Will Motorola Really Muck Up the Xoom Tablet with Motoblur? (Updated)

According to Motorola's European head of Android product management, Motorola wants to put the Motoblur interface on their upcoming Xoom tablet, which would be sad for a countless amount of reasons. But there's also something that doesn't add up. Updated.
According to Crave, the Moto exec Jonathan Nattrass said that Motoblur would be available as an over the air update. Whoa, whoa, whoa...wait a second. Why would they start with stock Android 3.0 (Honeycomb), and then switch to a new UI after launch? And who knows if it would be an optional or mandatory update for the Xoom, but either way it sounds like a confusing mess. Besides, why would you want to crap all over the hard work that Matias Duarte, Android's new UI guy, has been pouring into the OS? Hopefully this is just a miscommunication.
Update: Marin Perez of Into Mobile talked to Motorola, who clarified and said that they have "no plans to customize the software with MotoBlur." Crisis averted. [Crave UK]

This post is from Gizdomo.com

Night of the Living Androids: New Botnet will Zombify Your Smartphones

If there are two things that nerds fear the most, it's the impending zombie apocalypse and the threat of viruses and malware on their smartphones. Well it looks like the latter is one step closer to reality.
Researcher Georgia Weidman developed the Android-based malware in her lab, which is believed to the the first botnet making use of phones. As Technology Review points out, botnets are used to attack other devices and commit cybercrimes, such as spamming and DDOSing. Weidman's phone-based botnet can even interfere with the phone's communication functions.
While Weidman says that phones have pretty good security layers now, viruses and malware on smartphones will become an issue in the future. She plans to present her research at the Shmoocon hacking conference next week. [Technology Review]

This post is from Gizdomo.com

Going to ask Sprint about Froyo? Here's what they'll tell you

Sprint's been more vocal than others about working on Froyo updates for its phones, whether it's a blog post, or taking to Twitter. But if you're thinking about bugging someone on the phone or in a store, you're not likely to get anywhere. Above is a memo that went out yesterday regarding the Samsung Epic 4G and Transform, and the Sanyo Zio. Clearly, there's no date scheduled for Froyo to ship, so don't ask.

You will, however, hear that Sprint "works closely with our manufacturing partners" in getting updates out the door and "as quickly as possible" and all the usual bullet points. No surprise there, other than the Zio's possibly going to get Froyo. We were on the fence about the Transform, but it's listed, too, so there you go.

Sprint's said it, and we'll say it again, too -- it'll be ready when it's ready.

This post is from Androidcentral.com by Phil Nickinson

Sony Ericsson Vivaz 2 gets previewed ahead of release

Having just made news with its sales numbers Sony Ericsson looks to be holding true to its promise to do things better in 2011 if the latest device leakage is anything to go by. The Sony Ericsson Vivaz 2 (or whatever it goes to market as) has found its way into the hands of Mobile-review and if you're willing to give Sony Ericsson another shot at impressing you, the review has nothing but nice things to say about it.
The 1GHz Qualcomm MSM7630 sports Adreno 205 graphics and has 512MB of RAM on board, while a 1500mAh battery powers the 854 x 480 reality display. No idea as to when or where this thing will show up but we're tossing it out there that Mobile World Congress might be a good place to start. If you're looking for the full review, be sure to hit the source link. [Mobile -Review]
 This post is from Androidcentral.com by Chris Parsons

Froyo for the Vibrant being updated through Samsung Mini Kies ... Good luck! (Updated with Samsung statement)

The good news -- the T-Mobile Vibrant indeed is getting its Froyo update. The bad news -- it looks like (thus far) you have to do it through Samsung's Mini Kies program. That's right, in this day and age of over-the-air updates, you have to plug your phone into a computer to update. Le sigh.

We've only been at it for an hour or so now, and Kies is still seeing our Vibrant as an "Unregistered device." Whatever that means.

You know that Froyo complacency a few of you have accused us of? It's rapidly going away. There's really no excuse for making an update this difficult. [via TMoNews]

Anyone get this to work yet? We're all over it in this forum thread. Join us.

Update: Samsung just issued the following statement:Samsung and T-Mobile are pleased to confirm to Samsung Vibrant customers that the Android 2.2 upgrade is now available. Please click here for an FAQ on how to download and install the upgrade. 

This post is from Androidcentral.com by Phil Nickinson

Samsung Fascinate's DL09 update breaks emergency calling for some [video]

This is a big one, folks. The DL09 maintenance update that was recently pushed to the Samsung Fascinate breaks emergency calling -- for some of us, anyway -- when the phone is using a pattern lock. Discovered by SEAKevin from the Android Central Forums, the bug relates to the Emergency Call button when the pattern lock is enabled. Normally, when that button is pressed, the system will allow for E911 calls you having to unlock the phone. We are able to successfully reproduce the bug. 

Instead of being taken to the emergency dialer screen, nothing happens. The dialer only shows after the correct unlock pattern has been entered -- completely defeating the purpose. 

A couple of you are noting in the comments that you're not seeing this, so there might be some variables involved. But the fact that it's happening for anyone certainly is cause for some concern. Video of the bug is after the break. [Android Central Forums] Thanks, SEAKevin!

This post is from Androidcentral.com by Chris Kerrigan

We know "something big is coming" from Samsung at Mobile World Congress in a few short weeks. And if this leaked teaser video (which almost looks unfinished) is any indication (and if it's real), we could well be looking at a Galaxy Tab 2. The rumor mill's got it coming with a Tegra 2 processor, and nobody can make up their minds on the screen tech.

And by the way, that SamsungUnpacked site has changed slightly, with word of an invite-only event Feb. 13, and open event Feb. 14. Guess we'll have to go to Barcelona to find out what's what. And go we shall. [YouTube via OLED-Display]

This post is from Androidcentral.com by Phil Nickinson

Nexus S OTA 2.3.2 update rolling out now, your SMS relations will thank you

Embarrassing SMS misdirect bug on your Android device? Nexus S owners should start checking their phones now for an over-the-air update that's supposed to fix the problem. It's being rolled out gradually, so just be patient if it's not there yet. How will we know the problem's gone for good? We'll just assume so until we find out otherwise, in some unfortunate manner.
This post is from Engadget.com by Ross Miller

Visualized: the state of the smartphone wars

As AT&T's iPhone exclusivity reluctantly teeters on the brink of oblivion, it seems a good time to take one last look at the smartphone playground, the way it is before V-Day. The New York Times has handily done that job for us with the above chart, which simultaneously gives us a sense of scale when comparing US carriers and lays out the concentration of Android devices across those networks. It also shows a big fat bump of iOS on AT&T, making it the biggest carrier in terms of combined iPhone and Android users -- nothing shocking there, but the real fun will be in taking a look at this same data a few months from now. Will the iPhone fragment itself all over the four major networks? Will AT&T's Android stable ever be respectable? Tune in to your next installment of "fun, but mostly irrelevant statistics" to find out.
This post is from Engadget.com by Vlad Savov

Nexus One gets tiny update to Android 2.2.2, fixes SMS routing issues

Not to be outdone by its Samsung successor, the Nexus One's getting a miniature over-the-air update as well, sending users on a mind-bending ride from Android 2.2.1 (version FRG83D) to the FRG83G build of Android 2.2.2. When they emerge thoroughly dazzled and confused on the other side, what will they find? We spoke to Google and it's just a few bug fixes, but one of them's rather important -- this update will go down in the annals of history as the one that doesn't inadvertently send humorous texts intended for your co-workers to your deathly serious boss. Oh, and if that sounds like something you'd like to have immediately, rather than waiting for a formal rollout, you can find the file you need at Google's servers right now.

This post is from Engadget.com by Sean Hollister

Art Lebedev's Optimus Popularis delayed, but new Optimus Mini Six is on the way

We've always taken Art Lebedev's product launch forecasts with a grain handful of salt, so this doesn't come as a surprise: the firm's sub-$1,000 OLED keyboard won't be out anytime soon. However, the second thing the indie peripheral design house revealed today makes us giddy despite our misgivings -- before the full-sized Optimus Popularis comes to market, it's planning to release a new miniature keypad like the Optimus mini three (pictured above) but with six keys inside. Still... is it bad if all we really want is an Optimus Aux prototype?
This post is from Engadget.com by Sean Hollister

Motorola Xoom launching February 17th at Best Buy

When we stumbled upon an $800 price for the Motorola Xoom yesterday, our instinctive reaction was to leap forward to the next obvious question: when? Well, that call has now been answered by an internal Best Buy document that's just dropped into our inbox, which explicitly pinpoints February 17th as the launch date for Moto's highly touted, Honeycomb-equipped tablet. Stock is expected to land at the big box retailer on February 16th, with the big party going down the day after. There's a note confirming that the Xoom will come with its promised 32GB of onboard storage, but anyone looking for confirmation or denial of the earlier pricing leak will be left disappointed. Guess we'll all have to set our calendar alerts for about a month from now and exercise patience in the mean time.

 

This post is from Engadget.com by  Vlad Savov 

[AndroidApp] - Sniper Vs Sniper

IMGA's Excellence in Connectivity Award!
Sniper Vs Sniper Online

- 6 High quality maps
- 30 Special Missions
- Alliance Attack mode

 

[Review] - HTC EVO Shift 4G for Sprint review