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.

Jul

Jelly Bean Protip: Long Press Any App Picker Icon To Jump To 'App Info'

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Tips & Tutorials

An awesome little Jelly Bean tip came across my desk today. Direct from a Googler, no less!

In the middle of a rousing discussion on G+ about the uniformity of Jelly Bean's new default app dialog (GTKA article forthcoming), Adam Powell, an Android framework engineer, clued us in to the following Jelly Bean protip:

You know the app pickers in Jelly Bean? These things:

They've been given a makeover in JB. They switched from a black list to a white grid with giant icons, and that's great and all, but there's a new, less obvious addition to these little menus.

Jul

Getting To Know Android 4.1, Part 3: Project Butter - How It Works And What It Added

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Features, Getting To Know Android, Jelly Bean 4.1, News

Last Updated: August 10th, 2012

Welcome back to GTKA, everyone's favorite investigative series where we learn all about the newest version of Android (with a heavy emphasis on "all"). The previous two episodes, if you didn't catch them, are here and here.

Today we'll be doing something a little different and looking at something near and dear to everyone's hearts: performance. Jelly Bean is crazy fast. Slap it on a Galaxy Nexus and it'll feel like a brand new phone. Scrolling is faster and smoother, and the touch response is hyper-sensitive. In addition to all the smoothness work, there are new transitions all over the place.

Jul

Getting To Know Android 4.1, Part 2: The Glorious New Notifications

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Features, Getting To Know Android, Jelly Bean 4.1, News

Last Updated: August 10th, 2012

Hello and welcome to round 2 of Getting To Know Android 4.1. If you missed the inaugural episode (about the lock screen, software buttons, and icons) you can catch a rerun right here. And if you did see it, I suggest you go look at it again, because I updated it with a crazy menu button bug. Seriously, go look. I'll wait.

Today we're getting into something a little more meaty: The revamped notifications system! And we aren't doing some wimpy overview, we're sticking everything I can find under the GTKA microscope. First up, the fresh, new design:

Design

Just look at that, everything is different.

Jun

Getting To Know Android 4.1, Part 1 - The Basics: Slide Unlock, Software Buttons, And New Icons

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Features, Getting To Know Android, Jelly Bean 4.1, News

Last Updated: August 10th, 2012

The new version of Android is out, it's real, and yours truly has a (mostly) working copy. That can only mean one thing: Getting To Know Android is back!

The title may not rhyme anymore, but it's still home to the most in-depth look at the next version of Android on the internet. That's right, the world's most OCD changelog is here to point out every polished pixel of Android 4.1: Jelly Bean.

The usual GTKA caveats apply: This is beta code (the Jelly Bean preview from I/O, in fact) and subject to change. Plus I've got it running on a phone it isn't even meant to run on, so we won't be too hard on it.

Jun

GSM Galaxy Nexus 4.1 System Dump Is Out! Modders: Start Your Engines.

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Jelly Bean 4.1, News

This just in from Google I/O: A system dump of Jelly Bean from a GSM Galaxy Nexus. You can run over to RootzWiki right now and grab yourself a copy.

Somewhere, deep in this zip file, are all the goodies we saw today at I/O. Expect bits from this to be chopped, ported, and crammed into existing devices shortly.

I'm going to get cracking on an emulator setup for a Jelly Bean edition of Getting To Know Android. Expect lots of pictures.

Who's excited?

Source: Rootzwiki

Jun

YouTube Updates To 4.0.8E, Adds UI Changes, Remote Screen Control, And Video Preloads

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Apps/Games, News

Man, news is coming fast and furious, isn't it? Here's another one to add to the pile: a big YouTube update. The "What's New" section on the Play Store reads:

What's in this version:

Android 3.2+ devices: v.4.0
* New UI: Guide on the left side of the screen with instant access to channels
* Preload videos while on WiFi and charging for smooth playback on the go
* Turn your phone into a remote, to play YouTube videos on other devices
* Access your watch History across devices

Earlier Android devices: v.2.4
* Sign-in with Google account
* HD playback (on capable phones)
* Multiple bug fixes

First up, let's check out the new look:

YouTube has switched to the same left-side menu style as Google+.

Jun

Chrome For Android Is Out Of Beta, Brings The Usual Performance And Stability Fixes

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Apps/Games, News

As if the endless torrent of news out of I/O wasn't enough, Google has decided to push out updates for just about every Android app today, too.

Chrome For Android got a bump to 18.0.1025123. The biggest change of which is the dropping of the "Beta" tag. Here's the full "What's New" from their blog post:

This update picks up important stability and performance fixes since the last Beta, along with some minor UI adjustments, especially for tablets.

If for some reason you don't have Chrome already, you can grab yourself a copy from the Play Store, right here.

Source: Google Chrome Releases

Jun

Samsung Galaxy S III Review: Not Revolutionary, But Another Solid Step Forward For Android

Posted by Ron Amadeo in AT&T, Galaxy S III, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Reviews, Samsung, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

Last Updated: June 24th, 2012

The Galaxy S III is a big deal. It's kind of hard to overstate it. Samsung is the biggest, baddest Android manufacturer out there, and this is their new flagship device for the next year.

Samsung is taking advantage of their newfound clout in the Android ecosystem: it's the first Android phone to escape the cellular carriers' meddling changes. Sammy managed to pulled off a unified launch across all the major US carriers - there will be no weird variants, and no names that sound like Street Fighter II sequels. It's just the "Galaxy S III." They are all the same, and you can get one on whatever carrier you want.

Jun

Google+ Events' Secrets Revealed, There Is Some Kind Of (Downloadable?) Themes Feature

Posted by Ron Amadeo in APK Teardown, Applications, News

Last Updated: October 8th, 2012

If you haven't heard, Google+ is getting an events feature. "Party at Ron's house, 9pm on Friday, who's coming?" - that sort of thing. News of G+ Events leaked, surprisingly, through Google Calendar. Someone discovered G+ Events code in GCal - Apparently there will be some integration. Sounds plausible.

The Android app, of course, is going to need to support the fancy new events feature too. The other day in our AP chat, Eric pointed out a hidden section in the G+ App's navigation list. The list appears to end after "Local" but there's actually a blank button underneath Local, and tapping on the blank spot it will trigger a button highlight.

Jun

[Update: Coin Use Discovered!] Mysterious New Files In The Google Maps 6.8 APK: History Timeline, Latitude G+ Integration, And More

Posted by Ron Amadeo in APK Teardown, News

Last Updated: October 8th, 2012

So Google Maps hit version 6.8 yesterday, bringing with it the crazy Zagat/Google+ mashup that was detailed earlier. The "What's New" section in the Play Store lists "See reviews from experts and people you know," "Find just the right places with Zagat scores and summaries," "Get directions directly from map bubbles," but they left out the most interesting new change: "Unreleased feature assets buried in the APK."