Android

Verizon updates Galaxy Tab, but sans Honeycomb

Verizon Wireless has rolled out a beefy update for owners of Samsung's Galaxy Tab.

Now being launched as a mandatory system update dubbed EC02, the 35MB package offers a variety of fixes and enhancements for the Tab.

Verizon and Samsung are promising better speed and performance for the built-in browser and less drain on the battery when searching for Wi-Fi hot spots. The e-mail and message apps have been enhanced as well. Tab users can now access hyperlinks within e-mail messages, manage and download attached Word 2000 and 2003 documents, and open video attachments 5MB in size. Adobe Flash … Read more

Acer A500 tablet gets Best Buy preorders now, available soon

When I last saw the Acer Iconia A500 Tab back in January at CES 2011, there was very little information available about the tablet. Then, Acer only showed the tablet with a blank screen. Even the screenshots didn't include screenshots.

What a difference three months makes.

On Friday Acer announced that its Iconia Tab A500 is now available for preorder exclusively at BestBuy.com. And as you'll see from the slideshow below, there are now plenty of screenshots in the screenshots.

Acer also confirms that the A500 may be preordered in brick and mortar Best Buy stores beginning … Read more

Who will profit from NFC, mobile payments?

We've been talking about mobile payments gaining U.S. traction for years, but it's been during only the past few weeks that there's been a stampede of activity signaling that the fight for dominion over mobile payments is about to begin.

What makes the topic such a tangle is the fact that the term "mobile payments" can mean anything from NFC (near-field communication) technology at the cash register or bus stop to paying for items with a smartphone app.

Alltel's Android roster continues to grow

After recently adding four devices to its Android lineup, Alltel is becoming quite proud of its smartphone roster. So proud, in fact, that it issued a press release today simply to talk its Android devices up a bit more.

It took the wireless provider longer than some of its competitors to get started, but now the snowball is growing. Alltel kicked off the year with the LG Axis and most recently began offering the Samsung Gem and the HTC Merge. With price points that start at nearly free, customers have multiple manufacturers and user interfaces to choose from.

It's worth pointing out that almost all of Alltel's products are running Android 2.1 or higher, which is an impressive fact that not many other carriers can boast. Even with most of the specs bordering on midrange at best, at least they have access to much of the Android Market's applications.

And in a sign that the carrier wants to be taken more seriously, Alltel now sells the Motorola Milestone X.… Read more

The 404 794: Where all we are is dust in the wind, dude (podcast)

Babysitting troubles steal Natali away from today's podcast, but Keanu Reeves brings us news about the next "Bill & Ted" sequel and we spin off into the rest of today's rundown, which includes a FaceTime camera glitch, a tilting Safari Easter egg, and a new way to promote viral advertisements.

The 404 Digest for Episode 794

A new "Bill & Ted" is in the works, says Keanu. A supposed FaceTime glitch shows random pictures when you initiate a call. Googling "tilt," "askew," and "slanted" reveals misaligned search results. Hot Wheels erects a clever marketing campaign on a bridge in Columbia. Would you let a company paint an advertisement on your wall? What if they paid your mortgage?

Episode 794 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Report: Motorola has sold about 100,000 Xooms

Motorola has sold around 100,000 Xooms since launching the new tablet in late February, says a Deutsche Bank research report released yesterday.

Based on the percentage of Android 3.0 Honeycomb devices showing up on the Android Developer Web Site, Deutsche Bank estimated the total Android installed base at around 50 million units. Of those, only 0.2 percent are running Honeycomb. That points to a figure of 100,000, give or take, for the Xoom as the only known Android tablet so far outfitted with Honeycomb.

The research firm had initially estimated sales of 50,000 Xooms during the first quarter and 150,000 for the second quarter.

In comparison, Apple may have sold 500,000 iPad 2 tablets in the first weekend it was available last month, said Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster, though some analysts believe the figure could be as high as a million, according to Reuters. The original iPad sold to the tune of 300,000 units in its initial weekend a year ago.

Neither Motorola nor Apple has disclosed sales figures for the respective tablets.

Though the Xoom's sales may seem paltry compared with the iPad, Deutsche Bank called 100,000 units after only a short time on the market "a decent start."… Read more

T-Mobile G2X available April 15 for $199.99

T-Mobile announced today via Twitter that the T-Mobile G2X (aka, the LG Optimus 2X) will be available online starting April 15 and in stores on April 20 for $199.99 with a two-year contract and after a $50 mail-in rebate ($499.99 without contract).

For the price, you get an Android 2.2 device with a 1GHz Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor, a gorgeous 4-inch WVGA display, an 8-megapixel camera, and a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera. It's also 4G-capable (up to 14.4Mbps) and comes with 8GB of internal memory, an HDMI port, and 1080p playback and recording capabilities. … Read more

Alleged crackdown shows Android politicking

Is Google strong-arming the Android world by bullying handset manufacturers and un-open-sourcing the mobile operating system?

Andy Rubin belatedly got around to denying that accusation, made last week in a Bloomberg BusinessWeek story, dismissing it as FUD in a blog post. "I think I'm having a Gene Amdahl moment," Rubin said, referring to the famed computer designer's term for the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that IBM used to undermine his mainframe business.

Specifically, Rubin said Google remains "committed to fostering the development of an open platform for the mobile industry and beyond." He denied … Read more

Google begins tablet version of Chrome OS

Details in Google's source code reveal that company programmers have begun building a tablet version of Chrome OS, its browser-based operating system.

The work isn't a surprise, given that Google created mock-ups of a Chrome OS tablet more than a year ago. But it does indicate that a tablet incarnation of Google's Web-app operating system is a near-term priority, not just an idea.

Google acknowledged the tablet version of Chrome OS but wouldn't discuss details such as when the project's first version will be done. "We are engaging in early open-source work for the … Read more

What's in store for digital comics?

Music, movies, television shows, and books have all developed strong digital presences, but what about the comics from which so many of these other media take their story lines? Relatively new to the digital world, some comics publishers feel they finally have a delivery device for their content in the tablet, and they've got plans for how to develop digital comics. What's less certain is how readers will react to those plans, and whether digital comics will help reverse dwindling comic book sales.

DC Comics, publisher of comics involving well-known heroes such as Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman, … Read more