Tag Archives | Google Android

Yes, You Can File Your Taxes on Your Smartphone

Posted by Ed Oswald on January 17, 2011 at 9:53 pm

Three things are certain in life: birth, death, and taxes. So why not turn the process of filing your taxes into a mobile app? That’s exactly what Intuit–makers of  TurboTax–have done with SnapTax. Available for both the iPhone and Android, anyone who is eligible to file a 1040EZ will be able to use the app to file from start to finish.

For those of us who are tax illiterate — 1040EZ users are those who make under $100,000, have no dependents, and are going to claim the standard deduction. Essentially the profile of the “mobile generation,” Intuit believes.

While the download is free, Intuit will charge a $14.99 fee to file the form electronically. SnapTax uses optical character recognition to “scan” W2 forms, making the process of data entry much easier. Like its big brother TurboTax, the user will always have a running tally of their refund (or, gasp, how much more Uncle Sam wants) during the process. It will also allow for the submission of state income taxes as well.

Continue Reading →

One comment

Honeycomb Better Be Good

Posted by Harry McCracken on January 13, 2011 at 10:21 am

For this week’s TIME.com column–the first, incidentally, to appear on Thursday, our new publication date–I took a look at the tablet-fest that was this year’s CES. There was so much news about entrants new and old that it was impossible to be comprehensive–I understand one commenter’s frustration that I didn’t mention the Notion Ink Adam–but I still think the big development was the profusion of would-be iPad rivals running Android. In a remarkably short amount of time, we’ve gone from one major Android tablet (Samsung’s Galaxy Tab) to so many that it’s tough to keep track of them all. If all these models show up and aren’t flops, Android is going to be the dominant tablet operating system, at least for a while.

As I say in the TIME column, I think that tablet software is more important than tablet hardware: Most of the devices at CES were remarkably similar in every way except for screen size. Android 3.0 Honeycomb, the first truly tablet-friendly version of the OS, is going to play an enormous role in defining all these new tablets. And we still don’t know that much about it.

Continue Reading →

8 comments

Verizon iPhone Arrives: Is Android in Trouble?

Posted by JR Raphael on January 11, 2011 at 4:31 pm

[Note: This article republished courtesy of our pals at PCWorld.]

Ladies and gentlemen, the day has finally arrived: The Verizon iPhone is officially a reality.

No joke: Unlike the past 7.2 billion times the iPhone’s Verizon launch was absolutely, definitely confirmed to be imminent, Apple’s prized product is actually making its way to Big Red this go-round. The iPhone 4 will become available to current Verizon Wireless subscribers on February 3, with orders opening up to everyone else a week later.

Naturally, the Internet is brimming with reactions and predictions, many of which include the inevitable cries of “Sayonara, Android!” — a suggestion that the iPhone’s expansion will mark the end of Android’s impressive growth streak in the U.S. mobile market. Now, I know the tech world loves nothing more than finding a new reason to toss the hyperbolic “killer” label around (I’m still waiting for Facebook’s messaging service to deliver that final deathblow to Gmail, by the way), but let’s take a moment to put things in perspective.

Continue Reading →

14 comments

E FUN Readies Android 2.2 Tablet for Young Geeks, Old Newbies

Posted by Jacqueline Emigh on January 10, 2011 at 5:31 pm

A start-up named E FUN is planning a new Android 2.2 tablet for its already established, unusual hybrid market, which combines twentysomething (and younger) tech geeks with senior citizen tech neophytes.

When E FUN introduced an initial 10-inch Android tablet last year, the device sold out within three days on the Home Shopping Channel, an EFUN employee said, speaking with me during the ShowStoppers press event at CES.

“Interestingly, the tablet turned out to be especially popular with people of Baby Boomer age and older, who’d wanted to start using computers but were afraid,” she noted.

The oldsters liked the 10-inch Next tablet due to its easy-to-use touchscreen, according to the booth rep.

Among the younger tech set, Android was the big draw, along with the unit’s slick engineering. “They wanted to see how far they could push things,” I was told

The follow-on 10.1-inch edition, called the Next4, will feature Android 2.2 with Flash support, a capacitive touch screen with 1024-by-768 resolution, 8 GB of internal memory (as opposed to 4 GB on the earlier 10-incher), Wi-Fi, and built-in access to the Borders eBook Store. Availability is set for Q2 or Q3. MSRP is $349.

One comment

Xperia Arc Hands-On: There You Go, Sony

Posted by Jared Newman on January 7, 2011 at 1:50 pm

Until seeing the Xperia Arc up close, I’ d never been excited about a Sony Ericsson phone. (I’d describe my mood about the rumored Playstation Phone as cautiously optimistic.)

To my surprise, the Xperia Arc was impressive in both hardware and software. It’s as if Sony took the missteps of the Xperia X10 — outdated Android, unremarkable specs — and learned.

Continue Reading →

2 comments

ViewSonic's 4-inch Android Device: Is It a Phone or a Tablet?

Posted by Jacqueline Emigh on January 6, 2011 at 11:18 am

At CES today, ViewSonic will launch a four-inch, Android 2.2-based tablet/phone dubbed the ViewPad 4, a ViewSonic exec said on Wednesday night, confirming earlier rumors around an until now nameless gadget in the same general category as Dell’s five-inch Streak.

The ViewPad 4 will have phone calling features, and it will sell for $549 unlocked upon its eventual release, said Josephine Chiu, a ViewSonic product manager, speakng with me at a pre-show Pepcom press event in Las Vegas.

Continue Reading →

One comment

Oh Yes, Microvision Stuffed a Laser Projector Into an Android Handset

Posted by Jared Newman on January 6, 2011 at 9:12 am

For some reason, I have a silly infatuation with projector phones, even though no phone makers have attempted to put one into a modern smartphone handset.

At a pre-CES event Wednesday, pico projector maker Microvision was hoping to plant the idea in manufacturers’ heads. They’ve cobbled together a prototype Android “tablet” — a phone, really, minus the phone guts — with a laser projector. The device is unlikely to be released as it appeared at the show, but it served its purpose of throwing videos and photos onto a wall in a well-lit room.

The projector phone is a bit chunky, measuring 0.67 inches thick, and when I picked it up, it was warm to the touch. When the projector is running, the device lasts for about two hours.

Bulk and power consumption aside, Microvision’s biggest hurdle is price. The company won’t say how much it expects to charge manufacturers for its embedded projectors, but Microvision’s standalone ShowWX projector costs $400 at retail. My guess is that we’re still a couple years away from seeing laser projection as a feature in any widely-available smartphones. I wonder if Android will still be the reference device du jour then.

5 comments

Engadget on the Vizio Phone

Posted by Harry McCracken on January 5, 2011 at 7:17 am

I’m not a huge fan of any of the third-party skins that phone companies slap on top of Android, such as HTC’s Sense and Samsung’s TouchWiz–they usually make things different rather than better. But Engadget’s Josh Topolsky is surprisingly enthusiastic about the modified version of Android on the first phone from cheap-TV kingpin Vizio–he says it’s in a league with Apple’s iOS and HP/Palm’s WebOS, which is the highest imaginable priase.

No comments