The past days were definitely for the history books, with some rather controversial news. T-Mobile goes after Verizon. The HTC One M9 fails to bring in the cash. Google’s Project Fi messing with Google Voice. And Cyanogen, Inc. might start looking a bit like the bad guy. Of course, it’s not all bad news, as Android Lollipop jumps to almost 10 percent last month. And the LG Watch Urbane turns out to be a repair-friendly wearable. All of these in your latest edition of Android Community’s Weekly Digest, covering the period from May 4 to May 10, 2015.
Android Lollipop: a force to reckon with
After seemingly lingering on the same spot in the Android Distribution chart, Android Lollipop, covering both 5.0 and 5.1 releases, suddenly shot up through the ranks, almost doubling its usage to almost 10 percent. This is a clear indication of the growing adoption of the latest Android version as well as to new devices that are coming out with it. With the LG G4 launching soon and with more devices to come, we expect that the numbers will steadily rise the rest of May. In the meantime, other older versions are slowly stepping down and we might even bid farewell to Android 2.2 Froyo soon.
That said, it’s not all good news for older devices, as HTC confirms that neither of its One mini’s are getting the candied treat. Samsung might be flip flopping a bit on the Galaxy Note 2, wish some markets saying it won’t get Android 5.0 and some saying it will. The path is clear for Motorola, however, as four of its Moto smartphones, both first and second gen, have started receiving the absolute latest 5.1 update.
HTC One M9 fails to hit the mark
HTC might be facing tougher times ahead. It’s rather incremental and somewhat disappointing One M9 flagship has unsurprisingly failed to capture the love and the money of the market. The company posted its financial performance for April and suffice it to say, it’s in the red once again. HTC has been struggling not only to rise to the top, or somewhere near the top, but also to consistently stay there, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Samsung and LG. It was perhaps banking on the One M9 to be its saving grace this year, but sadly that is not the case. There might still be some hope, however, with some new One variants poised to reclaim some of that lost market share.
T-Mobile vs. Verizon: Round One
After years of using AT&T as its punching bag, T-Mobile is now turning its corss hairs onto the other big player in the league. Somewhat corrupting Verizon’s “Never Settle” campaign (which itself is probably running afoul of OnePlus’ slogan), T-Mobile is launching a time-limited program to try and poach Big Red’s customers with the promise of taking care of early termination fees. Of course, T-Mobile promises a lot of things via its Un-carrier ways. This latest move will undoubtedly irk the mostly silent Verizon, perhaps enough to stage a counterattack with AT&T.
Project Fi vs. Google Voice: the battle for your phone number
Google as finally launched its MVNO service and, for now, it seems like a dream come true. But the finer details of Google’s Project Fi are causing some Google Voice users to worry. In particular, the uncertainty of some GV features being unavailable on Project Fi, as well as the prospect of forever losing their GV account is definitely scaring off a few would-be early testers.
Luckily, a member of the Project Fi team went to Reddit to set things straight and offer assurances. Those who wish to discontinue the Project Fi trial can safely go back to their old Google Voice ways should it come to that. Sadly, it is also confirmed that not all features, particularly the ability to use third party apps, will be part of Project Fi’s future.
Cyanogen, Inc: Hero or Villain?
Cyanogen has painted itself as a startup David ready to take on the Goliath that is Google, willing to free Android from its chains. But in doing so, it might also be prepping itself to be an anti-hero of sorts. To fulfill its dream of a Google-less Android, Cyanogen will naturally have to fill in some large shoes left by Google’s apps and services. It has already tried to do so with the likes of the Boxer mail app. Its partnership with Microsoft, however, might have ruffled a few feathers from those who are no fans of Redmond’s ways. The latest news of its team up with Truecaller might even cause some to start worrying.
Like what Google and recently Facebook tries to provide. Truecaller will try to identify the numbers of inbound calls, mark numbers as spam, block them, and share those with other users. Of course, to do this it will need access to all that goes on in your phone when it comes to calls, a privacy issue for some users who might have flocked to CyanogenMod precisely because of the same worries with Google. Although the feature remains optional to users, the functionality is built into Cyanogen OS instead of provided by a third party app, perhaps causing some to wonder how far Cyanogen, Inc. is willing to go to meet its goals.
Bits and Bytes
Qualcomm has finally spoken up about the reported problems with its Snapdragon 810, and naturally it is denying everything. It claims that early tests of SD810 devices were using unfinished non-consumer versions, which, of course, wouldn’t be optimized yet. It also says that those overheating problems have nothing to do with LG opting for a Snapdragon 808 on its G4 flagship. Like a good sportsman, however, it isn’t singling out Samsung as the source of its woes, but everyone else probably knows it already.
If you presumed that the Amazon Fire Phone is dead, the retailer would love to prove you wrong. It has just started the rollout of its biggest update to its first and so far only smartphone to date. And while business sense is probably preventing it from saying so, the lattest Fire OS update is actually the one that brings the device to Android 4.4 Kit Kat. Too bad it isn’t Lollipop just yet, but Fire Phone users will probably be grateful and take what they can get.
The LG Watch Urbane is finally out in the market, or at least in some markets. If other smartatch teardowns have left you rather disappointed, then time to cheer up. LG’s fanciest Android Wear device is apparently easy to take apart, which means it’s also easy to repair. iFixit gives it a score of 7 out of 10, definitely a good break from all the rather low grades we’ve been seeing lately.
Wrap-up
And that’s it for this week’s Android news, updates, and rumors. Be sure to keep an eye out for even more great tidbits as we trek our way to Google I/O later this month. And what are we expecting to see there? Well, there’s already been a sighting of “Android M”, and it seems that there will be some focus on Android’s viability in the work place. But we’ve also heard that Google plans to give users more control over the privacy settings of Android apps, which will definitely tickle power users pink. Suffice it to say, we’re expecting it to be another interesting developer conference, so better hold on to your seats.
