Articles about Android

The holiday shopping season is well underway -- getting on towards the finish line actually. That said, there is still time to grab a few last-minute gifts and beg for the ones you wish to remove the bow from. And that is the question I now pose to you -- what tech toys are you harboring hopes for this time around?

I cannot, of course, read your mind, and likely not sway opinions, though I do plan to give you some unsolicited ideas on what I found to my liking in 2013.

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Nowadays, cloud services like Pandora and Spotify allow us to listen to our favorite tunes no matter where we are, without having to actually own a single song. But what happens to our music collections, which we have built up over the years? Some of us have thousands of tracks, stored locally on devices like PCs. Should we just abandon our beloved content and embrace alternative ways of enjoying it?

Luckily, answering this question does not involve making a compromise. Cloud service Style Jukebox aims for the middle road, by providing a convenient solution that allows users to upload the music they own to the cloud and play it on PCs, smartphones and tablets. It is designed to work both with and without an Internet connection (the content can also be downloaded for offline playback), which makes it a good fit for those who use devices which are not always connected to the cloud. As Style Jukebox's motto says, "Your music, anywhere, on all your devices".

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I've worked my way through a fair share of tablets over the years. An iPad 2 with its 9.7 inch screen, a Sony Tablet S with a slightly smaller 9.4 inch display, followed by a series of 7-inchers -- the Nexus 7, Tesco's Hudl and  the GOCLEVER Aries 7o. Oh, and the Surface Pro; I have a tendency to forget this is a 10.6 inch tablet as I use it in laptop mode.

All of my tablets have been used for much the same things: checking email, writing the odd document, viewing photos, watching videos, updating Facebook and Twitter, browsing the web and playing a few games. Taking the Surface Pro out of the equation, I've always found the circa 10-inch tablets too big. I thought I was settled on 7 inches as offering the best dimensions. It seems I might have been wrong.

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Despite their similarities, Android always seemed to exist to be the opposite of iOS. In other words, if Apple's mobile OS was popular culture, Google was a counter-culture. In the earlier days, Android had copy and paste, removable batteries, expandable memory, the ability to tinker, but many of those differences are virtually gone -- through Apple's additions and Google's subtractions. It was because of those differences, that I entered into the Google ecosystem with Android -- I have been rather happy. Lately however, I have been a bit unhappy with the direction of Android. Locked bootloaders, lack of SD card slots, non-accessible batteries. Sure, these things are technically not a part of the Android OS, but they are a part of the overall experience. While iOS doesn't offer these things either, at least Apple was upfront about that from the start.

When Apple announced the svelte, yet powerful iPad Air, I was immediately in love. The dark holo theme of Android is just utterly depressing. Conversely, the iPad Air is bright and beautiful, thanks to iOS 7. My problem though, was that I was deeply entrenched in Google's world -- I was worried about moving to a competitor's platform. I love Google services like Gmail, Google Maps, Chrome and YouTube. Quite frankly, I cannot live without those things. Despite these fears, I bought an iPad Air and couldn't be happier. Not only is the build quality better than any Android tablet, the overall experience is better thanks to the superior UI. Not to mention, all of my desired Google apps are on iOS and they look and work better on Apple's operating system too.

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South Korean maker LG has announced a new Android phablet, called Gx, which is part of the company's G premium lineup. The device will go toe to toe against the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, sporting similar hardware specifications and dimensions.

The Gx comes with a 5.5-inch IPS display, with a now flagship-standard resolution of 1080 by 1920. LG has opted for a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 processor, instead of the more powerful Snapdragon 800 which is found in devices like the G2 and Galaxy Note 3, with 2 GB of RAM. The handset is powered by a 3,140 mAh battery.

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Things are starting to get festive, and that means there's also a lot going on. This past week has been quite a busy one! It might not come as a surprise, but the figures are in -- Windows 8.1 is not performing anywhere near as well as Windows 7 in terms of sales. Part of the reason for the slower adoption could be the Start screen and the absence of the Start menu. There has been some debate here at BetaNews about the possibility that the Start menu could make a return. Brian is very much opposed to the idea, I think it's probably a good idea, particularly for business users, while Wayne showed us how to get the Start menu back right now.

The backlash against NSA surveillance continues, and now Microsoft, Apple, Google and a number of other big names have joined forces and written to President Obama asking for reform. Joe was not impressed. To help protect user accounts, Microsoft beefed up security.

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Amazon has made a lot of news recently, which probably shouldn't be a surprise, given this is the shopping season and it's one of the most prominent retailers. Much of that buzz has surrounded the latest refresh of the company's line of Android tablets -- the Kindle Fires -- with Cyber Monday deals, and then another one-day sale. But now Amazon is looking to hook up those who can't afford to shell out that full price all at once.

The retail giant has quietly rolled out an installment plan to help you get that tablet. Both the 7-inch and 8.9-inch versions of the Kindle Fire HDX are included in the deal. At checkout, you will need to pony up 25-percent of the retail price, plus any taxes and shipping charges. But, after that, you will just be billed one time every 90 days (three times total) in equal amounts to cover the balance owed.

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Do you have someone on your shopping list who is part of the Amazon ecosystem? Chances are you do, given that anyone with an Android device can install and use the Amazon App Store, Kindle App, MP3 player and more. What you may not be familiar with is something called Amazon Coins.

The currency doesn't get a lot of attention, but it can be used to purchase apps, games and in-app items. Each Coin is essentially the equivalent of a penny -- 500 Coins is the same as $5.

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Google has released new factory images based on Android 4.4.2 KitKat, for the Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10. This comes a couple of days after the search giant rolled out the latest update for its mobile operating system.

The Android 4.4.2 factory images allow users of said Nexus devices to install, and upgrade to, the latest KitKat version without waiting for the OTA update to arrive. They also come in handy for installing individual bits, like the radio, kernel or recovery, alongside third-party distributions.

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A new report by information research specialist NSS Labs focuses on the evolving landscape of mobile financial malware. It concludes that cyber criminals are adapting to the use of mobile apps to authorize transactions and that 99 percent of current mobile malware is aimed at the Android platform.

As banks add extra functionality to their apps they open up greater capabilities for both customers and the cyber criminals. Many mobile banking apps are based on HTML code making them especially vulnerable to exploits. The report's author, NSS Labs Research Vice President Ken Baylor, says this should prompt more banks to develop secure native apps for mobiles, incorporating fraud-resistant features, if their customers are to stay secure.

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Google has updated its mobile Maps apps for Android and iOS with the release of Google Maps for iOS 2.5.0 and Google Maps for Android 7.4.0.

Both apps include the obligatory bug fixes, but there they diverge, with iOS users now able to see flight, hotel and restaurant reservations from Gmail, while Android users get improved tools for step-by-step directions and commuting.

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I’m a huge fan of Zombies, Run! The immersive app, available for iOS and Android, helped me to lose weight and get fit again, providing the motivation I needed to run on a regular basis. If you’ve not heard of it, the app is a bit like a radio play that unfolds between songs and turns a real-world run into an entertaining journey through the zombie apocalypse.

Now the developers behind that app, Six to Start and Naomi Alderman, have released a new fitness tracker and game for iPhone, iPod touch and Android devices, which is designed to help players incorporate more walking into their everyday lives.

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You might think that dialer malware went out with dial-up modems and that in these days of broadband you don't need to worry about viruses that call premium rate numbers in order to earn criminals money.

But researchers at mobile security specialist Lookout have uncovered a new piece of malware called Mouabad.p that tries to make money by making calls from your Android smartphone. Of course smartphone fraud involving premium SMS messages isn't new but making calls represents a step up in the malware's functionality.

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Twitter has released two major updates to its mobile app roster: Twitter 6.0 for iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and Twitter 5.0 for Android users.

Both apps sport a new design, and support photos in Direct Messages as well as targeted notifications. iOS users also gain an improved search tool and support for Safari’s Reading List.

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Without much fanfare, Google has added a new member to its Nexus family, but it's not what you think. For weeks now we have waited, not entirely patiently, for an updated version of the Nexus 10 tablet, enduring endless rumored release dates that have come and gone.

The new addition, however, is a white version of the Nexus 7 that was unveiled back in June at a breakfast event with Android chief Sundar Pichai. The tablet sports a white back and edges, while the face still has the familiar black bezel.

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