Android

Apps for the Pebble smartwatch are about to get a whole lot smarter. On Thursday, the company is releasing a new developer toolkit that will allow Pebble apps to fully communicate with a paired iOS or Android app. Until now, existing apps have been limited to the watch’s basic functions, but this won’t be the Continue Reading →

On Wednesday, Google held its annual developer-focused conference, Google I/O, in San Francisco, California. As expected, the tech giant made tons of big announcements, highlighting updates to existing products and showcasing new programs and hardware. All of the conference’s biggest announcements have been highlighted on this site already, but if you’re looking for a greatest Continue Reading →

Google announced a major upgrade to its Hangouts real-time communication service, rolling out a new stand-alone Hangouts app for the web, Android and iOS that will be available later Wednesday. The app was introduced by Vic Gundotra, senior VP of engineering, at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco on Wednesday. He emphasized Google’s intention Continue Reading →

What would a Google liveblog be without some updates on Android activations? Well, in case you’re curious, the newest figure is 900 million — a big jump from the 400 million activations reported last year. What’s more, Google says there have been 48 billion app installations to date, including 2.8 billion in the last month Continue Reading →

Google is offering a version of the Samsung Galaxy S4, arguably one of the top current Android devices, with Jelly Bean 4.2 unlocked on Google Play beginning June 26, the company revealed at I/O . The news is big because it’s the first non-Nexus device to get blessed with this opportunity, and Google says it Continue Reading →

On Tuesday, during the BlackBerry Live Keynote, the company announced that it will be launching BlackBerry Messenger—BBM—on iOS and Android this Summer. This is a big move for the company, which has found itself increasingly trapped in a badly-built prison of its own making. Now, BlackBerry will make one of its most popular features to Continue Reading →

: One of the biggest advantages Android had over iOS was Google Now, which gives you the information you want, when you need it. It’ll help you manage your day, stay connected and find fun things to do nearby. Google Now is now on iOS, though, with most of its core features intact. Google Now Continue Reading →

Flipboard’s CEO called version 2.0 of the hugely popular news-aggregating app “the most epic release we’ve ever done” when it launched on iOS in late March, and now Flipboard 2.0 has finally arrived for Android devices. In functionality, the Android app is now on par with what was released for iOS — the new magazine Continue Reading →

Another 1080p quad-core Android phone, you say? Well, there’s a bit more to it. Launched by BBK spin-off Vivo in Beijing, this 5.7-inch Xplay goes one step further than its smaller X1 and X1S cousins by packing one extra audio chip and the OPA2604 operational amplifier from Texas Instruments in order to add extra oomph Continue Reading →

Just under two years ago, HTC’s CEO responded to public pressure by making an equally public promise: “We will no longer be locking the bootloaders on our devices.” Today, that promise is only half-kept by HTC, while other manufacturers have an even spottier record when it comes to keeping the Android ecosystem as “open” as Continue Reading →