Turned off by the high prices of higher-end tablets if all you want to do is browse the web, watch some videos, read books, and play some games every now and then? ARCHOS has the answer with their new line of “Element” Android tablets. The “97 Carbon” is a 9.7-inch tablet that packs quite a bit of features, including a full-size USB 2.0 port, HDMI out, a 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 single-core CPU, a 1024×768 IPS display, and Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich”. If you’re interested in this, you can pick it up later this month for just $249.99. You’ll find the tech specs at the tablet’s home page here, or in the press release below. Lastly, a small photo gallery of the tablet can also be found below.
Category Archives: Android
Google to offer offline maps in Android
If you’re planning on traveling abroad without a mobile data connection, or if you just don’t want to eat up your current one with map downloads, then Android users who use the stock Maps application, will be able to download full maps for offline use. Full details are currently limited, but it will be available “soon.” This is also good for those who don’t want to pay up for a third-party map/navigation application, such as NAVIGON.
Instagram for Android: Better Than iOS?
Only a few short weeks after its welcomed announcement at SXSW, the massively popular photo sharing app, Instagram, is now available in the Google Play Store for most Android devices running Android 2.2 and higher.
As Instagram states on its website, “It’s photo sharing, reinvented,” and it couldn’t be more true. Perhaps one of the most innovative and creative social networking services, Instagram allows users to snap a picture using their smartphone, choose from an array of unique filters, and then post their photo to a variety of other social networks (including Facebook and Twitter) for friends, family, and colleagues to see. After using it for a few months myself, I can say its truly a breath of fresh air in the social media space. Sharing photos has never been more simple, and its certainly never been this fun.
Chrome for Android beta has arrived!
In an official blog post from Google, they have announced that Google Chrome is slowly (but surely) making its way to the Android platform. Google claims Chrome for Android is focused on speed and simplicity, but it also features seamless sign-in and sync so you can take your personalized web browsing experience with you wherever you go, across devices.
[Review] Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Verizon 4G LTE) [Video]
Meet the Galaxy Nexus (Amazon), Google’s latest flagship Android device that’s manufactured by Samsung. What’s so good about it? For starters, it has a 1280×720 resolution display, which is unseen until the Galaxy Nexus, and will also be seen in most smartphones in 2012. Another (and more major) thing is that this is the first shipping phone to run Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich”. Is this phone worth the $299 contract price? Maybe not, and I’ll explain more throughout this post. Don’t forget to check out our video review at the bottom of the post.
Official Gingerbread ROM for the Dell Streak 5 released
While the Dell Streak 5 isn’t being sold anymore, Dell still managed to released an official Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread ROM. It originated for the Korean carrier Olleh, but is known to work just fine on any Dell Streak 5. Many early adopters are reporting much improved stability and performance compared to the Android 2.2 “FroYo” update. To install it, you’ll need to be using the stock recovery mode version 350, which you can then use to install the 407 update package. Afterwards, you can root it using the usual superuser.zip method. You’ll find the download links as well as more information down below.
[Review] Samsung Galaxy S II for AT&T [Video]
Android phones are popping up all the time, so if you’re in the market for a new smartphone, it can be quite hard to figure out which one to buy. Samsung’s latest Android-based phone is the Galaxy S II, which has recently made its way into the United States, while being around in countries like South Korea for most of the year. It’s a powerful, thin and light handset with a pleasant set of features.
The version that I’ll be reviewing today is specifically for AT&T, and has slightly different design changes when compared to its T-Mobile and Sprint versions. It will currently cost you $199 for an upgrade of an existing AT&T line, or with a new 2-year contract. Be sure to check out our video review, which is at the bottom of this post.
