When Android users take their phone out of the box for the first time, things gnenerally work; average users don’t really customize their Android experience but enthusiasts like to hunt for the perfect third-party alternatives to things that they think don’t work. The browser on Gingerbread and below is a good case in point: it’s a lackluster offering that is slow and not customizable at all. Searching for the best alternative browser on Android through Market can be gargantuan task, but if you do your homework you’ll find that Dolphin Browser and Opera Mobile are fan-favorites.
Whether you call it a play toy or a useful utility, Siri is undoubtedly one of iPhone 4S’ hottest features. While its popularity among iPhone 4S users is decreasing, demand for a strong Siri alternative for Android remains as strong as ever. This is evidenced by the countless number of Siri-like apps available in the Android Market, which we cover from time to time.
It would seem that the freight train that is the Android mobile operating system is continuing to steam through the mobile industry with Google's Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content, Andy Rubin, announcing that the OS is receiving over 850,000 activations per day which represents a rise of over 250 percent since last year. It has to be said that these are pretty impressive statistics considering there is only one device currently being sold which comes pre-installed with the latest Android 4.0 OS, Ice Cream Sandwich. Even more so, when you consider that only approximately one percent of Android devices in existence run Ice Cream Sandwich.
I personally feel that Android needs a strong, unified syncing solution that harmonizes your desktop computer with your smartphone and tablet. Apple has got this nailed with iTunes and iCloud but Android is severely lacking in this department; users have to install a bunch of different apps that sync different kinds of files: you have Dropbox for photos/videos, Google Docs for documents, doubletwist’s excellent AirSync app or Google Music for your music library etc. etc. Android enthusiasts tend to see this as a plus on Android’s part but I don’t.
The ASUS Eee Pad Transformer TF101 was (and arguably is) one of the most talked about Android tablets, and for good reason - it packed premium hardware, is developer-friendly and still receives support from its manufacturer. Yes, the Transformer TF101 received Ice Cream Sandwich just a few days ago and it has already been rooted on it. We’ve got an easy step-by-step guide ready after the jump for those of you who are on Windows. Check it out after the jump!
Progress on official CyanogenMod ROMs was pretty slow these past few weeks because of the lack of build servers. The CyanogenMod team asked for donations for new servers and a large number of people from the Android enthusiast community responded to the call.
We have recently brought some news regarding the Samsung Galaxy S III handset, which was originally set to be announced and shown off at this year’s Mobile World Congress which is happening in Barcelona as we speak. However, Samsung decided not to showcase the new handset at the MWC, instead opting to delay the announcement amid rumors that they wanted to unify a global launch date for the device which could happen in as many as fifty countries or cities in one go.
VLC Media Player is one of the most popular media players on the desktop, and with good reason - it is free, light on system resources, works on multiple platforms and will play just about any kind of media file you throw at it.
The mobile smartphone and tablet industry seems to have a very prominent divide, with a lot of consumers having their favorite operating system and choosing to stick to hardware which is powered by their chosen OS. Obviously fans of Apple's iOS use the iPhone and iPad devices, whereas Android lovers have a wide range of hardware to choose from due to the fact that the OS is available to multiple manufacturers.
Android likes to think of itself as more of a computer-like mobile operating system than some of its competition, and it is on the verge of receiving the one app that any OS needs in order to earn its stripes - a torrent application.
