Ahhh, the unlocked bootloader aka the keys to the kingdom. An unlocked bootloader may or may not mean anything to you depending on your level of OS involvement, but having one “unlocked,” is always a good thing in my book. HTC also understands the importance of unlocked bootloaders, and how they help the developer community. This is why they started allowing users to “unlock” their device bootloader via the HTCdev website. Every so often HTC adds a new device to the official list and provides instructions on how to unlock it. Today, HTC has added two new devices to that list: the EVO View 4G and the MyTouch 4G Slide. Users of either of these devices now have an official way to unlock their bootloaders and begin tinkering with their device. So what exactly does “tinkering” mean, and is it something I want to do?
The man who made hundreds of Blackberry users search the term DingleBerry (a Blackberry Playbook Hack), spent his holiday rooting his tiny Christmas gift — the Motorola ACTV. While the rest of you were trying to figure out how to work your new Android 7.7″-10.1″ tablets, developer Chris Wade was busy playing Angry Birds on his brand new 1.6″ Motorola ACTV that he hacked Honeycomb onto.
This is just one of the many reasons I love Android so much. Here we had an underpowered Android UI slapped onto a wrist watch, and a clever developer has gone ahead and turned it into a working tablet UI capable of monitoring your heartrate as you dance to a youtube video. While many tasks will of course be less than optimal on a 1.6″ screen, it’s still cool.
We continue to hear from manufactures regarding their plans for updating their recent devices to Android 4.0 (aka Ice Cream Sandwich). This time it’s LG’s turn, giving us an updated timeline regarding their ICS updates. According to a post on Facebook, LG plans to start updating their 2011 line of phones starting Q2 of 2012.
We’ve got some good news for any HTC EVO View 4G owners out there. An official Honeycomb update is out and ready to be pushed. The update finally brings Android’s official tablet software to the EVO view 4G and also breathes a breath of life into this aging (in mobile years) device. Users will have to be aware that due to Honeycomb being an entirely different beast, updating will result in complete loss of current homescreen settings, along with possible loss of app support. Once you’re done crying over your loss, we can take a look at all of the positive things you’ll gain from having a tablet OS on a — well — tablet.
It’s no secret Sony Ericsson is hard at work preparing their 2011 Xperia portfolio for Android 4.0. Sony Ericsson has finally outlined its list of devices that will be receiving the Ice Cream sandwich upgrade along with a less vague timetable as to when these updates will begin. Starting late March/early April, SE will begin rolling out ICS to its first batch of devices with the rest being updated around late April/early May. Sony Ericsson also points out that not all devices of the same model will receive the updates at the same time due to carrier handling. Below is a complete list of SE devices set to receive the update and their expected update schedule.
