Android

Over the years, the commercials played during the Super Bowl have become just as entertaining and scrutinized as the game itself, and this year was no different. Among the myriad car commercials that dominated the big game this year, there was one ad that probably caught the eye of many a mobile tech fan.

Airing during the second quarter, Sony Ericsson confirmed all the rumors and leaks by officially showing off the Xperia Play aka PlayStation phone in the TV promo shown above. Much of the commercial is shrouded in mystery until the end where a Franken-Android of sorts is … Read more

Earlier this week, Google offered the first real taste of Honeycomb. Though we'd previously seen short video clips and images, it wasn't until Tuesday's event that we were able to see Android 3.0 in action.

Watching the live demonstrations, I could envision thousands of Galaxy Tab owners glancing at their tablets, wondering if or when it will see Honeycomb. And, of course I'm sure that plenty of Android phone customers are hoping to get the same experience. But will Honeycomb end up on smartphones? Or is it a tablet-only platform? The answer is somewhere in between.

Though a Google spokesman told PCMag yesterday that Honeycomb was only for tablets, he also said that some features from the update "will arrive on phones over time."

Looking at the official Honeycomb features page on the Android blog, we can see that Honeycomb is "specifically optimized for devices with larger screen sizes, particularly tablets." Considering how much data (widgets, folders, and shortcuts) you can place on the desktop, it's pretty obvious you won't be able to do the same on a 4-inch display. Yet, that's not to say we won't end up with the enhanced notifications or a persistent action bar on our handsets.

While a lot of Honeycomb's focus is on getting the overall user experience to feel more natural and intuitive, there are a few features that bring added functionality to Android. For example, it's hard to imagine Google keeping video chat restricted to tablets. And the same goes for the redesigned keyboard and improved copy and paste options. … Read more

Two days ago Rupert Murdoch announced The Daily, News Corp.'s latest publication built for the iPad platform, and we've been waiting all week to get its tech editor, Peter Ha, in the studio to tell us about the new pricing model and how it'll shape the future of online publishing. Lucky for us, today is that day, but the show starts off with a bit of controversy. Tune in to hear Jeff's fumble!

But Peter's not here to talk about the Korean flag or tattoos, he joins us today to chat about The Daily. The magazine/book/newspaper, or whatever you want to call it, is fielding plenty of comparisons to free news outlets like The New York Times and The Huffington Post that also have their own iPad apps, or even Flipboard, another visually interactive app for the tablet platform.

But from what Peter tells us, The Daily is a different kind of user experience in that it delivers editorial content made specifically for the iPad, whereas those other apps simply pull in RSS-feed versions of their Web-based counterparts.

For 99 cents a week or $39.99 a year, The Daily uses a set of templates to deliver content more in line with a newspaper as a backseat user experience, as opposed to the personalized, curated set of blogs you choose for Flipboard or other "mobile news readers."

The Daily also provides content interactively by way of a floating carousel of categories with 360-degree high-resolution photos, audio clips, and video. Whether or not that justifies the subscription fee is up to the user, although we're all impressed by (and a little pensive about) the ability to record and post audio comments in addition to text.

Stay tuned for the second half where we examine the plausibility of The Daily coming to the fragmented Android Market. Like it or hate it, Android is certainly the default operating system for consumers to turn to after iOS, but Wilson doesn't believe that Android users will accept the idea of paying for apps anytime soon. On the other hand, the guy can barely predict his plans for this weekend, so don't take his words too seriously.

As usual, we have a blast riffing back and forth with Peter Ha, who's not only a hilarious friend of the show but also offers valuable insight into the mobile publishing industry, the ongoing mobile OS wars, and hopefully Rupert Murdoch's to-do list. Check out today's show and let us know what you think about The Daily! Give us a call at 1-866-404-CNET and leave us a voice mail, or e-mail us at the404(at)cnet(dot)com.

We first glimpsed the Huawei Ideos X5 at CES and declared it a good-looking, midlevel Android phone. It runs the standard version of Android 2.2 (Froyo), which means that it doesn't have any of the extra interface graphics that manufacturers sometimes add for visual flare and to differentiate their phones from rivals'. That's sure to please those campaigning to let Android be Android without additional skin modifications.

The Ideos X5 has very solid hardware specs, like a 3.8-inch capacitive touch screen, a 5-megapixel camera, and 720p HD video capture and playback. It also has expandable memory … Read more

Who needs a TV remote when you have a smartphone or tablet?

Samsung has released an app to the Android Market that turns your Android-powered Samsung smartphone (OS 2.1 or up) or Galaxy Tab tablet into a digital remote--so long as you use it with a compatible TV.

The Samsung TV Remote uses Wi-Fi to form a connection with the TV. A QWERTY keyboard, numbers, and directional arrows do the rest of the work.

The free remote app works with Samsung LED C6500 series and higher, the Samsung LCD C650 series and higher, and the Samsung Plasma C6500 series … Read more

Google wasn't the first mobile platform provider to introduce an online app catalog, but its Android Market Web store is the first to offer seamless over-the-air installation.

Using the online Android Market is fairly straightforward. Apart from some initial hiccups everyone encountered when the Web store first launched, it takes just a few mouse clicks to wirelessly download both paid and free apps without craning over your smartphone screen or straining your peepers.

However, those early frustrations are telling. Scrambling to test the online Market just after it launched, I had no problems selecting apps to download, but several … Read more

A brief tidbit of information shared by a Best Buy outlet now says the Motorola Xoom will hit store shelves on February 24, a week later than some initial reports had claimed.

The Best Buy store in Grand Rapids, Mich., revealed the date on its Facebook page even though Motorola itself has yet to announce an official, specific launch day for its new tablet. The February 24 date also runs counter to previous reports that said the Xoom would arrive at Best Buy a week earlier, on Feb. 17.

Beyond leaking the debut date of the Xoom, this particular Best … Read more

As you've surely heard, something new is coming to the tablet marketspace: Honeycomb, otherwise known as Android 3.0.

It's Google's first mobile operating system aimed specifically at tablets, and Google let us get our hands on it again this week--the same day Apple and News Corp. showed off a new publication built for the iPad.

So far we like Honeycomb, but it could have a fight ahead of it, as the iPad, which many consider to be the creator of the category, currently has 87 percent market share (remember, though, that the iPhone dominated smartphone coolness too until Android took root and began claiming a large chunk of that market).

But Honeycomb looks sweet, with a clear road map established, a new app store ready to roll, features like 3D maps, and support for powerful hardware. And it has plenty of hardware makers, like Motorola and LG, ready to back it up. If they can keep the prices of their devices reasonable, tablets running Honeycomb might have a chance at stinging Apple where it hurts. … Read more

Motorola Cliq XT owners got the bad news today that their smartphones will be left to limp off into the sunset with Android 1.5 Cupcake.

According to the Motorola Support Forums, Moto recently scrapped the Android 2.1 Eclair plans after it determined that the Cliq XT would not deliver an "optimal customer experience."

Forums manager "Moto Matt" delivered the news in a post today, while acknowledging that the news will likely frustrate a number of users who anxiously awaited the update. "Our product team members worked for months to attempt to create a … Read more