Audio Latency finally addressed in Jelly Bean

audio latency on the Galaxy Nexus, running on Jelly bean, has been
reduced from 100ms to 12ms. But, they're still not satisfied as they
want to reduce it to below 10ms. So it looks like some of those iOS
music apps which are heavily reliant on low audio latency targets may
finally be coming to Android.

relder17 2 points 1 hour ago

Nexus 7 early benchmarks: full Tegra 3 performance on the cheap

If we compare the Nexus 7 to a top-end Tegra 3 device like the 1.7GHz, 1920 x 1200 Transformer Pad Infinity
(set to its 'Performance' mode) the pre-production Nexus 7 more than
keeps up -- thanks in some part to its lower (1280 x 800) resolution.
The SunSpider score for web-browsing speed is especially healthy and
hammers home the point that this is in a different league to the Kindle Fire
-- which scores a poor 2,440ms in this test. Meanwhile, only the
GLBenchmark for GPU performance shows that the Nexus 7 may be slightly
held back compared to Tegra 3 supremos.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/06/28/nexus-7-early-benchmarks/

Four more Tegra-based games are heading to Android soon including an ExZeus sequel

http://www.droidgamers.com/index.php/game-news/android-game-news/4096-phosphor-games-shows-off-te-first-footage-for-their-upcoming-game-horn

Coasia to land AMOLED panel orders from China handset firms
Patty Wang, Taipei; Jessie Shen, DIGITIMES [Tuesday 26 June 2012]

Coasia Microelectronics, which mainly distributes IC components for Samsung Electronics such as CMOS image sensors, multi-chip package (MCP) memory and OLED displays, will grab new orders from several China-based handset makers for AMOLED panels with shipments to kick off later in 2012, according to industry sources.

Xiaomi, Oppo, Gionee and two other local handset makers are currently in talks with Coasia about adopting Samsung's AMOLED panels in their products, the sources indicated. The contracts are estimated to be worth several hundreds of millions of US dollars, the sources said.

New orders for AMOLED panels will buoy Coasia's sales performance in the second half of 2012, the sources believe. The IC distributor is expected to first fulfill orders from two of the clients starting July, the sources noted.

Coasia did not confirm the orders and customers, but said that its business in China will expand. The firm is looking to expand its customer base in China, Coasia said.

Coasia revealed that orders placed by its China-based clients currently account for about 10% of company revenues. The proportion will climb to top 30% in the next two years, the company expects.

Responding to speculation that Samsung intends to stop supplying components for HTC products, Coasia said that it has no knowledge of it.

Orders placed by HTC account for as high as 70% of Coasia's revenues at present. The IC distributor noted it would gradually diversify its customer base.

http://micgadget.com/27609/chinese-phone-makers-order-lots-of-amoled-panels-from-samsung-supplier/

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20120625PD220.html?mod=2

Reduce Audio Latency on the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S

Audio latency has always been an issue for Android, not a massive
deal breaker of an issue for the average user, but an issue none the
less—especially for those of us who use applications such as VoIP
clients or emulated instruments. For those unaware of the problem, audio
latency is the delay between an audio event being triggered and the
sound emerging from the speaker. For example, if you press a key on a
piano application and notice a delay between touching the screen and
hearing the sound, that’s latency.

The issue was actually brought up at I/O just over a year ago and the response was this;

“Latency is a big problem. We’re working at,
hopefully we hope to be able to do something about it with ICS. As we
investigated it it’s actually a pretty complex problem. There are a
number of different places where latency gets introduced. Most of the
latency is introduced below Android. Basically it’s happening in the
drivers or in the chipsets or somewhere in there, and some of these are
really obscene amounts like hundreds of milliseconds of latency in the
audio path. So, that’s something we’re going to push on. We started/ I
think we introduced something in CDD Gingerbread which was a “should”
hit certain latencies. But it’s a problem we want to deal with and
hopefully the next release will get it. Obviously it’s not going to
solve the problems for legacy devices but it’s going to get better.”

Well, unfortunately the next release didn’t get it. Android 4.0 still
suffers from this annoying flaw, and for some the problem seems to have
worsened. We can only assume that the problem lies beyond the reach of
the Android developers, or they simply had more important issues to
address. Perhaps somebody will ask the question again this year at I/O. Nudge nudge, wink wink…

Acer Iconia Tab A500 gets buggy, unofficial Android 4.1 build

Google plans to release the source code for Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
in mid-July. But some people don’t want to wait that long to start
running the software on their phones and tablets.

Some folks have already ported the version of Jelly Bean running on the phones Google distributed to developers this week to run on additional handsets.

Other folks are taking the emulator image from the new Android 4.1 Software Developer Kit and using it as a foundation for firmware that can run on existing hardware.

For instance, xda-developers forum member randomblame has created an SDK port of Android 4.1 for the Acer Iconia Tab A500 tablet.

This is an Android tablet that was released in mid-2011. It has a
10.1 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel display, 1GB of RAM, and a 1 GHz NVIDA Tegra
2 dual core processor.

.-----------------------------

Installation 

First, download the ROM here 

Then follow DroidVicious’ instructions:

• Reboot into Clockworkmod Recovery
• Make a  backup
• Wipe data factory reset
• Wipe cache partition
• Wipe dalvik cache (Optional)
• Flash JellyBean 4.1 .zip to your Galaxy Nexus
• Reboot and enjoy JellyBean.

http://www.androidauthority.com/android-4-1-jellybean-review-video-galaxy-nexus-98371/

Jelly Bean Ported to the International One X

Install the Jelly Bean Google Play Update Now

International Galaxy S III Gets Jelly Bean, the List Keeps Growing!

Google Nexus 7 root achieved, tablet yet to ship to consumers

They did showcase
some examples in the keynote. I'm particularly impressed with the public
transit schedule aspect of the service as this is something I have
taken for granted in iOS maps, but they have taken it to a whole new
level by incorporating GPS to know automatically that you are standing
at a train platform or a bus station. It also alerts you when to leave
by calculating your walking time to get to the station. Their traffic
monitoring also looks really advanced. The cards are apparently
pre-populated with relevant info although I would imagine it does use a
lot of extra data in the background trying to anticipate what you will
need next, so if you are on a small data plan you might get a surprise
at the end of the month. Definitely not vaporware as you suggest.



The concept really useful but based on the video above I have doubts
it's as seamless and intelligent as it makes it out to be. I think
transit maps would be one of the easier fits for Google but I question
how it will know what you want without asking for it. It seems a
Siri-like service should come before a predictive digital personal
assistant service.



PS: Google has done a great job at I/O. Unlike MS who have no pricing,
no real demos, or any release date Google has released many products
this week and their Nexus 7 and Q will be released in 2-3 weeks. Whether
one thinks they are good products or not is another story, but they
certainly out maneuvering MS and nearly every other tech company at this
point.

http://forums.appleinsider.com/t/150992/google-now-personal-assistant-represents-search-giants-answer-to-siri

Apple doesn't care about "public transportation"...  The didn't even consider mapping useful until recently. Apple is about baby boomer. The beatles, U2, suburban, shiny metal, fruit logo.

Remember when we said that Microsoft management was essentially incompetent
and destroyed their partner relationships with a single WARTy Surface?
We were being too kind, their largest OEM, HP, just bailed.

Yes, if rumors SemiAccurate hears are true, a whole flock of formerly
close Microsoft partners just decided that their new best friend is now
Google, Microsoft is no longer relevant to computing’s future. Most
were debating whether or not to bother with WART (Windows on Arm RT)
devices, and struggling to find a reason to do so. Then Microsoft just
unveiled one of the largest and most unethical industrial espionage
campaigns of the last few decades, so it is no surprise that everyone is
jumping ship.

If you haven’t been following the news, Microsoft handcuffed both ARM
chipmakers and OEMs with their brilliant two device per chipmaker
strategy. Then, they ‘worked closely’ with all the OEMs, ‘helping’ them
with their designs. As soon as those designs were essentially finalized,
Microsoft did their own device that paid homage to their OEMs most
innovative features. It is also a direct competitor to those OEMs, and
was designed knowing exactly where their weaknesses were.

To rub salt in to the wounds, Microsoft isn’t bound by the same
restrictions they imposed on the OEMs, that would make them have an…
err… actually quite unpalatable device. On top of doing what they
wouldn’t allow others to, Microsoft jacked the price of WART licenses up
with a questionably legal monopolistic bundle to about 3x what the same OEMs would pay for a full version of Windows 8 that does much more.

With Microsoft mandated awful designs and a $90 OS tax that Microsoft
doesn’t have to pay, that would be about 15% of the rumored $600 MSRP,
OEMs can’t hope to be competitive. So they are bailing, fast. The first
one SemiAccurate heard about from multiple sources is HP and their
Qualcomm based WART machines. Between this, the MS strong-arming of
Palm’s demise, and other things we can’t talk about, how long before HP
decides to make a real Linux push? Just kidding, that would take
competent management with a backbone, and it is HP we are talking about,
so no chance.

That said, HP may be the first, but SemiAccurate is hearing just
about every OEM out there is scrapping one or more WART designs, with
most renewing Android efforts with every resource at their disposal.
Microsoft’s incompetent management and Apple envy earned the enmity of
their largest partner, and others are following closely. Like we said,
game over for WART.

http://semiaccurate.com/2012/06/29/hp-said-to-dump-microsoft-over-surface/

warty is over before it even started. Nokia windows phone sales will implode at amazing rate after that last show. just watch.

as SamIAm says, BB was champion of the corporate environment for a
LONG time, and rightfully so - their competition (WinMo/Palm) offered
some reasonable alternatives, but the complete integration with
Exchange, as well as advanced IT security controls for large-scale
deployments offered a much more robust product. this went on for a
decade or so, but RIM quickly realised that they couldn't live off
corporate paycheques forever and needed a consumer device. Cue the
Curve.

the 1st gen Curve (8300, i think - i got one when they were new) was
what brought large-scale consumer messaging to the forefront. while
everyone was still running up their texting bills, the Curve brought
consumers a viable alternative in a shiny package. "i send lots of
texts, so a hard QWERTY keyboard would be awesome! and, once my friends
get BB's too, we can just BBM and save money!" the Curve was likely (i
don't know detail here) their largest success in the consumer market,
but was quickly overshadowed by the emergence of the iPhone.

instead of offering a product to counter the growing touchscreen
userbase, RIM decided that it was just a fad - a decision that would
ultimately seal their fate. by focusing entirely on hard keyboards (BB
Storm excepted - that was the redheaded stepchild of touchscreens) while
everyone else was seeing diminishing returns on their hard key devices,
RIM began its fall from grace.

prior to the release of the iPhone3G, RIM left its product
development strategy untouched, and came out with the 1st gen Bold
(9000). while this was arguably their best device (i had one, and that
thing was a beast - dropped it 293874 times, only had minor scratches,
never had to do a battery pull or replace the trackball), the cost and
size meant it was primarily a business-oriented device (this was at a
time when manufacturers were shrinking their phones, not growing them).
this brought RIM even further out of the consumer market.

for the next little while, RIM would release phones with extremely
minor hardware upgrades.
while hardware development was stagnant, so was UI development. the
BBOS, when compared to iOS (or even Symbian - android was still in
development), was clunky and felt decidedly 20th century. RIM ultimately
ended up purchasing The Astonishing Tribe in efforts to bolster their
UX, but found out a little too late that despite TAT's foresight and
(arguably) revolutionary UX ideas, they couldn't put enough lipstick on
the pig that was BBOS, with the available hardware.

as RIM watched their profits dropping by double-digits each quarter,
the stubbornness of the leadership began to show its face again -
refusing to change the culture and direction of development, they
continued to offer consumers mild upgrades on previous devices with
virtually no OS upgrades. Android (more) and iOS (less) began rigorous
dev schedules which saw major changes to the UX, while BBOS was
essentially the same look and feel on their 2010 devices as it was on
their 2001 devices.

what they failed to comprehend is that these days, people thrive on
change. people no longer used their phones for typing messages and
making calls, there was MUCH more to the devices - which were
essentially tiny computers - that consumers were interested in
exploiting. iOS development saw mobile gaming EXPLODE in popularity.
mobile gaming is nothing new - back in the day, i knew a bunch of people
that bought nokias just to play Snake - but the advent of a touch
screen allowed for significant changes to the types of games. while the
market was shifting from texting and emails to gaming, RIM's obsession
with keeping its OS continued to drag it down further and further.

when rumours of RIM porting BBM to iOS and Android popped up, lots of
people thought this was a turning point and would bring RIM back into
the fold - however it was too little too late. who cares about BBM on
Android when almost everyone has iOS/Android already? not to mention the
respective markets were already flush with BBM-like apps, making this
possibility a moot one.

what about corporate? now, the majority of corporations have a BYOD
policy - bring your own device - which makes large-scale deployments of
BB's less and less relevant. if a corporation can cut their IT budget by
10's or even 100's of thousands of dollars, simply by allowing their
users to use the devices they want to use, does it really make sense to
keep paying for BES?

1. RIM used to be the leader. if it wants to be a competitor, it needs
   to swallow its pride and toss the POS that is BBOS and start building an
   Android-based OS. Continued use of a dated proprietary OS will only
   ensure they never climb back up 1/2 the mountain, forget about summiting
   it. BBX? it's mind-boggling that they think they can build - the first
   time around - an OS to compete with the market-tested and -accepted
   leaders. but then again, it's not unexpected from RIM.
2. Simplified steps to success:
3. Take the TAT guys, put them all on an Android diet. Build your own
   version of Android with enhanced security and IT controls, so you can
   still pitch that to corporate markets. get TTS going full-bore.
4. Take the hardware development plan, and burn it. then bury the
   ashes. in lye. start fresh, and aim high. build both touchscreen and
   landscape slider devices - they are the only form factors that "work",
   the market has proven.
5. Open up BES to Android/iOS/WP7. Failing to do so will only result in
   BES revenue drying up faster than an earthworm in death valley.
6. Learn from the mistakes of their enemies. Candybar touchscreen/hard
   keyboard combos are no longer a reasonable offering. Moto PRO, anyone?
   Thank god they got rid of the clicky screen (1st gen Storm).
7. Fuck the Playbook. You don't stand a chance against the iPad or any
   of the Android tablets. the OS was shit on a phone, it's shittier on a
   big screen.

of course, that's just my two cents. they're Canadian cents, though, so they're worth as much as US.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/vs8yg/matias_duarte_says_rim_is_always_welcome_to/

So who wants to forward the Sidekick(1984 software) manual that is prior art for Apple's '647(actionable links) patent to the Samsung legal team?



http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/vtlb4/so_who_wants_to_forward_the_sidekick1984_software/
--------
 that patent is pretty dubious. and it's not that brilliant either just bunch of legal mambo jumbo. Sooner or later somebody is going to take it down. (But who? it costs money)

Incidentally........anybody remember "dogpile" that little search engine that pile up all available search and spit out the result for you? That was from era when Apple was practically bankrupt. (no way they can claim they invented multi search)

Universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system

The present invention provides convenient access to items of information
that are related to various descriptors input by a user, by means of a
unitary interface which is capable of accessing information in a variety
of locations, through a number of different techniques. Using a plurality
of heuristic algorithms to operate upon information descriptors input by
the user, the present invention locates and displays candidate items of
information for selection and/or retrieval. Thus, the advantages of a
search engine can be exploited, while listing only relevant object
candidate items of information.

-------------

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=8,086,604.PN.&OS=PN/8,086,604&RS=PN/8,086,604

what kind of stupid patent is this? Did they just patent library's front desk? lol....Somebody should patent being a patent troll in silicone valley as business practice. I bet you can make tons of money licensing it to apple.

Google should start suing apple for every little trivial search techniques and mapping they have. I bet apple will go bankrupt and go back selling iPod again overnight.

good thing Apple is so hated by every tech giant and they are hanging by the thread on silicon fab. If TSMC doesn't feel like having them around. apple will be fucked.

http://betanews.com/2012/06/09/im-boycotting-apple/

Consider for instance: #5202828

A user interface element having a plurality of user interface
elements for marking, finding, organizing, and processing data within
documents stored in an associated computer system are described. Each
element typically has an appearance which is uniquely related to the
data or the function the element is designed to represent or perform,
respectively. In their simplest form, these elements are only used to
mark data within a document. Each element, however, can also be
programmed to cause the computer to perform some function in association
with the marked data, such as printing the data or mailing the data to
someone. A user can select particular data within a document using an
element and have that data associated with the element in memory. Data
marked with common elements can be found by searching for a particular
representative element in memory. Users can create their own elements,
program elements with their own desired functionality, and modify
existing elements. Elements can also be compounded together so as to
cause a combination of tasks to be performed by simply activating one
element.

Same thing, right? The PTO obviously didn't think so. Now, I could
write about 20 pages off the top of my head about this very problem and
precisely how messed up software patents are, but my point is more that
finding an old thing that does "something like" a current software
patent is pretty unrelated in terms of prior art, because just finding
similar or comparable functions is not enough.

http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/vtlb4/so_who_wants_to_forward_the_sidekick1984_software/

The EMS industry is commonly divided into Tiers by their revenue.
Tier 1 >$800m/1Billion - Foxconn/HonHai $50B (of the famed iPod city
scandal), Flextronics $35B Jabil, Benchmark Electronics, Sanmina-SCI...
Tier 2 $250/300m to $1B Tier 3 <$250m There is no hard rule on the
actual revenue designation at this time. Other categories have been
suggested by StepBeyond/EMSinsider: Tier 4 <10m and "Tier Mega"
referring to the Big 2, Foxconn and Flextronics.

Another distinction is drawn between EMS that specialize in High Mix
Low Volume (HMLV) and High Volume Low Mix (HVLM). Mix refers generally
to the complexity or different models of the pcb assembly. Volume refers
the number of units built, with products like consumer electronics on
the high end and prototype, medical electronics or machinery on the low
end. Typically, lower Tier EMS provide HMLV and higher Tier provide
HVLM.

Today the market is dominated by a handful of companies such as Hon Hai Precision Industries (Foxconn), Flextronics, Celestica, Sanmina-SCI, Jabil, Elcoteq, Onyx EMS, Benchmark Electronics, Vanguard EMS, Inc., Plexus, Mara Technologies, Kimball Electronics Group, ESCATEC, Electronic Systems Inc. in Sioux Falls SD, and a few dozen others, several thousand smaller companies continue to occupy EMS niches.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronics_manufacturing_services

Hands-on with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on the Google Galaxy Nexus

http://www.mobileburn.com/20002/news/hands-on-with-android-41-jelly-bean-on-the-google-galaxy-nexus

I guess next generation will be : low cost single chip atomic clock, high resolution multi axis mems sensors. (indoor positioning and mapping, faster location awareness. let's face it current smartphones is still too slow and dumb when it comes to human scale positioning. not enough resolution.)
a smartphone should be as useful as a guide dog. (turn left/right on that next green door. watch for an incoming car. next would be the restaurant/store/pick your package...etc)

image reconstruction sounds like a fun first step.

Wintek ships 500,000 OGS touch panels to Google in June, say sources
 
Wintek shipped 500,000 units of OGS (one glass solution) touch panels for Google's Nexus 7 tablet PCs in June, according to industry sources. The company's total shipments of OGS touch panels to Google will top one million units during the May-July period.

Google also sources OGS touch panels from TPK Holding, which ships touch panels from its subsidiary Cando, the sources noted.

Google also reportedly plans to launch a 10-inch tablet with touch panels to come from AU Optronics (AUO) and Wintek, making Wintek the largest touch panel supplier for Google, said the sources.

Wintek has been shipping OGS touch panels to a number of clients, and expects OGS to become mainstream in 2013, said company chairman Hyley Huang, estimating that 26.5 million notebooks are expected to adopt touch panels in 2013.

Wintek is also venturing into the development of F/G touch panel solutions which will come in thicknesses measuring 0.1-0.2mm, Huang revealed.

Wintek currently has a production capacity of three million medium-size as well as five million small-size OGS touch panels, according to the company.

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20120628PD222.html

"I can have everything": Google's Nexus 7, unboxed

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2012/06/i-can-have-everything-googles-nexus-7-unboxed/

With the window to our personal data souls fully opened, the tablet told
us we had received a free $25 credit for the Google Play store (per the
offer on the product page, which Google says is only for a limited
time). The tablet also came preloaded with a selection of content in
various formats, including Swann's Way, issues of Popular Science and Esquire, and a Busta Rhymes song featuring Chris Brown (demographic target illustration complete).

an idiot. (proly ipad user. no idea what to use tablet for. but can see screen quality/color saturation. it's interesting that iPad is really sitting there with its rows of icons and doesn't invite people to flick around...)

Rooted Nexus 7 with StickMount reads USB flash drives!!!

http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/vuqxp/rooted_nexus_7_with_stickmount_reads_usb_flash/

Do you really have to do that google? what's next putting puzzler lock on main screen before a user can use it?

I just got Netflix to run on my Nexus Q!

http://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/vvci1/i_just_got_netflix_to_run_on_my_nexus_q/

Smartphone wars

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smartphone_patent_licensing_and_litigation

The smartphone patents licensing and litigations or smartphone war
is an on going business battle by smartphone major actors such as
Apple, Google, Samsung, Microsoft, Nokia, Motorola, Blackberry, using
patent litigations in order to secure or increase their market share
while slowing competitors' progress. Companies also use patents to make
opponents drops their charges, and so, are interested in purchasing
large set of smartphone patents to protect themselves. Recently^[when?] the number of lawsuits, trade complaints, and countersuits and complaints based on patents and designs in the markets for Smartphones, and devices based on smartphone OSes such as Android and iOS, has been increasing significantly.

Timeline^{[1][2][3][4][5]} (initial suits, countersuits, rulings, licence agreements, and other major events in italics):

http://hackaday.com/2012/06/08/android-cnc-controller/

[Matt] is the proud owner of a JGRO-based CNC router and he’s been
working on a way to control it without a computer. What he came up with
is a way to drive the CNC machine using this Android tablet.

A big part of the hack is the CNC controller that he’s using. The TinyG
is a board that can take commands via USB and convert them to
instructions for up to six axes. In the video after the break [Matt]
shows off a direct USB connection as the control method. This is the
most interesting part to us, but the system can also be run through the
network with the assistance of a computer feeding commands to the TinyG.
This second method means the Android controller would be wireless.

Emulating Mac System 7 on an Android device

Over on the 68kmla forums, a website dedicated to old Macs built before 1994, [zydeco] released his Android port of Mini vMac, a Macintosh Plus emulator that puts the power of a Motorola MC68000 processor and System 7 on any computer.

Siri still sucks batman's ball .....(siri is not even close)