Lollipop on the Galaxy Note 4. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
Tired of waiting for Samsung to bring Lollipop to your Galaxy Note 4? If you have one of a number of Note 4 variants, the software may be available for manual installation. It’s a super simple process, and it won’t void your warranty.
These apps made 2014 better. Photo: Killian Bell/Cult of Android
It’s been a great year to be an Android user. Not only have we seen the release of Google’s massive Material Design makeover and all kinds of wonderful new features inside Android 5.0 Lollipop, but we’ve also had oodles of awesome apps to enjoy.
In this roundup, we’ve selected the best Google Play releases from the past 12 months. We’ve got great launchers, amazing email apps, terrific Twitter clients and lots more. (Some are also available on iOS.)
It’s easy to point a finger at Xiaomi, the Chinese phone maker that clearly draws a lot of… inspiration from Apple. And there’s Samsung, of course. But there’s another copycat offender out there that’s almost just as bad, if not worse: Lenovo.
The Chinese manufacturer has a new phone coming out called the Sisley S90. Excuse the fact that the device looks just like an iPhone 6; its website is basically a carbon clone of Apple’s.
iPhone 6 Plus. Photo: Jim Merithew/Cult of Android
The first batch of the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus have already made their hands to millions of consumers in the United States and other major markets of the world. There is no denying the fact that many among them will be long time Android users who have been patiently waiting for Apple to make the shift to a larger screen.
With iOS 8, Apple is bringing a multitude of exciting new features to iPhone and iPad. In some cases, Cupertino is playing catch-up as it tries to match what’s currently available in KitKat; in others, Apple’s next-generation mobile operating system is about to blast past the latest version of Android.
Android and iOS will secure a staggering 95 percent of smartphone market share between them in 2014, according to the latest research from IDC. While it’s strictly a two-horse race, Google’s platform is currently far out in front when it comes to number of users, with Android’s market share expected to reach 80.2 percent by the end of the year.
Google has a new Android update up its sleeve that will be announced this summer, but while Apple posts impressive upgrade percentages, Android fragmentation typically slows deployment of Google’s latest, greatest mobile OS.
