Advertisement

Refresh Roundup: week of September 24th, 2012

Zachary Lutz
Updated ·4 min read

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. 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 we could find during 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

  • Motorola: Google's mobile phone subsidiary released a revised update guideline for many of its handsets this week. For devices that've been confirmed to receive Ice Cream Sandwich, the Droid Bionic and Xoom Family Edition remain in line for a Q4 delivery. As for smartphones that'll remain saddled with Gingerbread, this includes the Atrix 4G, Photon 4G, Droid 2, Droid 2 Global, Droid 3, Droid Pro, Droid X2, Electrify, Cliq, Admiral, Milestone 3, Milestone X2 and Motorola Pro+. [Motorola]

  • Motorola Atrix 2: Unlike the Atrix 4G, which will never experience the thrills and chills of Ice Cream Sandwich, AT&T took the wraps off of Android 4.0 for the Atrix 2 this week. Users will also discover the update brings an improved camera, revised web top experience and the latest apps from AT&T and Google. [TechnoBuffalo]

  • Motorola Droid Xyboard 8.2: Verizon Wireless published notice of an Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade for this tablet. In addition to the new OS, the software brings updated USB drivers, improved network connectivity and faster web browsing. The corporate types will also benefit from more secure email. [Android Police]

  • Motorola XPRT: Heh... you know what's sad? Try the plight of the XPRT user, which has been kicking it with Froyo all through 2012. Fortunately, Motorola is now throwing a couple of table scraps their way with an update to Gingerbread. The latest(?) software also brings better Bluetooth compatibility and squashed a few bugs that's plagued contacts and email. [Android Central]

  • Samsung Galaxy Nexus: Google released the Android 4.1 factory recovery images for the Verizon variant of this smartphone. [Android Central]

  • ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity TF700: ASUS had originally announced that it would deliver Android 4.1 during the week, but a couple of last minute additions prevented the company from meeting that goal. Most recently, the company has communicated that users can expect an update to Jelly Bean in the coming week. [Android Police]

  • HTC One S: T-Mobile is now pushing out Android 4.0.4 to this handset in the US. The latest update includes HTC's Sense 4.1 environment with quick access to settings in the notification drawer. The software also brings improved WiFi connectivity and system stability. [Android Police]

  • Acer Iconia Tab A700: Reports are coming from Germany that Android 4.1 is now rolling out to this 10-inch tablet from Acer. While the initial deployment seems to be relatively limited, we hope to report of greater availability in the near future. [Android Police]

Unofficial Android updates, custom ROMs and misc. hackery

  • AOKP: This popular custom ROM project delivered Build 3 of its Jelly Bean-based system this week. New improvements include SMS quick reply, advanced calculator functions (such as graphs and matrices), and the addition of a stopwatch and countdown timer in the clock app. As of this build, support for Sprint's Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S 4G was reintroduced, and the international variants of the Galaxy S II and Galaxy S III are also now supported. [AOKP]

Other platforms

  • Samsung Focus: A new ROM that's based on Windows Phone 7.8 is now available for the Samsung Focus. Users will find access to Nokia's apps, USB video out and flip-to-silence all baked into the software. The build is said to include language support for English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. [WMPoweruser]

Refreshes we covered this week