Android

I once had two friends who were fairly happy with their Droid X Android phones. But after I showed them how to grab an official, over-the-air upgrade to Android 2.3, or “Gingerbread,” they were much less happy with their phones, with Android in general, and almost certainly with me.

Today, we’re talking crazy Samsung tablets, networks’ crazy lack of understanding of what makes Hulu appealing, and a really crazy Android rumor.

The company that fought last year to reduce the number of U.S. carriers from four to three says more competition in the smartphone market is a good thing.

Let’s review the best ways you can grab a screenshot from an iPhone, Android, BlackBerry, or Windows Phone. Or even a WebOS phone, if you're feeling esoteric.

Nokia on Wednesday lowered its financial outlook for the first half of this year, just a day after the Finnish device maker revealed a software glitch in its marquee smartphone.

What keeps people on the BlackBerry platform? The feel of the keyboard, sure. BlackBerry Messenger, maybe. But in some cases the answer is "I really don’t want to transfer all my contacts over.”

A new report states that more than 50 percent of all phone purchases, prepaid or contractual, are smartphones, and that 29 percent of prepaid phones are smartphones.

Let’s open the doors to bragging, debate, show-and-tell, and all the other stuff that makes for a lot more fun than “Oracle's Google Android patent lawsuit cut down to size”.

Heard about personal data security and privacy lately? Oh, yes, you have. Allow me to provide a tonic, a refreshing change of scenery, or, at the very least, a neat app recommendation.

Google has promised again to delete apps from Android Market that are able to steal all a user's photos or contacts without notice. The problem isn't the apps, though; it's the holes in Android security so big apps can't help but fall through. Time to stop blaming insecure apps, take responsibility for Android security and fix the holes. If Microsoft could do it, Google can.

Google says it will keep Motorola's phones at arm's length at all costs. And Motorola's patents are tricky to enforce. So now what?

So, how, exactly, do you trick Google into giving you the foundation without allowing them to look through any windows? Here’s how to set up an almost entirely non-Google-powered Android, in practice.