Displaying items by tag: Android

As part of their War on Apple, Samsung is pulling off some very neat tricks without having to spend a penny. Some of these are basic PR tricks like showing the phone off in the right ways with the right ads, giving extra color choices and also telling people how many other people want it. Of course we would never say that Samsung has not put in its fair share of money to get the Galaxy S III and other products off the ground (not including all of the law suits going on), but that sometimes the best tricks are the ones that do not cost you anything.

Microsoft is making a “super-secret” announcement on Monday and it has already invited select members of the press… Wait a minute does this sound familiar to anyone else? Sorry we had a momentary flash back to some of Apple’s announcements. In fact it this this similarity that makes many people believe that the show on Monday June 18^th will be the official show for Windows RT (and a Microsoft made tablet).

As we reported not all that long ago the days of the 1920x1200 ARM based tablets are quickly approaching. There was a time when the market viewed the tablet as a low resolution device and indeed many had the same or lower resolution as your typical smart phone. This was odd considering the one of the biggest benefits to a tablet it more screen real estate. However even after the launch of the iPad we saw signs that touch panel technology was scrambling to get ahead of the game.

With all the Apple news yesterday (and filtering over to today) we thought you might like some news about “the other guy” in the mobile race. We are talking about Android her and no, they did not hold a massive dog and pony show. Instead we have a nice and simple announcement from Rock Start games this morning. Max Payne is coming to Android.

Every now and then in the midst of products that are intended to make your system more powerful or impress your friends we get to play with products that are fun. We found this in a pair of external speakers from a company called Accessory Power. The speakers are designed to look like the heads of animals (in a cute way) and can work with PCs, phones, tablets and pretty much anything with a 1/8-inch speaker jack. In addition to their function as a speaker set they are also intended to bring awareness to endangered species. We were lucky enough to receive two different models for our testing and enjoyment. So let’s take you along as we see if the Accessory Power Gogroove Speaker Pals Panda and Koala sets are worth your time and money.

Someone has made a rather bold prediction about Windows Phone. According to the International Data Corp Windows Phone will grab some 14% market share between now and 2016 to become the second most used Mobile Operating system. Now it might interest you to know that this bit of insight also predicts that Android will hit its peak of market share this year and slowly decline. It will maintain the number one spot, but with only about 53%.

The secret is out; Microsoft wants to own your whole home with their devices at the center of your connected living space. Of course, this is nothing new. I can remember talking with Microsoft about the “digital home” in 2007 and before. At the time they were looking to build the blocks needed to create an entire (and viable) ecosystem for the home and the enterprise. Of course back then most of Microsoft was still trying to find ways to keeps users data in their own hands. This is something that has changed (because it is not a money maker), but the original concept has remained the same.

Microsoft is looking to get Android users to do some beta testing for them. You might be wondering what we are talking about at this point so I suppose I should explain a little. Microsoft has launched an automation application called on{x}. The name is a play on application code that describes an event that is programed to run when a certain event happens. The software has been launched as a beta and is available in the Google Play Store right now.

Sometimes things just do not go your way. Apple has been seeing that recently under the guidance of new CEO Tim Cook. We are not going to get into the debate about whether Tim Cook is a better or worse CEO as that is comparing Apples to Oranges. Tim Cook is a different type of CEO; he is a businessman first and foremost. It was one of the reasons that Steve Jobs wanted him in the position he was in. The company needed someone to “mind the back account” more than almost anything else.

Time for the Google news (much like many of our combined reports of Apple’s doings). This time we have a couple of things to talk about. The first is the penultimate decision in the Google Vs Oracle case, followed by a complaint by the RIAA about how little Google is doing to flight piracy and rounding things out with a complaint against Microsoft and Nokia in the EU for patent trolling. Sounds like a lot of fun so let’s get started.