With software giant Microsoft still desperately trying to win the favour of mobile users with the latest Windows 10 – which launched in late July last year – Android, the world’s most used mobile OS, is looking to encroach on the company’s coveted PC market. And this time it is not Google at the helm, writes Tom Wilson.

Jide Technology Ltd, a Beijing based software and hardware company founded by three ex-Google employees (Jeremey Chau, Ben Luk and David Ko) has developed Remix OS, their own version of Android with a focus on adapting the familiar touch screen interface. This is to bring 'simplicity to productivity', shaping the software to become more user friendly to those wishing to make use of traditional PC peripherals such as a mouse and keyboard.

After an initial release of Remix OS on its own hardware, the Jide Ultratablet, Remix OS has now been made available to 64-bit PC architectures, with an official alpha release available from the company's website.

Although Android has been shown to run, in some cases fairly well, on x86 PC architectures through the Android-x86 open source project, Remix OS marks the first time a dedicated hardware and software company have delivered an x86 version of Android in an official release.

By adding a task bar, implementing multi-window app functionality and offering a full file manager built into the OS, Remix does begin to feel distinctly familiar to any PC user.

Along with these additions, familiar Android features such as a notification centre (see right) and access to Google's Play Store may make this variant of the OS an attractive option to many consumers wishing to get that little bit extra from their tablet.

Having personally trialled the software on my Microsoft Surface Pro over the past week, Remix OS is a refreshing change from the mainstream variants of Android, offered by the likes of Samsung, Sony and LG.

The addition of multi-window app functionality is particularly welcome, and the tweaked interface is slick and easy to navigate using a mouse and keyboard.

There are of course a number of shortcomings. The software is still in Alpha and hardware support is patchy (in my trial both Wi-Fi and Bluetooth were absent) and apps do take getting used to when navigating the interface with a mouse. However, Jide themselves seem focused on Remix OS and have offered a number of updates to the software since its official release on Monday 12 January.

Furthermore, their Android-on-PC efforts do not simply stop with Remix OS as they recently announced the Remix Mini, a palm sized desktop device, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month.

The official version of Remix OS can be downloaded free of charge from the company's

website: www.jide.com/en/remixos-for-pc

Apropos of nothing, but maybe a handy bookmark reference – I was just catching up on the Qualcomm smart home reference platform demoed at CES earlier this month and came across a very detailed spec comparison for processors in the Snapdragon series, the engine room of many an Android device.

See the Snapdragon series comparison. It covers all the 800, 600, 400 and 200 series.

You can drill down on the modem characteristics, GPU, video/audio capture and playback, maybe see the detailed details of your own phone's SoC...

You can also compare modems (X5, X6, X7, X8, X10, X12) and processors (S4 Play, S4 Plus, S4 Pro).

Smart home reference platform

Reversing slightly, interested in the Snapdragon 212 smart home reference platform, based on the 212 Processor? The company highlights the following:

Display

"The display interface supports resolutions up to 1280x800, frame rates up to 60 frames per second in a QHD format, and includes an 8MP camera with up to 1080p video playback. That means greater options for cover art displays, on-device UI settings, and always-on content like weather, clock, alerts and emergency notifications."

Audio

"The smart home reference platform incorporates Hi-Fi smart audio technology, which means users can rethink the relationship between their smart homes and their music collections. With up to 24-bit/192-KHz playback and low-power DSP playback offload, users can also enjoy streaming high-quality audio without draining their battery."

Voice Recognition

 

"With Fluence Pro voice recognition and input tech, the smart home reference platform is perfect for developing for smart speakers, control hubs, and many other devices. Keyword voice wakeup allows users to issue voice commands, while echo cancellation and noise suppression help eliminate unwanted sound that might hamper a voice-controlled smart home. Meanwhile, sound focus and position tracking frees consumers to interact with their devices regardless of their location in the home."

You can see other CES 2016 announcements here »

Google has officially unveiled the next generation of Android, version 6.0, codenamed “Marshmallow”. At a launch event in San Francisco, also beamed around the world, CEO Sundar Pichai ran through an overview of the latest platform.

Pixel, Nexus, Chromecasts

Android-6-marshmallow (1)In what was a plethora of announcements, there was also a release of a Google designed Android tablet-laptop, the Pixel C, which will be the hardware flagship for Marshmallow in tablet form. There were two new Nexus phones, the premium 5.7-in, aluminium Nexus 6P from Huawei, and the more "affordable" 5.2-in Nexus 5X from LG, a reworking of the popular Nexus 5. There was also an update to the Chromecast Wi-Fi/HDMI dongle and a new product: Chromecast Audio...

But back to Android Marshmallow 6.0, which will start rolling out to Nexus devices from next week...

As you might expect, the company describes it as the "most polished" version of Android to date. Headline features include Runtime Permissions for Apps, support for Apple Pay, integrated support for finger print recognition (dubbed Nexus Imprint), which itself is integrated into Android pay. There's also support for "voice interactions" that enable apps to query or confirm user actions, support for USB Type-C, and a new Doze Mode.

Runtime permissions

First of all, there's a more granular approach to granting permissions to applications. Google writes:

Runtime permissions give your app the ability to control when and with what context you'll ask for permissions. This means that users installing your app from Google Play will not be required to accept a list of permissions before installing your app, making it easy for users to get directly into your app. It also means that if your app adds new permissions, app updates will not be blocked until the user accepts the new permissions. Instead, your app can ask for the newly added runtime permissions as needed.

For Doze Mode, one of the battery-related features, the system uses more sophisticated motion detection to trigger a deeper sleep state reversed by a new touch, i.e. your phone will know when it has been lying stationary and can use the opportunity to con verve energy. Also, seldom used apps will go into App Standby in order to conserve battery for the apps that you use regularly.

Fingerprint API

Another headline feature is the Fingerprint API. Apple broke this ground a year ago with the 64-bit iPhone 6, of course. It's now in Android, with the latest Nexus and Pixel devices running on 64-bit octa-core Qualcomm or Nvidia processors.

This also enables you to "touch to unlock" your phone. by the touch if your fingerprint. Such biometric access can also be used by third-party app developers.

David Burke, in the launch event, highlighted the fingerprint support as being integrated into Android pay, to quickly verify contactless payments. Positioning of the sensor, on the Nexus 6P was also pointed out: on the back of the phone where the hand would naturally grip the device. A nice touch to make payment slightly quicker.

A new feature is Now on Tap, intended to speed "content discovery". In other words, Google's best guess art information and apps related to a specific input. The example given was being invited to a restaurant and Now on Tap providing contextual information around that venue and location...

Google also recently completed its rollout of Google Play Services 8.1, which have support for wider 6.0 functionality.

The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) has announced the general availability of its Bluetooth Developer Studio.

This a free development environment for developers get to grips with Bluetooth technology, aiming to cut developer learning time for Bluetooth technology and speed product development.

It makes building for the IoT simple for developers, from the novice to the experienced, boasts the SIG, in terms of adding smart wireless connectivity.

"The Bluetooth Developer Studio arms developers with an all-in-one, cost-efficient, and easy-to-use tool to turn their ideas into reality. With it, they can create products and applications that make our lives easier, better, smarter," said Steve Hegenderfer, director of developer programs, Bluetooth SIG.

"With Bluetooth Developer Studio, not only will we see more smart gadgets enter the market, we will see quality products that 'just work', delivering the IoT experience consumers actually want."

The devkit includes tutorials and code samples, with drag and drop functionality for a variety of Bluetooth use cases, and there are IDE functions such as auto-completion and auto-generation of code and support for virtual device testing.

You can generate code to create and manage your Bluetooth GATT profiles or services, for example.

The kit also supports the use of plugins, for example:

The Android Client plugin (from the SIG) - Generates an Android application which implements the GATT client part of the selected profile, complete with basic user interface.

The Android Profile Validator (again, from the SIG) - Generates an Android application which can connect to a device which has implemented the selected profile and validate the implementation against the profile design.

The software has been available in a beta-prgramme since April 2015.

For more information and to download Bluetooth Developer visit
www.bluetooth.com/developer-studio.

You can also find more developer support at https://developer.bluetooth.org.

Android Wear will now enable cellular comms, Google has announced, in addition to Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It means users will be able to take calls direct from their watch.

The first Android Wear watch with cellular support? Not the new Intel-powered, Android Wear-based TAG Heur Connected . The answer is the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE.

The smart watch from LG has an LTE modem inside which means it can connect to the mobile phone network directly and not just via a tethered smartphone.

The LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE runs Android Wear and also connects with Bluetooth and Wi-Fi links. But when there is no Wi-Fi in range, and as long as the user has a mobile phone contract, it will connect via the cellular network, to access the internet and send and receive messages.

Already on sale in US via AT&T and Verizon (for around $200), a European launch date has not been announced yet.

It has a 1.38-inch P-OLED display with resolution of 480x480. It is powered by a 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400.

Typical sensors for this type of smartwatch include 9-axis (Gyro/Accelerometer/Compass), a barometer and PPG heart rate sensor.

The watch is also protected to IP67 certification, which means it is waterproof for up to 1 meter for 30 minutes.

When it comes to interactive watch faces, the company writes:

The interactive watch face of LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition provides quick responses to user interactions, with its colorful and easily noticeable display designs. You can choose the graphical elements to make it stylish and functional at the same time. In addition, tons of diverse watch faces are now available at Google Play Store.

You can read more on the LG website »

Qualcomm has updated its CPU profiling tool, App Tune-up Kit, which gives a view into the hardware performance behind an app, if it’s running on the company’s hardware. It’s SnapDragon processor, is rather prevalent in Android devices, of course.

It's described as a "One-Touch Application Profiling" tool that works in 60 seconds.

Qualcomm's App Tune-up Kit

You can evaluate an app's performance in five areas: CPU, GPU, power, thermal and network data. You can also rate it against the top 20 apps in Google Play, for comparison.

Qualcomm writes:

App Tune-up Kit combines our years of experience in profiling with the most common questions about app performance to come up with a tool that’s easy to use. It also rolls up detailed information that software developers would otherwise spend hours or even days trying to collect and organize themselves. 

There are ads, analytics or data collection involved, says the company.

The latest version - released in November - has these changes:

• A Get Recommendations feature ("Provides custom-tailored suggestions to help developers make better apps. This is a beta feature that will improve over time.")
• Session descriptions ("The name of the profiling session now appears in the Compare Sessions report. This allows you to include descriptive info when you save your sessions.")
• Access the Navigation drawer from the Session Summary dashboard.
• Tapping a truncated text string on the Compare Sessions report displays the full text string.
• Shortened the default prefix of saved session files to "ATUK_"
• Added symbols and footnotes to the Dashboard screen ("to indicate when a data point was unsupported and has fallen back to a secondary data point for ratings")
• Lowered the temperature warning threshold from 60C to 55C
• Removed some of the decimal points in all reports to avoid truncation
• Updated text on the About screen and EULA

It requires Android 4.0 and up.

Perfect for Gadget Master. Aimed at individuals experimenting at home with ways to connect their lives via their smartphones, IDT has teamed up with Digi-Key to run a new competition.

It's to create wirelessly powered devices using IDT’s wireless power reference kits for creative market applications. The companies have invited electronics experts and hobbyists to find creative ways to incorporate wireless charging capability into products using IDT’s 5W kits.


Sponsored by global components distributor Digi-Key Electronics, the theme of the contest is, ‘Power Without Borders’.

Interested? Judges will be looking for designs that demonstrate the advantages of wireless charging, such as convenience, the ability to develop a waterproof charging system, or the elimination of failure-prone charging contacts.

The deadline for submitting designs is 31 December and the winners will be announced on 15 February 2016.

The winner will receive a Samsung Galaxy Note 5 or Galaxy S6 edge+, plus a Gear S2 Smart Watch. Second and Third place winners also will receive Samsung products featuring wireless charging enabled by IDT chips.

The contest will be hosted by the hardware creation community, hackster.io at

www.hackster.io/IDTWirelessPower.

“IDT’s wireless power kits dramatically simplify integrating wireless charging capabilities into an existing design - so much so that even engineers without specific power design expertise can create a functioning prototype within hours,” said David Sandys, Digi-Key director of technical and strategic marketing.

“These kits were developed for the mass market,” said Mario Montana, IDT vice-president and chief sales officer. “With this contest, we’re asking today’s innovators from around the world to unleash their creativity and develop entirely new sets of applications that can be wirelessly powered, whether it’s an electric shaver, one of your kid’s toys, or even a battery-operated back-scratcher. Your imagination is the limit.”