Alex Dobie's blog

If you're among the lucky few to already be in possession of a Google Nexus 7, then you'll be pleased to see hear that the Instagram app for Android has been updated to support your new tablet. The latest version 1.1.7 of Instagram for Android is now fully functional on the Jelly Bean tablet, whereas before N7 owners were turned away with a compatibility message. Though the focus of Instagram on a tablet is on viewing, not creating content, you can also use the Nexus 7's 1.2MP front-facing camera to take your own mugshots and filter them to your heart's content.

In addition, the latest update includes the ability to share Instagram'd photos directly to Flickr as part of the sharing menu once you've saved your image. (Unfortunately there's still no native Google+ support right now, though our fingers remain crossed.)

Check the link below to download Instagram for Android from Google Play.

Download: Instagram for Android

As we suspected last week, when phones started to appear in retailer listings, Sony's Xperia NXT series has launched in the United States. The manufacturer sends word today that its Xperia S, P and U handsets, available in Europe for a few months now, are now available stateside, unlocked and SIM-free. But before you reach for your wallet, a couple of caveats -- first, although these phones are unlocked, they'll only work on AT&T 3G/4G within the U.S., and they're all running Android 2.3 Gingerbread out of the box. Sony's quick to add that all three are upgradable to ICS, but we're already well into the age of Jelly Bean, and if you're shelling out the full retail price for a phone, you'd rightly be disappointed to find an 18-month-old OS loaded on there.

The Xperia S is Sony's flagship for the first half of the year, with a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S3 CPU, 1GB RAM, a 720p "Realiy Display" screen, a 12MP rear camera and 32GB of internal storage. The Xperia P is the mid-range offering, with a 1GHz ST-Ericsson dual-core chip, a qHD display, an 8MP shooter and an aluminum shell. And the Xperia U is the tiny entry-level model, sporting a WVGA screen, a 5MP shooter and interchangeable plastic bottoms.

To Sony's credit, all three are well-built devices with some decent hardware inside, and in our reviews of the Xperia S, P and U, we praised Sony's build quality and hardware. But in a market accustomed to buying phones directly from carriers at subsidized prices, we think they're going to struggle to sell many of these. And the price point certainly won't help. Here's what you can expect to pay for the NXT series phones in the U.S. --

• Xperia S – MSRP $559.99, unlocked, in black or white
• Xperia P – MSRP $479.99, unlocked, in silver, red or black
• Xperia U – MSRP $299.99, unlocked, in black or white

In a world where the Galaxy Nexus sells for $350, and the AT&T One X is yours for $549 off-contract, it's difficult to recommend Sony's Gingerbread-based offerings at these price points. We'd much rather see the faster, more attractive, ICS-toting Xperia GX land on Western shores, instead. In any case, you can find Sony's presser after the break.

British broadcaster Sky has announced that its new Internet-based, on-demand TV service Now TV will be launching on Android and other platforms tomorrow. Competing with the UK's LoveFilm and the recently-launched Netflix, Now TV promises customers an "easy and commitment-free way to enjoy amazing movies, instantly." The first round of content will be taken from Sky's library of movies, with Sports and other TV content due to be added over the next few months. Movies will be available to view for a one-off fee of between £0.99 and £3.49, or view unlimited movies with a Sky Movies Pass for £15 per month. To sweeten the deal, Sky's giving users a free 30-day trial of the Movies Pass, similar to what Netflix currently offers.

The service launches on PC, Mac and "selected Android smartphones" tomorrow, with other platforms including Xbox and iOS begin added later in the year. The "selected" part may set alarm bells ringing, as Sky operates a similar policy for its Sky Go streaming service, which so far has the Android app for that service limited to just a few handsets, with no support for Android 4.0 and above.

Given Sky's comprehensive library of content, though, it certainly has the potential to become a major player in the on-demand TV world. Check past the break for today's press release in full.

Source: Sky

Just as Google Nexus 7 tablets are starting to make their way out to consumers, the tablet has received a minor over-the-air update, the second OTA for those who got the Google I/O edition. As far as we can tell, this is a minor update for the Jelly Bean tablet, weighing just 859KB and updating as quickly as you'd expect for a file of that size. The only change we've noticed so far is the addition of a little more technical info in the "About Tablet" screen. FCC ID, IC and model number have been added, presumably to give folks an easy way of finding that stuff if they don't hold onto the sticker that's fixed to the back of the tablet.

The build number's been upped from JRO03C to JRO03D, too, but we haven't noticed any other changes upon starting our Nexii up with the new version. At the numeric level, JRO03D is still Android 4.1.1. (And yes, the local search feature is still alive and well, so there's no need to worry about that.)

If you've noticed anything new on your own device, be sure to shout out in the comments.

Google’s Nexus 7 tablet is almost upon us, and although most of us are still waiting for the much-anticipated device to arrive, we’ve had plenty to keep us occupied in the way of international Android news.

Just as Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is arriving, Samsung is going on something of an upgrade spree, bringing the previous version, Ice Cream Sandwich, to a slew of older Gingerbread phone and Honeycomb tablets. Among the devices getting updated this week were the Wifi and 3G Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, as well as various flavors of Galaxy Note and Galaxy S II.

And Samsung’s launch of the 2GB, quad-core, LTE-connected Galaxy S III in its home territory of South Korea was reportedly met with record day-one sales of 50,000 units across the three main Korean carriers. That’s apparently more than double the Galaxy S II’s first-day sales, and five times the initial sales of the original Galaxy S.

British carrier O2 saw a mass outage affecting up to a third of its customer base on Wednesday and Thursday. The problem, caused by a glitch in the software which registers customers’ handsets on to the network, lasted for around 24 hours, during which time affected O2 users were unable to access the carrier’s voice or data services. The bug was dealt with by lunchtime BST on Thursday, and everyone affected by it should now be able to use their phones again.

Check out a selection of the biggest international Android stories from the past seven days below. If you’ve got news, be sure to tip us at the usual address.

Special features:

• Why we don't need another version of Android this year
• The best Android phone you can buy, as of July 2012
• Acer Iconia Tab A700 review

News:

• Android 4.0.4 lands for Canadian Galaxy S III's
• BBC launches official Olympic Games app
• Google Maps launches walking directions for 44 African countries
• Advanced gaming smartphone coming from ZTE next week
• O2 confirms UK-wide network problems
• O2 UK network restores after 24 hours downtime for some customers
• Android 4.0.4 arrives for international Galaxy Note, has a few tricks up its sleeves
• Record first-day sales for Korean Galaxy S III
• Huawei Ascend D1 goes on sale in China, Russia next month
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus ICS updates begin
• Sony launches Xperia Unleashed campaign, win stuff by finding tiny bots
• Android 4.0.4 lands on Galaxy S II in some territories
• British High Court rules in favor of Samsung in Apple trade dress case
• Canadian retailers taking Nexus 7 pre-orders

Apple has sent letters to U.S. retailers offering Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet and Galaxy Nexus phone, warning them not to sell the devices. Following a patent dispute earlier in the month, Apple obtained preliminary injunctions preventing the Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Nexus from imported into, or sold within the United States. In the case of the Nexus, however, sales are set to continue after the ban was delayed on appeal, and that device looks set to continue shipping from the Google Play Store soon.

In its letter, quoted on FOSS Patents, Apple demands that retailers refrain from "importing, offering to sell, or selling [the devices] within the United States," saying the injunctions apply "not only to the named Samsung entities, but also to anyone 'acting in concert' with them." It goes on -- "Apple thus believes that the order extends to you."

Whether Apple is legally in the right remains to be seen, (and that's a debate for folks smarter than us). But the attempted strong-arming of retailers shows just how badly the iPhone maker wants to prevent consumers from being able to buy these competing (and, they would argue, infringing) products. People close to the matter at Best Buy and Wal-Mart tell us that they've been complying with the order regardless of Apple's aggression. One such source told us, "We had planned to remove the Galaxy Tab 10.1 from the shelves the evening the news [of the injunction] broke, and we received word from our district manager to go forward with the plan immediately." Despite this, some U.S. retailers are​ still offering the devices for sale, and that's what seems to have provoked this response from Cupertino.

A statement released by Samsung condemned Apple's actions, saying "Apple’s menacing letters greatly overreach, incorrectly claiming that third-party retailers are subject to the prohibitions of the preliminary injunction, which they clearly are not."

Source: FOSS Patents; via: The Verge

With the Android 4.1 source code having recently dropped on AOSP, custom ROM makers are quickly making progress in getting the new version ported to a variety of devices. One of those is the much-anticipated CyanogenMod 10, and this morning one of CM's leading devs has posted a short teaser video showing the Jelly Bean-powered CM10 in action.

Ricardo Cerquiera released the above video on YouTube and Google+, demonstrating a surprisingly functional ROM on the LG Optimus 4X HD. Zipping around the UI, we see that the camera, multitasking and phone calls are all working, though this early build seems to have a couple of issues with the new Google Search app. In any case, it's an impressive amount of progress considering how short a time the Jelly Bean source has been available.

As always, the first rule of CyanogenMod applies here, and the team isn't giving any ETAs for CM10 nightly builds.  We'll be waiting to try this on our devices just as soon as it's ready.

Source: +Ricardo Cerquiera

As you might have guessed by the continuing news coverage, the London Olympic Games are almost upon us.  And now the BBC is launching its official Olympic app for Android (and iOS), allowing you mobile to access the Beeb's Olympic coverage in all its forms. You'll find the same written and video content found on the BBC mobile sites, as well as live streams of the games once things kick off on July 27. There's also a guide to all the leading athletes, and an Olympic schedule to help users see what's next. Once the medals start being doled out, you'll find a dedicated guide page for keeping track of those, too.

The app is available now at the Google Play Store for devices running Android 2.2 and above.  To view the BBC's Olympic live streams,  you'll need the soon to be deprecated Adobe Flash Player.  Unfortunately that means anyone on the latest version of the OS, 4.1 Jelly Bean, is out of luck. You’ll also need to be in the UK to stream content from the BBC, though if you’re in the US, you can always use NBC’s streaming app instead.

Download: BBC Olympics app on Google Play

Google took its first steps towards redesigning the Android notification tray in Ice Cream Sandwich, and in the latest version, 4.1 Jelly Bean, it's taken things a step further, creating truly informative and interactive notification entries that border on widget-like levels of interactivity. In addition to the standard icon-and-label combo we're used to from earlier Android versions, many Jelly Bean-compatible notifications can be expanded by dragging down with a two-finger gesture. For example, if you've got an IM notification, you can swipe down with two fingers to view the first few lines of the message.

In addition, you'll find that notifications from many Google apps now feature buttons that allow you to perform certain tasks without entering the app. Google Calendar events, for instance, include a button to snooze the event (you can still swipe it away to dismiss it). And after capturing a screenshot, there's a handy "Share" button that you can use to send it via social networks, or any other sharing app you have installed.

Gmail is where I find this feature most useful, though. Swiping down on a Gmail notifications in Jelly Bean allows you to view a list of subject lines and senders, assuming you've got multiple messages waiting. Or alternatively, if there's just one, you can view the sender, subject line, and the first several lines of the message -- more than enough to work out if it's worth jumping into the app to respond. It's a great way to take advantage of the extra visual real estate offered by the Nexus 7, and looks good on the Galaxy Nexus too, assuming you're not already drowning in notifications.

We've got a brief video showing of all these features after the break. Also be sure to check out the rest of our Jelly Bean feature articles.

As we learned at this year's Google I/O keynote, Android adoption is booming in developing countries, including many in Africa. And so to help these new users get the most out of the platform, Google is continuing to build on its own mobile app offerings, including the launch of walking directions for Google Maps users in Africa. Following on from the launch of driving directions in Africa in 2010, walking directions are now available in some 44 African nations, with the feature being accessed in the same way as it is elsewhere.

Whether they're using the mobile app or web interface, users can select the walking icon when they choose their start and end locations, and they'll get a direct walking route from one location to the other. As ever, Google reminds us that walking directions are (still) in beta, so you'll want to take basic safety precautions when you're out and about.

Source: Google LatLong