agustin's blog: Refresh Roundup: week of August 29, 2011

Monday, September 5, 2011

Refresh Roundup: week of August 29, 2011

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Official Android updates

The biggest update we saw this week was a widespread push of Android 2.3.3 to the Motorola Droid 2. This one is done OTA, so simply go into your settings menu and check for updates to see if it's there. (thanks to everyone who sent this in)
While we saw a rollout of Android 2.3 to a select few LG Optimus Ones in June, we're hearing reports that the update's now getting pushed out again to a few more regions. This refresh must be done manually through LG's updater tool, so you'll definitely want to check to see if your phone is one of the lucky recipients. [via PocketNow]
US Cellular took to its Facebook Page to let customers know it's working on revamping the Samsung Mesmerize to Gingerbread at some point, though no official date or timeframe was given aside from "as soon as possible." [via AndroidCentral]
HTC announced the arrival of Android 2.3 for the Thunderbolt and Droid Incredible this month, via its Facebook page. [via AndroidCommunity]
In fact, some users have already reported getting Gingerbread for the Incredible, and we suspect the rollout will be complete no later than the end of the month, to fulfill the company's promise. [via Phandroid]
Gingerbread is in the plans for the Motorola Milestone 2, and according to the company the refresh will begin rolling out in early Q4. [via MyDailyGadget]
The Samsung LC11 LTE mobile hotspot is getting a new build, EF07, that appears to improve its handling of multiple devices and congested WiFi locations. It also adds security patches and new protocols. [via Verizon]
An update for the Droid 3 was apparently available to soak testers and leaked online, but was pulled from Motorola servers shortly thereafter. It appears to add video chat support in GTalk and adds a new radio that's supposed to save battery life. The via link still has the update available for anyone interested. [via Droid-Life]

Unofficial Android updates / custom ROMs / misc hackery

The root method used on most Motorola Android devices has been employed to root the Droid Bionic before it's even been released. [via Droid-Life]
LG has released the kernel source for its Gingerbread build of the Optimus S. [via AndroidCentral]
The HTC Dev site expanded its support for the bootloader unlock tool this week, now encompassing all versions of the Sensation -- including T-Mobile's. [via AndroidCentral]

Other platforms