After we saw this update start hitting international devices last month today we can confirm Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is arriving here in the states for those rocking Lenovo’s ThinkPad Tablet. Originally launched with Honeycomb (and hardware buttons both) today it will be getting bumped to ICS, and lets not even talk about Jelly Bean yet.
Over on the Lenovo Thinkpad tablet forums there has been confirmation of the update arriving over the air, and users should be able to check now to pull down the tasty Ice Cream Sandwich treat.
As usual with ICS you’ll get plenty of new features, refined user interface, improved performance, and access to many of Google’s new apps like the recently released out of beta — Google Chrome. You should see the update any time now over the next few days, otherwise manually head to settings > about tablet > check for updates if you’re impatient. Let us know how the update goes and if you see any issues.
Google Announces Android 4.1 Deccan Chronicle At its recent Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco, California, Google announced the next update to its Android mobile operating system, version 4.1 'Jelly Bean'. Jelly Bean was initially rumoured to be version 5.0; however, this is not the ... See all stories on this topic »
Five Best Android Keyboards Lifehacker The beauty of Android is that it's so customizable, and Android keyboards are no exception. There are keyboards available for every type of typist, whether you prefer to hunt and peck, turn your phone sideways and use both thumbs, or swipe across the ... See all stories on this topic »
The End Of Microsoft ... As We Know It Forbes Google has its Nexus line of Android phones and an array of cloud services, and it just announced the Nexus 7 tablet to sail in the vanguard of its Android tablet strategy. Google's acquisition of Moto gives it the option to provide flagship Android... See all stories on this topic »
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Sony Xperia Mini Android 4.0 update now rolling out By Edgar Cervantes Sony Xperia Mini Android 4.0 update now rolling out. posted on Jun 30th 2012 at 5:14pm by Edgar Cervantes. Share This Story. Sony's promise to update its entire 2011 line-up to Android 4.0 is the best news Sony fans have seen in a long ... Android Phone Fans
FOSS Patents: Android devices have already been found to infringe ... By Florian Mueller Most of the patents that large companies have asserted against Android haven't even come to judgment yet, and new assertions continue to be made. But the time has passed for any reasonable, unbiased person to deny that Android has a ... FOSS Patents
50 Completely Free Android Apps | Android.AppStorm By Michael James Williams There's certainly no shortage of free Android apps, but a lot of these are really more like free demos: they're ad-supported lite versions with accompanying paid apps, or they're 30 day trials, or they require you to unlock extra features via in-app ... Android.AppStorm
Android User Interface Design: Basic Font Sizes By Shane Conder & Lauren Darcey Android device screens come in all shapes and sizes. Android developers often include text in their applications that needs to be readable, regardless of what. Mobiletuts+
True video, Android videos, Pocket Gamer Pocket Gamer is the world's leading destination for games on Android. Get news, previews, reviews, tips, features and practical guides for: Android. Pocket Gamer | www.pocketgamer.co.uk...
A year ago, Google introduced the Face Unlock feature on Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It is a novel and convenient way – when it works, anyway — to quickly unlock your Android phone after it recognizes your face, with security not being the main focus.
The main criticism that is often leveled against the quirky Face Unlock is that flashing a still photo of the user when trying to unlock the phone can fool the system. It's something that Google has acknowledged back then, but only decided to act upon on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
The updated Face Unlock now comes with an added security measure. There's an extra option called the "liveness check", which does exactly as the name implies. When you opt to activate it, the system will check whether or not you're an inanimate object by asking you to blink before you can gain access to your phone.
It won’t necessarily make it the safest method to escape the phone’s lockscreen, but an extra security is always welcome. We wonder why Google stopped at blinking, though. Why not make users do a series of patterned blinking? How about a combo of blinking and smiling? Yeah, probably not.
Do you use Face Unlock at all and find it practical?
While we focused mostly on the announcements related to Google's new flagship products during and after Google I/O – Google Nexus 7 and on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean – these weren't the only new things that came out of the developer conference.
In our initial Google I/O preview, we said we expected Google to unveil its rumored Google Wallet 2.0 mobile payment solution, especially considering that Apple has just announced a new iOS app called Passback, which could the company's first steps into this business, not to mention that Microsoft unveiled a Wallet Hub of its own for Windows Phone 8, an app that can do more than just safeguarding credit card information needed for mobile payments.
Google did talk about its Google Wallet app, which is yet to become as popular or as widely used as the company would want it to be, but it did not unveil a Google Wallet 2.0 product. Instead, during one of the developer sessions at Google I/O, it introduced a new Google Wallet feature called Save to Wallet.
With Save to Wallet, customers will be able to save special offers and coupons found on various sites right inside the Google Wallet, and use them later, where applicable. The feature will remind Android device users to take advantage of the saved offers before they expire and even pay via NFC in stores, where such payment features are available. Initially, the feature will work only with a limited number of partners, but Google plans to bring more companies in and let them use the new Save to Wallet API.
At Google I/O 2012, we've heard and seen so many amazing things that it's a little hard to keep track of all of them, and most importantly, to put them into perspective.
One such snippet of information that didn't catch the spotlight is the number of people worldwide that use Google's Chrome browser: 310 million. Moreover, Chrome has achieved something historical in May 2012. Google's browser is now the most popular browser worldwide, edging ahead of Microsoft Internet Explorer with about half of percent, according to StatCounter data.
With all these achievements, it's a bit hard to believe that Chrome is not yet four years old. For a look back to Chrome’s early days, check out this cool video from Google and let us know your thoughts. What is your browser of choice?
After launching its first tablet ever at this year's edition Google I/O, a device that also happens to be the first one to run Google's latest Android version, the company decided to release the full OS image for the Nexus 7 and make it available to anyone interested in it.
The image will let Google Nexus 7 owners restore the tablet back to the original Android 4.1 Jelly Bean version (build JRN84D), in case anything wrong happens while meddling with the device. That means you won't have to be afraid of bricking the tablet while trying out new things, although that doesn't mean you should go ahead and go wild on your Nexus tablet, especially if you're not comfortable rooting the device, installing custom ROMs or performing other similar procedures.
The OS image, codenamed "nakasi," a music form, is available to download from Google's developers site and measures just under 250MB in size.
One of the main Android 4.1 Jelly Bean highlights is without a doubt the new Google Search, an app that has been completely redesigned to offer Android device users quicker results and an improved overall experience. The new Google Search app now has an advanced voice component and offers a Google Now feature that can be used as a personal assistant when having to deal with various day-to-day activities. Therefore, Jelly Bean has its own voice-assistant, and while it's not called Majel, as we would have expected it to be named, it definitely does its job.
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster decided to put the two to the test in a Google Search vs Siri battle, by asking both an iPhone and an Android device 1,600 questions: 800 in a quiet environment and 800 in "the busy streets of Minneapolis”. Unsurprisingly, Google won. I say unsurprisingly because let's not forget that Google's day job is Search. The company owns a huge chunk of worldwide online searches, because that's how it makes money. Google's main revenue stream comes from online ads, and that's why updating the Search component in Android is so important.
On the other hand, Siri is not Apple's search engine but a voice assistant that uses various online resources to come up with answers to the user's queries. According to Munster, Siri gets 60% of answers from Google, 20% from Yelp, 14% from WolframAlpha, 4% from Yahoo and 2% from Wikipedia, and it’s lagging more than two years behind Google “in its learning curve”.
An updated Siri version is supposed to come out this fall when iOS 6 gets official, while the new Google Search engine will be available on all Android devices that will support Jelly Bean – we don't have official update details for most of them.
With that in mind, here are the results of this Google Search vs Siri battle:
Google understands 100% of the questions (not surprisingly, since they are keyed in)
Google replies accurately 86% of the time
Siri comprehends 83% of queries in noisy conditions, 89% in a quiet room
Siri answers accurately 62% of the time on the street and 68% in a quiet room.
And here are some of the errors made by Siri during testing:
What team does Peyton Manning play for? Responded with the answer to the previous query. This was the most common error.
Where is Elvis buried? Responded I can’t answer that for you. It thought the persons name was Elvis Buried.
Where am I? Pin dropped in the wrong place.
When did the movie Cinderella come out? Responded with a movie theater search on Yelp.
How do I get from Boston to New York? Responded I can only give directions from your current location. I cant give you directions to a place you are not in.
What spices are in Lasagna? Responded with a Yelp search with lasagna on the menu.
When is the next Haley’s comment? Responded “You have no meetings matching Haley’s”
I want to go to Lake Superior? Responded with directions to the company Lake Superior X-Ray.
Anyone looking forward to using the new Google Search on Jelly Bean devices?
After way too many delays and broken promises, as well as a fistful of rumors and speculations that proved to be inaccurate, Motorola has just (barely) made it on providing the much awaited Android 4.0 ICS update for the Droid RAZR and RAZR Maxx by the end of Q2.
Moto promised its customers to have the upgrade live "sometime in Q2" more than a month ago, and, with just a few hours before the official beginning of the year's third quarter, RAZR and RAZR Maxx owners can now taste their first scoops of Ice Cream Sandwich.
The update's rollout was announced on Twitter yesterday by Scott Charlston, one of Verizon's PR representatives, and, based on feedback from several RAZR and RAZR Maxx users, ICS has in fact hit phones a few hours after midnight.
To take the software leap, you'll have to manually update, so don't wait for an automatic prompt message from Moto and instead go to your phone's settings menu. By clicking "about" and then "system settings" you should reach a juicy new software package, which will bring you a whole new UI, a bunch of new and exciting features (including Face Unlock), but also a number of very important bug fixes, improved stability and performance (more details in the video below).
The Twitter announcement from yesterday did however mention that "beginning Saturday, June 30", RAZR and RAZR Maxx customers will be able to update their phones to ICS, so if there's nothing new when manually checking for an upgrade, you might still have to wait a few days more.
Have you received the Android 4.0 update? How does your phone feel now? Are you happy that the upgrade finally took place, or are you still disgruntled with Motorola and Verizon for all of the delays?
Today, the Google Glass team announced on Google Plus (where else?) a new way for us to get insight into Sergey Brin's pet futuristic project, which many of those who experienced it firsthand call the future.
No, the new Glass Sessions project doesn't involve skydiving, rappelling or other form of extreme sports, at least for now. It's just a way to show how the Glass "helps you share your life as you're living it; from life's big moments to everyday experiences".
Today's episode is much more tranquil than Sergey's surprise moment at Google I/O 2012, and it features June, an adorable two-months old baby, and her mum, Laetitia Gayno, the wife of a Googler.
The two minutes video shows Laetitia using the Google Glasses to capture all the little moments that make parenting so wonderful. You know, good old fashioned family time. No helicopters or mountain-bikes, but still well worth watching.
Tell us. What do you see yourself doing with the Google Glasses?
Website owners and bloggers know too well the importance of knowing precisely how traffic is going, what readers look for, and which keywords garner the highest number of pageviews. For all these questions and for some other important stuff, the best (free) tool around is Google Analytics.
Google Analytics was, until yesterday, only available online. Webmasters could check out the latest traffic stats by visiting Google Analytics from a mobile browser, but that didn't offer the convenience and ease of use of a native app. The good news for all of you stats maniacs, Google has now released a dedicated Android app for Google Analytics.
I gave the new Analytics app for Android a quick spin, and I must say I am a little disappointed of the scarcity of information provided. You get the Real Time tab, the Dashboard tab, and the Alerts (custom and automatic) tabs. The Real Time feature is an awesome tool (it shows you precisely how many visitors you have online at a given moment), but you have to refresh it manually and it only displays a limited quantity of information about the visitors. And, while you can add your own charts to the Dashboard from the app, it only supports charts view, so you won’t get access to hard figures.
Leaving my gripes aside, I am sure that Google will work to beef up the new Analytics application, and until then, a limited app is far better than no app at all.
"When the dead are not dead, you have to be deadly." That's the premise of the new Dead Trigger first-person shooter game which will be released for Android in less than 48 hours. As far as I'm concerned, it says it all about the loads of fun the game will probably provide.
Coming from Madfinger Games, the studio that brought us the hugely successful ShadowGun, Dead Trigger will be made available in Google Play on July 2, for just $0.99. That'll be an unbelievably small price to pay for what looks like a visually stunning and action-packed game, so, if I were you, I'd watch this link very closely come July 2.
Dead Trigger will come with full 3D characters and environments, as well as high quality 3D audio "by default", but those of you rocking a Tegra 3-powered device are also in for a special treat. There'll be a separate version of the game available in TegraZone which will bring some exclusive effects on Tegra 3, including ragdoll physics, volumetric fog, specular lighting, and enhanced fluid and water.
The impressive graphics will most likely be the game's strongest point, but that shouldn't be the only reason to buy Dead Trigger. You can expect the controls and the gameplay (said to go for up to 40 full hours) to also be impressive as heck, while the producers claim there's an engaging storyline there that will challenge you gradually.
I personally don't need a more complex and engaging storyline than "the world has collapsed and it's now either you or hordes of bloodthirsty zombies" to try this game on for size, but that's just me. Check out Dead Trigger's awesome, blood-filled official trailer below and let us know if you'll be looking for the game once it will be live over in Google Play.
A few days ago U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, presiding over an Apple vs Samsung case in California, awarded Apple a pre-trial injunction against Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales in the country. Apple then posted a $2.6 million bond – that's supposed to protect the company in case the decision gets overturned in an appeal and cover for potential damages incurred by Samsung due to lack of sales of the banned product – and the injunction became effective.
In case that wasn’t enough bad news for the Android device maker, the same Judge awarded Apple another injunction against a different Samsung product yesterday. This time we're talking about the Galaxy Nexus, a device that's available from Verizon and Sprint in the region, that has also received a pre-trial sales ban. Koh said:
Apple has made a clear showing that, in the absence of a preliminary injunction, it is likely to lose substantial market share in the smartphone market and to lose substantial downstream sales of future smartphone purchases and tag-along products.
In order for the injunction to become effective, Apple will have to post another bond in the amount of $95 million.
However, hope is not lost for Samsung, as Judge Koh scheduled tow more hearings, on Sunday and Monday, in which she will decide whether to put the injunctions – Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Nexus, respectively – on hold pending appeal.
Samsung had little to say about this unsatisfactory ruling but the company will surely appeal Friday's decision:
We will take all available measures, including legal action, to ensure the Galaxy Nexus remains available to consumers
This is just the last predicament in a complex and tedious legal battle between the two giants, currently the main players in the mobile business when it comes to handset and tablet sales and profits. The two companies are suing and countersuing each other in 10 countries across four continents, in over 30 patent-based trials.
