Motorola’s Android 4.0 updates to come

Sound’s good that Motorola has released further information on its Android 4.0 update schedule, revealing that for the majority of those with devices eligible for an upgrade, there’s still a while to wait for it. People waiting patiently for news of when Motorola will be bringing Ice Cream Sandwich to your ready and willing phone, we’ve got some good news, as the company has provided a series of approximate date. Unfortunately, patience will still be required. Motorola has updated its comprehensive upgrade schedule, confirming not only which devices are currently in-line for some Ice Cream Sandwich, but also when they’re set to roll-out too. Now talking about the Razr/Droid 3/Droid 4/Bionic/Milestone and several other devices ripe for an Android upgrade… Motorola lists these as “in evaluation and planning” and that “further details will follow.” It seems unlikely they’ll appear much before the second half of 2012, though, as surely if they were, Motorola would have a date by now. Motorola has affixed the “further details to follow” description about an ICS upgrade to the just-launched Droid 4 and Droid Razr Maxx, the Droid Razr, Droid Bionic and the Xoom WiFi+3G devices. The Droid 3 and Droid X2 are also on this short list. If you’re in the USA and own a Xoom Wi-Fi, then chances are the update has already made an appearance, and the Family Edition of the tablet will see its own update during the second quarter, so somewhere between April and June. The good news ends, as US Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich updates for the Atrix 2, the Photon 4G and the Xyboard 8.2 and Xyboard 10.1 won’t start until the third quarter — that’s July until September. It appears that it’s the US carriers who’re slowing things down, as a scan of other territories reveals for example, the Razr’s ICS update could begin in April in Europe, Canada and Asia. While the lengthy wait time is annoying, Motorola should be congratulated for keeping us updated, and we should perhaps be glad that an Android 4.0 update is coming at all.

How to Run Android apps on Windows

Most Android-based smartphone users would agree that they would prefer testing an app before downloading it to their phone. The reason behind this is usually to avoid unnecessary space hogging apps. Some users might also wish to play some of the cool mobile games available for the Android platform on their PC i.e. on a larger display. In this tutorial, we’ll show you how can your favorite Android apps on your Windows-based PC using a simple and free software called BlueStacks.

BlueStacks is an app player for Windows, which can play Android apps faster than it can run on a phone and that too, on a full-screen. The app includes 10 pre-loaded apps and one can add up to 26 more apps of their choice. Favorite apps can be pushed directly from the phone onto the PC using an Android app via internet route. Download and install the software for Windows from the URL ‘www.bluestacks.com’. The software is nothing, but a simple virtual Android operating system, which simulates an Android phone or UI. It uses the desktop PC’s resources such as the processor, the internet connection, mouse, keyboard and the audio card. The installed folder located on the PC contains the necessary files for its use, namely the kernel, data, system, boot and storage (the SD card). The BlueStacks Android (Gingerbread) virtual machine creates a hardware environment with a limited amount of storage (around 363 MB) for installing apps and 262 MB of SD card storage space.

Once BlueStacks is installed, the application will be running the Android operating system in the background and you will see an icon in the system tray area and a widget will be running on your screen. A single click on the widget will reveal the Android system apps installed in it. Click on the apps and enjoy them on a large screen. Additional apps can be installed from the BlueStacks website by signing in using your Facebook account details. To get to this page, all you need to do is click on the BlueStacks widget, scroll to and click on the app icon/shortcut ‘Get more apps’. A website will open up where you can login using your Facebook details. Once logged in, simply click on the ‘Subscribe’ button for the available apps (in the Featured Apps section) and they shall automatically get installed on your system via the internet. The ‘Could Connect’ link on the same page will highlight a special 9-pin numerical code which needs to be entered on your Android phone running the BlueStacks Cloud Connect app (download it from the Android Market for free). Once done, you can push apps from your phone to your PC by simply selecting multiple apps and syncing it. That’s it! You can now enjoy all your favorite apps from your phone on your Windows desktop PC.

Asus Transformer Prime Tablet review and specification

The most important spec on the new Transformer is the Nvidia Tegra 3 processor. Everything amazing about the Prime tablet rests on this quad-core, 1.3GHz chip.
HD videos play smoother (and longer, with up to 12 hours of battery use for video) than ever before. Games suddenly look fluid and dynamic, with water ripple effects, smoke, fog and explosions that mimic what you’d normally find in a PC game.
The super-crisp IPS display, which is similar to the one used on the iPad 2, is refreshingly easy on the eyes even in outdoor locations or with incandescent bulbs blazing around you.
The rear 8MP camera is a wonder of engineering. In several tests, HD videos recorded at 1080p looked smooth and clear, unlike the grainier results from the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. Even the 1.2MP front-facing camera worked well for video chats, without the typical fuzziness of other tablets.
The Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime also includes a free intuitive Asus webstorage app for offloading your files, and you can pop in a microSD card in a left-side slot up to 32GB each.
The tablet comes running Android 3.2 Honeycomb, but Asus says it’s compatible with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, if you wish to upgrade when the update becomes available next year.

Product Type	Tablet Computer
Flash Memory Capacity	32 GB
Processor Manufacturer	NVIDIA
Graphics Controller Manufacturer	NVIDIA
Graphics Controller Model	ULP GeForce
Bluetooth	Yes
Wi-Fi	Yes
Optical Drive Type	No
Graphics Memory Accessibility	Shared
GPS	Yes
HDMI	Yes
Backlight Technology	LED
Product Family	Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201
Colour	Champagne
Operating System	Android 3.2
Brand Name	Asus
Form Factor	Slate
Processor Speed	1.30 GHz
Processor Type	Tegra 3
Screen Size	25.7 cm (10.1")
Screen Resolution	1280 x 800
Standard Memory	1 GB
Weight (Approximate)	585.0 g
Cache	1 MB
Processor Core	Quad-core (4 Core)
Memory Card Reader	Yes
Touchscreen	Yes
Display Screen Type	Active Matrix TFT Colour LCD
Wi-Fi Standard	IEEE 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth Standard	Bluetooth 2.1
Multi-touch Screen	Yes
Height	8.4 mm
Width	263.0 mm
Depth	181.0 mm
Screen Mode	WXGA
Memory Technology	DDR2 SDRAM
Product Series	Transformer Prime TF201
Manufacturer	ASUS Computer International
Product Model	TF201-B1-CG
Product Name	Eee Pad Transformer Prime TF201-B1-CG Tablet Computer
Product Line	Eee Pad
Aspect Ratio	16:10
Manufacturer Part Number	TF201-B1-CG
Manufacturer Website Address	uk.asus.com

Affordable Android tablet alternatives to Aakash

MID 7-inch tablet [priced at Rs.3,400]
Features:

7-inch 800 x 480 resistive screen
Wi-Fi, 3G via external dongle,
2 USB ports and 1 RJ45 Ethernet port through external adapter
Android 2.2 OS
2GB built-in storage, expanded up to 32GB
Showtone 777R [priced at Rs. 4350]
Features:

7-inch 480 x 800 resistive touch screen
built-in Wi-Fi, external 3G support
2 mini USB ports,
VGA front facing camera
Android 2.3
built-in 4GB memory, expandable up to 32GB
Domo Slate N8 [priced at Rs. 4,500]
Features:

7-inch 800 x 480 resistive touchscreen
Wi-Fi support and external 3G support
VGA front facing camera
one direct USB port and one microUSB port
Android Froyo 2.2
internal 2GB memory which is expandable up to 32GB
cheap Android tablets have the main drawbacks of speed (slower, less expensive CPUs) and usually come with older Android versions (1.5 and the like), plus not all have the ability to install apps from the Android marketplace. That doesn’t mean you can’t browse some websites, read eBooks, listen to some music and watch videos on them, all at a very reasonable cost.

Alternative to Aakash Tablet there are
Domo Slate N8 priced at Rs. 4500,
DOMO Slate N9 priced at Rs. 6990 and
DOMO Slate X3D priced at Rs. 6990.

The top iPhone and iPad apps on Apple Store

App Store Official Charts for the week ending Jan. 9, 2012:
Top Paid iPhone Apps:
1. Angry Birds (Clickgamer.com)
2. Fruit Ninja (Halfbrick Studios)
3. Camera+ (tap tap tap)
4. Where’s My Water? (Disney)
5. Words With Friends (Zynga)
6. Cut the Rope (Chillingo Ltd.)
7. Tiny Wings (Andreas Illiger)
8. MADDEN NFL 12 by EA SPORTS (Electronic Arts)
9. Bejeweled (PopCap)
10. TETRIS (Electronic Arts)

Top Free iPhone Apps:
1. Temple Run (Imangi Studios, LLC)
2. Doodle Sprint! (Wivvu)
3. Zombie Farm (The Playforge, LLC)
4. the Sheeps Free (Ivan Starchenkov)
5. Pocket Potions (Breaktime Studios)
6. Social Girl (Crowdstar Inc.)
7. Dice With Buddies Free (Stofle Designs)
8. Facebook (Facebook, Inc.)
9. Instagram (Burbn, Inc.)
10. Global War Riot (Addmired, Inc.)

Top Paid iPad Apps:
1. MONOPOLY for iPad (Electronic Arts)
2. Where’s My Water? (Disney)
3. SCRABBLE for iPad (Electronic Arts)
4. TETRIS for iPad (Electronic Arts)
5. Words With Friends HD (Zynga)
6. Angry Birds HD (Chillingo Ltd.)
7. Pages (Apple)
8. THE GAME OF LIFE for iPad (Electronic Arts)
9. Real Racing 2 HD (Firemint Pty Ltd.)
10. MADDEN NFL 12 by EA SPORTS For iPad (Electronic Arts)

Top Free iPad Apps:
1. Temple Run (Imangi Studios, LLC)
2. Pinball HD Collection (OOO Gameprom)
3. The Weather Channel for iPad (The Weather Channel Interactive)
4. Skype for iPad (Skype Software S.a.r.l)
5. iBooks (Apple)
6. Bejeweled Blitz (PopCap)
7. Angry Birds HD Free (Rovio Mobile Ltd.)
8. Words With Friends HD Free (Zynga)
9. Kindle — Read Books, Magazines & More — Over 1 Million eBooks & Newspapers (AMZN Mobile LLC)
10. Facebook (Facebook, Inc.)

(copyright) 2011 Apple, Inc.