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It's called a "backdoor" and here is a link to more information (the link posted in the summary has nothing to do with the backdoor): http://androidcommunity.com/se...

Moto G is most definitely not water resistant

learn to internet

LG's hardware is pretty good

Which? I've a bit of it, all crap so far. Dumbphones, smartphones, optical drives... I think there's been a display in there even.

The combined T-Sprint will have to maintain both CDMA and GSM networks for some time. I hope that the tower hardware costs have dropped and dual CDMA/GSM hardware is available. I bet there will also be significant frequency waste.

Both carriers are dragging along a wagonload of MVNOs, so customers of several other companies will see migration impacts.

Verizon is dumping CDMA for their own customers, but keeping it for the MVNOs. This will become more problematic, as Android is dropping support for CDMA, so everything on the Sprint side is going to get a bad case of bitrot.

In case you were wondering what always-on HDR actually means: http://androidcommunity.com/nvidia-tegra-4-always-on-hdr-camera-demo-20130320/ Looks rather nice, actually.

*sigh*.. If I could uninstall it I would have, it's a common problem (just read some forums).. I have a motorolla xoom tablet.. Yes, QuickOffice is free, I know that too, but before you can install the latest version you need to be able to remove the old one, and that's not possible when QO shipped with your tablet (at least on 'older' devices)..

Just root the damn thing and remove it with titanium backup or one of the countless root uninstaller apps on Google Play. Rooting a Xoom is pretty trivial, in fact here is an idiot-proof guide: http://androidcommunity.com/motorola-xoom-root-the-easy-way-with-1-click-root-and-overclock-guide-20110331/

Normally I'd let comments like this slide, but I'm getting really tired of all the Windows 8 garbage that's being spread around here. You can get docks for Android phones and there is a Ubuntu for Android as someone pointed out to me yesterday. So I can use my Note II as an Ubuntu computer, which is what I use at home and get lots of work done on.

Most of /. posters are technically inclined people that have seen/used Windows 8 and from what I've read most agree Metro is garbage and the worst thing to happen to desktops ever. IMHO, you can take your toy interface and find some 5 year olds to use it that don't have real work to do.

Sorry but I don't get how patent being just a "basic concept" makes this article or the fact that Google will have problems FUD?
Microsoft managed to get 20-25$ per device for patents like "loading status icon":
http://androidcommunity.com/barnes-noble-reveals-microsofts-android-patents-in-detail-20111114/

USPO grants patents for such crap, and it is SUCCESSFULLY used as a weapon.
And here we come, Nokia, multi-billion company, former leader of the mobile industry, now de-facto delivery boy of the Microsoft (and, what a coincidence, ran bu ex MS manager) goes after Google with this crap.

Oh, you mean, like how CDMA devices were "fully supported", until the outcry against them dropping it caused them to reverse their decision?

http://androidcommunity.com/google-ends-full-support-for-cdma-devices-including-verizons-galaxy-nexus-20120203/

For the sake of discussion, the list of patents Microsoft is using to gain these royalties can be found here: http://androidcommunity.com/barnes-noble-reveals-microsofts-android-patents-in-detail-20111114/

As a professional software developer... it boggles my mind that these things are patented.

So even though its just opinion (as is your whole argument)... it is hardly as "uninformed" as you want to believe ;)

right, not a holy war, a thermonuclear war.
http://androidcommunity.com/steve-jobs-had-pledged-thermonuclear-war-on-android-20111021/

Not gonna happen. The potential liability for automakers when someone crashes due to watching YouTube while driving is just too huge. Whatever in-dash system they install in the factory has to be locked down so you can't install entertainment apps on a display visible from the driver's seat. If you want to rip it out and install your own tablet in its place, you can. But then the liability for distracted driving is squarely on your shoulders.

Funny you'd say that because: "There's a lot of QWERTY slider Android phones out there if you look hard enough, but most of them are mid- to high-end," http://androidcommunity.com/samsung-transform-ultra-slides-into-the-low-end-20111024/

I admit, most siders are middle-of-the-road rather than strictly high-end, but there's always high-end options out there. All the wireless providers knows there's a dedicated following, and won't be caught without a couple good QWERTY phones.

Verizon's got the Droid 4, and Pantech Marauder.

Sprint has the Motorola Photonâ Q 4G LTE, and a couple dated sliders.

On AT&T, the Xperia Ion or LG Escape look good.

T-Mobile has the Samsung Galaxy S Relay.

Personally, I'm more interested in battery life than any other high-end specs, because that's always the stumbling block for me these days.

Have some perspective: we've stopped talking about mutually assured thermonuclear destruction as if it were the most natural thing ever.

And Apple v. Samsung (patent not copyright) isn't thermonuclear?

It's Apple's store... I don't think they can be legally required to carry any product they don't want to.

Among smartphone platforms that don't have billion dollar patent infringement precedents against them, the major players are iPhone, BlackBerry, and Windows Phone 7/8, and iPhone has the lion's share of installed base. So should Apple follow through on the late Steve Jobs' threat to go thermonuclear on Android in the U.S. courts, Apple will find iPhone in a position of market power. And once a firm has market power, certain activities that were formerly lawful become deemed as "restraint of trade", arguably including rejecting an application from the only channel through which end users can obtain an application. Remember in the 1990s when Microsoft used its monopoly on Windows to prohibit PC makers from bundling Netscape? Apple's application lockout power on iOS is far stronger than Microsoft's on Windows ever was.

Also, if anyone bothers to Google, the f700 was not "before" the iPhone. I honestly don't know why I come to this site any more.

http://androidcommunity.com/who-was-really-first-apple-vs-samsung-story-truly-debunked-20110420/

From the article:
This picture above says the F700 was shown at CeBit 2006, and then released in 2007, making Apple and the iPhone the one that copied them. This is completely false. We here love Android, not Apple, but this is a interesting story and I just felt like sharing either way. Even if Apple is in the right. According to the picture the F700 was introduced in 2006, and Apple stole the design. I’m not going to get to deep on this, but the F700 was never seen until February of 2007 and our very own slashgear had it completely covered. This is AFTER Apple announced and showed the world the iPhone January 9th 2007 at MacWorld.

My Nexus One stopped getting updates after 18 months.

The Nexus One got two major operating system updates to Froyo and then to Gingerbread so I wouldn't complain too much. Fortunately the One had an unlockable bootloader so loading ICS isn't too hard.

"Apple has been losing their ardent followers for some time now. People have seen android as a very viable alternative, and are switching over. Apple knows this, or they wouldn't be resorting to these bully tactics."

Right that must be why iPhone satisfsction ratings are so low compared to Android manufacturers....

http://androidcommunity.com/android-loses-out-to-iphone-bigtime-in-jd-power-satisfaction-ratings-20110318/

And why Apple is seeing decreasing revenue and profit compared to Android manufacturers....

Oh wait.....

Honestly the moderators are not doing their job! This post above not only is delusional and but an outright lie backed up by an old 2011 post to an Android FanBoy site. Don't you just love the power of the Internet to mislead others?

Apple' lead in user satisfaction with the iPhone over all other smartphones appears to be so great it is untouchable.

Right that must be why iPhone satisfsction ratings are so low compared to Android manufacturers....

http://androidcommunity.com/android-loses-out-to-iphone-bigtime-in-jd-power-satisfaction-ratings-20110318/

And why Apple is seeing decreasing revenue and profit compared to Android manufacturers....

Oh wait.....

All right, JD Powers did a survey that says Apple buyers are a happy bunch. Good for them, they use an amazing device. Now, what does that have to do with the fact that Apple wants to make it impossible for me to buy a Galaxy? That is unfair, let the free market eventually decide. It's about choice, and to not have a choice forced down my throat. Thank you and have a nice day.

"Apple has been losing their ardent followers for some time now. People have seen android as a very viable alternative, and are switching over. Apple knows this, or they wouldn't be resorting to these bully tactics."

Right that must be why iPhone satisfsction ratings are so low compared to Android manufacturers....

http://androidcommunity.com/android-loses-out-to-iphone-bigtime-in-jd-power-satisfaction-ratings-20110318/

And why Apple is seeing decreasing revenue and profit compared to Android manufacturers....

Oh wait.....

"This was already proved in court when apple's lawyers asked samsung's lawyers to tell them which of two devices was made by Samsung, and which by Apple... Samsung's lawyers couldn't tell the difference."

At which point, Samsung should fired and then sued their lawyers for malpractice. Failure to prepare for court room appearances, (especially in a trade dress patent case), is gross negligence of the worst kind.

It should have been stupid easy to notice the aspect ratio differences to all but the blind. Clearly, Samsung lawyers were not prepared for the courtroom, that day.

Dunno about Telus in particular, but the way it usually works is:

Google releases new version of Android, gives it to phone manufacturers.
Phone manufacturer has to adopt it to their devices (add drivers, make tweaks like Sense or Touchwiz), gives it to carriers.
Carrier adds their own modifications (pre-installed apps you can't uninstall, disabling certain features like tethering, etc).
Update is rolled out to you.

I'm guessing Telus is a CDMA carrier? Google dropped its level of support for the CDMA Nexus S due to a quirk with the way CDMA operates. Basically, with the GSM versions, Google can give you ICS directly (which was the whole point of the Nexus S). With the CDMA versions, it has to go through the carrier.

What does it matter what the intent of Android was? Google itself says they're not making "momy" from Android. But go ahead and throw angry insults at me if you think that will generate the missing revenue.

Do you think Google shifted its focus to social networking on a whim? Web advertising is down, and it's making even less money on mobile platforms. That's why Facebook had to revise its revenue forecast days before its IPO and why they're under investigation for apparently informing select investors.

One is the designer and developer of the most popular smartphone + tablet OS.

Huh? The most popular tablet operating system is iOS. Android has very little presence in the tablet market. Having smartphone market share won't mean much if Google doesn't make money from Android, according to their own quarterlies.

Riighterr!!!! Knew so - how's Android (a Linux) doing, security-wise for years now? Torn up!

Actually, no. More of a beat up.

Despite Microsoft attempting to buy scare stories with free phones, malware on Android is rare and generally easily removed.

"Microsoft is offering five Android malware victims a free Windows Phone 7 phone. The catch? You need to share your rage against Android with the Twitterverse."

http://securitywatch.pcmag.com/none/291668-microsoft-offers-free-windows-phones-to-android-malware-victims

"Advanced users are already wary of alarmist declarations from security vendors, and though the malware threat for Android is growing, many consider it overblown, especially when compared to Windows and other desktop operating systems".

http://androidcommunity.com/symantec-backs-off-of-android-malware-claims-after-researchers-cry-foul-20120201/

security firms that warn of Android malware 'charlatans and scammers'

http://www.zdnet.com/blog/hardware/are-security-firms-that-warn-of-android-malware-charlatans-and-scammers/16412

Uh, presumably they'd be doing that because tablets are at the same resolution. And yes, thanks to Moore's law phones are approaching PS3 level graphics. Does this surprise you? Even on a 4-5 inch display that makes a difference, so it becomes acceptable for both. Tegra 3 is pretty much ps3 level visuals, and fits in phones that are this size. That's small enough, light enough and can do it the job. Given that it drops down to one lower powered core for the majority of the time and has good batter life, why wouldn't I want the extra high quality game use case and general ability to ramp up processor performance if required? It also means stuff like Google Goggles can do real time image analysis and identification and runs smoothly. And as for relevant games? Sure, there are some already coming. And what it gives me? Same games wherever I am, ability to maintain game state, ability to not buy a console for more money, access to my mobile casual style games on the big screen, an open platform I can develop for and games that last more than one hardware generation. YMMV on these things, I guess.

And only for some features. Consumer phones will of course still be fully supported, receive all updates etc.

AOSP builds from source have never had full telephony function for CDMA devices due to missing carrier binaries, so Google is moving to clarify this, and is no longer listing CDMA devices as fully supported for developers.

There are still a lot of emulators on the Android Market. I think Google had to remove Yongzh's account due to copyright infringement--Yongzh didn't publish complete source code for his emulators. http://androidcommunity.com/so-why-were-the-yongzhs-emulators-pulled-20110601/

Android related patents

You mean these patents? That is really "years of R&D". Stop trolling, most of that stuff has prior art and/or is obvious. It will not hold water if challenged in court. Why do you think MS was so keen to keep everyone who saw the stuff under strict NDAs?

Linux was even created because Linus wanted a free UNIX like desktop I'm sorry but you're mistaken. You can read the history of Linux's early days writted by Torvalds here. I quote him, bold is mine.

It is currently meant for hackers interested in operating systems and 386's with access to minix. [...] I can (well, almost) hear you asking yourselves "why?". Hurd will be out in a year (or two, or next month, who knows), and I've already got minix. This is a program for hackers by a hacker. I've enjouyed [sic] doing it, and somebody might enjoy looking at it and even modifying it for their own needs. It is still small enough to understand, use and modify, and I'm looking forward to any comments you might have.

You're probably right on the other point

Since the beginning Linux users have touted how this will be the year of Linux on desktop

This is probably never going to happen (not with a substantial market share) but 2011 was the year of Linux in the pocket (remember Linux is only the kernel) and 2012 could be the year of Linux on the desk.

because Linux users very much have wanted Linux to be number #1 on desktop

That's unbelievable right? As if Mac users wouldn't like to see their platform to become the number 1.

I would not suggest iPad 2. It suffers from horrible lags when web browsing that are frustrating to the point of unusability. Obviously, it doesn't handle flash sites. It has much less available in the way of quality free apps. The user interface is dumbed down or broken in many little ways that make the experience one long chain of annoyances.

Android tablets are much closer to being true laptop replacements on the road. On my last road trip I brought a netbook and a Xoom. I never used the netbook. I did all the browsing I needed with the Xoom and I edited text files using a bluetooth keyboard. I have QuickOffice on it, but I didn't use it this time. I look forward to the Android version of LibreOffice,I found I didn't really need a mouse, but I will get the Apple trackpad to use with the Xoom, apparently it works fine. Otherwise, I regard Apple's product as mainly for games and spending money. Not the best choice for a serious computer user.

Hmm, Apple cultists seem to have mod points tonight. Scary.

I would not suggest iPad 2. It suffers from horrible lags when web browsing that are frustrating to the point of unusability. Obviously, it doesn't handle flash sites. It has much less available in the way of quality free apps. The user interface is dumbed down or broken in many little ways that make the experience one long chain of annoyances.

Android tablets are much closer to being true laptop replacements on the road. On my last road trip I brought a netbook and a Xoom. I never used the netbook. I did all the browsing I needed with the Xoom and I edited text files using a bluetooth keyboard. I have QuickOffice on it, but I didn't use it this time. I look forward to the Android version of LibreOffice,I found I didn't really need a mouse, but I will get the Apple trackpad to use with the Xoom, apparently it works fine. Otherwise, I regard Apple's product as mainly for games and spending money. Not the best choice for a serious computer user.

It still competes directly with Android devices.
While real Android Devices are of much better quality than the Kindle Fire, and have higher levels of software support and better quality hardware, they are still tarnished by the Kindle Fires existence.

>

Meanwhile in business world, Amazon will continue making money hand-over-fist buy selling stuff, Apple will continue making money hand-over-fist buy selling stuff and Google and Facebook will still be making hand-over-fist by selling your data.

Three disturbing points in the last 48 hours.

Samsung will leave 10,000,000 Samsung Android owners abandoned by refusing to provide them with ICS. This has the potential of making up to ten million people very unhappy with android. If they tell merely five others how they feel being screwed than that means fifty million people will be exposed to negative android publicity by a trusted friend.

http://www.theverge.com/2011/12/23/2657132/samsung-no-ics-upgrade-for-galaxy-s-and-galaxy-tab

Dell is after killing of their Dell Streak android tablets in the US a week or two ago is switching to a fork of Android from the Chinese for their new Dell Streak smartphone which will rival any flagship Android sold in the US for high end quality. This new fragmentation may chill Google on Android when they see their hold on the smartphone and tablet market slipping away by the treacherous actions.
.
http://androidcommunity.com/dell-partners-with-chinese-search-engine-baidu-for-streak-pro-20111223/

The last is the move by both B&N and Amazon to lockout access to root with a new update to their 'Android' firmware. This is a real kick in the teeth from former friends to Android and open source.

Now run that by me again how 2012 is going to become the year of Google Android.

OK, how about this, or this this.

From that last one,

iPhone users continue to download more paid applications, however, with 50% of users buying at least one paid application a month, compared to 21% of Android users. The survey also included consumers on webOS devices, and found that while they were active, they downloaded fewer paid and free applications.

Yeah, you're about the only one. Ever.

http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f41/home-screen-lag-12132/

http://androidforums.com/android-lounge/7884-htc-hero-reduce-lag.html

http://forums.androidcentral.com/verizon-fascinate-rooting-roms-hacks/34047-lag-fix.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rrpd-ZDHHlk

But you're right, you've never experienced it, so it NEVER happens.

• You can pre-order it now.
• Amazon Silk moves the browser to the cloud like SkyFire does now

• Kindle Fire porn via SlashGear: http://androidcommunity.com/amazon-kindle-fire-hands-on-gallery-20110928/

  Enjoy!

Galaxy Note will be 5.3" 1280x800.

Regarding a phone.

Also it will be much more powerful (dual core 1.4 GHz, 1 GB ram.)

http://androidcommunity.com/samsung-galaxy-note-unveiled-5-3-high-res-hd-display-1-4-ghz-dual-core-and-more-20110901/

1 or 2 years ahead? So then why did they not have copy paste until after android? You are a nut.

First note that for many things you "need" copy'n'paste for, you didn't need it on iPhone from the beginning.

But to answer your question: Maybe because they wanted to get it right - IOW unlike Android.

http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f29/how-do-you-copy-paste-text-from-the-gmail-app-5522/

How do you copy/paste text from the Gmail app?

U can only copy/paste from text fields. I think gmail is like the browser in the sense that it seems to render like a big image hence u can't copy and paste from it. If an email app does not come out with copy and paste then the g1 will never go big with busiiness users.

http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=3190

Issue 3190: Improve copy-paste in Browser/WebView

The iPhone ad is what prompted me to submit this ticket. I love nothing more than showing off my G1 to shush some over hyping iPhone user. Simple things like "yeah I can send picture messages" or "does your phone have a metal detector too" hahaha. But I can stand having any iphone user best us with their nifty copy paste abilities.

Yes, copy/paste must be at least as functional as iPhone and be available anywhere there is text. Even Windows Mobile 6.1 on my Motorola Q9m was much better.

Do you want me to go on, or would that be nuts too?

It's a funny picture and cool story, but it's just not true.

Don't be TOO smug, Google did pull all of the tethering apps from their market, and if the main feature you want on your new Android phone is "Delete my VZ Navigator," you're SOL without jailbreaking, so you're back where the iPhone people are.

I'd rather spend $400 on this. And then if I love it another $150 on the keyboard+extended battery+port replicator unit. I trust Asus a million times more than Viewsonic. Maybe literally.

http://gizmodo.com/#!5737002/the-problem-with-android-updates-part-seventeen-or-why-samsung-galaxy-phones-are-stuck-in-the-past
http://androidcommunity.com/samsung-fascinate-users-report-froyo-update-problems-and-solutions-20110422/
http://www.bgr.com/2011/02/24/sprint-pulls-epic-4g-android-2-2-froyo-update-data-connectivity-sd-card-issues-reported/
http://www.digitalhome.ca/2010/12/samsung-users-complain-android-2-2-update-is-bricking-phones/

By the way, since Slashdot seems to deem update problems with specific phone models newsworthy, where are the Slashdot posts on these Android update problems, and how come that isn't a 'saga'?

Are you seriously acting surprised that multiple people can come up with the same UI design?

it's not copyrightable in the first place.

Also, iphone UI even noticeably looks the same as samsung's UI.. If you think Apple came up with a unique design, you are sorely mistaken.

http://androidcommunity.com/who-was-really-first-apple-vs-samsung-story-truly-debunked-20110420/

I’m not going to get to deep on this, but the F700 was never seen until February of 2007 and our very own slashgear had it completely covered. This is AFTER Apple announced and showed the world the iPhone January 9th 2007 at MacWorld.

We can go even deeper here also. The photo above mentions that the Samsung F700 was “shown” at CeBit 2006, that is wrong it was 2007. Here is the hard proof.

A trivial google search suggests (and the first two links are to *ANDROID* community sites, so please no whining about this being "apple press releases") that:

-- Xoom has sold ~100,000 units: http://phandroid.com/2011/04/06/more-insight-on-xoom-sales-100000-since-feb-24th/

-- Samsung have claimed, then backtracked, then clarified, then re-clarified that they've sold 2 million Galaxy tablets. Of course, that's sales to the retailers & carriers, not sales to customers: http://androidcommunity.com/samsung-backtracks-on-galaxy-tab-sales-figures-shipments-not-sales-20110131/

-- Samsung went on to say that they need to "seriously rethink" their tablet strategy & pricing in the face of the iPad 2, which certainly suggests that sales are far lower than anything they would have liked to see: http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20040072-1.html

The simple fact is, if either of these devices were legitimately selling as well as the iPad, we'd hear it trumpeted from every rooftop. Samsung & Motorola would NOT be bashful about saying, "We're selling as many as Apple! Our device is great and you should buy it!" Or did you think that Motorola and Samsung were trying to keep their fabulously successful tablets a secret, because they want people to give their money to Apple?

If someone ever does make an Android watch, they're going to have trademark problems.

But if anyone does it, it will probably be Fossil.

Today I go weeks without ever shutting my Android phone off. That is why WinMo was garbage.

Samsung epic reboots daily
G1 freezes daily
HTC EVO reboots continuously after update

I could go on and on about anecdotes about Android phones crashing, freezing and rebooting endlessly after updates. Guess it's garbage as well, no?

Galaxy Tab 2 Million SHIPPED (sales numbers are debatable, but for the sake of your argument lets say they sold every one) Apple iPad 7 Million SOLD

The problem is that Android apps don't have any copy protection on them, so users can simply copy the app from each other. Rovio gets around the problem by simply displaying adverts and make $1M a month from this strategy.

http://androidcommunity.com/angry-birds-android-ads-make-rovio-1m-per-month-20101208

AFAIK, Google does not approve of Android use on tablets, and tries to limit "official" access to the Android marketplace to smartphones. Of course, even if a vendor cannot link directly to the Android marketplace, there is often an app available which does give such access. For example, most of the Archos tablets can use the Android marketplace if you sideload the gApps4Archos.apk application (google for it). The app was tested and approved by various reputable review sites http://www.engadget.com/2010/10/12/new-archos-tablets-get-android-marketplace-hack-works-as-promis http://liliputing.com/2010/10/google-marketplace-hack-for-the-new-archos-tablets.html http://androidcommunity.com/archos-tablets-get-android-market-thanks-to-new-apk-20101012/
BTW, the Archos tablets are all GPL-compliant. http://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/12/31/0116250/Most-Android-Tablets-Fail-At-GPL-Compliance

The Froyo 2.2 update has already been released and includes a GPS fix according to http://androidcommunity.com/samsung-galaxy-s-froyo-update-released-20101015/

It may take some time to get to you.