It’s taken some time, but Android 4.1 Jelly Bean is finally beginning to claim a notable share of devices. Almost six months after its release, the software has been installed on 10.2% of smartphones and tablets, while Gingerbread’s share slowly diminishes. The vast majority of users are still running Gingerbread, Android 2.3, but the software share has dropped below the 50% mark for the first time in over a year.
Samsung has begun rolling out a software patch to address a major security flaw with its Exynos processor that leaves a handful of Android handsets vulnerable to attack. The update is first reaching Galaxy S III owners in the United Kingdom, but we would expect Samsung to be working hard to make this one available worldwide as quickly as possible.
Today, Facebook updated its Messenger app for both iOS and Android, adding a voice messaging capability to the app on both platforms.
There have also been reports that Facebook has been rolling out a pilot VOIP feature to the Messenger app, which will let users call other Facebook Messenger friends for free, or at least without incurring carrier voice minute debits.
The VOIP option is not available for all users, as the iOS app is the only one with even a mention of the feature in the app description. TechCrunch reported that the pilot program is only available in Canada for now, as well.
On social network, Google+, Google developer Dan Morrill posted his designs for the original Android mascot, from the days when Android was as yet a concept, not a reality.
The team was preparing for an internal launch for developers to get a look at the API, and Morrill, then a developer relations guy, needed some visuals to populate his slides with. He created the above robot-men to illustrate Android.
While iOS may not be as flexible or as customizable as Android, on the whole it looks a whole lot nicer. Android is steadily improving, that’s for sure, but it’s hard to deny that iOS developers appear to spend more time making their apps prettier, even if you’re a diehard Android fan.
And that was proven when Chris Hulbert, an iOS developer, went to work at Google for three months. In a post on his blog, Hulbert reveals the differences in attitude towards design for iOS and Android, which help explain why Android apps aren’t quite as pretty as they could be.
