Samsung’s Galaxy S 4G, the Vibrant’s long lost, big brother, is set to hit Walmart shelves later this month. At a price $148.88 with a new 2yr contract it starts out cheaper and more feature packed than the Vibrant did. Sporting a front facing camera and 4G capabilities, it’s really just a mild upgrade, but should suffice for those wanting something to replace their Vibrant, or for those who wanted more than what Samsung was offering on T-Mobile. I suppose it could also be a nice choice for those who desire the richness of that Super AMOLED, however don’t wanna wait for the Galaxy S2. With MWC 2011 around the corner and all the rumors and leaks flying around I’m sure everyone just wants something new. Anybody looking at picking up this phone?
Samsung Galaxy S Quick Specs:
Android 2.2 Froyo
4″ Super AMOLED touchscreen
1Ghz A8 Processor
Front Facing VGA, Rear Facing 5MP camera with 720P Video recording and playback
16GB internal flash memory expandable to 32GB via micro-SD
This weekend brings the Super Bowl and an early teaser level for the upcoming movie tie-in Angry Birds Rio, but you won’t have to wait much longer to get even more new levels to waste away your days on. For Valentine’s Day, Rovio will be offering an update to their Angry Birds Seasons that will bring a whole batch of new, love-themed levels to distract you as you wolf down ice cream and cry about not having a date.
Rovio knows not to mess with a winning formula, so don’t expect any earth-shattering changes in gameplay. If you want to see a bit more skin before you take the plunge, however, here are some sneak peek screens courtesy of AllThingsD.
Well, I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Google has confirmed that dreadful and unwanted news of Honeycomb not coming to your smartphone. A company spokesman was asked the question whether or not Honeycomb 3.0 would make its way to handsets, Andrew Kovacs said “no…Google’s Android 3.0 or “Honeycomb” is a tablet-only OS, for now.”
It kind of makes sense though, doesn’t it? According to various portions of the SDK, it was clear that some aspects of the source code was clearly optimized for larger form factors. It raised numerous questions as to how this could possibly be delivered to handsets.
As we mentioned earlier today, and then later followed up with, by our own Micheal Murphy, Google held a Honeycomb event, where the company presented some new and upcoming features. Honeycomb wasn’t the only news at the event however, as Hugo Barra handed the mic over to Chris Yerga, Android’s Engineering Director for cloud services. Yerga kicked off his portion of the conference by stating that they were making changes to the market, changes that will “meet the needs” of both users and developers. One such change will be In-App purchases. We should expect to see things like purchasing music, upgrading to other versions of apps, adding extra levels or content to applications and even using virtual currencies, all within other apps.
Disney Mobile was also present at the conference as they showed In-App purchasing in action with their Tap Tap Revenge application. Yerga showed, while in the application itself, the ability to purchase a song from the market. It doesn’t take a genius to see how this can benefit both users and developers alike. Let us know what you think in the comments below. And if you missed the event earlier, no problem, you can hit the break where we’ve embedded the video from Google’s YouTube Page for you to view it in its entirety.
Well, it’s probably not the most popular decision, but Tmo and Samsung officially announced the Vibrant 4G. As expected, it’s more or less exactly like the original Vibrant, with Froyo, an HSPA+ radio, front-facing camera, and T-Mobile TV. There’s no official date or pricing, but we do know it’ll be available in February, so we expect to see it within the next few weeks. In the press release, Tmobile touts their 4G speeds until they can’t tout them anymore. Tmo also announced that they’ve launched HSPA+ in 8 new cities, including Chattanooga, TN, and Rochester, MN.
There’s not much to say on this one. It follows the whole Vibrant-Froyo fiasco from a few weeks ago. But since we first got word of this device, hell hath frozen over, as the original Vibrant got its precious Froyo. Anyone going to pick one of these up when it launches? Anyone going to buy one just to throw it on the ground and spit in Samsung’s face? Sound off in the comments! You can check out the full press release below.
Before you go thinking this is an Angry Birds game based on an Angry Birds movie, you might want to look a bit more into the upcoming filmRio. Though the two aren’t directly related, its distributor 20th Century Fox and Rovio have teamed up to combine their bird-themed franchises into a single entity. Coming this March, Angry Bird Rio will offer 45 new levels of Angry Birds based around the characters and events of the new movie.
We’re sure gameplay will be the same as ever, but don’t expect to see any of it in the below trailer that serves only to show us how the Angry Birds made it to Rio and got mixed up with the characters from the film in the first place. We aren’t too interested in the movie, but any more Angry Birds is a blessing we will take without questioning.
One of the first apps for Android — and best friend for shoppers everywhere — is getting a major overhaul with the launch of ShopSavvy 4. The updated app will be available tomorrow and brings some big changes to the app that so many Android users have become familiar with. The first thing you will notice is the main interface now bares a striking resemblance to the new Android Market, right down to the curves and menu items. A live “scans happening now” feature shows you what other ShopSavvy users are scanning.
A new Live Deals stream showcases deals located by other users, while new partners like Groupon offer even more savings while you shop. Features like this should make you a truly savvy shopper, but revamped scanning technology providing twice as fast performance supporting both fixed focal length and variable focal length cameras really gives your scanning prowess a boost. It doesn’t even matter how the phone is oriented — full 360 degree scanning is supported.
This really is a major update that will take some getting used to if you are a big ShopSavvy user, but from what we have seen it will be well worth giving some time to figure out. The look and feel of the app mimicking the Android Market is making us think Google may have updated some of their “best use” suggestions. They once were setup to suggest apps that resulted in the stellar official Twitter app, but I digress…
ShopSavvy 4. I’ll throw the QR and other info below for now, but you’ll want to check it out tomorrow to get the goods.
While European countries are left with nothing but pre-order options and while those of us in North America are wondering if and when we’ll be seeing the device, Koreans have the opportunity to go out and purchase the LG Optimus 2X right now. Yay! But the story here is the white version of the phone that this beautiful Korean lady is sitting next to – one Engadget says should be available sometime in February. (The phone, not the girl.) The phone is available right now via SK Telecom. [via IT Today (Google Translate)]
HTC is adding to its European lineup with the HTC Gratia, which is very similar to its American cousin the HTC Aria.
The HTC Gratia is redesigned to be lighter, but features the same 600 MHz CPU and 384MB RAM as the HTC Legend. Based on promotional images of the device, the Gratia seems to be running the old version of HTC Sense rather than the newer Sense 2.0. There is also no confirmation as to which version of Android the Gratia will ship with. The HTC press release states Android 2.2, while the phone’s spec page on HTC.com lists Android 2.1.
The HTC Gratia is set for release next month in the UK.
There was a rumor going ’round that the US-based Galaxy S phones weren’t going to see the Froyo update, and that it was a cost/political issue. While we never really bought it here at Talkandroid, it was a popular rumor until a few days ago, when Phonescoop reported otherwise. We were pleased to hear that rumor was bogus, not only because it never really made sense, but because it would’ve been pretty underhanded of everyone involved. Well, today, both T-Mobile and Sprint have made statements regarding Froyo updates on their Galaxy S devices. Read More…
We’ve been hearing a lot lately about whether or not the Nexus One will ever see some Gingerbread love, but Google wants you to know that the update to 2.3 is coming soon.
Due to the fact that the N1 is a “purely developer” phone, we would have expected to see Gingerbread on it not too terribly long after release. The device got 2.2 love just 6 days after the source code release of Froyo, making it the first device to officially receive it. So now everyone wants to know – where’s Gingerbread?
Google’s response is to simply keep on keeping on. They say that it’s on the way, and rumors are circulating that “there have been no unexpected hurdles and that the rollout should be starting soon.”
What are your thoughts on the updates for the Nexus One? Be sure to let us know in the comments.
Looks like Google’s cloud-based music service may actually be headed to Android devices in the near future. The leaked image is causing quite a ruckus and has people in the Android community buzzing.
This isn’t really anything new as we’ve had third party cloud based services on Android devices for a while now, but with Google doing it directly, it will make the overall user experience much better.
Early builds of Gingerbread haven’t seen this feature yet, but we could see this feature in a future update. It appears that the new feature will be in the Accounts & Sync settings. Where you would normally select to sync your contacts, calendar, pictures and mail, you would be given a music option as well.
What do you think about this new feature? Leave a comment and share.
Users who don’t mind jailbreaking their phone, can also install MyWi to enable WiFi tethering. The MyWi website says it will work with all jailbroken iPhones (including 2G/3G/3GS/4) and iPad on 3.1.2 or later.
WiFi HD. Turns your iOS device into a Wi-Fi hard drive. Connect to a Wi-Fi network and bring up the app. Then you can browse and manage the files on your device via a web browser on any other device or computer connected to the same Wi-Fi network.
Air Sharing. Like WiFi HD, this app turns your device into a Wi-Fi hard drive. In addition to being able to view and manage files via a Web browser, you can mount it as a drive in Windows, Mac or Linux for even easier access.
Walkie Talkie. Lets you talk between two iOS devices. Just connect to the same Wi-Fi network, open the app, and it will automatically connect the devices. Then just press the button to talk.
WiFi-Where. Scans the air waves and shows all the nearby Wi-Fi networks and their details, such as SSID, signal (including raw RSSI), encryption status, and MAC address.
yFy Network Finder. Another WiFi stumbler. In addition to a text listing, you can see a map view of detected spots.
According to a recent tweet, Virgin Mobile USA will be updating their Samsung Intercept to Android 2.2 “sometime this spring.” The Intercept is relatively new to to VM’s lineup, arriving only back in October of 2010. If they stick to their word it could set a new record for getting Android 2.2 to a Samsung phone, but we’re not holding out breath. More details are sure to come out in the coming months.
Google’s URL shortening service, goo.gl, has added an API, giving third-party developers a way to integrate the service into their own apps. The new API means Twitter clients and other apps that use short URLs can hook into goo.gl just like they do bit.ly and dozens of other shorteners.
The goo.gl API is, like most Google APIs, a RESTful JSON-based API. There are only three real methods — insert, list and get — but that’s enough info for apps to shorten and expand URLs, as well as fetch history and analytics for shortened links.
The goo.gl shortener is a late entry into an already crowded field, but of course the Google name carries a good bit of weight so you can expect most Twitter clients to add goo.gl to their list of URL shortening options. The goo.gl shortener also has a couple of nice extras like QR codes and, according to stat tracking site Pingdom, it’s both the fastest and most reliable URL shortener out there.
If you’d like to play with the new service, the API documentation and developer guide can be found on the Google Labs site. And yes, the API is a labs project and may be subject to change before it graduates into a real web service.
If you are a fan of Hulu and Hulu plus, and you carry an Android device around with you, there is reason to celebrate. During the Samsung Keynote at CES, Hulu’s CEO announced that they are working to bring the Hulu Plus subscription service to “select Android phones”.
Since we launched Hulu Plus, it’s been our goal to continue to add more platforms and devices to the subscription service to offer you as many ways as possible to stream the shows you want, whenever you want. We’re excited to share the following news.
During Samsung’s keynote at CES today, Hulu CEO Jason Kilar announced for the first time that Hulu is working to bring the Hulu Plus subscription service to select Android™ phones (running Android OS 2.2), and gave the audience a sneak peek at the Hulu Plus Android app during the presentation. Hulu Plus will be available on select Android mobile phones in coming months; we’ll announce further details as soon as we have an official launch date and complete list of Hulu Plus-enabled Android phones. We hope you’re as excited as we are!
Another positive step by the entertainment industry in Android’s direction. Now if we could only get that pesky Netflix app on our Android devices.
It’s looking like CES 2011 is definitely all about the BlackBerry PlayBook. Following up on our BlackBerry PlayBook review coverage, Sprint and RIM have officially announced that the BlackBerry 4G PlayBook will be available from Sprint this summer. I’m sure a lot of BlackBerry fans on Sprint will be excited for this one. The press release is below for full details.
Press Release
BlackBerry 4G PlayBook Coming to the Sprint 4G Network
New 4G Tablet to Deliver Unmatched Power and Web Performance – Available Exclusively from Sprint this Summer
January 6, 2011 – CES 2011, Las Vegas, NV – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) and Sprint (NYSE: S) today announced plans to launch a new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet model featuring connectivity to the blazingly fast Sprint 4G network. The BlackBerry 4G PlayBook will be the first BlackBerry PlayBook model to include wide area wireless connectivity, featuring Sprint 4G to give customers download speeds up to 10 times faster than 3G1. This new 4G model is expected to be available from Sprint in the summer.
The BlackBerry 4G PlayBook is a professional-grade tablet that’s set to redefine the possibilities of mobile computing, giving users an ultra-portable design with industry leading performance, uncompromised web browsing, true multitasking and HD multimedia, as well as advanced security features and out-of-the-box enterprise support. Together, the BlackBerry 4G PlayBook and the Sprint 4G network will provide a high performance platform that will enable a mobile services revolution for both application developers and customers.
We’re well into 2011 by now and most of you US-based Galaxy S owners still have yet to see Froyo. (Officially, anyway.) What the heck is going on with that? Samsung’s Twitter account tweeted that they wanted users to have a simple and reliable upgrade – the type of hesitation you’d expect from Samsung considering past upgrades didn’t go too smoothly for a lot of users of their other phones.
The second line of the tweet states that they “[are] running tests due to complexity [and] unique functionality.” Translation: “Getting around TouchWiz is tougher than we thought it’d be.” That’s not really fair to say, though: European variants have had the upgrade for quite some time. Most will tell you that the carriers are to blame, and a lot of that blame does fall on them. Even Sony Ericsson admitted to as much when they hadn’t committed to a date for the Xperia X10′s Eclair upgrade. It’s entirely possible that Samsung is being treated the same way by all four major carriers.
So they still can’t commit to a date, but I think it’s about time we cut them some slack – at least direct some of your anger toward the carriers.
In lighter news, though, the Nexus S could soon be headed to Europe as a device being named the GT-I90003 has recently been approved by the Global Certification Forum. The Unwired’s Arne Hesse has it from a trusted source of his that this device – unlike the Nexus S released here in the states – would be coming with a Super-LCD display as opposed to a Super AMOLED. Doesn’t sound too farfetch’d considering the Russian version is said to be getting the same treatment. The only thing we’re still waiting for is a release date and pricing, but I’m sure that isn’t long off.
On the heels of CES and a smothering of tablet announcements and demonstrations, Opera has just announced a tablet version of their web browser, simply named Opera for Tablets. The quick promotional video doesn’t show much: it’s Opera, it loads web pages, and it does it fast. But Opera promises there is more to be seen and we expect those crumbs of details will be laid out on the ground right around the time the big name tablets are announced sometime this week – we’ve already been promised a look at the preview build on the CES show floor. Take a peek at the video below.
Samsung Galaxy S owners in the US are still waiting for their promised upgrade to Froyo regardless of what carrier they are with. Samsung however, states they are still testing out a quick upgrade for all Galaxy S owners, due to the complexity of Android 2.2 versus Android 2.1, this has taken some time and patience.
After the upgrade was released in Canada, then pulled back due to bad complaints from users, Samsung wants to ensure things go better in the US. Thanks Canada for being the live testing ground. Bad Samsung.
When it comes to openly discussing device updates often times carriers tend to be rather slim on details. Not Telus though. Least not in this case. Telus Twitter support as you can see above has confirmed the BlackBerry Curve 3G 9300 will see a BlackBerry 6 update although, the BlackBerry Bold 9700 remains a mystery. Good fur Curve 3G owners. Not so good for BlackBerry Bold 9700 owners. Of course, you could always just load a leak for either device if you’re impatient.
While we all wait patiently for Enomther’s TheOfficial series to come to the T-Mobile myTouch 4G, he just keeps moving along on his latest of the TheOfficial series for the T-Mobile G2. His latest update brings his ROM to version 2.14.2.
The latest update includes:
v2.14.2 – 12/24/2010
– added more ringtones/sounds from the Nexus1 build
– updated – kernel to .27 patchset
— updated broadcom wifi driver
— updated the kineto_gan module
— added Interactive CPU governor option
—- NOTE: ondemand is still default and you must use an app like SetCPU to leverage the Interactive Governor (and if so, disable CPU controls in SpareParts)
— fixes – Wifi HotSpot not starting
— fixes – TMOWifiCalling volume/quality issues
– fixed – Theme-ing Issues in the stock Launcher
– updated – GAPPS (Gmail, Facebook, Maps, Market, MyAccount, VoiceSearch and Youtube)
——————————————————————————————
———— AND BEFORE ANY1 ASKS: NO! .. the HTC Camera is not ported yet …
———— there`s a megaTON of stuff that must be brought in for it to work properly …
———— I likely won`t have that accomplished till I`ve finalized my initial MT4G/Glacier work …
———— soooooo again … please be patient!
— THEME TEMPLATES ARE NOW POSTED IN THE OP! —
Skype may soon offer video calling on the iPhone, if a posted-and-pulled FAQ is anything to go by.
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