Sony Announces ICS Updates for Tablets, Tablet P SDK Now Available

Sony Ericsson has announced that the Sony Tablets – we assume both the S and the P – will be getting upgrades to Android 4.0 in due time. They didn’t have anything to announce regarding a timeframe but we’re glad they’ve committed to bringing it. In addition to that, they’ve made the SDK for the Sony Tablet P available online so developers can take advantage of its gaming roots. We’ll be right here with a post for you guys whenever those updates start rolling out (but I wouldn’t wait for one in the near future). [via Android Guys]

Read more »

Nielsen: Samsung, Motorola and HTC Top Five in Recent Smartphone Market Share

Nielsen’s ringing in with their end-of-the-year lists of top brands, companies and web destinations. One that caught our eye, of course, was the smartphone manufacturer chart.
They pulled data from the months of August 2011 through October 2011. This isn’t overall OEM market share but gives an idea of the trends that were developing leading into the holiday season.

At the top of the chart was Apple taking up 29% of the sales throughout this period, but HTC is not far behind with 21%. RIM, surprisingly, is sitting at 17%, ahead of Samsung and Motorola who both have 11% each.
It would be nice to get an idea of how these numbers stacked up through Christmas but those numbers will make their way to the forefront soon enough. To see more figures (such as top web brands and top destinations for watching online video) visit Nielsen’s site here.

Read more »

Gift Cards Worth $100 Offered by Amazon for Users Purchasing Select Hotspot Devices From Sprint and Verizon

Amazon Wireless is offering users who buy select 4G hotspot-capable devices a $100 gift card upon activating their phones with the hotspot feature enabled on their plans.

Some of the devices they’re offering up are the DROID Bionic and HTC Thunderbolt from Verizon plus the Motorola Photon 4G and Samsung Epic 4G Touch from Sprint. They have many more options so you’ll have to head on over to Amazon and check them out.
No AT&T or T-Mobile phones, unfortunately, but if you’re with one of these CDMA carriers and planning on buying any of these phones with hotspot anyway, this will be a good deal. That $100 could go toward some accessories or pretty much anything on Amazon’s site. [via PocketNow]

Read more »

Samsung Epic 4G, LG Optimus 3D and More Gain CM7 Support

Some new devices have finally been added to CyanogenMod’s list of supported devices. We’ve got the Samsung EPIC 4G and LG Optimus 3D as notable additions. We’re also seeing support for the LG Optimus Black, Optimus Hub and Optimus Pro. These devices are on the list for CM7, of course, though we don’t expect all of these to be absent from CM9′s party sometime down the line. (The first two we mentioned are definitely high up on that “probability” list.) Head over to CyanogenMod’s site for the downloads. [Thanks to all the excited Epic 4G owners who sent this in!]

Read more »

Root almost any Android phone with Unlock Root (One-click solution)

Yes, that is true. It is the mother of all rooting tools, and can help you in gaining root access on around 200 Android smartphones (to be frank, I did not count them, but that list of supported devices is huge). This tool supports devices from manufacturers like HTC, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson to unknown Chinese OEMs running on different Android versions.

While, it is unclear which exploit this tool is using, but it works. We tried it on two devices that we had in our hands right now and it worked like a charm.

To use this tool, all you need is a Windows PC, device drivers, usb cable and the device. Just grab the tool download from here and start rooting your Android phones.

Do let know in comments if you were successful in rooting your phone with this tool. It will surely help others who are looking for a simple tool to gain root access on their device. We have noticed that it install an App called AnTuTu Battery Saver on your phone at the time of rooting, it can be easily removed later.


Some of the popular Android phones that can be rooted using this tool are:
=> HTC Sensation (G14) , Galaxy Nexus (i9250) , LG Optimus 3D (P920), HTC Wildfire S (G13), Galaxy Note (I9220), LG Optimus 2x, HTC Desire S (G12), Galaxy S II (I9100) , LG Optimus LTE, HTC Incredible S (G11), Galaxy S (I9000), LG Optimus Black
To check of all the supported devices, check here.

Disclaimer: Although we did test this tool from our end before posting, but be cautious before doing anything that you might great later.

Read more »

Why Verizon had three mass network outages this December, See here

It’s no surprise Verizon has the fastest and most developed 4G LTE network in the US, but consistently terming them most reliable would be an overstatement for the month of December. And frankly, three mass network outages can cause some serious communication issues for both work and leisure. Heck, many families are now doing away with a central home phone, and just subscribing the entire family to a plan of cellphones.

Well, Verizon has issued an official statement for the causes of these network outages; and all three network failures had isolated causes. The first during December 7th was apparently caused by a failure in the back-up communication database. The second one was from an IMS element not responding properly, and the one just yesterday (which lasted quite long on the East coast) was due to two IMS elements not communicating properly.

Concerning the matter, Verizon said “Our 3G and 1X networks continue to reliably process calls, texts, and data for customers with 3G devices, and when necessary, 4G LTE devices”. And the protocol they actively take when 4G LTE services are down is to move those with 4G LTE devices onto their 3G network so they retain service. I for one, can vouch that Columbia, SC was without 4G or even 3G for over 5 hours yesterday – so hopefully they now have all the kinks worked out. It would be a shame to start off the new year with another outage.
It is however comforting to know that they “will not rest until our 4GLTE network performs at the very highest levels that our customers have come to expect from us”.
[via Business Insider]

Read more »

Acer Iconia Tab A700 Shows Up In Russia – On Its Way To CES 2012 With A 1920×1200 Display

A pair of Acer Iconia Tabs showed up in Russia today and since we know just about all there is to know on the more affordable A200, we wanted to focus on the higher powered, more premium A700 model. The Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core toting Acer Iconia Tab A700 will be arriving at CES 2012 next month (where the entire Phandroid team will be on-hand) and to give you a better idea of what to expect, this new tablet will have a 10.1-inch 1920×1200 resolution display that is sure to make die-hard Android fanboys shed tears of joy.

Along the sides of the tab are SIM and micro USB slots, rotation lock switch, audio jack and micro HDMI port. The rear of the device is noticeably different from the A200, featuring a 5MP shooter accompanied by an LED flash and Dolby Digital tramp stamp. The whole tab weighs in at only 1.43lbs and will last about 10 hours in between charges. The Acer Iconia Tab A700 is looking towards a March release. Only thing left out was the actual pricing but if cheaper than the T-Prime, should this should give ASUS a run for their money. Competition is always good. What do you guys think of it?
[NoMobile via Endgadget]

Read more »

Custom Google Music App Coming To All Devices By Cyanogen Mod Team

If you though the Cyanogen Mod launcher — Trebuchet — was the only thing CM9 had going for it you’d be wrong. Turns out those wild boys are also working on a modified version of the Google Music player app. Andrew Neal, one of the team’s devs, broke it down for everyone mentioning there will more tweaks and enhancements than you can shake a phone at. No really. One of the tweaks is the ability to set custom shake actions that will work no matter which app you’re in or if the screen is off/on. Completely customizable notification controls will also be found in the app along with a full theme engine to change up the look of the app as desired. Pretty fun stuff.
My only complaint with Google Music is that it’s not very smooth (unless you go into the landscape album view) which I’ve always found frustrating. It’s likely that because this will be replacing the stock music player app in CM9 going forward, streaming your music from the cloud should remain intact (update: it wont until Google releases their streaming API’s. Until then, this music player will remain crippled).
Best part about the new modified Google Music app? Once available in CM9, it will also be available for everyone to download via the Android Market — whether you’re rooted or stock.
Via The Verge

Read more »

Verizon Wireless Discounted Galaxy Nexus Battery Now 50% Off – $20 For A Limited Time

If your recent Galaxy Nexus purchase found the battery life to be a bit… lacking, I have some good news. Verizon Wireless has the official Samsung — NFC enabled — 1850 mAh batter for only $20. That’s half-off the original asking price! Let me tell you, there’s nothing quite as liberating as having a spare battery at hand. Still a bit expensive for a regular ‘ol battery (you can get a 3-pack from China for half that price) but that’s the price you pay to keep full NFC capabilities intact.We have no idea how long this deal will last so you may want to hurry.
[Verizon Wireless]
Via Droid-Life

Read more »