Upcoming Kindle Fire update to include performance and UI improvements

Amazon is working on an update for the Kindle Fire and plans on releasing it in roughly two weeks. This new update will come almost 4 weeks after the recently released 6.2 update. The news of the upcoming update was made by Drew Herdener, an Amazon Spokesman, while speaking to the New York Times.
The update will include improvements in performance, multi-touch navigation, Amazon’s Silk browser, and allow users to edit the list of recently used items on the Kindle Fire. Many users have been complaining the lack of privacy on the Kindle Fire. Every last app you open, book you read, music you list to, and website you visit is clearly visible in the list of items that appear on the home screen.
Source: New York Times

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HTC Sense 3.0 update to hit older phones

The HTC Sense user interface experience is something that is better for you to experience for yourself, than to rely on wordsmiths conjuring up adjectives while singing its praises and merits. After all, with Android being an open platform, it makes perfect sense for phone manufacturers to tweak the operating system with their own take in terms of interactivity – Samsung has their TouchWiz UI, so why not HTC with their vaunted Sense? It seems that HTC’s Sense 3.0 update is being prepared for a port over to older HTC handsets, the HTC Desire S and HTC Desire HD in particular, letting you enjoy an enhanced unlock display, newer widgets, and the ability to access settings control directly from the notification bar among others.
At the moment, only unlocked HTC handsets in the UK will be on the receiving end of this update, although we would not be too far off the mark to say that HTC is working to deliver HTC Sense 3.0 to branded handsets across the rest of Europe and in the US in due time.

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10 Billion Apps promo, day 6: BackStab HD, Captain America, and SimCity Deluxe for 10¢

Google’s 10 Bilion Apps celebration rolls on to its sixth day, with another crop of 10¢ apps dominated by popular gaming titles. As the Android Market passed an astonishing 10 billion total app downloads, Google has partnered with the top developers in the Android world to price their apps at an impulse-buying 10 cents/pence, with ten featured apps every day until this coming Wednesday. Today’s highlights include BackStab HD, Captain America, and SimCity Deluxe.

Here’s the full list of new discounted apps: NFL 3D Live Wallpaper, SimCity Deluxe, Just Me and My Mom (an interactive kids’ book based on the popular “Little Critter” series), BackStab HD, Jenga, Raging Thunder, Backbreaker Football, and Captain America. Endomondo and Great Little War Game were both featured on previous days. Check them all out by going to the Android Market home page on your device, or click here for the web version. Yesterday’s discounted apps are still available, but not for long – hurry up if you want them!
As Google demonstrated, games make up the largest portion of Android Market’s downloaded apps, so it’s understandable why they’re focusing on the segment for these discounts. If you try to download today’s apps right away you may run into problems due to a massive demand on Google’s servers, but they’ll likely help you out… perhaps even giving you the apps for free. If you’d rather not deal with the hassle, just wait until this evening (tomorrow morning for Europe) and you can probably get them with no trouble.

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ASUS confirms Transformer Prime will be available on launch day

Yesterday some rumors started floating around that the ASUS Transformer Prime had been delayed after weeks of pre-orders selling out. Apparently someone from Phandroid received word that an online retailer was canceling orders due to hardware and WiFi problems and the Prime would be delayed until next year and after the holiday season. We are happy to report this is not the case.

Today we’ve reached out to ASUS for an official statement and are happy to report they will be on sale come launch day, December 19th nationwide.
Here’s what ASUS had to say:

We are trying to confirm who released this statement and for what purpose right now. At this point, we still show to be on schedule to start shipments the week of 12/19. I will provide an update once I have additional information.”

From what we are hearing and from the statement provided by ASUS everything is on track and still scheduled for a full launch as expected. Obviously they are still tracking down where and why NCIX reported such a problem. If there were indeed an issue I’m sure we’d have heard of it especially with more online retailers expecting availability on the 12th and a full launch on December 19th.
As it stands right now all systems are a go and the Prime will be here just in time for everyone to finish their holiday shopping. We will be sure to update with any additional information.

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Old Android Market missing out on 10 cent deals, get the new market here

In case you haven’t noticed, Google is running a promotion giving out some of the most popular apps from the Android Market up for just $0.10¢ each to celebrate hitting 10 billion downloads from the Market. This has been a huge hit with Android fans but yesterday I realized if you have an older Android Market on your device, you could be missing out on all these deals.

Looking at the photo above the new market (right) front and center it shows the 10¢ apps and once you tap you see all 10 of today’s premium apps. If you’re running the old Android Market (left) like many from T-Mobile including my very own myTouch 4G Slide or other phones that for some reason still have yet to receive the latest Android Market you are missing out on all these deals. There are probably hundreds of thousands of users with old markets spread across all the Android devices.
My completely stock myTouch 4G Slide will NOT update to the new Android Market on its own and a quick Google search shows I’m not alone. If you happen to know what apps are being offered today for 10¢ you can find them, but you have no notification up top or any way of seeing them all in one neat place like the new Market. My friend kept asking what promotion I was talking about til I realized he wasn’t seeing them on his outdated Samsung Vibrant.
If you have the old Android Market the only way to see exactly what apps are on sale is the web market by clicking here. Don’t you worry though because we have you covered. Download the latest Android Market below and enjoy everything it has to offer (including Google Music) as well as these amazingly awesome 10 billion app deals.
Android Market v3.3.11 (new) — Download
Download that on your phone and install right over the old market and you’re good to go — Enjoy!

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10 Billion Apps promo, day 5: The Sims, Age of Zombies, and SlideIt Keyboard for 10¢

Google’s celebration of 10 Billion Android Market downloads marches on, and just like the last four days. there’s plenty of vastly reduced premium apps on offer. Google’s chosen some of the most loved apps on the Market and droped them to a ridiculous 10 cents/pence price. Today’s highlights, spotted early by the keen-eyed folks over at Reddit, include The Sims 3, quirky shooter Age of Zombies and SlideIt Keyboard, AKA “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Swype.”

The full list is as follows: Apparatus, The Sims 3, SlideIt Keyboard, Snowfall Live Wallpaper, Asphalt 6: Adrenaline HD, Season Zen HD (live wallpaper), Pano (panoramic camera), Drop7, Age of Zombies and Kids Connect the Dots. As usual the banner on the Android Market home screen isn’t up yet, so just use the links above as needed. Yesterday’s deals are still in effect at the time of writing, but they won’t last long!
The flurry of amazing price reductions has put a serious strain on Google’s payment servers, and a lot of Android users are experiencing problems getting their apps to register to their accounts. Luckily Google is feeling generous, and if you can’t purchase the apps right away, the company might just give them to you. If you’d rather avoid the whole mess, wait until the evening to download your new apps – it’s worked for me so far. While you’re waiting, be sure to check out Google’s graphical breakdown of its app achievement.

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Google vulnerability reward program could really tighten up security for Android

I’ve known about Chrome’s vulnerability reward program for quite some time, but never considered moving the design over to Android. Reddit user CunningLogic suggests it would give developers a monetary reward for their handwork while making Android more secure in the long run. Sounds good to me. Just like development within Chrome, the developers hard at work within Android have been extremely good at pointing out OS security flaws; with a form of payment, devs will get that extra incentive/motivation to tighten up loose ends and help make Android OS better.

It is known that compared to other mobile operating systems, Android is by far one of the most vulnerable. Carriers have even gone as far as offering protection applications (such as LookOut) for free in the Android Market to make sure their customers don’t have a bad experience on their network. It’s an obvious issue, and knowing your device is secure means the world to many.
With the recently found Carrier IQ security vulnerabilities, it would be a great time to implement such a program. If developers have been preparing security patches and modifications for their love of Android, imagine how hard they’d work for a bit of cash too. And Chrome’s base reward is $500.00 – but if the bug appears to be “severe or interesting”, the value can rank up to $3133.70! Implement that in Android and you’ll add an entirely new team of energized developers!
[via Reddit: CunningLogic]

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Android Facebook is getting much needed update

Well a few days ago Facebook released a much needed update for Android users the app brings a whole new UI, and is said to be much faster and easier to use. Now the Photos and albums will be up to two times faster than the previous Android app. It's said to be easier to share photos, view comments and edit captions on the go.Also you can quickly access your News Feed, Groups, games and apps from the new left-hand menu. The features you use most are now at your fingertips.Facebook for Android is available on Android Market. I am excited about the new app and have been using it since it's release on my Dell Streak 7 , and I hope you check it out.

1. What's in this version:
2. Navigate anywhere, fast: Get to your groups, apps, pages, and settings with a single press
3. Search and you will discover: Look through friends, subscribers, apps, and pages
4. See your friends tags on pictures and zoom: New photo viewing experience
5. Faster notifications: Get alerted in real time with new push notifications
6. Games & Apps: Play games and access your favorite apps on the go
7. Access to mobile timeline (If you already have a timeline)
8. Access to friend lists and subscriptions

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Galaxy Nexus delayed because of Google Wallet conflict

After Verizon Wireless partnered with ISIS to support their future NFC payment service, there was skepticism whether or not this was indeed the reason Google Wallet was to be unsupported on the Galaxy Nexus. It turns out this little feature may be the cause for the seemingly infinite delays, and until Verizon and Google sort it out – we may not see the Nexus on shelves. A source over at Phandroid mentioned the new target date for the Galaxy Nexus will be December 15th, but don’t get excited quite yet.

The misunderstanding between Google Wallet needs to be mended soon, because many loyal Google Nexus fans are quietly rioting throughout the net. No, this is in no way destructive. But they all have one thing in common – they aren’t pointing the finger at Google, Verizon is taking all the heat. Considering an unlocked version is already available in Canada or internationally, Nexus fans can easily jump carriers if they’re due for an upgrade.
Verizon should at least show some courtesy and announce their future plans of the Galaxy Nexus, not to just keep subscribers from changing carriers, but to let us know what the hold up is. I’m sure many would be more than understanding from the delays if there was a legitimate reason to postpone the device. It would only suit them to reach out to the public at this point.
[via Phandroid]

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