Technomaly » Android

Watch Google’s “Froyo” Presentation

J. Matthew Zoss — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:21:54 +0000

If you’re at all interested in mobile phones or Google, you’ve heard about Froyo. That’s the code name for Android 2.2, the latest version of Google’s mobile phone operating system. You’ve probably heard its main selling points as well – a massive speed increase, Flash support, better Gmail and phone-to-laptop “tethering.” But if you’re a big dork about your Android phone (like me), you may want more information about the software update beyond the bullet points. Well, don’t say we never gave you anything, because here’s the complete Froyo presentation from the recent Google I/O conference. It’s a beefy 45 minutes long, but obviously it answers pretty much any question you might have.

Via Android Central

Inside Android

J. Matthew Zoss — Thu, 27 May 2010 16:24:23 +0000

Even if you’re not an Android phone user, I’m sure you can appreciate this look inside the platform’s robotic mascot. Look, he’s got a little heart! Artist Garry Booth has made his design “Exploded Andy” available on both a poster and t-shirt, either of which you can buy here.

America Loves Android Phones

J. Matthew Zoss — Wed, 26 May 2010 15:18:59 +0000

Okay, so America doesn’t love Android phones more than it loves other phones like the iPhone or Blackberry (although the number of Android users is growing quickly. But America loves Android phone more than any other country. A new survey by advertising server AdMob has found that 75% of Android owners live in the United States. Here’s a bit more from the study:

Some 75 percent of unique Android devices are in North America. Asia has 12 percent of Android devices, followed by Western Europe with 11 percent.
In the United States, the iPhone has about 10.7 million devices, and Android makes up 8.7 million. (If you count the iPod Touch along with the iPhone, Apple’s share jumps to 18.3 million.)
Worldwide, there are about 11.6 million Android devices pinging AdMob’s servers, compared to 27.4 million iPhones and 40.8 million for the iPhone/iPod Touch.
Top Android smartphone in the United States in April was the Motorola Droid, with 16.1 percent of AdMob advertising requests. The HTC Magic (myTouch) followed with 5.3 percent, the HTC Dream (G1) with 5.0 percent, Motorola Cliq at 4.5 percent, HTC Droid Eris and Hero each at 4.3 percent, and Samsung Moment at 3.3 percent.
Android phones showing gains in April were the Magic (0.5 percent), Droid Eris (0.2 percent) and Moment (0.2 percent).

Source: Android Central

Android 2.2 Boosts Speeds by 450 Percent

J. Matthew Zoss — Thu, 13 May 2010 15:10:11 +0000

I recently jumped aboard the Android phone market, so I’m a little obsessed with any new items that possibly affects my shiny new gadget. Fortunately, most of the news concerns upcoming improvements and enhancements. The latest version of the Android operating system is on the way, and according to tests by website Android Police, Android 2.2 boosts the speed of your device by a whopping 450 percent.

With that speed boost, several new features will be added to your phone, although few are confirmed at this point. One upgrade that’s almost certain to be included is Flash 10.1. Smartphone users will recognize Flash support as a weak spot pretty much across the board, but this should take care of that issue. Heck, with a 450 percent speed boost, I can’t imagine what issues Android 2.2 won’t solve.

Source: Android Police via Android Central

Dolphin Browser HD Adds Slick Features to Android Phones

J. Matthew Zoss — Tue, 11 May 2010 19:09:15 +0000

Looking for a great browser for your Android phone? Dolphin Browser HD adds a ton of improvements over the default Android browser, which you can see in the video above. It only works on Android 2.0 or higher, but with Google rolling out software upgrades to many Android-based phones, that shouldn’t be a problem for most users.

Android Phones Outsell iPhone in Q1

J. Matthew Zoss — Mon, 10 May 2010 15:45:12 +0000

The end of Apple’s dominance of the mobile phone market is at hand! Okay, that’s overstating it by a long shot. But the analysts at NPD are reporting today that in Q1 Android-based phones captured 28 percent of the market, while the iPhone claimed 21 percent. Of course, there are several important caveats here. First, both Google’s Android phones and Apple’s iPhone were outsold by Blackberry-based phones, which grabbed 36 percent of the market. Second, there are multiple different Android phones (Droid, Nexus One, MyTouch, etc.) and only one iPhone, meaning that no individual Android phone is presenting a real threat to the iPhone. Third, a strong “Buy One Get One Free promotion” on phones like the Droid definitely helped with sales. So even though I recently joined the Android team, it’ll be a long time before we can declare victory over our rival Apple.

Source: Android Central

Google Tablet Operating In ‘Stealth Mode’

Nick Upton — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 22:31:01 +0000

Apple’s iPad wasn’t the first step in tablet computing, and it certainly won’t be the last. And now Apple has a big target on their back.

Apple’s major competitors said they already have tablets near completion, and with the iPad’s launch serving as a test bed for the entire market, they will certainly be taking note and tweaking their own versions.

The most interesting — to me — is Google’s efforts. I make no qualms about liking Google for the most part, but beyond that, Google’s Android system is the only competitor with even a similar marketplace. They already have developers making apps and with Google Books and Fastflip in Google Labs, they are poised to actually take on Apple head-to-head. (And it will probably have Flash support — oh zing!)

The New York Times looked into the Google slate; which the CEO told friends about at a party — I assume drunkenly.

Eric E. Schmidt, chief executive of Google, told friends at a recent party in Los Angeles about the new device, which would exclusively run the Android operating system.

People with direct knowledge of the project — who did not want to be named because they said they were unauthorized to speak publicly about the device — said the company had been experimenting in “stealth mode” with a few publishers to explore delivery of books, magazines and other content on a tablet.

Apart from Google, Microsoft’s Courier project looks pretty interesting with two screens and book-like folding. Paired with the new Microsoft Kin it could be a social butterfly’s dream tablet. Microsoft engineers have some kinks to work out though, notably keeping two touch screens running without killing battery life.

[Via New York Times]

First Android TV Drops In September

Asterios Kokkinos — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 15:00:31 +0000

Last month we reported on the first Android car and the web-enabled fridge, so it’s our fine honor here at Technomaly to tell you about yet another fun techno-hybrid: the Google Android Television.

Sweedish firm People of Lava has beaten the others to the punch, manufacturing a television dubbed The Scandinavia. The set will come in 42, 47 and 55 inch models, and will cost between $2,000 and $2,5000 for the smallest size. The 42 inch model drops in September, with the others following shortly.

As for the Android features? Well, it’ll do the standard internet surfing and be able to provide Facebook, Youtube and Hulu access – watching Hulu on your television is, of course, a geeky thrill. But the neat thing is that People of Lava are creating their own Android App store, which means you’ll be able to buy apps and content designed specifically for the Android TV. Pretty cool!

Source & Photo Source: FastCompany

New Updates Hit Google Maps Mobile

J. Matthew Zoss — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 15:04:39 +0000

Google is hard at work to make the Android operating system the best it can be, and part of that process is releasing constant updates to existing applications. The new Google Maps 4.1 for Android phones adds a bunch of new features, the best of which is an improved search results page. When searching for a business like the place on the left, you no longer have to zoom and tap to hunt for other results. Now you can just swipe to the side to move on to the next search result.

Along with the changes to searching, the new update adds a Google Latitude widget, which shows you which of your Latitute-using friends are where on the map. Finally, the new version of Maps also allows you to switch between multiple Google accounts if you have them – which is great, because my real identity and my “spy” identity James St. Royce have very different places we need to go!

Image and story source: Google Mobile Blog

Google Car! First Android Equipped Auto Launches in April

Asterios Kokkinos — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 16:00:42 +0000

Here’s a fun one out of the Beijing Auto Show: a car with Android 2.1 built in.

Chinese luxury carmaker SAIC (which stands for the Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation) have slated for a late April release the Roewe 350, a brand new luxury car. What makes the Roewe 350 unique is it’s GPS, which runs on the same Android OS that the Droid or Nexus One run on. In addition to being able to get you from place to place or calculate traffic, the Roewe 350 can also browse the web & engage in a little instant messaging (though hopefully, not while you’re driving said car.)

The Roewe 350 will go for between $10,000 to $19,000. No details yet on exactly how it’ll connect to the internet, or if you’ll have access to the app store from the device, but it’s nice to see yet another barrier broken by the fine folks at Google.

Source & Photo Source: Mashable

Search Android Phones With Gestures

J. Matthew Zoss — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 14:00:46 +0000

There seems to be an obsession with developing new ways to search for content on your phone. There are search suggestions, voice searches, and now even gesture searches. Thanks to a new app available on the Android Market, all phones running Android 2.0 or higher are now searchable by drawing on the screen. Drawing an “A” will bring up content and contacts that start with that letter, and drawing another letter will further narrow your search. Here’s how it works according to the Google Mobile Blog:

Say you want to call your friend Anne. Just open Gesture Search and draw letter “A”, and Gesture Search returns a list of items that have words starting with “A”. If your handwriting isn’t all that neat, that’s okay. If the “A” you draw looks a bit like an “H”, as seen in the bottom left corner of the screenshot, “H” results will be brought up as well. If needed, you can also erase a query by crossing it horizontally: left to right erases the entire query, and right to left removes the last letter or space in the query. Now you can either scroll down the list to find Anne or write more letters to refine the search.

Sounds like a cool feature to me, although I’m unconvinced that it’s anything more than a neat trick at for the time being. Still, I plan on checking it out as soon as I upgrade to an Android phone. I’m still carrying around one of those early 1990’s car phones that’s attached by a phone cord to a briefcase.

Source: Google Mobile Blog Via Lifehacker

Google Shopper Allows For Mobile Comparison Shopping

Asterios Kokkinos — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:00:20 +0000

Another useful, mind bending app from Google Labs? Yeah, it’s expected at this point, but still very cool – a few days ago, Google introduced “Google Shopper,” a program that turns your Android handset into a mobile price scanner. You simply point your phone at the box art or barcode of something you’d like to buy, and presto – instant product information and price comparison across other retailers.

In addition to the barcode or box art scanners, you can also do a traditional text search or voice search. I think I’ll stick to the barcode scanner for obvious reasons of coolness and helping me feel as if I’m in the future. The app, which is currently a Google Labs feature, could well soon be bundled with new Android handsets, which would deal a real blow to price gougers everywhere. Knowledge is power!

Here’s Google’s self released video of the app in action.

Source & Photo Source: Mashable

60,000 Android Handsets Shipped Daily

Asterios Kokkinos — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:00:04 +0000

Android invasion! In an announcement that serves to only further infuriate me, a man who cannot afford an android handset, Google’s just announced that 60,000 android enabled handsets are shipping daily. That’s 21.9 million handsets per year.

The idea of a standardized, universal operating system for phones has long been a dream of the mobile consumer. Google, answering our prayers, has filled in this gap with the introduction of the open source Android operating system. The advantages of a universal open source operating system are obvious: we can all use the same programs, and have those programs talk to each other.

For example, if this guy on a Nokia and this guy on an LG are both running Android, then they can both use gChat to talk to one another, or play the same games head to head, or transfer files between them without confusing operating system garbage.

As a point of reference, the iPhone moved 8.7 iPhones last quarter, so the yearly figure well dwarfs the android figure. Still, it’s pretty impressive for a system that’s only a little over two years old.

Source: MobileCrunch

Photo Source: Wikipedia

Apple Bans The Word “Android” From The App Store

Asterios Kokkinos — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 14:00:55 +0000

“Do Androids Dream Of Electric Sheep?” could soon read, “Do ********s Dream Of Electric Sheep?”

At least in the App store. Last week new regulations came down the pipe from Apple banning the word “Android” from being mentioned in any app descriptions. The culprit that caused the ban was Tim Novikov, whose “Flash of Genius” SAT prep flashcard app mentioned its status as a “finalist in Google’s Android Developer’s [sic] Challenge.”

First off, you probably shouldn’t be using the word “developer’s” in that context if you’re creating SAT prep materials. But besides that, it seems like a fairly innocuous mention of a competitor.

“Competitor? SMASH THEM!” responded Steve Jobs. Actually, here’s the official statement:

“Providing future platform compatibility plans or other general platform references are not relevant in the context of the iPhone App Store.”

Other words banned from the app store? “Boobs” and “Booty.” The word “Android” sure is joining some illustrious company.

Source: Appscout

The Motorola “Devour”: Great Function, Crappy Name

Asterios Kokkinos — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 14:00:00 +0000

Motorola & Verizon are releasing a brand new Android phone, which is always welcome news. It’s got a snazzy new Android-variant built in called “Motoblur,” which includes a “happenings” widget that’ll immediately alert you to new messages/updates on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace (for the eight people still using MySpace). It shoves these updates, as well as your texts and emails, into a “universal inbox,” which is a great time saving concept.

It also comes with a preinstalled 8GB MicroSD card, preloaded apps for Gmail, Google Talk, YouTube, Google Search, and Google Maps and a GPS locator built in so you can find your lost phone (or wipe it remotely).

Sounds like a great phone, right? Yeah, except it’s called the “Devour.” What, was the Motorola “Consume” already taken? Will the next model be the Motorola “Stuff Your Face?” C’mon, Motorola, get your head in the game! What paranoid about her weight 13 year old girl’s gonna wanna walk around with a phone called the “Devour?” I’ll tell you which one – an unpopular one.

Get it together, Motorola!

Source & Photo Source: Gearlog

The App Store Is Coming! The App Store Is Coming!

Asterios Kokkinos — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 22:00:14 +0000

Google’s App Store is right around the corner – hooray for the 12 people out there who own a Nexus One!

Actually, this is great news for anyone running Android – soon, you’ll be able to download crappy application after crappy application just like your iPhone’d counterparts.

According to the Wall Street Journal, many of the applications planned will be third party add-ons to Google’s existing suite – programs like Gchat, Gmail, Google Maps may soon get programs enhancing their security, filling in gaps in their word processing or allowing for better porting of information.

As someone who’se already in love with the Gsuite (I’ve been using Gmail since college), this is pretty cool news. Hopefully Google won’t be as iron fisted about what they allow or disallow as Apple, who, according to NPR, rejected an application for including the word “fuck.”

Rumor has it that Google will drop it’s announcement in March – when we get more information, we’ll let you know.

Source: Mashable

Image Source: HTCpedia

Nexus One vs. Droid. Fight!

J. Matthew Zoss — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 03:45:00 +0000

Just a few short days ago, Google announced the Nexus One, the first phone designed by the technology giant. But only a few months ago, Motorola released the Droid, their fancy smartphone that runs on Google’s Android software and was supposed to be the next hot thing in phones. Keeping up with cell phone technology can be daunting, especially if you’re not one of those folks who obsesses over every little bit of phone tech news (and believe me, those people are out there). To help you decide between the two latest high-profile guide, we offer up this features comparison that will walk you through the differences, but more importantly, what those differences mean.

PROCESSOR

The Droid runs on a 600MHz processor. The Nexus One runs on a 1GHz processor. Obviously, that means that the Nexus One is much faster. The big advantage of this is that it will be able to multi-task complex applications to a degree that no previous phone has been capable of.

KEYBOARD AND DISPLAY

One of the Droid’s main selling points is its slide-out keyboard. However, because of small keys, no one seems to like it much. The Nexus One has only a touch screen keyboard. Tthe Droid has a 3.7-inch screen that displays video at 854 x 480 pixels. In comparison, the Nexus One’s screen operates at 800 x 480 pixels. Most consumers probably won’t notice a difference.

OPERATING SYSTEM

The Droid runs the Google Android 2.0 operating system. The Nexus One runs Android 2.1. Despite the small numerical difference, 2.1 adds major features such as a 3D photo album and a voice command recognition. You’ll be able to operate Google Maps with your voice while you’re driving, for example.

SERVICE

I don’t want to get too deep into the particulars or plans and costs, because that stuff gets messy quickly. Here are the basics: the Droid is a Verison phone, The Nexus One is not exclusive to any carrier. Google has a deal with T-Mobile to provide service for the device (the $179 price point is with a two-year contract), but the Nexus One is available for use on any cell phone network, provided it uses the same cell phone protocol. One of the main concepts behind the Nexus One is that switching service providers shouldn’t force you to switch phones.

For more information on the Nexus One, the Droid and how they compare against each other and other leading smart phones, see the comparison chart here.