T-Mobile Rolling Out 3.1 OTA Update for the LG G-Slate Starting Today

For all you crazy kids with an LG G-Slate from T-Mobile, you’ll be happy to know that the Android 3.1 update for the device is being rolled out starting today. You will be notified when the update is ready for your device or if you want to receive the update as soon as possible you can do so by manually checking for the update in your Settings. Here’s all the great new features you have to look forward to in Android 3.1:

• Google Videos – A new Videos app has been added that allows you to buy and rent movies.

• Recent apps list expanded – The recent apps list has been expanded to show all apps recently used. After opening the apps list, touch one of the apps to access it.


• Home screen resizable widgets – Widgets built-in to Android 3.0 (Calendar, Email, Gmail, etc.) can now be resized vertically or horizontally on any one of the five home screens.


• USB accessory support – Customers can now attach a keyboard, pointing device, or gamepad to the G-Slate for use with typing, gaming, etc.

Also, in addition to those typical 3.1 features users can also look forward to bug fixes and enhancements like force closes when using Google Talk and Music apps and improved browser and widget responsiveness. Let us know when you get the update!
[Via T-Mobile]

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Apple working on pico-projector tech for iPhone, Mac

Apple is exploring possibilities for making pico projectors and integral part of iOS devices.
And, unlike its many smartphone competitors, Apple isn’t focused only on technical gimmicks. They are trying to find actual use cases that could make pico projectors an indispensable part of iOS ecosystem.
In a patent application “Projected display shared workspaces” Apple describes pico projector accessory that can be connected to your iPhone or Macbook, or even integrated into an iPad. The projector also comes with a camera, and can read multi-touch gestures performed on a projected images.

The business environment/presentations are the most obvious place to use the projectors. By having several projector enabled iOS devices beaming their output to the screen on the wall, and coupling them via NFC or Bluetooth, users can create several shared workspaces. With a flick of the finger, they can transfer presentation files, graphics and images between devices, or create a single unified display from several projected screens.

Pico projectors have been promised to become an integral part of our mobile devices for a while now. We even have some projector smartphones like LG Expo and Samsung Beam, already in the market. And LG also has some similar camera/projector integration ideas to those above. But nobody has found a compelling use case for them yet and projector phones remain a niche curiosity for geeky show-offs.
So don’t hold your breath for finding this in your iPhone 5 or iPad 3, pico projecting technology does not seem to be up to Apple’s standards yet. But not so long ago camera in a phone was also a niche curiosity, taking really crappy pictures of your geek friends. And look where we are now.
Give it a few years, and Apple may figure out how to make pocket projectors work.

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7-inch HP TouchPad Go leaked with 1.5GHz processor

HP’s TouchPad Go was recently approved by the the Federal Communications Commission, which revealed some information on the unannounced tablet. The webOS device could be equipped with a dual-core 1.5GHz processor and a 3G radio, which would indicate HP is looking to launch it with at least one U.S. carrier. We first heard word of a 7-inch TouchPad tablet in January of this year and the most recent rumors revealed that HP could launch the device this month. It is possible we’ll hear more about the TouchPad Go in the coming days, and we hope it gains more consumer traction than the original TouchPad, which just had its priced slash by $100 to make it more appealing.
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Motorola DROID Bionic Spotted at Verizon Store

I know we have heard and seen plenty of the all might Motorola Droid Bionic the past few weeks but they just keep on coming. It recently cleared the FCC, and was even caught on camera running some 4G speedtests. Now the Bionic has been spotted at a Verizon store being held by a Motorola Rep and she even had a laptop dock for it too.

Tonight these pictures leaked over on Howard Forums from a Verizon employee stating a Motorola rep came to his stand welding the mysterious device in their hand. We can’t really call it mysterious because we’ve seen it a thousand times so maybe I’ll just say illusive as this device has been able to illude everyone for months on end and was recently delayed but that is nothing new.

The newbie in the photo above is the laptop dock accessory that was also being carried by the rep from Motorola. We have been expecting these types of accessories but this appears to be the first one we’ve seen unless its the same one the Atrix uses. I know everyone has been patiently waiting for the Bionic and all these leaks over and over are probably making a few of you impatient, but it will be here soon enough.
Is anyone sick of hearing about the Bionic yet? I’ll start preaching and waiting for the HTC Vigor as it has my full attention off of the Bionic for now.
[via Phandroid]

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News360 for Android Tablets 2.0 Update Hands-On [Video]

What we’re getting here today is the newest version of one of our favorite news apps, that being News360, one we called the App of the Week a few weeks ago, now in its second full version, version 2.0, one that introduces the social networking world into the tablet in a very large way for the iOS version and a soon to be large way for Android. The biggest change in the Android version of this application at the moment is the instant access to news videos. Right alongside tabs for your regular news feed at the awesome 360 view of images linking to news stories is a Videos tab that’ll allow you to check out the news in purely video form.

The interface for this application is fiddled with a bit, certainly no taking anything away from the amount of control you have over what News360 is calling their “reverse search” method of bringing content to the user. Much in the same way Google is attempting to connect people with the news in it’s “Sparks” interface in Google+, their new social networking site, News360 has you create your own categories in which they’ll supply you with news. Subject matter is all you really have to enter in if you like, and if you don’t want to do such a thing, you can follow the categories News360 already has prepared for you. All of this is prepared in several different ways, it being your choice in the end how you view the news through this diverse app for Android.

As far as the new web-based look at the app and the iOS version go, it’s a slightly different situation. Check out the images provided in the gallery below and you’ll see how social networking integration is just slightly above what it is in the Android app thus far. This slight advancement along with the fact that it’s still sort of rare to see a blog site such as Android Community in the mix are two updates we hope to see made in the next wave for Android tablets as well as handsets – Google Reader included!

Beyond that, this app is still a mightily magnificent vision for each of the main platforms, and yes, if you’ve got an HTML5-able web browser on any device (or so it seems,) you’re able to run the web-based version of News360, a force to be reckoned with all on its own.



Finally, remember that this app is [totally free on the Android Market] right this moment. Go grab it.
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Google Contacts FCC Regarding Microsoft Leaking Confidential Android Source Code

It appears that Google has another knife to pull on Microsoft, this time regarding Android source code, Google this week asking a judge with the US International Trade Commission to block a Microsoft “expert witness” in a Motorola lawsuit because this witness had “highly confidential source code” leaked to him by Microsoft. It’s not the least confusing situation in these patent posts we’ve been posting these past few months, that’s for sure, and I’m certain we’ll go through it again by the end of this post.


The motion filed this week with the ITC, Google has requested that the court bar the so-called expert Dr Robert Stevenson from testifying on Microsoft’s behalf because Microsoft revealed TO Stevenson some source code Android and Microsoft had agreed to keep secret. Google’s statement noted the following set of sentences making the ruling clear:

“The protective order governing confidentiality in this investigation explicitly requires that Microsoft disclose to Google any consultant or expert seeking access to Google confidential business information or highly confidential source code before [Google's emphasis] allowing a consultant or expert to review such information so that Google has an opportunity to object prior to disclosure,”

NOTE: for further information on this and other patent cases surrounding it, see Google Speaks Out Against Patent Attacks on Android
Microsoft was to give “prior written notice” to Google about giving confidential information to Dr Stevenson for testimony in the case. The case, as it stands today, is between Microsoft and Motorola, Microsoft suing Motorola so that they might force them to pay patent royalties for patents Microsoft owns that are related to technology used in Android. This is part of the wave of patent cases unfolding over the past few months in which Microsoft is seeking royalties on every device produced with Android aboard.
[via Digital Trends]
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Android Ice Cream Sandwich Screenshots Leaked?

What we have just seen is said to be first screenshots of Android Ice Cream Sandwich, the next version of Google’s OS. While this entire thing is just breaking and we haven’t had the time to look ever them closely things are looking pretty tasty from here. These appear to be early beta builds of Android on the Google Nexus S. Some early reports from RootzWiki are claiming these are 100% legit and real screenshots but we will just let you decide.

The leakster claims this is a very early build that in not very stable and is still very much a work in progress. They even mention it wont be coming out this month or the next but we already have been planning on a November or Thanksgiving time frame. There is plenty of changes as well as a entire new color scheme. Gmail has been redesigned and more. We are now seeing pictures also leaked to Android Police looking very similar so this could indeed be the real deal.

According to the leak to WootzWiki there is plenty of new and exciting changes so I’m going to post them all below for you to see what they now know.
-Blue Themed
-Camera has built in panorama mode
-Will launch with Google Shopper and NFC Enabled devices will be able to utilize those features
-Gmail is all rethemed and updated
-Nexus Prime gets it first (expected) then other devices will follow after
-Not too many changes, just UI things, don’t think requirements are set too high for year old devices to run it
-The little icon in the bottom right, looks like a tray with multiple apps in it (Like Honeycomb app switching)
-Google search bar embedded on very top like Honeycomb
-Apps/Widgets launcher a lot like Honeycomb
-This release is still very early, notice the theming of the power tray
While we are excited to see all of this it does make us wonder. In the Wootzwiki picture everything has been rethemed even the icons up top and the colors are all blue, yet the power bar widget is still green, but that could just be not finished yet so who knows. I was hoping to see a Android 2.4 or maybe 3.5 in there so we knew what the next version would be. It appears this sneaky prankster or Google themselves have still not decided what they will be calling the next version of Android. We do see build number is IRK36B.
We know this isn’t a lot, but it’s better than nothing right? With so much of these photos being blacked out to protect the identity of the leak I’m starting to think it may in fact be the real deal. These are quite possibly the very first look on Android 2.4, 3.5, or 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or whatever they will call it. More pictures below.
[via RootzWiki]

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Google Videos App Now Works on Gingerbread and Froyo Devices

Google’s Videos app was announced and released for the Motorola XOOM back at Google I/O in May, letting you rent and watch movies on the tablet, as well as on your computer. Watching it on your phone was promised, but the app wasn’t available. Until today that is. Videos has been updated in the Market and is now available for many Froyo and Gingerbread devices.

Google’s Videos app, released today for phones, lets you watch rented videos from the Android Market, as well as the videos you have on your phone. As you can see above the app is pretty sparse. There are two different screens, one displaying your rented movies and another showing the videos on your phone, with a link to the Movies section of the Android Market in the corner of both.
Renting works much the same as with tablets, and while we haven’t been able to confirm it, presumably downloading the movies will be prohibited on rooted phones as it was on rooted tablets. The work around for this has already been available on phones, which is to watch the movie on Youtube.
Watching, and sorting through your own videos in the app is a bit nicer than digging through the gallery where there are no labels though. Unfortunately, since I’m running the pre-beta version of CyanogenMod 7 for the Atrix, my videos aren’t playing with picture, but other than that the UI was a welcome improvement from the Gallery’s picture oriented design.
Whether the Movie renting feature is useful, we’ll leave up to you. The prices are a bit steep, especially with Netflix available now. If you aren’t up for renting movies, and don’t have another video playing app (outside the gallery), its a pretty handsome looking app without much else to get in the way of your video selection, but whether that’s worth the precious storage space on your phone is up to you.
[via Android Market]

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Games for Google+: Angry Birds and more coming soon

Whoa, out of no where today Google has just announced Games for Google+ and already the first to tip the chart is the all mighty Angry Birds. This is one of the next big steps for Google to integrate another level of socialization into Google+ to better compete with the likes of Facebook. From Angry Birds, Decks of Cards, Diamand Dash and more. These will all be available soon for Google+.

Today Google is set to start the rollout of games to the popular Google+ Project. While I’m still not seeing anything on my own page this news was just barely released so it should be showing up shortly. The image above shows where to look as it will be there anytime now. Google is aiming to make games in G+ just as fun as during real life.

That means giving you control over when you see games, how you play them and with whom you share your experiences. Games in Google+ are there when you want them and gone when you don’t.

I can see myself having a Gamers Circle any day now, right? We should be able to see game updates as well as invites and bragging all in our stream or selected circles. You’ll be able to easily share you high score, or how many times you’ve won. Bragging rights with who has the biggest farm coming soon to Google+ I can just imagine it already. I’ll be growing G+ farms and using Facebook for the soil. Google does mention for those not interested in games your streams will continue as usual and you wont be bothered so you can focus on what matters to you.

They have a decent list of games to start with from the developers that jumped aboard at the start and some of those include: Angry Birds, Bejeweled, Zynga Poker, Diamond Dash and a few mobsters type games like Crime City. This news just came out so be sure to keep checking here for updates as well as head over to Google+ to get started. I’m sure we will all be seeing plenty of invites over the next few weeks, that is for sure.
Update: A reader over at PCMag mentioned that in order to use Google+ Games the users must allow collection of some personal data by Google like G+ account information, email address, and even users in your circles. Here is the screenshot but we have no further details on that.

[via Google Blog]

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