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...

Read more »

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....

Read more »

Is Eric Schmidt right? Will app developers prefer Android over iOS in 6 months?

Yesterday at LeWeb in Paris, Google Chairman Eric Schmidt made some typically inflammatory comments about the future of Android and ‘the iPhone’. Specifically he said “Android is ahead of the iPhone now,” to an audience packed with tech entrepreneurs. After a bit of silence, Schmidt elaborated, saying that Android was ahead due to several factors, including “unit volume, Ice Cream Sandwich, the price is lower, there are more vendors.” Right out of the gate, Schmidt makes a cardinal error that seems to plague many who insist on comparing Google to Apple. He equates Android, the OS, with the iPhone, a device. But lets let that slide for the moment and assume that he was comparing Android to iOS, the platform that all of the Apple mobile...

Read more »

ARM Development Studio 5 toolkit launches to public

ARM has released an update to their development toolkit that claims an increase in Java performance by up to four times. Yes, this software is free and DS-5 CE (Community Edition) and some major enhancements from the previous version. The main difference is the including of ARM Streamline Performance Analyzer; this little tool helps developers keep an eye on how efficient their code is as it’s executed, what more could a dev ask for? This update should spawn many others within the Android Market, as developers may want to perfect their code to this new toolkit’s heightened standards. Taking advantage at optimizing applications to ARM’s processors will supposedly help speed them up too. Take a look at the installation procedure below:...

Read more »