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THE SMARTPHONE MARKET in the US was dominated by Google’s Android operating system (OS) last year, which took nearly half of the mobile OS market share in the last quarter.

According to Comscore data 97.9 million people in the US owned smartphones during the three months ended in December, representing 40 per cent of all mobile subscribers. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone OS with 47.3 per cent market share, up 2.5 percentage points from September.

Meanwhile, Apple maintained its number two position, growing 2.2 percentage points to 29.6 per cent of the smartphone market. RIM ranked third with a 16 per cent share, followed by Microsoft with 4.7 per cent and Symbian with 1.4 per cent.

The study found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 25.3 per cent market share.

It was followed by LG with 20 per cent market share and Motorola with a 13.3 per cent share. Apple took a 12.4 per cent share of total mobile subscribers, up 2.2 percentage points, while RIM just made it into the top five with a 6.7 per cent share. µ

Another week, another release regarding Ice Cream Sandwich by another manufacturer. This week, LG announces their first group of phones will be updated sometime in Q2 of 2012. This first batch includes the LG Optimus LTE, Prada phone by LG 3.0 (pictured above), the LG Optimus 2X, the LG Optimus Sol, the LG my Touch Q and the LG Eclipse. The LG Optimus LTE and 2X are better known in the States as the Nitro HD (on AT&T) and G2x (on T-Mobile) and with the myTouch Q, are the only phones in this first batch currently available in the US. The second batch of phones will start receiving their updates in Q3 of 2012, and includes the LG Optimus 3D (Thrill 4G on AT&T), the LG Optimus Black, the LG Optimus Big, the LG Optimus Q2 and the LG Optimus EX.

LG has had far more success in Asia than in the US, though their stable of phones has been growing among the big four US carriers. The unnamed LG skin used on their phones contributes to the development time for these updates, and it remains possible that further delay will be caused by carrier testing and validation. It'll be interesting to see which companies meet their timelines, and what impact, if any, that has on their sales performance. In the meanwhile, stay tuned for our Galaxy Nexii review.

MOBILE SOFTWARE HOUSE Google has started rolling out Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) to the Samsung Nexus S smartphone.

Much to the delight of its users the Nexus S is receiving an upgrade to ICS just in time for Christmas. The announcement means that the handset is the first to be bumped up to the most recent version of Android.

Google said, “We’re rolling out Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, to GSM/UMTS Nexus S devices over the coming month, starting today. Enjoy the tasty update! Once you get the update, check out some tips and shortcuts for getting started at the Android 4.0 Help Center.”

The Nexus S was previously running Android 2.3 Gingerbread, so Google has helpfully detailed some of the changes to help users avoid getting confused. ICS is a mash-up of Android 2.3 Gingerbread and Android 3.x Honeycomb.

Google warns that some apps might need upgrading before they will work with ICS and suggests that users upgrade to the latest version of Flash. We heard at the beginning of the month that the firm was testing out ICS on employees’ Nexus S handsets so we suspected that the upgrade might come this month.

If you have a Nexus S smartphone but haven’t received the upgrade automatically then you can go check for it manually to get your festive treat. µ

MOBILE LITIGATOR Apple has won something of a victory in its campaign to destroy its Android competition or, that is, protect its patent portfolio.

The US International Trade Commission (ITC) has sided with the fruit themed firm (PDF) on some of its complaints against HTC and has ruled that indeed, some of the technology in Android smartphones is covered by an Apple patent.

It was only a partial victory, however, as the ITC found that HTC had infringed only one patent out of the 10, and later six, put forward by Apple. However, this is enough for the ITC to issue a ban against infringing devices. This will start in April next year.

HTC will be allowed to import refurbished handsets to replace any that have failed under warranty, the ITC added, until 19 December, 2013.

There was talk that HTC would face a ban on its handsets in the run up to Christmas, but it does seem to have been spared this.

We have asked Apple and HTC to comment.

Update
Apple did not have a specific comment to make on this case, but told us, “We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.”

HTC countered with its own response, which is not quite so snappy.’This decision is a win for HTC and we are gratified that the commission affirmed the judge’s determination on the ‘721 and ‘983 patents, and reversed its decision on the ‘263 patent and partially on the ‘647 patent,” it said.

“We are very pleased with the determination and we respect it. However, the ‘647 patent is a small UI experience and HTC will completely remove it from all of our phones soon”. µ

For a while now we've been using Basemark ES 2.0 in our smartphone reviews and SoC discussions to gauge OpenGL ES performance. For end users however, getting the same benchmarks has been difficult if not impossible, making comparisons and verification somewhat of a challenge for enthusiasts. The alternatives to the big industry-standard benchmarks in the Android market sometimes are poorly documented and ill-maintained as well. As time goes on we'll see more of these industry-standard benchmarks start showing up in all the app marketplaces for each platform. 

Today RightWare is launching Basemark ES 2.0 Taiji Free on the Android market, which contains (as the name suggests) the Taiji subtest of Basemark ES 2.0. The version being launched supports both Android and iOS for comparison purposes, though the iOS version will launch at a later date in Q1 2012. Taiji is the first of the two game benchmark scenes inside Basemark ES 2.0, the second being Hoverjet.

In conjunction, ES 2.0 Taiji Free also will feature an online result browser component called Power Board. This online result browser component aggregates and allows for comparisons of both user-submitted and in-house tested scores much the same way GLBenchmark and others do. It appears that Power Board will also aggregate data from the rest of Rightware's benchmarking portfolio, including Basemark GUI. Information and device details such as SoC, GPU, and resolution are all provided as well on Power Board for comparison purposes.

Gallery: Rightware Power Board

This is a big step in the right direction toward depreciating some of the enthusiast community's reliance on some of the poorly documented or ill-maintained benchmarks like Quadrant and others. 

Source: Rightware, Power Board, Android Market

INTERNET SEARCH OUTFIT Google has boasted that it now activates 700,000 Android devices per day.

The numbers were revealed by Andy Rubin in a Google Plus post as a brief note. “There are now over 700,000 Android devices activated every day,” wrote the Android operating system chief.

Later he clarified the statement and explained that each activation is a new one, as opposed to an old handset making its way into new hands.

“…and for those wondering, we count each device only once (ie, we don’t count re-sold devices),” he said, adding, “and ‘activations’ means you go into a store, buy a device, put it on the network by subscribing to a wireless service”.

This means that there might be uncounted handsets out there, but it’s perhaps unlikely that there are many that have not connected to wireless services. Some might be lurking in Christmas stockings though, so perhaps the new year will see an updated post from Rubin.

In July the company said that it was seeing 550,000 activations each day, and earlier, 400,000. µ

Product Philips Fidelio AS851 Android speaker dock
Website www.philips.co.uk
Specifications Android 2.1 and above, microUSB, 3.5mm jack input, full size USB, 2x3in drivers, 2x15W RMS, Bluetooth 2.1, remote control, 421x157x140mm.
Price £185

THE SPEAKER DOCK market has been dominated by products designed for Apple Igadgets so it’s refreshing that Philips has come along with one for Android users.

The dock comes in a curvy black design that is stylish but not all that striking. It has good build quality with a black mesh covering the speakers on the front, the docking section with chrome surround and a row of buttons and lights. Turn the dock around and you find a glossy black finish, two air holes and three ports.

Innovative Design
Philips has specifically designed the AS851 for Android devices so it has a ‘Flexidock’ microUSB connection on the front. This port can be found in many different places on smartphones and tablets so the dock has been designed to adjust in many different ways to accommodate.

Firstly, the microUSB port swivels 180 degrees and is able to slide a fair way up and down the length of the dock. Furthermore the connector rocks backwards and forwards to cope with different angles and thicker devices. Lastly the microUSB port is accompanied by an adjustable support on either side so a phone or tablet doesn’t fall off.

We tried a number of different devices with the AS851 and managed to get them all sitting comfortably by fiddling with the different adjustments. One thing to note is that you need Android version 2.1 or higher.

Below the docking section are the power button, volume up and down buttons and a Bluetooth indicator light. The rear of the dock houses the power connector, a 3.5mm auxiliary socket – cable supplied – and a full size USB port.

This means you can use any device with a headphone socket as a source for the dock and use the USB port for charging purposes or to power USB gadgets.

Bluetooth Connection
Philips has also bundled the device with Bluetooth connectivity for wireless playback. We were surprised and slightly disappointed to discover that this is actually a requirement to get audio playing from the dock, because the microUSB port does not support audio so it is just used for charging. The down side is that the wireless connection will drain battery life if the device is not plugged in.

Even though the dock is designed and advertised for Android devices, the Bluetooth means that you can connect anything you own that has Bluetooth. This is a plus point in our eyes.

If you’ve downloaded the Fidelio app, which we’ll talk about in full later, then your first use will take you through the set up and remember the connection in future, avoiding the hassle of menus each time you want to use the app. This isn’t the case for non-Android devices though.

Adobe has made good on its promises today by updating its Flash for Android client to support Android 4.0. The update brings Flash to 11.1.112.60 and doesn't change functionality at all beyond simply including support necessary for 4.0. If you haven't been following Adobe and Flash lately, Adobe recently announced that it will discontinue developing Flash past 11.1 on mobile platforms, making ICS the last version of Android to include the plugin.

Adobe has a full rundown on the changes on their website, but there isn't much to note with respect to this version bump beyond a few known issues and ICS support.

Source: Adobe, Android Market

TAIWANESE GADGET MAKER HTC has updated the Flyer tablet to Android 3.2 Honeycomb so we take a look at what’s changed.

The device has been bumped up from Android 2.3 Gingerbread to the tablet specific edition. This means the hardware buttons are no longer in use, apart from the dedicated stylus button.

Naturally the user interface looks different and the stylus functionality has been enhanced, so HTC must have read our review of the Flyer. There’s no word on an upgrade to version Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich but our fingers are crossed. µ

We've talked in the past about how OEMs take the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and use it to build software tailored for devices in the context of x86 optimizations, and today two partners are sharing some more details about their specific timelines for Android 4.0 releases. Those two are Sony Ericsson and Motorola, who have outlined in their respective blog posts the path from code to getting a fully baked ROM pushed out over the air to handsets.

The two posts describe the process as we've understood it for a while now, and with Android 4.0 things don't seem any different. Google works with a specific OEM and SoC vendor around some chosen reference hardware (in this case Galaxy Nexus), and simultaneously (or close to it) releases the source code and device when things are finished. At that point, SoC vendors begin working on their own ports and build in necessary drivers or optimizations of their own.

That software package then is turned over to OEMs who add their own specific software (in the case of Motorola, for example – MotoCast, Smart Actions, and likely Blur) and make necessary tweaks to accommodate individual carrier requirements and device nuances. After the OEM finishes up its own testing, the update then passes over to carriers for their own testing, and here things have been a bit fuzzy. Motorola gives out an interesting tidbit today in their post, noting that while each carrier is different, the testing period is on the order of months:

Each carrier has different requirements for phases 2 and 3. There may be a two-month preparation cycle to enter a carrier lab cycle of one to three months.

Sony Ericsson also notes that this certification and testing phase is the longest in the process:

The Certification and approval phase that is the most time consuming process when it comes to getting a new software release out on our phones. This is one of the major tasks that are legally required from us as phone manufacturer, but is a task that the custom ROM community doesn’t have to take into consideration.  

Motorola has noted as well that the Droid RAZR, Bionic, and Xoom are all guaranteed to get an ICS port before the second half of 2012, and the list of Motorola devices being upgraded to 4.0 will likely grow. Meanwhile Sony Ericsson noted that the entire 2011 Xperia family will receive an update to 4.0 and that dates will come later.

Source: Motorola, Sony Ericsson