The Samsung Galaxy S Pro is Real and It’s Sporting 4G

For a while it seemed like every newly announced handset was receiving a rumored “Pro” model featuring a hardware QWERTY keyboard, and one of the more anticipated was the Samsung Galaxy S Pro. As the standard Galaxy S has been making its rounds drawing closer to a release, news of the Pro version subsided and many thought it might never happen. Well, folks, the Galaxy S Pro is coming, and since I know you’d never believe me without proof, I offer you this image uncovered by Android Community:

And if the sight of that photo doesn’t excite you with the potential of a dead bigfoot in a freezer, you might be eager to learn that the Galaxy S Pro will be getting the 4G treatment and most likely end up as a Sprint exclusive. Whether it eventually sees as many carriers as the standard Galaxy S is not known.

Here’s the Meizu M9, thanks Jack Wong

Some CEO’s are very naughty, Jack Wong, CEO of Meizu is one of them. 25 days ago, we told you guys that Meizu is going to launch an Android device, known as Meizu M9. Before any phone comes to the market, we saw leaked photos, like we saw the Incredible or EVO 4G, and most of the time an employee working in the company shares the photos of the phone with us. This time the CEO of the company did it, he posted the screenshots of the Meizu M9 on M8 Forums, and after a while he came back, deleted all the pics and close the thread saying ” Sorry, my fault. i am just too excited and wanna share with you guys”. Well, we will say thanks instead of sorry. The Meizu M9 is looking promising. As we heard last time that Meizu will launch this phone in August for around $350. Have a look at another pic after the break.

You can read more over here.

So folks, Do you like it or not?

Source: Engadget

Motorola Shadow with new benchmarks, not running Froyo, battery spotted

The Motorola Shadow is one of the hottest topic these days. A few days ago, we saw the benchmarks of the Motorola Shadow, and we saw that the device beats the Samsung Galaxy S. Well, first we thought the Shadow is running the Android 2.2. But now, we got some words from the people who are using the Shadow over at Howard forums. You want to know what they were talking about? then please have a look on the conversation:

• bill23: “My Droid 1 scores 834 with stock froyo.on the quadrant app.my shadow scored better than some of the other scores i have seen..very impressive …”

• sjavvaji: “lol “my shadow”…plz tell us if it is on froyo…if its not matching nexus on 2.2 is amazing…if it is its still friggin’ amazing…this wait is killing me”

• bill23: “Its not on froyo”

It sounds like the Shadow is not running Android 2.2 (Froyo), it’s running Android 2.1 (Eclair). Also a guy name wnrussel said

“I move silent like a “Ninja” and strike in a” Blur” of speed. Ninja Blur is Blur running without the user knowing. For those who don’t like Blur”

Does this means the new version of the Motoblur will be the Ninja Blur? Well, I think the name will be Motoblur, from Ninja he meant that it’s fast like a Ninja. Wnrussel also posted a photo of the Motorola Shadow battery (you can see the image in the end of the post). It’s a 1500 mAH battery, that proves the Shadow will have a 45nm processor, and also a good size battery.

I can imagine when the Shadow runs on Android 2.2, it will take over the Nexus One for sure.

Via Android Community

Sweeterhome 2 for Android is…sweeter, much sweeter.

Android homescreen replacements are increasingly blurring the lines of distinction. To some extent, there is some stand out traits between them, but overall, they all do the same basic thing. Sweeterhome was “just another homescreen” option, that like the rest, seemed to blend in. Though to be truthful, I played around with the preview 1 version every now and then and came away each time yearning for more and unimpressed.

However, the actual beta is very different. After spending a good 30 minutes with it, I can say that the long development time between preview 1 and the beta was well worth it. Not only does it look leaps and bounds more refined, the performance and bugginess is much improved. I think I can finally say that I finally found a homescreen replacement worth using 24/7, day in-day out.

I guess you’d all like to hear some of the new stuff that comes along in the beta, right?

• Server based, integrated theme sharing

• Support for Android widgets

• “Tag Trays” — think folders/organization for apps

• Editing improvements

• Numerous bug fixes and performance tweaks

If you want in on the hot action, there’s good news. The beta will be open to the public! But before a full on public beta release, a few last minute tweaks are being made. But if you just can’t hold off any longer, you can get in on a pre-beta of sorts at the links below.

**Make sure “Enable non-market app installs” is checked in the settings menu AND download these using your phone’s browser.

• Android 1.5: Download

• Android 1.6: Download

• Android 2.0+: Download

Stay tuned! I’ll keep playing with the pre-beta and update you guys once the official beta hits the Market. Give it a shot and let us know how it goes.

Android 2.2 “Froyo” is Almost Here, and it’s Going to be FAST

Our good friends over at AndroidPolice have their hands “all up in the ‘Froyo’”, snagging a tasty build of Android 2.2 for their Nexus one. Of all of the rumored features of the upcoming Android 2.2 release (Adobe Flash, Apps2SD, 3D improvements etc.), the “Fuzz” is calling out Froyo as an absolute speed demon based on test results performed on their frozen Nexus treat with benchmarking tool Linpack.

Linpack is heavily-used testing suite to benchmark the performance of super computers, personal computers, and is now one of the gold-standard apps for benchmarking your Android phone. Users upload their results to the online database to compare and keep score. We’ll save you the myriad of calculations and formulas (math geeks can find those here), and get straight to the juice.

Linpack scores are measured in MFLOPS (Millions of FLoating-point Operations Per Second), and to give you some baseline comparison numbers:

The Nexus One running Android 2.1 gets about 6.5-7 MFLOPS.

The Fuzz ran a test on their HTC Hero, and found it achieved a score of about 2 MFLOPS

Then they ran a Linpack benchmark on the Nexus One running Android 2.2, and achieved a staggering 37.593 MFLOPS!

That’s an insane jump in performance, and can largely be attributed to the new JIT compiler that will come in Android 2.2. The JIT (Just in Time) compiler will now be a part of the Davlik VM, the virtual machine in Android that executes code and turns Java code into all of those pretty apps you’ve come to love. In short, it’s the heart of Android and without it, we’d be app-less. The new JIT compiler has been in testing by for quite some time, and the performance boost has been said to be 2x-3x fold in some cases.

And if that wasn’t enough, the Nexus One running Froyo is now easily at the top of Linpack scores for Android devices:



Notice the hits of “FROYO” in the “Notes” section on the right? The only recorded tests faster are those running Android inside virtual machines on a PC, and on a Asus EEE netbook. I see you though Moto DROID.

OK OK, enough technical jargon, you really just want to know what all of this means to you, the user, right? Well, it means that Android performance is about to hit a whole new level, specifically on the application side of things. Yes the operating system itself should be faster (which, if you have a newer Android phone seems crazy in and of itself), but more importantly it means that applications will be faster, a lot faster. Using the new JIT compiler will enable Android to execute an application’s code that much quicker, which translates to the app performing that much faster in user-land. Resource-intensive apps and games will greatly benefit from the new compiler, and it will allow developers to really push the boundaries; to create games and applications that perform to the likes of which we’ve never seen. And who like the sound of that? I thought so.

With full Flash 10.1 support, Apps2SD, improved 3D capabilities, SPEED, fixing the Nexus One’s touchscreen issues, a new Linux kernel that will address all of the memory in newer devices (N1, Incredible), and maybe most importantly, solving the fragmentation problem, Android 2.2 is shaping up to be a HUGE update. When Google announces it at Google I/O next week it’s going to make headlines everywhere, and we’ll be here bringing you the news in all it’s frozen yogurty-goodness.

Read: Android Police

Google Searching for New Gaming Staff

If one thing is very clear, Google has been taking gaming quite seriously as of late. Last month they brought ex-SCEA manager of developer relations Mark DeLoura (pictured) on board as their Developer Advocate for Gaming, they recently acquired LabPixies to help boost development of games and apps for Google’s various platforms, and have put an emphasis on game development with events at Google I/O. Now they are searching for the next piece of the puzzle, a Product Management Leader for Games.

Think you have what it takes? The job is currently waiting to be filled, and the duties include both aiding in-house development as well as extending the reach of Google to third-part developers.

We all know gaming hasn’t exactly been a strong point for Android, but with the speed and efficiency of Froyo and some powerful handsets coming to market, hardware and software should no longer be an issue. Google looks to be getting their act together when it comes to the development side, so hopefully it won’t be long until we are enjoying some truly great Android games.

[Google Job Post, TechCrunch via Android and Me]

Next Moto Android for Verizon to be the Xtreme?

Engadget Mobile is reporting on a tip they have received that Verizon will begin testing out their latest Android device from Motorola next week. The phone is supposedly going to be called the “Xtreme,” and signs are pointing towards it being on the higher end of the device spectrum. Could the earlier report on the Wi-Fi certification of the Motorola A955 in fact be for this phone rather than the Droid 2?

From some information we have received there should be a few new higher-end Moto devices coming out on Verizon this year, with the Droid 2 being the lowest-specced with what has until now been known as the Shadow being a step above that. Another device should be coming even later in the year, the Motorola MT920/MB920. Our info does list a few new names, but none match up with the Motorola Xtreme. It could just be that the Xtreme is the new branding for the Shadow or another of the devices.

Expect more info on upcoming Motorola handsets to start surfacing as the buzz for HTC’s big summer phones dies down, but there are some definite signs that at least a few new handsets will be coming our way.

[via Engadget Mobile]