Articles about Android

That's the question I'm asking after looking over comScore US mobile subscriber data for the three months ending in March. After years of steady, steep declines, Windows Phone subscriber share held steady from February to March, which perhaps not coincidentally is when Nokia Lumia 900 went on sale. Could it be...

comScore measures subscribers 13 years and older. Microsoft mobile share among smartphone subscribers held steady at 3.9 percent month-on-month, the first real stop in drop in years. How mighty is Microsoft's fall? Market share was 19 percent in September 2009, for example. So 3.9 percent is nothing to skinny, but staying there rather than going down is small, but notable improvement.

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I don't know how cellular carriers or device makers could move any slower serving Ice Cream Sandwich to their customers. Still, someone is making progress, seven months after Google formally unveiled the OS and six after the first device with it shipped. Android 4.0 share jumped dramatically from mid March to mid April, granted from a small base. It's about time.

This morning I wrote a mobile browser usage story and checked official statistics on Android usage, which is based on the number of devices connecting to Google Play during the pervious 14 days. That number: 2.9 percent. Hours later, when doing a second browser story -- on desktops -- I double checked, more as formality. To my surprise, Google updated the data as of today: 4.9 percent.

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Image Insight on Monday announced the first free trial release of GammaPix for Android smartphones, an application that loosely measures gamma radiation with the phone's camera.

The GammaPix gimmick is that it can detect radiation in different everyday situations, such as cosmic radiation while flying in an airplane, or gamma radiation in medical waste. You simply pull up the app, and begin taking a reading. Under normal circumstances, the camera can grab a complete reading in about five minutes.

The application uses technology that analyzes video and still imagery for the signature of gamma rays that have hit the image sensor. The measurements themselves indicate the rate of interactions of gamma ray radiation with the particular camera being used, so different phones will yield different results. Image Insight formed in 2010 with the explicit purpose of developing this app under a $679,000 contract with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

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There was great news on the Android front this week. Samsung reported blow-out earnings, with smartphones -- the majority running Android -- accounting for nearly three-quarters of profits. Meanwhile comScore data spotlights the growing US Android tablet market. Additionally, Google started selling Galaxy Nexus direct, with no carrier contract, for $399. But all three share something in common -- what they foreshadow. Google has lost control of Android, and must swiftly act to regain it.

Forrester Research predicts that proprietary Android will surpass the Google Android ecosystem by 2015. Stated differently, Google's open-source mobile platform risks fracturing into multiple fatally fragmented Android ecosystems. Not one but many. There is little time for Google to demonstrate decisive leadership that can keep the ecosystem largely intact.

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Quickoffice Inc. on Thursday evening pushed out a major feature update to its popular Android productivity application family which adds a host of new capabilities to its Word, Excel, and Powerpoint document editors, and adds the new ability to annotate and edit PDF files.

The new PDF editing feature tops the list of new additions in Quickoffice 5.5, as it allows users to write directly on PDF files, highlight text, insert shapes, and add and remove comments.

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If you own Sony's Android tablet, the wait is over. Android 4.0 is available, starting today. The company says that users will be prompted to update the next time they connect to WiFi.

Sony's tablet packs one of the most customized versions of Android, from look and feel down to a plethora of apps, the majority focused on entertainment. Users can expect plenty of spit-and-polish tweaks and enhancements throughout its ICS iteration.

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Google has surreptitiously answered whether AT&T or T-Mobile would carry Galaxy Nexus, which is available from Sprint and Verizon here in the United States: No. Otherwise, why would Google sell the smartphone direct, which it started doing yesterday. It's a helluva price, too -- $399, unlocked, with no contractual commitment.

This is the HSPA+ model released internationally in November 2011. That means no LTE and only 16GB storage, rather than 32GB -- and it's not expandable. The phone sold for $729 or more from Amazon and handset resellers just a few months ago. Amazon lists the 16GB model for $438 today. But, hey, $399 is better. But is it low enough for you? You can get 64GB iPhone 4S from AT&T for same price -- granted locked, with 2-year contractual commitment. Both handsets are HSPA+, though, and AppleCare+, which offers cheap replacement for broken phones, is an extra $99. So I ask: Would you -- or will you -- buy Galaxy Nexus direct from Google?

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Though the newest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, has been available for a little more than six months, its availability has been extremely limited. Only 2.9% of Android users were running it first week of April, according to the Android Developer Dashboard.

Samsung on Tuesday released an updated list of the U.S. devices that will receive an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich, bringing its total number of devices with the operating system version up to thirteen.

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If you can't beat them, manage them. It's a strategy that has worked well for Microsoft in the past, and it is emerging as a key element in announcements last week about how Microsoft will license Windows 8 in all its variations, including the x86 consumer, Professional and Enterprise editions, the embedded Windows RT and the cloud-based Windows Intune.

While Microsoft's primary goal is to stop Apple's growth in the enterprise, which it will do by tilting licensing policies in favor of Windows tablets, the company has a Plan B that will help monetize Apple and Android devices in the enterprise through management.

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This week, marketing research firm Ipsos published the latest edition of the Ipsos Reid’s Mobil-ology focusing on Canada's mobile device market. According to the data (collected for six months between August 2011 and January 2012), the Canadian mobile device market has shown continuous growth across the smartphone, tablet, and e-reader categories, putting it very close to the United States despite different brand preferences among consumers.

Here's a blow-by-blow look at how the Canadian device market differs from the United States according to Ipsos Reid's data.

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Popular music streaming service Spotify has rolled out a beta of its first Android app optimized for devices running Ice Cream Sandwich.

The most current version of the app, available in Google Play, was built for Android Gingerbread, and no version was released for Honeycomb. Google Play says the Gingerbread version is compatible with Ice Cream Sandwich devices, but this is not strictly true, and installing the Gingerbread version didn't guarantee local playback or playlisting, so this beta is a ramp-up to a significant release for Spotify.

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Last February, Google launched the first version of its Chrome Web browser for Android 4.0, undoubtedly one of the most significant applications that could be released for Android. While it was received with great fanfare, I said it was still far too early to call it a real winner due to a few missing features.

Tuesday, Google issued a major update to the young browser that added a few of those features, significantly advancing Chrome for Android against its competition.

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A company more known for its work in the aerospace industry is now Android's newest partner. Boeing this week announced plans to release a smartphone aimed at those requiring super-secure communications, yet the convenience of a widely used mobile operating system. Calling it the "Boeing phone", the device is slated to launch by the end of the year.

What business a company like Boeing has in hawking smartphones is unclear, but it has the market. Most of Boeing's current clients are in sectors where confidentiality and security is at a premium. Similar devices cost $15,000 to $20,000, but the Chicago based company plans to come in at a price point below that. Not something you or I could afford, mind you, but definitely more reasonable.

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Toshiba's first Android tablets, called "Thrive," were a bit thicker and boxier than their competitors; but at the Consumer Electronics Show 2012, the company revealed it had slimmed down its second generation considerably with the 10" Excite tablet.

Tuesday, Toshiba unveiled a new member of the Excite family that proves the company still has size in mind with its Android Tablets. The new Excite 13 has the largest LED touchscreen of any Android tablet yet.

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Recently, an article ran in the MIT Technology Review blog, in which Skyhook Wireless CEO Ted Morgan said "a lot of companies" are forking Android; that "nobody wants to just be a manufacturer for Google," and that a major non-Google Android device is coming out later this year.

The headline claimed Android manufacturers are "mutinying."

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