Liam Spradlin - 86/100 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Besides being an avid Android fan and blogger, Liam is a photographer with a degree in both Anthropology and Sociology. He can usually be found reading through blogs, taking photos, or studying ancient pottery. Liam has been known to leave on international trips at a moment's notice, and can't resist a new challenge.

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Oct

Samsung's Mobile President: The Galaxy Nexus Was Designed With Patents In Mind

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News, Samsung

It seems that these days, Samsung must constantly be on alert for new entries in the ever-growing list of patent disputes with Apple. Sensing this, Samsung's Mobile President, Shin Jong-kyun (who we heard from at last night's presentation) took a moment to stress the fact that the Galaxy Nexus was designed with patents in mind - specifically, it was designed to avoid trouble with Apple. While it is a rectangular device with a touch screen, not much else seems to put it in danger.

What's interesting is that Shin decided to speak to the subject at all. Gizmodo reports that Samsung's Mobile President "claims that no 'known' Apple patent was used in the Galaxy Nexus."

I find it somewhat curious that Shin would specify this regarding the Galaxy Nexus - does this suggest that patents were knowingly violated in the past?

Oct

Ice Cream Sandwich Feature Closer Look - Android Beam Proves That NFC Isn't Just For Credit Card Payments

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Everyone has been making a big deal about NFC lately - which phones have it, where it can be used, etc. Until last night's announcement, many (including myself) didn't see much on the horizon except a fun way to pay for things using your phone. That perception has changed, however, thanks to Android Beam.

Beam utilizes NFC technology to quickly, seamlessly transfer data from one device to another. As demonstrated last night, one has only to touch the two devices together to send just about anything from web pages, to photos, to apps.

Just touch the devices back-to-back, tap the confirmation, and that's it.

Oct

Ice Cream Sandwich Feature Closer Look - Android's New Camera Packs A Serious Punch, Offering Sophisticated Still And Video Options

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

One of the features I'm most excited about in Ice Cream Sandwich is the camera. The new camera app really raises the bar, bringing a heap of improvements, as well as plenty of features we haven't seen before.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of ICS' camera is that it has zero shutter lag. That's right - zero. Photos are taken as soon as you hit the shutter button. In last night's demo we got a glimpse of how powerful this is, as the presenter snapped off several images back to back with no wait time in between.

Before you hit the shutter, though, the new camera app is already helping you compose a better shot.

Oct

Ice Cream Sandwich Feature Closer Look - Gmail Gets A Facelift

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Gmail, probably the most used app on my Evo 4G, will be getting a major facelift with the introduction of Ice Cream Sandwich, bringing it into line with - and, in some ways, surpassing - its Honeycomb counterpart.

First of all, Gmail for Ice Cream Sandwich features an "action bar" at the bottom of the screen, much like Honeycomb's action bar, which allows users to create messages, search, sync, and more with just one touch. When messages are selected, the action bar changes to reflect your most commonly used actions, allowing for breezy batch operations.

Adding even more shine to the new UI, the message view has been majorly streamlined, eliminating all the distracting drop shadows and rounded edges we saw in Gingerbread, in favor of simple headers (with lovely contact photos), and even 2-line previews in the inbox, to give you a peek at what's inside each email before you open it.

Oct

Ice Cream Sandwich Feature Closer Look - New Browser (No, It Isn't Chrome) Includes Tabs, Desktop Mode, And More

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Leading up to last night's Ice Cream Sandwich announcement, there were rumblings that perhaps Chrome would make its Android debut with the latest iteration of Google's mobile OS. Unfortunately, those rumors turned out to be false, but the new browser that Google has cooked up looks pretty awesome, and packs in a lot of notable features.

First off, the browser has been redesigned. Personally, I think it looks (and functions) much better than its Gingerbread counterpart. Instead of simply having a bookmark button and address bar up top, the new browser has the address bar, a tabs button, and a menu button.

Oct

Ice Cream Sandwich Feature Closer Look - Live Speech-To-Text Allows Users To Dictate Messages With Even Greater Ease

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Android's voice capabilities have always impressed me, giving me the ability to speak to my phone instead of spending time typing. Raising the bar a bit, Google introduced us tonight to live speech-to-text, making message dictation faster and more streamlined than ever.

Android's new speech-to-text functionality happens completely live, as we saw in tonight's demo. As soon as you start talking, your phone begins typing. It will even wait for you if you take a pause, and add emoticons and punctuation per your request.

What's more, this feature can be used in just about any app, using the microphone key on Ice Cream Sandwich's new keyboard.

Oct

Ice Cream Sandwich Feature Closer Look - New Keyboard, Inline Spell Check, And More Consistent Copy/Paste

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

One of the most useful features of Android, in my opinion, is spell check. When attempting to convey information quickly, it's easy to make mistakes, and it's nice to have a device that catches them for you.

With Ice Cream Sandwich, users can expect a revamped keyboard, inline spell check capabilities, and improved copy/paste functionality.

The new keyboard doesn't look too different from the Gingerbread keyboard, save for its new color scheme and speech-to-text button. The way it performs, however, has seen significant improvement in terms of spell check, and copy/paste functionality.

Spell check now allows users to click on a questionable word, displaying a list of suggestions, or the option to add the word to the device's dictionary.

Oct

Ice Cream Sandwich Feature Closer Look - Face Unlock Keeps Prying Eyes From Your Phone Like Never Before

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

If you find PIN codes or gesture patterns too predictable to keep your phone secure, Ice Cream Sandwich has the ultimate solution: face unlock.

Face unlock utilizes your phone's front-facing camera to "recognize" your face. If anyone else looks into the camera, they will be denied access. Simple as that. Not only is this a nice option to have for everyday use, but I could imagine it being integrated into mobile security apps as well, ensuring that no one but you could get into your phone and see potentially sensitive data.

In tonight's demo, face unlock experienced quite a hiccup - it didn't recognize the face of the presenter, who was also the phone's owner.

Oct

Here's What Didn't Make It Into Tonight's ICS Demo - Encryption, Disabling Apps, And More

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

While tonight's event positively overloaded us with details about Ice Cream Sandwich, there were some features that didn't make the cut - Android engineer Dan Morrill has spilled the details on even more awesome features we can expect from the latest version of Android, posting a brief message about them on Google+. Unfortunately we don't have screen shots of these features, but we can discuss what information we do have, feature-by-feature.

Disabling Apps

One of the most impressive features that we didn't get to see tonight is the ability to completely disable apps. Essentially this spells an end to resource-hogging bloatware, since users can keep individual apps from ever running, opening tasks, or using resources.

Oct

[Confirmed] Ice Cream Sandwich To Feature Hardware Acceleration

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

A concern that's been on the tip of the Android community's tongue lately is hardware acceleration. It's something we've been waiting for for a while now, and it looks like Ice Cream Sandwich will finally deliver.

Hardware acceleration allows for a buttery smooth user experience, better graphic performance, and better responsiveness within apps. The sheer volume of improvements coming in Ice Cream Sandwich is astonishing, and I have a feeling we haven't heard about all that ICS has to offer yet. For more info, check out Google's Android Developer page for Ice Cream Sandwich.