Articles about Android

Google is succeeding in keeping Apple at bay in Europe. The latest figures from Kantar show that Android is growing in popularity in the UK, Germany, France, Italy, and Spain (known collectively as EU5), while iOS growth is slowing.

The data covers smartphone sales in Europe's five largest markets in the three months ending October 2015. Android's popularity had been falling over the previous year, but sales in the last quarter see a return to growth that Google will hope to see continue into 2016 and beyond.

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Do you have a Smart TV? The devices have become increasingly popular and many on the market today now come with apps built in. Even set-top box maker Roku has launched a service that manufacturers can use.

One of the top makers of big screens is Samsung and it aims to stay near the top of the market with its latest feature that it calls Smart View. Its currently a beta and only available on select TVs, but it works with the app on Android, iOS and Windows PCs.

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Android Pay, Apple Pay, Samsung Pay -- it seems to be the latest trend in mobile devices. Each wants you to use its service and, in some cases all will work at a particular retailer. But, instead of accepting the existing ones, Walmart has decided to launch its own rival to them.

The giant retail chain is announcing Walmart Pay with the good news being that it isn't launching its own phone that you need to purchase first. It will work with both iOS and Android; Windows Phone users once again get left out. Walmart is the first retailer to launch its own payment service.

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With Google/Alphabet having search so deeply ingrained in its DNA, it is somewhat surprising that the search capabilities found in Drive have been so limited. Now that changes. The cloud storage service, at long last, has a search tool that's worth using.

As well as rolling out to the web, Google Drive's new search options are also making their way to iOS and Android devices. Apple users in particular have something to look forward to thank to support for 3D Touch and deeplinking.

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Cortana is no longer limited to devices running Windows 10. After short period of public beta testing, Microsoft's digital assistant is now rolling out not only to iOS and Android, but also Cyanogen OS devices.

Just as on Windows 10 Mobile handsets, these new releases include many of the features that are found in the desktop version of Cortana. There are, however, some functions that remain exclusive to Windows phones -- you cannot, for example, change system settings in iOS and Android nor, frustratingly, use the hands-free "Hey Cortana" voice command.

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Today, Google started selling its first homegrown tablet, Pixel C. You can buy one directly from the company—until they sell out! Google typically struggles stocking new devices, like Nexus smartphones and the Chromebook Pixel. On November 30th, I asked: "Where is Pixel C?", which was promised to arrive before the holidays. Now we know.

I hope to have the 10.2-inch tablet in possession within a few days and will subsequently post first-impression and full reviews. If you can't wait for that, and shouldn't, larger tech news sites already have their takes online. Search for the name, and you will find them. Don't wait on me, if you're thinking about one for Christmas!

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We already know the importance of defending endpoints to keep business systems secure. The latest release of Panda Internet Security offers protection for PC, Mac, iOS and Android devices, and aims to provide a wide spectrum of security in an easy-to-use package.

For businesses looking to help staff protect their BYOD devices or smaller organizations looking for desktop protection, what does it have to offer?

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When I switched from Android to iOS earlier this year, it had nothing to do with being a fanboy, hating Google, or loving Apple. Truth be told, I have never ever owned a Mac -- although I have played around with Hackintosh -- and I continue to use many Google services like YouTube and Gmail. The reason I switched was simple -- security. Too many Android devices get abandoned by manufacturers, meaning users are expected to use devices with known vulnerabilities -- unacceptable. With iOS, I can be confident that I will get a steady stream of updates.

While Android continues to be a dangerous Wild-West-like experience when it comes to updates and vulnerabilities -- except for Nexus devices -- today, Google is making it a bit safer to use. As long as you use Chrome as your web browser on the mobile Linux-based operating system, the search giant will try to protect you from potentially dangerous websites. Yes, Android is becoming, arguably, a little less dangerous.

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When it comes to keeping on top of appointments, Google Calendar is certainly a useful tool -- but it's a long way from perfect. It's very capable at helping you to keep track of what you have to do and when, but there's one area in which it has always fallen short: to-do lists.

Today (or at least this week) this changes. Google is adding Reminders to the iOS and Android version of the Calendar app, with the promise that the same feature will make its way to the web soon. The name might not be quite right, but Reminders is the to-do list support users have been waiting for.

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Windows Phone's market share took a huge hit last quarter, dropping to a ridiculously low 1.7 percent. Things could improve following the introduction of Lumia 950, Lumia 950 XL and other Windows 10 Mobile smartphones, but, in the long run, the platform is not expected to regain much of the ground it lost to Android and iOS.

Windows Phone's market share for 2015 is expected to be around the 2.2 percent mark, according to an IDC forecast, which would be a major decline compared to last year, when its market share was 2.7 percent. But, that's not the real bad news. By the end of 2019, Windows on smartphones is expected to only see a slight bump to 2.3 percent.

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Google is experimenting with a way to make Android-based ads less irritating and more useful. Trial Run Ads are a new type of interactive ad that lets you try out games by streaming them rather than installing them. It's a format that Google and developers hope will help to drive installations, the thinking being that try-before-you-buy makes things easier for the would-be customer.

The new ads came about after research showed that mobile users' attention spans have shortened, and a quarter of downloaded apps are never used. Google is also introducing beta support for HTML5-based Interactive Interstitial ads which can be used for regular apps and not just games.

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Microsoft held its yearly shareholder meeting this week in Bellevue, Washington. According to executive vice president and chief financial officer Amy Hood, the company did well during the fiscal year of 2015 and it has already reported a strong start when it comes to the current fiscal year.

However, former CEO of Microsoft Steve Ballmer was displeased with the level of disclosure at the meeting concerning Microsoft’s revenue. He believes that revenue is a key metric and that it should be reported as opposed to the run rate.

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Enterprise customers are increasingly concerned about the security of their mobile communications, as well as the ability to deliver auditing and compliance information.

Silent Circle, the Swiss company behind the privacy focused Blackphone, is launching its Enterprise Privacy Platform a set of secure software, services and devices designed to deliver privacy to business and government organizations of all sizes.

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This fall we saw the release of iOS 9 from Apple just before the company launched the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus.

The success of these new models along with an uptick in the adoption rates of iOS 9 showed how quickly Apple users were to upgrade their devices. So far iOS 9 has an adoption rate of 70 percent which is significantly higher when compared to Marshmallow’s adoption rate.

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Years ago, venerable toy-seller Toys R Us ran a brilliant advertisement. It showed a goofy kid playing with a rain-check. Yes, the child was palling-around with a slip of paper. This highlighted the importance of being prepared with your Christmas shopping. Kids, and adults, want actual gifts -- not paper-promises for the future.

The same applies for manufacturers, you see, as launching a product after the holiday shopping season can mean death. My colleague Joe Wilcox highlighted this recently with Google's Pixel C, for which the holiday shopping window is closing. Today, Motorola announces its latest Android Wear smartwatch, the Moto 360 Sport, and it is not even pretending to be aiming for the shopping season in the USA. Nope, the company is targeting the beginning of 2016. Maybe the fancy smartwatch doesn't have a calendar?

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