Android Dose

Today is a big day for Android OTA updates. Samsung, HTC and Motorola all roll out OTA updates for some of their premier handsets.

Samsung and AT&T have announced an OTA update to correct GPS issues as well as media scanning and including a full version of Quick Office as well as correcting some Microsoft Exchange 2003 policy support issues. Verizon announced that it would begin rolling out the official Android 2.2 (FroYo) update to Droid X customers today at Noon (12pm) EST though it has been available to pull and install OTA since Midnight. As far as the HTC Evo 4G update, The update is said to fix a few minor bugs including issues not allowing multiple Gmail accounts to sync properly as well as Calender event editing issues.

Samsung was kind enough to send me one of their Galaxy S variants for AT&T the Captivate, What a wonderful device. The first thing that jumps out at you with these phones is the Super AMOLED screen, No picture or video can do this screen justice its simply amazing. Samsung has really created a game changing piece of hardware with the Super AMOLED screen. Apple’s Retina display doesn’t compare, Samsung’s previous generation AMOLED screen doesn’t come close, The only possible contender is Sony’s Super LCD which I haven’t had the chance to see in person yet. The screen is great and most certainly one of the standout features but it isn’t the only thing that makes this device great. Samsung’s version of the ARM Cortex A8 called the Humming bird running at 1GHz as well as the Dedicated graphics processor and so much more make this really nice phone, Especially for those that are on AT&T and looking for a real smartphone alternative to the iPhone. Continue reading “Samsung AT&T Captivate Review – Video” »

Last week was a big week in open source, Samsung started off by Open Sourcing the Captivate and Vibrant software, Followed by Motorola releasing the Droid X source code. While controversy continues to swarm around Motorola and its decision to use a locked bootloader this is a step in the right direction. With these recent actions hopefully we will start to see more handset manufacturers open-source their code and allow a more open and involved community.

In a short tweet this morning the world was given ClockworkMod Recovery for the following Samsung Galaxy S devices T-Mobile’s Vibrant and AT&T’s Captivate, It read “Ok, Galaxy S recoveries are now on ROM Manager. Safe for general consumption! Fire away!”

Continue reading “Koush releases ClockworkMod Recovery for Galaxy S Phones” »

I have a quick video of the Captivate and Vibrant in a “Touchwiz 3.0 features” segment. I have found a few things about these phones running Touchwiz that make me think Samsung is heading in the right direction here, Most assuredly this is a step in the right direction from previous iterations of Touchwiz. I don’t think its too intrusive at all and seems to run pretty smooth even on 2.1, so once they get the 2.2 update promised “shortly” these guys will really fly! On the Vibrant for T-Mobile, Their Samsung Galaxy S offering is sleek and smooth, very classy look and feel, I like the solid back piece (its removable though I forgot to video that like I did with the Captivate, Sorry) T-Mobile also sweetens the pot with a 2GB MicroSD as well as the internal 16GB (works out to about 13 though…) T-Mo throws in the Sim 3 Game and a Full version of James Cameron’s Avatar and let me say it looks STUNNING on this phone, I was pretty awestruck while trying to get some work done today I had it propped up on my desk playing, it looks so good thanks to the Super AMOLED Screen I couldn’t keep my eyes off it.

Check out the videos below

The Touchwiz Video is taking forever to process I’ll update when its done with the embed/lnk until then enjoy the videos above (shouldn’t be too long)
[UPDATE] Finally!!! here it is

I forgot to add the most important thing about Touchwiz 3.0 you can install any launcher you want and it will go away!