I’ve said it many times, I’ll say it again: one of the reasons Android enthusiasts are so enthusiastic about Android is because of the way they can radically customize their user experience. You can change your keyboard, your launcher, music app and in today’s case your Gallery app.
JoinedSeptember 6, 2010
Articles1,122
Passionate writer at Redmond Pie, casual photographer, sharer of amusing links and an amalgam of all things geeky. Follow me on Twitter: @waisybabu
These past few weeks has been very kind to Transformer Prime owners and enthusiasts: ASUS released its bootloader-unlocking tool, the device was permanently rooted and, earlier today, received ClockworkMod Recovery. Now, we have come across the first ever custom ROM for the ASUS Transformer Prime. It’s called Virtuous Prime and it is basically a stock build of Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich with a bunch of tweaks that make the device feel faster and more “usable”. For folks interested in trying the ROM out, we’ve got an easy-to-follow step-by-step guide ready after the jump!
Legally unlocking your smartphone/tablet involves taking it to your wireless network operator/carrier, paying them a hefty fee (which can go in the hundreds of dollars) and then receiving a special code which you can input to your device to unlock it so you can use on other wireless networks.
Successor to the super popular Galaxy S II, the Samsung Galaxy S III, is only a few weeks away from being unveiled to the world and so rumors about its hardware/software specifications are getting stronger and stronger each day.
One of the advantages that Android has over iOS is that users have more control over their user-experience. If they are dissatisfied with the stock keyboard, launcher, music app etc., they can just head out to Android Market and download something that fits their needs. This may be perceived as Android being an OS that “doesn’t work out of the box”, but it’s more about giving users more choice.
As a technology news writer following Android, I’ve lost count of the number of Android tablets. It’s simply impossible to keep up with all of them when manufacturers like Samsung introduces five tablets within a few months. We’ve discussed the negative effects of this in our post on the Galaxy Tab 2: it’s creating consumer confusion, making things difficult for manufacturers to keep all of their lineup updated to the latest version of Android and, as a consequence, making your average Joe just pick up an iPad. Sure, the Kindle Fire and ASUS Transformer tablets are selling well relative to other Android tablets, but the iPad is simply smoking them.
ASUS’s Transformer Prime is one of the most hotly-discussed Android tablets out there. Much of the hype is due to its best-in-class quad-core Tegra 3 chip which offer desktop-class processing and graphics with excellent power management.
Despite HP giving up on the HP TouchPad a long time ago, the Android development community continues to support it in the form of regular updates, stability upgrades and bug fixes to CyanogenMod - the premier custom ROM for the discontinued tablet. CyanogenMod 9 Alpha 2 is the latest version of the ROM and is, to be honest, a small upgrade over Alpha 1 but, understandably, a pretty big one over CyanogenMod 7 since they are both based on different versions of Android. If you’ve got a TouchPad handy and would like to try it out, check out our step-by-step guide after the jump.
Android has its fair share of third-party music and media players, mostly because the stock app is pretty weak and also due to the fact that Android is itself an (relatively) open mobile platform; Android users are spoiled for choice.
Smartphone enthusiasts like to keep their device’s home-screens organized. This organization is usually on the basis of which apps they use the most or which apps they require to be launched quickly (such as the Camera app). If you search around, you will actually find a lot more organization techniques (such as the closest to thumb methodology*).
