Hi, my name is Simon and I’m a smartphone addict. It has been ten seconds since I last touched my phone. I check email on the toilet, I watch videos at the dinner table, I nod agreement at my wife and kids over that hypnotizing display and half the time I have no idea what they just said. I check my phone at traffic lights, at the supermarket checkout, even in bed I tease that little screen to life and have my wicked way with it. If it buzzes I will check it regardless of the fact I am in mid-conversation with someone. I feel better when my phone is close by.

Last night, while watching a movie, I actually felt my heart skip a beat as I glanced at the arm of the couch and my phone was not in its customary spot. I immediately imagined my mischievous three year-old might have gotten a hold of it (he desperately wants my phone all the time, presumably because I spend countless hours staring at it), but I needn’t have worried. Do you know where it was? Can you predict where I found it, dear reader? It was in my hand the whole time. That’s right; I was looking for the phone in my hand. I think I may have hit rock bottom. I think I may be a smartphone addict, and if you recognize yourself in any of what I just told you, then you might be too.

Stats of addiction

According to a study conducted by IDC, and funded by Facebook, 62% of people reach for their smartphone as soon as they wake up in the morning. 89% of 18-24 year-olds use it within 15 minutes of waking. During an average day 79% of people have their smartphone on or near them for all but two hours of the day. 25% of people have it with them continuously, 24/7. We check them while shopping, running errands, cooking dinner, working out, eating, in meetings or classes, during movies, at live gigs, and even while on the toilet. They make us feel connected, but connected to what?

This level of attachment can’t be a good thing. Technology is supposed to make our lives easier. It’s supposed to unburden us. Are you in control of your smartphone use, or is it bossing you? Addiction is defined as a “persistent, compulsive dependence”. Can you do without your phone? Many people fear being without their smartphone. British researchers coined the term nomophobia in 2008 to describe a fear of losing your mobile. A study by SecurEnvoy found that 66% of people fear being without their mobile phone.

What are we doing with our smartphones?

What do we actually do on our smartphones that’s so compelling? Well, for the most part we read email, or more accurately, compulsively check if a new email has arrived, in the forlorn hope that an incredibly exciting missive will somehow have found its way into our inbox alongside the bureaucracy of work and the mountain of spam (psychologists call this “variable ratio reinforcement” and it’s the same thing that keeps people playing slot machines in search of that thrilling pay-off). If we aren’t checking email we’re tuning in to Facebook to read messages from people we can’t be bothered to see in real life and to post our latest thoughts, or more accurately, compulsively check what the people we can’t be bothered to see in real life thought about our latest thoughts (I’m aware this might just be me).

We also browse the web and play games a lot; sometimes we’ll take pictures, check directions, or watch videos. The one thing we hardly ever do is actually make phone calls.

It’s not so much the device itself that we’re addicted to, but rather what it allows us to do. But what is this easy access to communication and entertainment doing to us? Nicholas Carr, author of The Shallows: What the Internet is Doing to Our Brains, amongst other things, thinks that the smartphone is dangerous. He said, “By design, it’s an environment of almost constant interruptions and distractions. The smartphone, more than any other gadget, steals from us the opportunity to maintain our attention, to engage in contemplation and reflection, or even to be alone with our thoughts.”

How to tell if you’re an addict

Since this is AA, albeit a different kind of AA, we thought we’d offer up some telltale signs of smartphone addiction so you can test yourself.

1. Do you reach for your smartphone first thing in the morning?
2. Do you check your smartphone last thing at night?
3. Do you break off conversation to check your smartphone immediately when a new notification comes in?
4. Do you take your smartphone to the bathroom with you?
5. Do you sometimes play with your smartphone while people are talking to you?
6. Do you constantly find new uses for your smartphone to legitimize your attachment?
7. Do you check your smartphone while watching a movie at the cinema?
8. Do you refuse to ever turn your smartphone off?
9. Do you keep your smartphone visible and within reach at all times?
10. Do you sometimes just look at your smartphone even although it isn’t doing anything?
11. Do you panic when you misplace your phone, even for a minute?
12. Do you have to charge your smartphone more than once a day?

If you racked up more than nine yesses then you need to check yourself into the nearest clinic for a digital detox.

If you scored between five and eight yesses then there’s still hope for you, but you need to act now.

If you scored four or fewer yesses then relax, your smartphone hasn’t taken over your life just yet.

How to quit your smartphone

The thorny issue of how to wean yourself off the smartphone is tough. My problem is that I used my smartphone to quit smoking. It gives you something to do with your hands, it’s the perfect filler for awkward social situations, or when waiting for five minutes, and it can serve as a wee break from whatever you are doing, just like smokes. I’m sure I could quit the smartphone if I started smoking again!

You have to try and wean yourself off it gradually and it’s not an all or nothing deal. As smartphone addicts we just need to reduce our dependence and cut out the anti-social behavior. If you’ve ever been talking to someone and they took their phone out and started focusing on it instead of you, didn’t that make you feel like slapping it out of their hand? Well, there’s a good chance people feel that way when you do it. Try imposing time limits. Start by introducing a ten minute period where you’re not allowed to touch your smartphone, regardless of notifications, and gradually increase it to a half hour and beyond. You’ll soon develop the ability to ignore it when it would be impolite not to.

If you find that you are a hopeless addict then throw your smartphone in the nearest trash immediately…..on second thoughts you can just send it to AA and we’ll see that it’s disposed of responsibly.

In the true spirit of AA please share your smartphone addiction stories, the more humiliating the better, in the comments below, and let’s see if we can’t beat this thing.

It’s been a long winter, but, with trees and flowers in full bloom, spring is finally here. With any luck we have a long, hot summer in prospect, and that means camping season. You can head off into the wild at the drop of a hat, if the weather looks right. More people go camping every year than jet off to foreign climes. It’s an affordable way to escape your daily grind and find a little adventure. For the tech-obsessed, the idea of being without your Android could be enough to put you off, but fear not, you can take it with you and enhance your trip with the right camping gadgets and apps.

We’ll kick off with some gadgets that bring your creature comforts to the great outdoors, and then we’ll move on to round up the best Android camping apps in the Play Store.

Keeping your gadgets safe

If you’re going to take your smartphone or tablet camping with you, then you’ll want to be careful how you carry it. Your standard everyday case probably won’t deal with a dip in the river, and tablets can shatter if they’re packed in a rucksack that gets dropped or bumped.

Anyone taking a tablet or a netbook will want the right luggage. You’ll struggle to find a tougher solution than the Pelican ProGear S140 backpack. It combines the crushproof and waterproof credentials of a case with a comfortable backpack that has all the pockets and features you need to carry your gear and keep it safe.

You can also find a few waterproof cases at OtterBox. They offer an affordable way to pack your smartphone and other precious items, like your wallet and keys, safely away and protected from the elements. Some of them are crushproof too.

Power supply

There’s no doubt your Android smartphone or tablet can prove really useful on a camping trip, but you have to have a plan to keep that juice flowing. If the battery expires and you didn’t prepare, then you’re left with dead weight.

A spare battery is an obvious place to start, assuming your smartphone has a replaceable battery. If you took your car, a charger that plugs into the lighter socket is a must. You could get a cheap one, but the Cellet Elite Charger is worth a little extra.

How about harnessing the power of the sun? The SunVolt Portable Solar Power Station from Gomadic is basically a solar panel in its own neoprene carry case. It works best if you buy the high capacity battery pack with it. If you have a fixed camp and plenty of sun then you can leave it to charge up while you’re off exploring and then re-juice your Android gadgets at the end of each day. It is quite big, but you’ll find that smaller solar charger devices struggle to collect the power you need.

What if your battery is dead, there’s no sun, and you desperately need to make a call? Check out the SOS Charger. This clever device was born through Kick Starter and it combines a 1,500mAh battery with a hand crank. Wind for five minutes and you should have enough juice to make a call. It has a standard USB port so it will charge anything, it’s really portable, which makes it perfect for camping, and it gives you a workout.

Staying entertained

There’s nothing better than good tunes around the campfire at night, but what if you forgot the acoustic guitar? The Rukus Solar is definitely worth checking out. It’s a Bluetooth stereo speaker system with an internal battery and a solar panel to keep it juiced up. There’s an always-readable, e-ink display, basic controls, and a carry handle, and you stream the tunes from your smartphone or tablet. As an extra bonus the Rukus Solar has a USB port, so it can actually double up as a charger.

On the next page we’ll run through some handy apps to install before you go.

Innovation grows out of experimentation. New designs, new features, new hooks for potential customers can lead to awesome new devices, except when they don’t, because sometimes they won’t.  Diversity has been a driving force behind Android’s rise to prominence, but it is a double-edged sword, because sometimes manufacturers produce really awful phones. We’ve already looked at the best Android phones of all time, now we turn our attention to the worst.

Samsung Moment

The 3.2-inch AMOLED concealed a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and the Moment featured a 3.2MP camera. Inside there was an 800MHz processor with 256MB of RAM. The specs weren’t that bad on paper for 2009, but the phone had some serious issues. Freezing randomly, crashing randomly, dropping calls, and a data lock up issue that Samsung and Sprint never solved.

Motorola Backflip

A big chunky smartphone with an exposed keyboard, the Backflip’s design was odd. It also featured Backtrack, which was a touchpad on the back of the display. The keyboard was unresponsive and the touchpad was easy to accidentally touch. The screen was 3.1 inches with a 320×480 pixel resolution. Inside there was a lack of processing power, we’re talking a 528MHz Qualcomm processor and 256MB of RAM. That’s before you mention MotoBlur on top of Android 1.5.

HTC Wildfire

You get what you pay for, and in the case of the budget Wildfire you got a 3.2-inch display with a 240×320 pixel resolution. Inside was a 528 MHz ARMv6 processor and 384 MB of RAM. It was cheap, but you can see why. The screen was enough to make your eyes bleed. It was slightly improved upon by the HTC Wildfire S, but neither phone was much fun to use.

Garminfone

Remember SatNavs? People used to pay a lot of money for them before Google gave it all away for free. Garmin obviously decided, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, and so it engaged Asus to make an Android phone and then slapped a truly horrible interface on top of it. It was also ugly, had poor battery life, and a weak set of specs. The good news is – nobody bought it.

Motorola Citrus

Another disastrous budget release, the Citrus had a 3-inch 240×320 pixel resolution display with the demented Backtrack touchpad for accidental scrolling. It wasn’t too speedy either, with a 528 MHz ARM 11 processor and 256 MB of RAM. Round it off with a 3MP camera and you’ve got a total turkey.

HTC ChaCha

Rumors about a Facebook phone had been floating around for a while, but no one was prepared for something as disappointing as this. The ChaCha looked like a cheap BlackBerry and had a dedicated Facebook button to keep you hooked up and sharing at every available opportunity. Small screen, basic specs, and horrible name – this was a budget device for Facebook addicts only.

LG Optimus V

Entry-level can mean awful, and it did in the case of the Optimus V from LG. It was slow, it was packed with bloatware, it didn’t have a flash, the screen was poor, and the battery life was terrible. The reviews weren’t bad, but the user feedback was damning, with complaints about bad call quality, bugs, and that battery.

Kyocera Echo

When you type “worst Android phone” into Google, Kyocera Echo pops up in the related searches list. Instead of going for a bigger touchscreen, Kyocera decided to include two 3.5-inch screens which could be slotted together, thanks to a weird hinge mechanism, to create one big 4.7-inch screen. The dual screen display could be used for tablet mode, but the big black border in the middle detracted from the effect. It also lacked apps to take advantage of the potential, it wasn’t packing enough processing power, and it came up woefully short in the battery department.

Samsung Dart

A 3-inch plastic display with a 240×320 pixel resolution in the summer of 2011 was not acceptable, even on an entry-level release.  Needless to say the Dart was also underpowered, with a 600MHz processor under the hood. Even given away free on contract this phone was a terrible rip-off.

Samsung Droid Charge

It may have had a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus display and an 8MP camera, but it also had a 1GHz single core processor and atrocious battery life. Sluggish, buggy, and packed with bloatware, the Droid Charge was a flawed release and it was overpriced to boot.

HTC Evo 3D

For a brief period back in 2011 the 3D craze was going to conquer all. As it turned out most people didn’t really care about 3D all that much and they definitely didn’t want it on their phones. You can’t fault HTC for trying to find the next big thing, but you can fault them for making a chunky, gimmicky handset with a battery life problem.

LG Optimus 3D

Hot on the heels of the Evo 3D was LG’s Optimus 3D (also known as the Thrill 4G). Just like HTC’s 3D phone it was chunky and relied on a single gimmick that never took off. It combined an ugly interface, with an old version of Android, poor battery life, and lots of bloatware.

Samsung DoubleTime

Another chunky flip open entry on the list, the DoubleTime had a 3.2-inch, 480×320 pixel screen on the outside and another one on the inside, alongside an amazingly ugly keyboard with pink highlights. Two bad screens don’t add up to one good one. The DoubleTime was also really slow (800 MHz Scorpion, 256MB RAM) and had a horrible 3.15MP camera.

Dishonorable mentions

It has not been easy to keep this list to a manageable size and we could go on and on. Instead we’ll wrap up with a few extra flops that almost made the cut. The Motorola Cliq and its successors were far from perfect. The HTC Rhyme was a patronizing attempt to court the girly market, complete with a purple flashing charm. The Samsung Continuum was another dual-screen dud. The LG Intuition was an incredibly angular attempt to compete with the Samsung Note (but is it really a phone?) The LG DoublePlay was yet another attempt at the dual-screen form factor. The LG G2X was buggy, the Motorola Droid Bionic was chunky and buggy, and the Sanyo Zio was cheap, slow and buggy.

Did we miss your worst Android phone? Post a comment and tell us what gets your vote and why.

What is, or was, the greatest Android smartphone of all time? It’s not an easy question to answer. There have been hugely influential releases, innovative designs, cult classics, and best sellers. The platform has spawned a virtual arms race in mobile tech. The cutting edge creeps ever forward with a steady stream of new releases improving on their predecessors, but there’s more to a truly great smartphone than what’s on paper. It hasn’t even been five years since the first Android smartphone was released. Let’s take a look at the best Android phones of all time.

In the beginning

Android may have kicked off with the HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1), released in October 2008, but few would argue that it was the best smartphone to ever grace the platform.  It had a 3.2-inch touchscreen which you could slide up to reveal a full physical QWERTY keyboard.  That meant it was chunky. The reviews were fairly positive, but it was really the fledgling Android platform that was on trial. It was rough around the edges and suffered from a lack of apps, but the notification system, the widgets, and the integration with Google were praised from the start and over 1 million HTC Dream or G1 handsets were sold in the first year.

HTC Hero

In the early days, HTC was virtually the lone Android pioneer. The Taiwanese manufacturer followed the Dream with the Magic, which was also to sell over 1 million units, but it was the third release that really caught the public’s imagination.

The HTC Hero launched in Europe towards the end of the summer in 2009 and hit the U.S. in October (minus the chin). It was the first release from HTC to boast that premium feel in terms of design, and it was the also the first handset to feature the Sense UI, which paved the way for manufacturers to try and differentiate their wares with overlays intended to add value. It kick-started an argument that is still going on today – some handy added features and slick animations, versus lag and platform update delays.

Motorola Droid

As a pioneer in the mobile phone field, Motorola was in real need of a hit by the time Android came along. Its last big success had been the Razr, but that proved to be an evolutionary dead end as designs gravitated toward touchscreen dominance. Hot on the heels of the HTC Hero, the Motorola Droid launched in October 2009 in the U.S. accompanied by the iPhone-bashing Droid Does marketing campaign.

Verizon threw its weight firmly behind the new Motorola flagship, even licensing the Droid trademark from Lucasfilm (that’s why the phone shipped in the rest of the world under the less attractive Milestone moniker). Screens were already beginning to grow by this point and the Motorola Droid boasted a 3.7-inch display with an impressive 854×480 pixel resolution, a 600MHz TI processor, 256MB of RAM, and 512MB of storage, but with a 16GB microSDHC card included. It also had a 5MP camera and, though it shipped with version 2.0 of Android, it got all the updates up to version 2.2.3.

This release put Android on the map in the U.S. and Verizon sold 250,000 units in the first week, which made it the fastest selling Android smartphone to date. It would go on to sell an estimated 1.05 million in the first 74 days and over 2 million in its first year. It also spawned a long list of successors from Motorola.

Verizon’s Droid brand was so successful Stateside, expanding to include releases from HTC as well as Motorola, that the brand almost became synonymous with Android itself.

Google Nexus One

Talk of a “Google phone” had circulated for years before the company actually engaged HTC to produce one for it. The Nexus One was released in January 2010 and sold directly through a web store, as a SIM-free unlocked handset. The Nexus One shipped with stock Android and an unlockable bootloader, which made it a popular choice for developers. The main highlight was a lightning fast 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor backed up by 512MB of RAM. There was also a 3.7-inch AMOLED with a resolution of 800×480 pixels, though HTC later switched to Super LCD citing shortages.

It struggled to live up the hype, but it established an important precedent – Google could get into the hardware game. Sales were widely supposed to be disappointing, Flurry estimated 135,000 in the first 74 days, but many attributed that to the direct sales strategy which meant a large upfront cost for buyers.

HTC Desire

HTC certainly didn’t lose out because of the modest Nexus One sales figures. The HTC Desire was essentially a modified Nexus One and it was a monster hit. It launched in the summer of 2010, with a staggered release worldwide, and the review scores were stunning. It was my first Android smartphone and coming from an old Nokia N95 8GB (which was about as good as feature phones got) the Desire was mind-blowing.

It won a few phone of the year titles and it sent HTC’s stock soaring, but it wasn’t without competition.

Samsung Galaxy S

The Samsung Galaxy S was like a template for the strategy that Samsung would use to dominate the Android landscape for the next few years. It launched on 110 carriers in 100 countries over the summer of 2010 and it had the specs to match the Desire and the Nexus One. Samsung was happy to provide exclusive variants for all the big (and small) U.S. carriers, so there was the Vibrant, Captivate, Epic 4G, Fascinate, Mesmerize, Startosphere, Showcase, Indulge, and on and on. The Indulge didn’t land until 2011, but it was the first 4G LTE smartphone in the U.S. closely followed by HTC’s Thunderbolt.

Manufacturers have become pretty cagey about releasing sales figures, so you know a smartphone has been really successful when they crow about them at every opportunity. Samsung had sold 24 million Galaxy S handsets as of the start of 2013.

HTC Evo 4G

It didn’t come close to some of the company here in terms of sales, although it was Sprint’s top-selling launch day phone, but we have to briefly mention the HTC Evo 4G. It was similar to the WinMo HTC HD2 and it boasted a 4.3-inch display backed by a solid set of specs. That display was unusually big in the summer of 2010 when it launched.

Motorola Atrix 

Strictly speaking the LG Optimus 2X was the world’s first dual-core smartphone, but the Atrix hit the market at the beginning of 2011 and it combined the Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core processor with a stunning qHD display (4-inches with a 540×960 pixel resolution). There were also a range of innovative accessories for the Atrix, including a laptop dock that transformed the phone into a laptop. Despite great review scores the Atrix struggled to really take off, but it was an innovative release.

Samsung Galaxy S2

A 1.2 GHz dual-core processor (1.5GHz in some variants), 1GB of RAM, a 4.3-inch AMOLED, and an 8MP camera, the S2 pushed the spec war to a new level and firmly established Samsung as the flagship king. It launched in May 2011 and was praised for its performance and its slim and stylish design. With over 40 million units sold so far, a string of awards and universally high review scores, do we really need to say any more?

Galaxy Nexus

Towards the end of 2011 Google and Samsung got together and had a beautiful baby. The Galaxy Nexus was the launch device for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and it was also the first device to get Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. It represented a real change of direction in terms of design, with a true HD 4.65-inch Super AMOLED display with curved glass and no physical buttons on the front face. It had a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and came in 16GB or 32GB variants. The 5MP camera was a slight disappointment for some, as was the omission of a microSD card slot. On the whole, though, the reviews were glowing and many people named the Galaxy Nexus the best Android smartphone on the market.

Motorola Droid Razr Maxx

2012 started with a bang as Motorola tried to blend the successful Droid brand with the legendary Razr. The Maxx variant is especially noteworthy because it tried to address everyone’s biggest smartphone complaint – battery life. Combining a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED with a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, and an 8MP camera, the Maxx was powered by a 3300mAh battery without getting too chunky. Finally, an Android smartphone that could last a couple of days of normal use between charges, it may not have set the world alight, but it offered new hope for people tired of running out of juice.

Samsung Galaxy S3

The HTC One X hit the market ahead of the S3 and many reviewers thought it would signal a comeback for HTC, but things turned out differently. The Galaxy S3 pushed it to the cutting edge again with a 1.4 GHz quad-core processor (1.5GHz dual-core in some variants), 1GB or 2GB of RAM, an 8MP camera, and 16GB or 32GB of storage with the option to expand via microSD by another 64GB. The 4.8-inch Super AMOLED caught the public imagination, and suggestions that it was too big were soon proved wrong.

The Galaxy S3 really wasn’t much different from the HTC One X on paper, but it absolutely dominated in the marketplace. To date it has sold over 50 million units, which makes it the best-selling Android smartphone of all time, by a distance.

Google Nexus 4

The latest Google smartphone was produced by LG and it offers a solid set of specs and sexy, premium design. We’re talking about a 4.7-inch display, 1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2 GB of RAM, 8 or 16 GB of internal storage, and an 8MP camera, but the reason it’s worthy of inclusion on the list is the price tag. In line with Google’s usual strategy the handset is available SIM-free direct from the website and, starting at $299 (£239), it’s not tough to work out why the first batch of stock sold out faster than expected.

Its Achilles’ heel is a lack of LTE support, but otherwise reviews have been universally positive and it may be Google’s best-selling smartphone to date (we just don’t know because they refuse to release numbers). One thing’s for sure, you won’t find a similar quality of phone at that price anywhere else.

Honorable mentions

There are undoubtedly quite a few other Android smartphones that could have pushed for inclusion here. That’s one of the major strengths of the Android platform – the sheer diversity of handsets on offer.

The ZTE Blade has sold millions at the budget end of the market. The Sony Xperia line has produced some nice phones, not least the most recent Xperia Z. The Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 2, and LG Optimus G Pro are hybrid devices really, but they’d make some people’s lists. The HTC One and Galaxy S4 are likely to push for inclusion when they hit the market. If you want to nominate something then justify your choice in the comments.

You’ve no doubt heard the term “second screen”. It really just refers to any device you use while watching your TV. According to the surveys, more and more of us are surfing the web or instant messaging on our smartphones, tablets, and laptops while we watch TV or play games. Content producers and social service providers are excited because we’re often engaged in searching for data that’s related to whatever is on our first screen, or talking about it with family and friends.

Done right, second screen apps and services can enhance your viewing, or playing, pleasure by offering related facts, interactive polls or competitions, running commentary from critics or friends, and even links to buy featured products. There is a lot of potential there and it’s only just beginning to be tapped.

What do people do with the second screen?

A study from Google revealed that 77% of TV viewers have another device in their hand and that 81% of the 1,611 polled have used their smartphones while watching TV. Top of the list of activities was email at 60%, followed by internet browsing at 44%, and social networking at 42%.

A much larger, worldwide study from Ericsson found that 62% of people use social media while watching TV and that 40% percent of them are discussing what they’re watching.

When Verizon polled 2,319 Americans through Harris Interactive they found that 65% were planning to use a second screen during the last presidential debate. 41% wanted to fact-check, 39% wanted to follow live commentary from political reporters, and 32% wanted to catch social media reactions. A significant number also intended to weigh in with opinions. 23% said they would post to Facebook, 15% would use a forum or chat room, and 14% would be tweeting.

Trend is here to stay

The percentage of people using a second screen has been growing steadily year on year. The NPD Group released research yesterday revealing that 87 percent of U.S. entertainment consumers are using at least one second screen device while watching TV. For 55% of the 3,387 polled that device was a smartphone.

People seem to be content to dip into social media apps to share their thoughts, search IMDB for that actor’s name, or browse to the show’s website to enter competitions, but it could all be made much easier. In terms of interactivity we haven’t even touched the tip of the iceberg. Second screen apps on Android are starting to get really interesting. Let’s take a look at some of the best.

Zeebox

Billing itself as “your TV’s sidekick”, zeebox is all about social buzz. You can chat with fans of your favorite shows, uncover a wealth of information, discover what shows other people (including celebs) are excited about, set up reminders so you don’t miss anything, and interact with select shows through polls, votes, and even games. The app also provides a TV guide and it has won the backing of some major networks. With zeetags you can get live info on what’s on screen and links to buy products. The app differs slightly from region to region; for example, the UK version also doubles up as a remote control for some TVs and set top boxes.

Shazam

This app has been around for ages and its claim to fame is the ability to identify music. Let the app listen to a few seconds of any track that’s playing and it will provide you with the title and artist, not to mention lyrics and links to buy. The developers saw the potential of the second screen and expanded the app to recognize adverts and TV. Shows and advertisers that partner with Shazam can offer unique content and users can tag anything they like.

Xbox SmartGlass

Anyone with an Xbox 360 can use this app to transform their Android into a remote control and keyboard for browsing the Internet via their console or controlling content. The app is also supposed to offer additional content for supported games, further information on movies and TV shows that you’re watching, and other exclusive content, but the Android version is sadly hobbled right now. If and when the Android version will get the full functionality is not clear.

Sony has already promised that there will be a second screen app for the PS4 on Android.

Other second screen apps

There are a few other second screen apps around right now. GetGlue covers the social side quite well, you check-in to shows and movies and there’s lots of conversation, but you can also unlock stickers and discounts. It has a pretty good personalized recommendation system if you use it regularly.

The majority of big networks and service providers have come out with some kind of second screen app. The Netflix app on Android is pretty handy because it can double up as a remote control and it allows you to browse without stopping whatever is playing.

You may also consider IntoNow for extra info on what you’re watching, Miso is another check-in social app, but it really needs an update. You’ll also find a wealth of second screen apps designed specifically for certain shows, movies, or sporting events.

Incorporating second screen features

It’s not just third-party apps and services that are jumping on the second screen bandwagon. Some of these features are getting baked into popular apps and services from the big boys. The days of spending hours trying to remember where you’ve seen “that guy” before are gone.

Amazon’s X-Ray feature, which you’ll find on the Kindle Fire line of tablets, is able to draw on IMDB to conjure up relevant information about the movies or TV shows that you’re watching.

The Google Play Movies & TV app just started pulling in data from Google’s Knowledge Graph, so you can pause movies and get Google Now style pop-up cards with info about the actors on screen and the music that’s playing.

It’s inevitable that, over time, the major manufacturers and service providers will start to incorporate the same kinds of second screen features we’re currently seeing in third-party apps. The potential for games to expand on the experience, using your smartphone as a secondary interactive display, is genuinely exciting; we just need a wide enough platform that everyone can enjoy it and some imaginative designers to take up the challenge. As the creators of our favorite shows and movies start to see the potential, hopefully we’ll get access to more quality content, and TV will become truly interactive.

You know when you see those negative ad campaigns that try to point out why a tech product isn’t good enough, or how a tech company is secretly shafting you behind your back? What do you think when you see ads like that? Do they inspire any goodwill for the advertiser, or is it all just about inspiring disdain for the target?

Smear campaigns highlighting product and service problems are becoming more common in the tech world. The old classic selective comparison, where you show a side-by-side with your main competitor and only list things that make your product look better has given way to seriously snide digs and hypocritical whining. It seems like everyone is at it now, but does it actually work?

From politics to tech

The negative advertising campaign has been a feature of politics for decades. A 2005 study entitled “Does negative advertising work?” found that negative advertisements tend to include more information than positive ads, that they are more memorable, they tend to be creative and humorous, and they are newsworthy in themselves so they generate more publicity. Most importantly, it found that negative ads improved the standing of the attacker and decreased the standing of the victim at the polls.

One of the most interesting observations in the report came from Republican consultant Roger Stone who said, “Voters will tell you in focus groups that they don’t like negative ads, but they retain the information so much better than the positive ones. The point is, people like dirty laundry. Why do tabloids sell?”

Does the same argument hold true for the tech world? Many of the big players seem to think so. For politics it may be relatively easy to measure the impact of a negative ad, but it’s much tougher to quantify in tech.

Microsoft’s hate campaign

One of the biggest proponents of negative advertising right now seems to be Microsoft. The Scroogled campaign has attacked Google for returning paid-for results in Google Shopping. It also attacked Gmail stating that “Google goes through every Gmail that’s sent or received, looking for keywords so they can target Gmail users with paid ads. And there’s no way to opt out of this invasion of your privacy.”

The Gmail one is an interesting distinction because Microsoft is complaining that Google scans your incoming and outgoing emails in order to serve targeted ads. The whole thing is automated, it’s not like there’s a team of Google employees reading your personal missives. Microsoft admits that Outlook scans your emails as well; the difference is it doesn’t use the information to serve you ads – it “only scans the contents of your email to help protect you…”

Hypocrisy aside, doesn’t Microsoft spending millions of dollars on negative advertising smack of desperation? The company and its outspoken CEO, Ballmer, has always hated Android, despite doing the rounds on licensing deals to rake in major profits from the platform. Who can forget classic attacks such as this from 2008 where Ballmer criticizes Google’s lack of a business model (that worked out well), or his claim that Android is wild and uncontrolled, and of course the assertion that you need to be a computer scientist to use an Android phone. Then there was hilariously disastrous #DroidRage campaign.

The bottom line problem for me is that every time I see a negative ad from Microsoft this picture pops up in my head and I just think douchebag.

Steve Ballmer Announced Windows Has Cloud-Storage “Under-Control”

Google is bad at this

For the most part Google just releases boring statements and refuses to get drawn into the argument. It’s rare that you see Google retaliate with a negative ad of its own, but that might be because the company isn’t very good at it. One memorable attempt by Motorola Mobility to criticize the Apple Maps app was pretty embarrassing because it used a debatable address.

In general, Google avoids negative ads, as explained in this Myth Busting post on its public policy blog.

Apple started it, now Samsung is taking over

One of the most memorable negative ad campaigns ever was the “I’m a Mac” and “I’m a PC” bit with a hip, young Apple convert facing off against a dorky, old PC guy. Those ads were clever, they were funny, and they appealed to people. Part of the reason they worked was that Apple could play the underdog card and be the young upstart offering a better way, facing off against the old incumbent, Microsoft.

Nowadays Apple’s ads are positive and tend to focus on the features of its products. If they weren’t so smug and self-satisfied it might be possible to appreciate them. Funnily enough, Samsung has now started attacking Apple with comical digs in a similar vein to Apple’s old campaigns. The difference now is that Apple is the fat, lazy incumbent and Samsung is the underdog. The thing is, the idea that a company with marketing muscle and pockets as deep as Samsung is an underdog doesn’t really hold water.

It seems to be working, though; the Samsung anti-Apple ads are pretty popular.

Can you afford not to be negative?

If there’s a real dirty war in tech then does it mean that everyone has to be dragged in? It was amusing to see LG and HTC trolling the Galaxy S4 launch event. Even Apple’s Phil Schiller started trash talking, although he managed to get it wrong by repeating an erroneous rumor that the S4 would ship with a year-old version of Android when, in fact, it won’t. You can see the fear in Samsung’s competitors when they grasp at straws like this, but then the South Korean giant is threatening to hoover up a monster share of the market yet again this year.

If you’re going to trash an opponent you have to get it right, as Amazon discovered when it had to pull the Kindle Fire HD vs iPad mini campaign from its front page because it was inaccurate (the iPad mini does have stereo speakers).

Fanning the flames of a fanboy war

Companies command an amazing level of loyalty nowadays and you’ll see their self-proclaimed defenders ride into battle in blog comments and on forums on a daily basis. The companies themselves often don’t need to get their hands dirty. Responses like this one from Apple fans to Samsung’s Galaxy S3 vs iPhone 5 campaign can go viral in an instant. The real purpose of negative advertising isn’t to arm the fanboy armies, though, it’s to knock fence sitters down onto your side and make them question your competitors. The tech war is far from over, so we can expect to see a lot of negative ad campaigns in the next few months and years.

What do you think? Does negative advertising work? Would you like to see more, or do you think companies should focus on the positives of their own products? Got a favorite negative ad? Post a comment and share.

Smartphones really are the ultimate convergence devices. People no longer question whether they’ll replace cameras, digital audio players, portable TVs, handheld gaming consoles, or Sat Navs. The question now is – how many more things can they replace? Once you reach the stage where you’ve outlaid big cash for a seriously powerful pocket computer, it just makes sense to keep adding more potential uses. That has been the foundation of the app explosion. It is what has made smartphones the fastest selling tech in human history.

There’s one exciting frontier that Android has yet to really penetrate and that’s home automation. If you cast your mind back to Google I/O in 2011 you might remember Android@home and some talk about the mesh network. Sadly, an affordable Android home automation system did not immediately hit the market. In fact, we heard nothing more about it. Before you get too despondent, it looks like references to Google messing with a mesh network and Android@home have been spotted in version 4.2.2 of Android. Fingers crossed we might get some kind of exciting announcement at Google I/O in May.

Universal remote control

The potential of Android is massive and as the user base grows it becomes more and more likely that Google, device manufacturers, app developers, and other companies will seek to explore new possibilities for the platform. We’re already seeing some signs of this as manufacturers look to bake in features that were once delivered by innovative apps.

My first inkling of what Android might do within the home came with an app called GMote. It allows your Android phone to act as a remote control for your computer. If you’ve got an HTPC setup or you use your PC for music then it’s an ideal way of controlling your content. You could also use it to awkwardly browse your files and they eventually added the ability to stream music to the phone.

In the last couple of years the remote control idea has really taken off alongside the chatter about the second screen and so now we’ve got loads of options. I use the Netflix app as a remote control for the service on my big TV. You can control what you’re watching and you can also browse for more content without skipping out of what’s on. I use the Skifta app to stream home videos and photos to my big screen. There are many other examples of similar apps like Xbox SmartGlass, which is offering interactive second screen content to accompany what you are watching or playing. It’s early days right now, but you can see the potential.

Manufacturers can certainly see it. Samsung has its own AllShare software to stream and share various kinds of content. When Sony showed off the Xperia Tablet Z the user was able to tap on an NFC speaker and have the music from the tablet instantly stream, or swipe next to a Sony TV and have the tablet display mirror on the big screen. We’ve also seen that the new Galaxy S4 has a built-in infrared sensor so it can act as a universal remote control for your home theater equipment and TVs. The Xperia Z and the HTC One have exactly the same functionality.

Your Android device acting as a remote control and hub for entertainment makes perfect sense, but can’t we take it further?

Creeping into more devices

We’re starting to see Android creep into cars, we’re seeing it in cameras, it’s in ovens, it’s in fridges, and it’s even in washing machines (check out LG’s range of smart appliances). You can already use Android for security systems, car diagnostics and navigation, as a digital wallet, and you can even remotely start and unlock your car with Android. How about Android in our central heating systems, our air conditioning, and our lighting systems? Some of the existing home automation solutions out there have created Android apps to tie into their systems, and the price tags are coming down. Home automation used to be the preserve of the super wealthy, but we might all be able to afford a piece in the not too distant future.

The more popular Android becomes and the more widespread and standardized the hardware is, the closer we get to a perfect storm of affordability and functionality.

Give us home automation

Remember growing up with the idea that you’d have domestic robots serving you breakfast or you’d be jumping into an auto-piloted hovercar for the morning commute? The vision of the future we were fed as kids just isn’t going to happen (although Google’s working on the driverless cars, they just don’t hover), but no one predicted that we’d have a super powerful pocket device that could essentially control everything in our environment.

If you tie the idea of home automation together with Google Now then it starts to feel like the future. A Google Now card that would allow you to turn on and off the lights has already been spotted. Just imagine the possibilities, if Google Now detected a drop in temperature it could suggest turning the thermostat up. You make a new calendar entry for a dinner party and it could check the fridge to see what you need and return potential recipes. How about your Android device as a digital key for the front door, the garage, even the car?

Imagine your early morning alarm being accompanied by your lights coming on, your stereo or TV coming to life, and a pot of coffee automatically brewing downstairs. In the demo they also showed off how you could connect your house lights to a video gaming experience to make it more immersive.

How do you use Android now?

For me Android is a central hub for entertainment in the house. I have found solutions and workarounds that allow me to access all of my content and stream it and control it at various points around the house using my Android phone, but honestly, it could be easier. The idea of tapping into lighting, appliances, heating, and more definitely appeals, provided it isn’t prohibitively expensive.

What do you think – is Android home automation something you want? What would you be prepared to pay for it? Will we see something new about Android@home at Google I/O this year? Have you tried out any existing Android home automation apps or hardware? Post a comment and tell us about your experience.

The Android platform launched in October 2008. There were around 50 apps in the Android Market. Four years later, in October 2012, Google reported there were 700,000 apps in the rebranded Google Play Store. That’s quite a jump and the app explosion is far from over – the total has already climbed past 800,000 apps today.

Having such a wide choice of apps and games on the platform is great for us, but it does present a bit of a challenge – how do you find the best Android apps? The original Android Market was far from user friendly. App discovery was a real challenge before Google overhauled it. Remember when you couldn’t just browse the apps online? There was no filtering by device and only a small subset of the charts you can find today. Independent app reviews on other websites were few and far between. Tools for app discovery were yet to be invented.

Unearthing gems

Things have come a long way since then, but it is still a challenge to find great Android apps. When apps were a novelty, perhaps people were willing to browse and take a chance on something, but nowadays most of us want to cut to the chase. Localytics research on multiple mobile platforms from 2010 revealed that 26 percent of apps that were downloaded were only used once. Nuance suggested that only 5 percent of free apps are still being used 30 days after download.

Most people use a small set of apps frequently and only dip their toes in the ocean of possibilities on occasion. Let’s face it; if you cast your net into the murky depths of the app store indiscriminately then you’re pretty likely to dredge up a disappointing haul. The truth is that the majority of apps in the Play Store are not worth your time.

If you want to avoid wasting time on the dross then there are a few techniques worth adopting and some handy apps and services that can help you. Let’s take a look at Android app discovery done right.

The majority can’t be wrong

An obvious place to start is with the Play Store charts. You can find out what the top premium and free apps are, what the most successful new apps are, which apps Google staff recommend, trending apps, apps recommended for you (if you’re logged in), and there’s even a section for tablet optimized apps now. You also have the option of filtering by category and if you log into your account you can just queue up your choices from any browser and have them download automatically to your smartphone. The whole experience is much improved and it’s getting better all the time.

When you find an individual app you are considering, the reviews, aggregated user score, and the download chart on its Play Store page will give you a nice rounded snapshot of how popular it is. You’ll never find a dud with high review scores and high download numbers.

There’s really no need to go outside the Play Store to find great apps, but you might consider using alternative app stores to help you identify new apps and games worth downloading. Check out what’s popular in the charts at the Amazon App Store, GetJar, SlideME, AppBrain, or Handango and then find it at the Play Store to download. You’ll tend to see the same top apps pop up in the Play charts, but there are lots of other app stores out there with charts, ratings and reviews and they can help you to turn up some alternative quality apps.

App discovery apps

There are two apps that have really stood out over the last few months as great tools for finding new apps and games worth downloading.

The first is Best Apps Market and it’s a curated selection of the cream of the crop, fully categorized and easy to search or browse. The developer recently released a new and improved app called Fetch which takes the same formula and wraps it in a more attractive package. It’s good for finding apps, it can make decent suggestions based on what you have used in the past, it is well categorized, and it’s very easy to search. The trick is that it attaches traits to individual apps and games and so you can dig deeper than the typical categories you find in app store charts. It works best for games, which is unsurprising because it is powered by the Game Genome Project, and it allows you to layer up traits that you want in your game in order to create a very specific filter.

The second is for tablet owners and it’s called Tablified Market. It’s a straight selection of apps and games that have been optimized for Android tablets and organized into categories. It also includes occasional offers for free apps, and it gives you an idea of what’s popular and what’s trending.

Reviews and aggregation

Android is so big now that you can find detailed reviews and roundups of great apps and games on a number of websites. Naturally you should start right here in the apps section of Android Authority. You’ll find a lot of other great locations for turning up new Android apps and finding reviews and discussion about the latest releases from the Guardian to XDA Developers. When you find a reviewer with taste that matches yours you’ve struck gold, but it’s easier said than done.

What Android is really lacking is a good aggregator service (post a comment if you know about one). A service that collects all the app reviews and ratings from respected sources and aggregates the scores would be useful. Metacritic does this beautifully for games and the service has expanded to include iOS, but sadly there’s no Android coverage on there. We contacted Metacritic to ask if there are any plans to include Android, but they declined to comment.

Suggestions please

With the right apps and games everyone gets more from Android, so let’s put our heads together and share tips. How do you find new apps and games? Have you got a foolproof method for avoiding dross? How do you dig past the same hundred or so names that dominate all the charts? Post a comment please.

Towards the end of the summer of 2012 research company IHS predicted that Android would be on over one billion devices by the end of 2013. That was on the back of Andy Rubin, Google’s Senior Vice president of Mobile and Digital Content, announcing in September that Android had officially hit 500 million activated devices worldwide and that 1.3 million new Android devices were being added every day. The following month Google Chairman, Eric Schmidt told AllThingsD that “We’ll be at 1 billion mobile devices in a year.”

If the 1.3 million devices a day figure continued to the present day then Android should be on over 700 million devices by now (in fact it’s on 750 million). If it continues throughout the year then Android would indeed be on 1 billion devices by October, as Schmidt predicted.

How big is a billion?

To give it some perspective, according to Ballmer in a letter to shareholders last October, Windows in all its forms has 1.3 billion users worldwide. Microsoft Office is apparently installed on 1 billion devices. Corning Gorilla Glass is used in over 1 billion devices. Apple has sold over 500 million iOS devices. Facebook has just over 1 billion monthly active users. Ideal Toy Company and subsequent owners of the brand sold somewhere over 350 million of the most popular puzzle ever, the Rubik’s Cube (arguably the most popular toy ever). There are just over 7 billion people in the world.

Hitting a billion faster

It was only last year that the total number of smartphones hit 1 billion. Now analysts at Deloitte are predicting that more than 1 billion smartphones will be sold in 2013 alone. The overall size of the market is still growing and Android has the lion’s share of the sales. If we go back to September 2012 when the 1.3 million a day statement was made Android’s smartphone market share was below 70 percent for Q2 and sales of Android smartphones hit 104.8 million. According to Gartner, in Q3 of 2012 Android market share hit 72.4 percent and in Q4 it was 69.7 percent. Despite that dip there were 122.5 million Android smartphones sold in Q3 and 144.7 million Android smartphones sold in Q4 because the overall size of the market went up.

On top of the smartphone situation we have to consider the rapid growth of the Android tablet market. IDC reported strong growth in Q4 with Android tablets grabbing a larger share than ever before. We’re also starting to see Android in netbooks, smart watches, cars, games consoles, TVs, cameras, and even ovens. If we put all of this together then it’s pretty clear that Android should hit 1 billion devices long before October.

According to rumor, Samsung is aiming to sell 10 million Galaxy S4 handsets per month. The company reportedly wants to sell 350 million smartphones in 2013, factor in tablets and its other devices and you can see how 1 billion Android devices could be reached sooner than expected.

Hold on there a minute

We do have to stop and consider a couple of other factors. Google hasn’t updated that activations figure and we don’t know why. You would have to assume that the actual daily figure is much higher, but if we are including all the forked Android devices in the equation and the huge numbers of Android devices in China which have no real link to Google then maybe it just doesn’t have accurate stats. Realistically there isn’t any way for Google to measure Android devices that don’t use its services and that could be a lot of devices.

We also have to think about how many early Android devices have been laid to rest. The growth of the platform has been so rapid that the figure for dead devices probably isn’t that high, but it should still be subtracted from the total before you can really say Android is in use on 1 billion devices. However, we do know that Google doesn’t  count devices again if they are sold on to new users, wiped and then activated again. There’s only one activation counted per device, but it’s still tough to get a truly accurate figure for devices in use.

So what does it mean?

We could pass the 1 billion Android devices mark and not know it. When Google can confirm 1 billion Android devices, we’ll know that the actual number is probably a lot higher.

In any case it’s great news for Android fans because the more Android users there are the greater the incentive for developers and manufacturers to serve us and develop new apps and products for us. The Android platform will be the first mobile platform to reach 1 billion devices. From under 10 million devices in 2009 to over 1 billion in 2013 is some phenomenal growth.

Success on this scale can easily become a positive feedback loop. It will be increasingly difficult for rival platforms without an established share of the pie to make any inroads. An entire ecosystem of manufacturers and developers are reliant on Android for a living. For more and more people the Android platform is synonymous with smartphones. The more invested you are, the harder it is to leave. That will present new challenges for everyone involved in the Android world. How do you keep the platform fresh and enticing without changing things that alienate your core users?

Android is riding high and shows no sign of slowing down; by the time that iOS hits 1 billion devices in 2015, Android will be on over 2 billion devices worldwide. It’s an unstoppable juggernaut and as long as it continues to innovate and improve the user experience there’s no limit in sight. There could be one Android device for every seven people on the planet by this summer. What do you think of that? Are you skeptical about activation figures? Do you think the 1 billion milestone will be reached sooner or later than predicted? Post a comment and tell us what you think.

According to the latest report to shock the Android world there’s been a 2000% increase in malware in the Google Play Store and one particularly vicious virus is capable of reaching through the touchscreen and devouring your children whole. That’s according to a survey of 200 deliberately infected Android devices conducted by Generic Mobile Security Firm. Seriously, is anyone else sick of reading this kind of thing?

In recent months we’ve been inundated with reports that malware is up 580% and 23 apps in the top 500 in the Google Play Store are “high risk”. We’ve heard that will be “an exponential growth of mobile malware” this year mostly targeted at Android. We’ve even heard that 18 million Android devices are going to be infected this year. What do these reports all have in common? Look at the companies behind them – TrustGo, Eset, and Lookout Mobile Security. All of them have a vested interest in persuading you to install some kind of antivirus app on your Android device.

Malware is real, but…

No platform is immune to malware threats, partly because malware is a catch-all term for malicious software and that’s a big pretty big category. Android is inevitably being targeted because it is the most popular mobile platform. Exactly the same reason that Windows is targeted, but there is one important difference – Android is a lot less susceptible to attack than Windows is. Microsoft still has the gall to dig for Android malware stories with its disastrous #DroidRage campaign.

Anecdotally I’ve had several malware problems on my PC and laptop and I’ve heard frequent complaints about malware on Windows from friends and family. I’ve yet to encounter anyone who has had an Android malware problem. I have no doubt Android malware exists, but the threat is being exaggerated to ridiculous levels by security app developers and then being picked up by rival platform fans and even execs as a stick to beat Android with.

Let’s get some perspective

The problem with these reports is that they don’t tell the full story. They don’t mention that your average Android user who never enables app installation from Unknown sources is incredibly unlikely to encounter any problems. If you stick to Google Play Store and you only install apps and games that have high download figures and lots of reviews then you are at virtually no risk of running into malware.

You have to choose to download malware onto your device. Those tricky cybercriminals try to fool you into doing it, but malware is like vampires – if you don’t invite it into your house then it can’t harm you. If you stick to the Play Store for apps and games, you avoid clicking links in emails, you avoid downloading anything from websites that you don’t know, and you never follow a link within, or respond to, a mystery SMS, then you’ll be fine.

Why pay when you don’t have to?

If you’d rather have complete peace of mind then there’s nothing wrong with installing a security app. I use Avast because it’s bundled with some handy anti-theft tools, but there are plenty of good options out there. The important thing is to ensure that you really are picking a good option. Keep an eye on AV Test’s mobile app security report for a genuinely independent overview of the best security apps on the platform.

The important thing to point out here is that there are several completely free Android security apps that offer exactly the same features as the premium ones. In fact, some of the free apps offer more features. To make matters worse, several of those free apps are absolutely trouncing the big brand names when it comes to malware detection. Don’t assume the recognizable brands are better than the rest.

Too many of the big names in computer security are trading on the trust they’ve built on your computer or laptop. McAfee, Norton, Kaspersky, Eset and others are charging a lot of money for a lower, or at best comparable, level of protection than you would get from a free alternative like the one being offered by TrustGo, Avast, or even the free version of Lookout. You definitely do not need to be spending money in order to keep your Android smartphone free of malware.

What if you need serious security?

Applying some common sense combined with a highly rated security app should be enough for most people, but in the enterprise Android really needs to scrub up its image. That’s why we’re seeing developments like Samsung’s security system, Knox, which is designed to calm IT admins struggling to accommodate the BYOD trend. It looks like a serious threat to BlackBerry’s base and it also signals Samsung’s intent to conquer a new market. We’re betting it will ship on the Galaxy S4 and it could encourage competing manufacturers to follow suit and tighten up Android security.

The reality

Google has also made moves to reassure Android users with the verify apps security feature in Android 4.2 and tighter restrictions in the Play Store. Even as the number of malware threats grows the number of people who are exposed to them could be dropping. If it’s perceived to be a big problem, whether it really is or not, the major manufacturers and Google will treat it more seriously and tackle the issue head on. In reality the Android platform is growing more secure all the time. We just can’t discount the ingenuity of those pesky cybercriminals.

To briefly recap, there is no need to panic. You should not be throwing your Android device in the nearest fire and running for the hills. Apply a little common sense about what you download and click on. Install a free, highly-rated security app on your device. Sit back and relax without any fear of malware. Everything is going to be fine.