Android OS - 23/164 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Nov

Sony Xperia S No Longer An "Experimental AOSP" Device, Project Moved To GitHub

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Development, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Xperia S (Nozomi)

Sony announced today on it's official Sony Mobile Developer blog that the Xperia S "experimental AOSP support" project, first announced by JBQ back in August, is no more. It was an interesting idea, to be sure - a non-Nexus device that would be supported both with the help of members of the Google developer community, as well as AOSP maintainer JBQ, on the AOSP main branch.

The project did see some success, too - Android was booting, and according to Sony, Wi-Fi and sensors were up and running. Unfortunately, because of proprietary software binaries that by definition could not be part of AOSP (which requires legitimate open source code only), it seemed unlikely audio and mobile network modem functionality could be achieved in that environment.

Nov

Google Publishes Sprint Galaxy Nexus Factory Image For The First Time (Android 4.1.1)

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Development, Galaxy Nexus, Google, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Sprint

After Google's release of "experimental" binaries for Sprint's Galaxy Nexus variant, Jean-Baptiste Queru (Chief Android Release Engineer) confirmed that the binaries represented not full AOSP support, but the "taking down [of] many hurdles that were preventing [AOSP support]," citing bugs in the network stack as one of the issues yet to be addressed.

Less than one month later, it would appear that those issues have been sorted, as Google today published the toroplus' factory image for the first time. The image, for those who are wondering, carries Android 4.1.1 (build FH05).

So what does this mean? For one thing, it means that four months after Verizon's Galaxy Nexus started getting with the program, Sprint's Galaxy Nexus has caught up.

Nov

Apple Adds Note 10.1 And Galaxy Nexus Jelly Bean Update To Lawsuit Against Samsung

Posted by David Ruddock in Jelly Bean 4.1, Legal, News

In a request to amend its second California lawsuit against Samsung today, Apple asked a judge to the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, and Android 4.1 as it appears on the Galaxy Nexus.

At first glance, it may seem like Apple is now drawing in the entire Android operating system into the suit, but really, it's been like this from the beginning. The Galaxy Nexus was accused from the date of filing in this lawsuit of infringing eight Apple software patents, and today is still accused of infringing those 8 even with its update to Android 4.1. The most we can glean from this is that Google apparently didn't take very convincing steps to avoid any of Apple's software patents in Android 4.1.

Nov

Happy Fifth Birthday, Android: An Exploration Of Android's Five Year Journey To The Top

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Android OS, Features

Hi, Android! Sorry your present is a little late, it took a while to wrap it. Five years ago yesterday, Google's then-CEO Eric Schmidt joined other members of the newly-formed Open Handset Alliance to announce the Android operating system. Back then, we were still nearly a year away from an actual Gphone (and yes, people really called it that) and Sprint and T-Mobile were the only US carriers even interested. Now, Android is installed on over 400 million devices, nearly every carrier in the world wants a piece of the action, and the platform as a whole is the single largest mobile OS ever.

Nov

Google Support Confirms All Android 2.3+ Devices Will Work With Physical Wallet Card And Non-NFC Version Of App

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Applications, News

Corroborating some pretty hard evidence of the physical Google Wallet card's existence we revealed last week, TechCrunch noticed this morning that a definite reference to that card has appeared on Wallet's official support site. More importantly, though, this confirms my own suspicions about the future of the Google Wallet app in light of the physical card: near-universal compatibility.

According to the support page, the new non-NFC version of the Wallet app will be compatible with any Android 2.3.3+ device, which is pretty much the vast majority of Android devices out there. This is big. This is the "circumvention" of the carriers we heard rumblings of earlier this year.

Nov

Samsung Posts Jelly Bean Open Source Files For Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, 7.0, AT&T Galaxy Note II

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Galaxy Note II, Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Samsung

It looks like Samsung has posted up some fresh new open source files today, including files for the AT&T-connected Galaxy Note II. The real story, though, is that Jelly Bean open source files have also been posted for both the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, neither of which have received their official 4.1 updates just yet.

Readers may remember Samsung hinting at an impending update for these (and other devices) back in September, but the availability of these files may suggest that the update is looming very near.

Nov

Federal Judge Dismisses Apple's Wisconsin Lawsuit Against Motorola With Prejudice

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, Google, Legal, Motorola, News

Google announced in a statement today that Wisconsin Judge Barbara Crabb has dismissed Apple's lawsuit against Motorola Mobility claiming the Google-owned Moto's practices related to standards-essential patent licensing were unfair.

The lawsuit was set to go to trial in US District Court in Madison, Wisconsin this afternoon but was, according to Google, dismissed with prejudice by Judge Crabb this morning. Readers may remember that a similar Apple vs Motorola trial was canceled in Illinois by Judge Richard Posner earlier this year.

For those just tuning in, the case was centered around the licensing of some of Motorola Mobility's patents (which Google bought along with the company in May).

Nov

[Weekend Poll] Will You Use The Google Wallet Physical Card?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Do You Prefer The Classic 10" Tablet Layout, Or The New Hybrid UI?

As we know by now, Google Wallet has been facing a lot of resistance. Major US carriers are blocking it while competition is getting intense. Google's fighting back, though, and word has it that new partnerships may be in the works. More importantly, Google is primed to introduce a physical Google Wallet card.

You read that right: the service that was introduced as a way to ditch your cards and cash in favor of just your phone is now resorting to using a card.

Nov

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Android VP Of Engineering Hiroshi Lockheimer Opens Up About 4.2's New Security System

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, News

We knew that Android 4.2 would see the introduction of new security features both on your device and in the Play Store, but Computerworld got a chance to speak with Android's VP of Engineering, Hiroshi Lockheimer, about the platform's beefed up security measures, specifically Android's new real-time app scanning utility.

The scanner builds on the functionality of the Play Store's existing security features by bringing app-scanning security to the frontend, scanning incoming apps from third party sources (including apps like Amazon's App Store).

The service is of course "opt-in" – when you first install a third party app on your device, you'll see a friendly popup asking if you'd like Google to check on all your incoming apps for "harmful behavior." The decision to include this feature, according to Lockheimer, came down to the idea that "security [is] a universal thing.

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).