Xiaomi’s MI-One Ice Cream Sandwich build shown on video

If you’re a fan of the MIUI family of custom ROMs, you’re almost certainly aware of Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi’s MI-One, the phone that comes with MIUI pre-installed. Keeping their title as the most mod-friendly manufacturer in the eastern hemisphere, the company is hard at work integrating the Ice Cream Sandwich version of MIUI into its flagship phone. The company showed off a video of their progress on YouTube – see below.

MIUI version 4 is the first update with Ice Cream Sandwich at the core. But like previous versions of the custom ROM, it’s integrating a home-built user interface that combines elements from Android, iOS, WebOS and just plain beautiful design. It’s not for everyone, but MIUI has gained quite a following in the Android community, and interest has only grown since it became the only aftermarket ROM to feature in a commercial phone release.
Check out the progress below. At the moment it looks exactly like stock ICS, probably running on a kernel that’s only been slightly modified:




MIUI is still a ways out from delivering an ICS-based ROM that’s ready for prime time, but considering its reputation for solid performance and regular updates, I’m sure it’ll be a welcome upgrade for many. Remember that the MIUI ROM is available on a variety of devices – head on over to their official website to check them out.

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Monopoly by EA finally in Android Market — tablet support not included

Yes! I get Boardwalk, Park Place, Waterworks, and all the railroads — you can have the rest. EA has finally brought the popular game we should all still love to the Android Market — Monopoly. It was originally exclusively available on the EA store and Amazon’s App Store but now it can finally be purchased right in our very own Android Market.

Sadly one of the perfect opportunities to play this game would be while using a tablet but currently they don’t offer tablet support. A major “oops” if you ask me. I can’t see myself playing Monopoly on my phone but rocking that on a 10″ tab while on a plane or camping would be awesome. However, it does offer the same unique board-style gameplay in a full out 3D environment.

Monopoly offers multiplayer support with your friends, as well as playing against the computer. You can customize the rules, number of players and even the environment. It also offers multiple game saves to save your progress during those extra long Monopoly sessions. I know I had more than a few of those when I was younger that took us deep into the morning hours.
Instead of $200 on Android it will only run you $5 after you pass go so head to the market via the link below and enjoy this classic best-selling board game on Android.
Market Link – Monopoly
[via Android Police]
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ASUS Transformer Prime pre-orders available from EXPANSYS

ASUS and their hotly anticipated quad-core tablet the Transformer Prime has been causing a bit of a stir lately. Selling out everywhere before it’s even available and multiple online retailers having to turn away pre-orders. I know many of our readers have been looking for a place to order so today we have some great news — Expansys-USA has opened up pre-orders and you can get one now, but you’d better hurry.

What’s even better is the fact they are also allowing a coupon code making the Prime just $480 for the 32GB version. Just apply the coupon “20OFFLS” at checkout and you’ll have the best deal around — on the best tablet around. The online retailer isn’t listing quantity like the did with the Galaxy Nexus, or a shipping date but at least they’ll throw in free shipping.

A few recent rumors went around that the Prime was being delayed for WiFi issues but we experienced zero issues while enjoying it for a full review. All the details and more are available below from our new Story Timeline. We have heard scattered reports that Canada’s supply might be a bit low and delayed but last we heard from ASUS everything was on track and as planned for the US.
Head down to EXPANSYS if you are still interested in a pre-order before they are all gone.

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Motorola Milestone (DROID) brand new and unlocked for $189

We could call this a good deal right? The original Motorola DROID also known as the Milestone brings back some good ol Android memories for many. This device may be a dying breed with all the 4.0″ screens and dual-core processors these days but if you love some original DROID and a keyboard this is a pretty solid deal and worth a quick shout if you ask me.

This here is a brand new, fully unlocked and contract free Motorola Milestone for only $189. If I saw this deal about 18 months ago I would have lost it and bought three. In today’s high-powered Android smartphone world this is more of a novelty device than anything. I know there are still thousands of users still rocking the OG DROID — and many are probably finally ready for an upgrade and are awaiting that Galaxy Nexus.
This is a bit different than the original DROID from Verizon. The Milestone is the GSM packing European brother to the Verizon edition but is basically identical. So no, you can’t buy this and hope to use it here in the states on Verizon but for all others this is actually a fairly decent deal — I suppose. If a 600 MHz single-core processor, 512MB of RAM, QWERTY keyboard and a Motorola phone absent of their “Blur” UI interests you then this would make a perfect phone. Get in while the deal is still available. Have fun!

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Skype 2.6 for Android announced

There is a new version of Skype for Android – where the version number has been bumped up to hit 2.6, opening up a whole new world of possibilities as you are now able to send photos and videos to friends or family from Skype using your Android-powered device. Not only that, doing so is free, and it does not matter whether you’re hooked up to a Wi-Fi network or on a 3G mobile data plan – it will work fine either way, although those banking on the latter might want to look into some sort of unlimited data plan if you’re going to do so often, as the total number of bytes might add up in the long run.
It is also said that sending videos and photos aren’t the only improvements with Skype 2.6 for Android, as battery life is improved with this version especially for devices running on NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 chipset – where these will include the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Motorola XOOM and Acer Iconia Tablet among others. Not only that, a bunch of other devices that now support video include the HTC Amaze 4G, Motorola DROID 4 and Motorola DROID RAZR, just to keep up with the times. Basically, as long as your device has Android 2.2 Froyo or better, you can always try to give Skype video calling a go.

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Telstra Getting the Galaxy Nexus Tomorrow

Don’t look now, Verizon customers, but Telstra is set to offer their Australian consumers the Galaxy Nexus starting tomorrow. It will be in two of their flagship Melbourne stores as well as available online. Plans will start at $70 with three more options through $130. Be up bright and early to order online or to get to the locations listed at the source link. [Telstra, thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

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22 SMS Toll Fraud Apps Removed From Market

Google’s done some more malware cleaning lately. The latest infection to the market was pegged ReFraud and consisted of 22 apps which consisted of code that would send text messages from your phone to premium SMS services unbeknownst to the user. Of course, these apps are disguised as run-of-the-mill everyday apps such as wallpapers, horoscopes and fraudulent games.
No worries, though, as Lookout has already notified Google and Google has already removed them from the market. Lookout urges users to update their Mobile Security application to get the latest malware and virus definitions to make sure you’re not downloading any of these apps. [Android Guys]

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Snapdragon S4 Liquid MDP Now Running Android Ice Cream Sandwich

The extra-powerful Snapdragon S4 Liquid MDP surely looks to be shipping to market with Android 4.0 instead of 3.2 as Qualcomm has gotten Ice Cream Sandwich up and running on it. We’re sure there’s work yet to be done but it shows they’re making huge strides and it gives us hope that their desire to bring Android 4.0 out of the box to their developers is more than just desire and a sure-fire reality. [Qualcomm via Engadget]

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Android is the most closed open source OS, say analysts

Google gets a lot of praise for bringing open source to the masses with Android, and a lot of flack for some of its more closed-off activities. On a technical level the company complies with the fundamental principles of open source software, but not always in the way that FOSS proponents would like. A perfect example is Android 3.0 Honeycomb, which never saw an open source release until version 4 was already available. These tendencies and more technical details led VisionMobile to rank it the “most closed” open source OS among a field of the most popular examples.

In a series of metrics, Google’s Android scored just 23% “open”, comparing poorly to the likes of Linux, Symbian and Meego. The running wasn’t limited to operating systems – Mozilla’s various open source tools, the Webkit browser framework and the QT user interface toolkit were also included. VisionMobile based their ratings on a variety of factors, such as the licenses used, the strictness by which the community is enforced, and the level of access that developers are given to the development process. For a more technical breakdown, head over to the source link above.
There’s no denying that Google keeps a pretty tight lid on Android, at least until the source code is released. In the case of the G1, original DROID, Nexus One, XOOM, Nexus S and Galaxy Nexus, only Google’s software engineers and its hardware partners had access to the software until well after a flagship device was released. On the other hand, Google’s aggressive promotion of Android has allowed it to become one of the most widely-used pieces of open source software in history, giving manufacturers, developers and tinkerers a complete and free ecosystem – eventually. VisionMobile concludes that Google’s promotional machine is a double-edged sword for Android, broadening its horizons while keeping its core interest well within the commercial spectrum.
[via BGR]

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