January, 2012 - Android Community

Monthly Archive: May 2013

Official Ice Cream Sandwich build leaks for Samsung Nexus S 4G

By Michael Crider
on 31 Jan, 2012

Nexus S owners were among the first to get an official update to Ice Cream Sandwich, direct from the source at Google - at least, those with the GSM model were. Owners of the CDMA-equipped Nexus S 4G have had to be content with community ROMs and other unofficial fare ever since December (and boy, haven't they let us know). Good news, Nexus faithful: a leaked ROM of Android 4.0 made its way to XDA in the wee hours of the morning. It appears to be the real McCoy, even sporting Android 4.04 - which isn't even part of the official source code yet.

HTC Ville prototype caught on video

By Michael Crider
on 31 Jan, 2012

Exciting news for HTC fans this morning, as one of the two models expected to debut at Mobile World Congress in February has jumped through the loops of secrecy to grace YouTube. The HTC Ville is one of the Taiwanese manufacturer's "hero" devices for 2012, with impressive specifications, a slim profile and subtle styling. One of the most notable features of the Ville (likely a code name) is that it's rumored to be one of the first HTC phones to reach retail with Ice Cream Sandwich.

Waze traffic app updates with Foursquare and Yelp integration

By Michael Crider
on 31 Jan, 2012

There are three universal forces that can never be resisted: death, taxes, and the 5:30 weekday traffic in Atlanta. Waze has been resisting the latter with its community-powered traffic system, which gathers data from thousands of active users to create a live map of the worst traffic in any given city - and how to avoid it. The popular app updates today with version 3.0, bringing in an overhauled interface and new integration with social services. The app is still free, and you can download Waze in the Android Market.

Verizon leak shows evidence of shared data plans

By Sam Koutroulakis
on 31 Jan, 2012

Despite how blazing fast Verizon's 4G LTE is, it's also quite expensive - especially for an entire sporting smartphones. We discussed how Verizon had planned to offer a family-share plan in 2012, but had no hard evidence to back it up. Now, it seems we have a leaked snapshot displaying a new option in Verizon's computer system.

Tablet shipments could hit 383.3 million by 2017

By Sam Koutroulakis
on 30 Jan, 2012

Many of us were skeptical at first, but there's no doubt tablets have revolutionized the way we run our daily lives - that is, if you have one. It's estimated the tablet market will group from 72.7 million units to 383.3 by 2017. But what does this mean for the average consumer? That tablets are right on there way to hitting the "sweet-spot" price point that we've been waiting for.

T-Mobile will cap domestic data roaming April 5th

By Sam Koutroulakis
on 30 Jan, 2012

Those of you out there surfing T-Mobile's airwaves should know of upcoming changes your carrier will be putting into effect fairly soon. On April 5th, they plan on capping your domestic off-network data roaming usage. Limits are extremely low, so it will be important to keep an eye on data consumed while roaming.

Third-party Steam apps muscled out of the Market

By Michael Crider
on 30 Jan, 2012

A lot of gamers got excited when the mobile Steam app was released last week for iOS and Android. (At least until they tried to log in and found out they weren't part of the inner Beta circle.) But now it seems that dozens of unofficial Steam apps, including the pretty awesome application from IBF Programs featured on Android Community a month ago. There's no word from Google or Valve, the creators and administrators of Steam, but it's a good bet that the publisher and retailer has at least some say in the proceedings.

Samsung spending millions on Galaxy Note Super Bowl ad

By Michael Crider
on 30 Jan, 2012

We're pretty stoked about the Samsung Galaxy Note finally making its way stateside - but not nearly as excited as Samsung themselves. Today the Samsung Mobile US Twitter account teased an upcoming Super Bowl ad, and their wording leaves little doubt that it's promoting the 5.3-inch smartphone bound for AT&T later in February. Samsung claimed that the ad will be "one of the longest in the game", which points to at least a 60-second spot and maybe even a 90-second one. Considering that a single 30-second commercial during the Super Bowl runs about 3-4 million dollars, Samsung is poised to spend a heck of a lot of money for a single promotion. They've even hired the producer of Dumb & Dumber and There's Something About Mary to oversee the project.

LG Optimus L3 entry-level Android appears on Swedish site, available for pre-order

By Cory Gunther
on 30 Jan, 2012

Coming in under the radar and pretty quietly to the streets of Sweden is the new LG Optimus L3 budget-friendly smartphone. The LG Optimus L3 phone is being listed as the E400 and we don't know much about this phone but it appears LG is shaking up their design plans yet again. Running on Gingerbread the capacitive buttons seem to be hiding at first glance.

HP TouchPad Ice Cream Sandwich CM9 updated to Alpha 0.6

By Michael Crider
on 30 Jan, 2012

Everyone's favorite firesale tablet is still going strong, at least as far as developers and modders are concerned. The HP TouchPad got a port of CyanogenMod 9 ice cream sandwich just a few weeks ago, and the progress made thus far is impressive to say the least. While still in Alpha, the ROM build has graduated to Alpha 0.6, with a number of additions to the stability and user interface of Android. Adventurous flashers can download the build from RootzWiki now, and install it normally through Clockwork Mod Recovery.