SIM unlocking your smartphone allows you to switch your device SIM card whenever you want regardless of the carrier: from AT&T to T-Mobile, Orange to SFR etc. depending on where you live. The Samsung devices are usually quite easy to SIM unlock (see How To SIM Unlock the Samsung Galaxy S) and the Samsung Galaxy S 2 is no exception as Chainfire released an app called Galaxy S2 SIM Unlock which allows you to easily unlock your Samsung Galaxy S 2.
Durbinware created an app for iOS devices which helps tourists and commuters using the Washington State Ferry system. This app designed for both the iPhone and the iPad is called NW Ferry and offers accurate schedules and fares, alerts and you can even watch the terminal cameras. Let’s have a look.
With the Windows Phone 7 Metro UI Microsoft created a very specific end user experience, really different from what you can find on iOS or Android. Some love it, others do not but in case you like it you’ll be happy to learn that the folks @ WP7Android are working towards offering many apps using the Windows Phone 7 look and feel on Android: a Launcher app, a Phone app, a Contacts app with Facebook synchronization as well as a Zune app are in the works.
The eLocity A7 tablet is a budget 7 inches Android 2.2 tablet, it offers everything you can expect from an Android tablet these days: NVidia Tegra chip clocked at 1 GHz, built-in Wi-Fi, USB ports and a webcam. Not bad for about $300 on Amazon, you might even be able to find it at a better price elsewhere. Out of the box the eLocity A7 tablet doesn’t give you access to the full Android Market, let’s see how this can be fixed.
Sillycube just released a new game for Android called Paper War for 2 players. Paper War is specifically designed for 2 players, users will battle each other in 3 different modes which are really fun, the hand drawn graphics are enjoyable and the controls are simple and intuitive. Even better: Paper War for 2 players is free on the Android Market, it’s a great way to kill time!
The Android Honeycomb source code is not available yet but it doesn’t prevent Honeycomb to find its way on many different tablets thanks to talented developers. The Notion Ink Adam is one of those tablets that can now run a usable version of Honeycomb thanks to MrGuy and many others. Many features are working fine in the latest Honeycomb port update for the Notion Ink Adam: Sounds, Market, Google Apps, Root etc.
Microsoft just announced today that an update to their Windows Phone 7 OS called Mango is going to be released this Fall. Mango will provide about 500 new features and enhancements such as Internet Explorer 9, visual voicemail, even more social media integration etc. They also announced 3 new hardware partners: Acer, ZTE and Fujitsu and we might see the first Nokia Windows Phone 7 device in time for the holiday season!
MarcHoover @ XDA created an application for computers running Windows which allows you to use your Windows Phone 7 device as a USB flash drive. The app is called WP7 USB Storage Enabler, requires .NET 2.0 Framework and is very simple to use: you can see your Windows Phone 7 smartphone in the Computer panel along with your hard drive(s).
The Nook Color got an Android Honeycomb SDK port a while back and Divine_Madcat @ XDA keeps on improving it and recently released the Release Candidate 1 of his Honeycomb Hybrid SDK port for the Nook Color. Using the work started by deeper-blue and a system dump from the Asus Eee Pad Transformer the port is starting to become usable with many things working and of course others not working yet.
The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play is the first PlayStation certified smartphone, it does come with a slide out gamepad and a PlayStation marketplace where you can download PS1 games. The initial sales seem to have been disappointing but this device is rather interesting as it is the first of its kind to try to merge phones with portable consoles. As you can imagine the Sony Ericsson Xperia Play can be rooted quite easily. Let’s have a look.
Netflix is finally available on Android devices but only on few devices like the HTC EVO 4G, hopefully it will become more widely available soon. Trying to use it on the Nook Color will give you an unsupported device error message. Thanks to japzone @ XDA, it is possible to edit a property file to trick the Netflix app and use it on your Barnes and Noble Nook Color.
The folks @ Honey Tribe Studios will be releasing this summer a new iOS game called Colony Collapse which is really different than every other game you might have seen on that mobile platform. What sets Colony Collapse apart is its use of music which is event based, in addition to that the graphics in Colony Collapse are hand drawn which is a nice change.
The Samsung Galaxy S 2 was recently rooted right after its release and it has now been overclocked to up to 1.5 GHz. It was already fast out of the box so you can imagine how fast it is with an overclocked kernel. coolbho3000 @ XDA released the custom kernel and managed to get more than 4000 points at the Quadrant benchmark. Check out the video after the break.
SuperOneClick is a one click root application for Android devices created by CLShortFuse which makes it very easy to root many different smartphones. Until now SuperOneClick was only supporting Froyo devices but thanks to the Gingerbreak exploit SuperOneClick makes it easy to root Android devices running Gingerbread.
Our friends @ Blazing Applications have released a brand new game called Doodle Shapes for iOS devices: iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad (HD version). We reviewed their previous game Miner Escape a few weeks ago: Miner Escape. In Doodle Shapes you control a shape (Circle, Square, Hexagon and Star) so that it falls from one platform to the other. If you miss a bar or get stuck you lose and restart from the beginning, it seems very simple but Doodle Shapes is quite challenging. Let’s have a look.
Wunderstadt released recently a nice parking application for iOS called Parkbud which makes it easy and fun to park your car. Parkbud provides many features including a car locator, a parking finder and also a meter monitoring system so you don’t get towed. There are also many other useful features included in Parkbud and this is also a beautifully designed app, you can tell the folks at Wunderstadt pay attention to details and wanted to provide a great end user experience.
The Samsung Sidekick 4G for T-Mobile is mainly aimed at teenagers who love to text and connect with their friends on social networks. The Samsung Sidekick runs Android Froyo, offers a big enough 3.5 inches touchscreen and of course a sliding keyboard so you can text like crazy! If you own this device you’ll be glad to know that it can also be rooted very easily in one single click which opens the Samsung Sidekick capabilities.
The newest version of HTC Sense which will be preloaded on the HTC EVO 3D, myTouch 4G Slide (aka Doubleshot) etc. comes with many improvements including a brand new lockscreen. This lockscreen has now been extracted from a Doubleshot dump and can be installed easily on several HTC Sense custom ROMs (not AOSP like CyanogenMod or non-Gingerbread).
Zebwen and Corvus @ XDA started to work on porting the Honeycomb SDK to the Advent Vega and they were able to boot Honeycomb on it and released a video of it. For those of you not familiar with the Advent Vega, it is a low cost Android tablet which offers decent specs: dual-core Tegra 2 CPU clocked at 1 GHz, Android Froyo and a 10 inches touch screen. It doesn’t seem to be easy to find in the States but it reportedly sold out when it was first released in the UK.
Get a free app for your iPhone with this week’s contest! You can win one of two iTunes promo code for LooseNapp. All you have to do is to retweet the LooseNapp review @ LooseNapp for iOS–App Review. Make sure to follow us on twitter (http://twitter.com/techhackz) so we can send you the promo code.
Julien Schapman (aka schaps) released recently a new beta version (1.2.0.0) of his Windows Phone 7 tool called Advanced Configuration Tool. This app allows you to customize your Windows Phone 7 icons, themes, sounds etc. along with several other features. It is currently compatible with several WP7 devices from LG, HTC and Samsung.
Google recently released an update to Google Talk which now allows Video Calling, while the news is exciting the update was restricted to the Nexus S devices. Fortunately britoso @ XDA released Google Talk with Video Calling which can be installed on any rooted Android device running Gingerbread (Android 2.3).
A Trillion Games just released their new game called Race and Battle for Windows Phone 7 devices. In Race and Battle you control RC cars which are armed with rockets, the game takes place on a miniature race track. You can play against the phone or a friend (2 players on the same device).
Are you an application or game developer? Do you want to see your app or game featured on TechHackz? If so please send us an email (contact @ techhackz (dot) com) as we would love to review your product!
Don’t forget this week’s contest, you can win one of two iTunes promo code for LooseNapp. All you have to do is to retweet the LooseNapp review @ LooseNapp for iOS–App Review. Make sure to follow us on twitter (http://twitter.com/techhackz) so we can send you the promo code.
The Acer Iconia A500 Tab is one of the latest Android Honeycomb tablet to hit the market. It comes with everything you can expect from a Honeycomb tablet: dual-core NVidia Tegra 1 GHz CPU, 10.1 inches display, 16 Gb of internal storage and a SD Card slot (that works out of the box… not like the XOOM). For $449 you can get the Wi-Fi only version (only one available anyway) and it does come with a USB port which is nice. Even better it has been rooted! Instructions after the break.
Disclaimer: Please note that we will not be responsible if you end up bricking your device. Rooting or customizing your device can be risky, if you follow the instructions you should be fine!
All the credits go to monki-magic @ XDA who released the original instructions. You will need to install the USB driver for your Acer tablet as well as the Android SDK (to get access to ADB).
Update (06/19/11): The first custom ROMs for the Acer Iconia Tab A500 have now been released. Find out more @ First Custom ROMs for Acer Iconia Tab A500.
You can follow these instructions to root / jailbreak your Acer Iconia A500 Tablet:
You can also follow the YouTube video below which shows you how to root / jailbreak your Acer Iconia A500 tablet:
You can get more information @ http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=13303626&postcount=147.
Don’t forget this week’s contest, you can win one of two iTunes promo code for LooseNapp. All you have to do is to retweet the LooseNapp review @ LooseNapp for iOS–App Review. Make sure to follow us on twitter (http://twitter.com/techhackz) so we can send you the promo code.
The Samsung Galaxy S 2 is one of the most exciting Android device of the past couple of months, it comes with a dual-core 1 GHz CPU, a Super AMOLED 4.3 inches touchscreen, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and it is very slim (8.49 mm). Out of the box it does perform extremely well and it can be further enhanced now that it has been fully rooted. Check out the instructions after the break.