Articles about Android

Cyanogen Inc -- the cheeky little upstart behind Android-based CyanogenMod -- is reportedly laying off 20 percent of its workforce. The company is a fairly small operation with just 136 employees, but the lay-offs are significant as they are mostly from the OS side of things.

It seems that the open source Android-inspired operating system has failed to generate quite as much interest as hoped, although it does have a very dedicated cult following. It is not clear quite what the future holds for CyanogenMod, but things are not looking good at the moment.

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For many mobile users, it's important to keep an eye on data usage to ensure tariff limits are not exceeded. A major contributor to gobbling up monthly bandwidth allowances is the updating of apps, and Google is taking steps to reduce the size of APK updates.

In a post on the Android Developers Blog, Google speaks directly to developers, pointing out the various steps they can take to optimize the size of updates. The company also calls for greater transparency so users know the size of updates before committing to a download.

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Pokémon Go has proved almost unbelievably popular, and like any app that gains a huge following, malicious versions of the app soon appeared. The game has been in the headlines after hackers knocked gaming servers offline, but there have also been major privacy concerns.

Now there could be a nightmare brewing for developer Niantic Labs in Germany, where consumer advocates say the game violates the country's consumer and privacy laws. Federation of German Consumer Organizations (VZBV) says the company needs to make sweeping changes to a raft of clauses in the app's terms of use in order to avoid further action.

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If you use your Android smartphone or tablet to read comics, your reading experience is about to get a whole lot more enjoyable. An update to Google Play Books sees the introduction of Bubble Zoom, a feature announced at San Diego Comic-Con 2016.

It uses image recognition technology to identify speech bubbles and automatically enlarge the text of each, one at time as you tap. To celebrate, Google is offering 50 percent off certain DC Comics and Marvel comics.

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The BBC pumps out a great deal of fabulous content, but there's one problem -- an awful lot of it can only be accessed in the UK. With the launch of the iPlayer Radio app for iOS and Android, this changes.

As well as giving listeners the chance to tune in to live radio broadcasts, the app also provides access to podcasts, and boasts a catch-up feature for shows you may have missed. The iPlayer Radio app is available free of charge, and has already received rave reviews in the Google and Apple stores.

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Google has done a great job of mapping the globe down to street level, but it's not perfect. You've almost certainly encountered errors and omissions on Google Maps, and starting today the company is making it easy to point out missing and incorrect data from the comfort of your mobile.

Crowdsourcing the collecting of map data is a great way to ensure that Google Maps is kept constantly up to date. It means that as businesses close down, change names, or open up, users can submit feedback to Google straight away so the information is available to everyone as quickly as possible.

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Rooting Android remains very popular with a certain crowd of users, but fact of the matter is for most folks it is an unnecessary hassle. I have gone through the pros and cons of hacking the operating system in previous articles, so I will not discuss them again here, but suffice to say that both the software and the hardware have matured so nicely that the vast majority of people can be perfectly happy with their new smartphone or tablet as it comes out of the box.

Google has been somewhat permissive with regards to rooting, but, behind closed doors, it has been working hard to close the open avenues. While hacking Android has become harder, Nougat will take things to the next level, bringing new security features to make sure that your device stays the way its maker intended.

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Some apps become overnight sensations -- something ably demonstrated by the Pokémon Go phenomenon. But it's not just games that experience an explosion in popularity. You can't help but have seen stylized pictures posted to Facebook: photos that have been transformed into striking works of art.

This trickery is the handiwork of the Prisma app. The app has only been available for iOS users, but that's about to change. It would have been madness not to have released Prisma for Android, and the company behind the app -- Prisma labs inc -- knows this. A beta version of Prisma is about to launch, and you can be the first to learn of its release.

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Over the years, the BBC has created a huge number of apps and websites to showcase the various services it offers. If you're interested in a range of BBC content, you've probably found that you have to jump from app to app and website to website. BBC+ aims to change all that.

BBC+ is a new app from the corporation that’s available for iOS and Android. This is one of the first apps built using the newly-developed Mobile Application Framework (MAF) and it gives BBC fans the opportunity to create a personalized collection of the content most relevant and interesting to them -- news, weather, TV and more.

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Inexpensive Android smartphones are nothing new. Getting premium quality phones at a low price is fairly new, however. While some folks hail these respectable wallet-friendly devices as a win for consumers, others -- such as yours truly -- view it as a race to the bottom which could ultimately harm the Android market overall.

Today, ZTE announces the ZMAX PRO Android smartphone. This device is chock full of premium features, such as an octa-core Snapdragon 617 processor, 2GB of RAM, expandable storage, and a fingerprint reader. The truly amazing aspect, however, is the price -- a shockingly low $99.

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It may only be a few weeks since Google revealed that Android 7.0 will be called Nougat, but there have already been several developer previews of the Marshmallow successor. Today Google launches the fifth and final preview before the official launch.

As this is the final preview, build NPD90G of Nougat can be considered near-final code; this is, near as damn it, what you'll be installing on your Android handset in the not-too-distant future when Android 7.0 is officially launched. At the moment, the preview build can only be installed on Nexus 6, Nexus 5X, Nexus 6P, Nexus 9, and Pixel C devices, as well as General Mobile 4G (Android One) devices, but more will be added further down the line.

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It may be easy to dismiss reports of Android malware as nothing more than fear mongering by clickbait-loving journalists and security companies, but not even apologists can argue with the fact that the threat is real when malware is approved on Google Play.

ESET's security researchers have uncovered a fake lockscreen app, called Pokemon Go Ultimate, which takes advantage of the game's mindblowing popularity to mislead users into installing it ultimately generating revenue by clicking on porn ads.

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Pokémon Go has proved itself to be a rare phenomenon, and it has taken the world by storm. Attracting casual gamers of all ages the augmented reality title, Pokémon Go has seen people hitting the streets in search of elusive Pokémon -- until the servers overloaded.

There have been a few glitches with Pokémon Go, largely due to its staggering popularity. But today many people found that they were unable to get online for a different reason -- the game servers were hit by hackers. A group called PoodleCorp claims responsibility for the takedown and says worse is to come.

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Bluelight Filter is a free Android app which aims to reduce the harmful effects of the blue light emitted by smartphones and tablets.

This could reduce eye strain, help you sleep better, and generally make the screen easier to read.

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Yesterday, Europe's Competition Commission expanded its legal assault against Alphabet and major subsidiary Google. Four monopolies are under fire: AdSense, Android, search, and shopping services. Trustbusters allege that Google uses anticompetitive tactics to protect its market dominance, which share ranges from 80 percent to 90 percent in each category. Behind the charges is a hoity-toity attitude typical of overly-protectionist EU regulators. What if the information giant gave them what they want?

Imagine this: Google shuts down operations across the entire Euro zone—in a Brexit-like departure, but suddenly with no preparations. Switch it off. Search and other services could remain available in Britain and to all other non-EU countries. The company surely has the means, starting with IP blocking and expanding to other measures. The risk: Confirming just how dominant is Google, because of the incredible negative consequences. But the chaos also would lead to an outcry to restore services, while illuminating how important Big G is to citizens and how greatly businesses benefit, or profit, from the monopolies.

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