Android Market apologizes for downtime: Free Apps

You may not have experienced it, but the Android Market (and even Google Wallet) had been down intermittently just yesterday and part of today. Apparently, Google’s answer to solving many of the accidental cancellations was to simply offer “free access to all the apps you attempted to purchase” during their 10 Billion Downloads promotion. The Android Market has been celebrating with 10 cent app sales, and the titles were so hot that they had caused issues during checkout.

Fortunately, a fellow over at Reddit posted a screenshot of a no-reply email from Google with instructions on how to obtain your “lost” app. it turns out that the application is located in your “My Apps” section of the Android Market and labeled as either “Purchased” or “Not Installed”.
If you would like to avoid your chances at an Android Market problem, Google suggests that the most popular time people download applications is 9PM on Sunday – so I’d try to avoid this timeframe. Also, keep your eyes peeled for the $0.10 promotional deals if you haven’t already! Day 1 had titles like Asphalt 6 and Sketchbook Mobile. Day 2 consisted of Fruit Ninja, Beautiful Widgets and a few others. Day 3 saw ADW, Tetris and Homerun Battle – and today you can nab Need For Speed, Jelly Defense, and Farm Frenzy! Of course we’ll keep you up to date daily – so you can always check back with us if you can’t find them on your own!
[via Reddit]

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U.S. Cellular upgrades the original Samsung Galaxy Tab to Gingerbread

Still got your original Samsung Galaxy Tab from U.S. Cellular? Then today is a good day. Assuming that you’re still running the stock firmware, you can download an update to Android 2.3 Gingerbread from Samsung’s site and install it at your leisure. Better late than never, right?

Though Gingerbread won’t bring the full tablet interface seen on the Galaxy Tab’s younger descendants, there are definitely plenty of reasons to upgrade. Better resource optimization, an updated and generally smoother UI and better support for various apps should be reason enough for you to download. You’ll need a PC to initiate the upgrade; unfortunately, it can’t be done over the air or by simply jumping in to your recovery.
We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that the Galaxy Tab has seen far more support in the dev/mod community than it has from Samsung or any of its carriers. The Gingerbread-based CyanogenMod 7 is a solid choice for a custom ROM with great reliability and support. It even includes tablet features in the latest version, like a lower-screen status bar. If you’re the adventurous type, you can try an early version of Ice Cream Sandwich and make all your buddies rocking the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus jealous.

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Coby shows off a quintet of Ice Cream Sandwich tablets for 2012

Not one to be left out in the cold, budget manufacturer Coby has announced no less than five new Android tablet,s all of them running Ice Cream Sandwich. The devices will cover the gamut as far as screen sizes for tablets go, with 7, 8, 9, 9.7 and 10inch varieties. There’s no specific launch date available, but Coby says that the tablets will be on hand at CES in January.

All five of the tablets will feature 1Ghz Cortex 8 processors and a full gigabyte of RAM, which should be enough to run Ice Cream Sandwich, even if it doesn’t exactly zoom. Naturally they’re WiFi only, but they’ll be equipped with HDMI ports and up to 32GB of storage – not bad. There’s no mention of the Android Market or Google apps, so they may not be included. We’ll see soon enough.
The variety of screens doesn’t stop as sizes. Coby notes that the capacitive screens on the MID8042 and MID 9742 use a 4:3 aspect ratio like the iPad and HP Touchpad, while the MID7042, MID9042 and MID1042 weren’t specified, which probably means either 16:9 or 16:10. There’s no word on price, but given Coby’s position in the market, you can expect them to be competitive; whether you’d want the tablets over more expensive alternatives is yet to be seen.

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Verizon reseller says the Galaxy Nexus releases December 15th

Once more, with feeling. After Verizon apparently cancelled the December 9th launch of the highly-anticipated Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the rumor mill is buzzing with December 15th as the popular date for the latest non-delay delay. After some independent investigating from Android Community, this appears to be the case. This is not a confirmation, but a second-party Verizon reseller said that the phone would be released next Thursday. We’ve also heard December 15th from another source, who wishes to remain anonymous.

This morning we called up Verizon’s customer support looking to order the Galaxy Nexus, on the off chance that the rumors surrounding its continued delay were greatly exaggerated. While we couldn’t order the phone itself, the Verizon representative said that it had indeed been scheduled for release today, but that the date had been changed at the last minute. The representative did not have a new date available to her, or would not give it.
We then called a second-party retailer, which has its own chain of stores but also sells Verizon devices and service. The store had Verizon’s LTE version of the Galaxy Nexus in stock, but couldn’t sell it due to restrictions from Verizon. When we pressed for a release date, the manager kindly called Verizon on our behalf. The manager responded that Verizon would authorize them to sell the Galaxy Nexus at the opening of business on Thursday, December 15th.
Once again, we stress that this is not a solid, confirmed date – it’s information acquired second-hand from someone who’d like to sell the Galaxy Nexus just as much as you’d like to buy it. But this new date jives the reports from other sites and we’ve now heard it from multiple sources, so it’s the best we can hope for at the moment. There’s nothing keeping Verizon from bumping its internal date back once again, if indeed Thursday is the day that the phone is scheduled to go one sale.

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HP going open source with WebOS

This isn’t technically an Android story, but we know there’s lots of Palm Pre and HP Touchpad users out there in the reading audience. After months of indecision over the future of WebOS, HP has decided to release open source code for the operating system, allowing anyone from hobbyists to manufacturers to create versions of WebOS for different devices. There won’t be any more hardware from HP featuring WebOS, at least not in the immediate future.

WebOS started as a new operating system, built from the ground up by Palm to compete with the iPhone. When the first two generations of the Palm Pre failed to impress and its former PalmOS and Windows Mobile Treo phones kept losing ground in the market, PC manufacturer HP bought the company in April 2010 and moved its employees to their largely stagnant mobile division. The company released a low-end WebOS phone, the Veer, and the HP Touchpad tablet. Neither managed to gain a foothold in the market, and HP decided to discontinue production on both devices, and completely shelved its plan for the Pre 3. The announcement came less than two months after the Touchpad was released.
That’s where things started to get interesting. Once HP had decided to kill the Touchpad, they liquidated remaining stock in a firesale, pricing the $500 16GB version at just $100. They sold hundreds of thousands of tablets overnight. Immediately Android developers set to work on a version of Android Gingerbread for the 10-inch tablet, spurred on by renewed interest and a few small monetary prizes raised for the purpose. The CyanogenMod team was the one to finally release a stable, reliable version of Android for the Touchpad, which is still being updated. A version of the recently open-sourced Android Ice Cream Sandwich is already in the works.
So what does this mean for Android users? Soon you may have yet another choice for your device’s operating system, if there’s a developer willing to modify WebOS’ open source code to run on your hardware. If you’re skilled in that area you’ll be able to try yourself. You can expect versions of WebOS for the most popular devices, like the Galaxy S II and the various Nexus phones, and at least a few tablet versions should be available as well. Whether or not it’s something you’d want to use depends on your personal taste and the skill of the developers. I hope that some of WebOS’ more unique features, like the card multitasking system and edge gestures. HP said that it will continue to add to the project.
On a personal note, I’d like to say goodbye to Palm, Inc. Now that HP is basically throwing the last Palm project to the wind, it’s truly the end of an era for a company that helped define mobile computing for decades. So long, Palm – it was great while it lasted.

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Google updates Androidify with the Holiday spirit

It is that time of year where the Holiday spirit and cheer starts to come out full steam. Google isn’t wasting any time and today have updated their highly popular avatar creating Androidify application. Boys and girls it’s time to redo your good looks and Androidify yourself with a nice holiday twist.

This awesome app that lets you turn yourself into a fancy Android robot has been around for some time so we all should know plenty about it. If you don’t then here is our hands-on from the Google Androidify booth. Once you create that awesome Androidify character feel free to check out BobbleDroids and make your creation a reality with a hand-made BobbleDroid.
The new holiday update gives Androidify all sorts of new looks. We get santa hats, Rudolph red noses, make yourself a reindeer or even chime in the new year with custom shirts and more. I’ve been a big fan of Androidify since it was first released because it lets all us nerds (android fans) have a little fun with the Android robot. They also make excellent avatars for Twitter or Google+ if you haven’t done that already. Get it while it’s hot and have some fun!
Androidify Market Link
[via Google Blog]

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Long-lost HTC Merge appears in Verizon holiday ad

Well there’s something we didn’t expect to see. You might remember the HTC Merge from early this year, when it was announced in February and briefly stopped by the FCC with Verizon bands. While a few regional carriers picked up the QWERTY phone, its debut on Big Red has been long delayed -until now. The folks at AllTechEverything spotted the phone at the bottom of a Verizon Christmas tree in a recent ad, alongside the Samsung DROID CHARGE and the LG Revolution.

This isn’t a confirmation by any means – it could simply be a mistake on the part of the advertising team. In any case the Merge is quite outdated at this point, as it’s essentially a slightly updated version of the G2 with a Sense suite. Just to refresh your memory, the Merge comes with an 800Mhz processor, a 3.8-inch 840 x 480 LCD screen and Android 2.2 Froyo. Assuming the Verizon release is imminent, it might be upgraded to Gingerbread and it might not; AT&T released the brand new Samsung DoubleTime running 2.2, after all.
The phone in the ad is yours for $49.99, and comes with two free Merges to boot. That’s an impressive deal for families, if you can actually find somewhere to redeem it – the ad in question was found in North Carolina. It might be worth considering if you live in a non-LTE area and don’t feel like upgrading to the similar Samsung Stratosphere for $50 more. But once the Motorola DROID 4 is released, probably some time between now and Christmas, it’ll be hard to reccomend any other QWERTY phone on Verizon’s lineup.
[via Android Central]

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Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime vs Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition

We take a look at the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime to see how it stacks up against Motorola’s new Xoom 2 Media Edition.

Form
Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime - 263x180.8x8.3mm, 586g
Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition - 216x139x9mm, 386g
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime is one good-looking device. The chassis is made from spun aluminium, giving it an interesting texture and the build quality is second to none.
Other elements which are pleasing to the eye include the nicely sized and spaced bezel around the screen, elegantly shaped corners and a svelte 8.3mm thin profile.
Overall it’s very minimalist in style which goes well with the futuristic-looking metallic finish. The attachable keyboard dock is as thin as the main tablet and equally stylish.
Motorola’s new generation of Xoom tablets have had a complete redesign, which is quite striking to behold. Instead of the usual rectangular shape Motorola has echoed the design of its Razr smartphone handset with angular and tapered edges and corners.
Again the bezel space around the screen is a flattering size and aluminium has been used for the construction of the outer shell, though not quite as extensively as on the Asus.
The Xoom 2 Media Edition is extremely light and thin coming in at 386g and 9mm thick – that’s an 8.2-inch tablet which is lighter than many 7-inch tablets.
We think both devices, despite being very different, have fantastic design elements and are very appealing to look at.
However, the Xoom 2 Media Edition is just that bit more eye-catching with some very individual styling.
Winner – Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition

Display
The Xoom 2 Media Edition has an unusually sized display at 8.2-inches – the first of its kind. It’s a TFT capacitive touchscreen with multi-touch and made from toughened Gorilla Glass.
The resolution clocks in at 1280x800 pixels giving a pixel density of 184 pixels-per-inch (ppi).
The Transformer Prime has a larger screen at 10.1-inches and uses a Super IPS + LCD technology, which results in a much brighter display.
It’s a capacitive multi-touch screen, again made from reinforced Gorilla Glass, with the same 1280x800 pixel resolution at a lower pixel density than its rival at 149ppi.
The Motorola’s display may be smaller, though not by much, but it’s got a much sharper picture and higher pixel density making it our choice this round.
Winner - Motorola Xoom 2 Media Edition

Storage
Motorola’s tablet is a little limited on storage space, especially with a name like 'Media Edition.' At 16GB and no card support there's not much to play with here.
So what's a user to do? Simple: use Motorola’s MOTOBLUR cloud service to stream content directly from your home computer, which supposedly works even if you’re miles away (we're talking a different country here), to the slate.
We understand the logic: everyone needs to flock to the cloud. But what if you're not bothered about the cloud? Surely it'd be better to give consumers the best of both worlds, like Apple does with its iPad and iCloud?
Apart from the internal storage, the Xoom 2 Media Edition is also packing 1GB of RAM to assist the processor in its duties.
Asus’ Transformer Prime is much more handsomely equipped on internal storage with options for 32GB or 64GB onboard. It also has 1GB of RAM like its opponent but unlike the Motorola it has a card slot with support for microSD up to 32GB.
We have to side with Asus on this one.
Winner - Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime


Processor Both devices use ARM Cortex-A9 processors but they’re getting very different results thanks to distinctly varying configurations.
Motorola’s Media Edition Xoom 2 is equipped with a dual core processor clocked at 1.2GHz running NVidia’s Tegra 2 T20 ‘Turbo’ chipset and ULP GeForce graphics processing unit (GPU).
With the Transformer Prime, Asus has ramped things up a bit, it’s still using NVidia technology but this time it’s the new Tegra 3 ‘Kal El’ chipset, which means a quad core processor clocked slightly faster at 1.3GHz.
The GPU is the same as the one found in the Xoom 2 Media Edition.
The end result is that both are very slick customers and can run whatever you throw at them with a good degree of finesse.
However, having seen the Transformer Prime and Xoom 2 running side-by-side we have to say the Transformer Prime really is on a completely different level.
It is just so quick delivering silky smooth performance for multi-tasking, viewing media, gaming and navigating the Android interface.
The Xoom 2 Media Edition is no slow coach but the lightning fast Transformer Prime leaves it standing. In fact we’d go so far as to say the Transformer Prime is easily the best performing Android tablet to date.
Winner – Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

Operating System
These are both Android tablets and each ships with Honeycomb 3.2 – the most up-to-date version of the tablet-specific build.
The Asus Transformer Prime will be receiving the Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) 4.0 update in early 2012, which should add plenty of new functionality and features.
It’s currently unknown whether Motorola’s Xoom 2 Media Edition will get the same treatment but with a launch so close to the release of ICS we’d be pretty surprised if Motorola hadn’t planned ahead.
With both tablets using the same operating system there’s nothing to distinguish between them here.
Winner - Draw

Camera
Motorola’s Xoom 2 Media Edition has a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera, just like its larger cousin, at a resolution of 2592х1944 pixels with 720p quality video recording.
Features include LED flash, autofocus, digital zoom and geo-tagging, along with a 1.3-metapixel secondary camera.
It’s actually a very nice camera for mid-range shots but gets a bit fuzzy when you zoom in with the digital zoom.
The Transformer Prime’s main camera is rated at 8-megapixels and a resolution of 3264x2448 pixels. Video capture is 1080p and the Asus features an LED flash, touch focus, autofocus, geo-tagging and a 1.2-megapixel secondary camera.
The Xoom 2 Media Edition makes a good go of things but the Asus Transformer Prime wins out here.
Winner – Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime

Final Thoughts
The Xoom 2 Media Edition is a decent offering and if you want to keep your music, films and other data on a PC to access remotely you’ve got a very slick, purpose-built device with Motorola’s 8.2-inch tablet.
However, in terms of both overall performance, versatility and longevity the Asus Transformer Prime really does come out miles ahead of the Motorola and indeed much of the competition.

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Confirmed: DROID Xyboard Tablets Will Be in Stores December 12th; Already Available Online

Verizon’s confirmed what we’ve all been hearing regarding the DROID Xyboard’s release date. As we saw yesterday, they became available for purchase online. Usually when Verizon does an online only release, an in-store launch follows just three days later. In a press release today, they have confirmed that the device will indeed be available for purchasein stores on December 12th, just as rumors have said.

While Verizon refers to the DROID Xyboard as if it’s just one tablet, there are actually several different configurations to choose from in both size and storage. You can get 8.2 inch models with either 16GB or 32GB of data, while 10.1 inch models will be available with 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of storage, bringing the total amount of configurations to five.

• The DROID XYBOARD 10.1 will be available in three models: 16 GB for $529.99 and 32 GB for $629.99. The 64 GB model will be available online for $729.99. All three with a new two-year customer agreement.
• The DROID XYBOARD 8.2 will be available in two models: 16 GB for $429.99 and 32 GB for $529.99, both with a new two-year customer agreement.

All models are equipped with Verizon’s 4G LTE radios alongside some other common specs. We’re looking at a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, Android 3.2 (Android 4.0 coming later) and more. Read on for more details and consider purchasing one online if you can’t wait until Monday to check one out in stores.

DROID XYBOARD Tablets Available Today from Verizon Wireless

12/09/2011

The DROID XYBOARD 10.1 and DROID XYBOARD 8.2 by Motorola are available online starting today at www.verizonwireless.com. Both tablets will be in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores on Monday, Dec. 12. For a limited time only, customers can take advantage of a special promotion and receive $100 off a DROID XYBOARD tablet with the purchase of a DROID RAZR™ by Motorola with a new two-year customer agreement.

Lighter than a paperback book and thinner than an AAA battery, the DROID XYBOARD tablets feature Android™ 3.2 Honeycomb, the blazing speeds of Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE network, enterprise-grade security and the power of dual-core 1.2 GHz processors. Both tablets will be upgraded to Android™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Plus, they are equipped with MotoCast™ for remote access to non DRM-protected music, pictures, videos and documents stored on work or home computers’ hard drives. DROID XYBOARD 10.1 and 8.2 customers can soar through the Web at blazing download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps within 4G LTE Mobile Broadband coverage areas.
Pricing:

• The DROID XYBOARD 10.1 will be available in three models: 16 GB for $529.99 and 32 GB for $629.99. The 64 GB model will be available online for $729.99. All three with a new two-year customer agreement.
• The DROID XYBOARD 8.2 will be available in two models: 16 GB for $429.99 and 32 GB for $529.99, both with a new two-year customer agreement.
• Customers that purchase a DROID XYBOARD tablet will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Mobile Broadband data plan starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.

Customers can visit www.droiddoes.com/xyboard for information about the DROID XYBOARD tablets by Motorola. For more information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go towww.verizonwireless.com.

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