Android

The 404 787: Where play the show from the Amazon Cloud Drive (podcast)

Today we're talking about Amazon's new locker storage service in the cloud that could signal an Amazon-branded tablet PC in the near future, an iOS app that lets you quickly erase regretful Internet activity, and Sylvester Stallone's eponymous clothing line.

Episode 787 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

Firefox for Android reaches 'full' status

For Android devotees, Mozilla's issuance of Firefox for Android has been a long wait. Sure, the browser maker added it to the Android Market in beta form months ago and made the release candidate (RC) available last week.

However, today marks the first that the app is available in full, unfettered by qualifications that mark it a prerelease product prone to bugs and subjected to rigorous user testing.

In other words, the app is done.

I gave my hands-on impressions of the faster, better-designed RC version of Firefox 4 for Android (and Maemo) last week. My colleague Seth Rosenblatt … Read more

IDC: Android, Windows Phone to rule mobile

Android and Windows Phone will reign supreme in the smartphone market in the not-too-distant future, a new IDC report claims.

According to the market researcher, more than 450 million smartphones will ship in 2011, up from the 303.4 million units last year. IDC predicts that Android will account for 39.5 percent of all smartphone shipments this year, easily besting Symbian's 20.9 percent market share. Apple's iOS platform is expected to be running on 15.7 percent of the smartphones shipped in 2011. RIM's BlackBerry and Windows Phone 7/Windows Mobile will round out the … Read more

Rumor: Google to launch Nexus tablet this year?

Google and LG are reportedly working on a Nexus tablet that could reach consumers later this year.

According to information picked up by Russian blog site Mobile-Review (Google English Translation), Google is looking to create an Android Nexus tablet following in the footsetps of its Nexus One and Nexus S smartphones. Though LG is said to be handling the actual manufacturing, the tablet would be free of any additional software often thrown in by third-party hardware makers, thus creating a pure Android device.

The new tablet would most likely run a clean version of Android 3.0 Honeycomb and could hit the market by mid-summer or early fall, added Mobile-Review.

But before consumers get too excited, the news is still decidedly in the rumor stage. Boy Genius Report pointed out that the new device could just be an engineering prototype that Google wants to use internally for tablet development.… Read more

Report: Nook Color approaching 3 million in sales

For competitive reasons, Barnes & Noble and Amazon never report exactly how many e-readers they've sold. But word out of Taiwan's Digitimes, which is well known for its iPhone rumors, is that the bookseller has "taken delivery of close to 3 million Nook Color e-book readers from its production partner," according to a source from the Nook Color supply chain.

The article claims that the attractively priced Nook Color--and its "clearly differentiated display size" from the iPad--has captured more than 50 percent of the "iPad-like market" in North America. We assume that means 50 percent of the non-Apple tablet market.

Additionally, the article cites sources saying sales of the Nook Color topped 1 million during the 2010 holiday season and have been running in the 600,000-700,000 unit range in subsequent months.… Read more

The 404 786: Where we would really appreciate the tour (podcast)

The 404 Digest for Episode 786

Jeff spent all weekend making socially awkward penguin memes. A picture tour of the CNET office. Everything you need to know about Firefox 4. Setting the record straight costs celebrities $1,000 a year. European Union proposes legislation for "right to be forgotten." New app shields you from annoying celebrity news.

Morgan Freeman gaming box art from Eddy and Jason. The Oatmeal comic submissions by Justin, Attariq, and Cameron (pictured).

Episode 786 Subscribe in iTunes (audio) | Subscribe in iTunes (video) | Subscribe in RSS Audio | Subscribe in RSS Video… Read more

HSN 'previewing' Nook Color's app store and Flash capabilities

As promised, the Home Shopping Network has begun previewing some of the new features that are part of an upcoming "mid-April" update to the Nook Color that we reported on a few days ago. Barnes & Noble has confirmed in a press release that the update would include the new app store but HSN is the one talking up the Nook Color's upcoming ability to watch Flash videos.

… Read more

My first look at the Kyocera Echo

ORLANDO, Fla.--In addition to delivering lots of new phones, trade shows like CTIA 2011 offer an opportunity to see any recent models that haven't yet to passed through your hands. This year, CTIA was my first chance to handle the Kyocera Echo, the dual-screen Android handset for Sprint. I wasn't able to join Bonnie Cha for last month's launch event in New York City--check out Bonnie's original take on the device--so I had breakfast with Kyocera's PR team to see the smartphone up close.

After Sprint's bizarre unveiling event--was a performance by Blaine … Read more

CTIA 2011 wrap-up: Android dominates again

After a hectic fall CTIA show, CES, and Mobile World Congress, we assumed that the spring CTIA show would be a quieter affair. It might have been, too, were it not for AT&T's bombshell, dropped two days before the show kicked off.

News of the proposed merger was followed on Monday by Google joining forces with Sprint to bring Google Voice to nearly every Sprint phone. The announcement went hand in hand with Sprint's news that it's adding an Android 2.3 Gingerbread-run 4G-capable Nexus S to its lineup.

Speaking of Sprint, the carrier unveiled two spinoffs of its Android-powered Evo brand, made by HTC. There was the HTC Evo 3D--which offers a lensless 3D experience for photos, videos, and games--and the HTC Evo View tablet, a rebranded, 4G-ready version of the HTC Flyer we saw at Mobile World Congress.

HTC wasn't the only manufacturer to trot out a 3D phone. LG struck back with its LG Thrill for AT&T, the U.S. version of the LG Optimus 3D first glimpsed in Barcelona, Spain, last month. Like its competitor the Evo 3D, the Thrill features two 5-megapixel cameras on the back for shooting 3D video and stills. LG also had the T-Mobile G2X, our pick for top phone, and yet another rebrand of a dual-core Android phone, the LG Optimus 2X, first revealed at CES. To round off its Optimus theme, Cricket announced the LG Optimus C, the latest in the inexpensive, entry-level Android Optimus line.… Read more