It’s official! No sooner than the rumours emerged that Samsung were looking at releasing an AOSP version of their flagship Galaxy S4, this morning at Google I/O, Google’s VP of Android Product Management, Hugo Barra announced an AOSP Galaxy S4 running Android 4.2.2.

This Galaxy S4 will differ in a big way from Samsung’s own Galaxy S4 – as mentioned it will be completely AOSP and stock Android, and like a true Nexus it will be available with an unlocked bootloader. This, like we stated yesterday provides individuals with the perfect solution if they desire a Galaxy S4, but aren’t fond of Samsung’s TouchWiz skin. Furthermore, users will stand to benefit from receiving timely updates, like all Nexus devices.

Barra …

With only hours to go until Google’s I/O, excitement is starting to become a constant thing. We finally get to see what Google has in store for us!

For years, Apple has lead the way when it comes to an online musical catalogue. Though, with Google launching their own music service on the 16th of November 2011, people began to wonder whether iTunes may ever fall back into second place. Although Google Music still hasn’t caught up to the iTunes giant, it is expected that Google will go one up on Apple at tomorrows I/O.

Earlier in the year Fortune reported that Google had inked a deal with Warner Music Group, which is one of the three major record companies, …

It’s arrived in Australia a little later than expected, but the LG Optimus G has finally landed on our shores and is on sale now from Telstra. With competitors like the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4 fast approaching, and its cousin the Nexus 4 attracting plenty of attention, how does LG’s latest Australian flagship superphone fare? Read on for our full review!

Terrible Lord of the Rings references aside, HTC have just announced their new flagship model for 2013, and it is a bit of a monster.

Getting rid of the multiple “One” phones of 2012, HTC has launched a single “One” phone as their flagship model, the HTC One. This phone brings a lot to the table, so let me run it all down for you. Warning: HTC threw more marketing catch phrases and new names for things than you can shake a stick at.

SCREEN AND BUILD

The HTC One keeps the same 4.7″ screen size as its predecessor, the One X, which should be welcome news for those fearing that 2013 would be the year of the 5 inch …

Lately, with the release of great tablet offerings from Android vendors as well as Google’s efforts in making Android the best combined platform for both smartphones and tablets, we’ve seen a rapid rise in Android tablet market share.

After the end of the 2012 year, we’ve already seen some great numbers posted in the smartphone space – including an unsurprising lead by Samsung, and a (to some) surprising surge by Sony to fourth place.  Now it’s time to have a look at what the tablet market did – a relatively newer market that has previously been dominated by Apple.

The IDC has published shipment data for the fourth quarter of 2012, reflecting a similar picture to the third quarter …

Did you miss out on the first round of Nexus 4′s that sold out in about 20 minutes?  Have you, like me, been regularly visiting Google Play wondering when it’ll be in stock again?

Well you might be about to run into some luck come tomorrow.

According to Android Police, a tipster has alerted them to the definite possibility that the Nexus 4 will change from the “TEMPORARILY OUT OF STOCK” that appeared earlier this week to “IN STOCK” come 8AM AEST tomorrow morning
(EDIT: Android Police have since corrected the time to 9AM AEDT).

Unsure whether to set your alarm clocks for the early rise (especially for the poor people of Perth where it’ll be 5AM)?  Android Police …

After the Nexus 4 supply debacle causing the Nexus 4 to be out of stock on the Play Store, we’ve been wondering for some time when (and in some discussions, if) the Nexus 4 will resurface again in Australia. Though Google hasn’t really given any clear indication as to when this may be, an interview with Cathy Robin, director of LG Mobile’s France division, may have given us a glimmer of hope.

In her interview, Cathy states that the supply issues aren’t solely related to LG.  Google apparently provided LG with previous sales figures of Nexus devices but (unsurprisingly) they were much lower than the demand for the Nexus 4.  To add to the poorly anticipated demand, Cathy mentions that …

It’s that time of the year again. The time in which we all go on holiday, return to work and enjoy some mouth watering news from the one and only Consumer Electronics Show (CES). All of us here at Android Australia have been taking a well-deserved break over the holiday season and are ready to return to bringing you the good stuff. So, what do we have for you straight up?

Sony has given us what we’ve all been waiting for. Yes, it’s a beauty of a phone and yes – it has some killer specs. Sony appears to have hit the nail right on the head and dished up some A-grade stuff. The Xperia Z is their latest flagship …

It’s Christmas time, time for heat, sun, surf, food, family and gift giving. Oh, and time to round up the best Android devices available for the gift giving season.

Rest assured that we here at Android Australia will have you covered, we are going to cover all price segments, and both phones and tablets. We will post a new article each day, covering 4 different categories of devices. In each category we will present a number of options, as well as describing each item briefly and explaining why it was chosen.

This here is your hub, this page will continue to be updated to provide links to everything Christmas-y. So if you want to know what to get, come here …

Disclaimer: I was supplied with several review unit devices from Liquipel to test their product. I was first given two Samsung Galaxy S III devices, one was treated and the other left as it is out of the box. After testing both of these devices I was left with two lovely SGS3s that would not turn on. After some discussion with Liquipel I was told that they must have mistakenly put the wrong battery in each phone (i.e. the Liquipel treated in the non-Liquipel treated phone and vice versa). How true this was – I don’t know. I must admit that when I did the first testing I left the battery and back case on the phone for much longer …

In a press release, Gartner has estimated that Android sales represented 72.4% of total global smartphone sales in the third quarter (up from 52.5% in the same quarter last year).  This represents over 122 million sales of Android smartphones in the third quarter alone!

Interestingly, despite an increase in overall sales, iOS dropped to 13.9% to remain as the second highest smartphone OS.

Worldwide Mobile Device Sales to End Users by Operating System in 3Q12 (Thousands of Units)

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Well well, what do you know – there’s another lawsuit on our hands. Well, this is more of a continuation of a lawsuit that didn’t end too well for Samsung last time. To refresh your memory – last time in August Samsung was told that they would have to pay Apple a whopping $1.05 billion US for damages in  ’copying’ Apple’s design cues. This was largely due to creating a rectangular device with rounded corners – <s> that’s some true innovation! </s>

Well, it appears as though there have been a few changes to this case as of late. Samsung has approached Judge Grewal to include the iPhone 5 in the counter-suit against Apple. But, we already knew that was …