The idea of having a projector built into a mobile phone has been around for a long time, although few have dared ventured into this arena. Remember the Pomegranate concept phone that made rounds of the internet sporting a projector unit? Or the rumored Mozilla device with the same capabilities? In reality, Samsung was one manufacturer back in 2012 that ventured with a smartphone carrying a projector with its Galaxy Beam Android smartphone, and while that showed that it can be done, it didn’t go much beyond that. Today, Samsung announced the successor to this unique device, in the form of Samsung Galaxy Beam 2 Android phone.
The community propping up CyanogenMod, one of the most popular aftermarket firmware available to Android users, is expansive to say the least, and with hardware maker Oppo having teamed up last year with the CM team to build a handset packing the versatile, customizable software pre-loaded, Oppo's spin-off company OnePlus appears to have taken things to the next level. The OnePlus One smartphone will run CyanogenMod 11S (based on Android 4.4) right off the bat, and with an impressive list of tech specs and a very agreeable price point, could prove a real hit with hack-minded consumers.
Android, or the associated open source project (AOSP), are technically derivatives of Linux, and hence, they natively work with any Linux-based system without requiring extra configurations. This holds true for any Linux variant, and even OS X, too, which shares a common base. However, for Windows – the most widely used PC operating system – things are little different. In Microsoft’s operating environment, everything is about drivers. Any hardware component that you have attached to your system, it will require proper drivers to be configured, whether it’s an internal piece of hardware or a peripheral. It’s not like this is something unique to Windows; it’s just that the latter requires more third-party drivers than its counterparts, and that’s where Android users share the same woes.
Security is a hot button topic right now, and with good reason. With government agencies trying to scoop your data just as much as the cyber criminals we're all told keep sniffing our credit card details, gone are the days of simply burying our heads in the sand and hoping it'll all be OK.
It's an accepted fact that Apple changed the face of the smartphone industry with the introduction of the iPhone back in 2007, and even though it has only been seven years, it feels as though we've always been tapping home screen icons and gesturing our way through interfaces. Not only did the iPhone completely turn the market on its head, but Google's in-development Android interface - which didn't, at the time of the Apple smartphone's announcement, support touch input - also had to be completely re-thought.
Google has just announced via the official Android blog that it is in the process of rolling out some additional security mechanisms to the world's most popular mobile operating system. The blog post, which was written and published by an Android security engineer by the name of Rich Cannings, gives a brief overview on some of Android's existing security based positives before continuing to announce that the newly added features will boost the already existing Verify Apps functionality in the going fight against malicious content.
Even though the Play Store is moderated to ensure that dodgy, malicious apps don't make it through the gates and onto people's devices, it's not a completely foolproof system. Virus Shield, a relatively new app that claimed to protect users from viruses and other such non-niceties, has scammed many folks out of their money because, at $3.99 a pop, it didn't actually provide any speakable anti-virus features. Although it has since been ousted by the search giant after being exposed, it remains to be seen whether the 10,000+ customers that parted with the substantial sum will see any kind of refund.
When we talk about Android, what’s the first thing that comes to your mind? I bet 99% of the people will answer smartphones or tablets (unless there’s an app that you’re crazy about and that’s what you prefer). However, Android, being the open source platform that it is, offers much more flexibility in terms of the hardware that it can run on, and so there’s Android out there that can run just fine on x86 computer architecture as well. Yup - full-blown Android running natively, not the likes of BlueStacks! In this post, we’ll show you exactly how to get that.
Independently of the forthcoming Android 4.4.3 update, which should begin to trickle out to the Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 in the very near future, Google plans to add some useful new features to the native camera app of its mobile operating system. According to a newly emerged report, the standalone app will be given a complete makeover, delivering a revamped UI, improved panorama and more.
Such is the open source nature of the Android ecosystem, that it presents itself as an attractive prospect to malware makers, and other such unscrupulous entities. It's often the case that potentially dodgy apps circulate outside of the confines of the Google Play Store, and thus, by avoiding third-party download services, Android users can remain relatively safe. However, renowned security firm Trend Micro has just discovered a new type of bug that can secretly turn devices into digital currency miners, and worryingly, at least two Play Store apps are thought to have been affected.
