Android

769 'Android' stories August 2010 - November 2013

Chrome for iOS getting automated form-filling, synced to your desktop browser

Ben Lovejoy Nov 15 2013 - 4:51 am PT

Google’s Chrome Blog has announced that Chrome for iOS will be getting autofill functionality shortly, enabling automated completion of web forms. If you already use Chrome on a desktop machine, the iOS app will sync data between the two.

For iPhone and iPad users, Chrome for iOS will soon include Autofill to help you quickly fill out forms on-the-go just as you can on desktop and Android. When you sign into Chrome on your iPhone and iPad, you can quickly complete online forms using your synced Autofill info from other devices you’ve signed into.

Google says that it is “starting to roll out” the feature from today, but the version of the app on iTunes hasn’t been updated at the time of writing.

Safari introduced iCloud Keychain, offering synchronised logins and credit card data, with Mavericks and iOS 7.

iPhone was a “bet the company” product, says Phil Schiller, in opening remarks

Ben Lovejoy Nov 15 2013 - 4:05 am PT

3 Comments

Phil Schiller’s real testimony in the Apple v. Samsung damages trial will come later today, but he put the importance of the iPhone into perspective in his opening remarks yesterday by stating that Apple “bet the company” on it (via CNET).

There were huge risks [with the first iPhone]. We had a saying inside the company that it was a ‘bet-the-company’ product […] We were starting to do well again in iPod […] Then here we’re going to invest all these resources, financial as well as people, in creating this product …
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Google Music for iOS launch reportedly is ‘imminent’

Mark Gurman Nov 14 2013 - 6:14 am PT

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All the way back in May, Google announced that its new Google Music “All Access” service will be arriving on iOS in the coming “weeks.” However, months have gone by and nothing has launched for iOS. A report last month indicated that the app would arrive at the end of October, and @evleaks has now claimed that the launch is “imminent.” If the app does indeed arrive soon, you can expect full coverage on 9to5.

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Redesigned Facebook Messenger for iPhone launches with phone number integration

Mark Gurman Nov 13 2013 - 3:02 pm PT

12 Comments

In line with our report from early-October has launched a completely redesigned version of its Facebook Messenger app for iPhone and iPod touch. The new design is in-line with the new, simpler aesthetic of iOS 7, and a similar design launched for Android a few weeks ago. In addition to the new design, the new app brings some new functionality:

The ability to see which friends are using the app
Capability to message others through Messenger as long as you have their phone number
A fresh new look with navigation to see recent conversations, people on Messenger, and your settings

The update is available via the App Store now as version 3.0. Also in the works, sources say, is a version of the main Facebook application with support for Graph Search. It appears the company has let the interface for that update slip at a developer event:

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New book quotes Steve Jobs as calling Android founder Andy Rubin “big, arrogant f***”

David Beren Nov 12 2013 - 10:24 am PT

29 Comments

Steve Jobs isn’t exactly a man known for keeping his thoughts to himself which is why excerpts from the upcoming book Dogfight found by Business Insider documenting the Google-Apple smartphone war are grabbing attention. According to the book written by Fred Vogelstein, Google was already working on its first Android-powered smartphone when Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007 but had to stop in its tracks…

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iOS market share continues to fall, but Apple unlikely to be worried

Ben Lovejoy Nov 12 2013 - 6:57 am PT

18 Comments

The headline news in the latest IDC stats might look like bad news for Apple: iOS Q3 market share dropped from 14.4 percent last year to 12.9 percent this year. But it’s a number that is unlikely to lead to too many sleepless nights in Cupertino, for four reasons.

First, Apple isn’t competing with most of the Android market, which spans all price-points, only the top end of it. Samsung has been struggling to make money from its flagship handsets, with most of its profits coming from low-end models, while HTC has been in all kinds of trouble. Looking at Apple’s market share in the smartphone market as a whole is the most academic of exercises.

Second, while market share is down, shipments are up: from 26.9M in Q3 last year to 33.8M in the same quarter this year.

Third, for most of Q3 savvy iPhone buyers were holding fire, waiting for the new models Apple launched almost at the end of that quarter. The iPhone 5s and 5c between them notched up a record 9M sales in just the opening weekend. Q4 is where it’s really at …
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iPhone 5s vs Nexus 5 Photo Smackdown: Vote which images are the best

Seth Weintraub Nov 6 2013 - 9:45 am PT

16 Comments

Update: Shocker iPhone won 55% to 45%

We’re doing a little poll over at 9to5Google on the quality of images taken on the new Nexus 5 vs. everyone’s favorite iPhone 5s (Gold obv.).

To check the validity of claims that the Nexus 5 has a poor shooter, we took 10 different pictures with both a Nexus 5 and the reigning champ of smartphone cameras – the iPhone 5s. We even split the test over two different Nexus 5s and iPhone 5s devices. The comparison test is below. We’ll publish the results tomorrow.

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Ten days of iPhone 5s and 5c sales help Apple break 40 percent in U.S. smartphone market

Ben Lovejoy Nov 6 2013 - 5:22 am PT

1 Comment

Apple’s share of the U.S. smartphone market grew by 0.7 percent in the last quarter to reach 40.6 percent, according to comScore data.

Sales of low-cost handsets mean that Android’s position as leading mobile platform is safe, with a marginal drop to 51.8 percent of the market, but Apple remained top of the vendor rankings …

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LastPass password manager iOS app gets simplified UI & family logins

Ben Lovejoy Nov 5 2013 - 4:35 am PT

15 Comments

The popular free password manager app LastPass has been given a revamped user-interface across iOS app, Android app and browser add-on, aimed at both a cleaner look and greater ease of use.

Paid users also get access to a new Shared Family Folder, allowing up to five users to get shared access to joint logins. The LastPass blog highlights the new features in version 3.0 as:

Revamped user experience and user interface
Field icon menus for easy access to logins and LastPass tools
A Shared Family Folder for up to 5 users
Expanded Shared Folder features for LastPass Enterprise
A revamped LastPass for Applications
Secure Note history, to track changes to your notes

LastPass is a free download, and we have a detailed tutorial on how to use it.

Did JD Power botch its tablet rankings, giving Apple’s crown to a lower scoring Samsung? (See update)

Ben Lovejoy Nov 1 2013 - 4:21 am PT

35 Comments

Update: See bottom of the piece for JD Power’s partial explanation

“Samsung Ranks Highest in Owner Satisfaction with Tablet Devices” was the headline on JD Power’s latest U.S. Tablet Satisfaction Survey, with the above table showing that Samsung taking the lead from Apple by two points.

Yet when you look at the ratings that make up the individual scores, as Fortune did, that isn’t what they show at all. The six scoring categories are Overall Satisfaction, Performance, Ease of Use, Physical Design, Tablet Features and Cost. Samsung beats Apple in exactly one of those categories: cost …
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Growth of Android tablet sales in Q3 cut Apple’s market share to less than 30%

Jordan Kahn Oct 30 2013 - 1:41 pm PT

9 Comments

IDC-tablets-Q3-2013

In IDC’s report released today covering worldwide tablet market for the third quarter, the research firm notes that the market as a whole continues to grow thanks to strong growth from Android tablets. Apple shipments remained steady during the quarter compared to last year at 14 million units in Q3, but its share of the market drops from 40.2% last year to just 29.6% this year as Samsung, Asus, Lenovo, and Acer all post significant growth for the quarter compared to the same quarter last year.

Samsung is up from 12.4% last year to 20.4% of the tablet market in Q3 2013 (a 123% increase), while Asus is up 53.9% to 3.5 million units, Lenovo sold 2.3m (up 420.7%), and Acer recorded 1.2M (up 346.3%):
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Facebook announces it will revamp Messenger apps with new design, phone number integration

Mark Gurman Oct 29 2013 - 9:46 am PT

4 Comments

In line with my report from earlier this month, Facebook has announced that it will be revamping its Android and iOS Messenger apps. As we previously noted, the new apps have an entirely new design that is flatter and distinct from the standard Facebook application on Android and iOS. The Verge was given a preview of the Android version has some new features besides the new design:

In terms of functionality, there are a host of under-the-hood improvements to make sending and receiving messages faster, says product manager Peter Martinazzi. There are also some front-end tweaks that makes the app faster — especially on Android, where the SMS texting feature, which let you text friends who don’t have Facebook, has been removed.

The highlight feature, however, of the new apps is phone number integration. The repot summarizes the functionality as a WhatsApp competitor:

While Facebook won’t let you text a phone number from Messenger, the company plans to use phone numbers in a new way: to identify its users, just like in WhatsApp. Upon opening Messenger for the first time, it will ask you to provide your phone number. Then, the app can match you with people whose numbers you have, but whom you aren’t Facebook friends with. Facebook guarantees your messages will reach somebody’s inbox if you have their phone number.

The Android version is available as a test with a limited number of users beginning today and iOS in the near-future. Also incoming, we previously reported, are updates to the main Facebook app that integrate Graph Search, but Facebook has not confirmed this as of yet.

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Microsoft offers free iPhone app for its subscription-based Dynamics CRM enterprise service

Ben Lovejoy Oct 23 2013 - 4:23 am PT

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Microsoft’s Dynamics CRM, a subscription-based customer relationship management tool aimed at small & medium enterprises, is now available on the iPhone via a new app.

The cloud-based service aims to help businesses identify and manage sales opportunities, and track progress from opportunity to sale. The iPhone app provides users with the information needed to prepare for a sales appointment, and allows on-the-spot updating of notes, tasks, contacts, accounts, leads and opportunities.

The service costs £28.70 per user per month.

BlackBerry announces BBM for iPhone & Android available today with reservation system

Jordan Kahn Oct 21 2013 - 10:04 am PT

16 Comments

Update: The app is now live on the App Store.

After the BBM apps prematurely started rolling out for iPhone and Android and were abruptly pulled late last month, BlackBerry finally confirmed today that it’s officially kicking off the roll out of the apps. In a blog post, the company announced that the BBM apps will be available for both iPhone and Android within the next few hours through the App Store, Google Play, and Samsung’s App Store:

The demand for BBM on Android and BBM on iPhone continues to be amazing. About six million people signed up for information about BBM at BBM.com. As you know, in just seven hours, about one million Android users were using the unreleased version of BBM for Android. What you don’t know is that more than one million people have found creative ways to “side load” BBM on their iPhone. This is incredible.

While the app is available to download starting today, it will utilize a staggered rollout that will see users reserving a spot in line by entering their email address. BlackBerry says users that signed up previously through its website can start using the app immediately, but we’ll have to wait to see how many people sign up today in order to estimate how long the queue will be.
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iPad helps iOS maintain lead against Android as most valuable mobile ad platform

Jordan Kahn Oct 18 2013 - 6:59 am PT

2 Comments

Opera MediaWorks is out today with its latest report on the state of mobile platforms for Q3 2013. The report, which gathers data from billions of ad impressions each month, notes that iOS continues the lead for mobile advertising, with around 44.4% of all ad requests and 50% of revenue on its platform. That’s compared to 31.32% for Android, but the lead for Apple is mostly thanks to gains from iPad.

Remove tablets from the equation and ad impressions on iPhone and Android smartphones fall to just 31% vs. 30.3%:

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Google’s Sparrow mail app updated for the first time in months with new icon, iOS 7 fixes

Benjamin Mayo Oct 15 2013 - 8:11 am PT

5 Comments

Despite being bought out by Google, the replacement mail app Sparrow has now been updated for iOS 7. Whilst the developers behind Sparrow never said that work on the app had ceased, this was the implied meaning of Sparrow’s thank you letter still visible on the Sparrow website. Until today, the app had not been updated since December 2012, nearly a year ago.

This update brings compatibility bug fixes for iOS 7 as well as a new flatter icon, shown above. Even so, work on Sparrow is obviously not a priority for the team. Apart from a new icon, the point-fix update brings no new visual appearance to the app’s interface or any new features for users.

iOS 7 tops 2013 Mobile OS User Experience Benchmarks

Ben Lovejoy Oct 11 2013 - 7:25 am PT

19 Comments

iOS 7 has taken top billing in Pfeiffer Consulting’s annual Mobile OS User Experience Benchmarks, scoring just over 73 percent against 57 percent for Android and 47 percent for Windows Phone.

The study attempts to calculate an objective rating for the usability of a mobile OS by a typical, non-technical user by measuring four elements:

Cognitive load
Efficiency
Customization
User experience friction …
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BlackBerry announces new cloud-based app/user management system for iOS

Zac Hall Oct 8 2013 - 11:17 am PT

2 Comments

Don’t count BlackBerry out just yet. In ~~spite of their buyout~~ addition to their buyout offer from Fairfax Capital for $4.7 billion late last month, the telecommunications company today announced plans at the Gartner Symposium in Orlando, Florida, to launch a new cloud-based system for managing users and applications across BlackBerry, Android, and iOS.

The cloud service ambitiously plans to address the ‘bring your own device’ movement while addressing privacy and tech support at ‘less than a cup of coffee a month,’ according to BlackBerry.

Simple and fast deployment. No server hardware or software to install, just register and go.

Administrators can easily manage and secure smartphones and tablets. The simple Web-based admin console will provide easy activation and deployment of BlackBerry, iOS and Android™ smartphones, app management, security policy configuration and compliance monitoring.

Administrators can secure, deploy and manage apps. Administrators will be able to build a catalog of public apps from the App StoreSM, Google Play and the BlackBerry World storefront, and then view app distribution and usage for all users and devices.

End-users can manage their own devices through the self-service console. End-users will be able to easily perform common management tasks such as setting up or changing device passwords and remote wipe and lock without relying on an administrator, giving them independence and saving on helpdesk calls.

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Google Chairman Eric Schmidt on Android security: “Not secure? It’s more secure than the iPhone.”

Seth Weintraub Oct 7 2013 - 6:08 pm PT

28 Comments

We have a long running series on 9to5Google called “Talking Schmidt” and the Chairman of Google keeps loading it up with amusing quotes on the technology industry. Today’s comes from the Gartner Symposium where our pro/antagonist was asked by Gartner analyst David Willis about the security of Android (which has taken some hits lately to put it mildly).

To which Schmidt, without batting an eye, said:

“Not secure? It’s more secure than the iPhone.”

The comment drew laughter from the crowd, comprised largely of CIOs and high level IT personnel. Keep in mind, this is the same quote-smith who forecasted Google TV would have taken over the market last year and called the iPad just a big iPhone.
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Beats Music streaming service launching on iOS in the next few months

Jordan Kahn Oct 7 2013 - 9:36 am PT

3 Comments

After a bit of restructuring and some acquisitions to help accelerate development of its Beats Music streaming service, an executive at the company confirmed to TNW today that the service will officially launch on iOS, as well as on the web and Android, in the next few months.

President and COO Luke Wood also shared some details on how the service will work compared with iTunes Radio and other competitive streaming services. Wood says the service will “focus really heavily on playlists,” but also utilize a “a perfect harmony between the algorithm and human curation”:

Wood emphasized that Beats Music would be different and based around “a very specific idea”. The service is focused on curation, rather than forcing users to search blindly for new tracks or artists that they might like.

“We’re talking about real depth of personalization and knowing who I am, who you are, what we’re listening to, what we like, what we’ve listened to before and then offering up music that is highly relevant to our taste profile,” he added… “You need to start with a great editorial team that has a point of view, but we want to have a situation where we can really scale to the depth of your appetite,” he said. “If you really love music, we want something that can go deep with you for a really long time. And that requires a perfect harmony between the algorithm and human curation. Between the man and the machine.”

The mix of curated playlists and algorithm doesn’t sound unlike Apple’s own iTunes Radio streaming service launched in the US last month alongside iOS 7. Apple announced 11 million unique listeners in just a few days following the service’s launch, and will likely soon expand into other markets.

Beats Music, like iTunes Radio, will first launch in the US.

Is paid iCloud storage a good deal, or can you do better? Cloud storage roundup

Ben Lovejoy Oct 3 2013 - 6:07 am PT

61 Comments

With former MobileMe customers losing their additional 20GB of free storage a couple of days ago, there are probably a bunch of new people eyeing the paid iCloud upgrade options and wondering whether or not to hand over their cash. So we thought it would be a useful to take a look at the other major cloud storage services out there, to see how they compare.

As none of them are trying to hide the filesystem in the way Apple does, they all essentially work in the same way: providing you with a virtual online drive that you treat just like a local folder. There are also OS X and iOS apps for each.

Let’s start with the obvious: if you want something that is totally integrated into both OS X and iOS, and which Just Works, then iCloud is king.

Although the 5GB you get free doesn’t sound like a lot, you actually get more than this in practice – because Apple doesn’t count the space used by any of your iTunes purchases (apps, music, movies/TV shows or books), nor does it count the 1000 most recent photos you get to store in Photostream. If most of the content you want to store came from Apple, and all you want to do additionally is sync your contacts, calendar, notes and so on, the free storage is probably all you need.

iCloud is also a seamless way to store documents if you use Apple’s own iWork software: Pages, Numbers and Keynote. By opting to save documents on iCloud, they are automatically available to you from your Mac(s), iPad and iPhone – as well as on the web.

But if you have a lot of documents, you can pretty soon start bumping up against that 5GB limit. Which is where iCloud’s costs and limitations start to show up …
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iTunes Radio gets new competition as Rdio iOS app offers free personalized stations

Ben Lovejoy Oct 3 2013 - 4:40 am PT

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Rdio has launched a free personalized radio stations option within its iOS and Android apps. This is a more controllable version of the You FM feature added back in August.

Like iTunes Radio, you can’t choose a specific artist or track, but you can create a radio station based on a song, artist or genre and then listen to the stream Rdio creates based on your selection. Unlike iTunes Radio, Rdio’s free streaming service is ad-free, at least for now.

New subscribers also get a 14-day free trial of the Rdio subscription service, allowing you to play specific tracks. Once the 14 days end, however, you’ll revert to radio stations only unless you sign-up at $9.99 a month to keep the paid service.

Rdio is a free download on iTunes.

Hulu Plus iOS app adds support for Chromecast for big-screen viewing

Ben Lovejoy Oct 2 2013 - 4:41 am PT

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Google has announced that Hulu has added Chromecast support to its Hulu Plus app, enabling online shows to be viewed on the big screen – something it promised back in July.

Now you can easily enjoy your favorite shows, such as “Modern Family,” “New Girl” and “Parks and Recreation,” on your big-screen TV by casting from Hulu Plus on your mobile phone or tablet. It’s the same intuitive, remote-free experience you’ve come to enjoy with the other Chromecast-supported apps, and is as simple as pressing the Cast button which will now appear in the app …

Chromecast is a small, $35 stick that plugs into the HDMI port of a TV set or monitor and allows users to stream content, such as YouTube and Netflix, from devices like computers, tablets, and smartphones. Think of it as a tiny, cut-down Apple TV with functionality limited to AirPlay-style casting of content. It’s available from Amazon with free shipping. The Hulu Plus app is available for both iOS and Android.

Update to Google Search iOS app to bring cross platform notifications

Jordan Kahn Sep 26 2013 - 11:29 am PT

1 Comment

iPhone Triptych - Clear Background

Google is celebrating its 15 birthday and today announced a number of improvements to search on mobile devices including an incoming Google Search app update for iPhone and iPad that will enable notifications for reminders & more across platforms:

With this update, you can get notifications across your devices. So if you tell your Nexus 7, “OK Google. Remind me to buy olive oil at Safeway,” when you walk into the store with your iPhone, you’ll get a reminder. We’ll also show you Google Now notifications so you’re not late to your cooking class.

You’ll start noticing many new improvements to search on Android and iOS today, but Google says the cross platform notifications will arrive within a couple weeks through an update to the Google Search iPhone and iPad app.

More on all of Google’s new features for search on mobile on 9to5Google.