If you are in Canada and happen to be sporting a carrier branded Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet — it looks like you are in luck. According to the folks over at MobileSyrup — an update is in the process of rolling out for those with a Telus, Bell or Rogers branded tablet. The update will take your tablet from Android 2.3 up to Android 4.0.4 and is coming over-the-air. Those looking for the update should grab their device and navigate to Menu -> Settings -> About tablet -> Check for updates to get the process started. And with that, enjoy your new dessert.
Verizon has detailed the latest software update for the Samsung Stratosphere smartphone. And while the update will bring some of the features found within Ice Cream Sandwich — your device will not be running Android 4.0. Instead, Stratosphere users will have a modified version of Android 2.3 Gingerbread. That disappointment aside, other details from Verizon note that the update will arrive as SW Version i405.FF1 and as a 53.8MB file. According to Verizon, the update should take about 5 to 7 minutes to download with another 5 to 7 minutes to install. Of course, we suspect that will actually go a bit quicker. Getting into the update and the new features, this one brings Face Unlock, an organized app tray, image capture during video recording and improvements dealing with incoming calls, and the photo editor.
Face Unlock: Secure face recognition to unlock the device
Organized App Tray: Now you have the ability to sort your apps from A-Z.
Image Capture During Video Recording: Tap the camera button and take 1MP still image during an HD video recording.
Incoming Call: User accepts or declines calls by swiping in either direction
Photo Editor: Edit Pictures: color enhancements & fun effects.
Additionally, the update also includes the following “additional features and improvements.”
Added multiple enhancements in Visual Voice Mail (VVM) application, such as: Logout option. Note Option. For Private message, added reply call back options
Enhanced Security with a Google Security Patch.
Improved audio with turn-by-turn navigation.
Assign a personalized ringtone to each of your contacts.
Improvements made to screen wake up while on a voice call, in speakerphone mode, and after the display goes into sleep mode.
Improvements in touch screen response.
Google Gtalk is now available to conduct video chats.
Enhanced connectivity to WiFi access points.
Support Call back number for Text & Multimedia Messages.
We have yet to hear anything official from Rogers in regards to them beginning the ICS roll-out for the Motorola RAZR, however we have begun to hear some reports from the users. The last we had heard from Rogers stated that the RAZR would be updated to Android 4.0 sometime in early-September. And well, while it is not yet September, it is fairly close and it seems that some users were getting impatient and began looking for the update and got lucky. Bottom line, if you have a Rogers branded RAZR you may want to check for an update. Just grab you handset and navigate to Menu -> Settings -> About phone -> System software updates to check.
If you had been hoping to pick up an Ice Cream Sandwich running tablet from Lenovo, you are now in luck. Well, you are assuming you are willing and/or able to shop with Best Buy and wanted a tablet with a 9-inch display. That being said, the Lenovo IdeaPad A2109 is now available with Best Buy. The retailer has the device priced at $299.99. The listing notes that the tablet usually leaves the warehouse in 1 business day and those who order online will get free shipping. Otherwise, the IdeaPad A2109 features include a 9-inch (1280 x 800) touchscreen, 1.2GHz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 processor, NVIDIA Tegra 3 graphics, 1GB of RAM, 16GB of interal storage, a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera and a 3.0 megapixel rear facing camera. Finally, the tablets has a 2-cell battery, a weight of 14.1 ounces and measurements of 0.5 (thick) x 7.6 (wide) x 4.8 (deep) inches.
We are still expecting Radio Shack to launch their No Contract Wireless service as of September 5th and while we had some guesses about the plans. Well guesses based on the fact that the Radio Shack service is powered by Cricket Wireless — it looks like those plans have leaked. Diving right in here, Radio Shack looks like they will have four plans in total — two for feature phones and two for smartphones. Beginning with the feature phone offerings;
300 anytime minutes for $25
1000 anytime minutes for $35
Both of these also include Voicemail, Caller ID, 3-Way Calling and Call Waiting along with unlimited messaging and unlimited 1x mobile web. Additional minutes will be billed at $0.05 per minute and international messages will be billed at $0.20 per message.
Moving over to the smartphone options and we have the following. The $50 per month plan includes 1GB of 3G data, a $0.20 cent charge for any international messages and is missing mobile hotspot and visual voicemail. The $60 per month plan offers 2.5GB of 3G data with mobile hotspot and has free international messaging and visual voicemail. Otherwise, both the $50 and $60 plans include unlimited voice minutes, unlimited messaging, unlimited full song downloads, unlimited ringback tones and ringtones, Voicemail, Caller ID, 3-Way calling and call waiting.
We saw the Archos 101 XS tablet unveiled the other day, and as was stated — that was just the first device in the Archos XS tablet lineup. And well, it look like Archos has recently revealed some additional details. This latest is coming by way of the folks at IDBOOX who attended an Archos event and captured the above image. Anyway, in addition to the Archos 101 XS which is expected to debut in September, the company will be producing an 11.6-inch model, the Archos 11 XS. This larger tablet is expected to debut sometime in 2013. The 101 XS and the 11 XS will both have 16:9 screens and there will also be an 8-inch and 9.7-inch model with a 4:3 aspect ratio. Finally, no timeline was given for the smaller 8- and 9.7-inch models just yet. But on that note, we suspect they will follow the 11.6-inch model and arrive next year.
T-Mobile removed the Galaxy Note from the available device lineup last week and taking that and the fact that Costco had placed the device on the closeout list — it looked like the Galaxy Note was going away. But in fact, it seems this all may have been due to a lack of inventory. The Galaxy Note has since been added back to the T-Mobile website, though, while listed you still cannot make a purchase as the handset is noted as being out of stock. Nonetheless, we suspect now that the phone is listed, the availability will change sooner rather than later. Finally, the Galaxy Note remains priced at $249.99 which comes after a $50 mail-in rebate and along with a two-year agreement.
We got a bit of a look at the Samsung Galaxy Stellar the other day, and well, while we knew that Verizon had plans to launch the device for $99.99 on a two-year agreement — we are also seeing what Best Buy has in mind. The handset has recently been listed with the box-box retailer, however they are not yet offering it for sale. The Best Buy listing shows an off-contract price of $449.99 and for those curious — the specs. The Galaxy Stellar will have goodies such a 4-inch (800 x 480) touchscreen, dual-core 1.2GHz processor, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera, 3.2 megapixel rear-facing camera and 4G LTE connectivity. Otherwise, the Galaxy Stellar will measure in at 4.78 x 2.5 x 0.5 inches and weights in at 4.7 ounces. Finally, while listed on Best Buy, there is no indication as to when it will be available for purchase. But that being said, with the recent leak from Verizon and now this listing — we suspect that the release will come sooner rather than later.
It looks like Android users have another new app to check out in Google Play. The app, formerly known as Jive is now dubbed Hooha. Perhaps more important for some — Hooha brings support for App.net. In fact, Hooha is described as being “a new App.net client built for the community from the ground up.” Of course, avaialble or not — you will still need an App.net account to get any use out of Hooha. The Hooha app is free to download and free to use. As for that App.net account, that will set you back $50.
Otherwise, the Google Play description notes Hooha as being a “raw alpha build” and that it is “in no way complete.” The app is currently sitting at version 0.4.0 and with support for Android devices running 2.2 or later. Finally, here is some of what Hooha can do at the moment and some of what will be coming in the future
Things Hooha can do:
View your stream, mentions and global posts.
Compose a new post.
Reply to or repost other posts.
View user profiles, follow and unfollow.
Open links from posts.
Share links to Hooha from other Android apps.
Android 2.2+
Things Hooha will have soon:
Hashtag handling – #hashtags will open in your mobile browser at the moment.
Pull to refresh – refresh blows away the stream and loads it again. It needs to be smarter.
Background loading.
Photo’s and URL shortening
Search
But probably the most important thing to consider — if you are rocking an Android device and have been hoping to use App.net from a mobile app — this is the option you have at the moment.
We here in the US have had access to the Amazon Cloud Drive for sometime now, and well, it looks like those in the UK can now move forward and grab an account of their own. Yup, Amazon has officially launched the Cloud Drive for those in the UK. For those in the UK that had been playing attention to the US release, things will largely be the same — both in terms of pricing and storage specs. That thought aside though, for those who skipped the bit given it was US only at the time — we offer the following break down. All users will get 5GB of storage space for free and those willing to upgrade have options from as low as £6 per year for 20GB and go all the way up to 1,000GB for £320 a year.
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