makes sense for the next iteration to be the A15, similar to the Qualcomm S4 and Samsung’s upcoming Exynos.

While NVIDIA’s plans for late 2012 and early 2013 is still a mystery and will not be official until they release the details themselves, this roadmap could be giving us an early look. Take notice this shows LTE versions coming pretty late in the game. We hope they have something sooner than that but you never know. We’ll let you be the judge.

[via Engadget]


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