ics

A tablet is only as good as the software it runs. Unfortunately for Android tablet owners, finding great tablet-optimized software can be a struggle. Browsing Google Play (formerly known as the Android Market), there's no easy way to filter out smartphone apps and focus just on the meaty tablet stuff.

The good news is that there are some great Android tablet apps out there, and they can be found with just a little extra effort.

The above video offers some of my best tips for finding all the great app content available for Android tablets. For a step-by-step walkthrough, … Read more

Today, CNET and other U.S. mobile reviewers got a chance to gush over AT&T's HTC One X superphone powerhouse. It boasts a stunning 4.7-inch display, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and 4G LTE muscle. But the spec that's tripping up many is the processor: a dual-core Qualcomm chip in the U.S. instead of a quad-core Nvidia chip abroad.

On the surface of things, the change within seems like a step down for poor U.S. customers. After all, four cores (and Nvidia's fifth, "power-saving core") are better than two, right? Not necessarily.

The U.S. version for AT&T and for Sprint's forthcoming HTC Evo 4G LTE (the One X by another name) both use Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 processor, a dual-core chip that's a strong contender in its own right.… Read more

Qualcomm is proving that a phone doesn't have to be quad-core to be fast.

"Scoring 25 percent higher than its older siblings...in [central processing unit] performance benchmarks, shows Qualcomm has delivered on its promise for higher performance CPU," Jim Mielke, vice president of engineering at ABI Research, said in a note today, referring to the HTC One S.

That phone comes with the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) operating system.

The HTC smartphone taps the first Qualcomm 28-nanometer (nm) chip -- the "Snapdragon" MSM8260A. That's a big step up in chip … Read more

The Samsung Nexus S 4G isn't the only Sprint phone to tuck into an Ice Cream Sandwich update.

Today, Sprint announced on its Web site that it's readying over-the-air ICS updates for Android smartphones that include the Samsung Epic 4G Touch, among others.

Sprint has promised to "begin to roll out Google's latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, to our customers in 2012," but isn't sharing its timetable or the complete list of handsets it'll support. With more than half a year to go before 2012's close, Sprint's guidance remains … Read more

As expected, the first smartphone powered by an Intel processor launched this week: the Lava Xolo 900.

Intel and India-based Lava International today announced the general availability of the Xolo X900, built around the Intel Atom Z2460 processor. The phone will be available for purchase in the India market on April 23 at a street price of approximately 22,000 rupees, or about $420.

Lava also announced a partnership with Croma, a national Indian chain of megastores, which will sell the X900.

In addition to the 1.6GHz Atom processor with a 400MHz graphics chip clock, the phone features full … Read more

A lot of CNET readers like to complain that we cover too many Apple accessories and not enough Android ones. Well, the truth is there just aren't nearly as many accessories out there marketed toward Android users. … Read more

Last week, Lenovo took to YouTube to unveil its first ICS-based tablet. The new tablet sports a 9.7-inch, IPS screen with a 4:3 aspect ratio and an iPad 2-matching resolution of 1,024x768 pixels. This obviously falls short of the new iPad's 2,048x1,536-pixel resolution and even most Android tablets, which usually top out at 1,280x800 pixels.

The S2109 includes Micro-USB, a microSD card slot, and a single 1.3-megapixel front camera. However, say what you will about its unibody design, 8.9mm thickness, or its purported 10-hour battery life; the most intriguing detail has to be its inclusion of quad speakers on the back.

All tablets include speakers -- usually one or two -- but by featuring four, Lenovo is kind of raising my expectations of what I should expect from the tablet's audio capabilities.… Read more

Restless for a taste of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich? If you're a Samsung Nexus S 4G owner, don't be.

Sprint began rolling out the over-the-air ICS update today. The carrier predicts that by the end of the month, all users will have had a chance to install Google's most recent OS (so a little patience might be necessary.)

Of course, Nexus S 4G users are used to patience at this point, while waiting months for their turn to get an update that many assumed would come to their "pure" Android devices first.

We … Read more

I had the chance to briefly play around with the latest Transformer Prime update. My impressions are thus:

System bar lock By enabling the system bar lock, the system bar (which lies across the bottom of the screen) will be unavailable until unlocked by the user.

This could prove especially useful if playing a game like Riptide GP where your fingers are usually locked into position at the bottom corners of the screen. With the lock on you'll no longer waste precious nanoseconds instantly popping back into the game after you accidentally tap the Settings icon. Say "thank you" gamers.

Not to say it works perfectly, though. Periodically, after locking the screen, it would revert back to an unlocked state after a couple seconds. … Read more