A study put out today shows that the discrepancy between iOS and Android users on the topic of spending money on applications has drastically shrank over the past year. The guys over at SwiftKey partnered with a few websites to take a poll to see how users on each OS buy applications. Last year 39% of iOS users owned 20 or more paid apps with 3% having none. Android was the opposite with 12% having none and a measly 10% having over 20.

This year, that large difference has evened out a little bit. Android’s numbers have jumped to 19% of users having over 20 paid apps and no paid apps down to 6%. iOS has dropped dramatically down to 26% with the rate of no apps growing at the same time. Google has certainly been a bit more forceful in how apps should look since ICS was released, but there could be other reasons for this growth as well. The quality of apps on the platform has definitely improved. Plus, many developers are pricing their apps at lower introductory price points to get you into the game, where they then sell you additional features through in-app purchases.

What do you think? Do you pay for a good amount of apps on your phone?

Via: SwiftKey

If you haven’t cruised over to the Android Developers site in a while, I recommend that you do, as it has been completely overhauled and includes all sorts of fun information. The site is much more beautifully designed now, easy to navigate, and should help all developers create more fantastic Android apps going forward. But even if you aren’t a developer, you are bound to learn something about Android that you didn’t previously know. 

According to a new report from the IDC, iOS and Android accounted for 85% of all smartphones shipped during Q2, which is a phenomenal percentage. To no surprise, Samsung accounted for about 44% of all Android smartphones shipped and actually totaled in more combined product sold than the next 7 Android OEM’s combined. Do work, Samsung.

In total, Android accounted for 68% of all smartphones shipped globally while iOS held a mere 17%. As with any major release from Apple, those numbers are sure to get a nice boost as they prepare to launch their newest iPhone next month.  On a sadder note, while Android numbers grow bigger and healthier, it means that Windows and BlackBerry are not sharing the same success, accounting for just 4.8% and 3.5% of all shipments during the second quarter of 2012. Ouch.

Stay strong, Bugdroid. Stay strong.

Via: BGR

Google announced today that they are planning to release a new Google Search app for iOS that carries the advanced voice tech used (our first look) in the current build built into Jelly Bean (Android 4.1). While this is great news for iOS users, we can’t help but ask, “What about everyone else with an Android device that isn’t yet running Jelly Bean?” We don’t have an answer to that question at all, and that’s unfortunate. You would think that Google would take care of their own before moving onto another platform, but then again, as a search company, it makes sense for them to expand to such a massive platform. But then again, again, the advanced Voice Search in Jelly Bean was one of the major selling points for people to consider over an iOS device. 

Samsung copied Apple. There really isn’t another way to put it. Samsung didn’t copy Apple in every conceivable way, but when you compare several of their phones to the iPhone, it’s clear that Samsung wanted their hardware and software to resemble that of Apple’s iPhone.

It’s easy for Android supporters to want to defend Samsung, but the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of Apple’s argument: Samsung realized that it needed to copy Apple to get ahead in the smartphone space. In terms of what this means for the lawsuit seems trivial, but there are deeper issues at stake. How did Samsung copying Apple damage the Android ecosystem as a whole and why should you care?

Whenever a new version of iOS is announced by Apple, we usually take a few minutes to look at the features that were highlighted and compare them to Android, since in many cases, Android users have been experiencing the “new” fun for years. With iOS 6, the same can be said again, but to give credit to Apple this time around, we have to point out that words like “reinvented” weren’t used much if at all. During today’s presentation at WWDC, Apple’s execs seemed to give off the impression that they knew they weren’t changing the game “again,” but were finally adding in features that should have been there long ago.

If you are reading tech blogs across the globe today who insist that iOS 6 is the greatest thing since Zapp’s Cajun Crawtator chips, we are here to show you that you can do all of this stuff now on your Android device and more.

In case you were wondering (wait, why would you be?), Apple’s developer conference, WWDC, kicks off this morning in San Francisco at the Moscone Center. During their opening keynote, everyone expects them to introduce iOS 6 and all sorts of new features that will forever change the way smartphones work (sarcasm much?). As you may recall from last year, iOS 5 apparently did the same thing, however, anyone who has used an Android phone over the last 3-4 years knows that much of those newly introduced features were standard fare from day 1 on this platform. You know things like, notifications, OTA updates, tabbed browsing, an IM client, etc.

So with this iOS 6 business about to happen, let’s have some fun with it. What Android features are we going to see? Any chance that Apple introduces something new or is it going to be to take Siri out of beta, which will be followed by an extra 5 Zooey Deschanel commercials per hour? Reinvent, people!

In the race for top smartphone operating system in the world, there is no competition – Android is king. According to the IDC, from Q1 2011 to Q1 2012, our favorite mobile OS went from owning 36% of the world’s share to 59%. In that same span, iOS jumped from 18% to 23%, and the rest of the field tumbled. Blackberry dropped from 13% to 6%, Symbian from 26% to 7%, and so on. The IDC estimates that 89.9 million Android units shipped in Q1 of this year – Samsung accounted for roughly 45% of them. You can call it a race between two players, but truthfully, this is a one man show with a solid 2nd place competitor.