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April, 2011 Articles

Rogers’ Xperia Play and Arc Now Available for Pre-Order at Best Buy

by Quentyn Kennemer on April 15th, 2011

The folks at Rogers already confirmed that the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play and Xperia Arc would be coming April 28th after a very accurate rumor and now Best Buy has put the phones up for pre-sale. You can throw $50 down on each and Best Buy will hold one for you whenever they come in. [...]

Hanspree: There Are Hardware Requirements for Android 3.0

by Quentyn Kennemer on April 15th, 2011

A while back, way before the first Honeycomb device was released, it was rumored that the tablet-specific version of Android would require certain specs. A dual-core processor was amongst the most infamous of them, but other things such as minimum resolutions, amounts of RAM and internal storage, and more were rumored to be subject to [...]

LauncherPro Widget Skins Support Goes Into Beta

by Quentyn Kennemer on April 15th, 2011

Good ol’ Federico Carnales – developer of LauncherPro – has just announced that support for applying custom skins to widgets would eventually make its way to the launcher replacement. He’s already made the beta available and has published Eclipse sample files for skin makers to get their feet wet before he’s ready to release the [...]

Wordsmith is Today’s Free App of the Day on Amazon [Scrabble Clone]

by Quentyn Kennemer on April 15th, 2011

Wordsmith – one of several scrabble clones for Android – is now available as a free download on the Android market for the day. It’s normally $2.50 and is not bad for a game that seemingly came out of nowhere way back when. Most folks are writing it off as a Words With Friends copycat, [...]

Samsung Releases Froyo Source Code for Fascinate Before Verizon Can Issue OTA [Slap in the Face]

by Quentyn Kennemer on April 15th, 2011

If this isn’t just the funnie- I mean, most cruel thing ever, then I don’t know what is. Samsung has gone ahead and published the Samsung Fascinate’s Froyo source code well before Verizon has made mention of its official OTA upgrade. Yea, I can see you steaming over there. You shouldn’t be, though, because source [...]

Chinese Androids Accounted for 64% of All Phones Affected By Malware

by Quentyn Kennemer on April 15th, 2011

Well isn’t this surprising? (Hint: sarcasm.) NetQin – provider of mobile security services – are reporting some interesting numbers about malware and who was affected by it. Of all Androids affected by some form of malware, 64% of them were Chinese-owned and -bred devices. It’s unfortunate but not surprising considering that’s where most malware originate. [...]

Motorola XOOM WiFi to be Offered by Telus April 19th

by Quentyn Kennemer on April 15th, 2011

Telus looks to be offering the Motorola XOOM WiFi from their own shelves starting April 19th. It’ll cost as much as the unit in America does – $599.99. And there really isn’t a whole lot to say about it because it’s the same device. Telus won’t be injecting any 3G radios into this one so [...]

Murmurs of an Android-Based Walkman Phone Stir Back Up [Sony Ericsson W15]

by Quentyn Kennemer on April 15th, 2011

We’ve heard this one before – Sony Ericsson’s looking to introduce a Walkman phone and it looks to be based on Android. This particular model should be called the Walkman W15, but there is no evidence to go on outside of this janky-looking box. It’s not totally out of question to hear Sony Ericsson would [...]

More of Samsung Galaxy S II’s Motion Gestures Shown Off [Video]

by Quentyn Kennemer on April 15th, 2011

We already knew you could zoom in and out and flip from homescreen to homescreen by moving the phone on the new Samsung Galaxy S II, but we didn’t know there were two more motion-based gestures added into the mix. One simply allows you to silence an incoming call but putting your phone face down [...]

T-Mobile Expects to Have Limited Sidekick 4G Supply at Launch

by Quentyn Kennemer on April 15th, 2011

T-Mobile’s warning their employees that stock of the T-Mobile Sidekick 4G will be limited directly after launch and to direct their customers that they’ll have a lot more two weeks afterward. It’s a usual tactic used not only by carriers, but retailers and OEMs to “test the waters”, if you will. They don’t want to [...]

XOOM Launch Kicks Off in UK Thanks to Amazon, But Already Sold Out [Bummer]

by Quentyn Kennemer on April 15th, 2011

We all knew Motorola’s Honeycomb tablet – the XOOM – would be making its way ‘cross the pond, but it’s been reportedly hard to find in stores as most aren’t advertising it or don’t have it in stock yet. Amazon has gone ahead and put the thing up for sale if you’re wanting to get [...]

T-Mobile G2x Now Available Online

by Quentyn Kennemer on April 15th, 2011

It’s Friday morning and that could only mean one thing this morning – the T-Mobile G2X is on sale! You can head over to T-Mobile’s website right now and order their version of the LG Optimus 2X for $199.99 after a two-year contract. (Applicable to all, mail-in rebates may apply.) The Tegra 2 device was [...]

Tonight In Android [4/14/11]

by Chris Chavez on April 15th, 2011

Instead of my normal nightly posts, I have decided to give you tonight’s Android news in video form! Trying something a little different from the same ‘ol, same ‘ol. News can be kind of skimpy during these wee night hours so I figured it might be easier for you to just kickback and watch a [...]

Google Earnings Call: Android Activations at 350,000 Daily, 3 Billion Apps Installed from Android Market

by Kevin Krause on April 14th, 2011

Today during their Q1 earnings call, Google’s Jeff Huber provided some insight onto the current state of Android activations and app installs. The number of devices activated daily equals some 350,000 handsets. And with all of these activations the number of app installs from the Android Market have increased by 50 percent since the final [...]

New Leaks Confirms April 28th for HTC Droid Incredible 2 Launch

by Kevin Krause on April 14th, 2011

You might remember a supposed Verizon roadmap from a couple weeks back that gave April 28th as the launch date for the HTC Droid Incredible 2. With marketing materials already hitting stores, speculation was mounting that the handset might actually land on April 21st. Now a new leak from inside Verizon’s computer system has back [...]

Walmart’s Droid Charge Price Tag Shows Verizon Was Serious about that $300 Two-Year Pricing

by Kevin Krause on April 14th, 2011

When leaks first suggested the Samsung DROID Charge would have a price point of $299.99 on a two-year contract, many scratched their heads and wondered how Verizon thought they could get away with it. Was the pricing not including some sort of rebate to be applied at the time of purchase? According to new pricing [...]

Motorola Droid Pro Due for an Imminent Update? [Update: Rolling Out Now]

by Kevin Krause on April 14th, 2011

[Update]: The update in question appears to be rolling out now to some handsets. Head over to Verizon’s site for all the info on the new software (version 3.8.7.XT610), which includes improved ActiveSync support and access to the VCAST Appstore. According to a response to a posting in their official support forums, there is “an [...]

Game Developers Express Distaste with Amazon Appstore Pricing Policies

by Kevin Krause on April 14th, 2011

An email sent to members of the International Game Developers Association today, the organization took issue with the pricing of games on the Amazon Appstore, claiming the retailer is using “developer’s content as a weapon with which to capture marketshare from competing app stores.” The statement contends that Amazon’s pricing policies will have a negative [...]

Android 2.3 Gingerbread with Sense UI Leaks for HTC EVO 4G

by Kevin Krause on April 14th, 2011

A few days after hearing the EVO 4G is included in HTC’s plans for devices receiving the Android Gingerbread update, what appears to be an official build with the Sense UI layer on top had leaked. The leak comes in the form of a system dump that the boys over at XDA Developers are already [...]

First Shots of the Eco-Friendly Samsung Replenish Emerge

by Kevin Krause on April 14th, 2011

Earlier today we learned Sprint would be hosting a press event tomorrow focusing on green in the wireless industry tomorrw, April 15th. The plan is to unveil the eco-friendly Samsung Replenish at that event. Just a day shy of the official announcement, the first press shots of the phone have come online via Samsung, accompanied [...]