Sprint get's 4.3..... Verizon still nothing!

News on the internets today includes the notice from Sprint that their Galaxy Nexus Variant will be getting 4.3 in the next few days. While, its not the 4.4 Kit Kat release that we are all waiting to hear about later today, its still better than the NOTHING that Verizon has released or even talked about.

Still left waiting....


DnT
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Did Verizon's internal clock reset?

So, I've been waiting for 4.3 to roll out for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus.... but not a peep has been heard. No leaks, no test groups, nothing. Which makes me wonder, did the JWR66Y update that rolled out on August 21, 2013 for the GSM Galaxy Nexus restart Verizon's internal "testing" procedures? According to Verizon's response to complaints about customers being unable to activate Nexus 7's with LTE, their testing process takes between 4-6 weeks to complete and certify a device for their network. I'm starting to think that Verizon probably has similar testing for updates and were mid-test when the bug fixes rolled out... and that sent them back to the beginning. If that is the case, and the clock re-started on 8/21, I should re-calibrate my predictions right? Though, Verizon's updates never seem to fall in that 4-6 week window.

So... if Verizon matches their speed with the 4.2.2 update of 19 days to a soak test and 36 days to release, that would've put us at September 9th for the soak test. So, let's assume Verizon goes back to their 50 days to soak test schedule from the 4.1 update. That puts the soak test at around October 10th.  Only time will tell.

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DnT

Start the clock...

Today Google officially announced Android 4.3. They stated that the Galaxy Nexus (along with the Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10) would be getting that update, with updates beginning to get pushed out today. So let the "Verizon delay clock" begin....

Here's the Galaxy Nexus update history for comparison.  The 4.2.2 update came fairly quickly in only 36 days (by Verizon standards).  Based on that timeline, I'm hoping for an August 12th "soak test" followed shortly thereafter by a leaked version...and then an official OTA around August 29th.  Only time will tell.




4.0.4: ICS update
------------------------
4.0.4 was pushed by google (GSM) around March 30th.
4.0.4 was soak tested by Verizon on May 1st.
4.0.4 was pushed by Verizon around May 31-June 1

So, right on 60 days to 4.0.4


4.1: Jellybean
------------------------
Google began updating their GSM Nexus to Jelly Bean (4.1) on July 10th.
Verizon's soak test started on August 29, 2012.
An early leak was posted online in the first week of September. (I installed on 9/5)
The full update was rolled out 9/21

So about 73 days to Jelly Bean 4.1.


4.2: JB update
------------------------
The 4.2 update began rolling out on November 13, 2012 to the Domestic GSM variant "takju". 
4.2.1 was pushed out with a bug fix on November 27, 2012.
The Sprint CDMA variant started updating on January 30th, 2013
Verizon NEVER saw 4.2 or 4.2.1


4.2.2: JB update
------------------------
4.2.2 was released on February 11, 2012
4.2.2 hits Verizon testers on March 2, 2013 (only 19 days! That has to be a record)
On March 4, 2013 a leaked version was posted online. (I installed it on 3/5)
4.2.2 begins hitting Verizon Galaxy Nexus phones OTA on March 19th, 2013 (36 days - a Verizon record I'm sure!)

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DnT

Apple Plays Catch-up (Part II)

Just finished catching up on Apple's WWDC this afternoon. Just a few comments on the new iOS 7. Apple finally seems to have caught up to the other mobile OS platforms out there in a few regards:

1. True multi-tasking - in theory, we'll see how real it is. Everyone else has been doing it, now Apple's in the club. Welcome aboard.

2. Control center - I know this has been a much talked about feature on a lot of tech blogs, and Apple finally gave iOS users easy access to their settings. Welcome, again.

3. Fragmentation - yeah, they are catching up here too.  Tim Cook took some shots at Android fragmentation early on with comments like...

"93 percent of iOS users are on iOS 6. "That's in stark contrast to the world of Android." 

and

"More than a third of Android users are using an operating system that was released in 2010"

Well. Then he went on later to note that iOS 7 will only be supported on iPhone 4S and up, and iPad 2 and up.  I guess this fall Apple will have to stop talking about fragmentation.

I didn't really see anything else that struck me as new or interesting. Seemed that AirDrop was the big thing for them aside from the redesign of icons and apps. I'm not even sure what it is, some kind of file sharing feature. As expected Apple finally did away with the skeumorphism that everyone on iOS seemed hung up on. 


-DnT
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Only 4 months to catch up...

OK, so to be fair, Verizon caught up and jumped back to the front line where we should be. However, that doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside about Verizon's ridiculous update delays. Verizon's Galaxy Nexus never saw the 4.2 update that its GSM cousins received back in November/December and chugged along on 4.1 for almost 4 months. 4.2.2 rolled out on February 11th putting us even further behind (3 updates, though 4.2.1 was just a bug fix). I was shocked to see the 4.2.2 "soak test" start to roll out after only 19 days, and I had the leak installed on March 5th. One can only hope the general roll out isn't too far behind.

If you are running stock 4.1.1 build JRO030 you can update to 4.2.2 now using either clockworkrecovery (if you are rooted) or using ADB (if you are unrooted). Directions can be found on Droid-Life and the update can be downloaded HERE. Note that this is an UPDATE not a full 4.2.2 build so you have to be running stock 4.1.1 to install it.


Based on the ICS and JB leak timelines, barring any issues with 4.2.2 I would expect the general rollout to commence somewhere between March 25th and April 1st. 


-DnT
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Just for future reference, I often find myself revisiting this timeline to try to figure out when Verizon's update for my Galaxy Nexus will occur.

4.0.4: ICS update
------------------------
4.0.4 was pushed by google (GSM) around March 30th.
4.0.4 was soak tested by Verizon on May 1st.
4.0.4 was pushed by Verizon around May 31-June 1

So, right on 60 days to 4.0.4


4.1: Jellybean
------------------------
Google began updating their GSM Nexus to Jelly Bean (4.1) on July 10th.
Verizon's soak test started on August 29, 2012.
An early leak was posted online in the first week of September. (I installed on 9/5)
The full update was rolled out 9/21

So about 73 days to Jelly Bean 4.1.


4.2: JB update
------------------------
The 4.2 update began rolling out on November 13, 2012 to the Domestic GSM variant "takju". 
4.2.1 was pushed out with a bug fix on November 27, 2012.
The Sprint CDMA variant started updating on January 30th, 2013
Verizon NEVER saw 4.2 or 4.2.1


4.2.2: JB update
------------------------
4.2.2 was released on February 11, 2012
4.2.2 hits Verizon testers on March 2, 2013 (only 19 days! That has to be a record)
On March 4, 2013 a leaked version was posted online. (I installed it on 3/5)
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Happy Anniversary Samsung Galaxy Nexus!

Saturday was the 1 yr anniversary of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Verizon's first (and hopefully not last) Nexus phone. 

In other news, its been a year (yeah, I picked mine up on the 16th) with my Galaxy Nexus and I don't regret it at all.  Sure I have some complaints, but it is by far the best phone I've ever had and will be with me for at least another year!

My complaints....
1. Battery life requires a lot of tweaking. but I'm OK with that. I just wish that Google did a better job out of the box maximizing battery life. In particular, I wish that maps/location would stop hogging so much CPU time and battery life.

2. Its a little slippery on the sides, I wish it had a little texture there.

3. I wish Verizon would speed up their update release schedule.

-DNT
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ACT NOW: DON'T LET COPYRIGHT HOLDERS STEAL OUR PROPERTY RIGHTS!

Visit www.youvebeenowned.org

[I'm sure DemandProgress.org won't complain about me cutting and pasting their content - I don't think they'll file a copyright claim on this! Please pay attention as Hollywood, The RIAA, Publishing companies, and manufacturers push to strip us of our right to sell what is ours.]

Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether you have the right to sell your stuff on eBay. Do you really own the smartphone or computer you’re using to read this? If you sold your books, would you be breaking the law? A federal court in New York says you would be, even if you legally paid for and bought them.

It's unbelievable, but trademark and copyright holders are trying to use a legal loophole to take away your right to sell things that you own. The mainstream media is starting to catch on, with the Wall Street Journal just running an article headlined, "YOUR RIGHT TO RESELL YOUR OWN STUFF IS IN PERIL". Please add your name at right to fight back.

Public interest advocates are taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court, and Demand Progress is joining up with a coalition of groups -- including many of those that came together to kill SOPA -- to support the rights of ordinary Internet users and everyday consumers.

Once again, big entertainment company lobbyists are fighting us in the courts to ensure their profits are given higher priority than consumer rights. But this time the MPAA and RIAA have the Obama administration on their side --they've all filed legal briefs asking the Supreme Court to restrict our right to resell the things we own..

We only have a few weeks to make our voices heard before the Supreme Court makes a lasting ruling. We are working to defend a long-standing principle known as the "First-Sale Doctrine." This common-sense rule gives us the right to sell most property we own, but big businesses have been trying to chip away at out our rights in the courts. If the Supreme Court supports the lower court’s decision, we won't really “own” anything if any part of it was made in a different country. And practically anything you own -- from your iPod to your house -- could have been made abroad, in whole or in part.

If we lose this fight, practically anybody who wants to resell products they bought -- from Macbooks and iPhones to our clothing and textbooks -- will have to ask copyright holders for permission first. And they'll have the right to deny it!

It's bad for so many reasons: It'll undermine Craigslist and Ebay, hurt the environment, increase incentives for manufacturers to move jobs off-shore, and effectively ban the traditional American yard sale. For more info, please check out Marvin Ammori's article about the lawsuit.

Jelly Bean for Verizon (UPDATE!)

While the official Jelly Bean update for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus is still MIA, there is a leaked version (JRO03O) that has been making the rounds on the internet. 

(UPDATED 9/21) The official Verizon update has arrived! Users are reporting the update is now available via Wi-Fi ONLY for the Verizon Galaxy Nexus. Get on Wi-Fi and hit that 'Check For Update' button now! 

I installed the leak on my rooted GN on September 5th and have been running it since. I thought I'd share my impressions here for those who may have grown impatient.

Jelly Bean definitely shows marked improvement in the responsiveness of the phone in terms of swiping, scrolling, and opening apps. Google Now offers some really intriguing features, but at this point for me they offered little value. The updates on sports scores were nice (at least once Google got NFL scores going for week 2!). I imagine people who do a lot of travelling would love the flight updates and travel features, but as I rarely move about the country (and even less about the world), they were of little use to me. Same goes for traffic updates - I work from home so traffic notifications offer me no help. I tried to  activate "places" to get updates on nearby events or businesses but I never had a card show up. Its possible I just hadn't given Now a chance to learn about me before disabling it.  The real issue for me, though, was the seemingly large increase in battery usage attributed to map/location-related programs. Under Better Battery Stats, there were no fewer than 5 different processes responsible for 'waking up' the processor on my phone, some with significant usage. Location services have always seemed to use an excessive amount of background processor time which always bugged me, but the increase I saw with Google Now active was just too much.

(Update: I'm giving Google Now another shot but with limited location features to see if it works any better)

The most obvious other change I saw in Jelly Bean was the device settings page. Instead of the previous "accounts & sync" line, Android 4.1 brings all your accounts to the main list for easier access and modification. I really don't find this to be a valuable addition as I rarely ever find myself adjusting things like app syncing. I usually keep all but the minimum necessities OFF. I feel that this change didn't add anything and just cluttered up the main settings screen and forced me to scroll more to get down to things like 'developer options' and 'about phone'.

The most useful change in Jelly Bean is the notification bar. Aside from the font style and color change, the notifications are far more useful. Instead of a very limited listing of your notifications, Jelly Bean provides you with a very detailed list of what's waiting for you including the content of SMS messages and an extended amount of info from received gmails, not to mention the ability to call contacts directly from missed call notifications.  It really makes the notification bar so much more useful.

As far as functionality goes, the radios did not appear to offer me any improvements over the prior versions, but then again, I never had major problems despite being in a borderline 3G/4G area.

[Note: If you were rooted on ICS and flashed the Jellybean update, you probably lost root and don't even know it. To regain root, copy this updated SU zip file to your sdcard and then install the zip through cockwork recovery.]

-DnT

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Apple plays catch up...

Or.... "The all-new iPhone 5"
Or.... "The new iPhone XLT"
Or.... "The innovative new device everyone else was already making...."

OK, so maybe I kid, a little.

But honestly, let's look at what's "new" here.

4" screen - Done 2 years ago, and a new 4"+ phone is released almost every day it seems.
Also, didn't Steve Jobs once say “3.5 inch handset size is the “sweet spot” for mobile phone design; big enough to produce detailed, legible graphics, but small enough to fit comfortably in the hand and pocket.”  I guess things change.  Maybe people evolved bigger hands in the last 2 years. To be fair, different screen sizes work for different people, which is what makes Android and all of its choices so great in my opinion. To each his own, size.

16:9(ish) - Again, Steve Jobs didn't like 16:9. Thought it was only good for movies. Times change I guess. I am a little surprised that their solution to resolution change on older apps is to letterbox. I guess they'll be pushing devs to update to the 16:9 ratio so they don't want to make it too complicated in the meantime.

UPDATE: Something else that's been bugging me about the iPhone is the display. While Apple unquestionably produces a phone with a great display, it still surprises me that they stick with a 640 horizontal line display. With almost all of today's manufacturers producing a 720 line display I find in interesting that they are sticking with 640. Obviously the benefit is transitioning apps to the new longer display more easily, but it just seems like having 720 lines gives you 'more' when it comes to video. Most HD video is 1080p or 720p, so scaling down to 640p implies a loss of some lines of resolution.

Headphone port on the bottom - Not sure that the Galaxy Nexus was the first, but it sure had that last year when it came out. It makes sense too. I'm pretty sure everyone puts their phone in their pocket upside down right?  Only fitting to put the port on the bottom so you can be plugged in while its in your pocket without switching things around.

Panorama photograph mode - Had that on my Galaxy Nexus last year. Check


LTE - Done early 2011.  In Apple's defense, there was no rush to be early to the party... as other than Verizon almost no one has a substantial LTE network in place anyway. No penalty for the late arrival.

Sharing tabs between mobile and desktop - Chrome Browser / Android Browser. Check.

SMS response when declining calls - Android. Check.


I'll give Apple some points for making it lighter, that's for sure. In terms of making it thinner, well its 18% thinner but its 18% longer, so no points there.




Also, while I completely understand them going with a new connector, the adapter they are showing just looks absolutely redonkulous.

UPDATE: The adapter is $30!  Ouch. That's a lot of extra cash coming Apple's way for everyone with an existing dock....






All in all, Apple is finally updating the iPhone to what consumers have been demanding for more than a year now. A 4" (or more) 16:9 screen and, for some, LTE. A lot of the 'new' features won't seem all that new to Android users, but with Apple's focus on litigating, it must leave little time for innovating!  Obviously, no one has touched one of the new iPhone 5's yet, so no one can comment on the performance of the processor, camera, or any of the other software features. They might turn out to be incredible, even if many of the other features are today's standards.


-DnT
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Where are those Jelly Beans?

As most Android addicts on Verizon Wireless know, Verizon is a bit slow to push updates. We suffer through it because they have the best speed and best coverage... and best customer service.

Anyway, as many people are aware, Google released their most recent version of the Android OS 4.1 codenamed "Jelly Bean" back in early July. Owners of the direct-from-google GSM variant of the Galaxy Nexus were treated to that update starting on July 10th.

So what does that mean for those of us on Verizon Wireless?  Let's see what happened with the 4.0.4 update to Ice Cream Sandwich.....

4.0.4 was pushed to Google's GSM variant around March 30th.
4.0.4 was soak tested by Verizon on May 1st (Which I immediately flashed to my phone!)
4.0.4 was finally pushed by Verizon around May 31-June 1

So, right on 60 days basically.

Google began updating their GSM Nexus to Jelly Bean on July 10th.
Based on the ICS timetable, I'd expect a Verizon soak test in Mid August.... which is now-ish.... followed by a full push in early September.

I guess we can only wait and see....



-DnT

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Black Wallpapers - for the extreme power saver!

So, with an AMOLED screen, colors are generated by illuminating individual LED's. Black is 'created' by NOT illuminating LEDs. Needless to say, dark screen = less power (unfortunately black is not zero, but its as close as we can get). As a result, some of the more serious battery power conservationists out there run black or very dark wallpapers to minimize power usage.  I just thought I'd share a handful of my favorites. I didn't make them, I just like them!

All Black - The name says it all.

 Blocks - What would you call it?

 Black Steel

Carbon Fiber

Carbon Fiber 2

Verizon finally rolling out 4.0.4 to the masses...

It only took them a month or 2.... but Verizon finally started pushing the 4.0.4 update to its Galaxy Nexus users yesterday. The rollout seems to be going gradually, with some reports that Verizon plans to spread it out over 10 days.... which seems ridiculous yet on par with how they've handled everything about this phone.

That said, if you can't wait, there's always rooting and flashing the update yourself. I've been enjoying it for a month now.

Good Luck!


DnT

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No update for the masses?

Still no Android 4.0.4 update for the masses. I am really surprised at this point that Verizon hasn't pushed out the latest 4.0.4 update yet. Its been a month and a half since Google released the code and GSM variants got the update. I was surprised how long it took for us to even see the Verizon soak test leak out. But now its been nearly 3 weeks and nothing from Verizon.

I'm starting to wonder if they weren't satisfied with their test and are awaiting some additional changes. Even if that were the case, I'm surprised they haven't released this version as an "update" and then push out fixes when they become available. There are a lot of reports online varying from no improvements to huge improvements in performance, but none regarding negative impacts. I've been running the test version now since the day it was released and haven't seen any issues that would make me think it should be held.

So what's the deal Verizon?  Are we going to see 4.0.4 released or is someone out there tinkering with the radios for you?



-DnT

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"Swiping" apps out of the recent apps menu

I read about a lot of people who think they are making their phones run better by 'swiping' things out of their recent apps menu (the two little rectangles at the bottom right of your phone). The reality of Android is that this is at best a waste of time, and at worse, making your phone operate slower. This is not like a desktop running Windows where these other apps are running in another window. Most apps are actually in a 'standby' state when they are in the background - except if you have music or Navigation or something that is actually open and running - but that's not really what we are talking about here.

As for swiping items from "recent apps" to free up memory, there really is no point in doing that. Most of your recent apps aren't actually running. If an app is actually running in the background (like streaming Sirius), swiping it out of the recent apps doesn't actually do ANYTHING. If you go into settings > apps > running, you will see that most of the things in your recent history aren't actually running. The OS puts them in a 'suspended state' that isn't really doing anything. If you click on "cached processes" at the bottom, you will likely see many of your recent apps there. Swiping these apps from the "recent apps" tray basically is just erasing this cache and doesn't really serve any purpose. By swiping these apps out of your recent history and clearing the cache, all you are doing is 'freeing up' memory that you don't actually need. If the phone is running low on memory the OS handles this on its own by prioritizing what it keeps running or cached in the background and will close apps completely if it needs the memory. In reality, by clearing these items from the cache, all you are doing is ensuring that the next time you open that app it will take much longer to load as its doing so from scratch instead of resuming from the cached state.

I don't want to get into the discussion of task killers as they are really unnecessary, especially on devices running ICS, for the same reason. The OS does a great job at managing apps and memory. It doesn't need your help. Now, you could manually close running processes if you really felt it was necessary, however that is really not recommended unless you feel like the app has gone rogue and won't shut itself down or something.


-DnT

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How much screen on time can I get? A test.

Doing nothing else. Just a static Google browser screen.

At 70% screen brightness
15 minutes equals a ~7% drop = ~28%/hr or less than 4hrs of screen time available.

At 30% screen brightness
15 minutes equals a ~5% drop = ~20%/hr or approx. 5hrs of screen time available.

At 10% screen brightness
15 minutes equals a ~4% drop = ~16%/hr or just over 6hrs of screen time available



Obviously all these numbers are relative to my other usage and are really just estimates as battery meters are far from precise (your phone is really guessing). Plus, they don't do decimals so I don't know if the drop was from 31.9% to 25.0% or 31.0% to 25.9% - hence my approximations.

But its still good to know and helps answer the questions "What's killing my battery?" and "Is this normal?"



-DnT

Must Have Apps for your Galaxy Nexus

I don't play many games so don't expect to find any listed here! These are in no particular order other than the order I notice them on my phone...which is basically alphabetical.

Apps:
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1. 4G Toggle (Free) - OK its not really an app, its more like a widget, but its really just a shortcut. And it doesn't even do what we all wish it would.... but if you are the owner of an LTE Galaxy Nexus and live or travel in iffy 4G areas. You need this widget. Its really just a shortcut to the screen that lets you switch between CDMA and LTE modes.... but it saves you about 3 steps going through the menus.

2. AirDroid (Free) - Forget the USB cable. Airdroid makes transferring files over wifi the way to go. Its not drag and drop but its easy enough to use and it works.

3. Better Battery Stats ($2.89) - If you are like MANY Galaxy Nexus users and find yourself running short on battery life, this app is a valuable tool for finding out why. I wrote an earlier post about the app and how to use it so I won't go into more detail here. I believe BBS is also available free for XDA members.

4. ES File Explorer (Free) - It is what it is. A file manager. It is simple, works well, works with Root, and its free. What more do you want?

5. Light Flow ($1.99) / Light Flow Lite (Free) - Take advantage of the multicolor LED notification light by assigning different colors for all your app notifications. The free version supports most basic stock notifications but if you want to set notifications for 3rd party apps like Facebook, Twitter, Skype, etc. you'll need to shell out for the full version.

6. Nova Launcher (Free) - Just like the stock launcher/homescreen, only way better. Fast, stable, and lots of options missing from stock. Some of the best features are 360 degree screen rotation, fully customize-able dock and dock icons, adjustable # of homescreens, ability to change animation when flipping between homescreens. There is Nova Launcher Prime ($4.00) which adds some more features like gestures and the ability to hide icons in the app drawer - which is nice if you have icon packs and other things that you don't ever want visible in your app drawer. The base version is good enough for me. I'd love to hide icons but not for $4.

7. Titanium Backup (Free) / Titanium Backup Pro ($6.58) - If you root and rom your device you cannot live without this app in my opinion. Titanium is the go-to app for backing up and restoring all your apps and data for users who wipe their device and install new roms. $6+ seems pricey for the pro version, but its worth it after the first time you try to manually re-install your apps one by one! The pro version allows you to install your apps/data all at once instead of going through one by one and hitting "ok".

8. TripIt (Free) - Trip it is a great app / site for keeping track of your travel plans. Its really useful for even the occasional traveler. You basically forward your confirmation emails from airlines, hotels, cruises, car rentals, etc. to Trip It, and automagically, the information appears in your account. Its visibile via the web or in app and is really nice to have every piece of information readily available in one place....from the price of your airline ticket to the phone number of the hotel you are staying at, to the departure time of your return flight. Its all there and easy to use. There is a "pro" service offered by TripIt that runs $49/yr and adds instant flight updates, tracks travel rewards, helps find alternate flights, and more. I don't travel much so the free service is plenty for me.

9. Volume+ ($1.99) - Speaker on your phone too quiet? Fix it with Volume+. This enables you to boost the volumes on just about all the audio outputs from speaker to headset. I think you can download it free from the developer's website too.

10. Wifi Tether (Free) - Need to tether that Touchpad you got in the firesale? Well, Wifi Tether is what I've been using since the days of my "OG Droid". I rarely am away from Wifi so I rarely need to tether, but its a great option to have. Requires Root - available on XDA Forums.

Widgets:
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1. Beautiful Widgets ($2.79) - its one of the few apps I paid for but it is worth it. So many widgets, clocks, weather, and totally customize-able with downloaded skins. You can even make your own skin.

2. CalWidget (Free) - I like the stock calendar widget but it still doesn't display all day events.... which makes it worthless. There are lots of 3rd party calendar widgets, but I just like the options CalWidget has to offer....from widget size to background color and opacity, it just does what I want.

3. Circle Battery Widget (Free) - A minimalist, but customize-able battery meter. Change the color and size to match any theme.

4. Widgetsoid (Free) - Like the stock power control widget? Then you'll love Widgetsoid. There's almost nothing you can't control with these fully customize-able controls. From Wifi Toggle to CPU meter, to flashlight, to airplane mode. You can create a stock looking row off toggles and readouts. The options and colors are fully user configureable to fit with any theme.

That's it for apps and widgets. Hope you enjoyed my list.


- DnT

4.0.4 where are you?

So, two days ago Google started rolling out some updated Ice Cream Sandwiches. Namely for the GSM Galaxy Nexus and the Nexus S. So where's the love for the LTE Galaxy Nexus?

Well, according to Google, the reason is that they no longer consider ANY CDMA devices to qualify as "developer phones". Now, lots of people read this as "Google no longer supports this device" but that is simply untrue. They are still developing and building the Roms for these devices, the difference is that they cannot push it directly to the phone, nor release it for users to install. The reason, according to Google, is that the technology behind CDMA devices (used by Sprint and VZW) require the carriers to "sign a key" that enables telephony functions. Because Google cannot DIRECTLY update these devices, they no longer consider them "supported developer devices". But rest assured, they should still receive timely updates like their GSM cousins. "Should" being the key word as we all have grown to distrust carriers, especially when it comes to timely updates. Nevertheless, its only been about 48 hours since the 4.0.4 Rom was released so I'm willing to be patient. If VZW hasn't pushed out the update by next Friday, I'll start steaming....if its not out by the following Friday I'll be leading the angry mob!

Relevant links:
Phandroid - CMDA Nexus support

Android Dev Dan Morril's explanation

- DnT

CM9 Update for HP Touchpad

Just a quick update on ICS for the touchpad. The Cyanogen team has started releasing nightly updates again. I recently installed the 3/29/2012 update. No problems. Runs smooth. Using the 4.0.4 build of ICS.

CM9 Official Nightlies

The only bugs I see in CM9 are the browsers (both stock and Chrome Beta) crashing/closing occasionally. Not sure what causes it but I am guessing its some sort of unsupported plugin. These crashes have happened on CM9 alpha 2, the 3/17 and 3/29 nightlies so its not something new I am seeing.


- DnT

My new best day(s) ever.

So, when I say that WiFi is the be all end all of power conservation, here's what I mean. This is my battery usage after 15 hours on WiFi only with an hour of screen time and a couple of minutes of voice calls.

But that was just half the story.... or more accurately, 1/3 of the story. In the end, my battery lasted until Monday morning. That's a full 48hrs. Of that, 41hrs was spent on WiFi and about 7hrs was spent on 3G. Granted, it was only 1:45 of Screen time and 7 minutes of talk time, but it says a lot about WiFi and the battery's "standby capacity'.

- DnT

If you have an HP Touchpad, you NEED to install CM9

Last fall I managed to score a few HP Touchpads during the great firesale. I sold a few and kept one for myself.... a 32GB model. Now, I bought it hoping that eventually Android would get ported over, but knowing that for $150 WebOS would be good enough for my needs. Primarily, this was going to be a couch surfing device and a media player for the kids when we travel, and WebOS can handle that just fine.... it even has plenty of games for the kids to mess with - though the market is sadly limited. That said, I was always hoping for the Android port.

Well, its here. Actually, its been here for a while, but I haven't wanted to mess with it until now. Recently the CyanogenMod team released their 'Alpha' build of CM9 (Cyanogen's custom ICS ROM). There are bugs, and not everything works, but honestly, its good enough. I installed CM9 Alpha 2 last week and I haven't really run into any problems. The only minor thing I've seen is that some embeded web videos don't play in the page, but really I don't care too much about that. The Chrome beta browser lacks the ability to change the user agent to 'desktop' or request desktop versions of sites like the stock browser. It is the same issue on the Galaxy Nexus, but I think being able to get the desktop site is clearly more important on a tablet.

Other than the minor browsing issues, everything else works fine. Market....sorry Play Store.... is up and running as are all the Google apps like Gmail, Maps and YouTube. Netflix is working too.

So, the bottom line is, even though this is not even a Beta yet.... its quite stable and functional and I don't see any reason to go back to WebOS. But its nice to know its there if ever I wanted it.

Install instructions can be found HERE.

Current Files can be downloaded HERE.

I installed the CM9 Alpha 2 release, but I am currently running the 3/17 Nightly release without a hitch. If you want the latest stable nightly release, I recommend installing this build and the 3/17 version of gapps. Nightly builds are available HERE.

NOTE: I ran into a weird situation during the install. The Moboot screen came up with options to boot to WebOS, WebOS Recovery, Clockwork Recovery, and Reboot. It was missing the option to boot to CyanogenMod. I uninstalled and reinstalled to no avail. I couldn't find anyone else who ran into that problem. I experimented and was able to manually install the CM9 zip. If you run into a moboot screen with no option for booting to Cyanogen, try this:
Boot to WebOS
Plug in to your PC and verify that the CM9 zip file is saved to the cminstall folder on your touchpad. If not, copy it there again.
Eject the Touchpad from your PC.
Reboot your Touchpad.
From the Moboot screen, choose "boot to clockwork recovery".
Once in clockwork recovery, choose install from zip. navigate to the cminstall folder and select the CM9 zip to install.
Install it.
This should get CM9 installed on your Touchpad. Once installed, boot to CM9. The installation should take a few more minutes. Once you have CM9 running, you need to reboot again. Boot to Clockwork recovery again, choose install from zip again.... but this time choose the gapps zip file. Once installed, reboot to CM9 and you should be all set. You just have to setup your google account and install your other apps.

(Moboot is the screen that appears during boot that lets you choose what to boot to: CM9, WebOS, Recovery, Reboot, etc. - kind of like the Safe boot selection screen on Windows).


NEXT UP: Invaluable Apps - All ICS approved of course!


- DnT