Android Developers are being reminded by Google to shift their attention away from the Menu button and focus instead on the Action Bar.

The Menu button function is commonplace in pre-3.0 versions of Google’s Android operating system. It allows users to view options for a particular application by pressing the Menu button on their device.

With the introduction of Honeycomb (version 3.0) and now Ice Cream Sandwich (version 4.0) the function has become redundant as these operating systems remove the need for physical buttons.

All change please

This year we expect to see a new wave of devices running Ice Cream Sandwich, so developers need to make sure they update their apps to use the Action Bar.

Developers need to follow the new Android user experience as many Android devices are expected in 2012 to feature button free designs.

Apps will continue to work on the new software, with Google building an action overflow button which acts as the menu button.

The action overflow button will display on all applications which have not been updated to Android 3.0+, even if they do not require it.

Are you all for button free devices, or will you be pining for your menu, home and back buttons?

LG and Microsoft have inked a patent agreement that covers all of LG’s Android tablets and mobile phones, and – oddly – any devices running Chrome OS.

Since LG doesn’t have any devices running Chrome OS we’re assuming that means there’s a Chromebook on its way from the company in the near future.

The new agreement, which builds on a pre-existing deal, sees LG join the throngs of Android manufacturers paying Microsoft for use of its patents, including HTC, Samsung and Acer.

So long and thanks for all the cash

In fact, as Microsoft’s corporate VP Horacio Gutierrez gleefully points out, “more than 70 per cent of all Android smartphones sold in the US are now receiving coverage under Microsoft’s patent portfolio”.

The terms of the deal are under wraps, but it’s likely that LG is paying Microsoft a broad licence fee, as well as royalties on each Android (and soon, Chrome OS) device sold.

Microsoft may be finding its approach a little more successful than Apple, whose rigorous protection of its intellectual property has seen it battling competitors in court rooms around the world – and that’s a colour that doesn’t look good on anybody.

As for the mystery LG Chromebook, we’ll have to wait and see what the company has up its sleeve.

Android devices running Android 3.0, 2.3 or 2.2 will be able to download Flash 10.2 in beta form from the Android Market later today.

Quel excitement, as it brings with it the ability to load Flash content on Android 3.0, faster performance to those with Flash 10.1 and better battery life to a host of handsets.

The new version was built with the tablet-specific Honeycomb OS in mind, but older devices can benefit too as long as they meet the system requirements. Read the full story