Android Central |
- Dark Incursion comes to Android, brings steampunk with a dash of Metroid
- Verizon Galaxy Nexus day, ICS when? [From the Forums]
- Adobe Flash Player updated, now supports Ice Cream Sandwich
- Verizon Galaxy Nexus extended battery -- curvy in all the right places
- Facebook app updated, timeline comes to mobile
- Google releases stock images for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus
- Verizon Galaxy Nexus hands-on
- Mobile Nations new iTunes page, Mobile Nations Enterprise launches tomorrow!
- Hey, new Verizon Galaxy Nexus owners, get ready for an update
- Android App Review: OnLive
- Xperia owners will receive 50GB of free storage thanks to Box
- Netflix app gets an update for Ice Cream Sandwich
- Time stones at the ready -- Sonic CD now available for Android
- Archos 35 Home Connect now available for $149
- Sony Ericsson releases Android 4.0 Alpha ROM for Xperia phones
- Verizon Galaxy Nexus now available in the Android Central Phone Store
- Verizon Galaxy Nexus retail price: $649
- Deal of the Day: Qmadix TPU Skin Case for HTC ThunderBolt
- Things to do once you get your Galaxy Nexus
- Day 10 of Google's 10-day, 10-cent, 10 billion app download celebration
- Grand Theft Auto III now available on Android
- Verizon Galaxy Nexus now available online
| Dark Incursion comes to Android, brings steampunk with a dash of Metroid Posted: 15 Dec 2011 04:04 PM PST If you're looking for yet another game to add to your tally, Big Blue Bubba has bought over Dark Incursion to Android. Their self-described "MetroidVania" styled title follows follows Anya as she looks to uncover a conspiracy in 1800s America during a world war. Boasting pixel-based art and stereoscopic 3D (using the ol' red/blue glasses), steampunk art style, and the ability to tug at everyone's love of retro gaming, Dark Incursion looks like something worth checking out. Video and download links are after the break. 
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| Verizon Galaxy Nexus day, ICS when? [From the Forums] Posted: 15 Dec 2011 03:54 PM PST WooHoo! Verizon released the Galaxy Nexus -- finally! Did you get one today? If so -- let us know. We've been celebtrating the release all day in the Android Central forums as many folks are now sharing their thoughts on the long awaited device. Got something to add? Hop on in.
If you're not already a member of the Android Central forums, you can register your account today. 
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| Adobe Flash Player updated, now supports Ice Cream Sandwich Posted: 15 Dec 2011 03:27 PM PST With many of you now armed with a Samsung Galaxy Nexus the folks at Adobe felt it was time to go ahead and update their Adobe Flash Player 11 to include support for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. The notes in the change log confirm there is still some issues that need to be worked out but for the most things should be working fine. If you're looking for the full change log, you can hit up the source link -- otherwise, go grab v11.1.112.60 from the Android Market. Thanks, Adobe, for not making us all wait until the end of the year. Source: Adobe; Thanks to all who sent this in! 
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| Verizon Galaxy Nexus extended battery -- curvy in all the right places Posted: 15 Dec 2011 02:03 PM PST On the left, the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. On the right, also the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. Only, one of these phones has Verizon's 2100 mAh extended battery in it, and the other has the standard 1850 mAh battery that comes with the phone. A few quick thoughts on it:
Check past the break for some hands-on pics and video. And we'll reveal which phone in the picture above has the extended battery. More: Verizon Galaxy Nexus forums 
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| Facebook app updated, timeline comes to mobile Posted: 15 Dec 2011 12:39 PM PST We're really being spoiled of late with Facebook app updates, as today the second update in little over a week went live. The star attraction this time, the ability to access the timeline feature through the app if you already have a timeline. I don't, so hit us up in the comments with your impressions of it. It's not the only new feature to appear though. Notifications have been improved with faster push notifications, faster overall navigation throughout the app, and the ability to play your favourite games and access your favourite apps. 
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| Google releases stock images for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus Posted: 15 Dec 2011 12:09 PM PST Now that you've got your Galaxy Nexus, it's time to tinker. And tinker we shall. We've already showed you how to unlock the bootloader, which you really should do first thing if you have any thoughts at all about one day rooting the phone or using a custom ROM. So if you haven't done that already, go do it. We'll wait. Back? OK. Now this being a Nexus phone, it's way more "open" than anything else you might have owned (other than another Nexus phone, of course). And to that end, Google has just released the factory images for the Verizon Nexus. (Google previously released the GSM images.) That means pretty much no matter what you've done to the phone, so long as you can get to the bootloader (which has that bad-ass image you see above) you can return your phone to full stock. Nice. And we would love to see every manufacturer do this. (We know, we can dream.) Anyhoo, hit the download link below for the factory image for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. And once things get settled in, you'll always be able to find the latest stock factory image for the Galaxy Nexus at Google's Nexus support page here. Download: Android Building group 
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| Posted: 15 Dec 2011 11:37 AM PST So here we have it, the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. Same as the other Galaxy Nexus, only different. Sort of. Slightly. Here's a quick breakdown: From the front, the two phones are indistinguishable. Both have that huge tract of Super AMOLED HD goodness (aka a 4.65-inch display), ear speaker and front-facing camera. The power button, volume rocker and charging contacts are all in the exact same spots. Or at least close enough that we can't tell with the naked eye. Flip the Verizon Galaxy Nexus over, and it's almost identical to the GSM version. The Google logo has been traded in for a Verizon 4G silkscreen. Note that the GSM battery cover is not interchangable with the Verizon version. The tabs that hold it in place are in slightly different positions. So if you have to have that Google logo, you're going to have to work at it a bit. Open the battery cover on the Verizon Galaxy Nexus and you find the biggest visible physical difference. It uses a different battery than the GSM version -- different shape, and it's been upped to 1850 mAh capacity. Verizon's using a micro SIM card for LTE, and it's in a different location, too. You'll also find screens and other design differences back here. That's it for the outside. The internals, of course, are the same, only with a CDMA radio and 4G LTE radio. (Oh, and there's a subtle Qualcomm 4G sticker advertising that fact on the bottom bezel.) Otherwise, same 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 32GB of storage and 1GB of RAM. Ice Cream Sandwich is still Ice Cream Sandwich, though the version number is slightly higher than what we currently see on the GSM Galaxy Nexus thanks to some recent bugfixes. No big deal. We've got more hands-on video and pictures after the break, and a full review forthcoming. 
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| Mobile Nations new iTunes page, Mobile Nations Enterprise launches tomorrow! Posted: 15 Dec 2011 10:54 AM PST We've launched the Mobile Nations network brand, we've launched great new shows like Girls Gone Gadgets and Stock Talk, and while you'd think we'd be happy enough now to take some time off for holiday cheer, we figured we'd throw out just a few more things to celebrate in 2011. Mobile Nations has partnered with iTunes to provide you an all new, all beautiful Mobile Nations artist page where you can find all our latest shows, but our essential audio shows and video shows as well. We've also done a series of Holiday Gift Guide specials, where your favorite editors and hosts share with you their favorite holiday gadgets and gifts. You can find them all at our Mobile Nations Gift Guide page on iTunes. If you haven't already, please take a moment to subscribe to all the shows you enjoy and leave a rating or review, it really helps us out with iTunes! Also, please take a moment to subscribe to our new YouTube channel so you don't miss any of the new shows. Speaking of which... We're launching *another* new show -- Mobile Nations Enterprise with Craig Johnston and Isaac Kendall. It's everything you love about our existing Mobile Nations shows, but targeted specifically at smartphones and tablets in business. From BES to BYOD, massive BlackBerry fleets to iPad deployments, from privacy and security concerns to balancing work and personal usage, this will be your go-to show. Mobile Nations Enterprise launches tomorrow at 8am ET at mobilenations.com/live and we'll have YouTube, RSS, and iTunes links available as soon as possible. So sit back, relax, get your favorite podcatcher warmed up, and get ready for even more amazing Mobile Nations content in 2012! 
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| Hey, new Verizon Galaxy Nexus owners, get ready for an update Posted: 15 Dec 2011 10:50 AM PST
No cause for alarm here, folks, but your brand new Verizon Galaxy Nexus is going to get a little update once it's activated. Bugfixes, mostly. And since you probably haven't actually used the Verizon Galaxy Nexus without this update, you won't really know what you were missing. And before anybody freaks out about it getting an update on Day 1, remember that pre-release updates are hardly unusual. Update it and go about your business. 
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| Posted: 15 Dec 2011 10:45 AM PST
A new era of gaming has finally been reached on Android. No, I'm not talking about the advent of Tegra-3 devices or console-quality games like Shadowgun. I'm talking about OnLive, and being able to stream any number of high-quality games straight to your phone or tablet (barring you have a strong internet connection). For those who aren't aware, OnLive is a free service that lets you stream console games to your device, while all of the hosting is done on OnLive's side of things. It's cool because it removes the need to have a really powerful gaming rig setup, but the downside is you need to be connected to the internet to take advantage of things. You buy games from OnLive (typically at their normal retail price), and then you're good to go. In my experience, you're given 30 minutes of free trial time per game, which is incredibly beneficial, as it lets you see how everything runs on your Android device and if there's issues that'll sully your gameplay experience. So how does OnLive for Android work? Pretty well, actually. Create an account, sign in, and you're taken to the main screen of nine squares. Be aware that sometimes you won't be able to login (like when the servers are under extreme stress) and there's nothing you can do about it. The day the OnLive for Android app launched, I guess people were going to town, because I couldn't sign in until the next day. On those nine squares, there's places to buy new games (Marketplace), edit your profile (Profile), check out recorded gameplay (Brag Clips), and even see which of your friends are playing (Friends), but what we're really interested is how things play. There's two ways to control games in OnLive: with touch (either point-and-tap or virtual joysticks) or with a USB gamepad. OnLive makes and sells a gamepad themselves, but if you've got an old one laying around, it couldn't hurt to check. My Razer Onza controller didn't work, but I've read that other controllers have varying degrees of success, so your mileage may vary. Because I could only check out touch-enabled games, I was a bit limited in what I could review, but for the most part, things were strong overall. Defense Grid Gold was the first game I tried out, and while there happened to be intermittent screen response issues on the menus (presumably because of lag), the gameplay didn't suffer the same fate. Towers were built as I commanded, tiny drones were exploded into bits of exploded robot dust, and the graphics chugged along as though I was playing something downloaded on my tablet. LEGO Batman is a game that fully takes advantage of virtual joysticks and buttons, and while the graphics and gameplay are still pretty solid, there's still the ever-persistent issue of virtual joysticks not being quite as tight as something physical. Sometimes it's hard to judge depth and control your character appropriately, sometimes your thumb just moves too far into the bezel and your character stops moving. Add in a myriad of virtual buttons, and you'll either be stretching your hands out on a tablet or accidentally hitting buttons on a phone's smaller screen. Still, even with those issues, OnLive has made a strong first move into the mobile market, and their app runs really well (as does streaming, for the most part). The biggest complaints I have are with the implementation of the virtual controls, and a fix for that could be a simple as making the buttons smaller when you're on a tablet. Overall, OnLive hits most things really well. I only expect things to get better from here, and the ability to play the latest and greatest on your phone or tablet is just too cool. The OnLive app is free in Android Market. We've got download links after the break. 
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| Xperia owners will receive 50GB of free storage thanks to Box Posted: 15 Dec 2011 10:39 AM PST Sony Ericsson announced this morning that it has teamed up with cloud-based storage app Box to provide all Xperia owners with 50GB of free file storage and sharing for life. If you own an Xperia device (The Xperia X10 and all subsequent models are included), you can download Box from the Android Market and sign up for a free account right on your phone. Once logged in on your Xperia, you'll automatically receive the extra storage space. The promotion runs from now until December 31, 2012 (yes, next year), and all of the details can be found at the source link below. Source: Sony Ericsson 
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| Netflix app gets an update for Ice Cream Sandwich Posted: 15 Dec 2011 09:19 AM PST Just a quick heads up that the Netflix Android app has been updated to support Ice Cream Sandwich devices, as well as get a few bugfixes. Go snag it now in the Android Market. We've got download links after the break. 
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| Time stones at the ready -- Sonic CD now available for Android Posted: 15 Dec 2011 09:06 AM PST SEGA has just released Sonic the Hedgehog CD on Android, as well as a few other platforms. The Android version is available for $1.99 on the US Market, or £1.29 in the UK. Sonic CD, which first appeared on the Mega CD (SEGA CD) back in 1993, is fondly remembered for its fast platform gameplay and over-the-top, J-Pop-inspired soundtrack. A few words of warning, though -- some users are reporting slow playback on certain devices, including the Droid Bionic and the shiny new Samsung Galaxy Nexus. So you may want to hold off if you're planning on playing it on one of those devices. The game worked flawlessly on the handful of Gingerbread devices we tried, however. SEGA has enabled widescreen support too, so you won't have to deal with any black bars. There's also the option to forego the English soundtrack in favor of the crazier Japanese original. Trust us, that's a good thing. Why? The answer, along with the Market link and QR code, lies after the break... 
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| Archos 35 Home Connect now available for $149 Posted: 15 Dec 2011 08:29 AM PST If you're looking for a fun little Android-powered radio, the Archos 35 Home Connect is now available for $149. As you'll recall from our hands-on earlier this year, the Archos 35 Smart Home Phone is a DECT-compliant device running on a 1GHz single-core Texas Instruments OMAP chip. It's got a 3.5-inch LCD display, above which sits a front-facing camera capable of 720p recording. More: Archos 
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| Sony Ericsson releases Android 4.0 Alpha ROM for Xperia phones Posted: 15 Dec 2011 08:23 AM PST Sony Ericsson has become one of the first manufacturers to release an early Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich ROM, hot on the heels of Huawei, which uploaded a test build for the Honor a couple of days ago. The alpha ROM released today supports bootloader-unlocked Xperia Arc S, Xperia Neo V and Xperia Ray handsets, and is intended to give developers a preview of what's to come. Sony Ericsson has of course already confirmed that the entire 2011 Xperia line will be updated to Ice Cream Sandwich in the months ahead. Certain functionality is limited in the alpha ROM, most likely for legal reasons -- there are no Google apps included, and you won't be able to make phone calls, pretty much eliminating the possibility of using the ROM as your daily driver. We suspect some enterprising folks will be hacking away at this soon enough though, with the intention of removing some of these restrictions. If you're not quite brave enough to flash this ROM on your own device, Sony Ericsson has also shot a brief video walkthrough showing off ICS features like the lock screen music controls and task switcher. You'll find it embedded right after the break, while instructions for flashing the alpha ROM can be found at the source link. Source: Sony Ericsson Developer World 
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| Verizon Galaxy Nexus now available in the Android Central Phone Store Posted: 15 Dec 2011 08:18 AM PST If you're looking to buy the Verizon Galaxy Nexus from a name you know and trust, look no further than the Android Central Phone Store, powered by Best Buy Mobile. We've got the Verizon Galaxy Nexus with its 4.65-inch display and Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich available in two-year individual or family plans. Check it out! 
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| Verizon Galaxy Nexus retail price: $649 Posted: 15 Dec 2011 07:47 AM PST If you're looking to buy the Verizon Galaxy Nexus off-contract, get ready to fork over some bills. It's $299 on contract (and you can find it some places for less), it'll run you $649 if you pay full retail. That's actually a tad less than the quad-band GSM version that's still available for importing. More: Verizon Galaxy Nexus forums 
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| Deal of the Day: Qmadix TPU Skin Case for HTC ThunderBolt Posted: 15 Dec 2011 07:40 AM PST The Dec. 15 Deal of the Day is the Qmadix TPU Skin Case for HTC ThunderBolt. It's got a durable, flexible TPU material with a form-fitting design, gives you a little extra grip and is easy to install. The smooth fininsh makes it easy to pull your phone out of a pocket or handback. It's available today only for just $4.95 -- that's 75 percent off -- in either black, blue, red, purple or clear. Get yours while supplies last! 
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| Things to do once you get your Galaxy Nexus Posted: 15 Dec 2011 05:44 AM PST It feels like forever, but the Verizon Galaxy Nexus is finally among us. Hopefully, everyone who wants one was able to get out and grab a GNex of their very own, and have been fooling around with it wanting it to hurry up and charge (hint -- it will charge faster if you leave it alone!). Now it's time to get serious, and there's a few things you should do right away with your new shiny. Hit the break and read along! 
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| Day 10 of Google's 10-day, 10-cent, 10 billion app download celebration Posted: 15 Dec 2011 04:56 AM PST Here 'tis, folks. The final day of Google's 10-cent app promotion, celebrating (more than) 10 billion downloads from the Android Market. The final day sadly has a couple more repeat apps, but we're not about to turn down a 10-cent app. Here you go:
Also: Day 1 apps, Day 2 apps, Day 3 apps, Day 4 apps, 
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| Grand Theft Auto III now available on Android Posted: 15 Dec 2011 04:43 AM PST Sex, guns, drugs, violence -- and that's just in the splash screen. Yes, folks, Grand Theft Auto III is now available on Android as part of Rockstar Games' 10th anniverssary celebration of the game. It's been optimized for touchscreens. But if you've got an Android device that suppports USB controllers, you can rock one of them as well. (And Rockstar's promising support soon for the Galaxy Nexus. It'll cost you $4.99 and a few hours of your life. We've got download links after the break. 
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| Verizon Galaxy Nexus now available online Posted: 14 Dec 2011 10:09 PM PST More in the Verizon Galaxy Nexus forumsThe wait is over, and you can now order the Verizon Galaxy Nexus online! Many will say it's a month late, many will say there never was a date, but none of that matters now, and you'll all have soon forgotten. Things change when you get the shiny Nexus feeling in your hands, the birds sing more, the sun shines brighter, dogs and cats lie together in harmony, you get the idea. Like all good things in life though, this one isn't free. It will set you back $299 with a new contract, but that's the same as any high-end LTE phone available on Big Red. What are you waiting for? Go grab one!
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