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March, 2011 Articles

Vimeo to Bring Newly-Announced iPhone App to Android

by Quentyn Kennemer on March 29th, 2011

The coders at Vimeo have today announced the launch of their new official application for the iPhone. I know, I know – it’s not Android. They’re bringing this thing over to Android devices eventually, though, and what they’ve done with version 1.0 is excellent. (And even calling it that is an understatement.) Features include the [...]

Confirmed: Verizon’s Samsung 4G LTE Android Will Be DROID-Branded [Samsung DROID Charge]

by Quentyn Kennemer on March 29th, 2011

Verizon and Samsung still have yet to offiically announce this device with a name, but our earlier beliefs of it being DROID-branded seems to be true if this new promotional image is anything to go by. The name itself still hasn’t been confirmed, but Samsung DROID Charge has been thrown around for quite a while [...]

New York Attorney General to Investigate Proposed AT&T/T-Mobile Deal

by Quentyn Kennemer on March 29th, 2011

If Sprint’s public and formal disapproval of AT&T’s proposed purchasing of T-Mobile for $39 billion wasn’t enough, New York attorney general  Eric Schneiderman is looking to investigate the matter himself. He states his efforts will be to ensure that the New Yorkers he represents aren’t hit with unfair mobile price hikes due to the deal. [...]

Need Fring on Your Motorola ATRIX 4G or HTC Thunderbolt? [Downloads]

by Quentyn Kennemer on March 29th, 2011

Looks like Fring is just about to introduce an update to their application to add support for the market’s newest video-chatting capable phones – the Motorola Atrix 4G and the HTC Thunderbolt. They’ve opened up a limited beta to add support for these devices and – to the dismay of Fring – the .APK file [...]

Motorola DROID X & DROID 2 Gingerbread ROMs Rooted

by Quentyn Kennemer on March 29th, 2011

The one downside to the leaked Gingerbread update files that were put on the internet yesterday for the Motorola Droid 2 and DROID X courtesy of P3Droid, TeamBlackHat and the folks at MyDroidWorld is the fact that it wasn’t rooted. It was a small price to pay for many who just wanted to get stepped [...]

Samsung’s Unique Motion-Based Gestures Shown Off [Video]

by Quentyn Kennemer on March 29th, 2011

For one reason or another Samsung didn’t give us this close of a look at some unique features they’ve developed for TouchWiz 4.0 on the Samsung Galaxy S II. They’ve put some of the device’s sensors to work to allow you to do things such as pinch-to-zoom in the web browser and switching homescreens simply [...]

HTC Desire HD Gingerbread Update Pegged for April by French Carrier SFR

by Kevin Krause on March 29th, 2011

HTC has been pretty clear that they plan to launch and update to Android 2.3 Gingerbread for their Desire HD in Europe, but the only official timeframe they have so far discussed has been the rather broad range of spring. According to French carrier SFR it may be coming sooner rather than later, with a [...]

Firefox 4 Now Available for Android

by Kevin Krause on March 29th, 2011

Though it has been in the Android Market as a beta and release candidate for a little while now, today Mozilla has officially announced the final release of Firefox 4 for Android. The release includes Firefox Sync, Mozilla’s tool for sharing browsing history, bookmarks, current tabs, and passwords between desktop instances of Firefox and your [...]

HTC Merge to Cellular South, First Phone to Feature Amazon Appstore Pre-Installed

by Kevin Krause on March 29th, 2011

We knew the HTC Merge was headed for multiple carriers in the US, but other than Alltel (and maybe Verizon at some point), it was unclear exactly where to expect the slide-out QWERTY handset. One more option has been revealed, as Cellular South has announced they will begin carrying the Merge sometime in April, though [...]

Android to Grow to Almost 50% Share as Smartphone Market Doubles by 2015, Says IDC

by Kevin Krause on March 29th, 2011

International Data Corporation has released their forecast for the worldwide smartphone market into the next year and beyond, and once again things are looking just peachy for Android. The analytics firm is predicting smartphone shipments to rise to 450 million 2011, a gain on 2010′s 303.4 million units shipped. Some of those 450 million handsets [...]

Lenovo’s Second Generation LePad Slated for Fall, According to CEO

by Kevin Krause on March 29th, 2011

The Lenovo LePad isn’t due for its global launch until June, but already CEO Yang Yuanqing is talking up the tablet’s successor. Without revealing much, Yuanqing said to expect the next LePad to land in September or October of this year, less than 5 months after the original. The second-generation LePad — said to be [...]

Amazon UK Has Samsung Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi Shipping March 31st

by Kevin Krause on March 29th, 2011

Spoiler alert: Even with its slightly lower price, the Android 2.2, 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab Wi-Fi comes as too little/too late. With rumors giving it an April 4th release in the United States (though little has been heard to corroborate this), Amazon UK is showing the Wi-Fi only version of their original Galaxy Tab as [...]

Gameloft Shows Off Video Montage of Sony Ericsson Xperia Play Launch Titles

by Kevin Krause on March 29th, 2011

Gameloft will have ten titles available for purchase alongside the launch of the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play, and they want everyone to know it. Enter the above montage video featuring their lineup of “HD” games including the likes of Spider-Man: Total Mayhem, Modern Combat 2: Black Pegasus, Let’s Golf! 2, and Asphalt 6: Adrenaline. Looking [...]

MiKandi Mirrors Android Market Moves, Introduces In-App Billing this Week

by Kevin Krause on March 29th, 2011

Steve Jobs must be rolling in his grave (wait, is he still alive?). Just as the “legitimate” Android Market has introduced their in-app billing system, MiKandi, has brought the feature to their rogue source of adults-only apps. Powered by MiKandi Gold, the virtual currency of this world of smut and sin, users can now make purchases [...]

Upcoming Sony Ericsson Xperia Phones to Feature Unlockable Bootloaders

by Kevin Krause on March 29th, 2011

If the back and forth struggle with manufacturers to provide device that allow easier development seems like its going nowhere fast, Sony Ericsson’s latest announcement might change that tune slightly. While other companies — Motorola with their XOOM and Samsung with the Nexus S — have taken small steps towards better relations with developers, SE [...]

There Is Something Fishy About the Mobile Hotspot in the Leaked Gingerbread for Motorola Droid X and 2 [Blunders]

by Kevin Krause on March 29th, 2011

If you have been toying around with the leaked build of Android 2.3 Gingerbread for the Motorola Droid X or Droid 2, try this out: when you first launch the official Verizon 3G Mobile Hotspot application you will be greeted with the standard warning of impacted battery life and increased data usage. Only, the application [...]

HTC Thunderbolt Source Code Released

by Kevin Krause on March 29th, 2011

Though some complaints have arisen in the Android developer community that HTC doesn’t open source the code for their new handsets fast enough (the argument is that according to the GPLv2, source should be released at the same time as the new device), the kernel for the still fresh Thunderbolt has come online. Now those [...]

Amazon Launches Cloud Player for Streaming Music on Web and Android

by Kevin Krause on March 29th, 2011

A cloud-based version of iTunes is said to be in the works. Google Music was first touted almost a year ago. So which company is first to offer streaming over the cloud of your music files? Amazon? Huh? That’s right, Amazon is on a roll these days, launching their Cloud Player service a week after [...]

Things We Missed, You Shouldn’t [March 28th]

by Quentyn Kennemer on March 28th, 2011

Got a case of the Mondays? Nothing like a good bit of Android news to distract you from another week of the daily grind. The good news is it’s almost Tuesday, spring is warming up, and we are nearing the release of handsets and tablets ranging from the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play to the LG [...]

HTC France Confirms EVO 3D Will Come to Europe

by Kevin Krause on March 28th, 2011

Last week we saw the freshly announced HTC EVO 3D for Sprint’s CDMA network show up on HTC’s website with unannounced GSM radios, suggesting a European release could be in its future. Today, HTC France is confirming the phone will make its way to Europe, though no release date has been decided. It seems the [...]