android

The new Gmail has undergone a huge refresh. The Web version now has a tabbed inbox to support categories and the mobile apps have an updated interface as well. If you've updated to the new Android app, you may have noticed that there's no longer a trash button in the toolbar when viewing a message. The new toolbar only has buttons for archive, mark, and move. If you flip the screen orientation to landscape, you'll also see an additional button for labels.

If you prefer to delete certain messages, rather than archiving everything, you can still use … Read more

Updated at 10 a.m. PT with a headline change noting that BlackBerry is disputing T-Mobile's initial claim.

It looks like iOS and Android won't be able to download BlackBerry Messenger come June 27 after all.

Earlier on Thursday, T-Mobile U.K. tweeted that BBM would indeed be available for iOS and Android come June 27, even serving up an image of a BBM conversation running on a Samsung Android phone. However, that tweet has since been taken down, calling into question the accuracy of the information.

And a BlackBerry representative told CNET: "That date is completely … Read more

U.S. Cellular announced on Thursday that it was adding the LG Optimus F7 to its smartphone lineup, selling the more-than-midrange Android smartphone with a $99 price tag -- with a new, two-year service agreement, of course.

Powered by Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, the handset boasts a 4.7-inch 720p LCD IPS display, a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, and 8GB internal storage (4.1GB of which is user-accessible). Additionally, the phone features an 8-megapixel camera with LED flash and 1080p HD video capture, plus a 1.3-megapixel shooter right above the screen.

Users will also appreciate the LED … Read more

Advanced Micro Devices will consider Android, but that's about all at this point.

Like Intel, the No. 2 PC processor maker has made its money selling chips that power Windows systems. Unlike Intel, however, AMD is not making any commitment to Android yet.

There's "no schedule for Android/Chrome support announced [and] no specific processors mentioned for support," an AMD spokesperson told CNET Wednesday.

But he added that "we have consistently said AMD is committed to applying our [intellectual property] anywhere where it makes sense for our business and our customers."

That's about … Read more

Here's some good advice. Wait for Intel's upcoming Silvermont chip.

In a demo Wednesday at Computex, Intel seemed to instantly -- and thoroughly -- obsolete the existing Atom, known as "Clover Trail," in a head-to-head "bake off," as the Intel demo guy put it.

The "current best-in-class Intel Atom-based tablet" (Clover Trail) was pitted against a tablet with the upcoming (and completely redesigned) quad-core Silvermont Atom (aka, "Bay Trail") packing a new "video encoder and decoder."

The benchmark, TouchXPRT, tests "performance of everyday [tasks] such as photo … Read more

It may not be a Swype or a SwiftKey killer yet, but the Google Keyboard is now available as a downloadable app.

A post Wednesday on Google+ touted the Google Play Store debut of the app, which offers "Gesture Typing" so that you can drag your finger from one letter to the next to spell words.

Google Keyboard offers some interesting competition for other swipe-to-write keyboards. Most notably, it's free where most of its competitors are not. It also has next-word suggestions, auto-complete, voice recognition, and support for 26 languages, although the keyboard itself is English-only for … Read more

While debate rages over whether Android devices, iPhones, BlackBerrys, or Windows Phones are better, there's no question that people increasingly prefer smartphones to feature phones.

And the Pew Research Center's Internet & American Life Project just released the numbers to back that up.

In the U.S., 56 percent of adults are now smartphone owners, according to a study published Wednesday by Pew. This is the first time since Pew began tracking the numbers that the majority of the population owns a smartphone.

Currently 91 percent of people in the U.S. own a cell phone and 35 … Read more

At the Telematics Detroit Conference today, QNX pulled the wraps off of a new version 2.1 of its QNX CAR Platform for Infotainment.

The new QNX platform builds on the provider's telematics and infotainment architecture to enable developers to adapt Android apps for use in the car and to create apps and interfaces based on the Qt 5 application framework. This builds on the CAR Platform's previous support for HTML5 and OpenGL ES standards, giving mobile developers an assortment of widely supported tools to build software for your next car.

The new version of the QNX CAR … Read more

Tracking packages, monitoring their every movement from the vendor to your front door, can feel a bit like an addiction at times. Once you have the tracking number, you're either refreshing the respective carrier's tracking page, or you're mercilessly opening and closing your favorite package-tracking app hoping you can will the item to inch closer to its final destination.

As someone who has used iOS as my primary device for the last three years, I have often relied on the Delivery Status app to do the dirty work for me. There's a free OS X widget … Read more