Sprint has just announced what we all were hoping for -- the Evo 4G will be getting Froyo starting August 3, making Sprint the first carrier to upgrade their devices to Android 2.2.  Hit our story HERE to see what's included with the update.  Sprint says that the OTA will roll out in stages, but they will be providing a manual download link for those of us who just can't wait.  (That's you and I )  Yes, we'll have a nice set of simplified instructions to make it as easy as possible, just as soon as we get the link and the method.  Check out the source link to see Sprint's official announcement.  [Sprint]

Posted originally at Android Central

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Let's recap: Late Wednesday night (or early Thursday morning), we reported on a story published at Mobile Beat that came out of the Black Hat online security conference. At the conference, Kevin MaHaffey, CTO at mobile security firm Lookout, told of an app from developer "jackeey,wallpaper," which basically is a portal for downloading wallpapers for your Android phone. The story told the tale of "a questionable Android mobile wallpaper app that collects your personal data and sends it to a mysterious site in China, (and) has been downloaded millions of times."

We've been in contact with Lookout -- which reiterates that the apps, while suspect, aren't necessarily malicious. We've also have a response from the developer in question. Updates from both, after the break.

Posted originally at Android Central

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Applications -- they make the world go 'round. OK, maybe not exactly, but there sure are a ton of great ones in the Android Market, and finding the right one can be a bit difficult. Take a look after the jump, as we bring you another edition of our weekly selections.

Posted originally at Android Central

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What you see above is a document leaked to Engadget, showing that Android 2.2 (Froyo) is about to roll out for the HTC Evo 4G as early as this weekend.  Supposedly an announcement will be made tomorrow, and the software will be made available for users to download and manually install as a sort of test bed.  Along with the update comes all sorts of new widgets and features -- flashlights, upgraded video recording quality (720p!), LED flash during video capture, and more.  Looks like I'll be getting up early tomorrow to hopefully hear an announcement and download some Froyo for my Evo.  Engadget has a gallery of the rest of the document right HERE, it's chock full o' changes.  Now let's hope this pans out and we're not just getting set up for another disappointment.  [Engadget]

Posted originally at Android Central

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A while back, the Droid Incredible was torn apart and revealed some things we never knew it was capable of. Like an FM transmitter tuner, and full 720p video recording. Recently, however, another dissection done by iSuppli Corp’s reveals that the Incredible has a $163.35 Bill of Materials (BOM) price tag. Although the Nexus One’s BOM is slightly higher – $174.15 – the materials used are almost identical except, of course, support for Verizon’s CDMA network. What adds to the price tag? That bright AMOLED screen and DDR RAM for starters, and apparently that Snapdragon CPU isn’t in the bargain bin, either. Those three components cost about $90 total, and when you add in some of the other features such as the camera, Bluetooth, and all the mechanical and electro-mechanical gizmos, it adds up pretty quickly. This goes to show that building a quality smartphone costs more than nickels and dimes to the manufacturer, but the end result is definitely worth it. [iSuppli]

Posted originally at Android Central

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Back at Google IO in May, our benevolent overlords detailed their intentions to make mobile advertising more immersive, akin to Apple's iAds. Today, we're starting to see some of the fruits of that labor with AdWords location extensions. Businesses can show their location (via an embedded Google Map, natch) and clickable phone number all in an expanding and contracting ad, right inside an app. Says Google:

This new ad format is available on mobile devices with full Internet browsers and allows you to expand your advertising campaigns to reach highly engaged mobile users with relevant local information as they use their favorite apps or websites to check the weather, read the news, play games or pursue other mobile interests.

Ads that truly are useful? Crazy talk! [Google Mobile Ads blog]

Posted originally at Android Central

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According to Samsung's official UK Twitter account, the Galaxy S (the non-U.S. version, anyway) will receive Froyo (2.2) near the end of September; it is currently in development, according to the spokesperson. 

There has been a Froyo ROM leaked for the international version of the Galaxy S, so if you can't wait, try that. But it's nice to know that Samsung appears dedicated to its Galaxy S phones and is looking to update them as quickly as possible. (Via @SamsungUKMobile)

Posted originally at Android Central

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There seems to be no respite to the current Eighties revival. From the Ting Tings, garishly framed glasses and deck shoes, to casual football hooliganism, a global recession and Conservative Government, it seems we can’t escape similarities to that decade.

Even heroin is having a mini revival.

And, as they say, “if you can remember the 80s, you… still have nightmares about fluorescent leg warmers.”

But there’s one massive aspect of that period that hasn’t made much of a comeback; tabletop role-playing games.

In the early 1980s, Dungeons & Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, Traveller, Runequest, and a whole smorgasbord of other RPGs, were to teenage boys what alcopops and underage sexual encounters are to today’s generation.

We didn’t need to go on stabbing sprees, we had fictional orcs to brawl. And, if we were really lucky (with our twenty-sided die) we might even have been treated to a description of a comely wench’s ample bosom, delivered by another teenage boy, in the guise of a Dungeon Master.

As good as role-playing sessions were, though, they took an awful lot of preparation. And you’d need a big collection of other similarly-minded geekagers to have a half-decent adventure.

That’s where Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks came in…

Fighting Fantasy: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain

Format

iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad

Price

?1.79

Where

iTunes

Back in 1982, The Warlock of Firetop Mountain hit bookstores and created a huge sensation. It was a cross between the Choose your own Adventure novels coming into the UK via the States (giving multiple options, and subsequent page numbers, after each chapter), and a role-playing game, with character stats and dice-rolling aplenty.

Its success spawned a run of Fighting Fantasy Gamebooks that lasted for 59 separate titles and 13 years. Now it has found a new medium and audience in the guise of an iPhone and iPad app, and it’s not just a nostalgic look back for a grown-up geek, there’s proper gameplay in there too.

Keeping true to the original, the heart of the application, on both iPhone and iPad formats, is an ebook. The text is identical to the original paperback, as are the pics, albeit tarted up and coloured in. However, the dice rolling is integrated (shake the device and they spin across the screen), as is character management. And the choices at the end or during the chapter, including fight or flee, are hot links.

That’s really all there is to it. If you’re not a big reader, you won’t get on very well with TWOFM, if you are, there’s plenty of entertainment therein.

One criticism would be that there’s no auto mapping function. The book rather relies on you knowing where you are in the dungeon at any given time, and avid fans back then will have had a pencil and graph paper to hand. When you’re on a train now though, you’re not likely to get out an exercise book and plunge into a world of cartography, with your iPhone in one hand, quill in the other. Considering the technology, it would’ve been simple to have created an in-game auto map as you go.

Nonetheless, mapping issues aside, this is an excellent app to rekindle the love for traditional role-playing games, and with another two books in the series already available too, Citadel of Chaos and Deathtrap Dungeon, let’s hope it continues to build.

Now, where did I put my lead figurines?

Tags: Phones iPhone iPad iPhone 4 iPhone 3GS iPod Touch Fighting Fantasy The Warlock of Firetop Mountain AOTD App of the day

APP OF THE DAY: Fighting Fantasy - The Warlock of Firetop Mountain (iPhone / iPad) originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 29 Jul 2010 18:00:00 +0100

One of the shining features of Android is its ability to understand what you want. Case in point: the voice-to-text feature. You speak, it listens. Here's a quick tip for an easy Google search. Hold down the search button on your phone. A window will pop up telling you to "Speak now." Do so, and Google will automagically search for whatever you said. Go ahead. Try it.

Posted originally at Android Central

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Seriously, the Droid 2 might just be the worst-kept secret in the mobile industry at this point. Add this onto the pile of leaks we have already seen, but now Droid-Life seems to have gotten their hands on a full copy of the phone's user guide. They have gone ahead and posted the entire thing for your viewing pleasure as a PDF.

Some notable finds:

• Will launch with Froyo (which of course everybody's known for a while).
• Is running the same its-not-blur-but-kinda-is skin that is on the Droid X (PhilBlur!)
• Comes with Swype pre-loaded.

Click on the link to get the full scoop and lots of pretty pictures. [Droid-Life]

Posted originally at Android Central

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