Posted: 01 Feb 2012 11:25 PM PST  People have asked for an Android version of Google Docs for a long time, but when they did get it, it wasn’t exactly what they were expecting. The Android version of Google Docs worked only online, and editing was pretty much unusable. It seems that Google is (slowly) responding to user feedback for Google Docs, and they’ve just added an Offline Mode to it, which means that you can continue your work when you don’t have an Internet connection, and it will simply sync everything when you get online. They’ve also improved the tablet experience, and added support for watching the documents in high resolution. The question remains – is it good enough? Many people still complain that editing is just as unusable as before, that it feels sluggish, that it doesn’t use the new ICS style guide, nor the Android developers’ recommendation to stop using the menu button, and use an action bar instead, and on and on. I don’t think Google has cared all that much about Google Docs, because over the years I’ve found development of new features to be extremely slow for the web version. I don’t think Microsoft will want to bring Office anytime soon to Android, so Google has a unique opportunity here to create their own dominant Office Suite for Android before Microsoft gets a chance to come to the platform. As Android keeps growing, it will eventually be on over a billion, or maybe over 2 billion devices. Most of those could have Google’s Office Suite. Perhaps Google doesn’t really care all that much because there really isn’t such a strong monetary motivation for them to compete with Microsoft’s Office. Microsoft makes $17 billion a year from Office alone, and Google is giving their Docs app for free. I’m not arguing against it being free. I think that’s great for us in general. It’s just that they’ll never work on Docs as hard as they work on Search or even on Android. But maybe one day, even if it doesn’t beat Office in features and usability, it still manages to become good enough for 95% of the population. That would still be a great outcome for Docs. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
This article, Is Google Docs Finally Good Enough for Tablets? , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source. |
Posted: 01 Feb 2012 09:01 PM PST  Bloomberg News has reported a few days ago that Google Inc. is sparring with a law firm they've been using since 2008. This is after they discovered that the law firm had lawyers representing a patent-licensing business which sued their Android partners just last month. According to Google, the law firm (Pepper Hamilton LLP) did not provide them any notice that they were hired by Digitude Innovations LLC. This same company filed patent-infringement complaints against several handset manufacturers, including Google's Android partners Samsung Electronics Co. and HTC Corp. In a Jan. 27 request, Google said that Pepper Hamilton should be disqualified from the case. This request was given to the US International Trade Commission in Washington, where a complaint was filed. "In short, Pepper Hamilton is accusing its own client of infringement," Google said in the filing. "Pepper Hamilton should not be allowed to continue alleging infringement against the products and interests of its current client."Google accused Pepper Hamilton of disloyalty and said confidential information it shared created conflict of interest with the Digitude case. Since Google previously used the law firm to help them apply for Android mobile OS patents, it is no shock why Google felt betrayed. "With so much patent litigation among technology companies, there is bound to be some overlap among lawyers." said Scott Daniels, a Westerman Hattori Daniels in Washington partner said. "Conflicts are hard on law firms.When asked about comment on the issue, Pepper Hamilton lawyers did not return any telephone messages. But on their website, they claim that they have around 500 lawyers. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
This article, Google in Battle with Own Lawyers , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source. |
Posted: 01 Feb 2012 08:59 PM PST  What do you get when you combine the 5 different Sky Sports and 11 Sky Movies channels into one app: Sky Go! Recently, Sky has confirmed that it will be launching the integrated Sky Go for Android app at the end of February. Through the app, Android smartphone users get to access live broadcasts from the 5 Sky Sports channels including, ESPN, Sky 1, Sky New, Sky Arts, and Sky Living. In addition, the app will also provide availability for the 11 Sky Movies channels. The catch though, is that the user will have to subscribe to the relevant package. Initially, the Sky Go app will only be compatible with certain smartphones including the HTC Incredible S, HTC Sensation, HTC Desire, and the Samsung Galaxy S range. Further plans of the app include making on demand access for Sky Movies available for the app later in the year, and to include the Sky Sports F1 channel across all Sky Go platforms on March. As a generalization, each user has access to content from similar channels which are included in their package. Non Sky subscribers can also purchase a Sky Go Monthly Ticket for a minimum of £15 – £40 per month. The Android version of the app was developed at the same time they worked on the iPhone app. However, iOS had a uniformed platform for the iPhone, iPad and iPod; as such, developing the app for iOS was easier to complete. "Sky Go is all about helping more people watch the TV they love wherever and whenever it suits them, so I’m delighted to announce the roll out of Sky Go to Android. We know how much Android users have been looking forward to the launch of Sky Go on Android smartphones, and we’ve done everything we can to make sure that our bespoke design is worth waiting for,” said Sky Go Head, Holly Knill. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
This article, Sky Go for Android Available Reel Soon , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source. |
Posted: 01 Feb 2012 08:54 PM PST  A month and a half after Salesforce acquired the social performance management service named Rypple, an Android app has already been launched. This app helps ensure managers and employees are able to connect to each other, regardless of their geographic location. Through identifying 'social goals,' managers get to improve employee performance with Rypple's software. It also helps that they have consistent feedback and recognition. And since there is an increasing number of competition for cloud-based human resource management services, it is no longer a surprise why Rypple's top rivals include SuccessFactors, Workday, Ultimate Software, Cornerstone OnDemand, and Taleo.  This isn't the first time Rypple has an app though. Originally, they launched an iPhone app and just like this former launch, Rypple hopes to increase mobile work force connection with daily feedback. The Android version includes features such as public recognition for colleague praise, social goals for tracking priorities, and real-time feedback. "The best feedback often comes on the taxi ride back to the office after an important meeting," says Daniel Debow, Rypple co-founder and co-CEO. "Rypple's investment in an Android app lets our users stay aligned with key priorities, get real-time updates, and recognize great work—away from the office."As of this writing, the Android app is available in three different price options—the free version contains basic capabilities; Premium ($5) with real-time feedback, one-on-one coaching, and recognition applications; and the Phenomenal option ($9) with performance review application, Social Goals 2.0, Loops, and integration into the existing work systems of the company. Prices are available per-user-per-month. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
This article, Rypple Launches Android App for the Mobile Workplace , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source. |
Posted: 01 Feb 2012 08:34 PM PST  The Sony Xperia S is due for launch in early March, and it looks like Sony is getting ever closer to their best competition in terms of hardware, design and software. They are not quite there yet, and I expect them to be about 6 months behind in most specs by the time of launch compared to the competition, but the Xperia S may be the first phone that really feels like it’s worth getting from Sony in 2012. UK retail store Clove released the whitepaper that gives us all the details we need to know about this upcoming Sony device: Operating system: Google™ Android™ 2.3 (Gingerbread) Processor: 1.5 GHz Qualcomm MSM8260 Dual Core GPU: Adreno 220 Size: 128 x 64 x 10.6 mm Weight: 144 grams Available colours: black, white Main screen
Other than that, probably even more disappointing is that it says it features Android 2.3. That would be most unfortunate for such a unique device, that is being launched in March, to not have Android 4.0 at launch. However, for now, I still think Sony will launch it with ICS, even if it says otherwise in the whitepaper. I know they want to be very serious about putting the latest software fast on their phones, and I would be really surprised if they ship it without Android 4.0 The not-the-most-cutting-edge processor, and the lack of Android 4.0 would be its greatest weaknesses, and I’d say they would be pretty big ones. But otherwise, the other specs look very competitive. The 4.3″ HD Bravia display, 12 MP camera (it should be one of the very best), and its stylish design should go along way in compensating for its other shortcomings, especially with people who don’t care all that much about having the latest processor and version of Android. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
This article, Whitepaper Gives Spec Details for Sony Xperia S , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source. |
Posted: 01 Feb 2012 08:19 PM PST  Qualcomm managed to bring 40% larger revenue compared to the same time last year, and also 14% bigger compared to last quarter. Profits also hit 1.4 billion, which is a 20% increase over last year’s profits, and a 33% over the last quarter. It seems that compared to last quarter alone, they managed to sell 23% more chips, accounting for 156 million units in total. Qualcomm is clearly doing well in the mobile market right now, and I think we can all pinpoint to the exact moment in time when brand awareness played a huge rule in skyrocketing Qualcomm’s numbers over the past 2 years. It’s when Qualcomm was the first to make a 1 Ghz ARM processor. Although, the Nexus One wasn’t technically the first phone to use it (it was some noname Toshiba smartphone), it did help jumpstart the avalanche of brand awareness that Qualcomm got later for their Snapdragon processor. I remember when for most of 2010, everyone was using the 1 Ghz Snapdragon processor as the standard to which they compared all future processors in smartphones. It wasn’t until Tegra 2, when Snapdragon started losing some of that mindshare it gained a year before, and then came Samsung’s Exynos, which took us all by surprise with how good it was compared to the competition. Although Qualcomm is doing very well right now financially, I believe it’s mostly because of inertia. The way market inertia works, is that once you have a great product, and the core market hears about you, it will be a while until the rest of the market hears about your product, and how good it “was” (not necessarily “is”). So even if that company loses competitiveness for its products, that same part of the market that heard last about how good it was in the beginning, will also be the last to find out that their products are not so good anymore compared to the competition (RIM is a good example for this). Fortunately for Qualcomm, they do have a chip that, besides Cortex A15, will be the most exciting chip of the year 2012, and that’s the S4 chip based on the new Krait architecture. I expect this year to be all about Cortex A15 and Krait. The early adopters will lose interest in everything else as soon as these hit the market. The jury is still out on how well S4 compared with Cortex A15 in both performance and energy efficiency, or as an overall chip, but no matter the outcome, Qualcomm should continue to do very well with its chips in 2012. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
This article, Qualcomm’s Revenues Up 40% in Q1. Will This Keep Up in 2012? , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source. |
Posted: 01 Feb 2012 08:15 PM PST  Someone tried to mess around with the FaceUnlock application code from the Android SDK, and stumbled upon this code, which seems to include answers, as if given by a personal assistant or such. We’ve heard some rumors a few months back that Google may be working on a personal assistant as part of their Google X projects, and they’ve been doing this for years. These rumors came from someone who claimed he was involved with Google X, and he wanted to give a hint about what they’ve been working on: This is in total violation of the NDA, but I don't care anymore. Sue me.If that’s true, and this technology can be used in Android in the (near?) future, then we can soon enough have close-to-real conversations with your phone’s AI, and according to him, it should make Siri look like an AI-toy in comparison: I was unfairly terminated along with quite a few of my coworkers. It was a small enough group that they will probably figure out who I am, but like I said, I don't care. I'm not going to answer all of the questions, but for #6, our AI is practically like talking to a human. Siri can give you information, but we can give you conversation. We can also go full genius mode which essentially gives you the sum of internet knowledge via conversation. It can do objects by using an advanced version of the Google Goggles software. It also has a suite of basically every sensor that could be put on it; optical, laser, infrared, ultrasonic, depth cameras, etc.It’s possible that all this is still fake, but it all does sound pretty real. It would make sense for it to recognize objects based on Google Goggle’s pattern recognition algorithms, or to use a lot of data if it’s indeed as smart as he says it is. Google may not have wanted to reveal this in the next few years, until it would’ve been ready to beat maybe 99% of the Turing tests, or until phones were powerful enough, and data connections were truly unlimited and LTE was everywhere. However, with Apple’s release of Siri, they might not have a choice but to use this technology for a true personal assistant in an upcoming version of Android. Will it be in the version of Android announced at Google I/O (5.0 perhaps?) ? It would certainly make sense to release something like this at a developer event like that. Last year they were already showing some robots there, and some rumors said the next version of Android will feature some really groundbreaking changes and technologies. So we’ll see if Majel, or whatever they plan on calling the personal assistant, will be announced there, too. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
This article, Is This Code Part of Majel, Android’s Future Personal Assistant? , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source. |
Posted: 01 Feb 2012 08:12 PM PST  Here's a random thought from us… So now it seems like scammers are targeting Android games to fool users into clicking on their ads. If you've been using an app or playing a game and you encounter a split screen containing message such as "Video codec missing- click here to install" or "You are this site's 100,000,000th visitor! Click to claim your prize," or even "Virus detected! Click here to remove it!"—don't fall victim to them! Let's face it: free ad-supported games are a daily threat to Android smartphone users. This is something entirely expected from free apps. Take for example the highly popular and successful Angry Birds game—which has a lot of ads. Last year, Android Market announced they will be selling a paid version of the game, many rejoiced at the thought of having to play their favorite game without any ads. But then Amazon declared this option will only be available for North America. Now that ads are getting smarter, we bet there are a lot of people who are falling victim to the lines mentioned above. Even though clicking on these ads are a bit scary, we felt the need to investigate. We clicked on the Virus alert and got redirected to the Marketplace, where a legitimate Android anti-virus program was waiting to be downloaded. This type of advertising is not only limited to Android, it also occurs in iOS devices. That made us wonder—if this were an honest app, why did its developer feel the need to attract consumers with false and dishonest banners? Aren't we protected by our rights against false advertising? If so, where are the lawmakers to defend them? What do you think? YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
This article, Banner Ads on Android Apps: Are They Exempt from False Advertising Laws? , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source. |
Posted: 01 Feb 2012 07:53 PM PST  There's a new app which parents can use to keep track of their children's whereabouts. Through Family Check In, parents can determine if their kids have arrived at their scheduled destinations. The app can pinpoint the whereabouts of a child on a location-verified map. This means parents can guarantee that their kids are at the school gym, a friend's house, at the mall, or anywhere else they're supposed to be. Created by Location Labs' Safely division, they believe that this app will complement the existing behaviors of teens with currently existing apps like Foursquare. This app is the T-Mobile version of another similar application available on both AT&T as FamilyMap and Sprint as Family Locator tool. Ever since it was launched, the app has obtained over a billion safety location check ins. Initially, the app will be available through T-Mobile USA under the brand, T-Mobile FamilyWhere. The app will be available for free and can be downloaded from the Android Market. Other available apps under the Safely division include Drive Safe, Phone Controls usage analytics service, and Safely Social Monitor. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
This article, Family Check In: Know Your Child's Whereabouts , was originally published at AndroidAuthority.com - Your Android News Source. |
Posted: 01 Feb 2012 05:47 PM PST Asus’ Transformer tablet was one of the first tablets of the tablet boom and it has managed to hold its own. That’s quite an achievement considering the era was dominated by the iPad. First appearing with the Android Honeycomb installation, the Transformer also went up against Motorola’s Xoom and Toshiba’s Thrive and managed to carve out its own niche in the marketplace. Considering its service record one would expect that Asus would finally deign to update the Transformer to Ice Cream Sandwich, the Android OS’ latest version. Unfortunately, users will have to keep waiting got it – but there is an update coming.  Asus has just released the 3.2.1 firmware for the Transformer tablet – note, this update is meant only for the Transformer and not its follow-up the Transformer Prime. This update should update the Transformer build version to 8.6.5.13 and updates all devices to Honeycomb 3.2.1. This means a whole lot of improvements, like improved Flash and a better interface. A big plus is the improved WiFi stability – which greatly improves the device’s use as a mobile browsing platform. It may not exactly be the Ice Cream Sandwich update that everyone has been waiting for but it does deliver better functionality for the Transformer. Also, rumor has it this is the last update before Ice Cream Sandwich gets uploaded.  This update is a global one, so if any user wants to partake of the update, it’s a simple matter of going to the tablet’s options and hitting the online update button. If it’s available in the region, it should start automatically. As of now, confirmed updates have been reported by users in United States, United Kingdom, Taiwan and Germany. YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
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Friday, February 3, 2012
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