Download: Motorola XOOM User Guide – Verizon

If you haven’t learned all there is to know about the Motorola XOOM by now, then you are in luck.  Below, we have the entire XOOM user guide for you to browse through before next Thursday when you’ll finally be enjoying your new Honeycomb tablet.  It’s a pretty standard UG, but I wanted to point out that I’m not seeing a mention of a required data plan anywhere and am starting to think that will be part of the Best Buy deal and not at actual Verizon stores.  BBY requires a similar 1-month data subscription with the Galaxy Tab, but VZW never has, so we’ll see.
Link and pics after the break!  
Download:  XOOM_Manual.pdf

Source: DroidLife

Video: Movie Studio for Honeycomb Demoed at MWC

When Eric Schmidt stood on stage earlier in the week with one of his posse members for a walk-through demo their new Movie Studio app, we nabbed as many pictures as we could to give you guys the first gallery of it.  And now, as MWC winds down, the crew over at Frandroid seems to have found some alone time in the Android area with nothing but a XOOM and a video camera.  The results…this 8 minute in-depth look at this fantastic new Honeycomb movie editor.
Oh, we should probably mention that it’s all in French.

Source DroidLife

ROM: Apex 1.4.0 by Fabolous Released for DROIDX and 2

One of our favorite developers, Fabolous, released his new Apex 1.4.0 for the DROIDX and DROID2 earlier this week and really polished up the look and feel.  He got some help from the Liberty ROM crew to make what was already a good ROM, really great.  You’ll find a new boot animation, toolbox, current versions of all the core apps, and a bunch of fixes.
If you are coming from Apex 1.3 you can probably update straight to this new version, but if you are coming from anything else including Liberty, you’ll need to do a full wipe.  
Download:  DROIDX | DROID2
Changelog:

- New Apex Toolbox (Terminal Based) to customize the ROM to the max
- New Boot Animation (thanks tntdroid!)
- New Background, Ringtone, Notification Tone (change of pace!)
- Taller GB Keyboard, same size as MT Keyboard (thanks kejar31!)
- Removed Data Throttling (thanks droidxchat for an awesome utility!)
- Core Apps all updated to latest versions (Gmail, ADW Launcher, Market, Search, etc.)
- Blacked out Google Talk app (ty kejar31!)
- Fixed Mms.apk w/ Android 2.3.2 routing fixes (won’t send to the wrong person!)
- MusicMod back by default, supports lock screen controls (ty kejar31!)
- FC @ Startup fixed (no more wait, power, reboot cycle!)
- Updated JRummy overclocking script (ty JRummy16!)
- Option to install leaked Motorola “Connected Player” in Toolbox
- Finally updated the Swype theme to “Blackout” (ty javroch!)

Source DroidLife

Thunderbolt Delayed! Here we go again…

Reports all over the place today suggest that the Thunderbolt has been pushed past the 24th launch date and now landing on either the 28th or some time in March.  And that’s really all we have to say…just wanted to make sure we kept you all in the loop with us being such a “HypeBeast” and all.
Cheers Justin and Jason!

Source: DroidLife

Eric Schmidt and Steve Jobs along with Mark Zuckerberg to Meet with Obama Tonight

Mortal enemies Eric Schmidt and Steve Jobs will put aside their differences and join emerging rival Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook to meet with President Obama as he travels to the San Francisco area, the base of many of the nation’s largest tech and web firms. Obama will be pushing his new technology plan. The details of that plan are quite extensive to list here, but that part Obama likely wants to discuss with these tech giants is a focus on internet commerce and network infrastructure. Maybe they’ll get to talking about those high-speed rail lines, too. Google does seem to want their hand in every pot of honey.
There is actually some question as to whether or not Jobs is healthy enough to attend. Some rumors coming from the not-always-trustworthy National Enquirer pegged him with only 6 weeks to live. That would be a tragic loss to the tech industry, and we hope it just isn’t true.
But given all the market competition between the companies attending, they all are sure to come together as strong allies for a better connected world. If you saw any of Eric Schmidt’s keynote this week at Mobile World Congress you know all about it.
[via Gizmodo]

Source: Phandroid

Motorola XOOM User Manual Posted Online

If you’re into this sort of stuff, listen up: the Motorola XOOM’s user guide has been snagged from the clutches of Motorola and posted online for all to see. It’s a 5.4 MB download, has 64 pages, and – you guessed it – is in .PDF format. It won’t tell you much more than you already know, but if you’re the type who reads user manuals for everything you buy, you’ll want to get a head start with the Motorola XOOM’s.

Source: Phandroid

Motorola Atrix Coming to Europe, Orange Will Have it Q2

Like the Motorola XOOM and Motorola Pro announced earlier this week, another high-end device from Moto will be landing on European shores later this year. The Motorola Atrix 4G was heavily displayed at Mobile World Congress in Bacelona, an event that skewed towards devices landing in all places but the United States (though many devices shown off will indeed find their way to America).
When we first saw the Atrix at CES we loved it, and MWC has confirmed that its no joke. Reviews around the web have been pretty positive for this phone landing soon in the US. Soon enough Europe will get the love too. Orange will be among the first carriers to get the Atrix in Q2 of this year.
[via WSJ]

Source: Phandroid

HTC Inspire 4G $59.99 at Amazon

Amazon Wireless is offering the HTC Inspire 4G for just $59.99 for new customers and $69.99 for existing ones. It’s a high-end device that could easily justify its $200 price tag, but Amazon seems to love these deals, and I’m sure you folks do as well. (Otherwise they wouldn’t keep posting them.) Head on over there now to get started if this looks good to you. [BGR]

Source: Phandroid

HTC Desire S Release Date is April 18th, Price is £419.99, Says Amazon

Amazon comes through in the clutch again! This time, they’ve thrown the HTC Desire S – a followup to the original Desire  that adds a front-facing camera and a new chipset – onto their website. You can pre-order it with them now and have it in your hands on April 18th, according to them. We’d already heard that a good amount of their devices would be coming within a month’s time, but it’s good to get some cold, hard facts. [Amazon UK, Thanks Ally!]

Source: Phandroid

HTC Thunderbolt Delayed Again?

Bad news, folks: the HTC Thunderbolt may not be coming out on February 24th as we once thought it would. Rumors from sources of Android Guys‘ say that it may be getting a 4-day delay – that’d make the new date February 28th. Doesn’t sound too bad, but considering how long most of you have been waiting for this and how many delays you’ve had to endure, I can’t imagine any amount of time would make you happy. It’s starting to feel just like the DROID Incredible debacle, isn’t it?

Source: Phandroid

Verizon Purchase Order Shows Thunderbolt Arriving 23rd, Selling 24th

Over on our forums we’ve got a Verizon purchase order that shows 18 units of the HTC Thunderbolt arriving on February 23rd with the Verizon rep for that store claiming they’ll start selling them on the 24th. The $569 price is apparently what Verizon pays for the device so don’t worry too much about that figure.

Lots of rumors are claiming the Thunderbolt is delayed past the 24th, but based on this image I’d say February 24th is still looking pretty accurate. We’ll let you know if things change, but for now I’d continue to keep your fingers crossed and wait for further evidence before jumping to conclusions.
[Thanks gallandoff, jayishere]

Source: Phandroid

Fun at the Google Android Booth at Mobile World Congress 2011

There's really only one way to describe Google's Android booth -- and even "booth" doesn't do it justice, it's more like half a hall at Fira de Barcelona.

It's epic.

First off, to borrow the infamous line from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer -- developers, developers, developers. Google had a couple dozen or so developers on hand to show off their apps -- a good many on the Motorola Xoom with Honeycomb. Some we saw at the Honeycomb event a couple weeks ago, others were new.

Dominating the joint was a giant Android robot, with a slide -- yeah, a slide -- snaking around it. More on that in a minute.

There were a couple of spots for passers-by to be Androidified -- that app that came out this week that turns your picture into an Android-type avatar.

And the smoothie bar -- yeah, there is a smoothie bar -- ¡Muy bien! You could get Cupcake, Donut, Froyo or Honeycomb flavors.

No, not done yet. Remember the showcase of Android phones back at Google IO in May 2010? It's now a train that stretches probably a good 50 feet or so, with just about any Android device you can think of on board. Stuff we've never seen, even.

Talk is cheap, though. Check out the photo gallery -- and more on that slide -- after the break.

Youtube link for mobile viewing

Source: AndroidCentral

Froyo for the Epic 4G and Sanyo Zio to come Feb 21, says internal Sprint doc

We just received a tip with information from Sprint's internal system about the Froyo update for the Epic 4g, and get this, the Sanyo Zio.  We can't verify ourselves (hence the rumor tag), in part because Sprint would never let any of us within 100 meters of their computers.  I think that's a law somewhere.  But we can listen to our readers who are allowed to be close to them, and we're hearing this:

Software Updates: Samsung Epic (EB13, Froyo) & Sanyo Zio (2.200SP, Froyo)
Effective 2/21/11, software updates will be available for both devices
Over-the-Air (OTA). Both updates will be pushed over a period of days, so
customers will receive them based on their status on the Google servers.
Details:

Samsung Epic
Update will be pushed over a 4-day period
After the update completes, verify the new software version (Menu > Settings
> About Phone)
Baseband Version = S: D700.0.5S.EB13
Build Number = FROYO.EB13
Enhancements/fixes: upgrade to Froyo 2.2, improved bluetooth device support,
bluetooth voice dialing, Flash Player 10.1, GPS enhancements, improved OS
performance, ability to install applications to external storage

Sanyo Zio
Updates will be pushed over a 5-day period
Customers are required to download (accept) three portions of the update to
receive Froyo 2.2
Customers should use WiFi if possible to complete the update
After the updates complete, verify the new software version (Menu > Settings
> About Phone)
Baseband Version = S.M910.04.5.DF05
Build Number = Samsung ÉCLAIR.DF05
Enhancements/fixes: upgrade to Froyo 2.2, addition of Swype, Sprint Zone
2.5.5, Sprint ID activation improvements, better battery life

This lines up perfectly with what we've already heard here, as well as what was seen just a few days ago.  We're not making any promises, but if you're looking for Froyo on your Epic 4G or Zio, things look pretty promising.  Thanks anon!

Source: AndroidCentral

T-Mobile to get Samsung Galaxy S 2 says official Twitter account [updated -- or not?]

According to the official T-Mobile USA twitter account, the nation's number four carrier will be offering the Samsung Galaxy S 2 (see our hands on here).  Pricing and a date weren't discussed, other than a note that they would be available at a later date, which isn't surprising.  We already know that T-Mobile will be carrying the Samsung Galaxy S 4G, so it really comes as no surprise that they would follow up with the latest and greatest from Samsung. 

What say you T-Mobile subscribers -- is this the dual-core beast you're waiting for?  It's billed as the "world's thinnest smartphone", and has the new Super AMOLED plus display, so it offers quite a bit over existing phones on the network.  We're chomping at the bit to get our hands on one, and any news about it's arrival to US shores is good news. [Mobile Central] Thanks for the tip Conan!

Update: And just as soon as everyone gets excited, T-Mobile has this, and this to say from the same Twitter account:

@droidmessenger We just tweeted too fast. Thought he was asking about the Galaxy S 4G. Pobody's Nerfect.

@PhoneDog @androidcentral Sorry for the confusion. We're not announcing anything today. Was just an errant tweet. #longday #timeforcoffee

Time for coffee indeed.

Source: AndroidCentral

Android Central asks -- what was your favorite MWC11 announcement?

Mobile World Congress is all wrapped up, and while it was a lot of work, it was a lot of fun, too.  And there was a hardware announcement or two in there as well!  We saw tablets, fire-breathing CPUs, Facebook phones (yes, I'm hanging on to that no matter what Zuck says!) and even 3D.  It was a lot to cover, and a lot to digest.  I'll admit, I was a bit intimidated at first, but we've got one hell of a great crew here at Android Central, and we weren't about to let little things like sleep stand in our way.  Hat's off to all my friends and co-workers here, as well as our trio of traveling editors who worked so hard to bring it to all of us.

But when it's all said and done, the most important part of Android Central is you guys.  Without you, there would be no reason to go halfway across the globe and get packed into conference halls filled with mediocre techno-music, just to catch a glimpse of whats coming from manufacturers.  While Phil, Dieter, and Daniel recover, we're going to ask you guys to share your favorite news from Barcelona this year.  So have a look at what all went down at MWC11, then head into the forums to let us and your fellow members know what you think is the best of Mobile World Congress 2011.  

Source: AndroidCentral

App Genome Project Compares the Android Market and iOS App Store in every way imaginable

Lookout Mobile Security has whipped up quite the report comparing both the Android Market and Apple's App Store in pretty much every way you can imagine -- and probably some you can't. Their "App Genome Project" (lets call it "AGP" from here on out) compared various metrics between Aug. 2010 and Feb. 2011 to get a six-month spread of data. The most basic comparison between the two is raw numbers of apps, which you can see in graph form above. The Android Market added 50k apps to reach about 90k during the time frame while the App Store added 100k to reach over 350k total apps.

On the dev side, just over four thousand developers were signed up for Android during the time period, while about 24 thousand were registered for iOS. Interestingly, the average number of apps per developer was higher on Android at 6.6 as opposed to 4.8 apps per developer on the iOS side. There is a ton more to go over, so join me past the break. [Lookout]

Another area the AGP investigated was the relative amounts of paid apps in each app library. It is well known that the Android Market is mostly comprised of free apps and has long been used to knock the platform as a whole. The AGP's numbers confirm this, but do show a huge growth in percentage of paid apps in the Android Market over the last six months. The share of paid apps jumped from about 22% to over 33% for more than a 50% growth. The App Store more or less held steady with just over two-thirds of all apps having a price tag. In addition, they noted that the average price of paid apps in the Android Market increased as the share of apps priced at $.99 or less dropped from 60% to 37%. Overall this is great news for the Android Market as it shows that higher-value applications are coming to Android in increasing numbers.
Another long-held idea about the Android Market is that in-app advertising is the way to go for most free apps. The data supports this to an extent as well, with nearly 42% of all free Android apps implementing AdMob's advertising APIs. AdMob had a 17.5% share in free iOS apps and Apple's own iAds platform had 15% adoption. The big winner here is Google, who recently bought AdMob and is perfectly happy with making money from both iOS and Android in-app advertising.

 

Perhaps the most shocking data the AGP collected was the relative number of applications on both platforms that collected private information. A higher percentage of free iOS apps were found to have access to both your location (read: GPS) data and your contacts information than free Android apps. On the positive side, the percentage of total apps doing so saw drops in both the Android Market and the iOS App Store. Still, these numbers are probably too high so it is important to scan the permissions you give each application before installing it regardless of your platform of choice.

The final major comparison the AGP did was look at the composition of third-party application stores for both platforms. Unsurprisingly, the main purpose of the unofficial Android app stores was to provide support for regions that Google has yet to include in the Android Market. For iOS, the driving factor was providing a home for applications that required jail-breaking or were simply rejected by Apple's App Store curators. In both cases, the relative number of pirated applications was found to be quite low. However, many of these pirated apps were found to request more permissions than the original app so users of both iOS and Android should be cautious when using these third-party stores. Plus, you know, stealing is bad.   

Taken as a whole, there are some positives and negatives to be taken from these numbers. Apple's iOS platform is still the clear leader in the app space in nearly every major comparison -- total apps, number of developers, and share of paid apps. Still, Android has seen healthy growth in these areas, especially in the number of paid apps available. With over 300,000 Android devices being activated daily and the upcoming flood of Honeycomb tablets, it is likely Android will see a healthy boost in developer numbers and interest in the coming months. There are several more pretty graphs and more lovely hard numbers past the source link if you still want more detail. [Lookout]

Source: AndroidCentral

Sony Ericsson Xperia family portrait at MWC 2011

Sony Ericsson shook up MWC before it had even begun this year by introducing the Xperia Play -- the world's first PlayStation Certified phone -- alongside a pair of new members of its Xperia line of smartphones, the midrange Neo and QWERTY-sliding Pro. Taken together with the Xperia Arc that debuted at CES in January, this little bunch of Android Gingerbread runners will form SE's principal attack on the ever-fickle smartphone consumer's wallet this year. We can't yet tell you which of them might be the one for you, but we can certainly provide a gallery stuffed full of side-by-side pictures to help you visualize the differences, both big and small, between the four new Xperias. Enjoy!

Sony Ericsson Xperia family portrait at MWC 2011

Source: Engadget

Motorola posts specs for GSM and WiFi-only Xoom, indentical to original save the radios

What's the difference between a WiFi-only Xoom tablet and one equipped with EV-DO Rev. A or HSPA bands? Just $200 and the radio chip within. Motorola just released the full spec sheets for its full lineup of Android Honeycomb tablets, and they're otherwise exactly the same inside. That goes for the Tegra 2 SOC, of course, but also surprisingly the GPS, which is often baked right into the cellular radio in mobile devices like these. Good on Motorola for keeping the functionality in!

[Thanks, David W.]


Source: Engadget

NEC busts out an Android Netbook, the LifeTouch Note

NEC has debuted its first Android netbook, the humbly-named LifeTouch Note, in Japan. Spec-wise, the Note runs Android 2.2, has an NVIDIA Tegra 2 CPU, up to 8GB of memory, a 7-inch backlit (800 x 480 resolution) resistive touchscreen LCD, GPS, WiFi, SD and SDHC slots, and a 2 megapixel webcam. There will also be a 3G variety for a little extra cash, of course. Other than that, there's no word of when this will be available in Japan, but we do know that it start at around ¥45,000 (that's somewhere in the neighborhood of $540). Video demo is after the break, hit up the source for a huge, attractive gallery.

Nec LifeTouch Note from SpacePigTV on Vimeo.

Source: Engadget

PlayOn app for Android 2.2 and above means Netflix, Hulu for all

There is another solution for Android owners disappointed that their phone or tablet may never support Netflix's official DRM specs, now that PlayOn has unleashed a version of its mobile app (already on iOS) for the platform. The free app uses Adobe Flash so it's limited to devices running Android 2.2. (Froyo) and above, but like Plex, coupled with a computer running the server software, it brings online video streams from almost any source including Watch Instantly, Hulu, ESPN3 and more over 3G or WiFi. Barring any kind of Roku-style bannination existing users should download the app and get going immediately, while new users can give the server a 14-day free trial before deciding whether or not to pay the $39.99 first year subscription fee -- check out the press release and video trailer after the break.

Source: Engadget

Samsung's Galaxy S II to have a Tegra 2 version?

Just as we lay to rest the ghost of a phantom Tegra 2 chip inside the LG Revolution, here comes the specter of another unconfirmed appearance for NVIDIA's dual-core application processor, this time inside Samsung's Galaxy S II. If you'll recall, we were initially informed by Samsung's PR crew that their new Android flagship would run on NVIDIA's hardware, however a subsequent correction informed us that the processor inside would in fact be Samsung's own Exynos. Now, it turns out, both might be true. AnandTech have come across some benchmark results showing a GT-i9103 with Tegra 2 listed as its grunt provider, while Pocket-lint and others have noted that Samsung's own spec sheet for the Galaxy S II states that the dual-core Exynos "may not be applicable in some regions." The likeliest scenario here is that Samsung hasn't yet reached sufficient volumes with its own processor production and will rely on NVIDIA's Tegra 2 for handsets outside its critical markets -- much in the same vein as it replaced Super AMOLED with Super Clear LCD screens in Russia and some other territories. Don't fret too much, though, performance disparities between the two aren't likely to be overly significant.

Source: Engadget