Essential Official Android Thread

[Rain]

Apple Files for Notification Center Patent, Android World Lulz

 

[Rohiggidy]

Reduce Device Lag on Rooted Nexus 7 and Others With Seeder Application

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.lcis.seeder

Ever wonder what’s up with the lag seen from time to time on your Android device while using certain apps or playing a variety of games? Developer lambgx02 likely cared a bit more than you, as it was bothering him enough to try to find the root cause of the issue so that he could attempt to fix it. He discovered that with a “very limited entropy pool” your device lags, as it waits for the kernel to generate more random data. Confused? Yeah, most of us probably are. In short, he may have found a solution to the problem.

Thanks to an an application and/or .zip file he created called Seeder, your device is able to produce that same high quality random data at much quicker intervals, which results in a reduction in lag.

Here is the technical explanation:

So, I was experiencing significant lag as we all do from time to time, and decided I was going to get to the bottom of it.

After tracing and debugging for hours, I discovered the source of 90% of Android’s lag. In a word, entropy (or lack thereof).

Google’s JVM, like Sun’s, reads from /dev/random. For all random data. Yes, the /dev/random that uses a very limited entropy pool.

Random data is used for all kinds of stuff.. UUID generation, session keys, SSL.. when we run out of entropy, the process blocks. That manifests itself as lag. The process cannot continue until the kernel generates more high quality random data.

So, I cross-compiled rngd, and used it to feed /dev/urandom into /dev/random at 1 second intervals.

Result? I have never used an Android device this fast.

It is literally five times faster in many cases. Chrome, maps, and other heavy applications load in about 1/2 a second, and map tiles populate as fast as I can scroll. Task switching is instantaneous. You know how sometimes when you hit the home button, it takes 5-10 seconds for the home screen to repopulate? Yeah. Blocking on read of /dev/random. Problem solved. But don’t take my word for it .. give it a shot!

In order to give it a shot, you need to have a rooted device. After that, you can either install the .apk file, give it root permissions, and then run it after each reboot. If you want a more permanent solution, there is a .zip file that can be flashed in custom recovery.

I have yet to test it myself, but if you cruise through the XDA threads below, you’ll find nothing but glowing reviews of Seeder. This is definitely not limited to the Nexus 7, either.

Be sure to post your results or thoughts in the comments.

 

[Rohiggidy]

Android notification patent

Apple's application, titled "Systems and methods for displaying notification received from multiple applications," offers an outline of a system that can receive and aggregate "notifications" or alerts from a number of apps within iOS.

As with many other operations level iOS features, Notification Center is the result of an ongoing effort to create a more inviting and intuitive experience for the end user. In this case, however, many believe that Apple cribbed the functionality from Google's Android OS which implemented a very similar notification system before Notification Center was introduced in iOS 5. The internet search giant actually filed its own patent application for what it calls "Notification Bar" in 2009, some two years prior to Apple's "Notification Center" filing.

Most recently, Samsung sued Apple in South Korea, alleging the iOS Notification Center infringes on active patents. Not much information has been made available in the reported suit, though the "active patent" is believed to be related to Google's Notification Bar.

Apple patent

From the application's background:

Because electronic devices can contain many applications, the potential for application-based notifications can become numerous and unwieldy, particularly if a user is required to access each application individually in order to view application-specific notifications. Accordingly, what is needed is a more efficient and intuitive approach for organizing notifications and providing users with instant access to these notifications.


In Apple's solution, a central "notification module" can interface with a plurality of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) while the device is either locked or unlocked and present the messages or alerts to the user according to a customizable display scheme. As seen in the current iteration of Notification Center, users can select which apps are granted access, the amount of notifications that are displayed and how they are presented on screen.

For example, notifications from an instant messaging app can be displayed in a pop-up window that requires user intervention to dismiss, or banner that temporarily takes over the top of the screen and disappears within a few seconds. The system can be further refined to present a set number of messages as well as where those messages appear in the Notification Center's hierarchy.

 

[Rohiggidy]

Android and iOS Continue to Climb, Rest of the Industry Falls

 

[Rohiggidy]

Google TV YouTube control coming to more devices in 2013

[ame=http://youtu.be/b0zaNHntOe4]YouTube on Android introduces one button pairing to TV - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Hersh]

anyword on on nexus goin down in price wit contract? its only a hundred dollar difference wit vs witout contract rite?

 

[Rohiggidy]

Nexus Availability Checker

https://play.google.com/store/apps/...yLmp1bGllbnZlcm1ldC5uZXh1c2F2YWlsYWJpbGl0eSJd

 

[Rohiggidy]

Facebook Preparing To Roll Out 'Push-To-Talk' Voice Messaging, Is Testing Free VoIP Calling In Canada

Facebook is also testing free VoIP calling in Canada right now. This is a huge deal, as it competes directly with Google Talk. Right now you can use Talk to place voice calls to other users, but as anyone with an Android phone could tell you, there are vastly more people who use Facebook than Google Talk.

Of course, the bigger problem is convincing people to turn to their IM service for two-way voice calling. For starters, VoIP calls over 3G networks are still not as high-quality as phone calls and WiFi/LTE have less coverage than current purely-phone networks (in most areas). Oh yeah, and there's that whole ditching-the-phone-number thing that would be difficult to program people to do.

Either way, though, one-way voice messaging is a great new feature that brings Messenger up to par with things like iMessage. Meanwhile, Google's communication services are still pretty scattered. In his comprehensive preview of 2013, Ron predicted that we would see a grand merging of the various communication services. If this is how the competition is starting 2013, Mountain View is making a mistake if they're not working on that.

In any case, the update that brings one-way voice messaging should be rolling out at some point today. Widget below for those who don't already have the app.

 

[Rohiggidy]

iOS Looks Better Than Android Because Google Doesn’t Take Design Seriously

iOS Looks Better Than Android Because Google Doesn’t Take Design Seriously | Cult of Android

While iOS may not be as flexible or as customizable as Android, on the whole it looks a whole lot nicer. Android is steadily improving, that’s for sure, but it’s hard to deny that iOS developers appear to spend more time making their apps prettier, even if you’re a diehard Android fan.

And that was proven when Chris Hulbert, an iOS developer, went to work at Google for three months. In a post on his blog, Hulbert reveals the differences in attitude towards design for iOS and Android, which help explain why Android apps aren’t quite as pretty as they could be.

Hulbert went to work at Google Sydney as an iOS developer to help build the Google Maps Coordinate app. While it may seem strange to think that Google would employ an iOS developer, the search giant makes a lot of iOS apps, and so there are more iOS developers working there than you might think.

Having said that, they’re almost all Android users at heart — possibly because Google gives them the latest Nexus devices free. “There’s nary an iPhone to be seen in the place besides the test units in the iOS teams,” Hulbert writes.

One of the most interesting things Hulbert learned was Google’s approach to app design, and how it differs from that of an iOS developer:

As an iOS dev, I’m used to a design-first approach: someone in a suit dreams up their app, tells the UX guy who comes up with wireframes (aka scribbles on paper of each screen), then the designers mock up each screen exactly how they want it to look, and it is finally passed to us developers to make the magic happen as close as possible to the designs.

This approach works well, Hulbert says, but it’s certainly not the approach used by Google. In fact, it’s quite the opposite. It’s not that Google can’t create great designs — it does — it’s just that they’re not taken seriously.

However at Google it was noticeable that designs aren’t really taken seriously. Which explains things like android’s less-than-beautiful UI, and google’s generally noticeable lack of focus on design.

So why does the Google Maps app for iOS look so good? Because the designers had their say:

… the two designers I dealt with in my time at Google were certainly as talented as anywhere I’ve worked, and by creating the app to be faithful to their designs we (IMO) made a pretty neat-looking app.

 

[Rohiggidy]

Sony Xperia Z’s Release Date And Price Revealed By Leaked Ad

Read more at Sony Xperia Z’s Release Date And Price Revealed By Leaked Ad | Cult of Android

A release date and price for the Sony Xperia Z, one of two new Sony handsets set to make their debut at CES next week, has been revealed by a leaked image. Formerly known as the Yuga, the Xperia Z is set to be Sony’s next flagship smartphone, with a 1080p display, and a super speedy quad-core processor on board. So how much is it going to cost?

According to the seemingly legitimate image, the Xperia Z is to be priced at 19,900 Thai Baht — that’s about $650 without a carrier commitment. Although that’s going to differs slightly between markets, it certainly seems like the kind of price tag you’d expect for a high-end smartphone.

Of course, on contract, the Xperia Z will get a whole lot cheaper. If your existing commitment is about to come to an end, then, and you think you may want to bag this handset, it might be worth holding out before you commit to another smartphone. According to the image, the Xperia Z will be making its debut in March 2013.

Bear in mind that’s in Thailand; there’s a chance it’ll reach the United States and other territories prior to that.

If you haven’t been following our recent Xperia Z coverage, here’s what you can expect this device to offer:

* 5-inch 1080p (full HD) display
* Quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor
* 2GB of RAM
* 12-megapixel rear-facing camera
* Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

We expect all of these details to be confirmed by Sony at CES next week, so stay tuned!

 

[Rohiggidy]

LG Optimus G2 Showing Up at CES With Snapdragon S4 Prime Processor and 1080p Display?

LG introduced the Optimus G back in November, but before the paint could even dry, its successor was already being rumored as the Optimus G2. With a 5.5″ 1080p display and new Snapdragon S4 “Prime” processor, the MSM8974 (quad-core with speeds of 2.0 – 2.5GHz), it’s certainly a step up on the spec front. The original rumor for this phone pegged it for a May 2013 release, but famed rumor monger DigiTimes thinks that LG will show it off at CES, next week. This matches up to a report out of GSMArena last week.

 

[verbalkint]

Nexus 4 ordered 12/7 delivered 1/3. considering they said 4-7 weeks.

 

[Hersh]

what new phones r goin to tmo? i wanna get in on a last up before i migrate to the cheaper plans-- i feel like note 2 and nexus r old already lol

 

[Kartel13]

what new phones r goin to tmo? i wanna get in on a last up before i migrate to the cheaper plans-- i feel like note 2 and nexus r old already lol

Note 2 will give you a solid resale value if you decide to flip. Nexus 4 is cheaper and would still give you a solid return if you decide to flip as well.

 

[Rohiggidy]

Android Distribution Numbers Update for January – Jelly Bean Tops 10%, Gingerbread Takes a Hit