Android Community |
- LG shows off world’s first 5-inch 1080p display
- Mario clone The Other Brothers features actual plumbing
- Samsung Galaxy S III gets delayed in UK [Update]
- “World’s Thinnest” Oppo Finder set for pre-order in China
- Fake Angry Birds peddlers fined £50,000
- Huawei breaks hearts, plans custom Android UI
- Verizon drops Motorola DROID BIONIC to free
- Sony shows off ICS for the Xperia S on video
- ASUS readies new Transformer tablets for Computex
- Android Community Weekly: May 27th, 2012
| LG shows off world’s first 5-inch 1080p display Posted: 28 May 2012 10:44 AM PDT If you’re like me and want to watch Monday Night Football in full 1080p at home, or from the Android phone in your pocket you’ll love this news. Yesterday LG unveiled what they are calling the “world’s first” 5-inch 1080p display for smartphones. If you thought the “Retina” display on the iPhone 4 was nice, or the 1280 x 720p screens on recent Android phones LG has an entire new level on the way.
LG is saying this is the highest resolution display created for smartphones thus far, and it shatters anything else in its path. Many phones on Android have been released with 300+ PPI (Pixel Per Inch) screens to compete with that iDevice mentioned above but LG’s new display boasts numbers around 440 PPI. Pretty impressive technology inside that 5-inches of real estate. According to LG the naked eye will be unable to discern individual pixels during use, and the IPS display technology means you'll be getting faithful color reproduction, extremely wide viewing angles, plus brighter images — all with low power consumption. It seems like we just started talking about 720p displays last week, is 1080p overkill or would you gladly buy a smartphone rocking LG’s new display? The best part of the news is you can see this screen yourself at SID 2012 Display Week in Boston starting June 4th, and LG claims the display will be in smartphone during the second half of this year, yes as in 2012. [via SlashGear]
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| Mario clone The Other Brothers features actual plumbing Posted: 28 May 2012 10:24 AM PDT Nintendo’s main man moonlights as a go-kart racer, pro golfer, baseball star, a
The brothers Joe and Jim aren’t actually plumbers – they’re car mechanics with surprisingly familiar mustaches. The story sounds familiar too: Joe’s main squeeze Tavy gets kidnapped by a couple of mobsters notably lacking in green scales and spikes. The duo are tasked with rescuing the damsel in distress, though they’ll do it by traversing a dangerous city landscape instead of various worlds inspired by whatever substance Shigerou Miyamoto’s on this week. (We kid, Miyamoto-san – please don’t haunt our dreams.) The project is in an alpha stage at the moment, though the three-man development team at Simian Squared hopes to have it ready for Android, iOS, Mac and Android by the fall. The game will be episodic, so you’ll have multiple adventures to look forward to. Oh, and most importantly: in among the junkyard dogs and giant rats, The Other Brothers actually spend some time hopping among pipes in the sewer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles style – making them instantly more qualified to work on your kitchen sink than you-know-who. Check the story video below for a little more indie goodness. [via Droid Gamers]
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| Samsung Galaxy S III gets delayed in UK [Update] Posted: 28 May 2012 10:02 AM PDT Delays for the highly anticipated Galaxy S III appear to be spreading now that multiple reports have confirmed the “Pebble Blue” model has suffered a few setbacks. Retailers throughout the UK such as Clove have alerted buyers of setback with the blue model, but now we are also hearing the white Galaxy S III might be a few days late too.
Last week we reported Samsung had to trash approximately 600,000 blue casings due to a manufacturing defect and while the white model didn’t suffer the same fate, Clove has now confirmed the arrival of the first stock will be late. According to Clove, the “Marble White” Galaxy S III is now expected to arrive in stock on June 1, rather than May 30 as originally expected. They also reported the blue model is "expected to arrive the week commencing 5th June, but this is still to be confirmed." Samsung themselves haven’t officially confirmed any of these reports but with multiple online retailers from differing countries all posting similar comments it’s basically confirmed. It sounds like stock of the white model might run out quick with the blue variant being delayed and MIA for the first few weeks. Get em while you can folks! Update: Here’s a statement from Vodafone UK confirming partial delays for both white and blue.
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 [via SlashGear]
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| “World’s Thinnest” Oppo Finder set for pre-order in China Posted: 28 May 2012 09:44 AM PDT Another month, another world’s thinnest smartphone. The latest contender for the somewhat wobbly throne is the 6.65mm Oppo Finder, last seen in a preview image about a month ago. The phone is currently set for preorder on June 6th, but unfortunately it’s only in China, where Oppo operates. Getting a Finder into the hands of the fashion-conscious outside of Asia will require a crafty importer.
The phone’s specs are surprisingly high given the gimmick. With a 1.5Ghz dual-core processor, 4.3-inch AMOLED screen, 16GB of storage and an 8-megapixel camera, it’s roughly the equal of the HTC One S (which is no slouch in the style department itself). It’s hard to deny that the phone looks a lot like an iPhone 4 that’s been run over by a steamroller – in a nice way. Maybe all those Apple rumor sites can use these press photos for fodder later this summer! Oppo claims that the software is Android 4.0, though like in-country competitor Huawei, they’ve got a custom interface running on top of it. Oh joy. The phone is almost certainly an unlocked GSM device, as it will be sold independently for 3,999 Yuan (just over $630). Those of you who are already smitten can keep a spark of hope alive: Oppo has a partnership with a tiny California manufacturer, so maybe an American release isn’t impossible. [via Engadget]
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| Fake Angry Birds peddlers fined £50,000 Posted: 28 May 2012 09:04 AM PDT Ah, sweet, sweet justice. Instead of the slap on the wrist and a ban from the Google Play Store as usual, the developer of fake versions of several popular Android games like Angry Birds and Cut the Rope will get a more lasting punishment. According to the BBC, The British government has sentenced a Latvian developer to a £50,000 fine for counterfeit apps posted on the Android Market in November of last year.
In addition to the fine (which is enough to send most mobile developers into bankruptcy on its own) the unnamed developer must pay an additional £28,000 to the victims of its sneaky deeds. All told, that’s about $125,000 USD in fines, all for the fairly ubiquitous practice of a bait-and-switch app that makes its “customers” sign up for a scam SMS line that charges fees directly to their phone service bills. The fine is the first of its kind for the mobile industry, and hopefully it’ll enter the minds of malicious developers everywhere. After all, you’d have to be crazy to post a pirated video of The Avengers to the Movies section of the store thanks to the MPAA’s legendary prosecution arm, so why should apps be any different? Thanks, Britain. [via SlashGear]
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| Huawei breaks hearts, plans custom Android UI Posted: 28 May 2012 08:23 AM PDT You know what I really like about Huawei? Despite being a definite up-and-comer in the Android world (in Europe and Asia, anyway – here they keep getting the shaft) they’ve left Android alone for the most part. Even on their high-end devices like the Acend P1 S, you’ll find an interface that is mostly stock – and with Ice Cream Sandwich, what more do you need? Yes, Huawei is truly an example of what an Android manufacturer should be: a hardware vendor that lets Google’s software shine on its own.
…oh, for cryin’ out loud. In case you Chinese is rusty, the image above says that Huawei will unveil its own custom interface, dubbed “Emotion UI”, in a press conference on June 9th. Phones released in July and after will sport this new interface, though Huawei hasn’t said if it will be updating current phones and tablets to bring in the new UI. The announcement above doesn’t actually show off the changes – the Ascend P1 S looks like it’s running stock Ice Cream Sandwich, Huawei says it’s listened to its customers while developing the new interface. They haven’t been listening to us, because as indicated above, we think that clean Android is the best Android. With the update to Ice Cream Sandwich, we don’t see why anyone needs a customized interface (we’re looking at you, HTC. And Samsung. And Motorola. And Sony.) The reason given by most analysts is “differentiation”, adding something to your phone that your competitors don’t have. Well Huawei, congratulations: you’re set to add needless resource hogging, extra steps for simple processes, and a complete lack of enthusiasm from yours truly. [via UnwiredView]
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| Verizon drops Motorola DROID BIONIC to free Posted: 28 May 2012 07:58 AM PDT
If you’re looking for a great deal on a Verizon LTE phone… keep looking. On the other hand, if you’re one of the handful of people whose heart is still set on the Motorola DROID BIONIC, then today is your lucky day. The phone has dropped in price to free on-contract. It’s been eight months since Moto’s first LTE device debuted on Verizon, though it’s been considerably longer since it was announced – the BIONIC had an unusually long gestation period. For the uninitiated, the Motorola DROID BIONIC packs a dual-core 1GHz processor, 4.3-inch 960×540 display, a full gigabyte of RAM and an 8 megapixel rear camera. The storage is a still-decent 16GB, and it can be extended a further 32GB with a MicroSD card. The BIONIC was one of Verizon’s first LTE devices, and as far as specs go is still a pretty powerful one. Even so, the BIONIC became one of the most disappointing releases of last year.
We’d still recommend going with something else if you can possibly raise a little more dough. As Moto’s first LTE phone, the BIONIC had a lot of growing pains in both the software and hardware that still plague it today (at least on the official Gingerbread ROM). It’s set to get Ice Cream Sandwich at some point, but Motorola seems hesitant to send out updates to any of its American devices. If you’re on a budget but want a Verizon 4G LTE device, the newer DROID RAZR and DROID 4 are both $99, and the mid-rand LG Lucid will only run you $79. Device Info
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[via Droid-Life]
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| Sony shows off ICS for the Xperia S on video Posted: 28 May 2012 07:31 AM PDT If you’re a Sony Xperia S owner, no doubt you’re getting mighty impatient for a long-overdue Ice Cream Sandwich update. Today you can get a little bit of a preview, thanks to a Thai video from Sony XP. The update is scheduled to land on the international phone in June, though it’ll retain much of the same custom interface that’s on the Gingerbread ROM at the moment.
There’s nothing all that surprising in the video – the UI is a little faster, and has been given a few subtle alterations (like a hand-me-down prom dress). In addition to changes to the proprietary launcher app, the music player has been renamed “Walkman”, ostensibly to help promote Sony’s own line of iconic portable music devices. You can see the rest of the visual touches in the video below. Sony has gone on the record stating that the Xperia S will get an Android 4.0 update in June, though a precise date still eludes us. They could use the positive publicity too – plenty of Xperia PLAY owners aren’t happy that they’ve been arbitrarily left in the dust. Meanwhile, the Xperia Ion (AT&T’s rebranded version of the Xperia S) is nowhere to be seen, almost six months after its debut at CES 2012. Hey Sony, what gives? Device Info
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| ASUS readies new Transformer tablets for Computex Posted: 28 May 2012 06:48 AM PDT If a handful of Transformer models (many of them yet to go on sale) isn’t enough for you, then you’ll want to keep a close watch on Android Community come Thursday. That’s when ASUS is set to reveal new models at the Computex conference in Taipei, according to their latest teaser video. In typical ASUS fashion it’s intentionally vague, with an overbearing voice over and precisely zero specific information.
We can deduce that these “Next Transformations” probably follow their established form factor of a slate tablet with a keyboard dock, but beyond that, your guess is as good as ours. We can say that it’s probably an entirely new tablet, not just a new showing of the Transformer Pad 300 or the Transformer Pad 700 Infinity. With this particular wording, it’s probably not the Padfone or a derivative, either. Check the video below and see for yourself: Despite the intentionally vague teaser, we can’t help but be excited. Taipei is ASUS’ home turf, so if they’ve got something prepared for Computex in Taiwan, we’ve got to believe that it’s something interesting. Cloud storage is heavily hinted in the teaser video, but that doesn’t tell us much – how could new hardware take advantage of cloud storage in a way that current hardware can’t? Perhaps they’ve got a new Dropbox or Google Drive competitor to show off. In any case, the reveal is unlikely to be what we’d really like to see, i.e. the much-rumored 7-inch Nexus Tablet. If that’s coming at all (and we’ve yet to see truly definitive evidence that this is the case) it’ll be Google showing it off at their developer conference, Google I/O, in July. [via SlashGear]
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| Android Community Weekly: May 27th, 2012 Posted: 27 May 2012 09:53 PM PDT Another week of happenings for the best mobile platform around has come with some surprisingly good news. Courts have cleared Google of all wrongdoing in the long-awaited end to Oracle’s patent trial, and HTC’s EVO 4G LTE has been cleared through customs and away from the litigious hands of Apple’s patents. Shipments are arriving to pre-orders now, with a little something extra. That’s the best news you’ll hear all week.
In hardware news, new budget Gingerbread phones have arrived on AT&T and T-Mobile: the Samsung Galaxy Appeal and Huawei Prism, respectively. The Canadian Galaxy S III has been rumored for a June 20th date, and the same date has been leaked for T-Mobile, with the Galaxy Note following a few weeks later. They might have to settle for the white version, though: the blue international model has been delayed. Those of you who want an ASUS tablet with mobile data will be glad to know that the Transformer Pad 300 was spotted at the FCC, with bands for AT&T LTE.
Verizon has confirmed that it will begin updating its LTE phones for global roaming in the summer, starting with the HTC Rezound, Motorola DROID RAZR and DROID RAZR MAXX. NVIDIA’s Icera series of modems has a new addition in the Icera 410, which has been certified for AT&T’s LTE network. That means Tegra 3 LTE tablets are coming soon. There have been a lot of new rumors surrounding the ASUS Nexus Tablet, with the hardware itself (and maybe even a new version of Android) due at Google I/O. The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is still being redesigned, this time with a bay for the S-Pen stylus built into the case.
On the software side of things, the Android 4.0.4 update for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus is finally, finally available, just not from Verizon. HTC has detailed its plans for Ice Cream Sandwich updates later this summer, and Sony says that it’s abandoned the ICS update for the Xperia Play. The modders have been busy this week, with root for the HTC EVO 4G LTE and (YES!) an unlocked bootloader for AT&T’s One X. The updated version of TouchWiz for the Galaxy S III has been ported to the S II, among others, and the LG Nitro HD on AT&T now has an Ice Cream Sandwich leak. Finally, the Google+ app has a shiny new interface, but no tablet version yet.
Here at Android Community, time is running out to enter the NVIDIA TegraZone Anniversary Tegra Pack Giveaway. Winners will be chosen on May 31st (Thursday) so get your entries in now. Check the original contest post to find out how. We’ve also got a review of the Sony Xperia U, and an interesting (and somewhat divisive) editorial on the most cost-efficient way to stay grandfathered into Verizon’s unlimited data plans. Until tomorrow, stay in school, don’t do drugs and always make a Nandroid backup.
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