Nexus S 4G officially an AOSP device once again

Hooray! It looks like Google, Samsung, and Sprint were able to iron out the difficulties in redistributing the closed source radio code for the Nexus S 4G and it's now officially a part of the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) again! Says Jean-Baptiste Queru, Technical Lead, Android Open Source Project --

We've been able to resolve the issues around Nexus S 4G, and we can now properly distribute its CDMA and WiMAX binaries. That allows Nexus S 4G to work with AOSP just as well as Nexus S.

As a result, we now consider Nexus S 4G to be fully supported in AOSP,with no restrictions. Overall, Nexus S is the preferred platform for AOSP work.

I've updated the set of IMM76L binaries for Nexus S 4G to include WiMAX support. They're available at their usual location: https://developers.google.com/android/nexus/drivers

Enjoy!

JBQ

Enjoy we will. Welcome back to the family, Nexus S 4G. We've missed you. You might remember back in February, support for CDMA devices was dropped from the AOSP. Dan Morrill explained that this was because binaries for proprietary radio code was signed by a different private key, and projects built from the AOSP would use the standard platform key. This would lead to all sorts of difficulties, and official support for the devices had to be dropped. Legal issues tend to conflict with open-source more often than not. It seems that the issues have been resolved, and Google can now deliver binaries with the correct key, and the Crespo 4G is alive and kicking in AOSP.

It's worth noting that there's no mention of the Sprint Galaxy Nexus, which uses LTE for the 4G network in place of WiMax. Hopefully, those issues can be resolved as well and we're one big happy Nexus family again.

Source: Android Building Group

AT&T Samsung Infuse 4G Gingerbread update finally available again, confirmed to work this time

It's been about two months since the AT&T Samsung Infuse 4G first saw its Android 2.3 Gingerbread made available, only to be yanked back due to some bugs. On Thursday, the download was finally revived via the Samsung Kies Mini application. Yes, folks. It's finally happening. (Again.)

Here's a reminder of what you'll be getting in the Android 2.3.6 update, which takes the software version up to UCLB3: 

• Improved Copy and Paste functionality


• Redesigned Multi Touch Software Keyboard


• Download manager for long running HTTP downloads


• Improved power management and application control


• Notification Shade: “Flight Mode” added (“Silent” removed)


• New Fonts options added include Choco Cooky, Cool Jazz, Rosemary


• Keyboard Changes: Android Keyboard with Wider Spaced keys and Quick Keys at the top


• New Widgets: The name of the content provider will be listed on the widget list along with the widget name. Previously only the widget name was provided.


• New Widget: Traffic (Android) added to list of available widgets


• Menu Changes/New Apps: Downloads and Google Books added new, Promotional pre-load of Angry Birds removed.

A slightly odd development: AT&T in its forum post says that this update will hard-reset your phone -- as in wipe anything that was previously on it. But that wasn't the case with our update. Regardless, be sure to back up your contacts and e-mails and pictures and the like, just in case. Then be sure to download Kies, and get to updating. Should take about 5 minutes or so once it gets going.

Download: Kies Mini for the Infuse 4G; More: Update instructions
Via: Samsung Infuse 4G forums

Instagram updated once again, brings support to tablets and Wifi devices

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Instagram has received another update, this time opening the app to Android tablets and other Wifi devices. Not a lot has changed, as sideloading the old version on tablets or Wifi devices worked, but it's nice to see it done officially. The camera and picture import process is still broken on the Transformer Prime, but seems to work fine on both the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Galaxy Tab 7 plus. It's a bit of a bummer, but with no support yet for the HTC One X camera, we expect the Tegra 3 has something to do with it.

The cool thing about using Instagram on a tablet is viewing the images in your stream, which works very nicely. We've got the download link after the break, grab the update if you've been wanting this on on your tablet.

Thanks, ohaaron!

BlackBerry Messenger once again purportedly caught running on Android

Ever have that feeling of deja Déjà vu? It's happening right now for me with some new images having shown up of what is purported to be BlackBerry Messenger on Android. We've seen such things in the past of course and still nothing ever came out of it. True, RIM is branching off into other OSes these days having launched BlackBerry Mobile Fusion for Android and iOS. But BlackBerry Messenger on Android and iOS?

So many applications already exist for cross-platform chat. What could BlackBerry Messenger on Android even bring to the table? Even if this is some part of the BlackBerry Mobile Fusion integration happening here it just doesn't even seem to matter anymore. Not to mention the fact RIM squashed the idea a while back anyway.

Source: TechnoBuffalo

Inconsistent updates, bugs and not a word of support. Why should I buy a Nexus device again?

Time, and time, and time again, I’ve been known to sing the praises of Google’s Nexus series devices, because they are updated directly by Google. Which should mean fast, consistent updates to the latest version of software Google is working on (or at the very least, a fully functioning device). Right? As a large group of Reddit users have been discussing for the past day, wrong.

Back in October of 2011, Nexus One owners were given quite the shock when it was revealed that the first Pure Google Experience device would not be updated to Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich. Less than two years after it had been released, it was already being abandoned by Google. Consumers were being abandoned by Google.

Fast forward to now, and Nexus S owners are facing a similar problem. An update to Android 4.0 was being rolled out for the T-Mobile (i9020-T) Nexus S, until some battery life issues prompted Google to put the update on hold. That was in December of 2011. Anyone who received the update could be faced with any number of bugs. Anyone who didn’t receive the update is likely wondering what the hell is going on. Google has not issued any comments on the situation.

Despite being advertised as the phone for “Android-powered players who want the latest Google Apps and OS updates as soon as humanly possible,” Sprint’s Nexus S 4G, and AT&T’s Nexus S for that matter, have not received any information about Android 4.0 at all.

I use a T-Mobile Nexus S, and I thought I was one of the lucky ones to receive the update shortly after it was announced. I couldn’t have been more wrong. After a good couple weeks of use, my phone had reached the point of being unusable. Ice Cream Sandwich was a disaster. Nine hours of battery life on low to moderate usage, when I used to get over 24 (!!!) on Android 2.3, Gingerbread. A ton of apps didn’t work. I was constantly getting storage error messages. And probably the thing that infuriated me the most, the camera data had been corrupted. To this day, even after rooting my device and trying both MIUI and CyanogenMod 9, my camera doesn’t work. It worked fine before my phone was updated to Android 4.0.

Unfortunately, Google’s actions toward the issues and problems surrounding the update to Android 4.0 aren’t new. Many users, like our own Taylor, experienced issues with their Nexus S randomly rebooting on Android 2.3. It took nearly two months for Google to release an update that remedied the problem. Which means that for two months, a good portion of Nexus S users found their device practically unusable. And there was nothing they could do about it.

At this point, I find myself wondering, would Samsung have fixed an issue like this sooner on a TouchWiz device? Would HTC come to my rescue and fix my broken camera if my phone was running some Sense slathered version of Android? The Galaxy S II is already being updated before the Nexus S (there goes the whole ‘Nexus devices get updates before anyone else’ thing), so maybe they would have.

Instead of seeing my device updated with the latest version of Android and enjoying a bug-less build of vanilla Android the way it was meant to be, much like thousands of other Nexus S owners in the world out there, I’m left feeling abandoned and thrown away. Why should I buy another Nexus device again? There’s other ways to use a stock Android device. And besides, maybe third-party skins aren’t so bad. I’m going to have to go with Reddit on this one, “FUCK YOU GOOGLE.” I won’t be buying a Nexus device again.

Koush Does It Again: ClockworkMod Tether Alpha Circumvents Carrier Restrictions And Brings USB Tethering Without Root Access

At one point, tethering was a simple process - installing a program from the Android Market would enable the feature and you were good to go. Of course, carriers didn't like this, because instead of paying them an extra $30(ish) a month to use their hotspot service, you were gaining access to the feature for free. So they had many tethering apps pulled from the Market. Not only that, but many carriers put a block directly on devices that disallowed the use of common tethering apps.

Now, you can find "tethering" gracing many of the reasons to root your Android device articles across the net. But what about users who only want to tether and aren't confortable with rooting (or otherwise have no desire to gain root access)? Enter a new app from Koush, the mind behind some of the most important apps on Android, like ClockworkMod Recovery and ROM Manager. This new app, called ClockworkMod Tether, will allow users to bypass carrier tethering restrictions without root access.

 

This is a USB tethering solution and also requires a virtual network adapter to be installed on any computer (it's Mac, Windows, and Linux compatible) in which tethering will be used (also provided by Koush). At the current time, ClockworkMod Tether is still in its alpha stages, and as a result, Koush is asking for user feedback on the apps ease of setup and use, as well as how well it functioned during use.

If you're ready to give it a shot, head over to this Google+ posting to grab the download and give it a shot!

[Images via Addictive Tips]

View the original article here