Nokia’s Lumia looks far better than the Titan II, is better built and has a superior display.

The Note is better than the Nexus on paper, if not for a few “niggles”. Firstly, it’s huge. Secondly, TouchWiz and Gingerbread. The Nexus runs stock ICS and it is GORGEOUS. Thirdly, sure the Note will be “better” with Cyanogenmod, but why should one have to root to get that experience? Not once have I felt the need or urge to root my Nexus. Heck, it’s the first Android device I’ve had that I haven’t rooted within a couple of days of receipt. And that’s saying something.

Look at what we have here, an update for the Amazon Kindle Fire on Dec 20, and it has been rooted already again on Dec 23. It is always nice to be able to keep up to date with the most current OS versions because they tend to make performance better and fix previous issues, but no one wants to be without root, right? Thankfully we have some amazing people hard at work behind the scenes and Rootzwiki and AndroidPolice have teamed up and released a root method for the Kindle Fire already. If you took the update and want to root, or skipped the update until it was rooted, be sure to hit the source link to check out what you need to do and how to do it!

The Acer Iconia A500 is getting a pretty widespread system update this evening — actually it’s getting two.  Users are reporting that they receive the first (7.014.01), and it’s quickly followed by version7.014.02.  Both are small (less than 10MB) files, and neither are Ice Cream Sandwich.  What the updates are bringing is welcome though, namely a change to the latest 3.4.4 version of the Android Market and it’s corresponding widget, and improved UI speeds — including the keyboard.  The full changelog hasn’t hit Acer’s website as of the time of this writing, so it’s possible there may be more goodies inside and we’ll find them as we go along. 

Have an Optimus 3D or LG Thrill 4G (the U.S. version on AT&T)?  Here’s news you’ll love — Ricardo Cerqueira, an Android hacking mastermind when it comes to high-end LG devices, has released a new version of his “Almost CyanogenMod 7″ ROM today.  Why the “Almost” tag?  Ricardo explains thusly:

Dingleberry, the exploit package that roots the BlackBerry PlayBook (and has one of the coolest names ever) has gone public, and everyone who bought a PlayBook can now root the QNX operating system on the device.  Huge props to the fellows who figured out the exploit, especially because rooting QNX builds isn’t a well documented or popular subject.  You gentlemen have a standing offer of an ice cold beer or six anytime I have chance to meet up with you.

A little light reading for a fine fall Sunday. What is CarrierIQ, what’s all the fuss about, and what can be done?

What is CarrierIQ?

CarrierIQ is a company based in San Jose, Calif., that provides a tool (that’s probably a gross understatement at this point, but that’s really what it is) for carriers to obtain analytics about how you use your smartphone.

By now if you’ve been following the European Galaxy Nexus launch, you’ll be aware of the infamous volume bug that results in volume levels spiking all over the place when the phone (or something else nearby) is in 2G mode on a 900MHz network. This morning Google and Samsung confirmed that they’re aware of the problem and have a software fix ready to go. However that hasn’t stopped the cries from across the blogosphere (and beyond) that the root cause is a hardware fault, and that Google is papering over the cracks by fixing it with software. Some have even called for Samsung to issue a recall of all Nexuses sold over the past week.

It’s not “rooting,” it’s openness

– Nick Kralevich, Android security engineer

There’s a bit of brouhaha on the Internet today about the Samsung Galaxy Nexus being “rooted.”  While I applaud the gentlemen who take the time to build binaries needed to flash the superuser/switchuser files to the GNexus, I think it’s more important to re-visit something from the past.  Namely, you don’t need to exploit a Nexus device to root it.  The tools to unlock the potential of a Nexus phone are included, so pushing new software that allows more access to the system isn’t really a surprise.  Hopefully, someone can go further with this access and do something that does surprise us. 

It’s not “rooting,” it’s openness

– Nick Kralevich, Android security engineer

There’s a bit of brouhaha on the Internet today about the Samsung Galaxy Nexus being “rooted.”  While I applaud the gentlemen who take the time to build binaries needed to flash the superuser/switchuser files to the GNexus, I think it’s more important to re-visit something from the past.  Namely, you don’t need to exploit a Nexus device to root it.  The tools to unlock the potential of a Nexus phone are included, so pushing new software that allows more access to the system isn’t really a surprise.  Hopefully, someone can go further with this access and do something that does surprise us. 

It’s not “rooting,” it’s openness

– Nick Kralevich, Android security engineer

There’s a bit of brouhaha on the Internet today about the Samsung Galaxy Nexus being “rooted.”  While I applaud the gentlemen who take the time to build binaries needed to flash the superuser/switchuser files to the GNexus, I think it’s more important to re-visit something from the past.  Namely, you don’t need to exploit a Nexus device to root it.  The tools to unlock the potential of a Nexus phone are included, so pushing new software that allows more access to the system isn’t really a surprise.  Hopefully, someone can go further with this access and do something that does surprise us.