Android Community |
- LG Optimus L9 officially announced by T-Mobile
- ZTE and Huawei could pose a threat to US national security, lawmakers claim
- New Samsung Galaxy S III colors landing at Verizon soon
- Gameloft’s Wild Blood slashes its way onto the Play Store
- Nexus 7 32GB model shipped from Play Store in Japan
- Fuhu Nabi 2 tablet for kids gets rooted and access to Google Apps
- Angry Birds Star Wars coming to Android November 8
- Samsung releases source code for Galaxy Note II
- Facebook’s native Android app coming very soon
- HTC Q3 income down 79% year-on-year
- Motorola nixes Android Webtop
- Android Community Weekly: October 7th, 2012
| LG Optimus L9 officially announced by T-Mobile Posted: 08 Oct 2012 11:40 AM PDT Today the folks from LG have re-introduced their popular L series smartphone, the LG Optimus L9 for T-Mobile. This smartphone was announced earlier this year and has been available internationally, but now will grace the 4G speeds of T-Mobile USA. Complete with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and a 4.5-inch display — this should be a quality mid-range phone coming “later this fall.”
The LG L series of smartphones is a blend between their high end smartphones, and their stylus PRADA series we’ve seen in the past. Offering an elegant design with brushed aluminum around the device — which measures only .36mm thick — you’ll get a sleek, pretty, and powerful smartphone according to LG and T-Mobile. The L9 was leaked with T-Mobile branding late last week, but today they’ve confirmed the device in all its glory. The LG Optimus L9 from T-Mobile will be rocking a 4.5-inch qHD (960×540) resolution IPS display, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and is powered by an aging 1.0 GHz dual-core S3 processor and 1GB of RAM. However, we also get a 5 megapixel camera, 1.3 front shooter for video chat and self portraits, and you’ll be working with a 2,150 mAh battery for plenty of usage. The L9 is protected with Corning’s Gorilla Glass 2, so the screen should be extremely durable and highly accurate being closer to the display glass. LG’s Quick Memo app will enable drawing and note-taking on screen, and so far that’s about all T-Mobile shared. The news didn’t bring us a price, or a release date with T-Mobile simply stating it will be “available this fall.” Device Info
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| ZTE and Huawei could pose a threat to US national security, lawmakers claim Posted: 08 Oct 2012 11:31 AM PDT ZTE and Huawei are getting some unwanted and rather negative attention from US lawmakers today in a new report from the House Intelligence Committee. The report, which is the product of an 11 month investigation, is claiming that the two companies could potentially allow the Chinese government to spy on the US. As if that accusation weren’t bad enough, these lawmakers are also urging US businesses to avoiding using hardware sold by either company, and recommends that mergers or acquisitions involving ZTE or Huawei be blocked by the US.
Naturally, such accusations aren’t sitting too well with ZTE and Huawei, especially when both companies are trying to expand their market share in the US. “China has the means, opportunity, and motive to use telecommunications companies for malicious purposes,” the report states, with lawmakers saying that part of the reason they came to this conclusion was because neither company provided enough information to put their worries to rest. ZTE and Huawei, on the other hand, both insist that they cooperated with the US investigation, with Huawei saying in its reply that “despite our best effort, the Committee appears to have been committed to a predetermined outcome.” ZTE director of global public affairs David Dai Shu said that the company’s hardware is safe, while Huawei spokesperson William Plummer says that the company always adheres to “local laws and regulations in the markets in which it does business.” China has weighed in on the report as well, saying it hopes “that the US Congress can reject bias, respect the facts and do more to promote China-US economic relations, rather than the opposite.” The House Intelligence Committee, however, seems unconvinced that Huawei and ZTE would act with the United States’ best interests in mind should China ask either of them to use their hardware for surveillance. The House Intelligence Committee can’t enact any laws on its own, but it will submit this report to both the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice. That being said, this definitely isn’t the last we’ve heard of this controversial report (or the rift its bound to cause in Chinese and American relations), so keep it here at Android Community for more information. [via SlashGear]
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| New Samsung Galaxy S III colors landing at Verizon soon Posted: 08 Oct 2012 10:42 AM PDT If you’re someone who likes to have choices when it comes to the color of your phone, you probably appreciate the fact that Samsung has launched a ton of different color variants for the Galaxy S III. Sadly, that doesn’t mean much if you plan to go through Verizon, because so far, the carrier has only received the blue and white versions of the handsets. That’s all about to change, however, as Verizon is teasing that two new Galaxy S III colors will soon be available at its stores.
Those colors are black and brown, which were previously announced by Samsung. We don’t have any idea when they’re arriving, but the ad on Verizon’s website invites users to leave their email address so they can be notified once a release date has been made public. When Samsung announced the black and brown variants of the Galaxy S III, it also announced a couple other colors too – grey and red. The red variant has been pretty hard to come by unless you’re going through AT&T, and sadly, the grey version won’t be joining the black and brown versions at Verizon, at least for now. Perhaps Verizon will get even more colors in the future? We hope so, because we have something of a soft spot for the grey variant. Though these phones don’t have a release date yet, we can’t imagine Verizon and Samsung will leave customers waiting too long. As well, don’t expect their prices to be any different from the going rate of the blue and white versions. We’ll be on the lookout for a release date, so keep it tuned here to Android Community for more information. Device Info
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[via Droid Life]
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| Gameloft’s Wild Blood slashes its way onto the Play Store Posted: 08 Oct 2012 10:33 AM PDT Gameloft‘s first game to land for Android running on the Epic-powered Unreal Graphics Engine is finally available today. Wild Blood was teased back in August from the folks at Gameloft, and today without much of an announcement it is available for all. This impressive looking new game is now on the Google Play Store for $6.99.
In Wild Blood you’ll get to enjoy and relive the tale of Sir Lancelot as you go through his adventurous journeys slashing and swinging his sword, and defeating everything in his path. What makes this fun is you’ll be enjoying this all in excellent HD and 3D graphics on Android thanks to the Unreal Engine. This should be one of the best looking mobile games around. We have King Arthur going crazy with jealousy, Sir Lancelot will have to save Guinevere and the world and as Gameloft says, “face his destiny.” We’ll let you guys make up your own jokes and funny little tag-lines for this game, as there should be plenty of them. All jokes aside, this game really should have some Epic graphics with stunning details, lighting, textures and more. We’ve been waiting for Unreal’s graphics engine to finally start appearing on mobile devices and this is one of many coming soon. You’ll be playing across 10 detailed levels, facing 20 difficult enemies, and they’ve even added an 8-person multiplayer mode with 4-vs-4 team deathmatch games. Check out the gameplay video below and then get Wild Blood right now for just $7 at the Google Play Store.
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| Nexus 7 32GB model shipped from Play Store in Japan Posted: 08 Oct 2012 09:29 AM PDT Last week there was tons of speculation and rumors floating around that Google and ASUS were preparing to release a 32GB Nexus 7. Then the 32GB model showed up in a few online inventory systems, and adding fuel to the fire stated an October 24th release date. Today is our biggest hint with a reader claiming he purchased the 16GB model from the Google Play Store in Japan, only he received a 32GB model instead.
To his surprise, after waiting for his 16GB Nexus to arrive in the mail, which said 16GB on the box, he opened it up and quickly realized it was in fact a 32GB Nexus 7 instead. That would be awesome right? The lucky buyer posted some of the details on his Twitter page at @Oppese. We’ve seen multiple reports that a 32GB Nexus 7 was coming to the market, and honestly it makes plenty of sense. With the competition from both the Kindle Fire HD and the NOOK HD offering 16GB models for roughly the price of Google’s 8GB, and then offering a larger 32GB flavor Google needs to do the same. The interesting thing here is this marks the third different location where a larger 32GB model has appeared. The first leak linked to above was from Carphone Warehouse in the UK, then we saw multiple online sites here in the US last week showing an “out of stock” Nexus 7 32GB, and today this appears in Japan. From that, we gather that Google is in fact preparing to release a 32GB Nexus 7 to the Google Play Store. It most likely will be available worldwide too. Now these photos could be altered in some fashion, but for now we’re going to remain hopeful that Google will soon offer this new version of the Nexus 7 tablet. Now we just need Google to release that $99 version we heard rumors about, or a 3G equipped Nexus 7. Stay tuned folks!   Device Info
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[via PocketDroid]
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| Fuhu Nabi 2 tablet for kids gets rooted and access to Google Apps Posted: 08 Oct 2012 08:59 AM PDT One of the more powerful tablets for kids on the market, the Fuhu Nabi 2, has finally been rooted by the folks at XDA. This tablet packs a serious punch, especially when compared to other tablets for children on the market. Sadly, in spite of its beastly power, it lacked access to Google Play and the other Google Apps we all rely on in daily life. Thanks to XDA, that issue is resolved.
The Nabi 2 packs a Tegra 3 processor, 1GB RAM, and Android 4.0. That is some serious power in a rugged tablet designed to support the lifestyle of young people. This root now makes it a serious tablet that can do almost anything. Once the relatively easy simple root process is completed, users have a couple of options. They can choose to leave the default Monarch UI, which is made for children or they can get the standard Ice Cream Sandwich experience. This is done by simply deleting the /system/vendor folder from the device. As always, be careful rooting your devices, as it is possible to screw the process up and be left with an expensive paper weight. Make sure you have adb installed and have a basic working knowledge of it before attempting to root your Nabi 2. Follow the steps laid out on XDA, and you should have Google Apps installed quickly and easily. [via Android Police]
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| Angry Birds Star Wars coming to Android November 8 Posted: 08 Oct 2012 08:11 AM PDT Rovio seems to have the Midas touch when it comes to mobile games. They are at it again, and this time they are teaming up Lucasfilm for their next game. On November 8th, Rovio announced that it will release Angry Birds Star Wars to almost every mobile platform, including our beloved Android devices.
According to Rovio, this game will feature gameplay similar to Angry Birds and Angry Birds Space, but with a Star Wars theme. Rovio believes that this is the best Angry Birds game they have ever made. In a line that someone had to say, Peter Vesterbacka, CMO of Rovio said, “The force is definitely strong with this one.” Cheesy, but necessary. “People seem to instinctively know what to do when handed a lightsaber or a bird in a slingshot, so this is a natural combination,” said Colum Slevin, Vice President and Head of Studio Operations for Lucasfilm. I did not know it was encoded in our DNA to shoot birds out of slingshots, but apparently that is the case. Joking aside, this game is going to sell like crazy. It seems like everything Rovio makes is an instant success, and we expect this to be no exception. Of course, Rovio has also revealed that there will plenty of other merchandise to go along with the game, so if you are looking for a Luke Skywalker Angry Bird plush toy, they will be available soon enough.
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| Samsung releases source code for Galaxy Note II Posted: 08 Oct 2012 07:32 AM PDT Samsung has decided to release the Source Code for the Galaxy Note II. The device has been released in select European countries and that means that custom ROM developers are looking to sink their teeth into the code. If you like installing custom firmware on your devices, this is fantastic news for you.
Of course, most users will look at this code and have no idea what any of it means. That’s fine; there are plenty of people out there who know just what to do with this publicly available code. We can only assume that developers like CyanogenMod are already hard at work coming up with some awesome custom ROMs for the newly minted device as we speak. Samsung has always been quick to release code to the public, and the 5.5 inch Galaxy Note II is no exception. This release includes the kernel source code, as well as everything else that makes the device tick. Hardware developers releasing source code allows the custom ROM community to make more stable mods, which is certainly a good thing for all involved. The quicker they can release stable builds, the better. The Note II, which is based on Android 4.1.1 and features Samsung’s TouchWiz interface, will be rooted much quicker with the release of this source code, and that makes all of us happy. [via Android Police]
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| Facebook’s native Android app coming very soon Posted: 08 Oct 2012 06:34 AM PDT It is no secret that almost no one likes Facebook’s HTML5 application for Android. It’s cumbersome, slow, and downright unpleasant to use. Thankfully, it seems that a native application is right around the corner, at least, that’s the tip Engadget received from inside the social networking giant.
Facebook recently did away with the cumbersome HTML5 application for iOS, and it is reporting that users are seeing twice as many stories as they did previously. It only stands to reason that this benefits Facebook because it provides more opportunities to put sponsored stories in front of users’ eyes. With about 600m of Facebook’s 1bn users accessing the site through a mobile device, it makes sense for the device to work, and it looks like Android will soon. Of course, Facebook has not really figured out a way to make money off mobile users the same way they do on desktop. Perhaps this is why they were content to release a less than stellar version of the Android app in the first place. Still, if they want to leverage the popularity of mobile in a way that can make them money, step one seems like it should be having a fully functional application. According to this leak, Facebook is testing the new app internally quite heavily. If it functions anything like the iOS app, Android users should be quite happy. Of course, we will find out more when the app hits the market, which should happen fairly soon.
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| HTC Q3 income down 79% year-on-year Posted: 08 Oct 2012 06:01 AM PDT HTC has seen its finances shrink a little in the third quarter of 2012. HTC announced that both net revenues and income were down year over year. HTC’s third quarter revenue was NT$70.2bn (US$2.4bn) this quarter, which is even a sizable drop from the NT$91bn they earned last quarter. Net income did not do much better, as it dropped to NT$3.9bn (US$133m).
In Q3 of 2011 HTC recorded revenue of NT$135.82bn (US$4.54bn) and profits of NT$18.68bn (US$625m). It is quite easy to see where this substantial drop is a serious problem for HTC. Even though HTC predicted decreased numbers, seeing them finalized on paper is a scary thing. HTC has some solid devices hitting the market in the new quarter, so hopefully we will see these numbers rebound. On the Android front, the One X+ is expected to drop soon, and should prove to be a huge success for HTC. They are also receiving a strong push from Microsoft on the Windows Phone side of the equation. Let’s hope that the end of the Q4 2012 does not bring as much doom and gloom for HTC. Still, it’s not all bad. While the numbers are down, at least they turned a profit, which is more than some companies can say.
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| Posted: 08 Oct 2012 05:24 AM PDT Motorola has decided to stop developing its Webtop system. Motorola cited underwhelming sales as a key reason for its decision not to go forward with the project anymore. As Android devices become more powerful and feature-rich, the need for a desktop-like device becomes less necessary, and Motorola has realized this.
Motorola Webtop, with the help of a laptop shell, essentially allowed users to turn their smartphone into a laptop. It allowed users to create a mobile office almost anywhere, which was convenient, but by no means a critical part of using the devices. There was also a smaller device that allowed users to connect their phones to a television and set up an office almost anywhere. In a statement to Cnet, Motorola said, “Beginning with Photon Q and Droid Razr M/Droid Razr HD/Droid Razr Maxx HD, we will no longer be including Webtop on our products moving forward.” If you use a device with this feature, enjoy it while you can, as it appears Motorola is not wasting any time phasing it out of its devices. The main limitation of the feature was the cost. AT&T sold the Atrix 2 with its laptop dock for $500. It is possible to pick up a cheaper smartphone and a dedicated laptop for cheaper than that. While Webtop performed some great functionality, it was still not as functional as a dedicated laptop. Hopefully, this failure does not stop hardware makers from innovating going forward, it just seems like this idea priced itself out of competition. [via SlashGear]
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| Android Community Weekly: October 7th, 2012 Posted: 07 Oct 2012 02:28 PM PDT Say goodbye to another awesome week of Android news while we prepare for even more good things to come starting early next week. It was a crazy few days in the world of Android around here lately, and that is because it’s that time again. What time is that? Nexus time! Those rumors were running wild and this is only the beginning.
Before we get into all the juicy Android 4.2 and Nexus rumors we’ll keep things calm with some recent news from HTC. After a mediocre year with their new One series they’ve announced two new smartphones for AT&T. Those being the new and improved HTC One X+ and HTC One VX, the latter being a budget friendly device. The HTC One X+ had a new 1.7 GHz quad-core Tegra 3 and 4G LTE both. Take a peek at our X+ hands-on. Then we had a busy week of budget handsets announced and detailed by multiple carriers, most being Samsung devices. You’ll want to check out three new reviews we did this week. That being our LG Intuition Review, Samsung Galaxy Stellar Review, and then the Galaxy S Relay 4G Review. To end the usual news we saw leaks of a Galaxy S III Mini announcement coming next week, and Samsung aims to get their recent loss in court against Apple thrown out due to some special circumstances.
Now for the good stuff. As the image above suggests, this will be all about Google, Android, and the Nexus. Google is undoubtedly working on their next Nexus device, and we’ve heard a slew of rumors suggesting the first of many will be the LG Optimus G Nexus. That was followed with details that the LG Nexus was handed out to Google staff last week. More interesting is the device is running on the unannounced Android 4.2 OS. For all the rumors around Android 4.2 you’ll want to click here. Those rumors suggest an improved Google Now, Google Play Store revamp and a more streamlined push for individual users based on their previous purchases, searches and more. Then last but not least is project roadrunner. Just like Android 4.1 Jelly Bean‘s project butter to make a buttery smooth UI — roadrunner will ensure Android runs forever. Making battery life a huge part of this update all on the software side with loads of improvements. There was a few odd bits of important news other than that above, and you can find all of those details in the timeline of links below. Some include Motorola pulling out in their lawsuit on Apple, new ANDRU phone chargers, and a few odds and ends regarding devices being upgraded to Android 4.0 ICS. Oh and our sister site SlashGear reviewed the Galaxy Note II — which you can see right here. Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
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