Dropbox supporting Android 4.0 optimizations hits Android Market

The Dropbox team has updated their Android app for 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) optimization and added some great new features. To name a few, the Favorites tab offers quick offline access to files, multiple uploads of photos and videos are now available, renaming files and folders now works, and single-tab access to all file and folder actions functions properly.

Until now, this version has been sitting over on the Dropbox forums to allow users to publicly test it out to make sure it was ready for prime time. And after two days, it finally is. Just navigate over to the Android Market for a quick update or initial download. The improved and polished gallery view is a step up as well – so be sure to check it out.
But when all is said and done, I can’t seem to steer away from Box (formerly Box.net). Once it too becomes ICS optimized, I’ll probably convert completely and use it alone as my primary cloud storage container. It is fast, responsive, and I currently can’t conceive a way to improve it.
[Market Link]

Read more »

Verizon Galaxy Nexus modification will change your softkeys and their color

For Galaxy Nexus owners that just picked up their device from Verizon, you may finally have a reason to root your device. Yes, rooting does void your warranty – but it opens a world of new available features. Even though Verizon’s Nexus is fairly new, development has been progressing at an excellent rate. We recently discussed a battery mod compatible with the Android Revolution HD ROM for the Galaxy Nexus, and now there is a softkey mod that adds a “Search” softkey pictured as a magnifying glass to the right of the bottom menu buttons.

The softkeys are also available in different colors; personally, I prefer the ICS blue. It looks excellent. You can now expect support for both the 4.0.2 and 4.0.3 based ROMs, and as they are incorporated into future work – I’m sure the project will continue its support. Paired with the battery percentage modification, the Galaxy Nexus couldn’t feel more complete.
However, we haven’t had a chance to test out any of the newly developed kernels yet – and there are plenty out there. Most require the user to be on a 4.0.3 base, but until a few more bugs are worked out I plan on keeping a close eye out instead of continuously flashing the latest builds. If any of you are rocking a Galaxy Nexus, feel free to share with the community how much better/worse your battery life has become.
[via Rootzwiki]

Read more »

AT&T purchases 700MHz LTE spectrum from Qualcomm for $1.9 Billion

While we can always use some comfort food for a pick-me-up after a bad day or event, AT&T just goes shopping for LTE frequencies; and who can blame them – after the T-Mobile merger failed they lost a pretty penny. Qualcomm will sell their 700MHz spectrum for $1.9 Billion, and the purchase should be finalized by the end of the year.

For the deal to go through, the FCC states that AT&T will not only have to meet FCC enforced interference requirements, but they may have to offer up a percentage of the spectrum for data roaming on other carriers. And currently, that includes Verizon Wireless as that had acquired most of the FCC’s 700 MHz C Block spectrum some time back.
These newly acquired airwaves should help to boost up their 4G LTE network for many new markets in the near future. And in early 2012 we’ll find out if they’ll actually be required to offer their newly acquired spectrum to other carriers. That would be quite interesting. When roaming on a 4G network, imagine how quickly the data charges will add up!
[via Electronista]

Read more »

HTC Fireball, LG Spectrum could be Verizon’s first LTE world phones

Americans get a lot of cool stuff before the rest of the world, but phones that play nice with international networks is not one of them. Verizon customers in particular have a lot of frustration to deal with, since the CDMA network is totally useless almost everywhere else in the world. There are a smattering of globally operable phones on Verizon, including the DROID 2 Global, DROID 3 and the Incredible 2. But so far there haven’t been any global-ready smartphones that take advantage of Verizon’s LTE network. According to some leaked internal documentation from Droid Life, that may soon change with phones from HTC and LG.

We’ve heard rumors of both these phones before: the HTC Fireball was spotted in Verizon’s apparently leaky computer system, and shots of the LG Spectrum (AKA the LG Revolution 2) make it look like a revised version of AT&T’s Nitro HD. Both of the phones were marked as “global” in the above Verizon listings. That’s great news for global travelers who use Verizon in the United States, as none of the recent high-profile smartphone releases on the network have featured global connectivity, with the exception of the iPhone 4S. And who wants to embarrass themselves while traveling?
There’s no news on when these phones will become available, but if they’re in the system it’s probably a matter of less than three months. Expect more information at CES in about three weeks, with hands-on photos and videos from Android Community if we’re lucky. Keep in mind that “global” doesn’t mean “unlocked”: Verizon’ world phones still incur significant roaming charges, and many international travelers simply opt to buy a cheap phone and a prepaid SIM card for the duration of their travels.

Read more »

“$100 ICS Tablet” Novo7 is available for pre-order… for $120

More than a few people got excited at the prospect of a $100 Ice Cream Sandwich tablet when a no-name manufacturer sprang out of China marketing the Novo7… and immediately became less excited at a $60 shipping fee that seemed more than a little fishy. Now the same low-powered tablet is sitting pretty with a pre-order status on import sites PandaWill and Merimobiles, both of which seem legitimate enough as far as Internet storefronts go. The latter is claiming an $80 discount off of the “retail” price of $200.

Just for a quick refresher, the specs on the Ainol Novo/Novo7/Knight/Paladin (it seems to have something of an identity crisis) are as follows: a 7-inch screen with just 800 x 480 pixels, a 1Ghz processor and 512MB of RAM, and a microSD card slot. The resellers note that it comes with the Android Market, but I would frankly be amazed if this turns out to be true. Considering the brief experiment Android Community pulled with the Galaxy Nexus screen density, I’m kind of amazed they managed to force Ice Cream Sandwich to display its tablet interface on a resolution that is a little low even for a 5-inch device, let alone a 7-inch.
So, will the somewhat lower price and less shady sellers convince you to lay down your hard earned cash? It shouldn’t. In the next few months dozens of cheap ICS tablets will become available, and almost all of them will feature better specs and less cringe-inducing credentials than this little guy. For just a little extra cash you can pick up the Archos Internet Tablet 70b, a Honeycomb tablet from a respected manufacturer with an active mod community for just $200. You’ll be seeing a home-grown ICS build on the hardware soon enough, and an official update eventually.
[via Liliputing]

Read more »

EA’s Real Racing 2 hits the Android Market — looks amazing

EA has just released their newest and best racing game yet in Real Racing 2. In case you’ve never heard of the first one that is because it wasn’t available in the Android Market so many users never played that decently fun game. Real Racing 2 brings things to a new level and brings tons of racing awesomeness to the palm of your hand. EA is calling this “the most hotly anticipated racing game ever made for Android”. Hopefully it lives up to that line, see the video and screenshots below to get a better idea of what to expect.

The video preview below makes it look very impressive and I can’t wait to give this game a try myself. It’s currently free but they want plenty of in-app payments to keep things going but it’s worth a quick try at least right? Race away with 30 high-performance cars, 15 awesome locations, and an immersive career mode taking you through more than 40 miles of road.




This isn’t your average racing game with mild graphics and look-alike cars. Race with 30 officially licensed cars including the 2010 Ford Shelby Mustang GT500, 2010 Nissan GT-R (R35), 2012 McLaren MP4-12C, and more. You can clearly see the awesome level of detail to the cars from the video above and a few screenshots from the gallery below.
As mentioned above, Real Racing 2 is free-to-try but will have a few in-game app purchases or users can buy the full game for a modest $4.99 if they’d like. The try before you buy is a pretty good idea for those that aren’t quick to spend the cash on this type of mobile game. Enjoy over 10 hours of racing with edge of your seat excitement and be sure and let us know what you think of the game — once you’ve beat it of course.
Market Link — Real Racing 2
) 

Read more »

Shadowgun update hits Android Market with Tegra 3 support

If you are one of the lucky few that was able to snag a pre-order for the hotly anticipated ASUS Transformer Prime and that beastly quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor then I have some great news for you. One of the best shooter games available for Android called SHADOWGUN has just been updated with Transformer Prime and Tegra 3 support — making it have by far some truly stunning graphics.

We were lucky enough to get a first-hand look at the pre-production version for Tegra 2 devices and did a few hands-on videos for those looking to see just how impressive the graphics can be on a mobile device. In our timeline below will be plenty about Shadowgun and both of our hands-on video posts.
This is probably one of the best games available for Android in terms of third person shooters and really showcases the ability of the NVIDIA processors and gaming prowess. The Tegra 3 supported version has tons of increased graphics and visuals. With real-time lighting effects, amazing water visuals with reflections and more. I had fun just shooting the water and watch the detailed splashes. This is one of those games that really shows what we can expect with mobile gaming in the future and with 2012 quad-core enabled devices.
Here’s a quick demo from our sister site SlashGear and our very own Chris Burns comparing regular Shadowgun to the Tegra 3 version on the Prime

I know many are still waiting on availability and pre-orders and it looks like ASUS might not have nearly as much stock and supply as they should have. Pre-orders have sold out at Amazon, Best Buy, and almost every other online retailer with some expecting shipments to not go out until late January. If you were able to get one — or found stock in a Best Buy then head to the market link below and try out this Tegra 3 optimized game today.
Market Link — Shadowgun

Read more »

Motorola DROID RAZR update rolling out today

Remember the Motorola DROID RAZR update that was revealed a few days ago by Verizon? The update has finally started rolling out today, according to a post on the official Motorola blog. According to Motorola, the update will bring your phone up to Motorola Version.6.11.748.XT912.Verizon.en.US and includes numerous fixes and enhancements such as: improved phone stability, 4G connectivity, WiFi performance, camera functionality and more.
As usual, be sure to back up your device before attempting an update. You never know what may go wrong. It wouldn’t hurt to wait it out a few days just to see if other people are having problems with the update either. But for those daring few, if you see the update notification on your phone, give it a shot and let us know how it goes for you.

Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs Nokia Lumia 800

We compare Samsung's flagship Android Ice Cream Sandwich phone, the Galaxy Nexus, against Nokia's premier Windows Phone 'Mango' handset, the Lumia 800.

Form
Samsung Galaxy Nexus - 135.5x67.9x8.9mm,135g
Nokia Lumia 800 - 116.5x61.2x12.1mm,142g
Visually both devices are very impressive with some distinctive and unique design features which help them stand out from the competition.
The Nokia Lumia 800 is a very sharp and angular handset being bluntly rectangular in shape and topped by a gently curved glass screen.
Build quality feels very impressive indeed, the phone uses an aluminium unibody and it’s probably one of the most well put-together handsets we’ve seen this year.
Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus is the polar opposite in terms of aesthetics, it’s all curves but it isn’t over-the-top – being a larger phone overall the longer lines compliment the slight curvature at either end of the device quite nicely.
Sadly, the Galaxy Nexus doesn’t feel quite so solid construction-wise as its opponent.
We have to give this round to the Nokia Lumia 800.
Winner – Nokia Lumia 800
Display
Nokia’s Lumia 800 has a relatively small display at 3.7-inches but it makes up for this with incredibly sharp picture quality thanks to the use of a Samsung AMOLED screen and Nokia’s own ClearBlack technology.
It features multi-touch support and reinforced Gorilla Glass, while the 480x800 pixel resolution grants a pixel density clocking in at 252 pixels-per-inch (ppi).
It’s one of the best displays on a Windows Phone we’ve seen to date, the screen is bright and crystal clear with vivid colours which really pop out at you.
The Galaxy Nexus uses Samsung’s own Super AMOLED technology, which is slightly better than the Nokia’s ‘vanilla’ AMOLED and it’s a pretty big slate of glass at 4.65-inches.
Despite its large size, Samsung has managed to keep the pixel density very high indeed, a 720x1280 pixel resolution results in 316ppi.
Multi-touch is again supported and an oleophobic coating protects the screen from oily fingerprints.
Both displays are pretty amazing to behold and each manufacturer has clearly lavished a lot of effort and attention on these screens.
At the end of the day, however, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus goes that extra mile, not only is it a substantially sized display, making media easier and more satisfying to view, but it achieves this without compromising on picture quality and goes so far as to offer some of the best available. It’s very impressive stuff indeed.
Winner – Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Storage
Samsung’s flagship Android Ice Cream Sandwich phone has two options for storage, with choices of either 16GB or 32GB onboard. Processing power is supplemented by 1GB of RAM.
The Nokia Lumia 800 only has the 16GB option for internal capacity which, while ample, is half the top-end offered by Samsung’s device. It’s also slightly behind on the RAM side of things with around half the memory of the Galaxy Nexus at 512MB.
Neither smartphone is fitted with a card slot, meaning there’s no option to expand storage space with microSD.
Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus wins this round by doubling up on the Lumia 800’s offerings.
Winner – Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Processor
Discussing the processors between Android and Windows Phones is a tricky thing, because you invariably run up against the issue of how the two platforms work in relation to optimisation.
However, the Galaxy Nexus is a little different from most other Android phones.
The problem with Android normally is it’s a one size fits all system which isn’t optimised very well, but this isn’t an issue on the Galaxy Nexus because, as it’s the Android Ice Cream Sandwich flagship device Samsung has worked closely with Google to get everything as finely tuned as possible.
The Galaxy Nexus uses a dual core ARM Cortex-A9 processor clocked at 1.2GHz and running the Texas Instruments OMAP 4460 chipset alongside a PowerVR SGX540 graphics processing unit (GPU).
Performance on this setup is going to be something pretty special, especially with the extra optimisation and tuning.
Nokia’s Lumia 800 runs on single core hardware but again it’s been well optimised and offers really good performance from its 1.4GHz Qualcomm Scorpion processor running the MSM8255 Snapdragon chipset and an Adreno 205 GPU.
Both offer excellent performance in terms of typical smartphone tasks and navigating their respective interfaces.
However, the Galaxy Nexus will handle high-end apps and games with demanding graphics much more capably and will remain the more competitive option looking ahead to the future.
Winner – Samsung Galaxy Nexus


Operating System
Microsoft’s Windows Phone ‘Mango’ platform, which the Nokia Lumia 800 runs, is a refreshing and innovative system to use.
It completely shuns the conventional ‘desktop’ style homescreens populated by app shortcuts found on Android, iOS and BlackBerry OS.
Instead, it opts for a continuous scrolling interface populated by ‘Live Tiles’ which push useful app information to the surface, rather like miniaturised widgets.
Social networking integration and the merging of communication methods (including email, text, instant messaging and calls) is excellent on Windows Phone, there is currently no other platform which gets you connected so easily.
It’s not perfect, however, for a start there is a severe lack of apps comparative to Android and iOS and many apps which are free on these other platforms come with a price tag on Windows Phone.
Windows Phone also doesn’t feature true multi-tasking but rather a substitute which, while better than nothing, can at times be frustrating.
Essentially, apps are put into hibernation in the background but do not continue to function.
Switching between them is commendably easy but unlike competing platforms you cannot, for example, put a social networking app to sleep and expect it to update.
This doesn’t affect the integrated feed from the People Hub, but sometimes you might want more direct control through an official app and it’s annoying that they cannot perform any background tasks.
Android’s multi-tasking remains unsurpassed, the system handles multiple running programs with ease and the intuitive quick-switching menu has made the jump from the tablet-only Honeycomb build. You can also swipe apps away with gestures, which is nice.
In many other ways Ice Cream Sandwich seems like it’s simply playing catch-up with its tablet-only predecessor, Honeycomb, and Apple’s iOS.
It’s a decent system but it’s not the exceptional revolution many were waiting for.
Everything has been given a facelift and the interface is reasonably intuitive – things are where you expect them to be.
While Windows Phone looks nice and feels different it could have been a much more customisable platform, generally speaking, while we loved the social networking integration for a heightened sense of being ‘plugged in’ to our social circles, most other areas left us wanting and, frankly, made us miss Android and iOS.
Winner – Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Camera
The Lumia 800 has an 8-megapixel primary camera at a 3264x2448 pixel resolution and capable of 720p video capture.
Regardless of the megapixel count and boasted Carl Zeiss designer optics something about this setup can’t be particularly good because, when reviewing the phone we found the results were not that impressive.
It features a dual LED flash, autofocus, touch focus, geo-tagging, digital zoom, exposure control and white balance.
Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus is equally disappointing with its lacklustre 5-megapixel primary camera at 2592x1936 pixels.
Video capture is 1080p but it’s unimpressive in practice – the Galaxy S2’s setup is much better.
Features-wise it has autofocus, LED flash, touch focus, geo-tagging, face detection, digital zoom, white balance, panoramic capture mode and a 1.3-megapixel secondary camera.
Neither device wins here, we’re calling it a draw but that doesn’t mean they’re equal, it just means they’ve both failed to deliver decent cameras as far as premium flagship phones are concerned.
Winner - Draw

Final Thoughts
By now it probably sounds as though we prefer the Galaxy Nexus over the Lumia 800, but this isn’t actually the case.
When it comes down to it, we feel the Lumia 800 is a much more complete and well-thought-out smartphone.
The Lumia 800 has lived up far more to our expectations of what a Nokia flagship Windows Phone should be, while the Galaxy Nexus has left us wanting more from Samsung.
The Galaxy S2 proves Samsung can create a much better Android phone than the Galaxy Nexus despite its extraordinary screen and all the perks of the ICS platform.
We really like Windows Phone ‘Mango’ but it has its limitations which made us want to go back to other platforms.
This isn’t a weakness of Nokia’s handset itself though and, so far at least, Microsoft has been exemplary at rolling out updates across the board.
In time the Lumia 800 will certainly change and likely for the better. It’s uncertain whether the same can be said for the Galaxy Nexus.

Read more »