Category Archives: 4.0

Android 5.0 – Simple & Awesome [Personal Opinion]

The following post is an individuals personal opinion and vision of Android.

Feature

In October 2011, Google launched Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) which completely transformed Android from an ugly iOS cousin into an OS that had distinctive identity. As Matias himself explained on the stage, “We wanted to break away from the past”. He laid out pretty aspirational goals “Enchant Me”, “Simplify my life”, “Make me awesome”.

Indeed 4.0 was enchanting but there are things in 4.0/4.1/4.2 that can be better and make Android “Simple” & “ Awesome”. Matias also mentioned “4.0 is just the first step towards these aspirational goals”. So it is right to assume that engineers would be hard at work in Google towards achieving the same, possibly for Google IO 2013 reveal.

Till then I want you to see my design concepts for making Android “Simple” and “Awesome”.

Continue reading →

40% Gingerbread isn’t going anywhere!

Yesterday, Google refreshed their quarterly android install base chart. The state of the chart perceived by most tech blog community is rosy, as they are pleased with Jelly Bean numbers and overall increased ICS percentage. But where this chart starts to show holes is 47% Gingerbread install base (around 250 million devices) which isn’t going anywhere for next few years, thanks to Samsung and other android OEMs!

Lets look at some numbers and start with US market. Samsung sold around 22 million devices between June 2010 – July 2012. Guess what, most of these phones except members of GS2 family are not getting update beyond Gingerbread. Situation with HTC was even worse with updates in gingerbread era.

Rest of the world also show the same trends. Samsung sold around 50 million in 2010 and approximately 90 million smartphones in 2011. All indications point to Asia as the largest market for Samsung and also the most price conservative. Trend depicts around 60% of all sales were mid range phones with no hope for ICS update.

Specifically in India, 8 out of 10 all time best selling Samsung phones were budget phones. In short no ICS ever.

47% of gingerbread may slowly descend to approximately 35-40% mark but will be around for next few years until users buy a new phone. Speaking of buying new phones, US users are generally tied in for 2 years contract. Cost conservative market consumers stick to their phones even longer. No matter how much Google praises OEMs for android success, it has backfired in the shape of fragmentation bomb. Recently Eric Schmidt confirmed the fact “The core strategy is to make a bigger pie. We will end up with a not perfectly controlled and not perfectly managed bigger pie by virtue of open systems.”

Bottom line is, this is going to continue forever. Today it is with Gingerbread, tomorrow it will be with ICS, when latest version would be 6.0 or beyond. Best thing to have happened around this fragmentation explosion, Google saw this coming early and made big bet on Motorola. Once Google influenced Motorola phones starts selling well, other OEMs would be forced to follow the suit of vanilla android, thereafter.

Samsung Galaxy S3. Things we hate. [Updated]

  • The colours. Blue isn’t actually blue and the “ceramic white” looks yellow next to a white GS2.
  • Button placement. I personally wish that the buttons where equal distance from the screen to the bottom of the phone. They are more towards the bottom and using the phone horizontally I find my fat hand pressing menu/back
  • Screenshot. Google added the perfectly acceptable and usable ”Power + Volume Down” button combination, Samsung went and removed it completely and now require me to drag the side of my hand across the screen. What you trying to do Samsung clean my fingerprint marks off?! (Update) It turns out that you can do a screenshot with power + home which is better but still requires two hands.
  • Screen. It has this curve, It reminds me of the Nokia Lumia 800 and it feels very strange when moving across the app draw.
  • New MHL Cable required. Finally MHL Cables have fallen to a price that is affordable at around £8. Samsung must not have been happy with this fact and go mess with a standard for what, more money?
  • Samsung logo on the back. Bit of an odd one I  know I find that holding the phone my index finger is sitting on the “SAMSUNG” text on the back, Would be a non-issue apart from its raised. Hope its not made of nickel.
  • Software. Maybe this one we will leave for another day?

HTC One S Vs. Galaxy S II in pictures.

We have a quick comparison of the HTC One S Vs. Sasmsung Galaxy S II.

HTC One S on the left.                             GS2 on the right.

 

Our opinion?

Galaxy S II Look better whilst the HTC One S gives a more true colour, Mostly. However we felt that overall the pictures were good but just not as clear.

Stay tuned for a unboxing and review video at some point this week!

Xperia Handsets getting ICS

If you purchased an Xperia S or Arc S recently you will know these devices came with Gingerbread sadly, But will be happy to know they are getting ICS, However Sony mobiles has decided that some of the older devices may not work correctly so it will not be a mandatory upgrade AND you have to update via their PC Software. Rollouts expecting  to start end of Q2.

Devices to see the update:

  • Xperia S
  • Xperia U
  • Xperia P
  • Xperia Sola
  • Xperia Arc S
  • Xperia Neo V
  • Xperia Ray
  • Xperia Play
  • Xperia Neo
  • Xperia Mini
  • Xperia Mini Pro
  • Xperia Pro
  • Xperia Active

This list is in order of phones to get it first (Probably), But they will all get it.

Sonys First ICS Device – Not what you thought.

Sony are on track to release a few Xperia phones, All with Android 2.3 for now with a promised upgrade to Android 4.0. The first device to come with Android 4.0 shipped with be Xperia Neo L a mid range phone with last gen specs to say the least.

Specs:

  • 1GHz single-core Snapdragon CPU
  • 4-inch display (800×480)
  • 1GB Internal storage
  • 5MP camera
  • 512mb RAM
  • 1500mAH battery

 

Good news for older device owners, as this may help with ICS on your device in some way or another. Looking at you x10.