Meet Tizen and Firefox: The challengers to Android’s OS throne

Barcelona: A small band of upstarts is chipping away at Google’s mighty Android, hoping one day to overthrow the system that runs eight in 10 smartphones sold worldwide.

Mozilla’s Firefox OS and the Samsung-promoted Tizen staked a small claim to the market at the industry’s largest fair, the February 24-27 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

If there is a threat to Android’s dominance, however, it could emerge from a slowdown in saturated smartphone markets and the birth of a new interest in smart watches, bracelets and glasses, analysts say.

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AT&T's Samsung Galaxy S4 Will Get The Android 4.4.2 OTA Tomorrow, February 26th

Prepare yourself AT&T customers – the Galaxy S4 is about to finally get that KitKat update that's been slowly rolling out across Samsung's product lineup. AT&T just posted the update details, and tomorrow (February 26th) is the big day.

The OTA will bump the device up to Android 4.4.2 with build number KOTH49H.I337UCUFNB1. Here's what it will include.

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Microsoft rallies Windows for price war with Android

Dirt-cheap Windows PCs and tablets are coming, and it's all thanks to Google's growing low-price threat.

Android tablets are eating the world, Chromebooks have been gobbling up market share in both the commercial and sub-$300 segments, and once-loyal PC builders are even dabbling with "Droidbooks" and Android-based all-in-ones. On the other side of the coin, Windows tablets have struggled to pick up steam, and the PC market has been sinking ever since the iPad saw the light of day.

Microsoft made two moves this weekend to counter the small but growing rebellion. First came news of the company reportedly cutting the cost of Windows 8 licenses to a mere $15 for devices sold under $250. Then on Sunday, Microsoft confirmed the long-rumoredWindows 8.1 update, which essentially halved the system requirements for Windows devices.

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How to watch Nokia X Android launch event live: follow Nokia's MWC 2014 press conference

How to watch the Nokia X Android launch event from MWC 2014. Follow Nokia's Android phone launch from Barcelona.

Tomorrow morning from the MWC show in Barcelona, Nokia is set to reveal the Nokia X smartphone. It's expected to be a major step for Nokia: the Windows Phone maker about to be purchased by Microsoft is believed to be readying an Android handset. Here we'll show you how to find out first what is going on.

What is Nokia X?

The Nokia X is expected to come in a total of six different colours and have a budget line-up of specifications, putting it at the bottom of Nokia's lineup, offering a decent-sized but cheap alternative to the successful Lumia lineup. The Nokia X will be powered by a 1GHz dual-core processor with 512MB of RAM and 4GB of storage. Not great but it will have a microSD cards slot, we're led to believe. As such it

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AT&T: HTC One, LG G2 Android 4.4 updates now rolling out

It was just two days ago that we were discussing the Android 4.4 updates for the HTC One and LG G2, and now it looks like AT&T customers with the One and G2 will get to try those KitKat updates for themselves.

AT&T today announced that it has started to roll out Android 4.4 to its versions of the HTC One and LG G2. Both updates are rolling out over the air and include a bump up to KitKat, user interface enhancements and some device-specific goodies. Here's AT&T's changelog for the HTC One update, which also includes a bump to HTC's Sense 5.5 overlay:

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Lenovo's Android-powered Yoga Tablet 10 HD+ promises huge spec improvements

BARCELONA—Our first experience with an Android-powered Lenovo tablet was unfortunate. Powered by a weak MediaTek processor and a low-resolution display, the Lenovo Yoga Tablet 8 was, as we originally wrote, “a shining example of mediocrity.” 

But on Sunday Lenovo announced what appears to be a worthy Android do-over. The new 10.1-inch  Lenovo Yoga Tablet HD+ boasts a much more powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon processor along with a 1920x1080 screen—the kind of specs that could help Lenovo battle Android tablet mainstays, mostly notably the second-generation Nexus 7 and Kindle Fire HDX. 

Just like past Lenovo tablets, the Yoga Tablet HD+ employs a nifty kickstand. You can tuck it away to hold the tablet for reading, or flip it out to stand up the device for watching a video.

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Google Nexus 8 set to launch with Android 4.5 in July: Report

Reports have for a while indicated Google may be working on a Nexus 8 tablet, and the latest claim which is being said to launch in July this year, along with the next Android version, said to be v4.5.

It has being speculated that the search giant might be shifting away from its 7-inch devices because of the high competitiveness of the segment, which would be much less in the 8-inch bracket. Some of the popular 8-inch tablets in the market are Apple iPad Mini, Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0, Galaxy Tab Pro 8.4 and LG G Pad 8.3.

As claimed in a report by Taiwanese publication , a senior employee of Google Dublin confirmed that the firm will be launching Android 4.5 OS in July along with the new tablet, Nexus 8. The source is also quoted to have that the upcoming Google I/O conference, which will start from 25 June, will concentrate more towards the services Google plans to bring for its users.

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