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Three UK says HTC Hero 2.1 upgrade waiting on Google

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by Dustin Karnes on
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While most of us are clamoring over which handsets will receive Android 2.2, we tend to forget about some other users who are still far behind that mark. For example, the HTC Hero on UK’s wireless carrier, Three.

However, it looks like those Three Hero users (and we don’t mean the three users who have a hero…pun?) still on 1.5 will be getting their official upgrade to Eclair once Google OK’s the transition. They also apologize for the (long) delay, saying that other devices, such as the iPhone 4 and Galaxy S, had gotten in the way of their development process. Check out the full statement below.

Thanks for all your patience regarding the 2.1 update for HTC Hero. We have now tested and approved the software and this has been submitted to Google to get the final go-ahead. We’re hoping that they can push this through as quickly as possible, but we’re not clear on the timescales for this yet.

Really sorry for the delay on this update. We’ve been working really hard to approve and launch lots of handsets and updates this month including iPhone 4 and Samsung Galaxy S, and the 2.1 update for Hero has had to queue up alongside these other big launches, particularly the Galaxy S which took a number of versions of software to get right. We’re a smaller network than some of our competitors, and while that has its advantages it also means that our testing team doesn’t have limitless resources. We’ve done our best to manage priorities, but the 2.1 Hero update hasn’t gone through testing and approvals as quickly or as smoothly as we’d have wanted – HTC did have to supply us with a couple of versions until we were satisfied it was bug free. We really wanted to get this to you for the end of July, but we’ve missed our deadline – I’m really sorry I can’t bring you better news on a Friday afternoon but at least you’re now in full possession of the facts.

myTouch 3G Slide to receive OTA updates on 8/4

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by Dustin Karnes on
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No, no… not Froyo. While we wsh we could tell you that T-Mobile’s myTouch 3G Slide was getting the coveted Android 2.2 update, we can’t. Well, we could… but we would be lying.

According to Tmo News, there will be an OTA update going out to the myTouch 3G Slide tomorrow, which will fix some bugs. According to their site:

Beginning August 4, T-Mobile will send an over-the-air (OTA) update to myTouch 3G Slide customers, which will provide a number of benefits, including increased battery performance and enhancements to software features such as Faves Gallery and Genius Button. The update will be sent to customers in staggered waves beginning August 4 and we anticipate all customers will receive it by August 19.

If any of our mT3GS users out there get this update, make sure to let us know, and what you think of it, in the comments below.

[via TmoNews]

Video: Froyo on a Motorola DROID X

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by Dustin Karnes on
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While there was an announcement last week that the Motorola DROID (original) would be receiving Android 2.2, there has been a strange lack of news as to wether or not it would come to the DROID X. Well, it looks like there’s some evidence now that would point to it coming to the X… either that, or there’s now evidence of some crafty developers.

There is a video out of a DROID X running Froyo, complete with Blur. Apparantly, the user himself is relatively confused as to how the OS is on his device. Check out the video below, and make sure to let us know what you think in the comments!

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Thanks to everyone who sent this in!

HTC Wildfire gets Media Sync capability

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by Dustin Karnes on
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HTC, a company world renowned for their innovation on the Android platform, has added the ability to sync up media with the HTC Wildfire. The ability was added to HTC Sync, HTC’s official mobile device sync software. The feature is currently only available for the Windows platform According to HTC:

Now packed with new features, this version features a media sync that is compatible with popular media players available on your PC

While there is no word as to exactly which “popular media players” this entitles, it’s nice to see HTC continuing to move forward with their software development, considering how much news has revolved around their hardware recently.

HTC also mentioned that more of their device’s users can expect to see the functionality coming to other handsets very soon.

[via slashgear]

South Korea proud owner of Motorola Glam

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by Dustin Karnes on
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Motorola has continued it’s release of one of their new devices in the Asian market by bringing it to South Korea. Dubbed the “Glam”, it would probably be safe to assume that we may never see this device stateside, but that doesn’t mean some of our friend to the east would mind terribly having it. The specs are relatively standard, touting:

  • 3.7-inch screen
  • WiFi
  • 256MB RAM
  • 512MB ROM
  • 5MP camera with dual flashes
  • HDMI out
  • 720p video recording
  • Android 2.1

The phone will be exclusive to wireless carrier SK Telecom.

[via unwiredview]

Top 5 Android RSS readers

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by Chris Moor on
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We all know news is a daily part of most everyone’s lives. We also know where you get it from is important, too. That’s why I’ve gathered the best Android RSS readers I could find and put them up against each other. Which one takes the cake? Let’s find out!

gReader

gReader is an RSS feed client that allows you to view your feeds by site, or view all at the same time. What I like about gReader is its simplicity. The UI is very straight forward and fun to look at. The app syncs with your Google Reader account, and does so in a very fast manner. With that being said, there are a few extra features, like the ability to search for articles. gReader will most likely appeal to people who want their news, and want it fast, with no interruptions. That being said, there is the occansional gripe with gReader. The fact that you can search for articles from a site, but can’t search for a site to add to your news list was a turn off.

Rate & download: gReader

FeedR

FeedR allows you to view you feeds by category. Even better, you can color code your categories so that you can find the news that you want to read fast. You have the option to sync with your Google Reader account, but you can also use the app without it. Some extra features are the ability to easily share the news that you read, ability to set the app on your homescreen as a widget and the ability to create a shortcut to an RSS feed on your homescreen. However, FeedR lacks things, like the option to view all of your feeds at the same time and there is that dull UI. The newest version requires Android 2.0 +

Rate & download: FeedR

FastReader

FastReader is an RSS feed client that gets you your news in a time efficient manner. The app has 2 tabs, one that shows you each feed, and another that lets you view all of the feeds at once. The UI on the app is too bland for me, and it lacks some features, like search, and is more geared toward people who want to get their news, and don’t care about how the interface looks. You can share stories via email, Facebook, and Digg. However, when you click on a story, the interface gets a bit better. You can zoom in and out, and easily switch to another article. Besides that, FastReader is your ordinary RSS feed client.

FeedSquares

Now this is something different. FeedSquares is not your ordinary RSS reader. In fact, there are no apps like it. Instead of giving you a boring list of your feeds, FeedSquares gives you colorful boxes that represent each feed. If you only have one or two feeds that you get news from, then this app is not for you. But if you have a bunch of news from a bunch of places, then look no further. The UI is amazing, and is just fun to use. However, there are always drawbacks. For example, FeedSquares is not as fast as the other RSS feed clients, not even close, and besides a cool interface, no other features are to be found.

NewsRob

The last RSS feed client that we have is NewsRob. NewsRob is a very sleek app that gets you your news from your Google Reader account. The UI is very nice to look at, but as with FastReader, no extra features are to be found. You can sync to you Google Reader account, and do the expected, like mark as read. You can also view all of your feeds at once, which is a nice feature that is non-existent in other apps. As far as getting your news, it does it at the normal speed. Nothing special, but not bad either.

Rate & download: NewsRob

Comparison

So there you have it. gReader is definitely one of the best RSS feed clients out there, with a sleek UI and the extra features that most apps don’t have. Second place goes to FeedR. FeedR is also a top-notch client and while the UI is not very impressive, packs a few features than gReader. But keep in mind that FeedR is $1.99, so you will have to make the descision if the extra features are worth the price. Coming in at third is FeedSquares. FeedSquares was a fun app to use, but it wasn’t really that practical. It was slow on startup, and slow on syncing. If you prefer glam over guts, then FeedSquares is for you. Landing at fourth place is NewsRob. NewsRob was a boring app to use, and didn’t really have any features to its name. I honestly can’t reccomend NewsRob to anyone that wants an RSS feed client that is a good, quality app. Finally, coming in dead last, is FastReader. While FastReader was a bit faster then the other apps, it doesn’t have any features, does not have a widget, and the UI makes me want to claw my eyes out. I believe that FastReader is not even close to the competition, so if you want a good RSS feed client, at least look at the top four.

Well, there you have it! gReader takes the cake when it comes to getting your news, but FeedR is not far behind. As for FastReader, better luck next time.

What do you use for an RSS feed client? Agree or disagree with our results? Let us know in the comments.

Android Development 101- Part 4: Advanced DB/GUI Code and DDMS

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by Chris Moor on
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Well we’re now on part four of the Android Development series but in case you haven’t been following along, here’s what you’ve missed:

Caught up? Good. Now that you’re up to speed on what’s been going on in Android Dev class, I’ll let the teacher of the class (Greg R Jacobs) describe what the latest installment is all about:

In this tutorial we are going to cover some advanced database code as well as tie in to some more advanced GUI techniques. We left off on the last tutorial showing you how to insert and select data to/from the database as well as make a table. What we need now is to be able to delete data if it is not needed and update it if we entered it incorrectly. We will tie these abilities in with some more advanced functionality utilizing a long press on the screen for delete and for updating we will just press the data we want to edit.

Can’t wait for your next installment Greg!

[via hackaday]

Video: Lego Mindstorm Remote Control for Android 2.1 & 1.6

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by Chris Moor on
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Who doesn’t love Lego? Who doesn’t love Android? Well YouTube user freedroidz obviously loves both and that’s exactly why he decided to create a remote control for Lego Mindstorm NXT robots. It connects via bluetooth and unfortunately is still in an alpha state. Once it’s stable enough, he plans on making it available on the Android Market. Obviously that picture isn’t why you came here, so check out the videos after the break.

» Read the rest

Android the OS of Choice for Tablets Say PC Vendors

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by Chris Moor on
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You’ve gotta give Intel credit.

They know that smaller, more mobile computing is the future, and they’ve been pushing and pushing their Atom processor, and they’ve done a pretty good job in basically overtaking the netbook category in that regard. When it comes to tablets, however, the Atom is apparently not the processor of choice.

Sources from various notebook manufacturers have mentioned that they will be leaning towards more cost- and energy-efficient ARM processors from Freescale, Nvidia, and Qualcomm, with Android as the chief OS. Great news for those manufacturers, but don’t count Intel out quite yet. They still have the ability to be a contender if they can convince manufacturers that their new Atom processors, which will consume 50% less power in some instances, have what it takes.

According to sources:

Intel is currently negotiating with several Taiwan-based PC vendors to showcase Intel-based tablet PCs at Intel Developer Forum 2010 (IDF 2010), which will be held in the US in September. Most vendors have agreed to demonstrate engineering samples; however, whether they will mass-produce the Intel-based tablet PCs will depend on market demand, the sources noted.

We’ll have to wait for the final outcome, but Intel does have some catching up to do if they plan to compete with the ARM processors in the growing tablet market. Time will tell.

via [digitimes]

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