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Rant: CTIA 2013 - Why You Didn't See Any Android Police Stories Out Of "America's Largest Mobile Event"

David Ruddock — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:01:00 +0000

CTIA is, supposedly, the largest tech convention focused on mobile in the United States. In fact, it has generally been one of Verizon and Sprint's favored handset launch venues in recent years. The EVO 4G was announced at CTIA. So was the EVO 3D. The Galaxy Tab 8.9. The DROID Incredible 4G. Even last year's relatively low-key show brought a few noteworthy nuggets.

This year, though, is a wasteland. The only new handsets launched were a couple of ruggedized Kyoceras with absolutely dismal specifications. And the show floor itself is insufferably dull - here's who doesn't have a booth at CTIA 2013.

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Rant: CTIA 2013 - Why You Didn't See Any Android Police Stories Out Of "America's Largest Mobile Event" was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Sony, Wake Up: Selling A Boring Mid-Range Phone For Nearly $500 In The US Is The Definition Of 'Doing It Wrong'

David Ruddock — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:12:00 +0000

Hey Sony. It's been a while since I last ranted about how you're kinda-sorta screwing up that whole smartphone business of yours. In fact, it's been almost a year to the day. I had really hoped that by this year everyone's favorite Japanese electronics mega-corporation would have figured out the smartphone market to a reasonable extent in the US, but surprise: they haven't!

I really don't mean to single out Sony, but sometimes, it's very difficult to watch a company that is very clearly capable of making good products make such terrible decisions.

While the company's most-recent flagship handsets, the Xperia Z and ZL, have been far from hated by critics, neither has received much in the way of real acclaim, and it's not difficult to see why: they're simply not as good as handsets from the likes of Samsung and HTC.

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Sony, Wake Up: Selling A Boring Mid-Range Phone For Nearly $500 In The US Is The Definition Of 'Doing It Wrong' was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

[Rant] Reality Check - HTC Has Plans For Bluetooth LE And OpenGL ES 3.0 But It Doesn't Make Them "Android 4.3 Features"

Artem Russakovskii — Sun, 05 May 2013 11:33:14 +0000

It's 4 a.m., I just read the 6th mention of the same misleading story in the last 24 hours, and it's time for a rant.

Yesterday, several "independent" reports all claiming to arrive at the same conclusion at the same time (does anyone properly credit their sources anymore?) appeared on the web suggesting HTC had just (*gasp*) leaked two new Android 4.3 features: Bluetooth Low-Energy and OpenGL ES 3.0. And it's done so via a public meetup organized by the San Francisco Android User Group. HTC is so careless that they've just published not one but two unreleased features coming in the next version of Android and therefore protected by strict NDAs.

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[Rant] Reality Check - HTC Has Plans For Bluetooth LE And OpenGL ES 3.0 But It Doesn't Make Them "Android 4.3 Features" was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

A Brief History Of Verizon And Google Wallet, And Why The Carrier Is Still Allowed To "Block" It

David Ruddock — Wed, 01 May 2013 14:01:00 +0000

In September of 2011, Google introduced a product called Wallet. Android lovers were understandably thrilled by the idea of paying for things with their Android phones. A month later, Google introduced a product called the Galaxy Nexus, and it had Google Wallet, and Android lovers were, once again, thrilled. A few days after that, Verizon announced its own version of the Galaxy Nexus. There was yet more thrillilation.

Some of the thrill was short-lived, though, as it was discovered that Verizon's version of the Pure Google Experience™ would not include a pure Google Wallet experience. In fact, it lacked a Google Wallet experience of any kind.

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A Brief History Of Verizon And Google Wallet, And Why The Carrier Is Still Allowed To "Block" It was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

[Editorial] Stop Making Crap Up And Then Whining About It

Eric Ravenscraft — Tue, 30 Apr 2013 22:58:57 +0000

Let's take a trip down memory lane, shall we? The year was 2012, the Galaxy S III and the HTC One X were still new, and some jerk on the internet suggested that maybe it's cool if people started appreciating their amazing phones instead of complaining about how their device wasn't revolutionary.

In the time since then, certain segments of the tech community have opted to go in the other direction. Rather than accept that smartphones are incredible and that the wow-factor comes from using them instead of hyped up tech events, some people believe that the next revolution is just right around the corner.

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[Editorial] Stop Making Crap Up And Then Whining About It was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

Design: How Should Google Advertise Glass? Here's One Idea

Liam Spradlin — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:44:00 +0000

A lot of people are excited for Google Glass right now. The first Explorer units began rolling into the happy embrace of those selected for the exclusive pilot program just last week, and we've already seen a ton of feedback. Combined with decent pre-release coverage, it's clear that Glass has the potential to shake things up once more people have it in their hands. Of course press coverage and user excitement only form part of the story. Another critical piece is advertisement and marketing.

Public image and privacy concerns aside, Glass will need to win the hearts of consumers, in a way Google has striven in the past to capture hearts through advertisements for the Nexus family.

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Design: How Should Google Advertise Glass? Here's One Idea was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

[Editorial] Five Android Gaming Fads That Need To Die

Jeremiah Rice — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 20:56:00 +0000

I've been handling a fair bit of the gaming coverage here on Android Police for the last nine months, to say nothing of our regular game roundups. And while I'm still ecstatic that there's such a plethora of variety on the platform, there's definitely a few game elements that are far, far beyond their sell-by date. I'd hate to discourage developers from making games, but consider this: if your mobile game features any of the following bullet points, and (perhaps more importantly) a lack of innovation, you're doing something wrong.

Endless Runners

Temple Run started a trend here, and it's easy to see why.

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[Editorial] Five Android Gaming Fads That Need To Die was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

[Editorial] Virtualizing Android Is Kind Of A Big Deal For Everybody

Cody Toombs — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:38:00 +0000

A few days ago, I posted about a student project at a Russian University that aims to run two or more instances of Android at the same time on a single device. It's a technology called virtualization, and we already use it on web servers and developer machines everywhere.

At first glance, the idea sounds interesting, but seems to lack practical uses for the majority of people. Sure, some developers will save a few hours on testing, and industrious users might want to run the latest CyanogenMod nightly ROM alongside their daily driver, but this kind of stuff doesn't really appeal to your neighbors or parents.

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[Editorial] Virtualizing Android Is Kind Of A Big Deal For Everybody was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

On Dealbreakers And Breakthroughs: Why You Really Shouldn’t Hate Any High-End Smartphone Right Now

David Ruddock — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 20:34:00 +0000

In Android Police’s private chat room – deep in the bowels of a place known only to a select few… Android Police writers – conversations are often had over what makes a phone good, and what makes a phone bad.

And, of course, views on this issue vary. Some have a strong preference for stock Android, and anything attempting to subvert or otherwise ‘break’ Android the way Google intended it (unless Google’s intentions sucked) is a waste of time. Others are more concerned with how it works: is it smooth, fluid, and functional? And, of course, there are the typical arguments about SD cards, removable batteries, and plastique.

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On Dealbreakers And Breakthroughs: Why You Really Shouldn’t Hate Any High-End Smartphone Right Now was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

[Editorial] Facebook (Shockingly!) Didn't Fork Android, Because Forking Android Rarely Makes Sense

Eric Ravenscraft — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:16:29 +0000

Today, Facebook announced the Facebook Home suite that we've been hearing so much about. Well, to be more accurate, we've been hearing that Facebook is going to build its own phone and fork Android and create its own special social OS and that it would be the end of Google and that civilization will crash around us and we'll all wear monkey pelts and "Like" statuses by hurling spears through our enemies. Or something. Well, as it turns out, the world didn't end, Android is still whole, and Zuckerberg even thinks the idea of forking an entire OS to make an app is silly.

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[Editorial] Facebook (Shockingly!) Didn't Fork Android, Because Forking Android Rarely Makes Sense was written by the awesome team at Android Police.