| MacUpdate Weekend Sale | :This weekend MacUpdate has slashed prices on Painter 12 and Painter Lite. Painter 12 retails for $429, but has been reduced by 54% to $199. Painter Lite has seen a 58% price cut from $69 to $29. Hurry, because these deals are only available until May 19th 2013. |
Computer maker Dell is taking yet another step into the Android device segment, as it prepares to ship Project Ophelia. Ophelia is a thumb-sized USB device that contains hardware that runs Google's mobile operating system, and it plugs into a television to turn any HDTV into a smart device. It should begin shipping in July of this year for a price of $100.
The Mannheim Regional Court has stayed one chapter of the ongoing Nokia versus HTC trial in Germnay. Judge Andreas Voss ordered the stay over a feature proving supervisory remote permission management to employees' Android-based phones and tablets. While HTC is infringing on the patent, the court believes the patent itself to be invalid.
A report by market analysts App Annie and IDC continue to show that mobile devices such as the iPhone or the Nexus 7 control a clear majority of mobile gaming interest and dollars spent on purchases, with portable handhelds fading rapidly. The first quarter of 2013 saw another milestone achieved for the Android platform, with it seeing more downloads and consumer spending on games than iOS for the first time.
A white version of the Google Nexus 4 smartphone could be released in the next month. A rumor suggests the white mobile device will become available through Google Play on the 10th of June, and will be accompanied by the release of the next iteration of the Android mobile operating system, version 4.3.
Shipments of Windows Phone devices have overtaken those of BlackBerry phones for the first time, according to a report. Numbers from IDC places the Microsoft mobile operating system in third place, still a considerable away behind iOS and Android shipments, which are said to make up 92.3-percent of all shipments when combined.
A new study by mobile advertising analysts Millennial Media finds that Apple's iOS is again the dominant platform for ad impressions, a measure of the effectiveness and engagement with in-app advertising. The report found growth in ad impressions across platforms and manufacturers, apart from BlackBerry which continued to shed users. Apple again swept the hardware results, taking the top manufacturer, top smartphone, and top tablet. Google's Android platform, however, continues to make great strides in growth.
HTC has said that it isn’t planning to issue a version of the HTC One running stock Android. The company issued a statement on the matter following the surprise, but long awaited, announcement at Google I/O that it will be selling a version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 running stock Android. “HTC is not currently planning a ‘Nexus Edition’ of the HTC One,” said an HTC company spokesperson.
Samsung is working on reducing the amount of internal storage in the Galaxy S4 that is taken up by the operating system. After a number of customer complaints and an investigation from the BBC consumer affairs show Watchdog, the company will try to shrink the room its TouchWiz implementation and other items it has added to the base Android installation.
Swedish audio maker JAYS has released the latest version of its popular a-JAYS Five series earphones. Unlike the previous model that came in one edition, the new lineup comes in three discrete models, each individually tailored to iOS, Android and Windows Phone devices. Each of the three models features its own three-button remote that supports all the remote functionality of each type of smartphone running each OS.
Today at Google I/O, Google's annual developer conference, Google announced that in the coming months Android will include native support for Bluetooth Smart Ready and Bluetooth Smart devices. Phones and tablets with a dual-mode Bluetooth chip running an unnamed coming version of Android will qualify as Bluetooth Smart Ready.
Lost amidst the slew of announcements at the linktextGoogle I/O keynote today, the company has announced the upcoming update to the Google TV software, bringing Android 4.2.2 "Jelly Bean" to the device family. Google claims that changes to the core of the software for the device will speed future updates, making the process happen in "weeks rather than months."
Google has updated the iOS and Android versions of Play Books with the ability to upload already-owned books and documents. The option supports PDF and EPUB files, but uploads must be done via the Google Books website. Any uploaded titles sync across devices.
At today's Google I/O keynote, Google has demonstrated a revamped Maps app for iOS and Android. In the coming months, Android users will see an upgrade, bringing the Maps for iOS user interface and features. Additionally, a long-awaited iPad version of the utility will be made available for the iPad.
New research from F-Secure Labs on the prevalence of malware on smartphones, along with developer data on game app piracy rates paints a pretty clear -- and damning -- portrait of Android compared to other mobile platforms. The growth in mobile malware on Google's platform is increasing at such a pace that the malware threat is approaching the relative level of compromised Windows systems, while the rampant piracy is driving developers away and making paid apps scarce in favour of the "freemium" model.
Google has unveiled that a version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 with a stock installation of Android will be available to purchase, confirming an earlier rumor. The smartphone will be fully unlocked from purchase, will use an unlocked bootloader, and will apparently receive quicker software updates compared to the version of Android provided by Samsung.
Google has revealed some of the new tools available to developers on Android at its Google I/O event. A number of new APIs have been introduced, along with the rumored APIs for multiplayer gaming, and new tools for developers to create the apps themselves, including a new Android Studio tool, and help in the creation of international versions of apps.
Google is set to kick off its I/O developer conference with an opening keynote. The company is widely expected to introduce a new Android build, potentially alongside new hardware. Check our live page beginning at 9am Pacific, 12pm Eastern, for updates from the event.
HP has just announced the HP SlateBook X2 and the HP Spilt X2, a pair of detachable PCs offering notebook and tablet functionality in one device. The SlateBook X2 is the first Android detachable device with the Nvidia Tegra 4-processor, and runs Android 4.2.2 "Jelly Bean." The Split X2 is powered by the full Windows 8 operating system.
Games publisher EA is planning to bring the Frostbite engine to iOS and Android, according to the company's website. "One of our most exciting current projects is called Frostbite Go, a mobile division empowering EA game developers with Frostbite’s proven excellent workflows and features to bring true Frostbite experiences to all major mobile platforms," the site's History page reads. Switching over to the This is Frostbite page, EA mentions "diverse targets from XBOX360 and PlayStation 4 to iOS and Android."
BlackBerry will be expanding access to its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) service to new platforms this summer, in a move that has surfaced in rumors a number of times in the past. Users of iOS and Android devices will be able to download a free app for their device in order to use the service, with the core BBM functionality initially available and other aspects expected later in the year.
Payment service PayPal has launched a new software development kit for Android. Following on from the iOS version launched in March, the Android SDK will allow developers to integrate PayPal payments into their apps, providing them with an alternative payment processing system to Google Play, and the option to pay for in-app items or services by credit or debit card.
Described by Sony as a culmination of its greatest technologies, the Xperia ZL is an attempt to bring the company’s best offerings together in a single device. In many ways the ZL makes good on this goal, offering a superb display, solid camera, and sleek design. What’s even more impressive is the compact frame that Sony was able to pack all of this into. Despite the inclusion of a five-inch full 1080p display, the Xperia ZL is comfortable to hold, and -- thanks to the relocation of the power button -- can easily be operated with a single hand. In our full review we look further into the Xperia ZL's feature set and see if it has what it takes to compete with other top Android handhelds.
Google may be revealing an entire gaming framework to developers at Google I/O next week, based on newly-released data. The Google Play Services component for Android includes support for various game-related features in a new update, including synchronizing saved games and various multiplayer components seen in a previous leak.
The HTC One is a crucial product for the Taiwanese smartphone maker. The company once was the market leading Android smartphone vendor and saw tremendous success and growth as a company. It worked with Google on the first Nexus smartphone and was often one of the first to market with new features, including the move to displays 4-inches or larger. However, the rise of Samsung as a smartphone maker has largely come at the expense of HTC, which has seen its fortunes rapidly decline as a consequence. See if HTC has done enough with the One to turn its fortunes around in our full review of the HTC One.
In its latest report, industry research firm Canalys is reporting on what it calls "worldwide smart mobile device shipments" for the first quarter of the year -- a term that includes smartphones, notebooks and tablets. Of the 308.7 million devices that fall under one of those categories that shipping in Q1, around 60 percent were said to be Android devices, reflecting the platform's strength in smartphones -- the fastest-growing area of mobile electronics. Apple's iOS placed second again, despite a dominant presence in tablets.
The makers of Ouya, the Android-based game console, has received extra funding from investors ahead of its launch. The additional outside investment has now allowed Ouya to set the date of the official public launch as June 25, allowing more time for it to manufacture consoles before shipping units to retailers.
Microsoft has laid out the various changes the company will make to Office Web Apps in the future, with a focus on social features, partly confirming a previously leak. It has also revealed that, unlike Adobe's recent announcement of switching focus to providing subscription-based products, Microsoft will continue to release packaged versions of Office for the next few years.
As a part of one of its lawsuits against Samsung, Apple is asking US Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal for access to Google's Android source code records, Bloomberg reports. The documents are being demanded as part of pretrial information sharing; Apple argues in a court filing that Android is used in all of the Samsung devices accused of infringing Apple patents, and "provides much of the accused functionality."
Details of a new mid-ranged smartphone from Sony has appeared online, complete with an alleged test of its 5-megapixel camera. The C1905 is said to be an Android Jelly Bean-based phone that will form part of the Xperia range, and will sit alongside the Xperia L in the company's product catalog, with the leak coming shortly after claimed specifications of the camera-oriented Xperia i1 Honami were reported.
iOS made significant gains in US mobile web traffic during April, according to Investing Analytics data obtained by Piper Jaffray. The platform reached a 69 percent share, up from 66.4 percent in March. The growth primarily at the expense of Android, which declined from 28.7 percent in March to 26.5.
Google may be working with South Korean electronics manufacturer LG in order to develop a follow-up to last year's Nexus 4 handset. The rumored handset could be a retooling of the existing device, as was reported last month, but it may in fact be a new and distinct Nexus phone. The two companies are said to be discussing how they can further collaborate going forward.
Though the combined sales of Android smartphones continues to best Apple as a platform, Google's mobile OS continued to lose marketshare in the US in the latest quarterly comScore survey, as Apple solidified its position as market leader despite the lack of any new iPhone model in since before the holidays. Apple's share of the US smartphone market is now 39 percent, up 2.7 percent since December. Though Samsung was able to increase its US share slightly, the other three major Android vendors all lost ground in the most recent quarter.
Subscribers to the tablet editions of Hearst Magazines publications have finally broken past the 1 million mark, says company head David Carey. The executive at one point said the company would have 1 million subscribers by the end of 2012, but ended up with a figure closer to 900,000. "I’m glad we got there," Carey remarks. "We were just 90 days late."
Verizon has updated the iOS and Android versions of My FiOS, an app supporting the company's fiber service. Both apps have integrated important FiOS TV functions, namely TV listings, DVR scheduling, and a remote control. Previously the app's video functions were limited to watching video on demand.
Google may be branching out into making games, after hiring a games industry veteran. Noah Falstein, designer of a number of games over his 23-year career, has been picked up by the search giant and given the title "Chief Game Designer," suggesting that the company could be producing its own games, introducing gaming concepts to its products, or even building its own gaming platform on Android.
Early purchasers of the Samsung Galaxy S4 have discovered that approximately 45 percent of the storage on the 16GB model is occupied by Samsung's Android implementation, and unusable by the owner. Upon inspection of the device, the base Galaxy S4 model has only 8.82GB available to the user -- with the rest filled by Samsung with new features like the TouchWiz UI, Samsung Hub, and ChatON.
Instagram has launched a new service feature, "Photos of You," through updates to its iOS and Android apps. The option lets people tag others in their photos in a manner similar to Facebook; the collected photos will eventually appear in a Photos of You profile section. The tagging also works for corporate brands.
Research firm IDC has posted the results of a questionable study on tablet "market share" that makes the claim -- not supported by sales evidence -- that Android has outgunned Apple in the tablet market, with 56.5 percent share in the first calendar quarter of the year, leaving Apple with barely 40 percent. The study also claims that Asus, not Amazon, is the third-largest tablet vendor with 5.5 percent of the market, having seen 350 percent growth year-over-year. The numbers seem unbelievable -- until one notices that IDC is estimating shipments, not sales.
Google's latest Android adoption numbers, fueled by a recently-changed methodology, are showing improvements in adoption of Android "Jelly Bean" variants. The 14-day snapshot shows a 3.4 percentage point increase in Android 4.1 and 4.2 "Jelly Bean" to 28.4 percent with a contraction of Android 4.0.3 and 4.0.4 "Ice Cream Sandwich" devices to 27.5 percent, a decrease of 1.8 percentage points.
Nest Labs is pushing out a v3.5 update to owners of the Nest Learning Thermostat at 9PM Eastern today. The firmware upgrade includes two new modes, beginning with Cool to Dry, which turns on air conditioning to reduce humidity. A Sunblock setting should meanwhile prevent the thermostat from turning on unnecessarily when direct sunlight is hitting the Nest's sensor.
HP has finally launched its latest foray into the tablet segment, making the HP Slate 7 available for purchase on its website. The 7-inch Android tablet is a mid-level offering that HP is touting largely on its price. It also features integrated Beats Audio processing, a feature that — along with a $170 starting price — HP hopes will attract buyers.
Google appears to be hard at work on the next update for its Android operating system, and that version would appear to be Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Devices apparently running Android 4.3 have shown up in the server logs of tech blog Android Police recently, indicating that Google may be on the verge of releasing an update. The retention of the Jelly Bean moniker may indicate that the next update of Android will not mark a significant departure from the current versions.
An iPad edition of Mailbox is in development, as are Android and desktop versions, tweets by the app's development team indicate. The iPad app is said to be "coming soon," while the Android and desktop apps are on a longer-term roadmap. Support for other platforms may also be possible.
Popular video app Vine will be headed to Android in the future. Co-founder of the Twitter-owned app Dom Hofmann confirmed to The Verge it will be ported, following its successful launch on iOS devices. The app, which allows users to create six-second video clips for sharing on social networks, is also reportedly going to include the ability to tag friends to a clip, in order to foster more sharing between users.
Google has updated its Play store with a small change to its developer program policies, to prevent malicious code appearing on devices. The small change now forbids applications supplied through the Google Play store from receiving updates using another process, in an effort to improve the overall security of apps provided to Android users.
The Motorola X phone may have appeared in smartphone benchmarks, if a screenshot is confirmed as true. The image, showing the phone as running Android 5.0.1 comes at the same time as other rumors suggesting that the Key Lime Pie version of the mobile operating system may not make it in time for a reveal at Google I/O.
Samsung's first batch of Galaxy S 4 smartphones is set to arrive at US carriers this week. Electronista checked out the flagship Android phone at the company's New York launch event, when the software bugs were still being worked out, but now we've taken a closer look at the production model that will be headed to Sprint on April 27.
Twitter, which has made something of a hobby of restricting, hobbling and subsequently killing off mobile Twitter clients, will be putting the well-received mobile version of Tweetdeck out to pasture on May 7, the same day that Facebook integration will also end. All iPhone, Android, and AIR versions of the app will cease to function on that day.
A pair of new studies have found that, even years after they were first introduced and months since the latest models debuted, Apple's iOS platform and its iPad tablet are actually growing their share in two key metrics: the iPad and iPhone are actually taking usage share away from Android in the US, and the iOS platform has increased its dominance in mobile ad spending, a key metric for developers. Recent stats from March show the iPad gaining 1.4 percent in usage share, and iOS taking now 75 percent of mobile ad spending.
An analysis by London-based tech and telco analyst Benedict Evans has compiled statistics for US smartphone sales from the two largest carriers -- AT&T and Verizon -- and concluded that all new growth in the past two years from both carriers has come as a result of the iPhone. By comparison, Android sales have remained basically flat since at least 2011, with an actual drop in the most recent quarter. The analysis reinforces the notion that Android and iOS customers are entirely different groups, and should be marketed to differently.
