Polls - 3/13 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Nov

[Weekend Poll] Will/Do You Use The Multi-User Support In Android 4.2?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Jelly Bean 4.2, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see HTC And Apple Have Called A Truce - Are The Patent Wars Winding Down?

Android 4.2 is here, and with it comes proper support for multiple users on tablets. According to Cam, it's easy to setup and intuitive to use, too. Unfortunately, it doesn't work on phones at this point (presumably because of a Nokia patent).

At this point, we do have to address the pink elephant in the room here: it's likely you don't have 4.2 yet. And if the Android Platform Distribution numbers are any indication, most devices probably won't get 4.2 until mid-2014.

Nov

[Weekend Poll] HTC And Apple Have Called A Truce - Are The Patent Wars Winding Down?

Posted by David Ruddock in Legal, Polls

Aaron's not able to write this weekend's poll, because he's too busy being a dad to his newborn son! He'll be back soon, and we all wish him the very best.

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Will You Use The Google Wallet Physical Card?

Last night, HTC and Apple issued a joint press release indicating the two companies have settled their ongoing patent slapfight. Under a confidential, 10-year licensing arrangement, they have agreed to what essentially amounts to a rigid patent ceasefire. Even future patents are covered under the deal (there obviously will be exceptions to any deal, but that's the gist).

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.

Oct

Polls: Are You Planning On Picking Up A Member Of The New Nexus Family?

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Google, Nexus 10, Nexus 4, Nexus 7, Polls

Now that we're acquainted with the new Nexus family, many users are beginning to make plans to pick up one, two, or potentially all the new additions to Google's flagship product line.

There's no doubt that all three devices are tempting – the Nexus 4 packs a Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, an 8MP camera capable of creating beautiful "photo spheres," and a 4.7" 1280x768 display.

The new Nexus 10 tablet has a display that might melt your corneas at 2560x1600 (~300dpi), a dual-core A15 processor from Samsung, and 2GB RAM for exceedingly speedy performance.

And of course, the Nexus 7 has also received a refresh with 32GB and 3G-connected variants making their debuts soon.

Oct

[Weekend Poll] Do You Prefer The Classic 10" Tablet Layout, Or The New Hybrid UI?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Pick A Phablet Edition: HTC DLX, Samsung Galaxy Note II, Or LG Optimus Vu II?

The release of the Nexus 7 brought a new phone/tablet hybrid UI to Android tablets. And today, most people agree that it works well - on the 7-inch form factor, anyway. The latest leaks from the upcoming Nexus 10 suggest that Google will keep using that same hybrid UI, despite having a display that's a few inches bigger in each direction.

As David correctly pointed out, the result is that the phone and tablet UIs are now virtually identical.

Oct

[Weekend Poll] Pick A Phablet Edition: HTC DLX, Samsung Galaxy Note II, Or LG Optimus Vu II?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in DLX, Galaxy Note II, Optimus Vu II, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Are You Content With Your Phone's Stock Battery Life?

Complain as some people might, smartphones are getting bigger and bigger. Nothing exemplifies that fact more than phablets like the HTC DLX (or other variants, such as the J Butterfly), Samsung Galaxy Note II, and LG Optimus Vu II. Packing 5"+ displays, powerful CPUs, and 2GB of RAM, these phones aren't for your grandmother.

^{Left to right: HTC J Butterfly (Japanese variant of the purported DLX), Samsung Galaxy Note II, and LG Optimus Vu II.}

Oct

[Weekend Poll] Are You Content With Your Phone's Stock Battery Life?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see If The Major Manufacturers All Made Similar Nexus Phones, Whose Would You Buy?

LG was hard at work this week pimping the new Lithium Polymer battery technology used in the Optimus G. Promising higher battery density in a smaller, lighter package, word's still out on how much of an improvement it is in the real world. Obviously, though, any advances in battery tech are welcome - more battery life is never a bad thing.

It got me thinking: are people happy with their phone's stock battery life? Sure, your phone probably can't go 3 days between charges like the dumbphones of yore could, but these days, most do make it through a full day of use.

Oct

[Weekend Poll] If The Major Manufacturers All Made Similar Nexus Phones, Whose Would You Buy?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in HTC, LG, Motorola, Polls, Samsung

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see How Much Total Storage Do You Need In A Phone?

Let's say that the rumors (and evidence?)of a Nexus program are true, and Motorola, Samsung, LG, and HTC are all making Nexus phones for release before the end of the year. For the sake of our poll, let's just pretend that they are all powered by the same CPU, GPU, and RAM, and had roughly the same screen size and resolution. Let's also say that there are no custom UIs used. As a result, updates are handled by Google directly, meaning they can be rolled out across all of the devices at roughly the same time.

Sep

[Weekend Poll] How Much Total Storage Do You Need In A Phone?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see What Was Your First Version Of Android?

These days, it seems like the push is towards storing most content on the cloud, rather than on-device. We can stream all of our music and movies from the web and our photos are seamlessly backed up as well. In fact, it seems like aside from games, only a small portion of our content needs to be stored locally. Then again, some people insist on storing everything they have on their phone at all times. It's not uncommon to hear complaints that a device has just 32GB of storage dozens of times.

Sep

[Weekend Poll] What Was Your First Version Of Android?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Android OS, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Will You Be Buying A New Kindle?

Earlier this week, Ron gave us an interesting look at what codenames came before Android 1.5, Cupcake (spoiler: 1.1 was "petit four," and 1.0 didn't have any codename at all). It's hard not to read the post without taking a nostalgic walk down memory lane, isn't it? I still remember heading into my local T-Mobile store to play with the G1 when it launched.

My life with Android officially started on June 4, 2010, with the launch of the HTC EVO 4G - and with Android 2.1, Éclair.