G1 News

Fring has just enabled free two-way internet video calling on Android based devices. The company already offers the same service to Nokia phones (on the Symbian S60) and iPhone owners, but this next step looks to be cementing Frig as a big player in the emerging mobile video app market.

With Android users on over 50 different devices logging into Fring everyday, CEO Avi Schechter was proud to announce that they had developed the first two-way video calls over the internet on Google’s mobile platform

Forthcoming devices such as the HTC Evo 4G feature forward facing cameras, so demand for this service is set to explode as people seek to use their phones for more than just voice-calls.

Schechter cited Android’s market reach, combined with the openness of the platform allowed the developers to swiftly create the pioneering application.

Meanwhile Skype, currently the most prominent brand in Voip services, announces that their two-way video call app was on it’s way sometime later in 2010. A little late though guys!- Fring seem one step ahead of the game!

Looking to the future though, it’ll be interesting to see when these data-hungry video call apps will be allowed to run over the network. Even the best mobile phone deals internet allowance would be eaten up in a snap using a service such as Fring and currently, they are only available over WiFi connections. Alas, it looks as if the days of 2-way video calling on the move is still a long way off, at least until the networks start tapping on the 4G standard.

Source: TGDaily

Google’s Android platform has spread with virus-like rapidity and version 2.2 is almost upon us, already. Codenamed FroYo (that’s Frozen Yoghurt – Google persisting in their food-related naming convention) Android 2.2 adds tethering, faster speeds, WiFi hotspot support and a whole host of other improvements that suggest Google has no plans to slow their pace.

According to Google, the Android 2.2. up date will be available later this year (Q4) and among the highlights that users can expect are the following improvements:

1. Faster Speeds – According to Google, Android 2.2. is up to five times faster than previous iterations.

2. Tethering – The hot rumour that 2.2 would allow you to use your mobile phone as a WiFi hotspot is confirmed as true! It’s still unclear whether Google will be charging for support services, however.

3. Flash Support – Android 2.2. is the first version of Android that can support all forms of Adobe Flash, so Android users get to enjoy the very best that the web has to offer. Thankfully, Adobe has a solid relationship with Adobe, which is more than can be said for Apple!

4. Apps on your SD Card –FroYo allows you to install Apps direct to your SD card, saving you precious space on your internal memory capacity.

5. Microsoft Exchange Support. In all the kerfuffle, it seems that many commentators have overlooked this super-useful addition to Android, which is sure to endear it to the business community who tend to use Microsoft packages.

What does all this leave other open-sourced platforms, Bada, for instance? Just ahead of the Bada launch, Samsung’s new platform is looking pale in comparison to the updates that Google has planned. Sure, the Samsung Wave deals some decent features to the affordable smart phone market, but surely nothing can stand in front of the lean, mean Android machine?

Google has just updated their Google Goggles application with the addition of a new feature – text translation. To translate text, just photograph the text you want translated with your Android smartphone’s camera, then the app translates the text into English.

Google Googles is available exclusively on Android devices and with no details on whether Google plans to roll this application out to other platforms, this is another solid reason why you’ll be patting yourself on the back if you opt for Android handset.

The service currently supports a number of languages including English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. However, Google intends to expand this even further.

So, if you’re linguistically challenged and headed for a European break this summer – make sure you snap up the latest version of Google Googles!

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