It’s the moment we have all been waiting for. We have long forgotten Firefox and have been die-hard fans of Chrome while waiting patiently for an official mobile version for Android. Today is that day and Google has just announced the Chrome for Android Beta. It’s available now for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich smartphones and tablets.
Having a full-out browser built from the ground up for mobile has been the goal for Google and with Chrome for Android they plan to achieve just that. With awesome card view tabbed browsing, impressive multitouch in more places than you’d think, bookmark sync and more this browser really has some huge potential. This is Chrome, but for mobile devices and while it will look familiar with the Omni-bar it still has some fresh new UI tweaks and everything should feel natural. From tabbed management to syncing bookmarks and open pages. It’s all meant to be easy, and fast.
The user interface changes aren’t everything either. It’s also all about speed. The user experience and the feeling of a fast experience has all been improved. From pre-fetching pages, scrolling and zoom speeds, multitouch and more. It’s all much more fluid, simple, and last but not least — fast. Do take note that Adobe Flash is not supported.
Chrome for Android has introduced a new feature called “place shifting”. Users can migrate from their desktop, laptop or Chromebook over to their mobile phone or tablet and everything remains in place. The tabs you have open — including the current tab you were viewing can all be shifted to your mobile device. A seamless and easy user experience.
Obviously this is still in beta and was only released today but from our initial impressions it looks like an excellent start and will probably replace the stock ICS browser moving forward. Will later versions of Android come with Chrome instead? We think they will very soon. So far the bump in performance and the tabbed browser really has sealed the deal for me. Being able to drag the different tabs (cards) around and see a preview of each tab is awesome. You can even rearrange the tabs.
For now this is only for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich devices but we have a feeling more will see it soon — either officially or ported by developers. More details are available from the video and market link below.
This is quite the interesting rumor. 9to5Google is reporting that Google is definitely working on previously-rumored HUD-enabled glasses. Think “Terminator” or “RoboCop” for an idea of what the HUD might look like.
The photo below is said to be close to what these Google glasses look like. It’s a pair of Oakleys THUMP MP3 glasses. Take those, apply steroids and you have what the source of this story is reporting.
The pair of glasses will apparently use the same transparent display technology that we saw Samsung and others show off at CES 2012. One lens will display everything to ensure your vision is not entirely clouded by whatever it is you’ll be looking at. The device will apparently use head gestures to navigate the operating system, which we hear is Android-based.
We’re sure Android will be heavily adapted for something of this nature but it’s unsure to what extent. I imagine reading email, text messages, social network updates and receiving phone calls will be some of the main functions featured on this so-called device. Imagine being able to see who’s trying to contact you without ever having to reach for your phone.
Imagine being able to take a call or respond to a text message without having to reach for your phone, too. Put a couple of microphones and a set of earphones like those seen above and you’ve got one of the coolest phones or phone accessories ever.
The device will reportedly house a camera, as well. We’re not sure what the primary use for it will be but it would be great to have a head camera to capture moments through my eyes. That camera will apparently be accompanied by a flash so we can at least assume still shots will be a possibility.
All of this is said to be in the works and to be unveiled soon, though it’s not yet known how Google will handle a launch. Since this product isn’t something that most people would keep their eye on (no pun intended) it could be a mistake for Google to mass produce these for retail. Instead, 9to5 suggests they’ll make them available through a program similar to the CR-48 Chromebook trials.
I would personally love to have something like this. I wear prescription glasses but I wouldn’t mind throwing these on over those for the functionality alone, as silly as it may look. If anything, just owning it would be enough to appease my geeky needs.
Yes! Finally Google has updated their new Music Manager for Google Music to allow users to download right from their cloud. Originally you could upload all your music but that was it. Now instead of downloading them one at a time we can retrieve the entire library right out of the air and download it to your device or computer — including purchased tracks from the Android Market.
This was by far my biggest complaint when Google Music first officially launched and they added Music to the Android Market. Being able to now upload and download one by one, or all of my music from their cloud services is what was needed to make this complete. Between this, Adele, and all the George Carlin one could ask for all from Google Music I’m now completely safe to toss this old iPod of mine in the trash.
So now when you purchase a new song on your Android phone or tablet, you can easily get on your computer or laptop and download the entire file right to your PC. That music will still be accessible and remain in the cloud. Available from the wide array of supported devices for access from anywhere. Make sure to upload your entire library to Google Music’s cloud services. Then if you happen to have a computer crash you can easily download the entire library to your new system. Thanks Google!
For all the details, new information, or help guides head over to the official Google Music support page. That will answer any remaining questions you may have. Now enjoy that music and go buy some Indie Rock!
If the reports that Apple was “catching up” with Android yesterday made anyone contemplative (and contemplate that it was a narrow focus on new smartphone buyers), Google’s earnings call today should be enough to put any and all doubts to rest. Amid the regular pomp and circumstance of corporate back-patting, Google CEO Larry Page noted that over 250 million Android devices have been activated worldwide, with more than 11 billion (that’s billion with a B) apps have been downloaded from the Android Market. That’s a heck of a way to start off the new year.
The last time we’d heard either figure was back in 2011: Android passed the 200 million device mark in November, and Google celebrated 10 billion app downloads in December with a 10-day sale. That’s a growth of 50 million Android phones and tablets, 25% of the former total, in just over two months. Total app downloads have grown by 10% in less than one. Both Android sales and usage are at what creative mathematicians like to call the hockey stick point of the graph, and there’s no indication that it’s slowing down, particularly in worldwide markets.
Google doesn’t discuss direct revenue in relation to Android (though Oracle’s been mighty forthcoming lately) but the company’s total earnings passed 10 billion dollars for the first time ever. The vast majority of the 10.6 billion figure comes from advertising, with $410 million from outside sources. It’s not all rose-colored, though – while Google’s income and profits are both growing, Q4 2011 was the slowest growth all year, mirroring hardships from just about every company in the technology sector.
Google unveiled Android Design, a very nicely done (and sorely need) portal that instructs third-party developers on how they should go about designing their applications, both in terms of making them look nice, and in providing a consistent experience for users.
But while these guidelines are a big step forward for Android, there’s another issue: Google doesn’t really have any way to ensure that developers actually follow them. After all, there’s essentially no approval process for an application to get admitted to Android Market — provided you aren’t bundling malware or violating Google’s Terms of Service, you’re in.
Yesterday I spoke with Matias Duarte, the Director of User Experience for Android (and the man ultimately responsible for its look and feel). And while he was coy about Google’s plans, he did give some hints. Namely, that Google will be working to give developers significant incentives to follow the UI guidelines.
Below is a transcript of my conversation with Duarte (note that I was transcribing on the fly, so the responses may be slightly paraphrased).
Q: Google isn’t going to block applications from Android Market that don’t conform with the design guidelines you’ve laid out, so what’s your plan to help ensure that developers follow them? Have you considered allowing developers to go through some sort of optional approval process that earns them a badge or some other kind of distinction indicating they have a good design?
Duarte: We don’t have anything to announce yet, but I think something like that would be a terrific idea — we’d love to do positive incentives for developers. We can have workshops and office hours… developers could submit their applications or even their mock up designs for feedback or to get a stamp of approval, or a seal of acceptance — something along those lines.
Q: Some of the complaints I hear regarding Android design have more to do with the tools available than with the best practices that were laid out on the new Android Design site. Are there any updates coming to the set of developer tools available?
Duarte: Nothing specific to announce, but we do generally want to continue to improve developer tools. There’s a lot of stuff planned for this year. And the Android Design site is just the first sapling of what we want it to grow to be. There will be more content on Android Design, more code examples and workshops to help get the most out of it. And tools to help make it easier to follow the guidelines without additional work for developers.
Q: Consistency seems to be a big focus on the new Android Design site, but isn’t the issue for a lot of applications pixel-perfect design (or lack thereof)?
Duarte: Screen metrics and typography and color and all of those sections (on the Android Design portal) should help. But the thing about pixel perfect design is that we actually don’t think it should be a challenge to develop beautiful designs just because they have to be flexible. People have to think more like web developers and less like console developers.
There are 20 bajillion beautiful sites on the interweb — they all manage to accommodate a variety of screen and window sizes. Developers just need to use the same kinds of tricks to do beautiful designs for Android. That’s what we did for all of our (official Google) applications — they work from 3.4 inch to 10 inch screens and higher while maintaining correct ratios.
Q: How much of the ultimate design of Ice Cream Sandwich was really known and mapped out when Honeycomb was released? Or were you figuring a lot of it out on the fly?
Duarte: While working on Honeycomb, we had some ideas of where to go with ICS. We knew some things would be open problems that we’d have to solve, and didn’t know how we would. Then as we started on ICS we were able to take some of those ideas and some worked out exactly as we thought — others we realized, “Shoot, now we need to go back and redo this”… Almost everything had some tweaks when took it back to the tablet (for ICS), the most dramatic being some of the fundamental look and feel.
Google has posted a bit of new info to the Android Developers blog that is probably less of a big deal than people are making it into, but still worth looking at. The post details a requirement that all manufacturers include in their Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) devices the default Holo theme. They don’t have to use the theme, they just have to have the data composing it on the phone.
This is less a blow aimed at third-party UIs and more a general integrity check that ensures apps and services will have the choice to provide a consistent face to the user across many devices.
Imagine you are designing an app that finds nearby restaurants and pulls recommendations from your social stream – or something. You have your default buttons, your text fields, your animations, and so on that you make yourself a nice little interface with. For some time, it has been the case that a theme like Sense or TouchWiz could pre-empt those default UI items and substitute their own — a color scheme or set of icons consistent with the rest of the theme. This practice probably wasn’t very common (I have no data to support this but I haven’t run into it much) but it’s potentially destructive to apps that are designed with care.
Google will now require manufacturers to include in their distribution, custom or not, the original Holo theme files. It is up to app developers to determine whether they are used or not. You can signal whether you want your app to use whatever UI items are the default on the phone (so, Sense on an HTC phone if they were to put out a Sense-based ICS device), or you can choose to force the elements to be in the Holo theme provided by Google.
This allows developers to be totally sure their app will look the way they want it to look, while at the same time allowing manufacturers the freedom to create custom launchers, themes, widgets, and so on. It just prevents those manufacturers from affecting and possibly breaking (though, again, I haven’t heard this is a major problem) apps that use and rely on default theme elements.
Those are the immediate effects. But imagine you’re a developer. There’s little reason not to put the flag requiring the use of Holo. Your app may look a little different from some others on a themed device, but UIs on Android are already all over the place, and really, most people won’t notice (though I wish they would) that the text field in one app has a grey gradient and in another there’s a blue one. Choosing Holo guarantees your app will look the same on every compatible device. It’s just consistency at a different level.
None of this means that a certain look will be required on an Android device, even for access to the core Google apps and Market. I’m not sure they even could (launchers and themes could easily run atop the default). But it does show Google acknowledging that a consistent UI is a plus and making that an easier play for devs.
Source: TechCrunch
ASUS originally promised an “early February” window for the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade for their original Eee Pad Transformer and it looks like they are on track to meet it. The company said on Facebook that the upgrade is currently in the process of being approved by Google meaning quality assurance and testing is all wrapped up on ASUS’s end. Of course, anything could cause Google to reject the upgrade but we have a feeling things will be good to go by the time the shortest month of the year arrives.
Source: ASUS via Droid-Life
Google is at it again and have just released their latest commercial of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. I for one am glad to see Google finally going big with these types of videos to demonstrate some of the awesome capabilities Android has to offer. Their latest Nexus ad shows the impressive panoramic mode with the camera in Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
Panoramic photos are always fun to do, especially if you are in NYC or Vegas and with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich Google has made it easier than ever. I remember trying to align the pictures with my old Sony Ericsson to get a good panoramic picture but those days are long gone. The simple and elegant video demonstration below shows just how awesome it really is — not to mention gives you a look at the equally beautiful Galaxy Nexus.
Not only does the camera and ICS have this, but they’ve also incorporated a stock time-lapse feature into the camera that is equally impressive and works amazingly well. Just go into the camera, choose video, hit menu and find the time-lapse feature to get started.
I’ll be sure and take a few awesome panoramic pictures with my Galaxy Nexus during CES next week and share a few with our readers. Stay tuned for all the news you can handle over the next week.
As previously noted, this Christmas was a big one for the smartphone category.
While Flurry Analytics found that 6.8 million Android and iOS devices were activated on Christmas Day, though, the company declined to outline how much share each platform got. But now Google SVP Andy Rubin has shed a little bit more light on the issue. Rubin on Wednesday tweeted that 3.7 million Android devices were activated on Dec. 24 and Dec. 25.
That’s a big jump over the 700,000 activations per day for Android that he had previously announced.
Did you get an Android device for the holidays? Let us know in the comments.
Source: Mashable
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