G1 News

According to two recent reports Google’s Android platform is set to overtake the Apple iPhone in terms of downloaded apps.

The first report to suggest this trend comes from AdMob, a Google-owned source. Nevertheless, AdMob’s reports states that there will more Android users than Apple iPhone users by the end of 2010.

The second report to suggest the Android’s pre-eminence is perhaps more convincing, coming from independent telecoms analyst Ovum. Ovum expect that by 2015 Android will be responsible for 26 percent of all app downloads, while iPhone will see just 22 percent. That would be a huge shift from last year’s figures of 14 percent for Android and 67 percent for iPhone.

The reason for this trend? We expect is has everything to do with the large volume of low cost Android phones out there, and with an iPhone contract recall imminent, might Google have Apple on the run?

Earth shattering news in the mobile world as Nokia seems to be embracing Google’s Android operating system as the backbone for a new handset!

With the Nokia World annual conference looming in September, rumours are rife that the device will be unveiled at some point during the event. With the current Symbian interface being structurally sound but looking slightly archaic in the face of slick mobiles like the iPhone and Samsung Jet, Android is the perfect platform to launch both a visually arresting interface as well as a one which will offer a smooth online experience for browsing and sending mail.

The smartphone market has been heavily competitive in recent months, with many manufacturers targeting this lucrative sector as mid-range sales dwindle. With Nokia losing ground to the current generation of ‘casual’ smartphones from Samsung and Apple, a device combining the brand strength of the Finnish phone maker with a great user experience could reverse current fortunes.

The Nokia N97 has been a success, yet many feel it wasn’t a big enough step forward. This open source experiment seems set to show exactly what Nokia can do!

UPDATE: Nokia is pretty adamant that this is not true.

“There is no truth to this story whatsoever. It is a well known fact that Symbian is our platform of choice for smartphones.”

We can but dream…but the fact that Android is a direct competitor to the open source Symbian platform should really have started alarm bells ringing!

Source: Daily Telegraph

What a tangled web is weaved when navigating the mire of multitouch lawsuits.

Follow this:

- Palm shows off Palm Pre, chock full of lawyer baiting multitouch features that iPhone owners find familiar…

- iPhone makers Apple agree, threaten to sue pants off Palm for plagaristic Pre multitouch.

- Google breathes sigh of relief, admits that Android can do multitouch, but they flicked the switch to ‘off’, thinking that Apple might be protective of their multitouch tech.

- Chinese manufacturer Elan Microelectronics pop out of nowhere, threatening to sue pants off Apple for infringing on multitouch patents.

- Elan flicks Android multitouch switch to ‘on’, shows off ‘eFinger’ multitouch on their devices in vid below. Apple’s head explodes with rage (maybe).

Truth be told, multitouch looks pretty at home on Android! Let lawyer-battle commence!

Phone Dog does a great review of Shazam for the Android. Shazam is a application that first appeared on the iPhone and identifies any song that is being played simply by holding your phone up to listen the music. Shazam then records the song and compares the information it received from that recording with that stored in its database it then returns song title, artist, links to YouTube, MySpace, FaceBook and Amazon if you want to buy the song.

The guy from Phone Dog is impressed with Shazam but points out it works out much better in quiet environments. For instance he went to a discount clothing store but Shazam was unable to identify the song that was playing there. There is about a 90% success rate in the video but it is in a quiet room and he is sitting next to the speakers. Would it work so well in a noisy nightclub for instance?

Unfortunately the video doesn’t compare Shazam on an iPhone compared to a G1? Has anyone used Shazam on an iPhone or the G1, comments please.

PhoneDog

When not singlehandedly inventing and implementing an App Store before Apple on the iPhone with Cydia, the insanely talented developer Jay Freeman (who is known in CyberSpace as ’saurik’) has made a great way to explore the Android Marketplace from a computer with Cyrket.

Cyrket not only allows you to see what’s new in every category, the ratings and prices of every single app, but even enables the use of QR codes! So using the barcode scanning Android app and pointing your phone’s camera at the squiggly square code off your monitor, it sends your G1 (or any Android phone for that matter) to the relevant page immediately!

Makes browsing the otherwise slightly cramped feeling Marketplace clear and breezy, thanks saurik!

There is probably nowhere better to get some concrete Android info (apart from right here!) than the official Project site, and this time they have announced a host of upgrades they are making to their fluid operating system.

New features to be added include many refinements to the camera including stabilisation, video recording and playback, as well as bringing a sorely missed virtual keyboard to the touch screen. Finally!

More developments include MMS support as well as adding Bluetooth for stereo headphones! Who would have thought that so many things could be brought to Android/the T-Mobile G1 from simple firmware updates?

If only the iPhone could take a leaf out of the Cupcake development handbook, possibly the page headed ‘ADD SOME DAMN USEFUL FEATURES LIKE COPY & PASTE OR MMS OR DECENT BLUETOOTH SUPPORT’.

That would be a swell start.

To corrupt a line from the seminal movie Hackers, “Android is good.”

Nevertheless it is just a touch off the ecological disaster of oil-slickness that is the iPhone’s side scrolling interface. Well, it seems with a little ingenuity and some small preference changes/installs, your T-Mobile G1 can look even cooler!

The animations do add an extra layer of class to an already beautiful operating system, see the video below for it in action!

So…you wanna get in on this? Here’s how you do it!

• Fire up the Android Market on the T-Mobile G1 and download/install the APKInstaller application.
• Get a microSD card ready.
• Download Development.APK to your computer. Find the file here.

1. Ensure that APKInstaller is installed on your T-Mobile G1.
2. Connect your T-Mobile G1 to your computer via USB.
   1. Mount the G1 in order to access the microSD card.
3. Transfer the Development.APK file from your computer to the microSD card root directory (drag the file onto the mounted removable drive).
4. Fire up the APKInstaller application from the Applications tray.
5. Navigate to the SDcard directory and choose the Development.APK file.
6. “Dev Tools” will install
7. Open Dev Tools
8. Change Window Animation Scale to “1x,” and Transition Animation Scale to “1x” (you can change these settings.
9. Enjoy your animated screen transitions!

Thanks, as ever to the industrious minds at XDADevelopers for making this happen!

Source: IntoMobile

Whilst Apple push away Adobe’s lustful advances, Google have been only too happy to embrace their essential Flash technology, with the result being the elusive ‘full web experience,’ running on a T-Mobile G1.

Director of mobile platforms at Google, Andy Rubin, was understandably pleased with this collaborative effort: “Adobe Flash is crucial to a rich Internet and content experience on mobile devices and we are thrilled that Google will be one of the first companies along with the Open Handset Alliance to bring Flash technology to the smartphone market.”

When it will actually be on our G1s is unclear, but certainly sooner rather than later given the stable nature the demo was reported to run at.

With this move, the iPhone becomes the only operating system not to run Flash content in some shape or form, despite being equipped with a full HTML browser in Safari.

Adobe still try to court Apple’s affections, however, with word that their new Flash 10 is optimised to perform well on Mac computers. Loosely translated, Adobe were saying: “We love Macs, we love Apple, help us help you on the iPhone!”

With Flash shown to be up and running on the G1, it might just be the thing to spur Jobs and Co. into action…

UPDATE: Here’s a video to see for yourselves the Flashy goodness the G1 will soon have! Very impressive…

Source: Android Community / I4U

With the launch of the handset over a week away, T-Mobile and Google must be all champagne and high-fives upon hearing that they have already managed pre-order sales to the tune of 1.5 million!

Despite the lack of a proven track record for both Google and their Android operating system, people are clamouring to get a hold of the touchscreen/typing wondermachine!

The hype machine has continued unabated, with those in the know spreading info about the device by word of mouth, rather than the blanket TV ads and “infinite money cheat=ON” method used by Apple with the iPhone.

T-Mobile are certainly ready for the influx of customers on Oct. 22nd, as they are rumoured to have in an extra 2 million handsets to cater for demand.

Must be good to know you’re onto a sure thing, so far before it’s even in the shops!

Source: moconews