Google

Google - News, Features, and Slideshows

Features

  • Android vs. iOS vs. Windows Phone

    The past year has been a remarkable one for smartphones, with the meteoric rise of Google's Android OS, the restart of Microsoft's mobile strategy with its much-ballyhooed release of Windows Phone 7 and the continuing success of Apple's iPhone, buoyed by its new availability to Verizon subscribers. Never has there been so much choice in the smartphone market. As a result, hype and overstatement have been the order of the day.

  • Android Honeycomb: Powerful, but not perfect

    Honeycomb is a whole different beast from the Android we've come to know. While previous versions of Google's mobile operating system were built for smartphones, Honeycomb -- also known as Android 3.0 -- is the first to be designed specifically for tablet-size devices. And seeing it in action, it certainly shows.

  • Six things I love about Google's Android 3.0

    Android has always frustrated me. I've tracked Google's mobile operating system ever since its debut on the T-Mobile G1, and time and again I've seen new versions fall short of overhauling the interface into a clean, user-friendly experience that can compete with -- and push -- Apple's iOS.

  • Motorola Xoom: Tablet impresses, but drawbacks remain

    All eyes are on the Motorola Xoom tablet, and for good reason: It's the first device in an expected multitude to ship with Google's tablet-optimized Android 3.0 (Honeycomb). The Xoom has a lot of features to like, and a lot to set it apart from the ever-growing crowd of tablets; but it also has some drawbacks that temper my enthusiasm about it.

  • Motorola Xoom: To buy or not to buy?

    To buy or not to buy? That's the question right now as the Motorola Xoom, Google's first Android Honeycomb tablet, gets ready to make its grand debut.

  • Motorola Atrix 4G mightiest smartphone yet?

    The Motorola Xoom was the most advanced tablet that we got to try out at Mobile World Congress. Other tablets, including the HTC Flyer, certainly look promising, but the Xoom is the launch device for the Google Android Honeycomb OS - the version of Android developed specifically for tablets - and the devices on show at MWC were fully working ones used for live demonstrations.

  • Why Nokia is toast

    It's hard to remember now, but there was a time when Finland was at the center of the cell phone universe. As cell phones overtook pagers, then smartphones overtook cell phones, Nokia was the hottest company in the industry.

  • Google considers Bing a serious threat

    Google very publicly called out Microsoft's Bing search engine -- claiming that it copies its search results from Google. The initial charge has been followed by a back and forth exchange of insults and accusations, but one thing that is sort of lost in the melodrama is that Google apparently considers Bing to be a serious threat.

  • What cloud computing means for the real world

    There are more than a few critics of cloud computing, even at PCWorld; I'm probably one of them. But I've been turning over in my mind different perspectives on the cloud. I've tried to set aside the views of the IT executive, who seems to dominate the debate.

  • Android 3.0 tablet: Five key features

    Tablet application developers can rejoice now that Google has released its software development kit for Android 3.0, the new edition of the platform designed specifically for tablets.

  • Google management shuffle: Right move, wrong guy?

    Today's announcement that Google co-founder Larry Page would replace Eric Schmidt as the company's CEO was a surprise, but maybe it shouldn't have been. While the company's earnings are still stellar, Schmidt has made a series of embarrassing statements and the company has had some very public failures.

[]