If you follow the Android forums you probably already knew this, but the Gingerbread OS (ver. 2.3.3) has been available for download since the 3rd. I did an OTA update today. Have only played around with it briefly but here are some differences I noticed right off the bat. The Facebook app is more jazzy now w/ more functionality. There is a download manager in the app list that lets you view, delete etc. past downloads. Menus in email and internet are a little different looking...finer print and a bit smaller I think. The transition from a program to the home screen is more seamless now...less jerky. There are some improvements to email attachments and multiple gmail accounts apparently though I can't say I ever experienced any issues there plus I only have one gmail account anyway. According to several online sources battery life is supposed to be much improved though I'll just have to wait and see on that one. Biggest downfall: Netflix app not supported in Gingerbread. Grrrr....just got the damn thing and now it doesn't work. Actually the app will open but no titles will play. NF is supposedly working on a fix. I read that some users have experienced smoother swiping on the home screen (left and right swipes), but I don't really notice any change there. Sense UI was not updated apparently. All my alarms were lost so be aware of that. Some have experienced loss of function in various apps from the marketplace so be sure to double check those. Anyway here is one link that lists the updates along w/ user reviews: http://community.sprint.com/baw/message/292810#292810
I still have to wait for it on my Captivate. There are a few custom roms out there that have gingerbread, but they're not quite ready enough for me yet.
Curiously the update I discussed yesterday appears to only be for select phones. My wife has the Evo Shift, daughter the LG Optimus and son the HTC Hero all running Android but none of them showed updates available. When attempting to update them all those phones stated version 2.2 was the up to date version. I find this rather curious. Android is Android regardless of the phone it's on right? Unless Gingerbread is incompatible w/ their hardware or something, but two of those phones are newer than mine. Weird.
It's part of the dreaded "fragmentation" that's currently considered an issue with Android phones. I don't consider it so much an issue or problem, as much as a ridiculous inconvenience. It is somewhat about different phones and hardware, but there's also (and probably the biggest bottleneck) the carriers that are a problem most of the time. They want to push their customized features and overlays onto the stock Android OS, and that's a big holdup. Even though most users don't want their crap, and if they did away with it, then they'd probably kill a large percentage of why folks want to root their device in the first place, and have everyone happy, but I digress. Yeah, it is annoying knowing my phone's OS is over year old, and the next version is ready, just not deployed, and meanwhile the NEXT version is about finished, etc.
could be useful, especially for those unofficial Android devices without access to the Android Market http://www.getjar.com/
I don't know if anyone's noticed or not, but I've created a Social Group for Android users, if anyone's interested. Not a lot in it yet.....seeing as I'm the only one there yet But it takes a village to raise a.....group? :think002
Yes, I do realize that, which is why I went ahead and did it now. Brilliant, eh? That way, I won't be lying in bed at night once the new software rolls out and start thinking "WHY!?!?!?! Why didn't I start that group when I had the chance?!!? WHY!!!!?? I'm such a miserable failure!?!!??!" and stuff
So be precise.. you created a group that would serve precisely no function, has precisely little chance of survival with the new software. Just so you can precisely say that you did it before you couldn't do it. Got it!
Umm, you could say that.... Or, you could say I had a brain fart about the software change at the time I created the group, and shortly thereafter decided to delete the group after recalling the software change, and then deciding "ah, screw it, it'll be deleted soon enough anyway", and then forgetting again when I checked my profile this morning, and thought "darn, no one's seen it, I better make it known" and then JoAnna [slash]kicked me in the nads[/slash] reminded me again, and it's gone from there....but I like your version better :rofl
I installed seek droid yesterday. However, I guess my mine is not the droid it is seeking for. It can not find my phone. Oh well.. at least I got it when Amazon had it free.
yeah, I bought it when it was free, but haven't installed it yet...however, we have the same phone, so now I'm a little concerned
I am assuming it just can't find it through the Wifi connection at home. I haven't tried it anywhere where I have 3G signal. But that would suck if it would only work where the phone has a signal. That makes it worthless at home and at work.
Partially confirmed.... Seek droid found my phone while I was driving. However, I did not drive within two blocks of the located position.
