Android Community |
- The state of Android apps in 2012
- Nova Launcher 2.0 update now available in Google Play
- Sony Xperia Z press image leaks
- Huawei Ascend Mate and Ascend D2 press details leak
- Google’s Nexus 7 gets a taste of webOS
- Galaxy Note II Red and Amber Brown colors coming soon
- Android Community Reviews Rundown 2012
- Jelly Bean brought a nice new flavor for Android users in 2012
- Motorola Jelly Bean updates will continue in Q1 2013
| The state of Android apps in 2012 Posted: 01 Jan 2013 10:42 AM PST Android users waited, and then waited some more for apps such as Instagram to land in the Google Play Store. And based on that, who would have guessed that 2012 would close with Instagram beginning to get shunned by some. That seems to have been the case though, Instagram was beginning to get shunned in favor of an older (but thankfully recently updated) app. That app was Flickr, which not only garnered some much needed attention, but also dropped a rather nice Android app.
Images aside, another notable app came from the folks at Facebook, who finally launched an update that was not only worth, but had users excited about downloading. The Facebook update came early in the month of December and was touted as being twice as fast. We cannot imagine that anyone is still running the older version, but if you are — grab your tablet or smartphone, fire up the Play Store and get to updating. Social networks and sharing seems to have been a key item over 2012. Nothing surprising in that respect, but it did bring some decent improvements to many apps. Not to mention, a few new apps.
The other social networking item is Twitter. Love it or hate it, Twitter does have an official app however there are also lots and lots (and lots) of third party apps available. There are some such as Plume that have been around and have been updated during the course of 2012. But more to the point for a 2012 summary post, 2012 brought some new Twitter apps. We saw some good and some that initially seemed good only to work out not so good in the end. The not so good was Tweet Lanes, the app was and remains nice, but is not being actively developed at this point. The other app is Falcon Pro which is currently selling for $0.99 and a current favorite of mine.
Social networking aside, another notable (and once iOS only) app, Instapaper, also made its way into the Google Play Store. And while Instapaper is a solid app and may be helpful when users are thinking about switching from iOS to Android, it entered the Play Store with lots of competition. A notable contender for read later apps is Pocket, which is free. Instapaper is priced at $2.99. Android users also got the gift of Flipboard in 2012. This app was first released back in May as an exclusive for the Galaxy S III, however the APK was quickly leaked. Flipboard later launched in Google Play in late-June. Of course, while much of the focus here has been good, Flipboard did make tablet users wait until December. While we have mentioned a few apps apps and categories here, it is important to remember that these are just a few of many examples. And while we may not be able to say that 2012 was the year of the app, we are fairly confident in saying that the quality of Android apps really seem to have stepped up this year. A bit more specifically, it feels like we are seeing apps released for iOS only less and less often now.
Another popular category is games. And while there were some more in-depth games such as Dead Trigger and Modern Combat 4, we cannot help but look at the Angry Birds franchise. As many will remember, Angry Birds continued to grow. They turned three years old this year and also made Star Wars fans really happy. We also saw Zepto Labs return with the long awaited follow-up to Cut The Rope. The new Zepto Labs game is Pudding Monsters, another puzzle game. We also cannot end the topic of Android games without a mention of NVIDIA and the TegraZone, which crossed the 6 million download milestone back in November. And thanks to the TegraZone and we saw some quality THD (Tegra High Definition) games such as Demons’ Score and Galaxy on Fire 2. Anyway, I think we are going to this point — thanks to the available apps — you can now do just about anything you can dream up with your phone. Take the Google provided Best Apps of 2012 list as an example. This list included options to buy shoes with Zappos, remember everything with Evernote, travel with Expedia, do your family tree with Ancestry, edit images with Pixlr Express and even manage your finances with Mint.
Looking at Android apps and the Google Play Store as a whole and we would be remiss if we didn’t at least mention the totals. In December 2011/January 2012 there were roughly 400,000 apps and 10 billion downloads. This year the app situation is closing out with more than 700,000 apps and more than 25 billion downloads. Of course, numbers of apps and downloads aside, 2012 also saw another important change — the name change. Google changed the name from Android Market to the Play Store back in early March. Finally, touching briefly on 2013, it is probably safe to say that the quality of apps will only continue to improve. Not to mention, the usefulness of apps such as those that connect with other parts of your life. For example, the Lockitron is expected to be released in March and will have an Android app that between the hardware and the app, will allow you to open your front door with your phone. Exciting times. |
| Nova Launcher 2.0 update now available in Google Play Posted: 01 Jan 2013 09:08 AM PST Nova Launcher, the home screen replacement app has recently been updated. And nicely done, this Nova Launcher update brings the app up to version 2.0 with new features as well as fixes and improvements to existing features. This launches remains available for free and will run on devices with Android 4.0 or later.
And in addition to the free version of Nova Launcher, there is also a Nova Launcher Prime which sells for $4.00. Anyway, while many of the new features, fixes and improvements will cover both versions, there are a few goodies that will apply only to those using the Prime version. Those features include the ability to customize your icon size and swipe actions for any desktop icon.
Some of the other changes include custom wallpaper cropping, the ability to increase maximum desktop grid size, an infinite scroll drawer setting, an alphabetical list drawer style and a setting to bring small icons to the dock. Otherwise, those in the US with a Galaxy S II will now be able to force wallpaper scrolling. Moving over to the fixes and we have improvements dealing with scrolling performance, lower overall memory usage and an “Aggressive Desktop Setting (keep in memory)” option which is described as follows; “Retrieve Running Apps” used for Aggressive Desktop and warning when multiple launchers are running.” All said and done, the Nova Launcher 2.0 update brought some notable changes for both the free and paid versions. And if nothing else, the two new Prime (paid) features may be enough to convince a few users to shell out the $4.00 purchase price and begin taking full advantage of all the features. Of course, new features aside, Nova Launcher keeps the goodies such as the scrolling effects, infinite scroll, scrollable dock, customizable app drawer, color themes and icon themes. [via Google Play] |
| Sony Xperia Z press image leaks Posted: 01 Jan 2013 08:29 AM PST It looks like the New Year had brought a new image of the Sony Xperia Z, which for those who have moved on from and forgotten the codename, was the device previously known as the Sony Yuga. We still have yet to learn when exactly Sony plans to officially announce this device. That being said, we wouldn’t be surprised if we end up seeing a few more leaks in the the days before CES.
The image (which can be seen below) is a press style render of the Sony Xperia Z showing off the front side of the device. Otherwise, we are not learning anything new from the image and the specs are still rumored. The Xperia Z should arrive running Jelly Bean and with higher-end specs. Sony is getting into the 5-inch display game with the Xperia Z and according to the rumors, this handset will be launching with a 5-inch full HD display. Additionally, some of the other (and still rumored) specs include a quad-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB of RAM, Adreno 320 graphics and 13 megapixel rear-facing camera.
Again, we wouldn’t be surprised to learn some official details come CES, however in the meantime — this leaked press render does appear to lineup nicely with the previously leaked Yuga Xperia Z images. Finally, based on some of the previous leaks, the Xperia Z is expected to arrive as both a dust- and water-resistant device with the IP (Ingress Protection) ratings of IP55 and IP57. [via Twitter @evleaks] |
| Huawei Ascend Mate and Ascend D2 press details leak Posted: 31 Dec 2012 04:04 PM PST Huawei isn’t doing too good of a job keeping their plans for CES 2013 a secret. We’ve seen multiple leaks regarding their upcoming smartphone and tablet plans. This year they have an impressive Huawei Ascend Mate 6.1-inch phablet in the works, as well as a 5-inch 1080p full HD Ascend D2 to replace the original. Today both devices have leaked yet again in a series of press materials.
We already know plenty about both these devices, as they’ve leaked multiple times in benchmarks as well as the actual devices themselves. For full details on both upcoming android 4.1 Jelly Bean smartphones hit the links below. The image you see above is a press render for their quad-core 6.1-inch 1080p Ascend Mate smartphone that looks to rival the Note II. With a huge display, thin bezel, and a 4,000 mAh battery we’re expecting good things from that device. Then as you see below, is another look at the Huawei Ascend D2. The original Ascend D Quad (we reviewed) was quite the smartphone, and they look to improve on it with the D2. Offering a 5-inch 1920 x 1080p full HD display, 1.8 GHz quad-core power, 2GB of RAM, and a 3,800 mAh battery for hours of usage. This device leaked earlier last week too, but this appears to be the official press image they’ll be tossing around in a few weeks for CES.
Huawei hasn’t been very shy about their plans for early 2013. They’ll be bringing 1080p HD smartphones with quad-core processors and awesome batter life to market to rival their competition. Mainly being Samsung and ZTE in their respective home country. Huawei’s top end devices still haven’t made it to the US as of late, but eventually that might change. We’ll be sure and get hands-on video of both these smartphones at CES in early January so stay tuned. [via Unwired View] |
| Google’s Nexus 7 gets a taste of webOS Posted: 31 Dec 2012 03:41 PM PST Ever since HP killed off webOS only to later make the project open source, we’ve been seeing it slowly show up for a few of our favorite Android devices. It was ported to the Galaxy Nexus, as well as the NOOK, but today the popular Nexus 7 tablet is getting a taste of webOS — even if it isn’t too functional. Check it out below.
Obviously this is completely a work in progress, and a total hackjob at this point but the Nexus 7 manages to have a few useful working features already. If for some unknown reason you want to ditch Android 4.2 Jelly Bean (maybe just for a day) the webOS port is coming along quite nicely. While it's a mostly unstable port at this point in the venture, a few key features appear to be working just fine. Those include the web browser, WiFi, keyboard, brightness, and gesture features. Audio might be a tough one, and the same goes for any sort of hardware acceleration. Here’s a quick look of it in the alpha stages: webOS Nation reports that the developer managed to get all this done in under a week while enjoying a Christmas vacation from college, so we can expect some serious improvements over the coming weeks and months as long as the developers have the time. Obviously this isn’t Android, the best mobile OS ever, but it sure is nice to see someone keeping the webOS alive and kicking on awesome tablets like the Nexus 7. I’m sure this isn’t the last we’ve heard of it, so stay tuned. [via SlashGear] |
| Galaxy Note II Red and Amber Brown colors coming soon Posted: 31 Dec 2012 03:13 PM PST Samsung’s Galaxy S III is now available in a wide array of colors after initially launching with only two. The same situation apparently has played out for their impressive Galaxy Note II 5.5-inch smartphone tablet hybrid. After hitting the shelves in Pearl White or Titanium Grey, it looks like Samsung’s set to offer a few new colors.
Samsung’s Galaxy Note II leaked last week in a new black color option, but we’ve been hearing that was just a faked image. Why you’d fake something so simple as a color beats me, but to each his own. Today however it appears that a real leak has surfaced showing the Galaxy Note II in two brand new colors. The Galaxy S III was made available limited to AT&T in Garnet Red, and we could be seeing the same thing for the Note II. New images show the large smartphone in both the Red color option, as well as the recently introduced Amber Brown. Although the Note II won’t be Garnet Red, this is being called “Ruby Wine” and is a much darker red color. According to Unwired View a Korean Ad had the image you see above, clearly showing Samsung preparing some new colors in their home country. In the coming weeks we could see the Note II offered in white, black, blue, as well as the red and brown shown here today. That or just buy a colorful flip case of your choice. Does the color matter to you, or will you just throw a case on it anyways? Device Info
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| Android Community Reviews Rundown 2012 Posted: 31 Dec 2012 02:34 PM PST This year Android saw huge product release numbers across the board. With millions and millions of smartphones sold worldwide, tablets starting to sell like crazy, and accessory makers finally truly embracing the platform. Here at Android Community we wanted to wrap up a quick post highlighting some of our top smartphone, tablet, and app reviews from 2012.
This year over the past 12 months we reviewed over 80 devices, and that doesn’t count the nearly 100 hands-on articles, pictures, and videos from events like CES, Mobile World Congress, CTIA, and individual product launch events like the Galaxy S III or RAZR HD. Regarding US devices, we reviewed nearly all smartphones released, tons of Android tablets, headphones, Bluetooth speakers, and tons and tons of game and app reviews.
We'd like to express our extreme and over-pouring gratitude to the PR groups, manufacturers, developers, and every other person responsible for helping us work with the products and services we needed to show you, the readers. Being all about Android here, we don’t have a collection and breakdown of individual categories since it’s basically just smartphones, tablets, and apps. However if you want to know anything and everything about each and every Android device — not just phones and tablets — be sure to check out our in-depth and detailed device database by clicking here. Now since we obviously can’t run through all of the reviews, we did want to take this moment to post the links to a few of the most important and most memorable devices for 2012. In no particular order we’re going to start off with the Nexus 7 Review, then the most successful device to date here’s our Galaxy S III (international) Review, and then the AT&T and T-Mobile GSIII Review. Then while we’re on Samsung the Galaxy Note II Review was hugely successful being a quad-core Jelly Bean powered 5.5-inch beast. Then we wanted to highlight the HTC One X Review, as it was the first quad-core Android smartphone. Follow that up with the LG Optimus G review, as it was Qualcomm’s first quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro smartphone in the US, don’t forget the LG Nexus 4 Review. We also wanted to highlight the Motorola RAZR HD Review, as well as the first of its kind HTC DROID DNA Review.
Also, since NVIDIA and their Tegra 3 platform was such a success with the Nexus 7, Transformer Prime, HTC One X, and countless other devices we wanted to highlight their specific reviews. We want to thank NVIDIA for working so closely with us, and invite you all to check out our NVIDIA Tegra Portal. Here you can find our Tegra Phone Reviews, Tegra Tablet Reviews, as well as tons of reviews and hands-on videos of games from the NVIDIA TegraZone. We had the opportunity to review a few bluetooth speakers and loved the SuperTooth Disco 2. For those looking for more in-depth reviews from a little of everything be sure and check out our sister site SlashGear. With CES 2013 just around the corner many manufacturers will be releasing their latest and greatest smartphones and tablets early next year. Again, we want to thank everyone that works with us day in and day out to make this possible, and we look forward to another awesome year of Android goodness. In closing, be prepared for even more reviews in 2013. Also, what would you guys, the readers, like to see done different from Android Community reviews? We’d love to hear your thoughts. |
| Jelly Bean brought a nice new flavor for Android users in 2012 Posted: 31 Dec 2012 02:13 PM PST Android seems to have finally gained some traction this year. And before anyone flames based on that, yes, Android has had traction, however things seem to have really shifted this year. It feels like Android has really stepped up. This of course comes at least in part as a result of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which was released back in June during the I/O conference. This year also marked a time when we began seeing some positive reviews coming from those who previously bashed Android.
Unfortunately though, this is more a feeling based on reviews and other talk. Simply put, while the excitement about Android seems higher, the numbers look much the same as they did last year. If you look back to around this time last year, well actually to January 2012 — we had a time when a little more than half of Android users were using Gingerbread (2.3), about 30 percent were using Froyo (2.2) and only 0.6 percent was using the most recent, which was Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. And coming through the year, things seems slow to take shape. For example, in August 2012 not only did we still see few people using Ice Cream Sandwich, we actually saw a growth in Gingerbread. Android 2.3 usage increased from around 55 percent in January to over 60 percent in August. Of course, to be fair though, we are now seeing an increase with Ice Cream Sandwich despite Jelly Bean being the most recent release.
Speaking of Jelly Bean, in the beginning of August the usage was at 0.8 percent. September saw Jelly Bean break the 1 percent mark (with 1.2), November was nearly at 3 percent (2.7) and by December we were seeing 6.7 percent. Granted, 6.7 percent is still a small percentage of Android users — but more users are seeing the most recent release each month. And just to continue with the numbers, Gingerbread usage had dropped to just over 50 percent in December with Ice Cream Sandwich at (a still growing) 27.5 percent. Bottom line here, 2012 seems to have closed out as we would have expected based on the previous year. Maybe a little better, but similar in that older versions of Android have begun to drop off as we see both the two most recent versions picking up traction. That all being said, and to avoid this being a post where we close things out by saying something along the lines of ‘this year we saw much the same as last year’ — despite the numbers showing similar patterns — looking back over the previous six months (since June and the announcement of Jelly Bean) and things really feel like they are shifting for Android. But again, this goes back to the reviews and general chatter. The fact is, few people are using Jelly Bean just yet. Not to mention, Gingerbread still accounts for half of all Android users and that was introduced way back in December 2010.
This brings the question to why things feel different this year as compared to last year. If you look back Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was a big update with lots of new features. Android ICS was expected to bring unity between tablets and smartphones. Touching on that for a moment, while that may have worked in theory, unless you are talking vanilla installs and Nexus devices, that cannot really happen. Aside from the unification, Android ICS also touted features to include a “refined, evolved UI” as well as an improved focus on multitasking, home screen folders, a favorites tray, resizable widgets, new lock screen actions, improved notifications and improved text input. We also saw improvements to the camera, gallery, email, web browsing, calendar, sharing and more. Rather simply, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was a big update, one that should have had everyone pumped and excited.
That is not to say Android Jelly Bean was lacking in terms of improvements. In fact, we once again saw plenty. Jelly Bean added goodies to include Google Now, gesture typing, Photo Sphere, the ability to beam images and videos, improved widgets, actionable notifications, multiple users (on tablets) and the smoothness that came along with Project Butter. And while Jelly Bean is actually a nice step up from Ice Cream Sandwich we may go out on a limb and say that more people are excited this year because they are getting ready to come up for a (two-year contract) renewal and are actually looking to see what is new. Consider this, for those who picked up Gingerbread shortly after the release, they are just now beginning to come up for upgrades. This time last year Ice Cream Sandwich may have looked and sounded good, but it is hard to truly get excited about something new when that something new is virtually out of your reach. So does this mean that 2013 will end on a note similar to last — with people excited but looking forward to what is next? Maybe, but while we hope that is not the case, if those two-year old Gingerbread device users begin upgrading to Jelly Bean devices — they may not be all that excited about what Key Lime Pie brings later in the year because they will know that it is likely out of their reach. But that aside, lets ride out 2012 on the high that we see — Android is a solid operating system and people are loving Jelly Bean and the current lineup of devices. |
| Motorola Jelly Bean updates will continue in Q1 2013 Posted: 31 Dec 2012 12:06 PM PST Motorola has been pretty good about keeping users up to date in terms of which devices were being upgraded and when those updates could be expected to begin rolling out. Granted, that is not to say they have been the fastest to update, but more that they have offered a regularly updated “Software Upgrade News” page.
That being the case, Motorola has recently updated that page and added a few new devices to the Jelly Bean update list. Those newly added devices include the Electrify M XT901 (with US Cellular) as well as the RAZR HD XT925 (in Canada), the RAZR M (in Australia) and the RAZR i XT890 (in Europe). These four devices are all set to begin the update process in the first quarter of 2013. Specific release dates were not given, which just means that we will begin looking towards the carrier for dates. Otherwise, the previous status update arrived from Motorola earlier in the month when we learned that the Atrix HD was going to be updated. And well, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean has rolled-out for AT&T users. We have also recently seen Motorola and Verizon Wireless roll-out Jelly Bean for the RAZR M and RAZR HD (in November). We had also seen some reports in terms of an update for the RAZR MAXX and DROID RAZR (in December), however that was since pulled and the current status for those handsets is a generic sounding “will be upgraded to Jelly Bean.” And while it would have been nicer to see more than these four new devices get an upcoming Jelly Bean update timeline, we suppose we can also look at the other side — we didn’t see any devices taken off the list. Finally, some other devices worth keeping an eye on include the PHOTON Q, Electrify 2, XT886, Droid 4 and Droid Bionic smartphones which are on the list for Jelly Bean, but similar to the RAZR MAXX and DROID RAZR, have yet to get any sort of timeframe. [via unwired view] |
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