First off,  Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. 
Sony is set to start pushing out updates as soon as next month (December), to the Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR, Xperia Tablet Z, Xperia SP, Xperia Z Ultra, Xperia Z1, Xperia T, Xperia TX and Xperia V. The timing of these updates will vary by your specific carrier and market. 

That’s quite a list for updates for 4.3 Jellybean

Now…Google’s latest treat, 4.4 KitKat.
Sony states that it will be updating the Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia Tablet Z, Xperia Z Ultra and Xperia Z1 to Android 4.4.

No details have been released yet as far as the timing for those 4.4 updates, but at least anybody using one of Sony’s recent Xperia phones, knows that at some point, they will be able to enjoy KitKat on their device in the foreseeable future.

Stay tuned for more news as it comes.

Source: Sony

The post Sony releases plans for 4.3 Jellybean and 4.4 KitKat updates appeared first on Android Fan Network.

HTC America president Jason Mackenzie went to Twitter and posted the Sprint HTC One will get Android 4.3 update today. This will be the first American carrier HTC One to get the 4.3 update. Way to go Sprint!  Hopefully the other big carriers follow suit.

Source: @JasonMacHTC

The post Sprint HTC One getting Android version 4.3 update today appeared first on Android Fan Network.

For those of you sitting on CM 10.1 (4.2.2) and waiting for CM 10.2 (4.3) to be official…  Your wait is over as of today. Not to say there aren’t bugs, keep in mind these are nightlies. You should expect some bugs and to flash at your own risk. It’s looking to be more of a daily driver than the unofficial CM 10.2 release by sbrissen.

I’ve read reports of people dirty flashing this with out having a hitch. My advice?  Do a full wipe and start with a clean slate. Dirty flashing from nightly to nightly is a different story, but going from one Android version to the next is a whole new ball game. Get them baby wipes out and get nice and clean. You can always use Titanium Backup or other back up services to get your apps and data back, if that’s your thing (I don’t recommend them either).

There it is folks!  XDA Recognized developer sbrissen is working his magic on the next version of Android for CyanogenMod.

If you’re waiting for CM 10.2 to be a tad bit more stable, CM 10.1 will hold you over just fine. As most of you know, there’s not a huge difference between 4.2.2 and 4.3, but it’s always fun to have the latest and greatest on our devices.

Check out sbrissen’s thread on XDA for all of the details

Check out Adam Outlet’s one click root, unlock and TWRP tool.

The post Official CyanogenMod 10.2 (4.3) nightlies for the Verizon Note 2 appeared first on Android Fan Network.

Display

The most immediate difference comparing these two Nexus slates is the display chosen to use for 2013. Both share a similarly sized 7″ IPS LCD display (less than a mm difference from 178.3mm verses last year’s 177.8mm) so the real difference is what is gained from packing in higher resolution and PPI into the same real estate. The Nexus 7 (2012) uses a 1280 x 800 720p HD IPS display at 216 PPI. For 2013, Asus increases the resolution to a 1920 x 1200 Full HD (FHD) 1080p IPS display at 323 PPI. I could not distinguish individual pixels at this resolution.

Nexus 7 (2012) left, Nexus 7 (2013) right

Text is smooth and sharp and the additional resolution and PPI count makes for a breathtaking difference with media as well. The opening sequence of Transformers: Dark of the Moon has several very small explosions in the distance as camera pans across Cybertron. These are barely noticeable as yellow “blobs” in the background at the Nexus 7 (2012) 720p resolution while at 1080p on the 2013 Nexus 7, you can clearly see the flames as they flicker post explosion.

Viewing angles are good on both with the slight edge going to the 2013. Outside viewing performance was similar from 2012 to the 2013 Nexus 7 and visible in all but direct sunlight. Color reproduction is accurate on the Nexus 7 (2013) and comparable to other high-resolution IPS panels such as that found on the HTC One or Chromebook Pixel.

My thought is the Nexus 7 (2013) has raised, if not set, the bar on how great a display can be and this is a good thing.

Sound

Sound quality on the Nexus 7 (2013) is clear and loud, not at all tinny or under powered as it was for the 2012. I found the stereo sound made for a better experience but is slightly muted if held wrong – a common issue with rear facing speakers.

If the speakers were shifted even to the edges instead of rear, the stereo surround experience would be great instead of just good.

The HTC One and Nexus 10 front facing stereo speakers have set the standard so what Google has done with the Fraunhofer powered stereo speakers with their back facing placement falls short in comparison. If only the Nexus 7 (2013) speakers had been angled directly to the sides or even slightly towards the front, this could have been great instead of just good.

The Nexus 7 (2013) also has stereo sound demo hidden away in settings for Google Play Movies. You can hit this link for the Google Nexus YouTube channel if you want to watch it on other devices and make your own comparison.

Overall, the addition of stereo sound and clearer sound quality is an appreciated improvement from 2012 but not game changing.

Size matters

The height has been bumped up from 198.5mm to 200mm which is only noticeable when holding side by side. The overall width was shaved just a hair, 120mm to 114mm, really not much at all. That missing 6mm turns out to make a pretty big difference in holding the Nexus 7 2013 in your hands and is also just enough that it slides into the back pocket of my jeans – something I only could do with my baggy cargo pants previously. This minor change allows for me to carry the Nexus 7 (2013) out and about more often and in situations the Nexus 7 (2012) would be left behind for lack of a convenient carry.

Nexus 7 (2012) left is slightly wider, Nexus 7 (2013) right is slightly taller and thinner

The thickness (or thinness?) going from 10.45mm in 2012 down to 8.65mm of the 2013 Nexus 7 and lighter weight (340 grams down to 240 grams) is noticeable between the two. While the narrower width is appreciated, it is the new weight and thinness that caused a familiar “wow” moment similar to the one I had holding the Nexus 7 (2012) the first time coming from the original Samsung Galaxy Tab 7. Quite the difference a year makes in mobile tech.

I will not get into the bezel too much, our own David Quillinan wrote up an excellent comparison here.  The side bezels are thinner, the ends are wider by just enough that your thumbs do not intrude into the tough sensitive area of the display like they do on the 2012.

Performance

The Nexus 7 (2013) performed very well with its 1.5GHz Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4 Pro. Side by side with the 2012 Nexus 7′s NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 quad-core processor at 1.3GHz, applications loaded from the application drawer came up 1-2 seconds faster and switching between applications in the background was less than a second faster. Page loads using the Chrome Browser gave edge to the Nexus 7 (2013) by 4-5 seconds on all but the lightest web pages.

Playing Rayman Jungle Run or Riptide GP2 over the network actually used just two of the four cores in the 1.5GHz Quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon™ S4 Pro although they ran at 80-90%.  On the NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 based Nexus 7 (2012) 3-4 of the cores were active but with utilization in the 30-40% range.

The Nexus 7 (2013) constantly used fewer cores but at a higher clock speed and utilization than the Nexus 7 (2012)

Streaming video (Google Play Movies, Netflix and YouTube were used to test) over the network was smooth in most cases with both tablets ramping down to using just a single core at times once the video stream began.

Camera

The Nexus 7 (2013) 5MP rear camera is good but leaves much to be desired. Nick nailed it in his full video review of the Nexus 7 (2013) as it is very reminiscent in quality of the Galaxy Nexus. My major gripe, however, is that lack of a flash combined with poor low-light performance is crippling in pretty much every indoor environment. Once in full light, it provides good results for what it is – a 5MP sensor on the back of a tablet. The 1.2MP front facing camera on both the 2012 and 2013 models take the same washed out, grainy video that you should expect from a sensor that small.

Full light performance of the 5MP rear facing camera is good.

It is worth noting the Nexus 7 (2012) has the camera shortcut missing from the application drawer and the front facing camera is accessible only via apps that call the camera function or a third-party camera launcher. On the Nexus 7 (2013) however, the new 4.3 camera app is present and includes all the features of 4.3 including new layout.

Hardware Differences

Button placement is the same on both tablets with the volume rocker under a power button on the right top edge. The front facing camera is a 1.2MP on both but has been relocated from the center of the bezel as found on the Nexus 7 (2012) to the right edge for the Nexus 7 (2013) which also now includes a 5MP rear facing camera on the back top right corner.

The 3.5mm audio jack found to the right of the micro-USB port along the bottom edge of the Nexus 7 (2012) has been relocated to the top right edge of the 2013. The micro-USB port remains in the same location but is now supporting  Slimport display adapters.

Battery capacity has been reduced from 4,325 mAH to 3,950 mAH but use time improves from 8 to 9 hours and Qi compliant wireless charging is now included.

Qi Wireless Charging is included on the Nexus 7 (2013)

Also new on the Nexus 7 (2013) is the addition of a second rear facing speaker previously mentioned along the back top edge and a notification light in the center of the bottom bezel.

Thoughts

What Google and Asus did right last year with last year’s Nexus 7 is still present this year. The key difference is the minor changes taken together makes the Nexus 7 (2013) a better tablet all around. The 7″ tablet is really a great form factor on the go compared to larger format tablets and the price point at $229 for the 16GB and $269 for the 32GB is quite competitive. For those that need mobile broadband, the release of the Nexus 7 FHD LTE in the next few days will take care of you. The display is great, audio is clear and the stereo surround is a nice touch. Qi Wireless charging compatibility is the killer feature for me. (The HTC ThunderBolt, Droid DNA and LG Nexus 4 have opened my eyes to how useful this is.) The rear facing 5MP camera is not going to see much use but I am glad it is there in case I need one.

If you recently purchased a Nexus 7 (2012) does the new Nexus have what it takes to make you switch? For an Android gamer then yes. The display and faster Snapdragon™ S4 Pro are compelling on their own with stereo surround sound a nice bonus. Our Android Fans that mostly do web browsing or e-mail and casual gaming will find the Nexus 7 (2012) will faithfully serve you for a while longer.

The post Review – Nexus 7 (2013) verses Nexus 7 (2012) appeared first on Android Fan Network.

I think we all new this was just a matter of time before CyanogenMod 10.2 hit the Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4. If you’re a Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 owner and love CyanogenMod, you’ll most likely have your socks blown off when you see what Koush and the CyanogenMod team have been working on, integrating the Chromecast in to their firmware.

CyanogenMod 10.2 is everything you love about a stock Android experience and then some. With CyanogenMod you will lose most of the bells and whistles that Samsung has preloaded on your Galaxy S4′s Touchwiz experience. For a person like me, that’s fine. I’m mainly looking for the hardware that comes with newer Android devices, and once CM is available for that device, I’m jumping in feet first.

Remember to ALWAYS create a backup, do a complete wipe and be ready for some bugs that an unofficial build may have. If you’re a crack flasher, this is all second nature to you. If this is all fairly new to you, read, read and read some more.

Some notes from theboo7 himself telling us a little about this build. Hit the link to the thread at the bottom.

Features

[~]Android 4.3
[~]Cyanogenmod 10.2
[~]Working IR Blaster (watch on)
[~]Latest Cyanogenmod source code and cherry picks
[~]Focal
[~]Focal – Camera
[~]MMS

The differences between the builds are:

FRS – Fresh Repo sync (stock code, no cherry picks)
IRDA – FRS + IR blaster support
PLUS – Is my own personal build which I’ll consider the “unstable” branch meaning it has many more cherry picks that are considered experimental (e,g camera tweaks, performance tweaks)

Included cherry picks can be found in the provided documents along with links.
Installation

[~]Backup current ROM in recovery (I recommend use CWM Rom Manager)
[~]Full Wipe is “recommended” (User/Cache/Dalvik)
[~]Flash the Rom version of your choice
[~]Flash Gapps
[~]Flash UPDATE-SuperSU-vX.xx.zip

Known Bugs??

[~]CM and AOSP bugs
[~]and whatever you post
[~]Focal Front facing Camera is upside down, picture turns out fine though.

Screenshots

Credits

Thanks to the following..
AOSP
XDA
CyanogenMod

Link to XDA thread for this build.

To unlock root, unlock the boatloader and slap a custom recovery on the Verizon Note 2 follow Adam Outler’s guide here. Link

The post Verizon Samsung Galaxy S4 gets some CyanogenMod 10.2 (4.3) love (unofficial) appeared first on Android Fan Network.

AT&T LG Optimus G users can now try Android AOSP 4.3 rom, the rom is built from source. The only known issue is that NFC does not work, other than that everything seems to be working. Just place the zip file in the internal memory of your phone, flash via recovery and do a wipe data/cache or a factory reset and reboot.

For download links head over to the original thread on xda.

The post AOSP 4.3 Rom Now Available for AT&T LG Optimus G appeared first on Android Fan Network.

In the back ground there have been a few tweaks as well.
OpenGL ES, an industry standard for high performance graphics, was bumped up to version 3.0 and wireless screen sharing has been added for the Nexus 10 and new Nexus 7. Bluetooth Low-Energy (Google is calling this Bluetooth Smart) to interact with Bluetooth accessories and Bluetooth AVRCP 1.3 support to display song names on a car stereo have been added.

In all, a few nice changes. A full list and details can be found on the Android team’s website at the source link below.

Source: Google

The post What’s New in Android 4.3 appeared first on Android Fan Network.

Google just announced Android version 4.3 would be available for the Nexus 4, Nexus 7 (WiFi and 3g), Nexus 10 and Galaxy Nexus (yakju and takju variants).

For those of you inpatient Android maniacs that want the update now, Google just published the factory image for Android version 4.3 (build JWR66V) for the above devices.  Keep in mind this will wipe your devices installing the new OS.

Link for Android Version 4.3 factory images.

Image Source:-barkerd25017

The post Android version 4.3 factory images available now! appeared first on Android Fan Network.

Google just announced live in San Francisco that current Nexus devices will be getting the Android Version 4.3 update starting today.
Hugga Barra just confirmed at the event that the Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Nexus 10 and Galaxy Nexus will all be getting the update starting today.

For those of you that own the above devices start mashing that system update button.  Unless of course you’re going the custom ROM route.

The post Android Version 4.3 update being pushed today to current Nexus devices. appeared first on Android Fan Network.

Maybe the most famous gentleman amongst us Android heads.

Yup!  He’s doing just what you think he’s doing. He’s down in Texas building some bad ass phones for us Android geeks.  Now I’m not sure what’s doing all around him there, but it sure looks important.

In my opinion, Google’s hitting this one out of the park in just about every aspect. Motorola is known for building some of the best hardware (that is until the HTC One) – Made In The USA, getting all us U.S. patriots fired up – Putting up some major dough in U.S. and European advertising ($500 million to be exact) and now tweeting this handsome fella building Moto X’s (the most famous guy in Android Geek land).

This is getting exciting, especially anyone with an upgrade coming in the next few months. We have HTC making some noise, Samsung doing their thing, LG and Sony also banging  out some serious phones, now Motorola swinging for the fences with the Moto X and Droid Family, Apple being Apple and Blackberry…..  Well, I’ll just Leave this here. Lol

The post Designed by you. Assembled in the USA. Pic of a handsome fella building some Moto X’s appeared first on Android Fan Network.