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The update for Android Honeycomb that was said to be arriving for the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer next week, has been leaked a little early. The download is about 220 MB, and is available for download here.

Here is the instruction Android 3.1 update for the ASUS Transformer:

Step 1: Move the EP101_SDUPDATE.zip file you downloaded to your SD card.

Step 2: Plug in your tablet, or make sure your battery is well charged.

Step 3: Power off.

Step 4: Hold down the volume down key, and power button at the same time and keep them down until you see a ROM Boot Screen that instructs you to press the volume up key within 5 seconds to start the update process.

Step 5: Press the volume up key and your tablet will update and reboot. This may take about 3-5 minutes.

Step 6: After a reboot, a notification should arrive within 5 minutes or so advising you of a docking station update, which you can then download. The firmware update should improve typing speed, mouse tracking, and USB compatibility.

The Android 3.1 update to Honeycomb brings performance fixes, an enhanced app switcher, resizable widgets, and alleged improvements to the keyboard dock.

[Source], [Download]

Asus PadFone has finally been announced at Computex today. Asus PadFone is basically a culmination of two devices, one tablet and one smartphone. This Android First Hybrid 10.1-inch tablet acts as a dock completely hiding the 4.3-inch smartphone within and charging. The tablet half can be employed as a battery for juicing up the handset and one SIM card may be used on both devices. Users should be able to avail of smooth transitioning of apps between phone and slate and a 3G network can be shared between both.

Asus still haven’t announced the final hardware specifications for the Asus PadFone, so I think that we will have to wait for more days to hear about any pricing or availability details.

For more news coverage, you can follow us on Twitter, we will keep you updated with posts over the web (YTechCity.com).

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While the BlackBerry Playbook supports Android Apps, the little green droid is now making its way to Windows Platform. BlueStacks has announced that it is developing a program which lets you run Android apps in Windows environment seamlessly. At the present moment, BlueStacks is readily bundled on ViewSonic ViewPad 10 Pro tablet and they working with various PC vendors towards making it a standard for upcoming Windows tablet and all-in-one desktops. Strangely Windows Phone 7 is not in the picture.

With BlueStacks, you are able to run both Android and Windows simultaneously and it even supports multi-touch on touch screen computers and Windows tablets. If this is done right with acceptable performance, this will expand the choices of apps for Windows tablet devices.

Other interesting features include:
•The ability to run Windows and Android on two separate displays if you have a computer with dual monitors.
•Users can easily switch between Android and Windows with the press of a button – there’s no need for a reboot.
•App store downloads (official Android Market is unsupported at this time but Amazon app store is said to work)

In addition to running Android apps on a Windows computer, data can be shared between both operating systems, introducing a whole new level of functionality to your Android apps. Apps that are run in BlueStacks work with touchscreens, regular mice, and magic trackpads. This means that you’ll even be able to install BlueStacks onto a Windows tablet to run your Android apps from there without a hitch.

It is not officially available right now but you can sign up for their alpha program here.

[Source], [Via]

Google has announced Google Wallet, a mobile payment service which is currently being tested by Google, Sprint, Citibank, Mastercard, First Data and Sprint. It uses NFC technology which lets you make payments by simply tapping your device at the counter terminal.

Google Wallet is not just about payments as it also integrates merchant loyalty, rewards and even coupon programs that helps improve your shopping experience. What this means, you can get instant offers and redeem points instantly in a single tap. For those who are skeptical about credit card security, Google Wallet offers several layers of security which includes a PIN request before a transaction is made.

For those without credit card, Google is releasing Google Prepaid Cards which is a virtual credit that’s being offered by Mastercard and Money Network. In addition, it also can store shopping gift cards for selected retail outlets, making shopping more paperless. Overall, this eliminates coins, dollar notes and even the bunch of cards that we normally carry. The bad news however is that it will be available only in the US and only applicable for the Nexus S 4G for.

Maxis had a demo of the Nexus S’s NFC capabilities during the launch but so far we have yet to see any real application of it in Malaysia. However looking way back, NFC isn’t really new as Maxis does have a NFC solution called FastTap. Only available with a Nokia 6212, Maxis FastTap service offers both Visa Wave & Touch n Go mobile payments and it works in most places with Visa Wave and TnG terminals. We are wondering when Maxis is planning to extend this to the rest of the new devices with NFC.

[Source], [Via]

The ultra thin Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is now mentioned to be commercially available with the latest Android 3.1. This was spotted on Samsung US’s site ahead of its commercial launch. However there’s some confusion as Samsung has tweeted Android 3.0 instead over here. Not sure which one is making a mistake but we’re hopeful that it is definitely launching with the latest.

During the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 unveiling, it was announced that US markets will be getting the device on 8th of June which is just a couple of weeks away. If they do decide to launch with the latest version, we hope this doesn’t delay their launch further. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 like the Galaxy S II has created the hype as the most anticipated Android devices to date. If they don’t launch soon enough, the competitors may just launch a counter product earlier to ruin the party.

[Source], [Via]