Adobe Flash player doesn't work on Android 4.0, update on the way

You might have heard that the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the bringer of Android Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS), doesn’t support Flash. It's not a hardware issue limited to the that model, the problem lies with the software - Flash doesn’t support ICS. Yet. Adobe is expected to release an update by the end of the year that will add support for Ice Cream Sandwich to Android's Flash player. But pay attention at how Adobe worded its statement: Adobe will release one more version of the Flash Player for mobile browsing, which will provide support for Android...

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IDC: Samsung, ZTE see jump in mobile shipments, Apple slides to fifth place

Q3 earnings reports have been pouring in over the past few days, which means it's time to check in with IDC on the state of the mobile market. The research firm's latest report, released today, is something of a mixed bag. On the one hand, Q3 global shipments increased by 12.8 percent year-over-year -- higher than the 9.3 percent that IDC had predicted for the quarter and the 9.8 percent growth observed last quarter. At the same time, however, the...

By Amar Toor

Google CEO Larry Page explains reasoning behind Motorola acquisition (spoiler: patents)

In a post penned by Larry Page on Google’s company blog, the CEO explains why Google decided to shell out $12.5 billion to purchase smartphone vendor Motorola Mobility. While Page had plenty to say about Motorola’s extensive history and its leading role in Android’s explosive growth, he also points to what many believe to be one of the leading factors behind the deal: patents. “We recently explained how companies including Microsoft and Apple are banding together in anti-competitive patent attacks on Android,” the CEO wrote on Google’s blog. “The...

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Is Google’s Motorola buy the only way to save Android?

It’s only Tuesday, but the big news this week is already behind us: Google intends to shell out $12.5 billion to acquire Motorola Mobility and its portfolio of roughly 25,000 patents. The deal was covered far and wide, but some of the most interesting thoughts surrounding the news came late Monday night from Apple pundit John Gruber. The initial intent of Gruber’s piece was to point out the irony of reporter Dan Lyons’ repeated use of baseless speculation in an effort to discredit “Apple fanboy MG Siegler” of TechCrunch, but it evolved into an...

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Samsung blows past Apple to take No. 1 smartphone spot in Q3

Following Samsung’s third-quarter earnings report on Friday morning, the South Korea-based electronics giant is now confirmed to have passed Apple to become the top smartphone vendor in the world by volume. Reports from last week suggested Samsung had bested Apple’s stalled smartphone shipments during the September quarter to take the No. 1 spot, and now Samsung has confirmed that it surpassed the 17.1 million iPhones Apple shipped by a wide margin. Read on for more. Headed by the company’s popular Galaxy S II line of handsets, Samsung shipped...

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Gartner: Android market share to near 50 percent

According to the market researcher, more than 296 million smartphones shipped last year. Out of that, Symbian secured 37.6 percent market share, followed by Android's 22.7 percent share, and BlackBerry OS with 16 percent of the market. In 2011, the number of smartphone shipments around the world will explode to nearly 468 million units. That growth will help Android snag 38.5 percent market share by the end of the year, followed by Apple's iOS at 19.4 percent, and Symbian at 19.2 percent, Gartner said. But it's next year that might just be the...

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Android version history : Android 4.x Ice Cream Sandwich

Ice Cream Sandwich was previewed at the May 2011 Google I/O event, and officially launched at the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich release event on 19 October 2011. The SDK for Android 4.0 was publicly released on 19 October 2011. Gabe Cohen from Google said that it is "theoretically compatible" with any Android 2.3.x device currently in production. The source code for this version is scheduled to be released after the Galaxy Nexus ships. Features include: Virtual buttons in the UI, instead of taking up a capacitive screen Voice typing,...

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