The term AMOLED is used to describe a certain display technology commonly found in mobile devices. Less affectionately known as Active Matrix Organic Light Emitting Display, AMOLED screens tend to be extremely thin and use less power than other screens that we see on Android devices.

Each pixel that makes up an AMOLED screen creates its own light, meaning that phones that utilise the technology don’t require a backlight.

Variants of the AMOLED technology are starting to appear in the mobile market, with Samsung using their Super AMOLED, Super AMOLED Plus and HD Super AMOLED in Galaxy S2, Droid Charge and Galaxy Note devices.

The technical bit

An AMOLED display consists of an active matrix of, primarily, OLED pixels that omit light upon electrical activation. Thin film transistors (TFT) are placed behind this layer of pixels, with roughly two TFT’s controlling a pixel. Having the right amount of TFT’s controlling the pixels keeps the electrical current flowing to each pixel working.

APK

The .apk file format is used to distribute and install apps on to your Android device. Compiling an .apk file consists of packaging your app and all its related certificates and resources into one file.

Android Market

The Android Market is home to the thousands upon thousands of apps we download everyday. The growth of the market has been remarkable, and we celebrated the 10 billionth download only 2 months ago.

Over 190 countries have been busy downloading from the Android Market, and recent stats show that South Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan are the most app-crazed countries.

Pocket Casts

Podcasts are an excellent source of entertainment and education, and running them on the right app is crucial. Pocket Casts lets you stream or download podcasts and will automatically retrieve new episodes as soon as they are available. It looks great and works exactly as it should.

MyBackup Pro

Backing up your Android data is crucial to ensuring continued productivity and MyBackup Pro lets you backup ‘all’ of your data to an online server or an expansion card. Backups can be scheduled and the entire process is invisible once you have set it up.

Anti-Virus Pro

The threat of viruses to mobile devices is increasing all of the time and it should be common sense to take some precautions. Anti-Virus Pro will protect your phone or tablet and not intrude on your daily tasks. It can even undertake full backups of your data.

SPB Shell 3D

There are many apps that will change the way an Android smartphone looks and works, but few go to the extremes that SPB Shell 3D does. It looks incredibly polished and adds much functionality that will help you use your device more efficiently.

SlideIT Keyboard

The standard Android keyboard doesn’t work well for everyone and this is why SlideIT Keyboard is a great alternative. You never need to take your finger from the screen and with practice, you can be achieving quicker data input speeds than ever before.

Quickoffice Pro

There are often not enough minutes in the day and any tool that can make you more productive is worth considering. Quickoffice Pro brings desktop-level functionality to the mobile world and supports all of the latest Office document file formats.

Huawei may not be a well known name at the moment, but the company has serious plans to build brand recognition over the next few years. The Chinese manufacturer’s strategy revolves around well-specced devices with good build quality and very competitively priced. As the first part of that strategy does the MediaPad represent the arrival of a major new name in mobile?

Visually the MediaPad might represent the closest thing we ever get to a seven inch iPad. From the front and the sides it is virtually indistinguishable from the iPad 1.

From the rear it seems to take a few cues from the HTC Flyer, with its unibody aluminium chassis broken up only by plastic sections at the top – to house the camera module, and the bottom, with a removable panel where you can insert your microSD and SIM cards (there is also a non-SIM version of the device available, while the device will also be available in the guise of the Orange Tahiti).

There are no buttons on the front and only volume and power buttons on the top horizontal edge. Along the right edge, in landscape mode, are ports for HDMI, microUSB and charging. The latter is important; the MediaPad will not charge via microUSB.

Along the opposite edge are twin speakers. We found these to be awkwardly placed as it is almost impossible not to obscure one of them with your palm when holding the device to watch a video.

The screen on the MediaPad is very impressive. The resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels gives it a pixel density of 215ppi, higher than pretty much any tablet of any size on any platform. By default, though, it is set to run in standard resolution, 1024 x 600, and you need to switch to the higher res mode in the settings. This makes the icons and text smaller, and there was a small hit on the device’s speed as well.

The IPS display has wide viewing angles, and the images it produced were bright and crisp.

The MediaPad was responsive throughout, with the only issues coming from the idiosyncrasies of the Honeycomb OS itself, such as the peculiar UI design that sees the back and home buttons in the bottom left corner of the screen, and the apps button in the top right corner when logic states they should be alongside each other at the very least. Huawei has now confirmed that the MediaPad will be updated to Ice Cream Sandwich.

Similarly the main performance concern came with the browser, which is slow when scrolling large pages, and tended to be very laggy when using the keyboard. This is not uncommon on Honeycomb devices, and the far superior performance of both Opera and Firefox on the MediaPad showed that it was indeed a Honeycomb issue here as well, rather than a problem with the hardware.

There are dual cameras on board. The rear one, with shoots five megapixel stills, was slow and produced mediocre output – we’re still far from convinced that tablets even need cameras, especially at this quality. More useful was the front camera for video chat.

The MediaPad runs an unskinned version of Honeycomb, which Huawei has chosen to supplement with some additional software. This includes a useful office suite for editing Microsoft Office-compatible documents, as well as some games.

The ubiquitous Angry Birds is here, along with a couple of Gameloft offerings, including the Asphalt 6 racing game that needs a near 600MB download before you can actually start playing. The Aldiko ebook reader is also pre-installed, and the Kindle app is only a download away if you prefer. At the size of a paperback book the MediaPad makes for a fantastic eReader.

A good range of video formats is supported in the video player as well, and while we did encounter some audio sync issues with a couple of our test videos the tablet also served well in this area. Google services apart, however, there is no on-board content store.

As a device with few design features in the hardware, and a plain version of its OS for the software the MediaPad suffers from the same problem that a lot of Honeycomb tablets do: it lacks its own identity. And as a result it feels expensive, even as its mid-range price point. Even so, it is among the best seven-inch Android tablets we’ve seen to date, and has plenty to offer anyone looking for a more compact but well built device.

The app has a variety of categories that you can look through, all of which include picture references or, in some cases, videos. The subjects the app covers is vast; ranging from attracting the attention of a rescue team to sharpening a knife, all are as comprehensive as the one before them. Each category tackles a variety of possible situations and potential problems regarding the categories subject.

There are a selection of stories included in the app that highlight the importance of safety techniques, and how to react in the face of danger. Each story highlights a specific safety technique, which is then expanded on at the end of the story.

Once you have looked through all the categories, of which there are many, you can try out a quiz, which tests out all areas of the app. We had particular difficulty trying to distinguish clouds, it’s incredibly difficult! The app has been designed well and is functional enough to use. There are some issues with loading times, especially with the embedded videos, and the sound quality on the videos is also on the poor side.

Although the SAS Survival Guide won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, it is a great source of valuable information if you are a keen traveler or spend a lot of time abroad. And even if you aren’t big on traveling, the app itself is a riveting read and expanding your knowledge can never be a bad thing!

Price: Free

The ever-popular Financial Times has finally made in on to our Android devices. The app is, as you would expect really, offering the latest financial news from all over the world. Your homepage is filled with the latest news, and a series of tabs line the top of the page indicating different sections you can go to.

As well as the latest finance news, the app comes with a Life & Arts section as well as the latest market data, and even a currency converter. There’s a search function allowing you to look for specific articles – or a specific author as well.

Although the Financial Times app is free, there is a choice to subscribe to it to receive newsletters and a few other features, although we aren’t sure if £6.49 is justifiable. We also have a problem with the video content within the app, as it is painfully slow to load.

The Financial Times is a quality newspaper, but we’re not too sure if many people would stump up for the subscription that they’re keen to push through this app.

Overall: 3

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Daily Mail

Price: Free

Following on from the success of the website, the Daily Mail Online has released their very own Android app. When opening the app, you’ll be greeted with the latest headlines from around the world. Scrolling left and right between screens will allow you to view other headlines, as well as associated articles.

On the bottom of the screen there is a list showing the different topics that the app covers. All the sections that are on the website are present on the app; including the Femail and You sections.

Articles are extremely fast to open and pictures look great. At the bottom of each article, there is a list of associated articles that you can take a look at. You can switch between articles and sections by simply shaking your phone – or by swiping your finger on the screen.

We were really pleased to see the Daily Mail finally get a decent app. The app has been expertly designed, and the various gesture features are a nice touch. In terms of reading the news on your Android device, this is one of the best experiences we’ve had.

Overall: 4

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And the winner is… Daily Mail

We liked both apps, but found that the Daily Mail app was smoother to navigate, and didn’t charge a hefty subscription fee that will put a lot of potential readers off.

The brand new issue of Android Magazine has gone on sale. This month we’re showing you how you can get started with hacking and tweaking your Android phone or tablet, with an amazing collection of hacks that anyone can try.

We also a look at the best futuristic apps, put some BlackBerry-style Android phones head to head, and show you how you can get fit for the new year with help from your phone.

Inside issue 7

30 amazing hacks and tweaks every user must try
The complete beginner’s guide to hacking Android.

Apps of the future
Use the apps of tomorrow today!

HTC Sensation XL
The super sized phone on test.

Customise your phone
The best launchers for Android phones rated.

Plus
- Android security
- Ten things to know about travelling
- Get fit with your phone
- Asus Eee Pad Slider
- Huawei MediaPad
- Messaging phones head to head
- Music masterclass
- Master the ICS interface
- Avoid traffic
- Get to grips with Google Books
- Upload videos to YouTube
- Sleep apps on test
- Readers’ problems solved

Android Magazine issue 7 is on sale now from all good newsagents, and you can also buy online.

Or to ensure you never miss a copy of the world’s best Android magazine subscribe today!

Size

Xperia S: 128 x 64 x 10.6 mm, 144g
iPhone 4S: 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm, 140g

The Xperia S is noticeably taller than the iPhone 4S, and a little wider too, to accomodate its larger, widescreen display. The Xperia S also breaks from the recent trend of high-end smartphones being less than 10mm thin, which will hopefully result in longer battery life. The weight of the two handsets is essentially the same.

Processor and memory

Xperia S: 1.5GHz dual-core, 1GB RAM
iPhone 4S: 1GHZ dual-core, 512MB RAM

On paper the Xperia S appears to be the clear winner, with a processor 50% faster and double the RAM. However in practice the difference may be less discernible, if at all, due to the fact that the devices run different OSes with different power requirements. The Xperia S should be as fast and responsive as any Android handset, though.

Screen

Xperia S: 4.3″, 720 x 1280 pixels
iPhone 4S: 3.5″, 640 x 960 pixels

The famed Retina Display in the iPhone used to be the standard by which all phone screens were measured. Not any more. The 720p display in the Xperia S, over 4.3 inches, amounts to a pixel density of 341ppi – better even than on the iPhone 4S. The display is arguably the one area most in need of an upgrade when it’s time for the iPhone 5 later this year. The 4.3″ size of the screen on the Xperia S is becoming the norm; some users may find it a little large to use one-handed.

Camera

Xperia S: 12.1 megapixels, f/2.4, 1080p video
iPhone 4S: 8 megapixels, f/2.4, 1080p video

The iPhone 4S is recognised as having one of the best cameras in any smartphone today. Sony Ericsson (now just Sony) has traditionally equipped its phones with impressive cameras itself, so we have high hopes that the Xperia S will be a top performer in its own right. The bump in resolution, up to 12.1 megapixels, sounds impressive, although in reality increasing the resolution on a small sensor can actually degrade image quality, so that is something that will need to be analysed in full when the device becomes available. The f/2.4 aperture should ensure reasonable low light performance on a par with what the iPhone 4S can achieve.

Battery

Xperia S: 1750mAh
iPhone 4S: 1432mAh

The Sony Xperia S has a larger battery than the iPhone 4S, but any potential benefits may be offset by the larger screen size and faster processor. In truth, a day is probably the best you can hope for from either device.

OS

Xperia S: Android 2.3 (upgradeable to Android 4)
iPhone 4S: iOS 5

The Xperia S will launch with Gingerbread, Android 2.3, and will receive an update to Android 4 some time in the second quarter of 2012. Sony does customise the OS but in a fairly minimal way, adding a few extra widgets and useability tweaks, without ever completely changing the way the phone works as, say, HTC does. The number of apps is comparable to the iPhone, and both handsets have a comprehensive – if different – feature set, including the excellent Google Maps app on the Xperia S and the popular Siri speech recognition tool on the iPhone.

Verdict

The Sony Xperia S is looking like being one of the most powerful and exciting new smartphones of 2012. On paper it has the specs and features to match and even surpass the iPhone 4S in most areas although, as ever, what looks clear on paper does not always turn out to be so in practice.

We’ll find out when the Xperia S goes on sale in March.

Now, we don’t usually report on TV’s here on LGR, but what makes this TV special is that it’s to be powered by the latest Android OS update, Ice Cream Sandwich.

The TV will include a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage for your favourite shows. Smart TV’s, such as the Lenovo K91 look to cross the lines between computers and TV, offering the functionality of your laptop on the big screen.

There’s no news on how the Android OS will be implemented as of yet, but we’ll let you know as soon as we have more details.

There are a good number of missions to get through, with a mixture of different elements involved. In some missions, you may be driving around on a motorbike, and some you’ll spend in a dingy.

Assaulter is reminiscent of some classic 80’s shooters, along the lines of Contra, and the run-and-gun style works well. It’s also a fantastic looking game, and each and every enemy is well animated.

Gameplay is simple, with your bullets automatically firing; you simply need to aim your gun. You can also press on the screen to jump, and swipe the screen to evade your enemy’s attacks.

For a free download, Assaulter is a hidden gem in the Android market, and one that you should aim to discover sooner than later.

With so many original games out there, it seems almost ungrateful to single out yet another tower defence game, but Armoured 2 does what it says on the tin exceptionally well.

On the surface, there’s not a lot to it; you only have three types of tower to choose as defence, and although upgrades can be earned, it’s still not much to choose from.

However, combine this with vast, open plan levels that your enemy pours over from every angle and it soon becomes a highly tactical affair of picking your terrain wisely rather than endlessly experimenting with firepower. Every level features literally dozens of attack waves, which makes it feel like a genuine war of attrition from start to finish.

It looks good too, your units may be small but they are well defined – some even travel on rails, which you can construct between outposts to make their own way to the front line.

So for fans of the original, Armoured 2 packs bigger levels and better animation, while everyone else should simply enjoy its relentless and ever increasing toughness. On the minus side, extra levels need to be purchased direct from the developer, which feels a little mean but seems to be the becoming the norm.

Verdict: 7/10