Now Jelly Bean on more than half of active Android devices: Features

 

We’ve got a new version of Android now available — and a new round of platform version numbers to go along with it. As you’d expect, there are no Android 4.4 KitKat numbers for the week leading into Nov. 1 — and remember that Android 4.4 being “available” as downloadable code is different than actually being on devices — so we’ll have to wait a little bit for it to show results.

But for now, Android 4.1-4.3 Jelly Bean is at 52.1 percent of all active devices. That’s up from 48.6 percent a month ago. Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0.3-4.0.4) dropped a tad to 19.8 percent. The much-maligned Android 3.0 Honeycomb is at a mere 0.1 percent. Android 2.3.x Gingerbread is down slightly to 26.3 percent, and Android 2.2 Froyo is hanging on at 1.7 percent.

Those numbers are from devices that use the Google Play Store app, and so they don’t include things like the Amazon Kindle, to say nothing of the multitudes of other devices that don’t use Google services.

The big challenge will be to get those Gingerbread numbers lower. Eradication would be nice, but that’s not overly realistic.

Who care`s we still have Android.

 

Suhan Gorya

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Google Has in Store for Android 4.4 ??

The rumored release dates came and went, but judging from a flurry of leaks and pre-release app updates, the wait for Google's (NASDAQ:GOOG) official announcement to Android 4.4 may soon be over. But while Oct. 31 does seem like the most natural date to announce an OS named after a staple Halloween candy it's still up in the air whether Google will finally lift the veil on KitKat for its legion of Android fans. However, with recent leaks and screenshots purportedly taken of the new mobile OS, we already have a pretty good idea of what to expect in the upcoming release.

Google Experience Launcher

As we've started to see in the months leading up to the new OS, Google has begun to "take back Android" from the clutches of meddling manufacturers. Google apps like Gmail and the Google keyboard have been lifted from OS updates and plunked onto the Google Play Store, allowing them to be both downloaded and updated separately from the big OS updates. But with OS skins like Samsung's (OTCMKTS:SSNLF) TouchWiz and HTC's (OTCMKTS:HTCXF) Sense slapped on top of the stock operating system, Android devices from different manufacturers still have a distinctly different look and feel from one another. And all that tinkering not only irritates users who prefer the "Pure Google Experience," it leads to heavy delays for software updates that could have otherwise been immediate if the device was running an un-skinned version of Android.

Well, that all might change with the release of the Google Experience Launcher. What it aims to do, presumably, is unify all the stock and skinned Android devices into a single UI that mimics (or essentially is) stock Android. Not only that, but analysts believe the Google Experience Launcher won't necessarily need 4.4 to run and could be compatible with versions all the way back to 2.2 Froyo, granting Android users with ancient phones the ability to run a current UI. While most of the details remain speculatory, they do fall in line with the company's recent "reacquisition" of Google apps.

Low-End Device and Wearable Support

Speaking of ancient phones, you know fragmentation is bad when devices released just last year may not see an OS update. For Android users, many have seen support disappear even before the contracts with their carriers expire. Of course, the lion's share of the blame lies with the skin-happy manufacturers and the bloatware-touting carriers -- all of whom hope users tire of waiting for an update and simply upgrade their phones. But some of this is due to how older devices simply don't have the muscle to run newer OS platforms.

However, recent rumors have claimed Android 4.4 will support low-end devices and be able to run smoothly despite outdated processor speeds and limited RAM. Also, it could point to compatibility with wearable devices like, say, a watch or a Google Glass.

Open NFC and Better Bluetooth

As Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) waits to forge headlong into Bluetooth low energy (see: The Biggest iPhone 5S Feature Nobody's Talking About), Google appears to be sticking with near-field communication (NFC) as a possible entry into the future of commerce. But Google Wallet, which used to rely on NFC to work, continues to languish due to a lack of support among retailers, not to mention carriers like Verizon (NYSE:VZ), AT&T (NYSE:T), and T-Mobile (NYSE:TMUS) outright banning it from their phones in favor of an even less-supported NFC payment system called ISIS.

But once again, Android 4.4 is suspected to eschew the heavy hand of carriers. The newer, more open NFC will be able to operate without a secure element like a Google Wallet app. Rather, developers will be able to emulate credit card functionality without needing the secure element to store data. It's still a bit unclear where the information will be stored, but anything that takes power away from carriers is welcome to end users.

Also, Bluetooth support will see an upgrade in Bluetooth HID over GATT and Bluetooth Message Access Profile. This will allow for compatibility and better connectivity with a greater number of devices like joysticks, in-car entertainment systems, and possibly some as-yet-unseen wearable technology.

More Sensors and Native IR Blaster Support

It's pretty incredible that our phones can already act as pedometers and tell which direction is north. But Android 4.4 is tossing in even more sensors to detect how your device moves and is being held. Three new sensor types -- geomagnetic rotation vector, step detector, and step counter sensors -- will have native support in the updated OS. This likely points to the release of more smartwatches that monitor your stride and direction during your morning jogs.

On the other side of the metabolism coin, couch potatoes aren't left out in the new release. Native IR blaster support is coming, giving developers the ability to build more apps that use a phone's IR blaster to control TVs and entertainment systems. This will make phones with built-in IR blasters like Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One the ultimate universal remote controls.

...And the Rest

Although Android 4.4 isn't a full version upgrade, it isn't without its share of changes and enhancements. Transparent navigation bar, white system icons, and altered icons are among some of the different aesthetic changes 4.4 will bring. Plus, better integration with Hangouts and Google Voice will soon mean VoIP will finally be possible (take that, carriers!), and location settings are getting overhauled to be faster and use less battery power.

And then there's the Nexus 5, Google's highly anticipated device in the Nexus line with LTE support over multiple carriers. Specs have already been leaked and the new device is said to rival flagship phones like the iPhone 5S and Samsung Galaxy S4. As excited as fans are for KitKat, the buzz has never been more frenzied for a Nexus release.

 

All that's left is to count the hours until Google officially announces its latest OS and phone.

Research says Samsung sold more smartphones than Apple, BlackBerry and Nokia combined in Q3 2013

 

Samsung is riding at the top of the smartphone food-chain — let's hope they remember how they got there

I was looking through the data at ABI Research today about Q3 2013 smartphone sales. At first glance, I saw the pie chart I expected to see, with Android having over 80 percent of the worldwide smartphone market and was ready to close the tab. We know Android outsells everyone, and that just wasn't news I wanted to share. But right before I clicked away, a number at the top caught my eye.
Samsung sold 35 percent of all smartphones sold in Q3 of 2013. That's a figure that's fairly easy to come up with in the past if you wanted to do a little work, but there it was, laid out just like that. After a little poking around at their data, and calling in Andrew, our financial and numbers wünderkind, we realized just what that means.
According to ABI Research, Samsung sells more smartphones than Apple, Nokia and BlackBerry combined.
They also sell more than all other Android vendors singly, and likely more than the rest of the top five combined. We don't have that data handy, and aren't about to guess. And quite frankly, none of the other vendors have the history or the weight of total sales behind them that Apple, Nokia and BlackBerry do. It wasn't too awful long ago that they were the big three — the ones to beat, if you like — when it comes to domination of the mobile market.
This matters. Since the huge majority of these are likely to be Android phones (more data we don't have from ABI and won't guess at) it matters even more to us as Android enthusiasts. Samsung is clearly the dominant player in the entire Android ecosystem. If you had any doubts before, wash them away.
We just got finished seeing all the new tools Samsung is using to attract more interest in their smartphones. Regardless of what you may read elsewhere, this was an event centered around five new SDKs, four of which were Android only and one that was Android, iOS and JavaScript / HTML 5 (for the multiple screen APIs). Samsung is certainly all-in with Android, and Google has carried them to the top of smartphone mountain by giving them Android to fold, spindle and mutilate as they please.

Google has carried Samsung to the top of smartphone mountain

With their new push for the enterprise market, these numbers are going to grow. You and I may not be enamored with things like boosted security and Knox support, but we don't matter to Samsung. We're outliers. Samsung will spend the money to do what it takes for their phones to be as popular in a business environment as they are with us "common" folks. That's good news for people forced to use locked-up corporate phones. Let's hope Samsung also starts to offer more "developer" phones without all the extra security — and that people see the benefit in buying them.
For now, all this is still a good thing. Samsung isn't likely to abandon an entire platform that someone else writes for them and improves yearly for free, but we also need to watch closely. Samsung will do what is best for Samsung, like any other company. I don't expect Samsung to suddenly really care about Tizen, or provide more than the token support they now offer (note that I am a Tizen fan, I'm just realistic knowing that Samsung doesn't really care about it). Not when Google does the heavy lifting for them, and they are still free to make it Samsung on the top. But I can't completely ignore the Chicken Littles out there who are certain Samsung is ready to leave Android and ruin everything — because if they did, things would not be pretty for Android sales and support.