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Cell Phones : [ Samsung Galaxy Discover™ (Net10) ]





Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich Makes Multitasking a Snap

Keyboard App Challenge: TouchPal X vs SwiftKey vs Google Keyboard – XDA Developer TV

keyboardchallenge

Everyone uses a keyboard on his or her touchscreen device. There are many choices in soft keyboards, and they are all quite similar. But are they the same? Is it worth spending money to get a good keyboard? Why would I want to use anything other than the standard Android keyboard?


In this video, XDA Developer TV Producer TK attempts to answer those questions. TK shows off three applications, XDA Senior Member TouchPal’s TouchPal X, the premium SwiftKey app, and the default Android keyboard. TK compares their usability and functionality, and he gives his thoughts on these applications. Check out this keyboard app challenge.




Be sure to check out other great XDA Developer TV Videos



Cell Phones : [ Samsung Transfix™ (Cricket) Android Smartphone ]





Android™ 2.3, Gingerbread + 800 MHz processor

Cell Phones : [ Samsung Replenish® (Boost Mobile) Android Smartphone ]





Powered by Android™ 2.3, Gingerbread; customize with games, apps and tools

Google Open Project simplifies collaboration on large screens

Google is always looking for innovative ways to integrate its Chrome and Android platforms deeper into our lives, especially in the way we work. With Open Project (as in projection), Google is getting close to offering an easy, low-cost solution to one of the most difficult problems technology problems: face-to-face collaboration.


open-project-demo



Think of our smartphones and tablets as somewhat like islands of their own. We do things on them, but those things, especially the apps, stay inside those devices. We can definitely share the data with others, but simultaneous access, especially simultaneous physical access, is tedious at best. Other solutions that involve a large, collaborative spaces (anyone remember the Surface table?) require hardware or software that is either not yet in existence or, at the very least, prohibitively expensive.


Enter Google Research’s latest foray into collaborative workflows. Open Project doesn’t simply share the data or files with others, it shares the Android app itself. The name “project” might be a bit misleading since Open Project doesn’t simply display your smartphone or tablet screen on another display, it allows full interaction with the projected app, just as you would control the app on the mobile device. All that’s needed to make it work is an Android device with an app that includes the Open Project library, a display, preferably a large touch screen monitor, and an Open Project server that simply handles the communication between the two.


The display shows a QR code that a device scans to initiate the process. Users can then select the position and size of the projected window. Once the app is projected onto the display, users can interact with the app on the display or even on the smartphone itself. All the processes and hard work actually still happens locally on the smartphone, so the external display’s only minimum requirement is that it can display a web browser. And of course some input method, whether it be touchscreen or a keyboard and mouse. If a picture can paint a thousand words, then moving pictures can probably paint a million, so here’s a video of Open Project in action.



Being still at its infancy, it’s too early to say if the concept, and the implementation, will catch on in the long run. But with such simple and relatively affordable hardware requirements, it might not be too difficult to get it working in most workplaces in the near future.


Download: Open Project whitepaper

VIA: TechCrunch


Dolphin Browser takes on Google, partners with global search services

Dolphin, the popular mobile web browser, is anything but ambitious. The company is now announcing a partnership with several big names in the international search engine business in its efforts to expand into the global market, potentially snubbing search giant Google in the process.


dolphin-icon-logo



Dolphin’s new partners are the search engine leaders in their respective countries, including Yandex in Russia, Baidu in China, Yahoo! Japan, and the privacy-oriented DuckDuckGo. This is part of the company’s campaign to bring more relevant local content and services to its target users in different countries and to become the de facto gateway to the Internet in what Dolphin calls as “mobile-first” countries, where people connect to the Internet primarily or mostly via mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets.


This move takes Dolphin dangerously close to Google’s turf. Google, who started out as a search engine, also develops its own browser, Google Chrome, which is available on desktops and mobile devices. Dolphin CEO Yongzhi Yang concedes that in the US, Google, and Apple, dominate the browser market, but it’s an open market in the global level. Dolphin prides itself in its localization features, with 21 supported languages, focusing on making the web accessible to other countries where Google doesn’t hold much sway.


The competition sounds like David and Goliath and it will be interesting to observe how it plays out in the days ahead. Dolphin, however, might be at a disadvantage even in the so-called “mobile-first” countries. With its focus on mobile platforms, Dolphin, unlike Google, does not have a version of its software for the desktop, which still makes up a substantial number of devices that connect to the Internet.


SOURCE: Dolphin


EU to require phone makers to use standard charger

Citing the alarming growth of e-waste, a European Union committee has unanimously voted to require all smartphone, and probably tablets as well, manufacturers to use the same type of charger. While many such European companies have already adopted a common charger interface, this could potentially pose problems for Apple who has consistently been using its own proprietary connections.


micro-usb



As part of its efforts to have a universal charger, the internal market and consumer protection committee of the European Union voted to introduce legislation that would require companies to use a single system for all their devices. In practice, however, companies have already been using micro USB connectors ever since it was chosen as the region’s official standard in 2010 by the European Union. This resolution, then, would only serve to make the practice legally binding, which should not pose much of a problem with most companies.


The same cannot be said, however, for Apple. The Cupertino-based creator of iPhones and iPads have been using its own 30-pin and Lightning connectors, which, as many already know, do not work with any other device other than Apple’s products. Although Lightning to micro USB and 30-pin to micro USB adapaters exist, with the latter only available in Europe, this new mandate might force Apple at the very least, to include such adapters right out of the box.


That said, the resolution isn’t final, as it still has to go through a long parliamentary procedure that will take the committee decision to the council, then to the Parliament, and then finally to voting. That should give Apple enough time to get its business in order or to offer its objections on the matter.


VIA: CNET


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