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May

Google Updates Platform Distribution Numbers – Gingerbread Down To 38.5%, Jelly Bean Up To 28.4%

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Development, Google, News

As usual Google has updated monthly platform distribution numbers for Android in its developer dashboard. The numbers, based on devices accessing the Play Store over the last 14 days (ending May 1st), tell developers which versions of Android are most prevalent, and which are on the decline.

This month, as last month, we're seeing a decline in Gingerbread and a rise in Jelly Bean. Gingerbread has dropped from 39.8% to 38.5%, a 1.3% drop for those keeping tally at home. Jelly Bean, meanwhile, has seen a slightly more substantial shift, rising 3.4% from 25% to 28.4%.

Elsewhere, the ebb and flow of version numbers is more or less expected.

Mar

Verizon Approves An Update To... The Droid Charge? Face Unlock And A Photo Editor Come To Gingerbread

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Charge (i510), News, Verizon Wireless

Verizon is just not letting up on the updates. Which is kind of a crazy thing to say about the carrier. Today's is an oddity, though, as the Droid Charge will be getting a mild upgrade. Yes, really. It's not a huge change, though. Unfortunately, it's not Jelly Bean (or even Ice Cream Sandwich), but it does bring a couple of the features from those platforms, including face unlock and a photo editor.

Since it's not coming with Ice Cream Sandwich, we have to assume that either Verizon or Samsung (more likely the latter) added the features in themselves.

Feb

Motorola Atrix 4G Updated To Build 4.5.145–No, It's Not Ice Cream Sandwich

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Atrix 4G (Olympus), News

A few weeks ago, Motorola started pushing a soak test update for the Atrix 4G to members of its "feedback network." Naturally, everyone ran wild with speculation – could this be Ice Cream Sandwich? Never mind that Motorola had already made it pretty clear that the first dual-core handset would be officially be stuck on Gingerbread until its dying day. We were all hoping that the company had a change of heart. And it made sense – after all, why would they send out a soak test for an incremental update?

I guess it's just in our nature to root for the underdog.

Dec

Tasker's Developer Is Working On A UI Overhaul Too, Plus A Bunch Of Other Updates

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Applications, News

Last Updated: December 9th, 2012

A few days ago, we were treated to a lovely look at what Tasker, the highly-customizable Android automation app, could look like if it got a nice facelift. Unfortunately, this was done by the Android team and was not representative of any real work being done by the developer. As it turns out, though, the developer behind said application is working on a holo conversion. There are quite a few obstacles to deal with in the meantime:

I started working on a holo conversion about a week ago coincidentally, with half the goal being use of the holo conventions and half replacing under-the-hood deprecated APIs for dialogs etc.

Dec

Google Releases November's Platform Distribution Numbers – Gingerbread At 50.8%, Jelly Bean Up To 6.7%

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Gingerbread 2.3, Google, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Jelly Bean 4.2, News

With the end of another month comes a fresh batch of Android platform distribution numbers. Like clockwork, Google has once again updated their numbers, showing Gingerbread's cold, withered hand still holding almost 51% of the pie (though it's down from 54.2% in October), with Jelly Bean making gains to 6.7%, up 4% from last month.

Predictably, Ice Cream Sandwich is still making some gains, rising about 2% to 27.5% from October, Honeycomb is holding tight at 1.6% with a mere 0.2% change for API level 13, and pre-2.3 releases are still dropping off (though Cupcake and Donut are still holding on for dear life).

Nov

Google Releases October's Android Platform Distribution Numbers – Jelly Bean At 2.7%, Gingerbread Still Hanging On At 54%

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Gingerbread 2.3, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, Jelly Bean 4.1, News

Once again and right on time, Google has released Platform Distribution numbers for Android, this time for the month of October. The numbers still show Gingerbread holding on at just over 54%, but Jelly Bean is gaining a little more ground at 2.7%, up 0.9% over the previous month.

Again, the Gingerbread/Jelly Bean numbers are a bit disappointing considering the extremely small change from the previous cycle (a change of less than 1% for each), but it's worth noting that these numbers will (hopefully) be helped along by updates rumored to be coming soon (or those that just arrived).

Oct

Onyx International Working On Android-Powered E Ink Smartphone [Video]

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, News

E Ink has long been lauded as a versatile, universally legible display technology, making appearances in NOOK tablets, Amazon Kindle devices, and a couple of weird prototypes over the years.

Onyx International, a manufacturer of ebook readers, has evidently created a prototype smartphone – powered by Android – that uses a full E Ink display.

The phone you see above is apparently the only prototype of this device in existence (so far). While the specs aren't named, we can see that the device is running Android Gingerbread, and not without its issues. Of course, as a – presumably – unfinished device, bugs are to be expected.

Oct

Lightplay Is An Android-Powered Pico Projector That Comes With Motion Controller, Keyboard, And Play Store For $500

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in News

What if I told you that you could carry an 80" Android device around in your pocket? What do you think you would say to me? Perhaps you'd say, "Clearly you are talking about a pico projector device and I'm not falling for your shenanigans." Dang, you're really good at this game. What you probably didn't expect, though, is that the Lightplay by PhoneSuit, as it is called, also features a motion controller with a built-in keyboard, a tripod and access to the entire Google Play Store. Not too bad for $500.

The specs on this device are middling, to say the least.

Sep

Motorola Updates ICS Timeline Once Again - Atrix, Electrify, And Photon Will All Remain On Gingerbread

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Atrix 4G (Olympus), Motorola, News, Photon 4G

Last week, Motorola made some changes to its ICS timeline. Most of the changes didn't sound so good - several devices that were originally on the roster to get ICS were changed to "further plans coming soon." Among those devices was the ATRIX, Photon, and Electrify, which are all basically the same phone. Now, Motorola has made yet another change to the timeline, and it's not good news for owners of the aforementioned devices.

Sep

AMD Re-Launches BlueStacks As The AMD AppZone, Complete With Google Play And Amazon Appstore Compatibility

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in News

BlueStacks made quite a splash when they released their alpha x86 Android app player for Windows late last year. When AMD invested millions of dollars into the company, it was clear that they were planning on leveraging the ever-expanding Android platform to put a shot into the arm of their PC chip business. Nearly a year after the initial investment, they're ready to make good: head on over to www.amd.com/appzone to check out the shiny new AMD App Zone. Download your first app from a Windows-based PC to install the new version of the BlueStacks player (along with the app), no sign-in required.