honeycomb

Android 4.0 now on a quarter of all Android devices

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is slowly dripping its way onto more devices.

As seen over the last two weeks of October, ICS now flavors 25.8 percent of all Android devices, up from 23.7 percent in the prior month and 20.9 percent in August.

Android 4.1, aka Jelly Bean, ate up 2.7 percent of the market in October, up from 1.8 percent the previous month.

The most dominant version of Android remains version 2.3, or Gingerbread, still found on more than 54.2 percent of all Android devices. That's down slightly … Read more

Reasons not to buy a Nexus 7

Subscribe: RSS (SD) RSS (HD) iTunes (SD) iTunes (HD) The Nexus 7 is my favorite tablet right now. Google nailed the price, the interface, and the features, and avoided the mistake of selling it exclusively through a mobile carrier. It's enough to make the Motorola Xoom feel like a distant memory.

But no gadget is perfect, and the Nexus 7 is no exception. If you honestly think a $200 tablet can be made without cutting any corners, let me know. I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.

Android fans, I recommend following this one up with … Read more

Android: The cable guy analogy

Let's see, it's 5:00 and the cable guy was supposed to show up at 1:00. And, oh yeah, where's my Android update?

I hear Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) is great. I've been hearing how great ICS is since October (when it was released).

Which is about the same time I got my Motorola Xyboard (aka, Xoom 2) -- with Honeycomb. You know, Android 3.0, the old version of Android.

Think about it. Motorola announced a brand-new tablet design just as ICS was coming out but saddled it with Honeycomb.

So, I'… Read more

Find Android tablet apps

A tablet is only as good as the software it runs. Unfortunately for Android tablet owners, finding great tablet-optimized software can be a struggle. Browsing Google Play (formerly known as the Android Market), there's no easy way to filter out smartphone apps and focus just on the meaty tablet stuff.

The good news is that there are some great Android tablet apps out there, and they can be found with just a little extra effort.

The above video offers some of my best tips for finding all the great app content available for Android tablets. For a step-by-step walkthrough, … Read more

How to set custom Gmail label notifications on Honeycomb tablets

The Android Gmail app was just updated with some new features for Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) tablet users. Froyo and Gingerbread users get some performance improvements too, but the meat of the update is for Honeycomb tablets.

The updated Android Gmail app adds the capability to swipe between conversations, access recent labels from a dropdown menu, set custom notifications for labels, and sync 30 days of messages. Custom label notifications work only when sync is enabled. Here's how to set it up:

Step 1: After installing the Gmail update from the Google Play Store on your Honeycomb tablet, tap … Read more

Android Ice Cream Sandwich gains, but Gingerbread dominates

Android 4.x "Ice Cream Sandwich" is making gains, though Gingerbread still takes the lion's share, according to a snapshot of data provided to Android developers.

Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) had about a 2.9 percent share and Honeycomb had more than a 3 percent share, according to Android Developers, which describes the data as "the relative number of active devices running a given version of the Android platform."

ICS started appearing in devices only toward the end of last year.

The Web site says the data can help developers "understand the landscape of … Read more

Filter out the fakers with Tablified Market for Android

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 … Read more

Sony Tablet P rooted

Unleash the hacks! Details on a working procedure for root the dual-screen Sony Tablet P came out yesterday.

A forum post on Pocketables describes how to root the Tablet P, which would take a few minutes at best for those fluent with technical instructions (seriously, its uber easy). Those desiring full control over Android 3.2 on the Tablet P merely need to download a few files: ADB Installer and Sony Tablet Root Program. … Read more

Four things I'm hoping to see in the Jelly Bean release of Android

If the last few releases of Android are any indication, chances are good that we'll see Jelly Bean unveiled at Google I/O in June.

But even if Google makes that deadline, we'll likely end up waiting a few more months before Jelly Bean is actually released, perhaps with a Nexus device. So with that in mind, I thought it would be fun to put together a few ideas as to what I'd like to see in Jelly Bean. While some of this list is based on real-world expectation, others would make for a great mobile experience. … Read more

Get a Toshiba Thrive 10-inch Android tablet for $259.99

Is now the right time to take a leap (because it's Leap Day, get it?) and buy a tablet? Surely the more curious crowd will wait to see what Apple unveils on March 7.

On the other hand, a deal's a deal, and lately the tablet deals have been coming fast and furious. Like this one: today only, and while supplies last, 1SaleADay has the refurbished Toshiba Thrive 10.1-inch Android tablet for $259.99, plus $4.99 for shipping. Any way you slice it, that's a mighty attractive deal on a 10-inch tablet.

The Thrive is … Read more