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May, 2011 Articles

HTC Says Early Flyer Sales Are Good

by Quentyn Kennemer on May 18th, 2011

Despite the HTC Flyer not being an Android 3.0 tablet, HTC says early sales are doing quite good for themselves. The industry was worried that – due to pricing and no adoption of Google’s tablet-specific operating system – the Flyer wouldn’t take off. Despite fear-mongering from certain industry players, HTC believes that the tablet market [...]

LG Optimus 3Ds For Sale on eBay

by Quentyn Kennemer on May 18th, 2011

Last week at Google I/O, several lucky souls walked away from an LG-thrown event with one of their most innovative phones to date – the Optimus 3D. We didn’t get in on it ourselves, but some of those who did didn’t care to keep the device and are instead selling several of their units on [...]

Nexus S 4G vs EVO 4G in Speed Test on Video [Hint: Nexus Lost... Big Time]

by Quentyn Kennemer on May 18th, 2011

Yesterday, we were notified of some issues with the Nexus S 4G’s data radios. Many users at Sprint’s support forums reported a lack of data connectivity and very weak or slow signals. Sprint acknowledged that an anomaly was indeed going on and that they’d be looking into the issue. But just how bad is this [...]

Google Pushing Fix for Personal Data Security Exploit

by Kevin Krause on May 18th, 2011

Yesterday we caught wind of an issue with Android versions 2.3.3 and earlier that saw stored authTokens leaking personal data over unencrypted networks. As you might expect, Google is responding quickly to the problem that they already addressed in Android 2.3.4 and higher, but still affects 99 percent of handsets running their mobile OS. The [...]

AT&T confirms non-Market app sideloading coming to existing Android devices

by Kevin Krause on May 18th, 2011

When the Samsung Infuse 4G launched with the ability to install unsigned apps from third-party sources, a long-standing policy with AT&T was reversed. In every Android release up until the Infuse, AT&T had blocked the capability over concerns for user security. A recently leaked document suggested the carrier would be retro-actively enabling what has come [...]

The 10-inch Dell Streak Pro gets detailed

by Kevin Krause on May 18th, 2011

Rumor has it the Dell Streak Pro is coming in June, and just in time we are learning a few more details on the 10-inch entry into Dell’s Android tablet lineup. Speaking of that 10-inch display, it should get a resolution of 1280×800, a fairly standard pixel density among the latest crop of tablets. Under [...]

PayPal for Android to receive Mobile Check Capture

by Kevin Krause on May 18th, 2011

You know that fancy ability to snap a picture of a check with your smartphone’s camera and have the funds automatically deposited into your PayPal account? The feature that iPhone users have had since last October? It is making its way to Android today through a soon-to-be released update to the platform’s PayPal app. The [...]

Pantech Vega Racer first phone with 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon

by Kevin Krause on May 18th, 2011

Pantech has plans to launch the Vega Racer, what should be the world’s first 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon handset, later this month in their native Korea. The phone headed to SK-Telekom rocks the Qualcomm MSM8660 next to its Adreno 220 GPU and 1GB of RAM, enough power to make any smartphone user drool. The phone remains [...]

Asus upping Eee Pad Transformer production ‘over the coming weeks’

by Kevin Krause on May 18th, 2011

If you haven’t been able to get your hands on the elusive Asus Eee Pad Transformer, you’re not alone. Many a Android fan seeking a reasonably priced Honeycomb tablet have been having quite the time trying to track one down. The problem is Asus is having a hard time keeping up with the demand, but [...]

Android Call To Arms: Help Improve the Android Market with Better Categories

by Chris Chavez on May 18th, 2011

A member on Reddit by the name of BugNinja has brought to light an issue that’s fast becoming a problem on the Android Market and is asking users everywhere to help. The problem? Apparently the Android Market place is in bad need of better and more app categories for gaming apps. As gaming becomes bigger [...]

Official: Motorola Droid X2 launching May 26 for $199, available online May 19

by Kevin Krause on May 18th, 2011

Verizon has just announced its second Android handset to get a release on May 26th, the Motorola Droid X2. The dual-core smartphone will be priced at the standard $199.99 on a new two-year contract and will be available for purchase online May 19th (the 26th date is the in-store launch). Though rumors suggested the device [...]

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 gets a pre-order along with Galaxy S WiFi

by Kevin Krause on May 18th, 2011

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is now up for pre-order via J&R, signaling that the tablet — the one that was handed out as a limited edition variant at Google I/O — shouldn’t be too far off from release. While the J&R page simply states “Coming Soon,” the slim Honeycomb tablet with Tegra 2 processor [...]

Android Overload: China Gets A TV Set With Android 2.2, Twitter Updates Mobile Web Site and More

by Chris Chavez on May 18th, 2011

Good evening, Phandroids! Lots of great news was posted today. I, for one, got my Android chonies all in a bunch over T-Mobile’s leaked roadmap. But for every great post on our site, there’s always some “smaller” that couldn’t let slip through the cracks. And for those that don’t like letting anything get passed them, [...]

Vodafone New Zealand hoaxed stolen Xperia Play shipment as part of marketing ploy

by Kevin Krause on May 18th, 2011

The whole story seemed a bit fishy. How exactly could an entire shipment of Sony Ericsson Xperia Play handsets manage to fall into the hands of a thief, delaying the launch of the new Android smartphone for Vodafone New Zealand? The carrier posted up some “security footage” of the “heist” and let’s just say the [...]

Sprint Does It Again With Hilarious TV Spot For The Nexus S

by Chris Chavez on May 17th, 2011

Looks like it’s that time again… Time for some fun Android videos from across the internets! This time featuring yet another great Android tv-spot from Sprint. Say what you will about the carrier’s coverage (or reasonable pricing options), but these guys know how to rep Android and they rep it well. Whether it was their [...]

Leaked Roadmap: T-Mobile Shows No Signs Of Slowing Down

by Chris Chavez on May 17th, 2011

With the buyout of T-Mobile by AT&T you would expect them to begin slacking off. I can picture employees at their desks throwing papers airplanes and letting the phone ring off the hook. Well, I guess T-Mobile is treating this whole “merger business” like it may never happen. Take this leaked roadmap for instance. It’s [...]

Nvidia Co-Founder Sees Android Tablets Eventually Dominating The iPad

by Chris Chavez on May 17th, 2011

Reuters was holding a Global Technology Summit yesterday where they invited speakers from the some of the biggest companies in the world to talk about the future of tech. It was here that Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia’s co-founder sounded off on the future of Android tablets. According to Jen, he sees Android tablets completely dominating and [...]

Updated Tiamat Kernel For Motorola Xoom Brings Tegra 2 To A Screaming 1.6GHz

by Chris Chavez on May 17th, 2011

If you don’t know by now, Android has probably one of the greatest developer communities in the world. You gotta give these guys a pat on the back. They can single handedly breath new life into aging hardware making it feel better than the day you bought it. One such dev over on XDA, Tiamat, [...]

Download: LG Revolution User Guide

by Quentyn Kennemer on May 17th, 2011

Just as soon as the LG Revolution got a rumored launch date of May 26th, this user guide has found its way into the hands of Droid-Life. Yep, it’s still Bing’d. And you had to guess Netflix would still be supported. Everything else is as you’d expect, though – it’s a 4G LTE device, has [...]

ASUS Transformer and Acer Iconia Tab to Get Android 3.1 Early June

by Quentyn Kennemer on May 17th, 2011

Folks who are worried about after-market support from the OEMs who’ve sold them the latest tablets need not worry anymore – they’re delivering. It’s being reported that both ASUS and Acer will be delivering Android 3.1 to their tablets early June. Google made mention of the update at Google I/O, if you don’t remember, and [...]