Hasta La Gadget!

We figured Apple’s firm response to Lodsys earlier this week regarding its claims against iOS devs would prompt the patent holder to move on to its next target, and sure enough, it looks as if said target has been selected. Unfortunately, a group of Android app devs have now found themselves in the Texas-based company’s crosshairs, which is citing the same patent infringement that Apple recently addressed, relating specifically to in-app upgrade purchases. As was the case with the last round of letters, Lodsys is demanding licensing fees from small, individual developers, who don’t have the resources to fight back. Lodsys appears to be maintaining its trend of ignoring media requests, so we’re keeping an eye on the patent troll’s blog to see if anyone comes up to the surface to defend this latest round of allegations. In the meantime, plugging your ears while humming and ignoring the mailman might not be such a bad idea… you know, if you do this kind of thing for a living.

Lodsys shifts in-app purchasing target to Android devs following Apple response originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 28 May 2011 14:25:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tired of content providers bossing you around, telling you what you can do with your own phone? Good, because Netflix is sick of telling you kids to keep off its lawn. Following a recent update, the outfit’s Android app now officially supports the LG Revolution, Motorola Droid, Casio G’zOne Commando C771, and any unsupported device that just happens to work on its own. In addition to adding official support for the aforementioned trio (and of course, some minor bug fixes), the stream king removed a device check that previously blocked unsupported handsets from attempting playback. Your mileage may vary, but the folks over at Droid Life are reporting success with both the Droid X and Droid X2, as well as the Xperia Play. That’s no guarantee for you and your unsupported device, but at least you have the freedom to fail. That’s nice, isn’t it?

Netflix updates Android app, expands device support originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 26 May 2011 21:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rooting your Motorola Xoom won’t stop you from getting an LTE hardware upgrade, but it will throw up a roadblock if you’re trying to watch movies rented from YouTube / Android Market. Android Central points out a Google support document that details the “Failed to fetch license for [movie title] (error 49)” message users will see when they try to play a movie on a rooted Android device. Only Xooms with Android 3.1 have access to the service right now, but once support rolls out to all Android 2.2 or higher devices in a couple of weeks some will have to choose between their superuser privileges and Google’s nascent movie offerings (at least until someone figures out a workaround anyway). So far rooting and jailbreaking hasn’t put a stop to other movie rental services for mobiles (iTunes, Netflix) so even if Google blames the movie studios for the policy, it seems like an odd restriction for the company behind the “open” platform to have.

Google is blocking Android Market movie rentals on rooted devices because of copy protection originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 21 May 2011 19:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That Android 3.1 update that Google announced during I/O is slowly rolling out to 3G Xoom owners as we speak. How’d we know such a thing? Why, it just landed on our in-house Xoom, of course! Most of the changes to Honeycomb are happening under the hood — better HTML5 support, faster performance, and USB host functionality for connecting peripherals like game controllers and mice — but there are some improvements that will be a lot more obvious to the user. Perhaps our favorite is the addition of resizable widgets. For the moment only the email and Gmail inbox, calendar and bookmarks widgets can be stretched or shrunk, but we’re sure others will follow. We’re particularly appreciative of the expandable calendar widget, which always felt a tad cramped. The task switcher also received a much requested upgrade and now lets you scroll through your last 18 launched apps, instead of just the five most recent. Lastly, the Android Market now offers movie rentals, alongside books and apps, which range in price from $1.99 to $4.99 for 24 hours of playback. There isn’t a ton of revolutionary stuff going on here, but it’s certainly a welcome and worthwhile update. Check out the video after the break to see Android 3.1 in action.

Continue reading Android 3.1 on the Motorola Xoom: hands-on (video)

Android 3.1 on the Motorola Xoom: hands-on (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 May 2011 19:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Netflix for Android is here… finally. It’s been a long time coming and we’re thrilled to be able to bring our instant queue with us wherever we go. Though technically only approved for a handful of HTC phones and the Samsung Nexus S, we were able to successfully get it up and running on at least one unsanctioned device — the Droid X (sporting a leaked copy of Gingerbread). So what’s Netflix like on Google’s mobile OS? Well, it’s a heck of a lot like the iPhone app. In fact, you’d be hard pressed to tell them apart if it weren’t for the tabs being moved from the bottom of the screen to the top. Still, we figured it was worth giving a solid once over and, as usual, you can find our impressions after the break.

Continue reading Hands-on with Netflix for Android (video)

Hands-on with Netflix for Android (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 May 2011 08:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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