What is fragmentation and how does it affect me?
Many of you may have read the report by OpenSignal that came out this past August. In it OpenSignal gives a frightening view on just how fragmented the Android ecosystem truly is. As of the published date of the report, there were 18,796 distinct Android devices up from 11,868 of the previous year with not all of them being on the same version of Android. That equates to a 58.38% jump in just over a year. Now you might be thinking “Okay Juan, so what? You just threw a few scary numbers at me but I just got a shiny new Samsung phone for the holidays. Why should I care how many unique Android devices there are?” While there are many ways that fragmentation can affect the user, let’s touch on the two big ways that we experience its effects in our daily lives.
Android Updates
You may have noticed that when Google releases a new version of Android you do not immediately see an update notification on your phone to upgrade to it. It usually takes a few months for users to see the update hit their devices and some users may not get to see it at all. This boils down to the open source nature that is Android. When Google releases a new version of their OS, they are only releasing the core system. Since Google does not manufacture actual devices to run Android and instead depends on other OEMs like Samsung, HTC, and Motorola to create them, they cannot really develop something that is going to meet everyone’s needs. So it is then up to the OEM’s to use the source code and modify and make adjustments so that it runs smoothly on their specific devices. Many OEM’s like to add their own twist on Android phones such as customized UI’s, different sensors, and various hardware specifications and it would be impossible for Google to be able to create something that cater to so many different configurations. This is where fragmentation begins to occur.
Let’s take Samsung’s line of Galaxy S5 phone for instance. What we see as just the Galaxy S5 is actually just one of many models that have been released around the world. This in turn means that when an update comes out Samsung has to modify the code that Google releases for not just one model but many and that is just for the Galaxy S5 alone. Now imagine all the lines of phones that Samsung has and then each one of those having different models and you begin to see why it might take a while for updates to hit your phone. Samsung would have had to prioritize and seen which devices were actually going to get the update and how fast. You might see their latest flagship, in this case the Galaxy S5, get the update within a few short months and other devices it could take up to year. If Samsung deems the devices to be too old and not worth the update, then they will keep it at the current version and only releases critical updates if they are needed. From just one OEM alone now you have a line of phone each one with a different version of Android and different capabilities and you begin to see the fragmentation take place. Samsung would not have been able to just get the source code and make something that would run on all their devices due to the nature that each model and line of devices is different and has different capabilities. So with all that said now you have an idea on why it takes so long for your devices to get an update and how fragmentation plays a part in it. Having so many different devices configurations makes it quite difficult to create something that will run on everything and so instead we are depending on the OEM to modify the code and must wait for them to deem our device worthy of an update.
Android Apps
You may have caught your friends talking about that awesome new app that just hit the Play Store only to find that your phone is not capable of running it and you are left out. This occurs just due to the nature of how Android works. We already touched on how Android is an open source project and is available all around the world. Well that not only affects how updates are handled but also the very way nature of the apps that are installed on it. You see, when a developer comes up with a great idea for an app it’s not just program and go. He has to decide where his target audience is and program from there. Since there are so many distinct android devices with each one running a different version of android and having different hardware configurations, it is impossible to create an app that is going to run 100% on all devices. The developer has to decide which version of android he is wanting to target and focus on that one group.
Using the social giant’s latest release as an example, Facebook Lite, we can see how this process works. When Facebook first came out with its app on the Play Store one of the biggest complaints was that the app would lag and was not very smooth to use. The issue was due to the fact that the Facebook App can be quite taxing on phones as it requires quite a lot of resources to run smoothly. For most recent phones that is not an issue and they will never have to really worry about the phone lagging. It does start to become an issue though when you have low level phones in emerging markets such as India where the phone is just not capable of running the app smoothly or at all. This is due to the hardware configurations of the various devices and the version of Android that they are running. So what did Facebook do? They had to create an entirely new app that was toned down to be able to run on lower level phones and did not require so much power from the phone itself. For a giant tech company like Facebook having to create a completely separate app to accommodate other markets is not a big deal but for smaller companies and single developers who cannot spare the resources or the time they have to just pick one market and go with it. So fragmentation limits the apps that are able to run on devices and in turn makes it so that just because you have an android phone it does not mean you are going to be able to run every app that is made for the OS.
Final Thoughts
You may now be second guessing having gone with the Android ecosystem of devices but that should definitely not be the case. I stated earlier that Android being open source is one of its greatest strengths and I firmly stand by that belief. Though fragmentation does have some drawbacks it is also what makes Android such a huge success. Instead of having just one company making all the decisions and shaping what Android is going to look like in its next iteration you have a consortium making these decisions all with the consumer in mind. So if you enjoy using that shiny new Samsung device just remember that if it were not for fragmentation your experience might have been completely different.
Sources: OpenSignal
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Samsung Unpacked teaser hints at curved Galaxy S6 variant
A new teaser for Samsung’s March 1st Unpacked Event is starting to make its way to the media, showing off an image with a curved line that is most certainly a hint at what to expect from Samsung when it comes to the company’s latest Galaxy S flagship.
There’s no denying that 2014 wasn’t the best year for Samsung, at least when it comes to mobile devices. In a hopes of returning to a greater state of profitability, Samsung has been talking big recently about how the Galaxy S6 will be a major departure from the GS5 in terms of design. One of the more persistent rumors is that Samsung will deploy a dual edge/curve design at least for one variant of the Galaxy S6, said to be named the Galaxy S Edge. The new Unpacked teaser could very well be confirmation of this.
In fact, an image from the German site All About Samsung further drives home the point that this is likely a look at the side of the Galaxy S6’s edge variant. As you can see, the image in the teaser looks very similar to the side of the Galaxy Note Edge:
Of course, the design isn’t the exact same as the Note Edge, but it still seems pretty likely that this is a hint of the curved/edge Galaxy S, though that’s just speculation for now. We really can’t say for sure what Samsung is teasing, only that it’s just enough to have our curiosity piqued. One thing is for sure, regardless of what Samsung brings, Android Authority will be on the scene bringing you all the latest coverage from MWC and Samsung’s Unpacked Event next month.
Looking to know more about the Galaxy S6? All the latest rumors can be found in one place through our GS6 rumor roundup post.
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Apple Planning to Raise Reported $5 Billion in Bond Sale [Mac Blog]
Apple today filed a prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission, hoping to sell $5 billion worth of new debt according to reports.
Managed by Goldman Sachs and Deutsche Bank, the offer’s monetary specifics haven’t yet been revealed by Apple, but the company says the money will be used to cover “general corporate purposes, including repurchases of our common stock and payment of dividends under our program to return capital to shareholders, funding for working capital, capital expenditures and acquisitions and repayment of debt.”
As Bloomberg‘s Lisa Abramowicz points out, much of the proceeds the company receives from the bond sale are undoubtedly going to buybacks and dividend payments.
Except for rewarding shareholders, of course. Proceeds to go to buybacks & dividend payments
— Lisa Abramowicz (@LisaAbramowicz1) February 2, 2015
This follows the company’s previous bond sale last November, where Apple notably began issuing bonds in euros. That sale saw Apple looking to raise €2.8 billion ($3.5 billion) for the usual “general corporate purposes,” again primarily share buybacks and dividend payments.
Today’s prospectus comes on the heels of the company’s record-breaking earnings for the first fiscal quarter of 2015, posting revenue of $74.6 billion in the quarter, and subsequently seeing a noticeable bump in shares of its stock when the market opened last Friday.
While the company holds roughly $178 billion in cash and marketable securities, much of that cash is held outside of the United States and would currently be subject to significant taxes if brought back to the U.S. to be used for stock buybacks and dividends. As a result, Apple has been pursuing bond sales at very favorable interest rates as a cheaper means of funding these initiatives, repaying the bonds from ongoing operations over time.
Super Bowl hits new tweet record, but Twitter still prefers soccer
Gridiron football isn’t exactly a world game, but the spectacle of the Super Bowl still draws nearly a billion viewers who do a heckuva lot of tweeting. It just horse-collared its previous Twitter record with around 28.4 million tweets from around the globe, easily surpassing last year’s mark of 24.9 million. This year’s edition did have a lot going for it: a tight match, a crazy finish, all those pricy ads and the whole Katy Perry dancing shark hoedown. But despite all that, it still couldn’t touch the World Cup, which triggered 32.1 million tweets for the finale and 35.6 million for the Germany vs. Brazil semi-final matchup. And most of those likely involved the game, not a gigantic animatronic tiger.
PATRIOTS WIN!! Your New England Patriots are Super Bowl Champions! #FinishedTheJob pic.twitter.com/qJ3t7G20Cc
– New England Patriots (@Patriots) February 2, 2015
https://vine.co/v/Ot9ihJjWabr/embed/simple
Filed under: Internet
Source: Twitter
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Whatsapp gearing up to add voice calling feature
Some Whatsapp users can place voice calls from the app, a feature that has been anticipated for almost a year.
Now boasting more than 700 million users, the wildly popular messaging service owned by Facebook is expanding beyond simple texting. Whatsapp launched its first desktop web client two weeks ago, and voice calling could be the next step.
The feature was first spotted by Reddit user pradnesh07 who posted about it a thread that has since been deleted. The latest version of Whatsapp for Android is required, but the availability of the feature seems to be enabled on a per-user basis, and you will also need to receive a Whatsapp call in order to activate it. In other words, you will need to receive a call from someone who already has the feature in order to be able to do voice calls. Think of it as an invite system.
Over at XDA, folks found a way to activate the feature on rooted phones, but the caveat is you will still need to receive a call first. You can try your luck on the forums, but we don’t recommend posting your phone number in the open.
When the feature is enabled, Whatsapp features three tabs at the top for Calls, Chats, and Contacts. Using the calling feature looks to be very straightforward, as you can see from the screenshots at the top.
Handling voice calls for a 700 million user base requires tons of data center capacity, so Whatsapp will probably roll out this feature in waves. For now, the company has made no official announcement on the expected availability of Whatsapp voice calls.
Huawei P8 rumors: 16nm octa-core SoC and dual rear cameras
Some new specifications for the upcoming Huawei P8 have been leaked by the Weibo account @Ubuntu团队. Previously, little was known about the flagship P8, other than that it would be launching at an event in London on April 15th.
According to the social media post, the Huawei P8 will indeed make use of the company’s in-house Kirin 930 processor, which will be manufactured using a 16nm process. The Kirin 930 is expected to be an octa-core Cortex-A57 and A53 big.LITTLE SoC complete with LTE connectivity, which is a similar design to Samsung’s and Qualcomm’s high-end 64-bit processors. If true, Huawei looks to be the first smartphone company to market with a more efficient 16nm SoC design.
The leak also suggests that the Huawei P8 will come with a zirconium oxide porcelain uni-body design and double sided glass. The handset will also be just 6mm thick, a whole 0.5mm thinner than the Ascend P7. However, this design choice may have limited the size of the battery that can fit in the P8. The smartphone is expected to ship with a 2,600mAh battery, which is relatively small by today’s standards.
Furthermore, there is also reference to a dual-camera setup hidden within the text, which may be similar to the technology used in Huawei’s new Honor 6 Plus. Previously Huawei had stated that it was looking to bring some cutting edge camera technology to the P8, and a 13MP OIS sensor had also been mentioned in some older rumors.
Combined with previous rumors of a 5.2-inch 1080p display, 3GB of RAM and a fingerprint sensor, the Huawei P8 sounds very reasonable for a handset expected to cost just ¥2999 (around $480).
The 10 most-tweeted commercials from Super Bowl XLIX
It was a great night for Rob Gronkowski and the New England Patriots, but it wasn’t so good for our friend Russell Wilson of the Seattle Seahawks. It also was a great night for brands trying to hold your attention for seconds with ads to get you talking on Twitter. From the usual highbrow suspects selling soda and beer, to toe fungus medication and superglue, here’s our take on the most-talked about spots from last night’s big game.
Budweiser – ‘Lost Dog’
Budweiser does a good job at tugging our collective heartstrings regularly and did it again this year with an adorable spot featuring a puppy who gets lost, and finds his way home thanks to the famous Clydesdales. Later on in the game, though, craft beer enthusiasts weren’t happy with this jab.
Always – #LikeAGirl
What does it mean to run #LikeAGirl? “It means run as fast as you can,” says the girl at the end of this ad by feminine products brand Always. The spot questions the common insult about doing something “like a girl”, reminding us that girls (and boys) can do amazing things.
Coca-Cola – #MakeItHappy
The internet is sometimes filled with hate and trolls, and it’d be a better world if we all were much nicer to each other — point taken. However, pouring soda accidentally on a server isn’t going to do much other than severely irritate an IT manager.
Supercell – ‘Angry Neeson’
This year we saw freemium apps getting airtime for the first time ever during the big game, one with model Kate Upton for Game of War and this hilarious spot by Supercell promoting Clash of Clans. Here, Liam Neeson plots his revenge on a mortal enemy, “bigbuffetboy85.”
Esurance #Sorta – with Lindsay Lohan and ‘Walter White‘
Lindsay Lohan driving a car is what Breaking Bad’s lead character is to working in a pharmacy. These ads try to get drivers to realize some insurance providers might charge based on similarities in demographics, versus letting people pay what’s right for them individually. Also, who trusted Lindsay to drive a car around children, even if on a closed set?
BMW i3 – ‘Newfangled Idea’
A little known segment on the ‘Today’ show in 1994 illustrated Bryant Gumbel’s lack of knowledge with the Internet and tried to talk it through with her then co-anchor (now Yahoo Global News Anchor) Katie Couric. Fast forward to 2015, it might be hard to understand how BMW’s all-electric (and self-parking) i3 works, but the duo did their best to understand it.
T-Mobile – #KimsDataStash
Kim wants us to take advantage of T-Mobile’s new Data Stash program (the one where you get to rollover your unused data from month to month). Not so we can have access to our email, but more so that we’re not deprived of her belfies selfies. Like the several she sent me via T-Mobile’s Twitter account.
Microsoft – ‘Braylon O’Neill’
Narrated by Common, Microsoft tells the story of Braylon, a boy born without the tibia and fibula bones in his legs, now replaced by prosthesis. Microsoft technology helps him thrive and live an active life.
Nationwide – ‘Make Safe Happen‘ and ‘Invisible Mindy‘
This ad illustrated a boy’s thrilling life had he not died in an accident. Sure, we all want to keep our kids safe from harm, but this ad upset more people than it inspired with its raw tone. One commenter on YouTube noted the ad was a “gut punch” to anyone who suffered a loss. It was the second ad Nationwide aired, noting its first was a more humorous one featuring an “invisible” Mindy Kaling.
Nissan – ‘With Dad’
There were a lot of “Dad” commercials during the game which folks noticed on Twitter en masse. To the tune of Harry Chapin’s ‘Cats In the Cradle,’ this focuses on a race car driver who’s son was growing up with him often away at his job, but at the end realizes he’s missing a lot of his upbringing. While some argue the song is more about a bad dad, the commercial is trying to focus on a distant father, who in this case might be able to make up for some lost time with a new car. So everything’s okay. Right, Nissan?
Report: Asus giving a spec boost to last year’s PadFone S
A few years ago, Asus released the original PadFone, an intuitive creation that combined a smartphone and tablet into a single unit by allowing the brains of the operation (the phone) to dock into the tablet frame. Last year, Asus released the PadFone S which offered a 5-inch smartphone coupled with a 9-inch base. According to a Japanese news site however, the company is going to be releasing a new, minor upgrade.
The new Asus PadFone S (PF-500KL) is said to come with a 2.3 GHz Quad-Core Snapdragon 801, 3GB of RAM, up to 64GB of on-board storage, Cat4 LTE and Android 4.4.2. The phone supports wireless Qi charging. Both the original phone and tablet base station come with a 1920X1280 IPS full HD screen.
To be sure this is a very minor spec boost. However, the Snapdragon 801 is still a very fine CPU that can hold its own even in 2015, but with the extra RAM and storage capacity, the ability to maximize the device’s performance is better realized. This is all assuming the report is true mind you, as it links to Asus’ Taiwanese website, but no such product is actually featured, instead the original model from last year is listed.
While the PadFone line has never really caught on (perhaps due to its high price for the pair of devices) it is still an excellent product for those who want to streamline their devices.
AIVAnet 