Cisco drops Cius tablets after the BYOD crush, plans upgrade to Android 4.0 out of kindness

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Cisco had grand plans for a Cius tablet on every fast-paced executive's desk, but those dreams appear to have been dashed not long after getting off the ground. Senior VP OJ Winge says the company will "no longer invest" in the design, leaving the already rather creaky Android 2.2-based, 7-inch tablet to an eternal slumber outside of occasional specialized orders. It's not hard to see what hastened the Cius to its early demise, as Winge pins it on companies and customers encouraging a BYOD (bring your own device) strategy that likely brought more than a few iPads and beefier Android tablets into the space Cisco wanted to occupy. Before existing Cius owners start videoconferencing with themselves out of sheer despondence, though, there's a silver lining: the company now expects to take the Cius' firmware all the way from Android 2.2 to 4.0 in one fell swoop near the end of the summer. You may not be living Cisco's 2010-era vision, but at least you'll have Chrome for Android.

Cisco drops Cius tablets after the BYOD crush, plans upgrade to Android 4.0 out of kindness originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 25 May 2012 14:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Ars Technica  |  sourceCisco Blog, Cisco Support Community  | Email this | Comments

Firefox native version hits Android in beta, new UI and speedups tag along

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Those who've liked Firefox for Android but have been clamoring for a native version can rest easy, as there's now a truly optimized version waiting for you in Google Play. Mozilla's new Firefox 14.0 beta now looks like, and importantly runs like, a full member of the Android family. Making the leap also affords it Flash support, a new starting page with top sites, secure Google searches and a slew of load time and responsiveness upgrades over the creakier, XUL-based version. Beta status should still trigger a moment of pause if you're not ready to accept a few bugs, but if you've got Android 2.2 or later, you're welcome to give Firefox a shot.

Firefox native version hits Android in beta, new UI and speedups tag along originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 May 2012 14:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Android Central  |  sourceGoogle Play, Release notes  | Email this | Comments

Kingston Wi-Drive update opens access to web, Android aficionados

Kingston Wi-Drive

Those of us who've been eying the Kingston Wi-Drive but have been disappointed with the iOS-first emphasis can rejoice, as a new firmware update is expanding access in a big way. At a minimum, anyone with a web browser can now stream music, photos and videos to their heart's content once they're linked to the drive over WiFi. And if you'd rather use a native app, any Android 2.2 or later device is now an option instead of having to turn to one of Apple's gadgets or the Amazon Kindle Fire. Future Wi-Drives should have the firmware loaded from the get-go. The apps as always remain free, although you'll need to spend a minimum of $50 to join the club with a drive of your own.

Kingston Wi-Drive update opens access to web, Android aficionados originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 May 2012 08:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceWi-Drive Updater, Google Play  | Email this | Comments

ICS reaches 2.9 percent of active Android devices, 63.7 percent still on Gingerbread

ICS reaches 2.9 percent of active Android devices, 63.7 percent still on Gingerbread
As we check back in on Android's Platform Versions dashboard for the first time since January, we can finally see notable growth in the percentage of devices running some flavor of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, up for 0.6 percent then to 2.9 percent. That's likely fueled by the release of updates for the Samsung Galaxy S II and HTC Sensation family of devices, and is a sharp uptick from last month when it registered on 1.6 percent. Gingerbread (2.3) still reigns supreme, running 63.7 percent of the Android hardware that accessed the Play market in the last two weeks, but its growth seems to finally be slowing. Last year at this time that position was filled by Android 2.2, with 2.3 on just one percent of the hardware and Android 3.0 barely registering at all, a point which highlights the long cycle of upgrades. Call it fragmentation or flexibility, app developers can use these stats to plan their releases going forward, although it may be a little while still before the majority of the crowd can access any Ice Cream Sandwich-specific features.

ICS reaches 2.9 percent of active Android devices, 63.7 percent still on Gingerbread originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 02 Apr 2012 21:17:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceAndroid Developers  | Email this | Comments