Archos 101 G9 “Turbo” 1.2 GHz dual-core Honeycomb Tab now available

We’ve been following Archos and their line of cheap and affordable budget Android tablets but lately their entire naming scheme is getting out of control. Today we have learned the new Archos 101 G9 “Turbo” edition is available now — in Europe. We got our first glance at the new Archos G9 series a few months back featuring a 1.0 GHz dual-core processor and Android Honeycomb. Today they’ve released the same devices only with the addition of “Turbo” to the name with a faster 1.2 GHz TI OMAP dual-core processor.

They have the G9, the G9 Turbo, the Arnova series, and even a G9 G2 was seen at the FCC. Without getting you confused basically the original Archos 80 and 101 G9 series have now been improved with a faster dual-core processor and can be bought over in Europe with the title “Turbo” in the name — fun stuff right.
For a closer look at these budget tablets you can enjoy our Archos 80 G9 hands-on and unboxing to give you an idea of what to expect. The build quality may not be the best but you get an awesome tablet for a low price. Now they have a 1.2 GHz dial-core and Android 3.2 Honeycomb these make for a pretty good alternative to more expensive items available. With a 10.1″ 1280 x 800 resolution display and 16GB of internal storage you wont be missing any features from more expensive devices, although we only have 512MB of RAM on the Archos tablets instead of 1GB like the others. They also have a 1.5 GHz version in the works coming later this month but we are still awaiting more details on that front.

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Samsung Galaxy Nexus receives the iFixit teardown treatment

In the usual iFixit fashion today they’ve been nice enough to share the details on the innards of the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus flagship Android smartphone. Like they always do, today they’ve tore it down and they give us a look at every little piece inside this new device. Plenty of pictures are available after the break. I’m just sad I don’t have one yet while they are shredding it to pieces already.

From that 4.65″ screen to the snazzy new 5mp camera and more they show you everything you did, or didn’t want to know. Sadly we still haven’t seen or heard a peep from Verizon so they are nicely tearing down the international GSM model that has been available for more than a few days already. In case you missed it, we have already been enjoying it and you can too from our Galaxy Nexus hands-on video.

We’ve seen their teardowns before so I wont go into much detail as all the little bits of information is available at the source link below. After looking over the teardown there is some good news here. The only soldered components are the volume switch and vibrator motor. Meaning almost everything else comes off in some way or another. For those that sadly have already injured their Galaxy Nexus, or if one becomes damaged in the future those seeking to do repairs themselves will be able to — if they dare.

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CyanogenMod 7 Makes its Way to the Amazon Kindle Fire

Now that the Amazon Kindle Fire has been rooted it’s time to start booting up some custom ROMs. Standard choice CyanogenMod has made its Amazon debut, as xda member JackpotClavin has the first shots of CM7 running on the new media slate. All is not cherry, though. While many features seem to be working properly (including WiFi), touchscreen input problems are slowing the roll of those working feverishly to get a working build out to the public. As The Verge notes, CM7 will provide a more full-fledged Android experience on the Kindle Fire but it will come at the cost of the total Amazon integration that the tablet flaunts as its biggest selling point.
[xda via The Verge]

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Adobe promises December launch for Flash on Galaxy Nexus

Imagine our surprise when review units of the Galaxy Nexus couldn’t access Adobe Flash on the Android Market. It turns out that this had nothing to do with Adobe’s unceremonious drop of mobile Flash, but rather the fact that the current application simply needed an update to support either the Galaxy Nexus or Ice Cream Sandwich. According to Adobe’s official Flash blog, both Flash and AIR will be updated sometime next month in order to support the Galaxy Nexus.

No mention of Ice Cream Sandwich was made, and it’s an interesting omission. Will the update make Flash compatible with all of the upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich devices, like the Asus Transformer Prime? Will Flash need to be adjusted for each major hardware release after the main development has ended? We’ve contacted Adobe for clarification, and are awaiting a response.
Adobe’s last major revision of Flash hit the Android Market earlier this month. Moving forward the company will offer small stability and security updates, and in one case at least, support for high-profile new hardware. After that, the company will shift focus to its HTML5 tools, essentially giving a mea culpa to its headline-grabbing fight with Apple last year. The decision has not been well-received by Android enthusiasts or Flash developers.

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Microsoft Brings Windows Phone 7 to Android Users

We know the thought of switching mobile operating systems from Android has never crossed the mind of our dear readers, but if you are a bit curious about Windows Phone 7 and too lazy to head to a local smartphone retailer to check it out for yourself you can get the experience on your device now. Simply point your Android browser (or iPhone browser, for that matter) to Microsoft’s demo site and a mock version of WP7 will load, complete with swipe input and navigation via the trademark tile layout. It’s far from perfect, but it is an interesting marketing tool for would-be smartphone buyers.
[via MonWindowsPhone]

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Google Maps just got bigger, now available indoors at malls and airports

Google Maps received another large update today and while the new features are mostly still in beta they are available now for all to try. The update should be hitting devices in the market throughout the day and along with a few changes for navigation options we now have a completely new frontier for Google Maps — indoors. Soon you’ll be able to find the quickest route to the closest Starbucks at that huge airport so you can stay awake while headed to CES (which we’ll be at live of course). More details below.



Below is a before and after picture of the Mall of America near Minneapolis showing just how huge the changes really are. We have floor selectors and all the usual popups for select stores with phone numbers, reviews and more all neatly integrated with Google Maps. Now we’ll just have to wait for all these locations to start being used a bit more. Over at the Google Mobile Blog they have the same before/after images of an international airport. I can really see this being a huge deal that makes traveling and planning that much easier and less stressful. With full 3D tilt and more just like we are all used to.

This is still beta so obviously not all mall and airport locations will be fully supported out of the gate but don’t worry, Google will be updating and adding many more soon that is for sure. This looks quite neat if you ask me. Malls and airports aren’t the only ones either. They’ve partnered with Home Depot, IKEA, and a few other large retailer stores nationwide. Now maybe I’ll find my way to plumbing quicker at the Home Depot.
The new Maps also has a new menu at the top toolbar for easily changing features and options. They’ve also updated Navigation with a new setting allowing users to disable the automatic screen dimming “feature” during navigation — something I’ve been waiting for. All this and more is available right now for download in the Android Market. For a complete list of malls and airports included with these new features head down to the source link below.




[via Google Blog]

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BlackBerry Mobile Fusion manages corporate assets on Android

RIM is having a tough time right now. They’re being squeezed from the top with iOS and from the bottom (well, bottom, top, sides and everywhere else) with Android. But the BlackBerry hardware is only part of RIM’s overall business, and they’re making a major effort to expand even more into the corporate services space. BlackBerry Mobile Fusion will allow IT managers to access and control company assets on BlackBerry, Android and iOS devices, essentially making the existing Enterprise Server cross-platform.

Managing a workforce that increasingly relies on mobile hardware isn’t easy when there’s dozens of different configurations to customize. But as long as employees stick to a late model BlackBerry, Android Froyo or Gingerbread or iOS 4+, their security and access can be managed remotely. Spotty version support is going to cause a few problems in the coming months – Honeycomb isn’t really a factor for corporate networks, but Ice Cream Sandwich may well be by mid 2012.
RIM has a while to iron out the kinks. The beta program won’t begin until January, with a wider public beta available in March, so there’s almost four months to widen support and squash some bugs. I suppose your local megalithic corp’s accounts department can use the time to shore up funds for those $200 PlayBooks – just get the marketing department to justify it.
[via SlashGear]

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Siri’s Android competition is called Cluzee

If you are an Android user wanting to get some Siri-style action onto your Android device a new app has launched that will do just that called Cluzee. It’s sort of like the alpha app called Iris we talked about a few days ago. The app allows you to speak normal phrases and it will then goes out and do what you tell it to. The app is described as an intelligent personal assistant. The app will respond to all sorts of spoken queries such as “what is my schedule like today.”

It would then run down your schedule for you in normal language. The app does more than that and will tell you little tidbits to help you get along with your day. For instance if you have a doctor’s appointment on your schedule the app can tell you if there is traffic on a particular road you need to avoid after it reminds you of that appointment.
Other things the app can do include reading emails and text messages aloud to you. It can also take the user’s voice and convert it to text for sending emails and SMS messages as well. I wonder how well the app works for converting speech to texts. I find many voice services don’t handle accents well. Let us know what you think if you are using this app. You can download Cluzee here.




[via BGR]

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Motorola finally gives Gingerbread to European Milestone 2 owners

It’s been 347 days since the source code for Android 2.3 Gingerbread became available. And it’ll be just one more before Milestone 2 (the international version of the Motorola DROID 2) owners in Europe get their hands on an official Gingerbread update. Motorola confirmed the upcoming rollout on the company’s Facebook page. The staged update will be sent over the air.

348 days is a long time – practically an eternity in the mobile world. It’s time enough for a third model of the DROID hardware to be developed and released, with Gingerbread not insignificantly baked right in. It’s nearly time four a fourth model to appear, at least in the United States. It’s also time enough for Google to release not one, but two major version updates of Android, the second of which has already been made available in open-source form. Yup, long time. Just for a little perspective, US DROID 2 owners got the update in September, again, well after the DROID 3 was being sold.
Still, I suppose one should count his blessings. After confirming the update on Facebook, the representative was asked when the Motorola DEFY would get its Gingerbread update. It won’t. I don’t wish to name names, but this would be a good time to inform you of the many aftermarket (read: rooted) update options for just about any popular Android device. Users care about their machines, even when manufacturers don’t care about their users. Not that I’m calling anyone out in particular.

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