Ron Amadeo

Ron loves everything related to technology, design, and Google. He always wants to talk about "the big picture" and what's next for Android, and he's not afraid to get knee-deep in an APK for some details. Expect a good eye for detail, lots of research, and some lamenting about how something isn't designed well enough.

May

Full Hands-On With Samsung's S Voice From The Galaxy S III

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Galaxy S III, Leaks, News, Samsung

S Voice is Samsung's entry into the fledgling "virtual assistant" market currently occupied by Siri, Evi, Speaktoit Assistant, Vlingo, and a handful of others. The Galaxy S III rom leaked earlier today, and while most of the stuff in it is broken and completely useless without the version of Touchwiz it's meant to run on, S Voice is a perfect combination of being interesting AND working. So we're going to take a look at it on my Galaxy Nexus, which is currently running vanilla (well, AOKP) 4.0.4.

S Voice is only meant to run on the GSIII's Touchwiz build, so I expect lots of force closes.

May

Full Galaxy S III Android 4.0.4 ROM Leaked, S-Voice And All The Other Goodies Up For Grabs

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Galaxy S III, Leaks, News, Samsung

Hey kids! Looking for an early taste of the new Touchwiz? Well you're in luck! A leaked Galaxy S III ROM is out in all it's bandwidth crushing glory! A whopping 800MB download awaits those eager to get their hands on Samsung's latest.

The Galaxy S III and its new version of Touchwiz will make about a million additions to Android. Somewhere in this download are things like S-Voice (a Siri-style virtual assistant), Pop-up Play (a floating video window), and Smart Stay (which uses the front facing camera to refresh the screen timeout), just to name a few. Developers (and eager bloggers) should start ripping into it immediately.

May

HTC Evo 4G LTE Review: Sometimes The Ugly Ones Try The Hardest

Posted by Ron Amadeo in EVO 4G LTE, HTC, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Phone Reviews, Reviews, Sprint

Hello and welcome! Allow me to introduce you to Sprint's next big boy phone: (deep breath) the HTC Evo 4G LTE.

This is Sprint's version of the HTC One X. HTC's much publicized "One" branding strategy survived a grand total of two carriers in the US - Sprint kicked it to the curb in favor of the aforementioned alphabet-soup-style naming convention. Keep in mind the original Evo was actually called the "HTC Evo 4G," so you're going to need to be detail oriented when talking about the Evo line. But hey, considering this is the same marketing department that birthed the novella known as the "Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch," we actually got off pretty light.

May

The Samsung Galaxy S III: The First Smartphone Designed Entirely By Lawyers

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Editorials, Galaxy S III, Legal, News, Samsung

The Galaxy S III is... well... it's ugly. There's really no other way to put it. But why? Why is it ugly? I don't mean aesthetically, why is it ugly, I mean, "How did something like this ever make it out of Samsung's design studio?" I'll tell you how, it was never in the design studio. This phone design was born down the hall, in a room where the door sign reads "Samsung Legal."

It was designed by lawyers.

I can tell just from the press shots, this thing is a Samsung lawyer's dream. I'm sure you must be thinking,"Hmm, that's a weird assumption to make." but don't worry, an explanation is forthcoming.

Apr

Verizon Xperia Play Updated To Version 4.0.2.E.0.57; It's Not Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Gingerbread 2.3, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Play (Zeus, PlayStation Phone)

I know, I know. 4.0.2 sounds a lot like Android 4.0, but it isn't. It's actually Gingerbread 2.3.4, and Verizon Xperia Play owners who wish to rock out like it's May 2011 need only mash the update button.

The good news (in addition to the version bump) is that this update will let you take pictures with the right trigger (how did they not think of that earlier?), enable 720p video with continuous autofocus, and fix those crazy bugs like charging forcing landscape mode. You also get to take screenshots with the power button. The bad news is that it will install Verizon Video on Demand and Verizon Navigator.

Apr

Samsung Canada Announces ICS Upgrades For Various Galaxy S II, Tab, and Note Models; The Only Thing Standing In The Way Now Is Your Carrier

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Galaxy Note, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II LTE HD, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Tab Seven, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Samsung

Samsung Canada has finished porting Ice Cream Sandwich to a whole bunch of devices, which in Samsung press release parlance means they are "eligible" for an upgrade. Does that mean you can hit that "update" button today and start downloading ICS? Well, that's complicated.

First though, the list of devices:

GALAXY S II
GALAXY S II LTE
GALAXY S II LTE HD
GALAXY S II X
GALAXY Note
GALAXY Tab 7.0
GALAXY Tab 7.0 Plus
GALAXY Tab 8.9
GALAXY Tab 10.1

Now, for the caveats: Sammy says "The upgrade will be available today on select devices in Canada and will continue rolling out to devices and carriers throughout the quarter." and "The availability of the software upgrade and specific models upgradable to Android 4.0 will vary by market and wireless carriers' requirements.

Apr

The Big Android Chart™: A Definitive History of Android Version Adoption

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Android OS, Cupcake 1.5, Donut 1.6, Eclair 2.1, Froyo 2.2, Gingerbread 2.3, Honeycomb 3.0/3.1/3.2, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Last Updated: April 30th, 2012

Pop quiz: How long does it take for a new version of Android to be widely adopted? A new version of Android comes out, AOSP updates, OEMs adapt it to a myriad of devices, and carriers test the updates. That process. How long does it take?

It's a tough question to answer, mostly because Google doesn't provide data like that. The official site shows a 6 month version history, and that's it. Anyone looking for a decent amount of data is out of luck. There’s no way to view the long journey older Android versions have taken, and no way to see the bigger picture of how the update process eventually works out.

Apr

Google Drive "Support" Is Coming To Linux, Pray That It Doesn't Involve WINE

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Applications, News

Good news, Penguins! Google is working on a Drive client for your favorite OS!

Google Drive, if you haven't heard, is Google's Dropbox/Google Docs hybrid. It launched yesterday with 5GB of cloud storage and desktop apps for Windows and Mac, but our tuxedoed counterparts were left out in the cold.

The lack of Linux love caused a bit of an uproar on Google+, where #driveforlinux was a trending topic for a good part of the day. Teresa Wu, the Community Manager for Google Docs, took to a G+ thread and gave the happy news:

We're working on Linux support - hang tight!

Apr

Extensive Hands-On With Google Drive: They Forgot The Beta Tag

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Applications, News

Google Drive is real, and it's out, and I've been playing with it. If you haven't heard, Drive is Google's cloud storage offering. You get 5 GB free with an option to buy more.

You're going to hear two phrases over and over again in this hands on, so you'd better get used to them now: get ready to see "like Dropbox" and "like Google Docs" a lot.

Google Docs, by the way? Gone. It's dead. Totally replaced by Google Drive. The Android Docs app updates to Google Drive, the website has changed over too, and "Docs" is now replaced by "Drive" in the black navigation bar.

Jan

[Update: It's The Largest!] CES 2012 Is Officially The Largest CES Ever - Here Are Some Interesting Stats

Posted by Ron Amadeo in News

Update: Previously the CEA sent out a press release saying CES 2012 was the 2nd largest ever, now they've sent a new one, with new numbers, making CES 2012 was the largest ever. The new stats put it at 1.861 million net square feet, 3,100 exhibitors, and 153,000 attendees. Did we mention CES was big? It's big.

CES 2012 is big. Like, really big. In fact, it's the second largest ever. The CEA is very proud of their gigantic trade show, and they've sent us some statistics to celebrate.

CES exhibitors sucked up 1.851 million net square feet this year, 2nd only to 2008's CES, which clocked in at 1.857 million net square feet.