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Continue reading Medion announces LifeTab P9514 tablet, mysterious Android smartphone at IFA

Medion announces LifeTab P9514 tablet, mysterious Android smartphone at IFA originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Sep 2011 13:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Official Android updates

• The biggest update we saw this week was a widespread push of Android 2.3.3 to the Motorola Droid 2. This one is done OTA, so simply go into your settings menu and check for updates to see if it’s there. (thanks to everyone who sent this in)
• While we saw a rollout of Android 2.3 to a select few LG Optimus Ones in June, we’re hearing reports that the update’s now getting pushed out again to a few more regions. This refresh must be done manually through LG’s updater tool, so you’ll definitely want to check to see if your phone is one of the lucky recipients. [via PocketNow]
• US Cellular took to its Facebook Page to let customers know it’s working on revamping the Samsung Mesmerize to Gingerbread at some point, though no official date or timeframe was given aside from “as soon as possible.” [via AndroidCentral]
• HTC announced the arrival of Android 2.3 for the Thunderbolt and Droid Incredible this month, via its Facebook page. [via AndroidCommunity]
• In fact, some users have already reported getting Gingerbread for the Incredible, and we suspect the rollout will be complete no later than the end of the month, to fulfill the company’s promise. [via Phandroid]
• Gingerbread is in the plans for the Motorola Milestone 2, and according to the company the refresh will begin rolling out in early Q4. [via MyDailyGadget]
• The Samsung LC11 LTE mobile hotspot is getting a new build, EF07, that appears to improve its handling of multiple devices and congested WiFi locations. It also adds security patches and new protocols. [via Verizon]
• An update for the Droid 3 was apparently available to soak testers and leaked online, but was pulled from Motorola servers shortly thereafter. It appears to add video chat support in GTalk and adds a new radio that’s supposed to save battery life. The via link still has the update available for anyone interested. [via Droid-Life]

Unofficial Android updates / custom ROMs / misc hackery

• The root method used on most Motorola Android devices has been employed to root the Droid Bionic before it’s even been released. [via Droid-Life]
• LG has released the kernel source for its Gingerbread build of the Optimus S. [via AndroidCentral]
• The HTC Dev site expanded its support for the bootloader unlock tool this week, now encompassing all versions of the Sensation — including T-Mobile’s. [via AndroidCentral]

Other platforms

• SPB Shell 3.0 is now available for Symbian^3 devices. It brings a fresh 3D-style UI to the OS, and can be yours for $15. [via IntoMobile]

Updates already covered this week

• HP planning TouchPad OTA update for added functionality
• HTC Flyer Honeycomb ROM leaks
• Samsung Nexus S updated to 2.3.6, fixes voice search and breaks tethering

Refresh Roundup: week of August 29, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Sep 2011 10:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Nokia 500 wasn’t the only fresh handset that popped up at the Vodafone booth here at IFA, this morning. We also managed to sneak in some time with the Optimus Sol. The device is reasonably slick for what the company appears to be framing as a relatively low-end phone. At its center is a bright, glossy 3.8-inch Super Amoled display.

The Sol runs Android 2.3 with a single-core 1GHz processor — which the company points out should be fine for those not doing heavy duty work on the thing. It certainly handled what we could throw at it during our hands-on time. The handset is thin and is reasonably light, compared to the Optimus 2x, which aside from the large four-inch display, looks fairly similar. It should be coming very soon — some time later this month, most likely, for Vodafone users here in Germany. According to an LG representative, it should run roughly €300 off-contract.

Filed under: Cellphones

LG Optimus Sol hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Sep 2011 07:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Samsung Conquer 4G may be appealing to a lot of folks craving a mid-range Android device with WiMAX, but what if that extra G just isn’t all that important to you? Sprint has a little extra room to spare in the lower end of its lineup, so it’s tossing in the Kyocera Milano. The device is rumored to run on Gingerbread and may include an 800MHz CPU with 512MB of RAM, a 3-inch display, a 1,340mAh battery, a 3.2 megapixel camera and a slide-out keyboard. It’s likely to be hitting Sprint on September 9th for $50, just in case you’ve always wanted a phone with an uncanny resemblance to the cookie of the same name.

Kyocera Milano coming to Sprint September 9th for $50, looks nothing like Alyssa originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 02 Sep 2011 01:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Until a few days ago we’d heard surprisingly little about the Galaxy Note, a handset rumored to be launching alongside the Galaxy Tab 7.7 and Wave 3 at IFA. It’s ironic, really, because of all the phones to have kept a low profile, this is a memorable one. Behold, a 5.3-inch handset with a stowaway pen for note-taking, drawing and grabbing screen captures. In other words, a Dell Streak-esque hunk of a device that blurs the lines between phone and tablet. You’re looking at a Gingerbread-running HSPA+ handset with a 1280 x 800 Super AMOLED display, dual 8MP and 2MP cameras, a removable 2,500mAh battery and the same Samsung-made dual-core 1.4GHz processor you’ll find in the just-announced Galaxy Tab 7.7. For a phone this gargantuan, it’s actually quite thin at light, at 9.65mm (0.38 inches) thick and a reasonable 178 grams (6.3 ounces). We had a few minutes to handle the phone in advance of today’s press conference, and found it surprisingly easy to grip, even in our small hands. As with the Infuse 4G –whose own 4.5-inch screen once seemed impossibly sprawling — the thin shape makes it tenable, as does the lightweight, textured plastic lining the back.

As you’d expect, Android 2.3 comes layered with TouchWiz on top and, in this case, seven home screens and a touch-optimized interface dubbed “S Pen” designed to take advantage of that pen. These include S Planner, a native calendar and to-do list app, from which you can drag and drop appointments, changing time slots without having to open an entry. S Memo for note-taking, meanwhile, accepts voice, photo, text and handwritten input. We also got a quick glimpse of Virtual Whiteboard, a more collaborative form of note-taking. On top of that, Samsung says it’s releasing the S Pen SDK to third-party developers, and the company’s banking on more apps for organizing photos and drawing, among other things. For now, this is merely a global launch: Samsung says it’s still in discussions with carriers worldwide, so depending on your neck of the woods it might be awhile before you hear anything definitive about pricing or availability. Find the some fancy press shots (and a promo vid) after the break, and stay tuned for our hands-on.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Note announced: 5.3-inch display, built-in-stylus, custom ‘S Pen’ apps

Samsung Galaxy Note announced: 5.3-inch display, built-in-stylus, custom ‘S Pen’ apps originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 01 Sep 2011 05:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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