Android and Me » Beginners

LG G2x users manually update to Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread

Edgar Cervantes — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:23:44 +0000

We’ve been complaining about it, we’ve been waiting for it, and it’s now here! G2x owners have been stuck on Android 2.2 Froyo since its release date last April. A pain, we know. But LG G2x owners can now manually update their devices to Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread via the LG Mobile Support Tool. (You will need a PC).

We last heard about this update in June, but the rumored dates came and went. This morning, we finally heard more news.

Sadly it’s not an OTA update, but the manual install is not as complicated as one may think. Two of our staff members (Angie and Justin) completed the process successfully and are now rocking some fresh Gingerbread on their G2x devices. Beware, root users, as it seems this update will get rid of root access. You may want to wait until developers take it apart and make a work-around for you.

Instructions

If you’re still willing to manually update to Gingerbread, follow the instructions below.

1. Head over to LG’s Mobile Support site and download the drivers (if you haven’t yet).
2. Also, download the LG Mobile Support Tool (from the same site).
3. Run the LG Mobile Support Tool.
4. Connect your device to your PC.
5. Download the update (178 MB).
6. Follow instructions and let the tool do its magic!
7. That’s it! You now have Gingerbread.

Gallery

As mentioned, two of our staff members have successfully done this without a single problem. You should be safe. Let us know how it works for you. Any issues? Are you liking the taste of Gingerbread?

The update software indicates that your user data will be wiped (not the data on the ‘external’ storage, but the data on the phone’s flash memory) but that wasn’t the case for me.Justin ShapcottAndroid and Me

Thanks for the tip, William!

Video: EVO 3D gets its first tear down

Edgar Cervantes — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:59:41 +0000

Most of us cringe at the sound of even the smallest cracks and pops when taking off our phone’s battery door, but some adventurous people like to tear right into their devices. Guys like franky_402 and lyon21 from Android Central are admired tear-down video gurus. And rightly so; it’s an achievement to void your warranty for the good of the Android community.

Aside from how interesting it is to simply see the insides of a device, knowing how to open a device can be quite beneficial. I’ve been stubborn enough to refuse handset insurance here and there. And it so happens every time I do so, I break those darn devices! That’s when you’re forced to open ‘er on up and replace certain parts (usually the screen).

Whether you just need a fix of teeth-grinding material this morning or you actually want to use this video for constructive purposes, here it is! Check it out and let us know if it hurts you to see this. Any other butterfingers found themselves opening up a device before? Did you use an online video, or did you just pay to get it fixed?

Video: How to take apart your HTC Thunderbolt

Edgar Cervantes — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 23:14:23 +0000

Ever wondered what your HTC Thunderbolt‘s insides look like? Here’s your chance to check it out! The guys over at DirectFix have put together a video, giving us a full tear down of Verizon’s first 4G LTE smartphone. DISCLAIMER: This will void your warranty. Proceed at your own risk.

Special thanks to our friends at DirectFix. Be sure to check out their video after the break!

Learning how to disassemble your device is not only fun, but it can also be of great help in the future (and some of you probably had to do it already). While a bigger display is always nice, it is also easier to break. If you happen to dislike insurances, you’ve probably replaced a digitizer (or other parts) before. That’s when these nifty videos come in handy.

Has anyone out there opened up the Thunderbolt already? Have you ever needed to follow one of these tutorials? Let us know what you think of the video, and be careful if you try to open yours!

Motorola Droid X, Defy get CM-7 ported despite locked bootloaders

Edgar Cervantes — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 18:45:49 +0000

Locked bootloaders are a hot topic nowadays. Most Android fans prefer to play around freely with their devices. And Motorola hasn’t been so good about letting us do that, since they insist on locking them.

If you’re like us, I bet you thought the Droid X and Defy were about to become old, obsolete devices. Think again. CyanogenMod-7 is here to resuscitate them with some custom ROM goodness.

It has indeed been a hard quest for our beloved developers to put CM-7 onto these devices. After countless hours of hard work, cvpcs and Quarx have figured out a way to port it over. All that coding and testing is not easy, though, so the ROM does not yet work perfectly on these devices.

CM-7 for the Motorola Droid X

The developer that ported CM-7 to the Droid X has actually posted a video as proof of this righteous deed of might and courage.

So this leaves a lot of questions! Such as what works and what doesn't! From what I could tell by playing around with it, the following definitely work: Radio, Wifi, USB, Charging, various sensors, lights, vibration, standard bluetooth. The following MAY or MAY NOT work (unable to tell for sure yet): GPS, 3G/data, camera, camcorder, bluetooth audio. And the following definitely do NOT work yet: audio (this includes phone calls, speakers, microphone, etc).cvpcsRootzWiki

As already mentioned, the ROM has just been ported, so things are not expected to run smoothly… at least not yet. The developer, cvpcs, is still working on it and claims many features may not be working because he has yet to finish the Libaudio driver for the Droid X. He might have to rewrite the whole thing from source, if he doesn’t find a good alternative. But, this does indicate cvpcs is definitely set on making this work.

Cvpcs mentions that he’ll be needing testers starting sometime this week. He’ll be posting more information about it on rootzwiki.com, as well as on his own blog. Stay tuned for more details, if you want to get in on the testing action!

CM-7 for the Motorola Defy^[1]

This one is actually ready to download and install. If you’re feeling adventurous, head over to XDA and follow the instructions.

Though you may experience issues here and there, this port is actually not having too many problems. Everything is running well, except for 720p video recording and WVGA photos.

Works: Wifi, SD-Card, 3D, Auto-Brightness, LED, Photo Camera with Flash, Video Camera(H264), GSM/3G, Bluetooth +Headset + HID, Sensors, GPS/aGPS, FM-radio

Doesn't work: 720p Rec. WVGA Photo

QuarxXDA Developers

References

Source: XDA Via: Android Police ↩

Sony Ericsson posts a tutorial on building and flashing custom kernels

Edgar Cervantes — Mon, 09 May 2011 16:35:25 +0000

Earlier this year, Sony Ericsson promised that it would bring substantial improvements to its performance within the Android platform. Sony Ericsson has been making devices with good potential, but sadly, the company has been lagging when it comes to software updates (which is what seems to bother most Sony Ericsson Android users). Sony Ericsson is throwing us some curve balls lately, proving that their commitment to the Android platform is legit. Not only are their phones better and even coming straight with Gingerbread, but Sony Ericsson also seems to be opening the doors to the developer world, which is sadly starting to become much less of a trend lately.

Last month, Sony Ericsson gave us official support for unlocking their devices’ bootloaders. Today looks like an even brighter day, as they have posted a tutorial that shows us how to build a custom kernel and flash it to an Xperia device. Bad news is that Xperia X10 users will be left out, since this guide is actually specific to the new Xperia devices: the Xperia Play, Xperia Arc, and Xperia Neo.

Now that Sony Ericsson has put down its weapons and decided to cooperate with the developer world, the company decided to even bring some official support at the XDA-Developers site… Impressive. It looks like the future of Sony Ericsson will begin to look brighter. As manufacturers continue to lock their devices, the Xperia brand will start gaining a better reputation within the Android world.

HTC Thunderbolt tutorial videos, courtesy of Verizon

Edgar Cervantes — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 20:58:05 +0000

All 4G LTE network failures aside, Verizon’s first 4G enabled phone, the HTC Thunderbolt, is not a bad device at all. With Verizon’s brand new LTE network, the Thunderbolt has not been short of attention, and the fact that it is a first-of-a-kind is surely making a lot of people switch from other operating systems and/or manufacturers (maybe even carriers).

Verizon has put together a series of tutorial videos for all Thunderbolt users out there, just in case you need some help learning and getting used to the device . Check the videos out if you have been struggling with your brand new Thunderbolt (Due to current network speeds, you may find some free time to learn a few extra things), and let us know if you found any of them useful.

Mobicartel launches Coding Green Robots to teach Android programming to the masses

Anthony Domanico — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 18:17:36 +0000

Greg Carron and Matthew Patience, founders of Mobicartel and co-hosts of several shows over at Radio Android, have put together a slew of applications for Android, including one of my personal faves Twitoc. From what I know of these two characters, their coding skill is only matched by their love for the Android community. In the spirit of this community, Greg and Matt are taking what they know about Android development, and teaching it to all who are interested.

Their new venture, Coding Green Robots, is a bi-weekly training course that will teach aspiring Android developers all they need to know to get started in coding for Android. Coding Green Robots will be based out of the Yorkville Media Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, but will simultaneously be broadcast live on Ustream so users around the world can partake in the learning sessions. Can’t make one of the sessions? All episodes are recorded and will be made available on the Coding Green Robots website.

Coding Green Robots will take place every other Tuesday starting this coming Tuesday, February 22nd from 730-930pm EST. For more information on the show, read the press release below, or head over to their website.

Show Press Release

Coding Green Robots

An Internet Television Show teaching Android Development

Coding Green Robots is a new Internet Television Show that teaches Android Development for developers of all backgrounds and experiences. Matthew Patience and Greg Carron of Mobicartel Development are the hosts of CGR (Coding Green Robots) and are very passionate about what they do. During the two hour show we teach top notch development tutorials, provide open source code samples, discuss the latest Android Development news, and conduct guest interviews. The show is broadcast bi-weekly on Tuesdays and can be viewed live online, as a recorded episode, or you may even feel free to join the live audience at the Yorkville Media Centre in Toronto, Canada. To get more information about upcoming/recorded episodes or to explore our code samples and tutorial notes, please visit www.CodingGreenRobots.com.

How to turn YouTube videos into ringtones for your Android phone

Taylor Wimberly — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 14:00:35 +0000

Have you ever wanted to create your own ringtones, but you just didn’t know how? Anyone with an Android phone can easily create their own ringtones from YouTube videos in only 5 simple steps. Full instructions after the jump.

Follow these simple steps to turn you favorite YouTube videos into ringtones:

Find a cool YouTube video. Example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEWkDQI0jN4
Convert the YouTube video to a MP3. Suggested tool: http://www.listentoyoutube.com/index.php
Copy the MP3 file to your SD card.
Go to Android Market and install Ringdroid
Load up MP3 file in Ringdroid, edit it to your liking, and hit the save button
Repeat

If you need extra help with Ringdroid, check out the following walkthrough below:

Having problems? Leave a comment and someone will try to help you out.

Live wallpaper roundup, testing 12 animated home screens

Clark Wimberly — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:26:12 +0000

One of the biggest surprise hits of the Nexus One seems to be the live wallpapers. Everywhere I go with this thing someone is asking me to show them the live wallpapers. To that end, Taylor and I have rounded up a dozen live wallpapers available in the Market and filmed them all.

Interested in making your own live wallpaper? Romain Guy recently posted some helpful information over on the Android Developers blog.

What are your favorite live wallpapers? Are there any you can’t live without? Some awesome ones we missed? Sound off in the comments.

Using apps during a call? My phone and my network does that!

Taylor Wimberly — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 01:40:35 +0000

AT&T and Verizon are entrenched in a heated advertising war that shows no signs of slowing down. The latest iPhone ad attacked the Motorola Droid because Verizon’s CDMA network can’t do voice and data at the same time. Several examples are shown where a user might need to access an application while in the middle of a call.

At the end of the ad, the question is posed, “Can your phone and your network do that?”

If you have an Android phone with T-Mobile, then the answer is yes. All you have to do is hit the home button while in the middle of a call. The call will be sent to the notification bar and allow the user to access any application. Since T-Mobile uses the same GSM technology as AT&T, it can handle voice and data at the same time.

I assumed most Android users knew about this, but I still get questions almost every week. Check out the screens below for proof that this is possible.