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.

(Feel free to click around the Lytro image if you are bored.)

This morning, our boy Ron wrote up his opinion on the “fanboy” situation that plagues almost every tech community. Whether you own an iOS or Android or Blackberry device, someone is bound to call you a fanboy because you chose one over the other. At one time, Apple users were pegged as being the worst fanboys, but since, it has grown to include other platforms as well. Hell, even in the Android game you are starting to see groups of users band together as “Nexus fanboys” and/or “Motorola fanboys.” It really doesn’t matter what piece of technology is in your hand or on your desk, someone is bound to have a problem with it and thus refer to you as biased or as a fanboy.

But during his piece, Ron talked about removing the blinders and embracing “good” technology overall rather than siloing yourself into one platform or brand. I’ll just say that as someone who runs an Android site and has dedicated his life to the platform, even I find myself branching out to other areas of tech until I find something I truly love. For example, my favorite tablet to this day is still probably the Blackberry Playbook. Had that sucker actually had an app ecosystem, I probably still be using it. On a computer level, brace yourself, I use an iMac and a Macbook Pro. I’ve been through every version of Windows since the early 90s and in the last year made the switch to OSX. So far, it has been a breath of fresh air.

So I’m just curious, since I know that many of you own iPads and other non-Android products, what your mix of technology is. Windows or Mac? iPad or Android tablet? Anything else?