fragmentation

Google engineers: We're trying to fix Android fragmentation

SAN FRANCISCO -- Engineers on the Google Android team say they are still working hard to ensure that Android updates are rolled out to new devices in a timely fashion.

During a fireside chat at the Google I/O developer conference here Thursday, 11 members of the Android development team fielded questions from the audience of developers. Android team members acknowledged the continuing issue of fragmentation within the Android ecosystem. But they also said they planned to continue a rapid pace of innovation.

"This is something we think about a lot," said Dave Burke, engineering director for the … Read more

Larry Page: Android powers Google Glass, obviously

Google uses its Android mobile operating system to power its Glass devices, Chief Executive Larry Page confirmed yesterday.

"Obviously Glass runs on Android," Page said toward the end of the conference call reporting Google's strong first-quarter financial results.

It's not a surprise, given how the engineering resources Google already has poured into Android. But the company hadn't confirmed it, even when it detailed Google Glass specifications last week.

Fragmentophobes might freak out that Android is being stretched to yet another device: it's hard enough for programmers to keep up with the diversity in screen … Read more

Google modifies Android SDK to battle platform fragmentation

Recognizing that fragmentation of the Android platform frustrates consumers and developers alike, Google is looking to put a stop to it.

The company has modified its legal agreement with developers working on Android apps to specifically prohibit them from any action that could contribute to further fragmentation of the mobile platform. The anti-fragmentation clause was recently added to the Android SDK licensing terms and conditions, which developers must accept in order to build Android apps.

Section 3.4 of Google's new terms, which were updated Tuesday, reads, "You agree that you will not take any actions that may … Read more

Late again? Twist will text or e-mail your apology

Many of us remember how liberating mobile phones were when it came to meeting people: "Which street corner was that again?" "Should I buy tickets for both of us?" "Sorry, I'm running late."

A start-up called Twist, though, believes phones can make the process much more convenient -- by automatically handling some of those messages.

With an iPhone app, the startup's technology tracks when a person leaves on a journey and tells the person at the destination what the expected time of arrival is based on data from Google Maps, Bing, and … Read more

Boost your system with Diskeeper 12

Condusiv's Diskeeper 12 Professional is the latest iteration of a premium file fragmentation utility that is suitable for home, enterprise, and server applications. It actively prevents file fragmentation and can defragment your drives regularly.

It doesn't defragment your SSDs, which shouldn't be defragmented, but they're not left out; a feature called Hyperfast optimizes I/O to maximize SSD performance and lifespan. Diskeeper also places our most frequently accessed files in the fastest area of the volume. Among the other new features in Diskeeper 12 are improved Alerting and Reporting mechanisms, a Disk Health feature that monitors … Read more

Is Apple fragmenting the iPhone?

Way down in the fine print about Apple's upcoming iOS 6, you'll find a little note that says new features like Flyover and turn-by-turn directions are only available on the iPhone 4S, or the iPad 2 or higher.

A note immediately below that says Siri is only available on the iPhone 4S or third-generation iPad.

Since the iPhone 3GS, iPhone 4, and iPad 2 are all actively for sale and still being marketed by Apple, I have to wonder: is Apple on the road to fragmenting the iOS experience? Could there come a future when not only do … Read more

Here's what Android fragmentation really looks like

Open Signal Maps is a nifty free Android app and Web site that crowdsources where the strongest and weakest cell signals are. But along the way, it's also managed to amass a ton of data about what kind of Android devices are out there in the wild and they pulled it all together into some visualizations that dramatically show the extent of Android fragmentation.

OSM started logging the Android devices that download the app six months ago and created the above visualization -- the interactive version on the site is a little more informative -- from a sample size … Read more

Filter out the fakers with Tablified Market for Android

For Android tablet owners, shopping the Google Play Store can sometimes be a pain, with tons of scaled-up phone apps hiding among the truly tablet-optimized. Sure, there's always the curated Staff Picks for Tablets section, but that offers only a tiny taste of all the delicious HD goodness that's really out there.

Enter Tablified Market--a curated market just for tablet-specific apps. The people behind it have a strict set of criteria that an app must meet in order to be included in the database, which to us means no more phone apps in search results. For one, an … Read more

Android Atlas Weekly Ep. 83: Android users' bathroom habits (Podcast)

A new galaxy nexus, a new samsung tab and do you really answer your phone in the bathroom? all that and more on this week's edition of Android Atlas Weekly for February 1st, 2012. I'm Justin Eckhouse alongside Antuan Goodwin and Jaymar Cabebe. Today we say goodbye to Antuan Goodwin who will be leaving the podcast to focus on Car Tech. We will miss you Antuan.

NEWS:

-Android Users Most Likely to Use Phones While in the Bathroom… Read more

Horseradish, Eric Schmidt. Android is fragmented

Android product diversity shows "differentiation," not fragmentation, says Eric Schmidt, Google's executive chairman.

Nonsense, I say.

"Fragmentation means the app only runs on one device and not the others. That is not happening to Android," Schmidt argued while speaking to CNET at the CES show on CNET's Next Big Thing panel.

But I think that's too binary a view. There's a lot of gray between the black and white.

Yes, Android lets mobile phone makers and tablet makers differentiate their products from rivals'. Phones with large screens and styluses, phones with slide-out … Read more