Free Substratum themes of all time (2018)

Regrettably, CyanogenMod is dead today and to substitute it, a fresh development LineageOS is currently now in the marketplace. CyanogenMod will not be coming back again soon and together with it a great deal of solutions has gone. Here we are talking about the CyanogenMod theme motor, it had been easy and simple. There's not anything to be concerned about because of its refined alternative is known as the Substratum themes can be obtained. Now we're going to exhibit best Substratum topics 2018 below.

In the event, you people don't know CyanogenMod theme engine makes it possible for an individual to modify the UI look of an Android apparatus by simply applying an image. Substratum motif engine is one of the best and dependable theme engine available at the moment. It enables you to select themes from more than million of choices.

Substratum themes are offered on both paid and free foundation. Thus, suppose you've got an Android handset operating the Android Nougat OS and you're bored with using it. By applying Substratum topics you may make it resemble a Pixel or even a OnePlus device. As stated above it's an immense quantity of themes which rather confuses users that which to choose and why to choose.

Pixel UI theme

The title says it all, this motif provides a user using the Pixel such as inventory Android icons and panels. The theme gives a clear and straightforward appearance to your apparatus and, we enjoy stock Android like UI the maximum. Here you're getting most of the UI elements in Grayish and White color blend through the blue color gives an amazing comparison to UI. It is our first choice for those users that are searching for a crisp and clean look in their Android device.

Download Pixel UI theme

That is our second choice from the Substratum Theme 2018 record. Think about BalticUI, think about materialistic UI. This theme is all about simple and clean design. It seems great and also the flat UI everywhere appears nice for our eyes. Therefore, if you are a user who wants a straightforward looking topic then that really is the one designed for you.

Download Pixel UI theme

BalticUI

Windows phones are nearly dead today but Modern UI remains there for Android users. This theme has been created by taking suggestions from your Windows Phone. It is made up of a Dark design which is in line with the Windows 10. It has dark backgrounds using the blue tint. The UI looks great and may be utilized on the rooted devices. The color combination in the topics cannot be changed. It is available in the Paid and completely free variant.

Download BalticUI

ICE motif

ICE is our fourth choice in the very best Substratum themes in 2018. If you're bored of dark components on your smartphone's UI then this is the subject you ought to check. As its name implies ICE supplies you with the light white colored UI with earthy accent colors. It supports 28+ themed programs and in most looks a great light theme. When implemented this theme looks pleasing and pleasant.

Download ICE motif

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Android’s Chinese Manufacturers Form Alliance To Defend From Apple and Microsoft Patent Lawsuits

Digitimes is reporting that Chinese OEM’s could be quietly banding together to fight off the ever looming threat of patent lawsuits from Android arch nemeses like Apple, Microsoft and Nokia. The Chinese coalition would be formed by ZTE, Lenovo, TCL, Coolpad and Konka who, it’s assumed, would pool their patent resources and share information on how to work around alleged patent infringements and keep from paying the dreaded “licensing fee.”
As the Chinese smartphone market grows — currently the largest in the world — OEM’s are sure to draw attention from Apple and Microsoft who spend much of their time attacking Android manufacturers.
[Digitimes via Electronista]

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Root almost any Android phone with Unlock Root (One-click solution)

Yes, that is true. It is the mother of all rooting tools, and can help you in gaining root access on around 200 Android smartphones (to be frank, I did not count them, but that list of supported devices is huge). This tool supports devices from manufacturers like HTC, Motorola, and Sony Ericsson to unknown Chinese OEMs running on different Android versions.

While, it is unclear which exploit this tool is using, but it works. We tried it on two devices that we had in our hands right now and it worked like a charm.

To use this tool, all you need is a Windows PC, device drivers, usb cable and the device. Just grab the tool download from here and start rooting your Android phones.

Do let know in comments if you were successful in rooting your phone with this tool. It will surely help others who are looking for a simple tool to gain root access on their device. We have noticed that it install an App called AnTuTu Battery Saver on your phone at the time of rooting, it can be easily removed later.


Some of the popular Android phones that can be rooted using this tool are:
=> HTC Sensation (G14) , Galaxy Nexus (i9250) , LG Optimus 3D (P920), HTC Wildfire S (G13), Galaxy Note (I9220), LG Optimus 2x, HTC Desire S (G12), Galaxy S II (I9100) , LG Optimus LTE, HTC Incredible S (G11), Galaxy S (I9000), LG Optimus Black
To check of all the supported devices, check here.

Disclaimer: Although we did test this tool from our end before posting, but be cautious before doing anything that you might great later.

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Oracle patent claim against Android tossed out

We have talked about the legal battle between Oracle and Google over alleged code in Android that was taken from Java. Apparently the USPTO has looked into the 21 claims that oracle was making against Google in the case over infringement on patent 6,192,476. Of all the claims in the case, the only one asserted against Google in the suit was claim 14 reports 9to5Google.

The USPTO rejected 17 of those 21 claims and Oracle has until February 20 to appeal the decision. Oracle had been looking for the case to start in late January. Whether or not the firm will push forward with the suit at this point is unknown. Oracle was prepared to provide an expert’s report on the damages it had sustained due to the alleged Java infringement.
Google has reportedly issued a statement that says it doesn’t want to delay the case any longer that necessary. However, the search giant had previously stated that it had scheduling issues and that the case couldn’t start until July of 2012.
[via 9to5Google]

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Android clear winner of 2011 Smartphones race

The year 2011 has been a great year for Android based smartphone manufacturers. Handset makers like Samsung, HTC, Sony & Motorola lead the Android handset market. Special mention goes to Samsung's Galaxy series of Android phones. The series boasts various range of Android smartphones for everyone ranging from 5000 INR to 30,000 INR.

According to Business Standard, Samsung Galaxy S II, priced at 30,100 INR has broken all the records. It not only became a hot-favourite of reviewers across the globe but also managed to hold ground against Apple’s smartphones. It seems to be one of the most powerful and user-friendly Android phones. Its 8MP camera is a very good replacement for a pocket camcorder.

Other Android phones which lead the list of Smartphones along with Galaxy SII & Apple 4S are HTC Sensation XL, Motorola Razr & Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc S.

• Samsung Galaxy S II
• Apple 4S
• HTC Sensation XL
• Motoroal Razr
• Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc S

Let us know which one do you think is the best and why?

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Sensics 3D SmartGoggles concept brings Android on board

Head-mounted displays haven’t quite caught on yet, but they’re sure to be the breakthough product of 2007 2008 2010 sometime soon. Startup company Sensics wants to try a different approach than products currently on the market. Instead of releasing a pair of glasses as a simple screen for other devices, their SmartGoggles concept is a stand-alone unit, with a full version of Android on board.

“Goggles” might not be the best name for the device, not when a word like “helmet” is available. The creators are claiming full 3D capability (probably using a lenticular display like the Nintendo 3DS) and 360 degrees of visibility, probably incorporating some kind of motion sensor. While the concept is clearly aimed at gaming, there’s no mention of partners or titles. An indeterminate version of Android opens a lot of possibilities on that front, and the PR claims that the SmartGoggles can be used with outside video sources from phones, tablets, game consoles, computers and other devices. How exactly do you control them?
Check out the CG-tastic teaser video below:




Sensics isn’t the only one looking to expand Android into the wearable technology field. Rumors of an honest -to-goodness HUD glasses system from deep within the Google X development team broke last week. Though not much is known about the device, we hear that though it runs Android independently – no external device is required. Google co-founder Sergey Brin is said to be working closely on the “Google Goggles”.
Sensics will be attending CES, as will Android Community, so we’ll be sure to track them down and see if we can get some hands-on time with a real product.

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Ubislate7 - Aakash's Commercial version on Sale

Aakash, the $35 Android tablet by DataWind has taken commercial shape in form of Ubislate7. Ubislate7 is priced at 2999 INR, roughly $60 and will be out by late January next year. DataWind has already started Pre-booking the tablet. Ubislate7 is touted as the next generation tablet which will be commercially available everywhere and to everyone. This next version of Aakash is loaded with better features and specifications.

Ubislate7, as per spec, is a 7" tablet like Aakash and 3x faster than the former. The tablet runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Below are the detailed spec of the tablet.

• 7" inch TFT capacitive multi-touch screen
• Android 2.3 Gingerbread
• Cortex A8 – 700 Mhz
• 3200 mAh
• Wifi & GPRS connectivity

It is interesting to note that the Aakash tablets have already been sold out and only Ubislate7 versions are on sale. 2012 is going to be year of cheap tablets. Ubislate7 is definitely right on target with the price point and features. Book your own Ubislate7 from here.

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Android UI Lead Developer Gives A Shrug For Custom Android Skins By OEMs

Ice Cream Sandwich is undoubtedly Google’s best OS yet. The notable enhancements and improvements seen here over the previous versions are no doubt welcomed and loved by even the most advanced Android users. While the Android 4.0 build is seen on the Galaxy Nexus (and now Nexus S) only, we can expect the new OS to be fired up on new and existing devices from other manufacturers within the next few weeks. However, while we can look forward to ICS being on our favorite OEMs such as HTC, Motorola and Samsung, we also will not be looking forward to the customizations– also known as “skins”– each brand will place on the OS. Whether we like it or not, we will see Sense, (MOTO)BLUR, and TouchWiz which most agree detracts from the overall Android experience. It’s no secret that most of us strongly dislike the different skins each manufacturers place on otherwise stellar devices, but what do the head honchos of Android development think? Well, you’re about to find out. The Daily Beast hosted a Google+ hangout featuring Matias Duarte, the Android UI Lead Developer. Duarte was kind enough to take questions from a lucky few who were invited in the Hangout and was posed a question by Andrew Kameka of Androinca:

“So much work goes into producing the UI and the changes that you make, and then typically what happens is that the OEM’s put their skins on it and put their own touch. Does it bother you that so much work goes into it and in the end, a lot of consumers don’t interact with the UI as you intended it?”

Great question and one that many like us here at Talk Android would have asked as well. Read on for Duarte’s response and follow-up after the break.
Here’s a transcript of Duarte’s response to Kameka:

“Well, it would bother me more if we didn’t have programs like the Nexus program. The idea behind the Nexus device is to do exactly that – to give consumers an option to use the baseline work that we do if they choose…the philosophy of Android, the idea that partners can customize Android if they want to, is really important to making Android successful.
I think as we see more and more of the basic UI, the basic operating system – the home screen, the notifications system – kind of meet all of the needs that the customers want, you’ll see that OEM’s invest less time trying to fill in the features maybe that were missing there and more time adding completely new features to differentiate each other. Or taking the baseline Android experience and trying to transform it to create something completely different that is more of a niche product like the Kindle Fire.
And I think that’s good; I’m excited for that future. i hope that with Ice Cream Sandwich, we’ve done a lot to deliver that baseline so that OEM’s are going to feel less like they need to fill in the holes that Android left behind and actually focus on adding value…I think with the new Asus Transformer [Prime], you’ll see that the level of customization they’ve provided on top of the base Android is much less than has been provided in the past. In fact, they even allow you to turn off all of their customizations and revert to the stock Honeycomb UI, which I think is a really cool development, too.”

So basically Duarte’s response is straightforward. Android customization is welcome because that’s what the purpose of Android is all about– the choice of having different variations of the OS. However, he makes it clear it would bother him more if they didn’t have more pure Android programs– like Nexus programs. There needs to be a balance between having the original intention of Android and the “enhanced” experience that OEMs provide. Moreover, he praises the fact that ASUS specifically has turned on the ability to turn off the customizations and revert to the stock Android (Honeycomb) UI— which is something I personally believe most (if not all) Android users would welcome with open arms.
In addition, Google’s end goal is to make Android available to as many users as possible. That means keeping in mind Google’s strategy for working with OEM’s to fulfill their pledges to update their devices within the 18 month period, “as well as keep versions released closer to what OEM’s want to build”. Again, the end picture is while Google can’t succeed at having the pure Android build on all devices because it won’t appeal to everyone– Google must rely on the OEMs to “enhance” the Android experience by providing their personal touches in order to reach as many users as possible.
Duarte closed the enlightening discussion by sharing his thoughts influences from both the custom ROM community and OEMs. Keep in mind he doesn’t personally follow the Android custom ROM scene:

“We always look at whatever [manufacturers] launch but we have to kind of keep ourselves very firewalled. We don’t want to show them what we’re doing before it’s ready and they don’t want to show us what they’re working on before it’s ready. It’s really important for the community to kind of have an even playing field. [Ed. note - that will become critical if the Motorola acquisition is approved]
Individual designers, product managers, and engineers maybe follow one particular mod or OEM more than others, so that becomes part of the gestalt of different ideas that are out there.
It’s always exciting to see when somebody does something really cool, really interesting, and really different. One of the designs practices that we have is that when you start a a new design problem, stop and think, “Ok what’s the obvious way to do this?” And then just challenge designers and engineers to say, “Ok, technology aside – assuming that there’s no limit – what would be the coolest way to do this? What would the most compelling, fastest way to do this?” And let’s see what that would look like the way that nobody else has done this before and then let’s see how close we can get to that.”

Simple sum up– take something basic and make it better. That’s the story of Android and how it goes round and round. Google may learn from the custom ROM community & OEMs and vice versa. Very interesting discussion indeed. While the Android UI team isn’t particularly concerned about the growth of custom UI skins, it’s still no-secret that the general Android community would do without. Be sure to check out the full audio of the Hangout below. You’ve heard some thoughts on what the big guys for Android development think, but we’re curious to see your thoughts as well. Share your comments and thoughts in the Comments section below.

Daily Beast Hangout audio

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Android pulls ahead of Symbian in Indian smartphone market

NEW DELHI: The fresh numbers from India's phone market are in and it's not looking too good for Nokia's Symbian smartphones. According to IDC, a market research firm, the data for Q3 this year shows that Android, which is used by companies like Samsung and Sony Ericsson, has beaten Symbian in Indian smartphone market. 

"From an operating system (OS) perspective, Android overtook Symbian to emerge as the top platform in India for the first time, with a share of 42.4% of the smartphone market," G Rajeev, lead analyst at IDC. 

"Overall, smartphones shipment for the India market showed an impressive growth of 21.4% over the previous quarter and 51.5% year-on-year. This helped the segment grow its contribution to the mobile phone shipment to 6.5% in Q3 from 5.6% in Q2," added Rajiv. 

Nokia, which uses Symbian in its high-end smartphones, has struggled to make headway against Apple's iPhone and Android-powered phones in this highly lucrative segment. Earlier this year its CEO, Stephen Elop, described Symbian as burning platform and decided to join hands with Microsoft for the company's software needs. 

Lumia 800, a handset that the firm is currently shipping to retailers in India, is Nokia's first smartphone running on Microsoft's Windows Phone operating system. Microsoft too is struggling against iPhone and Android but hopes with the reach and channel of companies like Nokia it will be able to improve the situation by the end of 2012. 

According to IDC, Android saw a growth of 90% over the previous quarter. Apple iOS consolidated further, with a 3.09% share of the smartphone market, compared to 2.6% in Q2 2011. 

IDC said that overall Indian mobile phone market grew by 12% in units shipped, over the previous quarter, to clock 47.07 million units. Year-on-year, there was a shipment growth of 13.8%. 

"The mobile phone shipments witnessed a spurt, as vendors built channel inventories ahead of a long festival season. Dual-SIM handset shipments were notable with a sequential growth of 25.2% over the previous quarter," said Deepak Kumar, research director at IDC. 

The quarter gave both Nokia and Samsung - top two players - something to cheer about. While Nokia grew its share of overall mobile phone shipments in Q3 by 6.8% over the previous quarter, Samsung succeeded in increasing its smartphone shipment share by 5% over the same period. 

Overall, Nokia had 31.8% of the mobile phones shipment share in the Q3, followed by Samsung at 17.5%. In the smartphone segment, Nokia led with a shipment share of 35.3%, but Samsung came closer at 26%. 

"The slowdown of Nokia's smartphones shipment is in line with the expectations, that it would be prepping to transition some of its market share from Symbian to Windows," said Deepak.

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Consumers love Android, but developers are stuck on Apple

Android is taking the mobile world by storm as more handsets and tablets are Android powered, but as far as where the developers hang their hat, Apple is the place to be. Right now Android is easily the top selling mobile platform, Android powered handsets are outselling Apple iPhones by a ton and the Android Market just hit its 18 billionth download. An analytics firm, called Flurry, says that app developers are still choosing Apple’s iOS over Android almost 3 to 1.
As developers complete their apps, they set up analytics from Flurry so that the company can get a sneak peak at what is on the horizon in the mobile market. According to Flurry, the company deals with more than 55,000 companies across more than 135,000 applications. Flurry did a recent study to see how many projects were started for each quarter and the report showed that in the first quarter 63 percent were iOS and only 37 percent were Android. By the third quarter, developers had started projects with Apple iOS almost 75 percent of the time, while Android based projects feel to 25 percent. The fourth quarter was estimated, but the numbers didn’t change much only adding another 2 percent to Android giving them 27 percent and Apple 73 percent.
Flurry said in a blog post, “Over the year, developer support for Android has declined from more than one-third of all new projects, at the beginning of the year, down to roughly one-quarter by the end. While the market nearly doubled for both platforms, we believe key events changed the proportion of support between these two platforms.” Some of the factors that Flurry believes contributed to the numbers were the iPhone going to Verizon and Sprint and the launch of the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S this year.
Flurry has an idea as to why the developers like Apple 3 to 1 over Android. One issue is fragmentation from Google “not curating the Android Market”. The second issue is money, as more developers say they make 3 to 4 times more with iOS apps. The last reason Flurry says effects the developers call on what operating system to use is the act of getting paid. Apple required secured payment before apps can be purchased, ensuring developers get paid, but Google does not require that for mobile app downloads.

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Google vulnerability reward program could really tighten up security for Android

I’ve known about Chrome’s vulnerability reward program for quite some time, but never considered moving the design over to Android. Reddit user CunningLogic suggests it would give developers a monetary reward for their handwork while making Android more secure in the long run. Sounds good to me. Just like development within Chrome, the developers hard at work within Android have been extremely good at pointing out OS security flaws; with a form of payment, devs will get that extra incentive/motivation to tighten up loose ends and help make Android OS better.

It is known that compared to other mobile operating systems, Android is by far one of the most vulnerable. Carriers have even gone as far as offering protection applications (such as LookOut) for free in the Android Market to make sure their customers don’t have a bad experience on their network. It’s an obvious issue, and knowing your device is secure means the world to many.
With the recently found Carrier IQ security vulnerabilities, it would be a great time to implement such a program. If developers have been preparing security patches and modifications for their love of Android, imagine how hard they’d work for a bit of cash too. And Chrome’s base reward is $500.00 – but if the bug appears to be “severe or interesting”, the value can rank up to $3133.70! Implement that in Android and you’ll add an entirely new team of energized developers!
[via Reddit: CunningLogic]

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OnLive now available for Android and iOS tablets and smartphones

The way OnLive actually works is it streams gaming content straight from their cloud to your PC – and now that their application is compatible with Android and iOS they’re about to completely change gaming expectations. Whenever we think about playing a video game on our smartphone or tablet, there are certain expectations and limitations we are aware of. For instance, installation of the typical Android game takes around 10 minutes or so over a 3G network connection. Though many games out there push our tablet’s to their limits, most still can’t even compare to many console titles currently out. With OnLive, you can stream any of their popular games straight to your device with no need to download software or a powerful graphics engine. It works just like streaming a YouTube video or a song from Spotify.

Some titles they currently offer include Assassin’s Creed Revelations, Batman: Arkham City, and and Lord of the Rings: War of the North. Playing these games over such portable devices almost seems impossible, and OnLive’s release will soon make it a normal feat. Of course, you may want to make sure you have a solid Internet connection before buying into their technology – because with spotty reception it’s not worth it.
The OnLive controller is now compatible with tablets, so it will be easy to play these games practically anywhere – from your couch at home to inside your local Starbucks. Even better, the application offers on-screen controls as well. The real task now is to beef up their gaming library; 25 titles is nice, but growth is essential to their success. Even adding some popular MMO’s (Massive Multiplayer Online) like World of Warcraft would really put a spike in their sales. Such games usually require a large amount of disk space and would greatly benefit from OnLive’s cloud access and portability.
[via OnLive]

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Eric Schmidt Says 'Android will be bigger than iOS'

Eric Schmidt was addressing the crowd at Le Web in Paris and recounted a tale when an Android user asked why apps were often written for iOS first, and then ported over to Google's OS. His response? "My prediction is that six months from now, you'll say the opposite." After the uncomfortable silence had died down, he added that Android's "open" model meant the company had volume on its side -- and volume is what he feels will attract developers. He added that Ice Cream Sandwich would redress Android's device fragmentation and the sheer number of hardware makers would ensure that 2012 would be Google's year to lose. At which point, everyone in the audience probably went back to their iPads to read Twitter. 

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Google engineer tells us why iOS will remain more fluid than Android OS

We may be die-hard Android fans here at Android Community, but we’ve all at least given iOS a chance to shine its light. One of its best features is handling UI actions perfectly, thus leaving the user willing to wait for longer page loads. Over on Google+, Google engineering intern Andrew Munn explained to us precisely why Android OS will never be as fluid as iOS or Windows Phone 7 devices.


What it boils down to is that Android OS renders all graphics continuously – and on the same priority. What differs in iOS and WP7 is that graphics rendering is queued for when it’s needed. This is why when we open many applications at once within Android, we see the device start to slow down as it tries to keep up. In iOS, if an application isn’t done loading and you start touching your screen, it will only finish loading when you release your finger. This also helps keep the device from working to hard on multiple tasks – which eventually drains your battery.
Put in Munn’s words:

It’s not GC pauses. It’s not because Android runs bytecode and iOS runs native code. It’s because on iOS all UI rendering occurs in a dedicated UI thread with real-time priority. On the other hand, Android follows the traditional PC model of rendering occurring on the main thread with normal priority.

Personally, I love the way Android OS allows loading simultaneously to UI interaction. I’m pretty good at gauging the device’s capabilities to the point where I’ll know when the system may start to slow down. Also, hardware just keeps getting better and better. There will be a time when Android’s “sluggish threshold” is much harder to reach than currently.
[via SlashGear]

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BlueStacks Android app player gets 550,000+ downloads

Just in case you were wondering, yes, ore excited about the prospect of running Android apps on their full-sized computer. BlueStacks, the startup software package that lets you easily run and sync Android apps to any Windows computer, has racked up more than half a million downloads since its October debut. 550,000 downloads is an impressive achievement for a program that was only released in alpha form seven weeks ago, and at the time lacked support for anything other than Windows 7.

Investors have started to sit up and take notice. Embattled chip maker AMD and virtualization/remote access company Citrix invested 6.4 million dollars into the small California startup to spur its development, and presumably highlight it for future products. With Microsoft on the verge of a big tablet push in late 2012/early 2013, having quick and easy access to hundreds of thousands of touch-enabled Android apps would be a boon for Windows 8.
The software itself is still in the early stages, with the basic version of the BlueStacks App Player in alpha and the Pro version, featuring unlimited paid app syncing, still unavailable. The software itself is Windows-only, and likely to remain that way for some time, considering the high hardware requirements. BlueStacks may have some exciting things to announce at CES in January – we’ll be on hand to see if this is the case.
[via TechCrunch]

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Time Warner Cable tablet app now available for Android, doesn’t stream live TV

We saw a few leaks regarding this application early this year and have been patiently awaiting its arrival. Today the Time Warner Cable app for Android Tablets is finally available over in the Android Market. Before all you TWC TV users get too excited — no it doesn’t stream live TV (like the iPad can), and it only works for a select few tablets. It’s a start though right?

Being called TWC TV in the market and for paying TWC customers this free app will give you all sorts of options and features to enjoy. It’s a TV guide, a full on remote control and you can even set your DVR right from the device, even when your not home. Sadly since we don’t have live TV streaming like that other platform this is basically just a massive remote control for now. I was hoping for a bit more to be honest.
According to the official market listing it’s currently only supported on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Motorola Xoom but I’m finding a few others are supported but not all. Most likely it will scale to a few different sizes was my initial thought but all my 7″ devices aren’t compatible. I’m seeing it work with the Transformer, Tab 10.1 and 8.9 but not the Galaxy Tab 7. All the Lenovo tablets also appear to have full access at the moment. They claim 1280 x 800 resolution Honeycomb tablets will all work but the T-Mobile Springboard I have right here isn’t supported either. Most likely it will work with all 10″ Android Honeycomb tablets so give it a try and let us know how you like it via the comment section below.
We are hearing live TV streaming may be coming once Ice Cream Sandwich lands on more devices, but that is not confirmed.
TWC TV for Tablets App
[via Engadget]

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Nielsen: Android extends its lead in the US

No points for guessing who’s on top in the smartphone race. For the time period of July, August and September, Android’s U.S. market share grew from 39% to 42.8%, extending its lead once again. The Nielsen numbers match up pretty well with other statistical reports. The market is growing enough that Apple also increased its share, up to 28.3%. 44% of US mobile users now own a smartphone of one kind or another.

Breaking down the share of Android sales, HTC remains top dog in America with a 15% market share overall, with 35% of Android sales. Next is Motorola with 24.3%, followed closely by Samsung at 23.6%. That’s an interesting metric, considering that Samsung is far and away the top manufacturer of total phones worldwide. Other Android manufacturers made up nearly 17% of Android’s total, with just over 7% of total market share.
BlackBerry, Windows Phone/Mobile and Symbian continue their downward slide, despite the best efforts of their parent companies. So does WebOS, but calling HP’s bumbling any sort of “best effort” would be a disservice to little league baseball teams everywhere. Between the two of them, Android and iOS control 71% of the US smartphone market, and an eye-popping 83% of all mobile app downloads. Keep in mind that Q4 results are likely to skew a bit with the launch of the iPhone 5 iPhone 4S – that tends to happen when you only have one release every year.
[via SlashGear]

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Microsoft Brings Windows Phone 7 to Android Users

We know the thought of switching mobile operating systems from Android has never crossed the mind of our dear readers, but if you are a bit curious about Windows Phone 7 and too lazy to head to a local smartphone retailer to check it out for yourself you can get the experience on your device now. Simply point your Android browser (or iPhone browser, for that matter) to Microsoft’s demo site and a mock version of WP7 will load, complete with swipe input and navigation via the trademark tile layout. It’s far from perfect, but it is an interesting marketing tool for would-be smartphone buyers.
[via MonWindowsPhone]

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BlackBerry Mobile Fusion manages corporate assets on Android

RIM is having a tough time right now. They’re being squeezed from the top with iOS and from the bottom (well, bottom, top, sides and everywhere else) with Android. But the BlackBerry hardware is only part of RIM’s overall business, and they’re making a major effort to expand even more into the corporate services space. BlackBerry Mobile Fusion will allow IT managers to access and control company assets on BlackBerry, Android and iOS devices, essentially making the existing Enterprise Server cross-platform.

Managing a workforce that increasingly relies on mobile hardware isn’t easy when there’s dozens of different configurations to customize. But as long as employees stick to a late model BlackBerry, Android Froyo or Gingerbread or iOS 4+, their security and access can be managed remotely. Spotty version support is going to cause a few problems in the coming months – Honeycomb isn’t really a factor for corporate networks, but Ice Cream Sandwich may well be by mid 2012.
RIM has a while to iron out the kinks. The beta program won’t begin until January, with a wider public beta available in March, so there’s almost four months to widen support and squash some bugs. I suppose your local megalithic corp’s accounts department can use the time to shore up funds for those $200 PlayBooks – just get the marketing department to justify it.
[via SlashGear]

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Infinity Blade developer snubs Android over piracy concerns

There’s a lot of high-profile games either out or coming soon for Android, but even the staunchest Android evangelist (this guy!) would have trouble denying that the gaming market on iOS is more robust at the moment. The current posterboy for iOS graphics is Chair Entertainment’s Infinity Blade, a hack-and slash action game with some undeniably incredible visuals. When asked when they’d bring the series to the even more popular Android platform, the devs cited fears of piracy as a reason not to create ports.

Mashable asked the two brothers who designed the game why it hasn’t appeared on high-powered Tegra devices yet, and their response was that a “wild west” business environment had left the door wide open for piracy. “We’re confident that will be worked out and it will become a viable place for game developers, but that hasn’t happened yet.” The developers said they were open to creating Android games in the future, but at the moment it’s not part of their plans.
It’s true that piracy is a problem for Android. Most apps sold in the Android Market don’t have any sort of copy protection (and I’m not saying that it’s necessarily a bad thing). But to develop exclusively for iOS out of a fear of piracy is a flawed argument to say the least – piracy is also a problem on iOS, and a quick Google search shows that Infinity Blade is available to any unscrupulous iPhone users who wish to take it without paying. There’s a lot of good reasons not to port a game, like extra development cost for a platform that typically renders fewer direct sales. Piracy isn’t necessarily one of them.
For the record: do not download commercial software without paying for it, on any platform. It’s illegal just about everywhere, and you’ll make Santa cry.
[via Phandroid]

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