Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Samsung Galaxy S3 To Release New Color Variants

Samsung Galaxy S3 To Release New Color Variants, UK Spokesperson Hints

The release of the Galaxy S3, Samsung's flagship smartphone for 2012, has sparked anticipation in the mobile device industry. In addition to impressive hardware specs, it seems the Korean manufacturer is seeking to please with its aesthetic features as well. According to Pocket Lint, Samsung has hinted that the Galaxy S3 will be available in an array of new colors, in addition to those already announced.

The color schemes currently available include Pebble Blue and Marble White. In the United States, AT&T has begun accepting pre-orders for a Garnet Red edition of the phone. And there could be more additions to the handset's color variants in the near future.

The red variant of the Galaxy s3 is not yet available in the United Kingdom. Pocket Lint asked Samsung when the recently announced color will make its way to the UK.

"We will be announcing potential color variants in due course," a Samsung UK spokesperson replied.

AT&T in the U.S. begins accepting pre-orders for the Galaxy S3 beginning Sunday, July 15, but the phone won't be available until July 29. It will cost the same its white and blue counterparts, which is $199 for a two-year contract for the 16GB model and $249 for the $32GB version.

"With an exclusive red color this summer and the power of the nation's largest 4G network, AT&T delivers the best wireless experience for Galaxy SIII fans," said Jeff Bradley, senior vice president for AT&T mobility.

It is unclear exactly which types of color variants or how many more editions Samsung plans to release, if any at all. Pocket Lint speculates that the manufacturer could launch some fancy rock or gemstone-styled hues, such as an Emerald Green or Azurite Orange. This would fit with the naming conventions of the current models, Pebble Blue, Garnet Red and Marble White.

In contrast, Samsung's Galaxy S2 for AT&T is only available in black, according to the official website's product description page. The color selection available for its successor could be part of the company's "Next Big Thing" marketing approach when advertising the phone, offering a different experience from its predecessor.

The addition of various color schemes for its flagship smartphone could be a ploy by Samsung to lure more customers, Pop Herald speculates. Perhaps the manufacturer is seeking ways to keep the Galaxy S3 buzz going, especially since Apple's iPhone 5 is rumored to be unveiled in August.

Other than new shades and tones, Samsung has launched alternative versions of its Galaxy S3. The manufacturer announced that a Samsung Approved For Enterprise (SAFE) edition will be available, which is designed for "bring your own device" policies in the workplace. A so-called Developer Version, which includes an unlockable bootloader, will allow users to modify the software of the device. This will be offered directly from Samsung's Developer Portal on the company website.

Apple iPhone 5 Already In Production

Apple iPhone 5 Already In Production, To Launch This Fall With An All-New Design

In the wake of the Chinese e-commerce platform surprising the tech world by accepting preorders for the next generation Apple iPhone, aka "iPhone 5," another report from Asia surfaced Saturday saying that production of the highly anticipated smartphone has already begun and is expected to be launched this fall.

Japanese tech blog Macotakara (Google Translate), with a track record of being accurate in terms of Apple-related predictions in the past, reported citing "reliable Chinese sources" that the new iPhone has entered the manufacturing phase in China. The device would get significant design changes including the addition of glass to its "uni-body" backplate.

Macotakara said that the purported iPhone 5 back panels that leaked in May were early prototypes of the device, while the actual iPhone that's currently in production looks quite different from them. The blog also cited listings for the iPhone 5 cases on China'sAlibaba.com in order to back up its claim.

Apple Insider noted that the claimed iPhone 5 production model sports a glass piece between the backplate's top and bottom edges without leaving a bare aluminum surface. Thus, it contrasts with the earlier reports that suggested a "uni-body" chassis featuring a two-tone all-metal design.

When it comes to earlier models, both the iPhone 4 and 4S featured a "glass sandwich" design with tough Gorilla Glass front and back coverings. On the other hand, the sixth generation iPhone will reportedly boast a backplate only "partially covered" by the tough material, which Apple Insider thinks, "could be in response to a rumored screen size bump to a 4-inch Retina display with 16:9 aspect ratio."

By comparison, previous iPhones featured a 3.5-inch display with a 3:2 aspect ratio.

Meanwhile, rumors surrounding a smaller iPad are also gaining traction with a possible release date tipped for the latter half of this year. According to Redmond Pie, the 7.85-inch device, unofficially dubbed the "iPad mini," is not likely to be released at the same time as the next iPhone, since "one would overshadow the other, and budgets constraints would mean many consumers opting for either/or as opposed to both."

Highly Rumored Features Of The 'iPhone 5'

Rumors are rife that the next iPhone model will feature a much-improved processor. While some earlier reports suggested that the device would be powered by a new variant of the A5X processor, a recent report by DigiTimes said that Apple could launch its next-generation iPhone built on Samsung's Exynos 4 quad-core processor in the second half of this year.

Besides that, rumors surrounding the "iPhone 5" say that the future flagship Apple phone will feature a larger 4-inch Retina display, 4G LTE technology, Near Field Communication (NFC) and a smaller dock connector. Other rumored features and specs also include 1GB RAM, iOS 6, improved Siri, liquidmetal casing, an 8 megapixel (or even higher) rear camera, a 2 megapixel front-facing camera for video chatting and a much-improved battery life.

As far as the release date of the device is concerned, the speculations are around betting on both September and October launch for the iPhone 5.

Analyst Shaw Wu of Sterne Agee said in a note to investors last month that Apple's next generation iPhone was expected to arrive in October, full 12 months after the release of the iPhone 4S last October. On the other hand, J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz said last week that the device should be launched in September, ramping up production throughout the fourth quarter.

Top 10 features in Microsoft Office 2013

Top 10 features in Microsoft Office 2013
Avi Aggarwal, July 18, 2012

Microsoft Corp. unveiled the customer preview of the new Microsoft Office that features an intuitive design that works with touch, stylus, mouse or keyboard across new Windows devices, including tablets.

"We are taking bold steps at Microsoft," Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft said at the press conference in San Francisco. "The new, modern Office will deliver unparalleled productivity and flexibility for both consumers and business customers. It is a cloud service and will fully light-up when paired with Windows 8."

Here's our list of top 10 features that the new Office has to offer.

1) Touch everywhere - The new Office responds to touch as naturally as it does to keyboard and mouse. One can swipe their finger across the screen or pinch and zoom to read documents and presentations.

2) Inking - Use a stylus to create content, take notes and access features. Handwrite email responses and convert them automatically to text. Stylus can also be used as a laser pointer when presenting. One can also add colour to their content and erase mistakes with ease.

3) Apps - OneNote and Lync represent the first new Windows 8 style applications for Office. These applications are designed to deliver touch-first experiences on a tablet. A new radial menu in OneNote makes it easy to access features with finger.

4) SkyDrive - Office saves documents to SkyDrive by default, which means content is always available across all devices tablet, PC and phone. Documents are also available offline and sync on reconnecting.

5) New subscription services - The new Office is available as a cloud-based subscription service, which means consumers will automatically get future upgrades in addition to exciting cloud services including Skype world minutes and extra SkyDrive storage. Subscribers receive multiple installs for everyone in the family and across their devices.

6) Stay connected - Follow people, teams, documents and sites in SharePoint. View and embed pictures, videos and Office content in activity feeds to stay current and updated.

7) Skype - The new Office comes with Skype, which gives 60 minutes of Skype world minutes every month. Integrate Skype contacts into Lync and call or instant message anyone on Skype.

8) Reading, markup - The Read Mode in Word provides a modern and easy-to-navigate reading experience that automatically adjusts for large and small screens. Zoom in and out of content, stream videos within documents, view revision marks and use touch to turn pages.

9) Digital note-taking - Digital note taking helps keep notes handy in the cloud and across multiple devices with OneNote. One can take notes with touch, pen or keyboard, or use them together and switch easily back and forth.

10) Meetings - PowerPoint features a new Presenter View that privately shows your current and upcoming slides, presentation time, and speaker notes in a single glance. While presenting, one can zoom, mark up and navigate slides with touch and stylus. Lync includes multiparty HD video with presentations, shared OneNote notebooks and a virtual whiteboard for collaborative brainstorming.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Bol Bachchan Review

Cast: Ajay Devgn, Abhishek Bachchan, Asin, Prachi Desai, Krushna Abhishek, Archana Puran Singh, Asrani, Neeraj Vora

Direction: Rohit Shetty

Genre: Comedy

Duration: 2 hours 30 minutes

Avg Readers Rating:

Story: Abbas wants a job, Prithvi wants an honest man. But Abbas spins a tale of twin brothers and multiple mothers - what happens when Prithvi discovers his vivid truth and lies?

Movie Review: You know those heart-charts they have in hospitals, the ones that trace a person's heartbeat up and down in waves? Bol Bachchan(BB) reminds you often of one of those. Rohit Shetty's latest movie has a constant up-and-down aspect to it, one sequence making you shriek in your seat with laughter, another sending your mind wandering off to the mundane. But at the very heart of things - Shetty's madly in love with the movies and BB is his homage to that all-time classic, Golmaal.

In Shetty's version, Abbas Ali (Bachchan) is desperate for work after he and his sister Sania (Asin) lose their parental home. A family friend Shashtri (Asrani) brings them from Delhi-6 to the feudal village of Ranakpur where Prithvijit Raghuvanshi (Devgn) is the lord of all he surveys. Blessed with two obsessions - speaking nothing but the truth and hysteria-inducing English - Prithvi is super-impressed by Abbas, even swallowing his story of being called 'Abhishek Bachchan' when events lead to Abbas breaking open a temple door. As Prithvi insists on employing 'Abhishek', Shastri's son Ravi (Krushna, positively sparkling as he reprises Deven Verma's role in all this golmaal) adds more wheels to Abbas's clattering spin, creating a Muslim twin brother and a super-pious mother to convince Prithvi of Abhishek's propah antecedents. With the mother played by small-time mujra star Zohra Bai (Archana Puran Singh in a loud, colourful role she carries off with the swagger of a satinsharara), and Abbas playing a highly effeminate kathak teacher, hired by Prithvi to teach his petulant sister Radhika (Desai) some dance, things only get funnier.

Devgn's at the top of his form here, mouthing lines like 'Hard work is the keyhole to saxophone' and 'Boy in armpit, hyper-noise pollution in city', meaning bagal mein chora, etc., with deadpan face and shining eyes. Bachchan sags at the start but sizzles with later hilarity, even pulling off a crazy dance sequence to Dola Re. You wish there'd been more of his mad antics but instead, the camera spends considerable time lingering lovingly on Devgn's cleavage as he drives a jeep, pulverizes liars and takes on his weasly cousin.

In contrast to the male leads, the two heroines look pretty but bring little more than a wardrobe of delectable kurtis to the film. In fact, the stellar supporting stars - Asrani, Krushna, Puran Singh and Neeraj Vora as Prithvi's suspicious sidekick Makhan - bring far more zest to the party. With its hilarious moments and film-buff touches - bits of Singham imagery, Bachchan channeling some of that Yuva aggression his way, references from Deewar to Dostana - BB's fun and games. But it's way too long and diverts you needlessly with that wicked cousin angle, a power plant that doesn't progress out of paper, an odd double-role for Asin, jokes overloading on the cheese at times and music that is surprisingly unmemorable.

On the plus side, BB's a dialogue-lover's delight - lines like 'fish and chips without water', Devgn conveying the situation of a 'jal bin machli' - sparkle across the plot and you can feel the love as the actors reprise bits and bobs of vintage Bollywood. On the downside, it exceeds by about 30 minutes and has that odd, uneven heart-chart quality accompanying the film. But that aside, BB showcases Shetty as the maharaja of madness, Devgn clearly his crown prince. And Abhishek? His judwa bhai, of course.

Tip-Off: Don't strain your brain applying reason to this laugh-riot - but do buy more popcorn for that extra half-hour.

Aircel to introduce 4G services later this year

Popular mobile service provider, Aircel, will reportedly introduce its 4G services in the country later this year. Business Standard now reports that Aircel will be investing $500 million (Rs. 2,757 crores) to launch its 4G services in the country between October and December, and will begin rolling out 4G services from Chennai and other cities in Tamil Nadu. Aircel, reportedly has its spectrum in eight circles in the country. Quoting Sandip Das, CEO of Malaysian telco Maxis Berhad (which controls a majority stake in Aircel), the report adds that, “Our focus is on creating a big data business. We’ll award contracts for 4G equipment soon and launch between October and December. We are putting in $500 million. We’ll be an integrated provider of 4G services.”

Aircel 4G to come in later this year

Das, reportedly has also been quoted as saying that not only will Aircel be providing mobile 4G services, by the way of dongles and devices, but the popular mobile service provider in the country also plans to offer broadband Internet, broadcasting, video on demand, education and health care services, et al. In fact, as per this report, Aircel has also been working at creating a fibre optic backbone, which it plans to do partly by leasing and partly by the way of its own investments.

Das, however cleared that the company is not aiming to be an all-India name in 4G, but prefers to be a 'large data player in certain circles.' When asked on whether the prices of 4G would be high as 3G, Das was quoted by this report as saying, "We have already equalised our 2G and 3G tariffs and have over a million subscribers. With China and India dominating the LTE market, we’ll see prices of devices fall.”

Only recently, Airtel grabbed national headlines when it launched its 4G services in India, first in Kolkata, then Bengaluru. Airtel for their 4G customers in Bengaluru and Kolkata offers, what it refers to as ‘Smartbytes’. This newly introduced feature, is Airtel’s 4G LTE top-up service and will essentially allow Airtel 4G customers to purchase add-on packs, which they can purchase once they have exhausted their free benefit usage.

Yet another interesting feature, that users are being offered on Airtel’s 4G network is a movie catalogue. Airtel is introducing a movie catalogue comprising 35 movies for their 4G LTE customers. Airtel will offer 10 movie titles for free, for the first month, which they claim that over lightening fast Airtel 4G LTE, these can be watched without buffering,pixilation and lag. To avail a monthly subscription for the catalogue, Airtel 4G LTE users will have to pay Rs.149 /month for unlimited movies. Some titles on offer include - Rang De Basanti, Fashion, Shootout At Lokhandwala, No One Killed Jessica, among others. Airtel, further, as part of their introductory offer for their customers availing their 4G services, will offer a cashback for the CPE/ dongle, thereby bringing down the device cost to zero, while also encouraging more to adopt 4G services.

Thank Lenovo, world’s smallest desktop is here

Electronics major Lenovo today said it has launched the world’s smallest enterprise computers, continuing its efforts to strengthen the product portfolio for this segment.

Electronics major Lenovo today said it has launched the world’s smallest enterprise computers.

The products ThinkCentre M72e and ThinkCentre M92p Tiny desktop PCs are priced at Rs 23,500 and above (excluding taxes and without operating system).

Being the industry’s first enterprise 1L PCs, the M72e and M92p offer superior performance and high reliability, the Chinese company said in a statement.

Trends in the enterprise PC industry suggest that an increasing number of organisations now prefer PCs that occupy less space and consume less energy yet perform at optimal levels, it added.

Microsoft gives Office a 2013 touch-up

A man walking into Microsoft's Office launch

Microsoft has unveiled a touch-ready version of Office, the latest version of the company's market-leading productivity software suite.

In San Francisco, Steve Ballmer described Office 2013 as the firm's "most ambitious release" to date.

The software is primed for mobile devices, cloud computing, and social networking.

Office is the globe's most popular productivity application, with a billion users worldwide.

It is also Microsoft's key revenue driver, and keeping it fresh is how the firm intends to maintain its market lead.

'Visceral' software

Throughout his hour-long demonstration on Monday, Mr Ballmer and Kirk Koenigsbauer, vice-president of Microsoft's Office division, highlighted how the software had been adapted to keep pace with technology changes.

Office 2013 is fully touch-ready, as is Windows 8, the company's latest operating system, and its new tablet computer, Surface, which is expected to be available in October.

Surface will hit stores some two-and-a-half years after Apple launched its iPad onto the market, and analysts say the power of Office gives Microsoft its bet chance at gaining a genuine foothold in the post-PC market.

Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer launches Office

Steve Ballmer said new touchscreen controls made the software a good match for tablets

For the first time, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook are all responsive to touch-screen controls - taps, swipes, and pinch-and-zoom can be used within documents, files and presentations.

The user-experience is designed to be more "immersive," "visceral" and "multimedia-rich" compared to earlier version of Office, Mr Ballmer said.

Documents, slides, and presentations can be marked up on mobile screens, drawn on, highlighted or annotated with a digital pen, stylus or even a finger.
Skype, bought for $8.5bn (£5.4bn) in 2011, and Yammer, a social network for businesses, are being rolled into Office: live, multi-party conversations and meetings can be created with Skype video and accessed within Word, PowerPoint, or Outlook.
New "People Cards" include an individual's digital "presence" - a photo, options to email, instant message, phone or video chat, and activity feeds from the social networks Facebook and Linkedin.
Skydrive automatically saves and syncs all Office documents in an online, cloud-based storage service. This makes files and content created in Office available on demand across computing devices.

Compatibility

In 2011, Microsoft Office was worth $14bn, more than half the company's profits, according to Michael Silver, a research analyst at Gartner.

"There doesn't seem to be a lot of competition here because Microsoft still has over 90% of the market," Mr Silver told the BBC.

While less expensive and free online alternatives to Office like Google Apps and Zoho have become available, no company is taking away significant market share from Microsoft yet, he said.

"Microsoft has been competing against free for over 10 years with the open source products and in terms of cheap with Google."

Microsoft hopes the new Office suite will pair with its Surface tablet to win business customers over

"But the compatibility issues... [have] been a bigger hurdle for people than a lot of people would have expected and it has kept the vast majority of users in the Microsoft camp," Mr Silver noted.

'Lock-in'

Andy McLoughlin, co-founder of Huddle, a cloud computing start-up in San Francisco that competes with Microsoft's Sharepoint software for online content management, sees Office as dominant in the workplace, but faltering elsewhere.

"Office is still seen as the de facto productivity suite for the workplace," he agreed.

"I think it's got a few years yet. Microsoft is still pretty clever in terms of the way that they license the software for big companies and so there's a certain degree of lock-in."

"When you talk about consumers, though, I don't really know any people who, unless they have a licence through work, would keep Office on their machine.

"Why spend several hundred dollars on software when you are really only using one or 2% of the functionality?"

Friday, July 13, 2012

Micromax launches X259 solar phone for Rs. 2,499

Avi Aggarwal, July 13, 2012

The Indian manufacturer Micromax has announced the launch of X259 handset, which comes with a built-in solar panel. Priced at Rs. 2,499, it is the first solar phone from the company.The built-in solar panel allows the phone to get automatically charged when exposed to sunlight. It is targeted to rural consumers, who constantly grapple with power cuts over long durations. According to the company, three hours of solar charge provides 1.5 hours of talk time on the phone.

Micromax X259 also features a 2.4-inch QVGA screen with a resolution of 240x320p, 1000mAh Li-ion battery and dual-SIM dual-standby feature. The handset also supports Bluetooth connectivity.

"We have been at the forefront of innovation. We have introduced many categories into this competitive Industry be it long battery life phones or dual SIM phones. With the introduction of this our intent is to get rid of the mobile phone charger by including a solar panel on the device itself," stated Rahul Sharma, co-founder, Micromax.

Micromax X259 key specs

2.4-inch display with 240x320p resolution
VGA camera
GPRS
Bluetooth
Mi-Zone/Mi-Store
1000 mAh battery
Dual-SIM support

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Android (operating system)

Android is a Linux-based operating system for mobile devices such as smartphones and tablet computers. It is developed by the Open Handset Alliance, led by Google, and other companies.^[2]

Google purchased the initial developer of the software, Android Inc., in 2005.^[8] The unveiling of the Android distribution in 2007 was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 86 hardware, software, andtelecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices.^[9] Google releases the Android code as open-source, under the Apache License.^[10] The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is tasked with the maintenance and further development of Android.^[11]

Android has a large community of developers writing applications ("apps") that extend the functionality of the devices. Developers write primarily in a customized version of Java.^[12] Apps can be downloaded from third-party sites or through online stores such as Google Play (formerly Android Market), the app store run by Google. In October 2011, there were more than 500,000 apps available for Android,^[13] and the estimated number of applications downloaded from the Android Market as of December 2011 exceeded 10 billion.^[14]

Android became the world’s leading smartphone platform at the end of 2010.^[15] For the first quarter of 2012, Android had a 59% smartphone market share worldwide.^[16] At the half of 2012, there were 400 million devices activated and 1 million activations per day.^[17] Analysts point to the advantage to Android of being a multi-channel, multi-carrier OS.

Android

Home screen displayed by Samsung Galaxy Nexus, running Android 4.1 "Jelly Bean"
Company /developer	Google, Open Handset Alliance,Android Open Source Project
Programmed in	C, C++, Java^[1]
OS family	Linux
Working state	Current
Source model	Open source^[2]
Initial release	September 20, 2008
Latest stable release	4.1.1 Jelly Bean^[3] / July 10, 2012; 0 days ago^[4]
Package manager	Google Play / APK
Supported platforms	ARM, MIPS,^[5] x86^[6]
Kernel type	Monolithic (modified Linux kernel)
Default user interface	Graphical
License	Apache License 2.0 Linux kernel patches under GNU GPL v2^[7]
Official website	www.android.com

History

[edit]Foundation

Android, Inc. was founded in Palo Alto, California, United States in October 2003 by Andy Rubin (co-founder of Danger),^[19] Rich Miner (co-founder of Wildfire Communications, Inc.),^[20] Nick Sears^[21] (once VP at T-Mobile),^[22] and Chris White (headed design and interface development at WebTV)^[8] to develop, in Rubin's words "...smarter mobile devices that are more aware of its owner's location and preferences".^[8] Despite the obvious past accomplishments of the founders and early employees, Android Inc. operated secretly, revealing only that it was working on software for mobile phones.^[8] That same year, Rubin ran out of money. Steve Perlman, a close friend of Rubin, brought him $10,000 in cash in an envelope and refused a stake in the company.^[23]

[edit]Acquisition by Google

Google acquired Android Inc. on August 17, 2005, making Android Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Google. Key employees of Android Inc., including Andy Rubin, Rich Miner and Chris White, stayed at the company after the acquisition.^[8]Not much was known about Android Inc. at the time of the acquisition, but many assumed that Google was planning to enter the mobile phone market with this move.^[8]

[edit]Post-acquisition development

At Google, the team led by Rubin developed a mobile device platform powered by the Linux kernel. Google marketed the platform to handset makers and carriers on the promise of providing a flexible, upgradable system. Google had lined up a series of hardware component and software partners and signaled to carriers that it was open to various degrees of cooperation on their part.^[24]^[25]^[26]

Speculation about Google's intention to enter the mobile communications market continued to build through December 2006.^[27] Reports from the BBC and The Wall Street Journal noted that Google wanted its search and applications on mobile phones and it was working hard to deliver that. Print and online media outlets soon reported rumors that Google was developing a Google-branded handset. Some speculated that as Google was defining technical specifications, it was showing prototypes to cell phone manufacturers and network operators.

In September 2007, InformationWeek covered an Evalueserve study reporting that Google had filed several patent applications in the area of mobile telephony.^[28]^[29]

[edit]Open Handset Alliance

Main article: Open Handset Alliance

On November 5, 2007, the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of several companies which include Broadcom Corporation, Google, HTC, Intel, LG, Marvell Technology Group, Motorola, Nvidia, Qualcomm, Samsung Electronics, Sprint Nextel,T-Mobile and Texas Instruments unveiled itself. The goal of the Open Handset Alliance is to develop open standards for mobile devices.^[9] On the same day, the Open Handset Alliance also unveiled their first product, Android, a mobile device platform built on the Linux kernel version 2.6.^[9]

On December 9, 2008, 14 new members joined, including ARM Holdings, Atheros Communications, Asustek Computer Inc, Garmin Ltd, Huawei Technologies, PacketVideo, Softbank, Sony Ericsson, Toshiba Corp, and Vodafone Group Plc.^[30]^[31]

[edit]Android Open Source Project

The Android Open Source Project (AOSP) is led by Google, and is tasked with the maintenance and development of Android.^[32] According to the project "The goal of the Android Open Source Project is to create a successful real-world product that improves the mobile experience for end users."^[33] AOSP also maintains the Android Compatibility Program, defining an "Android compatible" device "as one that can run any application written by third-party developers using the Android SDK and NDK", to prevent incompatible Android implementations.^[33] The compatibility program is also optional and free of charge, with the Compatibility Test Suite also free and open-source.^[34]

[edit]Version history

Main article: Android version history

From left to right: HTC Dream (G1), Nexus One, Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus

Android has been updated frequently since the original release of "Astro", with each fixing bugs and adding new features. Each version is named in alphabetical order, with 1.5 "Cupcake" being the first named after adessert and every update since following this naming convention.^[35]

[edit]Design

Architecture diagram

Android consists of a kernel based on the Linux kernel, with middleware, libraries and APIs written in C and application software running on an application framework which includes Java-compatible libraries based onApache Harmony. Android uses the Dalvik virtual machine with just-in-time compilation to run Dalvik dex-code (Dalvik Executable), which is usually translated from Java bytecode.^[36]

The main hardware platform for Android is the ARM architecture. There is support for x86 from the Android x86 project,^[6] and Google TV uses a special x86 version of Android.

[edit]Linux

Android's kernel is based on the Linux kernel and has further architecture changes by Google outside the typical Linux kernel development cycle.^[37] Android does not have a native X Window System nor does it support the full set of standard GNU libraries, and this makes it difficult to port existing Linux applications or libraries to Android.^[38]

Certain features that Google contributed back to the Linux kernel, notably a power management feature called wakelocks, were rejected by mainline kernel developers, partly because kernel maintainers felt that Google did not show any intent to maintain their own code.^[39]^[40]^[41] Even though Google announced in April 2010 that they would hire two employees to work with the Linux kernel community,^[42] Greg Kroah-Hartman, the current Linux kernel maintainer for the -stable branch, said in December 2010 that he was concerned that Google was no longer trying to get their code changes included in mainstream Linux.^[40] Some Google Android developers hinted that "the Android team was getting fed up with the process", because they were a small team and had more urgent work to do on Android.^[43]

However, in September 2010, Linux kernel developer Rafael J. Wysocki added a patch that improved the mainline Linux wakeup events framework. He said that Android device drivers that use wakelocks can now be easily merged into mainline Linux, but that Android's opportunistic suspend features should not be included in the mainline kernel.^[44]^[45] In August 2011, Linus Torvalds said that "eventually Android and Linux would come back to a common kernel, but it will probably not be for four to five years".^[46]

In December 2011, Greg Kroah-Hartman announced the start of the Android Mainlining Project, which aims to put some Android drivers, patches and features back into the Linux kernel, starting in Linux 3.3.^[47] further integration being expected for Linux Kernel 3.4.^[48]

[edit]Features

The Android Emulator default home screen (v1.5, also known as "Cupcake")

Current features and specifications:^[49]^[50]^[51]

Handset layouts: The platform is adaptable to larger, VGA, 2D graphics library, 3D graphics library based on OpenGL ES 2.0 specifications, and traditional smartphone layouts.
Storage: SQLite, a lightweight relational database, is used for data storage purposes.
Connectivity: Android supports connectivity technologies including GSM/EDGE, IDEN, CDMA, EV-DO, UMTS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, LTE, NFC and WiMAX.
Messaging: SMS and MMS are available forms of messaging, including threaded text messaging and now Android Cloud To Device Messaging (C2DM) is also a part of Android Push Messaging service.
Multiple language support: Android supports multiple languages.^[52]
Web browser: The web browser available in Android is based on the open-source WebKit layout engine, coupled with Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine. The browser scores 100/100 on the Acid3 test on Android 4.0.
Java support: While most Android applications are written in Java, there is no Java Virtual Machine in the platform and Java byte code is not executed. Java classes are compiled into Dalvik executables and run on Dalvik, a specialized virtual machine designed specifically for Android and optimized for battery-powered mobile devices with limited memory and CPU. J2ME support can be provided via third-party applications.
Media support: Android supports the following audio/video/still media formats: WebM, H.263, H.264 (in 3GP or MP4 container), MPEG-4 SP, AMR, AMR-WB (in 3GP container), AAC, HE-AAC (in MP4 or 3GP container), MP3, MIDI, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, WAV, JPEG,PNG, GIF, BMP, WebP.^[51]
Streaming media support: RTP/RTSP streaming (3GPP PSS, ISMA), HTML progressive download (HTML5 ). Adobe Flash Streaming (RTMP) and HTTP Dynamic Streaming are supported by the Flash plugin.^[53] Apple HTTP Live Streaming is supported by RealPlayer for Android,^[54] and by the operating system in Android 3.0 (Honeycomb).^[55]
Additional hardware support: Android can use video/still cameras, touchscreens, GPS, accelerometers, gyroscopes, barometers, magnetometers, dedicated gaming controls, proximity and pressure sensors, thermometers, accelerated 2D bit blits (with hardware orientation, scaling, pixel format conversion) and accelerated 3D graphics.
Multi-touch: Android has native support for multi-touch which was initially made available in handsets such as the HTC Hero. The feature was originally disabled at the kernel level (possibly to avoid infringing Apple's patents on touch-screen technology at the time).^[56] Google has since released an update for the Nexus One and the Motorola Droid which enables multi-touch natively.^[57]
Bluetooth: Supports A2DP, AVRCP, sending files (OPP), accessing the phone book (PBAP), voice dialing and sending contacts between phones. Keyboard, mouse and joystick (HID) support is available in Android 3.1+, and in earlier versions through manufacturer customizations and third-party applications.^[58]
Video calling: Android does not support native video calling, but some handsets have a customized version of the operating system that supports it, either via the UMTS network (like the Samsung Galaxy S) or over IP. Video calling through Google Talk is available in Android 2.3.4 and later. Gingerbread allows Nexus S to place Internet calls with a SIP account. This allows for enhanced VoIP dialing to other SIP accounts and even phone numbers. Skype 2.1 offers video calling in Android 2.3, including front camera support.
Multitasking: Multitasking of applications, with unique handling of memory allocation, is available.^[59]
Voice based features: Google search through voice has been available since initial release.^[60] Voice actions for calling, texting, navigation, etc. are supported on Android 2.2 onwards.^[61]
Tethering: Android supports tethering, which allows a phone to be used as a wireless/wired Wi-Fi hotspot. Before Android 2.2 this was supported by third-party applications or manufacturer customizations.^[62]
Screen capture: Android supports capturing a screenshot by pressing the power and volume-down buttons at the same time.^[63] Prior to Android 4.0, the only methods of capturing a screenshot were through manufacturer and third-party customizations or otherwise by using a PC connection (DDMS developer's tool). These alternative methods are still available with the latest Android.
External storage: Most Android devices include microSD slot and can read microSD cards formatted with FAT32, Ext3 or Ext4 file system. To allow use of high-capacity storage media such as USB flash drives and USB HDDs, many Android tablets also include USB 'A' receptacle. Storage formatted withFAT32 is handled by Linux Kernel VFAT driver, while 3rd party solutions are required to handle other popular file systems such as NTFS, HFS Plus and exFAT.

[edit]Uses

[edit]Applications

Applications are usually developed in the Java language using the Android Software Development Kit, but other development tools are available, including a Native Development Kit for applications or extensions in C or C++, Google App Inventor, a visual environment for novice programmers and various cross platform mobile web applications frameworks.

Applications can be acquired by end-users either through a store such as Google Play or the Amazon Appstore, or by downloading and installing the application's APK file from a third-party site.^[81]

[edit]Google Play

The Play Store on a Galaxy Nexus.

Main article: Google Play

Google Play is an online software store developed by Google for Android devices. An application program ("app") called "Play Store" is preinstalled on most Android devices and allows users to browse and download apps published by third-party developers, hosted on Google Play. As of October 2011, there were more than 500,000 apps available for Android,^[13] and the estimated number of applications downloaded from the Play Store as of June 2012 exceeded 20 billion. The operating system itself is installed on 130 million total devices.^[82]

Only devices that comply with Google's compatibility requirements are allowed to preinstall and access the Play Store.^[83] The app filters the list of available applications to those that are compatible with the user's device, and developers may restrict their applications to particular carriers or countries for business reasons.^[84]

Google has participated in the Play Store by offering many free applications themselves, including Google Voice, Google Goggles, Gesture Search, Google Translate, Google Shopper, Listen and My Tracks. In August 2010, Google launched "Voice Actions for Android",^[85] which allows users to search, write messages, and initiate calls by voice.

[edit]Security

[edit]Privacy

Android smartphones have the ability to report the location of Wi-Fi access points, encountered as phone users move around, to build databases containing the physical locations of hundreds of millions of such access points. These databases form electronic maps to locate smartphones, allowing them to run apps like Foursquare, Latitude, Places, and to deliver location-based ads.^[97]

Third party monitoring software such as TaintDroid,^[98] an academic research-funded project, can, in some cases, detect when personal information is being sent from applications to remote servers.^[99]

In March 2012 it was revealed that Android Apps can copy photos without explicit user permission,^[100] Google responded they "originally designed the Android photos file system similar to those of other computing platforms like Windows and Mac OS. [...]we're taking another look at this and considering adding a permission for apps to access images. We've always had policies in place to remove any apps [on Google Play] that improperly access your data."^[101]

[edit]Marketing

The Android logotype was designed along with the Droid font family by Ascender Corporation,^[102] the robot icon was designed by Irina Blok.^[103]

Android Green is the color of the Android Robot that represents the Android operating system. The print color is PMS 376C and the RGB color value in hexadecimal is #A4C639, as specified by the Android Brand Guidelines.^[104] The custom typeface of Android is called Norad (cf. NORAD). It is only used in the text logo.^[104]

[edit]Market share

period	worldwide smartphones market	U.S. smartphone market	global devices	activations per day	U.S devices	source
Q2 2009	2.8%			12,100		Canalys^[105]
Q3 2009	4%^[106]	8%^[107]		18,000
Q4 2009	8.7%			51,100		Canalys^[15]
2009		9.7%				North America, Canalys^[108]
February 2010					4,09 million	9% of 45.4 million U.S. smartphones, ComScore ^[109]
Q1 2010		28 %				NPD Group^[110] Android outsold Apple's iPhone in the U.S.
May 2010				100,000^[111]
June 2010		33%^[107]		160,000^[111]
Q3 2010	25.3%	43.6%^[112]		223,000		Gartner^[113]
September 2010					12.6 million	21.4% of the 58.7 million U.S. smartphones^[114]
Q4 2010	32.9%			362,000		Canalys.^[15]
February 2011					23.8 million	comscore^[115] (63% of the number of iOS devices)
Q1 2011	35%			393,000		Canalys, 4 May 2011.^[116]
10 May 2011			100 million	400,000		Google I/O^[117]
28 June 2011				500,000		a 4.4% weekly growth, Andy Rubin^[118]
Q2 2011	48%	52%^[119]		568,000		Canalys, 1 August 2011 ^[120]
July 14, 2011				550,000		4.4% growth per week. Google^[121]
Q3 2011	52.5%			658,000		Gartner^[113]
October 13, 2011			190 million			Google ^[122]
November 16, 2011			200 million			during the Google Music announcement "These Go to Eleven"^[123] 3.8 million Android Honeycomb Tablets have been sold.^[124]
December 20, 2011			250 million	700,000		Andy Rubin, Google^[125]
27 February 2012			300 million	850,000		250% yearly growth rate. Andy Rubin, Google^[126]
Q1 2012	59%		331 million	934,000		85 millions in 91 days, Signals and Systems Telecom^[16]
27 June 2012			400 million	1 million		Google^[17]

[edit]Usage share

Usage share of the different versions as of July 3, 2012

Usage share of the different versions as of July 3, 2012.^[127] Most Android devices to date run the older OS version 2.3.x Gingerbread that was released on December 6, 2010, even though the newest OS version, 4.1.x Jelly Bean has been released since June 2012.

Version	Release date	API level	Distribution
4.1.x Jelly Bean	June 28, 2012	16	Not Yet Known
4.0.x Ice Cream Sandwich	October 19, 2011	14-15	10.9%
3.x.x Honeycomb	February 22, 2011	11-13	2.1%
2.3.x Gingerbread	December 6, 2010	9-10	64%
2.2 Froyo	May 20, 2010	8	17.3%
2.0, 2.1 Eclair	October 26, 2009	7	4.7%
1.6 Donut	September 15, 2009	4	0.5%
1.5 Cupcake	April 30, 2009	3	0.2%

[edit]Intellectual property

[edit]Licensing

The source code for Android is available under free and open source software licenses. Google publishes most of the code (including network and telephony stacks)^[128] under the Apache License version 2.0,^[129]^[130]^[131] and the rest, Linux kernel changes, under the GNU General Public License version 2.

The Open Handset Alliance develops the changes to the Linux kernel, in public, with source code publicly available at all times. The rest of Android is developed in private, with source code released publicly when a new version is released. Typically Google collaborates with a hardware manufacturer to produce a flagship device (part of the Google Nexus series) featuring the new version of Android, then makes the source code available after that device has been released.^[132]

In early 2011, Google chose to temporarily withhold the Android source code to the tablet-only Honeycomb release, the reason, according to Andy Rubin in an official Android blog post, was because Honeycomb was rushed for production of the Motorola Xoom,^[133] and they did not want third parties creating a "really bad user experience" by attempting to put onto smartphones a version of Android intended for tablets.^[134] The source code was once again made available in November 2011 with the release of Android 4.0.^[135]

[edit]Copyrights and patents

Further information: Oracle v. Google

Both Android and Android phone manufacturers have been the target of numerous patent lawsuits. On August 12, 2010, Oracle sued Google over claimed infringement of copyrights and patents related to the Java programming language.^[136] Oracle originally sought damages up to $6.1 billion,^[137] but this valuation was rejected by a federal judge who asked Oracle to revise the estimate.^[138] In response, Google submitted multiple lines of defense, counterclaiming that Android did not infringe on Oracle's patents or copyright, that Oracle's patents were invalid, and several other defenses. They said that Android is based on Apache Harmony, a clean room implementation of the Java class libraries, and an independently developed virtual machine called Dalvik.^[139]

In May 2012 the jury in this case found that Google did not infringe on Oracle's patents, and the trial judge ruled that the structure of the Java APIs used by Google was not copyrightable.^[140]^[141]

Microsoft has also sued several manufacturers of Android devices for patent infringement, and collects patent licensing fees from others. In October 2011 Microsoft said they had signed license agreements with ten Android device manufacturers, accounting for 55% of worldwide revenue for Android devices.^[142] These include Samsung and HTC.^[143]

Google has publicly expressed its dislike for the current patent landscape in the United States, accusing Apple, Oracle and Microsoft of trying to take down Android through patent litigation, rather than innovating and competing with better products and services.^[144] In August 2011, Google started the process of purchasing Motorola Mobility for US$12.5 billion, which was viewed in part as a defensive measure to protect Android, since Motorola Mobility holds more than 17,000 patents.^[145] In December 2011 Google acquired in the region of a thousand patents from IBM.