latest
It's no secret that Bluetooth has been a problem child for Android, plagued with poor audio quality and connectivity issues. I've already covered a handful of common problems in a previous post, but another issue has been emerging in the last few months that threatens to virtually kill all Bluetooth operation on a device in the right conditions. The culprit is a nasty little oversight in the Bluetooth Low-Energy code added with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean. Once a device has been within range of enough BLE devices, the entire Bluetooth service will begin crashing.
Blackberry may be having a rough time of it with flagging sales performance and complications with a certain carrier partner, but that hasn't stopped the company from courting app developers. In an effort to bring in more talent from the much larger and flourishing Android ecosystem, the Blackberry 10.3 SDK has bumped the Android runtime support up from API Level 17 to API level 18 (a.k.a. Android 4.3 Jelly Bean). The update will also brings some additional features and enhance integration with the operating system.
Update: It looks like T-Mobile got cold feet. The support page has been reverted to its previous state, showing only the Android 4.2 update from November. Sorry, folks.
Just yesterday HTC committed to two full years of updates after release for new phones, but it looks like the company isn't keeping the updates to recent hardware. Last night Martin Fichter, one of HTC's US vice presidents, posted a link for a ROM Update Utility file ("RUU") for Sprint's HTC EVO 4G LTE to Twitter. The RUU updates the phone to Android 4.3 and Sense 5. If you've got an EVO 4G LTE phone and a Windows computer, you can flash it right now.
Android 4.3 And Sense 5.5 OTA Update Rolling Out To The Original HTC Butterfly
Android 4.3 And Sense 5.5 OTA Update Rolling Out To The Original HTC Butterfly
Last month the upgraded Butterfly S got the last version of Jelly Bean and the shiny new Sense 5.5 UI, and it looks like HTC's software team has worked their way to the original Butterfly model. Noted HTC leaker @LlabTooFer posted the over-the-air update screen this morning, and at least one blog showed the same software update going out in Malaysia yesterday. According to a Twitter reply, the Taiwanese variant is being updated as well.
You know what? There are entirely too many versions of the Samsung Galaxy S4. I feel like I've written this same story a half-dozen times, though that's probably because it's essentially the same software update across the Galaxy S4, S III, and Note II. In any case, if you're rocking Samsung's 2013 flagship on budget carrier Cricket, you might see an over the air update prompt today: it's your turn to get Android 4.3.
It's been a busy week or two for Sony fans. First we get a Google Play Edition of the Z Ultra, then the AOSP On Xperia project expands to the low-cost Xperia L, and now owners of Sony's high-end phones are starting to get their long-awaited Jelly Bean 4.3 updates. According to this Sony blog update, both the Xperia Z1 and the enormous Z Ultra should be getting the over-the-air update starting today, at least for unlocked versions.
T-Mobile customers with the Galaxy Note II, your day has finally arrived: the Jelly Bean 4.3 over-the-air update is finally rolling out, according to this XDA thread. Samsung's Galaxy S4, S III, and the Note II have been getting the same update on other American carriers, but T-Mobile is behind the leaked release schedule (though not by much). The Note II is the last Samsung phone on T-Mobile scheduled to get the update, at least for the moment.
ROM news for the last month or so have been focused on KitKat, but if you prefer your customized Android software in a more reliable flavor, Cyanogen has you covered. CyanogenMod 10.2, the CM build of Jelly Bean 4.3, just landed on the download page. You can stroll over there right now and get your Android 4.3 on.
If you've got a Samsung phone from before the Note 3 and you're on an American carrier, you're probably wondering where your Android 4.3 update is already. The leaked schedule below has been verified to Android Police by two reliable sources, and shows when the 4.3 update is scheduled for the Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S4 Active, and Galaxy Note II on AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, and T-Mobile. This update will also add support for the Galaxy Gear to these devices.
Little things can add a lot of otherwise unnoticed polish to the apps we use and the games we play on a daily basis. Thanks to animations, sound effects, music, and custom graphics, our software tends to feel more responsive and engaging. But sometimes a bug comes along and breaks a part of that experience. Today, we're going to take a look at one of the more user-facing bugs to sneak out with Android 4.3: automatically looping sounds are broken in numerous apps.
Update: The Nexus 7 2013 build (codename "Flo") has now been posted. It's the first official CM build for the new Nexus 7.
We're all happy to see Android 4.3 finally make its appearance, especially as it brings some pretty important and positive low-level improvements like Bluetooth Low Energy and TRIM support. Unfortunately, new versions often introduce new bugs that slip by even the most diligent testers. Jelly Bean 4.2 had its fair share of issues, including an almost comically bad oversight: the total annihilation of December in the stock Contacts app. This is why each major release is often followed by a couple of bug fix OTAs in the following weeks. We're going to start a running series to examine some of the bigger and more user-facing issues.
There's no denying the usefulness of a keyboard when doing a lot of text input on Android, and there's no shortage of Bluetooth options that fit the bill perfectly. Anyone who spends a lot of time in email or a text editor likely has one of these handy little accessories laying around, but if that user also owns a Nexus device with 4.3, then they're in for a bit of a surprise the next time it's paired up: many Bluetooth keyboards no longer work post-update.
Do you have a spare 64 minutes and a burning desire to analyze every second of Google's latest press event? Alternately, did you miss the livestream and Sundar Pichai's dulcet tones because a faulty alternator stranded you at a truck stop for two hours? Then you're in luck, and so am I! The full version of Google's July 24th event has been posted to YouTube for your viewing pleasure.
It's been less than 24 hours since Google announced Jelly Bean 4.3 and published the new code to the Android Open Source Project, and Sony is already talking up their plans for phone updates. That's what I call customer service! In a short blog post, Sony confirmed a 4.3 update for six of their latest phones and (one) tablets:
It's that time of year: a new version of Android is in the wild. Here's everything we could find that's new and notable in Android Jelly Bean 4.3. Most of it is for developers and gives the software a bit of spit and polish, and at least some of the new features require fancy new hardware. But if you want to get a quick overview of all the new stuff coming to a Nexus near you (and hopefully other devices) soon, this is it.
I totally missed this in my Android 4.3 teardown, but luckily there are some fellow tinkerers out there, namely Kevin of TeslaCoil Software (maker of fine products such as Nova Launcher and WidgetLocker), picking up my slack. It looks like Google is planning some cool notification services for 4.3, possibly something that gets third party apps into the mix!
Wow. Out of the blue, an Android 4.3 rom hits the internet, and it's not built for the Nexus 4, or 7 or 10, but for the Samsung Galaxy S4. What a strange turn of events.
Android 4.3 And Updated Camera UI Spotted On A Nexus 4 At Thailand Mobile Expo [Update: Video]
At least some Android enthusiasts were disappointed that version 4.3 wasn't revealed during Google I/O, despite a few leaks prior to the event. But rest
At least some Android enthusiasts were disappointed that version 4.3 wasn't revealed during Google I/O, despite a few leaks prior to the event. But rest assured that Google is hard at work on the next update to Jelly Bean, as at least one XDA Developers forum poster discovered firsthand. "challeen" took the following pictures at the Thailand Mobile Expo 2013, showing a display model Nexus 4 (allegedly) running Android 4.3. He took some candid photos of both the standard "About phone" settings screen, and what appears to be a new camera interface.