20 May 12 China to Google: Android must remain open
In giving the thumbs-up to Google’s acquisition of Motorola, regulators in China stipulated that Google must make
Android free and open for five years, a source with knowledge of the situation confirmed with CNET today.
The stipulation would seem to be designed to keep Google from denying Motorola’s handset competitors access to the mobile operating system, or from giving Motorola an advantage of some sort — such as integration between its handsets and Android that’s tighter than connections between rival phones and the OS.
From the beginning, Google has taken an open approach with Android, making it free and available to any hardware manufacturer — a strategy that’s helped to quickly make Android the No. 1 mobile OS globally.
“Many hardware partners have contributed to Android’s success and we look forward to continuing our work with all of them on an equal basis to deliver outstanding user experiences,” Google CEO Larry Page said during a conference call last August, at the time the intended acquisition was announced. “We built Android as an open-source platform and it will stay that way.”
Still, despite the offering of such olive branches, and despite Android’s great success as an open OS, Motorola rivals may well have been nervous. “Any way (Google) tries to couch this, there’s no doubt Motorola is the most favored player,” Gartner analyst Michael Gartenberg told CNET’s Roger Cheng in August. “If I’m a third-party vendor, I have some real concerns here.”
That’s in part because it could have at least crossed Google’s mind to integrate its software and services more tightly with the Motorola hardware, following Apple’s end-to-end approach with its own hardware and services.
Apple uses the sale of its iPhones and iPads to drive sales of iTunes, the App store, iCloud, and other offerings. Google, of course, has its own services — Google Drive, Google+, and so on — and a Google-focused Android device could further push subscribers to them. Ultimately, it’s these services that are the money-makers for Google. Fragmentation of Android is another concern, and a dominant, tightly integrated Android handset might help to address that.
What, then, would rival phone makers do? There aren’t many alternatives to Android. Windows Phone might become a more attractive option, but then, Microsoft has a cozy relationship with Nokia, so it could be deja vu all over again. Here’s what CNET’s Maggie Reardon had to say back in August, in a discussion of the merger’s possible impact on consumers:
What is likely to happen is that HTC, LG, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung will remain Android partners, but they may have to find new ways to differentiate their products from Motorola’s more Google-centric hardware. This may mean that HTC offers more advancements for its Sense software, which rides on top of the Android software. And Samsung may develop more TouchWiz customizations.
For consumers this could either be a good thing or a bad thing. If executed well, it will offer consumers more variety in device capabilities as well as look and feel. But if it’s not executed well, it could just mean more fragmentation in the Android ecosystem.
Reardon also wrote that the merger would probably lead to more-advanced devices from Google, a good thing for consumers.
With the stipulation from China’s regulators (which was reported earlier today by several media outlets), all this may have become moot. And if Google is to be believed, it may not have been an issue anyway.
A company representative told CNET today that Google’s “stance since we agreed to acquire Motorola has not changed and we look forward to closing the deal.”
So, had it crossed Google’s mind to tie Android tightly to Motorola handsets? We might have to wait five years to find out. And who knows what the landscape will look like then?
We have an e-mail out to Motorola for comment and will update this post if we hear back.
Article source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-32969_3-57437774-300/china-to-google-android-must-remain-open/
Tags: China, CNET, Google Drive, HTC, Michael Gartenberg, OS
19 May 12 Android this week: Hot home screens; more Nexus partners; Galaxy S III pre-orders
Even with manufacturer “skins”, Android tablet home screens haven’t been much more useful than those on Android smartphones, even though the slates have larger displays. One third-party software developer wants to change that and it’s using Kickstarter to fund the effort. A $5 pledge will get you a copy of Chameleon; an intelligent, customizable home screen app for Android tablets.
What makes Chameleon unique — aside from what’s essentially a “pre-sale” to guarantee money for the developer up front — is the superb customization it offers for Android tablet home screens. Think of Android widgets, which are of course, great by themselves; but on steroids. The entire screen can be used to show information from social networks, weather apps, your music player of choice and more. You customize what you want to see.
Even better: Chameleon can change the home screen contents based on where you are or what time of day it is. So you could create a morning profile for home, for example, with your personal preferences. When the tablet senses you’re in the office later in the day then, it could show home screen data that’s relevant to your job. The idea is smartly based on the observation that tablet users typically open up the same groups of apps at certain places and times. I love the concept and backed the project with my own $5 pledge, just in case Chameleon later appears in Google Play at a higher price. Here’s a demo video to illustrate what the app will do.
I was so impressed by the app demo that I tweeted “Google should buy this company, immediately!” Maybe that’s too much enthusiasm though and besides; Google seems to be busy at the moment: This week a report surfaced that Google will alter its Nexus device program with more hardware partners.
This is a major change from the prior three years as Google has chosen one hardware maker per Nexus device to showcase Android. HTC built the Nexus One while Samsung delivered both the Nexus S and the Galaxy Nexus. With Android 5.0, also known as “Jelly Bean”, Google could offer a range of Nexus devices from HTC, Samsung, LG, Acer, Asus and others. Part of this strategy is to offset any partner concerns with Google’s proposed purchase of Motorola. But I suspect this also about doing exactly what I asked Google to do earlier this month: Take more control over Android. And like the $399 Galaxy Nexus available through Google Play, Google is expected to sell these new devices directly to customers.
Although Samsung is one of those Android partners that could help Google sell its own devices, the company continues to dominate the Android scene with solid smartphones of its own.
The highly anticipated Galaxy S III already has 9 million pre-orders from network operators around the world and Samsung can only produce 5 million per month. With 290 carriers in 140 countries vying for Samsung’s latest, it’s possible that some regions will be waiting for months to get the device. I wouldn’t expect Apple-like lines around stores to get a Galaxy S III, but I do anticipate a long, slow global rollout similar to the prior model.
Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
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Article source: http://gigaom.com/mobile/android-this-week-hot-home-screens-more-nexus-partners-galaxy-s-iii-pre-orders/
Tags: Although Samsung, Galaxy Nexus, Google Play, HTC, IPO, Nexus One
19 May 12 Android in enterprises ‘severely limited’ by weak management support from Google
Adoption of Android tablets and smartphones in large businesses has been “severely limited” because of the complexities of
managing the various Android models and versions, market research firm Gartner said in an evaluation of 20 mobile device management
(MDM) software vendors released Friday.
iOS vs. Android in the enterprise
A survey that Gartner conducted in April showed 58% of enterprises have or will make iOS, used in iPhones and iPads, their
primary mobile platform in the next year, compared with 20% for BlackBerry and 9% for Android.
Google offers “weaker management support” for Android than Apple for iOS or Research in Motion for BlackBerry, Gartner added
in its new 34-page study.
The broad-ranging study said the explosion in consumer smartphones and tablets used in workplaces is making MDM the “fastest-growing
enterprise mobile software ever in terms of number of suppliers, revenue growth and interest from Gartner clients.”
MDM license revenues were about $200 million in 2010 and $350 million in 2011, and are expected to reach $500 million in 2012,
Gartner said. Research firm IDC recently said the revenues were higher in 2010, at $300 million, and expects the market will reach $1.2 billion in 2015. A principal problem with Android management capabilities, Gartner said, is that Google hasn’t opened many application programming interfaces (APIs) for the dozens of MDM vendors to connect their various management
tools to Android, Gartner said. In Android 4.0, Google only provided 16 APIs, compared to more than 500 APIs for the latest
version of BlackBerry.
Some MDM vendors have built their own APIs for Android devices, but the process “is time-consuming and expensive to do for
each device and version of Android,” Gartner said. “This [problem] has severely limited Android adoption in the enterprise,
and even today, very few enterprises provide [Android] support.”
Google didn’t respond to a request to comment. However, Android vendors such as Motorola Mobility — which Google is acquiring
— have defended the security and management available in Android for enterprise uses, mainly through software from 3LM, a software vendor that Motorola acquired in 2011.
Christy Wyatt, general manager of Motorola Mobility’s enterprise business unit, commented in January: “We have to get Android
as a whole at a stable and secure place, and once Android is behind the firewall [with 3LM], that helps. There’s a lot of mythology around Android and whether it’s secure or not.” Other Android device makers, such as HTC and Sony, have struck agreements to license 3LM
software, she said at the time.
Gartner’s report noted that Google hasn’t disclosed what it plans to do with 3LM as part of Motorola, adding that enterprises
Gartner works with are hoping Google will use 3LM as part of an enterprise version of Android for device makers.
Earlier in May, 3LM announced version 3.0 of its Mobile Device and Application Management platform to handle smartphones and tablets running Android 4.0, as well as manage iPhones and iPads. Other new features including an easier interface for IT managers and tools to prevent users from copying data from corporate
apps to non-corporate apps.
Article source: http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/051812-android-in-enterprises-39severely-limited39-259434.html
Tags: Christy Wyatt, HTC, IDC, IT, MDM, Motorola Mobility
19 May 12 Dear Google: AT&T Locked Down the Best Android Ever, And It’s Your Fault
So pretty. But so locked down. Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired
The HTC One X is a wonder of a phone — sleek and thin with a brilliant screen.
And yet it comes pre-loaded with so much unremovable bloatware, you’d swear that Microsoft was involved.
But no, the ATT Code Scanner, the ATT Family Map, the ATT Navigator and ATT Ready2Go and more are pre-installed and unremovable, thanks to, well, ATT — with a tacit assist from Google. ATT also shipped the phone with a locked bootloader, meaning that the modder community has to expend days and weeks to find a way to load new custom Android versions on the device, despite the handset manufacturer HTC’s recent pledge to stop using locked bootloaders.
It’s time for this to stop and it’s Google’s job to do it.
Since Android is open source software, ATT and HTC are free to install it on any handset they choose. But like any high-end Android phone, the HTC One X is Google-certified so it can ship with pre-installed Google software, including the Play App Store, Navigator, Gmail and others. It’s not that hard for handset makers and carriers to get that approval — in fact it’s too easy.
The whole promise of Android was that it was an open ecosystem — a contrast Google loves to draw with Apple’s closed system.
At the Google I/O conference in 2010, Google vice president Vic Gundotra intimated that Apple had become the Big Brother it promised to smash.
“If you believe in openness, if you believe in choice, if you believe in innovation from everyone, then welcome to Android,” Gundotra said. “If Google did not act, we faced a Draconian future where one man, one company, one device, one carrier would be our only choice.”
But carriers, who strangled handset and mobile application innovation for years until Apple wrested control from them, can’t stop themselves from bloating and crippling phones — including the ones Google touts as exemplars of openness.
That means Android is now primed to get a reputation as a throwback to the old days of mobile phones — when devices shipped with all sorts of crapware designed to make money for the carriers, no matter how annoying or useless the app was.
Google has been trying to fight this by creating a so-called flagship phone — the Nexus line, a lean, clean, pure Android phone that comes with few, if any, carrier-chosen apps. According to a Wall Street Journal report this week, Google’s now set to expand the program so that all the five major manufacturers will have one. These phones run pure Android, with no skins, and with bootloaders easily unlocked. If you want to install a Wi-Fi sharing app on a Samsung Nexus, no problem, no matter what your carrier’s policy is on their use.
That lets Android hackers like the Cyanogenmod and XDA-Developer communities tinker away — whipping up new features, creating battery-saving radios and removing the crud from devices. That’s what open source looks like.
Google launched Android, in part, hoping to undermine the power of the carriers. Selling the Nexus One online to outmaneuver the carriers failed, but since then Android has been on a tear. Now Androids are everywhere, and at least for the time being, no real Android phone could ship with commercial and critical success without Google services.
And it’s now time for Google to use that market power to constrain the carriers and keep Android open and free. As the Free Software Foundation says, “When users don’t control the program, the program controls the users.”
Google could easily update the requirements for including Google’s proprietary apps to require carriers to sell Android phones that allow users to have root, remove skins and provide accessible, unlocked bootloaders. Throw in a requirement that carriers include only a very limited number of carrier-branded and sponsored apps, and then you have a pretty good way to keep Android from being tarnished by the biz guys at the carriers.
If Google wielded their power and changed their requirements, there would be another positive side effect — a world full of devices that can be tinkered with — even if most users never get any farther than removing ATT Family Map the day they buy their phone. Which, sadly, can’t be done today on what’s arguably the best Android phone ever.
Article source: http://www.wired.com/opinion/2012/05/google-android-open/
Tags: ATT, Free Software Foundation, HTC, Play App Store, Samsung Nexus, Wall Street Journal
18 May 12 Friday folly: HTC changes US Android phones to avoid injunction
The whole concept of patents is to encourage people to come up with new ways of doing things. They get a limited-time monopoly on it.
Other people can either license it, steal it, or come up with an even newer, different, perhaps better way of doing things. Then they can patent it. And the cycle of innovation continues. Case in point: Apple has a “slide to unlock” patent. Google came up with a different method, which they patented. Google’s is different, and may be better. They were forced by Apple’s existing patent to innovate.
(Side note: My father holds/held a number of US and foreign patents on esoteric yet valuable patents in his field. I feel quite strongly about this.)
I have a big problem with patent trolls, however.
Article source: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/mobile-news/friday-folly-htc-changes-u-s-android-phones-to-avoid-injunction/7889
18 May 12 The Champ Is Here
Our new fave in the Android realm. Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired
The HTC One X is one of the best smartphones on the market, and the best Android phone you can buy right now, period.
It’s fast, it’s gorgeous, it’s lightweight and it has a stellar battery that lasts all day. The camera is also outstanding. It’s the best I’ve seen on an Android phone, though it falls just short of the camera on the iPhone 4S.
It’s not just the hardware — the One X runs version 4.0 of Android, aka Ice Cream Sandwich, which is overlaid by HTC’s own Sense skin. It’s fast and easy to use. Combine that with the excellent hardware and you’ve got a handset worthy of being a flagship device for both HTC and ATT (even though you might have to wait a bit to get one).
In fact, the one thing I really don’t like about the One X is its exclusivity to ATT, the only carrier that sells the phone in the U.S. It’s a shame this phone isn’t available on T-Mobile, Sprint and Verizon.
Android handset makers don’t have the same leverage as Apple when it comes to dealing with telecommunications companies, so they continue to pump out a few slightly different versions of every phone, each one exclusive to a different carrier. It’s unnecessary and insane — HTC produced more than 50 different handsets last year alone.
The One X, being a stellar phone, serves as a testament that Android handset makers should go the iPhone route and make fewer phones of higher quality available through multiple carriers. The hardware companies would of course gain from this, but the payoff for the consumer would be huge as well.
To wit: Nearly every quibble I had with the T-Mobile-exclusive One S — a fine mid-range handset being sold at a flagship price — was fixed in the One X.
My biggest complaint with the One S was its display, and the feature I enjoyed most on the One X was — you guessed it — the display.
The One X has a 4.7-inch, 1280×720 IPS LCD touchscreen, covered in Corning’s durable, crystal-clear Gorilla Glass. The viewing angles on the screen are some of the best I’ve seen on a smartphone. Colors are bright and accurate, producing consistently true-to-life images across websites and apps. Pixel edges are indistinguishable with the display’s density of 316 pixels per inch.
Let me put it this way: The One X’s screen is on the same level as the iPhone’s Retina display. I love looking at it, and it blows away the PenTile displays found on the One S and the Samsung Galaxy Nexus (my former favorite Android handset).
Beneath the fantastic touchscreen, the One X is a beast, with a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 1GB of RAM and 16GB of storage (the same set-up found in the One S). Performance is blazing-fast, and though the ATT handset doesn’t pack the Nvidia Tegra 3 quad-core processor found in Europe and Asia’s One X, it doesn’t feel any less capable. The U.S. model is just as good and just as impressive as what HTC is offering overseas.
The U.S. version of the One X, unlike its overseas counterpart, runs on ATT’s 4G LTE network, which is only available in a small number of cities right now. In San Francisco, the One X downloaded and uploaded data quickly, whether connected to ATT’s 4G LTE, 4G HSPA+ or 3G service.
But despite performing like a beast, the One X is also a beauty.
The 0.36-inch chassis is made of a single piece of polycarbonate, giving the handset a sophisticated look free of seams or gaps, as seen on past HTC hardware. Given its size, the phone is also surprisingly light, weighing in at 4.6 ounces.
The One X is a handsome, well-designed phone. Photo by Ariel Zambelich/Wired
Article source: http://www.wired.com/reviews/2012/05/htc-one-x/
Tags: ATT, Gorilla Glass, HTC, Nvidia Tegra, Qualcomm Snapdragon, RAM
17 May 12 A Look at Android Fragmentation: The Good, the Bad and the Pretty Charts
There’s no doubt that there is a great deal of diversity when it comes to Android.
There are a half-dozen flavors of the operating system, with products made by dozens of manufacturers and literally thousands of individual designs. Whether this is good or bad depends on one’s perspective.
But the sheer number of different products is mind-boggling. In a report this week, OpenSignalMaps looked at data from 600,000 users who downloaded its signal-measuring software. The company found that its software has been downloaded by nearly 4,000 different devices. Some of these are actually standard devices running custom software. But even factoring those out, there are still upward of 2,000 different Android products in the wild.
Of the nearly 600 different brands, Samsung rules the roost with nearly 40 percent market share, followed by HTC, SEMC, Motorola and LG. At the bottom end of the market-share battle, the company spotted a pair of the ill-fated Fusion Garage tablets and a handful of Polaroid’s smart cameras.
For its part, OpenSignalMaps notes the downsides of so many makes and models, but says that the opportunities outweigh the challenges.
“Developers tend to bemoan Android fragmentation yet there’s much here to be celebrated,” the company said in its report. “While the number of different models running Android will continue to increase we’ve seen Samsung take the lion’s share of the Android market, most of that due to the Galaxy product line. Testing on the most popular Samsung HTC devices will get you a long way.”
Besides, Android means reaching to all corners of the globe. OpenSignalMaps says it has collected data from nearly 200 countries, with the most popular being the U.S., Brazil, China, Russia and Mexico.
“One of the joys of developing for Android is you have no idea who’ll end up using your app,” it said.
The report is chock full of interesting numbers and charts, and is well worth a read.
Article source: http://allthingsd.com/20120517/a-look-at-android-fragmentation-the-good-the-bad-and-the-pretty-charts/
17 May 12 New HTC Android Phones Tweaked to Evade Apple Patents
When a judge found HTC guilty of infringing two Apple patents last year, HTC said it would modify its phones to get around the infringement. Now we’re seeing exactly how that will affect users.
The patents deal with how the iPhone gives you a list of possible commands when you tap on a phone number, e-mail, physical address or other data structure. For instance, if you tap on a phone number in a document, the iPhone lets you call the number, send a text message, add the number to your contacts or copy the digits to the clipboard. HTC’s Android phones have similar functionality, which was grounds for infringement, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled.
According to The Verge, the U.S. versions of HTC’s latest phones no longer have the so-called “data tapping” functionality (pictured to the left on a Samsung phone). Instead, when you tap on certain types of data, the phone immediately performs an action. So if you tap on a phone number, the phone will jump right to the dialer. A separate options menu lets users choose what happens by default when they tap on certain types of data.
Some users might actually prefer this change–if you tap an e-mail address, for instance, there’s a good chance you intend to write to that address–but the immediate action could be a nuisance for accidental tapping. And because alternate actions are buried in a separate menu, users may not bother with them. As I’ve written before, HTC phones are a little bit worse as a result of Apple’s patent win–at least in the United States.
The HTC One X and Evo 4G LTE are currently held up at U.S. Customs while the agency examines the phones for patent infringements, The Verge reported earlier this week. Hopefully HTC’s tweaks will be sufficient enough to get those phones into consumers’ hands soon.
(MORE: Compared- HTC’s One X, One S and Evo 4G LTE)
Article source: http://techland.time.com/2012/05/17/new-htc-android-phones-tweaked-to-evade-apple-patents/
15 May 12 T-Mobile’s Free Tethering Ending with ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’
HTC’s upgrade of the HTC Sensation on Wednesday to Android 4.0 will be bittersweet, as a T-Mobile representative said that the company will begin enforcing its $14.99 per month wireless hotspot plan.
That probably means that the carrier’s policy of letting some customers use the feature for free will end, making a Wi-Fi hotspot subscription mandatory for those who want the “Ice Cream Sandwich”/Android 4.0 upgrade, and wish to keep using the phone as a wireless hotspot.
T-Mobile’s support document on the HTC Sensation upgrade on Monday came with a caveat: “HTC Sensation 4G will be required to add Wi-Fi Mobile Hotspot feature in order to use the service after completing this update.”
T-Mobile also indicated that ICS would be coming to the HTC Amaze 4G “in the coming weeks”. However, that document lacks the Wi-Fi Mobile Hotspot caveat that T-Mobile included on the HTC Sensation page. On the other hand, users have reported that T-Mobile has also previously blocked the Wi-Fi tethering feature on the Amaze.
T-Mobile has always officially charged $14.95 per month for Wi-Fi hotspot access. However, some users were given a free pass, leading to confusion about whether T-Mobile actually charged for the feature. Users needed to buy the package, whether or not they used a USB cable to tether the phone to their computer, or a Wi-Fi connection.
“T-Mobile began offering a Smartphone Mobile Hotspot plan in November 2010. However, due to technical limitations with software, customers were not being charged for the feature on select T-Mobile products,” a T-Mobile representative said. “Customers who choose to upgrade their HTC Sensation 4G to the optional Android 4.0 (ICS) software update will be required to sign up for the $14.99 Smartphone Mobile Hotspot plan.”
Furthermore, some users were also given a grace period of sorts. “T-Mobile may not immediately block you from Wi-Fi sharing until it is verified that you are using your device as a modem…and at that time you may be blocked and then required to purchase a feature to continue using it,” a T-Mobile customer support representative wrote last year. “That said, there may be a period of time where you are able to tether without having the feature added on the account.”
Although a T-Mobile representative confirmed that HTC Sensation 4G customers who wish to continue using the hotspot feature would need to pay the extra fee, all HTC Sensation owners will be able to upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich for free – it’s just the hotspot feature that will cost extra.
HTC has a total of 16 phones lined up to get ICS updates, as it said in March, including the Droid Incredible 2 by HTC, HTC Amaze 4G, HTC Desire S, HTC Desire HD, HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO Design 4G, HTC Incredible S, HTC Sensation, HTC Sensation XL, HTC Sensation 4G, HTC Sensation XE, HTC Raider, HTC Rezound, HTC Rhyme, HTC Thunderbolt, and HTC Vivid.
For more from Mark, follow him on Twitter @MarkHachman.
For the top stories in tech, follow us on Twitter at @PCMag.
Article source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2404429,00.asp
Tags: Droid Incredible, HTC, Ice Cream Sandwich, ICS, Smartphone Mobile Hotspot, Wi Fi
15 May 12 T-Mobile to scoop Android 4.0 update to HTC Sensation 4G
The HTC Sensation 4G is T-Mobile’s next smartphone to receive Android 4.0.
(Credit:
Sarah Tew/CNET)
After a number of delays and just a bit of finger-pointing, T-Mobile finally is set to deliver
Android 4.0 to the HTC Sensation 4G.
As one of the carrier’s premier smartphones of 2011, the HTC handset should only get better when it picks up Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0.3) on May 16. The details of the update are listed on T-Mobile’s support page along with guidelines for performing the update.
As is the case with other Android 4.0 updates, the Sensation 4G will benefit from options such as resizeable widgets, face unlock, and home-screen folders. Given that we’re talking about an HTC smartphone, the device will also see an update to the custom Sense UI, bring it to v3.6.
T-Mobile also plans to deploy the Android 4.0 update to its HTC Amaze 4G in the coming weeks. Although the carrier has yet to outline a specific date, I’d assume they want to make sure the Sensation 4G works well before proceeding with the next model. I’d look for some more noise on the matter in early June.
Article source: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-57433988-1/t-mobile-to-scoop-android-4.0-update-to-htc-sensation-4g/
Tags: HTC, Ice Cream Sandwich
Translation
