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This new app brings classic lockscreen widgets to modern Android devices
Update your lockscreen to Android 4.2
Ever wanted to make your 2020 lockscreen look like it stepped out of 2012? The good ol' days when you could view your upcoming calendar appointments, stock prices, and the weather without unlocking your phone? You're in luck, because a new app from developer Zachary Wander promises to put all the widgets you want on your lock screen where they belong.
While Apple regularly clears its store of apps not supporting the latest iPhone models or hardware architectures, Google has only recently started to lay out similar requirements for Android apps. In December, the company announced that Play Store apps would have to target an API level no more than 1 year older than the current codename release. In other words, after Android P comes out, all apps submitted to the Play Store would have to target for Android 8.0 Oreo or above.
Most applications have long since dropped support for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, since the version is now only used on 0.4% of all Android devices (as of February 2018). Skype dropped support for Android 4.0.3-5.1 in June 2017, with the app now requiring 6.0 Marshmallow or higher. Microsoft is now reversing that switch, by re-adding support for those versions.
Despite all of the product's problems, I still wish Google had decided to release Google Glass to the general public (the $1,500 Explorer edition doesn't count). The company decided that medical institutions and industry were the markets for Glass, and now Olympus is following suit with its 'EyeTrek INSIGHT EI-10 Smart Glasses.'
Sony Introduces The Brand New Walkman NW-ZX2 128GB Music Player For $1200, Powered By Android... 4.2
Look, we're not in the audiophile business. We don't cover music products that don't feature Android in some way, shape, or form. And running bleeding-edge software is not a prerequisite for quality sound. But seriously, Sony, if you're going to charge twelve hundred dollars for a device that runs Android, could you not load it with an OS build that's over two years old? Alas, such is the case with the Walkman NW-ZX2 announced at CES.
$19,000 Can Buy You An Android-Powered 84-Inch Touchscreen 4K Television From Viewsonic, But It Can't Buy KitKat
$19,000 Can Buy You An Android-Powered 84-Inch Touchscreen 4K Television From Viewsonic, But It Can't Buy KitKat
Hey, you! Insanely rich person with poor impulse control! Don't you wish the irresponsibly gigantic television in your palatial living room had a touchscreen, so you could walk half an acre across your designer carpet to play 2048? Well now you can, as long as you're willing to throw a few monetary scraps to Viewsonic. The CDE8451-TL is an 84" 4K TV with a touchscreen and Android. For $18,999. For some reason.
If you're using the T-Mobile variant of the slick Sony Xperia Z, check your notification tray - you might have a very welcome waiting for you. According to this T-Mobile support page, the Xperia Z is finally getting an over-the-air update. It's probably not what you were hoping for: the update brings the phone up to Android 4.2. You know, the version that's now over a year old.
Owners of the budget-oriented Sony Xperia L are getting a nice surprise today as the company announced an update to Android 4.2 (build 15.3.A.0.26). The device launched with Android 4.1, and this update not only bumps it up to 4.2, it includes some improvements to Sony's apps and features.
Firmware Update Rolling Out To Sony Xperia Z1 and Z Ultra With Display Tweaks, Longer Battery Life, And More
New Sony Xperia Z1 and Z Ultra Firmware With Display Tweaks
Sony has announced a maintenance update for the Xperia Z1 and the Z Ultra, which are just hitting American shores today. The devices are staying on Android 4.2 for the time being, but there are a number of important improvements on the way.
Amazon's new Kindle Fire HDX tablets certainly have some top-of-the-line hardware, but what good is the hardware without software to make use of it? Amazon is again forking Android to create Fire OS 3.0, codenamed Mojito. This software will be recognizable to users of previous Fire tablets, but it's been cleaned up a bit and looks more modern. There are also a few interesting new features exclusive to Amazon's tablets.
Verizon hasn't explicitly announced an Android 4.2 update for the DROID DNA, but in a way, they have. The company has updated the support page for the nearly one-year-old handset with an in-depth look at what new goodies to expect. It's quite the ugly page, so we'll save you the effort of perusing it for yourself by providing the gist right here. After this update, DROID DNA owners will have an HTC Sense 5 experience that approaches that of the HTC One. The handset will get updated calendar, dialer, gallery, and contacts apps, along with the love-it-or-hate-it addition of BlinkFeed.
So you're a fan of custom ROMs, but you're not quite ready to live on the bleeding edge (or alternately, your device doesn't have a reliable Android 4.3 build yet). Fear not, cautious Android power user: the CyanogenMod team has a build for you! CyanogenMod 10.1.3 will be the last version of CM based on Android 4.2, and release candidates are now being posted for supported phones and tablets.
It's been nine months to the day since Android 4.2 was announced, and just under four months since Samsung's first non-Nexus 4.2 devices started hitting the shelves. But apparently it takes at least that long to make sure that every non-touch gesture and gyroscopic scrolling function works with a new version of Android. Case in point: both the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 WiFi (GT-P3110) in the UK and the Galaxy Note 8.0 3G (GT-N5100) in Germany are just now getting updated, according to SamMobile.
It's been quite some time since we heard major release information from the ROM developers at the Android Open Kang Project, or as the cool kids call them, AOKP. After three months of relative quiet (though plenty of development and testing has been going on behind the scenes) The team just announced AOKP Jelly Bean Milestone 2, a complete and hopefully bug-free build that brings a ton of new features.
I love freebies. Picking one up is liking buying something nice, only without the cost. For a limited time, you can download a free copy of Android Photography by Colby Brown. It's a simple primer for learning how to take photos using a, preferably stock, Android phone or tablet.
The day is here, AOSP fans: you can go pick up a gloriously stock Samsung Galaxy S4 or HTC One in the Google Play Store now. The "Google Play Edition" phones went live this morning, right on time, and are now for sale next to the Nexus phones and tablets. The GS4 Google Edition can be had for $649, while the HTC One goes for slightly less at $599. Both are running the latest version of Android 4.2 shod of all skins and add-ons, with promised updates via Google itself. At the moment, the phones are only available to United States residents.
When the flagship Xperia Z launched with Android 4.1, Sony promised that an update to the latest version was coming. Now they're making good: XperiaGuide reports that the Jelly Bean 4.2.2 rollout started yesterday, for at least some users of generic phones (C6603) in Spain and Hong Kong. The updated software needs to be flashed via Sony's PC Companion software. The new build is labeled 10.3.A.0.423, exactly the same as the update that started for the Xperia ZL four days earlier. XperiaBlog says that carrier-customized versions have also landed in Austria, the Czech Republic, and the Netherlands,along with an update for the generic Taiwanese model (C6603).
Samsung Announces The Galaxy Ace 3 In 3G And LTE Versions, Coming Soon To A Budget Carrier Near You
It's been said that a rising tide lifts all boats. So it is with the smartphone market: today Samsung announced the latest addition to its budget line,
It's been said that a rising tide lifts all boats. So it is with the smartphone market: today Samsung announced the latest addition to its budget line, with hardware and software slowly rising as flagships push for newer horizons. The Galaxy Ace 3 is the latest of Samsung's innumerable additions to an already huge smartphone lineup, packing a 4" WVGA LCD screen, a 1Ghz dual-core processor (1.2Ghz for the LTE model), and Sammy's highly-skinned version of Android 4.2. Availability and pricing haven't been announced, but "soon" and "not very much" are safe assumptions.
CyanogenMod 10.1 Release Candidate 5 Builds Rolling Out, For The Galaxy S III, Nexus S, And More [Update]
The gold release for CyanogenMod 10.1 (Android 4.2) is very, very close, folks. The CyanogenMod team has already gone through four (count 'em, four) release
The gold release for CyanogenMod 10.1 (Android 4.2) is very, very close, folks. The CyanogenMod team has already gone through four (count 'em, four) release candidates to date, and the fifth has just started popping up on the CyanogenMod download page. RC5 for the Sprint, MetroPCS, Cricket, and AT&T versions of the Galaxy S III are available at the time of writing, as well as the Nexus S, Nexus S 4G, Samsung Captivate, Acer Iconia Tab A700, and the Nook Tablet.