Android Community

Lenovo IdeaPad A2109 packs a 9-inch HD display and Tegra 3 for $299 – available today
Samsung Galaxy Note 2 specs leaked early, Jelly Bean included
Android Community Weekly: August 26th, 2012

Lenovo IdeaPad A2109 packs a 9-inch HD display and Tegra 3 for $299 – available today

Posted: 27 Aug 2012 10:44 AM PDT

Lenovo has a brand new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet on the block today that might be worth taking a second look at. It’s called the IdeaPad A2109 (not to be confused with the S2109) and is a pretty great package all for $299. This might not dethrone the Nexus 7, but those wanting a larger screen with similar specs should take note.

The IdeaPad A2109 comes with a 9-inch 1280 x 800 resolution HD display, the NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage all for only $299. That is as close as the Nexus 7 price you’re going to get (for now) that also has the Tegra 3 under the hood. It doesn’t have Android 4.1 Jelly Bean but you’ll be speeding along with 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich for now.

What makes this tablet even more exciting is the fact that it has a few other specs the Nexus 7 is missing. Those include micro-HDMI out, micro-SD for extra storage, and two cameras. Yup, you’ll get a 3 megapixel rear and 1.3 VGA front camera with this tablet from Lenovo.

We haven’t heard much regarding this tablet but aren’t sure why, as this is a fairly attractive package. Lenovo also has a very similar device in the 7-inch form factor, the A2107, that we’d love to compare with the Nexus 7. Sadly there’s no word on the smaller sibling. For those interested in this Lenovo IdeaPad A2109 9-inch quad-core tablet you can get it today — right this minute. It is available both online and in-store at Best Buy for just $299.

[via SlashGear]

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 specs leaked early, Jelly Bean included

Posted: 27 Aug 2012 09:43 AM PDT

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 2 phablet is just a few short days from getting officially announced and unveiled to the world, but now a Korean newspaper might have spoiled a few more details a bit early. The Galaxy Note 2 model GT-N7100 (first note was N7000) will rock all the specs we’ve been hearing rumors about for the past few weeks, but this leak allegedly confirms Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean on board.

With all the talk of Samsung getting Jelly Bean ready for the Galaxy S III, also releasing the new flagship Galaxy Note 2 with Android 4.1 seemed logical but you never know these days. The specs leaked today seemingly confirm Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean, the 5.5-inch 1280 x 720p display — an HD Super AMOLED — then just as expected an 8 megapixel camera, 16/32GB storage options, as well as both 3G and 4G LTE models.

Then as you can see above the Samsung Exynos 4 Quad 4412 1.4 GHz quad-core processor is on board, just as expected. While nothing has been technically confirmed we’ve been hearing rumors and seeing leaks with this type of information for over a month, this just comes from a more reliable source.

So far it appears that Samsung will be blending the specs of their Galaxy S III with the previous generation and first Note for an impressive handset. If they’ve managed to keep the size the same, or make it thinner, while also improving on the battery we’ll have a real winner here. The previous Note sold far more than many expected — so we’re excited to see the all new Galaxy Note 2.

IFA 2012 starts this week in Berlin, Germany, and we’ll be on the ground capturing all the details as Samsung lets them out so stay tuned right here at Android Community.

[via SlashGear]

Android Community Weekly: August 26th, 2012

Posted: 26 Aug 2012 03:40 PM PDT

It’s the end of the week and time for another Android Community Weekly. We had an exciting week in the crazy world of Android — and lawsuits — so lets get right to it. A lot happened with legal departments for Samsung, Apple, and a few Android app pirate sites. The Google Play Store had a big week too so lets take a peek below.

Yup, the Apple vs Samsung trial finally ended on Friday, but we’ll be seeing a few appeals and things are far from over. Samsung lost, and they lost big. The court ruled in favor of Apple on all accounts and ordered Samsung pay up damages to the tune of 1.05 billion dollars, that’s billion. Don’t get me started on the broken patent system either! Then in other law related news the Department of Justice and the FBI closed down and seized 3 Android App pirating websites — and surely there will be more to follow.

Google had another exciting week in terms of their market. The Google Play Store finally has gift cards, with them officially rolling out the option this week and allowing sales at Target, RadioShack, Walmart and a few others locations. Then while we’re talking about Google, they updated Google Music with expanding Jelly Bean notifications (awesome) and could be bringing person to person payments and additional carrier support to Google Wallet.

As usual Samsung had another big week, but that is nothing new. They showed us the creation of the Galaxy S III in a neat heartfelt video, then teased everyone about the Galaxy Note 2. Sammy also invited the stunning Kate Upton to their Galaxy Note 10.1 launch event, and last but not least we enjoyed some hands-on with the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 4G LTE.

Then to end things off with a few random bits that were important to us. Motorola confirmed they are lame and won’t be unlocking older devices bootloaders, then a budget friendly Motorola DROID M is headed to Verizon. Lastly Nikon announced their Android-powered camera and we reviewed Archos’ new odd 101 XS tablet. For everything else that mattered to us this week in Android hit the links below. Have a great evening!