Eyes on Android

Via announces $49 APC Android PC

2012-05-24T09:23:20Z

Centred around an ARM processor, Taiwanese motherboard maker Via has announced a $49 APC Android PC that can be connected to a TV or monitor, writes Steve Bush.

Like Raspberry PI, Via has chosen an ARM11 processor for its bargain computer.

In this case, it is Via's WonderMedia SoC, usually aimed at tablets.

]]> The PC, called APC, integrates memory, storage, and consumer-focussed I/Os in a 170x 85mm 'Neo-ITX' footprint.

"APC brings the familiarity and convenience of Android to the PC at a $49 price point that will open up markets and applications," said Via marketing v-p Richard Brown.

The system features a custom build of Android 2.3 that has been optimised for keyboard and mouse input.

This customisation has to be done well, as insufficient keyboard+mouse optimisation of Android sunk Toshiba's otherwise excellent non-touchscreen AC100 smartbook.

The AC100 also suffered because it was forbidden to access Google's Android apps store, and no customised later versions of Android - Via take note.

TweakTown has a video of the modified Android user-interface in action.

Via also has an introductory video for the APC.

The board comes with a browser and a selection of pre-installed apps including a YouTube viewer.

Via invented the popular Mini-ITX motherboard footprint, and "Neo-ITX form factor can be housed in any standard Mini-ITX or microATX chassis, providing enthusiasts with flexibility to create mods and DIY projects, as well as rapid time-to-market for system integrators and OEMs", claimed the firm.

Power consumption is 4W idle and 13.5W flat-out.

APC is set to ship in July, and there will be a dedicated website.

At a glance

800MHz ARM11 core
Optimised Android 2.3
HD video support
Hardware video acceleration
VGA and HMDI outputs
Four USB 2.0 ports
MicroSD slot
10/100 Ethernet
Audio-out jack
Mic-in jack
2Gbyte NAND Flash
512Mbyte* DDR3 SDRAM
15W power adaptor

*unconfirmed

ST-Ericsson secures Samsung Galaxy design wins

2012-05-23T15:14:23Z

Two more Samsung smartphones are design-wins for ST-Ericsson, writes Richard Wilson.

Samsung's Galaxy Beam (pictured) and Galaxy Ace 2 smartphones are based on ST-Ericsson's NovaThor ModAp platform.

"Today we can confirm that two more Samsung Galaxy Android-powered smartphones will be powered by NovaThor ModAp platforms," said Marc Cetto, senior v-p of smartphone and tablet solutions for ST-Ericsson. ]]> Previously the Samsung Galaxy S Advance was the first Samsung smartphone to use ST-Ericsson's U8500 platform.

"Thanks to the U8500's versatility and maturity, Samsung was able to bring other devices based on the same platform to market quickly," said Cetto.

The chip-set is based on a 1.0GHz dual-core processor and integrates an HSPA+ modem. The Galaxy Beam also has a pico-projector.

The smartphones are expected to begin shipping to select markets this quarter.

Let the Android posts come to you, with RSS

2012-05-18T14:22:26Z

The best way to get the latest Android blog posts as soon as they are published? RSS!

All the blogs on Electronics Weekly (as well as News and Products articles) support the use of RSS. The content will come to you as soon as we write it.

Click here for the Eyes On Android RSS Feed >>

To use an ElectronicsWeekly.com RSS feed you simply need a (free) RSS reader, such as Google Reader.

]]>
RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, by the way. And if you are unfamiliar with this technology, just check out the What is RSS section of our RSS page.

Android devices form majority of global smartphone sales

2012-05-17T11:30:39Z

For those who like (global) market share stats, Gartner is reporting on Q1 worldwide sales of mobile phones...

In an Android angle, Gartner highlights that Samsung's Android smartphone sales in 1Q12 represented more than 40 percent of Android-based smartphone sales globally. No other vendor, apparently, achieved more than a 10 percent market share...

The Guardian is among those reporting Gartner's findings. Charles Arthur writes: ]]> A year ago Android phones were 36.4% of the smartphone market, at 36.4m units. But a year later they more than doubled to 81m, leaping nearly 20 points in share in the past year. Of other mobile phone platforms, only Apple managed any significant growth in sales and share, rising to 33.1m units and 22.9%, compared to 16.9% and 16.9m units a year ago when the total smartphone market was just short of 100m.Read the full article >>

"The lower results in the first quarter of 2012 have led us to be cautious about sales for the remainder of the year," said Annette Zimmermann, principal research analyst at Gartner.

"The continued roll-out of third generation (3G)-based smartphones by local and regional manufacturers such as Huawei, ZTE, Lenovo, Yulong and TCL Communication should help spur demand in China. In addition, the arrival of new products in mature markets based on new versions of the Android and Windows Phone operating systems (OSs), and the launch of the Apple iPhone 5 will help drive a stronger second half in Western Europe and North America. However, as we are starting to update our market forecast we feel a downward adjustment to our 2012 figures, in the range of 20 million units, is unavoidable."

Read the Gartner release >>

Google to spread the love for Nexus devices - WSJ

2012-05-17T08:40:55Z

A report on the Wall Street Journal suggests Google is tweaking its strategy for the Android platform - that it will work with multiple manufacturers to create a various portfolio of "Nexus" model devices.

According to the newspaper, Google is also planning to sell the devices directly to consumers in the Europe, Asia and the US.

Amir Efrati writes: ]]> Google plans to give multiple mobile-device makers early access to new releases of Android and to sell those devices directly to consumers, said people familiar with the matter. That is a shift from Google's previous practice, when it joined with only one hardware maker at a time to produce "lead devices," before releasing the software to other device makers. Those lead devices were then sold to consumers through wireless carriers or retailers.

The expansion of direct sales marks a bid to exert more control over key features and apps that run on Android-powered phones and tablets, thus reducing the influence of wireless carriers over such devices, these people said.
According to the report, the intention is also to concern among rival manufacturers over the position of Motorola, acquired by Google in August 2011.

Read the full article >>

See also: Samsung's Galaxy Nexus goes on sale in Google Play

'Smartphone adoption goes global - Google Mobile Planet 2012 data

2012-05-16T09:02:33Z

Google has released new 2012 research data from its Mobile Planet initiative, launched last October - "a resource enabling anyone to visualize the ways smartphones are transforming how people connect with information, each other and the places around them".

It is created by Google, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA), Ipsos and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

The findings are clear, they say: "smartphone adoption has gone global".

Today, Australia, U.K., Sweden, Norway, Saudi Arabia and UAE each have more than 50 percent of their population on smartphones. An additional seven countries -- U.S., New Zealand, Denmark, Ireland, Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland -- now have greater than 40 percent smartphone penetration. In the U.S., 80 percent of smartphone owners say they don't leave home without their device -- and one in three would even give up their TV before their mobile devices!

]]> We conducted this research to help people to better understand how mobile is changing our world. You can learn about mobile-specific usage trends, use this tool to create custom visualizations of data and more. There's plenty to discover in the latest research--to dig into new survey data about smartphone consumers in 26 countries from around the world, read our post on the Google Mobile Ads blog or visit http://thinkwithgoogle.com/mobileplanet.Read the full post on the Official Google Blog >>

There are country-based data sets released here - "dive deeper into the data" says Google - which includes the UK (where smartphone penetration is up from 30% in 2011 to 51% in 2012...

Among the UK results, for example, is a breakdown of where and how people say they use phones...

Android IOIO board powers breathalyser

2012-05-14T10:21:21Z

We featured this one on the Gadget Masters blog, but hopefully you agree the post is worth flagging on here - it is an example of what you can do with the IOIO breakout board that we have featured previously.

The post begins:

It's a DIY Android Breathalyser. It's still in prototype form, but is shown working in cable-less form, courtesy of Bluetooth.

Note you would need a phone with Android 2.3.3+ ("Gingerbread") - for the requisite Bluetooth support - or else old-fashioned USB cable connectivity will be required...

]]> The IOIO board works with a Seed Studio alcohol sensor - which are "the brains", says the commentator.

Check out the video below:

This was uploaded by "OpenGadgets", and it is not clear if this is the work of Michael Mitchell - a PhD Computer Science student at FSU - but Mr Mitchell does showcase similar IOIO-based examples on his website MitchTech.

For his breathalyser, he lists the parts needed as:
    * Android Device (1.6+, 2.1 for Bluetooth)
    * IOIO (available at Sparkfun)
    * 330 ohm resistor
    * Alcohol Gas Sensor MQ-3 (available at Sparkfun)
    * Breadboard
    * Power supply
    * Hook-up wire

And he provides a link to his source code, and IOIO Bluetooth library projects...

Gaming the Android system?

2012-05-11T15:07:07Z

Computer gaming leaves me cold, and mobile gaming leaves me even colder. But then, I'm probably untypical - nowadays video gaming industry revenues apparently outshine those of the film industry...

Which is all a roundabout way of flagging a Friday afternoon story - that Google is looking to create a gaming hub for Android, linking in - in a social manner - with Google+. It would mimic Apple's Game centre...

The story comes from Business Insider, via KnowYourMobile.com - see See Google building dedicated gaming hub for Android

Samsung's Galaxy Nexus goes on sale in Google Play

2012-05-10T10:28:49Z

The latest 'model Android' phone, unlocked, goes on sale in the US...

Andy Rubin, Google's Senior Vice President of Mobile and Digital Content, writes on the Google Mobile blog:

We started shipping Nexus phones more than two years ago to give you a pure Google experience and access to the latest Android updates. Today, we've started selling Galaxy Nexus (HSPA+) from a new Devices section in the Google Play web store, so you can quickly and easily purchase an unlocked version of the phone. We want to give you a place to purchase Nexus devices that work really well with your digital entertainment.

]]> First available in the U.S., Galaxy Nexus costs $399 and arrives at your door unlocked, without a carrier commitment or contract. You can use it on the GSM network of your choice, including T-Mobile and AT&T. It also comes pre-installed with the Google Wallet app which lets you easily make purchases and redeem offers with a tap of your phone. Best of all, we'll give you a $10 credit to get you started with your new mobile wallet.Looking back at the three-and-a-half year history of Google's Android Rubin notes the following stats:

* 300 million Android devices have been activated globally

* 500,000 apps

* "millions of songs and books, and thousands of movies"

Google's Java Android code ported to C#

2012-05-09T11:37:46Z

Here's an interesting one, on The Inquirer - Xamarin ports Google's Java Android to C#.

It's about how the software developer behind open source ports of Microsoft's .NET platform - the Mono project - has ported Android's source code from Java over to C#.

This is quite interesting - enough to catch my eye - but some potential significance is highlighted in the report: this could, in theory, be one exit route from Java legal issues (see Google infringed Java copyrights in Android, jury finds) ]]> The firm claims performance has improved with absolutely no Java involvement, meaning Oracle's minor disagreement with Google over Java could become a moot point if Google decide to move to C#.

According to Xamarin, Google's Java Android code was translated using Sharpen, with the development team working on improvements on the tool before it could be used for Xamarin's purposes. The firm says it has managed to port Android 4.0 to C#, meaning it is on the bleeding edge.Read the full article >>

MIPS goes native for Android

2012-05-04T08:21:33Z

Android Native Development is now officially supported for the MIPS architecture, the company has announced.

What is Android Native Development? It is the means by which you can develop parts of your Android application using code other than Java. You can drop down into using C or C++ in certain parts of functionality, to get 'closer to the metal' on a particular device.

This is done via the Android NDK (Native Development Kit) and with Release 8 of the kit, MIPS-based devices can get the special treatment. ]]> See also: What is... Android Native Development?

"This NDK release brings native MIPS support directly to Android application developers-yet another way in which Android continues to demonstrate its neutrality with respect to processor architectures," said Gideon Intrater, vpt of marketing, MIPS Technologies.

"We are excited that Android developers can now quickly and easily develop high-performance games and apps for MIPS-Based smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes and DTVs. This is a major step forward in the development of the MIPS mobile ecosystem."

Developers can download the NDK on Google's Android Developers website at http://developer.android.com/sdk/ndk/index.html.

As well as (possibly) improving speed, native development is also intended to support the reuse of existing code - it is a way to embed native libraries into an application package file (.apk) that can be deployed on Android devices.

Note that use of the NDK will not always benefit applications or guarantee performance improvements. It will, though, increase application complexity.

Build your own Android app - #6 MediaPlayer fail

2012-05-02T11:10:20Z

The only news is no news, just a lack of progress to report...

Things had been going so well, and I thought the next chunk of functionality I should add to my proto app would be playing media. Specifically, playing a sound file, an MP3 or some such (how it should look is pictured, right)

I thought to add short recordings of pronunciation for a displayed letter - my app will help users learn the Korean alphabet, and I thought that when displaying a character there should be an option to hear it spoken correctly (there are some compound vowels, for example, which are not straightforward sounds.

Anyhoo, no joy was to be had. The first warning signs were when neither of my trusty guides (Teach Yourself Application Development in 24 Hours and Beginning Android Application Development) had any meaningful coverage on this area. I mistakenly thought it would be a popular feature to cover. Things got worse when I tried creating a test app around the Google Sample code in this area.

]]> It is actually a lot more involved than at first may appear, with issues of asynchronous operation, handling of changing focus, and general management of state (see diag. below)

See here for the developer.android.com entry on Media Playback

The Dev Guide says:

The Android multimedia framework includes support for playing variety of common media types, so that you can easily integrate audio, video and images into your applications. You can play audio or video from media files stored in your application's resources (raw resources), from standalone files in the filesystem, or from a data stream arriving over a network connection, all using MediaPlayer APIs.

This document shows you how to write a media-playing application that interacts with the user and the system in order to obtain good performance and a pleasant user experience.

Unfortunately, the code fails to compile in my Eclipse environment - I suspect a drift between Android versions and the creation of the sample code - and attempts to correct the situation, such as pulling in new classes or changing details of declarations, just dug a deeper hole...

Very frustrating, and I'm sure a more experienced Android hand could have pulled the situation back, but the 'inaccessibility' of the Google documentation is becoming a recurring frustration for me.

Not only do I find it hard to manoeuvre around - I seem to be misunderstanding the correct means of navigating from and between sub-topics - but when I sometimes finish at the dead end of an abstruse class declaration there is not always an example of the code in action. Is that asking too much - that every documented class or function has a small sample of usage?

I know the types of the parameters, etc, are clearly listed, but still... the practicalities of a real world example can sometimes add clarity, perhaps remove misunderstandings about the exact nature of a parameter... Maybe it's just me.

Previous entries:

* Build your own Android app - #5 Layouts and going with the flow

* Build your own Android app - #4 Processing button clicks and other events

* Build your own Android app - #3 Getting busy with Activities

* Build your own Android app - #2 Getting connected, slowly

* Build your own Android app - #1 Hello World

Samsung puts quad core ARM Cortex-A9 processors in tablets, phones

2012-04-27T07:34:36Z

Samsung has put four ARM Cortex-A9 processors on a single chip for tablets and phones, including its latest Galaxy, due to appear in May, writes Steve Bush.

Called 'Exynos 4 Quad', it is built on the firm's 32nm high-k metal gate process, allowing each core to run at 1.4GHz.

"Exynos 4 Quad allows system-level architects to integrate power efficiencies into smartphones and tablets which enables double the processing power at a 20% lower power bill over its predecessor, the 45nm Exynos 4 Dual," said Samsung - for some reason not comparing it with 32nm Exynos 4 Dual with which the Quad is pin-compatible.

]]> Hot-plug functionality supports on-off switching for each core to save power, as does per-core dynamic voltage and frequency scaling.

Applications are also expected in 3D games, video editing, and calculation-intensive simulation.

On-die is a 30frame/s 1080p video engine for recording and play-back, an embedded image signal processor interface for camera use, and an HDMI 1.4 interface to send multimedia content.

A companion power management chip, the S5M8767, includes nine programmable buck converters and 28 LDOs within a 5x5x0.4mm package. Output voltage can be scaled dynamically in 6.25mV steps.

Already in production, samples are with other handset makers.

With a multicore processor, for example, streaming video can run on one core while the other cores simultaneously update applications, connect to the web and scan for viruses.

The package is 12x12x1.37mm.

Google Drive targeted at App developers

2012-04-25T12:40:45Z

Another day, another seemingly major Google product launch... enter Google Drive, an extension of existing (via Google Docs) online storage. And there's a strong mobile angle.

According to the search giant, Google Drive is a "storage platform that allows users to access their data from any device or application". The idea is also that third-party apps can use Drive to "enable rich and contextual features for this data".

]]> Google Cloud Storage (good luck to the company in getting this distinction across!). Google says, on this:

"The ability to store anything enables Drive to address some problems commonly associated with cloud storage. Mainly, Google Drive allows third-party applications to integrate with and contextualize the files stored in a user's Drive. This means that users can use many different cloud applications, while all of their files are stored in a single location in the cloud."

The idea also is that data in any format can be stored and users will be able to open any type of file from within Google Drive. Finally, it will be accessible from anywhere (connected) - that users will be able to access Drive files from a mobile device, the web, a desktop PC, or a laptop...

"Drive features a number of ways that third-party applications can register themselves as content owners or content handlers for any type of file stored in Drive. If a user chooses to install an application and allow it access to their Drive, they can then use the application to manipulate the files in their Drive."

Note that it is currently available for PC, Mac, Android, and iOS.

So, according to Google, with Google Drive, you can:

Create and collaborate. Google Docs is built right into Google Drive, so you can work with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations. Once you choose to share content with others, you can add and reply to comments on anything (PDF, image, video file, etc.) and receive notifications when other people comment on shared items.
Store everything safely and access it anywhere (especially while on the go). All your stuff is just... there. You can access your stuff from anywhere - on the web, in your home, at the office, while running errands and from all of your devices. You can install Drive on your Mac or PC and can download the Drive app to your Android phone or tablet. we're also working hard on a Drive app for your iOS devices. And regardless of platform, blind users can access Drive with a screen reader.
Search everything. Search by keyword and filter by file type, owner and more. Drive can even recognize text in scanned documents using Optical Character Recognition (OCR) technology. Let's say you upload a scanned image of an old newspaper clipping. You can search for a word from the text of the actual article. We also use image recognition so that if you drag and drop photos from your Grand Canyon trip into Drive, you can later search for [grand canyon] and photos of its gorges should pop up. This technology is still in its early stages, and we expect it to get better over time.