Android Phone Fans |
- Ad code found in KitKat’s Dialer raises eyebrows but there’s no reason for alarm
- Nexus 5 delayed several weeks for some, warns Google
- Moto G leaked in a print ads, specs seemingly confirmed
- Mobile Roar Podcast 19: Nexus 5 and Halloween!
- Contest: Win 1 of 10 Nexus 5 cases from Cruzerlite
- Round-up: everything you need to know about the Nexus 5!
- CONTEST: Rafflecopter for a Glass Invite [DAY 2]
| Ad code found in KitKat’s Dialer raises eyebrows but there’s no reason for alarm Posted: 01 Nov 2013 06:36 PM PDT It was one of the coolest new features of the new Android 4.4 KitKat update: Google’s brand new dialer app. While that may not sound very exciting at first, it’s the new dialer features that have our undies in a bunch. Leveraging the power of Google Maps, the dialer not only pulls up contacts saved to your Google account, but phone numbers from local businesses in your area as well. So insanely useful, it was like combining the Yellow Pages and dialer into a single cohesive experience. Last night, Google made the “stock ROM” for the Nexus 5 available, along with all the new apps therein. We were able to extract a handful of the new Android 4.4 KitKat apps, some of which we were even able to get up and running on our non-Nexus 5 devices. “Haxxors” and generally nosey Android fans began diving into some of these new apps, KitKat’s latest Dialer being one of them. What was discovered was a line of code found inside the Dialer app that began raising some eyebrows. Here’s what was discovered:
From the looks of it, it’s easy to assume that some kind of advertisements would be making their way into the dialer, especially given the Dialer’s new Maps business listings search. This even lead to ArsTechnica’s Ron Amadeo to sate, “Google will show Ads in the KitKat Dialer” but they can be turned off (see enable/disable string). After handing the app over our developer, he looked over it and found that this line of code wasn’t even new to KitKat. After searching for the code in past AOSP repos, he found that that it’s almost as old as Android itself, dating all the way back to Android 1.6. Yes, folks, Donut. So while we suppose it’s possible for Google to add ads to the dialer in the future, this was simply some leftover code from Android’s past that failed to get cleaned up. There should be absolutely no reason for concern, ads are definitely not coming to your Dialer anytime soon.
Steve Albright contributed to this post. |
| Nexus 5 delayed several weeks for some, warns Google Posted: 01 Nov 2013 02:49 PM PDT And just when we were about to pat Google on the back for a successfully — and surprisingly smooth — Nexus 5 launch, they have now posted the following update in regards to Nexus 5 orders:
If you’ve already received your shipping confirmation, it looks like you’re in the clear. As for the rest of you, well, you might have some sleepless nights ahead of you. Let’s cross our fingers this isn’t widespread, and only a minimal amount of orders will suffer from delayed processing. Want to check the status of your order(s)? Head to the Play Store’s “My Orders” page and hope for the best. |
| Moto G leaked in a print ads, specs seemingly confirmed Posted: 01 Nov 2013 01:57 PM PDT During yesterday’s Nexus 5 and Android 4.4 KitKat hubbub, another device we’ve been tracking made it’s first unofficial appearance in a series of leaked print ads. You might remember the Moto G as the mysterious phone popping up on Motorola’s official site for a short time, or possibly when the name was trademarked several weeks ago. Now, thanks to @evleaks and tipsters on GSMArena, the phone has allegedly been revealed, specs and all. In the ads, the G looks like the kid brother of the Moto X and according to previous leaks, the back cover might also be removable. Specs can be seen in one of the ads (also confirmed by @evleaks), showing:
Mr. Leaks says the phone will be offered for free on contract, presumably for the 8GB model. While carrier or timing availability wasn’t mentioned, the holiday print ads already getting pictured in the wild leads us to wonder if it wont be much longer before Motorola finally makes the Moto G official. |
| Mobile Roar Podcast 19: Nexus 5 and Halloween! Posted: 01 Nov 2013 11:32 AM PDT This week on the podcast we talk a lot about the Nexus 5 and Android 4.4 KitKat. Was this the Halloween treat we were all expecting, or did Google trick us? Either way, you’ll never look at a KitKat bar the same way. Since it was Halloween this week we had some fun with costumes and childhood stories. You don’t want to miss this episode! Show Notes
Email: podcast [at] mobileroar [dot] com Joe Fedewa (@jayzeroeee) - WinSource.com
This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now |
| Contest: Win 1 of 10 Nexus 5 cases from Cruzerlite Posted: 01 Nov 2013 11:31 AM PDT After celebrating an early Christmas yesterday with the launch of the Nexus 5, we’ve teamed up with Cruzerlite to bring you 10 free Nexus 5 cases for your newly purchased Android phone. If you’re a die-hard Android fan, there’s no better way to show off your Android pride than with an Android themed case from Cruzerlite. As you can see below, Cruzerlite cases are truly unique and easily allow you to show off in public where you mobile phone allegiance lies.
The contest
The rules
If you aren’t lucky or don’t want to wait, you can always head on over to Amazon.com or Cruzerlite.com and order your Nexus 5 cases directly from the source. Good luck Phandroids!
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| Round-up: everything you need to know about the Nexus 5! Posted: 01 Nov 2013 10:21 AM PDT Boy, was yesterday a wild day. Google decided to straight out release the Nexus 5, with no announcement or warnings. It was all way too exciting and we were running around the office trying to cover all the news and details for you. What about today? Today we are suffering from what I will start calling a “Nexus hangover”. We now have our heads back where they should be, though. We are all calm and relaxed, so it’s time to take a look back and examine everything we saw about the Nexus 5 and Android 4.4 KitKat. The sudden unveiling of the Nexus 5This has to be one of the weirdest launches in tech. There were no announcements or details from Google. We were literally about to start our weekly podcast when BOOM… the Nexus 5 is now available for purchase. As it can be expected from a Nexus device, the Nexus 5 started selling out very quickly. We are sure many of you (us too) just went for it and bought it on first impulse. We can’t blame you, the phone is a beauty, with awesome specs and a price that is beat by none. What exactly are we getting for $349? Nexus 5 specs
Yes, the phone is not “the best” in terms of specs, but it is very capable! More so than some of the other $600+ devices. And for the price, you really can’t complain. Finally – a Nexus device with a decent camera!We have some sample images from the Nexus 5 and boy are things looking good! Nexus phones have never been popular for having quality cameras, so this comes as a great Halloween treat to all of us. Below you will find one of the images, you can check out the Nexus 5 image samples post to see more. Nexus 5 official accessoriesYou probably want to protect your investment with a case. Google has some nice ones for you, but they won’t be as affordable. We have a bumper case and a Quick Cover case, going for $35 and $50, relatively. What carriers can I activate the Nexus 5 on?We talked about this a bit in the podcast. A phone is really not much without service, and having nice options is always good. This is an unlocked device, so you can activate it with any GSM carrier of your choice. The “big guys” will be AT&T and T-Mobile.
Now let’s go into the juicy stuff. The following news really threw me off my chair – you can purchase a Nexus 5 from the Play Store and activate it on Sprint! This is huge a huge move for a CDMA carrier. Such carriers usually keep things locked to their own devices, due to compatibility and support. Why is Sprint allowing this? Chances are their own device is the same and they are just going easy on it. Sprint and T-Mobile will have the Nexus 5 available soon, so you can also get the devices straight from them. Let’s talk Android 4.4 KitKAtAlong with the Nexus 5 comes Android 4.4 KitKat. In many ways, software is much more important than hardware, so this could have been the biggest news for you. The improved Android version comes with some good updates, which you can read all about in our official Android 4.4 announcement article. You can also watch 56 minutes of video that will tell you all about Android 4.4 KitKat. The biggest step that Android 4.4 takes is that it is optimized to run even on lower-end devices (only needs 512 MB of RAM to run). Now this doesn’t mean all of our old phones will be updated. That is based on the manufacturer and how they choose to spend their time and resources. All this means is the manufacturer CAN update lower-end phones if it wants.
Other improvements include the new Hangouts app, which is not complete yet (needs Google Voice calling), but it does support SMS and MMS now. There is also Caller ID for unknown numbers (mainly to identify local businesses), built-in Cloud printing and more. When will my phone get Android 4.4 KitKat?
In fact, Nexus and Google Play Edition devices will be getting Android 4.4 within “a few weeks”. This includes the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10, Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition and HTC One Google Play Edition. We suppose those with older Nexus devices are out of luck. Everything that is born has to die some day, guys. Who knows, maybe Google will update those older devices later! Download the Android 4.4/Nexus 5 apps!Excited about Android 4.4 KitKat but won’t be getting the Nexus 5? Maybe you want to get a taste of what the improved experience will be like, so we took the Android 4.4 factory image and took it all apart. The result? The APK files for the new apps and software!
Now, be warned that some of these apps won’t work. That or they have to be installed directly into system/apps, and even then they may crash. You have to know your way around. It’s kind of a hit or miss situation, but you can join the conversation in the articles’ comment sections to see how it is all working for others. The most popular problem we found was that Voice Search was crashing when installed (from the Google Experience Launcher article). One of our readers found a quick way to fix it, but we are not sure it will work for everybody. Here is the fix:
If this doesn’t work, you may have to have root access in order to make this work. The library file can be replaced if you have root access, which can fix the problem permanently. Or the problem can come back after a reboot. Like we said, it’s all hit or miss… and can get complicated. Should I get the Nexus 5We put together an awesome comparison post. It includes the Nexus 5 (of course) and other popular phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the iPhone 5S. The Nexus 5 fairs very well against the big guys, but is it worth your hard-earned cash? It depends. If you are looking to get a phone off-contract and your carrier of choice supports the device, we say HELL YEAH! You won’t get more bang for your buck. There is simply no better phone at the Nexus 5′s price range. Check out all of our Nexus 5 and KitKat coverage to learn more. And don’t forget to join the conversation at the Nexus 5 forums! |
| CONTEST: Rafflecopter for a Glass Invite [DAY 2] Posted: 01 Nov 2013 09:15 AM PDT Yesterday was magical. We saw the Nexus 5 launch with Android Kit Kat 4.4 and simultaneously launched The Great American Glass Contest whereby Phandroid gives away 9 Google Glass Invites in 9 days. The Day 1 contest is still open and simply requires you to participate in our Nexus 5 Forums, but today marks the start of the Day 2 Contest, entered with a simple Rafflecopter. If you cannot afford $1,500 for Google Glass or are an International Participant you are still eligible. In the event you win, we'll substitute the Glass Invite with a $50 Google Play Gift Card and donate your invite to one random Android Forums member from this thread. Day 2 Contest: Nexus 5 Forum Frenzy
The Great American Glass ContestWe’re giving away 9 Glass invites in 9 days and you don’t want to miss an opportunity to score big… so check out our schedule below to see which contests are still open!
Hints:Follow these Google+ accounts to get an early heads up when contest posts will soon be going live and additional hints at how to improve your chances of winning.
Contest Rules & Requirements
Contest Terms of Service:
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