Although Google seems to have sped up Ice Cream Sandwich implementation across the range of Android devices, there are still a bunch of feature-rich smartphones out there yearning for some of the Big G's delicious mobile OS.
Nokia may still be wiping off its bloody nose, but it is getting ready for the biggest phone launch the company has ever had to put together. The US release of the Lumia 900 is an important one for Nokia, and it is now clear that the Finnish firm isn't holding back.
Despite being an open mobile operating system which offers more freedom than competing platforms, Android comes with a bunch of small but nonetheless frustrating limitations. One such limitation is Gmail’s limited support for different file formats; it plays well with things like PDFs, DOCs and AVIs, but when it comes to ZIP files and other, lesser known formats such as 7z, the popular email client simply denies the user from downloading it. Further, Gmail doesn’t let you save attachments to specified locations on your device’s internal memory or SD card.
Whether it is to install a more performance-conscious custom ROM or set an app to kill other apps after every few minutes, folks with older Android devices can use a wide variety of methods to get more juice out of their device.
Siri was introduced as one of the three major features of the iPhone 4S back when it was announced in late 2011. As we all know well by now, it is a voice-based personal assistant that lives inside the iPhone 4S which serves all sorts of commands given by the user. Voice commands involving things like setting a reminder/timer, going through latest text messages, firing off an email/text message, getting weather updates etc. etc.
One of the primary uses of smartphones today - besides taking photos/videos, receiving/sending texts and calls, consuming content from social networks and RSS feeds - is as an organizational tool; we use it to wake us up in the morning, to keep track of meetings, events and other appointments and, of course, to keep to-do lists.
One argument for Android phones in the giant, ongoing war between Android and the iPhone, is its level of customizability. Android fans can tinker with their phones as much as they want, make them do all kinds of things that iPhone users just cannot and just generally tinker around to their heart's content.
The ongoing patent disputes between Apple and Samsung are constantly subject to media attention, and at present, U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh has the unenviable task of listening to the argument regarding Apple's U.S. Design Patents D558, D757, D618 and D678, related to the look and feel of its iDevice range.
The smartphone of today has become the ultimate example of convergent technology. These devices take razor-sharp photographs, record Full HD 1080p video, play video games, read books, play music, besides taking the occasional phone call and sending/receiving a text message.
Sony’s Xperia line of smartphones is, in my humble opinion, one of the more underrated Android smartphones. Sony’s custom Timeline user-experience on top of Android 2.3 Gingerbread is one of the best in the business and the company offers great support to the development community in the form of giving them unlocked bootloaders and kernel sources.
