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Android Central Editors’ app picks for Sept. 3, 2010

Jared DiPane — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 00:15:09 +0000

The Android market is one of my favorite places to spend time while on my Motorola Droid, but cruising the market is not nearly as fun as messing around with some of the great applications that are available. Trying to decide which of the hundreds of thousands of applications are a solid starting point can be a daunting task, but we love to help you out with that. Let’s take a look at some great applications that our writers use on their devices.

Posted originally at Android Central

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T-Mobile reportedly in talks to carry Huawei Ideos [video]

Jerry Hildenbrand — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 21:42:53 +0000

T-Mobile USA in in negotiations to carry Huawei’s new Ideos handset — an entry-level Android handset that will ship with Android 2.2, so says the Wall Street Journal. WSJ’s unnamed source, however, says that it’s unsure if the deal will go through, and to expect the answer in four to six weeks.

Huawei is better know for its telco equipment (that’s the stuff your carrier buys for its towers and data centers), and a push to get into the U.S. smartphone market is somewhat new. Any manufacturer who can ship a solidly built messaging phone replacement, that also runs the latest and greatest version of Android is OK in my book. Bring it! We’re trying to track one down at IFA, in the meantime hit the jump to see Huawei’s promo video for the Ideos. [WSJ online]

Posted originally at Android Central

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Verizon Fascinate ringtones, wallpapers available

Jerry Hildenbrand — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:53:23 +0000

A new device means new goodies, and this time we don’t have to wait for the Samsung Fascinate to launch before we get a peek at it’s innards. We have the full system dump for you hackery types, as well as a bevy of new wallpapers and system sounds for the rest of us to enjoy:

Now all that’s missing is a unit in our hands. Big props to our mystery man for this Android treasure trove! [Android Central Forums]

Posted originally at Android Central

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R2-D2 Droid 2 dock pictures revealed

Sean Brunett — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 20:32:12 +0000

Verizon’s R2-D2 version of the Motorola Droid 2 will be released September 30th, news w broke a few weeks back.

Pictures have now begun to creep up showing off some of the R2-D2-specific accessories. The phone dock, pictured above, is one such item. It’s style and color fits in with what the phone will look like and it even has a couple Star Wars references on the device in case you forgot where the phone got its inspiration.

How many of you will be springing for the R2-D2 version coming to Verizon at the end of the month? [Engadget]

Posted originally at Android Central

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Samsung Galaxy Player 50 hands-on

Dieter Bohn — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:34:39 +0000

Take the Samsung Galaxy S, low-end it a tad, and take out the radios. What you’re left with is the Samsung Galaxy Player 50, a 3.2-inch multitouch multimedia player running Android 2.1. The screen itself is LCD and not Super AMOLED like the Galaxy S phones, but this guy has a 2MP camera and 802.11n Wifi. It comes in either 8GB or 16GB versions, plus up to 32GB extra with a microSD card.

As is the case at an event like IFA, we’re unlikely to see the particular version in the United States — the center home button design is a bit of a giveaway, as the Samsung usually keeps the square buttons at home in Korea. But it would be an interesting alternative to the iPod. More pictures and press release after the break.

Posted originally at Android Central

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Froyo on the Droid Incredible [video]

Kyle Gibb — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 19:22:52 +0000

Wow, what a wait it has been. The Droid Incredible faithful (of which I am a member) have waited what seems like forever for Google’s latest version of Android to hit their phones. But finally, Froyo is upon us and it is glorious. If nothing else, you can finally sing along with Strong Bad as Trogdor ravages the countryside thanks to Flash 10.1. For those of you who have yet to receive the OTA notification, you can find links and manual download instructions here. Watch the full video walkthrough along with a Quadrant score comparison past the break.

Posted originally at Android Central

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Motorola unleashes new iPhone zinger in print ad

Kyle Gibb — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 18:47:44 +0000

Remember how a certain fruit company used "There’s an app for that" as a marketing slogan for the longest time? Well, Motorola has used a similar slogan in its latest ad in the Wall Street Journal to remind people that the Droid 2 can run full Adobe Flash 10.1. Personally, I would have gone with a certain gloved wrestler to show off Flash (with consumate v’s), but to each their own. [@benforta via CrunchGear]

Posted originally at Android Central

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Android Central Podcast Episode 28

Phil Nickinson — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 17:05:25 +0000

Short Description:

Phil gives birth, Jerry's struck by lightning and Mickey takes over as Great Leader of the Android Central Podcast. Plus, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, Droid Incredible gets Froyo, tons of app news and your e-mails and voicemails.

Podcast MP3 URL:

http://media.libsyn.com/media/androidcentral/acpc28.mp3

Top o’ the news – AC at IFA 2010

Android OS updates

Hardware news

Software news

Posted originally at Android Central

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Toshiba Folio 100 Hands-On

Dieter Bohn — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:26:15 +0000

We took a gander at Toshiba’s Folio 100 today and here’s the main takeaway: sucker be huge. It has a 10.1" screen and a fairly reasonable bezel around it – though the resolution on that screen is still only 1024×600, same as the 7" Galaxy Tab. The whole thing is hard plastic with a small texture to the back and felt fine despite being what we suspect is still pre-production hardware. It weighs in at 1.7 pounds and is carry-able, sure, but it’s such a large, wide screen that this is pretty much a sit-down device only. The battery died on us pretty quickly – at 1020mAh it’s probably difficult to get through an entire day of IFA fondling. Toshiba claims 7 hours of battery life.

The HDMI-out and USB-host (yay!) ports are hidden underneath a port cover. There’s 16gigs on board and it’s expandable via a standard, large SD card slot. Combine that full-sized SD card slot, the USB Host port, and the HDMI-out and we’re thinking this is a business-focused device that has aspirations of being a professional photographer’s bestest friend ever.

We were looking at at build of Android 2.2 that didn’t look quite optimized for the big screen and definitely isn’t final build ("TOSHIBA_FOLIO_AND_A 2.2 3.0004 for IFA test-keys" is a pretty good hint there), but we did find it to be responsive and quick – for the most part. There was the occasional lag and jaggy transition, due to that early build moreso than the Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, which should be the definition of fast. We would definitely like to see the final build on this – we bet that the included Opera Mobile browser will simply fly.

$540 in "late October" for the WiFi only version is what they quoted us in the booth, with the 3G version coming next year. Catch more photos after the break!

Posted originally at Android Central

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Angry Birds for Android is here!!! [video]

Phil Nickinson — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:22:13 +0000

No time to talk. Too busy playing. Go get the beta now in the Android Market. (QR code after the break.) And if you want to help out the developer, give the beta a spin, then fill out this survey.

Update: Hands-on video after the break!

appid:

com.rovio.angrybirds_lite

Posted originally at Android Central

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