Aganetha Dyck has thousands, maybe millions, of collaborators for her art. Working with bees she rents from a keeper, she gives ordinary objects like shoes, footballs, helmets, and chipped thrift store knickknacks a second life—cloaked in honeycomb.
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It seems like only yesterday that Google bundled Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 in its little biscuit layers and sent it off into the world (it was December, 2011, actually). That Android flavor has since climbed the charts rapidly, around four percent each month for the last while, and now occupies the ROM on 23.7 percent of robot-based devices — up from 20.8 percent last month. That’s in part due to new devices (like many in China) still coming out of the box with it, on top of older warhorses like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 finally grabbing some ICS. Meanwhile, its smooth-running younger sibling, Jelly Bean, made a slight gain to 1.8 percent of all Google-run slates and phones — though that will likely change when the Galaxy Note II hits the market en masse and the Galaxy S III OTA 4.1.1 disseminates to all its owners. Meanwhile, Gingerbread still dominates Google OS installed devices at 55.8 percent, probably thanks to delays or denials of newer flavors to legacy devices.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Google
ICS and Jellybean now on a quarter of all Android devices, but over half still stuck on Gingerbread originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 03:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Now that Motorola is owned by Google, you may think that past and present Motorola devices should get the latest and best version of Android. Even though the Motorola XPRT is a niche device, Google and Motorola should take pride in their older models and foster customer satisfaction. With Sprint quietly announcing on its forum that the Motorola XPRT will be updated to Android Gingerbread (2.3), it shows once again that the update rollout process for Android is broken — Android 2.3 was released two years ago.
In the current Android model, updated versions have to go through a long and painful process. First, manufacturers make sure that everything works as expected with their devices. Most of the time they need to update their custom user interfaces, such as TouchWiz for Samsung or Sense for HTC. Then carriers test and certify the update, and can choose to roll out the new version over the air.
Those companies sell services, not devices, and they often don’t understand the benefits of updating a device. Their cell towers handle the release over 3G/LTE. They may want to limit those updates as well so that users will be enticed to buy a new device and sign a new contract.
Even though the Motorola XPRT does not have a big installed base, it was released recently, in May 2011. When it comes to supporting existing devices, some manufacturers and carriers have been better than others. For example, the Motorola XPRT is in fact a renamed version of the Droid Pro that was released on Verizon — the brand name Droid is a trademark of Lucasfilm licensed to Verizon Wireless and it can’t be used by other carriers.
Verizon updated the phone to Gingerbread in May 2011, a few months after the operating system was released. Sprint shipped the device at the same period with an old version of Android and seemed stuck with it. With today’s news, Motorola XPRT users will be glad to hear that they have not been totally left behind.
Gingerbread is still the dominant Andoid OS, which causes many problems for developers because they can’t take advantage of newer sets of API. Even Google’s latest smartphones, such as the Motorola Droid Razr M, come with Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) months after the release of Jelly Bean (4.1).
Comparatively, it took nine days to get iOS 6 installed on 60 percent of iPhones. If it takes a year and a half for Sprint to release a new version of Android after they roll out an update, Motorola XPRT users can expect to receive Ice Cream Sandwich in 2014 and Jelly Bean in 2015. Google needs to find a better way to release Android updates.
Last month was the first time Jelly Bean poked its head up in the Android distribution charts, debuting at 0.8 percent. It’s bumped that stat by a significant proportion, if not a crazy absolute amount, to 1.2 percent of smartphones and tablets using Google’s OS. But ICS 4.0 was the biggest gainer, moving up sharply from 15.9 percent to 20.8 of devices at the expense of Gingerbread 2.3, which dropped about 3.5 percent from July. Still, at 57.2 percent saturation, that version is still the richest Android confection by a wide margin. Our aging Galaxy S contributed a bit to its demise this month, thanks to CyanogenMod, so where does your own device sit? Check the source for a further breakdown of the stats.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software
ICS now on one in five Android devices, Jelly Bean grows to 1.2 percent originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Sep 2012 06:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Welcome to Engadget’s back to school guide! The end of summer vacation isn’t nearly as much fun as the weeks that come before, but a chance to update your tech tools likely helps to ease the pain. Today, we’re leaning back with our tablets — and you can head to the back to school hub to see the rest of the product guides as they’re added throughout the month. Be sure to keep checking back — at the end of August we’ll be giving away a ton of the gear featured in our guides — you can hit up the hub page right here!
Your back may be straining from the textbooks, laptop, gym gear and lunch in that dangling overstuffed messenger, but you’re still gonna want to save room for one more item — a tablet. After all, while you can surf, tweet, play games and watch video from your other devices, there’s nothing like doing it from a simple glass window that sits in the palm of your hand. As the hardware gets more powerful, these devices are rapidly becoming versatile enough to let you justify leaving the laptop at home on less-intensive days, so why not check out our picks of the finest devices you should be using and abusing before, during and after class.
Continue reading Engadget’s back to school guide 2012: tablets
Filed under: Tablet PCs
Engadget’s back to school guide 2012: tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 07 Aug 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Two major updates later (three if you count the tablet-exclusive Honeycomb), and Gingerbread is finally starting to falter. According to Google’s latest two week survey of devices accessing the Play store, Ice Cream Sandwich is on the rise, filling out 15.9-percent of the Android user base. That’s a full five points ahead of Android 4.0’s July score, and it’s eating into the OS’ other flavors: Gingerbread (Android 2.3) dropped by 3.4-percent, Froyo (Android 2.2) by 1.8 and Eclair (Android 2.1) by a meager half a percent. Google’s latest confectionery update, Jelly Bean (Android 4.1), made an appearance as well, eking out a shy 0.8-percent of the market. Check out Google’s collection of charts for yourself at the source link below or let us know where your devices falls in the comments.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs, Software
Ice Cream Sandwich takes a bite out of Gingerbread, represents 15.9 percent of Android devices originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Aug 2012 22:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Lenovo is putting out a vanilla version of Android 4.03 for customers eager to rid their IdeaPad K1 of Honeycomb. Fans of stock iterations of Google’s mobile OS will love the fact that the update will rid the slate of all of the PC maker’s customizations — as well as any other data on the tablet. If you’re feeling brave enough to make the upgrade, simply head on down to the source link and follow the instructions, but be warned, if something goes wrong, you’re on your own.
[Thanks, Parth]
Filed under: Tablet PCs, Software
Lenovo IdeaPad K1 gets smeared with Ice Cream Sandwich originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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With Android 4.1 Jelly Bean currently enjoying the spotlight, we would not be surprised if many Android users have shifted their focus from Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich ROMs to Jelly Bean ones instead. That being said, it seems that one particular tablet has recently received some Honeycomb love. Yes, the Android operating system originally designed for tablets has finally made its way onto the US Cellular version of the HTC Flyer. Yup, so if you own a US Cellular HTC Flyer tablet, you can pop on over to HTC’s website to download the update appropriate for your device. This is after the Honeycomb update was issued to the Flyer back in December of 2011, a good seven months ago. Either way despite Honeycomb being old and with the update being rather late to the game, it’s still better than being forgotten and we’re sure US Cellular customers will no doubt appreciate the update. We guess for the critics out there, this would appear to be a good example of Android fragmentation and also the follies of having carriers dictate when updates are allowed to be pushed out.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: HTC Flyer receives Honeycomb update, Sprint’s HTC EVO View 4G could receive Honeycomb update by end of the year,
As Google I/O 2012 rolls along, the YouTube team is updating its Android app to v4.0 with a load of new features, but you’ll need Android 4.0+ to take advantage of them (at least for now, see below). Available in 47 countries, the new app brings a brand new UI with support for channels that reflects the redesign rolled out on the website last year (not the circle-centric look that it is testing with a select few), and it can precache videos from your favorite channels for viewing later. All you have to do is select “preload” in the setting menu and it will pull down videos from your subscriptions and Watch Later queue when plugged in and on WiFi. To actually view them later you will still need to be online, but they’ll load instantly from the device’s storage instead of streaming.
Another new feature is integrated remote functionality to control playback on connected TVs and other devices. This apparently extends to more than just Google TV, as we’re told to “expect more updates later” on how this feature will become broadly available. If you’re not rocking the latest Android software don’t freak out yet, as the team indicates these features will come to more devices later. Developers should be excited too as there’s a slew of new YouTube APIs available, hit the source links below to check them out or download the app yourself.
YouTube for Android 4.0 ends buffering on your favorite videos with precaching, adds remote originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 18:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Speaking of Google-related leaks, we’ve got another one for you. After a bit of digging, we were able to hunt down some images of the rumored Nexus Q, and it now seems inevitable that we’ll be getting some up close and personal time with this particular device after today’s keynote session. According to some documents found by Droid-Life, the Nexus Q will have some interaction with YouTube, Google Play Movies, Play Music and TV, and will require the use of a phone or tablet running Gingerbread or higher.
Update: it looks like the official product page on the Google Play Store has been updated. So here’s the details: the Nexus Q lets you stream music and movies from Google Play and YouTube to your home entertainment system. It offers a 25W amp, enabling you to power it to a set of speakers, or you can hook it up to an AV receiver or HDTV. According to the product page, the Nexus Q will be available for $300. So far it appears to be a US-only product, so we’ll have to wait and see if more is revealed at the I/O keynote session. Check out the video after the break!
Continue reading Google leaks Nexus Q video and images ahead of I/O keynote
Google leaks Nexus Q video and images ahead of I/O keynote originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 12:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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