incredible
Latest
Caribou Android app opens doors over the internet, needs neither permission nor keys (video)
Opening doors with wireless RFID cardkeys is old hat at this point, but opening those doors with a smartphone is rather more intriguing. Doing so without permission of the people who put the locks on the doors, well, that brings things up to a whole new level of awesomeness. That's what Caribou does, a little Android app that remotely connects to a server managing the locks at a supposedly secure location. The app then diddles the ports and security settings of that server until it finds the magic phrase and, in a couple of seconds, it's open sesame time. Doors are unlocked remotely and then, 30 seconds later, automatically locked again. How thoughtful. We first saw this demonstrated a few days ago but weren't entirely convinced of its legitimacy. But now, after exchanging a few e-mails with Michael Gough, who discovered the exploit, and Ian Robertson, who wrote the app, we're convinced. They're actually working with US-CERT on this issue so that appropriate measures will be taken but, in the short-term, if you have a system like this and it's sitting out there, IP open to the internet and being caressed by every passing breeze, you might want to think about pulling that in behind your firewall. Lots more info at both source links below, though you can see it working for yourself right here in a video after the break, running on an HTC Incredible.
HTC Droid Incredible 2 smiles pretty for the camera, shows off its fresh VZW tat
It hit Verizon's system a few weeks ago and now it's hitting a white corner for some pictures, showing VZW branding no less. It's the US-spec version of the Incredible S, said to be running Android 2.2 but word is that Gingerbread will be on-tap before it ships. The rest of the specs on this four-inch slab line up with what we've learned before, meaning the only question now is the all-important when.
HTC Droid Incredible 2 shows up in Verizon's system
Well, look what we've got here! Seeing that HTC just introduced the Incredible S -- a world phone only available in the UK -- it was only a matter of time before the phone hit the stateside. A trusted tipster just hit us with screen shots of Verizon's internals containing a device dubbed HTC ADR6350. The other screenshot below has a listing for the HTC63503 with a description of "INCRD2." Putting two and two together, we'd say with great confidence that the Incredible 2 is coming to Verizon in the near future -- and we certainly wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with that "buttonless" shot we saw a while back. Stay tuned as we try and dig up more details... and in the meantime, peep the second screenshot after the break!
HTC Incredible S auto-rotating buttons explained? (video)
We were quite bedazzled by the HTC Incredible S after our hands-on at MWC, but it's the auto-rotating icons for the capacitive buttons that left us most intrigued. So we went back to the HTC booth to try to make sense of it all. From what we were able to observe, there's some optical trickery happening here: the icons appear to be glittering and shimmering depending on viewing angle as if lit through a prism, half-mirror or grate of some kind. We think that a pair of LEDs are used to project the intended icon onto the glass surface via either a combination of prisms and half-mirrors, or via horizontally and vertically polarized grates. Watch our video after the break, and let us know in the comments how you think this actually works.
HTC Incredible S, Desire S, and Wildfire S video hands-on
Okay, by now you've likely seen most if not all of HTC's monstrous MWC 2011 launch (HTC Incredible S, Desire S, and Wildfire S), but we'd be remiss in our duties if we didn't complete the video tours. Sadly the HTC Salsa and ChaCha weren't ready to play just yet -- the software isn't quite ready for primetime -- so they had to remain behind a safe layer of glass. We did, however, get a quick overview of each of the S devices mentioned above and have some pretty galleries of them, too. So enjoy the show. %Gallery-116704% %Gallery-116698% %Gallery-116703%
HTC Desire HD ROM ported to Droid Incredible, Desire (update: EVO 4G too)
You've already seen it ported to the HTC HD2, and it looks like the recently-leaked HTC Desire HD ROM has now also made its way to two more likely candidates for a port: the Droid Incredible and original Desire. As you might expect, there are a few issues that you'll likely want to consider before diving right in -- there's no camera support yet on either phone, for instance -- but it does look like it otherwise reasonably stable for a beta, and it does bring some of the boot speed improvements seen on the Desire HD itself. Head on past the break for a quick video, and hit up the source links below for all the necessary details. Update: We're getting word that even the HTC EVO 4G's in on the speedy-booting game now, with a Desire HD ROM as well as an original Desire build from MIUI. They're apparently still half-baked like the other two, missing camera support, WiFi and 4G as well, but if you've been looking for an opportunity to tweak, hit up link number three below. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
HTC Droid Incredible nearing switch from AMOLED to SLCD?
HTC already transitioned its Desire and Nexus One units from AMOLED to Super LCD, and it looks as if the outfit may soon be doing likewise on the highly popular Droid Incredible as it struggles against a long-running AMOLED shortage. The Verizon memo you see above clearly lays out the firm's intentions, with an entirely new SKU (ADR6300VW3) expected to flush through retail channels "around the end of September." In other words, those who purchase an Incredible after the end of this month will all but definitely be guaranteed an SLCD unit. We pinged HTC to see if it wanted to deny or confirm the claims, and here's what we received: "We haven't announced any moves towards changing the Incredible display from AMOLED to SLCD." Yeah, a textbook denial. Oh, and if you're wondering whether to rush or retard your impending Incredible purchase, have a look at our Desire head-to-head here. Decisions, decisions...
The revolving door: Froyo for Droid Incredible coming tomorrow, Froyo for EVO 4G gets rooted
The rich landscape of Android versioning just got a bit richer, with word of an official Froyo update for the Droid Incredible being launched tomorrow (based on the screencap pictured above), while the EVO 4G's recent Froyo software just got rooted. If you're crazily impatient, an Android 2.2 ROM for the Incredible just leaked out into the wild, and can be installed with a bit of work, but from the official-looking-ness of this leak from Droid Life, a painless official update is not far off. Meanwhile, in Sprint land, the xda-devs have a rather complicated, rather scary method posted for rooting 2.2 on the EVO 4G -- you'll have to ask yourself how much that freedom is worth to you, or just wait for the inevitably easier methods to come along and hold your hand.
HTC Droid Incredible finally returns to stock, not a moment too soon
If the rumors of an August 18th Android 2.2 update prove true, we'd say Verizon Wireless couldn't have picked a better time to get HTC's Droid Incredible back in stock. 'Course, we suspect you'll think differently if you've been waiting for your backorder to clear over the past few weeks, but we digress. As of this moment in time, the handset -- which has been tough to get thanks to AMOLED shortages -- is in stock and shipping as early as today, with an unchanged $199.99-on-contract price tag. Better hurry if you're looking to buy -- who knows when those panels will hit yet another production snag.
Froyo code for HTC EVO 4G, Droid Incredible goes open source
You know the drill: if you're rolling custom firmwares for your Android-powered devices, you've got to release the GPL portions of those binaries for all of our prying eyes to see. It's a drill HTC is well-acquainted with at this point, and once again, they've come swooping in with a couple that should pique the particular interest of the North American hacking community: kernel source for the Android 2.2 releases for Verizon's Droid Incredible and Sprint's EVO 4G. Of course, finding a frickin' Droid Incredible is another matter altogether... but hey, at least when you do, you'll have the source for it. Half the battle, right?
Apple and HTC lead charge as smartphone market looks set to grow and grow
A recent survey of 4,028 US consumers by ChangeWave has thrown up a number of illuminating statistics, which you might consider as predictable as they are informative. The chief takeaway is that people are keen on buying smartphones like never before, with 16% of respondents saying that they'll be taking the plunge within the next 90 days, which marks the biggest increase in the survey's history. Secondly, and crucially for vendor loyalists, Apple and HTC seem to be the biggest beneficiaries (or are they the stimulants?) of this interest, with both improving their share by over 50 percent between March and June of this year. RIM and Motorola have taken a tumble in that same timespan, while Palm has sadly failed to register even a single percentage point. We can definitely see the Droid X and BlackBerry 6 remedying things for the big boys, but Palm's route out of ignominy seems a little less straightforward. You'll find a chart of customer satisfaction -- dominated by Apple in imperious fashion -- after the break, and the full breakdown at the source link.
Droid Incredible saves browser screenshots to internal memory, turns into a privacy nightmare?
digg_url = 'http://digg.com/gadgets/Droid_Incredible_saves_browser_screenshots_to_internal_memor'; June must be the month when privacy issues leave their hibernation and return to trouble our fragile minds. First we had Flash going loco, then AT&T's airwaves exploded with iPad users' email addresses, iPhone 4 pre-orders started sending people to the wrong account, and now this. Boy Genius Report has come across a rather worrying "feature" of the HTC Sense bookmarking widget on the Incredible, which takes sporadic screenshots of your browsing sessions. That wouldn't be so bothersome in itself, but try to remove said pictures, and you find where the problem lies. Ending the browsing session, deleting your history, and even a full reset to factory settings failed to eviscerate the indiscreet imagery. You have to manually discover their location and delete them by hand. Considering the high likelihood of Incredibles being sold and resold for years to come, this could turn the phone into a little cache of treasure for the proactive identity thief. And since it's a Sense issue, it might be affecting other HTC handsets as well. Wunderbar.
HTC EVO 4G and Droid Incredible suffering from unresponsive screen issues
Uh oh: on top of reports that the EVO 4G suffers screen-detachment issues, we're also starting to hear that the touchscreen sensor is inconsistent, particularly when the phone isn't grounded. We've seen more than one report and video purporting to show the EVO's touchscreen failing to smoothly register touches when the phone isn't being handheld (and thus grounded). We haven't been able to reproduce the issues ourselves, but trust us when we say we've heard from enough unhappy EVO owners to believe that the problem is real. What's more, there's also an older video showing the same problem on three different Droid Incredibles, which obviously shares strong family ties to the EVO. We've pinged HTC, we'll let you know what we hear -- for now, get your sad faces on and watch the videos after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
How would you change HTC's Droid Incredible?
Yeah, we called it the best Android device in America during our review back in April, and even today it's somewhat difficult to track down, but that's not to suggest that HTC's Droid Incredible is free of flaws. The Sense-enabled smartphone is the current flagship in VZW's stable, and while the EVO 4G may offer faster connections (in select locales) and a larger display, the Droid Incredible still has its fair share of proponents. This space, however, is where we all take a deep breath, a step back and quick sip of a strong drink. After that, we'd invite you to hit up comments below and tell us how you'd tweak this here smartphone if you suddenly found your way into HTC's headquarters. Would you have stretched the display a centimeter or two? Changed the hardware design somewhat? Made it available with a GSM radio? The options are pretty limitless, so head on down and publish your $0.02. Seriously, what are you waiting for?
Droid Incredible gets rooted at long last
The Incredible wait is finally at an end -- HTC's finest handset on Verizon had proven quite the tough nut to crack, but at long last it has succumbed to the efforts of some industrious root-hungry coders. You should be mindful that progress is still at a very early stage, and hacking your own Incredible is said to be both "very hard" and "not very repeatable." The important thing though, is that it's happened, and we're now probably only a few days removed from a user-friendly patch that lets us truly do whatever we might want with that handsome device. They say roots are an important part of a balanced diet, and this one should go very nicely with a bit of Froyo, don't you think? [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Droid Incredible torn down to its constituent elements, reassembled in a flash (video)
Now here's an innovative concept -- instead of doing separate videos for an unboxing and a disassembly of the Droid Incredible, why not combine them into one? And while you're at it, turn that into a stop-motion animation and include well timed sound effects for comedic relief. Make sure to include intimate closeups of the Incredible's spectacularly red innards, then finish off with a sped-up reconstruction and reboot of the handsome Nexus One killer. Got all that? Good, now drop the video after the break and let the people enjoy it.
Droid Incredible's mysterious OTA update actually fixes Exchange bug
Saturday afternoon, reports came in that Verizon's new Droid Incredible had already received its first OTA update. Nobody knew quite what it did and few even received it, but some figured it probably fixed the smattering of random reboots and radio bugs experienced by some early adopters. We reached out to Verizon on the matter, and we're afraid to say that's not the case -- the new 1.22.605.2 CL161494 software build merely fixes a bug in Microsoft Exchange support. As such, you'll only see the update if you've got a corporate handset, and those who do can expect their carbon-copy email fields (which would apparently fill with unintended addresses beforehand) to be fixed sometime around May 6th. On the off-chance that fix magically transforms your mobile world, feel free to let us know in comments. Full statement after the break.
HTC Incredible suffering random reboots for Tar Heel fans and Duke devotees?
Well now this is a bit of an odd story, but we've seen enough reports to think that it is fully legit. HTC Incredible owners in and around the great state of North Carolina, particularly those in north-central portion (the Triad) are reporting that their phones are rebooting all on their own with alarming regularity. Many have tried new phones, combinations of wireless settings, and other remediations only to find the problem still occurring just as frequently as before. Verizon Wireless is said to be aware of the issue and there has been talk that tower-switching in areas of low signal is to blame, but at this point it certainly sounds like anyone's guess. Have you been affected? Drop us a note in comments -- but try to keep the intra-college banter clean, yeah? Update: We're being told there are far more Duke and Tar Heel fans per capita in the Triangle area of NC than in the Triad, which is where this issue seems to be centered, meaning it's really the Demon Deacons who should be concerned. [Thanks, Ben]
HTC Droid Incredible arrives as promised (Update: not yet!)
Don't say we didn't warn you. HTC's impressive Droid Incredible has arrived, so if you pre-ordered one you can expect it today (if you haven't already gotten it) -- and if you didn't, well you can pick one up at a nearby Verizon store. If you haven't already, be sure to check out our full review of the Incredible. Update: So, a friendly tipster pointed out to us that on Verizon's website, it actually still lists the Droid Incredible as available for pre-order. To quote: "Due to high demand, this device will ship by 5/4."
Google updates Nexus One page, tells Verizon customers to get a Droid Incredible instead (update: the Verizon Nexus One is dead)
Now this, this is all kinds of silly. Google has been busy updating its phone sales site, and the latest word for Verizon Wireless subscribers encourages them to look at the "similarly feature-packed" cousin of the Nexus One, the Incredible. Importantly, what's missing from the new wording is the "coming soon" tag, suggesting that for all intents and purposes the Nexus has been obviated by the arrival of the Incredible. In a separate blog post updating us on carrier partnerships, Google again reiterates its mini-advert for the new HTC phone on Verizon while keeping mum about the Nexus One's future. A true CDMA variant of le superphone should still be coming wearing Sprint regalia, but it's disappointing to see Google use such doublespeak techniques. Is the Verizon Nexus canceled or not? Update: We just heard back from Google -- the Verizon Nexus One is dead; long live the Incredible. Here's the official statement: We won't be selling a Nexus One with Verizon, and this is a reflection of the amazing innovation happening across the open Android ecosystem. Verizon Wireless customers who want an Android phone with the power of the Nexus One can get the Droid Incredible by HTC. Now, that's certainly reasonable, given the similarities between the Nexus One and the Incredible, but here's a question: given that the Incredible runs Sense on top of Android, isn't the closest Verizon analogue to the Nexus One experience actually the Droid, which runs stock Android 2.1? Considering Motorola's recent moves away from Google, maybe this is a sign of something deeper.
