Amazing ANDROID

Latest Casio G’zOne Commando Update Brings Free Push-to-Talk Capabilities and More   Verizon is rolling out a new software update for the rugged  Casio G’zOne Commando that brings free Push to Talk capabilities.  The update (C771M100) will also include: Security improvements An update to Gingerbread R8 for Google Mobile Services A replacement to the V CAST Video app Improvements to email deleting Text notifications have been added Improved password input in Lotus Traveler A fix to the screen locking issue after a call is made with Bluetooth Email and text message signatures have been added For those of you who can’t wait to turn your Commando into a walkie-talkie, be sure to log in to your Verizon account and add the Push to Talk feature code.  Once you’ve done that, open the Push to Talk app and select “OK”. You can now use the side key on the Commando to connect to your fellow G’zOner’s with the touch of a button. To see the complete details and instructions,

A user over at Android Central received an OTA notification on his Verizon Galaxy Nexus , and managed to pull the file and make it available for download. Apparently the update contains Android 4.0.4 IMM30B. This seems to be a limited release, most likely for internal testing, so if you decide to flash this, don’t be surprised if you see some weirdness. Keep in mind that this is only for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus, and will only install on a completely stock unit. No word yet on what this update fixes or changes, so if you are brave enough and fit the requirements above, download the file here  and let us know what you find!

Everyone has an idea of what their perfect android phone would be. While I would say that the Galaxy Nexus running Codename: Android would be as close to a perfect Android experience yet; I have found that I am wanting and missing various aspects that other Android phones have or need. I often contemplate what that phone would be like if I had a say and while I do not have Samsung , HTC , or Motorola on speed dial I’ve decided that I will share my opinion with you. So without further digression here it is, my perfect phone. Design/Form Factor: I do like the Galaxy Nexus phone factor. The curved class works well and the phone holds well. However I do have to say that I liked the way the Rezound felt in my hand. That phone felt solid and not overly heavy. I like the Nexus and it feels sleek but the plastic is definitely apparent. I would say that the design of the phone would be perfect if it had Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus sleekness and it were coupled with HTC’s smooth metal fi

As many know by now, the mighty duo of CEO’s at RIM, Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis have stepped down only to promote one from within.  Taking over as single and only CEO of Research in Motion is Thorsten Heins, a four year COO who worked closely under Jim and Mike.  In recent news, he’s been given the cold stare thanks to making such statements as  “I don’t think there is some drastic change needed,” and   “We are evolving. We’re evolving our strategy, we’re evolving our tactics, our processes.”   As one standing from the outside looking in, I’d argue in favor of a drastic change, personally.  But hey, RIM’s the competition so I’m not pressing the issue.  However, the question does arise, should Google’s Android be afraid?  As much as I would love to shout from the roof top “ hell no! “, I”ll try to keep it professional here.   With RIM falling drastically behind every quarter, Android, iOS and Windows Phone pretty much occupy the top three OS’s of choice when thinking of p

Sprint is officially rolling out the EL29 update for the Epic 4G Touch smartphone. Shouldn’t be too surprising considering we saw the source kernel became available last week and we expected the subsequent update to drop at any given moment. In case you’re interested, here’s the changelog for the update: Security update Dismissing multiple calendar alerts Commercial Alert System (CMAS) activated Notice the security update enhancement? This must mean that Sprint is chugging along in its quest to remove Carrier IQ from its devices. The EL29 update will bring your software build to version S:D710.0.5S.EL29 and will be released in stages. Moreover, Sprint highlights all devices should get it it within the next 10 days. If you’re an Epic 4G Touch owner, keep a lookout for the update notification to indicate your phone is ready to receive the update. Of course if you are the impatient type and want to do a manual update, just go to the menu –> settings –> about phone –> sys

We’ve heard a lot about the Nexus Two coming out with Android 2.3 in the next short few weeks. Due to a delay with the Nexus Two, that is not going to happen until further notice from Google. The Nexus One however may be the first recipient of Android 2.3 regardless of the Nexus Two delays. The news comes to us from one of the developers of the Open Handset Alliance, who is one of the governing bodies of the Android project. Alvaro Fuentes Vasquez tweeted the following; Preparen sus Nexus One (Developer version) para la actualización vía OTA de Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) para los próximos días 

Earlier today we reported XDA forum member  dirbliss had successfully rooted the Motorola DROID 3. Now, thanks to  Framework43, krazykrivda, and  psouza4 over at rootzwiki, we have an uber simple one-click root method for stock Gingerbread. I have tested this out on my Droid X running 4.5.602 and everything went flawlessly. As per P3Droid , this method should work on the Droid 3, Droid X, Droid X2, Cliq and Cliq 2. Here’s how it goes down, but proceed at your own risk: Motorola drivers need to be installed – 32bit here and 64bit here Download and unzip ‘Droid 3 easy root script v7′ to your PC  from here Turn on USB debugging on your phone by going to Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging(check box) Plug phone into your computer and select “Charge Only” mode from your phone’s notification drop down (pull down your notification bar and tap USB connection to change). Navigate to ‘Droid 3 easy root’ folder you unzipped to your PC and run ‘Click to root yo

Looks like the Steam Android app has already completed its invite-only beta phase and is open to everyone with an active Steam account. If you haven’t already, you can get the app from the market and sign into your Steam account to start chatting with friends or browse game deals without needing an invitation. One thing thats cool about this app is that you can do most things on your phone that you are used to doing on the PC version. Along with communication and shopping, you will be able to follow news from Steam and other sources such as Kotaku, RockPapeShotgun, and ShackNews. Unfortunately you won’t be able to play games on your mobile device but at least you won’t miss out on those 5 min sale windows when you are away from your desktop! Hit up the market link below for your free, everyones welcome, Steam app download.

The cross-platform indie wonder, modestly named “The Humble Bundle,” made a welcome expansion today by adding Android to the line-up. If you haven’t dealt with The Humble Bundle before, perhaps you’re wondering what my fuss is for. For years now, the site has been partnering with game developers to offer games to consumers on a name-your-price scale with proceeds being divided between the developers, charities, and the Humble Bundle itself. The buyer even has the ability to decide how much of their contribution goes where. Up until today the games have only been available to a range of PC operating systems. So what’s up for grabs?

As more people are starting to use their phones as their main media devices manufacturers are looking to pair up with big name audio companies to bring a better audio experience to smartphones everywhere. HTC went the Beats by Dre route by buying stock in the company and putting it in their phones but Samsung is going a different route. They will be partnering with the Swedish company Jays who announced on their web site today that they will be partnering up with the Korean company. While some of you may have not heard of this company others will recognize their ability to put out quality headphones. Heck you can read a review by Robert Nazarian on a pair of these headphones right here. I even went out and bought a pair after reading the review. While I did enjoy the iBeats headphones that come with the Rezound I found that the Jay’s headphones put out a better sound for a decent amount less, but I digress. Jays’ announcement about the partnering with Samsung to bring some amazin

Word has just been released from the Google TV camp that a new update should hit Sony devices this week. You can expect a fancy new Chrome browser that has been said to just “work faster,” and the update will also enable 3D for Blu-ray discs. I know when I try and browse the web on my Logitech Revu I get frustrated with load times and often opt to grab my tablet instead. I’m just afraid the update might not apply to the Revu because we all know it was just discontinued and is pretty much a collectors item at this point. I guess this is a perfect opportunity to see if Logitech plans to maintain updates even though they just recently threw in the towel. As for all Sony products go, you can bet your ass they will get the update. After seeing what sony has in store for this years Google TV products we know damn well they plan to continue their efforts. If any of you get this update be a pal and let us know what it’s like, umkay? Thanks!

Android runs on everything! Though, it’s admittedly tougher to run on some things, of which the most common target are PCs. Those of us wanting to experiment in that department have typically found our way to projects like Android x86, which by the way has ICS development builds underway (Yes, I’m one of the experimenters). However, here’s another solution I hadn’t known about until today. It’s so far called “PunkThis” from CUPP Computing. Essentially what we have here is a PCB board attached through either SATA or PCI express. So yeah, stick this thing in your laptop’s hard drive bay and you’ll be running Android. The board is a great improvement over Android x86 in terms of compatibility. Most of the typical phone guts are part of the board, including a 1GHz TI OMAP processor, 512MB of RAM, MicroSD card, and even a WiFi chip. This should pretty much guarantee that any app should run unless its simply too taxing for the allotted processor speed and RAM. As for the rest of what ma

You all reading this are likely Android aficionados, and being such many of you likely own both an Android phone & Android tablet; I do, and I’m always looking for ways to make them a dynamic duo. Incidentally that’s how I came across this app, Tablet Remote. The goal of tablet remote is to allow you to send commands to your tablet from your phone, although it can really go both ways. You can send common input like “Back”, “Home”, “Menu” or “Search” as well as more special commands like “Play”, “Next” or “Previous.”  It also has a special input that I’ll get to in a moment. I’ve been using this app to control my docked tablet playing music through my stereo speakers. It’s superb for that. I can see it being great for video playback as well when your tablet is tethered to the back of a TV through HDMI. It’s also great for Super Nintendo, which incidentally brings me to that special input. Turning your phone to landscape mode changes the controls to either an Xperia control la

Trademarks In order to use the Android trademark, device manufacturers must ensure that the device complies with the Compatibility Definition Document (CDD) and then get permission from Google. Devices must also meet this definition to be eligible to license Google's closed-source applications, including the Android Market. Participation in the compatibility program is free of charge. In September 2010, Skyhook Wireless filed a lawsuit against Google in which they alleged that Google had used the compatibility document to block Skyhook's mobile positioning service (XPS) from Motorola's Android mobile devices. In December 2010 a judge denied Skyhook's motion for preliminary injunction, saying that Google had not closed off the possibility of accepting a revised version of Skyhook's XPS service, and that Motorola had terminated their contract with Skyhook because Skyhook wanted to disable Google's location data collection functions on Motorola&

The Android logo was designed along with the Droid font family made by Ascender Corporation Android Green is the color of the Android Robot that represents the Android operating system. The print color is PMS 376C and the RGB color value in hexadecimal is #A4C639, as specified by the Android Brand Guidelines. [ 126 ] The custom typeface of Android is called Norad (cf. NORAD). It is only used in the text logo. [ 127 ]   Market share Research company Canalys estimated in Q2 2009 that Android had a 2.8% share of worldwide smartphone shipments. By Q4 2010 this had grown to 33% of the market, becoming the top-selling smartphone platform. This estimate includes the Tapas and OMS variants of Android. By Q3 2011 Gartner estimates more than half (52.5%) of the smartphone market belongs to Android. In February 2010 ComScore said the Android platform had 9.0% of the U.S. smartphone market, as measured by current mobile subscribers. This figure was up from an earlier estimate

Applications are usually developed in the Java language using the Android Software Development Kit, but other development tools are available, including a Native Development Kit for applications or extensions in C or C++, Google App Inventor, a visual environment for novice programmers and various cross platform mobile web applications frameworks . Application security: Android applications run in a sandbox , an isolated area of the operating system that does not have access to the rest of the system's resources, unless access permissions are granted by the user when the application is installed. Before installing an application, Android Market displays all required permissions. A game may need to enable vibration, for example, but should not need to read messages or access the phonebook. After reviewing these permissions, the user can decide whether to install the application. Some Android malware incidents have been reported involving rogue applications on Andro

wristwatches While Google has their own line of Android smartphones, the Google Nexus series, the open and customizable nature of the Android operating system allows it to be used on most electronics, including but not limited to: smartphones, fixed phones, laptops, netbooks, smartbooks, tablet computers, E-book readers, TVs (Google TV), wristwatches, headphones, Car CD and DVD players, digital cameras, Portable media players and other devices. The main hardware platform for Android is the ARM architecture. There is support for x86 from the Android x86 project, and Google TV uses a special x86 version of Android. The first commercially available phone to run Android was the HTC Dream, released on 22 October 2008. In early 2010 Google collaborated with HTC to launch its flagship Android device, the Nexus One. This was followed later in 2010 with the Samsung-made Nexus S and in 2011 with the Galaxy Nexus. iOS and Android 2.3.3 'Gingerbread' may be set up t

Application framework enabling reuse and replacement of components Dalvik virtual machine optimized for mobile devices Integrated browser based on the open source WebKit engine Optimized graphics powered by a custom 2D graphics library; 3D graphics based on the OpenGL ES 1.0 specification (hardware acceleration optional) SQLite for structured data storage Media support for common audio, video, and still image formats (MPEG4, H.264, MP3, AAC, AMR, JPG, PNG, GIF) GSM Telephony (hardware dependent) Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, and WiFi (hardware dependent) Camera, GPS, compass, and accelerometer (hardware dependent) Rich development environment including a device emulator, tools for debugging, memory and performance profiling, and a plugin for the Eclipse IDE

Android consists of a kernel based on the Linux kernel, with middleware, libraries and APIs written in C and application software running on an application framework which includes Java-compatible libraries based on Apache Harmony. Android uses the Dalvik virtual machine with just-in-time compilation to run Dalvik dex-code (Dalvik Executable), which is usually translated from Java bytecode.

Android, Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California, United States in October, 2003 by Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger), Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc.), Nick Sears (once VP at T-Mobile), and Chris White (headed design and interface development at WebTV) to develop, in Rubin's words "...smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner's location and preferences". Despite the obvious past accomplishments of the founders and early employees, Android Inc. operated secretly, revealing only that it was working on software for mobile phones. That same year, Rubin ran out of money. Steve Perlman, a close friend of Rubin, brought him $10,000 in cash in an envelope and refused a stake in the company.

Android is a Linux-based operating system for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. It is developed by the Open Handset Alliance led by Google. Google purchased the initial developer of the software, Android Inc., in 2005. The unveiling of the Android distribution in 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 86 hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. Google releases the Android code as open-source, under the Apache License. The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is tasked with the maintenance and further development of Android. Android has a large community of developers writing applications ("apps") that extend the functionality of the devices. Developers write primarily in a customized version of Java. Apps can be downloaded from third-party sites or through online stores such as Android Market, the app store run by Google. As of October 201