AndroidNZ’s week in Android news for 06th November

It’s been an interesting week, dear readers. After the major Ice-Cream Sandwich and Google Nexus Galaxy announcements we covered two weeks back, we’ve well and truly entered the transitional period wherein everyone in the biz is all hyped up for the new tech toys, but haven’t quite got their eager little hands on them yet. The first wave of new devices has only just started trickling out, as NZtechfreak can attest.

 

We’ve been busy little bees here at Android NZ – We’ve got videos, we’ve got reviews, and we’ve got news, so without further ado, let’s launch into the week that was.

 

 

Industry news of note:

• Sony bought the Ericsson out of Sony Ericsson.
• Google finally decided that making its Google+services available to its paying Google Apps users wasn’t such a bad idea after all, then helpfully pushed out an update (Actually, make that two) to the Google+ app so that said Google Apps users could actually use it.

• HTC took the top smartphone spot in the US – our coverage here.
• The guys over at ThisIsMyNext, formerly of Engadget, finally launched their long-awaited project, The Verge. This is one to watch, folks, an innovative web application covering all manner of tech news. And hey, they gave us a shoutout too!

 

 

Ginormous Galaxy Note coverage:

 

In a mammoth effort, our editor pushed out a huge slew of articles on the brand spanking new (And enormous) Galaxy Note. Half phone, half tablet, all intrigue, the Note is the current device of the hour – a real big boy’s toy. Check out the following for tons more info (Did you see what I did there?): 

  

• A rooting guide, with video
• An unboxing video, with initial impressions.
• Confirmation that 64GB SDXC cards work in the Note.

• The first part of a what’s sure to be a gargantuan real-world review of the device.
• A demonstration of the device’s connectivity, with MHL, RDP, USB OTG, and Even Moar!! exciting acronyms.
• Finally, the video that determines whether that’s a Galaxy Note in his pocket, or he’s just happy to see us.

 

Additionally, while we’re on the subject of hot new hardware, Lokhor put a few words together on the HTC Rezound headed for US CDMA carrier Verizon Wireless. Stay tuned to the same bat-channel for our extensive coverage of both the Galaxy Nexus and Motorola RAZR, not to mention more noteworthy notes on the Note.

 

 

Apps:

  

• PowerAMP 2.0 finally made it to market.
• LBE Privacy Guard got a big makeover  and version bump to 2.0.
• The Android Market itself received an update from version 3.1.5 to version 3.3.11, including nifty features like automatic update toggle. It’s been given a going-over at XDA.
• Our App of the Week roundup covered everything from notes to parcel-tracking to anti-theft, check it out here before you..forget where you left that stolen package.

 

 

Games:

  

• Old favourite Duke Nukem 3D came to Android 
• Great Little War Game went on sale
• The graphically astounding Shadowgun from Madfinger games got thoroughly reviewed by lokhor, with additional comments from myself and NZtechfreak.

 

 

Other stuff:

 

• I wrote up a little guide on fixing the broken push notifications in Facebook for Android. You need to sign into Facebook on a Blackberry. It’s pretty strange. I guess you’d better read it.

 

 

That’s all for now, folks. Keep an eye out for more interesting articles coming to a social network near you in the very near future.