Articles about Android

Since December 1998, when on impulse I bought the original iMac from CompUSA, I've used Apple gear. No longer. Late yesterday, I replaced the last fruit-logo with another, fulfilling my pledge nearly a month ago to boycott Apple. I wanted to declare independence sooner, but with so much news to write about in June and Google I/O last week, researching and replacing the AirPort base station was too much trouble. But it's offline now -- and, along with Apple TV, going on Craigslist today.

Circumstances since choosing to boycott make me all the more adamant. Last week, US District Judge Lucy Koh issued two preliminary injunctions against Samsung devices -- Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Nexus. Yesterday she denied Samsung's request to stay the ban pending appeal. Anticipating Nexus' similar fate, Google swiftly responded by pulling the phone from its online store and dispatching an update to existing phones. I chose to boycott being so angry by Apple's aggressive patent bullying that thwarts competition and takes away consumer choice. Today, I celebrate America's independence anniversary by gaining freedom from Apple.

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Let me see if I understand this. Google, the company that perfected web search and through it changed the lives of billions of people, must disable the local functonality from its flagship smartphone -- all because of Apple? Now do you see why about a month ago I boycotted Apple and last week called the preliminary injunction against Galaxy Nexus shameful?

Watch out. This is one Android update you don't want to accept. I asked my wife this morning: "Do you use local search on your phone?" She has Galaxy Nexus. My lovely looked up with a startled WTF looked and answered: "Yeah". Of course she uses local search on her phone. Who doesn't? You. If you own Galaxy Nexus and accept the update. It's the wrong one for Google to send out. The search giant should dispatch Android 4.1, which if, I understand correctly, changes search so that Apple's bully patent doesn't apply. C`mon, Google, you can do better.

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Last week, the Wi-Fi Alliance announced a certification program that assures devices will be able to seamlessly hand off their mobile data connection to a Wi-Fi connection and vice-versa. This program is called Wi-Fi certified Passpoint, and it was defined by service providers who desperately need a way to ease traffic on their congested mobile broadband networks. With devices that can automatically pair and connect over Wi-Fi, mobile networks can spare themselves some traffic.

The first devices certified in the the Passpoint test bed included: Access points from BelAir, Broadcom, Cisco, Ruckus Wireless, XSpan, and Qualcomm, as well as chips from Intel and Marvell. Included in the announcement last week was MediaTek's Hotspot 2.0 Client V1, which today the company said is the first (and only) smartphone system-on-a-chip to be involved in the project, and it's for mid- and entry-level dual-SIM Android devices.

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VideoLAN’s VLC, the hugely popular open source cross-platform media player, has finally been released for Android. Before you get too excited though, this is a beta version ported from iOS, so will only run on devices with an ARMv7 CPU and NEON. It has a rather basic UI and some performance issues too. In fact, according to VLC, "It might kill your kitten, destroy your house and start the Mayan apocalypse. Use it at your own risk".

If the limitations don’t put you off, and you have no qualms about potentially initiating the end of the world, the app offers the ability to play most local audio and video files (stored in its media library or any folders on your device), as well as network streams. It supports auto-rotation, aspect ratio adjustments, volume gestures, multi-track audio and subtitles.

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Last week, Google introduced its first branded tablet during the I/O developer conference. You can preorder one now, for delivery in a few weeks: $199 (8GB) or $249 (16GB). Maybe you're wondering if you should get one. I'd like to help that decision-making process, having the privilege of using Nexus 7 since June 27.

Nexus 7 is the most important Android device released to date. The tablet represents a culmination of disparate product and cloud services development coming suddenly together -- hardware, Jelly Bean, Chrome, curated content, seamless sync and personal assistant Google Now, among others. The tablet is first and foremost for anyone living the Google lifestyle. If you use more than a handful of Google services, this device, or Galaxy Nexus, is for you. Well, with caveats. Those aside, if you don't want this tablet, you really should.

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Apple's ridiculous patent assault against Samsung finally hits Google, which suddenly looks genius for choosing Asus to manufacture the Nexus 7 tablet. On Friday, US District Judge Lucy Koh issued a preliminary injunction against Galaxy Nexus, which is Google's flagship, stock Android smartphone. Days earlier she barred Galaxy Tab 10.1. For the preliminary injunction to go into effect, Apple must first put up $96 million.

What timing. To preview Android 4.1 Jellybean, the company gave one to each of more than 5,000 developers during Google I/O earlier this week. The new OS releases to Motorola XOOM tablets and Galaxy Nexus in mid-July, making the smartphone the first to get the important upgrade. The preliminary injunction would somewhat stymie Jellybean distribution ahead of iO6, which Apple is months from releasing. New features include voice response, that in BetaNews testing smoke Apple's Siri. If you're thinking about buying Galaxy Nexus, don't wait!

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From the halls of Adobe come the bells of impending death tolls. The master slayed its dragon. Flash is dead. The words from Adobe today in a public blog post mark another major blow to Flash, at least in the mobile form. The company announced that it will no longer develop Flash for Android after Android 4.0. There will be no certified implementations for Android 4.1.

Earlier this week, during its developer conference, Google officially unveiled the newest Android version -- Jellybean -- which replaces the stock browser with Chrome, for which Flash already isn't available. Google released Chrome for Android beta, supporting on v4 Ice Cream Sandwich, in February. From that perspective, the announcement, and timing, isn't super surprising.

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That's really my question for iPad and iPhone users. Today Google released Chrome for iOS. Will you dump Safari for Chrome? I would. But can't. I boycotted Apple earlier this month because of its patent bullying, which later succeeded in blocking Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 imports. What madness!

In May, I claimed that I would use iPad if Chrome was available. Well, the browser is here and I won't, mainly because of the boycott. But also because I'm mad. To receive holy admittance into the Apple App Store shrine, Google sacrificed a lamb and prostrated before the great iOS idol. Chrome and Safari may both be based on WebKit, but Google's browser actually uses a different rendering engine. Well, not on iOS.

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Yesterday at Google I/O, Recon Instruments announced the HUD SDK. I couldn't get time at the booth until today, they were so busy. Recon is best known for its goggle mods, which put an Android computer inside a heads up display that provides alpine skiers and snowboarder with all kinds of useful information such as speed, navigation and location, among others. Oh, yeah, music, too.

The development kit turns the device into a platform. Now third parties can write their own apps -- it's no longer a Recon affair. Tyson Miller explains what the SDK means for the company, its customers, developers and future products.

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By now, we've all seen the Nexus 7 tablet, Google's first attempt to penetrate the tablet market directly. For $199, the Nexus 7 will be a huge hit among tablet fans worldwide. It will be directly supported by Google, which means updates will actually be released on time. That is a major advantage over any other Android tablet currently on the market, and will remain an advantage over future ones as well. Google is known to deliver a consistent "stock" Android experience, which is what most cutting-edge tech fans love.

But what about the next Google Nexus phone? It’s totally overshadowed by the tablet right now, so it's a perfect time to think about what's next for the Nexus brand.

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In what was undoubtedly the strangest event at Google I/O this year (and possibly even of all time,) Mac and Android exchanged vows and were married. Yes, you heard that right. Outside of Google I/O in San Francisco yesterday, Android virtualization software maker BlueStacks launched the alpha version of its BlueStacks App Player for Mac OS and celebrated it with a mock wedding.

The company officially announced its Android App Player would be headed to the Mac platform last November, in the very vague time frame of "sometime next year," but the bombastic way in which the company debuted the software came totally out of left field.

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I've covered lots of events over the years, but few as exciting as Google I/O 2012. Seriously, the cloud computing giant innovates in ways that, well, people attribute to Apple. There's a very aspirational quality about presentations so far, right down to the hard-knuckle coding sessions. You can feel a real sense of empowerment in the air -- that somehow these developers, and the customers they create products for, will have better lives for participating in this ecosystem.

Like yesterday, I will liveblog the keynote, which begins at 10 am PDT (1 pm Eastern Time) and post in reverse chronological order, meaning the newest stuff will be one top. But it's hard to imagine how Google could out-do yesterday's stunning presentation. Still, there is much ground to cover -- Chrome, Chrome OS, Google TV and the rumored Amazon Web Services-like platform, to name a few. There are still two days of sessions yet. Check back and refesh often.

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Yesterday, at Google I/O, I spoke with one developer waiting to get his big goody bag -- Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7 and Nexus Q -- about his reaction to the first day's keynote. Like many other developers here, to my surprise, he develops for Android before iOS.

Among Jellybean's new features: Broader support for languages, including Arabic, and that makes this Google I/O attendee smile.

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This morning, before Google I/O 2012 keynote kicked off, I spoke with three developers from Ice Development Solutions, all from Phoenix, Arizona. They expressed excitement about Android and imminent Nexus 7 tablet announcement.

They feel real good about Chrome, too, but not as much about Chromebook. Some of their work involves games, and they say the hardware Chrome OS currently runs on isn't good enough. Get this: Their games run better on Ubuntu on the same hardware. Damn, good thing I don't game on the Samsung Series 5 550 Chromebook.

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It appears that this round of mobile operating system updates will be incremental for all platforms involved.

Following Apple's announcement of iOS 6, and Microsoft's announcement of Windows Phone 8, Google on Wednesday outlined the upcoming features of Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean," and revealed the update will provide mostly under-the-hood changes that aren't geared toward "wowing" users.

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