SimplePons Launches Android Smartphone App

www.SimplePons.com a developer of Smartphone Apps and coupons designed to deliver proprietary discounts and deals today announced the launch of the Android version of the SimplePons Smartphone App. With the Android App, SimplePons customers have constant access to their SimplePons accounts using the vast majority of the smartphones on the market.

SimplePons Apps are designed to deliver advanced functionality in an easy-to-use, easy-to-understand way. Our App allows users to browse, search and redeem the full library of hundreds of discounted deals in their geographic location in real time right from their smartphone. The App keeps deals categorized, searchable and conveniently mapped according to each user's specific location.

SimplePons (Simple Coupons) is a convenient platform that enables users to save money throughout their local community. Each SimplePons APP can be loaded and re-loaded with hundreds of "Deal Quality" coupons and thousands of dollars in 2 for 1 & 50% off savings at merchants including fine dining, fast food and entertainment venues.

About SimplePons

SimplePons, Inc., offers a unique renewable membership via mobile app or physical coupon book comprised of a bundle of over one hundred (100) "discount deal" style coupons containing everything from fine dining, fast food and entertainment deals offering savings of 50% off or more all for just $20 a year. SimplePons (short for "Simple Coupons") unlike daily deal websites, which solicit members daily via email to purchase coupons one-at-a-time, allow their members to buy, all the deals, all at once, all for one low price for use whenever they want to use them. For more information on our Company please visit our website at www.SimplePons.com . The SimplePons App currently works on the Apple iPhone 3, 4, 4s, iPad and Android phones running 2.1 - 2.3; 3.x and 4.x Android OS. For more information on how SimplePons work please visit our website at www.SimplePons.com and the 'How It Works' page.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release contains forward-looking statements that can be identified by terminology such as "believes," "expects," "potential," "plans," "suggests," "may," "should," "could," "intends," or similar expressions. Many forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results or implied by such statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, SimplePons, Inc.'s ability to develop brand recognition, relationships, execution of its business strategy, its financial resources, risks related to market acceptance and demand for its products and develop and market products such as a smartphone Applications and printed books. SimplePons, future results may also be impacted by other risk factors listed from time to time in its SEC filings. Many factors are difficult to predict accurately and are generally beyond the company's control. Forward-looking statements speak only as to the date they are made and SimplePons, does not undertake to update forward-looking statements to reflect circumstances or events that occur after the date the forward-looking statements are made

How to - run Android apps on your PC

Apps on popular mobile platforms such as Android, iOS and Windows Mobile are functional, compact and sometimes, very beautifully designed. Most of the features and information you get from them could practically be used on the desktop. Unfortunately, they aren’t available for the desktop so you’ll find yourself lifting your phone to check out the latest tweets or maybe play a game of Cut the Rope.

What if you could do all of these things on your desktop itself. You can using a remote desktop application installed on your phone or tablet. It’s more complicated and it requires you to use the resources of your devices. There’s a simpler way to run these apps directly off your PC and we’re going to show you how dojust that.

Introducing Bluestacks

Bluestacks is that magical software that’ll let you run Android apps on your PC. Now, Bluestacks supports Windows, which means you could technically run Android apps on your desktop, notebook or even a Windows tablet. Bluestacks is a virtualization software that allows Android apps to work on a layer above Windows. Remember that some of the apps on Android require some acceleration through graphics hardware. If you’re using an old netbook or PC, some of these apps may not function or may not perform very well.

Download and install Bluestacks
                                           The home screen and the Android environment running

Head over to the Bluestacks site and download the application. There are two versions available for download - one an online installer that’ll download data from the web as it installs and the other, an offline installer that is bulkier. It’s just under 100MB and it should take no more than 15 minutes on a moderately quick connection. Installing the application should take no more than a minute or two.



Configure BlueStacks settings
Once the installation is complete, Bluestacks will load into a window with a large text entry bar and a few icons at the top. On the bottom right, you’ll find a Settings icon. You can use the mouse to click on the menus or use the directional keys on the keyboard. Pressing the Enter key enters a menu and pressing Escape will take you back one step in the menu. There’s even a menu button on the left bottom of the screen and a home button at the centre. You can use your mouse to perform all kinds of gestures as well. Set up your keyboard layout and language settings.


Searching and installing apps


                                            The Android store with all the apps in it

Now that you have BlueStacks running Android on your PC, the next obvious step is to install apps on it. Bluestacks has three app stores that come bundled with it, so all the apps you search for will be looked for, in these. GetJar, Amazon App store as well as the official Google app store are present. You can browse the apps manually as well.


                                         List of installed apps, accessible via the dock

Screenshots are also available, as are the app recommendations. Choose the apps you want and install them by clicking on the Download link. You can then start the app by clicking on it using the My Apps icon in the dock hovering at the top of the screen.

Run apps in a larger view


                                         Selecting the size and layout of apps on screen

Bluestacks gives you the option to run applications in a tablet-like view or a mobile phone. To change the layout of the app you’re using, click on the Settings button and click on Manage App size. Here, you can choose the size that you want to run the app in. Click on Done to save the settings. Bluestacks will restart to make the settings active.

                                          The Android Pulse app in action

So, that’s how you can get your favorite Android apps to run on Windows. If you don’t have an Android device, this is your chance to get a look and feel of the apps on the popular platform. However, if you already use an Android device, you can check out the Cloud connect feature to get all the apps from your phone to your desktop

List of Samsung device receive an update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

AT&T


Galaxy S II (SGH-i777)
Galaxy S II Skyrocket (SGH-i727)
Galaxy Note (SGH-i717)
Captivate Glide (SGH-i927)
Nexus S (SGH-i9020A)
Galaxy Tab 8.9 (SGH-i957)



Sprint

Nexus S 4G (SPH-d720) ICS Update is Available!
Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch (SPH-d710)

Verizon

Galaxy Tab 10.1 (SCH-i905)
Galaxy Tab 7.7 (SCH-i815)

Wi-Fi

Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus Wi-Fi (P6210)
Galaxy Tab 8.9 Wi-Fi (P7310)
Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi (P7510)

T-Mobile

We are in close communication with T-Mobile to ensure that eligible devices are upgraded to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich in the coming months and will provide updates as we have additional details to share.

The Android Update Trap

Updating your version of the Android operating system can cause more problems than it solves. Be careful what you wish for.


The Samsung Galaxy S II was supposed to be David Petty’s dream phone. He'd watched the smartphone market for a couple of years, and finally pulled the trigger on his first Android handset when AT&T launched the Galaxy S II last October. For the first few months, it was perfect.

Everything changed when AT&T delivered Android 2.3.6--a minor update that included some tweaks to the user interface, but little else--to Petty’s phone in January.

Suddenly, his phone wouldn’t last more than 6 hours on a charge, even with light use. As Petty learned from fellow Android users online, a Wi-Fi bug was thrashing the Galaxy S II’s battery life.

“It’s at a point where, if I have Wi-Fi on, I have a battery widget on the front screen, and I can watch the battery drop, just sitting here,” Petty, an environmental researcher based in Indianapolis, told PCWorld.

Petty isn’t alone in his problems, and the Galaxy S II isn’t the only Android phone burned by a bad update.

Here is a sampling of complaints we found in various online forums about Android phone OS updates gone wrong:
Some HTC Droid Incredible users encountered problems with Android 2.3.4, including battery drain, memory shortages, and deleted contacts.
A major slowdown in 2D graphics plagued the original Motorola Droid after an update to Android 2.1.
An update for the Samsung Fascinate caused random shutdowns for some users.
Some HTC Desire S users on T-Mobile reported signal loss after an update to Android 2.3.5 with Sense 3.0.
Users of HTC's Evo 4G reported internal memory leaks after updating to Android 2.3.
Some overseas users of HTC’s Incredible S had trouble receiving text messages in a timely manner with Android 2.3.3.
In a huge thread on Google’s support forums, users complain that voice search randomly starts up on its own with Android 2.3.3 and Android 2.3.4 on Samsung’s Nexus S.
Users of the unlocked Galaxy Nexus have reported signal-loss problems with Android 4.0.4.

PCWorld counted 13 instances where phone makers or wireless carriers have suspended an update due to serious bugs. And that’s only part of the issue. In many more cases, wireless carriers and phone makers are slow to notice problems after releasing updates--or they don’t notice them at all, leaving their customers in the dark.

It’s a hassle that Petty came to know firsthand, as he tried to bring his phone’s problem to Samsung's attention. After making two calls to technical support representatives, both of whom said that they had never heard of the Galaxy S II’s battery issues (despite widespread complaints in Android user forums), Petty mailed a letter to Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Telecommunications America.

“To have suffered this issue for this long, let alone have it ignored or denied by support, is intolerable,” Petty wrote in his letter, dated February 13, 2012. Sohn never responded, and Samsung declined to comment for this story. (HTC, LG, and Motorola would not comment, either. Google declined an interview and promised to issue a prepared statement, but never sent one despite several requests from PCWorld.)

Why Android Update Problems Happen


No software platform is completely bug-free. Given the sheer amount of code involved, and the need to update that code to stay competitive, glitches are inevitable with any operating system. (Users of Apple’s iPhone 3G, for instance, reported sluggish performance after updating to iOS 4, a problem that took Apple more than three months to fix. Some owners of the iPhone 4 have also complained about performance issues with iOS 5.)

Android, however, has two particular factors working against it. First, unlike iOS, which is designed for one kind of smartphone, Android must accommodate a wide variety of phone models, with potentially different screen sizes, screen resolutions, processors, RAM, storage capacities, and other specs.


Second, wireless carriers and phone makers tend to modify Android with their own user interfaces and software, complicating the issue. The companies enjoy much more latitude with Android than they do with the iPhone or with Windows Phone, so features found on one Android phone--such as Motorola’s battery-saving Smart Actions or HTC’s Sense widgets--may not be present on another. Although such tweaks can improve the user experience, they also put an extra burden on phone makers and wireless carriers to try to keep the software running smoothly.

PCWorld spoke with members of XDA-Developers, a community of hackers who modify the Android software for their own phones--and who often work to undo the damage that bad updates cause. Several of these developers say that when phone makers and wireless carriers meddle with Android, they risk wreaking havoc on users’ phones, even if those phones haven’t been rooted or modified in any way.

“From what I have seen, and from talking to other users and developers, a lot of the problems that users have come from the customizations that the carriers want to put into the ROM,” says Mark Dietz, an XDA-Developers member who specializes in Samsung hardware. Carriers tend to preload their phones with software that users can’t remove (known as “bloatware”), as well as other monitoring software that can introduce bugs, Dietz says.

Another developer, who uses the screen name “attn1,” agrees that companies’ modifications to Android can lead to more bugs. Phone makers are under pressure to develop and update their software quickly, says attn1 (who answered questions by email but declined to give a real name), and as a result the companies may take shortcuts, such as using deprecated APIs or performing inadequate testing.

Fared Adib, Sprint’s vice president of product development--and the only wireless carrier executive who agreed to an interview for this article--defended his company’s testing process for Android phones. Each new software update is tested in a lab, and then it goes out for field testing by about 1000 employees, Adib says. Sprint also rolls its updates out slowly, starting with about 10,000 users at a time, so that the carrier can put the brakes on an update if users report critical bugs.

Adib says that the number of Android devices on the market can lead to a perception of more problems with software updates, but he acknowledges that the carrier can’t stop every bug from getting through. “It’s almost impossible for a carrier or for an OEM … to 100 percent test every use case of what we think the device will see once it receives that update out in the field,” Adib says.


Undo the Damage


Getting a bad update might not be so tragic if wireless carriers fixed problems quickly; but as many Android enthusiasts know, waiting for new software releases can be a test of patience.

That’s why Jimmy Bellerose of Kissimmee, Florida, wasted no time replacing his Samsung Fascinate on Verizon Wireless after a disastrous update to Android 2.3 last December. “Battery life dropped, and the phone would lock up, so I would have to reset it,” Bellerose says. “It would vibrate in my pocket, and I would think I had a message, but when I pulled it out, it turned out it was resetting itself.”

He assumed that either Verizon’s bloatware or Samsung’s TouchWiz interface was to blame. Bellerose then bought a Samsung Galaxy Nexus. He says he has had no problems with that handset so far.

In many cases users can resist updating their phones, but at a price: The phone may pester the user with notifications and reminders to download the latest software. Besides, refusing an update means missing out on new features--or, perhaps, other bug fixes--so staying with an old version of Android isn't necessarily the best option


The challenges in updating Android are entwined with a broader issue for the Android platform: Google, phone makers, and wireless service providers all have a hand in updating and testing Android phones. That means users might wait months to receive new software as it works its way through the system. For instance, Android 4.0, nicknamed Ice Cream Sandwich, was released in December 2011--but as of this writing, only 3 percent of Android devices are running it.

Andy Dodd, another active XDA-Developers member, believes that wireless carriers are a major bottleneck for the upgrade process. Dodd, who has been following the Galaxy S II battery-drain issue closely, notes that Samsung has already delivered a fix for the carrier-unlocked international version of its phones, while the AT&T version remains unpatched.

“There’s no sign that AT&T is even aware that there’s a problem, because I see people just getting offered replacement batteries when they complain,” Dodd says. Given that the Galaxy S II's problems began months ago, AT&T is likely aware of the situation by now.

Even when a problem is identified, wireless carriers may not deliver a fix right away, as they run the phone through more testing. Sprint’s Adib says that the carrier can correct some problems in a day or two, but others can take weeks, especially if a security issue is involved, or if just a few users are having problems. Another carrier source told PCWorld that some issues are so severe that they require a restart of the entire testing process, which can last between 8 and 12 weeks. During the testing process, Google may issue its own updates, which also sets the process back.

“We evaluate the impact any software upgrade could have on the customer experience. The testing process can be shorter or longer, depending on the device,” AT&T spokesperson Emily Edmonds said in a statement.

In other words, be prepared to wait a while.

What to Do When Updates Fail

If a bad update makes your Android experience unbearable, it can be hard to know where to turn. Some users air their grievances on Google’s official help forums, but that’s not always the best place to troubleshoot, given that Google isn’t responsible for what phone makers and wireless carriers do to the phones they sell.

Instead, you can seek solace in online forums such as XDA-Developers.com and AndroidForums.com, where users tend to be more tech-savvy. Search those sites for the name of your phone and the problems it’s having, and you might find forum threads with possible fixes--or at the very least, a place to commiserate. Some wireless carriers keep an eye on forums and blogs, so the more people making noise, the better your chances of getting a fix.

Ultimately, your wireless carrier may be your best resource. In the United States, carriers are usually the ones who deliver the updates, and if you visit a store, you may be able to get the phone reverted to an earlier version of Android, or obtain a replacement phone if all else fails. Reaching out to a company on Twitter might also help to call attention to your problems, but you're not likely to receive personalized support that way.

Of course, enthusiast Android users might suggest rooting a buggy phone to install entirely new firmware. But for average customers like David Petty, becoming a software hacker isn't a viable option. “I'm a fairly decent technology person,” Petty says, “but that's kind of where I stop.”

Google Docs App for Android Tablets

One of the biggest disappointments for me after the iPad launched in April 2010 was learning that I could not edit Google Docs documents using the iPad's Safari web browser. This story has improved in the two years since then. However, Google still does not provide a full Docs office suite solution in mobile browsers.


iOS users may have to settle for hidden, crippled and broken Google Docs support, but Google provides a real native app for its own Android platform. Does it provide the kind of capability that Apple's iWorks components (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) does for the iPad or, presumably, Microsoft Office for the upcoming Windows 8 tablet platform? I took a close look at the free Google Docs for Android on a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet to answer that question for myself. In fact, part of this article was created using the Google Docs app. Here are some of the key bits of understanding the app that you should know: Both the good and the bad.

The Basics


The Google Docs for Android app only allows working with Documents (word processing) and Spreadsheets. It does not support creating or editing with the other Google Docs document types: Presentation, Form, Drawing, and Tables. The app can, however, view other document types including PDF and PowerPoint presentations. People who use Google Docs in a web browser will find the app experience on a tablet familiar at first glance. There are, of course, differences. And, most of these differences are annoying or plain bad.

Offline Experience for an Online Service


Apple's iWorks office suite components (each of which must be purchased separately) were originally designed for the desktop and the iPad to be used offline. The iPad version can automatically store documents to iCloud providing access to the document from anywhere. It is safe to assume that the version of Microsoft Office 15 for Windows 8 tablets will also provide a satisfying offline experience with a reasonable cloud storage experience using Microsoft's Skydrive service. The Google Docs for Android app, however, providing an unsatisfying experience both online and offline. Openning a document is slow over a reasonable home or office broadband connection. You always see and are delayed by a clock-like icon indicating the document transaction process in progress.


Tapping the triangular play button icon to the right off each Google Docs document (see screenshot above) shows the properties of the document and provides an option to use the document in an offline mode (see screenshot below). Unfortunately, the spinning clock-like icon appears each time a document is openned or closed. And, it takes just as long for the process to complete whether a document is processed online or offline. It is actually faster to use Google Docs in a mobile browser than using the app.

The Google Docs for Android app sends the user into a view-only mode. This is unlike the experience when using Google Docs in a desktop web browser where the user is placed in edit mode for Google Docs document types. Tapping the pencil icon near the upper right corner of the display switches the app to edit mode. The icon consisting of three horizontal lines next to the pencil icon enables viewing live editing. This is very useful when collaborating with someone else on a document, and is arguably Google Docs' killer feature.

The app's edit mode provides options not seen when using Google Docs in a mobile web browser. You can see icons in the top right corner of the app that provides quick access to these functions: Undo, redo, bold, italics, underline, font color, numbered lists, bullet lists, block indent, and block reduce indent. You can see in the previous screenshot and the one below that images can be viewed in a document too. However, these images take an extremely long time to load and be viewable even with a fast connection.

Using OCR to Convert Text in Photos


The Google Docs for Android app can create Document and Spreadsheet types. It also provides Optical Character Recognition (OCR) for photos captured with the app or an existing photo from the Android tablet's photo gallery.

If you choose to create a Document, the app presents a dialog box to let you give it a name.

If you choose to create a Document from a photo, the app provides three conversion options: None, use OCR to convert text in the photo to editable text, or send the photo to a clipboard for use in an existing document.

If you choose the OCR option, the original image is placed at the top of the Document. The converted text flows below it. I used the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1's 3 megapixel camera to take a photo of page from a recent issue of The Economist for my test. My rough estimate is that it converted about 60 to 70 percent of the text correctly.

Speech Recognition


One potentially unique and useful Android feature available in the Google Docs app is speech recognition. However, while speech recognition is reasonably good for short phrases, the recognition process tends to become less reliable for longer speaking periods. It did quick well for the three one sentence nursery rhymes below.

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.
She sells seashells by the seashore.
Jack be nimble jack be quick jack jumped over the candlestick.


However, it had problem with the way I said the first two verses of Mary Had a Little Lamb.

Mary had a little lamb his fleece was white as snow. Everywhere that Mary went the lamb was sure to go. Photo to school monday it was against the rules. It made of children lesson plan, to see delivered school.


Presumably, the errors were caused because my pronunciation became sloppier and more difficult to interpret as time went on. So, unless your diction and pronunciation is consistently clear, speech recognition is only useful for short phrases and sentences.

The Google Docs for Android app's spreadsheet experience can be charitably described as primitive. The user needs to select a row for editing. Then, cells in the row become editable objects. There really is nothing to compare to this awful experience. Even character based mainframe terminal screens in the 1980s provided a better user experience. To be fair, this is how Google itself describes the spreadsheet on the Google Play product page: Make quick changes to spreadsheets. It is literally not designed for even moderate spreadsheet work.


One last argument in favor of the spreadsheet app, and the only reason many people use it, is the same "killer feature" in the document app: Multiple users can work on the spreadsheet at the same time and see changes as they are made.

The Really Ugly


While the Google Docs for Android app is a useful mobile tool for Google Docs users, it presents an ugly experience on several fronts. I've already mentioned the slow load and save times for documents as well as the awful spreadsheet editing experience. The ugliness does end there, however. As a web-based product with user authentication required, the app sometimes to become unresponsive. Forcing it to close and then relaunching the app may reveal that your Google login simple expired and you need to re-enter your password. Google really needs to fix this experience.

Don't Forget the Widget!


The app includes a widget for Android's home screen. The widget provides the following functions: Open the app (tap the Docs icon on the left), go directly to starred documents in the app, take a photo for use by the app, and create a new document. You can learn more about Android tablet widgets in this BYTE article: How To Create Personalized Dashboards With Android Tablet Widgets.

You can learn more about Google Docs for Android at this Google help landing page. Google Docs on Android phones and tablets


Name: Google Docs for Android
The Google Docs for Android app provides a potentially useful tool for mobile users. However, its lack of presentation creation tools, weak spreadsheet experience, and general instability reduces its potential. Unless it receives significant enhancements soon, it will never compete with Apple's iWorks components for the iPad or a reasonable Microsoft Office 15 experience on Windows 8 tablets.
Price: Free
Pros:
Multiple users can edit at once and see live changes
Free
Cons:
Difficult, obscure user interface
No support for Google Presentation, Form, Drawing, or Tables
Spreadsheet UI is atrocious
OCR and speech recognition are limited
Very slow load and save times
Unstable

Asus Transformer Pad TF300 (16GB)

The good: The Asus Transformer Pad TF300's Tegra 3-induced performance more or less matches the Transformer Prime's and goes a step further with a better rear camera, faster Wi-Fi performance, a more responsive screen, and an actual (and official) GPS feature. Micro-HDMI and microSD return, as does the keyboard option. The $380 entry price makes the TF300 the best full-Android tablet value currently on the market.

The bad: The tablet's design isn't as thin, sturdy, or sexy as the Transformer Prime's and feels a bit hollow in comparison. The $150 keyboard dock is still $150. The screen isn't outside-friendly, like the Prime's.

The bottom line: Though it isn't as thin or as sturdy, the Asus Transformer Pad TF300 delivers Prime levels of performance at a more affordable price.

eMusic Android App

Today, download-and-discovery service eMusic released an Android app that combines the eMusic membership experience with an advanced music player, creating a unique way to discover, collect and listen to music on a mobile device.

The app includes features that are part of the core eMusic discovery experience -- curated radio stations, recommendations, editorial features and reviews. Users can also re-discover songs within their existing music collection through new features, like Mixes. eMusic Members can download music through the app as part of their monthly subscription.

This unique experience, combined with an intuitive player, is now available in beta to US Android users for free. The app is optimized for Android v2.3.3 or newer with at least 1GHz and 576MB RAM.

"We've combined the eMusic editorial DNA with data gleaned from the eMusic member community to create a sophisticated mobile music discovery experience," said Adam Klein, President and CEO of eMusic. "It's a great app for true music collectors -- the more music you have and listen to, the better it gets. We're hoping that Android users make this their primary music player and management system."

KEY ANDRIOD APP FEATURES:

-- Mixes -- Users can re-discover music they already own by automatically creating a unique mix from their own collection. Control mood, tempo and tracks played, to inject a bit of automated creativity into a stale playlist.

-- eMusic Radio -- Dozens of curated radio programs based on emerging artists, local music scenes, and more, are available to be streamed through the app. Programs are curated by eMusic's top-notch editorial staff and music writers. (Available for US eMusic Members only.)

-- Recommendations -- Based on listening behavior on the device, recommendations for new music can be viewed by in a various contexts, from Under Played to Recently Added, or by straight up eMusic Picks.

-- eMusic Charts -- Access eMusic's charts from within the app to see what's trending for eMusic's community of serious music fans.

-- New + Noteworthy -- A daily feed of new releases available on eMusic. Users can check out our editor's picks of the top albums to learn about, sample and download.

-- Features + Reviews -- Access eMusic's editorial features, including original album reviews and artist interviews, for all songs and albums on the user's device.

eMusic developed this app with Members in mind, who tend to be early adopters and have high levels of Android engagement. eMusic Members can review their library, view their eMusic Downloads history, and access their Saved Music, which is synched with their "Save for Later" files on the eMusic web experience. Music that is downloaded through the app by Members will be recognized on eMusic.com, feeding into the recommendations and overall personalized discovery experience on the site.

Currently available in the US, eMusic plans to offer this Android app in the EU and Canada. The company also has future plans for developing on iOS.

This Android app was created in partnership with discovery app experts, Hunted Media, who are the creators of popular Indie site We Are Hunted. Leveraging their technology expertise, eMusic was able to create a more sophisticated mobile experience for Android users.

To download the app, visit: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.emusic.android .

About eMusic

eMusic is a discovery-and-download destination for music collectors. eMusic Members sign up for a monthly subscription that allows them to discover, download and own music. In addition to providing recommendations, eMusic's editorial team publishes original artist interviews, album reviews, and curated streaming radio programming (US only). eMusic works with all of the major labels in the US and a majority of the independent labels internationally. eMusic also sells downloadable audio books from all major audio book publishers. Headquartered in New York with an office in London, eMusic is available in the U.S., Canada, the E.U., Norway and Switzerland. eMusic.com Inc. is owned by Dimensional Associates, Inc., the private equity arm of JDS Capital Management, Inc. For more information, visit http://www.eMusic.com . NOTE: eMusic and the eMusic logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of eMusic.com Inc. in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE: eMusic

Top 5 Android smartphones under Rs 20,000

HTC One V (Rs 18,200)


HTC recently introduced this new phone under its One series line up.


Sporting a 3.7 inch Super LCD 2 touchscreen display, the One V supports WVGA (480 x 800 pixel) resolution. Text, images and videos appear crisper than they are on its predecessor - Legend. HTC has used unibody aluminium to construct this handset, and it has a chin on the front. One V is extremely comfortable to use and feels great for small or even medium sized palms.

Besides a single core 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, this smartphone has 512 MB RAM that ensures smoother system-wide performance. With the One Series, HTC has introduced the latest version of its proprietary HTC Sense 4.0 user interface, which is faster and slicker compared to the previous version. HTC's Sense 4.0 UI is integrated on top of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.


At the back is a 5 megapixel camera with LED flash. The camera app has been improved significantly to click more snaps in less time. The back camera is capable of recording 720p HD videos. There is no front facing camera though.


HTC has deeply incorporated the Beats Audio technology for better audio experience with the music and videos. With other regular set of features like GPS with A-GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, stereo FM radio with RDS, and great multimedia support.

Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus (Rs 15,500)

Samsung is known for rolling out smartphones with slightly refreshed/updated hardware. Samsung Galaxy Ace GT-5830 has a worthy successor - Galaxy Ace Plus GT-S7500. This new model comes with a single core 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM7227A mobile processor with 512 MB memory. Physically, the Galaxy Ace Plus looks very similar to the Galaxy Ace but has a curvy back.

The Galaxy Ace Plus features a 3.6 inch touchscreen display with 320 x 480 pixel resolution. Running Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread, this Galaxy Ace Plus device features TouchWiz 4.0 user interface. Galaxy Ace Plus comes with 3 GB on-board storage of which 1.8 GB is user accessible. Samsung has improved the overall software performance. There is no dedicated camera button for the 5 megapixel camera with LED flash at the back.


Other features include Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi, DLNA, stereo FM with RDS and GPS with A-GPS support. Samsung has reduced the battery to a 1300 mAh pack which offers better performance on 2G networks. With a slight bump in the processor and memory, this smartphone does promise better performance. Samsung Galaxy Ace Plus smartphone will certainly get Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update, but there is no specific date of its arrival.

LG Optimus Sol E730 (Rs 19,499)

Running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the LG Optimus Sol flaunts a 3.8 inch Ultra Amoled touchscreen display that supports 480 x 800 pixel resolution. The new Optimus Sol features curved edges and has capacitive buttons. Weighing a mere 110 grams, this smartphone has only three hardware buttons - power on/off and the volume buttons.


Offering great contrast and a vibrant set of colours, the Optimus Sol features a single core 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 MSM8255 mobile processor with 512 MB RAM and 2 GB of onboard storage of which only 1 GB is user accessible. Despite the fact that it carries the same core hardware as the HTC One V, there is a vast difference in the software experience offered by the two devices.

With default support for several popular video codecs such as DivX/Xvid, this smartphone offers a decent multimedia experience. Optimus Sol E730 features a 5 megapixel camera without an LED flash, but can record 720p HD videos. Along with other standard features, this smartphone has a 1500 mAh battery pack that promises decent run time.


As of now there is no information on whether this smartphone will get Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update or not.

Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo V (Rs 14,950)

Sony had introduced Xperia Neo V as a successor or replacement model for the Xperia Neo. Xperia Neo V has a 3.7 inch LCD touchscreen display with 480 x 854 pixel resolution. It touts the Sony Mobile Bravia Engine that promises better visual feedback with videos and images. Along with a single core 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S1 MSM8255 mobile processor, this smartphone has 512 MB RAM.

Sony Mobile has just started to roll out the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update for this handset, which by default comes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Its 5 megapixel camera, which comes with LED flash, can record 720p HD videos.


Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo V with Timescape user interface features a 1500 mAh battery for about 7 hours of continuous talk time. With a great design, this smartphone is certainly the choice for someone looking for a chic device.

Motorola Defy+ (14,999)

Introduced as an updated version of Defy MB525, the new Defy Plus MB526 features a 1 GHz processor and offers more battery power compared to Defy. Motorola Defy Plus has a 3.7 inch touchscreen display with Gorilla Glass technology. Its chassis is IP67 standard certified, which means this handset can survive if submerged in water, and the screen is sturdy enough to withstand minor scratches.

The 3.7 inch touchscreen display of the Defy Plus supports 480 x 854 pixel resolution and makes the text look crisp. Inside the body rests a 1 GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 3620 processor with 512 MB RAM and 1 GB on-board memory. Running Android 2.3 Gingerbread by default, the Defy Plus has a 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and LED flash. Unfortunately, there is no secondary camera even in the updated model.


Supporting up to 7.2 Mbps download speeds on 3G networks, the smartphone also supports WiFi and Bluetooth wireless connectivity. Other sensors include Bluetooth, GPS, an accelerometer, compass, stereo FM with RDS and proximity sensor. Apart from its waterproof and dust-resistant characteristics, this smartphone also promises good multimedia playback. Unfortunately, this smartphone will not get Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich but numbers of Third Party Developers plan to offer custom Android 4.0 ROM updates.

New Asus Transformer Tablet Lowers the Price by Lowering the Bar

The Asus Transformer Prime is one of the best Android tablets around. We gave it a lofty 8-out-of-10 verdict in our official review, and for good reason: It features almost everything you’d want from a modern, Android-powered tablet.

Besides running Google’s most advanced Android OS version, the Transformer Prime packs in a crisp display, solid camera, and speed a-plenty thanks to a quad-core CPU and 1GB of RAM. It even pairs up with a clever keyboard docking system that delivers notebook-like data input, and extra battery life.

But high-end tablets also demand high-end prices: The Transformer Prime starts at an iPad-matching $500. And that’s still a bit more than many want to pay for a device that functions somewhere between a smartphone and a notebook.

So, with a thriftier buyer in mind, Asus is rolling out the new Transformer Pad, which will sell for $380 with 16GB of storage, or $400 with 32GB, when it hits retailers this week.

There are only a few obvious differences between the Transformer Pad and Transformer Prime, but one of them is key, and may be enough to compel serious gadget enthusiasts to spend an extra $120 on the fancier tablet.

First, the Transformer Pad’s materials aren’t as refined. Where the Transformer Prime features a brushed aluminum chassis, the Pad goes down-market with a hard plastic back panel. The plastic looks good and feels durable, but doesn’t do much to save any weight. Indeed, the new tablet is both heavier and thicker than its predessecor, coming in at 0.38-inches thick and 1.39 pounds versus the Prime’s 0.32-inch thickness and 1.29-pound weight.

I prefer the overall tactile feel of the Prime over the Pad, but the cheaper tablet wasn’t uncomfortable to use during my brief testing, by any means.

The Transformer Pad, like the Transformer Prime, has an 8-megapixel rear camera, but forgoes the Prime’s rear LED flash. Both tablets run on Nvidia’s 1.4GHz, quad-core Tegra 3 processor and 1GB of RAM, a combination that smoothly handles games, apps, web browsing and plenty of multitasking.

Another plus: Both tablets run Google’s Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) operating system with minimal interface changes. We wouldn’t even go so far as to call Asus’ changes an OS re-skinning. They’re merely small cosmetic changes to various menus.

But there is a major downside to the Transformer Pad, and it’s an important one: The display can’t compete with the screen in the Transformer Prime.

The Prime is covered in Corning Gorilla Glass, and renders deep blacks and fantastic detail via a 1280×800 resolution (which is pretty much the standard resolution for 10-inch Android tablets). Among current Android tablets, the Prime offers one of the better-looking displays available.

The Transformer Pad, meanwhile, eschews Gorilla Glass for what Asus spokesman Gary Key described as a “standard Soda Lime Glass panel where the chemically strengthened layer depth is improved compared to older generations.” Comparing the two tablets side by side, the Pad’s image quality clearly falls short of the Prime’s. Both tablets bear a 1280×800 resolution, but the Pad doesn’t offer the color saturation or the contrast range of the Prime.

Like the Transformer Prime, the Transformer Pad pairs up with a $150 docking station accessory that features a full keyboard and trackpad to simulate a notebook-like experience.

Facebook for Android gets updated, new features added

The official Facebook application for Android has been upgraded to version 1.9 and this new update brings in a few new features. Firstly, there are a couple of performance related upgrades that have improved the feel of the user interface and have made it less laggy. It’s now smoother and faster. In case your phone hasn’t got the update option yet, you can manually go to the official Facebook application via the Google Play Store and click update.


Here’s a brief list of the improvements in this version of Facebook for Android:
Improved performance and various bug fixes
More messaging features like creating group messages and adding friends to existing group conversations
Shortcuts to share photos and messages right from your home screen.

We did the update last night itself and we got a new Facebook messenger icon that lets you chat with your Facebook. The camera itself loads up into a separate ‘Facebook camera’ app and not the default camera application. It lets you instantly post the photographs that you’ve clicked from your phone. What’s pretty cool about the interface is that it is pretty minimalistic and lets you instantly tag, upload and share your photos with location enabled (or disabled, based on your preference). Scrolling through the news feeds was feeling a lot smoother and quicker. Once the app got updated, it did take a while to load initially but once it did, things were pretty smooth. No force closes or freezes or crashes were visible so far, so it looks like a pretty stable update. The messenger application is pretty nifty as well and lets you chat with your Facebook buddies on the go. You can also differentiate between who is online and who is not. There’s been a major overhaul with the settings menu as well. However, if you’re not using the separate camera and messenger application then it might just add to the clutter in the number of icons on your menu. Anyway, we quite liked it because we do use the messenger app more than the main app in itself.



Either way, it’s good to see that more and more features from their web version have started appearing on Android now.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Review

On the surface, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 appears to be little more than a low-key refresh of its six-month-old predecessor, the in-betweener Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. And while that’s true, the Tab 2’s noticeably lower cost—at $250, it dropped in price by 38 percent from the 7.0 Plus--coupled with its numerous features give it a clear advantage over leading value tablet competitors Amazon Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble Nook Tablet.

With that sizable drop, the 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2 marks the first time a premium Android tablet maker like Samsung has gone full-bore after the value space. The Galaxy Tab 2is competitively priced against the $200 of Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet. Those popular 7-inch tablets each use their own customized versions of Android. These variants on Android can provide a more integrated experience for some tasks, such as reading books and magazines, or acquiring media, but it comes at the cost of the wider compatibility of the Android app universe; both Amazon and Barnes & Noble require you to purchase apps only via their respective storefronts.

The Galaxy Tab 2 runs Android 4.0, unlike those other inexpensive Android tablets (the Nook and Kindle Fire both run variants built on Android 2.3; that means it can handle standard Android phone and tablet apps in the Google Play store. It also offers features that neither the Kindle Fire nor Nook Tablet do, among them an infrared port and a rear-facing camera. Samsung sacrificed built-in storage capacity (just 8GB, same as the other two value tablets and half of the 16GB provided on the Tab 7.0 Plus) to achieve the Tab 2's low price, but that doesn’t detract from the Tab 2’s widespread appeal.
Galaxy Tab 2: Design and Performance

The Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is an evolutionary step over the extremely similar Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus. Both models weigh 0.76 pounds, and both feature a similar design and build quality, and both have similar dimensions. Both measure 4.8 by 7.6 inches, but the Tab 2 is slightly thicker at 0.41 inches, compared to the 7.0 Plus' 0.39 inches. The balance and weight are such that this tablet isn’t onerous to hold one-handed, though I’d like to see the weight get lighter-still.

Only subtle tweaks distinguish the two. For example, the Tab 2’s plastic bezel curves around to the front of the screen, giving the front-face of the tablet a pleasing look. Tab 2 also has a larger infrared port, located along the top edge of the tablet when holding the tablet in landscape mode; the port now wraps around the back of the tablet, presumably to improve communications between the tablet and your entertainment components. The power button and volume rocker, also along that same edge, have a more rounded, easier-to-press shape. The microSD Card slot door is slightly (by millimeters) wider, too, and ever so slightly easier to open, but you'll still need to do so using a fingernail. You can add up to 32GB of storage via microSD, a big benefit over Kindle Fire, which lacks any expansion slot for local storage.

The back of the Tab 2’s case is a light, “titanium”-shaded plastic, as opposed to the darker brushed gray of the earlier model. And while the rear-camera is the same, at 3 megapixels, the Tab 2 lacks the flash found on the 7.0 Plus.

Scrapping the flash is just one thing that the Tab 2 sacrificed to achieve its low price. Inside, the Tab 2 has a 1GHz dual-core processor, down from the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus’ 1.2-GHz dual-core processor. The processor change might account for why in the PCWorld Labs tests the Tab 2 took 14 seconds longer to boot up than the Tab 7.0 Plus; and it turned in noticeably slower framerate on the two GL Benchmark tests we run.

Other sacrifices: As noted earlier, the Tab 2 has just 8GB of memory, down from 16GB of memory found on the Tab 7.0 Plus. At 8GB, the Tab 2's built-in storage is on a par with Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet. And the front-facing camera drops from 2-megapixels on the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus to a mere 640 by 480 resolution on the Tab 2—a significant real-world quality drop that resulted in pixellated conversations when using the camera for video chat.

Samsung's Plane to Line Switching (PLS) display is 1024 by 600 pixels, same as on the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus before it. At this point, this display is merely average, as several 7-inch tablets with 1200 by 800 resolution are now available. I noticed colors were slightly off on the Tab 2 compared to how they appeared on the older 7.0 Plus model; detail in images viewed in the native Google Gallery app appeared slightly worse, too, although the tablets still scored closely on our display subjective tests. I'm currently investigating this issue. Some of the differences may be attributable to the display itself; or, they may have some root in how Google has changed Android's image handling between Android 3.2 (which shipped on the Tab 7.0 Plus) and Android 4.0.3 (which shipped on the Galaxy Tab 2).

Another interesting difference between the two tablets: The Tab 2 has better audio output. Music sounded fuller, and not in an over-processed way. The Tab 2 does have an equalizer option, which the 7.0 Plus lacked, but none of the effects were on.

As a bonus over its Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet competition, the Tab 2 adds Bluetooth and GPS, too. Together with some of the other features already discussed, the Tab 2 is ahead of the Fire and Nook when it comes to features.
Tab 2: The Software

The Tab 2 series is Samsung’s first to ship with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. In addition to Android 4.0, Samsung includes its own TouchWiz UX overlay with convenient pop-up launcher tweaks for fast access to a sliding bar of widget-like apps provided by Samsung (such as calculator, e-mail, and world clock). TouchWiz also provides an easy screen-capture utility and super-handy customizations to the settings pop-up, along with some Samsung-specific software apps, such as AllShare for DLNA network media sharing, and Samsung’s own app stores for games, media, books, and music.

In addition to the Samsung-branded apps, the Galaxy Tab 2 comes with a handful of useful Android apps pre-installed. Among them: Dropbox (with a year of 50GB Dropbox service included); the Peel Smart Remote app for use with the infrared port; and Polaris Office. The Peel app is a mixed experience, though; while it makes it easy to discover content visually, configuring the settings can be frustrating, and browsability could be improved. Ultimately, Samsung would do far better to write its own, more basic remote control app, as Sony has done on its Tablet S.

If you own a Samsung Wi-Fi camera or a HDTV, you may be able to benefit from some additional capabilities of the Tab 2that tie into Samsung’s product stable. Remote Viewfinder works with Samsung's Wi-Fi cameras. The Remote Viewfinder feature could have some interesting applications for group photos, for example; with this capability, you can use Wi-Fi Direct to form a connection between the tablet and the camera, and together with an app on the tablet, you can then use the tablet to control the viewfinder, shutter, zoom, and flash of the camera. Smart View lets you mirror content from your TV on the tablet, but this only works with Samsung 7000 series LED HDTVs, circa 2011 and beyond.
Bottom Line

Even though the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 has some nifty features like the infrared port and Wi-Fi Direct, it is neither a premium tablet nor a pure-play budget tablet. The big question is whether full Android compatibility and those extras are worth paying $50--or 25 percent--more than what you’d pay for an Amazon Kindle Fire or a Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet. The answer: A resounding yes, with a catch.

The catch, of course, lies with what lies around the corner in tablets—namely, Asus’s upcoming $250 tablet that's expected to have 1200 by 800 resolution and a Tegra 3 processor. That model still doesn’t have an announcement date beyond “second-quarter,” so for the moment, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 is safely in the lead among inexpensive 7-inch Android tablets. It has flaws, but it delivers the most full-featured set of options among its current competitive set.

Pros
Has infrared port
Relatively inexpensive

Cons
Slow startup time

Bottom Line

This inexpensive, full-featured Android 4.0 tablet is neither the best performer nor the prettiest option; but it does well as a point of entry for tablet shoppers who feel comfortable without the training wheels of the value-priced tablets from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Samsung launches Galaxy S III teaser

Samsung is beating its Galaxy drum quite hard as it nears its new handset's launch day.
The company today launched a new teaser video -- the second related to its upcoming Unpacked 2012 event -- enticing people to acquire "truly smart technology" that can become a "natural part of life." The company doesn't show off the highly anticipated Galaxy S III, but takes viewers on a journey through space and finds a way to toss the Galaxy branding into the clip's text overlay.

One of the more notable additions to the video, however, is the end. Samsung says that with the right device, users will be able to "stand out from everyone else." As the latter part of that statement is displayed on-screen, Samsung shows an image of sheep. Although the company didn't mention Apple or its customers by name, detractors have long called the iPhone maker's faithful customers, "iSheep" for their ostensible willingness to follow Apple's lead and buy its products whenever they launch.

It's possible, of course, that the sheep had nothing to do with Apple. But considering that there is no love lost between Apple and Samsung and that both companies are trying to best the other in market share each quarter, it's hard not to see a link between the sheep and Apple.

Samsung plans to announce the Galaxy S III at its Unpacked 2012 event in London on May 3. Although it has been tight-lipped on the device's features so far, the latest rumors suggest it could come with a new design, a quad-core processor, and a 4.6-inch Super AMOLED Plus display.

Lava to launch two more Intel smartphones

India based handset manufacturer, Lava International will bring two more handsets with Intel Atom processor by this year end."Lava will be launching two more handset based on Intel chipset under Xolo series by the end of this year," said Vishal Sehgal, co-founder and director of Lava International to The Mobile Indian.
Sunil Raina, business head - Xolo, Lava International said, "Our first offing in the Xolo series is Xolo 900 and in the coming months we will adding one entry level Android phone that will be around Rs 10,000 and a mid-range smartphone that will be in price range of Rs 15,000."
Lava International on Thursday launched the Xolo 900 smartphone with Android 2.3 operating system, running on Intel's 1.6 Ghz Atom processor.Xolo 900, which will be available in the market from April 23, is priced at Rs 22,000 at Chroma which is a multiband outlet and it will be available in all the other retails stores by second week of May.

Lava's Xolo 900 comes with a 4.03 inch LCD touchscreen display. Notably, the Intel processor was hailed by many analysts who even rated it on par with quad core processors found in Galaxy Nexus and iPhone 4S.

Currently, the phone has Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating system but it soon will get the latest Android 4.0 which is also called as Ice Cream Sandwich. Besides, there is a 400 Mhz graphics core, will aid smooth play of graphic intensive heavy game found in the Android app store.

For shutter bugs also there is good news. Lava has fitted an 8 megapixel camera in the Xolo which it says can even record full HD (1080p) videos.

The smartphone, according to Lava, will give five hours of talk time when used on 3G while if you use the phone on 2G network, the phone will offer 8 hours of talktime.

Besides, the Xolo 900 has all other usual features like WiFi, Bluetooth, and HDMI port which allows users to connect it to a TV and enjoy videos and games.

Samsung I9300 Galaxy S3 specifications

General
2G Network GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
3G Network HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1700 / 1900 / 2100
4G Network LTE 700
Announced Exp. announcement 2012, May
Status Rumored. Exp. release 2012, Q3
Body
Dimensions 131.3 x 63.7 x 8 mm
Weight 126 g
- Touch-sensitive controls
Display
Type Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
Size 720 x 1280 pixels, 4.6 inches (~319 ppi pixel density)
Multitouch Yes
Protection Corning Gorilla Glass
- TouchWiz UI v4.0
Sound
Alert types Vibration; MP3, WAV ringtones
Loudspeaker Yes
3.5mm jack Yes
Memory
Card slot microSD, up to 32 GB
Internal 16GB storage, 1 GB RAM
Data
GPRS Yes
EDGE Yes
Speed HSDPA, HSUPA
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot
Bluetooth Yes, v4.0 with A2DP, EDR
NFC Yes
USB Yes, microUSB v2.0 (MHL), USB On-the-go
Camera
Primary 8 MP, 3264x2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
Features
Geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization
Video Yes, 1080p@30fps
Secondary Yes, 1.3 MP, 720p@30fps
Features
OS Android OS, v4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)
Chipset Exynos
CPU Quad-core 1.4 GHz
Sensors Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer
Messaging SMS(threaded view), MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS
Browser HTML, Adobe Flash
Radio Stereo FM radio with RDS
GPS Yes, with A-GPS support and GLONASS
Java Yes, via Java MIDP emulator
Colors Black
- Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic
- TV-out (via MHL A/V link)
- SNS integration
- MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player
- MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player
- Organizer
- Image/video editor
- Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF)
- Google Search, Maps, Gmail,
YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration
- Voice memo/dial/commands
- Predictive text input (Swype)
Battery
Standard battery, Li-Ion 2050 mAh

Samsung Galaxy S3 release date

Samsung Galaxy S3 release date has been tentatively set for May 2012. But there is still some confusion over exact date of the launch

The Samsung Galaxy S3 will receive a little update over the S2 in matters of increased speed and a new eye-tracking feature in it, new reports suggests. The next generation smartphone would also not be called an S3.

An unnamed source in the UK telecoms industry hinted that the next Galaxy phone would be “like the iPhone 4S was to the 4.”

The same source refused to make things clearer, but preferred to play with words, saying, “Don’t expect it to be called the S3. Samsung might do an Apple.”

Ice cream sandwitch update for sony xperia

Hi sony xperia users.Happy news for you all.You can now update your phone with latest android version 4.0(Ice cream sandwitch).The software will initially be made available for Xperia arc S, Xperia neo V and Xperia ray for consumers in Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Norway. For the above mentioned  models, the software  will  be rolled out over the next 4-6 weeks, becoming available in other global markets.In order to upgrade your 2011 Xperia smartphone you will need to connect to a PC or Mac – please visit http://www.sonymobile.com/update and follow the instructions.Following on, Xperia arc, Xperia PLAY, Xperia neo, Xperia mini, Xperia mini pro, Xperia pro, Xperia active and Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman will also get their update starting from the end of May/early June.

Product	SI number	Country	Released
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-0770	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-0773	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4349	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4352	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4366	Nordic	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4367	Nordic	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4368	Nordic	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4369	Nordic	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4372	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4373	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4374	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4375	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4376	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4377	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4378	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4379	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4380	Norway	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4381	Norway	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4382	Norway	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4383	Norway	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4384	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4385	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4386	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4387	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4388	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4389	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4390	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1252-4391	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1253-9763	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Ray(ST18i)	1254-1091	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1092	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1093	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1094	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1095	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1096	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1097	Norway	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1098	Norway	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1099	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1102	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1103	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1107	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1113	Nordic	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1114	Nordic	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1116	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-1119	Sweden	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-2955	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-9263	Nordic	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1254-9267	Nordic	2012-04-13
Xperia Arc S(LT18i)	1257-5635	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Neo V(MT11i)	1257-5636	Denmark	2012-04-13
Xperia Neo V(MT11i)	1261-2107	Nordic	2012-04-13

To get the update release date for other sony xperia models please do visit the post frequently.