If you managed to sit through the entire Google I/O keynote yesterday, then hats off to you. The event showcased Google’s plans for the year ahead and there’s never been a better time to be involved in the tech industry. But what does the event mean for the Android platform? We’ve put together a quick guide to everything new and exciting that will appear on your phone soon enough.

As well as having a complete redesign, the Play Music app will now include its very own streaming service to rival that of Spotify. Although the All Access service will only be initially launched in the U.S for $9.99 per month, or $7.99 for early adopters, it’ll enable users to gather their various music playlists in one place. Google has been quick off the mark getting many big name publishers onboard to make it something that both Spotify and Rdio will really need to keep an eye on.

Another area in which Google has looked to make big changes to is with its various messaging platforms. Hangouts looks to bring all these together, providing a single place to stay in contact with everyone. The app itself lets people share messages, photos, videos and video chats across Android and iOS devices. The downside to the app is that it doesn’t support SMS messaging, as of yet, but it’s an area which Google are looking to cover soon enough.

An industry expert has claimed that the Android platform is “beginning to lose focus and becoming too fragmented.” iCreate magazine Editor Jon Gordon states that “while there’s no questioning the huge range of customisable features of Android devices, the out-of-the-box experience often doesn’t live up to expectations, and users have no choice but to look for third-party alternatives.”

As Samsung continues to push its own apps in what could be seen as an effort to distance itself from the Google-owned platform, Android users aren’t always getting everything they might be hoping for.

The open-source nature of the platform means that there are a plethora of third-party apps on offer from Google Play, and while iOS users seem to get the best apps built-in to their devices, Android users can often find better alternatives on the Store.

It’s amazing what a super sized advert and marketing campaign can get you these days, with Samsung shipping six million units of their new S4 device.

Although that figure doesn’t necessarily mean that each one of these units was sold, it does indeed show the popularity of the phone all over the world.

Samsung are hoping to reach a total of 10 million shipments by the end of May, which will make it the fastest selling Galaxy phone in history.

It’s that time of year where everyone starts getting excited about what Google has planned for the year ahead. The Google I/O event never disappoints and we’re expecting an even better event this time around. As expected, the rumour mill is rife with speculation so we’ve put together a few things we’re more than likely to see at Google I/O 2013.

We’re almost guaranteed to see a new installment of the Android OS announced at Google I/O 2013, but no-one is sure on what version will be announced. Some predict a large update entitled Android 5.0 with the code name of Key Lime Pie, while others see Google announcing a small incremental update sticking with the code name of Jelly Bean.

The rumours surrounding Google’s fabled messaging platform, Babel, have been getting more common in the past week, with many now believing the new messaging platform will simply be incorporated in to Google+ Hangouts, rather than a standalone app available for download.

Slowly but surely more devices are getting some Jelly Bean love, with more than a quarter of all Android devices now either Android 4.1 or Android 4.2.

Gingerbread still remains the most common on the market, but we’re seeing a rise in devices getting a long awaited update to Ice Cream Sandwich.

There’s no news on which devices will run Android 5.0 when it’s announced, but if previous launches are to go by, we’ll see just a few devices getting Key Lime Pie straight away.

Via: Android Developers

Adding to their current selection of tablets, Samsung has unveiled the next installment of the Galaxy Tab series. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 is a 7-inch affair with a 1024 x 600 WSVGA resolution. Its main camera comes in the form of a rear 3-MP offering with a 1.3-MP camera located on the front for video calls and such. Powering the device is a bog standard 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM to help tackle the selection of Samsung apps  that come as standard.

There’s no direct news on pricing, as of yet, but Samsung has promised a gradual worldwide release for the Tab 3 in due course.

Source: Samsung Mobile