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by Joe Levi | August 29, 2010 10:30 PMRead OnCyanogenMod 6 has finally made it out of the "Release Candidate Stage" and is now available for download and install on supported Android devices. For those of you who don't know, CyanogenMod is a ROM for various Android-powered phones. Built from the official Andoid Open Source Project (AOSP) codebase, CyanogenMod adds various tweaks, enhancements, and replacement apps with the intent of making your Android phone faster, more stable, and less dependant on carriers to update their handsets (as evidenced by the T-Mobile G1 running Froyo, and running it well). If you have one of the ...
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by Evan Blass | August 27, 2010 11:42 AMRead OnIt seems that the endless wait is over, as Verizon has just sent out an official tweet that the Droid Incredible Froyo update begins rolling out today. For those who have not been following this saga, rumors of an imminent upgrade began all the way back in June, and have reached a fevered pitch lately as everyone and his mother seemed to have the inside scoop on this anticipated release. Engadget reports that besides the usual Android 2.2 features, users will also benefit from pre-installed Adobe Flash 10.1, 720p video recording capabilities, and the same mobile hotspot feature found on ...
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by Evan Blass | August 26, 2010 8:03 AMRead OnJust like so many of its Android brethren, Verizon's Motorola Droid 2 has been rooted, opening up the gates for bloatware removal and other hack-y goodness. Apparently the success of rooting the eFuse-guarded Droid X went a good way towards enabling the D2 to fall victim to the same fate -- although users should be aware that the task requires installing ADB drivers, inputting command line prompts, and other non-trivial steps. Also, while the creator of this method originally suggested that it should work on the Motorola Backflip as well, anecdotal evidence so far suggests that is not the ...
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by Joe Levi | August 20, 2010 6:00 PMRead OnIf you've got a stock Droid X running Android 2.1 and have been aching to get some of that sweet Froyo, today is the day you've been waiting for. 0. This is a copy of a leaked OTA update. If you have modified your Droid X from the stock configuration you'll need to revert before proceeding any further! (This tutorial doesn't cover how to do that.) 1. Download the update.zip file and place it on the root of your sdcard. The mirrors hosting this file can be found here. 2. Turn off your Droid X. 3. Reboot your Droid X into recovery mode by holding down the home button then pressing the power ...
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by Joe Levi | August 6, 2010 2:00 PMRead OnMaster Baron over at XDA-Developers has come up with a very interesting way to prolong your battery life, and has an app build to test his theory. His theory uses the following logic: - You can get 2G coverage in all the places that you have 3G coverage - 3G uses more battery power than 2G - You don't "need" 3G data when your screen is off - Turning off 3G data when your screen is off should save you battery life The downsides? It's still pretty beta, and it only works on CyanogenMod 6 ROMs. If you'd like to try the app, check out this thread at XDA-Developers, which is where you can find ...
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by Joe Levi | August 5, 2010 11:00 AMRead OnThe HTC EVO 4G was rooted the same day that it was originally released -- and custom ROMs free flowed to the rooted devices shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, after you flash a factory ROM you typically loose your root access. It should come as no surprise, now that the Android 2.2 (Froyo) update is rolling out over-the-air (OTA) it, too, has been rooted. First off, the following applies only to those who have already rooted their EVO. If you haven't, the following isn't for you. However, if you aren't rooted, but are interested in doing so, you can get all the steps you need at ...
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by Joe Levi | August 4, 2010 5:30 PMRead OnThis morning we reported provided step-by-step instructions to manually flash Froyo on your Motorola Droid without waiting for the over-the-air update. Now it turns out that the FRG01B update may have been canceled while a new version is prepared. This shouldn't come as a complete surprise, even Google's own Nexus One went through several iterations before the "final" Froyo build was pushed out to everyone. This raises a few questions: Q. What if I already have the FRG01B Froyo build on my Droid? A. You will get an update OTA that will patch is up to the new version. Q. What if I manually ...
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by Joe Levi | August 4, 2010 11:00 AMRead OnThe Motorola Droid (original) was the first Android-powered phone to come out with Android 2. Granted it was 2.0.1, but it was still a leap ahead of the game. Shortly after Android 2.1 was released, the Droid got updated to 2.1 as well. Now that Android 2.2 has been out for a while, Droid owners are wondering what's taking Froyo so long to come to their devices. A lucky few have begun to get the over-the-air (OTA) update to their Droid's, but this is generally a slow process to keep from overwhelming both Google's update servers, and Verizon's network. If you'd like to get the "official" ...
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by Joe Levi | July 26, 2010 6:00 AMRead OnIt seems that a very large number of custom ROMs are being based off CyanogenMod ROM these days. Not only that, CyanogenMod ROM is being ported to more and more handsets. I run CyanogenMod on my Nexus One and my wife runs CyanogenMod on her G1 (both Froyo, by the way). But what about your Android? Is the CyanogenMod Team (aka "Team Douche") building a ROM for your phone? If so, what's their progress? Luckily there's a Google Doc for that: What's on the list? - Dream - Sapphire - Nexus One - Motorola Droid - myTouch Slide - HTC Desire - HTC EVO 4G - Hero GSM - Hero CDMA - Samsumg Galaxy S - ...
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by Joe Levi | July 19, 2010 1:30 PMRead OnThe HTC EVO is an awesome device, but it's sorely lacking in the CyanogemMod department... but not for long. Cyanogen and taostcfh are listed as the "maintainers" of the EVO port of CyanogenMod 6, and recent tweets from Cyanogen himself says indicate a ROM for EVO that is stable enough to release should be available soon. The first release is probably going to be missing wimax, hdmi, and fm radio, but Cyanogen is already very impressed with the performance of the ROM on the phone. To stay up-to-date with CyanogenMod ROM for EVO keep an eye on this thread: ...
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by Joe Levi | July 15, 2010 5:00 PMRead OnAs I mentioned yesterday, Motorola has really ticked off developers and power users, but the ramifications of just how tightly they've locked down their newest Android-powered phones are just now coming to light. If you want to load a custom ROM onto an Android phone you have to "unlock the bootloader". But Motorola doesn't want you to be able to do that on their phones. In fact, they have even installed another chip in their hardware that monitors the bootloader's code, and locks down the phone if it's changed from what it expects. The chip in question is called "eFuse". Just like its ...
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by Joe Levi | July 15, 2010 1:00 PMRead OnThis Android Quick Tip™ is actually two tips in one! Unlike some "other" smartphones that just barely added the ability to multi-task to their OS, Android has had it since day one. On Android you can run many, many apps at the same time, and using this often-overlooked tip, you can easily and quickly switch between them. To do this, tap and hold the Home button: a grid of up to 6 of your last run apps will open, tap an icon to switch to that app. But what if you're a power-user and want to be able to quickly switch between more than six apps? You can always go back home (to your launcher) ...
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by Joe Levi | July 14, 2010 7:00 PMRead OnWhat operating system runs on Motorola phones? There was a time when Motorola had their own OS than ran their phones. Today that landscape is changing. Today, Motorola is almost exclusively an Android shop. According to John Ellis, director of software and services for Motorola put it this way: "We doubled down on our bets with Google. We're happy about it. Sanjay is raving about it. ... The complexity for us was monstrous. We would have internal development paralysis because we were afraid of breaking anything." (androidguys.com) On this surface, this is a very, very good thing. Looking ...
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by Joe Levi | July 14, 2010 1:45 PMRead OnIt wasn't long ago that Cyanogen and his team got Android 2.1 working on the G1 (video) -- a feat that many said couldn't be done. Now they've gone and proven everyone wrong again: Froyo (Android 2.2) can run on the G1 -- and run well. Of course, getting this up and running isn't for the faint of heart, and it's not yet "fully cooked" -- it's still a release candidate (more stable than alpha and beta ROMs, but still with some rough-edges). Come take a look at the first Android phone running the latest Android OS! First off, if you decide to put Froyo on your G1 you are assuming the risks ...
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by Joe Levi | June 29, 2010 9:00 AMRead OnAccording to a post at Google's Nexus One Blog, the "official" Android 2.2 ("Froyo") update for Nexus One is being rolled out over-the-air (OTA) even as we speak. According to the post, "Starting today , Nexus One users will begin to receive the Android 2.2 (codenamed Froyo) over-the-air software update on their phones. In order to access the update, you will receive a message on your phone's notification bar. Just download the update, wait for it to install, and you should be all set." Google goes on to say that the upgrade will be a gradual process. "This update will be rolled out ...
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