Businesses implementing Android apps can learn from what Web developers have done to handle browser variations, to handle the similar variations in Android OS versions. In this first post of a three-post series, we will examine what Web developers have done to simplify their development efforts and what the Android analogues are.
SQLCipher for Android, and You!
Full-disk encryption is fine as far as it goes, but it does not go quite as far as you might think in terms of defending your data. If you are considering encryption at the application level, in addition to the device level, SQLCipher for Android makes it easy for you to add AES-256 encryption to your local databases.
With a whirr of gears, and a whiff of code, the little robot trundled on...
Android-powered desktop robot that's open source? Sign me up!
Podcast June 19: Building Cloud-based Enterprise Mobile Applications
Join us on June 19th at 9am Pacific / 12pm Eastern for a lively conversation on mobile and cloud moderated by Peter van der Linden, Android Technology Evangelist at Motorola Mobility and with guest speakers
Enterprise Mobile Security - What is your #1 security issue?
When implementing an enterprise mobile strategy the #1 security issue is?
- Doing a risk assessment
- Securing data communication
- Protecting data thru encryption
- Android security
- HTML5 security
Samsung Galaxy SL Gets Android 4.4.2 KitKat Build
It’s pretty much accepted that any device that was released with a version of Android as old as 2.2 Froyo has not been given any official support from its manufacturers for a long time, and the Samsung Galaxy SL is no exception. Released in 2011, it only received one official update to 2.3 Gingerbread from Samsung, with the OEM citing the Galaxy SL’s 1 GHz CPU and 478 MB of RAM as insufficient for running any later versions of Android and TouchWiz.
But it seems like this doesn’t really matter, because we now see the Galaxy SL running Android 4.4.2 Kitkat thanks to XDA Recognized Contributor and Developer dhiru1602. The ROM comes in the shape of an unofficial CyanogenMod 11 build that is currently an alpha, which means there’s still bugs that are yet to be fixed,. Although remarkably, the only function that seems to be not working is WiFi tethering.
Although the Galaxy SL shipped with the 2.6.35 kernel 3 years ago, dhiru1602 has also managed to port over the 3.0.101 kernel to the device, which now serves as the foundation of the Android 4.4.2 ROM. A Gapps package has been provided by dhiru1602 for those needing the Google app suite, but it should be noted that the package does not include Gapps that can be downloaded from the Play store—namely Google+, Hangouts, and more.
If you’re interested in what you’ve read and would like to find out more, visit the original thread for more details.
Energy Bar Shows Your Battery Level with Style
The world will probably be a better place if battery indicators on Android devices were a little bit more interesting. Sure, they’re only supposed to do as their name suggests, but it wouldn’t hurt if a little bit of creativity was put into them. One way to compensate for this is flashing a battery indicator mod, which simply changes the animation of the icon. This can definitely change up the look of your device’s UI, but it’s not a very radical change which some folks may be after.
With this said, Android users who are looking for a more unique way of telling the battery level may be interested in Energy Bar, an app developed by XDA Recognized Developer jagan2. And before you ask: No, this isn’t an app you can eat during a workout, but rather a subtle colored bar above your status bar that measures your battery level. As your battery drains, the bar reduces in length. And as your battery charges, the bar pulses with an interesting animation.
If you’re worried about the bar getting in the way, you’ll be relieved to know that you can adjust the thickness of the bar on a scale from 1 to 5. Additionally, you can change the origin of the bar to start from either the left, right, or center. Energy Bar’s color customization is quite extensive, allowing you to select a solid, singular color from a selection of 30. Or if you wish, you can assign different colors to specific ranges of battery level.
Leaving an incredibly minimal CPU footprint, and completely free and ad-free, Energy Bar is another way for Android users to switch up their UI with little effort. If you would like to give this a go, be sure to check out the application thread for more details.
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