DROID Bionic CyanogenMod 7 dual boot [Video]

Right after it was released and well over a month ago we got our first look at CM7 on the DROID Bionic, but today we have another video to tease all of you Bionic owners with. This shows it actually dual booting into CM7, and I want it already. Apparently the developer hashcode was able to get CM7 booting on the DROID3 and the same little trick is working just great for the new DROID Bionic, check out the video below.


Now what we have here is the DROID Bionic booting the the regular old Blur infused Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but after some tweaks and trickery is dual-booted into CyanogenMod 7, something many owners are patiently waiting to get on their own devices. Obviously this is new and still very much a work in progress but eventually we should see more coming from this project.
For now it’s still in early beta stages, but the developer does provide a few details and information for those daring enough to take the journey themselves and give it a try. This is pretty involved and you should be careful with anything of this sort, obviously. Just a few days ago the source code for the Bionic was released so hopefully that will help things out where it can. Now for the video –
Bionic dual boot CM7




All of the information and details to see how this works and try it for yourself can be found over at RootzWiki. — Thanks Steve!

Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Note source code released

Samsung is at it again, dropping the kernel source code for more devices and today they’ve added the Galaxy Note to the list. This awesome device announced back at IFA is a 5.3″ Super AMOLED packing smartphone — or tablet, or whatever you want to call it. While not yet available in the U.S. and may never will be, Samsung has already released the source code for said device.

The phone truly is a beast, in size and specs and we were able to get our share of hands-on time with the device. The 5.3″ slate is closer to a tablet than a phone and is aimed for note takers and users on the go. With a build in stylus it has full stylus support for note taking, doodling pictures and more. Powered by a 1.4 GHz dual-core processor and rocking an impressive Super AMOLED HD display at 1280 x 800 all on a 5.3″ screen this slate really is quite large.
Galaxy Note hands-on


For now the device is currently set to only be available at a few locations overseas and in the UK but there are still plenty of developers and modders that have been patiently waiting for the dirty source codes. Today Samsung has released the full source code so now developers and tinkerers alike can dig in and see what they find and start tweaking things as they see fit. Samsung is expecting the development community to really help make the larger than life Galaxy Note successful by building some awesome applications for it and its stylus. We’ll see as time goes on whether or not it comes to the US, I’m still hopeful.
To download the Galaxy Note source code just click here.

Read more »

Coby Kyros 10″ Android tablet clears the FCC

The popular manufacturer that has recently took interest in Android lately, Coby, has another tablet in the works and it has just cleared the FCC. Being called the Coby Kyros MID1125 this 10″ Android 2.3 Gingerbread tablet looks pretty sleek for the price we expect it to be, and apparently should be hitting stores soon.

Coby currently has a few lower end tablets already on the market but with outdated software. While we don’t have Honeycomb on this latest offering it will be a great all around tablet and be priced around $200. Their other devices can be found at places like Amazon, or local stores such as K-Mart and Target. The new Kyros MID1125 seen above features a 10.1″ 1024 x 600 resolution display, 1.0 GHz single-core processor, 4GB memory, stereo speakers and even HDMI-out. We also spot a mini-USB port and a few other goodies on board.

We have a dedicated home button since this is Gingerbread and all, but that is about it around front — well that and what appears to be a front facing camera. With a very small bezel around then entire frame the device wont be very large and should be quite portable, it looks to feature some sort of aluminum design on the front and rear that should keep things durable. We are still digging through the documents to find out more specs but for now what you see is what you get. A decent mid-range tablet for around $200 running on Gingerbread.
[via Wireless Goodness]

Read more »

ASUS officially confirms ICS coming to the Transformer

Okay, so I know this isn’t really anything new because we’ve all been hinting at this well before ICS was officially announced, but today ASUS has officially told everyone over on Twitter that the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer will be getting Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich soon. We heard a few rumors yesterday, but they themselves have confirmed the good news today.

If you’ve been following @ASUS you’ve probably seen a few awesome tweets from them lately, including the recently released Transformer 2 teaser video. Apparently ASUS will now be calling it the Transformer Prime (genius huh?) and it will be coming with ICS and a Kal-El quad-core processor from NVIDIA in the form of the Tegra 3.
We’ve heard rumors that ASUS was working closely with Google to be the first tablet with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and while we still aren’t sure what tablet will launch with it first, most likely it will be the Transformer 2 shown off on stage last night, and that will be formally announced on November 9th. Most likely Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich will be arriving on a few tablets like the original Transformer, Xoom, and others once the code is released. We’ll be hearing plenty more on ICS tablets in the coming days and weeks so get ready.

Read more »

Verizon 4G LTE active on 22 new markets today, 17 more next month

In case you missed the announcement last month, Verizon is activating another 22 markets today with those ever so capable 4G LTE speeds. Many of the recently announced locations have already seen the 4G speeds hit devices but they are all officially getting the green light starting today, so start your engines — or smartphones.

With over 26 new markets last month and now another 17 today Verizon is well on their way to having the entire US covered in 4G LTE soon. Compare that to the what — 5 markets AT&T has rolled out thus far. Lets just say they have their work cut out for them. It seems like every other week Verizon is announcing another 15-25 markets, I’m not complaining either, just saying.

Soon I might have to get a new map when that entire thing is covered in red. Here is a list of some of the more notable locations set to get 4G LTE starting today:
-Birmingham, Ala.
-Modesto and Stockton, Calif.
-Fort Myers, Fla.
-Bloomington, Elkhart, Evansville, South Bend and Terre Haute, Ind.
-Sioux City, Iowa
-Hagerstown, Md.
-Tupelo, Miss.
-Albuquerque and Santa Fe, N.M.
-Buffalo, N.Y.
-Asheville, N.C.
-Bartlesville, Okla.
-Jackson and Martin, Tenn.
-Greater Hampton Roads and Richmond, Va.
-Green Bay, Wis.
Verizon knows they have a fast network, and that no one will be catching up to the size anytime soon. For those that would like a decent laugh this afternoon Verizon has provided us with not one, but five awesome new short video clips showing off their 4G LTE. Calling these the five “instant results” commercials. Below you’ll find my favorite as an added bonus.
Verizon 4G LTE: Instant Results

Read more »

Motorola Admiral coming October 23rd with QWERTY keyboard and all

The Motorola Admiral is finally official today, coming to the now network with that special push-to-talk feature, but no 4G WiMAX sadly. This awesome little phone should make plenty of users happy, and people love hardware qwerty keyboards still — right Blackberry? We’ve seen this mid-range device leak a few times in the recent past but now its official and will be coming to market October 23rd, then will hit stores on the yellow carrier starting November 13th. More specs and details after the break.

It’s actually a pretty powerful mid-range phone coming in with a great price. The Admiral features a 3.1″ display and a 1.2 GHz single-core processor, a 5 megapixel camera on the back and the entire device has been labeled as “military spec tough” and has a military 810G spec approval. Basically it can handle the task at hand, and come back in one piece.
The Admiral is the first smartphone to work with Direct Connect, which the company calls the gold standard for push-to-talk capabilities, something many military members and construction employees still use daily. The 810G military spec standard means it can handle dust, water, vibrations, extreme heat and a few other special things most smartphones can’t handle. It appears Motorola is taking a new aim and offering exceptionally strong and durable smartphones in the future. The Motorola Admiral might not be as sleek or thin as the new DROID RAZR, but it should get the job done just fine for those in need.
Come October 23rd you can pre-order your own and start push-to-talking as soon as it arrives.
)

Read more »

HTC Amaze 4G Gets permanent One-Click Root

T-Mobile and HTC’s new flagship phone the HTC Amaze 4G has already been fully rooted thanks to those sneaky developers at XDA. Not only that but it’s as simple as can be using an easy one-click-root method, nothing difficult here. Until today they only had a temp root method that didn’t last but now we have a full permanent root method for you to give a try below.

Do take note that your bootloader must be unlocked or the method below will just be another temp-root. You need a fully unlocked bootloader to achieve permanent root. While the Amaze 4G isn’t listed yet at the HTCdev.com/bootloader site for unlocking via the new method, it will still work and you can head there to officially unlock your device, then head back to XDA and get your root on.
As usual, remember that this will void your warranty and we hold no responsibility for your actions. The process is simple and all you need is the HTC drivers and the root method and you’re good to go.

Instructions:
-Download HTC USB drivers here
-Download one-click root here
-Download files above
-Extract to C:\
-Navigate into Zerg rush folder
-Click ZergRushTempRoot.bat
-Wait like 3 min
-Reboot
-Enjoy PermRooted Amaze 4G
One and done, it’s as easy as that. Just unzip the files and run the root program and you now have complete freeeedom. Go get rooted, wait for those recovery tools to start flooding in, and your custom roms are just hours away. Enjoy!

Read more »

Motorola Xoom 32GB refurb only $339 from Amazon [Deal]

In case you’ve never been to woot.com I highly suggest you check it out. They were recently snatched up by the big box online retailer Amazon and today they are both working to bring this awesome deal to the table. The Wi-Fi only Motorola Xoom 32GB can be yours for just $339 from Amazon, but they are refurbished units.

Listed as the Amazon Gold Box deal of the day you can snag one up now but they are going fast. The Xoom is running on Android 3.2 Honeycomb, will ship for free, and most likely be among the first to receive Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich so it’s worth a shot right? Being the first Honeycomb tablet it may not be the thinnest, lightest, or the prettiest but it’s still a great tablet and now at an awesome price.
The deal wont last forever so if you are debating it I recommend you hurry and decide. It’s not actually coming from Amazon so the buy now button isn’t present. Just click that “1 refurbished from” box and you can buy as many as you can right from the popular woot.com we mentioned above. The last time we saw the Xoom at Woot it was $350 so things are starting to drop in price finally. Now head down to Amazon and pick one up by clicking here.

Read more »

Vizio 8 owners get three free months of Hulu Plus via software update

Vizio’s 8-inch tablet is a bit of a tough sell in a sea of similar competitors, despite its relatively low retail price of $299. But today it’s a little more attractive: a new software update is rolling out that includes three free months of access to Hulu’s premium streaming app, Hulu Plus. That’s in addition to a free month of Netflix, making the Vizio tablet a suddenly attractive alternative for video-hungry Android users.

The 8-inch tablet is a solid piece of tech, but it’s got more than one thing going against it. First, for a little more dough you could get an Asus Transformer or Acer Iconia Tab, both of which run Honeycomb instead of the Vizio’s skinned Gingerbread. And Honeycomb tablets have access to Google apps and the Android Market, which the Vizio tablet sorely lacks. The Vizio tablet still gets access to a wide collection of included apps like the Nook bookstore and any side-loaded apps that users can fit on its 4GB internal storage.
The addition of some free video streaming makes the Vizio tablet about $40-50 higher in a value proposition, assuming that you intend to use the Hulu Plus and Netflix apps. You’ll need to sign up for an account with both services, including a credit card number, before getting access to the trial period. Once the trial is over you’ll be automatically renewed, assuming you don’t cancel your subscriptions. So what do you think – does some free video streaming service change your opinion on Vizio’s Wifi tablet?

Read more »