Android Overload: Google Greenest IT Company In The World, Unity Games Coming To LG Google TV’s and More
We have another dose of the Android Overload here for you tonight. These are the stories that made it past our desks today, but for whatever reason, didn’t manage to make it onto our illustrious front page. No worries, before we toss them into the bin, we figured you let you guys give them a final once over. I found LG’s push to get Unity games up on their Google TV televisions to be most interesting. Can’t help but wonder if an Android powered gaming console could arrive sometime in the near future with Kinect like functionality.
- Unity will deliver a selection of games to LG’s Google TV-powered Smart TVs. [DroidGamers]
- Samsung’s low-cost LTE chip in Galaxy Nexus could signal cheaper 4G phones on the horizon. [IntoMobile]
- Telus Optik TV HD now available in the Android Market.
- First LTE device on Telus Canada will be the LG Optimus LTE. [MobileSyrup]
- FTC warns background checking app makers they could be violating Fair Credit Reporting Act. [PCWorld]
- Amazon in talks with Viacom to offer standalone web streaming service to rival Netflix. [Reuters]
- Greenpeace gives Google title of #1 greenest IT company in the world. [GigaOM]
Mutating Trojans could pose a threat to Android users
From social networks to banks accounts, smartphones carry our most private and delicate information. For this very reason, security is one of the hottest topics in the Android ecosystem, andthe newest threat reported is marking the beginning of a new malicious era – mutating Trojans.
Read more @ Hello Android – Android OS news, tutorials, downloads
Google Glasses allow you to be Terminator
A rumour about Google working on a secret glasses related project was heard about in December.
The rumour was initially announced in an article in the New York Times in December. It said:
Read more @ Hello Android – Android OS news, tutorials, downloads
LightSquared Now Asking FCC Impose Tighter GPS Standards To Get 4G LTE Network Off The Ground
LightSquared has been fighting what seems like an uphill battle from start to get their budding 4G LTE network off the ground. Their biggest hurdle? Getting the darn thing to stop interfering with government protected GPS bands. While, in the beginning, LightSquared was trying to convince the FCC that there was no interference (this was one of the terms required to get their network to gain approval), now the company is back peddling, issuing a statement calling out the FCC to change the way GPS receivers operate because, you know — although there’s no interference, if there was, it’s because of poorly designed GPS equipment. LightSquared said in a statement,
“If sensible standards were in place, the GPS industry would not be facing the current interference problems and consumers would benefit from a more efficient use of spectrum. Furthermore, the way would be clear for LightSquared to launch its new nationwide wireless broadband network funded by a $14 billion private investment in the nation’s broadband infrastructure.”
Now, I agree, something should be done about GPS receivers operating sloppily on L-band spectrum, but something tells me that would take a little more time than LightSquared is hoping to rush. When it comes to GPS manufacturers, LightSquared is asking the FCC to formally establish that they have no right to “interference protection” from LightSquared’s network. Something tells me this isn’t going to go over so well.
LightSquared is grasping at straws here, trying every trick in the book to get their LTE network up and running and remember — if they can’t get everything squared away by March, they could lose valuable funding from Sprint, one of their primary investors.
[GigaOM | Via Electronista]
HP Releases Android Source Code To CyanogenMod Team
Remember back when a few HP TouchPads shipped to some customers with Android pre-installed on the device instead of WebOS? HP vehemently denied any knowledge of how, or why, the OS got on there in the first place. Well, as it turns out — it was HP. The whole time. Yup.
Well, the fine folks over at HP have finally come clean and in doing so, they’ve released that original Android source code for the tablet to the CyanogenMod team to tinkering around delve into. That means, with the elusive kernel source, Android development on the tab should pick up steam and more stable Android ROMs are sure to follow.
If you thought all the mysteries behind the Android HP TouchPads have been uncovered, there’s still a few questions left unanswered. For one, it appears that HP had a separate team working on an Android port for the TouchPad the entire time, working simultaneously as the WebOS team. Could this mean HP had originally planned to ship the tabs with Android after their purchase of Palm? Perhaps, for whatever reason, they decided against, instead banking on WebOS? No one knows for sure, but one thing is certain: the plot thickens… (queue eerie X-Files music).
10 Surprises We Have Learned About Steve Jobs
With a bestselling biography by Walter Isaacson on the shelves, the public has learned many shocking details about the life of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs since he succumbed to cancer in October of 2011. In addition to the surprising allegations of refusal to pay child support to the mother of his eldest daughter and the story behind his black turtleneck uniform, here are ten other surprises that have come out since his untimely demise.
Read more @ Hello Android – Android OS news, tutorials, downloads
LG Optimus Vu exposed in video clip, touts 5-inch display
LG has released a teaser clip of their upcoming Optimus Vu straight from their YouTube channel, and left us to ponder its specifics. There isn’t much information to go by, except that it’s rocking a 5″ display with a 4:3 aspect ratio. This is quite uncommon, and is the only other smartphone to come close to the Samsung Galaxy Note’s screen size.
Actual specs are unknown, but it is said to sport a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm WPQ8060 processor, 1GB of RAM, and 8GB of ROM. The massive display could have a 1024×768 resolution, and the rear shooter is an estimated 8MP. We could also see NFC implemented, a technology thats taken quite some time to make it into the entirety of devices. It is unclear if this phone will host 4G LTE, but it’s possible. Either way we know it requires some sort of SIM card from the sneak shot below.
My best guess is the Optimus Vu will ship with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), and won’t see 4.0 until later down the road. Unlike the Galaxy Note, there doesn’t seem to be a built in stylus – which could be useful with such a large display. We will probably find out more at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain – so stick with us!
EDIT: There actually does seem to be a spot for a stylus from the clip – it’s quick and blurry, so no promises.
[via TheVerge]
LG Optimus Vu Teased In New Video – 4:3 Aspect Ratio With A 5-Inch Display
What’s old is new again. At least that’s what LG would have you believe after teasing their upcoming LG Optimus Vu, a brand new 5-inch device with a 4:3 aspect ratio. The Optimus Vu breaks away from the now standard 16:9 mold of tall and skinny devices, instead offering a smartphone that looks something like a tiny iPad at first glance.
Details on the device are scarce with nothing but a brief teaser video showing off some of the device’s curves. I’m sure we’ll see more at MWC later this month but in the meantime, what do you guys think? Is there any appeal in a 4:3, 5-inch Android device? I think it could make landscape mode functional again but maybe I’m being optimistic.
Featured App Of The Day: 1Weather By OneLouder Apps [Video]
Occasionally, I like to feature apps from the Android Market that have managed to capture my robotic heart and share them with you all. Developer OneLouder Apps, has long been known for providing Android users with gorgeous looking, full featured apps and you don’t have to look any further than their insanely popular Twitter app called TweetCaster for proof of this.
Well, they’re at it again, this time with a weather app called 1Weather that provides just as much function, as it does beauty. Simple and stylish (coincidentally, words I’ve been told describe myself), 1Weather provides all the functions you’d expect from a full featured weather app like real-time weather info and 7-day forecasts which all make the cut. But also, you can find tweets from your area to see what people are saying about the weather in your city.
I’m sure that all sounds like pretty standard stuff but the real coup de grace is in 1Weather’s clean and wonderfully animated UI. Rain drops fall from clouds, sun dials spin, maps and radar animate all with a UI suitable for an Ice Cream Sandwich device. To better show you these UI elements, I felt a quick little YouTube video was necessary so sit back and enjoy.
You can find 1Weather for free, right now, in the Android Market. If you get a chance to try it out, let me know how you like it.
CyanogenMod 9 State Of The Union Address: Device Support, Drivers and Pitfalls
For some Android users out there, if it wasn’t for CyanogenMod — they probably wouldn’t even own an Android device. Well, TeamDouche and friends have graciously provided an update for the everyone in the Android modding community, giving us some insight on the progress of CyanogenMod, as well as newly and upcoming supported devices, and some pitfalls the team has been facing.
When it comes to roadblocks, CM has been hit with a big one, dealing specifically with closed-source device drivers. If you were hoping you local “dev” would get that camera app working in the Ice Cream Sandwich ROM you’re running, it might be awhile. We’re all at the mercy of OEM’s who will have to release them in a devkit or new device release.
Officially, CM9 (a modified Android 4.0 ROM) is supported on devices like the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, HP TouchPad and Motorola Xoom. New devices being added to the fold are Samsung devices using Exynos processors, with Qualcomm MSM 8660 and 7×30 chipsets in the near future. Where things become a little more uncertain is when dealing with devices powered by the aging 1st gen Snapdragon processor, but CM would like to remind everyone that when dealing with the Android community, workarounds can usually be found for these types of things.
The ultimate goal of CyanogenMod is to create a seamless, near-stock, Android experience for users that’s makes them feel as if their device should have shipped with the ROM out of the box. Where normally the CM team is able to beat OEM’s to the punch when dealing with firmware updates — Android 4.0 in this case — it seems at the soonest, you can expect a fully working and stable CM9 ROM on your device is around the same time manufacturers officially update their devices.
In the meantime, if you appreciate CyanogenMod and the hard work their team puts into bringing the stock Android experience to your Sensified/TouchWizzed/Blurred out device and others like it, feel free to hit the source link for more info on progress, as well as a donation link.
