Wednesday 26 September 2012

Android Community

Android Community


LG Venice on the way to Boost Mobile

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 11:28 AM PDT

Today, Boost Mobile and LG announced the Venice, which will soon be taking up residence on Boost’s shelves. To Android fanatics, the LG Venice will look instantly familiar, and that’s because it’s Boost’s version of the LG Optimus L7, which launched at the beginning of summer. Not much has changed with the Optimus L7′s transition to the Venice, aside from the name of course.


You’ll still be getting super slim smartphone if you choose to go with the Venice, as the handset comes in at only 8.7mm thick. You’ll also be treated to a 4.3-inch WVGA touch screen running at 800 x 480 resolution, and on the inside, we have a 1GHz processor running the show. That processor is working in tandem with 512MB of RAM, so things should move along at a relatively smooth pace.

The phone will be running Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box, and features a rear-facing 5-megapixel camera capable of recording in 720p. The specs aren’t exactly amazing, but the biggest selling point of the phone is actually found in the monthly plan it comes paired with. Boost has stuck the LG Venice with its no-contract $55 Android Monthly Unlimited plan, which offers unlimited talk, text, Web, and email.

Even better is that your monthly bill will shrink over time, provided you make your payments on time. For every 6 payments you make on time (they don’t need to be consecutive, remember), Boost will shave $5 off your bill. In taking advantage of this shrinking bill promotion, you could potentially get your monthly fee down to $40, which definitely isn’t bad. The LG Venice will be available at Boost Mobile on October 10, and it will set you back $219.99.

[via SlashGear]


Samsung confirms Galaxy S III hack is already patched

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 11:02 AM PDT

A somewhat disturbing and malicious hack was recently discovered that essentially allowed hackers multiple ways to completely wipe your Samsung Galaxy S III (and other Galaxy devices) using a simple line of code all remotely. This means they could erase your entire device with ease. Today however Samsung has released a statement to ease the minds of the millions and millions of owners.

With more than 20 million Galaxy S III phones sold, 10 million and counting Galaxy Note’s, and many other Galaxy devices running the version of Touch Wiz UX said to be vulnerable — this was a big deal. Security researchers found an exploit that could do some serious harm with ease but many trying to replicate the scenario had mixed results.

Either way the fear was emails, text messages, even QR codes and NFC tags could all be used to send this single line of code that would then wipe users handsets without them having any other interaction with the device. Pretty out of control. Samsung has confirmed the problem has in fact been fixed in previous patches — and that we should carry on without concern. Our sister site SlashGear reached out to Samsung and here’s what they got in return:

We would like to assure our customers that the recent security issue concerning the GALAXY S III
has already been resolved through a software update" Samsung told SlashGear today. "We recommend all GALAXY S III customers to download the latest software update, which can be done
quickly and easily via the Over-The-Air (OTA) service."

Referring to their update program Samsung Kies, all the updates as of late should have patched this small (big) problem and the exploit has been locked up tight. If you notice however, they only mention the Galaxy S III in their statement. The Galaxy S II (most models) Galaxy Beam, Galaxy Ace and many others were all effected as well. Hopefully we hear more details on their updates soon too.

[via SlashGear]


Google Play Store hits 25 billion downloads, celebration sale ensues

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:48 AM PDT

Android users have been frequenting the Google Play Store in a big way, with Google announcing that the store has hit 25 billion downloads. That may not seem like a big deal when you remember that the Apple Store hit 25 billion downloads earlier this year, but it’s important to keep in mind that back in 2010, the Google Play Store was only at 1 billion downloads. That’s a pretty significant jump in user activity (and, by extension, consumer adoption of Android), so it’s only fitting that Google kicks off a new promotion to celebrate this milestone.


Starting today, a selection of the 675,000 apps on the Google Play Store will be discounted to just $0.25. New apps and games will drop to $0.25 each day, and Google has secured some pretty big names to participate in this promotion. Looking at the list of today’s discounted apps, we see that titles like Angry Birds Space Premium, Asphalt 7: Heat, and Draw Something have all be discounted, and publishers including Electronic Arts, Full Fat, and runtastic have all signed on for upcoming deals.

That’s definitely very exciting, but if deals on apps don’t do much to pique your interest, then Google has some other deals on offer. Google will be dropping the prices on eBooks, movies, music, and magazines throughout the promotion, keeping with the 25 theme and offering them in collections such as “25 movies you must own.” Our friends at SlashGear point out that prices probably won’t go down to $0.25 with this additional content, but you can expect some sweet deals nonetheless.

At the moment, there isn’t any word on when this promotion will end, so we’re just going to go ahead and hope that it continues on forever. As we said above, new deals will be ushered in every day, so be sure to check the Google Play Store frequently to avoid missing out on any particularly great deals. Have a look at our story timeline below to read more about the Google Play Store.


T-Mobile HTC One X+ spotted in the wild

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:10 AM PDT

HTC’s flagship smartphone in the One X could finally be headed to T-Mobile. We’ve talked about this revamped and improved model for AT&T (and T-Mobile) for a few weeks now simply known as the HTC One X+, but today its been spotted in the wild. The photo is a bit of a mess, and the same goes for the current devices situation.

We’ve seen the HTC One X+ leak in benchmarks, the full spec sheet appear online and more but now some sources are claiming its been canceled. T-Mobile had the smartphone on their roadmap with the same 4.7-inch SCLD2 display, but an improved 1.7 GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of internal storage — and now sources close to the matter are stating they sadly canceled the device.

We aren’t sure at this point what exactly is going on here, but it’s safe to say the device was at least out in the wild at some point being tested by T-Mobile — the image above confirms that. Chances are it will still land on AT&T, but that isn’t confirmed at this point either.

What we can confirm is the One X+ design basically mirrors the original One X, just like rumors suggested. For now there’s only been rumors and leaks until this image appeared, so we’ll just have to wait and see. We still expect AT&T to launch a One X+ with the Tegra 3 being boosted in speed and tacking on 4G LTE so stay tuned.

[via TmoNews]


ASUS rolling out Jelly Bean to Transformer Prime and Infinity in the US

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 09:47 AM PDT

If you’re the proud owner of a powerful quad-core ASUS Transformer tablet then we have some good news for you today. Earlier this week we saw the Transformer Prime get updated to Jelly Bean internationally, and many in the US were wondering when they’d see Android 4.1 on their tablet. Today ASUS themselves have confirmed the update is starting in the next 72 hours — over on XDA of all places.

Earlier this month ASUS quickly updated their new Transformer Pad 300 tablet to Jelly Bean, and many Prime owners were quite envious. Now you’ll just have a short wait before you can get that buttery smooth goodness yourself. Gary Key, ASUS Marketing Manager took to XDA Developers to announce both tablets mentioned above will be seeing Android 4.1 Jelly Bean before the end of the week.

According to Gary, the updates will be live in the US and Canada within the next 72 hours for both their popular Transformer Prime TF201 as well as the 1920 x 1200 HD packing Transformer Pad Infinity TF700 tablets.

We already know what to expect from Jelly Bean thanks to the Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus enjoying the latest and greatest from Google. Project butter should help the user interface be buttery smooth with a big improvement over ICS. The screen should be more responsive, re-sizable and interactive widgets, improved notifications, and of course the impressive Google Now voice features. Get those tablets charged up and start checking for updates — as they might arrive sooner than expected.

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 :

Device Specifications and Information
Device Info
    Device Name : Transformer Pad Infinity 700
    Manufactuer : Asus
    Carrier : NA
    Announced Date : February 27, 2012
    Release Date : TBA
    Also Known As :
Display
  • Screen Size : 10.1 Inch
  • Resolution : 1920x1200
  • Screen Type : Super IPS+ LCD
Dimension & Weight
  • Height : 10.35 Inch
  • Width : 7.12 Inch
  • Depth : 0.33 Inch
  • Weight : 586 Grams
Battery & Power
    Battery Type:
  • Lithium Polymer
  • Battery Capacity : 7000 mAh
  • Talk Time : NA
  • Stand By Time : NA
Software
    Android OS:
  • 4.0.x
    Audio Playback:
  • AAC
  • AAC+
  • AMR
  • MID
  • MP3
  • WAV
  • WMA
    Video Playback:
  • h.263
  • h.264 / AVC
  • MPEG-4 (MP4)
Hardware
    CPU : Snapdragon S4 Krait
    CPU Clock Speed : 1500 Mhz
    Core : 2
    Ram : 1024 MB
    Internal Storage : 64 GB
    Front Facing Camera :
    Camera Resolution : 8 MP
    Camera Features:
  • Auto focus
  • 1080p Video Recording
    Sensors:
  • Accelerometer
  • Proximity
    QWERTY :
Cellular Network
Device Connectivity
    Wi-Fi:
  • 802.11b
  • 802.11g
  • 802.11n
    Bluetooth:
  • Bluetooth 4.0
    Location Features:
  • GPS
  • Cellular location
  • Wi-Fi location
    FM Radio :
    NFC :


Texas Instruments stepping out of phone and tablet business

Posted: 26 Sep 2012 09:35 AM PDT

Texas Instruments, the chip manufacturer that provides processors for a handful of smartphones and tablets, is looking to change directions. The company announced today that it will be backing out of the smartphone and tablet business to focus more on a broader market like automobiles and other embedded chip systems.

Texas Instruments hopes that this move will provide more stable and profitable business. Since many smartphone and tablet makers are either moving towards other chip manufacturers (like Qualcomm and NVIDIA) or developing their own solutions (like Apple and Samsung), it’s not too much of a surprise that TI is looking to change things up a bit.

Texas Instruments provides its OMAP4 processors for several different devices, most notably Amazon’s Kindle Fire series and Barnes & Noble’s Nook Tablet, as well as the recently announced Nook Tablet HD series that we showed off yesterday. The company will still support these devices, but they will not be supporting any future smartphones or tablets. It’s not said exactly when TI plans to make the transition.

One of the biggest concerns for investors and shareholders is how well the transition will go. They’re worried that the broader embedded chip market will take a lot longer to build up business and increase profit compared to the smartphone and tablet chip market, but TI reassures that they already have a decent market share in the embedded systems business, which should make the transition easier than most expect.

[via SlashGear]


NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ tablets take on Kindle Fire HD

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 10:00 PM PDT

Barnes & Noble’s response to the new Kindle Fire HD are here, and the NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ don’t hold back. Each packing an HD-capable display – 7-inch 1440 x 900 on the HD, and 9-inch 1920 x 1280 on the HD+ – the two slates run a carefully-re-crafted version of Android with new multi-user Profile support.

Both models use a dualcore OMAP 4470 processor – 1.3GHz in the NOOK HD, 1.5GHz in the HD+ – with 1GB of RAM, WiFi b/g/n, and Bluetooth. The NOOK HD will be available in 8GB ($199/£159) and 16GB ($229/£189) capacities, while the NOOK HD+ will be sold in 16GB ($269/£229) and 32GB ($299/£269) versions; each has a microSD card slot, SRS stereo speakers, a built-in microphone, and support 1080p HD video output via an HDMI adapter.

Up to five Profiles can be set, with password protection optional, for a family or household that wants to share each slate. For kids, different functionality – such as the browser, or the Exchange-capable email app – can be locked down, and it’s possible to set the NOOK Store to require a password before eager offspring can begin racking up charges to your registered credit card.

If you’re short of ideas on what to read, meanwhile, there are curated channels put together by B&N’s head booksellers in the US and UK, and updated daily with new themed ebooks and, eventually, apps. Parents can record their own narration for children’s books with the Read and Record feature, and there’s video access through the NOOK Video store announced yesterday.

Unfortunately for Android tinkerers, there’s some degree of lockdown. B&N couldn’t tell us what the official policy on modifying each tablet might be, but did say that there was no support for sideloading apps. That’s unlikely to dissuade the more eager modders, however.

Both models will go up for preorder in late October in the US and UK, with shipping beginning in mid-November. More first-impressions over at SlashGear.

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Barnes & Noble unveils Nook Video

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 12:43 PM PDT

Barnes & Noble‘s series of Nook tablets and ereaders are impressive, but because of their inferior ecosystem to Amazon, the devices aren’t as appealing as they could be. Barnes & Noble is working hard to change that, and today they have unveiled Nook Video, which is a new online store featuring a collection of movies and TV shows.

The store is set to launch in the US sometime in the fall and will hit the UK by Christmas. The upcoming service will work with Nook devices, smart TVs, tablets, and smartphones, and will offer both streaming and downloading options, as well as integrating with Nook Cloud for syncing and viewing on multiple devices.

Barnes & Noble says that Nook Video mobile apps will be available, but it’s not clear as to what operating systems you’ll seem them on. Our guess is that we’ll definitely see an Android app at least. The apps will support streaming, as well as the ability to pause playback on one device and then pick up from the same place on another device, as long as both devices are hooked up to the same account.

What’s also pretty cool about Nook Video, is that Barnes & Noble will let you access digital copies of movies and TV shows for free, providing that you already own physical copies of the same content. It should be pretty straightforward, but they’re requiring that your physical media falls under the UltraViolet umbrella in order to access its digital content.

[via SlashGear]


Google’s Eric Schmidt: “It would have been better” if Apple kept Google Maps

Posted: 25 Sep 2012 12:02 PM PDT

Watching the Apple Maps fiasco play through has certainly been enjoyable for us Android users. Apple decided to ditch Google Maps in favor of their own solution with the release of iOS 6. The results have been anything but praised. A few days after the iPhone 5 release, Google‘s Eric Schmidt decided to address the public on his thoughts.

First off, the former Google CEO addressed questions about when a native Google Maps app would be coming to iOS. Schmidt didn’t say when, but he confirmed that Google has not submitted a Maps app to Apple yet. We know a full-fledged Google Maps app will be coming to iOS, but most people are just curious as to when that’s going to happen.

Schmidt also commented on Apple’s move to get rid of Google Maps and go with their own solution instead. He said that “it would have been better” if Apple had kept Google Maps, but he concluded by respecting Apple’s decision by saying, “But what do I know?…It's their call.”

Schmidt was pretty straightforward with his response and we’re not too surprised that he thinks Google Maps is better — he does work for Google after all. His hands are ultimately tied, though, which is probably why he’s not worrying about it too much; he has no control over what services Apple chooses to use.

[via SlashGear]


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