Articles about Android

As 2013 winds down, my colleagues have been busy talking up their resolutions for the coming year. But, like Ian Barker, I don’t actually have any of those -- they'd likely just serve as embarrassment when I failed to deliver on my promises.

I don't have a problem with backups -- I pay for Crashplan to take care of that for me, so I never need to think about the potential for disaster. I don’t resolve to use a particular product, as others have. I simply utilize whatever is available at the time, and I'm in a fortunate position to frequently have the latest, though it isn’t always the greatest, hardware.

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It's inevitable that at this time of year tech companies and analysts like to try to grab headlines with their predictions for the coming 12 months. Security specialist Kaspersky Lab is no exception, and guaranteed to make waves is its forecast of the collapse of the internet as we know it.

This, it says, will be driven by pressure to break the web up into national segments. So far this has only applied to counties like China with its Great Firewall, but other nations including Russia have planned legislation to prohibit the use of foreign services. In November, Germany announced that all communications between the German authorities would be fully locked within the country. Brazil too has announced its plans to build an alternative internet channel so as not to use the one that goes through Florida.

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This past year has been incredibly busy, and a huge amount of hardware has passed through my hands. Some of it has impressed, a lot has disappointed, but a handful was great enough to make it to my list of favorites for the year.

While I've tried out a great deal of software, this has been a year in which it has been hardware that has caught my eye. So here it is: my favorite tech from 2013.

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This hass been a much quieter week than usual with Christmas meaning that many companies have been on a virtual shutdown. But there has still been a bit of activity over the past seven days. We've reached the end of the year and the BetaNews team finds itself in a reflective mood. Mihaita was the first to pick his favourite tech products of the years, and Wayne wasn't far behind. Brian also got in on the action and Ian shared his thoughts as well. Bing also took a look back at the year, putting together a list of the top ten homepage images of 2013.

A delay at UPS meant that the delivery of many Christmas presents was held up, but if the delivery man did manage to make his way to your door in time to bring you a Surface 2, Brian has a guide to getting started. Alan was also on hand to help anyone who was the lucky recipient of a Kindle Fire HDX or a Google TV. Many people will have received, or bought themselves, a Windows 8.1 PC: Wayne had the info you need to get started.

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It's the big day. You've been waiting to tear the bow and paper off all those gifts that have been temptingly resting beneath the tree, and now you've finally been able to do so. We're curious what you got, but we certainly hope it was all you dreamed for. And, if your holiday haul included the latest tablet from Amazon, then we'd like to give you a bit of help.

Amazon refreshed its lineup of tablets just recently, and several of us here at BetaNews have been enjoying the latest models. Not long ago I reviewed the 7-inch version, and my colleague Mark Wilson has been reveling in the fabulous screen of the 8.9-inch model of the device.

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Throughout the year, I work pretty darn hard -- I wear multiple hats. Because of this, I decided to spend the holidays in sunny Florida as a working vacation. Sadly, the airfare was a bit too expensive, so I decided to drive there from New York.

Unfortunately, the place at which I am staying does not have WiFi or Television -- a nerd's worst nightmare. As a tech-writer, I was going to have to think smart about which devices I would bring and which would stay home. You may be surprised by my choices.

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Android is Linux; it utilizes Linus Torvald's kernel. However, for many, it is looked at as a bastardization of Linux -- not a true distribution. I get that; after all, Google's own Android apps are closed-sourced and many of the devices have locked bootloaders. These hindrances, whether the fault of Android or not, are not exactly in the spirit of the free and open Linux community.

Many users crave more -- to have a full-fledged Linux distribution on their mobile device. And so, Canonical, owner of one of the most popular distributions, Ubuntu has been trying to answer the prayers of those dissatisfied with Android, with Ubuntu Touch. While the software has been promising, it is not yet ready to replace Android. Today, Canonical announces an interim solution -- the Ubuntu and Android dual boot developer preview.

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This is the final roundup before Christmas and the penultimate one of 2014. Things are very much starting to wind down for the year, and the world of tech is starting to go into something of a hibernation mode. But that's not to say that there hasn't been a fair select of big stories over the past seven days. If you're dreading the prospect of traveling across the country to meet up with family, Microsoft may have a solution -- just turn to Skype instead!

Valve's highly anticipated Steam OS was made available to the public as a beta, so gamers can create their own rigs. Gamers with a lots of spare cash floating around might prefer to opt for a solid gold Xbox One -- but the price tag is an eye-watering £6000 (around $9,800)! For those to whom quality matters, Amazon's announcement that all new shows in 4K Ultra HD will come as great news. For entertainment at slightly lower resolution, Redbox Instant made an appearance on the Kindle Fire HDX -- a tablet that I was quite enamored with. Roku 3 users can also celebrate the arrival of YouTube for their video entertainment.

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Regardless of your beliefs, it's rather difficult to resist a good Christmas movie. There is something soothing about gathering the family around the TV to watch that annual classic, be it Miracle on 34th Street or National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. Neither is new, but neither ever seems to get old.

Elf is also no longer particularly new, having been released back in 2003 when we all ran Windows XP, and Google hadn't yet thought about Android or the Play market.

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Television used to be simple. When you only had a few channels delivered via an aerial or a cable, deciding what to watch and where to watch it was easy. But with multi-channel digital services, the ability to watch on mobile devices, catch up with programs you’ve missed and more, it’s now a whole lot more complicated.

Little wonder then that apps which help you work out what to watch are proving popular. YO.TV, the UK's most used TV guide with five million customers, now plans to expand to 50 countries in 14 languages. Available on Google Play and the App Store, YO.TV lets users see listings for all their favorite channels across broadcast providers. Its Now and Next options streamline the scanning process, giving a cross section view of the full channel listings for any given time block. Personalized features let users set themselves reminders on their personal calendars so they don’t miss a favorite show or share their tastes in TV via social media.

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Having uncovered the Android dialler malware last week, mobile security specialist Lookout is warning of a new threat involving a tangled web of spam, foreign banks and bulk messaging.

The threat surrounds a bulk SMS network called Bazuc which offers Android users a payout if they allow the network to access their unused SMS message allowance. The app has been downloaded up to 50,000 times from the Play Store but the author claims up to 100 downloads an hour so it’s evidently on third-party stores too.

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When Oppo unveiled the CyanogenMod version of its N1 phablet, the Chinese company did not provide any details as to whether the new model would receive Google's stamp of approval and, therefore, official access to the Play store. I was very skeptical that this would happen, seeing as CyanogenMod has never been certified for prime time use.

As some of you may know, in order for a device to officially receive Google Play access, it has to be certified by Google. This is one of the reasons why there are so many Android smartphones and tablets (mostly inexpensive ones) out in the wild that ship without any Google-branded apps and services. As it turns out, the N1 will not be part of the said bunch.

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Christmas comes early this year for Moto G users. Motorola has announced that Android 4.4.2 KitKat is now rolling out for its entry-level smartphone, in less than two months after parent company Google launched the latest version of the popular mobile operating system.

The Android 4.4.2 KitKat update is rolling out to Moto G smartphones that were purchased in the US, from Amazon and Motorola's online shop. It is expected to arrive in other markets, and at mobile operator versions, "soon".

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The Nexus 5 is both beautiful and inexpensive. Even though the smartphone doesn't cost a lot, it is still a good idea to protect it with a case. However, finding a good case can be hit or miss. When I reviewed two such cases, I found that the official Nexus 5 case was poor, while the much less expensive Cruzerlite Bugdroid Circuit was great.

Sadly, neither of those two cases embody the true openness and hackability of the Nexus 5. After all, when you buy a Nexus device, you want people to know it. Luckily, Cyanogenmod Inc announces a partnership with Cruzerlite to create an official Cyanogenmod case. What better way to show off your Nexus device than with a case that represents (arguably) the most popular custom ROM?

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It's that time of year once again. Approaching the end of another 365 and a quarter days cycle puts us all in a reflective mood. It's not uncommon to look back at what has happened in the previous 12 months and pick out the highlights of the year. It's also quite common to look forward in anticipation of what the coming year might have to offer. But how about something a little different, something a little more downbeat? What have been your lowlights and disappointments? There's no need to end the year on a high, after all!

I am one of those people still devastated at the loss of Google Reader. Both as a journalist and as someone who simply devours news from all manner of sources, this was my go-to service for getting my daily -- well, hourly… oh, OK, five minutely -- fix of headlines from hundreds of websites. Double disappointment came when I thought an ideal solution was to be found in Feedly, but slow updates and a pricing structure I found objectionable meant that this soon fell by the wayside. Disappointment number two. Still, it helped me to discover InoReader -- every cloud, and all that.

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