Android Phone Fans |
- Get your Android Circle ready, Android Forums is now on Google+
- Samsung Galaxy S4 hits 40 million in global sales nearly 6 months after its release
- Dead Trigger 2 is live on Google Play, download now and let the blood bath begin!
- New Motorola DROID phones to get camera-improving update “soon”
- Plants vs Zombies 2 is now officially available from the Google Play Store
- Tesla 17-inch dashboard to get Chrome browser and Android emulator
- LG G Flex (flexible display smartphone) breaks cover in new photos, video
- T-Mobile announces $0 down for tablets, tablet trade-ins, & 200MB of free data for life w/ no contracts
- Samsung announces Galaxy Gear compatibility update for 8 more smartphones
- Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini coming to Sprint, AT&T, Verizon and US Cellular starting next month
- BBM gets 10 million downloads in 24 hours
- Three more games added to Humble Bundle for Android 7
| Get your Android Circle ready, Android Forums is now on Google+ Posted: 23 Oct 2013 06:37 PM PDT Calling all Google+ers. Android Forums, the original and one of the largest Android forums on the web, is now on Google+. If you aren’t aware, Google+ is pretty much an Android haven, filled with Android news, developers, and enthusiasts alike. I mean, why shouldn’t it be? Both come from our beloved El Goog. It only makes sense for Android Forums to be there, tackling that space, the same way we rock the forums. So go ahead, toss a Circle around +Android Forums and be sure to hit that +1 button to let us know you care. |
| Samsung Galaxy S4 hits 40 million in global sales nearly 6 months after its release Posted: 23 Oct 2013 05:04 PM PDT Whisperings of slumping Samsung Galaxy S4 sales have been making their way around the net for quite awhile now. This actually lead to recent rumors suggesting that Samsung could be planning to push the release date of the Samsung Galaxy S5 forward a few months, to keep the cash flow rolling in. Back in June, lower than expected Galaxy S4 sales had investors losing faith in Korean manufacturer. Samsung’s stock dropped 6% after orders for the GS4 reportedly dropped between 20 to 30%. While it’s true the Samsung Galaxy S4 might not have been the monumental success Samsung had hoped, you can’t exactly call the device a flop either. Far from it. In a press briefing, Samsung CEO JK Shin told reporters that Galaxy S4 sales have recently hit the 40 million mark. Nothing to sneeze at considering it took the Samsung Galaxy S3 a good 7 months before it was able to hit 40 million in global sales, with the Galaxy S4 still beating it out by a full month. However, after looking back it does appear things are slowing down for Samsung. It was only a month after the S4 debuted that the device quickly rose to 10 million in global sales in May — making it the quickest selling Android device to date. In June the Galaxy S4 hit 20 million in sales, slowing down to around 30 million in August where Samsung “only” sold a measly 5 million handsets for the month. While it’s true sales for the device are definitely on the decline, it’s possible the recent release of Apple’s latest round of iPhones are taking some of Samsung’s pie, hitting 9 million in sales during their launch weekend. Also, with the Galaxy S3 still very fresh in consumers hands, the need to upgrade might not be enticing. Next year, Galaxy S3 owners will be feeling the 2-year itch, and if Samsung can come up with Samsung fresh and new, we expect sales for the Samsung Galaxy S5 to be even bigger than the 4. |
| Dead Trigger 2 is live on Google Play, download now and let the blood bath begin! Posted: 23 Oct 2013 04:21 PM PDT True to MadFinger Games’ word, Dead Trigger 2 is now officially available in the Google Play Store. A graphically rich first-person shooter, Dead Trigger 2 is sure to push the limits of even the most powerful Android devices. Like Plants vs Zombies 2, we don’t want to keep you here too long, so hit the link and get downloading. Oh, and the game is free too.
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| New Motorola DROID phones to get camera-improving update “soon” Posted: 23 Oct 2013 03:30 PM PDT Motorola DROID Ultra, Maxx and Mini users have been enjoying their devices to the… max. These are great smartphones, but no phone is perfect. They have to be improved via OTA updates and if you have one of these phone you may get one sooner than you think! Motorola VP of Product Management Punit Soni reminded us so in his last Google+ post. “Verizon users… You know that SW update is coming soon…”, he said. His followers were soon to jump into the golden question – when? More exactly, a follower said he was anxious and wanted more information, to which he answered simple “Don’t be :)”. These performance upgrades don’t tend to be that important, but this one fixes very substantial issues with the devices. The camera is not optimal, for example (this is especially the case with the Moto X). Chris mentions this update turns the Moto X’s horrible camera into an “ok” one. Motorola DROID Ultra, Maxx and Mini update improvements
We may still not know when this update is coming, but Punit seems very sure of himself. We would say it is coming sooner rather than later, but don’t take our word on that. Let’s just be patient (we know it’s hard). |
| Plants vs Zombies 2 is now officially available from the Google Play Store Posted: 23 Oct 2013 02:24 PM PDT Earlier today, Popcap announced via their Plants vs Zombies Facebook page that something big was coming tomorrow. We had a good idea what it was. We’ve seen Plants vs Zombies 2 debut on Android in China, soft launch on Google Play Store for Australia and New Zealand, and it apparently even made its way up through Mexico a short time ago (thanks, Cesar!). Today, Plants vs Zombies 2 is now officially available to download in the US and Europe via the Google Play Store. Without keeping you guys for too long, here’s the direct link to get you off and running:
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| Tesla 17-inch dashboard to get Chrome browser and Android emulator Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:17 PM PDT If you are looking for a luxury electric car, there is no better than Tesla Motors vehicles. These are the epitome of elegance and high-tech – what could make them better? How about a dashboard with a device that runs Google Chrome and Android.
The emulator will only come after they have worked out other upgrades, though. More specifically, Musk wants to take care of localization and to add the Chrome browser. After that, an Android emulator should be the next step, which makes us pretty excited. We hope none of you will be playing Angry Birds while driving, but imagine being able to get Waze in that huge display. This definitely makes the Tesla Model S one of my favorite cars, it’s just sad I can’t quite afford it. This bad boy starts at over $60,000 – that’s more than a Corvette! For now, I can just get a tablet and stick it in my dashboard. [via Chromespot] |
| LG G Flex (flexible display smartphone) breaks cover in new photos, video Posted: 23 Oct 2013 01:01 PM PDT You may have heard about the LG G Flex in previous leaks, and now we are treated to an even closer look at the rumored device in all its glory. The folks from The Verge have been treated to some pretty clear photos of the device, which is supposed to employ a flexible display that’s virtually indestructible. One of the photos show just how aggressive the curve on the G Flex is, with it being much more profound than the one on, say, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. The device features the back-placed power and volume buttons that we saw on the LG G2, which has us assuming that the G Flex will also get KnockOn functionality (the ability to turn the display on by tapping it twice). The curve is of vertical nature when looking at the device in portrait mode, which is completely opposite of what Samsung did with the horizontally-curved Samsung Galaxy Round. The device is supposed to house a 13 megapixel camera and the display could be up to 6 inches large, but there’s not much else we know about this interesting little device at this time. Those details should hopefully come to light soon, though, as rumors state LG is looking to get the G Flex out of the door by November. Be sure to head here to watch a quick hands-on video of the device.        |
| Posted: 23 Oct 2013 09:45 AM PDT Yesterday, T-Mobile promised to #unleashthetablet and told us to be on the lookout for some interesting un-carrier phase 3.0 news coming our way today. Well, they came through with that promise, and have announced some very interesting new perks for buying a tablet through them. For starters, T-Mobile is introducing tablet trade-ins, something a trusted source of ours revealed would happen before any of the details were made official. It’s simple, really — fork over a tablet you own, and you can get money toward a new tablet. Nothing amazing there. It doesn’t start to get amazing until you find out that the new tablet can be had for $0 down (for “introductory” models, anyway). But the train doesn’t even stop there. Add in the fact that T-Mobile is guaranteeing 200MB of free data per month for life with each data-enabled tablet — even if you’re not a T-Mobile customer — without having to sign a contract, and they have become one of the more interesting carriers to look at when it comes time to buy that new 4G tablet you’ve always wanted. We’re hearing that means you can bring an unlocked tablet that would accept a T-Mobile SIM to the carrier, and you would still be able to grab that free 200MB. We’ll be putting in word to T-Mobile to see if we can get hardcore confirmation on that. Either way, it’s a pretty nice deal. You do have the option of getting more data, with plans starting at $10 for unlimited data (only 500MB of that will be 4G). Want more 4G allowance? Add another 2GB for another $10. That’s a pretty nice deal, and should make T-Mobile one of the most attractive carriers around for those who are looking to buy a data-enabled tablet. It looks like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 will be available for $0 down to start, with the Nexus 7 headed our way under this new program November 20th. T-Mobile does promise us that more will be on the way at some point down the line (including the iPad Air), but we’ll just have to wait until they officially announce those details to see who else will get in on the fun. You can head to their site and sign up to be notified when all of this is ready to kick off (earliest is November 1st for the iPad Air). Who’s biting? |
| Samsung announces Galaxy Gear compatibility update for 8 more smartphones Posted: 23 Oct 2013 08:18 AM PDT While the Samsung Galaxy Gear smart watch was only compatible with one smartphone at launch, Samsung is looking to make quick work of bringing compatibility to more of their top handsets in due time. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has already started to get that upgrade in places like Germany, and units in other regions should be seeing that same upgrade (which will also bring folks up to Android 4.3) quite soon. Samsung also announced that update would be coming to the Samsung Galaxy S3, Samsung Galaxy Note 2, Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 and 6.3, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini (which is coming to the US next month). We suppose it’s better to be late than to never show up at all. The Galaxy Gear sports a 1.63-inch 320 x 320 color display, a 1.9 megapixel camera sensor, Bluetooth 4.0, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, a 315mAh battery, an 800MHz processor and more. Let’s just hope Samsung is also still working on bringing compatibility to devices which don’t bear the Samsung name. [via Samsung] |
| Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini coming to Sprint, AT&T, Verizon and US Cellular starting next month Posted: 23 Oct 2013 07:56 AM PDT If the 5-inch Samsung Galaxy S4 isn’t your thing, perhaps the Mini variant will be more to your liking. This 4.3-inch qHD device comes fixated with a 1.7GHz dual-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, an 8 megapixel rear camera, a 1.9 megapixel front camera, 1,900mAh battery, WiFi N, aGPS with GLONASS, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, Android 4.2.2 and more. Samsung seems to have convinced most of the United States’ biggest carriers to sell the device, as they have announced forthcoming availability on AT&T, Sprint, Verizon Wireless and US Cellular starting at some point next month. We don’t get pricing or exact availability details for any of these carriers just yet, but just know that it’ll be on its way shortly. The device features some of Samsung’s biggest features, including S Beam, Group Play, S Voice, WatchON, Samsung Hub, and more. You’ll even be able to use this device with Samsung’s Galaxy Gear smart watch, though that feature will need to be enabled through a software update that should arrive shortly after launch. The Galaxy S4 Mini might not be the greatest or most powerful device out there, but it could be an attractive option for many folks if the price is right. Let us know if you’ll be one of those folks in the comments section below. |
| BBM gets 10 million downloads in 24 hours Posted: 23 Oct 2013 07:34 AM PDT While many Blackberry naysayers would have you believe BBM is a dated, tired piece of uselessness that no one wants, the download numbers the Canadian company has enjoyed in the first 24 hours of launch on Android and iOS say otherwise. Blackberry has announced that they have amassed more than 10 million downloads in the first day. With that, Blackberry took this time to remind us that features like BBM Video, BBM Voice and BBM Channels would be coming to these apps (they’re already available on Blackberry devices). They also promised that more updates would be coming down the line to bring even more great features — we’re not sure what these would be so soon, but any update is a good update. Blackberry anticipated so many downloads that they had to implement a queue to make sure their servers could handle the surge of customers. While many people were able to get to the front of the line in no time, some might still be waiting to receive their green light to sign up. If you are unfortunate enough to be one of those people, you might be happy to know that a workaround could help you skip the line. You can find more details about that here. Some folks have reported that this method doesn’t work, but I’ve received many reports that it does. In short — your mileage may vary. Give it a shot, and see if Blackberry is offering enough to get you to break away from your other platforms of choice. [Blackberry via iSource] |
| Three more games added to Humble Bundle for Android 7 Posted: 23 Oct 2013 06:39 AM PDT Humble Bundle for Android 7 promised to bring us a few new games after the initial bunch, and that promise has been fulfilled. Three new games are available for those who paid more than the average, which was about $6.50 at the time the sale kicked off. Here’s the updated list of games you can look forward to for such a low, low price (new games are in bold):
Pay more than the average to receive:
The average price of the bundle currently sits at $6.25 — for 10 games and soundtracks for most of them, you can’t ask for a much better deal than that. Get over to the Humble Bundle for Android site to take advantage of the seventh edition of what has quickly become one of the best values in mobile gaming. |
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