Google Maps Updated To Version 6.12 With Desktop Syncing And History Across Connected Devices

The latest version of Google Maps has just been pushed out in the Google Play Store, and offers a large bit of functionality to the app. Now when you are using Google Maps on your computer, all of your searches for maps and directions will be synced between that device and your phone or tablet -- provided you're signed into your Google Account and have your web history enabled, of course. For example, after you look up a restaurant listing on your computer, as soon as you launch Google Maps on your phone, your search results will be pre-populated with the result you chose on the computer previously. Also new is the ability to go back through your past searches and completed navigation directions through the "My Places" menu. Additionally, if you choose to enter pre-defined addresses for your home and work and tie them to your Google Account, simply typing "home" or "work" into the directions field of the Google Maps app will give you directions to each place.

Source: phonearena.com

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Android All Around (Android 360 Degree) - Explore the world of Android; All Things about Android: Android Updates, News, Devices, Apps, Reviews, Tips, and Tutorials.

Android users take to Jelly Bean faster than most any other Android build

Forget for a moment that Jelly Bean is available in just 1.47% of Android devices. The more important number is the 1500% growth in Android 4.1 traffic that has been seen in the first two months that the latest Android build has been available. This information comes from mobile ad network Chitika after compiling two months of Android web traffic.

Jelly Bean adoption has been growing

While this seems like good news for Android, the fragmentation problem appears to still haunt the mobile platform. A whopping 57% of Android users are still using a device running on Gingerbread and this is a build of Android that dates back to 2010. Even with the huge increase in Jelly Bean users over the two months ended in August, the increase is coming from a small base which means that the same issues continue to work against Android users. Slow updates, manufacturers deciding not to update fairly new devices and long testing times are problematic.

Unlike iOS, which updates basically one phone and one tablet (admittedly across a few generations), Android updates need to work on different phones and tablets made by different manufacturers. And even a stock Android model like the Verizon version of the Samsung GALAXY Nexus has yet to be updated to Android 4.1.

Source: phonearena.com

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Android All Around (Android 360 Degree) - Explore the world of Android; All Things about Android: Android Updates, News, Devices, Apps, Reviews, Tips, and Tutorials.

Official Jelly Bean update arriving for Galaxy S III in October & Galaxy S II in November

Samsung Denmark has just confirmed that Official Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update for the Samsung Galaxy S III GT-I9300 will arrive in October. They have also confirmed that the Samsung Galaxy S II GT-I9100 will get the official Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update in November.

We were expecting the official Jelly Bean update for the Samsung Galaxy S III this week but now we have to wait till October. We are getting Samsung Android 4.1 Jelly Bean TEST firmware leaks for the Galaxy S III almost everyday so if you really want to try out Jelly Bean then keep an eye on our SamFirmware Page.

The table below is from Samsung Denmark’s Facebook page, the table also gives some info about other Samsung devices as well.

Source: sammobile.com

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Android All Around (Android 360 Degree) - Explore the world of Android; All Things about Android: Android Updates, News, Devices, Apps, Reviews, Tips, and Tutorials.

Google wins Face Unlock patent

This is one of those patents that we were pretty curious about, because the timeline of the story was quite interesting. Google announced Face Unlock as part of Ice Cream Sandwich last year. A little bit after that we found out that Apple had applied for a patent for what seemed to be the very same thing back in 2010. Of course, Google's Face Unlock was based on technology from PittPatt, which had a patent granted in 2007. Google's newly granted patent was submitted for approval in late 2011, just before the ICS announcement.

This all goes to show that what we may consider to be relatively identical patents can be quite different, because the patents are for the underlying mechanism, not the general functionality that we talk about. For example, Google's new patent details the same mechanism as Apple's for recognizing various facial features, but seems to go well beyond that into a number of methods for logging in to a computer with the facial recognition. Additionally, where Apple's filing was specifically for iOS devices, Google's new patent covers any device with a camera, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, etc.

Of course, right now, all of this doesn't really matter all that much as Face Unlock is still something of a gimmick, and not a real security option. Jelly Bean's update to ask for blinking helps, but it can still be gamed fairly easily. Maybe by the time the technology is widely usable, the USPTO will have started working to fix the patent system.

Source: phonearena.com

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Android All Around (Android 360 Degree) - Explore the world of Android; All Things about Android: Android Updates, News, Devices, Apps, Reviews, Tips, and Tutorials.

Jelly Bean jumps to 1.2% and ICS hits 21%

Jelly Bean is up 50% from last month, going from .8% to 1.2%. That's the difference of just 2.23 million devices (based on Eric Schmidt's Android ecosystem numbers). 1.2% of 480 million devices is 5.76, and .8% of last month's total (480 million minus 39 million (based on 1.3 million per day)) is 3.53 million. Nothing much there since all of that shift is mostly sales of JB devices, rather than updates except for a few Asus tablets.

Since last month, ICS bumped from 15.9% to 20.8%, and Gingerbread and Froyo both dropped slightly. Gingerbread is down from 60.6% to 57.2%, and Froyo is down from 15.5% to 14%.

Source: phonearena.com

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Android All Around (Android 360 Degree) - Explore the world of Android; All Things about Android: Android Updates, News, Devices, Apps, Reviews, Tips, and Tutorials.

Android smartphones sales driven by big screen phones, growing everywhere except for the U.S

Google’s Android platform continues to grow at a fast pace and interestingly that growth is hugely driven by phones with screens bigger than 4.5 inches. Android smartphones grew their market share virtually everywhere except for... the United States, according to latest data by analysts from Kantar WorldPanel ComTech.

Nearly every third Android device sold recently had a screen larger than 4.5 inches, a fact that would silence critics fiercely defending the usage superiority of smaller displays. With that big picture in mind, a bigger screened new iPhone can’t come any sooner.

Looking back at the stats, Android gained big in Europe where now two thirds of smartphones sold run on Google’s platform. And actually the same happened just about everywhere. In all major markets Android grew with one notable exception being the States where its share slipped by 4.5% while iOS grew by 9%.

Kantar also looked at the way devices with bigger screens affected what users do on them and it comes as no surprise that more advanced devices with larger displays are used for a wider array of services. For example, only a fifth of smartphone users with devices with screens smaller than 3 inches watch video, while for phablets with screens over 5 inches that percentage is 65.

Take a look at just how interestingly smartphones sales moved in the last 12 weeks and how Android gains almost everywhere.

Source: phonearena.com

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Android All Around (Android 360 Degree) - Explore the world of Android; All Things about Android: Android Updates, News, Devices, Apps, Reviews, Tips, and Tutorials.

Rendering of Motorola's edge-to-edge bezeless phone

Just the other day, word leaked about a smartphone being made by Motorola with an edge-to-edge screen and no bezel. There are smartphone users who for one reason or another, simply do not like thick bezels. Removing the bezel would allow Motorola to increase the size of the screen on a model, while keeping the phone's dimensions the same. The bezel-free unit is said to be one of the phones that Motorola and Verizon will introduce on September 5th during their press event. The handset is said to be LTE enabled.

Reddit user Edalol has come out with a rendering of what he thinks such an edge-to-edge screened Android handset would look like. A thin rim at top prevents accidental pressing of the screen. Extra space at the top and bottom of the device leaves room for the speaker and to allow the user to hold the device in landscape mode.

Without channeling the late Steve Jobs, a bezel free phone would require the user to hold it in a certain way as to prevent your palm from setting off a touch input. Perhaps Motorola followed the example set by laptop manufacturers. The latter uses special software to prevent a user's palm from accidentally clicking on a link with a wayward palm.

So what's the verdict? Would you like to see smartphones go bezel-free or would you prefer to have some type of barrier between the edge of your phone and the edge of the screen.

Source: phonearena.com

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Android All Around (Android 360 Degree) - Explore the world of Android; All Things about Android: Android Updates, News, Devices, Apps, Reviews, Tips, and Tutorials.

T-Mobile Galaxy Tab 10.1 (Build UVLH6) Gets Ice Cream Sandwich Now Available Through Kies

All Wi-Fi versions of Samsung's Galaxy Tab series should have ICS by now, but, as always, carrier connected versions of the devices are left out in the cold. T-Mobile is the only carrier thus far to break that mold when it updated the Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus earlier this month.

In a move that should make other carriers feel bad about themselves, T-Mobile has now made available ICS for the Galaxy Tab 10.1, as well. Just like the update for the 7.0 Plus, you can only pull it through Samsung's proprietary Kies software.

This brings the Tab 10.1 up to build UVLH6 with Android 4.0.4, as well as a new, more intuitive version of TouchWiz.

The update is available now, so fire up Kies and pull it down.

Source: androidpolice.com

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Android All Around (Android 360 Degree) - Explore the world of Android; All Things about Android: Android Updates, News, Devices, Apps, Reviews, Tips, and Tutorials.