Editorials - 10/20 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Feb

[Updated] Rumor Analysis: Is A New Galaxy Nexus With A TI OMAP4470 CPU Really In The Works?

Posted by Nawoa Lanor in Editorials, Galaxy Nexus, Rumors

A rumor has begun circulating over the past week about the possible existence of an upgraded version of the just-released Galaxy Nexus. At CES, ASUS announced the TF700T, a beefier version of the Transformer Prime (well before the first Transformer Prime has even been released in many countries), leaving a lot of people who bought the first iteration a bit upset. Are Google and Samsung following ASUS's lead and planning on releasing an incremental upgrade to the Galaxy Nexus so soon?

The Story So Far

Normally, our policy is to avoid reporting on stories for which we can’t find good corroborating evidence.

Feb

[Editorial] Sense 4 On Ice Cream Sandwich: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back For Android

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Editorials, HTC, Ville

Yesterday, we saw the first glimpse of Sense 4 on Android 4.0 on the HTC Ville. While watching the video, I assumed that the handset was running Gingerbread since it looked just like previous versions of Sense (save for the updated launcher). The only thing that even slightly resembled ICS is the Roboto font in the clock.

Then it showed the version information, which made me feel physically ill. This is Sense 4 on ICS? Say it ain't so!

I use a Galaxy Nexus as my main phone and the Transformer Prime is my main tablet, so I spend a substantial amount of time using stock ICS.

Jan

Editorial: $50 Android Tablet Gets 1.4 Million Pre-Orders In India, Proves People Will Buy Anything If You Call It A "Tablet" And Make It Dirt Cheap

Posted by David Ruddock in Editorials, News, Tablets

Whenever I hear about the latest and greatest tablet under $100, I get a little bit sad inside. It's sort of like that feeling you get when you see a 3-legged dog - your heart is mildly warmed by its perseverance, but the rest of you would much rather look away and think about something a little less... depressing.

Datawind's $50 (2499INR) Aakash tablet is a 2-legged dog. It's powered by a 366MHz ARM11 CPU - a processor architecture released a decade ago. It has a 7", 800x480 resistive touchscreen display. 256MB of RAM is under the hood, an amount I didn't even know was possible to run Android 2.2 on (yes, that's a bit of sarcasm - I know it's possible).

Jan

RIM's New CEO Says Android Devices Are "All The Same," We Beg To Differ - With Giant Comparison Pictures

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials

Let's be frank: RIM's BlackBerry products are unilaterally, shall we say, unexciting. And RIM's new theme song should probably be this. And by "unexciting," I mean ugly, hopelessly dated, and so boring that a story about them spontaneously bursting into flames might actually give the company some much-needed edginess in their marketing campaigns. Maybe that's a bridge too far.

Anyway, when I read this morning that RIM's new CEO Thorsten Heins, speaking to CrackBerry, said Android devices are "all the same," I couldn't help but go slack-jawed in a combination of muted laughter and near disbelief at the irony.

Jan

Editorial: Android May Be Winning (Or Not Losing) Battles Against Apple In Court, But Don't Expect An End To The Lawsuits Any Time Soon

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials, Legal, News

Last Updated: January 27th, 2012

A recent Newsweek article has been making the rounds claiming, through an unnamed Apple "insider," that Apple has spent north of $100 million litigating its various grievances against HTC since late 2010. Verifying the accuracy of this number is pretty much impossible. But that doesn't really matter. It may just as well be $80 million, $150 million, or $300 million - the conclusion drawn would remain the same: Apple is spending quite a chunk of income on its growing lawsuit habit.

Apple currently has open suits against Motorola Mobility, Samsung Electronics, and HTC in the ITC (International Trade Commission), a number of US District Courts, and various other buildings in which judges are known to sit in ornate leather chairs for long periods of time around the world.

Jan

Editorial: How Android Can Save The BlackBerry (Hint: It's Not With Some Half-Baked App Player)

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials, News

Now, we're an Android blog and all, but we aren't exactly deaf to the seemingly never-ending corporate death-curdle that is Research in Motion. As we speak, the tech world is watching (halfway out of actual interest, half for sheer entertainment value) as the once seemingly immovable enterprise titan rolls, like a god on high fallen from Olympus, to the bottom of a mountain called Relevancy.

The story of that tumble can be told, foot by foot, from the day of the iPhone launch. Then, from the rise of Android (particularly, the Motorola DROID). And from that point forward, by the so-long-it's-getting-kind-of-funny list of poor (even foolish) decisions made by RIM's management.

Jan

Editorial: Steve Wozniak Isn't Afraid To Criticize iOS's Shortcomings, And We Shouldn't Be Afraid To Call Out Android's

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials

When I read the comments of Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak in an interview with The Daily Beast, my first thought was "this sounds like an eminently reasonable man making some well-reasoned points." Of course, being an Android site, we took interest in Wozniak's comments on Android's superior (in some respects) voice commands, as well as his praise of its workable built-in navigation solution (something iOS currently lacks outright).

I've used Siri. It's pretty fun (and funny) at times. But in my opinion, it doesn't do many things better than Android's voice commands (word recognition is, perhaps, a little better - though I've not compared it to Android 4.0's instant STT engine, which I've heard is a big improvement).

Jan

[Update: Clarification - Roaming Only] Sprint CEO Dan Hesse Admits Sprint Throttles Top 1% Of Data Users

Posted by David Ruddock in Editorials, Sprint

Last Updated: January 7th, 2012

Update: Dow Jones Newswires apparently left out a key piece of information from Hesse's statement on throttling, in an example of truly stellar journalism and attention to detail (unfortunately, we have no audio or video record to verify Hesse's statements). Hesse was discussing throttling of those who are on networks that Sprint has roaming agreements with (which, admittedly, Sprint has a lot of - including with Verizon). While this still makes Sprint's ads technically misleading, the throttling really only applies to those who live in areas where Sprint's data network relies chiefly on roaming - not to those using primarily Sprint towers.

Jan

Android: A Look Back To 2011, And A Look Forward To 2012

Posted by Ron Amadeo in Android OS, Editorials, News

Last Updated: January 5th, 2012

Happy New Year! A new year means it's time for the annual Android prediction post. First off though, a trip down memory lane with a look at Aaron's post from last year.

A Look Back To 2011

Way back in January 2011, we were all gobsmacked at the recent announcement of 300,000 Android activations per day. That looks cute now, doesn't it? A year later and it's more than doubled, now we're up to 700,000 per day. That's just incredible. Android could hit a million activations per day by the end of the year.

Last Year's Predictions

Tablets: The New Netbook - Netbooks definitely died.

Jan

[Sale Fail] RIM Throws In The Towel And Starts PlayBook Fire Sale, Fails To Make Them Cheap Enough

Posted by David Ruddock in Editorials, News, Off-Topic, Tablets

When the tech world first heard of the BlackBerry tablet, it was greeted with a fair amount of optimism. It was thought that the very daring (for RIM) device could be just what the company needed to get out of its unabashed slump in popularity, particularly in the United States. In addition, rumblings that the device would be able to run Android Market apps (and actually can now) had Android and RIM fans alike excited for the possibilities of cross-platform development.

Image Credit: Liliputing

Unfortunately, consumers never really went after the PlayBook in droves, and sales went from less-than-great to absolutely terrible by Q3 of 2011, at just 150,000 units sold for that 3 month period.