Android Direct: April 2012

aFirewall call and sms blocker v3.2.3

Requirements: Android 1.6 and up
Overview: aFirewall means Android Firewall. It allows you to configure multi rules to block different call or message at different time.

1).Blocked conversation supports to block unknown/private/restricted/anonymous/blacklist calls/SMS/MMS;
2).Protected conversation supports to hide selected numbers’ call/SMS/MMS;
3).Support to define rules to block different call/SMS/MMS at different time;
4).Two ways to avoid forwarding blocked calls to voicemail;
5). You can set Call Blocking Mode and Message Blocking Mode seperately;
6).Support to multi hangup mode. You can forward the blocked calls to voicemail or a non-existing number. And you can set aFirewall to accept and hangup blocked calls to avoid forwarding to voicemail;

LG Optimus L3 Review

In today’s mobile world, the trend is nudging towards high-end smartphones with bigger screens and a high price tag. But for us wanting a not so expensive alternative, what are we gonna do? LG has an answer to that in the form of their entry level handset, the Optimus L3.

It is no secret that the LG Optimus L3 is targeted at the same demographics as the one that’s been dominated by Samsung with their Galaxy Y. The almost identical price positioning and the hardware configuration will attest to that.

Design and Construction

The first thing that you’ll notice with the Optimus L3 is its size. It’s small and will easily snug inside your hands. The edges are rounded while the top and bottom areas are flat. The back cover has a rough texture, giving you more grip so it won’t easily slip off. Located at the left side are the dedicated volume keys while right on top is the sleep/wake button and the 3.5 mm headset jack.

LG launches Optimus L3 for Php5,990

LG launched their entry level Android smartphone, the Optimus L3, last Saturday afternoon at SM Mall of Asia.

To hype things up, LG got one of the local bands, PARALUMAN, to play a few songs before introducing their celebrity ambassadors for the Optimus L3, Coleen Garcia and UAAP’s Kiefer Ravena. One of the highlights of the event was to showcase the features of the Optimus L3 as well as to introduce its new design identity which is the L-Style.

We were able to have a conversation with Mr. Lawrence Kim, VP for Mobile Product Marketing, about the Optimus L3 and its advantage over other entry level smartphones currently in the market. He explained that the main focus behind the design of the L3 is to give the consumers the best smartphone experience at a very low price.

For starters, the Optimus L3 will give you a 3.2 inch LCD screen, Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread, 3.2 megapixel camera, and a Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery at an introductory price of Php 5,990. In other words, LG wants you to have a bigger bang for the buck.

Google drops Galaxy Nexus to $399 at the Play Store

Google’s Andy Rubin just posted in the official Google Mobile blog that they are now offering an unlocked Samsung Galaxy Nexus for only $399 over at the Google Pay Store.

That price translates to about Php17k at current exchange rates. That’s really cheap!

Samsung announces Exynos 4 Quad

Samsung has unveiled its new chip for its upcoming smartphones — a quad-core processor running at 1.4GHz per core dubbed the Exynos 4 Quad. This will be shown along with the new Galaxy phone they will announce next week.

The Exynos 4 Quad is basically twice the number of cores that currently runs on theSamsung Galaxy Note (which uses the Exynos 4 Dual). That’s double the processing power of the Galaxy Note.

The rest of the details are not clear but Samsung has graciously offered this video to present some of the benchmark and muscle the Exynos 4 Quad can do.

Incidentally, we will be flying to London in the UK next week to cover the launching of Samsung’s new Galaxy smartphone (we refer to it as the Galaxy S3 at the moment). We will bring you more details and probably some live coverage by May 3.

Leaked Galaxy S3 Manual shows design, specs

Itching to find out what the Samsung Galaxy S3 will look like and what it’ll pack under the hood? Here’s something that will raise your eyebrows – a reportedly leaked copy of the official service manual of the Galaxy S3 showing off its design and specifications. Check out the images below.

Sony Xperia Ion set for Taiwan this May

Sony has recently announced that they will be releasing the Xperia Ion in Taiwan. Announced at the CES 2012 back in January, the phone that will be made available in Taiwan is the LT28i which is the GSM version of the LT28at under AT&T which has LTE functionality.

Generally speaking, the handset shares a lot of similarities in terms of what is under the hood with the recently launched Xperia S here in the country. The only difference between the two is that the Xperia Ion (4.55”) has a slightly bigger screen than the Xperia S (4.3”) and that the Ion has lesser built-in storage capacity (16GB) than the Xperia S (32GB). The advantage of the former is that it has a MicroSD slot so the storage can still be upgraded up to another 32GB which is disappointingly missing on the latter.

Another thing that sets the two devices apart is their design. The Xperia Ion’s design is rather simple as compared to its Xperia siblings. It strayed away from the illuminating base with extended chin design of other NXT phones. Unlike the Xperia S that has a removable plastic back cover, the back of the Xperia Ion is made of texturized aluminum with the top and bottom portion made of matte plastic and the sides made up of glossy plastic. These, along with the all black color of the Xperia Ion give it a more sophisticated look than that of the Xperia S.

No official pricing and release date was mentioned. But if the rumors that this phone is due next month were true, then we won’t have to wait that much longer as April is about to close out soon. We’re hoping to get our hands on one of these handsets so we can take a closer look and write a full review. I guess we’ll have to wait for now.

Instagram for Android finally arrives, generates one million downloads

One of the things that got some people going for iOS devices are the apps and one of the apps that people are flocking to is Instagram. After a long wait, Android users no need to envy further as the beloved photo sharing app is now available in the Google Play Store.

If you’ve been living under a rock, Instagram is a photo sharing app that lets you capture images, apply cool effects then share it with other Instagram users. You can also view images uploaded by your followed friends, giving you a chance to like it or post a comment.

It was rumored that the Android version will be better than its iOS counterpart so I did a quick comparison.

Turns out, the Android version is missing a feature that its iOS brother has and that is the selective focus tool. With the filters, I managed to spot a difference and that is the X-Pro. Android has “X-Pro” while the iOS version has “X-Pro II.”

The Instagram app for Android has been made available on April 3, 2012 and at the time of writing, already been rated by 8,000 users.

It’s in version 1.0.0 and requires Android version 2.2 and up. Searching the word “Instagram” on the Play Store won’t quickly show you the app so to make it easier you can download it through this Play Store link.

Note: Android phone used is the Sony Xperia S.

Hologram Live Wallpaper Full v2.2

Requirements: Android 2.1+
Overview: Hologram Live Wallpaper allows you to create a 3D hologram as your home screen. The screen moves as you move and creates a 3D depth to the scene.