Enter Ice Cream Sandwich. The latest revision of Android brings screen capture into the base OS. Hopefully this will bring standardization across the platform and going forward all devices will have the ability to do screen captures with a standard key combination.

On the Galaxy Nexus, you can do a screen capture by pressing the volume down button and the power button at the same time. Within a second or two, you will see the screen capture and then a notification in the top bar that it is being saved. Jump into the gallery and you can browse through all your screen captures on your device. From there it’s just a hop, skip, and jump to posting it on damnyouautocorrect, or sharing with your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Apple shipped 20.3 million iPhones becoming the largest mobile hardware manufacturer and holding a market share of 19%. Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform launched last October has sold 1.5 millions units and sits with about 1% of the market. Microsoft is clearly hoping that the Mango update combined with Nokia devices can start to change those numbers for the better. RIMs market share slipped to 12% from 33% just a year ago. The majority of that collapse is focused on North American, as their global shipment numbers indicate a growth of 11%.

Android and Apple are currently the clear winners in the mobile space, and I’m certain that RIM, Nokia, and Microsoft aren’t going to sit idly by and watch their market share dry up. RIM needs to ship OS7 and present a clear new direction in order to win over the new mobile customer. Nokia needs to get something out on the carriers shelves that people want to buy – and hopefully soon. Microsoft needs to step up the pace and crank out the updates to Windows Phone while turning up the marketing to help gain awareness for the platform – Windows Phone continues to receive rave reviews from the media. With new hardware and refreshed marketing budget, perhaps they can pull up from the bottom hangout among the leaders once again. You can read the full announcement from Canalys in the newsroom on their website.

On Android, if you look under Settings / Privacy, you’ll find an option called “Backup my data”. The description on this says “Back up application data, Wi-Fi passwords, and other settings to Google servers”. I’ve seen devices where the Wi-Fi passwords part is left out, and other devices where there is no description at all. At first thought, this is a great option. Who doesn’t want their new Android device to automatically know all the settings of their old device?

There are 2 problems with this feature. The first issue is that Google is not clear as to what “other settings” are being backed up to the cloud. Are we talking email accounts? screen brightness? wallpaper? ringtones? etc..  If it’s my data that is being backed up, I should have some sort of indication as to what that data is.

The second problem is that this will automatically backup your WiFi networks encryption keys. This is great for personal home networks. But I’m pretty sure most enterprises would have a concern if they learned that the encryption keys for the corporate WiFi are being uploaded to the cloud. If someone hacks my GMAIL account, they would instantly have access to the corporate network. Since this feature is driven by the phone, there is no way for the enterprise to specify that a given encryption key should not be backed up.

Donovan Colbert might have jumped the gun a little when he first wrote about this on TechRepublic’s IT Security blog, as it’s not some automatic upload in the background without ever telling the consumer. It does ask you during the initial setup if you would like to backup to the cloud. But it doesn’t provide a means to back up some or part of your personal information.

While it sounds a little extreme, if you’re running a private corporate network and want to keep it secure, you might want to consider blocking Android devices from connecting to it, or step up the key rotation.

(Source = TechRepublic)

The latest to hit Android is a malware app called DroidDreamLight and it’s just as bad as it’s predecessor, DroidDream was. This app has already infected 24 different apps in the market. Lookout Mobile, the security firm that detected the new variant, is estimating that something 30,000 to 120,000 customers may already be infected.

This malware app will harvest users data and download malicious code from remote servers. It’s best to keep an eye on your sent text messages and watch closely for any suspicious data usage. Of course, the best solution is to pay close attention to the permissions an application is asking for when you download it from the market.

And if malware in the market isn’t enough, how about software that allows you to easily hack Facebook, Twitter, and other social network sites with nothing more than a tap on your mobile device.

It’s too bad Google has let these kinds of apps into the Market. They need to do more to help protect users data from these types of apps. As it stands now, I’m having a hard time recommending Android to anyone other than the uber-geek.

Check out the Lookout Mobile site for a list of applications infected by DroidDreamLight and what you need to do to clean your device.

The tablet space it really heating up as of late and LG doesn’t want to be left out of the game. Last week they launched the new Optimus Pad with a 8.9 inch display, running the latest version of Google’s Android and the only official tablet version of the operating system – Android 3.0. The Optimus Pad is available exclusively from Rogers Wireless for $450 with a 3 year plan, or $650 without a plan.

The Optimus Pad is powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 mobile processor. With 32GB of internal memory, a 3D camera that supports 5 megapixel images, WiFi, HDMI Out, GPS, Bluetooth, and support for up to 14.4 Mbps download over the Rogers network, making this one nicely tricked out tablet. It would be nice if it offered expandable storage by MicroSD slot, but perhaps it won’t be that big an issue with 32GB on board.

Overall, Rogers and LG are claiming a 15 day standby, or 40 hours of music playback, or 10 hours of video playback on a single charge of the battery – that’s pretty impressive. I can’t wait to get one in my hands and give it the once over to see if it really lasts as long as they claim.

If you’re interested, the full press release is below. Give it a read and let us know your thoughts on this new device. Will you be adding this to your gadget collection before the summer kicks into high gear?

LG OPTIMUS PAD – SETING NEW STANDARDS SO CANADIANS CAN WORK HARD AND PLAY HARD
The 4G Android 3.0 Honeycomb Tablet Brings Media to Life with 3D and HD Capture, Viewing and Sharing

Toronto, May 17, 2011 – LG is bringing media to life with the release of the Optimus Pad in Canada – the latest in tablet technology with a dual-core processor. With diverse multimedia and productivity features, the LG Optimus Pad features a unique 8.9-inch display for one-handed portability and uncompromising viewability, a variation from the 7 and 10 inch screens in market.

The LG Optimus Pad is powered by Google’s Android 3.0 Honeycomb platform and the NVIDIA Tegra 2 mobile processor. The world’s first tablet with a 3D camera, the LG Optimus Pad wraps users in an immersive multimedia environment with Full HD 1080p decoding.

“We are thrilled to set a new standard for tablets in the Canadian market with the launch of the Optimus Pad,” said Frank Lee, Senior Marketing Manager, LG Electronics Canada.   “Canadians are looking for exciting innovation with versatility for work and play and the Optimus Pad achieves the right blend of portability and viewability with no performance compromises.”

The LG Optimus Pad will be available in Canada exclusively through Rogers Communications.  It will be available with select three-year data plans at $449.99, a month-to-month plan for $649.99 or as a standalone purchase for $699.99.

Easy Portability, Ideal Viewability
Sized at 8.9-inch diagonally and 149.4-mm horizontally, the LG Optimus Pad offers a sensible solution to other tablets on the market that are either too large for comfortable portability or too small for ideal viewing. The conveniently-sized LG Optimus Pad fits comfortably in one hand, goes anywhere and slips easily into purses and slim briefcases. With 15:9 aspect ratio, the LG Optimus Pad allows users access to the full range of applications in Android Market and its 1280 x 768 WXGA resolution vividly displays multimedia content in full widescreen format.

Powerful, Fast and Versatile Platform
The LG Optimus Pad is powered by Android 3.0, Google’s latest platform optimized for tablets which supports larger display resolutions and applications specifically designed for tablets, including Google eBooks, Google Maps 5, Google Talk, Rogers urMusic, Rogers On Demand Online and the Macleans and Sportsnet widgets. Android 3.0 also makes the LG Optimus Pad easy to use with a more intuitive PC-like interface. The LG Optimus Pad fully utilizes the 1 GHz Dual Core CPU of NVIDIA Tegra 2 to deliver lag-free web browsing and quick app start up. The superb graphics and multitasking capabilities of NVIDIA Tegra 2 enables the LG Optimus Pad to run multiple apps simultaneously and handle rich multimedia with ease.

Haven for Multimedia Enthusiasts
As the world’s first tablet equipped with a 3D camera, users can capture vivid images and video with the LG Optimus Pad for viewing on 3D TVs using HDMI or on the web via YouTube 3D. Business users will also appreciate the built-in videocalling feature. With 1080p Full HD decoding, movie enthusiasts can transfer high quality content to their TVs without any loss in picture quality. Serious and casual gamers alike will delight in the wide collection of console-quality games available through the Tegra Zone app that runs seamlessly on the LG Optimus Pad.

Recently launched in Canada by all of the major carriers, it is also available unlocked directly from Future Shop. So you can pick up this phone and use it on any network you like – just about. Keep in mind that Wind, Public Mobile, and the other new entrants are running on a different band. The price range for the Nexus S varies depending on which carrier and what plan you get. You should be able to find it for somewhere between $50 and $600 if you go for the unlocked version.

Specifications

The Nexus S has just about all the features you could ask for – Powered by Android 2.3, weight of 129 grams, and with dimensions of 123.90x63x10.88 mm. Given it’s ultra thin design (under 11mm) the Nexus is a amazing for what they were able to pack into it: 1500mAh battery, a 5 MegaPixel camera, Super AMOLED screen, Bluetooth 2.1 and USB 2.0, and 16GB of internal storage. They also managed to add Near Field Communication (NFC) into this small footprint. While there isn’t much out there today to take advantage of NFC, the hope is that there will be before this phone is sent off to the big cellphone graveyard in the sky. The Nexus S is running Samsung’s S5PC110 processor, a 1GHz ARM based CPU that preforms very well.

As you review the hardware features of this phone, there’s one thing that it’s missing. I didn’t notice it at first, but within the first day of using the phone I ran into this and it ended up being one of those things I wish could be changed. It’s missing a slot for a MicroSD card. Yes, I know that I could email myself the files, or perhaps connect it to  my computer and transfer files that way. But it’s not always convenient to boot up your computer just to copy a file to your device.

Getting Physical

The Nexus S is a unique looking smartphone for a couple reasons. The biggest one would be the contoured display. I’ve hear the benefits of this “sold” to users in a number of different ways. The most common is that it is somehow more natural, and provides a better experience when you are interacting with the phone. The contour is definitely a talking point for the phone. The people that noticed it usually did right away and had lots of questions about its pros and cons. The people that didn’t notice it by themselves, and this was the larger group of people, saw it as more of a marketing gimmick.

My guess is that the truth is somewhere in between. Does it provide a better user experience? Not that I noticed. Is it all marketing? No, I don’t think that’s true either. I’m sure that some people find it more comfortable to talk on because the small curve on the screen means that it would hug your face a little more than the average device. Is it cool? Yes, but it’s not something that I would pay more money for.

The other unique physical factor of this phone is the bump on the back of the phone at the bottom end. It actually makes the phone easier to hold in your hand when you’re working on the keyboard. On most phones, especially phones with a soft-keyboard, the keys are too close to the bottom edge of the device. As a result the device is poorly balanced in your hands and at that point you’re more worried about it dropping than getting your email done. Proper balance in your hand is key to a good solid keyboard on a mobile device, and Samsung nailed it with the Nexus S.

Nexus S photos by Kendra

The back of the phone is more than just the average back door. On the Nexus S the back door is the antenna for the NFC. When the door is off, you can see two little connectors that allow the internals of the phone to connect to the external NFC antenna on the back door. To open the back for the phone, you’ll need to insert your thumbnail in the little cut-out along the top of the phone. From there, you can gently pry off the back door. The top of the device isn’t exactly where I would have expected the battery door to open from – typically it’s the bottom of the phone. Regardless, it’s not a big deal were it is, I’m just happy to have the ability. I would have expected the backdoor access to be along the bottom of the device. However, the MicroUSB charge port and the headset jack are along the bottom of the phone.

Pure Android

The idea behind the Nexus group of smartphones it to provide customers with a device that is pure Android, with no modifications or enhancements by the hardware manufacturer and/or the carrier. Samsung’s Nexus S is one of these pure Android experiences. The only changes or additions that Samsung made was the drivers to make it work with their hardware. Otherwise, the Android experience is 100% Google. There’s no fancy changes to the interface like you would find with Samsung’s Galaxy line or HTC’s line of Android devices.

The question is which do you prefer? For me, I really like the interface that Samsung has built on the Galaxy line of phones. For me, that is much more fun to use than the Nexus S. There are elements that I like with the pure Android approach like getting Android updates in a timely manner. However, I don’t know that it’s enough for me to go the Nexus route over the Galaxy series, or other enhanced Android phones.

There are some really nice additions in Android 2.3 that I have not seen on other Android 2.3 devices. Maybe it was there and I never saw it, or it was removed by the carrier and OEM, I can’t be sure. The battery usage report is a very powerful tool that shows you how much battery power different parts of the device are using. It’s a great way to find out what is using the power and adjust the settings of that application to reduce the power drain it causes. I don’t think anyone would be surprised to see that the display is a huge part of the power consumption on a device. And this could easily be trimmed by turning down the brightness of the screen a little.

Another thing that tends to get lost in the carrier customization is the Live Wallpapers. While they’re still on the device, they aren’t enabled by default. With the Nexus S, the Live Wallpapers are on from the time you first power up the device. Whether or not you leave it on is up to you and the power consumption of the Live Wallpaper you picked.

The built-in voice recognition software was downright amazing. When you have the keyboard open and are working on an email, text message, or whatever you are looking to type, press the little microphone icon to the side of the space bar and the voice app will pop open. Speak your message to the phone and it will go and do it’s thing and return back what it thinks you said. On my first time using it, the app was about 50% correct. I promptly deleted what it returned and started over again speaking just a little slower and giving just a little more of a pause between words and it returned with a 100% accuracy each and every time from then on. It was even accurate in acronyms like USB and SD.

Final Thoughts

Samsung has done a top-notch job on the hardware that powers the Nexus S. From the awesome screen to the powerful processor, the Nexus S kicks at every curve. While a MicroSD card would be nice, it certainly isn’t critical given the 16GB of on-board storage. The pure Google Android 2.3 provides a powerful operating system, even if it lacks the flashy custom home screens of some of the other Android devices. As is typical with Android, there is a lot more power and customizability in Android than Apple’s iPhone. So if you find the iPhone limiting, you’ll be right at home on this device.

A few of us were invited to the Future Shop for a pre-opening party where we had some good conversation and some yummy Android themed food – which included Gingerbread muffins, green pancakes with ginger maple syrup, and green smoothie made from Mango, Pineapple, Banana, and Spinach.  Cool geeky food aside, Future Shop talked about the incredible rise of Android – going from just a couple percent of smartphone sales a year ago, to accounting for 40% of smartphones sales today. Of course, there’s no surprise about who the second and third place finishers are in those sales numbers.

The Nexus S is powered by Gingerbread (Android 2.3) with a 4 inch super AMOLED screen, NFC, 5 megapixel camera, and the ever cool portable hotspot making your phone a WiFi gateway so your friends can access the internet. The Nexus S is available without contract and carrier unlocked, if that’s the way you like your smartphones. If not, then you can still get it on contract from Fido, Rogers, Koodo, and Telus. With a 3 year contract the phone starts as low as $99.99. Unlocked and contract free, you’ll see the price starting around $450. Check out on Future Shops website for all the options.

We managed to get a Nexus S here and we’ll be posting our thoughts over the coming weeks. So stay tuned!

Still not impressed?  Ok, how about an 8 megapixel autofocus camera with a dual LED flash supporting full 1080p HD video recording with stereo sound, Bluetooth 3.0, and a 1520mAh battery. The only thing on the spec sheet that brings out the questions is the available memory. The device brags 4GB internal storage with only 1GB being user accessible. We’re not sure where the other 3GB went or why it’s being kept locked away from the user. But not to worry, you can still add an external MicroSD card for more storage – or use the 8GB one that comes with the phone.

When it does ship in the coming months, you’ll find the latest version of HTC’s Sense and it will also have HTC’s Watch application that allows multi-media rental and purchases from the device. It will also sport a newly redesigned lock screen that shows displays real time information from the device, including image gallery, social network friend stream, weather, and more.

Congrats to HTC on another amazing device. The HTC Sensation is truly a sensational device.

Microsoft has been around the block a couple times in this area. They have a pretty good idea of what would be considered antitrust and what would not. A lot of people like to think of Google in that “Do no evil” mantra from many years ago. But that’s not the Google of today in my opinion. It may take years, but it will be interesting to see the outcome of this and if it does turn out to be another turning point in tech history.

(Source = WindowsPhoneThoughts.com)

At the same time, Android surpassed Apple and Nokia’s Symbian as the most widely adopted mobile platform. While that’s great news for Google and Android fans. Apple, Nokia, Microsoft and RIM aren’t going to sit still. With this market growing to pass the desktop market, everyone will be gunning to get a lion’s share of it. It wasn’t too long ago that Symbian and RIM owned the mobile market. All that’s changed  and it looks like 2011 will be a fierce battle for dominance. I can’t wait!!

(Source = Financial Times)