Android Tablet Update

Android is an operating system (OS) used on some mobile phones. Android has become increasingly popular, with millions of users worldwide. Part of the appeal of the Android operating system is that it allows for open-source development. This makes it possible for almost anyone to create applications (apps) for use with Android phones. This has led to a wide and varied range of useful and enjoyable Android apps, many of which are free. Try these 8 must-have free apps for your Android phone.

1. Evernote

Evernote is an online storage facility for keeping and organizing notes, files, photographs and other kinds of documents. It allows you to capture pieces of information from the Internet, such as articles, images and even entire web pages, to store in your Evernote account. Evernote synchronizes your phone, computer and online account to give you instant access to all of your documents, wherever and whenever you may need them.

2. TweetDeck

TweetDeck is a social networking tool that allows you to keep track of multiple Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Buzz accounts, all in one compact application. TweetDeck uses side-by-side panels to keep you updated on all of your social networking activity. You can send and reply to messages, update your status, check your timeline and even sign in to multiple accounts at the same time.

3. Google Maps

Google Maps provides up-to-the-minute travel information, as well as detailed maps of almost everywhere in the world. Google Maps for Android can serve as a GPS satellite navigation device, and provide live traffic information to help you avoid road works, congestion and traffic accidents. Google Maps also provides travel information and directions for public transport, pedestrians and cyclists.

4. Amazon Kindle

Kindle for Android allows you to read Kindle books and PDF files on your phone. You can buy books from the Amazon Kindle store and download them directly to your device. Kindle for Android also allows you to customize the reading options, such as background colour, text size and screen brightness.

5. YouTube

The YouTube app for Android allows you to watch your favourite YouTube videos from your phone. It has a simple-to-use interface that makes it easy to search for videos, add them to your favourites or “watch later” list, view related content, read comments and subscribe to channels.

6. Angry Birds

Angry Birds is a hugely popular and addictive strategy game developed by Rovio Mobile. It was originally made for Apple phones, but has since been made available to Android users. Angry Birds is one of the most popular apps of all time, with millions of downloads to date.

7. Google Reader

Google Reader is an RSS feed reader that allows you to view all of your RSS feeds in one place. You can also customize the settings for easier viewing. Keep up to date with your favourite websites by adding their RSS feeds to Google Reader, and then reading them on your Android phone.

8. EBay

The eBay app for Android provides an easy way to keep track of all your eBay activity while on the move. Using the eBay app, you can search for products, browse categories, bid on items, buy, sell, leave feedback, send and receive messages and much more. The eBay app also includes the option to scan barcodes to make it easier to identify products.

There is a wide range of free applications available for the Android phone, many of which can help to improve your Android experience. However, make sure that the applications come from a reputable source, as downloading applications can put your phone at risk of damage from malicious sources.

Many website developers and owners use Search Engine Optimization to gain a better ranking at various search engines, so they can attract a larger number of visitors to websites. As the Android network continues to grow at a very fast rate, more and more people are choosing Android smart phones, and many less individuals are using home internet connections or land line telephones for communication. For those who want to be on the top of the list at search engines, SEO is extremely important.

Current estimates suggest that by the year 2014 the amount of people using mobile internet will far surpass the amount of people that use home computers. This means that mobile marketing and online marketing have never been more important than they are today.  Through the use of SEO, you can greatly strengthen your online presence.  The following information is designed to show you how you can benefit from SEO techniques.

Why is SEO Important For My Business?

If you are attempting to attract visitors to your webpage or website, you can greatly benefit from using SEO techniques. SEO strategies include editing webpage content so that the page will be ranked higher in search engines like Google and Bing. SEO professionals edit HTML or writing content to include keywords that dominate the industry the webpage is aimed at. SEO professionals also take efforts to increase backlinks, which are inbound links that will direct mobile internet users to the webpage. After you have optimized your site for search engines using SEO techniques, the number of visitors on your page will definitely increase.

SEO marketing is much more effective than United States Postal Service based mail marketing campaigns.  For example, the USPS does not deliver any mail on Sunday, meaning that if you advertise by using USPS to deliver your message through the mail, you will be missing out on advertisement opportunities one day per week.  On top of that, SEO marketing is less expensive than paying to print out a ton of materials for mailing.  Best of all, a well designed SEO plan will start to work very quickly.

How do People Use Android Smart Phones?

Mobile devices like Android smart phones are used for many purposes other than communication. There are a ton of people who use their Android smart phone as their primary source of internet. Some recent studies have shown that over 90% of Android smart phone users use the internet on their Android phone. On top of that, it is projected that as many as 50% of Android users shop at the Google Play Store (previously known as the Android Market) and other online stores.

Many businesses are using SEO techniques today in order to increase their online visibility.  Do not allow competitors to gain an edge over your business with SEO. Now that you know more about this exciting way to increase traffic to your site, you owe it to yourself to begin using SEO to your benefit.  Claim your success with effective SEO marketing.

No longer the platform of the 1%, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is now found on nearly 5% (4.9%) of Android devices, according to the latest Android Platform Versions Chart. Android 2.3 Gingerbread is still found on the most devices by far, with 64.4% of Android devices running the previous version of Android. These charts are based on the number of devices that have accessed the Google Play Store over the past 14 days, giving a fairly good estimate of the breakdown of devices in the general population.

Still, with Ice Cream Sandwich now six months old, and Jelly Bean set to be unveiled later this year, we’re a bit disappointed that Android 4 is not available on more devices. The update to Android 4 is the greatest improvement yet in the Android OS, meaning it has taken OEMs significantly longer to push out updates to their devices.

With an update for the best selling Android device, the Galaxy S II, hitting the airwaves around the world recently (coming soon to the U.S.), we should see this number creep up and break the 10% mark shortly. Are you one of the lucky 5% to be on the latest and greatest version of Android? One of the 0.3% still on Cupcake?!

Android has finally broken the 50% market share hurdle, according to a quarterly report from comScore. Android continued its phenomenal level of growth for the quarter ending in March 2012, climbing 3.7% since the December survey. Android’s growth continues to come at the expense of RIM and Microsoft, who saw declines of 3.7% and 0.8% respectively. Apple’s iOS gained just over 1% to make up 30.7% of the U.S. market.

Android’s biggest challengers in the future will be Microsoft and RIM, who will both release major new platform revisions in the fall. With consumer sentiment increasingly against these companies, however, it appears the smartphone OS market will be a two-trick pony for at least the foreseeable future.

Can Android break 60% in coming months, or do you think we’ll start to see the market plateau after too long? Sound off in the comments.

What makes the best Android apps so popular? How does one little app get so famous and attract so many people to buy it? 

The top Android apps on the Android Market have garnered hundreds of thousands of downloads and have pristine ratings of between 4 and 5 stars. What makes them so popular, and why are they considered one of the best android apps in the market? Let’s examine some of the apps considered the best android app in their category and what you can learn from these apps that you could incorporate into the apps you build.

1. Beautiful Widgets

This app, which at the time of this blog post costs $2.89 on the Android Market, gives you all sorts of great looking widgets including clock widgets, weather widgets, date widgets, and plenty of skins and themes to boot. It has a 4.5 star rating from more than 55,000 user reviews.

What this app can teach you about app ideas: That aesthetics and beautiful Android apps can sell. If you thought that only apps that did something important got downloaded, think again. The Beautiful Widgets app shows that all the app needs to do is tell time or give you the weather, but that if it looks great, you can make a boatload of money.

2. Titanium Backup Pro

Titanium Backup Pro is a root app for the Android. With the app, Android users can make backups and restorations of downloaded applications. This app is also capable of freezing unwanted apps (like bloat apps that come with the phone which cannot be deleted) and unfreezing them. Titanium Backup Pro has many other features to organize and secure your apps. This app has an excellent 4.8 star rating and costs $6.58.

What this app can teach you about app ideas: That experienced and heavy Android users are a market, too. Some people have the perception that tech savvy Android users won’t pay for apps. At nearly $7, Titanium Backup Pro proves them wrong. This app has hundreds of thousands of installs. Titanium Backup Pro is widely regarded as one of the best Android apps not just in its category but also in the whole Android Market due to its usefulness. Titanium Backup Pro shows that if your app solves a problem that many Android users have, you could make lots of money.

3. Fruit Ninja

Fruit Ninja calls itself a “juicy action game with squishy, splatty and satisfying fruit carnage.” It is a popular game where users’ finger swipes slash animated fruit, netting the gamer a score for how well the fruit is sliced. The free version of the app has a 4.5 star rating and has been downloaded several million times. The paid version is $1.26, has a 4.4 star rating, and has been downloaded between 500,000 and 1 million times.

What this app can teach you about app ideas: That simplicity sells. Simple games make up much of the best android apps list in the gaming category. Fruit Ninja’s success shows that Android apps that are simple can be better than those that are complicated. The Fruit Ninja app shows that your quest to make the best android app doesn’t have to involve too much complexity and too many sleepless nights.

The T-Mobile HTC One S is now available T-Mobile. If you’re looking to save a little cash, trade-in an old smartphone and T-Mobile will give you a guaranteed $100 when you purchase the HTC One S (or any other 4G phone). If you bring in an iPhone, T-Mobile will double the offer and reward you with a guaranteed $200. If T-Mobile deems your trade-in is worth more, they will reimburse you accordingly.

Qualifying smartphones include any Android, iPhone, Blackberry, Windows Phone, or Symbian 9.0+ device and customers will be required to sign up for a new two year contract which is subject to a $300 early termination fee. Unfortunately, the cash back offer isn’t immediate. To receive your “cash” you must mail in the trade-in handset, trade-in voucher, and proof of purchase. Once all your paper work is processed, T-Mobile will mail you a pre-paid debit card within 60 days.

If you’re looking to buy a new phone or had plans to pick up the HTC One S today, T-Mobile’s Magenta Deal Days is a great way to save some extra cash. Anyone trading in an iPhone for the HTC One S will essentially get the phone for free after the $50 mail-in rebate and trade-in reimbursement are processed.

Are any of you planning on purchasing the HTC One S? Will you take advantage of the Magenta Deal Days offer or will you try to recuperate a little more cash by listing your phone on CraigsList or eBay?

Before you head down to your local T-Mobile store, check out our HTC One S review to see if it is the right phone for you.

HTC fans hoping for a new Android phone equipped with a QWERTY keyboard will be extremely disappointed to learn that HTC is moving away from producing new devices with physical keyboards. HTC creative director Claude Zellweger made the announcement in Seattle during a press event, stating “As a company the QWERTY keyboard we’re moving away from in general.” Zellweger goes on to say “putting too much effort into that [QWERTY phones] would take away from our devices.” Rather than spending extra time on new hardware designs for QWERTY equipped devices, HTC will focus on improving its on-screen keypad software to consumers.

Even though most of the popular smartphones released in the past few years have not had physical keyboards, QWERTY devices have played a key role in the development of Android and its growth since the very beginning. Couple today’s news with HTC’s revelation from yesterday that they scrapped  plans to release 3,000+ mAh battery-toting devices and you have  a recipe which will produce some angry and frustrated HTC fans.

Having owned three QWERTY phones made by HTC, I am personally disappointed to hear that there may never be a true T-Mobile G3 device to replace my G2. Do you think HTC is making the right decision by abandoning development of new QWERTY devices?

Update: It seems we jumped to conclusions a bit too early. Claude has clarified a few things in another statement, acknowledging that there is a “diehard community” waiting for new QWERTY devices, but HTC is waiting for a few technologies to mature before they test the waters again.

I think the market's there, the sort of the diehard community, they keep wanting it, there's definitely still a market for it. We feel that putting too much effort in that would take away from our main focus, being a whole-screen device. I think people recognize the trade-off with size. There are a couple of technologies that we are waiting to sort of mature that could make a big bump suddenly in the evolution, that we are looking at very closely.Claude Zellweger

Time and time again, Android’s demise is spelled out by bloggers all across the globe. Whether it’s because of a lack of revenue generated by Android itself, fragmentation, a new iPhone or a patent lawsuit, someone, somewhere is always predicting Android is on the way out. Well if you haven’t noticed, that’s far from reality. Android is doing just fine. But it may not always be the super behemoth we’ve come to know in the past two years.

The mobile technology industry could see some major changes as 2012 plays out, all of them affecting Android in one way or another.

Nokia Lumia, and what it means for Windows Phone

With the Nokia Lumia 900 available for free to new AT&T customers, with a two-year contract, set for release on April 8th, Microsoft may just finally see a substantial gain in smartphone marketshare.

Until the Lumia 900, one of the most obvious things holding Windows Phone back was the devices the OS was being slapped on. They were essentially all older Android phones. There hadn’t been a single Windows Phone device that didn’t have a better Android equivalent. And then came the Lumia 900.

The Lumia 900 has everything needed to become a blockbuster hit. The internals are good enough to last the average smartphone user a couple years, the display is top notch, it has 4G LTE and it looks absolutely fantastic.

It’s totally unique in design. The Lumia screams for attention. It’s how a smartphone should look in 2012. Bright, bold, masterfully crafted. Windows Phone fits the Lumia 900 like a glove. And it’s available to new AT&T customers for free on contract. If you’re upgrading to the Lumia 900, it’s still only $99.

Nokia is going to bet the farm on the Lumia 900. AT&T will be pushing the Lumia, Microsoft will be pushing the Lumia and Nokia will likely drop everything they have into ads and marketing campaigns for the Lumia 900.

When the Lumia 900 launches on April 8th, and you can find it sitting among the Galaxy Note and iPhone 4S, for less than half the cost of either of those devices, consumers will finally struggle to pick between three operating systems. Not just two. And someone will lose marketshare to it. The question then becomes, who?

The iPhone is still on the rise, and that’s just the 4S

No matter how the readers of this site view Apple’s iPhone, there is absolutely no denying it is the most popular phone in the entire world. The 4S has shattered previous sales records held by earlier models of the iPhone, and Apple is far from done.

According to some recent reports available online, the iPhone is outselling all other smartphones combined on both Sprint and AT&T, and is neck-and-neck with all Android phones combined at Verizon. It’s been this way since October of 2011. That’s half a year of iPhone domination, with no end in sight. And its design dates back to nearly two years ago.

Apple is set to release the iPhone 5 this year, sometime between June and October. Not much is known about the iPhone 5, but rumors indicate that it might see some sort of radical redesign and feature access to the three largest carrier’s LTE networks in the US. Whatever it ends up looking like, and whether it’s LTE enabled or not, it’s still going to be an iPhone. And realistically, that’s all it needs to keep selling well. Although a new design and LTE access will definitely help.

With AT&T, Verizon and Sprint all selling the iPhone 5, there’s reason to believe Apple will take back some of the market share it once lost to Android. Android certainly won’t just shrivel up and die, but one way or another there’s going to be a shift in the numbers.

RIM for sale?

If Microsoft and Apple spend all of 2012 gobbling up market share in the US, will Android simply see a sharp decline? I believe there will be a decline, but it will be closer to a leveling out than a sharp decline. There’s still plenty of ways for Android to build and maintain market share, like feature phone users turned smart phone users, and the business sector who previously relied on BlackBerry devices. Recent studies do show the adoption rate of iOS devices in corporate America skyrocketing, but Android could easily jump to the head of pack with one simple move: buying RIM.

There’s no way RIM is going to survive the next two years at the absolute most. RIM is hemorrhaging money and losing market share on a daily basis. The next big thing from the company isn’t due out until the tail end of 2012. And by then, we’ll see the next iPhone, next generation Windows Phones and a new breed of Android phones as well. So what is the company going to do? If they’re smart, they’ll sell now while they might still be worth something.

RIM still owns some good software. They’ve talked about licensing it in the past, but it may be time to just get rid of it. I doubt Apple would be interested, and Microsoft has their own enterprise solutions. Google’s the only one I could see being really interested.

Imagine a line of Android devices built around everything Google would acquire from buying RIM. Imagine being able to merge your BlackBerry Messenger account with Google Talk. Or Google Talk with all the best parts of BlackBerry Messenger thrown in.

It could work. Giving Google not only access to the most well known tools in business, but access to some great consumer software as well. Whatever RIM ultimately decides to do, it will undoubtedly impact every industry the company has touched on. I can’t help but wonder just how involved Google will be.

Between Amazon and Google, something’s got to give

The Android tablet market is sad to say the least. From where things are sitting right now, it looks like Apple has turned the tablet industry into another iPod scenario. But there’s still hope yet. Amazon proved they can move some hardware with the Kindle Fire, and Google is looking to get into the tablet game themselves. Could this spell success for Android tablets in 2012?

iPad sales didn’t exactly suffer in 2011. In fact, they were quite the opposite. That doesn’t mean other tablets didn’t do well either. The Kindle Fire was a huge success. Amazon sold a boat load of Fires during the holiday season, and they certainly aren’t done yet.

2012 will see the introduction of Amazon’s newest tablets. A larger Kindle Fire that’s priced accordingly could make a killing in 2012. The 7-inch Kindle Fire sold well for just $200, but a $300, or even $250, 10-inch Fire could possibly sell even better. If there are two things consumers care about when purchasing things like electronics, it’s the name and price. Amazon has both going for them. Look for another big year for Amazon in 2012.

Google isn’t done trying to make their mark on the tablet market either. During CES, we saw the unveiling of a Tegra 3 powered 7-inch tablet from ASUS that was marked as coming to retail at about $250. There’s good reason to believe that very tablet will end up coming to market at around $150(!), with Google Nexus branding.

Between a new Kindle Fire, Google’s tablet, Motorola and Samsung’s continued tablet efforts, Android just might see a considerable gain in tablet market share this year.

Galaxy S III, Razr 2, G4X, EVO One

Android has plenty of momentum pushing the platform forward. Google is constantly working to improve the software side of Android, and manufacturers are always working on new hardware.

We already know the Samsung Galaxy S III is almost upon us, but what other kinds of Android devices can we expect in 2012? The Motorola RAZR, T-Mobile G2x and HTC EVO will all see follow up devices. And they’ll probably all be some of the most popular Android devices launched in 2012 too.

There’s also another Nexus coming in 2012, a million Galaxy S III variants and some more DROIDs in the works at the very least. There’s still another trade show to get through before summer is underway, which always ends up revealing some of the hottest Android handsets of the year, and we can’t even begin to predict all the Android handsets that will leak from now until Q3 2012.

There’s going to be a lot of awesome Android phones coming out this year, and as usual, they’re guaranteed to be on the bleeding edge of technology.

Wrap up

Of course, I’m no psychic. For all I know Android could totally bomb, or see another huge gain in market share and leave the competition in ashes. But I don’t think either of those will happen.

I really don’t think 2012 is going to play out like 2011 did for Android. Android exploded in 2011. For the most part, it totally dominated the competition. 2012 is going to be the year where things start to level out. Windows Phone gains in popularity, iOS takes a little bit of its pie back and Android comfortably settles in as one of the top operating systems in the world.

What do you think will happen to Android in 2012? What kinds of major industry events will shape the future of Google’s mobile operating system? I’d love to hear what you have to say in the comments.

Image via LadyDragonflyCC – BDay Weekend, Holland, Michigan with Creative Commons

Through a filing with the California Federal Court, Apple claims that Samsung is knowingly infringing on Apple’s patents since they met with Samsung back in 2010 to discuss the matter. The documents show that Apple met with Samsung on four separate occasions and was shown a presentation named “Samsung’s Use of Apple Patents in Smartphones” which detailed Samsung’s infringements of patents ’002 and ’381 along with several others.

On or about August 4, 2010, Apple representatives met with Samsung in Korea and showed a presentation titled 'Samsung's Use of Apple Patents in Smartphones.' This presentation emphasized Samsung's copying of the iPhone and identified two of the patents-in-suit (the '002 and '381 patents), giving Samsung actual notice of at least these patents, and many more.

On or about August 26, 2010, Apple sent Samsung an electronic archive file containing claim charts further illustrating Samsung's infringement of Apple patents. A presentation document that accompanied these claim charts identified the '002 and '381 patents as two patents that Samsung products infringed, and it substantiated these allegations with text from the patents and photographs of Samsung devices illustrating infringing functionality. Apple later presented these slides to Samsung at a meeting in Cupertino, California on or about September 9, 2010.Apple

Apple is hoping that this new information will persuade the courts to rule in Apple’s favor in their attacks against Samsung, but we have a feeling that it won’t be that simple. Since Samsung didn’t negotiate a deal with Apple and produced new phones based on the same technology, we assume Samsung was not convinced that their devices actually infringed on Apple’s patents.

The good news is that back in 2010 Apple was willing to negotiate with Samsung about possible patent infringements. This suggests that there is still hope that some of the patent battles between Apple and other Android OEMs may be settled out of court without the need for the courts to issue import bans on the devices we love.

Does this new information change your opinion about Apple and its approach to protecting its intellectual property?

Last week AllThingsD broke the story that Google was hiring most of the team from Milk, a startup founded by Kevin Rose that was working on iPhone apps. Milk’s first project was an app called Oink that let users rate items, but that service was shut down last week, likely because of the talks with Google.

Kevin Rose was the founder of Digg, and co-founder of Revision3 and Pownce. Some people speculated that Kevin Rose would help improve Google+, but he later revealed he was joining the Android team.

We still don’t know Kevin’s exact role on the Android team, but Matt Lynley of Business Insider thinks he will be helping with design. They learned that Google only hired the product team from Milk, while the engineers on the team were not offered jobs. Former Milk employee Amber Reyngoudt told Business Insider that Google was “looking to add design talent.”

I never had the chance to play with Oink, but some people described it as “easily one of the best-looking apps on the iPhone.” Check out the YouTube trailer below to get a feel of what it looked like.

We have been pretty happy with the latest changes in Android’s look, since Google hired Matias Duarte as Senior Director of Android User Experience. However, it’s still easy to point out some native Google apps that need updating, so maybe the Milk team can help with that.

What parts of Android do you think need design help?

Update: Google employee Dan Morrill confirms that Kevin Rose is working on Google+. It appears Business Insider read too much into their conversations with former Milk employees.