Articles about Android

It's an itch you'll want to scratch this holiday. Just give into it.

Preliminary results from our poll "Will you buy Google Nexus 10?" are in, and I'm not satisfied enough with the numbers, being well below 1,000 responses (hence, poll is reposted here). But at this juncture, 36.82 percent say they will buy as soon as the tablet is available -- and that's November 13 in some regions. Another 18.32 percent plan to buy within 3 months. So more than 55 percent plan to get the Nexus 10 before Valentine's Day. Hey, that's two holidays for you to ask for one, with Christmas obviously in-between. Ten percent of respondents are unsure, while 25.86 percent say they won't buy.

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The phablet is catching on. Two months ago Samsung announced the Galaxy Note II and in the meantime the South Korean corporation managed to sell three million units in 37 days since its release. That's right, and it barely touched US carriers.

The first iteration of the popular and controversial device sold 5 million units over a five month period. "Sales of Galaxy Note II are growing three times faster than that of the previous Galaxy Note", Samsung says in a statement. The success is rather impressive for what is basically a niche smartphone, with what may be considered limited reach due to its intimidating size. By comparison its smaller brother, the Galaxy S II, sold 20 million units in the first 100 days but, unlike the Note II the former appeals to a larger market audience.

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Almost two months ago Motorola announced the new Droid Razr HD, but there was something missing. Don't get me wrong, it's nicely spec'd but Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich doesn't exactly shout 2012, does it? Fear not, Jelly Bean is underway and for the more eager owners of the smartphone there is a leaked ROM available as well.

This is not an official build, and therefore it may still have software issues. That said, thanks to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, Droid Razr HD users can take advantage of features like Google Now and Project Butter. In order to keep elevated privileges (popularly known as "root") after installing the leaked ROM, OTA RootKeeper or a similar application must be installed beforehand.

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There is no stopping Ice Cream Sandwich! Android 4.0 continues its growing streak month after month, based on the number of devices accessing Google Play during the 14 days ending November 1. But Gingerbread is still the sweet that rules them all.

Just like in the last few months, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean reports the highest growth. It reached a distribution level of 2.7 percent, which is 50 percent higher compared to the previous data released by Google. Growth is likely influenced by the popular Nexus 7 tablet and smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy Note II.

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Android's ascension over iPhone reached the figurative stratosphere during third quarter, according to IDC. Seventy-five percent of smartphones shipped with the operating system -- that's up from 57.5 percent a year earlier. By comparison, iOS nudged up to 14.9 percent, from 13.8 percent. That's right, little more than 1 percent. There's a reason that in September I asserted "Android wins the smartphone wars". There's certain appropriateness to IDC releasing the data on Day of the Dead.

Out of fairness to Apple, iPhone unit volumes rose considerably more, 57.3 percent, than market share reflects -- 26.9 million units compared to 17.1 million a year earlier. Android shipments rose 91.5 percent; 136 million, compared to 71 million in Q3 2011. Still, Android volumes in the quarter exceeded that for all smartphones in 2007. My how the market has changed.

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Even though the Asus Nexus 7 and Samsung Galaxy Nexus share the same version of Android and similar display resolutions, some apps are not identical. On the Google-branded Nexus 7 tablet, the Calendar app displays more information, and thanks to the modding community it's now available for the Galaxy Nexus as well.

Instead of the lines in the Calendar app from Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the modded tablet variant shows a text description for each event of the day, making it a bit more useful.

Two modded versions are available at the moment, with the first based on the Calendar that ships with Android 4.1.2 and the second on the one available as a separate download from Google Play. Both can be used, but only the latter allows users to sync events dating back one full year.

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This morning Amazon quietly pushed out a brand new app designed to let Android devices interface with their popular Cloud Drive storage service. Amazon, of course, has a horse in this race with their Kindle Fire HD tablets that have seen increased sales in recent days, ironically at what appears to be Apple's expense. The app is specifically designed for photos, so let's take a walk though and see what it can do.

First, it's a free install and is available from both Google Play and the Amazon AppStore for Android. Once you have downloaded it to your device you are presented with a sign-in screen that requires you to have, or create, an Amazon account, which is something that the vast majority of people probably already have anyway. Users automatically have 5 GB of free storage, but more can be purchased for prices comparable to those offered by Google Drive or SkyDrive.

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Skitch, the sister product to the highly popular note-taking app Evernote, is now available in version 2.0 on Google Play. What does the annotation app have in store with the new version?

The most noticeable feature in Skitch 2.0 is an entirely overhauled interface. There is a new sync functionality that can be used by logging in using the Evernote account. If it's activated, sketches from the annotation app appear in the latter, and can also be pulled back into Skitch for further editing as. New tools such as Pixelate and Highlighter are added on top of the previously available options.

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Reporting rumors is a risky business, and this one is no different. Not too long ago, a device with the i9260 moniker was believed to be the next Google Nexus smartphone, and instead it's the Samsung Galaxy Premier (codename i9260).

On its Ukrainian website, the South Korean corporation announced the device, which comes with a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display (indicative of a PenTile matrix) and a resolution of 1280 by 720. There is no word on the processor or amount of RAM, but it will be available with 8GB or 16GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot. Depending on the market, the Galaxy Premier will feature 4G LTE or HSPA+ cellular connectivity. The latter will allow downloads up to 21Mbps and upload speeds up to 5.76Mbps. The real kicker is the operating system -- Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.

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Two weeks from today, Google's first 10.1-inch tablet, manufactured by Samsung, goes on sale from the Play store. If the search and information giant is smart, pre-orders will start sooner, sure to generate buzz even as Apple seeks some when iPad mini arrives November 2. The question I have to ask: Will you buy?

That's no easy answer for competitive shoppers. Thanks to Windows RT, there's no shortage of tablets to choose from this holiday season. Nexus 10 is compelling nonetheless. Screen resolution is highest -- 2560 by 1600 -- available on a tablet, and that's more than iPad 4. Price is hugely competitive. The 16GB model sells for $100 less than Apple's comparable tablet. Then there is Android 4.2, newest Jelly Bean iteration, and promise of continued updates free of vendor skins and other changes. As the expression goes: "Pure Google".

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A week after the last build that introduced Kangerator, the Android Open Kang Project team announced Jelly Bean Milestone 1. It's a stepping stone for the custom Android distribution, and the last one users will see ahead of the version of Android.

Google released Android 4.2 Jelly Bean yesterday, and until it gets pushed to AOSP the team behind the popular project decided not to release further builds. The idea is to incorporate the latest version of the green robot into the AOKP source, which will bring the newly introduced features. Jelly Bean Milestone 1 touts a more bug-free operation, as every bug report received via RootzWiki and Twitter in the last weeks has been closed. As usual of late, a new build doesn't come without new features and changes in the list of supported devices, so let's get to it.

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Hurricane Sandy may have dampened Google's plans for a big New York City Android event, but even with that cancelled the company pushed out the news anyway: Android 4.2 and new Nexus devices. That isn't the only mobile news today, though. Microsoft, with an event in San Francisco and safely out of the storm path, launched Windows Phone 8. T-Mobile USA was front and center for both rollouts.

The carrier will be among the first to carry the new devices, including the "Nokia Lumia 810 and the Windows Phone 8X by HTC; the Google Nexus 4 with T-Mobile as a premier launch partner; and the Samsung Galaxy Note II". That's a pretty big lineup for a company that has struggled to compete with giants like Verizon and AT&T.

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Yesterday, when reporting about Nexus 7 32GB showing up on Office Depot shelves, I asked: "Why wait?" Google may have cancelled today's Android event because of Hurricane Sandy, but there are many good reasons to announce anyway -- and stealing thunder from Windows Phone 8's launch is one of them.

Google went ahead, today announcing the long rumored Nexus 4 smartphone, Nexus 10 tablet and Android 4.2. It's no Key Lime Pie but more Jelly Bean. Make no mistake, despite the point-one update and nomenclature, this is a big upgrade.

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Just in case you were thinking it was all about the iPad mini and Surface tablets at the moment, along comes Google with a new Nexus range. The company had planned to make a big announcement in New York today, stealing some of the thunder from Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 launch, but Hurricane Sandy decided to put the kibosh on that (how ironic), so instead the search giant has had to make do with a blog post instead.

There are actually three Nexus devices being announced today, the Nexus 4 smartphone, the new Nexus 7 tablet (which my colleague Joe Wilcox talked about here) and the bigger Nexus 10 -- Google’s 10.1-inch answer to the Apple iPad.

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For Microsoft it's an act of God. Just when Google looked to steal the thunder from Windows Phone 8's Monday launch, the big Android event is cancelled. Blame Hurricane Sandy. Google should have stayed on its own coast instead of choosing New York (Microsoft's phone shindig is in San Francisco).

Well, it's nice to know exactly where we stand in the pecking order. Google did not send us an email about the cancellation, although it seems just about every other news site on the planet got one. The pain! The pain! The statement everyone else received: "We are canceling our Monday morning event in New York due to Hurricane Sandy. We will let you know our plans as soon as we know more. Stay safe and dry, The Android Team".

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