Android Community Weekly: January 22, 2012

It’s been a surprisingly busy week for Android as 2012 gets started in earnest. Much of the news from Monday and Tuesday came as the tech industry caught its collective breath, after the gadget smorgasbord that was the Consumer Electronics Show. For the best and brightest, be sure to check out or Android CES wrap up. You can see all our coverage of CES 2012, from this week and last, by visiting our CES portal. As for the rest – and that encompasses quite a lot this week – read on below.

As far as hardware goes, an encouraging number of new devices were spotted this week. The biggest (metaphorically speaking, of course) is probably LG’s X3, the likely codename for their new flagship. The rumored phone runs Ice Cream Sandwich on a 4.3-inch 720p screen. It’s very likely that we’ll be seeing more of that phone next month at Mobile World Congress. Tablet dreamers Notion Ink unveiled thesecond iteration of their Adam tablet, this time with upgrades in hardware and more developer tools. WiFi versions of the Motorola DROID XYBOARD are up for pre-order, and those who fancy more variety in their LTE smartphones will be happy to know that the LG Connect 4G has passed through the FCC with Verizon radio bands. While we’re certain that the much-anticipated Samsung Galaxy Note is coming to AT&T in the near future, industry rumor indicates that it will be coming to at least two more US carriers, and that the Verizon version will likely be renamed the “Galaxy Journal.” Finally, you won’t want to miss Discuss [1], a pair of high-quality headphones with unique wood construction and environmentally-friendly materials.

On the software side of Android, the biggest release this week was probably Wikipedia’s official Android app, which can now be downloaded for free in the Market. Shooter favorite Counter-Strike is now available in beta form, and high-profile games Temple Run and Reckless Racing 2 will soon be headed to the Android Market as well. In more wide-reaching news, popular Android modder/developer Koush has begun work on a CyanogenMod App Store, which he says will welcome all the legitimate apps that have been given the boot from the Market by Google, including tethering, emulator and root apps. We can’t wait to see what comes of this one, especially since it will be open to non-CyanogenMod users as well.

In more general Android news, the original Motorola XOOM got an official Ice Cream Sandwich update, while the HP TouchPad got an extremely unofficial one, courtesy of the CyanogenMod team. Speaking of older hardware, an early version of Samsung’s update for the original Galaxy S was leaked, showing their “Value Pack” of ICS-style features that are intended to mollify users upset that they won’t be getting the real McCoy. Meanwhile, HTC is updating its CDMA phones to get rid of Carrier IQ’s software, which caused both hardware makers and carriers a PR nightmare late last year. The EVO 4G, Epic 4G, EVO 3D and EVO Design 4G are among the first phones to be corrected. In the ongoing patent wars, Apple slapped Samsung with a request for a ban on 10 devices in Germany and another US lawsuit over the slide-to-unlock feature on the Galaxy Nexus. I guess no one told them that Google made that particular feature.

Source : http://androidcommunity.com/android-community-weekly-january-22-2012-20120122/

Apple vs. Android: War Without End?

Steve Jobs’s hatreds are nearly as famous as his innovations: buttons, styluses, complicated remote controls. He loathed nothing more, however, than Google’s Android—a total rip-off, in his opinion, of Apple’s work. “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple’s $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong,” he vowed, according to Walter Isaacson’s recent, hefty biography. Armed with his company’s arsenal of patents, Jobs threatened “thermonuclear war.” He sued the three leading Android handset makers—HTC, Motorola, and Samsung—in countries all around the world, seeking to have their products banned.

Emmanuel Dunand / AFP-Getty Images

But nearly two years after the first salvos were fired, Apple’s war on Android has ac-complished almost nothing. And it’s starting to look as if Apple’s patent portfolio isn’t nearly as lethal as Jobs seemed to think.

Three of Apple’s claims against Motorola recently got tossed out by the International Trade Commission. Many of Apple’s claims against HTC and Samsung failed as well, and the two claims that were upheld were both easy to work around. Samsung simply widened the frame on its Galaxy Tab, and HTC removed a tiny software feature that lets you tap a phone number in an email and pull up a menu of options. Meanwhile, Android keeps growing and has become the top smartphone platform. Samsung has leap-frogged Apple to become the biggest smart-phone maker in the world.

“They’re losing momentum. They’re at the point where the walls start to crumble a little bit,” says Kevin Rivette, a patent attorney and managing partner at 3LP Advisors, a consulting firm that specializes in intellectual property. Apple, he says, should be “looking long and hard at how to cut deals.”

Apple’s strong market position means it could still demand favorable terms from Android players—especially after a robust fourth quarter in which iPhone sales blossomed while Android sales wilted. The company could license its patents and collect royalties on every Android handset sold, as Microsoft has done with top Android phone makers. “The problem is, what happens when you start losing in court? It gets a lot harder to do licensing deals,” Rivette says.

Jobs, clearly, operated from a more emo-tional standpoint. He didn’t want to collect licensing fees from his rivals—he wanted to stamp them out altogether. Now Apple’s new CEO, Tim Cook, faces a difficult choice: should he pursue the visceral path of total war set out by his passionate (but now deceased) predecessor, or should he take a more pragmatic route and sue for peace? Cook’s decision could determine Apple’s fate in the mobile market. It will also demonstrate what kind of company Apple intends to become in the post-Jobs era.

Source : http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/01/22/apple-vs-android-war-without-end.html

Motorola’s Android 4.0-less Droid RAZR Maxx might work

One of the biggest disappointments of the Droid RAZR is the “poor” battery life largely due to its 4G Long-Term Evolution feature that demands more battery juice.

Well, Motorola has learned a lesson and introduced a thicker, but not too thick Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx, a new Android-based smartphone with 3,300mAh battery which promises almost 24 hours of talk time and more YouTube video streaming, apparently.

Specs wise, the Droid RAZR Maxx is still the same, 4.3-inch qHD screen, 1.2GHz dual-core TI OMAP CPU, Android 2.3 with custom Motorola skin running on top of the user interface, two powerful cameras, a full 1GB of RAM and according to a Moto representative at CES, it will receive Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich software update, but no word yet regarding the exact release of the new operating system.

Smartphones are popular because you can surf the web, watch movies, or play games but all features require battery juice. The new RAZR MAXX might attract more customers because it features a bigger battery.

The Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx will compete against the HD smartphone with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and LTE, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus which features 1850mAh battery.

Speaking of batteries and Samsung, the Korean company recently told CNET that it will release new phones with bigger batteries this year. Rumors say the first Android 4.0 smartphone of Samsung running the TouchWiz skin is the Samsung Galaxy S3, but no word about its release date yet. If true, then this year could be the start of Android’s bigger battery lurve.

Source : http://popherald.com/news/2012/01/21/motorolas-android-4-0-less-droid-razr-maxx-might-work/15163/

Tips on getting the most out of your tech gifts

SAN FRANCISCO — It’s a few weeks since Christmas, and the novelty of that new iPad or Android tablet may be wearing off. You’ve already watched a Netflix movie, played “Angry Birds” and maybe even downloaded an e-book or two from Amazon.com or Apple’s iBooks. What next?

Here are three things you might not be aware you can do with your new tablet:

Use it as a telephone

If you want to place a video call over a Wi-Fi connection, you’ve got a lot of options, including Microsoft’s Skype and, for iPad users, Apple’s FaceTime. But suppose you want to make and receive voice calls, and not just with other Internet-connected devices but with traditional phones as well?

You could set up a Google Voice account, which comes with its own phone number, and download its app — which in the case of the iPad means an iPhone app blown up to twice its usual size.

A more elegant solution is Line2, an app from the cleverly named Toktumi, a San Francisco company. For less than $10 a month, Line2 converts your iPad or Android device into a fully functioning phone with its own number, voice mail and a host of advanced features.

It works not only over Wi-Fi but also 3G and 4G wireless data networks — giving you voice service any place and in any way your tablet can connect.

Even better, the service is transferable from device to device. Put the app on your phone too, and you’ve now got a second, fully integrated line you can use for business or in other situations where you don’t want to give out your personal number. Toktumi also provides software to let you place and receive calls on your Line2 number from Windows PCs and Macs.

Line2 for Android provides a seven-day free trial before the $9.95 monthly fee kicks in. For the iPad, the company, prodded by Apple, is in the process of moving to a “freemium” model, with a no-cost level for calls with other Line2 users and a paid service for everyone else.

You’ll also want to invest in a Bluetooth headset. You’d look awfully silly holding an iPad to your ear.

Run Windows and Microsoft Office

Several apps allow you to create, open and manipulate Microsoft Office files on a tablet, such as Documents To Go from Blackberry maker Research In Motion, Quickoffice and, for iPad users, Apple’s iWork suite. LogMeIn Ignition allows you to view and control a specific Windows PC over an Internet connection, while Citrix Receiver is aimed at enterprise users.

Now OnLive, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based online game service, has launched an app called OnLive Desktop that puts a fully functional version of Windows 7, plus Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, on your iPad — all for free.

The Microsoft programs aren’t actually installed on your tablet. Rather, they are running on OnLive’s servers, to which you connect over the Internet. You’ll need a Wi-Fi connection, where the programs run smoothly; while you can occasionally squeeze in a few minutes over 3G, you can’t count on it.

The documents you create are stored on OnLive’s servers; sharing them with other computers, or uploading documents created elsewhere, is managed via the OnLive website. The free app provides 2 gigabytes of storage, and OnLive says a coming $10-a-month service will provide 50 gigabytes, plus the ability to add and run more Windows programs. Enterprise and Android versions are also in the works.

OnLive Desktop uses a touch-friendly version of Windows 7; an on-screen keyboard also is available. You’ll almost certainly, though, want to use it with a Bluetooth wireless keyboard. It may now be possible to imagine The Great American Novel being written on an iPad — but not via fingers-on-glass.

Use it as a remote control

Here’s perhaps the only area where some Android tablets are easier to use than iPads.

Most TVs are being sold with some ability to put them onto a home network, either with built-in Wi-Fi or an adapter port. Connecting your TV to a network means, among many other things, that you may be able to control it with an app on your Wi-Fi- connected device. Millions of TVs, though, don’t live on Wi-Fi networks. Owners rely on the infrared technology in traditional remote controls to change channels and adjust the volume.

Unlike the iPad, some Android tablets have a built-in IR transmitter, allowing them to function as universal remote controls for TVs and home-entertainment gear right out of the box. Probably the best I’ve seen is the Tablet S from Sony, which includes an app that mimics the functions of the company’s high-end stand-alone remotes, including controlling non-Sony gear. Other Android tablets with IR blasters include Vizio’s Vtab and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus.

If you have an iPad, or a non-IR-equipped Android tablet, your best bet is a device that uses a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection to your tablet and translates its commands into IR instructions. One that I’ve used is the Peel Fruit, which is currently on sale for $79; other products that perform similar functions include Logitech’s $100 Harmony Link and Griffin Technology’s $70 Beacon.

Whatever you use, there’s one huge advantage to using a tablet over a traditional remote: little risk of losing it in the sofa cushions.

Source : http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120121/business/701219991/

Android 4.0 runs on an AMD tablet, thanks to the Android-x86 project

We just remembered there was one last curiosity we saw at AMD's suite at CES 2012: this AMD Fusion tablet, running Android 4.0. Before you get too excited, AMD was quick to point out that this MSI WindPad 110W didn't get Ice Cream Sandwich through any effort of its own. What you're looking at is actually the work of the Android-x86 project, which very recently released a test Android 4.0 ISO for AMD Brazos-based tablets like the one above.

The good news is that if you've got such a tablet lying around the house, you can download the ROM yourself. The bad news is that AMD tells us it doesn't officially support the community's efforts here, and you shouldn't necessarily expect AMD devices to run Android in the future. The intriguing news is that if you go to the Android-x86 project's website, you can plainly see that AMD is interested in where this road might go: the company donated some development boards to the project last April, and as of October the AMD "Persimmon" platform of embedded processors — like the one in this Fit-PC3 — are officially a target for new code.

Oh, in case you're wondering, Android 4.0 isn't bad on AMD silicon, but the software isn't all there yet. We scrolled through the UI just fine and even ran a game at AMD's suite, but we also ran into some force closes and a freeze in just a few minutes with the system. Good luck!

MSI WINDPAD 110W RUNNING ANDROID 4.0 (HANDS-ON PICTURES)

Source :

http://www.theverge.com/2012/1/21/2722148/android-4-0-runs-on-an-amd-tablet-thanks-to-the-android-x86-project

Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi edition gets Android Ice Cream Sandwich

Unforgivably late, 3G users stuck waiting

In what may have seemed like a decade's worth of waiting time for Google's flagship Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet to receive the long-anticipated tablet-focused OS performance update, it appears that Motorola is finally ready to announce that its first-generation tablet is ready for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

 

There appears to be a cache, however. Motorola is only rolling out the Ice Cream Sandwich update to WiFi-only version of the Motorola Xoom. Users like ourselves, with the 3G Motorola Xoom, will need to wait a few more weeks for the update to be pushed out.

According to System Information screenshots from other sites around the web, this particular version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is build number IML77 with kernel version 2.6.39.4-gf03a679. Prior to installing the update, the boot screen will appear noticeably different and system fonts will appear smoother and somewhat easier to read.

Nevertheless, we can't help but postulate that this unforgivably late update will not help Motorola increase sales of its Xoom tablets. The company recently launched its second-generation Xoom, officially named the Motorola Xyboard, in December 2011. Unfortunately, the second-gen device shows almost no functionality improvements over its predecessor and it appears any performance improvements going forward will be entirely software-based.

Source : http://fudzilla.com/home/item/25659-motorola-xoom-wi-fi-edition-gets-android-ice-cream-sandwich

IPhone and Android users are app happy

It’s never been easier to follow our headlines, at any hour.

Many iPhone users know that, as about 2,000 of them have downloaded the free Centre Daily Times app in recent weeks.

In December, their page views recorded at CentreDaily.com almost hit 100,000, three times the October total.

This month our mobile traffic is increasing by the day, and the wait has ended for our Android phone app, introduced quietly at the start of the year.

Combined, these two apps are keeping busy business people, students and travelers informed of developments in Centre County and beyond no matter the time.

Enjoy these apps, and we hope it will only be a few months before we roll out an iPad app. Stay tuned. In the meantime, send feedback to cdtonline@centredaily.com that may help us improve the app experience.

Moving from mobile to print, we’re introducing Washington Post and Bloomberg News content to our wire mix that includes McClatchy Tribune and many top papers, including The New York Times.

Look for this new content everywhere in the paper, including this page. The timing of this development is outstanding, allowing us to print in full last Sunday the interview with Joe Paterno conducted by Sally Jenkins, of The Washington Post.

This arrangement also will serve us well as the election year plays out, to bring you top coverage and analysis from sources inside the Beltway.

A great adventure is ahead in 2012. Thanks for joining us in print, online and mobile.

Source : http://www.centredaily.com/2012/01/22/3061674/iphone-and-android-users-are-app.html