The most recent Droid 2 commercial, named “Digits” aired, and we have the video, straight from Verizon Wireless’ Youtube Channel. Obviously, it features the newest Droid, the Droid 2, and is pretty awesome. Video after the break.
The recovery that we all know and love has been achieved on the once believed to be uncrackable Droid X. Koush posted on his Twitter account today notifying the world that he has loaded the recovery on the 1GHz phone, and posted a picture to shun all non-believers.
Do you own a Droid X? How are you reacting to this news? Tell us what you think in the comments.
Reports are coming in that the HTC Incredible will be getting its long awaited serving of Froyo next Wednesday, August 18. Rumors have been floating around the Web for some time speculating an August date, and it turns out those rumors are correct.
This coincides with HTC’s recent release of the Incredible Froyo code, and will allow users access to a few Android 2.2-only applications such as Flash 10.1, Chrome to Phone, and the just announced Voice Actions.
Now that the cat’s out of the bag, we want to hear what you are looking forward to the most out of Android 2.2 on the Incredible, so leave your comments below!
[via Mashable]
For those of you who have been anxiously waiting to order your Xperia X10, your wait is now over. Sony has updated the Sony Style store to begin accepting pre-orders for the device, which will be available August 15th. You may purchase one for $129.99 after a $70 dollar instant rebate and with a new 2 year contract. Check out the source link below for all the details.
[via SonyStyle]
CitySourced, a new app for Android, iPhone and Blackberry, helps you stay up to date on what’s going on in your area and helps get the word out on issues. For example, if you see a street light is out, you can take a picture of it and submit it. If you see graffiti, you can swipe a quick drive-by (careful!) picture and report it. Once an issue is reported, the app posts the problem, alerts City Hall, and puts a notice out on Twitter.
To check it out for yourself, click the link below, or use your QR code scanner on the barcode.
[via LifeHacker]
It looks like the Augen Gentouch tablet is no longer available at K-Mart. This tablet surprised consumers late last month when it was released at K-Mart for only $150, but failed to impress many people. On top of that, news had leaked out earlier this week that the new tablet was running a pirated version of Google’s OS, which may have been what caused the retailer to stop selling the device.
According to the forum post, a consumer who had ordered the tablet online received a cancellation notice in his email. They state:
The cancellation email did not include a reason but did include an 800 number to call to ask why. I decided to do just that. The sales rep was very helpful in trying to locate more tablets in their different stock systems but was unable to find anything. After checking that she decided to find out when more were going to be in stock only to learn that it appears there will not be more in stock. They are out “indefinitely”.
Easy come, easy go, I suppose.
[via androidtablets]
Sprint’s lead development guru, Kevin Packingham, has announced he will be leaving the company on Monday. Packingham, who headed development on the flagship Evo 4G and upcoming Epic, plans to run another company in Kansas City. The timing seems rather odd, considering Sprint will soon be starting a marketing push for the upcoming release of their next 4G device, the Samsung Epic. There is no word yet as to who his replacement might be, or which company Packingham is heading to. We will continue to follow this story and bring you more details as they become available.
[via TWSJ]
Many of you may already be familiar with Handbrake, which is a video encoding tool useful for ripping DVDs and converting video files to various formats. It is an incredibly useful program, but figuring out which bitrate is ideal for your playback device can be a bit daunting. Thankfully, there is now a great little bitrate calculator which, after a bit of input from the user, will churn out the ideal settings. Here are a few things to be mindful of when using the calculator:
- Quality definitely differs between low, medium and high but low isn’t going to make your video look like crap either. All your options are designed to be watch-able, but the bigger the screen the higher you’ll want to set the quality. When in doubt, Medium is always a good choice.
- If you’re just encoding for your computer, just go for it. If you’re encoding for your mobile device, be sure to check its encoding specifications (for example, here are specs for the iPhone). While this calculator aims to stay within the bounds of mobile devices (at least at the “Low” quality setting), it’s possible it may exceed your device’s capabilities. It’s always best to double-check before putting in the time to encode a long movie.
- The reason this calculator only handles video is because audio bitrate is going to be restricted by your device. For example, Apple devices should always encode stereo audio at 160kbps. A sampling rate of 48Khz is what you’re going to want to use in almost every case. If you don’t have any device restrictions, we recommend 256kbps for stereo audio. Feel free to choose whatever you’d like, but as a reference point you should know that most of the music you buy online is encoded at 192kbps.
Check out the source link below to use the calculator, and be sure to Google the video encoding specifications for your particular device for optimum results.
[via LifeHacker]
Well, that didn’t take very long. A leaked 2.1 update for the Dell Streak, which comes with 1.6 out of the box, has found its way online. Reports are indicating that it is not the final release, but if you are a Streak owner and are itching to upgrade from 1.6, this might be the solution for you. There is only one slight catch: this leak is an update for the UK (O2) version of the Streak, and may or may not work on the AT&T device. If you want to find out for yourself, check out the source below for a download link and a set of instructions. Also, be sure to check out the video below. If you are a US Streak owner and try this out, please leave us a comment and let us know your results.
[via StreakSmart]
If you are a nature buff then you will really be interested in this app. Discovery Channel has released the Animal Planet app for Android. Now you can watch shows, view photos, and take quizzes for your favorite Animal Planet shows. Some of the series include Whale Wars, Pit Boss, and Wild Recon. Never miss your favorite animals with this app on the go. Check it out and let us know what you think in the discussions.
Rate & Download: Animal Planet
[via intomobile]