Android Community |
- T-Mobile HTC One S suffers battery drain for WiFi calls – fix incoming
- Latest Samsung Galaxy S III photo still looks fake
- MIUI Launcher modded for any ICS ROM
- QuickOffice Pro updates with a ton of new features
- Google TV updates YouTube with better playback and Google+ support
- Apex Launcher Pro released, updates free version too
- AOSP developer says 5-month wait for ICS is “very reasonable”
- T-Mobile schedules ICS updates for Galaxy S II, Sensation 4G and Amaze 4G
- HTC One S ROM ported to the EVO 3D
- DROID RAZR gets another ICS leak — looks official [Update: Download]
- Huawei R&D developing touch-free smartphones and cloud storage
- AT&T 4G LTE heads to Salt Lake City – Expands in Texas
| T-Mobile HTC One S suffers battery drain for WiFi calls – fix incoming Posted: 27 Apr 2012 05:57 PM PDT If you recently purchased an HTC One S for T-Mobile, congratulations - you’ve got one of the best Android phones available in the US at the moment. But as is usually the case with high-profile phone releases, there’s at least one fly in the ointment. T-Mobile’s unique WiFi calling service is included on their version of the One S to save picky customers from using up their calling minutes. But it looks like this feature is draining the battery unusually fast, and at least some T-Mobile customers must have already complained.
Not to worry, though: Magenta has a fool-proof solution to keep your One S from losing power: charge it while you’re making Wifi calls. Yes, really. For a more permanent solution, the carrier says that the problem will be addressed in a future software update. Which, you know, helps. In the meantime, calls via Skype and similar VOIP services seem to work fine, though the charges therein aren’t included in your T-Mobile subscription. The One S normally gets pretty solid battery life, thanks to a slightly larger than average 1650mAh battery and the solid power management properties of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4. I’m no expert, but if there’s an issue here’s it’s probably got something to do with the wireless chipset opening up more bandwidth (and thus battery drain) than is strictly necessary for WiFi calling. It could also be something unique to T-Mobile’s app, perhaps communicating poorly with the One S hardware, Ice Cream Sandwich or Sense 4.0, none of which appeared on T-Mobile before the One S. We’ll be eagerly waiting more specifics from either T-Mobile or HTC. Device Info
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 [via Android Central]
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| Latest Samsung Galaxy S III photo still looks fake Posted: 27 Apr 2012 05:24 PM PDT Another day, another purported Galaxy S III photo. We’ve been tipped with this convincing shot of the upcoming Samsung superphone, which follows the bullet points of the latest rumors. There’s reason to doubt, though: the phone in question is presented a little too perfectly for our jaded blogger eyes to believe. In any case, we should find out what the real thing looks like in less than a week when Samsung reveals the Galaxy S III at its London event on May 3rd.
So what’s wrong with this picture? Let’s start with what looks right: the sides are parallel and follow the general look of this leaked diagram, as do the home, menu and back buttons. The general layout is very similar to the Galaxy S II, which makes sense, except it’s got a larger screen and the control buttons, speaker and camera are squeezed into less space on the front panel. So what’s wrong? One, the screenshot is suspect. Why take a photo of the SpeedTest.net app instead of the Galaxy S III home screen, complete with TouchWiz? Why do the wireless, battery and clock icons look identical to stock Ice Cream Sandwich, when we know that Samsung likes to add its own flair? And why, if the cameraman is taking a photo, is there a screenshot icon in the status bar? The simplest answer is that this is a screenshot taken from a Galaxy Nexus or another stock Android 4.0 ROM. Issues with JPEG artifacts around the bezel and where the screen edges meet the casing are also suspect, though these could just be from the relatively low resolution of the photo itself. No mention of screen size, Exynos processors, camera megapixels or what have you accompany the photo. We’re calling fake on this one, though we’d love to be wrong. Just six days left before we see the real McCoy.
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| MIUI Launcher modded for any ICS ROM Posted: 27 Apr 2012 04:54 PM PDT No two ways about it: the MIUI family of ROMs has a unique visual approach. Blending elements from Android, iOS, WebOS, and plenty of manufacturer skins to boot, it’s become one of the most popular ROMs for those who love to tinker with their user interface. The Android 4.0 version MIUI 4 is still a work in progress, but if you’ve got an Ice Cream Sandwich phone or ROM, you can try out the MIUI 4 launcher and lockscreen now, thanks to RootzWiki member “hoppermi”.
There’s nothing in the MIUI home app that you haven’t seen before in launchers like Nova or Apex, and those have a lot more features. MIUI just looks good doing it. The launcher tends to take its iPhone inspiration pretty seriously, but it’s also got a lot of customized widgets that fit in with its own theme. Most of these replace Android’s standard widgets or duplicate others, like the HTC clock. Performance is a bit of an issue, but this is a beta release. After installing and activating the launcher for the first time, the slowdown from the app itself and its many transitions and animations tends to go away. I also with it had more settings, but then again, MIUI is all about style. On that note, the ported launcher technically supports themes, but there are few or none available for the Galaxy Nexus’ 720p resolution, so I didn’t get to try them out.
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| QuickOffice Pro updates with a ton of new features Posted: 27 Apr 2012 04:24 PM PDT Mourning the loss of Google Docs from your app tray? (Don’t, by the way – all that functionality is still in Google Drive.) Looking for something with a little more oomph to edit documents on your lunchbreak? Then you’ll want to check out the latest version of QuickOffice Pro. We’ve covered this app before, but the sheer number of additions in version 5.5 warrants attention. You can buy the standard version in the Google Play Store for $14.99, and the tablet version for $19.99.
How has QuickOffice improved? Oh, let me count the ways. There’s more fonts and keyboard shortcuts (for QWERTY phones or Bluetooth keyboards) across all the included apps. The PDF viewer gets in-text comments, shapes and annotations, as well as better selection tools. The word processor gets spell check, line spacing options, tables, and improved chart and table management for DOCX files. The presentation viewer gets a laser pointer software tool, numbered lists in addition to bullet points, and duplicate slides in the PowerPointX format. Spreadsheets get a relatively small update, allowing users to move or resize charts and update them with live data. Best of all, if you’ve already bought a previous version of QuickOffice, you don’t need to repurchase it – just check the Google Play Store for the update.
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| Google TV updates YouTube with better playback and Google+ support Posted: 27 Apr 2012 04:15 PM PDT Who has a Google TV? Do you love it and use YouTube? Today Google has just announced another update for GTV, although this is just for the YouTube app. It won’t do anything revolutionary but they are claiming the video playback with be extremely smoooooth, as well as a few other improvements and new features too. Read on below for full details.
The update will bring YouTube on Google TV closer to what users enjoy on the desktop. With search suggestions, Google+ integration and smooth video playback — even on that huge 55″ LED TV. All of the information can be had over at the Google TV Blog. In February Google TV got YouTube Channels and now with suggestions you’ll get the recommendations for popular channels and more search results. Last but not least Google has added integration of their somewhat popular social network Google+. While the app is already available for Google TV now the YouTube app will have a +1 button so users can share their favorite videos to Google+ right from the couch with ease. Good stuff Google, but I’m still waiting for Project Glass myself. When can I have that?  
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| Apex Launcher Pro released, updates free version too Posted: 27 Apr 2012 03:39 PM PDT If you have Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich you should probably try out APEX Launcher. This home replacement built specifically for Android 4.0 ICS has tons of options, features, and more customization options than you’ll ever need. Today its been updated to version 1.1 in the Play Store and they’ve launched Apex Launcher Pro today too so check it out below.
The update brings pinch-in gestures, shortcuts to gestures, fixes for landscape mode on tablets, tons of optimization and speed increases and more. If you’ve been using Apex you’ll love this latest update. The big news though is the release of Apex launcher Pro available now as it brings awesome new features the free version doesn’t offer. With Apex Pro you’ll unlock 9 awesome new features that will give you even more options. Things like multiple app drawers and more. Here’s the list of all the impressive new features they bring to Android: – Multiple configurable drawer tabs Android Does, the developers behind Apex claim that multiple changes and even more sweet features are in the pipeline and on the way for both the free, and pro version that are available today. You’ll need to have the free version installed, and once you purchase PRO it’ll unlock all the new goodies. Let us know what you think and if this tops NOVA launcher.     
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| AOSP developer says 5-month wait for ICS is “very reasonable” Posted: 27 Apr 2012 03:24 PM PDT Meet Jean-Baptiste Queru. He’s Google’s lead technical developer for the Android Open Source Project, the open-source Android code that manufacturers and ROM developers use to create updated versions of Android. And he’s not nearly as upset about the lackadaisical state of Android updates as we (and probably you) are. In a Google+ post yesterday, he broke down some of the reasons that Android updates in general and Ice Cream Sandwich updates in particular take so long.
Giving the recent example of Sony’s ICS update for the Tablet S, Queruhad this to say:
He went on to Praise Sony for their many contributions back to Android’s open source code, something that’s hard to deny. He notes that since Ice Cream Sandwich differs so greatly from Android in its previous incarnations, longer than usual updates aren’t all that bad. We’ve got a couple of points of contention with this approach. One, Sony took nearly six months to release an ICS update for its Tablet S, and there are still too many tablets and phones out there (like the Xperia S) that are still without ICS despite being launched months after the source code became available. If small teams of independent developers can create Android 4.0 ROMs from scratch in weeks, why does it take international companies months? Queru also notes that it takes time for manufacturers and carriers to customize their own software for a new version of Android. That’s absolutely true, but it doesn’t mean it’s a good reason for huge delays. If it takes 7-8 months for Samsung to release Ice Cream Sandwich for the Galaxy Note because they want to cram in some extras with their own software, maybe that software isn’t worth the wait. Even on Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus, which is supposed to be a developer device, stock users have been stuck on Android 4.0.2 for months while newer phones and ROMs are released. Jean-Baptiste Queru posted his thoughts on his personal Google+ account, so his opinions shouldn’t be taken as representative for Google itself. But if this is what one of the most important Android developers out there thinks, I can’t help but be worried that Google is just fine with the status quo, while Android users wait for updates that are almost universally late or never come at all.
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| T-Mobile schedules ICS updates for Galaxy S II, Sensation 4G and Amaze 4G Posted: 27 Apr 2012 02:48 PM PDT T-Mobile customers are no doubt feeling a little left out of the Ice Cream Sandwich party – most of the carrier’s high-end phones don’t even have leaked versions of Android 4.0 available. But according to an internal leak spotted by TmoNews, three of the biggest players for T-Mobile will be getting Ice Cream Sandwich in the near future. The internal screenshot shows the Samsung Galaxy S II getting ICS on May 14th, with HTC’s Sensation 4G and Amaze 4G (which already has an ICS leak) following on June 16th.
They’ve also spotted releases for some hitherto unknown hardware. On May 9th the Huawei Astro will be dropping, and it appears to be a low-end handset along the lines of a WildFire or Optimus One. On July 11th both Huawei MyTouch phones will hit. And It looks like Samsung has a trio of new phones coming to T-Mobile in July and August, but none of them are running Android. But wait, isn’t something missing here? Where’s the Galaxy Note for T-Mobile, which was spotted earlier this week with some unmistakable branding and apps? This probably means that its launch date hasn’t been set in stone yet, though you could take the overly optimistic view that it’ll be here sometime before May 9th. And where’s the update for the nearly new Galaxy S Blaze 4G? Also, T-Mobile customers looking for something new should consider that the unlocked Galaxy Nexus on sale in the Google Play Store works with Magenta’s HSPA+ bands.
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| HTC One S ROM ported to the EVO 3D Posted: 27 Apr 2012 02:12 PM PDT The HTC One S is a hot phone, but for those rocking the HTC EVO 3D you can now get a stable version of Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich and the latest Sense UI 4.0 along with Beats audio integration for your 3D. This was first released back in March as a alpha build and wasn’t very stable, but today its earned new life and is coming along great.
According to XDA-Developers this ROM for the EVO 3D is “closer to perfection” and will bring new life to the EVO 3D. Thanks to the developer newtoroot he’s fixed multiple bugs, brought Sense UI 4.0 to the EVO 3D and released it last night for everyone to enjoy. The official update for the 3D is anyone’s guess at this point, and will be coming with Sense 3.6 and not 4.0 so this is a great way to get the latest software from both Google and HTC. His ROM is based off of the HTC One S and seems completely stable. It’s rooted, WiFi and Data work, and he’s even added the HTC lockscreen, or the stock Android 4.0 lockscreen for those who want it. Although it appears to be almost a completely functional build it does have a few issues hence the “beta” tag. Both of the cameras still don’t work, and users can’t use Bluetooth but things are coming along quick and those should be fixed shortly. If you’ve been wanting to try out ICS, or would like to give this port a try on your own EVO 3D head to this XDA thread for all the details and proceed at your own risk. Device Info
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| DROID RAZR gets another ICS leak — looks official [Update: Download] Posted: 27 Apr 2012 01:18 PM PDT The Motorola DROID RAZR and RAZR MAXX still haven’t received Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich — officially at least. While we’ve seen various documents suggesting the update is coming soon, including the testing schedule leaked yesterday, we now have what could be the final Ice Cream Sandwich build. It has leaked and will be available soon.
According to the folks at Droid-Life this latest version of Ice Cream Sandwich for the RAZR’s leaked last night, and as you can see has a build date of April 26th so is brand new and very fresh. Reports are stating that it is being looked over by the lucky few that received it, and will be released for everyone to download and enjoy shortly. We are hearing users will need to be on the latest official over the air update version 6.12.181 that started rolling out late last week in order to flash this latest build. That update prepared the phones for ICS, and now they just need to let it loose. Motorola and Verizon could be in the final stages of testing Android 4.0 ICS for the RAZR, and it should officially be here soon but stay tuned for download links to the leak as they’ll be available shortly. Update: and here is the download link and instructions courtesy of Droidrzr. Device Info
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| Huawei R&D developing touch-free smartphones and cloud storage Posted: 27 Apr 2012 12:43 PM PDT Huawei has largely been known as a OEM manufacturer for carriers but lately they’ve been stepping up their game. With their own in-house quad-core processor, and their new Ascend P1 super-slim smartphones and more. New details have now confirmed they’ve been investing heavily into Microsoft Kinect type gestures for their upcoming smartphones.
Not only are they expanding their hardware, but they are taking large steps to further expand software too. We’ve heard of this before when Google patented gestures using the front facing camera on smartphones earlier this year and now Huawei is looking to do the same, along with many other manufacturers we’re assuming. According to our sister site SlashGear, Huawei spent around $3.7 billion last year in R&D, and much of their focus was on gesture-like controls. For 2012 they are looking to increase that by 20% and spend as much as $4.5b for research and development as they try to increase their numbers in the mobile market. Apparently Huawei also wants to develop and deploy their own cloud storage option with their smartphones to rival Google Drive, Dropbox and others. Huawei could become a much bigger player in the months that lie ahead.
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| AT&T 4G LTE heads to Salt Lake City – Expands in Texas Posted: 27 Apr 2012 11:45 AM PDT AT&T today has announced another city that will soon be seeing the upgrade to their new next-gen long term evolution network known as 4G LTE. They’ve been rolling out the speedy mobile service to multiple cities and networks over the past few weeks, but are still no where near the operating capacity of Verizon. Along with the news they’ve also expanded service in parts of Texas such as Austin.
Go Utah! It looks like Salt Lake City will be first on the list for 4G LTE from AT&T in the Beehive State. At least someone is improving in Utah because when I visit family there my old T-Mobile phone rarely even had 3G. Sadly while AT&T did announce the news earlier today, they only mention it coming in 2012 and have no definitive date or even a time-frame. With them being clearly behind in LTE with Verizon announcing new cities every few weeks we expected more than a single network announcement, and at least a date to go along with it. AT&T also briefly mentioned they’ve expanded both their HSPA+ and 4G LTE speeds in Austin Texas and will be updating more locations in the state throughout the year. Even though this is slow progress for AT&T, it’s good for Utah because the Jazz are in the NBA playoff’s and now they’ll be getting 4G LTE soon. You gotta take what you can get right? Hopefully AT&T steps up their efforts on their LTE rollout soon, but the transfer of Spectrum to T-Mobile approved earlier this week isn’t helping them much. [via AT&T]
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