Author Archive: Gareth

Grand Theft Auto III on Android

If you are a fan of the gritty sand-box style action game "Grand Theft Auto III" From Rockstar Games, and you have one of the following Android devices listed below, then you are in for a treat very soon. Rockstar Games is reportedly going to port their award-winning and highly successful game to a limited amount of Android devices. It’s pretty amazing to think that one of the most advanced PS2 games is now playable from a device that fits in your pocket. That just gives us a bright vision of the future where we can experience holographic virtual environments projected onto our retinas.

Okay, so that’s probably still a ways off, but you can’t blame me for being forward thinking. I will have no problem with being lost in a virtual "Elder Scrolls 10" on my "Samsung Galaxy Nexus Prime 12 SE" when I am in my 80’s.
Here’s a list of compatible Android devices:

• Droid X2
• HTC Evo 2 (Probably the EVO 3D, or is it some unknown future device?)
• LG Optimus 2X
• Motorola Atrix
• Samsung Galaxy S2
• Acer Iconia
• Asus Eee Pad
• Motorola Xoom
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

Posted by: Gareth

Orange flavoured T-Mobile

Orange and T-Mobile conglomeration, Everything Everywhere, is ready to properly merge its 2G networks into one, allowing the phone to switch cells as if it was a single network. Fine for voice and text messaging, but pretty useless for data. Once roaming, you will drop to the incredibly slow speeds offered by GPRS, or possibly EDGE if you were very lucky.

According to a user on the Digital Spy forum, there are now dates available for when each part of the country will switch from the current roaming system to operating as a single network.
We can’t confirm these dates as they were given with the obligatory ‘subject to change’ disclaimer;

• October 12th: Gloucester and Midlands area.
• Week commencing October 31st: London, Wiltshire and down to Brighton area, North Wales, North West England and Scottish Central Belt.
• Week commencing November 7th: Norfolk, North East England and Aberdeen area.
• Week commencing November 14th: Everywhere else.

Virgin Media announced that its subscribers – which already use the T-Mobile network – can now opt-in to enable use of the Orange network in the UK.

Posted by Gareth

Ice Cream Sandwich gets pictures.

We have recently been treated to a few screenshots of what Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich might just look like. There is every chance that these could be bogus however we can only hope they are real as they do look pretty exciting.

Some might say that the initial Android interface has been done away with, however to me it looks like a good combination of both the Honeycomb and Froyo interface. It looks a lot more like Honeycomb than Android on any phone. Have a look at the selection of pictures after the break and see what you think.

A new Dell on the block

Their last three devices have hardly set the world on fire. Their 10-inch Honeycomb slate, the Streak 10 Pro, didn’t see an extremely wide release as the Dell name has slowly fallen out of most Android discussions. The company looks to make a return in a big way with the announcement of the new Dell Streak Pro 101DL the first full-fledged smartphone entry into the Streak lineup and no slacker in the specs department.

The Streak Pro 101DL is headed for Japan’s SoftBank and features a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED screen at qHD resolution, a 1.5GHz dual-core MSM8260 processor, and an 8MP camera. Other specs include Dell’s Stage 2.0 interface on top of Android 2.3, a 1.3MP front-facing camera, and support for Bluetooth 2.1 and 802.11b/g/n.

Japan is slated to get the phone first but Dell does have global sales plans for the new Steak Pro 101DL. It could give Dell just the boost they need to become a relevant Android contributor once again.

Posted by Gareth

Asus show how tough they are

Asus recently revealed an up-coming Android tablet that we haven’t really heard about previously. The 7-inch tablet will be called the ASUS TOUGH, and will be designed as a rugged-style, water-proof and dust-proof Honeycomb based Android Tablet. Initially it will be heading to the KDDI network in Japan, and there is no word if it will make it to any other markets. Here is a list of specs:

• 7-Inch Screen with a resolution of 1280×800
• Honeycomb 3.2
• Water-Proof and Dust-Proof
• Dual-core 1GHz Tegra 2 processor
• 16GB of built-in internal storage memory
• 5 megapixel camera rear camera (no camera on the front)
• EVDO, Bluetooth, WiFi and GPS & WiMax

It’s interesting that it has WiMax support, so it is possible we could see it show up in the States for Sprint. Although this tablet looks a bit on the heavy and beefy side, the ability to use it outdoors or in the shower, make it kind of appealing. What do you guys think? Would you want this to come to the States?
Here’s a link to some additional pics of the device: Asus TOUGH Android Tablet Additional Pics

Posted by Gareth

Big deal Galaxy Nexus hitting home soon

The folks over at BGR just released a full spec list (which they say comes from a trusted source) for the much-anticipated Galaxy Nexus:

• Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
• 9mm thin
• 4.65-inch 1280 x 720-pixel Super AMOLED HD with curved glass
• TI OMAP 4460 dual-core Cortex A9 processor clocked at 1.2GHz
• 1GB of RAM
• 32GB of built-in storage
• 5-megapixel camera on the back, 1.3-megapixel in the front
• 1080p HD video capture support
• LTE/HSPA depending on carrier
• Wi-Fi a/b/g/n
• NFC
• 1,750 mAh battery

The biggest news? This will be a pure Google experience phone!! It’s being reported that this will be a Verizon Wireless exclusive. Next Tuesday’s announcement should confirm a lot of what’s been speculated, but this is looking really, really good!

You can see a quick teaser video below:

Fabled Touchpad Go details emerge

Hard to believe that a mere two months ago there was a fire sale on the HP Touchpad. A shrewd manoeuvre by HP to get Touchpads into the hands of plenty around the world to play with and develop. Now it seems the legacy of the Touchpad was to be grander and more ambitious than previously  thought. PreCentral.net just posted exclusive details on the HP TouchPad Go 7 inch version of the TouchPad that was killed before it was released.

After looking at the images, slides, and details, I think I actually may have liked the TouchPad Go since the smaller form factor is appealing for mobile usage, the design looks nicer with a soft touch back, metal buttons, and a higher pixel density display. All the basic elements of the TouchPad are packed into the Go along with a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm processor and GPS receiver. I haven’t seen any of these sneak out on ebay or Craigslist and maybe with the new change at HP there is a chance we may eventually see these released.

Would you have purchased the HP TouchPad Go? Do you find it more appealing than the HP TouchPad?

Posted by Gareth

Archos spec change at the last minute

Looks like Archos is having to review their upcoming 1.5GHz G9 Honeycomb tablets. Apparently, Texas Instruments wont be able to keep their end of the bargain with their 1.5GHz OMAP 4 processors as they are being pushed back until next year. This, in turn, is causing Archos to rethink their tablet loadout. Rather than delay the October launch of their 10-inch (and higher-end 8-inch) tablets, Archos will instead rename these versions “Turbo” and equip them with slightly overclocked 1.2GHz versions of the dual-core TI processors found in the lower 8GB model. Come next year, when Texas Instruments is able to get their act together, Archos will re-outfit these “Turbo” versions with the newer TI 1.5GHz OMAP 4 processors.

Not sure what exactly this is going to do to the price tag or if there will be an option to have the devices re-fit with the speedier processor ala Motorola’s 4G shenanigans, only time will tell.

Posted by Gareth