Android Community |
- Samsung Galaxy S III update rolling out in the UK
- Verizon details Share Everything Plans – throws in free hotspots
- New Spotify for Android hits Google Play
- LG Optimus 4X HD quad-core available in Europe
- AT&T Galaxy S III shipping before June 21st
- T-Mobile Galaxy S II update to ICS available tonight – only on a PC
| Samsung Galaxy S III update rolling out in the UK Posted: 12 Jun 2012 10:44 AM PDT Those of you with the new flagship Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone will be happy to know the devices first update is rolling out today. It’s being reported throughout the UK and parts of Europe, and appears to be rather small. You’ll still be on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich but should have some improved stability.
According to our sister site SlashGear, the update hit earlier this morning and should be rolling out to most Galaxy S III users although we’re getting reports that it’s not arriving for many. As usual you can wait for the over the air update, check for updates on the device yourself, or use Samsung Kies and a PC to manually update to the latest version. Mainly Samsung is noting that the update will bring “stability improvements,” but we are also seeing brand new radios and a small kernel update so hopefully performance will be improved too. Although it certainly was not lacking during our review. Let us know how the update goes for you and if you notice anything different by dropping us a line below in the comments. Device Info
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| Verizon details Share Everything Plans – throws in free hotspots Posted: 12 Jun 2012 09:58 AM PDT Well guys, here they are. We knew they were coming but today the folks from Verizon Wireless have made it official. Announcing their new Share Everything plans with family and device-wide shared data options. First they took away unlimited data, and now they’ll be bumping up the price for most — although I’m sure some users will benefit from the changes. Read on below for full details on how your family can share a single line and data plan.
Verizon will be launching their brand new Share Everything Plans starting June 28th, and along with it the unlimited data option will disappear. It will be replaced by data plans that you can share with additional devices, but starts at 1GB for $50 — not cheap. One benefit here is all their plans will be moving to unlimited calls and texts, and the only limits will be placed on data usage. The other benefit here is you can share your plan with up to 10 additional devices (all for another fee sadly) and if you add a smartphone to the plan you get the hotspot feature for free — which also counts towards your data limit. Here’s the breakdown although you might be confused at first:
Essentially what you do is pick a data plan, starting at 1GB for $50 all the way to 10GB for $100 but I think 4GB for $70 is probably the (dare I say it) best deal. Then you chose what devices you have and add them in. So if you have two smartphones like the DROID RAZR or Galaxy Nexus, that is $40 each, then $70 to share 4GB data with both phones for a grand total of $150 per month. That gets you 4GB of data total, and unlimited everything else. If you want to add a tablet to that 4GB limit that will be an additional $10 a month. It all adds up quickly but for a medium sized family this could be a decent deal. For me personally nothing on that list will match what I have now, but then I don’t have a family with 4 devices like many do. Verizon has also killed the unlimited data option all together, and from here on out the highest they’ll be offering is 10GB for $100, but you can add an additional 2GB for another $10 monthly. Is anyone confused yet? You can use up to 10 devices on any data plan, but each additional device is another fee, so that is where it racks up quickly. Here’s a quick video: So what does everyone think? Are these deals worth it for couples or a family? For single device/line users It doesn’t look too great if you ask me, but then we do get unlimited calls and texts now. Drop us your thoughts below.
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| New Spotify for Android hits Google Play Posted: 12 Jun 2012 04:45 AM PDT Spotify has announced that it is pulling the covers off of its new app Spotify for Android. The new app is on Google Play right now and can be downloaded to your device. The new app has full support for Android 4.0 and a new slide out navigation pane. The app also offers cross fade/gapless playback settings for when you want to listen to lots of music with no interruption.
Other features include a widget to control Spotify from the Android home screen and playlist folders support. The app also offers social features that allow you to check out the profile pages and playlists of your friends. Artist imagery is offered in high resolution and the app has related artist view for the first time on mobile devices. Spotify includes an “extreme” sound quality setting of 320 kbps for high-quality playback and has a play queue. As well as Last.fm scrobbling and promises to be much faster than previous versions.
   
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| LG Optimus 4X HD quad-core available in Europe Posted: 11 Jun 2012 04:55 PM PDT While we are still waiting for some official details here stateside, if you’re in Europe the new NVIDIA Tegra 3-powered quad-core LG Optimus 4X HD is finally available starting today and has just launched acrossed Europe. It was just announced as officially available in Germany today.
Following the launch in Germany it will be available for those in the UK, Spain, Italy, and the Netherlands will be able to pick one up, followed by Eastern Europe, South America, and Asia later on. That list doesn’t have the US anywhere but most likely we’ll be hearing more from LG USA here soon. This is essentially LG’s new flagship phone complete with a 4.7-inch 720p IPS HD screen, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, NVIDIA’s quad-core Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM, an 8 megapixel camera on the back and a hefty 2,140 mAh battery under the hood. Until we get our hands all over it we’ll reserve judgement against its rivals like the HTC One X or Galaxy S III but for now check out our hands-on from CTIA. Device Info
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[via SlashGear]
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| AT&T Galaxy S III shipping before June 21st Posted: 11 Jun 2012 03:27 PM PDT If you’ve been eying the brand new flagship Samsung Galaxy S III, and also happen to be an AT&T subscriber we have some potentially awesome news for you. While they announced the phone earlier this month and opened up pre-orders like all the others we sadly never got an actual release date. Some new details have appeared stating pre-orders will arrive on or before June 21st.
According to the folks at DroidMatters multiple AT&T Premiere customers that have pre-ordered the Galaxy S III are getting confirmations that the phone will not ship, but arrive on or possibly before June 21st. The image below explains it all and clearly lists the date in red:
June 21st is also the date T-Mobile will be launching their Galaxy S III, and we’ve heard similar dates floating around for Verizon but nothing has been confirmed from them yet. Either way it looks like the end of this month multiple people in the US will be loving their carrier branded Galaxy S III superphones. Hopefully Verizon comes out and officially announces their date next — we’ve been waiting patiently. At the end of the day we are just glad the SGSIII is being launched so quickly and even for the US, instead of coming months and months after the international model in 4 different variations. Well played Samsung! [via Phandroid]
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| T-Mobile Galaxy S II update to ICS available tonight – only on a PC Posted: 11 Jun 2012 02:58 PM PDT In T-Mobile’s usual fashion they have updated their official support page today for their Samsung Galaxy S II, detailing the upgrade to Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich. At the first of the month they tweeted the update was coming on the 11th, but today its been confirmed. We do have some bad news however. The update won’t be offered over the air with a painless and easy update like most — More details below.
For some reason T-Mobile and Samsung have decided to not offer the update to Android 4.0 ICS for their Galaxy S II as an OTA (over the air) update like almost every other update to ICS. Instead users will only be able to upgrade using Samsung’s Kies software and a computer. While this is a fairly easy process it’s still a shame they’ve made this a requirement.
Most likely the reason behind this is the fact that the “optional” update will wipe out the homescreen and make users set up their devices again. I’d call this a recommended update more than optional, as Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was a major improvement and all users should want to have it. The update will be available starting tonight from T-Mobile and Samsung at 11 PM EST / 8 PM PST.
As usual users should back up any important data from their phones or micro-SD card just as a precautionary measure to avoid accidental loss but the update should not wipe devices out. As the support pages mention above the home screen and all icons will be erased but the phones apps, contacts, and data should all remain post update. Let us know how it goes by leaving us a comment below after you’ve done the update and enjoy that Ice Cream Sandwich. Device Info
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