CrowdGadgets 26 | Are Buggy Betas More Fun?
Download: CrowdGadgets Podcast Archive
The CrowdGadgets podcast is back after a week off, bringing listeners discussions about Windows 8 on ARM and the upcoming Consumer Preview, 60-screen Ultrabook flash mobs, Windows Phone design, OneNote on Android, the joy of vanilla Android on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and AT&T’s upcoming shared data plans.
01:19 – Windows 8 discussion
14:30 – Intel Ultrabook ad campaign and Ultrabook discussion
16:51 – Funny Asus warranty
17:54 – Windows Phone wins Interaction award from IxDA
18:05 – Smoked by Windows Phone wins 100% of the time in Southern California
19:11 – White Nokia Lumia 900
19:54 – OneNote for Android released
24:18 – Verizon Samsung Galaxy Nexus discussion
27:45 – Future of HTC discussion
31:25 – AT&T shared data plan leaked memo
Hosts: Calob Horton, John Freml, and William Devereux
Guest: Grahm Skee
Podcast Editor: Calob Horton
Newsletter Editor: William Devereux
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CrowdGadgets is the official podcast of the CrowdGather Gadget Network, which includes Anythingbutiphone, Anythingbutipod, Good and EVO, Nothing But Tablets, Pocketables, StreakSmart, and Zune Boards. Read the latest news from the network below.
News from around the CrowdGather Gadget Network
Anythingbutiphone
AT&T is readying shared data plans, a long-awaited feature for many customers. The company has also announced three new LTE markets in an attempt to compete with Verizon, which also updated its LTE network. HTC and Motorola have both revealed plans for more Android Ice Cream Sandwich device updates, and one Samsung smartphone is finally getting… Froyo? Finally, Microsoft took #smokedbywindowsphone on the road in Southern California, coming away with a perfect record.
Good and EVO
The future of HTC is certainly looking bright: We’ve heard that many upcoming HTC Android devices will be PlayStation certified and potentially include a new Beats Audio-branded streaming music service. This is in addition to a gem we recently uncovered in the latest version of Sense that might just be HTC’s answer to Siri. Plus, be sure to check out some awesome new wallpapers and ringtones for the EVO that were pulled from Sense 4.0.
Nothing But Tablets
What are the best tablets on the market? NBT’s editor-in-chief gives readers his top three picks. We also jailbroke an iPad 2 only to discover that the ugly interface and performance issues are as annoying as ever. Those that do jailbreak their iPad 2, however, can lock down the device with AppLocker. Finally, Samsung has announced the Galaxy Tab 2. Strangely, this tablet doesn’t fit nicely into Samsung’s product line and might be exclusive to Europe.
Pocketables
“Pure Android.” These marvelously simple words describe a vanilla build of Android free of third-party “enhancements.” Or, said another way, Android the way Google intended it. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the latest device to run vanilla Android, and the benefits are apparent in our review. Of course, the platform’s ecosystem is also important, and Google, Apple, and Microsoft have similar, but unique, implementations. Which ecosystem is best comes down to each individual person.
StreakSmart
Things seem to be slowing down for the Dell Streak series of smartphones and tablets. Thankfully, there is still an awesome developer community dedicated to the devices, providing great features with just a few new lines of code. One developer in particular has managed to add a cellular network profile manager to the Streak 5 by tweaking the /system/build.prop file. This greatly improves the efficiency of the phone/tablet’s wireless signal.
