With almost twice as many smartphones shipping in Q4 of 2012 than the previous year, it’s no surprise that Google’s Android OS has maintained its lead in the smartphone race. A new report from Strategy Analytics estimates that a total of 152.1 million smartphones operating on Android shipped in Q4 of 2012, making Android’s global market share 70%, up from 51%, in Q4 of 2011.

With its open source ethos, Google’s Android OS has helped proliferate the manufacture and development of a variety of devices. Android devices of all colors and stripes have been popping up since it’s inception, ranging from high-end smartphones and tablets to entry-level devices. Unlike Apple, whose iOS only operates on a few devices produced strictly by Apple, Google lets manufacturers use the Android source code and customize it to their liking. It also allows Android devices to be sold at various price points, unlike the (new) iPhone that remains at a premium price.

It’s true that Android is dominating the smartphone market right now, but can it keep up with competing and emerging smartphone OS’s such as RIM’s new BlackBerry 10 OS and Firefox OS? Let us know what you think.

(Via: TechCrunch,Phandroid)

Updates to both YouTube Capture and Google Currents on iOS have just hit Cupertino's App Store, bringing with them a handful of functionality and UI updates. Mountain View bumped YouTube Capture to version 1.1, adding support for 1080p uploads, improved audio syncing, detailed upload feedback and a grab bag of bug fixes and stability enhancements. If you're feeling particularly chatty after hamming it up for the camera, the refreshed app now allows for sharing to social networks. As for Google Currents, the latest update brings it to the two-dot-oh milestone with a number of UI upgrades. A new sidebar sorts editions by category for easy access and fresh controls let users swipe vertically to scan an edition or horizontally to skip to the next one. A brand-new catalog design, breaking stories from Google News and the ability to save articles by labeling them with stars round out the overhaul. Hit the source links below to give the revamped experiences a spin.

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