Mobile

Google's Android Market may be rapidly catching up to Apple's App Store in terms of sheer quantity, but app sales still vary greatly between the two, according to an analysis released on Friday by Distimo. The numbers give Apple a clear advantage in sales of applications. The report found that in Ma...

Based on initial sales reports and some tablet market flip flops, the few Android tablets that have hit the shelves so far seem to have crashed and burned. Early sales figures indicate that no Android tab is coming close to being the much-awaited Apple iPad alternative. But will time heal all? Does ...

Much has been claimed by Google ever since the infant days of its Android mobile operating system. The claim it has seemed to champion the most is that its platform is open by nature. One of the biggest complaints about iOS has been Apple's lockdown policy, so naturally, Google would want to make it...

Google has begun rolling out a patch to fix a security flaw in versions 2.3.3 and earlier of its Android mobile operating system. That flaw affects all Google services using the ClientLogin authentication protocol. It lets hackers access any personal data available through Android's application prog...

This week's Google I/O conference ushered in an array of new and future developments from the Web search leader, touching on everything from new ideas for laptop computers to Google's own online music storage system. Google's Android mobile OS received several moments in the spotlight as well. One n...

Well, well, well, so Linux has turned 20 at last. While we were reading about the inroads Android is making into the mobile market and weeping over the news that Groklaw is about to pack its bags and move on, we began wondering: Just what would the world have been like if Linus Torvalds hadn't sat d...

Mobile device developers are in a holding pattern with plans to plug in the much-awaited Google Android 3.0 upgrade. The delay is causing some bad feelings in the FOSS community. But it is unlikely that Google will carry many scars from the dispute. Claiming it needs more time to solve technical gli...

It appears that Sony is definitely planning to join the tablet wars: Its CEO Howard Stringer told the Nikkei newspaper that the company was planning to deliver a Honeycomb-based tablet no later than the end of the year, and possibly, according to some versions of his comments, as soon as this summer...

When Nokia and Microsoft announced a partnership last month, many systems and app developers interpreted the deal to mean Nokia was beginning to turn away QT Symbian and MeeGo platforms. In essence, Nokia would be dialing into Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 technology in the near future -- and, it was ...

Adobe announced Monday that its Flash Player 10.2 update is now available on Android Market. The update's a production release for Android 2.2 and 2.3 but an initial beta release for Android 3.0.1. That news may impact the Motorola Xoom, as it runs Android 3.0 aka "Honeycomb." Android 3.0.1 is Honey...

The browser in Google's Android mobile operating system is more than 50 percent faster than the browser found in Apple's iOS, according to company Blaze.io. Blaze tested the embedded browsers in Android 2.3 and iOS 4.3. These were WebView and UIWebView, respectively. The tests were conducted agains...

Who Are the FOSS Police?

More than 70 percent of mobile applications containing open source code fail to comply with basic open source license requirements, OpenLogic claims. The company scanned compiled binaries and source code where available for the top paid and free Android and iOS apps in the business and consumer sect...

CONFERENCE REPORT

Fixing the Fragmented Face of Android

Android 3.0, aka "Honeycomb," took center stage at Wednesday's AnDevCon keynote address, and LinuxInsider joined about 200 Android developers in a small room at the Marriott Hotel in San Mateo, Calif., to listen in. Presenters Chet Haase and Romain Guy of Google explained some things about the Honey...

CONFERENCE REPORT

Motorola Revs Up Devs at Android Conference

A small conference room at the San Mateo Marriott Hotel in San Mateo, Calif., was packed to overflowing for the keynote speech Tuesday from Christy Wyatt, a Motorola corporate vice president, at AnDevCon 2011. About 300 people squeezed into the room, forcing hotel staff to bring in some chairs and s...

Google has begun removing the "Droid Dream" malware from devices running Android versions earlier than 2.2.2, also known as "Froyo." About 260,000 owners of Android devices downloaded the malware, Google spokesperson Randall Sarafa told LinuxInsider. However, that doesn't mean they've all been impac...

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