Android Central |
- LG Nitro HD hands on
- Rants about battery, Cracked Screen [From the Forums]
- LG and AT&T showing off the Nitro HD tonight, we're here live!
- Tonight, on the Greatest Android Podcast in the world
- UK networks insist they don't use Carrier IQ software
- Angry Birds Seasons gets back in the Christmas spirit, but will new permissions bring out the Grinches?
- GSM Galaxy Nexus factory images now available
- The complete Apple user's guide to Android [from the forums]
- Verizon's Samsung Fascinate getting Gingerbread, for what it's worth
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus now available from Vodafone UK
- AT&T gives another peek at the LG Nitro HD
- Samsung Galaxy Nexus battery life -- some updated impressions
- Best Buy seems to think the Galaxy Nexus is in stock Dec. 11
- Box.net now offering 50GB free storage to LG users
- FIFA 12 lands on Xperia Play, exclusive until February
- AT&T's holiday white Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket available Dec. 4
- Cristiano Ronaldo freestyling on to Android this Christmas
- Win an AT&T Samsung Infuse 4G
- ASUS Transformer Prime review
- Hands-on with the ASUS Transformer Prime
- Look for the Transformer Prime around the week of Dec. 19, ASUS says
- How-To: Root the Asus Transformer Prime
| Posted: 01 Dec 2011 04:41 PM PST
We're here in New York City tonight where LG just took the wraps off of its next major device, the Nitro HD. This one's heading to AT&T, where it'll surf the carrier's latest and greatest 4G LTE network. First thing you'll notice about the Nitro HD is that big beautiful screen. It's 4.5 inches all told with 720p HD IPS display technology. What does that mean? Well, for starters, LG managed to pull off a 1280 x 720 resolution, which translates 326 pixels per inch. It's the same resolution as HTC's Rezound and Samsung's Galaxy Nexus, and when compared with the Rezound, it looks just as gorgeous, if not a bit brighter. LG says that's it's capable of up to 500nit luminance, which makes it one of the brightest displays on the market, which I believe after first-hand usage. Aside from the screen, you've got LG's custom software running atop Android 2.3.5, the latest Gingerbread build. No Ice Cream Sandwich to see here, but we're willing to put money on the fact that LG won't be leaving this flagship device behind when Android 4.0 starts making its rounds. Pushing the Nitro HD along is an impressive 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm APQ8060 processor and 1 GB RAM. I noticed no slow down, no lag, and generally snappy responsiveness, though I'd like to put it through some heavy duty tasks before I decide just how fast it really is. And speaking of fast, let us not forget AT&T's LTE radio inside. If you're lucky enough to be in a coverage area, you're going to be enjoying some blistering data speeds. So how does the Nitro HD stack up to the other monsters hitting the market this holiday season? My initial instinct is to say that the Nitro HD holds its own. It's a gorgeous device: super thin, super light, and super fast. If you're an AT&T customer and haven't been blown away by what the Galaxy S II Skyrocket or the HTC Vivid has to offer, you might want to give LG a shot. I'll be putting the Nitro HD through its paces in the coming days to give you a full breakdown on the good, the bad, and the ugly. You can pick one up for yourself on December 4, when the Nitro HD hits the market for $249.99 on a two year contract.             
  | ||||||||||
| Rants about battery, Cracked Screen [From the Forums] Posted: 01 Dec 2011 04:18 PM PST With live events and a podcast coming up, we'll keep this short. If you happened to miss out on anything today, make sure you hop on back a page or two here on the blogs or if you're look for more Android discussion, join us in the Android Central forums:
If you're not already a member of the Android Central forums, you can register your account today. 
  | ||||||||||
| LG and AT&T showing off the Nitro HD tonight, we're here live! Posted: 01 Dec 2011 03:21 PM PST Guess that cat's out of the bag. We're at LG's event in New York City where "all will be revealed." And we're either about to get a hands-on with some sexy stilettos, or the AT&T Nitro HD. Either way, we win. Stay tuned tonight for more. 
  | ||||||||||
| Tonight, on the Greatest Android Podcast in the world Posted: 01 Dec 2011 03:06 PM PST The ASUS Transformer Prime, the Carrier IQ saga, and stick around for Girls Gone Gadgets!We're back from the Thanksgiving break, and we're definitely feeling the holiday hangover. But there's no rest for the wicked, and tonight we'll take on the ASUS Transformer Prime, more on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (just to tease everyone in the States), and, yes, we'll cover the latest developments in the Carrier IQ saga, and if you really need to stay up nights worrying about it.
Not at a computer? Pick up the free UStream Viewer from the Android Market [link] and search for Android Central a little before the show (it won't appear until we go live). We'll see you there! AndroidCentral.com/live 
  | ||||||||||
| UK networks insist they don't use Carrier IQ software Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:54 PM PST There's been plenty of coverage surrounding Carrier IQ in recent days, so it was only a matter of time before we'd be hearing whisperings over on this side of the Atlantic. However, some of the UK networks have come out and insisted that they absolutely do not employ the Carrier IQ software. Speaking to The Guardian, Vodafone, Orange and O2 all say they do not install the software on any of their devices in the UK, and to their knowledge it isn't shipped on any of the phones that they sell. Vodafone Portugal however are allegedly going to start using the software, according to Carrier IQ themselves. But in the UK at least, there's no apparent reason to be concerned. Source: The Guardian 
  | ||||||||||
| Posted: 01 Dec 2011 02:14 PM PST It's that time of year again -- Eggnog, Christmas Carols, presents under the tree, and the second year of your Angry Birds Seasons Advent Calendar. Dubbed "Wreck The Halls" the update is live in the Market right now bringing another 25 Christmas flavoured levels. Apparently on the last day, we get to meet the "Big Pig" himself. We won't bore you with any gameplay information, after all, this is Angry Birds right? All that said: The new version's added some new permissions. And judging by the comments in the Android Market, a good many of you aren't keen on that. Chances are it's just a slip and that Angry Birds isn't spying on your phone calls, folks. Download links after the break. 
  | ||||||||||
| GSM Galaxy Nexus factory images now available Posted: 01 Dec 2011 01:06 PM PST Googler and AOSP gatekeeper Jean-Baptiste Queru announced that the factory restore images for the GSM flavored Samsung Galaxy Nexus are now available for download on the Android Building Google group this afternoon. This means that no matter how bad you screw up the system software on your new Nexus phone, you now have a path to go back to where you started, namely Android 4.0.1 (ITL41D) as well as the original baseband and bootloader. To use these images, you'll need to have fastboot up and running and have a bit of know-how about how exactly to use it, so be sure to spend a bit of time reading if you're not familiar with the process. You can find the image, with a handy flash-all script to simplify the process included, at the link below. Source: Android Building Google group
  | ||||||||||
| The complete Apple user's guide to Android [from the forums] Posted: 01 Dec 2011 12:42 PM PST Around here we don't judge people for their choice of smartphone OS. We might point and snicker, but it's all in fun. Having said that, there are more than a few people making the leap from an iPhone to an Android phone. There's a world of difference, and sometimes it can be difficult to figure out the "Android way" of doing things -- especially if you're used to iOS and their different, "Apple way" of doing things. AC forums adviser, and all around guru of guides milominderbinder has you covered once again. He's taken the time and broken everything down to the basics, with an eye for folks switching to Android from iOS. It's a beautiful read, even if you're not an ex-iUser -- you'll probably learn something. Be sure to hit the forums and check it out, and give milo a big thanks for his hard work! 
  | ||||||||||
| Verizon's Samsung Fascinate getting Gingerbread, for what it's worth Posted: 01 Dec 2011 11:33 AM PST Anybody remember the Samsung Fascinate on Verizon? A few of you in the back? Good. Cause the phone that time forgot has finally (finally!) gotten its long-overdue update to Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread. Now you can bask in the knowledge that your phone's only one major update behind (more or less, since we're not counting Honeycomb). That's the good news. The bad news is we wouldn't hold our breath waiting on an update to Ice Cream Sandwich, at least officially. Get yourself to your favorite Fascinate forum (oh, look, there's a handy link below) and keep your eye's peeled for some developer action. More: Fascinate forums; 
  | ||||||||||
| Samsung Galaxy Nexus now available from Vodafone UK Posted: 01 Dec 2011 10:29 AM PST Vodafone UK arrives fashionably late to the Galaxy Nexus party, with today's announcement that the British network is now offering Google's latest flagship device on-contract. Be sure to check out our exhaustive review for more on the device itself. Voda's currently offering the new Nexus for free on 24-month contracts of £41 or more per month, which also nets you 1200 minutes, unlimited texts and 750MB of data. If that's a little steep for you, you can downsize to between £26 and £36 per month for a smaller usage allowance, along with an up-front charge for the phone. Head over to the source link for the full list of plans. Source: Vodafone UK 
  | ||||||||||
| AT&T gives another peek at the LG Nitro HD Posted: 01 Dec 2011 09:36 AM PST
We're still fully expecting to get our hot little hands on the LG Nitro HD tonight in New York City. To pass the hours, though, AT&T's offered up its own video hands-on with the phone, with its 720p display and LTE data. It'll be available Dec. 4 for $249 on contract. Check it out, and check back in tonight for all the live coverage! 
  | ||||||||||
| Samsung Galaxy Nexus battery life -- some updated impressions Posted: 01 Dec 2011 08:53 AM PST We've got around a fortnight of Galaxy Nexus use under our belts, so we thought we'd offer up some updated thoughts on the device's battery performance. Before we begin, remember that we're talking about the international GSM/HSPA+ version here, as opposed to Verizon's upcoming LTE model. When we first reviewed the Galaxy Nexus we reported that its 1750 mAh battery lasted us around 14 hours on a single charge with pretty heavy usage. That involved a decent amount of browsing over Wifi and HSPA+, music playback, a little video streaming, voice calls and shooting test photos and video footage for our review. That's not at all bad, and more or less mirrored what we got out of the international Galaxy S II when we reviewed it back in June.
Over the past couple of weeks we've been using the Galaxy Nexus day-to-day as our daily driver, and with less intensive usage patterns we've been very pleased with the phone's battery life. So far, we've never been in a situation where the phone's died on us before the end of the day while we're out and about. However, we will say that with heavy use -- for example, constantly streaming from YouTube -- it is absolutely possible to run down the battery in a few hours. Then again, that's something that applies to just about every smartphone out there -- it's not unique to Android, ICS or the Galaxy Nexus by any means. With more conservative use (by which we mean "using it the way we normally use a smartphone"), we were regularly going over 24 hours on a single charge. In one instance, it even lasted from Saturday evening through until Monday morning. The main factor at work here is the phone's exceptional efficiency when it's "asleep" with the screen off. When it's sleeping, even with various accounts syncing away in the background, it uses next to no juice at all. This is a common theme with many dual-core CPUs, and one of the reasons why multi-core chips are so cool. It's balanced out, though, by the fact that at higher brightness levels, that HD SuperAMOLED screen can quickly chew through the battery. That's nothing new either, and we've seen it before on many AMOLED-based devices. As such, we recommend leaving the auto-brightness setting to do its thing. Hopefully that gives you a rough idea of what to expect from your GSM Galaxy Nexus if you've got one ordered, or are thinking of dropping some cash on one. As we said, who knows what kind of performance we'll see out of the LTE version when it arrives, but for now we're more than happy with its international cousin. More: Samsung Galaxy Nexus review 
  | ||||||||||
| Best Buy seems to think the Galaxy Nexus is in stock Dec. 11 Posted: 01 Dec 2011 08:23 AM PST Take this with a grain of salt, seeing as how Best Buy's had a hard time remembering the the Galaxy Nexus' name, but this inventory screen sent to Engadget shows that the big-box retailer is expecting to have the Verizon Galaxy Nexus in stock on Dec. 11. Note that the street date is blank, though -- and we've seen these Best Buy inventory screens be wrong before. In other words: Still no official launch date for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. Source: Engadget 
  | ||||||||||
| Box.net now offering 50GB free storage to LG users Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:46 AM PST Putting the HTC/Dropbox collaboration in the shade, Box.net have formed a partnership with LG which offers users of LG mobile devices an astonishing 50GB of free storage. Best of all, it isn't limited to new devices. As you can see from the image, my trusty Optimus 2X qualified for the offer. To take advantage, head over to the Market and download the Box.net application for Android 2.1 and above (download links below) and register for a new account within the app. Then hey presto, 50GB of storage completely free. In addition, the app itself received an update today with a couple of interesting additions. It now allows files to be downloaded from your cloud storage to your device, multi-file uploading and auto updating of files edited locally within apps such as Quickoffice. For anyone not familiar with Box, it is a little different to Dropbox in its execution which partly comes from its more business focussed nature. Desktop sync is not available in free accounts, that sets you back $15 a month. The web access is fine though, and for a free 50GB storage locker, it's worth signing up just for the hell of it. The offer is extended through until March 21st 2012 so remember this if you're going out to purchase a Nitro HD or anything else LG may have on the horizon. 
  | ||||||||||
| FIFA 12 lands on Xperia Play, exclusive until February Posted: 01 Dec 2011 07:05 AM PST If a Cristiano Ronaldo-themed dance simulator isn't your cup of tea, how about a more traditional football game? Today EA and Sony Ericsson have announced that FIFA 12 is now available for the Xperia Play, and will be available on other 2011 Xperia handsets at a later date. What's more, for a limited time, Xperia Play owners can grab FIFA 12 for free from the phone's games widget. EA has gone all out with its latest mobile version of FIFA, with a full compliment of teams and many of the gameplay enhancements from the console versions of the game. And as you'd expect from a FIFA game, you also get to play in a host of real-world stadiums with "authentic commentaries" from the usual pundits. No remote-controlling real footballers just yet though, unless you're Tom Meighan or Darren Bent. The Android version of FIFA 12 is apparently exclusive to SE devices until Feb. 2012, at which point we expect it'll appear on the Android Market for a wider audience to enjoy. In the meantime, Xperia Play owners can head on over to that games widget and enjoy their (free) exclusive. We've got the full presser after the jump. 
  | ||||||||||
| AT&T's holiday white Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket available Dec. 4 Posted: 01 Dec 2011 06:34 AM PST Just a quick heads up that white Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket -- that's essentially AT&T's LTE version of the Galaxy S II -- will be available starting Dec. 4. Specs are exactly the same as the black Skyrocket, save for the white shell, and pricing remains the same: $249 on contract. More: Galaxy S II Skyrocket review 
  | ||||||||||
| Cristiano Ronaldo freestyling on to Android this Christmas Posted: 01 Dec 2011 05:55 AM PST One of the planets best Billed as a music and rhythm game, the idea seems to be to pull off a wide array of slick moves and tricks against computer players. It also features five different gameplay modes, character customisations, and downloadable content which includes two additional countries. At launch, the app will be priced at $2.99 (£1.99/€2.39) in the Market. We also get a tablet specific version of the game in January. Check out the full presser and a couple of screenshots after the jump. 
  | ||||||||||
| Posted: 01 Dec 2011 05:55 AM PST What better way to get over the mid-week slump than by entering a contest and maybe, just maybe, winning your very own AT&T Samsung Infuse 4G? All you have to do to enter is head on over to the contest thread and drop a comment. Not just any old comment though. We want to see if you were paying attention to Phil's review of the Infuse. Tell us what was one of Phil's favorite features on this device, as well as what you're looking forward to in it, and you're entered. Contest is open to the US only, one entry per person, and the lucky winner will be chosen on Friday, Dec. 2. 
  | ||||||||||
| Posted: 30 Nov 2011 10:01 PM PST Take one of the more popular -- if not wonderfully eccentric -- Android tablets of 2011, slim it down, clad it in brushed metal, pump it full of new specs and march it off into 2012 with the likelihood of one of the first upgrades to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Oh, and throw in a nearly full-size keyboard dock with trackpad, full USB and SD ports, turning it all into a solid Android laptop. This, friends, is the ASUS Transformer Prime. And this is our Transformer Prime review. Welcome to the era of NVIDIA's Tegra 3 platform. The Transformer Prime is but the first of the quad-core devices. Other tablets are no doubt on their way, and smartphones are coming down the pike as well. But the Transformer Prime is the one leading the way, and it's definitely doing so in style. So let's dive on into our Transformer Prime review and look at what's new, what's continued from the Transfomer line, and what it means for you.
  | ||||||||||
| Hands-on with the ASUS Transformer Prime Posted: 30 Nov 2011 10:01 PM PST Read our full Transformer Prime Review
Here it is, folks: The Android tablet you've been waiting to lead you out of the dual-core doldrums of 2011 and into the quad-core continuum of 2012. Welcome to the era of NVIDIA's Tegra 3 system-on-a-chip, bought to you by the ASUS Transformer Prime. That's a lot of bluster, to be sure. But even in a short time with the Transformer Prime, you're quick to realize that this is a whole lot of hardware. NVIDIA's Tegra 2 dual-core platform brought Android tablets into the mainstream. And for as much as Tegra 2 brought to Android gaming and video playback, Tegra 3 takes it that much further. But throw in the hardare prowess of ASUS' Transformer line -- this is the company that took a fledgling tablet and turned it into a viable Android laptop on the first try -- and what you've got is a combination of hardware and software that's leading the way into 2012 for an entire series of devices. Check out our video hands-on above, and be sure to sift through our complete Transformer Prime review. Transformer Prime Specs | How to root the Transformer Prime | Transformer Prime Forums 
  | ||||||||||
| Look for the Transformer Prime around the week of Dec. 19, ASUS says Posted: 30 Nov 2011 10:00 PM PST Despite a number of recent unsourced stories to the contrary, we unfortunately still don't have a firm sales date for the ASUS Transformer Prime. We do, however have a ballpark window -- ASUS has told us to "expect availabilty in North America to start the week of 12/19 based on pre-order fulfillments and inbound shipment schedules." Online availability may hit a week sooner, around Dec. 12. So, expect updates over the next couple weeks, we reckon. Pricing is still listed at $499 for the 32GB version of the Transformer Prime, and the 64GB version's going for $599. Read our full Transformer Prime Review
 | ||||||||||
| How-To: Root the Asus Transformer Prime Posted: 30 Nov 2011 06:13 PM PST I'll let you guys in on a little secret -- Phil's not only the Editor of the best damn Android site on the Internet, but he's also a closet Android-geek. By now you know he's had the Asus Transformer Prime for a few days, and one of the things he had to do was root that monster hardware. Turns out it was pretty easy, which is good news for everyone. Using the Razorclaw app from the folks at Androidroot.mobi, it's a one-click solution -- install the apk file, run it, and enjoy the root. Hit the Prime forums for links and details, and be sure to play safe -- at least until someone builds a custom recovery and we have software to roll back to. This one's gonna be fun! Root the Asus Transformer Prime Thanks to the developers at Androidroot.mobi! 
 | ||||||||||
| You are subscribed to email updates from Android Central - Android Forums, News, and Help To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Comments