Android Archive

Remix OS 2.0 alpha released

Thom Holwerda 2016-01-13 Android 32 Comments

The first alpha release of Remix OS 2.0 - which we talked about a few days ago - is now officially released. It's clearly an alpha, though, so don't try to use this on any important machines. I have been unable to get it to work - I just get "checking media fail" upon boot - but others are reporting it works, so I guess your mileage may vary.

That being said - I'd be a little weary of the EULA. It seems like it contains some regular Chinese boilerplate stuff (other Chinese companies are using the same boilerplate stuff, such as Xiaomi), which sounds incredibly heavy-handed to us. Not sure what to make of this just yet - maybe the company will clarify this one.

Cyanogen OS now serving Microsoft ads in its Android UI

Thom Holwerda 2016-01-08 Android 44 Comments

Speaking of Cyanogen OS:

Following the Cyanogen OS 12.11 update for the OnePlus One, you may have noticed something worse than the automatic inclusion of Cortana. Now upon selecting a file without a set default application, you will see adverts for Microsoft apps and services on the "open with" menu.

I feel like a broken record player at this point, but don't trust these guys. Selling out to Microsoft has never done anyone any good.

Cyanogen OS update adds deeply integrated Microsoft Cortana

Thom Holwerda 2016-01-08 Android 33 Comments

As promised, Cyanogen has released an update to Cyanogen OS (which is not CyanogenMod) that integrates Cortana into their Android offering.

In the Cyanogen OS 12.1.1 update, we are excited to introduce Microsoft Cortana. What makes this such an exciting partnership is that by having Cortana's voice command capability deeply integrated into the Cyanogen ecosystem, we're opening the door to future capabilities that don't currently exist.

So, they're going to "take Android away from Google", and then give it to Microsoft? This Microsoft?

OK.

Look - like Microsoft, Google collects data. A lot of it. We all know it, and at least all of us, OSNews readers, make a conscious choice to use Android anyway. While I don't trust Google in any way, there's at least the comfort that they are probably the most closely monitored company when it comes to privacy, and there's little to no risk of the company folding and being up for grabs - meaning, your data will remain within Google, and won't end up in somebody else's, less trustworthy hands just because they happened to buy Google.

Cyanogen Inc., however, is a whole different ballgame. This is a start-up funded by venture capitalists who are clearly looking for a quick buck. They're making a lot of grandiose claims and a ton of ruckus, and as I've said before, I give them a few years before they're acquired by someone else - at which point your data could end up anywhere, completely beyond your control, with little to no oversight.

Venture capitalists - and by extension, those who depend on them - have no interest in you. You are irrelevant. All they care about is cashing in on their investments as soon as possible, everything else be damned.

Don't buy into Cyanogen. Just don't.

Jide to release Remix OS 2.0: Android for PCs and Macs

Thom Holwerda 2016-01-07 Android 12 Comments

Jide Technology has released Remix OS 2.0 as a free download available on January 12th designed to run on the majority of Intel and AMD devices such as PC and Mac. The company which was founded by three ex-Google employees has developed the OS thanks to a partnership with the Android-x86 project enabling it to run on almost any PC.

This is pretty much what Android on desktop and laptops - what Google itself is currently working on - is going to look like. It's designed first and foremost for Jide's own devices, but starting 12 January it'll also be available for select generic x86 devices, including some Macs. There's no proper up-to-date compatibility list as far as I can tell, so we'll have to wait and see just how useful it can be.

It looks quite interesting, and the fact that it's run by former Google employees gives some hope regarding its longevity and legitimacy. That being said, with Google itself working on bringing Android to desktops and laptops, you have to wonder how much longer Jide can maintain itself.

Submitted by randomer1234 2015-12-29 Android 42 Comments

Google is replacing the Java application programming interfaces (APIs) in Android with OpenJDK, the open source version of Oracle's Java Development Kit (JDK). The news first came by a "mysterious Android codebase commit" from last month submitted to Hacker News. Google confirmed to VentureBeat that Android N will rely solely on OpenJDK, rather Android’s own version of the Java APIs.

"As an open-source platform, Android is built upon the collaboration of the open-source community," a Google spokesperson told VentureBeat. "In our upcoming release of Android, we plan to move Android’s Java language libraries to an OpenJDK-based approach, creating a common code base for developers to build apps and services. Google has long worked with and contributed to the OpenJDK community, and we look forward to making even more contributions to the OpenJDK project in the future."

If this is what it takes to get those Oracle slimebags off Android's back, so be it.

Android on the desktop

Thom Holwerda 2015-12-21 Android 31 Comments

Android is the most popular mobile OS on the planet, and Google has brought the OS to cars, watches, and televisions. And, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Google will soon be bringing Android to yet another form factor: desktop and laptop computers. Re-architecting Android for a mouse and keyboard is going to require major changes to the smartphone operating system, but Android is actually much farther along that path today than most people realize.

It really is - but there's a definitive oddness about it, though. In any event, Google has already confirmed it's working on bringing multiwindow to Android, and if the company is really serious about putting Android on actual laptops and desktops, it's going to have to be more than just the kind of My First Multitasking Windows 8's Metro had (implemented 1:1 in iOS 9). It's going to have to be the real deal, with windows that can be moved around, resized, stacked, etc. - all the kinds of things you'd expect from any other desktop operating system.

I think the biggest problem they're going to run into is the black bar at the bottom of the screen, housing the back/home/windows button. Unless they can come up with a way to logically let the back button handle multiple activity stacks, I would suggest getting rid of the bar entirely, or just converting it into an all-out taskbar. They obviously can't have that black bar on 23" desktop displays or whatever.

Android 7 is going to be very interesting!

The Pixel C was probably never supposed to run Android

Thom Holwerda 2015-12-11 Android 21 Comments

It appears that the Pixel C was planned as launch hardware for a new, all-touch version of Chrome OS which at some point got canceled - necessitating a switch to Android. The story is a lot more complicated than that, though. What follows is the best timeline we could piece together showing the Pixel C's troubled development history.

The launch of the Pixel C is baffling. Not only is it lacking features that Android needs to work well on the device, it's also got numerous bugs, indicating the Android port was done in a rush. I just don't understand why Google didn't just wait with this device until Android 6+1 with multiwindow was done. Now they've severely blemished their Pixel name.

Android Studio 2.0 preview: Android Emulator

Thom Holwerda 2015-12-10 Android 11 Comments

An early preview of the new Android Emulator is now available to try out. As a part of Android Studio 2.0, the latest version of the Android Emulator can help you test your app on a wide range of screens size and configurations beyond the physical Android hardware you use to test.Moreover, using the official Android emulator enables you to test with latest Android versions.

Google claims this new version contains serious performance improvements - which were sorely, badly needed - and it sports a brand new interface.

Pixel C reviews: Android on tablets still sucks

Thom Holwerda 2015-12-08 Android 36 Comments

Pixel C reviews are pouring in, and they're all virtually the same: pretty awesome hardware, but Android on tablets just isn't any good. The Verge:

But the performance issues, the lack of apps, and the lack of split-screen functionality show that, right now, Android isn’t really even trying to participate in that future. Simply put: the Pixel team has mostly delivered something really good, the Android team has not. Android may not be Google’s answer for the next generation of computing on a tablet. Maybe that will have to wait for whatever weird hybrid ChromeOS / Android thing that Google is supposedly working on.

Ars:

iOS and Windows are both much better suited to a larger form factor device. Maybe some day Google will implement that "experimental" multi-window mode, which will help. However, right now it's selling a $650 tablet/keyboard combo that can display a single app at a time. Even with a hypothetical split screen mode, you'd still have to deal with a sea of phone apps from developers that are reluctant to implement a large-format layout, in part because even Google doesn't take its own tablet platform seriously.

They're all right, of course. That being said, it's clear the Pixel C isn't really intended as a mass-market product - at least, not right now. No, the real purpose of the Pixel C is to serve as a development device for Google's Android developers, who are currently, by all accounts, working hard not only on combining Android and Chrome OS, but also on bringing more traditional functionality, such as multiwindow, to Android.

Android is movin' on up, and the Pixel C is nothing more than the ladder Google's Android developers need to get there.

HTC HD2 gets Marshmallow port

Thom Holwerda 2015-12-04 Android 7 Comments

The HTC HD2 began its life unassumingly enough back in 2009 as a simple Windows Phone 6.5-powered smartphone. We highly doubt HTC knew of the legacy the phone would end up carrying. As most of you probably know, we're talking about how dev-friendly and dev-embraced the phone has been over the years, finding various ports of Unix, modern versions of Windows Phone up to 8, Firefox OS, and of course Android.

Over the years, the HTC HD2 has seen Android 2.1, Jelly Bean, KitKat, Lollipop, and now Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

The HD2 might be the greatest phone of all time.

The Nextbit Robin cloud phone is taking shape

Thom Holwerda 2015-12-01 Android 4 Comments

The one thing that disappointed me about the Robin was the state of its software optimization. Nextbit hopes to ship out the first handsets to preorder customers and Kickstarter backers in late January, but it still has a long way to go until its software is up to the task. The Robin's current Android build is slow, in spite of the capable Snapdragon 808 processor within, and unfortunately buggy. The camera app, for example, is not yet functional, so there's nothing to judge one of the phone's key components on.

This phone would be a lot more interesting if they cut the cloud nonsense, and just focused on delivering this unique design as a high-quality, affordable pure Android phone.

Android Studio 2.0 preview released

Thom Holwerda 2015-11-24 Android 6 Comments

One the most requested features we receive is to make app builds and deployment faster in Android Studio. Today at the Android Developer Summit, we're announcing a preview of Android Studio 2.0 featuring Instant Run that will dramatically improve your development workflow. With Android Studio 2.0, we are also including a preview of a new GPU Profiler.

Instant Run allows you to change the code of your program as it's running on your device or emulator, and if it indeed works as advertised, this should be a major boon for developers. TechCrunch claims Google's also improved the emulator in this release, and if there's one thing I know about programming for Android, it's that the emulator was absolutely terrible, so good to know they're working on it.

Oppo starts offering near-stock Android

Thom Holwerda 2015-11-18 Android 4 Comments

Oppo has been putting a customized version of Android on its phones for years, but now it's letting you strip most of those customizations away. It released a nearly stock version of Android today that's basically just Android Lollipop with a few pieces of Oppo software, including its camera app, audio tools, and gesture support. The new release, which it's calling Project Spectrum, is able to be installed on its Find 7 and Find 7a phones and will be coming to other Oppo phones in the near future. Sometime early next year, Oppo plans to release an updated version for Android Marshmallow.

More and more manufacturers seem to be getting the message: users want stock Android, because stock Android is better than whatever crap OEMs can come up with. A good development, obviously, but it still doesn't address Android'd biggest weakness: updates.

First look at the BlackBerry Vienna

Thom Holwerda 2015-11-17 Android 19 Comments

I've dropped the codename "Vienna" before on our weekly podcast and in the forums, but these renders are the first real look we've had at the design. Vienna ditches the Priv's slider in favor of the iconic BlackBerry layout, with a front-facing physical keyboard that is always present. The keyboard looks to be of the same size and design as that of the Priv's, but it's hard to tell simply based off of the renders alone.

They're really going all-in on building Android devices with physical keyboards, and you know what? In this mobile landscape of boring sameness and nothingness, these devices are a huge breath of fresh air.

Successful or no, good work. Now all we need is a horizontal slider!

The $1500 Tag Heuer Connected smartwatch

Thom Holwerda 2015-11-10 Android 21 Comments

Tag Heuer has teamed up with Google and Intel to launch the Connected Watch, its first Android Wear timepiece. The Connected isn't just any average Android Wear watch, however. It's a $1,500 luxury timepiece clad in titanium and bearing more than a passing resemblance to Tag Heuer's analog watches.

Tag Heuer has so much faith in this pig of a watch that it includes a special trade-in program where you can replace the Connected Watch with a real watch down the line.

Confusing messaging there.

BlackBerry Priv reviews are coming in

Thom Holwerda 2015-11-09 Android 11 Comments

The BlackBerry Priv has been released, and the first reviews have been coming in over the weekend. It's a bit of a mixed bag - people like the hardware and the keyboard, but the software seems to have bugs and issues. Some reviews, like the one from AndroidCentral, are radiant:

This is absolutely one of the best phones to be released this year, and while BlackBerry still has to demonstrate it can keep its promises when it comes to software updates this is already an exceptional experience. It's only going to get better from here.

The review from Dieter Bohn at The Verge - certified keyboard enthusiast and Palm fan and thus an awesome person you can trust because anyone who sings the praises of Palm is a great person, as well all undoubtedly know - is, overall, positive, but the software issues he experienced did mar the experience considerably.

In truth, I wanted to tell him to do it. But I couldn't. There are enough software bugs and slowdowns that I had to tell him to hold off and see if BlackBerry could finish the job it started here. Take those good ideas and buff off their rough edges, make the software just a little more stable. Because as a first effort at an Android phone, the Priv is remarkable, and I couldn't wait to see what a second push would do for it (assuming, of course, that BlackBerry gets the chance).

I agree with Bohn that such software issues on a flagship device that's supposed to save a company's handset business are dealbreaker - this machine costs a hefty â‚¬699, and for that, you deserve a phone without such issues.

That being said, I'm still excited for the phone, if only because it will surely be picked up by the Android ROM community soon enough. This one is definitely on my list to eventually replace my Nexus 5.

Google reportedly wants to design its own Android chips

Thom Holwerda 2015-11-05 Android 55 Comments

Google is reportedly taking a page out of Apple's playbook and expressing interest in co-developing Android chips based on its own designs, according to a report today from The Information. Similar to how the iPhone carries a Ax chip designed by Apple but manufactured by companies like Samsung, Google wants to bring its own expertise and consistency to the Android ecosystem. To do that, it would need to convince a company like Qualcomm, which produces some of the top Android smartphone chips today using its own technology, to sacrifice some of its competitive edge. Google did not respond to a request for comment.

Within a few years, Google will be competing head-to-head with Apple, with its own line of smartphones, tablets, laptops, and maybe even desktops, all running Android.

Hunting bugs in the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge

Thom Holwerda 2015-11-04 Android 10 Comments

Google's Project Zero, which investigates the security of popular software, recently turned its attention to the Galaxy S6 Edge.

A week of investigation showed that there are a number of weak points in the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. Over the course of a week, we found a total of 11 issues with a serious security impact. Several issues were found in device drivers and image processing, and there were also some logic issues in the device that were high impact and easy-to-exploit.

The majority of these issues were fixed on the device we tested via an OTA update within 90 days, though three lower-severity issues remain unfixed. It is promising that the highest severity issues were fixed and updated on-device in a reasonable time frame.

I love that Google has Project Zero, and that the Zero team is not afraid of exposing the weaknesses in the company's own products (in this case, Android). Few companies out there would allow this.

Google readying Android for desktops, laptops

Thom Holwerda 2015-10-30 Android 39 Comments

So after yesterday's news about Chrome OS and Android supposedly merging, we got a bit more insight into what is actually happening. As it turns out, Google claims Chrome OS isn't disappearing - it's just going to promote Android as an additional choice for OEMs to put on laptops and desktop machines, as Recode reports.

Starting next year, the company will work with partners to build personal computers that run on Android, according to sources familiar with the company's plans. The Chrome browser and operating systems aren't disappearing - PC makers that produce Chromebooks will still be able to use Chrome. But they will now have the choice of Android. And its arrival suggests the supremacy of mobile inside Google, which has prioritized how to best handle the shift away from desktop across all its divisions.

Ever since Google unveiled Material Design, which works well on just about any size application, from full-screen tablets applications to small smartphone applications, and everything in between, it was clear to me Google was looking into expanding Android beyond smartphones and tablets. They've apparently been working on this for several years, with the first developer releases hitting next year, and the first devices in 2017.

This probably also explains the Pixel C. Pixel devices have always been kind of odd in that they clearly aren't meant for the general public to buy, but more as showcases for people inside Google itself. The Pixel C - the Surface clone - would serve as a perfect developer and testing device for an Android that is more oriented towards dekstops and laptops.

BlackBerry Priv list price revealed

Thom Holwerda 2015-10-22 Android 14 Comments

If the ads pointing to a Friday pre-order date for the Priv didn't have you salivating already, things are starting to heat up. BlackBerry is now listing the Priv on ShopBlackBerry, and although you can't pre-order just yet, we now have a good look at pricing. For those of us in the U.S., it looks like the BlackBerry Priv is running a cool $750 unlocked. In Canada, on the other hand, it'll set you back $949 - definitely a pricey little beast. In addition, we're looking at a ship date of November 16 after pre-orders begin.

I like the Priv - finally a modern phone with a proper keyboard - but that is one hefty price tag. I think this kills a lot of the possible, albeit modest, success.