HTC Desire S getting Android 2.3.5, Sense 3.0 update in India

HTC has started rolling out much awaited Android 2.3.5 update for Desire S users in India. This update also brings the Sense 3.0 UI to Desire S. It is available OTA, so you will soon get a notification on your device to download and install the update.
If you have HTC Desire S, you can go to Settings>> About Phone>> Software Update to check the update manually. Although announced on December 15 by HTC India on its official Facebook page, users have started getting it today only.
Update build number – 2.15.720.3
Do let us know about your experience after the update in the comments.

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Google gives out customised Galaxy Nexus handsets to employees for Christmas

It appears that Google employees are going to enjoy the latest and greatest Android smartphone that the search giant and Samsung have to offer after it emerged the company is giving its staff customised handsets as a Christmas thank you.
The handset itself isn’t an ordinary Galaxy Nexus either; the device has been outfitted with a customised back cover, one that sports various Google+ and Android icons (which are one and the same) — a nice touch considering they are being specifically given to Google employees.
The rear of the device:

We have confirmed that both Google’s London and Zurich offices are giving out free devices to Google employees, requiring staff to line up and claim their free handset, as shown in the photo below (posted by Edu Pereda, a Software Engineer at Google’s Swiss offices):

We have contacted Google to enquire whether all Google employees will receive a free device — we assume that will be the case. We will update the article should we receive a response.

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[Deal] Pre-Orders ASUS Transformer Prime Return To Amazon

One of the hottest gadgets of this holiday season, the Transformer Prime, is scheduled to be released the week of December 19th - that would be any day now starting today. In anticipation of the launch, Amazon re-launched pre-orders for all four color/size combinations after they went dark, disappeared completely, and even got cancelled in some cases shortly after the first wave was sold out. Here they are:

• TF201-B1-GR - 32GB Amethyst Gray
• TF201-B1-CG - 32GB Champagne
• TF201-C1-GR - 64GB Amethyst Gray
• TF201-C1-CG - 64GB Champagne

 

Additionally, every Transformer Prime order comes with a free one-day shipping option:

FREE One-Day Shipping: Buy select products sold by Amazon.com, and select one-day shipping when you check out.
The one-day shipping cost for select products will then be deducted from your order total on the final checkout page.
Here's how (restrictions apply)

For those in need of a spec recap, it's coming right up:

• 10.1-inch SuperIPS + display with Gorilla Glass
• 1.3GHz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 Processor with 12-core GPU
• 1GB RAM
• 32GB or 64GB internal storage with microSD card slot
• microHDMI port
• 8MP F2.4 rear shooter with continuous flash for video recording, 1.2MP front camera (1080p camcorder!)
• 8.33mm thin
• 586g (1.29 lbs.)
• 12 hour battery life playing 720p video, 18 hours with keyboard dock
• Metallic spun finish
• Two available colors: Amethyst Gray and Champagne Gold (show below, respectively)
• Android 3.2.1 - will be updated to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) as soon as possible after release
• $499 for 32GB model, $599 for 64GB, and $149 for the dock

Now all we need is that "Temporary out of stock" blurb to change to "In Stock" in my favorite pleasant green.
Thanks, Zachary Rodriguez and others!
[via: Android Police]

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Samsung, Huawei And Nokia Beat Apple In China Mobile Phone Manufacturing

Big news out of China as Huawei has beat out Apple as is now the third largest manufacturer of mobile phones in China.
Reuters reported the news Friday saying that Apple wasn’t as nimble or flexible as Samsung and Huawei. Despite just now breaking back into the U.S. market, Nokia still holds a huge position in Asian and European markets.
Apple has started a major expansion in China as far as their retail efforts go. According to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Apple has six retail stores with plans to open dozens more. They also have 200 mono branded stores and over 7,000 points of sale.
What’s hurting Apple in the iPhone department is the fact that they didn’t build a TD-SCDMA iPhone version for China Mobile. China Mobile is the world’s largest cell phone carrier with over 600 million users. To put that in perspective for US readers, China Mobile’s market is 3 times the size of Verizon Wireless and AT&T combined.
Aside from not having an iPhone on their countries largest carrier, Chinese customers are echoing the rest of the world when it comes to smartphones. Android is winning by a lot in China, even with Google’s rocky relationship with their government.
source: Fortune/CNN

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Samsung expands patent row with Apple in Germany

Samsung Electronics continued the patent dispute against Apple in Germany, filing new claims in the process. The South Korean consumer electronics behemoth has added a quartet of patents to its current infringement case that is related to the telecommunications standard technology WCDMA where 3G mobile handsets are concerned. The four new complaints will comprise of the use of emoticons, where according to Samsung’s spokesperson, “(Samsung) made four more claims; two are standard-related patents and the other two are utility patents. And a court said it would make these claims separate from the April lawsuit.”
Last Friday, a regional German court in Mannheim did hold a hearing on the April case, touting that a ruling would be announced in early March next year. It would be interesting to see how the new patent claims will develop, and what kind of repercussions there would be worldwide. Just recently, Samsung landed a left hook on Apple’s jaw by winning their suit in Australia as the court Down Under removed a ban on the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy tablet just earlier this month.

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British Telecom sues Google for Android, other services

British Telecom, also known as BT, has sued Google for alleged infringement of six patents in United States District Court for the District of Delaware. The lawsuit was filed on Thursday and BT is seeking triple damages for willful and deliberate infringement as well as an injunction.
BT is alleging that Google services like Maps, Places, Books, Search, Offers, Navigation, Android, Music, Google+, and Location based advertising infringe its six patents.

• U.S. Patent No. 6,151,309 on a “service provision system for communications networks”
• U.S. Patent No. 6,169,515 on a “navigation information system”
• U.S. Patent No. 6,397,040 on a “telecommunications apparatus and method”
• U.S. Patent No. 6,578,079 on a “communications node for providing network based information service”
• U.S. Patent No. 6,650,284 on an “information system”
• U.S. Patent No. 6,826,598 on a “storage and retrieval of location based information in a distributed network of data storage devices”

There has been no official comment from Google till now, and we will update the post once that happens.

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Sprint’s Nexus S 4G gets Android 4.0.3 ROM Ported from T-Mobile’s Nexus S OTA

Android Central forum member beezy has whipped up an Ice Cream Sandwich treat for you folks on Sprint with a Nexus S 4G. The Android 4.0.3 OTA for T-mobile’s Nexus S has been ported to Sprint’s Nexus 4G. You won’t see any wimax (4G), but 3G data, camera, WiFi, and bluetooth are confirmed working. You’ll need to be rooted and you can flash this ROM via Clockwork. You will also need to head over to the AC forums and be registered to download the file and you can do so from the source link below. Happy flashing, but do so at your own risk.

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TWRP 2.0 Touchscreen Recovery RC released

Recoveries are a very important part of anyone dealing with rooting or flashing custom firmware or doing other modifications on Android devices and most of the recoveries use the hardware keys to navigate around menu options. But in the case of lack of hardware buttons, one was left with no option and then button based navigation is always boring when user has a touchscreen device. To make that situation change, Team Win started working on a touch based recovery – also known as – Team Win Recovery Project; the released candidate of this recovery image has been released today for mass consumption.
This RC comes with official support for over 15 devices including the button less Amazon Kindle Fire. You can find the full list of supported devices later in the post.
TWRP 2.0 Touchscreen recovery includes all the usual options that you find in one of most popular ClockworkMod recovery by Koushik Dutta. It is now available for download at TeamWin’s website.
Supported Devices:

1. HTC Evo 3D (CDMA)
2. HTC Sensation
3. HTC Thunderbolt 4G
4. HTC Evo Shift 4G
5. HTC Evo (CDMA)
6. HTC HD2
7. B&N Nook Color
8. Motorola Photon
9. Motorola Atrix 4G
10. LG Optimus One
11. HP Touchpad
12. Google Nexus S
13. Nexus S 4G
14. Viewsonic GTab
15. Epic 4G Touch
16. Amazon Kindle Fire

Features:

• Ability to save custom recovery settings
• Touchscreen driven with real buttons and drag-to-scroll
• XML-based GUI that allows full customization of the layout – true theming!
• Settings are saved to the sdcard and persist through reboots
• Ability to choose which partitions to back up and which to restore
• Ability to choose to compress backups – now with pigz (multi-core processor support for faster compression times)

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Get the Google Wallet APK for your LTE Galaxy Nexus – No Root Required [Courtesy XDA]

Yesterday we posted a guide on how to get Google Wallet on your new Galaxy Nexus phone. Trying out the method myself, I ran into some strange behavior as we mentioned in that former post. Other’s never got it working at all. The process was in short, not much fun. Well you can put the past behind you because devs after Google Wallet are diligent. Diligent enough to finally bring you a simple APK that you can install, without even needing root! It took mere seconds for me to set up and redeem my free $10 from Google, but as it is currently early morning as I write this, I’ve yet to journey out and blow some poor cashier’s mind. Definitely, something to look forward to tomorrow. Before you get ahead of yourself please pay attention here:
If you previously flashed the .zip file from Friday, you may have to return to a backup, pre-Wallet, or this .apk will not work.
Otherwise, proceed to the download.

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