Skype v2.5 adds video calls to Galaxy Tab 10.1, more

Skype has updated its Android app to add video calling to more  smartphones and tablets, with v2.5 adding support for 14 more models. Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Google Nexus One and Motorola DROID 3 are notable models, though the ATRIX and LG Optimus 3D also make an appearance.

In addition to the new devices, Skype has also added the ability to switch between portrait and landscape orientations while within a call, as well as zooming by tapping the display. Bluetooth headset support has been improved, and the app as a whole should be more bug-free and faster.

• Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
• HTC Nexus One
• HTC Shooter
• Sony Ericsson Xperia Live with Walkman
• Sony Ericsson Xperia neo V
• LG Optimus Black
• LG Optimus 3D
• LG Optimus 2x
• Motorola Photon
• Motorola Droid 3
• Motorola Bionic
• Motorola Xoom
• Motorola Atrix
• Acer Iconia

On the downside, Skype has introduced advertising with this release, just as on the desktop versions for PC and Mac. You can bypass the adds if you have some Skype credit, however. Skype for Android v2.5 is a free download from the Android Market.

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HTC Explorer delivers Android on a budget

HTC has announced its latest Android smartphone, the HTC Explorer, targeted at entry-level users hoping to step up from their featurephone. Replacing the altogether underwhelming HTC Smart, only with Android 2.3 Gingerbread and HTC Sense 3.5 this time rather than BREW, the Explorer packs a 3.2-inch HVGA touchscreen, 600MHz processor and 512MB of RAM.

Connectivity includes 3G, WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0, while there’s a microUSB port and a microSD card slot to augment the minimal 483MB ROM. The 1,230 mAh battery is hidden behind a soft-touch, rubberized rear cover, initially available in black or blue though HTC tells us they’ll have alternative colors soon.
The camera is a mere 3-megapixel unit, further example of what HTC told us was a “focus on device expectations, not specifications” but what’s really more likely to be the result of building to a strict budget. Pre-pay users and cash-short students are the expected audience, with HTC adding a “data monitor” app which can keep track of how much data, SMS and calls you’ve used. Unfortunately – for the user, at least, not the carrier – the app won’t actually pop up and warn you when a limit is about to run out, you’re expected to check it manually, and there’s no homescreen widget at this stage.
Otherwise the only app of note in the updated Sense 3.5 is “Best Deals”, HTC’s interpretation of the local deals market. Unfortunately we weren’t able to test that in our pre-briefing with the Explorer.
The HTC Explorer is expected to go on sale in Europe and Asia from October 2011. Pricing will depend on market.
Update: Vodafone UK tells us they’ll be offering the Explorer, though still no word on how much.

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Bladeslinger Headed To Android, Teaser Trailer Released

The sci-fi/western action game Bladeslinger was announced for Android by Luma Arcade at the Unity Conference Unite 11 yesterday. A teaser trailer was also released to correspond with the announcement, giving fans a peek into this 3rd-person shooter that combines both close and ranged combat as well as the ability to pause game-play and activate special attacks and abilities. Luma Arcade General Manager, Sam Williams calls the project a “pet passion” for their studio that now makes its way to Android (and iOS) “without compromising our vision for the game.”
Hit the break for the Bladesliger teaser trailer and get aquatinted with the character William Glaston on his way home to Hammer’s Peak, an ill-fated town now overthrown by dreadful creatures.

[via ign]

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Samsung Galaxy Skin confirmed for 2012 launch

We talked about the Samsung Galaxy Skin a few days ago, brandishing rumors of the flexible smartphone arriving sometime next year – and that rumor has been confirmed. Here is more information about this stunning new smartphone that will definitely make Apple’s iPhone 6 (no, that was not a typo) look as though it was something cobbled together during Alexander Graham Bell’s era. Using the material ‘graphene’ for its display, this has been touted to be “the miracle material” which will make flexible displays a reality by the time the Skin hits the market.
This polyimide substrate will replace the glass which most, if not all, smartphones use at the moment, where it is soft enough to be rollable and bendable without suffering any damage to image quality, and yet it can still survive blows from a hammer.
Do expect the Samsung Galaxy Skin to be as thick and wide as the Galaxy S2, although the display will have double the length when unfolded. We did miss out on the dimensions and internal memory capacities in our previous story – the Galaxy Skin is said to measure 221mm x 67mm x 8 mm, while coming in 16GB and 32GB capacities.

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Samsung is not copying Apple, here is the proof

This is a fairly amusing collection of images that show the similarities between the Samsung Galaxy products and the Apple iPad and iPhone. There seem to be a lot of ways that the design of the two companies gadgets are overlapping. This is a bit of an issue as the Apple products arrived on the market first.
You may recognize the first image from a Samsung store that was using Apple’s app icons. Samsung later responded that it was removing the icons from its display. This compilation was put together by a Redditor who apparently saw some similarities.

The similarities between these products are being debated worldwide in over 20 cases dealing with both patents and industrial design. In the appeal of the injunction granted Apple against Samsung in Germany, Judge Brueckner-Hofmann, of the Dusseldorf Higher Regional Court had this to say about the comparison:

The court is of the opinion that Apple’s minimalistic design isn’t the only technical solution to make a tablet computer, other designs are possible. For the informed customer there remains the predominant overall impression that the device looks [like the design Apple has protected in Europe].

Regardless of which side you take in the ongoing battle, it does raise some interesting questions about just how different these designs have to be. The iPad may feel like it was an inevitable product now, but before the iPad, tablets looked and worked significantly different.
So how different do Samsung’s products have to be before they are no longer under scrutiny? I think that Sony’s tablets are a good example.

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Samsung Stratosphere Hardware Specs Leaked

We've been expecting the Samsung Stratosphere to make its way to Verizon with a little LTE action, but besides that 4G connectivity, the phone's capabilities have been largely unknown to us. We had been expecting something upper-mid-tier-ish, and it looks like we weren't too far off; a leaked Verizon spec sheet details the Stratosphere's components while identifying it as mid-tier piece of hardware.

According to the leak, the Stratosphere will have a 1GHz processor (we're assuming single-core), 512MB of RAM, and 4GB of internal flash storage (a 4GB microSD brings total storage up to 8GB). The QWERTY slider will feature a four-inch WVGA Super AMOLED screen, a five-megapixel main camera, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facer. It will arrive with Gingerbread and TouchWiz installed, and support mobile hotspot mode with up to eight devices when connected over LTE.

Considering all that, Verizon's mid-tier assessment sounds pretty spot-on to us. Look for it to arrive in early next month, possibly on October 6.

Source: Droid-life

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Sprint Puts The Kibosh On Buggy LG Optimus S Gingerbread Update

Two weeks ago we told you how Sprint users were finally about to get some Gingerbread for their LG Optimus S handsets, just a few weeks after the update became available for the international Optimus One. Things were looking good, and we noted "assuming nothing goes wrong and forces it to halt distribution, it should hit nearly every subscriber with an Optimus S within about ten days." Oh, how we should have knocked on wood! It turns out that the update has been wreaking havoc on the Optimus S, breaking so much functionality that Sprint's withdrawn the update.

Sprint acknowledges the problem on its forums, promising that it and LG were working on diagnosing the issues and assuring users that the halt on the update's distribution is only temporary; once things are worked out, the Optimus S will finish getting Gingerbread.

So, what's going wrong? Oh, just a few small problems like an inability to get online, your PC not recognizing the phone when plugged-in over USB, refusal to recognize the presence of microSD cards, and finding itself in a state where it will no longer recharge while powered-on, eventually running the battery down to nothing. Predictive text is also turning-up broken, but compared to the rest of these issues, it seems positively minor. There are some suggested fixes for these individual issues, but no word on when an update addressing all of them may become available.

Source: Sprint
Via: Phandroid

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Acer hopes ultrabooks will slow down iPad, save PCs

Acer VP Scott Lin in remarks captured Wednesday was adamant that Intel's MacBook Air-inspired ultrabook concept would help rescue the PC industry. Tablets like the iPad were mostly popular because they were light, thin, and had good battery life while focused on entertainment, he said with Digitimes in earshot. Once ultrabooks got to that point, buying habits would "reverse" as people would rather get one ultrabook that did both instead of having both a tablet and a regular notebook.Buyers would swing back to notebooks in 2012, Lin insisted.

While some signs have emerged of a disputed iPad 2 production cut, the remarks come from a company with a history of predicting the imminent end of the tablet market and the iPad, only to be repeatedly proven wrong and suffer the consequences. A year ago, company chairman JT Wang was arguing that buyers would 'return to their senses', while others at Acer have called the iPad a fad and predicted that PCs would recover, always in the next quarter.

Acer has been falling rapidly in PC share in losses often directly credited to the iPad and Acer's overreliance on low-end notebooks and netbooks. This spring, the company was eventually compelled to change its strategy and fired its CEO as part of a major company restructuring that focused much more on smartphones and tablets. The changes haven't helped so far in the face of deepening company losses and a lackluster if solid entry into tablets with the Iconia Tab line.

Independently, unnamed industry contacts believed that the tablet market would slow down just because of replacement cycles. Tablets aren't as dependent on performance as computers,which need to produce content as much as consume it, and wouldn't be upgraded as often. Whether or not this is true has been debated, since tablets have made large strides in performance and have frequently been bought in place of notebooks rather than just as complements.

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Disney launches 2 new Android phones in Japan

Disney is getting ready to rock two new Android phones in Japan. The company announced that they will be launching the DM011SH and the DM010SH.
The DM010SH will be a 3D capable handset that will feature a 4-inch qHD display, 8-megapixel camera, a 1GHz processor, Android 2.3, and more.
The second phone, the DM011SH, will be a waterproof slider with a 3.4-inch screen, a 1Ghz processor, 8-megapixel camera, Android 2.3, and more.
Both phones will be available in Japan and to please all their fans, the phones will be available in a number of colors, including pink, white, and black (for the older fans).
Pricing information for the two phones have yet to be finalized. The DM010SH is scheduled to hit Japan in October. The other version is going to be available in Japan markets by December. Unfortunately, for all of you Disney fanatics outside of Japan, you’re going to have to buy unlocked because no additional plans have been announced for markets outside of Japan.

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