Refresh Roundup: week of June 17th, 2013

Refresh Roundup week of June 17th, 2013

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. 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 we could find during 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!

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Visualized: 50 shades of Nexus, by ASUS

Visualized 50 shades of Nexus

ASUS is never shy at showing off its creative side. At Taiwan Designers’ Week last Sunday, we spotted the company’s above art installation dubbed “Palette”: a mesmerizing circle of 50 overlapping Nexus 7 back covers, each in its very own shade of color. Interestingly, all of these were actually used in the development process of Google’s Nexus 7, which just goes to show the kind of mad dedication ASUS had put into the joint project.

But wait, there’s more! To match the event’s “Flow” theme this year, ASUS decided to also show off parts of the design process that determined the final appearance of its other hero products — hence the title “Becoming” for the booth’s own theme. For instance, much like what the company’s lovely Michelle Hsiao showed us on the Engadget Show, the booth again featured a handful of tablet chassis parts and dummies (mainly of PadFone, Zenbook, Transformer Prime and a 7-inch device) at different stages of their development, complemented by a generous selection of colors and finishes. Only this time the designers used some of them to create gradient wall art that we wouldn’t mind having at home. Check them out after the break.

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Visualized: 50 shades of Nexus, by ASUS originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 18:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IRL: ASUS Transformer Prime, Verbatim Dual USB Power Pack and V-Moda’s Crossfade LP headphones

Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we’re using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment.

You love your gadgets because they’re awesome. Or maybe you love them because you spent $500 and decided you’d better learn to like them. Whatever the case, chances are you’ve learned to forgive their flaws and enjoy them enough as they are, force-quits and all. That about describes this week’s IRL, in which three Engadget editors make peace with their imperfect gadgets: an occasionally crash-prone Transformer Prime, the easily scratched V-Moda Crossfade LP headphones and Verbatim’s Dual USB Power Pack, with its short little charging cables.

Continue reading IRL: ASUS Transformer Prime, Verbatim Dual USB Power Pack and V-Moda’s Crossfade LP headphones

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IRL: ASUS Transformer Prime, Verbatim Dual USB Power Pack and V-Moda’s Crossfade LP headphones originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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CM10 nightly builds now rolling out to select devices

CM10 nightly builds now rolling out to select devicesLike Jelly Beans, custom Android ROMs tend to have different flavors — and CyanogenMod happens to be a fan favorite. Good thing then, that the CM10 team is now serving nightly builds of its Jelly Bean-based custom ROM update. According to the CyanogenMod Google+ page, CM10 nightlies are now available for the US Samsung Galaxy S III variants, the original Galaxy S and the Galaxy S II (i9100g), the Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus S and Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (P3), Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (P5), Nexus 7, Transformer and Transformer Prime tablets. The list will fill out with more devices when they are ready, the team says, and will continue to have CM9 updates (now weekly, rather then nightly) at their disposal.

CM10 nightly builds now rolling out to select devices originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Aug 2012 04:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IHS iSuppli: Apple iPad takes 69.6 percent of tablet brand market share in Q2, reader tablets take a bruising

IHS iSuppli Apple iPad takes 696 percent of tablet brand market share in Q2, reader tablets take a bruising

An earlier portrait of the second quarter’s tablet market share made it quite clear that the iPad was on a rebound, if it was ever in a slump to start with. All those numbers focused on platforms and not brands, however — we didn’t know how the individual makers were doing. If IHS iSuppli’s figures are on the ball, there’s even more of a discrepancy if you break down the period’s results by manufacturer. The iPad staked out 69.6 percent of tablet shipments in the spring. That wasn’t just an 11-point jump over a year earlier; it was a level of share Apple hasn’t had since the Motorola Xoom was just cutting its teeth early in 2011.

As for the rest? Transformer Pads kept ASUS growing, but it’s not a pretty sight if you’re making an Android reader tablet; both Amazon and Barnes & Noble shed roughly a point and a half each, which is no small amount relative to their size. Samsung also lost share by this after its deliveries of Galaxy Tabs mostly stayed flat. We’d add that there’s some wiggle room as to real performance knowing that units shipped and sold aren’t always one and the same. Most of these companies are leaving clues regarding upcoming tablet refreshes that might level the playing field, some not so subtle, but it’s currently Apple’s game to win.

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IHS iSuppli: Apple iPad takes 69.6 percent of tablet brand market share in Q2, reader tablets take a bruising originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 14 Aug 2012 17:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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ASUS Transformer Prime, TF300 and Infinity TF700 getting Jelly Bean in ‘the coming months’

Hot on the heels of HTC confirming a Jelly Bean upgrade for select handsets, ASUS released a statement (pasted after the break) assuring tablet owners that all of the company’s new tablets, at least, will be upgraded to Android 4.1. So far, the outfit is committing to updating the Transformer Prime, along with the Transformer Pads TF300 and TF700. Though ASUS is careful to say it’s considering other devices, it’s still not promising to upgrade the original Eee Pad Transformer or Eee Pad Slider. No word, exactly, on when users will get a taste of Project Butter and Google Now, except that it should happen within “the coming months.” Hopefully, of course, that’s just an outside estimate: after all, ASUS isn’t known for saddling its tablets with heavily customized skins, which can bog down the upgrade cycle.

Continue reading ASUS Transformer Prime, TF300 and Infinity TF700 getting Jelly Bean in ‘the coming months’

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ASUS Transformer Prime, TF300 and Infinity TF700 getting Jelly Bean in ‘the coming months’ originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 20 Jul 2012 11:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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