Android is an open source, Linux based operating system for smartphones. Original creators of the operating system, Android Inc. were acquired by Google in 2005. In 2008, the HTC Dream (Also known as the T-Mobile G1) was released as the first phone running Android OS. Android features a home screen with multiple pages which can have widgets or application shortcuts added. With many manufacturers building Android powered handsets and being supported by carriers all over the world, Android is one of the most popular and widely used smartphone operating systems. Read on for the latest Android news, reviews and videos:
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by Anton D. Nagy | May 21, 2013 5:49 AMRead OnSony revealed details about its Xperia Tablet Z back in February, just in time for an MWC appearance -- where we got up close and personal with the slate. After information about some slight delays the Sony Xperia Tablet Z is now available according to official wording. You cab get yours "across the globe through Sony's retail and operator partners as well as online channels". As a reminder, the Sony Xperia Tablet Z is 6.9-millimeter-thick and features a 10.1-inch screen with 1920 x 1200 resolution, quad-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro SoC, 2GB of RAM, 6,000mAh battery and Android ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 20, 2013 5:38 PMRead OnWhen you install an Android app, you're presented with a litany of permissions that the app requires you to accept. Currently, that's an all-or-nothing situation. While that makes things easier for developers, it also takes away a lot of power away from users, and potentially makes Android less secure. We've recently been talking about news uncovered thanks to Google I/O events, and that trend continues now, with Google addressing just this very issue during the Android team "fireside chat." When pressed to answer whether we'd see expanded user control over app permissions come to Android, ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 20, 2013 4:53 PMRead OnReady to start-off the week with a little bit of a smartphone mystery? We've got one for you that crosses paths with a few different lines of Samsung handsets, and really leaves us wondering just what the hardware could really be. Try to follow along with us and learn what we know about the so-called Samsung Melius. According to tipster superstar evleaks, the Samsung Melius will be an upcoming Android phone, model SGH-I527, for AT&T. The first twist is that the name Melius is one that has been previously associated with Samsung's Tizen efforts. A rumor from earlier this month claimed ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 20, 2013 4:11 PMRead OnDespite our expectations, Google I/O 2013 failed to deliver a new version of Android. As we've discussed, that wasn't so much of a big deal, as we got plenty of improvements to services without needing a whole new Android build, but has left us wondering: just when might Key Lime Pie get here? We've seen evidence showing Android 4.3 in testing, and rumors have suggested that it could arrive sometime next month. We wait to learn if that will indeed come to pass, but in the meantime a couple little hints have surfaced in the wake of Google I/O that remind us that Key Lime Pie is still in our ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 20, 2013 1:35 PMRead OnThe Nexus Q is unquestionably the black sheep of the Nexus family to date (yes, more than any CDMA Galaxy Nexus). After making its debut last summer, the project quickly went off the rails and fizzled-out before it really had a chance. This year, we were wondering if Google might take a second stab at the idea of a home Android-based media playback system, but no Nexus Q made an appearance at Google I/O. In fact, when the new Google All Access music system debuted and it specifically didn't support the Nexus Q – an Android built from the ground up for audio playback, it felt like this ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 20, 2013 12:47 PMRead OnIt's sure seemed like Samsung was planning a whole series of Galaxy S 4 models, from the original smartphone to variants like the GS4 Mini, Zoom, and the Active we just got a chance to look at. Over the weekend, some new evidence arrived that just might point to another GS4 family member, taking its name from the manufacturer's new Mega line. A screenshot purporting to show the update details for the latest version of the Samsung WatchON app, arriving yesterday, notes that it "added support for upcoming S4 Mega, S4 mini, and S4 Active." That same line is missing from the "what's new" text ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 20, 2013 11:58 AMRead OnInstead of bringing us a new Android version, last week's Google I/O instead introduced a whole load of updates to Google services, giving the platform a refresh without requiring a full-on new Android build. A big chunk of those improvements centered on Google+, including a number of improvements to how the service handles photographs. Today an updated version of the Android Google+ app arrives to finally give you access to these new features, numbering 41 in total. Google+ will now let you automatically backup photos to the cloud, and introduces all those automatic tools we learned about ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 20, 2013 11:10 AMRead OnThe idea of a Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active has been floating around for months now, and back in April it finally started to take shape as a waterproof version of the GS4 itself. Since then we've heard about a possible launch next month, and seen AT&T mentioned as a potential carrier in the US. What we haven't had has been a solid understanding of the phone's hardware, nor any kind of look at the facade itself. Today we get both, and it's all largely good news. That means a phone that keeps a lot of GS4 design cues, as well as hardware components. While what we can see here adds some bold ...
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by Joe Levi | May 20, 2013 7:24 AMRead OnHTC seems like they want to be "number one" -- at least they want people to associate them with that level of prestige. Why else would they name their devices "One" and "First" when everyone else is rapidly iterating their model numbers? Recently the hardware maker teamed up with a social networking service to do something bold and creative: they released a smartphone that was "Facebook centric". When you turned on your phone you got Facebook first. Finally, the much rumored "Facebook phone" had arrived -- but they were bold enough not to call it that. And now, just a few months later, ...
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by Taylor Martin | May 20, 2013 7:00 AMRead OnThe HTC One may be one of the fastest clocked smartphones on the market. It's powered by a 1.7Ghz quad-core Snapdragon 600 chipset that puts last year's chips to shame. But for some, fast simply isn't enough. Some need more power, more speed, more gigahertz. Some need an overclocked HTC One. Fortunately, that's not out of the question, and enabling it is quite simple. All you need is the right kernel, a little know-how and a custom recovery. Flash away and reap the benefits of a processor clock speed faster than the factory settings will allow. Beware, though. Turn up the dial too much ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | May 19, 2013 10:02 AMRead OnSamsung Galaxy S 4 vs HTC One vs Apple iPhone 5 vs Nokia 808 PureView; that's the comparison we've been waiting to do ever since this year's flagship Android models came out. That also happens to be the camera comparison most requested by you. So, here it is! We've reviewed all of these phones and, at that time, we compared them against other competitors; this time it's them playing against each-other. While we know that the Apple iPhone 5 is the oldest amongst the best-sellers -- with a refresh due soon -- and the Nokia 808 PureView is more than a year old now, but still regarded by many ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 17, 2013 7:57 PMRead OnXperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia UL: it's been starting to feel like Sony's transformed itself into an assembly line for 1080p Androids lately. Despite all this focus on high-end, high-res handsets, it's also managed to continue addressing other market segments, and back in March we learned about a couple more conservative models, the Xperia L and Xperia SP. Now, the Xperia L is finally going up for pre-order for interested US customers. Is it worth what Sony's asking, though? Sony is currently taking orders for the Xperia L, with the intention of shipping the phones on May 23. Its radios will ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 17, 2013 5:01 PMRead OnLast month, Samsung announced the first Galaxy Tab 3 model, a seven-inch tablet. Obviously, more Tab 3 options would follow, and at the time we heard rumors about a few other hardware configurations. One of those included an eight-inch model with some nice specs like an AMOLED screen. As we wait for official word, some new specs have leaked for the Galaxy Tab 3 8.0, along with a possible render. Bad news first: this falls way short of those rumored specs. That means a regular old LCD screen (1280 x 800) and instead of a quad-core SoC, only a dual-core 1.5GHz component – no word on if ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 17, 2013 3:27 PMRead OnFrom a manufacturing standpoint, the HTC One has been off to a pretty bumpy start. First we heard of issues with the UltraPixel camera that were affecting the company's ability to produce enough units, and then there was that whole mess with Nokia and the HAAC microphones HTC wasn't supposed to have been putting in the One. HTC isn't letting a few issues like these drag the One down, and reports instead that production levels keep ramping on up, ready to meet consumer demand. Compared to April, HTC is equipped to manufacture twice as many One handsets this month. It intends to push itself ...
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by Stephen Schenck | May 17, 2013 2:45 PMRead OnA few days back, BlackBerry had a big announcement to share, revealing that it was finally opening up the membership ranks of BlackBerry Messenger, and would start making the app available to smartphone users running iOS and Android. If you were a BlackBerry die-hard for years and have only recently transitioned to another platform, this was great news, letting you easily keep in touch with all your old contacts. We already heard that the iOS and Android apps would become available sometime this summer, but now a new limitation about those releases comes to light, with news that the ...