Android - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Google Maps now tracks public transportation

  While Google's software can't make the trains run on time, it can now tell you just how late they'll be.

• Oracle seeks slice of Google's ad revenue

  Oracle wants a significant chunk of the ad revenue Google generates in connection with its Android mobile OS, according to a filing made this week in the companies' ongoing patent litigation suit.

• Three things you need to know about Apple iCloud

  With the unveiling of its iCloud service today, Apple is hoping you’ll like the new MobileMe.

• How Windows 8 will challenge enterprise IT

  Microsoft has presented the Windows 8 user interface and displayed various devices on which the next version of Windows will run.

• iPad's Web browsing share 53 times greater than top Android tablets

  The iPad now accounts for nearly 1% of all Web browsing, which may not sound like a lot until you look at the numbers for Apple's closest competitors.

• Google Wallet security has a weakness

  Google unveiled details of Google Wallet this week. Google Wallet is an ambitious mobile payment plan designed to let your Android smartphone be your wallet, but you should consider very carefully just how secure your credit card data will be in Google Wallet.

• Google Wallet: Five things you need to know

  Now that Google has officially released its Google Wallet mobile payment platform, here are five things you need to know about it.

• Who needs Flash? Apple dominating mobile video

  Apple's iOS has become the dominant platform for mobile video viewing, according to a new report from video monetization startup FreeWheel.

• Google Android barrels ahead of competitors

  Android has further consolidated its status as the leading global smartphone operating system, according to data released by both Gartner and the Millennial Media mobile ad network.

• The coming mobile battle between Android and Windows Phone 7

  Pyramid Research's claim that <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/topics/windows.html">Windows</a> Phone 7 will be the dominant mobile OS by the end of 2013 was greeted at best with polite <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/community/blog/researcher-windows-phone-7-will-be-no-1-smart">skepticism</a>, and more often with ridicule and vilification. But many of the responses ignore the grounds for the claim, especially that the <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/topics/smartphones.html">smartphone market</a> is a global one still in its infancy.

• Google's Android tablet update: Four key PC-like features

  Google released an update to its <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/110910-google-android-useful-resources-smartphones.html">Android</a> 3.0 ("Honeycomb") tablet operating system today, with several features intended to make Android tablets function more like PCs. These updates have come just two months after Google announced Honeycomb would get Flash support, thus giving users access to videos and games used widely across the Web.

• Skype buy, Windows Phone 'Mango' update highlight Microsoft mobile strategy

  The success of <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2009/060309-apple-quiz.html">Apple</a>'s <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/111910-apple-ipad-resources.html">iPad</a> and Google's <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/110910-google-android-useful-resources-smartphones.html">Android</a> operating system has sent a clear signal to <a href="http://www.networkworld.com/subnets/microsoft/">Microsoft</a>: Mobility is the future.

• Android expands reach, consolidates into one platform for all devices

  The expansion of Android from smartphones to tablets, TVs and desktop computers impressed developers attending the Google I/O conference, with one attendee predicting that Google's other operating system – Chrome OS – is doomed.

• Google: 100 million Android devices activated, 4.5 billion apps downloaded

  The Android mobile powerhouse is cruising to new heights with 100 million activated devices, 4.5 billion applications downloaded from the Android Market, and 450,000 developers building tools for Android phones and tablets, Google said Tuesday as it kicked off the fourth annual Google I/O developers conference.

• Google rolls out Android 3.1; next version will run on phones, tablet

  Google on Tuesday touted Android's growth to 100 million smartphones and tablets, kicked off a rollout of Android 3.1 and gave developers a preview of the next major Android update called &quot;Ice Cream Sandwich.&quot;