Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch now available

Finally users waiting for the Samsung Galaxy S II can now rejoice, the Epic 4G Touch over on the Now Network is available for order today. The wait is finally over and the SGSII superphone is here in the U.S and you can go snag one today, right now in stores or via online order.

We know plenty about these phones but once again the specs include that massive 4.52″ AMOLED display, 1.2 GHz dual-core Samsung Exynos processor, 1GB of RAM and more. Powered by Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread with a 8 MP rear camera with dual LED flash and a 2MP front for video chat this has it all.
As if you didn’t know all that already — who is going to buy one today? The AT&T Galaxy S II should also be arriving this weekend set to hit shelves on the 20th bright and early so that’s another option although it’s been downsized in the screen department to 4.3″ respectively. 

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Google Readying Pulse Competitor feed reader app

One of the most obvious and easily made excellent functions of a tablet computer is its ability to act as a news reader. What groups like News360 and Feedly and Pulse have discovered is that it’s quite the lucrative and easily accessible market indeed. And you know what happens when there’s a market that’s available for access, right? Google comes in and smashes everyone else with their Thor hammer! Or I suppose that’s what they’ll be hoping to do with what’s likely to be called “Google Propeller.”

What Propeller is set to do is take on all competitors and also take a jab as Facebook’s recent news additions. This app will be set to be released on both Android and iOS (specifically on Honeycomb and iPad, so tablet-based right out of the box), and is one of SEVERAL new powerful apps Google is said to have coming down the pipe for mobile. Will it be compatible with Google Reader? We’re thinking yes, even though Google Reader v1.0.1 is already out there on the market. This news comes from Robert Scoble straight off his G+ feed where he also says:

My source says that the versions he’s seen so far are mind-blowing good.

This news comes soon after Google earlier this month killed off their Flip Fast news reading system alongside several other lesser-used apps. This Flip Fast app was, for those of you that never used it, a screenshot sort of app that collected images of news sites that you were then able to flip through at a later date. Concepts within this app are said by google to “live on in our other display and delivery tools.”
Does it look to you like this may be an app you’ll be tapping at in the future? We’re certainly going to give it a shot if it ever materializes.
[via SlashGear]

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HTC Rhyme and Bass likely for September 20th Reveal

It was all the way back in time when we first saw a trademark list for HTC listing the HTC Rhyme that we knew the Beats were coming. It was back when a leaked specs list was found that we assumed the HTC Runnymede and the HTC Bliss would be released side by side. It was just yesterday when the device known as the HTC Runnymede was said to be launching as the HTC Bass. All of this of course points toward the September 20th launch event that we’ll be covering live. All of this adding up?

So here’s the long and short of it: the HTC Runnymede is the shorter of the more stout of the two devices and will be called the HTC Bass. The HTC Bliss, aka the one with the metal strip in the middle, will be called the HTC Rhyme. With the names both having to do with music and the HTC Bass literally having the beatsaudio logo on the center bottom back, we can very safely assume that these will be amongst HTC’s newest recruits for the Beats-laden future of HTC handsets. With the event happening next week, we can also assume we’ll be seeing both of these devices.
What’s more is that in addition to the notion that the Sensation XE, a new edition of the HTC Sensation, would be the first on the block to get beatsaudio audio fidelity. This was recently trumped on the hack side by some developers who’ve craftily installed beatsaudio on the Desire HD pre-software launch. The same goes for the brand new look at HTC Sense, version 3.5 that is, which has been floating around the block for a couple weeks now.
Will the combination of the two plus this lovely new hardware be enough to entice you to join the HTC Android pack – or if you’re already running with the pack, will these devices keep you a wolf?

[via SlashGear]

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Boost Mobile adds $5 monthly to Android plans

Boost Mobile has announced that it will be putting an additional $5 charge on the Android phones that people use on its network. The notification of the price increase was placed at the bottom of the details on the rewards program called the shrinkage plan that lowers the users rate after a certain amount of payments made on time.

Boost isn’t the first mobile carrier to add an additional fee to Android devices. Boost’s parent company with an unlimited data plan for the Android devices out there added a $10 monthly charge. If you are already, a Boost Mobile customer on an unlimited data plan at $60 per month you are grandfathered in without the extra $5 as long as you don’t let your account expire.
In fact, if you are thinking of getting an Android device on Boost you have until October 6 to get it with unlimited data without paying the extra $5. After that date, all upgrades will get the new charge as well. Boost Mobile is a pre-paid carrier that is starting to get some nice devices in.
[via Connected Planet]

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HP TouchPad with Cyanogenmod Benchmarked [Early Build]

If you’ve got a TouchPad and you’re here reading Android Community, chances are you know what CyanongenMod 7 is and what it means for TouchPad users. Last we spoke, CyanogenMod was THIS CLOSE to being complete – of course even THIS CLOSE is relative, so we’re still not quite there yet. That said, some intrepid folks out there in alpha-build-land have taken it upon themselves to benchmark the still incomplete software / hardware combo. Would you like to know more? Click!

Of course getting CyanogenMod working on your TouchPad isn’t the only reason why you may have purchased the ultra-inexpensive tablet, reading John Scheible’s analysis of the situation should give you a handful of reasons why an Android user may have jumped on the situation. It’s time to take a check though of what it could basically feel like to roll with the Cyan flavoring of Android via some basic benchmark tests. A mister fattire from RootzWiki took a few minutes out of his otherwise busy day to rack up these tests for you!
The closest to average scores for Linpack were as follows:
[multithread]
MFLOPS 70.958
Time: 2.38 seconds
Norm Res: 3.24
Precision 2.220446049250313E-16
[single thread]
MFLOPS: 44.333
Time 1.89 Seconds
Norm Res 5.68
Precision: 2.220446049250313E-16
Then there’s some information on Quadrant and frames per second tests:

~28fps on the fractal thing ~6fps (!) on the staircase ~60fps (!) on the planets, & 25 fps on the DNA.

And the final score is thus: 2753.

Mister fattire reminds us of course that all of this is for fun for so many more reasons than one, and to take it all with a grain of salt and pepper.
)

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Render of Samsung Illusion smartphone leaks

In early August a leaked roadmap for Verizon turned up and on it was listed the Samsung Illusion Android smartphone. Today we have a bit more information on the Illusion from Samsung with a new render of the device that has leaked. Previously a small image of the smartphone had turned up as well. The Illusion has model number SCF-I110.

We still have no idea when the Illusion will get official, what hardware is inside, and what the phone will cost. It has the look of a lower price phone and clearly shows 3G connectivity in the rendering. The Illusion looks like a mid to entry-level device on the surface.
The phone has an appealing design and rumors claim that the phone is a green device. Green could mean parts of the phone are made from recycled plastic and possibly the phone is designed to be more energy efficient. We will have to wait until the phone gets official to see what is going on under the hood.
[via PhoneDog]

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Samsung Conquer 4G: Full Phone Specs and Retail Price

The Samsung Conquer 4G has been out less than a month, and arrived on Sprint’s 4G WiMAX network. Sprint’s network is one of the few that provides simultaneous voice and data access to certain capable phones, and the Conquer 4G by Samsung possesses that capability. Previously, if you are in the middle of voice call and wanted to access data, up or download an application or software, you had to terminate the call, get the information, and then place the call again after sending or receiving whatever data or information that you needed to access. Now, with Sprint’s simultaneous voice and data ability on their 4G WiMAX network, you do not have to terminate a voice call to access any data or browse the web.
The processor on the Conquer 4G is a 1 GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 chip, and is supported by 512 MB of RAM memory and 1.0 GB of ROM memory. Android’s most recent and updated operating system, Gingerbread 2.3.4, is loaded out-of-the-box, and all subsequent upgrades from Google to that operating system will be free and handled over the air. A rear facing 3.2 megapixel camera allows for VGA quality recording at 30 frames per second, and a front facing VGA quality chat cam is also on board.
A music player, video player and YouTube player are pre-installed, and the Samsung Conquer 4G Android smartphone supports Adobe’s Flash media player as well. A 3.5 mm headphone jack, microUSB port and microSD slot are also present, and Wi-Fi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity options are on board as well. The Samsung Conquer 4G offers 320 x 480 pixel resolution on their 3.5 inch touch screen, which supports multi-gestures, and has a proximity sensor and a light sensor built-in.
Smaller and lighter than the average 4G smartphone, the Samsung Conquer 4G is 4.57 x 2.38 x 0.46 inches (116 x 60 x 12 mm) in size and 4.10 ounces (116 g) in weight. Available for one penny with a two-year activation, this is one of the few second generation 4G Android handsets priced that low. This is not by chance. Sprint has been very aggressive with the pricing of their phones on their 4G network, trying to attract users to their simultaneous data and voice call service capability which is not available through all wireless service providers.
Pricing many of their phones at a penny, Sprint hopes to draw market share from Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T by offering a loss leader in the form of the handset, and recouping on the back end with customer loyalty and service contracts over the next few years.

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Over a million combined iOS and Android apps have been released

Any way you look at it, there are tons of apps on the Android Market and the iTunes App Store. Granted many of them are different copies of the same app or junk that none of us want anyway. Still, there are a million apps now released for Android and iOS combined. That is a very big number and it comes from Appsfire. Appsfire is a new app tracking company.

Appsfire does note that while a million apps have been released for both platforms, only about 80% of that number of apps is still available for download by users. The apps are split at a surprisingly close percentage between Android and iOS. Android has 48% of that million number and iOS has 52%.
The other thing with the numbers here is that apparently apps that are on both platforms have been counted twice. Take all of that into account and what it means is that there is probably considerably less than a million apps on the market. When you look at the number of junk apps out there, I wonder how many of these are apps that people actually use.
[via Mobile Entertainment]

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Android Voice Actions Now Available In Europe In British English, French, Italian, German and Spanish

A little over a year ago Google introduced Voice Actions, which allowed Android users to perform a variety of tasks by simply issuing voice commands. Unfortunately, to the chagrin of non-English speakers, the app was only available in US English. Today Google is updating Voice Actions for users in the UK, France, Italy, Germany and Spain with support for British English, French, Italian, German and Spanish.
To use Voice Actions simply say one of the following commands (spoken in any of the aforementioned languages):

• send text to [contact] [message]
• call [business]
• call [contact]
• go to [website]
• navigate to [location/business name]
• directions to [location/business name]
• map of [location]

It is also possible to perform standard Google searches with Voice Actions.

 

Voice Actions is available on all Android devices running Android 2.2 and above. To use it simply hit the microphone icon next to the Google search box on your home screen. If the search box is not immediately visible, add it as a widget or alternatively, download Voice Search from the Android Market.

Voice Search

Voice Search

by Google Inc.

>250,000 downloads, 44866 ratings (4.3 avg)

Free

Install

Source: Google Mobile Blog

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