LG’s Nexus 4 Unveiling on 29th October

With Google’s major Android event  just days away from happening, surprisingly LG has officially announced Google will officially unveil the Nexus 4 during the October 29 event. Along with other rumoured device’s unveiling to take place, this is the first officially announced smartphone to take part in the said event.

The official statement just mentions about it being available in Indian markets as soon as this November, which means that other parts including Europe and Asia will get the device pretty soon as well, maybe sooner than in India.

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Much is yet to get disclosed, hopefully we’ll have to just wait till the official event to know what Google has in store for people. For what it’s worth, it seems like this is going to a pretty exciting event for Android and Tech lovers around the globe.

Read more: Chip Hazard

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Apple's attempt to ban Samsung Android phones pended till December

The judge in the US Apple-Samsung case has set a December date for a hearing in which Apple will argue for the banning of eight or more Samsung Android smartphones.

Lucy Koh will hear Samsung and Apple's arguments on 6 December, she reportedly said late on Tuesday. A hearing had already been set for 20 September, but that will now be taken up by Samsung's attempt to have a ban lifted on its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.

Koh granted Apple a temporary injunction against the tablet before last week's verdict, but the jury then only found Samsung's smartphones to be infringing on Apple's patents.

As for the meat of that verdict — the $1.05bn in damages that Samsung has to pay Apple for past infringements — Samsung has filed to have that put on hold while the court decides on its appeal.

Read more: ZD Net

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'Jelly Bean' 4.1 takes on Siri

Google has officially unveiled Android 'Jelly Bean' 4.1, taking on Apple's Siri with enhanced voice-driven search and a personal assistant feature called Google Now.

Jelly Bean will debut on the Asus-made Nexus 7 tablet — also announced at Google I/O on Wednesday — and will start rolling out to the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S smartphones and Motorola Xoom tablet in mid-July. In addition to the Siri-like features, the update introduces a significantly enhanced notifications system and security features for developers.

"Today's smart devices still rely on you to do pretty much everything — that is, until now," Android chief Andy Rubin said in a blog post. "Google Now is a new feature that gets you just the right information at just the right time. It tells you today's weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, or your favourite team's score as they're playing. There's no digging required: cards appear at the moment you need them most."

read details: ZD Net

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Kindle Fire Takes 54% of Android Tablet Market [STUDY]

Amazon’s Kindle Fire has taken 54.4% of the Android tablet market, leaving the number two in the category — Samsung Galaxy Tab — in the dust, according to comScore.

The Kindle Fire, introduced in November, nearly doubled its share over the last two months, comScore reports. Meanwhile, Galaxy Tab, which had a 23.8% share in December, is now down to 15.4%.

Motorola Xoom, the number three in the category, commanded 11.8% of the market in December and has now dropped to 7%, according to the report.

Read details: Mashable

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Rockstar’s Max Payne Will Release On Android and iOS This Month

All the Rockstar’s Max Payne fans out there, your favorite title is coming to iOS and Android platform and that too this month!. It’s the first time a big title is announced for release just days before its launch. 

Rockstar :-

We’re pleased to announce that Max Payne Mobile will be available exclusively for iOS devices on Thursday, April 12th, with the Android version launching two weeks later on April 26th.

The full classic Max Payne PC experience, Max Payne Mobile has been optimized for both iOS and Android devices and features HD graphics, high-resolution textures, Social Club connectivity and user-customizable controls.

Read more: Chip Hazard

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Instagram Announces Android Version

Instagram, the popular photo-filtering and sharing app, is on its way to Google’s mobile operating system.

Co-founder Kevin Systrom announced at SXSW Sunday that the long-awaited Android version of Instagram is nearly here. He teased the version on stage, but didn’t provide a demo. The Android version is currently being tested in private beta and will be released “very soon.”

One of the best photos at Instagram [ Photo: Shahkashani ]

Systrom announced, in December of last year at LeWeb, that the Android app was in development. Knowing that it’s in testing now means Instagram for Android is at least that much closer to release.

Read more / also watch some of the best photos at Instagram: Mashable

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Official Android OS v4 Ice Cream Sandwich For Galaxy S2 Being Released 15th March

Reports are coming in from the official Israel’s Samsung Facebook page regarding the official Ice Cream Sandwich OS coming to Galaxy S2, starting from March 15th the carrier and unlocked versions of handsets will get the new Android OS in Israel. 

Samsung official Facebook Page (Israel) :-

We promised we were working on it. You waited patiently. And on 15 March it’ll arrive: Android version 4, ICS, to tens of thousands of GALAXY S II devices purchased from cellular companies in the country or directly from us. We are very excited for the launch, hope you are too 

Read details: Chip Hazard 

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Android attracts more first time Smartphone users

While there is a euphoria for the 'iP..." gadgets, mainly after Apple's Steve Jobs' death as many speculate, a majority of new smartphone users prefer to buy an android laced smartphone rather than an iPhone by Apple.

According to a leading market research company The NDP Group, although Apple took a lead in the fourth quarters over its rivals Samsung (mainly) and other in general, and almost became a best seller in USA, the first time smartphone users were noticed preferring Android laced smartphones over Apple's iPhone 4S and other models.

According to the survey by NDP:

“Android has been criticized for offering a more complex user experience than its competitors, but the company’s wide carrier support and large app selection is appealing to new smartphone customers,” Rubin said. “Android’s support of LTE at Verizon has also made it the exclusive choice for customers who want to take advantage of that carrier’s fastest network.”

Read full details: NPD Group

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Android throws a 'Bouncer' to Fighting Growing Malware Threat

Months after the reports of malware threatening Android, Google Inc has thrown a bouncer to fight back the growing malware threat.

The new sheriff in town is Bouncer: a security service Google put in place to scan new apps as developers load them onto Market, its applications store.

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Bouncer sweeps apps for potentially malicious behavior and also analyzes new developer accounts to prevent "repeat-offenders" from distributing their wares, Google says. Those heightened efforts are paying off, it added.

Read more: Huffington Post

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‘The Daily’ Is No Longer iPad-Only - Launches on Android

After nearly a full year as an iPad-exclusive publication, The Daily is now arriving on some Android tablet devices.

The News Corp.-owned publication has teamed up with Verizon Wireless to develop the first Android version of the newspaper app, which will be made available by subscription on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet beginning this month. 

Owners of the device will receive The Daily as part of a software update. The app will also come preloaded on future Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablets, the recently announced Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 and a host of other compatible devices.

Read more: Mashable

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Apple iOS Devices most used for Online Browsing In 2011, Java and Android Followed Afterwards

[ via Chip Hazard ] 2 Jan

Apple concluded its 2011’s proceedings on a positive note with NetMarketShare statistics showing over 52-percent of mobile devices found browsing online were using iOS. Apple’s platform arch-rival, the Google’s open-source Android was way behind with only 16-percent share. 

According to the latest figures, iOS was on top of the list with more than half of the mobile devices were using Apple’s operating system that were seen online in December. However, the situation is not so-cozy as the share of iOS has dropped significantly compared to October (at that time, iOS was cruising with 61.5% share).

Read more: Chip Hazard

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Official Siri For Android 'Released in Marketplace' for Download turns out to be Fake

[ via Chip Hazard ] 30 Dec

On Wednesday, a Publisher named “Official App” launched an app called “Siri for Android” at the Android market which at a first glance appeared to be a legit and official version of Siri but is apparently fake.

In reality, it’s just a shortcut that launches Google’s built-in Voice Actions which is probably already installed in your Android device. 

The app uses the same Siri icon one sees on an iPhone which probably leads people to believe the app being real. However, as misleading it may sound the developer in the description of the app described its functionality to be different than advertised.

This app will probably be removed any minute now as this app has been advertised all over the web, which will most certainly get the attention of Google’s staff working for the Android Marketplace. Google surely needs to step up its screening procedure when it comes to approval of apps.

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Why is the Windows Phone Failing?

[ via Business Insider ] 27 Dec

A former GM who used to work on Windows Phone 7 for Microsoft, Charlie Kindel, took to his personal blog today with some thoughts on why Microsoft's mobile efforts seem so stagnant.

According to Kindel, Android is crushing iOS and Windows Phone 7 when it comes to market-share simply because its open platform allows manufacturers and carriers to get away with whatever they want, while cranking out dozens of devices a year.

Here's Kindel:

Google has been wildly successful with Android (at least in terms of units) because Android was built to reduce friction between all sides of the market. It ‘bows down’ to the device manufactures AND the carriers. It enabled device manufactures to do what they do best (build lots of devices). It enabled carriers to do what they do best (market lots of devices). It enabled users tons of choice. My hypothesis is that it also enables too much fragmentation that will eventually drive end users nuts.

Read more: Business Insider

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5 Tips to Get Started using Your Android Device

[ via Chip Hazard ]

While there is an outcry for Apple - not because it is the best in the market, but just because of Steve Jobs, whose death made Apple to thrive, even when it came up with nothing new after iPhone 4, only adding a S with it.

But despite the hype, there is a large section of buyers still opting for the non-Apple stuff and is quite comfortable with it. This post is for these Android lovers to get started. 

Here are five basic tips to start your “Android” journey irrespective of the hardware manufacturer.

1. Get a Google account (if you don’t have one) as this account will be used as your login for Blogger, Gmail, Google Docs, Google Maps, in-short anything that is developed by Google (or has been acquired by Google). This will make your life a way much easier (if you decide to use Google services) to synchronize data between your PC and your smartphone.

2. Like Apple, Android also has an App store that can be used to download numerous applications for your convenience and games for your leisure time. The biggest hub of all this stuff is Google’s official Android Market where you can find numerous apps developed by not only from Google but also from third party developers. All apps are tested and verified so that your smartphone doesn’t get infected by malwares.

3. From Facebook to Twitter, there is an Android version of almost every social networking site out there that you can think of. So with Android, keeping yourself on top in your social circles is a piece of cake.

4. For music lovers, Google has a special treat for you: Google Music. It not only lets you to purchase thousands of high quality soundtracks for pretty low prices, it also synchronizes your music purchases and music library to the cloud for streaming.

5. Talking to your friends, colleagues, or relatives (some of them must own an Android-based smartphone) about your new Android phone is a great way to learn new stuff, so take some time and sit with someone to have a talk.

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Android Becoming More Popular Than iOS, More Than 0.7 Million Android Devices Getting Activated Daily

[ via Chip Hazard ] 21 Dec

Well if Apple doesn’t have to fret, it has to sweat at-least. According to a recent tweet by Andy Rubin (Google’s Android Chief), over 700,000 android units get live every day (roughly 21 million every month). 

This latest confirmation has come after Google revealed that over 550,000 units are activated everyday in its quarterly report last July. Mr. Rubin also stated that they count a device only once, so his figures don’t include resold devices. 

He clarified that on Google’s own social networking site Google+.

For those wondering, we count each device only once (ie, we don’t count re-sold devices), and ‘activations’ means you go into a store, buy a device, put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service.

Read more about Android popularity at Chip Hazard 

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Apple Wins Patent Victory over Android

[ via Mashable ] 20 Dec

Apple was just handed potentially its biggest victory yet in its ongoing patent lawsuits with Google Android. The U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled today that Android devices that display phone numbers in a specific way should be banned for violating Apple’s patents. The ruling potentially bans phones like the HTC EVO 4G, Droid Incredible and T-Mobile G2, starting in the spring of 2012.

The ruling effectively bans HTC from selling those devices beginning April 19, 2012, although units sold before then will be unaffected, and HTC will be able to import refurbished products in order to honor warranties on those phones until December 19, 2013.

The ruling is a big symbolic victory for Apple, since it deals with how Android itself works, not actually software specific to HTC. It also theoretically gives Apple free reign to go after any Android manufacturer it cares to with the same patent.

Read more at Mashable

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Why Eric Schmidt's prediction about Android vs. iOS development is dead wrong

[ via Network World ] 15 Dec

From Schmidt’s perspective, it’s nothing more than a numbers game. More Android users = more potential customers = more attractive platform for developers. That, however, is an overly simplistic view of mobile development resting on the erroneous assumption that all mobile users, across all platforms, are one and the same.

The reality is much more nuanced and can be boiled down to a simple precept – not all smartphone users are created equal.

Here are some reasons why Eric Schmidt's prediction may be wrong:

Developers distinguish between certain kinds of users

Follow the money trail

About all those Android Users

The Groupon effect

Malware, ease of payment, and app selection

So what's the conclusion?

Read the interesting survey and analysis HERE to know more about the reasons highlighted above and the conclusion.

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Google moves to delete 'RuFraud' Scam Android Apps

[ via BBC News Technology ] 14 Dec

Google has removed 22 applications from its Android Market after they were discovered to contain fraudulent software.

Google has said it swiftly removes apps that violate its security policies.

Apps posing as popular third-party software such as Angry Birds tricked users into sending premium text messages. Unlike some other app services, Android Market apps are not vetted prior to being added to the store.

It may be added that Google has come under fire in the past for not doing enough to remove substandard or dangerous apps posing as popular software.

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