From the people that I speak to in the real world and also via Twitter, there seems to be a common misconception that everyone who owns a smartphone immediately becomes an expert in how to extensively use that device, including the ins and outs of app installation. I know first hand that this simply isn't the case and to a lot of people, a smartphone is just simply another mobile device and they are unable to make a distinction between a normal phone and a smartphone.
Legally unlocking your smartphone/tablet involves taking it to your wireless network operator/carrier, paying them a hefty fee (which can go in the hundreds of dollars) and then receiving a special code which you can input to your device to unlock it so you can use on other wireless networks.
As a technology news writer following Android, I’ve lost count of the number of Android tablets. It’s simply impossible to keep up with all of them when manufacturers like Samsung introduces five tablets within a few months. We’ve discussed the negative effects of this in our post on the Galaxy Tab 2: it’s creating consumer confusion, making things difficult for manufacturers to keep all of their lineup updated to the latest version of Android and, as a consequence, making your average Joe just pick up an iPad. Sure, the Kindle Fire and ASUS Transformer tablets are selling well relative to other Android tablets, but the iPad is simply smoking them.
As the days and week progress, it would seem that the ongoing legal animosity between Apple and Motorola will continue to grow and cause disruption not only to both companies but also to their customers. This time, it is the turn of German users of Apple’s iCloud and MobileMe push services to suffer, thanks to a patent lawsuit which is currently going through proceedings between the two companies.
With multi-cores, multi-gigabyte RAMs, every increasing flash memory capacities and upcoming software like Ubuntu for Android, it is only a matter of time before the smartphone replaces the desktop. Yes, believe it or not, smartphones are becoming that powerful.
This post could easily just be an embedded YouTube video alongside just one word - "WOW" - and that would probably suffice. That said, we like to offer a little more insight than that here at Redmond Pie so here goes.
Despite HP giving up on the HP TouchPad a long time ago, the Android development community continues to support it in the form of regular updates, stability upgrades and bug fixes to CyanogenMod - the premier custom ROM for the discontinued tablet. CyanogenMod 9 Alpha 2 is the latest version of the ROM and is, to be honest, a small upgrade over Alpha 1 but, understandably, a pretty big one over CyanogenMod 7 since they are both based on different versions of Android. If you’ve got a TouchPad handy and would like to try it out, check out our step-by-step guide after the jump.
Samsung Electronics Co. have released updated sales figures which show that their popular smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S II, has surpassed the twenty million units shipped mark in its first ten months of existence in the market. The world’s number two smartphone maker say that the figures represent both domestic and international markets, but only take into account the number of units which have been shipped to service providers and don't take into account SIM-free sales or individual customer purchases which means the figure could be significantly higher.
Collaboration is becoming more than just a buzz word these days, with many businesses needing their teams to work closely on projects, be they long form text documents or complicated spreadsheets. Google seems to understand that, and is working on making the whole experience a whole lot more mobile.
If you follow Redmond Pie, you’ll know that we regularly post updates to Android Market in the form of APK files you can install on your own. Google later pushes the update to devices automatically and despite heavy testing, it may just happen that your device doesn’t like the latest update. Stability issues, regular force-closes etc. etc.
