We have both good news and bad news to share with HTC One X owners today. Starting with the former, HTC said it's issuing an over-the-air (OTA) update that will include an upgraded version of Android and an improved Sense experience. So what's the bad news? It's not a Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) update, just an improved version of Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0.4), albeit one that brings with it some neat improvements.
With all due respect to Symbian, BlackBerry, Windows Phone, and any other mobile platform not named Android or iOS, you're all just a bunch of also-rans in what's becoming "unquestionably a two-horse race," according to data and analysis by International Data Corporation (IDC). Android and iOS set a new combined smartphone OS record in the second quarter of 2012, with the two platforms feasting on an 85 percent share of the market, leaving just 15 percent in scraps for all others to fight over.
Research In Motion (RIM) CEO Thorsten Heins has his work cut out for him. Faced with growing skepticism regarding RIM's future, he has to make sure his company delivers the goods and is able to convince business clients and consumers that the BlackBerry platform is still relevant. One has to wonder, wouldn't it have been easier to go all-in with Android instead? That was something Heins said his company looked at, but ultimately decided against.
Remember Hewlett-Packard's ill-fated TouchPad tablet? It didn't last long on the market, though it did enjoy a flurry of sales when HP discontinued the tablet and drastically reduced the price. Since then, people have been hacking and modding the slate so as not to be stuck with webOS, and now TouchPad owners are able to get a taste of Google's Jelly Bean build (Android 4.1).
It would be silly to sit here and pretend that fragmentation doesn't exist in the Android ecosystem, or that Android 4.0.x (Ice Cream Sandwich) and 4.1.x (Jelly Bean) are going to reverse unify Android devices. Be that as it may, the latest Android builds are making headway, particularly Ice Cream Sandwich, which is now installed on 15.9 percent of all active Android devices.
The folks responsible for Raspberry Pi have already concocted a delicious, inexpensive recipe for micro-sized computing, but the project is about to get even tastier with the introduction of one more ingredient: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Raspberry Pi's developers are working on porting ICS to its $35 device and have "been making great progress" towards that end.
Good news for Android users who are fans of Spotify. The spunky streaming music service just launched its free unlimited radio feature on the Android platform for users living in the U.S., bringing the service up to par with its iOS counterpart that received the same upgrade about a month ago. Previously the only way Android users were able to listen to free music on the go with Spotify was to sign up for a 48-hour trial.
Nearly a dozen game developers, including Electronic Arts (EA), stand accused of infringing upon a patent held by Uniloc that relates to a "system and method for preventing unauthorized access to electronic data." According to Uniloc, EA and others are using the patented technology, without permission, in certain Android-based mobile games, including Bejeweled 2, which was specifically named in the lawsuit.
Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo may think they have the game console market cornered, but they could be in for a rude surprise if Ouya's Android-based game system is able to gain traction. Serving as a wake-up call to the big three, Ouya has already managed to raise almost three times its $950,000 pledge goal on Kickstarter, getting commitments for over $2.8 million from more than 22,000 backers in less than two full days.
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