Saturday, January 5, 2013

Android Community

Android Community


SuperTooth HD-Voice in-car and Disco Twin Bluetooth speakers announced

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 11:03 AM PST

It seems to reason that we are going to see plenty of Bluetooth accessories at CES. These will include the basics, such as speakers — both for in-car use and also for use around the house. And well, it looks like SuperTooth has come forward ahead of CES with an announcement for the HD-Voice and the Disco Twin speakers.

supertooth

Beginning with details on the HD-Voice, this one is deigned for in-car use. The HD-Voice will be priced at $89 and bring features to include a pair of speakers and also a pair of microphones. Additionally, the HD-Voice will have support for 12 languages which really just means that you will be able to hear the voice feedback for items such as caller announcements, battery status, connection status and GPS instructions in the language of your choosing.

Moving over to the Disco Twin and we find a pair of Bluetooth speakers. These will be selling (as a pair) for $199 and with 16 watts of RMS audio power per speaker for a total of 32 watts combined. These speakers will each have a double speaker set-up in the front as well as a bass reflex system in the back. According to the folks at SuperTooth, the Disco Twin speakers will have enough juice to power up to 10 hours of "moderately played tunes" or up to 3 to 4 hours of continuous playback.

That all being said, while SuperTooth has been pretty forthcoming in terms of specs and pricing, they have yet to mention anything in terms of a release date. Of course, maybe they are holding that bit for CES. After all, SuperTooth will be displaying these new speakers along with their previously announced models such as the Melody headphones, the Disco 2 and Disco.

HTC M7 details leak hinting at a fresh new Sense UI

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 10:57 AM PST

It’s no secret that HTC has another impressive flagship smartphone on the horizon to replace their popular HTC One X. Rumor has it the new device is the recently rumored HTC M7. While some claim we’ll see it at CES, most likely it will be unveiled in late February at Mobile World Congress, just like the HTC One series. Below we have some freshly leaked details on this beast of a phone.

Screen Shot 2013-01-04 at 10.54.10 AM

While we still don’t have an actual image of the new HTC 4.7-inch 1080p quad-core smartphone, a source inside HTC has apparently shared a few details. We’ll be graced with Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, and while we aren’t sure if Sense UI will be version 5.0, the source did claim it will be refined as well as “Simple and Clean”.

HTC made huge strides with Sense on the One series, but we know many are still hoping for something even simpler and cleaner. Could HTC get back on track in 2013 with some impressive new devices and top tier specs? The M7 is likely their best shot as it follows the impressive DROID DNA.

The report also states the aluminum design has been tossed out for an all black polycarbonate shell. Just like the DROID DNA and those fancy Nokia Lumia phones. The source also claims there will not be on-screen navigation buttons, but we’ve heard leaks stating both — so we’ll reserve judgement. This would solve their menu “problem” they’ve had for some time now. Again CES starts in just a few days, but we have a feeling they’ll wait another month or so before unveiling their latest and greatest. Either way stay tuned because we’ll have all the details if they share any news.

[via HTCSource]

E FUN Nextbook 8-inch dual-core Jelly Bean tablet announced for $169

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 10:36 AM PST

The folks from E FUN have announced a slew of new tablets running on the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean that they’ll be showing off at CES 2013 this year. Yesterday we reported on the budget friendly 7-inch flavor, and today they are back with an 8-inch model for those needing a little extra real estate. Read on for full details on this decent sounding slate.

10

E FUN is calling their new slates the Nextbook Google Play series, well because they now have full support of Google’s Play Store of more than 700,000 apps, games, books and more. Today they’ve added the Nextbook GP8 8-inch 1.5 GHz dual-core powered slate to their growing lineup. Here’s the full rundown on the specs:

The 8-inch GP rocks a 1280 x 800 HD resolution display, a 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, bluetooth, WiFi, hdmi-out and is only 9.5mm thin. It also rocks micro-SD for added storage, and a full USB 2.0 port. You’ll get all of this and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean for just $169.99 come February.

Pretty decent sounding slate for only $169.99. Not to mention that 8-inch HD screen is an IPS display, so you’ll have good viewing angles and exceptional color reproduction. E FUN will be offering the Nextbook GP8 with additional storage options at a higher price, but we’ll learn more next week on the CES showroom floor so stay tuned to our CES 2013 portal.

RCA Mobile TV Tablet unveiled with availability expected in the spring

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 10:09 AM PST

RCA has unveiled, and will be showing off an Android tablet during CES. The device is called the RCA Mobile TV Tablet, and as the name would imply — a big feature of this device will be television related. In fact, the tablet will be a dual-tuner device featuring a standard over-the-air tuner and a Dyle mobile TV tuner.

rca-mobile-tv-tablet-540

Some may recognize the Dyle name as MetroPCS released the Galaxy S Lightray 4G with support for mobile TV through Dyle back in August of last year. That aside, this tablet will allow users access to 130 mobile television stations across the country. Otherwise, the RCA tablet will feature an 8-inch IPS display at 1024 x 768, 1GHz Cortex A5 processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage space and a microSD card slot.

The remaining features include Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, HDMI, microUSB, USB, GPS, a pair of speakers and both a front and rear-facing camera. The tablet is said to weigh in at 1.4 pounds and for those wondering — will arrive will access to the Google Play Store. The battery should hold out for up to 4 hours in mobile TV mode or up to 10 hours for web browsing.

Touching back on the TV support for a moment. Dyle currently has service in 35 markets and the tablet will feature goodies such as real-time signal strength display, on-screen program information display and digital closed captioning as well as language settings, auto channel scan and a favorite channel setting. Lastly, the RCA Mobile TV Tablet is expected to come available this spring with a price tag of $299.

SwiftKey Flow beta updated with new features and bug fixes

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 09:52 AM PST

The team behind the wildly popular SwiftKey Flow keyboard have just issued a quick update to their VIP community as version 4.0.0.61. In the latest update to the SwiftKey Flow beta you’ll enjoy tons of bug fixes, enhanced features, a better typing experience, and overall better performance. Their keyboard is still in the testing phase but works wonderfully, so read on for the full changelog and known issues.

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SwiftKey didn’t just update us all with a changelog, they went a step ahead and mentioned what’s new, things to be aware of, as well as a full known issues list. All of this has been detailed over at the SwiftKey Flow Blog. One of SwiftKey’s best features is being able to flow not just a word, but an entire sentence without lifting a finger. Then it predicts everything using their prediction engine and even puts in the spaces. Their previous beta if you make a mistake on a word, any word, the entire sentence was lost when you hit backspace — a real bummer.

I can happily confirm they’ve integrated a “save sentence” feature they’re calling Flow-through-space autocommit: if you flow-through space but mess up your last word, all the prior words will be inserted (instead of losing all the words). They’ve fixed that pesky double capitalization issue, fixed memory errors and much more. Here’s their huge detailed update information:

Flow-through-space autocommit: if you flow-through space but mess up your last word, all the prior words will be inserted (instead of losing all the words)
Flow in landscape on tablets (not on split layout with numpad)
Battery usage improved (when flowing and when not in use)
Performance of flowing and tapping improved
Longpress of bottom-right (smiley/enter) button now works
Fixed some force close issues
Fixed some memory leaks
Predictions not lost when changing keyboard layout (e.g to symbols)
Fixed DOuble CApitalization issue

Instead of blasting this post with their known issues and things to be aware of when using SwiftKey Flow, just head to their Blog Post for all the details. You can also check out our Flow Fingers-on post for a first hand look. More details are provided below and hit the links to give the latest SwiftKey Flow beta for smartphones and tablets a try. Enjoy!

Download:
SwiftKey Flow smartphone
SwiftKey Flow tablet

Android usage report has Jelly Bean at over 10% with Cupcake finally gone

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 09:10 AM PST

The latest Android usage numbers are in and this time around marks the first we are seeing Jelly Bean with more than a 10 percent share. Granted, it is just barely above the 10 percent mark, but at least we are seeing forward progress in terms of the latest Android release. According to the usage numbers coming from Google, Jelly Bean now accounts for 10.2 percent.

android-jelly-bean-logo

That of course does break down further. Android 4.1 has 9 percent with 4.2 picking up the remaining 1.2 percent. And just for comparison sake, Jelly Bean usage totaled 6.7 percent in the previous month. Otherwise, much of the numbers are doing what we would expect. Though, this latest usage report does mark the time when Gingerbread dropped below 50 percent.

In fact, Gingerbread usage went from 50.8 percent in December to 47.6 percent in January. Granted, that is not much below the 50 percent mark, but progress is being made and we would expect to see that continue to drop as those device owners reach their two-year agreement length and begin to upgrade. Otherwise, Ice Cream Sandwich saw a small growth this month, going from 27.5 percent in December up to 29.1 percent in the January report. We would expect to see Ice Cream Sandwich continue to grow, at least in the short term.

android-usage-january-2013

Honeycomb as well as Froyo and Eclair continue to drop off and this latest report also has one other nice little tidbit — there was no mention of Android 1.5 Cupcake, which dropped from 0.1 percent on the December report. Finally, as always, these numbers are released direct from Google and based on data collected during a 14-day period, which in this case ended on January 3, 2013. The data is collected from devices accessing Google Play.

[via Google]

Agenda Calendar app released for Android

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 08:25 AM PST

The Agenda Calendar app has made the move into the Google Play Store. The app, for those unfamiliar with the name, has been a favorite for iOS users for some time now. Yup, another story about an iOS app making the transition to Android. But the burn of Android users having to wait aside, the Agenda Calendar app does seem like a nice alternative to the standard Google Calendar app.

agenda-android-banner

The basics of the Agenda Calendar app is this — simplicity and ease of use. In fact, according to the Play Store description, the “main focus is to show you what’s happening now.” Overall the app has a rather minimal appearance, but it does give a several view options. Some of the views include an at-a-glance layout as well as the ability to view by events, day, week, month and year.

agenda-calendar-screens-01

Additionally, the Agenda Calendar app touts fast event creation with the ability to repeat events, a ‘Jump to Day’ picker, swipes and gestures to move between views and tapeable email addresses, URLs and addresses. The Agenda Calendar also syncs using the regular calendar settings for your device, which really just means that moving should be rather simple.

agenda-calendar-screens-02

The app has been released as version 1.0, is selling for $1.99 and currently available for devices running Android 4.0 or later. Finally, while there is no specific mention of tablet and/or smartphone device support, we can say that the Agenda Calendar app looks equally nice on a Galaxy S III and a Nexus 7.

[via Agenda Calendar]

Google TV Custom Recovery sneak peak video released

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 07:37 AM PST

It looks like the folks over at GTV Hacker have been busy lately. In fact, they have recently released a teaser video for their Google TV Custom Recovery software. And just to give a quick once over here, the recovery software will allow users to do things such as install an update from USB, perform a factory reset, check the system information and reboot the system.

Google-TV-Logo

This particular group has been around for sometime now and have apparently been making some decent progress over the years. This team is looking to create a tool that will allow Google TV users to “allow for custom kernels to be run on most of the newest generation of Google TV devices.”

Some of the notable breakthroughs came back in February of 2012 when they released a customized and open Google TV kernel for Sony devices. They have also done good work with the Boxee OS. They discovered and then released a pair of exploits which allowed Boxee users to install packages such as Boxee+.

Bringing this back to the present day though, the GTV Hacker team recently offered up a video demo of the Google TV Custom Recovery software running on a Sony NSZ-GS7 Google TV device. A few notes here though, at the present time there are still some limitations and holdbacks. The crew noted that they “are trying to keep most of the specifics private in order to avoid an update that could patch the exploit before the community gets to utilize it.” And lastly, at this time the software is said to be in beta and not having any release date.

HTC One SV announced for Cricket Wireless

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 06:51 AM PST

Cricket Wireless has officially announced their latest smartphone offering, the HTC One SV. The handset will be available in a few weeks time, and as always, will be available as a contract-free device. The price does seem fair, however we do see at least one point that may keep the geeks from looking towards this device. More on that in a moment though.

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The HTC One SV will be available beginning on January 16 and priced at $349.99. The specs will include 4G LTE connectivity along with a 4.3-inch Super LCD-2 display with scratch-resistant Corning Gorilla Glass, a dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, microSD card slot, NFC, 1.6 megapixel front-facing camera and a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera.

HTC also has some goodies for the camera. The front-facing has backside illumination and an f/2.2 lens and the rear-facing has an f/2.0 backside illuminated lens with the ability to record 1080p HD video. The one downfall we see, the handset will arrive running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as opposed to Jelly Bean. Additionally, as this is an HTC device you can expect to find Sense, which in this case happens to be Sense 4.

Finally, touching on those plans. Cricket Wireless is currently offering the following in terms of 4G LTE — a $50 month option with 2GB of full-speed data, a $50 per month option with 5GB of full-speed data and a $70 per month option with 10GB of full-speed data. And of course, each of these plans also include the basics such as unlimited messaging and unlimited voice.

Samsung Galaxy S IV image leaks along with some specs

Posted: 04 Jan 2013 06:16 AM PST

A recently leaked image claims to be that of the upcoming Galaxy S IV. The image is coming by way of the folks at SamMobile who claim to have received the image by way of an insider at Samsung. As you can see, the image appears to be a picture of a render that someone then snapped a picture of. Regardless, the image is clear enough to get a look and assuming this is the real deal, it does reveal at least one interesting tidbit.

leaked-galaxy-s-iv

Aside from the clean lines and the nicely rounded corners, Galaxy S users will likely notice that one thing is missing — the home button on the bottom. The bezel also seems to be on the narrow side, that is, at least compared to what we currently see with the Galaxy S III. Otherwise, it appears as if you can make out the power button on the right-hand side along with the volume rockers on the left-hand side. The front-facing camera is also present.

Which brings us to the next point here, the specs. That front-facing camera is expected to be 2 megapixel. Other rumored specs include the handset having a 13 megapixel rear-facing camera, 2GB of RAM and a quad-core 2.0GHz Exynos 5450 processor. The handset is expected to arrive running Android 4.2.1 Jelly Bean at launch and with a 4.99-inch display. Diving a bit further in on the display and it should be a Super AMOLED with a Full HD resolution of 1920 x 1080.

Remember though, at this point in time, this is nothing more than a leaked image. And while it seems like it could be the real deal, we remain skeptikal. Of course, as it always has to be, nothing is official until we see an announcement and images come direct from Samsung. All said and done, we do sort of hope to see Samsung remove that home button though.

Corning announces the tough as nails Gorilla Glass 3

Posted: 03 Jan 2013 03:23 PM PST

Corning is the leader in hardened and strengthened glass that’s been protecting all of our favorite smartphones and tablets over the past few years. At least from keys and the occasional scuff. Last year at CES they announced Gorilla Glass 2, and this year they’re set to announce the strongest most durable glass yet — Gorilla Glass 3.

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Just as expected, Corning has used the past year to perfect their technology and provide some of the most durable yet thinnest glass available to keep our smartphones and gadgets strong — and sleek. While their glass won’t save you from a long and depressing drop right onto some concrete. It’s those keys, purses, pockets, and daily wear and tear that sets Corning apart. Check out our hands-on from last year with Gorilla Glass 2.

With Gorilla Glass 3 they’re claiming their product to once again be thinner than previous generations which makes phones thinner and displays more crisp, then they have improved the glass on a molecular level. This means that the appearance of scratches will also be harder to see, and less noticeable. They’re calling this Native Damage Resistance (NDR).

So while it’s thinner, lighter, and stronger, it will also help hide the “appearance” of flaws and scratches on your smartphone. Gorilla Glass 3 is said to be 3 times stronger than GG2, 40% more resistant to scratches and the visibility of said scratches, and then 50% stronger once the display becomes flawed. Meaning scratches won’t continue to get worse. We can expect Gorilla Glass 3 to make its way into most of the popular smartphones of 2013, and we’ll get some more details and hands-on at CES next week so stay tuned.

[via CNET]

Samsung Galaxy S III getting OTA update for Exynos exploit and more

Posted: 03 Jan 2013 01:47 PM PST

Today we’re hearing Samsung is pushing a bug fix update out to their Galaxy S III in the UK. Back in December a potentially huge issue was discovered in many of Samsung’s smartphones and popular devices like the Galaxy S III, Note II, and many others. The issue was found inside the Exynos 4 processor kernel basically giving developers, hackers, and potentially malware jerks full access to the device with ease.

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That isn’t all either. Earlier this week we reported on a “sudden death” bug where some Galaxy S III smartphones main-boards were completely failing and ruining the entire device. OK, so these issues are minor on a mass level and don’t effect many people, but things are a bit of a hot mess here. It looks like both are being fixed soon.

According to multiple reports from XDA as well as the folks from Android Police Samsung has issued a quick software update (still 4.1.2 Jelly Bean) for the UK Galaxy S III that brings multiple changes. While we don’t have a changelog it has been confirmed that the Exynos kernel exploit has been patched and should no longer pose a problem. Then reports are also claiming there’s a fix for the mainboard issue but that can’t be confirmed.

Along with these two bigger issues, Samsung’s also fixing a few minor issues and security patches as a routine update. The build date is listed as December 22nd, so it’s a fairly new build for the GS III, and is available now OTA or from Samsung Kies as usual. Those international UK users feel free to check for updates and let us know if you notice any changes.

Device Specifications and Information
Device Info
    Device Name : Galaxy S III
    Manufactuer : Samsung
    Carrier : NA
    Announced Date : May 03, 2012
    Release Date : May 29, 2012
    Also Known As : The Next Galaxy, SGSIII
Display
  • Screen Size : 4.8 Inch
  • Resolution : 720x1280
  • Screen Type : Super AMOLED HD
Dimension & Weight
  • Height : 5.37 Inch
  • Width : 2.77 Inch
  • Depth : 0.33 Inch
  • Weight : 133 Grams
Battery & Power
    Battery Type:
  • Lithium Ion
  • Battery Capacity : 2100 mAh
  • Talk Time : NA
  • Stand By Time : NA
Software
    Android OS:
  • 4.0.x
    Audio Playback:
  • AAC
  • AAC+
  • AMR
  • MID
  • MP3
  • WAV
  • WMA
    Video Playback:
  • h.263
  • h.264 / AVC
  • MPEG-4 (MP4)
    Messaging:
  • SMS
  • MMS
Hardware
    CPU : Exynos 4 Quad
    CPU Clock Speed : 1400 Mhz
    Core : 4
    Ram : 1024 MB
    Internal Storage : 32 GB
    Front Facing Camera :
    Camera Resolution : 8 MP
    External Storage:
  • MicroSD
  • MicroSDHC
    Camera Features:
  • Auto focus
  • Flash
  • 1080p Video Recording
    Sensors:
  • Accelerometer
  • Ambient light
  • Proximity
    QWERTY :
Cellular Network
    Network Technology:
  • GSM
    GSM Band:
  • 850
  • 900
  • 1800
  • 1900
Device Connectivity
    Wi-Fi:
  • 802.11b
  • 802.11g
  • 802.11n
    Bluetooth:
  • A2DP
  • Bluetooth 4.0
    Location Features:
  • Compass
  • GPS
  • Cellular location
  • Wi-Fi location
    FM Radio :
    NFC :

[via Sam Mobile]

LG Optimus G2 teased in CES 2013 video

Posted: 03 Jan 2013 01:26 PM PST

The folks from LG surely will have a few neat new devices to show off this year at CES 2013 in Las Vegas. The show kicks off this weekend and today LG’s taken a moment to share a quick teaser video with all their fans. We’ve seen multiple leaks suggesting a 5.5-inch 1080p Optimus G2 is in the works, so that’s what we’re hoping the teaser image you see below is.

Screen Shot 2013-01-03 at 1.16.15 PM

CES is more than just mobile, and we’re expecting LG to have TVs, appliances, and all sorts of goods, so the video really could be anything. At first we see a few hints of a smartphone and they clearly tease a thin bezel device as shown above, but the rest of the video is anyone’s guess really. Take a look below.

Around the 0:17 second mark we see a nearly bezel-free smartphone — which is suggested to be the new 5.5-inch 1080p quad-core Optimus G2. Then they show what appears to be an appliance of some sort. The G2 is rumored to have a 13 megapixel camera so the effect at 0:21 seconds in could also be hinting towards that. The video doesn’t reveal much but here it is.

We’ve heard reports and rumors (linked to below) of both a 5-inch and a 5.5-inch LG superphone in the works. Both sporting Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, quad-core processors, 13 megapixel cameras and possibly even 3GB of RAM. While we’ll have a few more days to wait before LG reveals it all, check out timeline below for everything we know thus far. LG’s stepping their game up and we’re excited to see what they have on display.

– Thanks to all who sent this in!

Facebook Messenger app update brings voice messaging

Posted: 03 Jan 2013 01:19 PM PST

Facebook has recently rolled out the latest update for the Messenger app. And with this update, they have gone from offering text and image messaging to text, image or voice based messaging. This latest Facebook Messenger app update is currently available in the Google Play Store where it is sitting as version 2.2.4.

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The new voice messaging ability can be found within the app by tapping to write a message. Once there you will see the four options which include Choose Photo, Take Photo, Image Search or Record Voice. The last is (obviously) the option you will want to tap if you are looking to record voice. From this point, you will be given the button to begin your recording.

The button must be held while recording and users will be able to record messages up to one minute in length. Assuming your voice message is good and what you wanted to say, just release the button to send the message. Otherwise, if for some reason you needed to re-record, just slide your finger off the button to take your do-over. In addition to this update bringing the voice messages, the what’s new section in the Play Store listing also notes “other improvements and bug fixes.”

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Otherwise, while the voice messages have been added for all users, it looks like Facebook is also testing a VoIP based calling solution. This testing is currently available only for those in Canada and takes the voice messaging a step further — into two-way calling. And on top of this being available only for those in Canada, it is also limited to iOS. That being said, assuming the testing goes well, Facebook is expected to roll it out for Android and also for a wider audience.

[via TechCrunch]

Dan Morrill shows us the Android mascot that almost was

Posted: 03 Jan 2013 12:41 PM PST

Back in 2007, it was impossible to know that Android was going to blow up and become as huge as it is today. In fact, for quite some time, it was impossible to know if Android even existed, as Google kept quiet on the flood of rumors until it came time to officially unveil the mobile OS. In the lead up to this announcement, we imagine many things about Android changed, and today Google’s Dan Morrill is giving us a look at a canned Android mascot he thought up in the rush before the company launched the first iteration of the OS we all know and love today.

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Believe it or not, that guy you see above was almost Android’s mascot – a far cry from the Bugdroid that has worked its way into out hearts over the years. Morrill explains the creation of these robots, which have come to be called Dandroids, on his Google+ page. Apparently, these Dandroids were born out of a last-minute need to have a mascot for the internal developer launch of Android:

My job was developer relations, but I took a much-needed break of a couple hours and spent some quality time with Inkscape to create these… things.

See, we were prepping for an internal developer launch (meaning, we were going to ask Googlers to start fooling with the APIs and give us early feedback), and I had no eye candy for the slides we were putting together. Hence these guys.

Even though the Dandroids experienced a period of popularity around Google’s offices, that all came to a screeching halt when Irina Blok introduced the Bugdroid, which would ultimately become Android’s mascot. We have to be honest and say that we like ol’ Bugdroid a fair bit better than these Dandroids, but it’s interesting to learn that these guys were almost the Android mascots nonetheless.

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It would seem that Morrill put a significant amount of work into these as well, posting pictures of Dandroids in red, yellow, green, and blue. Morrill says he found these images while cleaning out an old NAS, so perhaps there are more fascinating tidbits from the early days of Android hidden away on that server? One can only hope. In the meantime, let us know what you think of these Dandroids!

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Polaroid 7-inch “kids tablet” with Android 4.0 revealed ahead of CES

Posted: 03 Jan 2013 11:38 AM PST

While we are expecting Polaroid to unveil an Android powered camera during CES, it looks like they will also be showing off an Android tablet. This is far from the first we have heard from Polaroid in terms of tablets, this one however, is designed with kids in mind. Which really just means that the tablet has a durable exterior as well as some other kid friendly features.

Polaroid_7in_Kids_Tablet_FRONT_Screen

That being said, the Polaroid “kids tablet” is said to have been specifically designed for children with features to include a side and rear bumpers, parental controls and a safe web browser. Polaroid is also including an exclusive App Shop which will contain a mix of free and paid apps that are kid-friendly. Otherwise, those making the purchase can expect some pre-loaded interactive children’s books as well as NOOK for Android with Dr. Seuss and Smithsonian books.

Aside from the kid-friendly features, the tablet will be running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with hardware to include an 800 x 480 display resolution, 1GHz Cortex A8 processor, 512MB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage, an SD card slot, Wi-Fi, a 3500 mAh battery and 2 megapixel rear-facing camera.

polaroid-tablet

Polaroid will have the kids tablet on display during CES, however that aside, those interested in making a purchase can do so now by way of the Polaroid website. In addition, the tablet will be available in Kohl’s retail stores this month. Lastly, the tablet will set you back $149.99.

Android still on top in comScore’s November 2012 market share report

Posted: 03 Jan 2013 11:27 AM PST

comScore has delivered its market share report for November 2012, and unsurprisingly, Android finds itself at the top of the charts yet again. For the three month period ending in November 2012, Android’s market share grew to 53.7%, up 1.1 percentage points from the three month period ending August 2012. iOS was on the rise in that period too, gaining 0.7 percentage points over the period ending in November to settle at 35%.

topplatnov

This growth for iOS and Android, however small, came at the expense of RIM, Microsoft, and Symbian, all of which were down in the three month period ending November 2012. None of those companies have much further they can drop, with Symbian in particular now holding onto just 0.5% market share. Of course, an important thing to remember is that Windows Phone 8 had just been released when comScore collected its stats for November. Couple that with the fact that RIM is gearing up to launch BlackBerry 10 at the end of this month, and we might just see both companies begin to climb up the rankings in comScore’s next report.

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Who was at the top of the list for mobile OEM market share? Samsung, yet again. The company experienced growth in the three month period ending in November 2012, climbing 1.2 percentage points to a 26.9% share. Apple was up too, enjoying 18.5% market share after gaining 1.4 percentage points. LG, Motorola, and HTC rank on the top five list as well, though unfortunately they all took a loss in overall market share during the period.

contentnov

comScore says that 123.3 million people in the US owned smartphones at the end of the period, which means that smartphones have achieved 53% market penetration. 75.9% said they use their smartphones to send text messages to other phones, while using downloaded apps and using mobile browsers rounded out the top three in comScore’s mobile content usage chart with 54.2% and 52.1% respectively. If you’ve got a few minutes, be sure to read through comScore’s full report – it houses a lot of interesting data on the smartphone market.

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