If you’re the sort looking at the slick new Google Nexus 7 tablet and thinking what it really needs to pry money out of your wallet is a larger screen, you may get your wish. Google is reportedly already working on a 10-inch version of the Nexus 7, presumably to be called the Nexus 10. A second tablet with a 10-inch screen would certainly signal Google is ready to push hard in the tablet market and fight the iPad.
The tip comes from DigiTimes sources within touch panel screen manufacturers. It’s worth noting that DigiTimes sources aren’t known as the most reliable, so have your sodium ready. Insiders claim that Google is planning to use 10-inch touch panels from AU Optronics and Wintek. Wintek is thought to be providing the screens for the Nexus 7.
There is no indication of when the rumored Nexus 10 might launch. It would be safe to assume Google would sell a larger Nexus 10 tablet at a break even price too, just as its doing with the Nexus 7. If this rumor turns out to be true, this could be the first tablet to really be able to challenge the iPad. If Google could build a Nexus 10 with similar better features as the iPad at a cheaper price, I think consumers would buy.
The inside scoop on the Nexus 7 tablet (Q&A) CNET SAN FRANCISCO - Patrick Brady, director of Android partner engineering, has two big launches to celebrate this month. The first is the birth of his daughter three weeks ago. And the second is the launch of his other baby -- the Google Nexus 7 tablet. See all stories on this topic »
Google I/O 2012: Chrome/OS Fireside chat ZDNet (blog) Q: When will the mobile Android version of Chrome catch up, especially with WebGL? A: It's under development. There are performance issues and security issues so we're trying to work through those with the OEM providers. Generally when we do new ... See all stories on this topic »
Chrome for iOS: What you should know Washington Post Google has just launched Chrome for iOS, the long-awaited browser replacement we've all been hoping for, just a day after Chrome for Android came out of beta.While iOS still does not offer the ability to set your own default mail client or web browser, ... See all stories on this topic »
Is Google prepping a 10-inch tablet? CNET Citing the usual "industry sources," Taiwan-based DigiTimes says the search giant is planning a 10-inch Android tablet with display panels to be supplied by Wintek and AU Optronics. Wintek is the manufacturer behind the touch-screen panels for the ... See all stories on this topic »
NFC Cometh? 1M Android NFC Devices Shipping Each Week, And ... By Rip Empson For some context, the company said that 400 million Android devices have now been activated, with activations currently flying in at a rate of 1 million per day. This means that phones with NFC built in represent nearly 15 percent of all new ... TechCrunch
Android 4.1 Jellybean review & first look! [video] By Clayton Ljungberg Dying to know what Android 4.1 Jellybean looks like on an Android Smartphone? Wait no more! Verizon Galaxy Nexus owners rejoice! Honestly, Android 4.1. Android Authority
Reports point to Google Nexus 10 in the works | Android Community By Shane McGlaun If you're the sort looking at the slick new Google Nexus 7 tablet and thinking what it really needs to pry money out of your wallet is a larger screen, you may. Android Community
Android 4.1 Jelly Bean download leaked for Galaxy Nexus By Dan Graziano Shortly after Google pushed a Jelly Bean preview update to I/O attendees, RootzWiki made it available to the public. The update was originally intended f. BGR: The Three Biggest Letters In Tech
There’s just something so calming about watching fish swim. Perhaps it’s the way they seem to be in no real hurry. Regardless, it cannot be denied that watching fish swim around in an aquarium is just so relaxing. Managing a real aquarium, however, can take a lot of work and money, so why not get an aquarium on your Android device? Live wallpapers are snazzy inventions, allowing you to interact with your screen in more ways than the usual navigation. Unfortunately, live wallpapers can also suck your device’s battery dry.
If you’re willing to sacrifice your Android device’s battery for the peace that fish swimming around on your screen can give you, then we’ve put together some of the best aquarium and fish live wallpapers available on the Google Play Store.
To kick off this list of fish and aquarium live wallpapers, take a peek at what goes on deep underwater. Aquarium Live Wallpaper by Kittehface Software lets you have a beautiful tropical fish tank as your live wallpaper.
Enjoy beautiful 3D fish of every color imaginable and a variety of underwater plants as they decorate your home screen. You can get the fishes’ attention by tapping on your screen and double tapping to feed them. If you’re not satisfied with a coral reef as your fishes’ backdrop, then switch it up with a ship wreck, forgotten by people and now home to an assortment of sea creatures.
The app lets you toggle the bubbler and the overhead light to achieve a mood that you want. The wallpaper takes full advantage of OpenGL and supports both homescreen switching and landscape and portrait modes.
You can download Aquarium Live Wallpaper by Kitteface Software from the Google Play Store for free. If you want even more settings, you can purchase Aquarium Donation to be able to select up to a dozen fish, customize plants, and change tank toys.
Need more beautiful sea creatures swimming across your homescreen? aniPet Aquarium LiveWallpaper lets you select 15 of 180 fish species to grow. The live wallpaper’s settings include fish speed, fish speed variation, growth speed, and being able to touch fish with vibration. You can also feed fish through app icons.
For that particularly realistic or sadistic touch, enable fish dying if you don’t feed them. If you want access to 20 fish categories and the full 180 fish species, you can purchase the full version. Fishkeeping lets you browse all the fish species and types available and to fill your tank up with your favorite species. The full version also includes feeding fish and watching them grow. Mature fish can also have babies so that even more fish can populate your homescreen fish tank.
Take note, however, that the live wallpaper does not self-rotate from portrait to landscape mode. Users will have to go into the settings to manually change it. Other users have complained that the background selection is also rather lacking. These two snags, however, are not dealbreakers and the huge selection of fish definitely makes up for them.
Bored with the all-too-common colorful fish keeping you company? Try something different. There are many other creatures of the sea that are more than just pretty to look at. The shark has been the object of many nightmares and the obsession of brave individuals. Imagine effective killing machines that can smell blood from miles away and can swim large distances to sink their many rows of teeth into their prey? Get these beautiful and deadly hunters on your Android device home screen with Shark Reef Live Wallpaper Free.
The live wallpaper isn’t just limited to sharks, however. Get that perfect feeling of terror by seeing colorful fish of your choice swimming near sharks. Not only can you choose which fish you’d like to see swimming across your home screen, you can also choose your favorite sharks. You can choose the iconic Great White Shark, the Nurse Shark, or the gigantic Whale Shark. Purchase the full version and submerge your home screen into the Bermuda Triangle where many vessels and air crafts have disappeared into.
Were those sharks too scary for you? Let’s go back to colorful fish then, but spice up your homescreen with some crazy fish. Like it says on the tin, Crazy Fish Live Wallpaper Free is one of the craziest underwater game live wallpapers you’ve ever seen. It’s a game and a live wallpaper all rolled into one, allowing you to experience the fear of the sea. Probably not as soothing or as calming as the other live wallpapers we’ve looked at so far, Crazy Fish Live Wallpaper Free can give you enjoyment without having to launch an application. Just access Game Mode from your homescreen.
The eponymous water dweller must hunt fishes smaller than itself and avoid larger predator fishes. As it consumes fish lower on the food chain, it grows until it becomes the most lethal predator in the sea. Well, next to the shark, of course.
This live wallpaper claims to be light on battery consumption and has a set FPS to optimize battery performance. If you’re not feeling up to playing the game, you can deactivate Game Mode.
Time to go back to something more calming, away from the mania that was Crazy Fish Live wallpaper and back to something that is sure to keep you entertained. If you want more colorful but far from realistic fishes, Fish Live lets you raise, feed, and breed lovable fishes on your Android device homescreen. You can raise all sorts of fishes, including sharks. Pretty up your tanks with exotic tropical plants. Fish Live is a little different compared to the other aquarium and fish live wallpapers we’ve covered so far.
Instead of just letting you enjoy your aquarium all on your own, Fish Live puts a social spin on it. Decorate your tank, keep it regularly clean and show it off to other fish tank owners on the Fish Live community. You can view other tanks, as well as add friends. If you want your Facebook buddies in on the fun, you can invite them to try Fish Live on their own Android devices.
We’re not done tackling cute and adorable fishes just yet. From all that excitement, let’s wind back down into the more calming and peaceful type of water dweller. FishBowl Live Wallpaper gives you a different kind of cute fish. These little colorful cut-out creatures will swim across a rather realistic backdrop for an adorable contrast.
Don’t be fooled. Just because they look like cut-outs doesn’t mean they can’t breathe. Watch as they swim across your screen and leave a trail of bubbles. Feed them by tapping the top of the screen and watch as their mouths open and close to eat their food. FishBowl Live Wallpaper’s fishes actually grow with each feeding until they reach maturity and give you another surprise. Mature fish can mate and give you baby fish to populate your fish tank. You can change the backdrop to show the ocean, a coral reef, and more.
After all those colorful and cartoony fishes, let’s get back in touch with reality with some realistic fishes. You can practically feel yourself relax as you watch the colorful fish of Fish Tank 3D Live Wallpaper swim across your homescreen against a vivid green backdrop.
You’ll notice that the foliage in the background is reminiscent of the greenery you’d add to an aquarium, which only helps make Fish Tank 3D Live even more convincing as a virtual aquarium. Choose from any of the three backgrounds for your fish to swim across. Toggle the number of fishes you’d like in your tank and how fast or slow you’d like them to swim across your homescreen.
You can also control their swimming path and toggle fish tank animations. Fish Tank 3D Live Wallpaper, developed by Rainbow app, is available for free but unfortunately is ad-supported. Get Fish Tank 3D Live Wallpaper for free from the Google Play Store for your much-needed fish therapy.
Here’s another realistic aquarium that you can enjoy on your Android device’s homescreen. Aquarium free Live Wallpaper, developed by Star Soft, lets you enjoy colorful exotic fish swimming across your screen.
Unfortunately, unlike other live wallpapers that we’ve mentioned, Star Soft’s Aquarium Free Live Wallpaper does not allow you to choose fish. If you’re particularly nitpicky about aquariums, you may notice that the fishes featured in the live wallpaper are, in fact, saltwater fishes in what appears to be a freshwater tank.
Despite the habitat error and the lack of fish selection, Aquarium Free Live Wallpaper is sure to calm you down whenever you have a stressful day. It still gives you the option to choose your background, turn prime objects on or off, and choose the fish’s path, speed, and how many of them appear on the screen. Download Aquarium Free Live Wallpaper by Star Soft today for free from the Google Play Store.
If you’ve had enough of artificial-looking fish tanks and you want to see fish in their natural habitat, then this next app might be the one you’re looking for. DroidofDroid’s Ocean Aquarium Live Wallpaper lets you dive into the deep blue sea with this live wallpaper and watch as several animated creatures move around your screen. Enjoy seeing seahorses, parrot fish, angel fish, star fish, and puffer fish swimming about, but they aren’t the only inhabitants of the ocean. If you look beyond, you’ll see a whale.
Ocean Aquarium Live Wallpaper allows you to easily access its settings by tapping the top right corner of your screen. No more having to navigate your way through your phone just to change something. You can toggle between optimum live wallpaper performance or battery conservation. You can also set the animation speed. Get Ocean Aquarium Live Wallpaper for free from the Google Play Store.
If you’re not a huge fan of exotic saltwater fish and more of a koi person, then we’ve got a live wallpaper for you, too. Koi Free Live Wallpaper comes from Kittehface Software, the same developers as Aquarium Free Live Wallpaper.
With this live wallpaper on your Android device, you can watch koi happily exploring their pond. Koi Free Live Wallpaper is 3D, fully rendered in OpenGL 2.0 with fully interactive water that supports multi-touch. Both tablets and phones are fully supported in both landscape and portrait modes, so you don’t need to despair if you’d like to get this live wallpaper on all your devices.
Don’t let your koi swim aimlessly all day; double-tap your screen to feed them. If you want to play around more with your live wallpaper, drag your finger around the water surface and watch as it reacts to your touch.
Purchasing the full version lets you access the settings screen and the controls to your fish population, background image, raindrops, plants, and more.
With such a wide range of fish and aquarium live wallpapers, you’ll never get bored looking at your home screen. You can enjoy the soothing calming koi, the dangerously beautiful sharks. or the fight to come out on top as the dreaded predator of the deep blue sea.
Which one of these fish and aquarium live wallpapers do you like best?
For a new Android user, visiting the Google Play Store to find useful apps could be overwhelming. Everywhere you look on the page there are app suggestions, easily drawing your attention away from the app that you wanted in the first place. You may also have noticed that the search function of the Google Play Store isn’t perfect and often fails to find less than popular apps. AndroidZoom: Apps Discoverer offers us a better and easier way to app-hunt, packaged in a tiny, well-crafted mobile application for your Android.
AndroidZoom: Apps Discoverer is the search method of choice for finding apps, depending on your preference and what’s left in your pocket. You’ll surely notice the app’s nicely built Holo-themed user interface which neatly presents all the options designed to give you a pleasant app-searching experience that you can tinker with.
More features
Reading reviews is always the best way to gather information about a certain app. AndroidZoom’s official app provides such a feature via the Latest Reviews tab. From there, you can read expert reviews for an application, helping you easily grasp what it is about and what it can do.
Next to each app, you will be provided with relevant information such star rating, price, and the number of current downloads while opening an app gives you additional access to sample screenshots, user reviews, and a download option.
Alternatively, you can switch to the Categories tab to start your app search. Though the app doesn’t provide real-time suggestions to help you in your search, browsing through the category and its underlying contents is a good place to start. This is helpful in instances where you know what kind of app you want but you don’t know the exact app to search for.
Apart from providing users with a decent review of each app, AndroidZoom also provides you with a summary of the app’s pros and cons. And, for those who are budget-conscious, there is a Sale section within the app where you will find apps with discounted prices on the market.
The ample app-searching functionalities that AndroidZoom provides is not the only thing worthy of appreciation. When you set it up on your Android, it doesn’t require painstaking configurations; the app only demands you to log in using your Google Account when you download apps.
It really is a great alternative app for you to sift and search through apps in the Google Play Store. AndroidZoom is free to download to your Android. Download AndroidZoom: Apps Discoverer from the Google Play Store.
Dying to know what Android 4.1 Jellybean looks like on an Android Smartphone? Wait no more! Verizon Galaxy Nexus owners rejoice! Honestly, Android 4.1 Jellybean is a major update. It’s the fastest, most intuitive, and aesthetically appealing version of Android I have ever used. For lucky owners of Verizon’s Galaxy Nexus, there is no need to wait months for the newest Android OS, as Jellybean is available in the form of a custom ROM.
Made by developer DroidVicious, the custom ROM is flashable via clockworkmod recovery and even allows your device to keep root! The ROM is fully functional, and is a breeze to install. I flashed it on my CDMA Galaxy Nexus and was extremely pleased with the results. Like extremely pleased.
Lightning Fast
Jellybeans, people
What would Android be without a few hidden tricks underneath the hood? Check out the latest below!
Every aspect of Android 4.1 Jellybean is fully functional, including;
Calls
Data (Both 3G and 4G at boot)
SMS
MMS
WiFi
All market apps/Google Apps
USB Storage
Internal Storage
Root/Superuser (Now built in and fixed open Superuser and update SU binary)
ADB
The Jellybean OS is much faster, and more responsive than previous ICS builds. It also includes expandable notification, re-sizable widgets, Android Beam, Google Voice search, and Google Now.
For all of those you interested in knowing each and every detail about the latest and greatest features baked into Android 4.1 Jellybean, check out Derek Ross’ epic article here.
Also, make sure to view our hands on video and tell us what you think! Will you be flashing Google’s latest OS to your Nexus phone? It deserves it! You deserve it.
Video
If pictures are worth a couple of thousand, then the video below is going to be worth at least a million. Check out the super easy setup, the amazingly improved voice to text feature, the beautiful notification bar, and all the other awesomeness baked into the best version of Android yet!
And so there you have it! What you have before you is the most advanced, most intuitive, and fastest version of Android on the planet!
What do you think? Like what you see? Let us know below bossman!
Despite the growing number of apps and services readily available for Android, there is a shortage on apps that lets you tinker with your phone’s lighting and brightness settings. Though there are a few existing apps that provide you with such functionality, they often require manual tweaking to achieve the desired light adjustments. Lux, on the other hand offers a unique value proposition for users, intelligently adjusting light and brightness settings without user intervention.
Lux provides a convenient and innovative way to adjust a mobile device’s brightness settings, filling in the gap of the typical lousy brightness configurations. The app basically works by detecting the degree of darkness or brightness in the app’s environment, then intelligently adjusting the screen brightness accordingly.
More features
While this auto-brightness app can be readily used on your phone to tend to your lighting management needs, it also provides you with a couple of options which could be set based on your personal preference.
For instance, once the app applies a particular brightness adjustment that you don’t like, it lets you configure the setting manually to your preference via the app’s dashboard. It’s also worth mentioning that once you have performed the manual configuration, the app learns from it and saves your personal settings for the appropriate light conditions.
Intelligent adjustment of screen brightness already makes your mobile device more efficient on battery consumption, but Lux still has more power-user settings under its dashboard such as choice of interpolation, sensor debugging, and linked sample editing for you to tweak. It also has other handy options for nocturnal users such as a sub-zero brightness feature which lets you comfortably read in the dark, as well as the ability to utilize your phone’s camera to read in ambient light.
A couple of mode presets are also available within the app. For instance, there is an Astronomer mode designed for stargazers. This mode overlays a red filter on the screen to help prevent eye strain upon a stargazer’s eyes. There is also the Night mode, which essentially sets the brightness to a lower color temperature so that your eyes don’t get disturbed by a sudden splash of bright light at night.
Additionally, the app has a customizable data filtering feature which is very handy for those mobile devices with inaccurate light sensors and a jitter control mechanism to inhibit minor and frequent changes on the backlight.
All in all, Lux is a highly recommended app if you want a convenient, effective, and efficient way to adjust the lighting on your phones screen, not to mention the customizable options which it brings to the table.
You can download the premium version of Lux Auto Brightness from the Google Play Store. Or, if you’re not sure if you want to commit to it just yet, you can try Lux Auto-Brightness – Free.
The new Google Nexus 7 tablet, running the freshly-announced Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, will be, without doubt, one of the highlights of this summer in the technology world. The 7-inch device costs just $199 in its basic configuration and proves that great technology does not have to cost you an arm and a leg.
With the Nexus 7, Google makes a stand against both the iPad, the still undisputed champion of the tablet market, and the Amazon Kindle Fire, the cheap 7-inch device running a forked version of Android that many analysts consider the primary threat to Google's blossoming Android ecosystem.
To compete with the two stalwarts of the tablet world, Google needed to pack into the Nexus 7 the best specs, all while keeping costs in check. One such spec is NFC support, which enables innovative features like Android Beam, instant Bluetooth pairing, or mobile payments. Like many recent high-end devices, the Nexus 7 incorporates a NFC chip manufactured by NXP Semiconductors.
Based in the Netherlands, but having a network of R&D centers in 19 locations around the world, NXP Semiconductors (a former division of Dutch electronics giant Philips) was one of the original creators of the NFC standard and currently owns over 11,000 patents. We've sat with Jeff Miles, Vice President of Mobile Transactions at NXP, to discuss how NFC is put to use in the new Nexus 7 and about the promising future of NFC mobile applications. Here's the quick interview.
What was it like to work with the Google Nexus Team?
NXP enjoyed working with the Google Nexus Team on the Nexus 7. Just like the Nexus-branded smartphones and now, with this tablet, the team continues to bring innovative mobile technology to its users using NFC technology from NXP.
Do you forsee NFC being a fundamental element of tablet computing granted tablets larger form factor?
The availability of mobile NFC devices has seen tremendous growth worldwide. Whether it be a smart phone or a Nexus 7 tablet, NFC technology continues to land in more and more consumer's hands, enabling richer experiences throughout their day. NXP continues to be the leader in driving the NFC ecosystem and NFC adoption.
In what ways do you see NFC being used on the Nexus 7?
NXP's NFC solution, the PN65, fully supports NFC functionality enabling use cases and applications such as Android Beam and Bluetooth pairing. In addition, users are able to share web pages, videos, and directions just by tapping two NFC-enabled devices together.
What does the future hold with regards to NFC technology? Any revisions to the hardware side of things?
NXP continues to grow the NFC ecosystem and NFC adoption. NXP now brings NFC to other mobile devices like the Nexus 7, enabling OEMs to bring NFC user experiences and convenience to end consumers beyond just smart phones. For NFC developers, the NFC enabled tablet allows developers to experiment with new use cases and continue to leverage existing ecosystem. We expect to continue to deliver enhanced performance and security that will enrich the user experience.
How many devices will have NFC on board by the end of 2012? 2013? And beyond?
We cannot comment on how many mobile devices will feature NXP's NFC technology by the close of 2012 and beyond, however NXP continues to grow the NFC ecosystem and NFC adoption.
After smart phones, NXP now brings NFC to other mobile devices based on Android OS, thus expanding NXP's NFC market opportunity and enabling OEMs to bringing NFC user experiences and convenience to end consumers. Currently you can find NXP's NFC solution featured on two Google Nexus phones including the Google Nexus S. You will also see an increase in the number of devices like POS terminals, Laptops and other devices that will act as readers to interact with NFC phones and tablets.
In what ways did NXP and the Google Nexus team work to make the software side of using NFC technology an intuitive, seamless experience?
The next iteration of the Android operating system (Jelly Bean) includes NXP's NFC open source software stack, making it easier for OEMs and application developers to bring NFC devices and services to market. This means those in the mobile ecosystem from equipment manufacturers to Android app developers will be able to capitalize on user demand for contactless services on devices in a more efficient and timely manner.
NFC is certainly here to stay, and companies like NXP work hard to ensure that the technology delivers on its promise. We can certainly imagine a future where NFC-equipped devices replace items we now consider indispensable, like our wallets or car keys. How do you see NFC being used on the Nexus 7? Let us know if the comments section below!
The Galaxy Nexus started at $299 with a 2 year contract and a pretty pricey monthly plan, around 7 months ago. Google announced a significant price drop to the unlocked GSM version a few months ago, and it went from something like $700 unlocked to only $399, which was great value for the money. Google has now dropped another $50 from the price, making it only $349, which is just $50 more than it was on a 2 year contract 7 months ago.
As far as unlocked phones go, the Galaxy Nexus is definitely the best and the cheapest one you can get right now, although in US you can only use it on AT&T and T-mobile’s networks. If you’re not from the US, then it should work on with every GSM carrier in the world. Of course, there are other better phones out there already, like the Galaxy S3 or the HTC One X, but those will cost you around twice as much, and they won’t be getting Android 4.1 as early as the Galaxy Nexus. It also remains to be seen if they will receive Android 5.0 or not this fall, and the Galaxy Nexus is guaranteed to get it, since it will only be a year since it’s initial release.
Why has Google continued to drop the price of the Galaxy Nexus? It’s probably part of their strategy to get stock Android in as many hands as possible. The Nexus 7 is yet another step in that direction, for a much smaller $199 price, and the 5 Nexus devices arriving this fall should push the stock Android experience into a lot more hands as well.
If Google would try to make every single Motorola phone a stock Android one, at least from 2013, that would be a huge deal, and it might actually be the tipping point for the other manufacturers to regularly release stock Android devices as well. But we’ll see. Google hasn’t indicated yet that this is their plan.
If you want to order yourself a Galaxy Nexus right now (in US), go to its Play Store page.
Just like day turns into night, and vice versa, you can always count on Google to slip some surprises into its mobile OS. The Android 2.3 Gingerbread came with a zombie easter egg and Android 3.0 Honeycomb got a Bumble Bee surprise. Meanwhile, the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich got its own ice cream sandwich-cladded green robot. Notice the pattern? It's only to be expected that Android 4.1 Jelly Bean will have – well — some jelly beans easter egg. Lots of them.
Activating the Jelly Bean's easter egg is pretty much the same as before. You just have to tap the Android version number under the "Setting" menu on your device. And voila! You'll be greeted by a rather happy-looking giant jelly bean. Tap on that once more and you can start flicking away a sea of jelly beans until you're bored.
Check out the above video to see the whole thing in motion.
The Android Platform Developer’s Kit (PDK) is the hardware equivalent of an SDK for manufacturers. Usually SDK’s are released months ahead of the product launch because the company wants 3rd party developers to make as many apps as possible for their OS or product, that should be available in the day of the launch or soon after that, depending on how complex their apps are.
In a similar way the PDK is supposed to help manufacturers make devices for the latest version of Android before that version of Android actually launches. This means that, theoretically, manufacturers should be able to release or upgrade many more phones in the same time with the latest version of Android, instead of waiting 2 months for a minor update like Gingerbread, or at least 6 months for a major one like ICS.
A couple of months ago we heard that Google is planning to launch Android 5.0 in Q3 with five OEM’s at once, and this PDK seems to match that very well. If these 5 OEM’s are getting the PDK right now, we’re basically 4-5 months away from Android 5.0 launch. This means that these manufacturers might be already working on those Nexus devices with Android 5.0.
Of course, the PDK should help them speed up the development for Android 4.1 as well. However, since JB is already very close to launch, it probably won’t help that much. The good news is that it’s not that big of an upgrade, so we shouldn’t be waiting as much as we did for ICS upgrades. But let’s hope this PDK is just one of many more steps that Google will take in the near future to try to reduce the fragmentation issue.
Another step that I think will go great with the PDK program is releasing only one major version of Android per year, with all the new features bundled into that version. This way they can work 9 months to prepare all the features and whatnot, and then have the version in “preview” or in “beta” for manufacturers, and give them 3 months to port that version to many of their new and old devices. Then after the 12 months have passed, Google can announce and release the new version into the wild, and manufacturers can come out with the new devices with the latest version, as well as with upgrades for at least some of their older ones.
This should happen at Google I/O because it’s their biggest event of the year, the most professional one, and it’s the one where they can hand out a lot of those devices to developers, so they can build apps for the new version of Android. I’ve never really liked their fall or winter (Honeycomb) events, because they last like 3 minutes, they are in some forsaken place where reporters don’t even want to go, and the event ends up appearing as if it was built by amateurs, which might leave an underwhelming sense for the new Android version.
But I’m sure there are many more ways for Google to try to fix the fragmentation problem, and this is just another suggestion. If they released one major version per year, users wouldn’t be 2 versions behind by the time another one is released, and manufacturers would have a lot more time to upgrade more of their devices. This would also be very good news for developers who want to take advantage of some of the latest API’s.
It's quite hard to juggle between your work, personal and social life, especially if you need to interact with a lot of people. Staying connected with them can be a tough challenge if you have hundreds of contacts stored on your smartphone's address book. Keeping an organized address book is what many users want to achieve and if you have been constantly communicating with your friends and colleagues from work, then you certainly know how important it is to always stay connected.
There is always a time when you just forget whom to call and what to say during those conversations. If you have been experiencing this kind of dilemma, then it's time for you to get organized with a helpful application known as Nextcall.
Fresh from the Google Play Store, Nextcall is a free application that brings a whole lot of features to the table with a simple effective purpose of keeping you informed of your contacts and, more importantly, reminding you of whom you should contact next. To help you with your reminders, Nextcall maintains a separate log for all your calls that you have made, whether for business or socializing.
Remembering the last call you made to your inner circle — like your dad or your boss — is easy, but you might have a few problems in remembering the last time you got in touch with other folks like your friend Tom. With Nextcall, say goodbye to these problems as the app is everything you need to straighten things up.
The app is simple and easy to use and you don't need any advanced configurations to get you started. You don’t need to subscribe to services and don't even need to log in. Upon launching the app, you’ll meet a Holo-themed interfaced that is split into three main columns: All, Business, and Personal.
Each tab is designed to be populated with relevant contacts for that list. The next thing you need to do is to instruct the application about the contacts found on your phonebook so contacts can be sorted into personal or business groups. Adding a contact to its corresponding group is a piece of cake, as you only need to tap the icon displayed alongside the contact name to add. Tapping once will add the contact to the Business group, while tapping it twice puts that contact to Personal.
Once the necessary settings are in place, just hit the settings button found in the bottom right to load the default settings of the group. Sit back and relax as Nextcall will automatically remember everything.
If you need to edit a schedule for a specific contact, just hold down the dotted button below and swipe away to edit that contact. Editing mode features basic components such as editing names, specifying a schedule, and even swapping the contact's group. Whenever the scheduled time has arrived, Nextcall will automatically alert you with suggestions of the people that you need to call.
Stay in control of your next calls. Download the Nextcall application absolutely free from the Google Play Store.
I remember hearing Eric Schmidt many years ago, about how the future will reveal a phone that will become your perfect assistant. A phone that would take in information from around you, would be based on your behavior and habits, and will give you the information you need to know before you even have to ask for it. Well, Google Now seems like the realization of that dream, or at least a strong step in that direction, and it will be available on Android 4.1 and later devices.
Before you start worrying about privacy and stuff, you should know that the service is completely opt-in. If you have no use for an AI that gives you contextual information about where you are, what you should be doing, eating or watching, and so on, then you can just keep it disabled. On the other hand, if you love this kind of advancement in technology and want to take full advantage of it, Google Now should make your life easier.
Just to give a few examples of how that would happen – if you leave your house, and there’s a lot of traffic on the route you’re taking, Google Now can prepare an alternate route for you and notify you about it, so you get to work in time or wherever you need to go. It can tell you what trains are coming next at the subway, it can find you good places to eat, and if you are in the restaurant, it can show you the best dishes you can have there, and so on.
Google Now can also be used with voice commands, much like Apple’s Siri, although the replies seem faster, and it will have more details available for you, in addition, to having the first smart card with at-a-glance information. Google takes advantage of their latest Knowledge Graph technology here, that can understand exactly what you’re looking for based on semantic information.
We were expecting to see “Majel” announced at I/O. This may be Google’s assistant AI software, so either this was it, or it’s not and it’s just a basic version (although a strong one) meant as a preview for what’s coming in Android 5.0. Google Now seems very good as it is, but of course I welcome any future improvements for this sort of AI technology.
