Three cheers for Android browser competitionThree cheers for Android browser competition

Three cheers for Android browser competition

 

 

Firefox, back with a new native interface, now runs again on Android tablets with the beta of version 15.

(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

This morning, I installed the Firefox 15 beta on my two favored Android devices, a Samsung Galaxy Nexus phone and an Asus Nexus 7 tablet. 

 

Big deal, you say. Installing a browser. Ho-hum.

It shouldn't be a big deal, but it is -- because you can't install Firefox on an iPhone, iPad, or forthcoming Windows RT tablet. 

 

But on Android, Google has chosen to let any other browser compete directly against its own. For that reason, I regularly use Opera Mini and Opera Mobile alongside Google's Chrome. The Dolphin Browser HD, installed more than 10 million times, is another widely used option.

Kudos to Google for not being afraid of competition. 

 

Google could easily have banned other browsers from Android or raised significant barriers the way Apple and Microsoft have chosen to do. 

 

It's certainly working hard to ensure Chrome's success, pushing the browser hard enough that the company sometimes raises rivals' hackles. For example, try to run the load the Chrome-promoting browser-based art project with the Tate Modern museum, This Exquisite Forest, and non-Chrome browser users will see an explanatory YouTube video and a message: "This site has features your browser may not support. Please try Google Chrome." 

 

That's the kind of thing that harkens back to the bad old days of the last-generation browser wars of the 1990s between Internet Explorer and Netscape, when the Web was plagued with incompatible Web sites and some publishers would proclaim their loyalty to one faction or another. "Ah the 'Made for IE6' badge for a new generation," tweeted Mozilla Product Manager Dave Mason upon seeing the message. 

 

On Android at least the other browsers have a fighting chance. The European Union favors the browser choice of the personal-computer market. 

 

On iOS, browsers must use an Apple-supplied version of the WebKit browser engine to process and display Web pages. Not only that, but that UIWebView version of WebKit, which third-party software must use, is slower when it comes to running JavaScript programs than the WebKit in Apple's own Safari.

And on Microsoft's forthcoming Windows RT, the version of Windows for the ARM processors that dominate the mobile device market today, other browsers don't get access to the same deeper hardware controls that Internet Explorer gets. 

 

 

Firefox and other non-IE browsers on Windows RT don't get the same privileges that Internet Explorer gets, a reality that has caused Mozilla some distress.

(Credit: Asa Dotzler)

 

In both cases, there are security and user-experience reasons that can justify Apple's and Microsoft's choices to restrict third-party browsers. The effect, though, is to hamper those browsers' abilities. 

 

The difficulties of hobbled browsers

Google nonetheless decided to build Chrome on iOS, and Mozilla has begun an iOS browser experiment called Junior. But building a browser under such circumstances has challenges.

Differentiation from Safari still is possible; for example, Chrome has its distinctive tabs-on-top look, has Google's SPDY technology for boosting Web peformance, and synchronizes tabs, bookmarks, and other settings through people's Google accounts. 

 

"Chrome for iOS has some pretty major technical restrictions imposed by the App Store, such as the requirement to use the built-in UIWebView for rendering, no V8, and a single-process model," said team member Mike Pinkerton in a mailing list message. V8 is Chrome's JavaScript engine, and a single-process model means that Google had to drop its approach of isolating tabs in separate memory compartments. He also listed areas where Google was able to bring some of its Chrome technology, though.

Peter Kasting, another Chrome member, was more specific in a comment in a discussion about unflattering JavaScript benchmarks for Chrome on iOS. 

 

 

Chrome for iOS doesn't use Chrome's usual browser engine for things like processing JavaScript and HTML, but it does use Chrome's network abilities, including support for SPDY for faster Web response.

(Credit: screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

 

"We support aggressive prefetching, especially for the omnibox [Chrome's combination search and Web address box] and top search results, which really does have truly enormous effects on actual usage that are harder to capture in a benchmark," Kasting said. 

 

But it's not using all of Chrome -- which is why visiting This Exquisite Forest works in Chrome for Android but gives the warning message with Chrome for iOS. 

 

It's a problem that Mozilla's Robert O'Callahan mentioned. "I'm surprised you'd risk dilution of Chrome's brand this way. There's going to be plenty of confusion among Web developers and users about what 'Chrome' means. Lots of features that are 'in Chrome' won't be in iOS Chrome. Some sites that 'work in Chrome' won't work in iOS Chrome," he said. 

 

Kasting acknowledged the problem in his response.

"The Web developer fragmentation effect has definitely been a real concern, and not everyone on the team has felt like the overall benefits of iOS Chrome outweigh the costs," he said. 

 

Another challenge: on iOS, third-party browsers can't be set as the default browser, so for example opening a Web address in an e-mail requires copying and pasting if you don't want to use Safari. 

 

Firefox on Android

Even where full-power third-party browsers are allowed, it's not easy. Mozilla had to restart its Firefox on Android project to use a faster native interface, and it's still used in vanishingly small numbers because it's not preinstalled. 

 

The overhauled version only recently arrived on Android phones, and it's only in beta on Android tablets, but I like it so far. It loads pages fast, with my combination of an unscientific eye and Nexus 7 tablet. It pans and zooms smoothly. It pulled my browsing history in after a sync and generally got out of my way. Some problems, though: It needs user multi-tab interface work, and it crashed when I tried to log into Flickr.

So no, it's not perfect. But it's real, and at least Google gives these other browsers a chance.

I suspect that Google's approach won't just be to the benefit of Opera, Mozilla, Dolphin, Maxthon Mobile, UC Browser, and all the rest that. 

 

Given the vigorous the browser market's present vigor, I think Chrome will benefit from the competition, too.

 

 

Top 5 Android Web Browsers

Top 5 Android Web Browsers

 

There’s hundreds of android web browsers, depending on your requirements either desktop sync or speed browsing, or support for flash navigation, you have options galore. Some of them are popular others are not much popular. So in this Post I’ve decided to let you our readers inform that which are the top 5 android browsers.

• Firefox

  Firefox for Android has come a long way since its days in beta. It’s fast, it’s free, it fully supports Firefox Sync, so if you use Firefox on the desktop, it’ll bring in your bookmarks and passwords. It’s the first mobile browser to truly support Do Not Track, and the “Awesome Page” start screen that shows you all of your recently visited tabs helps you get right back to what you were doing if you had to put your phone down. It even supports add-ons and Personas, although there aren’t too many of them yet. A few more options, and Firefox would be a good contender for our favorite, but it’s clearly already one of yours, and for good reason.

• Chrome

  Chrome for Android finally left beta late last month, which means now it can go on to be the new “stock” browser on Android devices…assuming you’re running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich or higher. If you are running ICS or Jelly Bean on your device, Chrome for Android is a must-download. It supports Incognito Mode browsing, bookmark syncing via Chrome Sync, and in its most recent updates, now supports search syncing, tab syncing, and more—anything that Chrome can sync on your desktop will be right there waiting for you on your Android device. Chrome for Android is also optimized for mobile, meaning it’s blazing fast. The only downside is that Google hasn’t made it available for phones running Gingerbread or tablets stuck with Honeycomb.

• Dolphin Browser HD/Mini

  Dolphin Browser is our favorite web browser for Android, and for good reason. Dolphin’s options and tools are unparalleled, even when compared to the big name browsers, supports dozens of third-party plug-ins and tools to extend its features, has built-in speech-to-text thanks to Dolphin Sonar, supports on-screen gestures to open bookmarks and navigate around pages, and comes in two flavors: the “HD” version for phones that can handle all of its features, and a “Mini” version for device owners who want speed and snappy performance over options. Even if you gravitate to one of the big names, Dolphin is worth at least trying.

• Boat Browser/Mini

  Back in the early days of Android, one of the first browsers to challenge the stock browser was a now-vanished app called Miren. Miren was a great and feature-rich browser, but for reasons unknown, it’s tough to find these days. If you liked Miren, Boat Browser is its spiritual successor. Fast, lightweight, and completely free, Boat is intuitive, supports add-ons, and has a powerful voice control engine (so you can say “Facebook” and the browser will bring up Facebook for you). You can even skin and theme the UI if you like, customize the speed dial start page with your favorite sites, and more. If your phone can’t handle the full version—or you just want a lighter app (which is hard to believe), Boat Mini is there for you.

• Opera Mini

  If you’re a fan of Opera on the desktop, Opera Mobile will suit you perfectly. Opera Mobile supports Opera Link, so you can sync your bookmarks, speed dial, and other user preferences with your desktop Opera install. Aside from that, Opera Mobile is fast, free, and goes out of its way to compress data in the background so you can browse your favorite sites without blowing past your wireless carrier’s data caps. Opera even has its own mini-app store, full of third party add-ons that improve the browser or games that make it more fun to use. Have an older device? Opera Mini might be a better choice—you get most of the features, but even more speed.

There you have it: your picks for the five best web browsers available for Android. Now it’s time to decide which one is the best overall.

 

Top Ten Android Apps

Top Ten Android Apps

The ever-increasing Play store is inundated with hordes of apps, with many more on the way. Manufacturers have even started loading their devices with several apps, especially as seen in the affordably priced tablets that entered the Indian market recently.

Android Apps

To our surprise, several apps have managed to sustain their position and stay among the favourites, even as others went through their usual cycle and got replaced in a while. We wanted to dig into this vast market and explore what could make it to our list of Top 10 Android apps. Picking our favourite apps, across categories like, productivity, utility, photography, social and few other miscellaneous apps, here’s our list of the Top 10 Android apps. 

Productivity

1.QuickOffice Pro

This comes out as the winner, when compared to the other Office apps available at the Android market. This office suite serves well for tasks like creating, editing and sharing Microsoft files. It includes a PDF viewer, and file manager which works seamlessly with email attachments, local files, and cloud storage accounts allowing to work online as well as offline. Managing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations and viewing PDF gets easier. It allows accessing files remotely from Google Docs, Dropbox and more. QuickOffice Pro has its lite version that allows using it for free for 7 days. Users can also look into QuickOffice Pro HD, which is a more advanced version optimized for ICS tablets.

2.Evernote - Free

This simple, yet efficient and fun app has the ability to remember everything across your all devices. Taking notes, capturing photos, creating to-do lists, recording voice reminders is all possible. Moreover, it makes searching notes simpler on-the-go, and search text in images, too. Besides creating and editing notes, it is simpler to save, sync, share and organize them, too. Some highlights of the app are offline access to notebooks, allowing others to edit them and also adding a pin lock to the app. This app keeps you completely organized.

Ever Note Android

Utility:

3.Astro File manager - Free

This is a perfect manager to look after and organize your pictures, music, videos and other files. This finder for your phone allows easier browsing and organizing of all the files. It is also capable of stopping processes that burn battery life and takes backup of apps that comes handy, if you change or lose the phone. Astro also allows some personalizing now with some coloured icon sets. Some highlighted features are inclusive of file management, Android file browser, file and/or app backup, image and text viewers, networking, search files, application manager, task manager, and more. It you are fine with the ads then this free version is apt, otherwise you will have to shell out some moolah to get the ad free version.

4.Dropbox -Free

This service needs no introduction and the app makes it all the more mobile for Android users. It makes all your docs, photos and videos accessible from anywhere and the service is free. On installing the app on your computer, the file saved on Dropbox is automatically saved to your computer and Android device. It allows sharing content with just a few taps and even if you misplace your phone, then the content is all in the Dropbox. The app also allows users to edit docs in Dropbox and save e-mail attachments.

Drop Box Free

5.Android task killer - Free

Yes, it’s a true Android killer (not literally). The Advanced task killer app is a tool that kills the running applications, saving your battery life. It is used to clean memory and kill apps. Some features of the app include the ignore list, one tap widget and auto kill. However, it is suggested that one should opt for manual kill apps, instead of automatic. The app is free, but one can opt for an ad-free paid version, too.

Photography

6.Instagram - Free

This most recent and highly anticipated app is very addictive, we must say. It’s simple and fun to use. There are numerous filters to choose from and it has the ability to transform everyday moments into work of art and also lets you share them with others. This free app comes with custom designed filters and borders. It allows instant sharing to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Foursquare and is compatible with Android 2.2 and above which support OpenGL ES 2.

Media player

7.RockPlayer Lite - Free

This media player supports almost all formats and saves you a good deal of time and disk space. It has several functions and to watch a video simply place the video on an SD card or simply click the URL in the browser. This version supports ads and apparently the developer has halted the paid, ad-free version in the Google Play. However, those still looking for an ad-free version can visit the company’s website. 

Social Networking

8.Hootsuite - Free

We wouldn’t dare to give social networking apps a miss. The most trending virtual social scenario can be spruced up on your Android devices with the Hootsuite for Android. The app offers a suite of social networks under one roof. It manages Twitter,Facebook, LinkedIn and Foursquare from one place, allowing you to manage multiple social networks on-the-go. It also supports uploading photos, receiving notifications, viewing click stats, and much more. It allows you to schedule Twitter updates as well.

9. WhatsApp - Free

This app shows that SMSes have become passé. The WhatsApp Messenger allows sending and receiving messages, pictures, audio notes and video messages. You don’t need to log in and out each time, as pin notifications keep you connected always. The app saves offline messages and also helps one indulge in group chats. The address book automatically helps you connect with your buddies, while it has much more to it, such as the ability to share location, exchanging contacts, customizing wallpaper and notification sounds, and precise message time stamps. The app is free for the first year, and then would charge users some nominal $0.99 per year.

Miscellaneous

10.Dolphin Browser HD - Free

The Dolphin browser is an easy and swift mobile browser for Android devices. The browser supports gestures and sidebars for faster browsing on-the go, and is also add-on enabled.  The Sonar feature takes voice input for searches on Internet and allows bookmarking your favourite sites. Speed Dial allows visiting sites with one touch and tabbed browser feature makes it even more convenient to use.

 You can add in your list of favorite apps, and those wondering why the gaming apps have been given a miss, watch out this space for our list of best Android games soon.

Flip Board Is Now Available On Android

Flip Board Is Now Available On Android

It’s been a big week for Flipboard’s Google-related announcements. On Tuesday, the company revealed Google+ integration was coming to its social magazine, and today, the app is officially launching on all Android devices, including the Kindle Fire and the Nook. The Google+ integration, as well as newly added YouTube integration, is arriving today as well.

FlipBoard Android

The app will be available in Google Play, the Amazon Appstore for Android, the Nook Store, and in Samsung Apps.

The Android public launch comes barely a month after Flipboard debuted its official Android betaand limited Android rollout as a preloaded app on the just-releasedSamsung Galaxy S III. However, it’s been just a little longer since Flipboard’s unofficial launch, thanks to the hacked version of the Android APK file from that same device.

Demand for the Android version of the app has been “astonishing,” says Flipboard CEO Mike McCue, who tells us that they saw over half a milliondownloads during its beta. “We’ve had really good coverage across a wide range of phones. We feel really good about how it’s coming together,” he says. “But people have been asking, why is this in beta? Why can’t you just release it now?”

The answer, of course, is because it’s an Android app, and that means there’s a bit more work involved. “With iOS, you can target a very specific screen size, a very specific processor and so on – it’s quite a bit easier,” McCue explains. “On Android, to really build a high-quality application that works across a range of devices, you have to spend a lot of time optimizing…that’s why we did the beta.” The new Android version works on all the major Android smartphones as well as the Nook and Kindle Fire, and supports from small screens up to a 7-inch display. It has also had some other performance and layout optimizations since the beta release.

YouTube Launch & More Localized Versions

Another new feature arriving on both iOS and Android today is YouTube integration. You can watch, favorite, bookmark and comment on videos within Flipboard, and those changes sync with the YouTube website itself. You can also follow users and the channels you subscribe to.

And Flipboard is also once again expanding to more countries. It was previously available in localized versions in China, Japan and France, but it’s now arriving in Korea, The Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Germany. “When we deploy to each country, we not only localize the app for each of these different languages, but more importantly, we focus our energy on the curation point-of-view in each country to pick the best content.

 We’ve now gotten more efficient at doing that,” says McCue. Next up on the list for localization are parts of Latin America, as well as other countries in Asia and Europe.

Checking In On Flipboard’s Business

While the company is still declining to reveal hard numbers related to total downloads or revenue, McCue says that the move to smartphones has seen users engaging with the app throughout the day, instead of just at morning and night (8-11 PM, primarily) as on iPad. The Cover Stories feature, which launched first on smartphones and is now available via Android widget, is now the number one feed on Flipboard. He also says that Flipboard sees “very, very, very strong return-to-app metrics.”

“A lot of people are choosing us every single day, multiple times per day. This is very encouraging for us especially since we don’t do a lot with sending emails out to users, and we don’t do lots of noisy notifications,” says McCue. However, integrating push notifications is something the team is thinking about for the future, but they want to do it right when the time comes.

He also reports good progress on the advertising side of the business, which now has half a dozen publishers running ads on the platform, out of a total of 2,000 publications which have been integrated to date. Some recent advertisements have been for Converse, Nieman Marcus (the same ads as in Vogue, says McCue), and the movie “Snow White and the Huntsman.

” That last one did particularly well, with a 3.5% CTR. It directed users not to a website, but a rather to an in-app page featuring the “Snow White and the Huntsman” Twitter feed in Flipboard’s signature magazine style, which users could then subscribe to in the app. However, all Flipboard’s CTRs are “much higher than anything you’d see on the web,” says McCue.

As for what’s next, beyond its continued international expansion, one glaring omission for a magazine so focused on attractive, visual layout of content is Pinterest integration. Pinterest rival The Fancy’s integration was complete six months ago but has yet to ship, so the holdup is clearly on Pinterest’s side of things.

 But Flipboard is hardly the only third party in desperate need of a Pinterest API. (Where is that thing already?) No official word on what networks may be added next, but Pinterest will surely make a big splash when and if it ever arrives.The new Android and iOS versions of Flipboard are available for download here.

How To Make An Android Smart Phone Work Faster

How To Make An Android Smart Phone Work Faster

When you think of Android smartphones, ‘productivity’ probably isn’t the first word that comes to mind. But you don’t have to use a BlackBerry, Windows Phone 7 device or another boring ‘enterprise-friendly’ handheld to get a lot done in a little time – whether it be for work or play.

The following seven Android tips will help streamline your general Android navigation processes so you can move around your device and access your favorite apps, media and services, faster and more efficiently.

Android Motion

Also read my Android Battery Tips and Android Security Basics posts for more Android tips and tricks. And checkout my latest list of free Android apps for suggestions on new software.

(Note: The Android tips and tricks described below all work on my Motorola Atrix 4G running Android v2.2.1, but some of them may not be available for all devices or operating system versions.)

1.Coustomising Your Android Home Screen:

Customising the individual home-screen ‘panes’ on your Android smartphone is one of the easiest ways to make it your own, as well as reduce the time it takes to access your most frequently usedapplications. And you can move anyapplication to any home-screen pane.

To move an app from either your ‘app page’, where all your Android software is stored, or from one pane to another, simply press and hold the application for a second or two until a coloured shadow appears beneath it. If you’re moving an app from your app page to a home screen page, you’ll immediately be returned to the last home screen page you were on before jumping to the app page.

Moving apps around an individual pane or between panes is as simple as dragging your finger to the left or right, up or down, after holding the icon for a second to select it. And you can ditch unwanted apps from your home screen panes by holding their respective icons until they’re selected, then dropping them into the trash can, or another similar icon, that appears on-screen. 

2. Create Home Screen Widgets For Favourite Apps:

One of the coolest things about the Android OS is the ability to use a variety of widgets, or icons that sit on your home screen and display information so you don’t ever have to open the actual applications or services that they’re associated with. Widgets can save time and show information you might have otherwise missed.

To assign an Android widget to one of your home screens, just press and hold a blank space on one of those home screens, i.e., a place with no other widgets orapplications. Then choose the Android Widgets option for access to third-party app-widgets. On the following screen, scroll through all your third-party widgets and pick the ones you want to display on your home screen panes.

You should see another widget-option after holding your finger on a blank home-screen page, as well, for core system widgets. But its name will differ based on model, manufacturer and OS version. For in example, my Motorola Atrix 4G has another widget-option called Motorola Widgets that offers another set of widgets, including ones that let me toggle my various wireless-radios on and off as well as quickly start and stop music.

Not all Android apps offer widget-functionality, but many do, so be sure to check to see if your favorite app has a widget.

(Note: Android widgets that update themselves can drain a lot of battery power, depending on individual settings, so it’s not a wise idea to pack your home-screens with widgets that you won’t actually use.)

3. Create Android Home Screen Shortcuts For Favourite Websites:

Just as you can create home screen widgets for certain applications, you can also make home-screen shortcuts for your favourite web pages, so you never have to launch your browser and navigate to those pages.

To assign a custom Android shortcut to your home screen, navigate to the web page for which you want to create a shortcut, tap your Menu key to bring up additional options and then choose More. On the following screen, select the Add Shortcut to Home option. A new shortcut for the web page of your choice will appear on the home-screen pane you were on last, unless there’s no more room for another shortcut, in which case you’ll be informed that you can’t fit a new shortcut on that pane.

You can also create a shortcut to certain Android system options, such as your Android Settings menu or your Contacts, by pressing and holding a blank space on a home-screen pane for a second or two. But instead of choosing one of the widget-options, as described above, pick Shortcuts. Then choose the specific shortcut you wish to add from the options on the following screen.

4. Quickly View And Jump Between Your Last Used Android App:

One of the best ways to quickly jump back and forth between frequently-used Androidapplications is by holding your finger on the Android Home Button for a second or two, until a set of eight application-icons labeled Recent appear on screen. You can launch any of these eight apps by simply tapping their icons on the Recent page. The apps included will change based on which ones you’ve most recently used.

5. See All Android Home Screen Panes On One Screen:

The Android OS lets you quickly view miniature versions of all of your home-screen panes on one page. But the process for accessing this all-pane-view is different depending on your device and OS version. To access this view on my Motorola Atrix, I simply hold down the circular, on-screen Home button until all of my home-screen pages appear. From there, I can easily click on any pane to quickly access it, instead of scrolling through multiple panes first.

To access this multi-pane-view on the HTC Droid Incredible running Android 2.2, you must double-tap your Home button -not the on-screen ‘key’ but the actual button.

6. Employ Custom Android   folder To Organize Apps:

In addition to customising your home-screen panes and adding both widgets and shortcuts, you can add folders to your Android home screens to further customise and organise content on your smartphone. Create a new folder the same way you would a new shortcut by pressing and holding a blank space on your home screen until an options menu appears. Choose the Folders option and a new folder will be assigned to your home screen. You can then fill up your folders by dragging applications over thefolder-icons and dropping them in.

7. Double Tap Your Android Home Button For Custom 

Functions:

Some Android devices, including the Motorola Atrix 4G, let you customise your home button, so it performs different functions when double-tapped. For instance, you can set the Double Tap Home feature to open up your camera or your phone’s dial-pad, etc, whenever you double-tap your Home button.

To do so, open up your Android Settings, scroll down and click the applications option, then, on the following page, choose Double tap home launch. Next, pick the function you wish to launch after double-tapping your home button and you’re good to go.

Android Shakes Hands With Linux Ubuntu

Android Shakes Hands With Linux Ubuntu

Linux and android has always had a fan following, due to both are smart and much stable. For those who enjoy the ability to customize both platforms, having the best of both worlds is on its way. As some of us know that ubuntu had offered ubuntu on smartphone. Now this is the time when android and accepted the canonical to offer ubuntu on smartphone and that will be resealed throughout the year. Now Linux lovers will be able to connect their smartphone to display and utilize ubuntu desktop easily from their phones.

Android Ubuntu

Now The Question Arises That How Does It Will Work:

As smartphones have geared toward offering users the ability to be mobile and productive, the new marriage between Android and Ubuntu will offer the same. As a smartphone, the handhelds will still run the Android OS and you will still have all the apps you are used to, the features that has made Android popular and you won’t see much of a difference. Once you plug your phone into a monitor and keyboard however, Linux kicks in and gives the user a fully functioning Ubuntu desktop with all the productivity apps they will need.

The best part is the sharing between the two operating systems. Any documents created or edited on the Android system will be shared with Ubuntu and vice versa. This allows users to carry a Linux PC in their pockets while still utilizing all their favorite Android apps, games, and tools. To get a better idea of how it works, image a dual booting PC running Windows and Linux, the phone will operate the same way and give the user the functionality needed on both systems.

The Feature Of This Feature On Smartphone In My Point Of View:

Canonical isn’t stopping at just Android smartphones, they plan to expand. They are also working on releasing a version of Ubuntu for Android tablets as well. The premise behind the project is to simplify business and offer solutions to those companies that are currently managing multiple devices. For instance companies that are managing company issued smartphones as well as laptops will be able to manage only one device as users will be able to turn their smartphones into a PC when needed.

Ubuntu is expected to be preloaded on many of the phones being released in 2012, however no phone manufacturers have been mentioned. A demo online showed Ubuntu being run on the Motorola Atrix 2, and it seemed to offer everything promised, except speed. As mobile processors increase in speed, this may be an easy fix, along with increased speed on wireless networks.

Those smartphone “tweakers”, Linux lovers, and open-source supporters are looking forwardto the release of the mobile Ubuntu kernel and the ability to play with it. As with all Linux distros, there is talk that the common user will be able to download Ubuntu for mobile and install it on their own phones however Canonical is concentrating more on getting manufacturers on boardthan releasing a download. Only time will tell as to the abilities of this dual booting smartphone, but it is definitely a step in the right direction for mobile computing.