Android Tablet Update

While HTC claims restrictions prevent them from unlocking the bootloader of the AT&T HTC One X, that has not stopped the development community from banding together to unlock root access on the phone. A new post by kennethpenn on XDA-Developers delivers a one-click rooting option for the HTC One X which takes advantage of an exploit identified by the community.

Gaining root access on the HTC One X allows users to make backups of their applications, remove AT&T’s bloatware or even make clock speed modifications to the phone’s CPU. Unfortunately, flashing unofficial ROMs to the HTC One X is still not possible, but we have a feeling it won’t be too long before the development community finds an exploit to solve that issue as well.

Will any of you be using kennethpenn’s method to gain root access on your AT&T HTC One X?

We learned last week that Flipboard for Android was going to be a Galaxy S III exclusive when the device launches later this month. Of course, the development community knew that as soon as someone got their grubby hands on the Galaxy S III it would be posted somewhere for easy download for any device. Turns out, that’s exactly what happened, and the apk for Flipboard has been posted on the xda developers forums.

Those brave enough to install applications from unknown sources can head over to xda and install Flipboard on your device. While we normally don’t promote app “piracy,” Flipboard is a free iOS application and will launch as a free Android application after the exclusivity period exists, and don’t believe that you can pirate something that’s free.

If you do give Flipboard for Android a download, let us know what you think of the application in the comments below.

While putting the final touches on the HTC One X software, HTC’s developers managed to place an application in the wrong directory, causing some issues for the Tegra 3 power management software on the phone. The misplaced NvCPLSvc.apk file was discovered in the /system/bin folder by mike1986 while developing a custom ROM for the HTC One X. To correct HTC’s mistake, users can push the file to /system/app via ADB. Those who have already tried this fix are reporting a 10-20 percent improvement in battery performance on the HTC One X.

Over the past few days, we’ve heard rumors that HTC has been prepping an update for the HTC One X to enhance its battery performance. There’s no guarantee that HTC’s fix will address this specific issue, but we’d definitely understand if you don’t want to take fate into your own hands when an official fix may only be days away.

For detailed instructions on how to apply this battery fix on your own, check out the source link below. If you do give it a try, leave us a comment and let us know if your battery life on your HTC One X gets any better.

Welcome back to our weekly Top 10 Android App Updates column, where we take a look at the most upgraded apps for the week. I’ve found that one of the best ways to discover useful apps is to look at what people are actually updating, and not focus on which apps have the most installs.

To find the most updated apps, I turn to AppAware. It’s a great tool that shows me which apps have active support from their developers and sometimes reminds me of an old app that I might have removed long ago. Make sure to install it so your activity can help determine our weekly top 10 list.

The following is a Top 10 list of apps which were updated in the last seven days and received the most updates during that time period on AppAware. Based on previous feedback, I am filtering out apps that have over 10 million installs since most are well known. I hope you enjoy this weekly feature and discover some apps that you might find useful.

XDA-Developers – Version 1.5.2

What’s new in this release:

1. Improved notifications
2. Ability to Thank someone
3. Image uploads
4. Bug fixes
5. Fixes FC bug in dark theme

If you have ever hacked or rooted your phone, chances are you have visited the xda-developers forums. This app is a mobile version of the site that allows you to browse the forums, read, post, send private messages and more. I’m not really a fan of reading through 100-page threads, so I don’t visit the site like I used to.

Box – Version varies with device

What’s new in this release:

1. Bug fixes!
2. View and add comments to files
3. Invite folder collaborators
4. Improved uploading experience, including the ability to batch upload multiple files from an SD card
5. Updated UI including use of the standard Action Bar
6. Now localized in German, Spanish, French and Italian
7. App2SD!
8. Contacts Permission: We only use this permission to quickly retrieve email addresses when you want to invite collaborators, and do NOT store any contact information on Box’s servers.

Box is another cloud storage app that lets users view and share files from anywhere. They currently have a promotion that lets you receive a receive a free 50GB account upgrade, so now is the time to check it out. The latest update includes an enhanced UI and improved uploading.

Go Locker – Version 1.12

What’s new in this release:

1. (New) Support gesture password
2. (Improved) Update some languages like: Dutch, Turkish, Bulgarian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese
3. (Improved) Input vibrate switch of PIN password
4. (Improved) The screen will unlock after input the correct PIN, without click ‘OK’
5. (Fix) The problem of virtual keyboard will show in lock screen
6. (Fix) Bug of Notification
7. (Fix) Some FC bugs

Many people are familiar with Go Launcher EX, but not as many users have tried their other apps. Go Locker allows you to replace the default lockscreen of your Android device. The Go team just released a locker theme template, so devs can now design their own custom lockscreens more easily.

Camera Zoom FX – Version 3.5.0

What’s new in this release:

1. create favorite FX!
2. custom signature for sharing
3. added French, Hungarian translations, improved Russian
4. bug fixes

Camera ZOOM FX is one of the more full featured alternative camera apps for Android. It features multiple shooting modes, full editing studio, and over 90 free addons. The app is currently on sale for only $0.49, so now is a good chance to buy it if you have wanted to check it out.

Wattpad – Version 2.6.1

What’s new in this release:

1. Fix saving last reading position
2. Day/night reading mode
3. Screen brightness controls
4. Improve swiping controls
5. Fix language setting stickiness

Wattpad is a site I had never heard of until today, but they claim to be the world’s largest community of readers and writers. Their social eReading app connects readers and writers across all genres, lets them vote for the best stories, share their comments with other readers, or leave a suggestion for their favorite author.

Soundhound Infinity – Version varies with device

What’s new in this release:

1. Performance boost and bug fixes
2. Music search improvements on some devices
3. New Permission: CHANGE YOUR AUDIO SETTINGS - Used to ensure optimal audio recording settings

Soundhound Infinity is the paid version of the popular music ID app. They claim to be the world’s fastest music recognition service and the world’s only viable singing and humming recognition. This paid version is currently on sale for $0.49 and offers additional features like home screen widgets, geo-tagging, and the removal of ads.

Wetter – Version 1.3.3

What’s new in this release:

1. Fixed text shadow on low dpi devices
2. Fixed movable to SD-card
3. Adjusted background colors to improve text contrast
4. Weather conditions translated to English
5. Fixed bugs that could crash the app under certain circumstances

Wetter.com is a popular weather service in Germany, but their app supports forecasts for any location. Most of the additional features like reports, radar, and videos are limited to European countries, so you might want to avoid this is you live in the US.

Go Keyboard – Version 1.3.1

What’s new in this release:

1. (Added) Commonly used symbols for English keyboard
2. (Optimized) The loading method of scanning aplications in GO Market
3. (Optimized) A detailed picture browsing for full screen in GO Market
4. (Optimized) The left symbols column for T9 keyboard will turn back after inputting
5. (Fix) The collapse error when update initiatives
6. (Fix) Download error of Emoji and handwriting plugin

Another release from the Go team, Go Keyboard is one of the most full featured keyboard replacement apps for Android. It supports a ton of languages, has endless themes, and includes a custom layout optimized for tablets. The app is free, so it’s worth a shot if you are unhappy with your current keyboard.

Fing – Version 1.28

What’s new in this release:

1. Improvements and fixes
2. New icons

Fing describes itself as the ultimate toolkit for network management. Features include network discovery, service scan, ping, traceroute, DNS lookup and many more. The latest update includes a refreshed look with new icons.

ScoreMobile – Version 1.5.5.5

What’s new in this release:

1. We are working hard with Google to resolve push alerts issues that are affecting some users*
2. Fixed missing menu button issue that was affecting some Android 4.0 devices (e.g. Galaxy Nexus)
3. Fixed Widget Force Close issues that were affecting some users
4. Minor bug fixes and enhancements

I’ve tried all the sports apps, including this one, and I always end up returning to ESPN’s mobile site. ScoreMobile looks to be well liked among its users with an average review score of 4.4. They recently added in-depth UFC coverage featuring interactive live blogs, so maybe I’ll try it out again. ScoreMobile also supports live event push alert notifications, so you can keep up the latest scores of your favorite teams.

Honorable mentions

Did you see any Android apps that received notable updates in the last week? Share your suggestions in the comments below and we will add them to our honorable mentions list.

• Glancee: Updated to version 2.0, which inroduces Radar and Diary and an easier interface. Radar shows you who’s near you now, sorted by distance. Diary shows you who was near you before, sorted by time.
• AppBrain: Updated to version 8.0 with misc. improvements and a fix for ICS devices.

A few months still stand between HTC fans and their ration of Ice Cream Sandwich goodness, but time be damned. The fine folks at XDA have done it again, this time managing to get their hands on a very early version of HTC’s Sense UI based on Ice Cream Sandwich.

As you can see below, not a lot has changed from the current version of Sense. But as I said, this build is as early as they get. We can expect the major UI changes — if any — to happen as we get closer to the final version. After all, it’s only been a few weeks since Google dropped the Ice Cream Sandwich source code.

Having said that, there are a few changes in the UI that show the new direction that Google is taking with Ice Cream Sandwich. Mainly, the new launcher with the app drawer in the middle accompanied by the two apps on each side. As for the rest of the UI, everything’s as glossy and plasticky as before — something we’ve seen Google’s Matias Duarte rally against so many times. Maybe the UI changes in Ice Cream Sandwich will convince the guys at HTC to pull back a bit on the highlights and gradients and focus more on clean lines and good typography.

As expected, this early ROM is full of bugs and shouldn’t be used by the faint of heart. Known bugs include not being able to set a wallpaper from the gallery, so if you’re into that kind of thing I’d suggest staying on the sidelines for now. However, if you eat buggy ROMs for breakfast and Kernel is a part of your daily vocabulary, you should go ahead and pay XDA a visit. Then come right back and let us know what you think.

UPDATE: It’s been brought to our attention that this ROM might come from XDA developers and not straight from HTC, so proceed with caution.

Gallery

An XDA-recognized developer TrevE (Trevor Eckhart) received a cease and desist letter from Carrier IQ, a company that produces software that allows OEM manufacturers of Android devices to track everything consumers do on their smartphones. Carrier IQ’s software is embedded at the kernel level in devices made by the likes of Samsung, HTC, and several others, and collects usage information without the user knowing of its existence, let alone the ability to opt-out of this service.

Trevor is a security researcher who originally found Carrier IQ’s existence on Android smartphones, and took to the internet to post Carrier IQ’s publicly-available training materials on his personal site so that others may research and verify Trevor’s research on Carrier IQ. Carrier IQ didn’t like this move too much, and sent Trevor a cease and desist letter, demanding that he both remove the posted materials and “allegations that are without substance, untrue, and that [Carrier IQ] regards as damaging to our reputation and the reputation of our customers.” Additionally, they demanded that Trevor put up a form apology written by the legal team of Carrier IQ on his website.

Rather than simply caving in and doing what Carrier IQ demanded him to do, Trevor turned to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) for legal counsel. After a thorough investigation of Carrier IQ’s claims (and attempts to gather additional information from Carrier IQ that went largely unfulfilled), the EFF sent a letter on Trevor’s behalf to Carrier IQ to sort out the accusations.

In the return letter, the EFF stated that Trevor posting the publicly-available materials on his site was covered under the fair-use doctrine of the U.S. Copyright Office. The EFF concluded that the material posted and Trevor’s limited use of the material met the four factors commonly cited in fair use cases. The following explanations are my own understanding. I am not a lawyer, obviously:

1. Purpose and Character of the Use – whether the accused party is using the materials in the same way Carrier IQ would, as training materials
2. Nature of the Copyrighted Work – whether the copyrighted work is factual or creative in nature. Creative work is copyrighted much more tightly than factual work
3. Amount and Sustainability Used – whether the material was appropriately or excessively used
4. Effect of the Use on the Potential Market for the Work – whether the use of the copyrighted material will allow the accused party to enter/further their position in the copyright-holder’s market. In this case, whether Trevor would use the materials to get into the tracking software business.

In short, the EFF has taken a stance that Trevor’s use of the publicly-available materials were covered under the fair use doctrine, specifically because it meets the approved purpose of “criticism, comment, news reporting, or research,” and does not greatly affect Carrier IQ’s bottom line.

FurtherReading

You can read much more about the case by looking at the following sources:

1. EFF Blog
2. XDA Developer Post 1
3. XDA Developer Post 2
4. Carrier IQ’s Cease and Desist Letter
5. EFF’s Response to Cease and Desist Letter

For now, we’ll have to wait and see how the case turns out, though it does bring up the bigger issue that regardless of whether we opt-in or out to the various services available on our Android devices, if you happen to own a device that uses Carrier IQ’s software, your behaviors and actions are being tracked anyway. Most importantly, you cannot choose to opt-out of this service unless you choose to “root” your device and use a custom ROM that removes this software, which in turn voids your manufacturer warranty.

I’m sure we will have more to report on this as the story emerges. Stay tuned.