If you own or have ever used an Android tablet, you know that the same app will run differently on the tablet than it will on the phone. This is because each app has its own DPI setting that dictates the app's behavior. In a lot of cases, tablet apps are better: they often present split-screened views, more controls, and more customization potential. What if you could run tablet apps on your phone? Better yet, what if you could selectively choose which apps run in tablet mode, and which apps in phone mode? Then you could have your email be shown in a super-productive split-column view, ...

Samsung is preparing an Unpacked event in Berlin on August 29 and it is believed to be a Note unveiling of some sort (either the Galaxy Note II, the Galaxy Note 10.1, both or something else). However, the event might also hold some surprises in terms of software announcements. According to the recent rumors, the Jelly Bean update for the Galaxy S III might be announced on the 29th. We had several rumors for the Galaxy S III's official Android 4.1 refresh and some placed the update in the August-September timeframe while others further down the road. We looked at the unofficial Jelly Bean ...

Last week we learned that there were no plans to update last year's Xperia models to the latest version of Android but Sony considers that the official Facebook message was sent out in error. The possibility of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean official update is being actively investigated for all devices, says Sony on it official Xperia product blog. Until then, the "Ice Cream Sandwich rollout for Xperia S and 2011 Xperia smartphones continues as planned". There are no specifics regarding which devices, whether it's the entire 2011 line-up or just a few phones, as well as no information on a ...

Jelly Bean is increasingly becoming available for a wide range of Android phones. First we showed you the Galaxy S III, then the One X, and now the Galaxy Note with this early build of Android 4.1 via a preview of CyanogenMod 10. So far, we've found the CM10 previews to be exceptionally stable and (most importantly) fast. How about the Galaxy Note? Well, that might be the exception. While the CM10 preview works in terms of functionality, there are some performance issues that keep it from being as incredibly smooth as the other two aforementioned devices. There seems to be some lag when ...

At last, a preview of the Jelly Bean-based CyanogenMod 10 has been released for the HTC One X! This indeed fixes our number one problem with the One X cited in the review: lag. On the One X with stock software with Sense 4.0, we found lack around every corner, which was surprising for such a high-end phone. Jelly Bean on the One X is super duper fast, whether browsing the web, opening folders, or moving between apps. In fact, we'd say that it's a pinch faster than the already-fast CyanogenMod 10 port to the Galaxy S III we recently showed you. That said, installing CM 10 on your One X is ...

The Asus-made Google Nexus 7 is now the go-to Android tablet for Nexus brand enthusiasts and power users. It is selling like candy despite isolated reports of hardware problems with loose screens and backlight bleeding, which is just normal. Testifying to that is the fact that the 16GB variant of the slate, going for $249, is now sold out. The Play Store page for the tablet now reads "coming soon", regardless if you are accessing it from the U.S. or the U.K., and we're positive that it will be back in no-time, given the high demand. You can even get an e-mail notification when that ...

The Samsung-made Google Nexus S was kind of late to officially join the Ice Cream Sandwich party but we're glad to see Google learning from their mistakes and bringing the latest iteration of Android to the phone quicker. Some owners of the Nexus S should see an OTA update notification for Android 4.1.1. According to reports, i9023 variants of the phone should be able to upgrade and there's even a link for the file on Google's servers. It also appears that i9020T flavors can also use the refresh. However, if you want to be on the safe side, just wait for the update notification to land on ...

Google Now is an impressive part of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (and it's available for Ice Cream Sandwich devices). It can provide you with relevant information depending on where you are, what you're doing, and what you've recently searched for. On the Galaxy Nexus, Google Now is accessible from both the lock screen and from doing a sliding gesture from the on-screen Home button. If you're running a Jelly Bean port on any hardware that doesn't have on-screen buttons, like the Galaxy S III, this gesture doesn't work. You can still access Google Now from the lock screen of virtual-buttonless ...

It didn't take very long for the Galaxy S III to get Jelly Bean. The CyanogenMod 10 preview release, while not intended for daily use, is very much good enough to be used all day. Not only is it good enough, but it's super fast, in fact, we've found it faster than a stable release of CyanogenMod 9, which is Ice Cream Sandwich-based (and soon to reach release candidate status). In the CyanogenMod 10 preview, all the Jelly Bean goodies are there: Google Now, Project Butter (hint: web browsing is insanely fluid), improved notifications, and the upgraded launcher. Of course in order to get the ...

As if previous reports of Asus-made Google Nexus 7 tablets with loose screens weren't enough, we are now seeing more reports of problems early adopters are experiencing with the hottest Android tablet of the moment; this time it's all about the backlight and it might (or might not) be related to the loose display problem. As you can see in the images above, there's a horrible backlight bleeding on the left side. Backlight bleeding problems are nothing new in the world we're living in but they are usually seen against a dark/black background and affect only a portion of the display. This ...

If you've got an application that's throwing unwanted notifications up in your notification bar and you want to get rid of them, but don't want to get rid of the app, what can you do? If you've got Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, I've got your answer! Open your settings, go to Apps, find the application that you want to change and tap on it, clear the check next to "Show notifications", then tap OK and you're good to go! Want to get the notifications back? Just put the check back in the box and restart the app and you're all set!

Just in case you've been living under a rock, Jelly Bean is the latest version of Google's Android OS and picks up where Ice Cream Sandwich left off. Some of us thought Jelly Bean might be Android 5.0, but we were wrong, it's 4.1 -- a small step up from ICS, which is 4.0. CyanogenMod (or CM, for short) is one of the most popular custom ROMs on the market and supports a huge number of different phones and tablets. Just before this year's Google I/O the CyanogenMod team put out the Release Candidate of CM9 for 37 devices. Since we were expecting JB at Google I/O, why did the CM team release ...

Now that Jelly Bean has hit the Android Open Source Project's online code repository, new information on some of the platform's features has started to emerge as more and more users get a chance to try it out. One we're just hearing about now has some definite PC roots, as anyone who's spent some time diagnosing a buggy Windows installation can attest to; Android 4.1 introduces the ability to booth the OS into a "safe mode". Just like safe mode on a PC, where a minimal set of drivers and programs is loaded in order to avoid any system instability caused by third-party software, Android ...