14
Dec
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As of late, it's been apparent that Motorola has been trying to make good on its promises of offering more timely updates. The RAZR M was the first to get its bump to Jelly Bean, and was followed by the RAZR/MAXX HD. Now, it's the Atrix HD's turn.

Beginning today, AT&T and Motorola are pushing the Android 4.1 OTA to the device, which brings a handful of improvements over ICS, including Google Now, Project Butter for speed improvements, and enhanced notifications. Of course, Motorola has thrown some tweaks of its own into the mix, as well - like Drive Smart, Quick Settings, and more.

13
Dec
bbciplayertiny

Today, the UK's public broadcasting service, the BBC, upgraded its mobile app for Android. The update brings improvements to the UI to bring the interface a bit more in line with Android's Holo guidelines. The new version also adds support for Jelly Bean 4.2, improved video streaming over WiFi, and a new content channel.

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Here's the full changelog:

What's in this version:

Many thanks for all of your feedback on our last update. Here’s what’s new in this release:
- We’ve polished up the design of the app
- Video performance over Wi-Fi has been improved(with more improvements still to come)
- Added Android 4.2 Jelly Bean support
- You’ll find a new channel - BBC Alba
As ever, let us know what you think @bbciplayer

Of course, the BBC iPlayer isn't available outside the UK, so international users need not excite themselves too much.

12
Dec
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If there's one thing you can say about Samsung, it's that the company is at least trying to push out updates, with a sizeable number of devices already running Jelly Bean. Sure, it's 4.1 and about six months behind the Nexus baseline, but the company is better than most manufacturers about rolling out updates lately. As if to demonstrate this, the Wi-Fi Galaxy Note 10.1 (N8010) has started to receive Jelly Bean 4.1.1 (JRO03C) in Germany.

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XDA users in Germany are reporting that the update is rolling out to their devices right now. No word yet on when or if this will roll out to any other countries, but we imagine that slates unbound by carrier restrictions will see it sooner rather than later.

05
Dec
2012-12-05_12h33_38

Sometimes, it can be a bit arguable what counts as a "low end" phone these days. Even cheap phones are so powerful that calling them anything lower than mid-range can seem insulting. This one, however, makes us pretty comfortable with the moniker. With a 1GHz Snapdragon S1 processor, a 320x480 TFT display, and a 3.2MP rear camera, the Xperia E fills out Sony's budget line just fine.

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Optionally, the Xperia E Dual has the option for dual SIM card slots, which is great for business users, and those who need to work with multiple networks. And, in what must be a treat for anyone looking to buy on this end of the handset market, the regular E ships with Jelly Bean, while the E Dual will receive the upgrade soon.

05
Dec
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If you have a 101 XS from Archos, it's time to furiously start hitting the "check updates" button, as the company just began pushing Android 4.1.1 (Jelly Bean) to the device. This bumps the tablet up to version 4.1.0, and brings a couple other enhancements along for the ride, as well:

  • Android Jelly Bean 4.1.1 firmware release
  • Archos Video: major upgrade with simplified video information retrieval and media indexing, new network shares infrastructure
  • Archos applications: future updates of Archos Video, Music, File Manager, System Monitor applications (embedded in the firmware) will be carried out through Google Play

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So there you go - if Jelly Bean is what you've been feening for, the wait is over.

03
Dec
distro

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.

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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).

30
Nov
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Earlier today, we noticed a bug report for a very strange issue with multiple user accounts on the Nexus 7. Apparently, certain applications are displaying the underlying screen - be it the wallpaper, app tray, or the Play Store (depending on where the app was launched from) - through the foreground app. But here's the kicker: it's only happening on secondary accounts. Yeah, it's confusing and strange.

There's also a Reddit thread that confirms this is happening, and it seems to only be affecting apps that call on some sort of transparency. To make sure it's not just a N7 bug, though, I grabbed the N10 to see if it suffers the same issue.

28
Nov
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Not to be left out, it looks like the Galaxy Nexus Takju is getting its own 4.2.1 update just after the 1.1MB package started hitting the Nexus 7 and 10.

If you've got a Takju Galaxy Nexus and don't feel like waiting around for the OTA to find its way to your device, you can – as always – install it yourself.

It should be noted that this update package is only meant for Takju – that is, the Galaxy Nexus available in the Play Store. You should also be certain that your device is running 4.2 JOP40C before installing this update.

27
Nov
google-nexus-logo-jelly-bean

If you just can't wait for the 4.2.1 update to arrive on your Nexus 7 or Nexus 10 (Nexus 4 is here), it's your lucky day. The update URL has been uncovered so you can manually update the device right now.

Nexus7_05_Press-580-75

Just grab the matching file below, both of which clock in at a slim ~1MB. The main fix in this build is for the now-famous December People app bug. The update should appear on your device in the coming days, but maybe your contacts have some big events coming up in December and you just can't wait to add them.

23
Nov
GALAXY-Note-10.1
Last Updated: November 24th, 2012

When Samsung first launched the Note 10.1, it had some really solid ideas, but didn't do so well with the implementation. Soon after, the company released the the Note II, which improved on how it handled a lot of things that seemed to miss the mark on the Note 10.1 - namely multi-window, which allows more than one application to be run side-by-side.

Good news, though - Sammy just released a video that highlights the upcoming Premium Suite features that will be part of the Jelly Bean update, and it looks like they made a pretty major overhaul to multi-window.

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