Articles about Android

The words "free" and "50GB of cloud storage" don't often come together in the same sentence, so when the company announced the mind-boggling offer there was only one question on my mind: "When's it coming to Android?" Well, good things come to those who wait! After an almost five-month hiatus, MediaFire arrived on green droid land.

So what's it like? Well, straight off the bat MediaFire for Android "features" a major flaw -- users cannot sign up for the cloud storage service using the app. That's an inconvenience seeing as, for instance, Box or Dropbox do sport the basic functionality. That said, the app does have some interesting features starting with the camera options.

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Usually when users wish to transfer apps with data between Android devices, a fairly cumbersome process is involved. There's an easier way though. Koushik Dutta, the developer behind popular modding tools such as ClockworkMod and ROM Manager, unveiled Carbon, an app that can get the job done by itself after touching a few buttons.

But who actually needs it? While Carbon may present a limited appeal to most Android users, it actually makes sense for those running apps grabbed from third-party sources such as Interweb forums, a common occurrence for modders, beta apps that are unavailable to download from the Play store (a good example is the Dropbox preview build) or for users that simply wish to have the same app data across several devices. Think of game saves and you get the picture.

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When Google unveiled the Nexus 4 in late-October, the resemblance to the LG Optimus G was quite obvious. Both smartphones are manufactured by LG and share mostly the same hardware specifications (bar the full-blown 4G LTE chip, different camera module, and extra internal storage found on LG's device). So why can't the Optimus G run software designed for the Google Nexus 4? Well, as of late, it can.

The advantages of "transforming" the LG Optimus G into a Google Nexus 4, in the software department that is, are quite clear. First and foremost, users can install various custom distributions such as AOKP Jelly Bean MR1 Build 1, CyanogenMod 10.1 or even light AOSP-based builds. Second, the LG Optimus G can actually be purchased from different carriers as well as online shops, whereas the Nexus 4 even today is out of stock at Google's Play Store -- which makes the former a suitable alternative to the latter's lack of market availability.

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So you bought a Samsung Galaxy S III (or maybe even received one for Christmas) but find the skinned TouchWiz experience too "crowded"? Fret not, you don't have to go down the custom ROM route and lose useful functionality along the way, as PalaTool makes it easy to cut down on gimmicky features, and even add some of the Android 4.2 flavor into the mix as well.

Before you get all excited by the prospect of chiseling Samsung's TouchWiz skin there are two important prerequisites to consider. First, PalaTool requires Android rooting rights, which straight off the bat involves extra work that may include voiding the warranty if something goes terribly wrong (in most cases that never happens). Secondly, the tool must be installed using a custom recovery such as ClockworkMod or Team Win Recovery Project. That out of the way, let's take a look at what PalaTool can really do.

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So much for that Windows 8 pick-me-up. The PC market got no 5-Hour Energy lift during fourth quarter. If anything, the personal computer is out of shape and out of breath, and no Microsoft personal trainer can change that. Gartner calls the current crisis -- and it is for the WinTel and MacTel folks -- a "structural shift". The tablet is the slimmer and shapelier alternative, and it kicks the PC's ass all over the work-out floor.

"Tablets have dramatically changed the device landscape for PCs, not so much by 'cannibalizing' PC sales, but by causing PC users to shift consumption to tablets rather than replacing older PCs", Mikako Kitagawa, Gartner principal analyst, says. "Whereas as once we imagined a world in which individual users would have both a PC and a tablet as personal devices, we increasingly suspect that most individuals will shift consumption activity to a personal tablet, and perform creative and administrative tasks on a shared PC. There will be some individuals who retain both, but we believe they will be exception and not the norm. Therefore, we hypothesize that buyers will not replace secondary PCs in the household, instead allowing them to age out and shifting consumption to a tablet".

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If CES 2013 and other major trade shows are of any indication, a plethora of Android devices are launched on a frequent basis, sporting different display configurations. For consumers that may not mean much (aside from which device to get next), but developers have to verify if apps are rendered properly across different resolutions and pixel densities. But buying all available smartphones and tablets is not a financially-sound decision, when a Google Nexus 10 gets the job done by itself.

The Samsung-made tablet sports a large 10.1-inch display featuring a whopping 2560 by 1600 resolution and a 300 ppi density. As a result, according to Adam Powell, working as Android framework engineer at Google, the Nexus 10 can be used by app developers to test user interfaces in "pretty much all environments". The question is: "How?"

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Little over four months ago Samsung revealed that the company's flagship Android smartphone, the Galaxy S III, had sold more than 20 million units since its introduction in late May, last year. But while that is an impressive feat for any device, more so when it doesn't sport a bitten apple logo on the back, it pales in comparison to the latest Galaxy S III sales numbers announced by the South Korean manufacturer .

In the seven months on the market since the May 29 release, the Galaxy S III smartphone has sold over 40 million units, doubling the previous 20 million figure announced in early September of last year and adding 10 million to its tally since November 2012. According to Samsung, that equates to 190,000 units sold every day, or to put it differently, a little under 132 units per minute, or almost 2.2 Galaxy S IIIs sold every second.

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ASUS waited until after CES to take the wraps off its MeMo Pad, and what it lacks in specs the Nexus 7 lookalike makes up for in price. With a wallet-friendly MSRP of $149, the MeMo Pad runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and is powered by a 1GHz VIA WM8950 CPU and Mali-400 GPU.

The device sports a 10-point multi-touch LED-backlit display with 1024 by 600 resolution, 8 or 16GB of internal storage, and a microSD card slot which will let you boost capacity by an additional 32GB.

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In late December, French consumer electronics company Archos unveiled the 97 Titanium HD, an Apple iPad 4-like tablet running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, but failed to release any pricing information. Nearly three weeks later, at CES 2013, Archos has finally revealed the missing detail.

The French firm places the 97 Titanium HD as "an alternative to the new iPad" but without the intimidating price-tag. The 9.7-inch tablet will run for a more sensible EUR249, $249, or £199, depending on the market, half of what the newest iPad goes for. Archos also released pricing for the remaining Titanium lineup.

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Users of Google’s popular desktop browser have a choice of release channels. If you hate bugs and crashes, there’s the stable version of the browser (which was just updated). If you don’t mind taking a little risk and want to get your hands on the newest features, there are the Beta and Dev channels. And finally, if you want to be on the absolute cutting edge, there’s the Canary build which runs alongside any other Chrome installs you have.

Android users don’t have this degree of choice, but from today Google is offering a new Beta channel for phones and tablets running Android 4.0 and up, and the good news is it can be installed alongside your current version of Chrome so you’ll always have a stable version of the browser on hand.

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Far away from events unfolding at CES in Las Vegas, South Korean Android device manufacturer Samsung has unveiled a new device in its Galaxy smartphone lineup. Dubbed the Galaxy S II Plus, the new handset borrows familiar cues from the popular Galaxy S II, but with an added Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean twist.

Samsung has decided to play it safe with the Galaxy S II Plus, as the new smartphone bears an uncanny resemblance to its sibling from 2011. The only apparent physical differences lie with the color choices. The Galaxy S II is available in black, pink and white, while the Galaxy S II Plus only comes in blue and white, embracing Samsung's Galaxy S III color palette. But what about the specs?

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Even though at CES 2013 manufacturers reveal some of the most high-tech products, such as 4k OLED TVs, which are, price-wise borderline unreachable for most consumers, there are some affordable and appealing devices, too. Case in point are Polaroid's M7 and M10 tablets that feature dual- and quad-core processors, respectively, as well as Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

The US-based consumer electronics company aims for the stars by pitching the two tablets against more established market competitors. Polaroid aims at Apple's iPad Mini with the M7, while the larger M10 takes on Samsung's Galaxy Note 10.1 in the company's wishful thinking. On a more down-to-Earth note, the dual-core M7 packs 7-inch panel with 1280 by 800 resolution, giving it a pixel density of 216 ppi, among the highlights.

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If you deem the Samsung Galaxy Note II as being either too small or too big for your taste, then you'd better look out for Huawei's new phablet. Ahead of the big CES opening day, the Chinese telecommunications company unveiled the Ascend Mate, the "smartphone with the world's largest screen". And with a 6.1-inch panel it's quite difficult to think of a more suitable claim.

The Galaxy Note II ships with a 5.5-inch 720p Super AMOLED display, but the Ascend Mate easily tops it thanks to the 6.1-inch HD IPS+ LCD panel, which Huawei admits to be "huge". The 1280 by 720 resolution is however on the lower end of the spectrum judging by recent pre-CES announcements, namely the Sony Xperia Z and Xperia ZL. The Ascend Mate is powered by Huawei's own 1.5Ghz quad-core Hi-Silicon processor and a whopping 4,050mAh battery, again, topping the Galaxy Note II by 950mAh.

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Right before the big opening day at CES, Japanese manufacturer Sony took the wraps off two new Android smartphones -- the Xperia Z and Xperia ZL. Both sport similar under-the-hood specifications but different looks on the outside. Likely making up for the late upgrade schedule for previous Xperia handsets, Sony is adamant that it will update both smartphones from Android 4.1 Jelly Bean to the second Jelly Bean iteration "shortly after launch".

The Xperia Z and Xperia ZL follow smartphones like the HTC DROID DNA and Oppo Find 5 in delivering large 1080p displays paired with quad-core processors. Both handsets feature a 5-inch TFT panel with a resolution of 1920 by 1080, with the former of the two devices protected by a "shatter proof sheet of scratch-resistant glass". Power comes from a 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor paired with an Adreno 320 graphics card and 2GB of RAM.

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The Computer Electronics Show gathers a significant number of companies and prospective buyers alike in Las Vegas for four days starting Tuesday. However, many companies didn't wait for opening day. Which among the early birds stand out from the others?

From the plethora of pre-show announcements most are oriented towards general consumer appliances. For instance, LG's presentation emphasized 39 new driers and 72 new fridges, among super expensive OLED TVs. For a passionate technology enthusiast like myself CES is not Heaven, it's utter Hell. Still, within the literally hundreds of announcements there are some exciting products unveiled in all the pre-show madness.

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