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- Latest Android Distribution Reveals Gingerbread Down 1.4% and Jelly Bean Up 3.2%
- Humble Bundle 5 released with up to six games
- Leaked render of Samsung Galaxy S IV turns out to be placeholder from Expansys
- China is Worried Over Google’s Control in Smartphone Industry
- ZTE Smartphones Will Run Next-Gen Intel Atom Z2580 Processors
- HTC Sense 5 wallpapers now available to download
- Opera For Android Upgrades To WebKit Browser Engine, Download The Beta Now
- Verizon’s Fran Shammo says subsidized pricing to drop within 2-3 years
- Samsung Galaxy S III With T-Mobile LTE Support Passes Through FCC
- Canadian users get voice calling via Facebook Messenger for Android
| Latest Android Distribution Reveals Gingerbread Down 1.4% and Jelly Bean Up 3.2% Posted: 05 Mar 2013 04:14 PM PST
Use of Android is constantly evolving and the latest distribution data shows Gingerbread on devices is down while use of Jelly Bean is up 3.2 percent. This news comes just one month after our last reported findings. To Android enthusiasts’ dismay however, Gingerbread is still on the majority of devices at 44.2 percent. Here are the latest stats:
Use of Jelly Bean continues to climb thanks to many devices being upgraded that were shipped with Ice Cream Sandwich, including the latest generation of Android devices running Jelly Bean right out of the box. It is a bit disappointing to still see Gingerbread on so many devices, but a lot of that has to do with older devices that never received an upgrade and is only a matter of time before those users opt for a new smartphone or tablet. Source: Android Developers
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| Humble Bundle 5 released with up to six games Posted: 05 Mar 2013 02:06 PM PST
Android gamers interested in grabbing some new titles for the Android platform may want to grab up the fifth iteration of The Humble Bundle. The Humble Bundle 5 comes with four games as part of the base package including:
On their web site, Humble Bundle is displaying a real-time update of the average price that users are offering to pay for the bundle. If you pick your own price that is more than the current average, you can unlock two additional games:
Humble Bundle is also including options to donate a portion of your purchase to the Electronic Frontier Foundation or the Child’s Play Charity, an organization that works to get video games and gaming systems into the hands of sick children in hospitals. You can also adjust the amount that ultimately gets paid to the individual developers and to Humble Bundle themselves. The titles in this Humble Bundle are cross-platform and will work on Windows, Mac, Linux and Android operating systems. In addition to picking your own price for games that work on multiple platforms, they are being released DRM-free. Check out the video below for some entertaining views and commentary on the gameplay then hit the source link if you are interested in making a purchase. Click here to view the embedded video. source: Humble Bundle
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| Leaked render of Samsung Galaxy S IV turns out to be placeholder from Expansys Posted: 05 Mar 2013 01:43 PM PST
Yesterday the ‘net was abuzz with news of an alleged image of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S IV based on a tweet from normally stalwart source @evleaks. As happens when dealing with rumors and leaks though, every now and then something turns out to be completely bogus. That is what has happened in the case of the leaked images of the Galaxy S IV. Online retailer Expansys has revealed they were the original source of the image which was created as a placeholder by one of their web designers. The episode has turned into a bit of a nasty affair as Expansys has suggested @evleaks actually stole the image and added the watermark to it. Sources indicate that @evleaks maintains the image came in via normal channels and was not stolen. While the dust settles, Expansys has been active on Twitter trying to follow-up all the retweets with directions to the correct source of the image. Meanwhile, it appears @evleaks has deleted the original tweet and has been quiet about the matter on Twitter. How will you treat leaks from @evleaks in the future? Do they get a mulligan on this one or have then severely damaged their reputation? source: TechCrunch
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| China is Worried Over Google’s Control in Smartphone Industry Posted: 05 Mar 2013 12:49 PM PST
“China”, just hearing the word projects images of grandeur and power. So what, you might ask, would make such a powerful country worry outside of the next world war? In a word, GOOGLE! The search engine, tablet, smartphone, and mobile operating system powerhouse is really drawing a lot of attention from the big dogs overseas. When Google does things, they do it big, no matter what the venture might be…and the world is taking notice. China is said to be worried that Google may be a little too big for their britches. China’s Technology Ministry has stated that Google has too much control over their smartphone industry via their Android operating system and that they discriminate against China’s local firms. A white paper authored by the research arm of China’s Ministry and Information Technology also claims that China has the ability to “create its own mobile operating system” and at this time China “…is too dependent on Android.” The paper goes on to accuse Google of discrimination by developing “…agreements to restrain the business development of mobile devices of…companies it added”. Google’s spokesperson in China declined to comment on the matter. The white paper suggests that regulations against Android might be on the horizon, but doesn’t mention anything specifically addressing the issue. To make matters worse, back in September 2012 the Taiwanese based, Alibaba Group, accused Google of “putting pressure on them” during a planned collaborative smartphone venture with US based, Acer. Acer and Google declined to comment on these accusations. Google has had a history of problems stemming from China, to include an alleged hacking back in 2010, to which Google reacted by conducting a partial pullout of their search market share from the country. This move cost Google a 15 percent loss in search market share in China by the end of 2012. Since then, Android has been Google’s only major player in China. By the end of Q3 2012, Android accounted for a staggering 90 percent of all mobile operating systems in China, dominating Apple Inc’s IOS by over 85 percent. Who knows what the future holds for Google in China, but recent rumors would lead us to believe that the future of Android is bleak at best. Source: Business Insider
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| ZTE Smartphones Will Run Next-Gen Intel Atom Z2580 Processors Posted: 05 Mar 2013 12:30 PM PST
ZTE announced a new partnership with Intel today, revealing that its future smartphones will run the upcoming Atom Z2580 processor. The Atom Z2580 debuted at Mobile World Congress and is a dual-core chip that can run up to 2.0GHz with Hyper-Threading support for better multi-tasking. This isn’t the first time that ZTE will use Intel Atom processors. The ZTE Grand X IN was released in September of 2012 and featured a single-core, 1.6GHz Intel Atom Z2460. Performance of the Atom Z2580 is greatly improved over its predecessor, boasting double the performance and three times more graphics output. Battery life is also said to be improved and on the same level as comparable processors. ZTE still has yet to announce availability of phones running the Intel Atom Z2580. Source: Business Wire
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| HTC Sense 5 wallpapers now available to download Posted: 05 Mar 2013 12:04 PM PST
Sense 5 will bring a lot of new features like BlinkFeed and Zoe, but what about wallpapers? HTC usually has some pretty cool ones, and I did have my eye on a few at the event. If you’re looking for a change in background on your current phone, HTC or otherwise, you might want to check out these new Sense 5 wallpapers. There are eighteen in all, and we have them all for your downloading pleasure. Whether you want to grab just one or all of them, hit the the break to get started.
Just tap on the image to get the full size, right click, and select “save image as” to save it to your PC. If you’re on your phone, you can still tap on each image to get the full size, and after that, just long press on the image and select, “save image.” Enjoy!!                   source: HTC HD Blog
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| Opera For Android Upgrades To WebKit Browser Engine, Download The Beta Now Posted: 05 Mar 2013 10:47 AM PST
Opera has released a new beta version of its Android app which brings many improvements, including the switch from the Presto browser engine to WebKit. WebKit is used in Chrome as well as the AOSP browser. Here is the full list of changes and improvements:
Opera also released a video showing off the new Android browser. Hit the break to check it out.
Click here to view the embedded video. The new Opera for Android is available for download now from the Play Store and keep in mind it is in beta.
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| Verizon’s Fran Shammo says subsidized pricing to drop within 2-3 years Posted: 05 Mar 2013 10:22 AM PST
In a recent interview, Verizon Communications CFO Fran Shammo said that due to competition from other carriers, Verizon’s subsidized prices are expected to drop within the next 2-3 years. Shammo said, “I’m a believer that over the next two to three years subsidies will start to decrease just because of the ecosystem." Value-priced smartphones are becoming more prevalent in the competition, which is why it makes sense for Verizon’s move to lower subsidy costs. Shammo also mentioned that Verizon will start producing devices without CDMA radios built into them as voice technology moves towards LTE radios (VoLTE), thus averting more subsidy costs. T-Mobile has said they plan to move exclusively to Value-Plans which has caused competitors like AT&T and Sprint to keep their eyes on the progress T-Mobile makes using these plans. It’s no surprise that Verizon plans to do the same. Carriers usually see a decrease in profit when they sell in higher volumes because of the subsidy costs. By cutting these costs, Verizon and the consumer both benefit; the consumer will have more affordable devices at their disposal while Verizon eliminates losses and generates more revenue. Source: FierceWireless
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| Samsung Galaxy S III With T-Mobile LTE Support Passes Through FCC Posted: 05 Mar 2013 10:11 AM PST
T-Mobile launched the Samsung Galaxy S III around the same time as other carriers, but due to its 4G LTE network not being deployed until this year, there was no LTE support. That’s about to change now after the Galaxy S III was spotted passing through the FCC with T-Mobile LTE support. Known as the Samsung SGH-T999L, consumers can anticipate its arrival on March 27th. The phone will also have support for HSPA+ over the 850, 1700, and 1900MHz bands, including LTE Band 17 which is utilized on AT&T smartphones. In other words, T-Mobile customers who unlock this upcoming version of the Samsung Galaxy S III, could use it on AT&T’s network.
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| Canadian users get voice calling via Facebook Messenger for Android Posted: 05 Mar 2013 08:12 AM PST
Ever since Facebook added voice messages as part of their Messenger service, we knew that the next eventual step would be voice calling or VoIP. They already start VoIP through Messenger for iOS users in the U.S., but nothing was available for Android users until now. The latest Android update added it, but only for our friends up north in Canada. Canadian users can now make calls over WiFi or their mobile data connection to other Facebook friends in Canada or even those in the U.S. provided they are on iOS. They can also start and name group conversations. At some point in the future we will probably only need a data plan from our mobile providers and Facebook is making it that much closer. Utilizing VoIP on our mobile phones makes sense, but it probably won’t take off until the major carriers stop forcing us to have calling plans. source: ca.ibtimes
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