Android Phone Geek » Tips

Waterproof Your Android Device

David Wasserman — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:49:50 +0000

Waterproof Your Android Device is a post from: Android Phone Geek

A lot of folks would love a waterproof device. You know the drill! You’re all ready to show off your new smartphone during a poker game, lay it out on the table and next thing you know your buddy knocks your drink over and it consumes your device. You promptly grab your phone and feverishly attempt to dry it off with a hair dryer or above a hot wood stove (don’t do that!) or maybe even attempt the proper method and grab some white rice and remove the battery only to have to wait 48 hours to see that you have some serious moisture damage!

Well, that’s so yesterday and now you can actually protect your beloved device from such occurrences. Zagg has a new venture with HzO, a company with waterproofing technology that protects a device on a molecular level, shielding sensitive internal components by blocking the harmful effects of moisture and liquid. This is great technology but you can’t just send your device out when you are done reading this article and get it waterproofed as they are currently searching out device manufacturers so that the technology can be incorporated in your device upon purchase. Now that doesn’t help you with your current device but that’s where another company called Liquipel can help. For about $60 you can send your device to Liquipel who will waterproof your device and ship it back within a few days. That’s awesome and all but don’t get to excited yet, due to overwhelming demand their site can not process any new orders at the current time. However, keep your eye out if this is of interest to you as I’m sure they will get it all worked out sooner rather than later.

Check out the videos below, first from HzO and then the Liquipel demo. [Liquipel | HzO]

Click here to view the embedded video.

Spice Up Your Galaxy Nexus With Boot Animations

David Wasserman — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 14:33:34 +0000

Spice Up Your Galaxy Nexus With Boot Animations is a post from: Android Phone Geek

Developers are loving the Galaxy Nexus and more and more cool stuff is being made available for the device. Here we have some spectacular boot animations that have been sized for the Galaxy Nexus’ beautiful big screen.

Below are a couple of my favorites and you can checkout RootzWiki for some other choices.

MachineAzul

Galaxus

Installation Instructions for Rooted Users:

Download zip file and place on your phone’s storage.
Reboot into ClockworkMod Recovery.
Locate the folder containing the zip file.
Install zip and then reboot. Enjoy!

Note: Non-rooted users have to use adb in order to install on their Galaxy Nexus. Enjoy!

[RootzWiki]

Root Verizon Galaxy Nexus With Root Toolkit

David Wasserman — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 22:38:59 +0000

Root Verizon Galaxy Nexus With Root Toolkit is a post from: Android Phone Geek

Developer WugFresh from GalaxyNexusForum.com has created a Root Toolkit for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. Not only will it let you let you unlock the bootloader and root your device, you can also unroot and get back to 100% stock.

All the necessary drivers and SDK files are included and are also installed with the click of a button. So, if you have been looking for a one click solution for your Verizon Galaxy Nexus you’re in luck!.

Note that this doesn’t install a recovery for you but you should be able to install one fairly easily with the bootloader unlocked.

For now, only the LTE (Verizon) version of the device is supported but a GSM version on the way. Head on over GalaxyNexusForums.com for instructions and download links.

FM Radio App For Droid Bionic

David Wasserman — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 00:20:57 +0000

FM Radio App For Droid Bionic is a post from: Android Phone Geek

For some reason, Motorola doesn’t want to include an FM Radio app on their devices, even the new Droid Bionic. No worries though, the Droid 3 version which works on almost any other Motorola phone will work with your new Droid Bionic.

In order to use the app you will need headphones, just install the .apk file like any other non-market .apk file. [XDA]

Download: MotoFMRadio.apk

How To Root Motorola Phones Running Android 2.3.4, Including Droid Bionic

David Wasserman — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:56:22 +0000

How To Root Motorola Phones Running Android 2.3.4, Including Droid Bionic is a post from: Android Phone Geek

Are you ready to root your Motorola Android device with Android 2.3.4? Maybe you just picked up the Motorola Droid Bionic and you want to root it and remove that bloatware! Thanks to Pete Souza and his one-click Motorola Root Tools you can do it. The Bionic and any other Motorola devices running Gingerbread, Android 2.3.4 such as the Droid X2 or Droid 3 can be rooted quite easily. You just need the correct USB driver and the cable that came with your phone. Pete has provided easy to follow instructions for Windows, Mac, and Linux so you’ll ready to root in no time!

WARNING – Currently you can not roll back the Bionic to the factory state. Once root is complete, it’s permanent (at least for now). Also, Motorola is will most likely patch this method shortly, so be aware in those OTA updates if you’re considering doing this. So, if you read the warning and would like to give it a go, head on over to http://www.psouza4.com/Bionic/ for instructions.

CyanogenMod 7.1 RC1 Now Available

David Wasserman — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:50:33 +0000

CyanogenMod 7.1 RC1 Now Available is a post from: Android Phone Geek

CyanogenMod 7.1 RC1 is now available for download. There are a slew of changes and bug fixes so you’ll want to grab this one when you have some time. Some of the major changes include Android 2.3.4, Bluetooth mouse support and improvements to the Profile application.

You can grab the update through ROM Manager or from the here. Also, don’t forget to get Gapps as well. [CyanogenMod]

Complete Change Log:

Common: Android 2.3.4 (Google)
Common: Bluetooth mouse support – Scott Brady
Common: Improve notification swipe-to-clear – Evan Charlton
Common: Improve album-artist support in media scanner – Paul Crovella
Common: Profile improvements and bugfixes – Martin Long
Common: RTL text improvements – Eyad Aboulouz, Eran Mizrahi
Common: Wake on volume key option – Sven Dawitz
Common: Support for revoking application permissions – Plamen K. Kosseff
Common: Latest Superuser app – ChainsDD
Common: Control brightness by sliding on statusbar – Danesh M
Common: Add “copy all” to context menu – Danesh M
Common: Lockscreen haptic and statusbar indicators toggle – Danesh M
Common: Nicer timepicker/datepicker – Jiri Tyr
Common: Configuration 0/90/180/270 rotation – Jonas Larsson, Scott Brady
Common: DSP Manager bugfixes and improvements – Antti S Lankila
Common: Support for launching apps via gestures in the background – Jiri Tyr
Common: Option to hide hold button during call – Roberto Leinardi
Common: Allow using wildcards for call blacklisting – Nihanth Subramanya
Common: Option to allow in-call lockscreen to match main lockscren – Sven Dawitz
Common: Option to notify about incoming call only in background when screen is on – Pavel Kucera
Common: ADWLauncher- Transitions, catalog improvements, bugfixes – John Van Etten
Common: Optional GMT correction for SMS/MMS timestamps – Terry Hau
Common: Add FM Seek for TI devices – KalimochoAz
Common: Add FM support for SI4708 devices (Blade, V9, Racer) – Stéphane Konstantaropoulos
Common: Add FM seek implementation to FM application – Tom Giordano
Click, Motorola: Speed up photo recording – Emilio López
Click, Motorola: Add Geolocation to photo app – KalimochoAz
Vision/Glacier/Ace/Speedy/Vivo: 2.6.35 kernel and updated userspace
Buzz: 2.6.35 kernel – Arne Coucheron

CyanogenMod 7 Running On Motorola Droid X!

David Wasserman — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 13:57:27 +0000

CyanogenMod 7 Running On Motorola Droid X! is a post from: Android Phone Geek

This has been a long time coming! Since the Motorola Droid X’s bootloader is locked down, it’s been very difficult to get custom ROMs up and running on the device. Now, developer CVPS has found a way to get CyanogenMod running on the Motorola Droid X.

This is what he had to say:

So this leaves a lot of questions! Such as what works and what doesn’t! From what I could tell by playing around with it, the following definitely work: Radio, Wifi, USB, Charging, various sensors, lights, vibration, standard bluetooth. The following MAY or MAY NOT work (unable to tell for sure yet): GPS, 3G/data, camera, camcorder, bluetooth audio. And the following definitely do NOT work yet: audio (this includes phone calls, speakers, microphone, etc).

He emphasizes that the bootloader is still indeed locked, so CyanogenMod 7 will be limited to running on the Droid X’s stock kernel. Take a look at video below and look forward to the CM7′s official debut on the Droid X when this bad boy becomes stable enough for public consumption! [RootzWiki]

Click here to view the embedded video.

Netflix App Released For Android and Ported For A Few Android Devices Not Officially Supported

David Wasserman — Fri, 13 May 2011 13:08:43 +0000

Netflix App Released For Android and Ported For A Few Android Devices Not Officially Supported is a post from: Android Phone Geek

Netflix is finally here for Android users.

It’s only available for a few phones initially:

HTC Incredible with Android 2.2+
HTC Nexus One with Android 2.2+
HTC EVO 4G with Android 2.2+
HTC G2 with Android 2.2+
Samsung Nexus S with Android 2.3+

They anticipate more support for other devices in the “coming months”.

Thanks to the fast working developers over at XDA, if you’re not on the list but have a Motorola Droid, Droid2 and Droid X the Netflix App has been ported for your device so long as you are running a leaked Gingerbread build or a custom ROM running Gingerbread.

It’s been working for most folks but not all so no guarantees but it’s worth a shot! You can head over to XDA Developers to get the download and give it a whirl!

All the listed devices can use the links below to grab your copy.

Android Market Link

HTC Thunderbolt Update Rolling Out

David Wasserman — Thu, 12 May 2011 16:15:40 +0000

HTC Thunderbolt Update Rolling Out is a post from: Android Phone Geek

The HTC Thunderbolt OTA update is now rolling out to everyone. The whole update process should take about 2 minutes to complete in which case your phone will reboot and you will be updated. Have fun!

HTC Desire HD and Incredible S Gingerbread Updates Rolling Out

David Wasserman — Wed, 04 May 2011 12:52:14 +0000

HTC Desire HD and Incredible S Gingerbread Updates Rolling Out is a post from: Android Phone Geek

Android 2.3 Gingerbread is now available via OTA update for the HTC Desire HD and Incredible S, according to a new post on HTC’s European support site. Go to Settings -> About Phone -> System Software Updates to grab this latest update to Android and HTC Sense. If you have a Desire HD, you should be updated to firmware version 2.36.405.5. On the Incredible S you’ll get version 2.12.405.7.

This update is rolling out to everyone so if it’s not on your device yet, it will be shortly. [HTC Europe via Engadget]