Articles about Android

Modders, get your tools ready! Little short of three weeks after the team behind the popular custom Android distribution CyanogenMod introduced official builds for the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10, CM 10.1 nightly releases are starting to make their way onto more supported devices.

At the time of writing this article CyanogenMod 10.1 builds are available for the Samsung Galaxy S III (codename "I9300", "d2att" and "d2tmo"), Galaxy S II (codename "I9100" and "I9100G"), Galaxy S (codename "I9000" and "I9000B"), Galaxy Nexus (codename "maguro"), Google Nexus 7 (codename "grouper"), as well as ASUS Transformer Pad Infinity ("codename "tf700t"). The latest nightly release, dated December 17, is based on Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean, build number JOP40D, and delivers a significant number of features, either ported from previous iterations of the custom distribution or adapted for the new version of Android.

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Android modding is often perceived as a rare disease that must be treated at all costs with tightly locked bootloaders and impossible to root devices. When users do want to remove the shackles imposed by manufacturers, and carriers alike, there's always a sense that someone will suddenly knock on the door and say: "Stop, we'll void your warranty. Your device must run unadulterated software!" That's just limited thinking. Modding is beneficial and not just for those roaming around in obscure corners of the interwebs.

Some argue that modding is just that insignificant other that is over-hyped per the overall scheme of things. When enthusiasts ask for unlocked bootloaders or maybe easier to root devices, those very same people will shorty argue with "Most people don't need that, so your wish doesn't matter!" Obviously there's some "truth" to that, because in most cases the deniers don't bother to read thousands of forum posts or even to check custom Android distribution statistics. Yes, there are such things.

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If you're a heavy Google user, every day is like Christmas -- well, in 2012. Not a day goes by that the company doesn't release something new. Updates are relentless, with products in continual states of improvement. Today's touted 18 24 Google+ enhancements are examples. Editor's note: Hours after we posted, Google changed the number from 18 to 24. The approach is philosophical and corporate cultural and defies traditional software development cycles Apple, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle and others adopted long ago. The relentless releases is for stuff Google mostly gives away for free. Now why is that?

Years ago, I wrote several seething stories about perpetual Google betas (Gmail was 5 years, right?) and Microsoft somewhat mimicking the approach. (I can't find the stories this morning. If you can, please link in comments.) The search giant's work was never done, while competitors rolled major enhancements together made available all at once on long lead cycles (Hey, three years separate Windows 7 and 8 launches). Microsoft chooses the big blockbuster movie approach, which predicates a work largely done -- a story completely told. Google is the serialist, telling an ongoing story in a quick succession of releases. Which works better? You tell me.

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That was fast. Little short of three months ago Android 4.1 Jelly Bean made its way onto the international Samsung Galaxy S III and, starting Friday, the coveted operating system is available for the Verizon Wireless branded handset as well.

The software upgrade, bearing the "JRO03L.I535VRBLK3" moniker, comes in at a rather modest 62MB in size and upgrades the Galaxy S III to Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean, build number JRO03L. Users should expect a number of new features, the most noteworthy of which include better voice search capability through Google Now, a revised notification panel, resizable widgets, and improved camera software. There's also a treat for global travelers.

Big red customers that wish to take the Galaxy S III abroad now have the ability to select a new "Global" option in "Preferred network mode". It will allow the handset to operate on international carrier networks, without resorting to modding to enable GSM compatibility.

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People that want to try out Google's latest voice assistant on green droid devices are confined by the search giant to use either of the two Jelly Bean iterations. However, Google Now also makes its way onto Ice Cream Sandwich through third-party app GNow Handlebars.

Previous to GNow Handlebars, the process of installing Google Now onto Android 4.0 mostly involved flashing files in a custom recovery like ClockworkMod or TWRP. Now the same result can be achieved simply by opening the app and selecting the voice assistant to kick off the installation. There is also a restore option available that brings back the older Google Search, which should come in handy if something goes wrong.

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Just over a week ago, Steve Kondik, the founder of the popular custom distribution CyanogenMod, revealed that CM10.1 builds based on Android 4.2 Jelly Bean will soon be released for US variants of the Samsung Galaxy S III. However, the highly anticipated custom ROM is already available for the international model, albeit with unofficial tags.

Galaxy S III users that want to install the unofficial builds can expect a similar functionality to the official CM10.1 releases available today. As the feature porting process is not completed, it won’t come as any surprise that some of the features included in previous CyanogenMod iterations are still missing or not yet adapted for Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. Due to the unofficial nature and the infancy of the source code, users may also encounter some bugs as well.

The unofficial CyanogenMod 10.1 release can be installed just like any other by flashing the available build and the adjacent Google Apps package using a compatible custom recovery tool such as ClockworkMod or TWRP.

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If you haven't heard of Oppo before, I don't blame you. Awareness of the company's existence in mature Western mobile markets is practically nonexistent. However, that hasn’t stopped the Chinese manufacturer from announcing the Find 5, a surprising smartphone coming to the US market shortly.

Oppo's handset features specs that rival those of HTC's Butterfly (or DROID DNA as it is known in the United States), which is rather impressive. The Find 5 sports a 5-inch display with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 and a 441 ppi density. Power comes from a quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro (codename "APQ8064") processor backed by 2GB of RAM and an Adreno 320 graphics card. The smartphone's 2500mAh battery though is larger than the one found in the Butterfly/DROID DNA, which comes in at only 2020mAh.

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Little more than three months ago, Samsung introduced the Galaxy Note II, running Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean. Shortly afterwards Google issued a minor update to its OS, Android 4.1.2, and starting today you can get it for Samsung’s popular green droid device.

On Nexus-branded hardware, Android 4.1.2 only delivered minor changes. For the Galaxy Note II, however, Samsung has apparently introduced more significant benefits. The most noteworthy features include a higher number of notification toggles, swipe gestures using the built-in keyboard, a new lockscreen effect and a customizable notification panel.

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Even though mobile devices play an ever-increasing role in our digital lives, on more than one occasion they can act counterproductive, delivering noisy notifications or consuming too much battery life. With Silence, however, Android users can take control of their devices, scheduling the usage of built-in functionality like vibrate or airplane mode.

Silence basically allows users to enable or disable commonly used connectivity options such as airplane mode, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi, as well as set the ringer to silent, vibrate or normal, all within an established period of time. Each of the available options can be individually controlled, meaning that airplane mode can be enabled at night to preserve battery life, or silent mode can be activated during working hours so as to not disturb co-workers.

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Little more than six months into the Galaxy S III's lifespan, Samsung has announced a software upgrade for the popular Android smartphone. Dubbed Premium Suite, it delivers a number of new features borrowed from the Galaxy S III's bigger brother, the Galaxy Note II.

Some of the most noteworthy improvements include Multi Window, which lets users view two apps concurrently, Page Buddy, for contextual actions (like opening the music player after headphones are plugged in), and Best Face and Low Light Shot, that allow users to select the best out of five pictures, and improve photography under bad lighting, respectively.

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Japanese manufacturer Sony has announced the release of a beta tool that can be used to restore factory software on a number of Xperia smartphones. The program targets green droid modders that wish to go back to stock, after running custom distributions such as CyanogenMod 10.

Sony says that the beta tool is released at the request of the Android community and currently works for the Xperia S, Xperia arc and Xperia arc S, with plans to increase the number of supported devices. At the moment users only have the ability to restore to a single software variant on each smartphone, but the Japanese manufacturer says it intends to include a wider version selection in the future.

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An interactive online map showing the location of bombs dropped on London during World War II proved so popular when first launched earlier today, that the site immediately went down under the barrage of visitors. Like the survivors of that infamous moment in history, the site picked itself up, dusted itself off, kept calm, and carried on once more, but is still going offline periodically.

The Bomb Sight project was created by a team from the University of Portsmouth using London WWII bomb census data (taken between October 1940 and June 1941) supplied by The National Archives, and shows visitors where the bombs fell during the Blitz, and what type they were.

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Nearly two months ago HTC teased Android enthusiasts with the J Butterfly, but sadly the handset was only for the Japanese market. On Friday, the Taiwanese manufacturer introduces the global variant, simply dubbed Butterfly, sporting similar specifications.

The Butterfly features a 5.0-inch SuperLCD 3 display with a 1920 x 1080 resolution. Power comes from a 1.5GHz quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor paired with an Adreno 320 video card and 2GB of RAM. On top of the 16GB of internal storage, the Butterfly has a microSD card slot which can extend the capacity by an additional 32GB. HTC is, however, evasive when it comes to the operating system, but it's fair to assume that it ships with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, similar to the Droid DNA and J Butterfly.

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Google first introduced its Siri-like voice search Google Now in Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean). Functionality was rather limited at first, but the search giant eventually added new "cards" (data feeds on user-selected topics) and even Gmail integration. With the latest iteration released today, users can do a lot more with Google Now, including dictate Google+ posts and show United Airlines boarding passes.

Users can power up Google Now, tap on the microphone icon, say "Post to Google Plus" and then simply add their message. Automatic posting is not enabled, so users can edit and select the circles which will see the message. Another new feature is the ability to scan barcodes, which is triggered by the fairly intuitive command "Scan a barcode". Using the camera, Google Now allows users to take a picture of the item in order to display relevant product information.

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What was Microsoft thinking? The software giant initiated a campaign on Twitter, dubbed #DroidRage, inviting Android users to share their "malware horror stories", only to have it backfire spectacularly shortly afterwards. A huge number of anti-Microsoft posts with the #WindowsRage hashtag appeared on Twitter and Google+, almost immediately.

The problem with the campaign, apart from the less-than-brilliant concept, is the timing. Criticism of Microsoft’s more recent products, such as Windows 8, Surface and Windows Phone 8, should have caused the company to lay low for a while. Instead, the firm unwittingly gave frustrated users of its new products a unified hashtag to rally behind.

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