Linux kernel hits version 3.2, plenty of power-saving features in tow
It’s a little later than originally anticipated, but Linux kernel 3.2 is finally here. As per usual, it packs a number of improvements — most them under the hood.
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Linux kernel hits version 3.2, plenty of power-saving features in tow
Refresh Roundup: week of October 24, 2011
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout attips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Official Android updates
- Guess which phone’s finally getting Gingerbread: the HTC Thunderbolt. Yes, we’re being serious. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in, and thanks Eddie for the image!]
- Gingerbread is now rolling out to the Motorola Droid Pro and Droid 2 Global. [PhoneScoop]
- The HTC EVO Design 4G wasn’t out for very long before it was ready for a maintenance release. It’s called version 1.19.651.0, and no change log was found right away.
- More HTC stuff: the EVO 3D also offers a small bug fix in the form of a security update under the name of version 2.08.651.3. [AndroidCentral]
- The LG Revolution on Verizon’s also officially gaining Android 2.3. [Pocketnow]
- In the UK, HTC Desire S owners are now finding themselves beneficiaries of the Android 2.3.5 firmware update as well as Sense 3.0. [AndroidCentral]
- How about a couple for the little guys? CSpire, formerly known as Cellular South, is pushing Gingerbread to its Samsung Galaxy S and Motorola Milestone X. [AndroidCentral(1) and (2)]
- Sony Ericsson announced this week that Android 2.3.4 is rolling out to the 2011 Xperia lineup around the world. Additional enhancements include 16x video zoom, WiFi DLNA, screen capture capability, ability to attach USB peripherals to Sony Ericsson LiveDock and more.
Unofficial Android updates, custom ROMs and misc. hackery
- The Samsung Stratosphere on Verizon has been successfully rooted. [AndroidCommunity]
- HTC devices receiving the official Gingerbread kernel source from HTCDev this week: The Evo Shift 4G, the Thunderbolt and Droid Incredible. [AndroidCentral]
- When it rains, it pours — the Thunderbolt, on top of receiving Gingerbread and its accompanying kernel source, has also found itself on the receiving end of an Ice Cream Sandwich SDK port. As can be expected, it’s still in prealpha stages and has a few bugs to work out. [AndroidCommunity]
- If you’re a CM7 user, there’s now a file available that will turn your lock screen into one that resembles Ice Cream Sandwich’s style. [Droid-Life]
Other platforms
- Microsoft’s pushing a firmware upgrade to the LG Optimus 7 Windows Phone which seems to grace the device with WiFi tethering and the ability to locate hidden WiFi networks. [WMPowerUser]
- It’s not a BlackBerry firmware update, but many people still have a soft spot for BBM and will be interested to know that RIM is putting out version 6.0.1 with a few enhancements. Head to the source to check it out. [MobileTechReview]
Refreshes we covered this week
- Windows Phone Mango now being delivered to 100 percent of compatible devices
- Windows Phone Apollo coming ‘middle of next year,’ says Nokia VP
- Nokia N8 gets Symbian Anna service pack update
- Symbian Anna update rolls out to compatible Nokia smartphones in the US
- Motorola Xoom will get updated with Ice Cream Sandwich
- Ice Cream Sandwich supports USB game controllers and HDMI
- RIM confirms PlayBook OS 2.0 delayed until February, still no BBM in sight
- Sprint issues OTA fix for HTC Android handset vulnerability
Refresh Roundup: week of October 24, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 11:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Linux kernel hits 3.1, adds support for NFC and Wiimotes
In May Linux finally saw the release of kernel version 3.0, an evolutionary update to the popular open-source platform that was nearly 15 years in the making. Today, version 3.1 is making its debut, once again primarily offering small tweaks like better support for Intel’s Ivy Bridge and Cedar Trail chips and improved power management. But there are some new features getting baked in, including support for NFC and drivers for Wiimotes. The brave amongst you can download the sources from Git now (it hasn’t been posted to Kernel.org just yet), but we suggest you hold out until your distro of choice releases an official update.
Linux kernel hits 3.1, adds support for NFC and Wiimotes originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Samsung delivers kernel source for T-Mobile Galaxy S II, developers can now collect all three
Developers, start your engines. T-Mobile’s version of the Samsung Galaxy S II was the slowest in the family to get the official kernel source. It’s here now, though, arriving on Sammy’s site a whole four days after the phone’s release; this isn’t an eternity by any means, but its counterparts had the source available no later than the actual launch date. No matter the reason, make your way to Samsung’s official site to dive in and make some magic happen.
[Thanks, Aubrey]
Samsung delivers kernel source for T-Mobile Galaxy S II, developers can now collect all three originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Oct 2011 19:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Refresh Resource: week of October 10, 2011
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Official Android updates
- Motorola Xoom owners who swapped in their devices for one with LTE capability may have found an OTA enhancement waiting for them when the tablet arrived. It included a few minor changes, such as updates to Android Market and some additional browser security measures. The full changelog can be found at the link. [AndroidCentral]
- The update to the Motorola Droid 2 Global was pulled last month due to an Exchange encryption issue, but we’re hearing reports that it’s once again resuming the rollout with that concern resolved. [Droid-Life]
- Motorola’s Photon 4G on Sprint is on the receiving end of a minor bug fix update, which includes video chat capability for Google Talk. [PhoneArena]
- The good news for unlocked Dell Streak 7 users: the official update to Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) is now rolling out and you should see it over the course of the next couple weeks. the coming weeks. [Dell]
- The bad news for T-Mobile Dell Streak 7 users: Honeycomb isn’t coming to your tablet, for unknown reasons. [Android Community]
- According to a tweet from LG, there’s a small refresh in the works for the Optimus 7 which will finally enable WiFi tethering. [WPCentral]
Unofficial Android updates, custom ROMs and misc. hackery
- A new piece of firmware for the AT&T Galaxy S II was leaked via RootzWiki, and includes a few bug fixes. Sadly, it adds some bugs as well. [Android Community]
- Samsung’s officially released the kernel source for the Stratosphere, Transfix and Galaxy Y Pro. [Android Community]
- And now for the best news for TouchPad owners: after several weeks of progress, it appears that CM7 is now ready to roll on the HP TouchPad. As always, download and install at your own risk — we have a feeling this may be a bit more involved than your typical Android custom ROM. [Redmond Pie]
Other platforms
- Redsn0w 0.9.9b5 is here, giving you the go-ahead to jailbreak iOS5. Up for the task? Head to the link for all of the details on how to make it so. [Redmond Pie]
- Some Windows Phone users have noticed a few bugs popping into their updated devices ever since they received Mango. The main concerns seem to be found in the keyboard and live tiles, though the reported issues are much more numerous. Have you experienced any of these on the list at the link? [WMPowerUser]
Refreshes we covered this week
Refresh Resource: week of October 10, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 16 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Samsung releases AT&T Galaxy S II kernel source far in advance of the phone’s release
Whoever’s cranking out the kernel source in Samsung’s headquarters has some serious aspirations. Cooking it up for the Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch the day it was released was a rather snappy process, but the manufacturer’s managed to one-up even itself by pushing out AT&T’s version a full week and a half early. Talk about an exciting deal for developers, who now have a sizable head start ahead of the Galaxy S II’s October 2nd launch. Not too shabby, right? Let’s see exactly what those with the know-how can build in the meantime — we predict customization options aplenty by the time the phone’s officially stocked on store shelves. How early can we expect to see the kernel for T-Mobile’s Galaxy S II? Hard to say, but for now you can grab the kernel source at… well, the source below.
Samsung releases AT&T Galaxy S II kernel source far in advance of the phone’s release originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Samsung releases AT&T Galaxy S II kernel source far in advance of the phone’s release
Whoever’s cranking out the kernel source in Samsung’s headquarters has some serious aspirations. Cooking it up for the Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch the day it was released was a rather snappy process, but the manufacturer’s managed to one-up even itself by pushing out AT&T’s version a full week and a half early. Talk about an exciting deal for developers, who now have a sizable head start ahead of the Galaxy S II’s October 2nd launch. Not too shabby, right? Let’s see exactly what those with the know-how can build in the meantime — we predict customization options aplenty by the time the phone’s officially stocked on store shelves. How early can we expect to see the kernel for T-Mobile’s Galaxy S II? Hard to say, but for now you can grab the kernel source at… well, the source below.
Samsung releases AT&T Galaxy S II kernel source far in advance of the phone’s release originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Sep 2011 18:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Refresh Roundup: week of September 12, 2011
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Official Android updates
- The HTC Merge on US Cellular can now be bumped up to Android 2.3.4. It appears to be a manual install, so visit here to download the file and learn exactly how to update your device. [via UnwiredView]
- HTC has added another device to its growing list of phones and tablets that now support the HTCDev bootloader unlock tool. [via PocketDroid]
- The LG Optimus S on Sprint is now on the receiving end of an OTA Gingerbread rollout. [via UnwiredView]
- Great news, Samsung Infuse 4G users: you’re getting an update. The bad news: it’s a maintenance fix, rather than a full-out Gingerbread upgrade. Still, it may be worth the download if you have the time or opportunity. [via AndroidCentral]
- Samsung has released the kernel source for the Epic 4G Touch. [via PocketNow]
- Sprint’s certainly getting a lot of love this week, and we’re not done yet: the Motorola Photon 4G is beginning to push out another smallish bug fix meant to curb WiFi issues experienced by a few users, and appears to be a gradual rollout. [via SprintFeed]
- The original Motorola Droid X is expected to receive a maintenance refresh as early as tomorrow, which is intended to resolve a widespread issue with the keyboard. If you’re in this category, definitely keep a close eye out on this space. [via Droid-Life]
- We’re hearing that the Droid 2 R2-D2 update to Gingerbread, which we originally reported on last week, is officially rolling out to eager fanboys and fangirls countrywide. [via AndroidCentral]
Unofficial Android updates, custom ROMs and misc. hackery
- Those CyanogenMod7 builds for the HTC Sensation and EVO 3D we were talking about last week? They’re now available. As extremely early builds, download and flash at your own risk. [via AndroidCentral]
- Since we’re talking so much about HTC, here’s one more thing: you can now grab a ROM for your HTC Desire HD that enables the beats audio technology. [via GSMArena and Android Community]
- A dev has been hard at work pulling various Motorola Atrix ROMs and porting them over to the Droid X2. The first one available is plain vanilla Android 2.3.4, if you’re just not feeling up to using MotoBlur (aka the now-nameless Moto UI). [via Droid-Life]
- The initial build of the Motorola Droid Bionic bootstrap is available for install, which essentially will enable you to bootstrap your recovery and create backups on your device. Custom ROMs still aren’t around for the Bionic yet (although early builds of CM7 began showing up this week), but the bootstrap is a big step toward achieving that goal. [via Droid-Life]
Other platforms
- Symbian’s Anna update is continuing to expand support to more countries, including Italy, Switzerland, Taiwan and Turkey. The refreshes for the US, Canada and Australia — according to an email from Nokia — is expected to arrive within the next two weeks. [via MyNokiaBlog]
Refreshes we covered this week
- AT&T Windows Phone 7 devices to receive Mango this fall
- BlackBerry PlayBook to get OTA update next month that will offer native email, calendar
Refresh Roundup: week of September 12, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 18 Sep 2011 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Windows 8 to feature drastically reduced boot time, shown off in video
Watch the above video closely, because you might just miss the moment: according to the latest post on MSDN’s Building Windows 8 blog, Microsoft’s next-gen desktop OS will see a hugely improved boot time thanks to a clever technique. Rather than closing both the user session and the kernel session like in a traditional shutdown, Windows 8 will preserve the kernel session on the disk, thus creating a “hiberfile” that’s much smaller than that of the usual Windows hibernation — see the diagram after the break for a clearer idea. The result? An amazingly fast system bootup — even with the battery removed to begin with — that claims to be 30 to 70 percent faster than most systems tested by Microsoft. We’re itching to test this feature on an SSD ourselves, but until then, you can head over to MSDN’s blog for the full technical explanation.
Continue reading Windows 8 to feature drastically reduced boot time, shown off in video
Windows 8 to feature drastically reduced boot time, shown off in video originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Sep 2011 03:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Refresh Roundup: week of August 29, 2011
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Official Android updates
- The biggest update we saw this week was a widespread push of Android 2.3.3 to the Motorola Droid 2. This one is done OTA, so simply go into your settings menu and check for updates to see if it’s there. (thanks to everyone who sent this in)
- While we saw a rollout of Android 2.3 to a select few LG Optimus Ones in June, we’re hearing reports that the update’s now getting pushed out again to a few more regions. This refresh must be done manually through LG’s updater tool, so you’ll definitely want to check to see if your phone is one of the lucky recipients. [via PocketNow]
- US Cellular took to its Facebook Page to let customers know it’s working on revamping the Samsung Mesmerize to Gingerbread at some point, though no official date or timeframe was given aside from “as soon as possible.” [via AndroidCentral]
- HTC announced the arrival of Android 2.3 for the Thunderbolt and Droid Incredible this month, via its Facebook page. [via AndroidCommunity]
- In fact, some users have already reported getting Gingerbread for the Incredible, and we suspect the rollout will be complete no later than the end of the month, to fulfill the company’s promise. [via Phandroid]
- Gingerbread is in the plans for the Motorola Milestone 2, and according to the company the refresh will begin rolling out in early Q4. [via MyDailyGadget]
- The Samsung LC11 LTE mobile hotspot is getting a new build, EF07, that appears to improve its handling of multiple devices and congested WiFi locations. It also adds security patches and new protocols. [via Verizon]
- An update for the Droid 3 was apparently available to soak testers and leaked online, but was pulled from Motorola servers shortly thereafter. It appears to add video chat support in GTalk and adds a new radio that’s supposed to save battery life. The via link still has the update available for anyone interested. [via Droid-Life]
Unofficial Android updates / custom ROMs / misc hackery
- The root method used on most Motorola Android devices has been employed to root the Droid Bionic before it’s even been released. [via Droid-Life]
- LG has released the kernel source for its Gingerbread build of the Optimus S. [via AndroidCentral]
- The HTC Dev site expanded its support for the bootloader unlock tool this week, now encompassing all versions of the Sensation — including T-Mobile’s. [via AndroidCentral]
Other platforms
- SPB Shell 3.0 is now available for Symbian^3 devices. It brings a fresh 3D-style UI to the OS, and can be yours for $15. [via IntoMobile]
Updates already covered this week
- HP planning TouchPad OTA update for added functionality
- HTC Flyer Honeycomb ROM leaks
- Samsung Nexus S updated to 2.3.6, fixes voice search and breaks tethering
Refresh Roundup: week of August 29, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Sep 2011 10:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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