Android

The latest Android stats from Google show that Jelly Bean is now installed on 48.6 percent of Android devices, and given current growth rates is likely to break the magic 50 percent barrier within a week or two. Jelly Bean became the most-used version of Android back in July.

The rather less impressive stat is that more than a quarter of devices – 28.5 percent – are still running Gingerbread, which dates back as far as 2010. It’s also worth pointing out that there are couple of fudge-factors in Google’s stats … 
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When a story earlier this week discovered Samsung was artificially inflating benchmark scores for its new Galaxy Note 3, many were quick to point out it wasn’t the first time Samsung had been caught engaged in such a practice. The same issue was discovered by AnandTech for the Galaxy S4 back in July, and today the site has an extensive report showing that almost every Android smartphone manufacturer is shipping devices that do the same.

As pictured in the chart above, that includes the HTC One, HTC One mini, LG G2, Galaxy Tab 10.1, and many others. In fact, the only companies that appear to not be using the method is Apple and Motorola, as well as Google with its Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 devices:

We started piecing this data together back in July, and even had conversations with both silicon vendors and OEMs about getting it to stop. With the exception of Apple and Motorola, literally every single OEM we’ve worked with ships (or has shipped) at least one device that runs this silly CPU optimization. It’s possible that older Motorola devices might’ve done the same thing, but none of the newer devices we have on hand exhibited the behavior. It’s a systemic problem that seems to have surfaced over the last two years, and one that extends far beyond Samsung…  None of the Nexus do, which is understandable since the optimization isn’t a part of AOSP. This also helps explain why the Nexus 4 performed so slowly when we reviewed it – this mess was going on back then and Google didn’t partake.

As noted in the report, the gains that OEMs are experiencing from the inflated scores are probably not worth the press they’ve been receiving. AnandTech points out that most of the inflated scores provide under a 10% increase in GPU and CPU performance benchmarks:
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Samsung might have planned on being the first to market with a flexible OLED screen with a special edition of its Galaxy Note 3, but it looks like LG too will soon be launching its first smartphone to incorporate curved display. According to a translated report from ZD Net (via UnwiredView), LG is prepping an “LG Z” smartphone that will be the company’s first to utilize that flexible display technology it’s been working on.

We don’t get many details from the report, but it does claim that the device is already in mass production and could debut as early as this month.

It’s worth pointing out that we still don’t have any real official details on either of these curved devices from Samsung or LG, but we’re guessing the first generation of flexible display smartphones will likely sport a rather rigid casing that will make the product appear curved, opposed to actually being flexible in one’s hand.

Google has announced that Hulu has added Chromecast support to its Hulu Plus app, enabling online shows to be viewed on the big screen – something it promised back in July.

Now you can easily enjoy your favorite shows, such as “Modern Family,” “New Girl” and “Parks and Recreation,” on your big-screen TV by casting from Hulu Plus on your mobile phone or tablet. It’s the same intuitive, remote-free experience you’ve come to enjoy with the other Chromecast-supported apps, and is as simple as pressing the Cast button which will now appear in the app … 
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=baTh1jeObRw]

Not a fan. Either show how this will make my life better or bash Apple. I don’t know what this is.

The Samsung Galaxy Gear smartwatch reviews are out, and that red glow you see on the horizon is from the blushing faces at Samsung, visible all the way from Korea. The reviews are not, to put it kindly, overwhelming in their enthusiasm for the device.

The Verge

A smartwatch the Galaxy Gear is not. Frankly, I’m not sure exactly what it’s supposed to be. Samsung describes it as a companion device, and the Gear is indeed chronically dependent on an umbilical link to another Samsung device, but it never left me feeling like it was a helpful companion. The notifications are Orwellian, the media controls are exiguous, and the app selection has no substance to underpin the hype. Samsung’s attempt to turn the Gear into a style icon is also unlikely to succeed, owing to the company’s indecision about its target demographic. Trying to please all tastes has resulted in a predictably charmless and soulless product.

The Gear’s camera and phone calls are both surprising and delightful, but they’re unfortunately isolated highlights. When all is said and done, I expect the Galaxy Gear will be looked back upon as a rough first draft that helped the Korean chaebol steer a better course en route to the goal of producing a real smartwatch. As it stands today, though — unintuitive, oversized, overpriced, and in constant need of a Galaxy guardian — the Galaxy Gear might have been better off staying on the drawing board … 
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Engadget got its hands on shots from the unveiling of new Google Play vending machines being rolled out in Japan today. The machines will sell Google Play content starting with a mix of 18 different free and paid games, and users will complete their purchase using any Android device running 4.0 and up with NFC. Engadget walked us through the process:

You rest the phone on the tray below the screen, and NFC pairing takes care of the rest. We put the machine to the test with our LG G2 on hand, and had no troubles choosing and downloading a free game through the machine. There’s a slick unified animation from the giant touchscreen (which looks almost identical to drinks machines elsewhere in the country) to your Android phone of choice when the download kicks in. Also, for trying out another Google app, you’ll get a ‘present’ which ‘drops’ down from the screen and into the vending tray once your download is complete.

The three Google Play machines will officially open to the public tomorrow at Parco department store in Shibuya. 
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AT&T and other carriers have already started accepting preorders for Samsung’s new Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear companion smartwatch, but today AT&T announced official release dates for the two products.

Both devices will become available online and in stores on October 4th for the same prices AT&T previously announced for preorders. That’s $299 on contract for the Note 3 (or $35 per month on AT&T Next), and $299 for the Galaxy Gear. Preorders from AT&T’s site are currently listed as shipping on October 1st.

Other carriers, including T-Mobile and Sprint, will also begin selling the Note 3 and Galaxy Gear beginning early next month. 
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With Apple’s new gold iPhone 5s getting the most attention of any of the new colorful iPhones it released earlier this month, Samsung wants you to know that it isn’t copying Apple with its new gold Galaxy S4.

In a blog post on its official Samsung Tomorrow blog titled, “Golden History of Samsung Phones,” the company makes a point of noting that it announced the Gold Galaxy S4 on August 27th and launched it in stores on September 8– over a week before Apple’s gold iPhone 5s launch. It also showed off some gold phones it’s made dating back to 2004.

Some were unreleased like special edition phones for the Olympics and one for Ocean’s 13, and Samsung notes that “this is definitely not a complete list of gold-colored products made by Samsung.”
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Samsung today announced U.S. availability for the new Galaxy Note 10.1 – 2014 Edition that it first unveiled earlier this month at IFA. Preorders for the device will kick off tomorrow at midnight ET, and become available through the company’s major retail partners on October 10.

Samsung will be selling the new Note 10.1 in Jet Black and Classic White for a retail price of $549.99 (16GB) and $599.99 (32GB). Preorders will be available through select retailers, and the following stores will have stock of the device on October 10: Best Buy, Best Buy Mobile specialty stores, BestBuy.com, Amazon, PC Richard & Son, Fry’s, Tiger Direct, Walmart, Samsung.com.

As a reminder, the new Galaxy Note 10.1 features a Exynos® 5420 quad-core processor, 3GB of RAM, and a 2,560 x 1,600 pixel WQXGA display with over 4 million pixels, and that new leather-like textured backside like the new Galaxy Note III. You’ll also get those new S Pen features that we first saw on the Galaxy Note III, $600 worth of free bundled content, and other goodies. Head below for Samsung’s full press release. 
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The Nexus 5 appears set to match or beat the iPhone 5s in graphics performance, according to benchmark data posted on the the GFXBench website, achieving 23.1 frames per second in a key test.

The GFXBench T-Rex tests are one of the most demanding tests of the graphics performance of a phone, and provide a particularly good guide to how well a handset is likely to fare when paying graphics-intensive games. The just-released iPhone currently tops the T-Rex scores, but one of the four tests appears to show that the Adreno 330 expected to be used in the Nexus 5 will at least equal that performance … 
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Update 2, Sept. 27: Google is reporting that Google Talk issues have now bee resolved for all users.

Update, Sept. 27: Some users are continuing to experience issues with Google Talk services today. Google says it expects “a resolution for all users in the near future.”

TechCrunch alerted us to an issue with Google Talk and Google Hangouts, which is rather alarmingly resulting in some messages being delivered to the wrong recipients.

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