It’s the middle of July and tech news this week has been rock steady! Lets start off by saying that Google+ is now available for international users; and at this point it seems that all Google+ is missing compared to other social platforms is a wider userbase. In other Google news, their new project “Google Offers (Beta)” launched in NYC Tuesday. Think of this service as a way to save money with many different local businesses on a daily basis. This past Monday evening, HTC released information that the bootloaders of some of their more recent devices will be unlocked in the coming months of August and September. Some of their devices have already been unlocked over at XDA Developers, but I’m sure many have been awaiting an official fix.
As of Monday, the HTC Status was available for pre-order. For an acutal demonstration of that built-in Facebook button, be sure to check out the video. Earlier on in the week we were informed of both the release date and price of the T-Mobile myTouch 4G Slide; the device actually proved to be a very solid in both Chris Burns official Android Community review, and in the hands-on/full walkthrough. Great aspects of this device include very impressive camera shots and great build quality. Yet another device handled the same day was the LG Thrill 4G on AT&T’s network. It is essentially the same device as the LG Optimus 3D, just re-branded. The Motorola DROID 3 arrived at our doorstep Thursday, and Chris Burns produced a quick hands-on and unboxing. A more thorough review of the unit will be posted soon, but if you can’t seem to wait that long – the DROID 3 hit Verizon stores Thursday as well.
The Motorola LTE-enabled XOOM crossed the FCC this week. XOOM [WiFi] owners have definitely been feeling the love lately with the 3.2 update to include SD card support; this update has been rolling out since Tuesday and is now available for download. Android 3.2 also features a “Zoom to fill Screen” option when using particular applications that would otherwise display improper aspect ratios.
Google announced their Q2 revenue statistics as a 32% climb over last years numbers. It’s not too suprising considering Android is seeing 550,000 activations daily! A few Nexus 3 rumors surfaced this week, one stating that a Samsung Nexus 3 loaded with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich may be impending for late 2011. The other rumor specified that HTC would be manufacturing the device and labeling it as the “Nexus Google+”. Personally, I loved the build quality of the Nexus One and would love to see another HTC inspired Nexus device. The Android Market was updated this week to include books and movies. Now that movies can be rented directly from the market, the mini-HDMI included on many recent devices seems even more appealing. Be sure to check out a great review/hands-on of this latest version of the market by Chris Burns. If you want to grab the new Android Market, head over to this page.
One of two crazy stories worth mentioning this week concerned an avid Android OS lover building his own RC Android mascot out of a trash can… Wow! The other was a DoCoMo version of the Samsung Galaxy S II sporting an ancient telescopic antenna, when was the last time you saw one of those?
Spotify, the amazing music streaming application, debuted in the US this week. Don’t worry, we already have a review up of the Premium version of the application. If this seems like something you would like to download, Motorola has partnered with Spotify to give away 10,000 invites to the new service. These may very well be gone by now, but Android Community has a few of its own to giveaway! To win a free invite, just add +Vincent Nguyen to your circle(s) on Google+ and comment in the Spotify+ thread! If you’re an actual Android OS developer and want a chance at some actual cash ($200,000), don’t forget to sign up for the Adobe Air Developer’s Contest.
