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Nexus S: Ice Cream Sandwich released UK!

Android UK — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 10:40:04 +0000

Christmas just came early. Google have officially released the latest Android 4.0 version. And its amazing. Here are the instructions on how to get it.

There are so many major improvements in latest android that its hard to put them on one page. Even Google on their Android 4.0 platform highlights launch page still don’t even scratch the surface on all the amazing features.

The only way to do it is to have phone with it on. Up until this morning the only option was to purchase a brand new Galaxy Nexus phone. For those of you there with a Google Nexus S, there is another way- just follow the steps below ( tested ok on stock UK Google Nexus S )

How to Update: ( Make sure you backup first!)

IMPORTANT! The below method works for me and I have also included a video by another helpful Androider at the end of the method. It didn’t work perfectly for me first time so I have added some helpful comments in my procedure below to ensure you don’t hit the bumps I did. As with any update some things may go wrong so if you are concerned, then just wait for the notification for the official update to hit your handset ( any risk you take is your own!)

1. Download the Nexus S Ice Cream Sandwich update package from the google servers here: Link for Android 4.0

2. Save it to your computer

3. Rename the file to update.zip

4. Plug in your phone via the USB and click the button to turn on USB storage

5. Copy the update.zip into the root of your phone( ie not in a subfolder)

6. Eject the usb from your computer.

7. (Optional) Make sure you have backed up everything – Google seem to have done a great job ensuring that your data is looked after even when upgrading but better to be safe. I also make sure I have put at least half a battery charge on the phone just incase.

8. (Optional 2) I also turn off any security locks on the phone eg lock patterns or pins- but put them back on after the upgrade. I have had earlier issues before with these things causing problems for the update

9. Power down the phone, and Turn it back on ensuring you are holding the Power button and Volume Up button.

10. This will boot you into the Android Control Screen. Press the Volume down button to select recovery and then press the power button.

11. You will now be presented with a screen with an Android and a warning sign. You have to press the Power button and Volume button within a second or two after this screen appears otherwise like me – you will have to start again from point 9. I managed to do it after the second go.

12. You are then presented with the android system recovery screen. Press the volume down button to select “Apply Update from /sdcard) and then press the power button.

13. My friend Paul doesn’t follow point 13 on anything so moving onto 14.

14. Select the update.zip flle and press power button.

15. Now leave it alone, don’t touch it, definitely don’t do anything except wait for it to finish upgrading. (seriously don’t touch it)

16. Enjoy your delicious Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android and share with me what new features you love!

Here is the video of how to update

Link found via the cool peeps At Xda Developers and thanks for QBKing77 for his Video

Samsung Galaxy S2 beats iPhone to phone of year

Android UK — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:31:32 +0000

Samsung Galaxy S2 has been lauded by many as being the Android flagship of 2011 and it has just beaten iPhone to a top uk award from gadget mag site Pocketlint.

The most interesting thing is that Android managed to get 3 of the top 5 nominated phones in the shape of the Sony Ray and the HTC Sensation as nominated by press and other experts in the industry.

Android tempting the Apple masses?

Speaking to many Android users that I do, through work focus groups and from my own personal contacts, there was an interesting change in tone this year. A few android phones have started to tempt the loyal iPhone followers away from their much loved devices.

The HTC Sensation was also in the top 5

In one case, I was shocked that someone who was an ardent iPhone fanatic last year was seen sporting a new shiny Samsung Galaxy S2. When quizzed what made him switch?

Its Beautiful and its fast

Beautiful and Fast- its that simple?

The simpleness of the answer astounded me- after all the manufacturers work on apps and features to let you phone do all but cook your dinner, the fundamental two key things that people want was something that was beautiful to look at ( i.e. amazing screen technology and clean interface) and fast(lets you power through those tasks quickly.)

Clearly Samsung’s focus on creating great devices with great user experiences is starting to pay off, however with Sony recently patenting the next iteration of high end screens, how long will this last?

Sony Ray is one of the phones tempting users away from Iphone

For full list of nominations check out Pocketlint’s site

UK Pre-release Galaxy Nexus Unboxing

Android UK — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 15:20:46 +0000

Lucky Andrew McSweeney has got his hand on a sweet exclusive in the form of a pre-release version of the Galaxy Nexus.

See below for the video of him giving a video overview of the phone ( perched on the street near the post office he picked it up from)

Here is a great run through tour of icecream sandwich.

Here is a video of the face unlock and the sheer joy of playing with his new toy. You can also admire the intimate details of Andrew’s very busy and tidy desk) (Andrew do you accept bribes in exchange for phones?!)

Video: Galaxy Nexus Unboxing videos by the Stripey Shirted Andrew McSweeney.

Official: Ice Cream Sandwich for Sony 2011 phones

Android UK — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 08:10:44 +0000

I am very excited to see official confirmation on the Sony Blog that they are going to be rolling out ice cream sandwich to the full 2011 line up of sony phones- full list after the jump!

Sony have confirmed via their blog that they are going to be releasing the updated versions Android to its 2011 line of Sony Phones. Here is the official word if you don’t believe me!

We plan to upgrade the entire 2011 Xperia™ portfolio* to the next version of Android known as Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich

The full list of handsets include:

Xperia™ arc
Xperia arc S
Xperia™ PLAY
Xperia™ neo
Xperia neo V
Xperia™ mini
Xperia mini pro
Xperia™ pro
Xperia™ active
Xperia™ ray
Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman™

Sony have already rolled out in their recent 2.3.4 update some Ice Cream Sandwich features eg Screenshots and panorama capture, whether they will be removing these and opting for the Native solutions is anyones guess. I personally hope they opt for the standard ICS features as that means a lot less work and time before I can load it onto my precious Sony Arc.

Ice Cream Sandwich for Sony Ericsson 2011 Xperia™ portfolio — Sony Ericsson Product Blog.

Samsung Galaxy Nexus is coming to Uk november 17

Android UK — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 10:26:00 +0000

O2 launched their new google+ plus page with the excellent news that the galaxy nexus will indeed be hitting uk shores from 17 november. It also appears that. Both Vodafone and 3 will also be stocking the handset.

The device which will be the first to sport the new ice cream sandwich release, has already impressed the reviewers at wired magazine. Interesting mentions are that the new “improved” voice control, now can go head to head with the iphone Siri. They pointed out two drawbacks in the form of the under specd but capable camera at “only” 5mp and the poor battery life.

I personally will be looking really closely at whether this is my next phone and with such a huge array of amazing android phones on the market its going to be a tough choice!

(This post was the first one authored entirely on my Motorola Xoom)

Motorola RAZR: Smarter but still got it!

SimonW — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 11:34:40 +0000

Back in the day, before Take That had reunited but after Robbie had tried (unsuccessfully) to crack the US market, the Motorola RAZR was the mobile phone to have. Its back, it doesn’t flip, but is it any good?

It was sleek, you could text as fast as you could talk with the handset and it was available in pink. Best of all, it was a freaking flip-phone, the height of mobile phone cool at the time. Basically, it was KITT from Nightrider except it could fit in your pocket. Much like Take That’s reunion, the return of the Motorola RAZR sees a vast improvement.

Last time it was marketed on its sleek appearance alone. We watched with envy as a girl slid it into her jeans, leaving a barely visible bulge as the only sign that she’d a phone padding out her pocket. This time around it’s no different. The RAZR’s tech spec calls it an “impossibly thin design”, but stresses that the thin and light appearance is in no way to be considered frail. In fact, it’s made with “KEVLAR® fibre” and “Corning® Gorilla® Glass”. Sounds a bit ridiculous, and may well conjure up images of King Kong in your mind, but this is actually quite a cool selling point, as the materials mean the RAZR is more durable and less likely to break or shatter than lesser, flimsier smartphones.

Cool Factor??

But how does the handset compare in terms of functionality and – the ultimate measure of any smartphone – in the ‘Boy, that’s cool!’ stakes?

Pretty well, actually. The Super AMOLED Advanced display screen is dramatic, with vibrant colours and excellent graphics. It has 1080p HD video recording, just like the new iPhone, and an 8mp camera, besting both the forthcoming Galaxy Nexus and the iPhone 4S. It apparently has “government-grade encryption” protecting the heck out of all the state secrets you’re keeping in your email and sending in your text messages. But arguably the best part of the new Motorola RAZR is it SmartActions app.

Smart- Actions App

The Smart Actions is app-tly named (geddit?), for it is indeed very, very clever. Your phone may already have profiles that enable you to have it on silent or vibrate only, with varying degrees of loudness and alarm ringtones. The SmartActions app takes this to a whole new level. It enables you to save on battery life while you’re at the gym, or to have your phone’s brightness lowered when you go to sleep. In fact, when nighttime rolls around it automatically starts to save power so you won’t have to listen to that irritating beeping sound all day, or worse, deal with life without your phone (it’s like losing a limb). It also goes on silent when you enter a location you have designated a ‘quiet location’, or changes your setting to your preferred work profile when it recognises your work wifi connection. All in all, the SmartActions app is without doubt the most impressive aspect of the new RAZR.

The RAZR may not be a game-changer like the original iPhone was, but it’s certainly an excellent step forward from Motorola. One to watch.

Visit the new Smart Actions page on the Motorola site

DELAYED! Samsung Galaxy Nexus in UK shipping 2 December

Android UK — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 16:34:27 +0000

Oh no! Some bad news has come through from Amazon informing us that the shipping date for the new Galaxy Nexus has been pushed back to the 2nd of December. I am so gutted about the delay I used CAPS in my headline for this post.

I am still looking at the reason for the delay, however this doesn’t bode well for Android fans who were getting ready to virtually pitch their tents outside Amazon’s virtual window. ( We don’t wait in the rain!)

Will update you when I know more!

Pre-Order the Galaxy Nexus from Amazon here

Flash mobile is no more

Android UK — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 10:10:04 +0000

Adobe is to announce controversially that they will be ceasing flash development on mobile devices going forward.

In a leaked briefing to its partners, Adobe has sensationally said that there will be no future development on its flagship product for mobile devices and will instead focus on HTML5 and creating tools to make mobile applications.
It will also continue to develop for the desktop both in and out of browser.

Apple win? I think not!

Adobe throwing in the towel on mobile is going to be seen as a victory for Apple who famously shunned the platform from its devices. In fact Steve Jobs famously recommended them to do such a think last year in his “thoughts on Flash” post where he said:

Perhaps Adobe should focus more on creating great HTML5 tools for the future, and less on criticizing Apple for leaving the past behind.

In actuality, I think this illustrates a clear pattern that any platform that fails to find its killer application, is destined to fail. At the moment there are no real games or apps which are based on mobile flash which have caught the imagination of the public at large.

Even on the Android handsets that support flash, the implementation can be fiddly with only part of the flash image visible. The key success factor that adobe failed to grasp is that any mobile product needs to be designed for mobile from the ground up, instead of porting a desktop product and trying to make it fit.

Online Gambling and Bingo games make great use of flash tech

Ironically Flash’s multimedia capabilities and performance far outstrips that of any other competing technologies, in fact its because of this that its gaining great traction in the gambling, advertising, live broadcast and TV markets, where it has reduced the cost of production significantly.

Not a lot of people will mourn the loss of flash on mobile, however there is a clear gap in the market for a mobile solution that is quick to develop and will give great video overlays and 3d performance.

For those users on Android phones like Sony Ericsson and playbooks with flash, Adobe will make sure that there are security update and critical bug fixes to existing releases.

Well done to ZDNET blog for picking up the info

Sony Xperia Arc update 2.3.4 is rolling in UK

Android UK — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 18:09:00 +0000

The Arc is without a doubt my favorite Android phone and for those of you like me who have an Xperia Arc, the latest update to the superslim smart phone is now officially waiting for you. Even though it’s a minor update, its going to give a lot more power to your Arc. Here’s what’s included:

With many phone manufacturers dithering or not updating to the latest version of Android, so its really great to see the support that Sony Ericsson ( soon to be just Sony) is putting into its legacy phones by keeping them up to date with the latest and greatest that Android has to offer. The latest update pushes in the latest version of Android Gingerbread( aka v 2.3.4).

The 2.3.4 Update was just a maintenance release for android and added the open Accessory Library which allows Android to interface with a multitude of USB peripherals like usb Mice and Keyboards. Sony have used these features to allow users to connect these devices to its live dock multimedia station. Yes Angry birds on your Telly is now possible using a live dock and a mouse!

Media Powerhouse

In addition, the Arc now also will play nice with your 3d telly too. When you connect it using the HDMI converter, you can display images and video captured using the new “3D Camera” and 3D Album. You can also now make your own proper panoramas, which allow you to really capture the whole environment buy just swiing your phone across a 180 degree turn. This feature works brilliantly, and will look forward to tweeting a panorama, next time I am somewhere spectacular.

Facebook inside v2.0 is now included and includes the ability to share not just friends’ music, but now their favorite apps and games too from facebook. You can also share your own favorite apps direct from the launcher by pressing and holding on an icon and dragging it to the new “Share on facebook” bar.

Finally the best feature for me is the ability to take screenshots direct from the phone. This is a feature that is only coming to other android phones in the forthcoming ice cream sandwich version. By pressing the power button, you are presented with a new “Take Screenshot” option which will save the screen shot into a pictures folder in your gallery and allow you to share the picture with any of your apps.

Overall for such a small update, it’s a really impressive set of extra tools and a great show of force by Sony. Sony who are one of the few handset manufacturers to commit to sending all android updates for 18 months after release, seems to be delivering on their promise. They have already committed to sending new Ice Cream Sandwich ( android 4.0) update to their handsets. Sony… Just one favour, can we have it now please?

To get your hands on the update, Press Menu—> Settings—> About Phone—> Software Updates

Here are some other pictures of the current update to tide you over till its out.

Official: Galaxy Nexus Details and Pictures+ More Ice Cream Sandwich details

Android UK — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 11:55:00 +0000

With only another 10 days to go we finally have the official pictures and specs of the Galaxy Nexus out in the wild

At the Galaxy Note launch event, Samsung let slip the official details and pictures of the Galaxy Nexus. The Nexus will be the first Android phone to support the new Ice cream sandwich release version of android. Due to be released in UK on 17 November 2011, and on 25 November in the USA- it is a beast of a machine and looks set to push Android even further ahead.

Big Screen, Big Engine

Galaxy Nexus runs Android 4.0 OS and comes with a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display (1280×720), it beats the Iphone 4S in every metric except for camera ( why?). Its screen uses Samsung’s latest pentile technology, which means a reduction in overall numbers of pixels( from 3 to 2) with an increase in image quality.

In terms of connectivity it features HSPA+ or 4G LTE connectivity, Wi-Fi and the latest Bluetooth 3.0.

When its released it will come in a 16 or 32GB internal memory version and include NFC and whopping 1750mAh battery to keep it going longer.

We have also heard about some of the new features coming for businesses in Ice Cream Sandwich ( not mentioned in the Platform highlights)

Exchange Support has been improved allowing users to use Global Address Lists
Full device control by Admins allowing them to encrypt phones contents and even disable camera if required
pure IPSec VPNs is now going to be in from standard making sure Android is as secure as it is feature rich.

Can’t wait for Ice Cream Sandwich to hit a phone near us soon.