Sunday, February 27, 2011

Nexus S 2.3.3 update adjusts screen's color temperature, we go eyes-on

We've been hearing reports about Nexus S' Android 2.3.3 update adding a yellow tint to the screen and even washing out its colors, but according to Google's Ry Guy, said patch is indeed intended to tweak the display's color temperature. Here's the full quote from Google's support forum: "With your new OTA complete, you may notice a slight difference in the way colors are displayed on your Nexus S. For Nexus S, we have adjusted the color temperature settings to more accurately reflect darker colors at all brightness levels. The Gingerbread UI being darker, we found that the colors were not as accurate when the device was being used at lower brightness levels. For example, some users reported that the initial color temperature was...

HTC Thunderbolt vs. Verizon’s iPhone 4

Once again we find our arch nemesis in the cross-hairs. Although the iPhone is still running the same hardware it started with last summer, it’s still a force to be reckoned with. Although I am Android-biased, as a tech enthusiast I respect the iPhone and will agree that it does have a lot to offer. However, we have an ace-in-the-hole, I’m not referring to flash capability, Verizon’s new HTC Thunderbolt is on the horizon.  Does the new HTC Thunderbolt have what it takes to bury this monster, or will we have to wait for a dual-core to emerge? Apple iPhone 4 Quick Specs:iOS 43.5″ Retina display1Ghz Apple A4 processor (under-clocked to 800Mhz) with 512Mb RAM16Gb or 32Gb internal storage available0.3Mp Front facing VGA, 5Mp rear...

Samsung Galaxy S II Gets A Price And An Official Release Date

That dual-core monster of a device, the Samsung Galaxy S II, announced at MWC, has received an official release date of March 31st and a price tag of £599.99 (~$960) from UK’s play.com site.  Keep in mind this is subject to change as most pre-release prices can do so.  We’ll just have to be patient, as time will tell.  The Galaxy S II is a device that I have had in my crosshairs for quite some time now.  The US of A is hoping for a graceful visit from this powerhouse of a device, soon. I would love to see Samsung do what they did with the original Galaxy S line, bringing it to each carrier in the US.  I’ll be crossing my fingers.   If you’re in the UK and you’ve been waiting generously...

HTC Incredible S Now Available In The UK

The HTC Incredible S, the successor to the original Incredible, is finally available for purchase over at Mobiles.co.uk and The Carphone Warehouse.  You can purchase the SIM-Free device for £499.95 (~$800) off contract.  If you want to purchase it on contract, you’re looking at ranges from free to £319.99 (~$510).  The folks over at O2 and Vodafone are the only carriers offering the device on contract, however, O2 offers it for free with their £25 per month price plan.  Let us know what you think of the device in the comments below.Specs:Sense UI4-inch Multi-Touch Screen (480 x 800 Res)HD 8MP Camera With Dual LED Flash720p Video Recording1 GHz CPU1Gig of RAM1.3 MP Front-Facing Came...

Google Under Fire For Children’s Privacy Issue

Google is underfire again by the US House of Representatives Privacy Caucus. Congressmen Joe Barton and Ed Markey are disturbed by an entry form in a Google contest aimed at children called “Doodle for Google.”To enter the Doodle for Google contest, the contestant’s parent or guardian needed to fill out a form which called for the child’s date and city of birth as well as the last four digits of their social security numbers. According to documentarian Bob Bowden in an SEO hungry editorial for the Huffington Post:has been asking parents nationwide to disclose their children’s personal information, including Social Security Numbers, and recruiting schools to help them do it — all under the guise of an art contestBowden postulates...

Samsung Galaxy S II To Hit Retailers In UK Next Month

TFTS is reporting that the Samsung Galaxy S II will arrive in the United Kingdom next month, a few months ahead of schedule. We first saw the Samsung Galaxy S II at their unpacked event at the Mobile World Congress earlier this month. Now, a UK cellular sales site clove.co.uk said on their blog that it will be available in March and they’ve even started a pre-order page for it.Clove’s blog site is reporting that the 32gb Samsung Galaxy S II will be available off contract for £590 which translates to $949 US Dollars (WHOA). The 16gb model is showing up for pre-order on their site for £510 which translates to $810 US Dollars (again WHOA...

Froyo Now Being Served To The AT&T HTC Aria

 In a video interview on Thursday, the same day Samsung Captivate’s Froyo update went live, AT&T’s resident Android Expert, Dante Martin confirmed that Froyo would be coming to the HTC Aria soon. So soon in fact that he had it running on the HTC Aria that was in his pocket.  No one thought it would be this soon, but the update started rolling out midday yesterday (Friday)You will need HTC Sync to complete the update and it can be downloaded by clicking here like a mini-kies update for Samsung HTC Sync is currently only available for Windows machines.What you need to know is after the breakWhat’s NEW:Android 2.2 (FROYO)App Sharing – Allows you to share an application via Bluetooth, Friend Stream, Email, etc.Google SearchLatitude...

The Latest HTC Thunderbolt Rumor: Battery Life

Engadget is reporting on good sources that the problems with the HTC Thunderbolt delay are stemming from bad battery life.  When all delays are considered the HTC Thunderbolt is on it’s 6th delay to release at retail. Although the Merge was never formally announced until today, that device first leaked back in August when Thedroidguy.com and Androidguys.com simultaneously leaked the first photos of the merge on August 5th. Just as an aside that is 6 months waiting on that device. The merge was even featured in a full double page spread ad for HTC in Entrepreneur magazine.While we aren’t suggesting the HTC Thunderbolt will be delayed 6 months, the continued delays are hindering the belief in what seems like an awesome device.According to Engadget’s sources the current battery...

Archos Arnova 8 and 10 tablets hit the bargain bin (video)

We know, Archos already makes fairly cheap tablets, but believe it or not, the company's going after an even cheaper segment with its new Arnova 8 and 10. The two have been popping up all around the web -- they stopped by the FCC earlier this week and there was an early spec leak from a Russian site -- but now we're finally getting some real details and hands-on impressions courtesy of Charbax, who is quite possibly the biggest Archos fan in the world. The $199 10.1-inch Arnova 10, which we have to say looks a lot like the Archos 101, packs a 600MHz Rockchip RK2818 processor, resistive touchscreen, 8GB of storage, and Android 2.1 -- but before you gag, know that there should also be a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 Rockchip RK 2918 / capacitive...

Nintendo 3DS launches in Japan, populace tears through initial 400,000 unit shipment

You won't be able to snap one up at your local GameStop for a full month, but the Nintendo 3DS had a solid launch in Japan today, reportedly liquidating nearly its entire initial shipment of 400,000 spiffy stereoscopic gaming handhelds by the end of the day. Some of those sales were to customers waiting in a few lines up to 2,000 persons long, but those lines were exceptions to the norm -- several publications note that very few stores actually had any lines to speak of, as most Japanese electronics retailers sold out when the 3DS went on pre-order over a month ago. Get a refresher on what to expect from the system here (and here) or read all about the surprisingly orderly Japanese launch at our source links.Update: Our friends...

Public Beta Of FullHDMI Released, Lets You Mirror Your EVO’s Screen On Your HDTV

Fellow EVO 4G owners, were you envious when Sony Ericsson demoed the Xperia arc’s full HDMI capabilities? Fear not – once again, the developer community has come to the rescue!Android Central Forums user Orrebmas has developed a "limited time" public beta of FullHDMI, an app that lets you output any content on your EVO’s display to your HDTV. Yep, that means you can finally get your Angry Birds on in full, 50-inch mode.Unfortunately, there are a few caveats. First, simply installing an APK file isn’t enough; to get FullHDMI up and running, you’ll also need to flash a custom kernel. Additionally, support is limited to Sense-based ROMs, eliminating compatibility with CyanogenMod and other AOSP firmware.Performance isn’t fantastic,...

Test Release of CyanogenMod 7 for the Vibrant

CyanogenMod is one of the most popular custom-built ROMs out there, and with version 7 they are bringing Gingerbread to more and more phones.  The T-Mobile Vibrant just got an official Froyo release recently, but the CyanogenMod team has got the beginnings of ROM for the Vibrant that, when finished and stable, will bring it Gingerbread in the near future, without waiting for the official Gingerbread release from Samsung.  It’s only a test build right now, so there’s still some work to be done, but this is an awesome team with a lot of experience at building these ROMs, so it’s safe to assume that it won’t be too long before they’ve got a solid build for you.  As always, we’ll keep you poste...

HTC Releases Source code for the HTC Inspire 4G

HTC is giving developers the chance to test their handy work by offering the source code for the AT&T HTC Inspire 4G up on their Developer Center. This should make it alot easier to root and get some sweet ROMs available much faster. I Guess it’s easier to start where someone left off rather than compile from scratch.The HTC Inspire 4G is a 4.3 inch Android smartphone with Dolby and SRS Surround Sound, 8 megapixel camera with LED flash, 720p video recording, DLNA, Android 2.2, 1 GHz Snapdragon processor and 768MB RAM, running on AT&T’s 4G LTE networ...

HTC Thunderbolt coming to Best Buy on March 10th?

We reported to you yesterday that the HTC Thunderbolt may be delayed past March 4th, but it seems we may have good reason to believe that it’ll be out by March 10th over at Best Buy judging by the pic above. The first line shows the HTC Thunderbolt available on March 10th through Best Buy Mobile in all stores.Whether that came out after we heard about the March 4th delay from Twitter, or before remains to be seen, but we’re keeping our eye on it regardles...

Nook for Android gets an update – Barnes & Noble promise Honeycomb version in Spring

A couple of things to mention for the Nook app from Barnes & Noble. The first is that the Nook app has been updated to version 2.5 and includes a Wish List feature, a library Grid View, as well as a book download progress bar, cause Barnes & Noble knows hoe we LOVE to watch the progress of downloads and installations (kidding). The app will serve as a nice improvement for Android tablet devices around 7 inches and larger using the Library Grid View.Speaking of tablets, here’s the second thing B&N has going down for us Android folks. We should see a Honeycomb version of the app coming out around Spring, which by my count, should be any day now, but maybe they mean ‘end-of spring...

MLB at Bat 2011 comes to Android

MLB at Bat fans rejoice, because MLB Advanced Media has updated their baseball news app for the new 2011 year. MLB at Bat 2011 is now available in the Android Market for installation and features the following; Customize At Bat’s home screen to feature your designated favorite team.Favorite team icon home screen widget for one-click access to your favorite team’s At Bat 11 homepageMLB icon home screen widget for in-progress scores around the leagueListen to available radio broadcasts of Spring Training gamesFollow batter-by-batter action for every Spring Training gameEnhanced video library archive, searchable by player, team or keywordBreaking news, schedules and interactive rosters and players stats for every teamThe app will cost you...

Verizon’s system showing HTC Droid Incredible 2 coming soon?

Well, well, HTC… you’ve been mighty busy. It looks like a tipster over at engadget got some juicy news, and they’re here to share it with you. After seeing the Incredible S, we knew it wouldn’t be long until we saw it in the states.According to the screenies sent in by the tipster, Verizon is dubbing the device the HTC ADR6350, whereas another shows off the HTC63503, also shown as the “INCRD2″. Fortunately, it doesn’t take rocket science to put these together and come up with the Incerdible 2 coming to Verizon… eventually. We still don’t know about a date, but keep it here, and we’ll let you know as soon as we d...

Saturday, February 26, 2011

HTC Incredible S Ships In The UK With Froyo, Initially

Looks like our fellow UK’ers are getting a bit of an early surprise this week.  HTC has moved the launch date up a bit for the Incredible S device that we saw at MWC.  You can now order the device and get it fairly quick.  However, take note that the device will not ship with Gingerbread, but rather Froyo with a promise to receive Android 2.3 in the “near future”.  So, if you’re ok with that stipulation, then get your order on and let us know what you Brit’s think of the device in the comments below.  It definitely looks like an impressive piece of hardware.  Check out the specs below:Specs:Sense UI4-inch Multi-Touch Screen (480 x 800 Res)HD 8MP Camera With Dual LED Flash720p Video Recording1 GHz CPU1Gig...

Turn your Android device into a second monitor with iDisplay

This may or may not be the best use of your Android’s display ever conceived. That being said, it would look OK if you were using your laptop, and needed a second screen onto your newly purchased Motorola Xoom perhaps, taking advantage of its 10inch screen. This would be annoying for me to use on my smartphone, as a 4 inch screen just wouldn’t cut it.The app is called iDisplay, and it’s been around for some time for Apple products, but it’s now available in the Android Market and will only cost you $4.99. It uses an app that needs to be installed on either your PC or Mac (sorry, don’t see any Linux support just yet), where you would enter the IP address of your computer onto your Android device so it can grab the streamed display....

Verizon Samsung Fascinate Review

Ah the final chapter of the Galaxy S lineup, the Verizon Fascinate. Verizon was a little late to the party with their version, but better late than never, right?Anyway, the Fascinate is your typical Galaxy S phone, featuring that beautiful 4in 800×480px, Super AMOLED display, blazing 1GHz Hummingbird processor and roomy 16GB of internal storage. Another nice feature of the Fascinate that two out of the four Galaxy S phones don’t have (Captivate and Vibrant are missing this) is an LED flash for the 5MP camera.That’s really the only thing different about the Fascinate when compared to the other Galaxy S phones (hardware wise) so let’s unbox the Fascinate and get this review started.The Fascinate box differs from all of the other Galaxy...

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