Sony says Android ICS coming in April

Good news Xperia owners! Sony Mobile is preparing the Android Ice Cream Sandwich update for its 2011 Xperia smartphones and it should start rolling out in the middle of April.

The Xperia arc S, Xperia neo V and Xperia ray will start to receive the ICS update in April and it should take about 4-6 weeks to roll out. The Xperia arc, Xperia PLAY, Xperia neo, Xperia mini, Xperia mini pro, Xperia pro, Xperia active and Sony Ericsson Live with Walkman will get the update at the end of May or early June.

Why so long? Well, it takes a lot of work to port Android 4.0 to Sony devices while still keeping its custom user interface software on there. While it’s annoying to have to wait for so long, I do comment Sony for being very transparent about the process. Check out this developer blog which spells out the technical differences between ICS and Android Gingerbread.

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Android App Development

Lenovo Launches Android Enterprise App Shop For Business Clients Only

Lenovo Launches Android Enterprise App Shop for Business Clients Only

With Google serving a pretty nice collection of apps inside their Play marketplace, the need for business-orientated mobile software was felt. Lenovo has volunteered to fill the gap by launching the Enterprise App Shop, a store which distributes Android applications to business customers only.

As the company describes it, the Enterprise App Shop simplifies the access and use of productivity applications for corporate clients owning a Lenovo tablet, or any other Android 3.1 (or higher) based slate. The service features LDAP integration and cross platform support to facilitate IT management, while serving much-needed applications that boost productivity.

Using Lenovo's Enterprise shop, corporations can create their own customised software marketplaces, where employees can enter and install company-based programs without having to worry about app permissions forced by the marketplace itself. These can all be done by using Lenovo's App Shop Manager.

David Gannon, associate director of the Academic Computing & Media Services of Bryant University, claims that "The distribution and license management of applications for the classroom is simplified by the Lenovo Enterprise App Shop; eliminating factory resets and streamlining app installation. We were up and running quickly and the App Shop Manager is very intuitive and easy to use".

Other services brought by the App Shop Manager include a vetted catalogue, custom management, private corporate app publishing, volume purchase pricing and of course, the possibility of enabling and disabling apps.
Lenovo's App shop is now available worldwide, excluding China, through Lenovo sales.

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Run Android Apps on a PC With BlueStacks: Here's How

If you're dying to run Android applications on your Windows machine, then you'll want to check out the recently released BlueStacks App Player beta, an Android app emulator for Windows XP, Vista, and 7.
The software gives you access to Android apps on the Android Market, GetJar, the Amazon AppStore or 1Mobile Market, and allows you to run them on your desktop.

You can also use a companion Android app to download the same apps you have on your Android device to your computer and receive SMS messages sent to your phone on your PC.
If you'd like to give BlueStacks a try, here's how to get started.

Download
 
BlueStacks download pageTo download the App Player beta grab it from the BlueStacks site by clicking on the "Download Now" button on the landing page and run the .EXE file. If your computer is missing the .NET framework 3.5, you will be prompted to download that utility before App Player will install. The program takes a few minutes to install as it grabs most of the app's required files and other information from online.

Android Phone

Setting BlueStacks up with your Android phoneThe set-up process is pretty straightforward, but Android smartphone owners will want to be sure they click the "Yes" radio button saying they have an Android phone. You will then be prompted for an email address and your telephone number including country code. BlueStacks will then send you an email and SMS message detailing how to sync your phone with App Player.
In my tests, I did not receive an SMS, but all the information I needed to sync my device was contained in the email.

Launch Apps

BlueStacks App Player start screenOnce you've entered your Android device details, you are ready to go, and you can start using the app. By default, you get a number of apps to try out right away such as Barnes & Noble's Nook app, Documents To Go, Evernote, Fruit Ninja Free, Pulse, and StumbleUpon.

To launch an app, click once on the program's icon. To return to the App Player start screen, click on the BlueStacks icon in the center of the navigation bar at the bottom of the App Player window.

Download New Apps

Download new appsTo download apps from the various Android app stores, just enter the app's name into the search bar found below your app gallery. You can download almost anything you could use on your phone; however, some messaging apps may not work. I use text messaging service WhatsApp Messenger, for example, to communicate with friends and family around the world. But in my tests, WhatsApp wouldn't work using App Player.

To find a new app to use, just enter its name into the search bar and press "Find." App Player grabs apps from Google Play.

But you can also download apps from other app stores including Amazon Appstore for Android, GetJar, and 1Mobile Market. Click on the transparent window at the top of your Windows desktop and select the basket icon to choose a specific market.

Setting Up Your Android Device

BlueStacks Cloud ConnectIf you want to receive SMS messages and put the same apps on your phone onto App Player on your desktop, you need to download BlueStacks' Cloud Connect free companion app from Google Play. The app will ask you to enter a PIN that was sent to you via email. You can also find the PIN on App Player by clicking on the "Settings" icon in the lower right corner of the navigation bar. Then, on the next page, select "Cloud Connect," and a pop-up window will appear with the PIN.

Cloud Connect is pretty straightforward to use: you just select the apps you'd like to "sync" with App Player and then press the sync button at the top of the screen. If you'd like to sync all apps to your desktop tap the box next to the sync button.

Despite being called "sync," this feature simply downloads the same apps that you have on your phone to App Player. It does not sync your app settings; log-in information, for example, will have to be reentered.

 Windows 8
App Player could be handy for upcoming Windows 8-based touch tablets. If the Windows Store is missing a Metro-style version of an app you'd like to use, you can turn to the BlueStacks App Player. The only downside is you'll be running Android apps on top of a traditional Windows desktop environment.

I briefly tested BlueStacks running in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, and it worked about as expected. It was slow (to be fair, I was running Windows 8 in a virtual machine), but was still usable.
I also tried out App Player on a Vista machine with a dual-core 2.16 GHz Intel Pentium T3400 and 2GB of RAM. During that trial, App Player ran considerably faster, but was far from smooth. Keep in mind, however, this is a beta product and likely far from finalized.
Connect with Ian Paul (@ianpaul) on Twitter and Google+, and with Today@PCWorld on Twitter for the latest tech news and analysis.

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5 new Android apps for March 2012

If you are one of the Android faithful out there you’ll know that many Android apps hit Google Play every month, but it can sometimes be a bit taxing deciding on what Android app to download to your chosen Android device, but at least unlike the iOS platform, you know that the majority of apps on Google Play wont cost you anything.
So what we thought we’d do for our Android readers today is come up with five new Android apps for the month of March 2012 that include a couple of games, a docs app and mobile wallet app, so without further ado let’s get to those five Android applications for March.

First up we have the Pay with Square app for Android devices, an app that enables you leave your wallet at home and pay with your name at checkout, and with auto-open tabs on Android paying has become easier that ever, you can also find businesses, share favourites and be rewarded.

With the Pay with Square app you can scroll through the Square directory to locate interesting locate interesting local businesses, view on a map to see what is near you, and check out featured businesses. For those that would like to use the Pay with Square app you can download the app for free from Google Play.

Next up we have Temple Run for Android, a very popular game that many of the Android faithful have been waiting to arrive, and the object of Temple Run is to get away with the cursed idol and escape with the evil Demon Monkey in pursuit.
The Temple Run app for Android tests you reflexes as you run down temple walls, along sheer cliffs, jump and slide to avoid obstacles, whilst collecting coins along the way to purchase power ups and unlock new character. The Temple Run Android game is available from Google Play as a free download.

Then there is the Kyte Phone Beta app for Android, a cleaver little app that turns any Android phone into a child friendly device, with GPS and full parental controls, and once a parent logs in, Kyte takes over and delivers a friendly playful user interface that your child can’t exit.
The Kyte Phone Beta app enables your kid to make and receive calls form a list of numbers that have been approved by the child’s parents, along with letting the child play any games or apps the parent has allowed. For those that would like to use Kyte Phone Beta you can grab the free app from Google Play.

Next we have an app called Captains Conquest, which is an online multiplayer game where you become a pirate in the true spirit of Captain Henry Morgan, and rise through the ranks to become captain of your own fleet of ships and expand that fleet by docking at real locations in your city and collecting loot.
The Captains Quest app features a 3D ship-to-ship battle mode whereby you can take on any rival in your playing area, you can build on your ship’s power by upgrading your cannons and ammunition, and join a friends fleet to conquer real world territory. Using the Captains Quest app does require a data connection though, and you can download the app for free from Google Play.

Lastly we have the Zoho Docs app for Android, an app that delivers access to your documents available on the web via your Android mobile device, and is an online management app for both businesses and individuals, although you will require a Zoho account that you can create within the app.
The Zoho Docs app allows the user to access your docs created in online versions of Zoho Writer, Sheet, Show & Docs, and enables the user to view docs, spreadsheets, presentations and PDFs, view shared docs, and upload images from your mobile device to Zoho Docs. For those that would like to take advantage of the Zoho Docs app you can download it for free from Google Play.


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Google probed in France over privacy on Android

The National Commission for Computing and Civil Liberties, which is an organization in France, better known as CNIL is questioning search giant Google, over its use of cookies in the Android mobile operating system. Specifically, the questioning relates to the nature of the information Google collects using cookies on Android and whether the practice is in violation of European privacy rules. The cookie in question is the 'PREF' cookie and the questions deal with which services of Google utilize that cookie and what information it would collect and why.

Free tampering detection tools - Google's gift to the public

According to Bloomberg, Google has to reply to a list of 69 questions before the 5th of April, which "reflect the need for legal clarifications on your new privacy policy and in particular on the sharing of user data across Google services." These words were written in a letter from CNIL to Google's CEO, Larry Page.

CNIL is reviewing Google's privacy policy on behalf of other European regulators. Google, however is confident that their new and open privacy policy complies with European data protection laws. The company wrote in an e-mail that they received the letter from CNIL on the 16th of March and would respond in due time. The questions did not mention Safari, Apple's browser, on which Google planted cookies, violating Apple's software policy settings. Google is being questioned in the United States for deceiving consumers by planting these cookies in Safari.

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Android App Development

Android-friendly Linux 3.3 released

Android can now boot from the Linux kernel. Does this mean Android smart phones will have comparable management features to BlackBerrys?

A new version of the Linux kernel, which includes kernel code from Android, is now available. linux 3.3 also boasts upgraded networking features and support for an additional processing architecture.

The latest version of the Linux kernel was supposed to have been released about a week ago, but at the time another release candidate was needed to fix issues related to networking, memory management and drivers. That work is now done, and the new kernel is available for download, Linus Torvalds, creator of the operating system, announced Sunday.

The big news in version 3.3 is that Android features are again part of the Linux kernel, after the two camps had a falling out a few years ago.

The integration work will allow a developer to use the Linux kernel to run an Android system; to develop drivers for either the Android kernel or the Linux kernel; and to reduce or eliminate the burden of maintaining independent patches from release to release for Android kernel developers, according to the Android Mainlining Project.

“By making Android bootable on a Linux developer desktop and these connections to the Linux server, we see sort of a broadening of the Android developer pool and ecosystem,” says Jay Lyman, a senior analyst at The 451 Group.

He adds that it was in Google’s “own interest to align Android App developmentwith Linux development.”

This release of Linux is especially significant because it addresses the needs of many different parties, including enterprises coping with the rapid pace of technology and BYOD issues, which he says are “really causing some disruption for IT operations teams.”

“This announcement doesn’t magically mean that Android phones can be easily managed by enterprises the way that BlackBerrys have been traditionally. But I think it’s a step closer to that."

In future versions of the kernel, the work on integrating Linux and Android will include the addition of better power-management features, according to Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman.

But Android code isn't the only addition in version 3.3 of the Linux kernel.

The kernel also integrates Open vSwitch, which is a multilayer virtual switch licensed under the open source Apache 2.0 license. It can forward traffic among different virtual machines on the same physical host and traffic between virtual machines and the physical network.

Linux can now also run on Texas Instruments' c64x and c66x processors, which can be used in, for example, printers, mobile base stations and medical diagnostics equipment, according to the chip maker.

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Tablified Market filters out Android apps for tablets

 

 For Android tablet owners, shopping the Google Play Store can sometimes be a pain, with tons of scaled-up phone apps hiding among the truly tablet-optimized. Sure, there's always the curated Staff Picks for Tablets section, but that offers only a tiny taste of all the delicious HD goodness that's really out there.

Enter Tablified Market--a curated market just for tablet-specific apps. The people behind it have a strict set of criteria that an app must meet in order to be included in the database, which to us means no more phone apps in search results. For one, an approved app must be distinguishable from its phone-specific counterpart (if it has one). This means it has to take full advantage of the larger screen somehow. Also, the Tablified gatekeepers are specifically on the lookout for apps that incorporate Android's Action Bar and use the tablet-specific Fragments API.

Using Tablified is as intuitive as using any other market. It lets you search for apps based on keyword, browse by category, or sift through lists like Editor's Choice and Recently Added. Each product page then brings you to a description, screenshots, and comments, along with a link that leads you directly to the download from the Google Play Store. So, Tablified itself is not an actual market. Rather, it merely acts as a filtered version of the market we already have.

One thing I find troublesome about Tablified is its laggy performance. Because the app basically pulls content from its Web site into its frames, load times can be annoyingly long, even with a strong data connection. It's a small price to pay, though, for the service the app provides.

The basic version of Tablified Market is free, but there's also a paid Pro version that kills the ads and offers a few other useful features. Most importantly, Pro offers advanced search functionality, including filtering by stars, price, most downloaded, and top rated. I found the upgrade to be totally worth the price.

Tablified Market (download: Free | Pro) is available now in the Google Play Store.

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Android App Development

Android Tablets Gained on iPad in Late 2011: IDC

Google Android tablets as a whole managed to gain on the iPad in 2011, but individual Android tablets failed to threaten Apple in a big way.

Amazon managed to ship 4.7 million Kindle Fire tablets by the end of 2011, according to a new report from research firm IDC. While that allowed the online retailer to seize an estimated 16.8 percent of the worldwide tablet market, it wasn’t enough to seriously challenge Apple’s iPad, whose share stands at 54.7 percent.

Meanwhile, Samsung claimed 5.8 percent of the tablet market in the fourth quarter of 2011, up from 5.5 percent in the previous quarter. Barnes & Noble, whose lower-priced Nook Tablet is considered a competitor to Amazon’s Kindle franchise, saw its tablet market share slip during that same period from 4.5 percent to 3.5 percent.

Despite these individual tablets’ failure to topple the iPad from its throne, Google Android as a whole made significant gains in the space, expanding its market share from 32.3 percent to 44.6 percent between the third and fourth quarters. BlackBerry’s PlayBook tablet held a 0.7 percent share (down from 1.1 percent), and Hewlett-Packard’s webOS dropped from 5 percent in the third quarter of 2011 to zero by the end of the year.

Moreover, IDC believes Android’s gains will continue in the near future. “As the sole vendor shipping iOS products, Apple will remain dominant in terms of worldwide vendor unit shipments,” Tom Mainelli, IDC’s research director for mobile connected devices, wrote in a March 13 note. “However, the sheer number of vendors shipping low-priced, Android-based tablets means that Google’s OS will overtake Apple’s in terms of worldwide market share by 2015.”

But that won’t necessarily present an existential threat to Apple, he added: “We expect iOS to remain the revenue market share leader through the end of our 2016 forecast period and beyond.”

Apple will look to increase its lead in the tablet space with the new iPad, scheduled to release March 16. The next-generation device features a high-resolution Retina Display, backed by a new A5X processor with quad-core graphics, and a 5-megapixel rear camera capable of shooting 1080p video. It weighs slightly more than the iPad 2, at 1.4 pounds, and offers comparable battery life. Those in the U.S. will have the option of purchasing the new iPad with 4G (Long-Term Evolution) LTE connectivity on either Verizon or AT&T.

In a move that maintains pressure on its competitors, the new iPad will keep the same prices as the previous model, starting at $499 for WiFi-only versions and $629 for those with 4G capability. Prices top out at $699 for the WiFi-only, 64GB model and $829 for the 64GB model with WiFi and 4G. 

For Apple’s tablet rivals, it’s now officially their move. 

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Android Applicaton Development

 

Google Ups Android App Size Limit to 4GB

Google announced today that it is increasing the size limit on its Android apps from 50MB to 4GB.

The company stressed that, in most cases, smaller is better - "every megabyte you add makes it harder for your users to download and get started," Google wrote on the Android developers blog. But advances in app development, like "high-quality 3D games," require more resources and Google has obliged.

As a result, app size can now top out at 4GB. "The size of your APK file will still be limited to 50MB to ensure secure on-device storage, but you can now attach expansion files to your APK," Google said.

Each app can have two expansion files, each with up to 2GB in whatever format you choose, Google said. Those files will be hosted by the Android Market, and users will be able to see the total size of your app before they install or purchase.

"On most newer devices, when users download your app from Android Market, the expansion files will be downloaded automatically, and the refund period won't start until the expansion files are downloaded," Google said. "On older devices, your app will download the expansion files the first time it runs, via a downloader library."

More information on that downloader library is available in the Google blog post.

Developers, meanwhile, are at liberty to use the expansion files in any way, but "we recommend that one serve as the initial download and be rarely if ever updated; the second can be smaller and serve as a 'patch carrier,' getting versioned with each major release," Google said.

In December, Android celebrated 10 billion downloads in its Android Market by offering 10-cent apps. The search giant has a ways to go to catch up to rival Apple, however, which recently hit the 25 billion app download mark.

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Android Application Development 

Five free apps for Android that can keep your device safe

With the explosion of Google’s open source Android platform on mobile devices, it has also become a strong target for the harbingers of malware. The situation is not as bad as Windows, but one can easily imagine the situation becoming equally bad, if not worst. Already, Google Play has become a cesspool for malware. Google is well aware of this situation and has launched its ‘bouncer’ algorithm, which fishes out malware from the ‘Play Shop’ however some of the more fiendish types of malware often miss the eyes of Google bouncer. With Android being open source, chances of it being fool proof are far-fetched, for this we advise users to adopt security apps for their devices. Sure, most of these apps are paid but we have a list of five applications that secure your Android and don’t cost a dime. Read on for more.

• Norton Mobile Security Lite: Symantec’s Norton brand is iconic in the security software industry. For many, it is the personification of an anti-virus. Over the years, the Norton brand might have taken a beating because of various system slowdown problems, though their latest bet on the top dog in mobile – Android is by far the best security suite in the market.  It offers solid anti-fheft functionality and anti-malware functionality and these features come for free. If you are stickler for more functionality then the paid version of the app adds brilliant Call and SMS blocking alongside passable web protection.

• Avast Mobile security: Often when one works in a Windows environment, the Avast brand is amongst the top free antivirus apps available. So it happens, Avast is now available for Android for free and it coughs up some advanced anti-theft functionality, alongside the standard anti-malware definition set. For the, Anti-Theft side of things, Avast also offers an advanced root option for rooted Android smartphones alongside disguising the anti-virus with a unique name in the process eliminating chances of malware decoupling the anti-malware app from the background processes.

• AVG Anti-Virus: The best way describe AVG anti-virus is as the de facto free antivirus for the masses. Well it’s here on Android. While its feature set on the free edition pales in comparison to its competitors, its definition set is amongst the best. I guess that’s what the average user is looking for.

• Lookout Security and Antivirus: Lookout Security and Antivirus may not be among the first names one thinks of while looking for security applications but it definitely packs a solid punch on Android. It keeps a GPS lock on your device and provides functionality similar to ‘Find you phone’ on iOS. It also does the regular scanning chores that one expects of anti-Virus suites and does these things ably. Perhaps, the only problem is that it is a resource hog while scanning and in the background hence it’s highly inadvisable for single core devices.

• Webroot Security and Antivirus: Famed anti-spyware developer Webroot’s Security and Antivirus is no slouch as free security solution for Android. It offers scheduled scans, various shields against malware such as Install shield, File system shield, Execution shield and also a GPS lock on the device enabling the user to track the device via the cloud. Where Webroot’s Android offering falters is in its average definition set and painfully slow scan times, but show note we get these features for free.

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Android Appication Development

Google Maps for Android updated with new simple UI

Google Maps received a minor update in the user interface for the Navigation feature.

 

Google Maps for Android has received a new update that brings a simplified menu for the different features inside it. The new update adds visually tweaked elements in the navigation options. Google Maps now integrates larger icons and better grid menu interface for elements while using the Navigation feature.



Google is slowly updating its Maps for Android to bring more simplistic user interface and also bigger icons in order to compete with the Nokia Maps for Lumia devices.



New update brings grid interface within the navigation feature of the Google Maps. The new simpler Navigation UI has grid menu and bit larger icons to be clearly visible if the phone is kept on a car's dashboard. This new look will be available even for the devices that are not running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich as yet.



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Android Application Development

Android apps 'handing personal data to advertisers'

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European regulators have expressed concern over a report that apps are being developed for Google Android with the purpose of mining personal data and passing it on to advertisers.

Around a quarter of all mobile users in the UK use devices running Android, and around 100m apps were downloaded in January alone.

People typically give apps permission to access other parts of their handset when they download them, but a Channel 4 News report yesterday claimed that many developers are 'handing on' these permissions to advertisers.

MWR Infosecurity, which was commissioned by Channel 4 to investigate the development of 'rogue' apps, found that many popular free services were engaged in the practice.

"We found that a lot of the free applications in the top 50 apps list are using advertising inside the applications and that the permission that you grant to these applications is also granted to the advertiser," said an MWR Infosecurity spokesperson.

"If users knew about this I think they would be concerned about it but at the moment I don't think they are aware of the situation and how widely their information can be used."

The code found by MWR Infosecurity gave advertising networks access to contacts, calendar and location. It allegedly came from a large US ad network called MobClix, although the firm has not yet responded to the report.

Channel 4 took the findings to Viviane Reding, the vice president of the European Commission, who is currently trying to push through EU-wide reforms to data protection policies.

"This really concerns me, and this is against the law because nobody has the right to get your personal data without you agreeing to this," said Reding of the report.

"Maybe you want somebody to get this data and agree and it's fine. You're an adult and you can do whatever you want. But normally you have no idea what others are doing with your data."

She added: "They are spotting you, they are following you, they are getting information about your friends, about your whereabouts, about your preferences.

"That is certainly not what you thought you bought into when you downloaded a free of charge app. That's exactly what we have to change."

Google told Channel 4 News that it offers best practice policies to third-party app makers to follow, but admitted that it does not actively screen applications before they are approved.

Last week, Reding warned that Google is "sneaking" away citizens' privacy with its controversial new privacy policy, and said that the US search giant could potentially be in breach of European law on data protection.

 

Original Source 

 

Android App Development