Hey, whatdy’a know: Mr. FedEx-Guy (or “Tom”, as we’ve come to know him) just dropped by with a shiny new Samsung Infuse 4G in tow. As we do with any Android-powered AT&T device, the very first thing we did was check to see if AT&T screwed up again. Surprise! They’ve finally done Android right!
You see, most Android phones have this fancy “Unknown Sources” toggle. Once checked, you can install Android Applications from just about anywhere — otherwise, your phone won’t install anything that doesn’t come from the Android Market. Without that little checkbox checked, you’re unable to install things like beta applications, anything that Google doesn’t want on the Android Market, or even Amazon’s growingly popular alternative Android store.
The problem: beginning with their very first Android phone, AT&T completely blocked this option. We railed them for it. Their next one? Same thing — so we railed them again. We brought it up every time we met with them, and nagged about it in posts every chance we could.
Be it because of our nagging (and the collective nagging of Internet denizens everywhere) or because someone at AT&T simply realized it was a stupid idea (they chalked it up to being worried about “bad apps” taking down the network), the policy has been reversed. Beginning with the Samsung Infuse 4G, AT&T Android devices can install third party apps from non-Android Market sources.
Now, lets just hope all the AT&T Android devices already floating around out there are updated accordingly.
