The Next Big Thing is Already Here — Samsung Galaxy S III
via YouTube.
How to change the Nexus 7 user interface to full tablet mode
The Google Nexus 7 tablet has a user interface that looks like a cross between the Google Android UI for smartphones and tablets. With Android 3.0 through Android 4.0, things were pretty clear-cut: If you had a phone, the notification area was at the top of the screen and you couldn’t rotate the home screen. On tablets, it was at the bottom and rotation was supported.
But Android 4.1 on the Nexus 7 includes a notification area at the top of the device, home, back, and recent apps buttons at the bottom, and a default home screen that doesn’t rotate. It’s a 7 inch tablet that works more like a phone — unless you apply a patch that makes it work like a 10 inch tablet.
Google still supports the same full tablet mode we saw in Android 4.0 and earlier, but only for tablets with larger displays. The new user interface we see on the Nexus 7 is designed specifically for 7 inch tablets.
When you run some apps you’ll see the two-pane view that you get with 10 inch tablets, but overall the user interface looks more like the one you’d expect for a phone. It’s not a bad way to do things — but if it’s now what you’re looking for, there are other options.
The operating system doesn’t actually know what size your screen is. It just knows how many pixels your screen can display, what the pixel density is, and what the cutoff is for showing the 7 or 10 inch versions of the Android interface. So there are a few ways to trick the Nexus 7 into thinking it should display the notification bar at the bottom.
If all you want is a home screen that can rotate, you can install any number of apps from the Play Store, including Nova Launcher, ADW Launcher, or Apex Launcher.
But if you want to use the full tablet UI, you’ll need to root your Nexus 7 and make some changes.
Option 1: Change your LCD Density
This is the easiest way to enable the tablet UI (for now). Once you’ve rooted your tablet, just install an app such as ROM Toolbox that allows you to change your LCD density. You can find that option in the build.prop Tweaks section of ROM Toolbox.
The default setting for the Nexus 7 is 213. But if you change it to something between 160 and 170, the tablet should automatically display the full Android user interface.
Unfortunately there’s a down side to this method. The Nexus 7 has a 1280 x 800 pixel display. Normally that just means text, images, and other content will look less pixelated on the tablet than on a Kindle Fire or another 7 inch tablet with a 1024 x 600 pixel screen. But if you change the LCD density, text, images, and other content will look smaller on the Nexus 7 as well.
Basically what you’re trying to do is cram all the content that would normally be displayed on a 10 inch screen onto a 7 inch screen. If you have great eyesight or like holding tablets very close to your face, this might be a good thing. If not, you might be interested in the second option.
Option 2: True Tablet UI Patch
A group of folks at the xda-developers forum found a setting in the Android 4.1 code called ShortSizeDP. Basically this tells the operating system whether to use the phone, 7 inch tablet, or larger tablet user interface depending on your screen resolution and LCD density.
If you change the ShortSizeDP, you can get the full tablet user interface without making all the text and graphics smaller.
So they’ve posted a True Tablet UI Patch that lets you do that.
It’s still a work in progress and only works if you’re running a deodexed version of Android 4.1 on your Nexus 7. Eventually the plan is to release a version that makes it easy to switch between full tablet and 7 inch tablet modes, so if that’s what you’re looking for you might want to keep your eye on the xda-developers forum thread and wait.
For now, just make sure to use ClockworkMod Recovery or TWRP to backup your device before applying the patch — that way you can always restore from the backup if you’re not happy with the results.
via How to change the Nexus 7 user interface to full tablet mode.
Flipboard – Android Apps on Google Play
Flipboard, Your Social Magazine
Flipboard’s award-winning experience lets people see everything in one place. By bringing together the world’s stories and life’s great moments, you can stay up to date with the things that matter most. Flip through the news from your Twitter timeline as well as from outlets like the BBC, USA Today and The Verge. See everything from posts and photos shared by friends on Facebook and Instagram to videos from Stephen Colbert and pop culture nuggets from Rolling Stone. Find inspiration for your travel, style and life from places like National Geographic, Oprah and Cool Hunting.
It’s the one thing to simplify your daily life. Bring Flipboard on the train during your morning commute, catch up over coffee or on vacation, use it as a tool at work or simply to wind down your night. Search for anything or anyone, and make it your own.
You’ll be amazed by what you see.
NOTE: This app is optimized for smartphones, not tablets.
Create A Personal Google Maps Pin Map With Your Foursquare Check-Ins
To utilize Foursquare to create pin map, just follow these instructions:
Login to your Foursquare profile from an internet browser
Now that you’re logged in, go to your feeds page. To find your feeds from your profile, you can click on “History”, then scroll down to the bottom of the page and find the RSS icon to access your feeds.
Copy the .kml feed (the second one) and paste it into the Google Maps search bar. Before you start the search, add “?count=5000″ to the end of the feed url (minus the quotes). You can edit this number to your liking; it just specifies the number of check-ins that will be displayed.
Now your pin map should be displayed. If you just wanted to view it for yourself, you’re done. If you want to display it, you can click “Link” in the upper-right corner and grab the HTML embed code. Then you can put it on a website, like I’ve done below.
That’s it! You now have a digitized pin map. Since Google Maps is pulling data from your check-in feed, a new pin will be automatically added to the map every time you check in. If you’re only interested in tracking your travels by city, you can simply check-in once at each place you visit. However, you might find yourself sucked in to Foursquare’s other features and start checking in everywhere. If you do, make sure you check your privacy settings to make sure you’re comfortable with them.
via collegeinfogeek.com.
Apple at it again, calling for injunction against the Galaxy Nexus
Apple has once again called Samsung into court. This time it’s about the Galaxy Nexus and four patents that Apple says it infringes. The patents in question are:
U.S. Patent No. 5,946,647: a patent for data being used as a hyperlink
U.S. Patent No. 8,086,604: a unified search patent
U.S. Patent No. 8,046,721: a slide-to-unlock patent
U.S. Patent No. 8,074,172: a word completion patent
Apple is requesting that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus be blocked from sale in the United States because it violates these patents. Should the court find in favor of Apple, a ban against the Galaxy Nexus would be put in effect until the final court decision.
Could it happen? Certainly. But if it does, it won’t go into effect any time soon, it would only affect stores inside the U.S. selling these products, and no jack-booted thugs from Cupertino will come pry your Nexus from your hands. We can’t be sure how the courts will act, but all of these are pretty shaky patents, and once again Apple is not going after Google directly — even though the Galaxy Nexus has a pure vanilla version of Android. The only certainty here is that the patent system is broken and only serves the company willing to spend the most in the courts.
It’s time for Google to step in and put a stop to this bullshit. The first patent in question is the same one that was upheld against HTC in a move that shocked the tech community at large, essentially giving Apple the rights to the hyperlink — something invented over 20 years ago by numerous companies that aren’t Apple.
The other three are just as laughable, or would be if not for the fact that Apple was allowed to secure the patents at all. Every single one of them has existed as prior art long before Apple became relevant, yet a patent was granted each and every time. This is the core of the problem. You can’t blame Apple for trying, it’s cheaper to litigate away your competition than it is to out-innovate them. And make no mistake — that’s exactly what’s going on here. Apple wants Android to go away, and a look at any chart that shows market share will tell you why. It’s a shitty way to get ahead, but it’s too easy not to try. It’s going to take a tech giant to change the way this all works, and we know nobody can count on Apple or Microsoft to do it, because this is their system, created the way they like it, and making them rich. If Apple is afraid to go after Google, Google needs to go after Apple instead of sitting on their laurels waiting to ride in and save the day at the last minute.
via Android Central.
Latest Apple patent lawsuit targets Galaxy Nexus lockscreen
The latest installment of Apple vs. Samsung saga sees Cupertino taking offense with the lockscreen on the Galaxy Nexus. The complaint, filed once again in Germany, is the first directed towards the Android 4.0 flagship device. The claim made is that the Galaxy Nexus infringes upon Apple’s own slide-to-unlock utility model.
FOSS Patent’s blogger Florian Mueller describes this utility model as a limited fast-track patent that companies are allowed to file for alongside traditional patents. Apple has done just this with slide-to-unlock in Germany. Samsung’s defense points to a device from Sweden known as the Neonode, which managed to persuade a court in the Netherlands in 2011 to question the validity of the Apple’s slide-to-unlock filing.
The court is expected to reveal its decision on Mar. 16. What’s clear already, though, is that we’re sure to see more of these patent lawsuits as the year continues.
via Android Central.
The Next Big Thing – Galaxy S II
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4VHzNEWIqA&feature=colike
How to: Unroot the Galaxy Nexus, Re-lock the Bootloader and Return to a Factory State
Unlocking the bootloader and rooting your Galaxy Nexus is really only half the battle. There may come a time when you need need to lock everything back up, including that bootloader. Thanks to the Android team, we have the factory images that can not only fix a bootlooping or soft-bricked device, but make it look like you just pulled it out of the box.
Instructions:
1. Download the Android 4.0.2 factory images to your PC. [Download]
2. Unzip the file and its contents into your SDK/Tools folder (wherever your adb.exe and fastboot.exe files are).
*Make sure they are not in their own folder, but have all been extracted to Tools.
3. From within your Tools folder, open a command prompt (SHIFT + right click – “open command prompt here”):
4. Type the following commands, allowing each to finish before moving onto the next:
adb reboot bootloader
fastboot flash bootloader bootloader-toro-primekk15.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash radio radio-toro-i515.ek02.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash radio-cdma radio-cdma-toro-i515.ek05.img
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot -w update image-mysid-icl53f.zip
fastboot reboot-bootloader
fastboot oem lock
5. Reboot your phone by highlighting “Start” and pressing the lock switch.
6. It really is as simple as that. Your phone is now back to a 100% stock, unrooted and locked state.
via Droid Life.
How to: Root the Galaxy Nexus 4G LTE, Flash a Custom Recovery and Make a Backup [Verizon]
Time to root your Galaxy Nexus now that @Koush has released official Clockworkmod Recovery for the LTE version. We have gone ahead and posted the manual instructions for you, because well, if you have a Nexus you should probably know most of these standard adb and fastboot commands. It’s not hard by any means, especially knowing that you all have the SDK set up after unlocking your bootloader. Should take all of 5 minutes, maybe less.
Ready?
Rooting and flashing a custom recovery:
*Unlock your bootloader first. [Instructions]
1. Download ClockworkMod Recovery for the G-Nex. [Download]
2. Place that file in your SDK/Tools folder (same place as your adb.exe).
3. Download the superuser file aka the root file. [Download]
4. Place that file in your SDK/Tools folder.
5. Open a command prompt from within your Tools folder and type the following:
adb push su.zip /sdcard/
6. Then reboot into the bootloader:
adb reboot bootloader
7. When the boot menu loads, flash the new recovery image:
fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-5.5.0.4-toro.img
8. When that finishes, use the volume keys to highlight “Recovery mode,” press power to select it.
9. From recovery, scroll to “Install zip from sdcard.”
10. Then “choose zip from sdcard.”
11. Choose the “su.zip” file and install it.
12. When that finishes, back out of recovery and reboot the system.
13. Enjoy being rooted with a temporary recovery. (Permanent instructions below)
Afterwards, you will want to install ROM Manager from the market and have it re-flash recovery for you.
Make your first backup:
1. Now that you are rooted and have a custom recovery, it’s time to make your first clean backup.
2. In ROM Manager, flash Clockwork recovery again (it’s the first option up top).
3. Then tap the option to reboot into recovery just below that.
4. Once in recovery, scroll down to “backup and restore.”
5. Choose “backup” and let your phone create a backup.
6. When finished, back out of recovery and reboot the system.
If you want permanent Clockwork Recovery (via XDA):
1. Install Root Explorer from the market and delete /system/reboot-from-recovery.p – *Mount as R/W first*
2. Reboot into Fastboot Mode: Power off your device and (Power + Volume Up and Down)
3. Flash CWM (fastboot flash recovery recovery-clockwork-5.5.0.4-toro.img)
4. Reboot into OS (fastboot reboot)
5. You now have CWM recovery permanently installed
via Droid Life.
