10 percent of Android devices have gobbled up Jelly Bean

Google released its latest set of Android usage statistics on Friday, revealing that Jelly Bean (Android 4.1 and 4.2) is now on 10.2 percent of Android devices.

The statistics were calculated by examining the devices that accessed the Google Play store over a 14-day period ending Jan. 3.

In addition to Jelly Bean's 10.2 percent, Ice Cream Sandwich stands at 29.1 percent, Honeycomb has 1.5 percent and Gingerbread 47.6 percent.

Earlier versions of Android, including Froyo, Eclair and Donut, still account collectively for 11.6 percent of Android devices.

Growing faster than ICS

Android dominated the smartphone market throughout 2012, both in the U.S. and internationally.

The Google OS's expanding hold on the market may explain why Jelly Bean has been adopted more quickly than Ice Cream Sandwich was when it first launched.

Jelly Bean gained 10 percent of the market share in the almost six months since its release in July, while after almost eight months Ice Cream Sandwich was still on just 7.1 percent of devices.

As The Verge pointed out on Friday, Jelly Bean's faster adoption rate may also be related to the relatively minor changes it made to Ice Cream Sandwich, which was a more drastic update over its predecessors.

In comparison with the shift to Ice Cream Sandwich, upgrading to Jelly Bean is relatively painless.

Nevertheless, like Jelly Bean, Ice Cream Sandwich adoption is up significantly overall, with the older Gingerbread finally dropping below 50 percent of the total Android market.

Via The Verge

Android Jelly Bean 4.1 confirmed for Samsung Galaxy S2

Samsung Korea has confirmed that the popular Galaxy S2 smartphone will get an infusion of Android Jelly Bean.

The company revealed details of the update on its official site, but did not say when exactly the refresh will become available to Galaxy S2 owners.

Among the new features are Google Now and the Android Project Butter. It'll also have built-in Google+, Google Play Books and Google Play Movies.

The update will, however, take up an extra 1GB of storage on the Galaxy S2, thanks to a new system partition, and will take an hour to download when it finally arrives.

Pop-Up Play and Smart Stay too

Alongside the Jelly Bean update, Samsung is also bringing some of the tech it introduced with the Galaxy S3 last year.

S2 owners will get the Smart Stay feature, which prevents the screen from timing out when you're looking at it, while the Camera app will allow users to pause recordings.

It'll also get the Pop-Up Play functionality, allowing users to continue enjoying video while emailing, texting or browsing the web, etc.

So, a new lease of life is on the way for one of the best handsets of the smartphone era. Now its just a waiting game and, as is often the case with Android updates, it could be quite a wait yet.

Via Android Central

Google to enable Google Maps on Windows Phone after all

Google has said it will be "soon" removing the block on its Maps service for Windows Phone handsets using the Internet Explorer browser.

Currently, anyone wishing to access the Google Maps mobile site through the built-in Microsoft browser is redirected to the Google.com homepage, allowing them to, at least, use Google's local services.

The search giant claimed that Google Maps was not as compatible with IE as it is with Chrome, the default Android browser, the Firefox mobile browser and, of course Apple's Safari browser.

Now Google has made somewhat of a u-turn and said recent improvements in IE and in Google Maps mean a better experience can now be provided for Windows Phone users.

Periodic testing

In a statement issued to The Verge, Google explained: "We periodically test Google Maps compatibility with mobile browsers to make sure we deliver the best experience for those users.

"In our last test, IE mobile still did not offer a good maps experience with no ability to pan or zoom and perform basic map functionality. As a result, we chose to continue to redirect IE mobile users to Google.com where they could at least make local searches. The Firefox mobile browser did offer a somewhat better user experience and that's why there is no redirect for those users.

"Recent improvements to IE mobile and Google Maps now deliver a better experience and we are currently working to remove the redirect. We will continue to test Google Maps compatibility with other mobile browsers to ensure the best possible experience for users."

The change of heart at Mountain View is, at least, a gesture that it isn't hell bent on playing hard ball with Windows Phone.

The company has angered users and perhaps damaged the prosperity of operating system by removing ActiveSync support, making it harder for people who use its services like Google Calendar and Gmail to do so on Windows Phone.

Via The Verge