Jordan Kahn

• Android

Android holds lead with 52% of US smartphone market in May

Jordan Kahn Jul 3 2014 - 8:49 am PT

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Comscore today released its usual quarterly report on U.S. smartphone market share for May with Apple holding its spot as top smartphone manufacturer ahead of Samsung. While the numbers haven’t changed much since its report for the three month period ending in February, Apple is up slightly to 42% and ahead of Samsung which grew from 27% to almost 28%. Following behind is LG with 6.5%, Motorola with 6.3%, and HTC with 5.1%.

Market share by operating system, however, has Android holding steady at 52.1% since last quarter and iOS growing from 41% to almost 42%.

Android ranked as the top smartphone platform in May with 52.1 percent market share, followed by Apple with 41.9 percent (up 0.6 percentage points from February), Microsoft with 3.4 percent, BlackBerry with 2.3 percent and Symbian with 0.1 percent.

Comscore also included a ranking of the top smartphone apps in the U.S. for May based on its surveys:

The full report is available here.

• Search
• search
• Google Translate
• Google Knowledge Graph
• translate

Google testing new & improved Translate tool directly in search results

Jordan Kahn Jul 3 2014 - 7:26 am PT

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While it’s not appearing for all users, Google appears to be testing its Translate tool directly in search results. Specific search results for translations such as “Hola in english” already presented users with the answer directly above search results, but now search queries like “translate” “translation” and “translate tool”— which most users search for when looking for translation services— present a redesigned translate tool (pictured above) where users can enter text and adjust languages right from the search results page.

It’s unclear if this is just a test or something Google plans to roll out more broadly, but it’s certainly something that other translation services might not be all too pleased with. The first search result below the new tool is most often “Google Translate”, as it was before the roll out of the new translate tool in search results.

Google told us it’s “always working on improvements to our products.” 

• Samsung
• Samsung Galaxy Tab
• Samsung Galaxy
• ad
• AMOLED

Samsung compares Galaxy Tab S AMOLED display to its own LCD screen in new TV ad

Jordan Kahn Jul 2 2014 - 2:23 pm PT

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[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_BWNZriReo&feature=youtube_gdata]

While the iPad is Samsung’s usual target in Galaxy ads comparing its devices to the competition, to really show how great the new Samsung Galaxy S tab display the company put it up against one of its own LCD screens. Samsung just posted its latest TV commercial for the device (above) that it says shows off the “finer visions and truer colors” of the Tab S.

It’s not exacty a glowing recommendation for its tablets that use LCD displays, but it’s certainly a good look at what the Tab S display has to offer. You can check out our hands-on with the Galaxy Tab S here.

• Android

Samsung shows how Galaxy smartphone packaging has evolved to be more eco friendly

Jordan Kahn Jul 2 2014 - 12:04 pm PT

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A blog post on Samsung’s official blog today aims to educate consumers on some of the improvements the company has made to its packaging for Android smartphones in recent years. As Samsung puts it, “the story on how Samsung is developing and expanding applications for eco-friendly packaging.”

As eco-friendly philosophy and efforts of Samsung Electronics have been maintained throughout the Galaxy Series, we would like to show you how packaging Galaxy S series has evolved.

Some of the improvements including minimizing overall packaging size even as devices grow in size, scaling back on the number of packaging variants it uses, and switching from various type sod materials it’s used in the past to a more eco-friendly paper material for the boxes its smartphones ship in. Samsung does note that the info its a graphic (full image below) is based on models released in Europe only.

• Apps and Updates
• YouTube

Google Play Movie & TV purchases now accessible in Android YouTube app

Jordan Kahn Jun 30 2014 - 12:26 pm PT

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A nice new addition to the YouTube app for Android adds the ability to access video content purchased from Google Play without leaving the app (via Android Police).

The new feature in the Android YouTube app doesn’t appear to bring any immediate changes to the way video content was handled previously, however. You’ll still be able to play movies and TV downloaded from Google Play in the Play Movies app, but now you’ll also find them listed and playable from the “Purchases” tab in the YouTube app.

• Android

Facebook reportedly disbands Facebook Home for Android team

Jordan Kahn Jun 27 2014 - 9:59 am PT

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Update: Facebook said in a statement to The Verge that work is continuing on Home:

Facebook tells us that work is continuing on Home. This article originally stated that it appeared Facebook was abandoning efforts on Home, per aTimes report suggesting that continued development was unlikely.

After launching Facebook Home last year, the company’s customized Android experience that puts Facebook services up front and center, could soon meet its end. The fait of the app is being questioned in a new report from The New York Times that claims the company has “disbanded the team of engineers originally assigned to work on Facebook Home”

The company has disbanded the team of engineers originally assigned to work on Facebook Home, its custom-made mobile software for Android devices, according to two people familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss it publicly.

The company still isn’t commenting on whether or not this means Facebook Home’s end of life is nearing, but Facebook has given some clues that could be the case. As noted in the report, it’s already integrated some of Home’s popular features like chat heads into its other apps and it also hasn’t updated the Facebook Home experience since January. The team has also lost a few key players including lead designer Joey Flynn who left for Slingshot. For now, the Facebook Home app is still available on Google Play.

• Android

Samsung launches free 21-day trial program for Galaxy devices in US

Jordan Kahn Jun 27 2014 - 7:20 am PT

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Following similar announcements from Motorola and some of the carriers including T-Mobile and Sprint, Samsung has announced its own free trial program to let customers try out devices hassle-free before committing to a purchase. While the carriers are offering network trials to let consumers try out devices before committing to a plan, Samsung will offer a 21-day free trial of Galaxy devices with carrier service included:

Samsung’s trial program allows consumers to experience the latest smartphones including the Galaxy S^® 5 and Galaxy Note^® 3, as well as the Samsung Gear™ 2 and Samsung Gear™ Fit. Consumers can either bundle a smartphone and Gear together or rent the devices separately. Smartphone packages include the device, carrier service not tied to their personal account, a screen protector, a USB charging cord and Samsung earbuds, while Samsung Gear rentals include the device, charging cradle and the charging cord^*.

While the offer is completely free of charge, Samsung notes “participants will be asked to provide a refundable credit or debit card deposit during their trial period.” To take advantage, you’ll have to head to one of “Samsung Studio” locations listed below:

• Dallas-Fort Worth/Frisco, TX: Stonebriar Centre Mall, 2601 Preston Rd, Frisco, TX 75034
• Houston/The Woodlands, TX: The Woodlands Mall, 1201 Lake Woodlands Dr, The Woodlands, TX 77380
• Los Angeles/Canoga Park, CA: Westfield Topanga, 6600 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Canoga Park, CA 91303
• New York City: Samsung Galaxy Studio SoHo, 130 Prince Street, NY, NY
• Santa Clara, CA: Westfield Valley Fair, 2855 Stevens Creek Blvd, Santa Clara, CA 95050

• Android
• Apps and Updates

Google Now gains ability to switch between multiple languages on the fly

Jordan Kahn Jun 26 2014 - 6:59 am PT

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Google Now is getting a new feature today that brings slicker multi-language support to the voice search and assistant app with the ability to switch between multiple languages on the fly. Rather than having to manually select and switch between one of the approximately 50 languages that Google Now can understand, the app will now automatically recognize the speaker’s language and allow users to switch between up to seven languages on the fly. CNET has more details on the feature after speaking with Google:

You’ll have to preselect your secondary languages, but once you do that, the feature will work. Simultaneous multiple-language support is expected to arrive in the coming days to all Google Now users.

Google researchers told CNET said that seemingly simple language-recognition tasks are much harder than they appear. Yehoshua said during a recent lunchtime conversation at Google’s Building 43 here that she’s looked into how many people are aware that they can search Google by asking their phones… “Fifty percent of smartphone and tablet users in the US are aware of voice search, and one-third of those use it,” Yehoshua said. But she added that most people don’t realize how natural conversational queries have gotten with Google Now.

Google also notes in the report that it’s working on other enhancements to Google Now and tackling some of the harder issues like understanding more complex accents and cutting out ambient noise, for example, when driving.

• Android
• Apps and Updates
• Gmail
• apps
• developers

Google introduces new API beta that makes it easier for apps to integrate Gmail features

Jordan Kahn Jun 25 2014 - 11:23 am PT

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Yet another announcement from Google I/O today comes in the form of a new Gmail API beta that will make it easier for developers to integrate Gmail features into their apps:

While IMAP is great at what it was designed for (connecting email clients to email servers in a standard way), it wasn’t really designed to do all of the cool things that you have been working on, which is why this week at Google I/O, we’re launching the beta of the new Gmail API.

Designed to let you easily deliver Gmail-enabled features, this new API is a standard Google API, which gives RESTful access to a user’s mailbox under OAuth 2.0 authorization. It supports CRUD operations on true Gmail datatypes such as messages, threads, labels and drafts.

So what’s the benefit over IMAP or other solutions that developers have already been using to integrate Gmail features? Google says the new API, unlike IMAP, “gives fine-grained control to a user’s mailbox.” That means that an app, for example, “only needs to send mail on behalf of a user and does not need to read mail, you can limit your permission request to send-only.” There are also other benefits like speed:

To keep in sync, the API allows you to query the inbox change history, thereby avoiding the need to do “archaeology” to figure out what changed. Finally, a huge benefit is speed. While there’s still some tuning to be done (“beta” – remember?), results from our tests and feedback from pre-release developers suggest that the new Gmail API is delivering dramatic performance improvements over IMAP for web application use cases.

Google has more on the new API here. 

• Google Drive
• apps
• Google I/O
• Drive
• Slides

Google Drive hits 190 million 30-day active users

Jordan Kahn Jun 25 2014 - 11:06 am PT

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Along with all of the other numbers and company updates Sundar Pichai shared today, he also just announced during the enterprise portion of the event that Google has now hit 190 million Google Drive users. That’s thanks to strong growth among enterprise customers and includes only active users over a 30-day period. The announcement comes alongside new features announced for the Drive suite of apps across devices.

More stats and numbers from Google’s I/O Keynote today are here.

• Android

LiftMaster MyQ home automation platform now “Works with Nest”, triggers thermostat when garage door opens

Jordan Kahn Jun 25 2014 - 8:45 am PT

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Following the announcement that Google will open up its Nest smart thermostat to third-party app developers interested in integrating with the platform, LiftMaster’s MyQ® technology announced at Google I/O today its now an official “Works with Nest” product. That means users of LiftMaster hardware and the MyQ home automation mobile app for Android and iOS will be able to automatically trigger Nest. Imagine Nest automatically switching to Away mode when closing your garage door (LiftMaster makes garage door opener hardware and software) and it switching back to Home mode when opening the door:

In working with Nest, LiftMaster customers will be able to easily and quickly set their Nest Learning Thermostats to Away mode when closing the garage door as they leave home and switch back to Home mode when opening garage doors upon returning home –making it easier for them to avoid wasting energy heating or cooling an empty home. In addition, our customers will be able to view their home temperature by accessing Nest directly from the MyQ app.

The company sells a number of garage door opener products that work with its mobile app and its MyQ technology is integrated into many Chamberlain garage door openers sold in stores. Full press release below:

• YouTube

YouTube rolling out new and improved messaging & comments system this week

Jordan Kahn Jun 25 2014 - 6:34 am PT

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YouTube has announced a new messaging system and improved comments coming to YouTube this week that it said will make life much easier for creators interacting with their fans.

Whether you’re Epic Rap Battles of History and swimming in feedback from fans, or you’re just starting up your channel, you can now connect with your fans faster and more easily through new messaging and commenting features rolling out this week. It’s part of our goal to give you everything you need to connect with fans around the world

Google shared a bit of what to expect from the new messaging system including threaded conversations that make it easier to keep track of ongoing conversations and a new “Send message” button on the “about” tab of channels. YouTube also noted “Your new messages section includes spam detection to filter out unwanted messages. Laterz trolls.”

The new messaging system will replace your old Inbox, but YouTube will continue to let you read and download messages from the old comment system over the next few months. Also arriving this week is a much improved comment system:

• Fine-tune filtering: You can choose to view just comments from your subscribers, check for popular comments across your channel, or review comments for a specific video.
• Easier comment review: Want to review comments that need approval? Find and check them all from one place on the comments page.
• Search and ye shall find: Looking for comments on a specific topic? There’s now a search box to help you find comments that include the keywords or hashtags you’re looking for

You can expect these new features to roll out to all this week with the old inbox disabled for everything other than viewing emails as of yesterday.