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Google's Project Fi allows customers to seamlessly move between mobile networks and WiFi hotspots, connecting them to the best speeds at any given moment.

link

Project Fi has partnered with Sprint, T-Mobile, and U.S. Cellular, three of the leading carriers in the US, to provide our service.

link

Basically, if you have a phone that supports the feature and the application installed and you pay Google US$20/month you get unlimited domestic talk and text and the phone will automatically connect either via WiFi or a mobile network and switch between them as necessary to maintain your connection.

They have the local spectrum and if the locals pay they can enjoy the list of prices set. If they don't pay its back to a paper insulated wireline network. Great for the owners of the only local wireless "internet" company.

Who has the local spectrum? From the FCC's plan: "Up to seven total PALs may be assigned in any given census tract with up to four PALs going to any single applicant." At the very least this will allow a duopoly, with up to seven licensed competitors in an area. Regardless of the license size, big or small, there is nothing preventing a large carrier from bidding on a license!

Once national and state wide networks are allowed in with real price competition that generational wealth is open to competition.

"National and state wide networks" are allowed to bid against any local user. The difference is the area the license covers. Census tracts are 52 square miles on average. Partial Economic Areas are 9125 square miles on average. How many users do you think can afford a PEA-sized license? It is economically unfeasible for anyone except a select few cellular carriers. Does that sound like "real price competition" to you?

So its presented as "small ISP's" rather than a locals having control over spectrum for generations.

Under the 2015 NPRM, licenses would be bid upon every 3 years. That allows license prices to reflect current market value, and doesn't allow for any generational lock-in.

Local wanting internet, networking will soon have more freedom to use national networks.

The same national networks that cover densely populated areas, and ignore many rural areas in between? The same national networks that already own oodles of spectrum licenses, yet don't utilize that spectrum remotely to its full potential? The same national networks that lock customers in to multi-year contracts, lock down the smartphone OSes, preinstall bloatware, ads and tracking software? The same national networks that don't offer true unlimited service or fixed service plans for home use? The same mobile networks that don't offer public IP addresses, and (in some locations) stable network latency suitable for gaming and interactive uses?

Its the network version of bridge building, a rail network, paved roads, water and electricity arriving in a small town.

What about the many, many small towns with limited or no service from the national carriers, despite the carriers already owning spectrum licenses that cover those towns? Those areas deemed economically unfeasible by the large companies, may never get that "bridge" built unless a local company or cooperative does it. CBRS isn't magical, and the companies who haven't deployed 600/700/800Mhz LTE in small towns or rural areas yet, probably won't be rolling in to put up new towers just for 3.65Ghz. CBRS is an opportunity for local people to fill in gaps in the coverage areas of the national carriers, but with the 9125-square-mile average license size that TMO/CTIA are wanting, this opportunity will not come to fruition.

So its all about the "small ISP's" who now face quality competition for the first time. With a relaxing of federal rules competition can move all over the USA and so the "small ISP's" that have the local spectrum want to present it as good "them" vs the "big telecom".

With all due respect, I have to question your motivation on this topic. It's not a "relaxing of federal rules", it's a tweak of proposed rulemaking that makes it practical for only the largest few companies to gain licensed access, shutting out the opportunity for smaller users to even bid on their local area. It does nothing to encourage competition, and does everything to stifle it. CBRS has in the works since 2010, and from the outset it was i

Security is always a moving target. While it's possible your leading edge phone is as secure as the leading iphone, what matters to security is how many people are running an older OS. Androids are always going to be running non-updatable OS just because of the bussiness model. So in terms of numbers of exploitable phones, swaths of the andorid ecosystem will be less secure than Apple ecosystem.

The thing is that the overwhelming majority of iOS users is usually at the latest OS version after a while and most of the rest are at the second oldest, after that the usage percentage drops off a cliff:
https://david-smith.org/iosver...
For Android users the picture is different, only about a third of users is at the latest version with the rest being at older versions:
http://www.droid-life.com/tag/...
This is to be expected since Android is open source, it gets used by a whole slew of manufacturers and while you can point to ones that do a good job with updates like Google it self or a somewhat reasonable one like Samsung (have had some bad experiences with their orphaned Android devices), there is a vast number of Android device makers that either orphan devices or drag their feet excessively with updates or just orphan devices as a matter of course. So while there are manufacturers that do a bang-up-job of keeping their Android devices secure, making shure the the entire Android fleet can match the update stats of iOS is a practical impossibility the way things stand at the moment. The only way to really change this is for Google to make sure that the underlying OS is provided by them, updated from their servers and the device manufacturer only gets to mess around with the GUI. If the manufacturer wants to make changes to the underlying system Google has to make them sign agreements obligating them to implement a certain protocol guaranteeing QA and that they will push regular updates over the lifespan of the device. Unless they do something like that the reputation of Android will always be ruined by sloppy device makers who drop the ball on security.

What, the Ars Technica test where the Samsung S7 trumps the iPhone 7, just like we see here? That test?

What "Trumping"? First off, the iPhone 7 vs. the S7 isn't a fair fight. The S7 is larger in all dimensions, and has almost twice as much battery capacity. It SHOULD be getting like TWICE the battery-life; but instead, it ekes out a measly 44 extra minutes, or about 6%. Wow. That means NOTHING in real-world use; likely more like around 15-20 mins., depending on what you are doing. Talk about a battery-hog! Meanwhile, as Apple starts fine-tuning the OS (GCD?) to push more and more threads to the low-power cores, and does its usual re-nice-ing and other optimizations to balance the CPU load better, mark my words, we'll see that "Trumping" start going the other way, BIG time.

And just imagine what the battery life of the iPhone 7 would be if it had that much battery (and how much longer it would take to charge!).

By the way, the iPhone 7 Plus is already "Trumping" EVERY other phone that Ars tested, and that's BEFORE iOS starts being optimized for lower power consumption...

Come back around iOS 10.3 or so, and we'll talk. Meanwhile, those S7s will still be on the same ol' nasty, insecure Marshmallow, for better or worse. At least Marshmallow FINALLY has a better Permissions model though; so I guess there is that...

Which fact do you believe was not factual? Given you posted "made by LG, bootloader unlocked" I would think you are alluding to this comment:

most come with locked bootloaders

This is a fact (which by definition is correct). The Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7 and Nexus 9 all come with locked bootloaders, in fact there are even articles on that very subject:

http://www.androidcentral.com/...
http://www.droid-life.com/2011...
http://www.androidcentral.com/...
http://www.androidcentral.com/...
http://www.droid-life.com/2014...

Hopefully this helps you to be more informed next time.

Which fact do you believe was not factual? Given you posted "made by LG, bootloader unlocked" I would think you are alluding to this comment:

most come with locked bootloaders

This is a fact (which by definition is correct). The Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Nexus 5, Nexus 6, Nexus 7 and Nexus 9 all come with locked bootloaders, in fact there are even articles on that very subject:

http://www.androidcentral.com/...
http://www.droid-life.com/2011...
http://www.androidcentral.com/...
http://www.androidcentral.com/...
http://www.droid-life.com/2014...

Hopefully this helps you to be more informed next time.

Just to be sure, did you mean ClockworkMod Helium (formerly Carbon), or did you mean Carbonite? I'm guessing Carbonite is responsible for the rename to Helium.

at the bottom of Motorola's smart watch is a small black section that isn't part of the display. Since the display is round it makes the whole thing look like slightly deflated tire (not really flat, just a bit deflated :P). There's a good explanation at the top of this article.

If everyone has a debugger, the site operator can't block people who want to tinker, learn, and make a site more usable without blocking everyone.

You're kidding? Sites actually do that!?

See Netflix disables use of the Chrome developer console.

Why?

Ostensibly, protecting inexperienced users from the social engineering exploit known as "self-XSS". Self-XSS occurs when an attacker convinces an inexperienced to paste malicious code into the developer console. This is why Facebook also disables the developer console (though Facebook reportedly provides an opt-out). But the real reason is probably three words: digital restrictions management. It's similar to how Google Play Movies refused to play on rooted devices prior to mid-2012, and other apps have needed things like "RootCloak".

In good contentious, I have to reply to you twice since... "The hack you posted is not an exploit of the phone" Then what is it? "Replacing a ROM chip is both a software and hardware modification. It is not stock, is it? So, out of the box, which platform is more secure at this time?" Do you even know what you're talking about? "Now, once you modify the device as you have indicated, it's possible to make the Android more secure. But, as a stock device, it still lags, doesn't it?" No, it doesn't since everyone involved works closely together in improving whichever device is in question. A most notable case is CPalmar, who not only did it for his wife and his own personal enjoyment, but has done it all for free and has continuously refused donations! Even the creators of Cyanogen (the most popular custom rom) have refused to sell themselves out, even in the face of a billion dollar acquisition offered by Google: http://www.droid-life.com/2014... "And, you are right...you can't insert a custom ROM in an iOS device - best you can do is jailbreak - something I would never do because of the inherent risks." The only risk that's involved is your naivety. People don't just get malware from doing nothing, they download pirated copies of app and single handedly fuck themselves. And you know what, I'd rather people have the freedom to go fuck themselves than no freedom at all since I could care less about these rejects.

Interesting so your belief is jquery can be avoided. Well that would speed things up hugely.

In terms of the older browsers IMHO Google, Microsoft, Apple and Mozilla Foundation can make that happen. Microsoft was the biggest problem but now they are trying to decrease the amount of time people use older browsers. Bundling newer browsers with service packs and their regular policy of requiring service packs for support should do a pretty good job of driving people to newer browsers. Apple, Mozilla are already pretty aggressive and successful IMHO. Of course they would be more successful if more websites error on old browsers.

The other place to worry about forward going is older versions of Android. Gingerbread is still 16% of the market ( http://www.droid-life.com/tag/... ), as measured by the PlayStore which I suspect is worse than all users of browsers. And I'd expect this problem of lag to get worse not better with time as handsets get more reliable.

If Microsoft wants to be really tricky, they could go the route that some people are going with "Holofication" on Android. There are a number of Android apps that are just garbage ports from iOS, even from massive companies. It actually doesn't take much to pry open an Andoid application and change the way that it looks. I wonder if Microsoft could cut some sort of deal with individual app makers where they register, click "yes" and then a Microsoft team grabs the Android apk and "Metroizes" it, puts it on the market and gives the developer their cut. It wouldn't be ideal, but way better than just a direct port. They'd at least get to keep their style guidelines consistent, and app makers would start to see a revenue stream from Windows, which might then make them pay more attention to the ecosystem.

http://www.droid-life.com/2014...

This has been true on Android also since 4.0

http://www.droid-life.com/2012/10/01/how-to-set-data-limits-on-android-beginners-guide/

There _are_ some rather worrying reports floating around on Steve's agenda.

http://www.droid-life.com/2013/07/29/cyanogenmod-founder-contemplating-abolishing-root-requirements-for-custom-roms/
https://plus.google.com/106978520009932034644/posts/L8FJkrcahPs
http://www.landofdroid.com/2013/more-on-whats-going-on-at-cyanogenmod/

We'll see.

lrn2html, dumbass.

http://www.droid-life.com/2013/07/29/cyanogenmod-founder-contemplating-abolishing-root-requirements-for-custom-roms/
https://plus.google.com/106978520009932034644/posts/L8FJkrcahPs
http://www.landofdroid.com/2013/more-on-whats-going-on-at-cyanogenmod/

Praise for chromecast among whom? I think the corporate media really pushed the thing to where it got initial traction, but it appears that the development community is turning against it with the lockdown on unauthorized streaming content.

From Google "We’re excited to bring more content to Chromecast and would like to support all types of apps, including those for local content. It's still early days for the Google Cast SDK, which we just released in developer preview for early development and testing only. We expect that the SDK will continue to change before we launch out of developer preview, and want to provide a great experience for users and developers before making the SDK and additional apps more broadly available."

http://www.muktware.com/5860/confirmed-chromecast-will-be-able-play-local-content-go-ahead-and-order-yours

Its on the front page of Slashdot...I find it a little peculiar you have not read it.

Praise for chromecast among whom? I think the corporate media really pushed the thing to where it got initial traction, but it appears that the development community is turning against it with the lockdown on unauthorized streaming content.

How unlockable (if at all) is the bootloader?

It's a fully locked device. This is not a Nexus successor.

How conventional. Google could have thrown a grenade into the portable world. Instead they make a Samsung wannabe, complete with bloated marketing budget.

Not interested.

The best best for Android is Cerberus. Seriously, it does everything that "Find my iPhone" does plus a few things it will never do. It's free today through AppGratis http://www.droid-life.com/2013/06/06/deal-cerberus-lifetime-license-is-free-today-from-appgratis/

If you happen to have a rooted phone, there's even a ROM version which will survive a Factory Reset.

Task Managers don't actually kill apps, by the way. Android neutered the APIs that they were using in like Gingerbread. And that doesn't stop notifications anyway.

Oh, and you can disallow notifications per app: http://www.droid-life.com/2012/11/29/how-to-disable-android-application-notifications-beginners-guide/

Give me a ubuntu rom that works and I'll install it myself.

Yeah, I talked to a Ubuntu guy at an Android conference about this who was showing off a dual Android-Ubuntu runnin Mororola Atrix II. His position was fairly much 'no', since they want to sell this to manufacturers as a feature they can have. Shame, though I can see their point of view.

Nonsense.

Images for the Galaxy Nexus are going to be available for download in “the next few weeks” so developers can tinker and start building apps and an ecosystem for the new OS.

Source: Droid Life

Wow, thank you for the fact check. It just goes to show that subjective memories aren't the best guides. I was sure that the gap between 2.3 and 4.0 was much longer than ten months! This is probably because I pay more attention to available devices than to software release dates.

The changes between Gingerbread and ICS were big, and the rollout took quite a while for pretty much all brands of phone. Once a phone company successfully adopted ICS, it must not have been nearly as hard to upgrade to Jelly Bean, because updates came faster.

Android are doing good. In strongest Apple market, US, Android tablets are half of all tablets sold. http://www.droid-life.com/2012/10/02/pew-research-android-up-to-48-of-u-s-tablet-sales-ipad-drops-to-low-of-52/ It is reasonable to expect dominance of Android tablets will only increase, especially outside US. People will soon expect to have great IPS tablet for $100, and there is little Apple (or Microsoft, or even Samsung) can offer there.

Umm...it's already been removed from the Verizon version. That was one of the first ones to get the update in fact. It may not have yet rolled out, but its coming soon. http://www.droid-life.com/2012/07/20/verizon-galaxy-s3-receiving-update-to-vrlg1-includes-new-kernel-and-dumbed-down-search/

Show me a phone that outputs HDMI video, stereo line level audio, composite video, or any individual one of those over the micro USB port.

As far as HDMI video - here you go:

1) A dock that connects to the Samsung Galaxy Nexus micro-USB port and provides HDMI out.
http://www.droid-life.com/2012/03/23/review-samsung-galaxy-nexus-hdmi-portrait-desktop-dock/

2) An adapter dongle that connects to the micro-USB port of various Android phones, including the Galaxy Nexus, to provide HDMI out including 7.1 audio.
http://www.cellphoneshop.net/mhlhdmi.html?cagpspn=pla&gclid=CJnS5PfysrECFQQJRQodj2EAQg

This is actually pretty common with modern Android phones, it's called MHL (Mobile High-Definition Link.) It also includes a command bus between the mobile device and the TV, but haven't heard whether that's supported by any common TVs or smartphones.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_High-Definition_Link

Actually, I just got a Nexus 7 tablet. M$ is done for. Apple should be scared.

I don't think they have any reason to be worried just yet given the shoddy build quality, screen washout/ghosting, stuck pixels and poor support. Maybe one day, but certainly not now.

Apple only has 30% of the Mobile OS market share compared to Android at 51%. If you want to go off a different graph Apple is at 29% so it's still pretty close despite two separate studies.

Furthermore, the top mobile OEMs are Samsung and LG. Apple is bringing in a measly measly 14%. Yes, Apple took no time at all in getting profitable in the last five years, but that's in stark contrast to global market dominance where things aren't so hot for Apple. I know it's hard to fathom but the rest of the world (not the US) doesn't seem to prefer the Apple glitz.

You have a lemonade stand A on one corner making $20 a week, and a lemonade stand B at the opposite corner making $80 a week.
Mentioning that A is pouring 2x - 6x as many glasses is just rubbing salt in the wound.

A child running either stand gets a pat on the back and a "good job", but since you're old enough to know what a % is, you should know what failure smells like.

Apple only has 30% of the Mobile OS market share compared to Android at 51%. If you want to go off a different graph Apple is at 29% so it's still pretty close despite two separate studies.

Furthermore, the top mobile OEMs are Samsung and LG. Apple is bringing in a measly measly 14%. Yes, Apple took no time at all in getting profitable in the last five years, but that's in stark contrast to global market dominance where things aren't so hot for Apple. I know it's hard to fathom but the rest of the world (not the US) doesn't seem to prefer the Apple glitz.

Speaking of the Razr, the new Droid Razrs (as well as other smartphones) have been having problems across the East coast on Verizon since yesterday, including mine. Basically, they're not able to connect to 4G, and often lose data entirely. If they don't get it fixed today I'm going to fight for a credit... which doesn't look good on them seeing as how I've only had the phone for about two weeks.

There was a lawsuit filed against Verizon specifically because of this several months ago, though that lawsuit was more focused on tethering rather than locked bootloaders. Source: http://www.droid-life.com/2011/06/06/tethering-complaint-filed-with-fcc-by-free-press-against-verizon/

Their is nothing to stop an OEM from first charging for the PC, then charging for the unlock of the bootloader. Furthermore, said OEM can threaten those who "jail break" their own PCs with voiding the warranty.

Yet after all these years no-one actually does such a thing, furthermore even the tablet makers who originally locked down their bootloaders are reversing such policies so you can take off your tinfoil hat because there is nothing to support your conspiracy theory.

This is a shill article because the lie is so fucking obvious to detect. First of all, Android is made by the Open Handset Alliance. Google is of course a very major player in it same as Nokia was a major player in Symbian BUT it is called an alliance for a reason. Google doesn't work on it alone.

So basically Google and a LOT of other players pooled their resources to create a product they could all benefit from and made it available for "free". So? MS used its monopoly resources to create a product nobody else can use for free. Apple used it fast wealth to create a product nobody else can use or even create gadgets for without paying them and they often just refuse to license stuff.

Who is being the bad guy again? Oh of course, Google for being less evil. What people forget about Googles "Don't be evil" slogan is that doesn't say "Be good" it just means don't be as evil as the rest... and in American Business, that is a pretty low standard.

While the parallels between MS of the 90's and Google are exxxxtremely thin --- it works only if you squint REAAAALLLY hard and use a sarcastic dismissive voice :) --- its not a huge stretch to say that Google, and Google alone, controls the features, look&feel, and direction of Android, leveraging close source applications through which they acquire customers, usage, and derive monetization. From Ars Technica, "In fact, development of the Android private branch and the roadmap is controlled by Google, with little input from external parties or the Open Handset Alliance members" http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2011/08/study-android-is-least-open-of-open-source-mobile-platforms.ars And from Droid Life: "Google has really started to enforce 'non-fragmentation clauses', giving the Android team the final say on how much can be tweaked on their stock code" http://www.droid-life.com/2011/03/31/google-tightens-the-android-reigns-time-to-start-controlling-fragmentation/ This enforcement, allegedly, is through access to the very valuable closed-source Google suite of applications -- without which the Android device doesn't do much more than boot. See http://www.gomonews.com/the-android-vs-cyanogen-story-has-google-shot-itself-in-the-foot-by-shooting-down-developer/ That said, no question that its been good (to date) for consumers - it just seems like the contrast between the public stance of Android and the behind-the-scenes shenanigans is... interesting.

The rumors suggest that there will be grandfathering.

Well, I had RTFA, but I hadn't CTFL (clicked all the friendly links) on the friendly article page. Clicking this link gives a leaked screen shot saying:

"New $15/150MB Data Package for Feature Phone and 3G Smartphones"

So maybe I can go back to shopping for an upgrade after all!

from droid-life.com: Oh Those DROID Bootloaders – Still Locked. Forever Locked. Trolls. (Updated) http://www.droid-life.com/2011/03/21/oh-those-droid-bootloaders-still-locked-forever-locked/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DroidLife+(droid+life) "About that DROID bootloader unlocking story. Just read the conversation above and move on with your lives. It’s locked, will always be locked, and we’re glad we used a bunch of question marks and “coulds” in our post about it. And you guys call me the hypebeast? Update: Motorola reached out to us to clear up more of this situation. They said as plain as day, “We did not send the C&D letter to Mr. Pitcock [nenolod].” They also did not receive any notice of vulnerability which nenolod claims to have sent. This probably isn’t surprising since the guy admitted to it being one giant scam, but Moto wanted to make sure you all knew."

This article needs an update. Motorola has already officially apologized for the youtube admin's tone.

Mine just came OTA (over the air) last night. Or you can do a manual update as shown here: http://www.droid-life.com/2010/08/31/manual-update-droid-incredible-to-android-2-2/

Hold out a little longer for the "Droid 2" rumored to have the improved TI OMAP processor (smaller process technology?) running at a higher clock speed. Rumored specs here: http://www.droid-life.com/2010/06/10/exclusive-first-photos-of-the-motorola-droid-2/

There are a ton of options to get around the lack of 3G and a Wi-Fi location system. For example, you can tether the I-Pad to any 3G phone... even to a non-I-pad device. E.g. http://www.droid-life.com/2010/04/05/how-to-wifi-tether-a-motorola-droid-to-an-ipad/