I awoke to the news in my Google Reader that the APK for Flipboard had escaped from the recently announced Samsung Galaxy 3.  This app with the long-ago released Netflix were the only ones that still made me long for iOS.  But no more!

After loading up my Flipboard this morning on my Samsung Galaxy Nexus and my Motorola XOOM with the prerequisite Twitter and Tumblr accounts, and other news feeds, all is well.  After downloading, it has no noticeable UI difference from the iOS version so it looks as if Flipboard might have just done a straight port for Version 1.0.  If you are up to it, it can be downloaded from the XDA forums or via the QR code below.

Flipboard Arrives on Android…Finally. #parity originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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As many of you may be aware, the Theme Engine has made it’s way back into the CM9. The theme engine is one of the best features of CyanogenMod in my opinion, as it allows for quick and easy theme changes. With over 300+ themes available for CM7, we’re all looking forward to this latest addition. Which brings me to the topic of this article, added earlier today by a famous theme developer Sonny Sekhon are two (so far) of his more popular themes.

LUCID - available HERE for $1

VIVID – Available HERE for $1

It’s exciting to see the beginning of whats to come in the near future! Theme Devs GO!

A quick look at the first two CyanogenMod v9 themes available in the Google Play Store originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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As some of you may already be aware, Kyocera this week announced a pair of new Android smartphones. One one hand we have waterproof Hydro and on the other, the sliding QWERTY Rise. Although the company has yet to announce any carrier or pricing details, they are letting CTIA attendees play with the devices and get a sense of things to come. I spent a few minutes toying with each and found them remarkably average, but in the best sense possible.

It will be average consumer types that push Android forward and beyond the fifty percent market share. It is average users that buy the $50-$100 smartphones and replace their feature phones with something a little smarter.  Kyocera aims to place both of their new Android phones in this space.

I like the idea of a waterproof phone that runs the latest version of Android, but isn’t also a rugged model. Plenty of people will drop their phones in water or get them wet, not many will need the protection against sand and tornado winds. The Hydro is a decent looking phone for its class but falls short of impressing. The specs are middle of the road at best and the handset is hardly a looker. That said, it’s the kind of phone that you end up seeing everywhere because it was the right price. It’s not thin, but it certainly ain’t a fatty.

The Rise is even more of a middle of the pack than the Hydro, what with its generic design cues and coloring. The four row QWERTY keyboard is not the worst I’ve seen but I feel like there might have been room for a fifth row. Nevertheless, the Android 4.0 OS and minimal set of pre loaded apps ensures these two are not immediately irrelevant.

Priced at $50 or so, both of these should do well. Much higher and people will gravitate to bigger brands and more trusted names. All things considered, these two are average at best, but way better than the dual screen stuff from them a little over a year ago.

Early impressions: Kyocera Hydro, Rise originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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LG has announced their plans to release their own cloud-based storage platform. Dubbed “LG Cloud” (Brilliant!), the service streams a plethora of media between your LG Smart TV and your other devices, stores your files in the cloud, and allows for quick, realtime streaming. File types allowed include:

Video : 29 extensions including ASF, AVI, MPEG, MP4, WMV, MOV and MKV
- Music : 35 extensions including FLAC, MID, MP4, OGG, WMA, RM and WAV
- Photo : 33 extensions including GIF, JPG, PNG, TIFF, BMP and PSD
- Document : 60 extensions including DOC, PPT, XLS, TXT, HTML and PSD

The service launches tomorrow for USA and South Korean customers, with no word on when it will head out to other regions. If you’re a standard LG Hub user without an LG device, you’ll get an automatic 5GB of storage. However, with an LG device, you get 50GB free for 6 months – pricing beyond that is yet a mystery. You’ll need to both download the app from the Play Store and hit up the online hub to get started.

via androinica

LG to open cloud service tomorrow: 5GB free, 50GB for 6 months with an LG device originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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Google’s designs for their prized Nexus line (Nexus One, Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus) have all followed the standard candybar-style. However, the latest from the rumor mill (or patent mill, as it were) is layouts for a slide out, QWERTY style device.

We here at AndroidGuys are reminded of the HTC Dream, the original Android handset, in these pictures. There are several different slide out mechanism plans, including a scissor-hinge, sprint & stabilizing link, as well as a serpentine style.

The patents were filed in January 2012, and just ran through the patent office this month.

Be sure to hit up the source link below for full details, and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Source: Patentbolt

New patent reveals Google design for slide-out, QWERTY style phone originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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You have a tablet. You have an NFC enabled device. You have a thirst for anything awesome (read as: beer). So, what do you do? Well, if you’re Google employee Paul Carriff, you’d probably respond with something along the lines of “make a beer dispenser”.

Paul has taken a Motorola Xoom tablet and combined an Ardunio board to make this totally awesome beer dispenser, seen above. The way it works is simple. You have an NFC tag that literally cards you, as your age is built into the tag. You scan, and the dispenser gives it out, in perfectly defined increments. The Xoom even verifies that the beer is kept at an icy, refreshing 39 degrees Fahrenheit.

androidcommunity

Free, as in beer: KegDroid uses NFC and Xoom tablet to dispense on-tap beer originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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Here’s a bit of news that should be welcomed by our North-of-the-Border friends.  Samsung Canada has begun releasing Android 4.0 updates to a number of their Galaxy products.  Starting today and rolling out over the next few weeks, the following nine products will see their Ice Cream Sandwich update.

• GALAXY S II
• GALAXY S II LTE
• GALAXY S II LTE HD
• GALAXY S II X
• GALAXY Note
• GALAXY Tab 7.0
• GALAXY Tab 7.0 Plus
• GALAXY Tab 8.9
• GALAXY Tab 10.1

“We are passionate about providing the best possible mobile experience to Canadians and the upgrade to Android 4.0 will offer an improved user experience for Samsung GALAXY devices,” said Paul Brannen, Vice President, Mobile Communications at Samsung Canada. “We expect that our customers will enjoy an enhanced experience with their GALAXY device through this upgrade and we remain committed, alongside our carrier partners, to satisfy our customer needs”.

If you’ve got one of the aforementioned smartphones or tablets then you are advised to keep an eye open for update notifications.  The timing of your particular update will depend on the device and carrier so don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t happen right away!

EETimes

Samsung Canada dishes Ice Cream Sandwich to host of products originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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Verizon has gone back to using their famous “Droid Does” line to promote some of their Android smartphones, as evidenced in the Youtube video below.  Gone are the days of scaring consumers into buying a powerful hardware beast capable of doing just about anything.  At least that is our hope.  If this first clip is a sign of things to come, then we can expect to see a campaign that still promotes all the great things that Android phones do, but in a more subtle manner.

What do you think of the kinder, gentler Droid Does ad below?

Verizon begins new, friendlier Droid Does campaign originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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If you’re rocking any Sony Xperia phone from last year and you’re wondering where your ice cream sandwich love is, Sony would like to ease your concerns. In a recent blog post,  one of the software developers stated that the company is right on schedule for its ICS rollout. While there were no specific dates mentioned, for products the blog did list a site where a list of available software kits is available. Interestingly enough, in order to install the update, you’ll need to download the installer to your computer, plug in your device, and push the software manually.

Has anyone already gotten their Ice Cream Sandwich? How are you liking it? Let us know in the comments below!

Source Sony Mobile blog

Sony updates ICS info for 2011 Xperia models originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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When Google decided to release its first official proprietary phone way back in early 2010, it chose HTC to create the Nexus One. While not the commercial success that Google had hoped, it was widely loved by developers and Android OS tinkerers. Fast forward a few years, and both successive Nexus phones have been designed and built by Samsung. Whatever the reasons, HTC hasn’t been involved, and, according to “industry sources”, has decided to move on with a different partner: social network monolith Facebook. In an article at Digitimes, these sources were quoted as saying,

“HTC had previously joined forces with Google to launch Google’s first own-brand smartphone, the Nexus One. However, Google then shifted to cooperating with Samsung as its primary production partner for the launch of its second and third own-brand smartphones.

The new Android smartphone being developed by HTC will have a platform exclusive to Facebook to enable and integrate all functions available on the social networking site, the sources indicated. Previously, HTC launched two Facebook-enabled smartphones, the Salsa and Chacha.”

The reasoning has merit, especially given HTC’s history of social networking integration and even their social networking based devices, the aforementioned Salsa and Chacha. HTC has also been recruiting and acquiring business partners of late, most notably Beats Audio and their own acquisition, MOG. As always, time will tell, but such a deal certainly makes sense. On Facebook’s end, they’ve had their own acquisitions and seem to be on the move towards…something, though it’s anybody’s guess as to what.

Have your own guesses? Let us know in the comments!

Source DigiTimes

HTC/Facebook jointly developed phone in the works? originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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