Category Archives: Mobile

Gingerbread 2.3.3 released for Nexus One and Nexus S

By Sergey Povzner | Published: March 1, 2011
The 2-month wait for the official Gingerbread update for Nexus One is over. Google’s Nexus twitter account announced that Gingerbread 2.3.3 OTA update started to roll out last week and will complete in a few weeks. In the meantime impatient Nexus One owners can install this update manually. This release brings the number of Gingerbread powered […]
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Using Android home screen shortcuts for direct dialing, navigation, bookmarks and more

By Sergey Povzner | Published: February 17, 2011
One of the best features of Android is customization, which among many things allows to control how the home screen behaves and looks using widgets, shortcuts and 3rd party launchers such as ADW.Launcher and LauncherPro. Let’s take a closer look at home screen shortcuts, which are accessible via long press on the home screen and selecting […]
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Nokia to develop smartphones running Windows Phone 7

By Sergey Povzner | Published: February 10, 2011
[Update] The reports were correct: statements from Nokia and Microsoft. Intensifying rumors suggest that Nokia may announce on Friday a partnership with Microsoft and will begin shipping phones running Windows Phone 7 operating system. This would mark a dramatic change of direction for Nokia and the partnership with Microsoft would put future of Nokia’s MeeGo platform […]
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News: Android becomes world’s leading smart phone platform

By Sergey Povzner | Published: February 4, 2011
According to the analysis by Canalys, 33.3 million Android-based smart phones were shipped in Q4 2010, making Android the world’s leading smart phone platform (by number of shipments). Google’s Android had a phenomenal 615% year-over-year growth and passed both Nokia’s Symbian (31 million shipments) and Apple’s iOS (16.2 million).
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News: Android Market webstore, Honeycomb tablet demo, in-app billing

By Sergey Povzner | Published: February 4, 2011
Google held a press event this week to launch the web-based Android Market and demonstrate the new features of the upcoming Android 3.0 Honeycomb release. Below is the summary of the announcements: Android Market web site is now live at market.android.com. This is a welcome (and long-awaited) improvement of the Android Market which allows searching Android apps […]
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News: Nexus S random reboot issue, check in using Google Maps, 90% of Android devices are 2.1+

By Sergey Povzner | Published: February 4, 2011
Notable news: Android Google Maps updated to 5.1, adds check in system to the Latitude. Some Nexus S users are suffering from random reboots. The issue has been acknowledged by Google, but the fix is not yet available. Google Voice number porting is now available to all users. 90% of Android devices are now at version 2.1 or above. In preparation […]
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[Updated] Google Voice number porting is now available to all users

By Sergey Povzner | Published: January 20, 2011
[Update] Number porting is now available to all existing Google Voice users [/Update] Google has quietly enabled ability to port existing mobile numbers to Google Voice. Currently, it is available to selected Google Voice users only. The inability to port existing numbers has been the main reason preventing more widespread adoption of Google Voice. Google […]
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Swype beta open to all Android users

By Sergey Povzner | Published: January 14, 2011
Swype is an innovative and efficient text entry method and is an alternative to a regular software keyboards of Android phones. Instead of tapping one letter at a time, Swype lets you enter one word at a time by continuously moving your finger over letters of the word and lifting your finger up at the end of the word. […]
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Nexus S with Android 2.3 Gingerbread in stores Dec 16

By Sergey Povzner | Published: December 6, 2010
Google announced today that Samsung Nexus S will be the first phone to get Android 2.3 Gingerbread when it goes on sale December 16 at US Best Buy stores. It will be available for $529 unlocked or $199 with 2-year T-Mobile contract. Similarly to Nexus One, Nexus S is a developer phone with an unlocked bootloader (for […]
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Android 2.3 Gingerbread announced, SDK released

By Sergey Povzner | Published: December 6, 2010
Today is a busy day for Android users and developers. Android 2.3 was officially announced with lots of new features. Android 2.3 SDK is released. Samsung Nexus S is announced as the first phone to be sold with Gingerbread on December 16 at Best Buy (unlocked or with a T-Mobile service plan). For users, the […]
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News: Google Docs editing on Android/iPhone, Google Voice app finally approved for iPhone, Galaxy S owners keep waiting for 2.2 update

By Sergey Povzner | Published: November 19, 2010
News: Editing of Google Docs is now available on Android (2.2+), iPhone and iPad (iOS 3.0+). Editing Google Spreadsheets in the mobile browser has been available for a while now. Apple approved official Google Voice app for iOS. Finally, a ridiculous 1.5 year App Store ban of a very useful application has ended. Google Voice […]
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Full version of Angry Birds now available for Android

By Sergey Povzner | Published: October 15, 2010
The title says it all: full version of insanely addictive Angry Birds game with 150 levels is now available on Android Market. It works on most Android 1.6+ devices (those that support Open GL ES 2.0, which means all newer Android phones). Number of levels to increase to 200 in few weeks. For Android it […]
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Speed up your Android: free up internal phone storage

By Sergey Povzner | Published: September 30, 2010
If your Android phone seems to be running slower than it used to, check how much available internal storage it has left. If it has less than 30% left, freeing up some space will speed up the phone. That is because flash memory which is used for internal storage gets significantly slower as it gets […]
Also posted in Android, FroYo, How To, Tips | 14 Comments

How to move almost all Android apps to SD card (no root required)

By Sergey Povzner | Published: September 24, 2010
[Update - May 2013] To see whether this procedure may work on your phone, check out the new post [Follow up] List of phones that work with “How to move almost all apps to SD card” procedure and comments to this post. Please note that this procedure does NOT work on the best selling Samsung Galaxy S3. [/Update] [Update […]
Also posted in Android, Apps, CyanogenMod, FroYo, Gingerbread, How To | 1265 Comments

Angry Birds game arrives to Android (beta)

By Sergey Povzner | Published: September 7, 2010
Warning: stop reading this and navigate away if you are an addictive person and/or have important things to do in your life in the next few days. Angry Birds, which is a smash hit game on iPhone OS, arrived as a public beta to Android last Friday. According to the developers, the game sold 6.5 […]
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News: CyanogenMod 6.0 arrives, Gmail Priority Inbox, Sprint Epic 4G released, Android LVL tips

By Sergey Povzner | Published: September 3, 2010
News: CyanogenMod-6.0, first stable Android 2.2 based CyanogenMod distribution, is released for the following phones: Nexus One, Motorola Droid, HTC EVO, HTC Desire, HTC Incredible, HTC Hero (GSM/CDMA), HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1), HTC Magic, HTC Aria, MT3G Slide. Find a version for your phone here. CyanogenMod is a free, community built distribution of Android 2.2 (Froyo) which greatly extends the capabilities of your phone. List […]
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News: Android Voice Actions, Chrome to Phone extension, call phones from Gmail, Droid gets Android 2.2

By Sergey Povzner | Published: August 27, 2010
News: Android voice search app is updated with Voice Actions which can be used to speak into your Android phone and dictate texts and emails, get directions and launch turn-by-turn navigation, listen to music, set alarm clock, call businesses and contacts, and browse the web. For more details see Voice Actions page. Chrome to Phone extension […]
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Tip: know which Google Talk contacts are using Android

By Sergey Povzner | Published: August 24, 2010
If from time to time your Google Talk buddies are ignoring you, that maybe because they are logged in on their Android phones and are not seeing your messages, while in the call or watching videos. When you are on the Gmail page in your computer’s browser, you can see if you are chatting with somebody […]
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24 most useful Android apps

By Sergey Povzner | Published: August 12, 2010
Why 24? That’s how many apps I have on my main Home screen. But my homescreen fits only 16 apps. I use ADW.Launcher which allows customizing number of shortcuts per screen (see FAQ below for more details on ADW.Launcher). My 24 most used Android apps are:
Also posted in Android, Apps, Reviews | 1 Comment

News: goodbye Google Wave, Nexus One is ADP3, iPhone OS security flaw

By Sergey Povzner | Published: August 6, 2010
News: Active development of Google Wave stops Nexus One officially becomes Android Development phone. Unlocked Nexus One is now availalable for purchase to registered Android developers for $529 Symantec: iPhone OS security flaw could be exploited by remote attackers to take complete control of a vulnerable device. Google: Android Wallpaper Apps Were Not Security Threats (PCWorld) 200,000 […]
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