Android

The Apple Watch does a lot of the same things Android-based watches can, such as delivering text messages and notifications and tracking your health.

But there are several fundamental differences in how you actually interact with the Apple Watch compared to gadgets like the Moto 360, LG G Watch R, and other Android Wear watches.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest things that make the Apple Watch stand out from the competition.

Google Inc. released the Android 5.1 update Monday, a new version of its Android Lollipop operating system that fixes a number of problems with earlier releases and includes a few new tricks. Google is rolling out the update now for the Nexus 4 and Nexus 5 smartphones, as well as the Nexus 7 tablet.

In many cases, Android apps are superior to desktop apps. They’re compact, often better written, and have a low resource footprint.

Many popular services have a surfeit of mobile apps, but little on offer for desktop platforms, save the odd browser app. Wouldn’t it be great to be able to run mobile apps on your desktop PC? You might be testing a newly developed app or simply want to enjoy your Android app library on a desktop or laptop computer (perhaps following the theft of your device).

Security specialist Kaymera – based in Herzliya, Israel – has launched a mobile security platform aimed at paranoid corporations.

The Kaymera 360° software consists of a secure build of Android and accompanying MDM functions. The company describes it as a three-layer approach of protection, prevention and detection.

Next time you turn off your Android phone, you might want take the battery out just to be certain.

Security vendor AVG has spotted a malicious program that fakes the sequence a user sees when they shut off their phone, giving it freedom to move around on the device and steal data.

Anyone who owns a Pebble smartwatch will now be able to reply and act on Android Wear notifications they see from their device, the hardware maker has announced.

The smartwatch comes with its own operating system, but in December, Pebble announced that a beta version of its software would include support for Android Wear, the mobile operating system Google has developed for wearables. At that time, the company said that "if you can do it with Android Wear, you can do it with Pebble."

Microsoft is investing in a hot startup that’s trying to weaken Google’s hold over Android.

People familiar with the matter say Microsoft is putting money into Cyanogen, which is building a version of the Android mobile-operating system outside of Google’s auspices.

Last week, I reviewed ChromeOS from a desktop environment perspective as part of my “Linux Desktop-a-Week” series (which, really, has become less of a weekly thing and more of a “Desktop-Every-Few-Weeks-Or-So” thing. But I’m sticking to my original title. Because I’m stubborn).

This “week,” I am spending time with another Linux desktop environment that isn’t exactly traditional. This week, I’m using Android.

I've never been tempted to buy a large widescreen tablet. They're good at certain things, but they're too wide for everything onscreen to be reachable if you're holding it with both hands. They're too tall for portrait mode to be comfortable for long stretches. One-handed use is generally tolerable at best. Smaller widescreen tablets like the Nexus 7 are nice because they're closer in size and heft to books, but 10-inch-and-up widescreen tablets have always been too gawky for my taste.

Android updates don't matter anymore—or at least that's what many people think. Back-to-back-to-back Jelly Bean releases and a KitKat release seemed to only polish what already existed. When Google took the wraps off of "Android L" at Google I/O, though, it was clear that this release was different.