Monday, April 16, 2012

Android Phone Fans

Android Phone Fans

The trial of Android to begin tomorrow

Posted: 15 Apr 2012 12:42 PM PDT

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After a long, long time of closed-court sessions, Oracle’s case against the alleged patent-infringing use of Java in Android comes to trial. As I pointed out in February, I believed this to be the single largest threat to Android at one point, but many of Oracle’s patent claims have been thrown out.

While the initial damages demanded by Oracle were a whopping $6.1 billion, but fortunately the cracks in Oracle’s arguments were noted and the claims were brought down to the $110-225 million range (which Google still claims is too much).

If you’d like some good weekend reading to preview the trial, head over to this article on GigaOm.

ICS update roll-out for 2011 Sony Xperia line begins

Posted: 15 Apr 2012 11:57 AM PDT

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Keeping to their promised target of a mid-April rollout of the ICS upgrade for their 2011 Xperia line of handsets, Sony took to their blog to update their users of the Arc S, Neo V and Ray in the Scandinavian nations that the update is now ready for them.

As long as there are no hiccups, other global markets should see the update over the next 4-6 weeks. Other handsets (namely Xperia arc, Xperia PLAY, Xperia neo, Xperia mini, Xperia mini pro, Xperia pro, Xperia active and Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman) should start receiving their updates towards the end of May.

[IBNLive]

LG’s new Prada phones, the L-series, releasing end-April

Posted: 15 Apr 2012 11:37 AM PDT

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I have never been a fan of "designer" phones, simply because I can’t remember one that isn’t outdated. But there really has to be a market for such devices considering someone seems to be rolling out another every now and then.

The latest devices in the category are the Prada-styled LG Optimus L series (the L3, L5 and L7). The L7 is the premier phone of the three, yet comes with only a single-core 1 GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, and 4GB on-board memory. On the good side, you’ve got a 4.3" IPS display and Ice Cream Sandwich out of the box. There’s also a 5 MP camera and a microSD slot, and if you’re in France or other parts of Europe you can get the device unlocked for 319 Euros ($420) towards the end of this month. The L5 should be out in May, too, while there’s no word on the L3.

[AndroidCommunity]

A short review of the $35 Aakash/Ubislate tablet

Posted: 15 Apr 2012 10:13 AM PDT

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tl;dr: It’s a waste of money at even $35

When the Indian Government announced the $35 Android tablet, the Aakash, last year, heads turned. And although just about everyone expected it to be pretty bad, there were a few review reviews that said it’s not too shabby (*cough* Gadget Guru *cough*).

I got a chance to play with it today at Startup Weekend Edu in New Delhi, and if there’s anyone on the fence about buying this, I’ve just got one thing to say: DON’T. The tablet offers absolutely nothing. I won’t even use it if I’m paid to do so, and I can’t understand why the Government would waste taxpayer money to subsidize this.

The Aakash is the worst thing that could happen to education. I am a huge believer in the benefits tablets can bring to students, but this is not going to generate any interest in kids in their coursework.

The cons? It’s ridiculously slow, the resistive touch is horrendous (even worse than other resistive touch-screens I’ve used, such as that on the Nokia 5500) and a clunky home screen button, which is the only hardware button other the one for power.

The pros? Nothing at all. The fifteen minutes I got with it felt like a punishment. And considering the delivery delays, I would never suggest giving the sequel a try, either. Even the most outdated syllabus, with a boring text book and an even worse teacher would do more for education than this.

Comparison photos below are with a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1
Posted by at 7:40 AM

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