BLU Products most often draws attention by launching a smorgasbord of new phones. Today, the company is more interested in rethinking the devices it already has. Starting with a just-launced Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update for the Vivo 4.3, the company is moving to stock Android for every new device and firmware upgrade in the hopes of improving battery life and streamlining the interface — a distinct break from the growing trend toward hyper-customized experiences. Whether or not vanilla Android is your bag, the Vivo 4.3 is also receiving a minor hardware update through new colors. Pink, yellow and white variants of the dual SIM phone are now shipping from Amazon and other retailers for $ 229 each. Although we’d most like to see a full-fledged sequel to the older phone, we can’t object too much to a spring tune-up.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: Amazon , BLU Products

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Google I/O may still be a solid month away, but folks on Mountain View’s social network are already stumbling across leaks and notifications hinting at what might be in store. Google Play’s 4.0 redesign, for instance, briefly appeared on a YouTube employee’s profile before being deleted, matching the holo-themed leak we saw last month. The update shows a landing page we didn’t see in the previous walkthrough, and includes a message introducing the redesign that promises to make it “easier to browse and discover new favorites.” Google’s rumored Babel chat rebranding is making the rounds too, apparently surfacing in Gmail when certain messages are moved to trash. Neither are surefire announcements for I/O, but the timing is about right. Skip on past the break for a screen grab of the Babel notification.

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Source: Droid Life , Google+

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Android users have been waiting patiently for the photo sharing social network to launch on their OS. The noise around its release reached fever pitch at the beginning of last month when it was teased on stage by Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom at SXSW and now the wait is over. The app has launched and [...]

Geek.com » Android

A fast smartphone will only go so far toward improving browser load times if the connection isn’t there to back it up. If a discovery within a recent build of Chrome for Android is any hint, Google may have its own solution to that bottleneck. New code flags reference Google-run proxy servers that would squeeze pages using SPDY, improving performance at least slightly for the bandwidth-deprived. While there’s not much more to go on, the finding is enough to suggest that roughly equivalent boosters like Amazon Silk and Opera Turbo could have a real fight on their hands. We’d advise caution when the flags are only accessible by running an ADB command — they’re clearly not ready for prime time. Should Google flick the switch on compression for Chrome’s main release track, though, Android users may not need a third-party browser to sip the web through a thin straw.

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Software, Mobile, Google

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Via: François Beaufort (Google+)

Source: Chromium.org

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Google has just provided a veritable boon to Android devs and custom ROM makers. The Mountain View company has recently uploaded the latest Android 4.2.2 binaries to the Nexus device download page for all AOSP-supported Nexus gear: the Nexus 4, the Nexus 7 WiFi, the Nexus 7 3G, the Nexus 10, the global version of the Galaxy Nexus and its Verizon equivalent. This also means that the AOSP (Android Open Source Project binaries) finally exist for the Nexus 7 3G and the Nexus 4, which had been missing from previousupdates. If you’ve been on the hunt for the latest and greatest drivers for your wares, go ahead and download the binary of your choice from the source below and get to updating it before a certain green pie update comes along.

Filed under: Mobile, Google

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Via: Android Police

Source: Google Developers

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SugarSync 2.0 has been in the oven for awhile, having gone into beta last year, but it’s now fully baked. The finished version offers the promised extra-simple sharing and syncing, with drag-and-drop transfers to the cloud, contacts and Dropbox-style public links. A virtual drive and cloud search simply things, too. Both desktop and web apps get more of a consistent look, and the Android app has been given its promised overhaul both for the new features as well as to offer uploads and syncing from an SD card. Android, Mac and Windows users can update at their leisure; iOS users will have to wait a few weeks, although both new and old versions can coexist until everyone is on the same page.

Filed under: Cellphones, Storage, Internet, Software, Mobile

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Via: SugarSync Blog

Source: SugarSync , Google Play

Engadget

Facebook and Vine were just the beginning — you should have known that. Especially once the biggest social network in the world started dipping its toes in the VoIP pool. Skype isn’t about to let others encroach on its hard won territory without a fight. The Microsoft-owned messaging platform has started testing what amounts to a video voicemail feature on OS X, Android and iOS, something that had already been hinted at in its updated TOS. Why those operating systems at first, without any word about Windows or Windows Phone, we’re unsure. But it’s a safe bet Redmond’s own platforms will get the feature sooner rather than later. Currently users in the US and UK should be seeing the option, just dig a bit as it might be hidden behind a more actions or overflow icon, as it is on Android. Customers are getting 20 free video messages to start, though we weren’t able to wrangle any further details out of the company regarding pricing. (Update: While we still have some unanswered questions regarding pricing, Skype did say that unlimited voice messaging will be included as part of a premium subscription.)

Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile, Microsoft

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Android Authority On Air Hosts: Scott Anderson & Derek Ross

This week we’re back with your favorite Kickstarter Android Launcher, Chameleon. As you may recall, this wasn’t our first go with the HTML5 based widget launcher, we had an exclusive interview with Chameleon when it all began back in early August. This week they dropped version 1.0 to the Play Store and we went live with them again to bring you all the goodies such as widget API’s, upcoming widgets and performance increases. Besides Chameleon, other popular apps had some hefty updates and overhauls this week. Google Maps added a few features, Facebook began copying Google+ features again, and Twitter had some impressive updates.

Android as a whole hit some nice milestones this past week such as capturing 68% of the 2012 Q3 market share. We also saw the Google Play Store add over 600 titles. These include Family Guy, Modern Family, Prometheus and more. Matias Duarte, the man behind the ICS and JB gorgeous UI let the world know he’s only about a third of the way done with Android’s UI.

Don’t you just love the fall? It’s gadget heaven. We had tons of device rumors, news, and announcements this week. From the LG Optimus G, Oppo Finder 5, to the Padfone 2 and even some Nexus rumors. Some old devices received much needed OTA updates this week and the HTC One X might be getting Jelly Bean sometime in October.

For rootin’ and ramen noodles (watch the show) the Android Open Kang Project dropped build #2 on the world and man loves them some customization. CyanogenMod 10 keeps on truckin’ adding support for more devices this week. There’s also a new universal root tool making the rounds and so far it roots a hefty amount of devices. Lastly, if you decided to pick up a Kindle Fire HD, the bootloader is still locked but thanks to an unpatched bug (thanks Amazon!) you can easily root your new Fire.

Get the best Android news and future show updates at http://www.androidauthority.com/

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for phone reviews, head to head comparisons, app reviews, and tablet reviews!

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HTC One X Jelly Bean update coming in October, new report says
Microsoft wins patent injunction against Google in German court
Asus to launch the Padfone 2 on October 16
Alibaba spins off Aliyun OS. Could recent Google troubles haved caused this?
SoundCloud adds editing features to its Android app
War must go on – Samsung to attack iPhone 5 with infringement claims on eight patents
Sprint CEO: 1 million LTE devices sold, wishes Windows Phone luck
ZTE Warp Sequent is available at Boost Mobile with ICS and low-end specs for $200
LG’s quad-core Optimus G to start selling in Canada in November
Android 4.0.4 ICS update heading to AT&T’s Sony Xperia Ion
Google releases update to Maps just as Apple rolls out iOS 6
Official: LG Optimus G to be released in Q4 in the US, carrier names still unknown
U.S. Galaxy Note 2 launch confirmed with five carriers: Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile & U.S. Cellular
Samsung rolls out ICS update for AT&T’s Galaxy Exhilarate
AT&T turns on its 4G LTE service in Seattle, Portland and more
Chameleon launcher finally gets V1.0 release, more dashboards for some
Verizon locks down another Samsung phones’ bootloader
Matias Duarte: Android is “about a third of the way to where I want to be”
Google’s Chrome browser doesn’t work on the new Motorola RAZR i
IDC: Android has four times more global market share than iOS
PSA: $25 Google Play Credit With Nexus 7 Purchase Promo Ending September 30th
Complaint filed by Motorola to ITC puts Apple under the looking glass
Acer announces the Iconia Tab A110 (again!), coming soon with Jelly Bean on board
New Amazon Kindle Fire HD gets rooted with an old expoit
Twitter App gets update – “My Profile” now has background image ability, and ‘Photo Stream’
Judge Koh: Sales ban for Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 to remain in place
Motorola RAZR i launches in London, features 2.0GHz Intel processor
G-nex, Nex7 and others have AOKP JB Build 2 now available to them
Asus Padfone 2 inching closer to its release, packs quad-core S4 CPU in leaked benchmark
Most ICS/JB devices now accepting XDA universal root method
Alibaba maintains Aliyun’s legitimacy, but agrees with app piracy accusations
HTC phablet becomes known as the HTC One X 5
Oppo Find 5 gets more specs revealed, including 2 GB of RAM, 12 MP cam and 2,500 mAh battery
Galaxy Nexus 2 (GT-I9260) apparently in the works, could be called the Galaxy Premier

Android Authority On Air Hosts: Scott Anderson & Derek Ross

This week on Android Authority On Air we came to the realization that following the recent Apple iPhone 5 announcement, this very well could be our last Android based show. The pre-orders are in, we’re moving to iOS! …And then we woke up from that nightmare and realized it was a horrible, horrible lie. On a serious note, we did discussed the latest smartphone from Apple. It’s truly sad to see how far the device has fallen behind. Sorry Sprint and Verizon users, you won’t be able to talk and use data at the same time, something that Android phones on those networks can do with ease. There’s no NFC, the camera is basically the same, the screen is basically the same, now with more stretch! That’s about it.

Since this is still an Android show, we did talk about a few Android related items this week such as the latest milestone from Android, 500 million globally activated devices. Wow! We hit up some Google Wallet updates. Prepaid cards are going away as they are no longer needed. If you’re on Verizon Wireless and using Google Wallet, you can’t use sneaky tricks to install the application any longer from the Play Store. The horror! Now, you’ll have to manually install the application as with any unsupported application. Nothing new here folks. Move along. Turntable.FM had some updates, now with more Android-ness. eBay decided to join the ranks of Holo UI and our favorite Kickstarter launcher, Chameleon, had a major update this past week. Besides apps, we saw a handful of devices be announced, teased, or launch this week. We’re excited over LG’s Optimus G. Man, those specs look pretty nice. Over on the rootin’ and ROMin’ front, CM10 graced the world with their first ever monthly update and the XOOM LTE and WiFi editions are now getting official nightly builds. Carriers continue to LTE all the things. Sprint, Verizon and AT&T all announced major coverage expansions this past week. All this and more happened on the greatest Android Hangout Show this week, check us out below.

The Give Away

We’re giving away a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (International) here in the near future. If you’re interested and want another chance to win, during the show we give away a super secret entry code. Once you get the code, just head on over to the contest page and enter your code into the Rafflecopter.

Where can you find us you ask? Check out the links below!

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Germany court to ban Motorola devices for infringement
The major update to Google Wallet doubles its usage
Sprint’s 4G LTE arriving early in Chicago and Boston
Over half of all the Android devices in the world have unpatched security vulnerabilities
Verizon confirms ICS update for Galaxy Tab 10.1, to come soon OTA
LG and Qualcomm to hold an event on September 19th
Motorola launches Android-powered cloud computer in China
Why Android will continue to lead in both software and hardware this year
HTC One X+ hits the FCC, features quad-core Nvidia processor
Chameleon Launcher Beta updates to 0.9.0 – widget API now in place

Get the best Android news and future show updates at http://www.androidauthority.com/

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel for phone reviews, head to head comparisons, app reviews, and tablet reviews!

Android Authority On Air Hosts: Scott Anderson & Derek Ross

If you happened to catch our attempted LIVE show last night, you’re aware that we had all sorts of technical difficulties.  Our Hangout On Air on Google+ was lagged. We were getting disconnected, some people even thought all of our fan girls were using up all of our bandwidth. After a few failed attempts we decided to reschedule the show, a day later.

Fast forward to today, we went live, without issue. This week we focused on Motorola and Amazon’s recent announcements. Motorola announced the Droid RAZR HD, Droid RAZR MAXX HD, and the Droid RAZR M. The latest round of RAZR’s are pretty amazing, if we do happen to say so ourselves. Motorola is also giving you a $100 credit to buy a new phone if your 2011 Motorola phone won’t be getting Jelly Bean. Besides phones, this week we also saw Amazon drop 3 new Kindle Fire tablets onto the world. We saw an upgrade to the original Kindle Fire, a new Kindle Fire HD 7 inch, a new Kindle Fire HD 8.9 inch and even one with LTE.

Sprint decided to finally update their Nexus devices. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S 4G have begun receiving Android Jelly Bean 4.1.1 and a few other devices finally got their Android 4.0 ICS updates. uTorrent arrived on Android and last but not least HTC plans to sue Apple with their LTE patents.

The Give Away

We’re giving away a Samsung Galaxy Note 2 (International) here in the near future. If you’re interested and want another chance to win, during the show we give away a super secret entry code. Once you get the code, just head on over to the contest page and enter your code into the Rafflecopter.

Get the best Android news and future show updates at http://www.androidauthority.com/

Android Authority: Eat, Sleep, Android.
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