Android

If there were three words to describe Mozilla's biggest concerns with the mobile version of its browser, they would be: speed, speed, and speed. The company released today Firefox Mobile 4 beta 5 for Android 2.1 and higher and Maemo with no major new features or feature improvements, instead choosing to make this release about improving the browser's performance.

Mozilla is claiming noticeable improvements in start-up speed, page load speed, and JavaScript rendering speed. The company also said in its Firefox 4 Mobile beta 5 release notes that it intends to continue to focus on "reducing … Read more

If you ever find yourself wanting an alternative to the Amazon MP3 Store on Android (though we can't quite imagine why), you can now consider the V Cast Music application if you're a Verizon customer. You can get both full song downloads and ring tones, and song prices range from $0.69 to $1.29 for DRM-free MP3s. You can get song plus ringtone packages for a reduced cost, and Verizon is also offering a Jukebox program that will rotate or randomize ringback tones.

This new version of V Cast requires Android 2.1 and up, and existing … Read more

Developers looking to create apps for the newest Honeycomb version of Android can now grab the final SDK from Google.

The search giant released the software development kit for Android 3.0 yesterday, offering several new features that developers can incorporate into their mobile apps with the goal of publishing them directly to Google's Android Market. This final version follows the interim one that Google rolled out last month.

Honeycomb is the first Android OS designed specifically to take advantage of tablets and their larger-than-smartphone displays. As such, much of the functionality offered in the SDK can help developers … Read more

Slowly but surely, the Samsung Galaxy S series phones are getting updated to Android 2.2 Froyo. First it was the Samsung Vibrant, then the Samsung Epic 4G, and now the Samsung Captivate.

AT&T said on its Facebook page that the update will be available starting tomorrow. A link to Samsung's Web site will be provided where you can find the update and instructions on how to install it.

The carrier also revealed that the HTC Aria will get Froyo as well, but did not provide a specific time frame for that update.

As we near the debut of the Xoom tablet later this week, our Android focus shifts to the horizon beyond Honeycomb. What will happen beyond Android 3.0? Are handsets ever going to see Honeycomb or will we be left with two different versions of the same OS? As it turns out, the answer is a little of both.

Widely expected to be code-named Ice Cream or Ice Cream Sandwich, the next iteration of Android should resemble both Gingerbread and Honeycomb. Indeed, that's exactly what Google CEO Eric Schmidt said during his keynote address at last week's Mobile … Read more

Adobe announced its plans for Flash Player on tablets in time for Mobile World Congress last week. Now the company is fine-tuning its earlier news.

Adobe stated in a blog post on Monday that it expects the Motorola Xoom to be the first tablet to receive Flash Player 10.2. This latest Flash Player update is said to significantly reduce CPU usage and battery use when rendering Flash content.

As with previous versions of Flash Player, Adobe will preinstall Flash Player 10.2 on some tablets and will offer it as an over-the-air (OTA) download on others. The timeline still … Read more

After a weekend in the dog house, UberMedia's Twitter apps UberSocial (formerly UberTwitter) and Twidroyd are back in the mobile-app stores.

UberMedia's Twitter apps ran afoul of Twitter on Friday, which banned the apps over certain policy violations, preventing new users from downloading them and current users from using them. The ban affected Android users of Twidroyd and BlackBerry and iPhone users of UberTwitter.

"These violations include, but aren't limited to, a privacy issue with private Direct Messages longer than 140 characters, trademark infringement, and changing the content of users' Tweets in order to make money,&… Read more

Motorola announced today that its Android 3.0 Honeycomb Xoom tablet will be available from Verizon starting February 24 for $599.99 with a two-year service agreement or $799.99 without a contract.

In addition, 3G data plans for the Xoom will run $20 per month for 1GB of data, but there was no word on what Verizon will charge for 4G data plans. Though the tablet will not be 4G capable at launch, Moto and Verizon said the Xoom will be upgraded to work with the carrier's 4G LTE service during Q2 2011 at no additional charge.

Verizon … Read more

Steve "The Gut Man" Guttenberg's age remains a mystery in today's 404 Podcast preshow, but he's definitely younger than Wilson, who will celebrate his 39th birthday this year. Steve heads up the Audiophiliac blog on CNET and today he's making sure that younger generations, specifically teenagers, know the importance of actually listening to music, instead of just letting it play in the background of a million other digital activities.

A big part of Steve's life is reviewing headphones and home theater technology, but before we get to all that, Steve is curious about something else: women's obsession with shoes.… Read more