Android News: CyanogenMod Rebranding, Source Code Releases, Games, Devices, and Tablets
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2014-04-07 09:11:14 UTC
- Modified: 2014-04-07 09:11:14 UTC
CyanogenMod
Well, folks, it looks like CyanogenMod, Inc. is starting to shape up to look like a real legit company. The company has already made big deals with phone manufacturers and successfully raised a good deal of money to help in their endeavors, and now they are making some changes to the way they present themselves.
Source Code
Sprint LG G2 owners may not have too much longer to wait for Android 4.4.2 to arrive. Sprint has posted details on an upcoming OTA update, which should roll out in stages starting today. The version is ZVB, and it contains little aside from all the delicious goodies that come with KitKat. To clarify, the developers have also packed in a fix for an audio issue with the pre-installed NextRadio app. Yeah, all eyes are on Android 4.4.2 here.
Sony may not have the best track record when it comes to making its phones available across a wide number of carriers in the US, but it has no problem sharing its open source kernel files on a timely basis. The company officially announced the Xperia Z2 a month ago at Mobile World Congress, and now much of the handset's internal code is available for download on the web.
Ballnux/Samsung
Google
Google could have big plans in store for the way that it and other smartphone makers sell and advertise their best Android phones. According to a series of slides allegedly shown inside of Google and leaked to Android Police, Google is developing a program called Android Silver, which would find carriers dedicating a section of their store to some of the top Android phones, each of which would come with some significant advantages over phones that weren't offered as part of the Silver program.
Citing "sources aware of Google's plans," Engadget said Google is currently testing the new app, which will be pushed to Android users as a separate update, and won't be part of the forthcoming Android 4.4.3 update.
Project Ara (Phonebloks) and modular pieces of tech in general are gaining steam. So far, we’ve known that we will be able to swap specified parts of our smartphones, which will result in longer lives for our phones and less waste as a result of our tech lusts. Today, Google revealed some of the work that was going on behind the scenes with their ATAP (Advanced Technology and Projects) group. The Ara team members (read ‘nerds’) took the time out to demonstrate the sliding ‘blocks’ of their prototype or very early build of the devices, and they have not deviated a whole lot from the initial drafts, but there were significant bits of information included.
KitKat
The latest flavor of Android is slowly eating up more Android devices, according to the latest stats from Google.
The Intrinsyc Mobile Development Platform Tablet (“MDP/T”) uses an updated Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 SoC running Android 4.4 (KitKat). According to a TrustedReviews overview of the Snapdragon 800 family, the 805 is set to ship this summer, but Intrinsyc says it’s shipping the MDP/T now for $799. So consider this a sneak preview, or as Intrinsyc calls it “early access” to the Snapdragon 805.
Humble Indie Bundle/Equiso/Games
There are already quite a couple of Android gaming consoles out in the market today such as the OUYA and the Mad Catz M.O.J.O. to name a few. These devices offer an alternative gaming platform that is considered cheaper than the Xbox or PlayStation consoles. Equiso Play is another upcoming Android gaming console that aims to make it into the market this year.
There are plenty of Android-powered game consoles already out for consumers to get their hands on and another one up on Kickstarter called Equiso Play. This new one definitely has the potential to be a great product from what we've seen of it already.
Embedded/Devices
The software stack for the Glass builds upon the Android platform, and hence, on top of the Linux Kernel. It was indeed customized for Glass and is available as google-glass-kernel-source.
Insyde Software and Timesys have each released enhanced Android BSPs supporting Intel’s “Bayley Bay” evaluation board for the Intel Atom E3800 SoC.
Tablets
Under the ministry of human resource development, government of India's one laptop per child (OLPC) project 'Akash tablet' will be available in market in 3-4 months at a cost of around Rs 2,500. The tablet which will be the first of its kind to have a dual book and dual board as it will use both Android as well as Linux operating systems will perform the job of both, a tablet and a computer. It will be the cheapest tablet in the world.
Small cheap computers naturally fit with GNU/Linux because they are easier to sell without M$’s “tax”.
Recent Techrights' Posts
- EPO Education: Workers Resort to Legal Actions (Many Cases) Against the Administration
- At the moment the casualties of EPO corruption include the EPO's own staff
-
- Microsofters Try to Defund the Free Software Foundation (by Attacking Its Founder This Week) and They Tell People to Instead Give Money to Microsoft Front Groups
- Microsoft people try to outspend their critics and harass them
- [Meme] EPO for the Kids' Future (or Lack of It)
- Patents can last two decades and grow with (or catch up with) the kids
- Topics We Lacked Time to Cover
- Due to a Microsoft event (an annual malware fest for lobbying and marketing purposes) there was also a lot of Microsoft propaganda
- Gemini Links 22/11/2024: ChromeOS, Search Engines, Regular Expressions
- Links for the day
- This Month is the 11th Month of This Year With Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (So Far It's Happening Every Month This Year, More Announced Hours Ago)
- Now they even admit it
- Links 22/11/2024: Software Patents Squashed, Russia Starts Using ICBMs
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 21, 2024
- IRC logs for Thursday, November 21, 2024
- Gemini Links 21/11/2024: Alphabetising 400 Books and Giving the Internet up
- Links for the day
- Links 21/11/2024: TikTok Fighting Bans, Bluesky Failing Users
- Links for the day
- Links 21/11/2024: SpaceX Repeatedly Failing (Taxpayers Fund Failure), Russian Disinformation Spreading
- Links for the day
- Richard Stallman Earned Two More Honorary Doctorates Last Month
- Two more doctorate degrees
- KillerStartups.com is an LLM Spam Site That Sometimes Covers 'Linux' (Spams the Term)
- It only serves to distract from real articles
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 20, 2024
- IRC logs for Wednesday, November 20, 2024
- Gemini Links 20/11/2024: Game Recommendations, Schizo Language
- Links for the day
- Growing Older and Signs of the Site's Maturity
- The EPO material remains our top priority
- Did Microsoft 'Buy' Red Hat Without Paying for It? Does It Tell Canonical What to Do Now?
- This is what Linus Torvalds once dubbed a "dick-sucking" competition or contest (alluding to Red Hat's promotion of UEFI 'secure boot')
- Links 20/11/2024: Politics, Toolkits, and Gemini Journals
- Links for the day
- Links 20/11/2024: 'The Open Source Definition' and Further Escalations in Ukraine/Russia Battles
- Links for the day
- [Meme] Many Old Gemini Capsules Go Offline, But So Do Entire Web Sites
- Problems cannot be addressed and resolved if merely talking about these problems isn't allowed
- Links 20/11/2024: Standing Desks, Broken Cables, and Journalists Attacked Some More
- Links for the day
- Links 20/11/2024: Debt Issues and Fentanylware (TikTok) Ban
- Links for the day
- Jérémy Bobbio (Lunar), Magna Carta and Debian Freedoms: RIP
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Jérémy Bobbio (Lunar) & Debian: from Frans Pop to Euthanasia
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- This Article About "AI-Powered" is Itself LLM-Generated Junk
- Trying to meet quotas by making fake 'articles' that are - in effect - based on plagiarism?
- Recognizing invalid legal judgments: rogue Debianists sought to deceive one of Europe's most neglected regions, Midlands-North-West
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Google-funded group distributed invalid Swiss judgment to deceive Midlands-North-West
- Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
- Gemini Links 20/11/2024: BeagleBone Black and Suicide Rates in Switzerland
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 19, 2024
- IRC logs for Tuesday, November 19, 2024