Tech Land: Android Central international round-up

Saturday, 28 July 2012

Android Central international round-up - July 28, 2012

Android Central

The Olympic Games kicked off in London this week, starting with an opening ceremony featuring two leading smartphones from Samsung, the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note. And with Samsung being not only a leading Android manufacturer, but a global Olympic partner, it's been behind many of the Olympic Android news over the past week, launching limited edition back covers and Android apps based around the games.

But it wasn't all good news for Samsung fans this week, as there was some confusion surrounding the fate of local search on the international Galaxy S3. First it appeared the feature had been pulled, seemingly to avoid further litigation from Apple. However, a few days later it emerged that local search had been removed in error, and since then an OTA has gone out to reinstate the feature.

Though the Olympics is taking place in London over the next few weeks, many Brits are still planning on traveling overseas, with a majority holidaying in Europe. So to help British visitors to Europe get the best deal from their network, we've published our complete guide to each of the UK carriers' roaming plans. A recent ruling from the EU has put an end to the days of paying several pounds per megabyte of roaming data, and there's actually a fair selection of good roaming deals around now. So you'll definitely want to check out our guide if you're hopping across the channel over the next couple of months.

We also got an early sneak peek at some Sony phones expected to be unveiled at IFA in Berlin next month. The entryl-level "Xperia J," as well as the flagship LT30p "Mint" and LT29i "Hayabusa" all leaked out in various forms. All three run Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich, and it looks like Sony's abandoned the "clear element" in its earlier 2012 designs in favor of a more traditional candybar layout.

Check the list below for a full run-down of all the major international stories over the past week. If you've got news, you can tip us at the usual address.

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