Jelli

Owners of Sony's Xperia T and Xperia V can expect a dose of Android 4.1 sometime soon.

Sony said yesterday that it's begun deploying Jelly Bean to its initial batch of Xperia smartphones. The Xperia T and Xperia V are first on the list, while the Xperia TX is due sometime in March. The rollout will continue to ramp up over this month and next, Sony added.

Xperia owners will receive a notification when the update is available for the model of phone they have. Most users will be able to download the software over the air. … Read more

Asus, the maker of Google's Nexus 7, will debut a 7-inch Fonepad at Mobile World Congress later this month, according to sources familiar with the product.

Reports say the Fonepad may be priced in the same ballpark as -- or slightly higher than -- the Nexus 7 but below the MeMO Pad, which Asus launched Friday in Asia.

Leaked photos show it with an aluminum body and an Intel badge on the back.

An independent source familiar with the product has confirmed the Fonepad with CNET.

Widely-reported specifications include Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean), an Intel Atom processor with … Read more

The latest in Android smartphone software is Android version 4.1, also known as Jelly Bean. But getting your hands on it isn't as easy as hitting the update button on your current smartphone.

Only a handful of current Android smartphones support Jelly Bean, and there are only a few new smartphones shipping with the software preinstalled.

But don't let that discourage you. As CNET's Brian Bennett pointed out in a recent blog post, there are some great Jelly Bean options out there that you can buy right now. Here are CNET's five best options.

Subscribe:… Read more

I first laid eyes on the Archos Family Pad at CES. And I needed both eyes to take in this behemoth of a tablet, which sports a whopping 13.3-inch screen.

At that size, you don't really travel with it -- though you could, no differently than you would with a 13.3-inch laptop (minus the keyboard, natch). No, the Family Pad is best suited to the family room, if not the kitchen, den, bedroom, or other semi-permanent spot. It's not a tablet you walk around with; it's a tablet you sit around with.… Read more

As Android tablet shipments surge, probably the best thing that can be said about Microsoft is that it's not going away.

Android tablet shipments totaled about 30 million in the fourth quarter, IDC reported today. And that number (total market) jumps to 50 million if you throw in Apple's iPad.

"There is no question that Microsoft is in this tablet race to compete for the long haul," an IDC analyst said today in a statement, trying to put Microsoft's tablet debut into perspective.

In fact, that's probably about as positive a statement that can … Read more

A newer and beefier version of LG's Optimus G could be coming to town, at least to someone's town.

A leaked slide sent to blog site Engadget teased a host of alleged details about the Optimus G Pro. If the slide is on the money, the new smartphone would sport a 5-inch 1,920x1,080 pixel display and tap into a 1.7GHz Qualcomm quad-core Snapdragon processor for its power.

Running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the Pro model would include 2GB of memory, 32GB of storage, and support for LTE. Also along for the ride would be … Read more

The Sprint version of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has begun receiving the Android 4.2 software update, according to various reports surfacing this week.

The 98MB file can be manually downloaded and installed, but the carrier has yet to make any formal announcements.

CNET has contacted Sprint for comment and will update the article with any response.

Sprint may have been months behind Verizon releasing the Galaxy Nexus, but the smaller carrier has been much more active in offering updates. The Verizon model, for its part, is still running Jelly Bean 4.1.1.

While this isn't the worst … Read more

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity for Android Jelly Bean phones to ship, I'm glad to see that a flood of handsets with the coveted software has burst onto the mobile scene. Some of these devices, such as the HTC Droid DNA and LG Nexus 4, rolled straight off the assembly line boasting Google's most modern OS. Older phones, like the Samsung Galaxy S3 and Motorola Droid Razr HD Maxx, just received this significant upgrade.

Take a look at this stellar list of smartphones that all offer a state-of-the-art Android experience. From the pure flavor only … Read more

A new Galaxy S2 phone is coming to town, though it isn't much different than its predecessor.

Announced today by Samsung, the Galaxy S2 Plus builds upon the S2 by including Android 4.1.2, aka Jelly Bean.

Initially outfitted with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, the original S2 received an update to Android 4.0 last June and is finally due up for Android 4.1 sometime soon.

Otherwise, most of the tech specs between the S2 Plus and the original S2 are the same.

Like its precedessor, the S2 Plus will offer a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, … Read more