Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 is official and I was able spend a short time with the new phone. It doesn’t look radically different, but has the expected hardware upgrades. New software features, however, are the real story. Read more »
Starting at 4pm PT (7pm ET), we’ll be bringing you live coverage of Samsung’s New York event, during which it is all but certain to take the wraps off its Galaxy 4 S Android smartphone. Read more »
We live-blogged Samsung’s New York event on this page, during which it took the wraps off its Galaxy 4 S Android smartphone. Read more »
Surprise! Apple thinks Android is lame. In a brief, curiously timed interview with the Wall Street Journal, SVP of Worldwide Marketing Schiller ticked off reasons why he thinks iOS is better. Read more »
Google’s Chromebook Pixel with touchsceen is to some, “just a browser” but no real apps. Now that Google has replaced the leader of Android with Sundar Pichai, SVP of Chrome and Apps for Google, Android apps on Chrome OS could become reality. Read more »
Sundar Pichai, SVP of Google Chrome and Apps, will now head up the company’s mobile operating system, the company announced unexpectedly on Wednesday. Rubin will take on a new yet-to-be-explained role within Google. Read more »
By connecting its smartphone app with real-time ticket inventory, MLB will let baseball fans in four cities (at first) find better seats after arriving at a game. Read more »
Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 launch event is tomorrow, but at this point due to leaks and “people familiar with the product” there’s little surprise factor left. Will that hurt sales? Doubtful. Read more »
That small slate market — which in Apple’s eyes, didn’t exist — will account for more sales than larger slates, says IDC. And due to lower prices, Android’s tablet market share will reach just past that of iOS this year. Read more »
First there were images of an alleged Samsung Galaxy S 4 handset, now there’s a video. If this is the design of the phone — similar to prior models — it still won’t likely hurt sales. Read more »
There’s little need to pay high per minute or per megabyte fees when traveling to Hong Kong. Check out Handy, which rents Android phones by the day with unlimited voice, messaging and 3G service. Read more »
Leaked images of what are allegedly the Samsung Galaxy S 4 show very little change in the smartphone’s design from prior models. That’s not bad because the design works: Software and improved components are driving Samsung’s sales. Read more »
The Nexus 7 dock finally arrives in the Google Play store but quickly sold out in the US. Chrome Beta for Android is faster and uses less wireless data. Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 is nearly here: My thoughts on what to expect. Read more »
HTC did not infringe on two of Nokia’s patents, a Mannheim court has found. Nokia had claimed that one of the patents covered app store functionality found in Google Play. Read more »
Nexus 7 owners paying attention to Google Play may have scored the official tablet dock for $30 … if they were quick. The dock is already sold out; another sign that Google needs to up its sales and inventory game. Read more »
A year after it was launched as the new version of Android Market, Google Play contains over 5 million ebooks, 18 million songs and 700,000 apps, the company announced Thursday. But it’s still struggling to compete against Amazon and iTunes. Read more at paidContent »
Even though it fell 1.3 percent between October and December to 52.3 percent share, Android still is the most popular smartphone operating system in the U.S. Apple’s share grew 3.5 percent to 37.8 percent. Read more »
Uptake for Android 4.0 or better continues to rise and there are finally more devices fitting this category than those that use the old Android 2.3 Gingerbread software. That’s good for users and for developers. Read more »
In the slicing-up of the mobile content pie, carriers have been left out over the last few years. But, according to a new analyst report, that situation’s starting to change. Read more »
Experimental code found earlier this week has found its way into the Chrome Beta for Android app. With a simple tweak it should speed up your browsing experience while using less wireless data at the same time. Read more »
On this week’s audio call-in podcast, we kick things off with news on the cell phone unlocking front. After that, we take your questions about Android switchers, Samsung’s influence, the Pebble watch and OTT services. Read more »
Intel announced a slightly upgraded Atom chip at Mobile World Congress and ZTE has already decided to use it. That’s good news for Intel for a number of reasons. Read more »
Samsung has been taking advantage of sensors and cameras in its Galaxy phones for some time. Now comes a report of the next big feature: automatic scrolling when your eyes reach the bottom of the screen on the Galaxy S4. Read more »
When it comes to apps for mobile phones and tablets, Android owns one market while iOS owns the other. Yet few top-tier titles come to Android first. ABI research suggests that changes this year. Here’s why I don’t see that happening. Read more »
Google’s SPDY (pronounced “speedy”) experiment to deliver web pages faster may be coming to Chrome for Android based on experimental code found this weekend. Read more »
HP is back in the tablet game with an Android slate, but some of the specs are from 2010. Will the Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 and Asus FonePad get to keep their voice functions in the U.S.? I’m not so sure. Read more »
My hopes for official Android support on the Chromebook Pixel are just that for now: Hopes. You can install and Android 4.2 on the Pixel, or most other laptops, however, without trashing your computer’s native operating system. Read more »
One of the biggest battery hogs on a smartphone is the display. Could a low-powered e-ink display improve the experience? Yes, and no, as you can see in this video. Read more »
Samsung could gain even more influence over Android with its new Chillingo partnership. The two are offering developers 100 percent of revenues for titles sold in the Samsung Apps store. Read more »
Android fans that want something akin to Apple’s Passbook wallet features will get their wish as Samsung has the solution. Here’s why that’s good and bad. Read more »
If a certain number of Waze users report the same closing, the app will automatically start re-routing all users around reported road closures. Read more »
The Slate7 isn’t terrible, but it ain’t great either. It looks like HP rushed this one, and it needs to do better next time if it wants to be a contender in consumer tablets. Read more »
The new Asus FonePad merges cellular voice calling with a small tablet. I actually had this functionality in 2010 with the Galaxy Tab but US carriers stripped the voice features. They’re likely to do the same again. Read more »
Stephen Elop wants to see how tablet platforms mature, and what value Nokia can add, before he dives in. With Windows RT/8 and Android as his options, we can expect quite a wait. Read more »
The Yandex.Store will be preinstalled on various Android devices being sold in Russia and other core Yandex markets, and offered as a whitelabel store to carriers in the rest of the world. Read more »
There is surprising unity in global carriers’ support of Mozilla’s open web-based smartphone platform. That’s because it offers them a chance to wrest some control from Google and Apple. Read more »
The small sequel to the ill-fated TouchPad opts for Android, running on a dual-core processor. The big selling points appear to be a stainless steel shell and the inclusion of Beats Audio. Read more »
Shown off this week, HTC’s new One is better than the old One in several ways and it may share the same processor as the Samsung Galaxy S4. Plus you can now play with Ubuntu on a Nexus device now. Read more »
Snapchat has rolled out its video product on Android on Thursday, adding a popular feature to a booming app. The company that allows users to send short-lived photos and videos just raised a Series A funding round led by Benchmark. Read more »
Naysayers may continue to ignore the trend, but tablets aren’t toys and the tablet market isn’t a fad, as 2012 shipments show. This year, tablets could surpass both desktops and laptops. Read more »
