How Google May Be Planning To Make Android Apps Faster With ART

Android apps run in Dalvik. We know this as sure as the sun rises in the morning and water is wet. It is the foundation of how Android apps can run on a variety of devices with different amounts of RAM and processors. 

In the near future, Google may be getting rid of Dalvik for a new standard that runs Android apps called Android Runtime (ART).

Dalvik is the virtual machine that compiles the code that make your Android apps work. Typically, Android apps are written in the Java programming language and compiled into bytecode—the generic numeric code that is submitted by developers to app stores like Google Play (the same code makes it less processor intensive to run on a variety of devices). That bytecode is then transferred from a Java Virtual Machine file to a Dalvik executable file. 

You may think that all your apps and the code that makes them live in a happy place somewhere inside your smartphone. Really, they don’t. That happy place doesn’t exist. In reality, every time you run an app, the bytecode that comprises the program is run through a compiler that makes it work. In Android, this is done through a process known as a “Just In Time” (JIT) compiler that translates the universal bytecode into machine code, which in turn becomes a hardware-specific program known as an app. This is essentially what Dalvik in Android does. 

Imagine: every time you open an app, all the different parts of the smartphone responsible for making that app work have to scramble to assemble the code for the app to make it work on your device. You close the app and all those parts relax. You open it and they scramble again. This is not a very efficient way to run apps but it allows those apps to run basically anywhere (it was one of the reasons it was so easy for BlackBerry to port Android apps to the BlackBerry 10). 

With Android Runtime, Google will attempt to change this process so that apps run faster and are more tied to the hardware of the device than ever. 

What Is ART?

I first ran into Android Runtime—ART—earlier this week when diddling with the developer settings on the Nexus 5. It is presented in the Developer Options settings of the device as “Select Runtime.” “Use Dalvik” or “Use ART” are the options. 

There has not been a lot written about ART but Android Police seems to have the scoop. ART has been secretly in the works from Google for about two years. ART uses an “Ahead Of Time” (AOT) compiler instead of JIT. It is like a Web browser pre-caching websites to be able to load them faster. The AOT compiler translates the bytecode into machine code when an app is downloaded on a device. This machine code may take up more storage memory on a device, but it will make apps open faster and run smoother than before. 

The important note here is that ART is an experimental setting for developers and device manufacturers. It can lead to instability of the operating system, cause apps to crash constantly and basically turn your Nexus 5 into a worthless hunk of attractively lasered plastic. 

Are we soon to see the end of Dalvik in favor of a more efficient runtime that could make Android apps perform much, much better? Probably not quite yet. Google will test ART with its manufacturing partners and developers for the foreseeable future. If ART works like it is supposed to, all that scrambling within a smartphone to make an app work will stop and the code that runs the app will just be there on your device, waiting for you to open it.

BlackBerry 10 devices may get to install Android apps directly from Google Play

It's always been easy to port Android apps for BlackBerry 10 and BlackBerry PlayBook OS, and users can even side-load certain Android apps on devices powered by these operating systems.
 
However, a new rumour now suggests that Google's Play Store app marketplace could soon land on BlackBerry 10, opening the door to the world of Android apps for BlackBerry users.
 
With BlackBerry 10.2, BlackBerry updated the BlackBerry Runtime for Android Apps and Plug-in to be able to  run Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean apps, enabling almost all modern Android apps to work on BlackBerry 10. Now, n4bb.com reports that BlackBerry is in talks with Google to bring the Play Store to BlackBerry 10 devices. It also posted a few screenshots of the Play Store running on a BlackBerry Z10, but later informed that the images were fake.
 
If the rumour turns out to be true and talks between the two giants do materialise into a done deal, BlackBerry would be able to solve the scarcity problem for the BlackBerry 10 app ecosystem, something faced by all late-entrants, including Microsoft's Windows Phone 8. The ailing smartphone maker's new devices based on the OS have not been embraced by users at the level that it expected, resulting in the company suffering financial losses and taking an inventory write down due to unsold devices. However, access to the Play Store may infuse a new lease of life into the platform.
 
BlackBerry has said that it's moving its focus from devices to services and software targeted at the government and enterprise segments. However, it will continue to operate its handset business. So, bringing the Play Store would the best option for the company wherein it could keep its BlackBerry 10 OS, on which it spent a large amount of resources, and still embrace Android in a big way, keeping consumers happy.

The Best News Reader Application for Android

Android has several great news readers, and while many of them have gone by the wayside now that Google Reader is no more, others have stepped up to take center stage. If we had to pick one that fits the needs of most people and packs in a ton of useful features, it would have to be the free, cross-platform, cross-device syncing Feedly.P

FeedlyP

Platform: Android

Price: Free 

Download PageP

FeaturesP

A customizable interface with four views depending on how you like to read the news, the "full-article view" for each article in your feed, "cards view" that arranges articles in tiles on-screen, the "magazine view" which includes images along with titles, and the "list view" that emulates the Google Reader style with only headlines and text.P

Feedly Cloud two-way syncing, so your saved articles, unread/read articles, and feeds follow you on all of your devicesP

Support for Android phones and tablets, including 7" and 10" tablets.P

Download full and partial feeds and view the original articles with one tap.P

Lets you save articles in Feedly (and syncs those saved articles to Feedly Cloud) for future reading.P

Supports Pocket and Instapaper for saving articles for future reading, and lets you set a favorite as the default.P

Supports sharing articles via Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Buffer, Email, and through Android's built-in "Share" function, and lets you set a favorite as the default.P

Allows you to add, remove, and rearrange feeds from your phone or tablet.P

Supports finger gestures to open/close/save articles (double-tap to close, long-press to save, swipe to go to next article) and can use your volume up/down buttons for navigation.P

Hide or show read articles to minimize clutter.P

Can automatically mark items as read as you swipe through them.P

Features "day" and "night" reading themes, and three transitions (stack, swipe, and scroll) used when you switch articles and feeds.P

Easy import from OPML (or your old Google Reader data, if you still have it).P

Large and small home screen widgets.P

Where It ExcelsP

Feedly's biggest benefit is that it's fast, free, and flexible. When Google Reader went under, Feedly stepped up quickly to give Android users a seamless way to move their feeds over and get access to them all on their phones and tablets, with the same two-way syncing experience they had with Google Reader. To that end, it's been very successful. The look and feel of the Feedly Android app is consistent with its desktop and iOS cousins, and while it's not the prettiest, it is customizable to suit your preferences. If you like reading your articles with big, beautiful images over each one, you can—at the expense of screen space. If you prefer skimming headlines only and don't want the clutter of images or videos, you can minimize the interface to show you only the things you're interested in.P

It's that flexibility that makes Feedly's native app a winner. Since Feedly is by far your favorite Google Reader replacement and our pick for the best alternative, too, it probably won't bother most of you that the only syncing engine that Feedly supports is its own. Beyond that though, the options explode—you can share with virtually every major social network, save articles to almost every major "read it later" style service, and since you also get access to Android's built-in share menu, your options are only limited by the apps you have on your phone. If you're serious about your feeds, Feedly even supports Android logins, so if you have a Google account configured on your phone, you can use it to log in to Feedly. You can even log out and switch Google accounts if you need to.P

RELATED

Five Best Google Reader Alternatives

We're all seriously bummed about Google Reader shutting down, but it's not the end of the world, and there are a number of great news… Read…

Google Reader Is Shutting Down; Here Are the Best Alternatives

Google is closing Google Reader's doors on July 1st, meaning you'll need to find a new way to get your news fix. Here's how to export… Read…

Where It Falls ShortP

Feedly's native apps aren't perfect. Right now there's no offline support, and that's a huge bummer. Offline support has been "coming soon" for ages now, and it has well over 12,000 votes in Feedly's UserVoice forum. Beyond that, while the layout of articles and feeds are customizable, the app only has two themes, and it would be nice to have a few more. Its layout is functional, but it's also a bit spartan and can be a bit boring at times. Feedly also doesn't stream podcasts, and while it'll recognize that some RSS feeds are media, it won't always play them back in the mobile apps.P

The CompetitionP

If you're looking for some alternatives to Feedly's native apps, or even its syncing and feed reading engine, you do have some alternatives for Android. Here are a few:P

RELATED

Press is a Gorgeous Newsreader for Android Phones and Tablets

Android: If you're a fan of Reeder for OS X and iOS, but wish Android had a similar newsreader, congratulations: Press is the app you've… Read…

Press ($3) is probably my personal favorite feed reader for Android. It supports Feedly Cloud, so if you already use Feedly, all you have to do is connect Press with your Feedly account. If you don't use Feedly, Press also supports syncing via FeedBin and FeedWrangler (and Fever is coming soon). Press also supports offline reading, so you can save your articles and catch up when you're on the plane or subway. It's design and layout is also leaps and bounds better, and it sports a beautiful interface that we've highlighted before. Press also supports YouTube's API, so it can pull in videos from your favorite channels, supports Dashclock Widget so you can see how many unread articles you have from your lock screen, looks great on phones and tablets, lets you change the text size and alignment, and more. Overall, Press offers a ton of options to customize and control your reading experience.P

The only major drawbacks to Press are that it doesn't support in-article search (something Feedly doesn't support either), and while it supports Readability, it doesn't offer the same wealth of sharing and saving options that Feedly's native apps do (although you do get access to Android's share feature, which opens that door back up a bit). Still, if you have three bucks to spend and that's not important to you, buy Press. You won't be disappointed.P

Flipboard (Free) made waves when it was launched because of its beautiful, magazine-like view of the news and snappy gesture controls. It's still a great app, and you can even add your favorite sites to stay on top of the sites that you follow. Flipboard was one of the first apps to let you pull in your Google Reader feeds, and while it still tends to organize and prioritize news from its own selection of sites, it's still a good option if you're looking for an attractive news reader. You can connect your Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and up to 12 other accounts to incorporate topics and articles your friends are sharing, select topics you're interested in to have them pre-populated with news, and you can search for and add sites you like, but trying to use it as a full-on RSS reader might be a little tricky just by virtue of the interface. If you're a control freak and only want to read the sites you love, you may not like Flipboard, but if you're a little more adventurous, it can surface stories you may never have otherwise seen. You can save content to Pocket, Instapaper, or Readability for future reading, explore the "Staff picks," or use your Flipboard account to build a "custom" magazine on the web to read on any device.P

Google Currents (Free) is a lot like Flipboard, only Googlier. You can import your own feeds to Currents (and before Google Reader's shut down, Currents was a fully-featured Google Reader client), view your articles in a beautiful tiled view that emphasizes images but doesn't skimp on the content, and explore new articles from some of Currents' featured sites, like The Financial Times, PBS, Saveur, and more. Currents can push breaking news to you, translate articles from sites in 44 different languages into ones you can read, and lets you "star" stories you want to read later for future reference. By comparison, Currents is a little lighter on features than some of the other apps available, but it does what it does exceptionally well.P

Pulse (Free), like many of the apps here, is more of a news reader than a straight feed reader, but it functions pretty well as both. You start out with a curated selection of categories and sites in each, but you can always add or remove content as you see fit and customize those categories so you see the articles you want to see. Pulse also has its own syncing engine, and to use the app you'll need to sign up for an account at Pulse.me, which gives you more control over which sites and feeds you see and which you don't. If you see an article you want to read later, you can save it to Instapaper, Readability, Pocket, or Evernote, and you can save articles for offline reading if you're about to get on a plane or train. Plus, using your Pulse account syncs your settings and sources so you can pick up where you left off on the desktop or another mobile device. Pulse's visual approach to its layout makes it fun to use, but if you're yearning for a simple all-text list view, you might be out of luck.

This App Gives You an iOS 7 Notification Center on Any Android Phone

Want iOS 7's notification center but don't have an iOS device? No problem. There's a new app called Control Center that will gives you a clone of that feature any Android phone.

The updated notification center lets you access several apps and settings by simply swiping on the bottom of the screen of your iPhone or iPad. With the duplicate app, you get pretty much the same experience on your Android. Once you've installed the app, you can swipe to turn Wi-Fi on or off, adjust volume, and other basic controls, or load up core apps like clock or camera. Plus, design-wise it looks just like iOS 7. So if you want some of the best parts of iOS 7 without actually having to buy an iPhone, here's your chance.

Google changes Android app policy to ensure use of its in-app purchasing service

Google has updated its Google Play Developer Program Policy to ensure Android developers use its in-app purchasing service as well as including new rules on ads behaviour

Google has issued changes to its Google Play Developer Program Policy for Android developers to comply with for existing or new apps. Google have included a section specifically referring to in-app purchases stating, "Developers offering virtual goods or currencies with a game downloaded from Google Play must use Google Play's in-app billing service as the method of payment." This rule also refers to virtual goods or currencies unless the payment is "primarily for physical goods or services," or "for digital content or goods...consumed outside of the application itself." There are also changes to ad policy stating that ads must not force the user to click on them or submit personal information. Developers should also limit their apps descriptions, titles, or metadata to ensure that no "irrelevant, misleading, or excessive keywords" are used. Additions have been made to Illegal Activites, Hate Speech and a new System Interference section has been added. The new section states that an app must not make changes to the user's device outside of the app without consent, it must not replace or redorder a user's interface, it must not add shortcuts/bookmarks/icons, it must not send system level notifications, and must not push a user towards removing other third-party apps. Android developers have been given 30 days to ensure that existing Android apps comply with the new rules published in the Google Play Developer Program Policy. Any newly published apps must practice all the updated content policies in order to be display in the Google Play Store. Existing apps that are not updated accordingly could be removed from the Play Store.

Google App Indexing Will List Deep Links From Android Apps In Search Results

Google announced today that it is testing app indexing, which it says is aimed at creating a “seamless” user experience across sites and mobile apps from search results pages.

Google  bot will now index content in Android apps, and webmasters will be able to let Google know which app they’d like Google to index through their existing sitemaps file and through Webmaster Tools.

“Searchers on smartphones experience many speed bumps that can slow them down,” writes product manager Lawrence Chang in a blog post. “For example, any time they need to change context from a web page to an app, or vice versa, users are likely to encounter redirects, pop-up dialogs, and extra swipes and taps. Wouldn’t it be cool if you could give your users the choice of viewing your content either on the website or via your app, both straight from Google’s search results?”

“If both the webpage and the app contents are successfully indexed, Google will then try to show deep links to your app straight in our search results when we think they’re relevant for the user’s query and if the user has the app installed,” Chang explains. “When users tap on these deep links, your app will launch and take them directly to the content they need.”

Like so:

App indexing is only being tested with a limited number of developers for now. These reportedly include: Allthecooks, AllTrails, Beautylish, Etsy, Expedia, Flixster, Healthtap, IMDB, Moviefone, Newegg, OpenTable, and Trulia.

Android users in the U.S. will start seeing deep links in apps from search results in a few weeks, Google says.

How to Restore Deleted Contacts in Android

If you have accidentally deleted some important contacts from your Android device, don’t worry you can restore deleted contacts in Android. It happens to most of us when we accidentally delete some contacts from Android device, but fortunately there are ways to get these lost files back. If you have the backup of the contacts, then you can restore all those deleted contact from the backup file. We always recommended to all readers that always take the full backup of your android device, here are some of the best and free android backup application.

If you are not using any application to take the backup of your phone contacts, then there is other way which helps you to restore your deleted contacts. You can use your Google account to come out of this situation, below is the guide which helps you to restore android contacts from Google.

How to Restore Android contacts from Google

In Android device you need a Google account to use many application play store, gmail and other. So without Google account it is not possible to access all these apps on android phone. To restore your contacts login to Gmail with your Google account login ID and password. Now from the gmail go to your Contacts section, you can find the contact option from the top left side. See the screenshot below:-                    

Gmail Contacts

Now you are on the contacts page, From the More actions drop-down menu, choose Restore contacts.

Restore Gmail Contacts

Now a new windows will open on your screen asking you from when do you want your contacts to be restored and you can go as back as 30 days. From here you can also select the custom dates, Once you have selected your restoration point. Click the “Restore” button to restore contacts on your Google account and your contacts from that time will load on your Gmail account. You’ll see a confirmation at the top of the screen when the rollback is complete.

Restore Contacts

Now you have restored the deleted contacts on your gmail account, now all you have to do is sync all these contacts on your Android device. Go to Android Settings > Accounts > Choose Your Google ID and sync contacts. That’s it, you your deleted contact is restored on your device.