[At Your Own Risk] ROM Release: AndroidME v1.2 Galaxy Nexus GSM

Hi everyone!

This is pretty exciting day here at AndroidNZ, not just because we've posted a great guide to Rooting your brand spanking new Nexus 7, and will be posting the first part of our "real-user" review later tonight, but also because we're able to announce that we'll now be hosting some custom ROM goodness right here at the blog. If you've been living under a rock it may have escaped your notice that a talented ROM developer joined our writing crew a little while back - none other than CdTDroid of AndroidME ROM fame! [Sorry Chris, I know you'll be squirming at being praised publically like that when you get to reading it, but your many fans will back me up here - Ed]. Anyways, without interfering with his ROM post any longer, make the jump to grab yourself AndroidMe v1.1 for your Galaxy Nexus!

[At Your Own Risk] How to play Dead Trigger with ALL Tegra 3 graphics on your Galaxy SII, Note, Nexus, or SIII (Bonus Dead Trigger Sixaxis profile!)

Screenshot from Dead Trigger taken from my SIII, but where did those 'Tegra 3 exclusive'
water effects come from? Read on, you know you want to know how...

We're always up for providing a quick how-to here at AndroidNZ, particularly when it lets us work around artificial restrictions placed on our devices. Naturally in this instance I'm talking about those Tegra-3 'exclusive' graphical extras that we're meant to miss out on in Madfingergames latest zombie frag-fest Dead Trigger, despite having perfectly capable hardware.

If you read part two of our Galaxy SIII review you'll know exactly how I feel about Tegra-exclusivity, and you'll also be aware that even with Root and Chainfire 3D, Tegra-3 versions of titles aren't working with our Galaxy SIIIs (and if you haven't read the review piece you'd better make a start, part two is nearly 9,000 words long and you want to finish it before the next part goes live, right?!).

Or at least, that's how things were when I wrote that part of the review.

You see, as of now we can avail ourselves of those lovely Tegra-3 graphics in Dead Trigger. I wish I could report that this was via an update to Chainfire 3D, as that might give hope of unlocking those other Tegra-3 exclusives for us, but sadly the news isn't quite that good. Nevertheless, it is still quite good news, since apart from actually working, the method for enabling the extra graphical touches in Dead Trigger is, well, dead-simple (many thanks to SnakeHaveYou at XDA for bringing this to light for us).

In fact, it's so simple that there isn't really much to the guide that follows at all. That being the case I thought I had better add a sweetener, and this time it's a Sixaxis Controller Touch Emulation profile for you to download...

Oh, and if you saw the [At Your Risk] moniker and wondered what risks might be involved here, you can exhale now - the worst you can do is wipe your present game progress (and even then only if you're a muppet).

Read on!

Apple succeeds in getting Google Nexus banned [u]

Following a Friday hearing before Judge Lucy Koh at the Californial District Court in San Jose, Samsung’s Google Nexus smartphone has been temporarily banned in the US. Apple was successful in convincing the Judge that its claims of patent infringement were likely to succeed based primarily on the validity of the so-called “Siri” patent. Although there are four patents at issue, the Judge has issued the temporary injunction based on the one she believes may be costing Apple sales of its flagship iPhone 4S.

While the Galaxy nexus is not Samsung’s biggest seller, the fact that it’s the latest “vanilla” development device, designed and built with input from Google, gives it an importance that exceeds its mere sales numbers. Judge Koh, in her ruling on the injunction, stated… "Apple has clearly shown that it is likely to suffer irreparable harm in the absence of preliminary injunctive relief”.

However, she also acknowledged that Samsung was definitely going to suffer irreparable harm as a result of her agreeing to the injunction, and ordered Apple to post bond to the tune of US$96 million as compensation for lost sales should the forthcoming patent trial find Samsung was not infringing Apple’s patents.

Review: Incipio Silicrylic for Samsung Galaxy Nexus

The pursuit of the perfect case continues for my Galaxy Nexus and I as today we take a look at the Silicrylic case from Incipio. I've long been a fan of the Silicrylic case, having used it on previous devices. The case design is largely unchanged from the products I used in the past, simply adjusted to accomodate the specifications of the Galaxy Nexus.

A two-piece, hybrid style case, the Silicrylic looks to offer a good level of protection whilst maintaining a thin profile on your device. The hard polycarbonate plastic spine feels flimsy, but once combined with the silicone interior, forms a solid, brick-like feel. Available in 4 models, the case is quite stylish with the contrasting color patterns - most importantly, the plastic is soft touch, which repels fingerprints and adds a slight grip. 

Below you'll find the full video review of the case;

The Galaxy Nexus "Real-user" Review: Part 1 - Initial impressions, design/build quality, benchmarks, software and user experience

Image courtesy of GalaxyNexus.com

Sometimes being a gadget loving geek can be tough. I have to manage two Android phones, an Android tablet, play with accessories like the Breffo SpiderPodium and sometimes NZtechfreak even has the audacity to send me new devices! I mean who wants to test out a cutting edge devices all the time?

Well, actually I do! And that’s why I’m now writing a review for the official Google handset of 2011, the Galaxy Nexus. While you poor sots are stuck with devices running Gingerbread (or earlier), I’m being treated to a much tastier morsel – Ice Cream Sandwich, with a pretty sweet piece of hardware to boot.

If you’re interested in finding out what I thought then keep reading after the jump:

Brief announcement: The Galaxy Nexus has arrived!

Just a quick heads-up that the blogs Galaxy Nexus has arrived, so expect our coverage on it to start shortly. If you haven't already thrown your questions about the Nexus our way, now is your chance - use the comments section below!

In other matters: the final part of the Note review is just getting a couple of finishing tweaks and will go out later today, the video that accompanies that will be delayed slightly but we didn't want to hold up the epic conclusion to the Note review any longer.

The Motorola Razr, Samsung Galaxy Note, Samsung Galaxy Nexus: Pre-review question time

Pretty soon we're going to be entering one of the hottest months on record as far as Android handset releases go, and here at AndroidNZ we're getting the handsets of November at release - that includes the Motorola Razr, and the Samsung Galaxy Note and Galaxy Nexus.

It goes without saying that we're going to be giving you ridiculously detailed "real-user reviews" here at AndroidNZ, something that's increasingly difficult to find out there as sites race to push out a review after only a day or two of use.

It doesn't end there though. Apart from offering reviews from folks who are actually using the handsets as their daily drivers for a couple of weeks, we can offer something else that is pretty unique - real 1:1 attention to the questions you want answered in the reviews.

That's what this post is all about: what you want to know.

If you've got burning questions that need answering let us know, it doesn't matter how idiosyncratic your needs, we'll strive to answer your query - because we understand that no matter how many bells and whistles a handset has, its how it relates to you that's important.

Balls in your court; join us after the break and drop a comment if there is something you've just gotta know.

The Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich announcement live blog

Well, the phone itself may have been slightly disappointing, but
the OS announcement was spectacular!

All the details of this amazing new Android OS version over the break friends!

Galaxy Nexus/Ice Cream Sandwich Announcement - Liveblog incoming!

Galaxy Nexus first real press shot?

Quick heads up that like any good Android geek we've arranged for the day off work today, and we'll be covering the announcements live as they happen at 15:00NZT. Catch you here later for one of the biggest news days of the year for Android!

In the meantime feast your eyes on the NTT Docomo leaked advertising shot of the Galaxy Nexus to the right, and the apparent confirmation of the specs as they were initially reported by BGR:

• 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP processor
• 4.65” 720×1280 Super AMOLED HD display
• 5MP camera and a 1.3MP front-facing camera
• NFC
• 16GB or 32GB internal storage

Catch you all here in a few short hours for the big reveal!