Most engaging Android goodies we've relished in 2011

Manufactured by South Korean electronics giant, Samsung, the Galaxy Tab 7.7 holds the distinction of the first tablet to sport SUPER AMOLED Plus display. Samsung uses this high quality display technology only in smartphones but the company decided to use this technology in its tablet device in order to establish itself in the rapidly expanding tablet sector. The Andorid-based Galaxy Tab 7.7 was unveiled at the IFA 2011 in Berlin. Powered by a 1.4GHz dual core CPU, this tab features 1GB of RAM and runs Andorid 3.2 Andorid Honeycomb.

Android custom ROMs (Read Only Memories) are used by several developers because these ROMs are used in Android phones as well as tablet devices to improve their performance. It is notable that an old phone will not perform very well even if it is updated with the latest software and firmware but this problem can be resolved by using customs ROMs.

Japanese electronics firm Sony entered the tablet market with Android-run Tablet S. This device with an innovative and unique design was unveiled during the IFA 2011 in Berlin. Sony’s tablet has got the design of a folded book with the density of one end better than the other. Powered by a dual-core Tegra 2 processor, this high-end tablet features 16GB and 32GB storage options. Sporting a 9.4-inch with 1280 x 800 pixel display, the image quality of Tablet S is excellent. This tablet has got Sony PlayStation certification.

People who are using Android-based phones and tablets can use Onlive app to stream several new games to their devices. This app is free and it allows the users to access around 150 games by buying £6.99 for a month’s subscription. Some recent surveys have shown that many Android tablet and smartphone customers play games on their device and for them Onlive is nothing less than a blessing.

It is the latest update to Google Andorid. What makes Andorid 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich special is that it is a blend of its predecessors Andorid 3.0 Honeycomb and Andorid 2.3 Gingerbread. That means ICS can run on both tablets and smartphones. Google unveiled ICS on its third Nexus phone, a.k.a. Samsung Galaxy Nexus. ICS will appear on several smartphones and tablets in near future. According to Google, ICS is the most advanced Andorid update ever.

Google’s third Nexus phone, the Galaxy Nexus, is its first handset to run latest version of Android OS named Andorid 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. This smartphone is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor. Sporting a 4.65-inch display with 720 x 1280 pixel resolution, this handset also features a video camera. This phone is getting lots of attention because it is the first device using Ice Cream Sandwich.

Google released the Android 3.x Honeycomb especially got tablet PCs. This software was announced by Google at CES 2011 and the first device which used this OS was Motorola Xoom, which was released in April 2011. This feature-rich version of Android OS provides great user interface for tablet devices. The success of Motorola Xoom prompted many companies to use this OS in their tablets. Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is regarded as the best Honeycomb tablet released so far.

The BlueStacks App Player allows the user to run Andorid apps on Windows PC. This free app helps the user to create a type of virtualization by running Android apps full screen on Windows PC. BlueStacks claims that they managed to develop this app by working on a complex virtualization technology for two years. Bluestacks founder former McAfee CTO Rosen Sharma is aiming for 1 million customers downloads.

Manufactured by Philips, this Android-based device is a complete PMP (portable music player). The basic design of the GoGear Connect 3 is similar to the Apple iPod touch. This device can be used to play music but not for texting and calling. Boasting of 3.2-inch screen, the sound quality of this PMP is good.

Released in September 2011, this high-end smartphone supports both 2G and 3G network. The dimensions of this handset are 125 x 63 x 8.7 mm and it weighs 117 g. The 4.2 inch LED-backlit LCD touchscreen of this smartphone supports 16 million colors. It supports WLAN and Bluetooth connectivity. This phone runs Android OS Gingerbread and is powered 1.4 GHz Scorpion CPU.