Tag Archives: Android

Comparing the Freedoms Offered By Maemo and Android

Posted by on 28/10/2009 No comments

An anonymous reader writes “Maemo 5 and Android have received a lot of publicity lately, despite the former not even shipping yet. Both have become famous partly for using the Linux kernel, but now that we have a choice, how do we pick one? Is the issue as mundane as choosing your favorite desktop distribution, or is there a more significant difference? This article compares the two from an end user and developer perspective, emphasizing root access and ease of sharing code.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Link to the original site

Google Releases Android 2.0 SDK

Posted by on 28/10/2009 No comments

Today, Google has released the software development kit for Android 2.0, the company’s mobile operating system. The SDK gives away all the new features, and there’s indeed quite a lot in this one. The biggest new feature is multitouch support, but there’s a whole lot more.

Link to the original site

Android 2.0 features revealed

Posted by on 28/10/2009 No comments

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

It’s undoubtedly been a huge quarter for Google’s Android mobile operating system, and exciting developments are all falling into place.

Two weeks ago, the ceremonial giant foam pastry was planted on Google’s front lawn. This time it was an eclair, and it signified the readiness of Android 2.0, codenamed “Eclair,” which we get a first look at today.

Android SDK Tech lead Xavier Ducrohet announced support for Eclair in the Android SDK today, and unveiled some of the big capabilities in the latest version of Android, which is expected to hit the market soon on at least one of Verizon’s upcoming “Droid” devices. In the developer video posted today, for instance, all the new features were shown off on a device connected to the Verizon network, and the release notes say it will be deployable in November.

The keyword with Eclair is interoperability.

Motorola recently launched its custom Android build with a UI called MotoBLUR, the central function of which is the ability to integrate with a user’s many social Web services from a single interface. The new APIs included in Eclair give this communicative function to all developers.

Android 2.0 Eclair Quick ConnectSo with the new Account Manager API, developers can centrally store account credentials on the device, the Contacts application can now sync and aggregate contact data from multiple accounts, and the sync adapters API provides full two-way contact sync with ANY back end.

To provide a single, unified face for this data, the Quick Contact function has been added. By clicking on a contact’s picture, a user can pull up a menu of all the different ways to reach that contact…Gmail, e-mail, IM, Phone, and the various social networks. It’s like the existent “live folder” concept for contacts, but brought together under the standard contact list, or in any app where a developer chooses to utilize it.

Android 2.0 also updates the Bluetooth API so apps can now access Bluetooth controls to discover, connect and share information with nearby devices, which unlocks the ability to make peer-to-peer and proximity-based applications.

The built-in Android browser has been updated with a refreshed UI with an actionable address bar, bookmarks sorted by thumbnail, and a double-tap zoom command. There’s now also HTML5 support, which opens up the application cache, client-side SQL databases, geolocation API support, and fullscreen video tag support.

The camera app has again been tweaked, but this time it includes digital zoom (with macro mode), built-in color effects (posterize, solarize, etc.), and built-in flash support.

On, and there’s a little matter of Exchange support and multi-touch thrown in there too. Check out the release notes for a comprehensive list.

Android 2.0 eclair camera mode

Android 2.0 Release 1 SDK is available right now.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009

Link to the original site

Android / Windows 7 Dual Boot Netbook Disappoints

Posted by on 27/10/2009 No comments

Barence writes “PC Pro has got its hands on Acer’s Aspire One D250 with both Windows 7 and Google Android installed. Anyone who’s played with an Android phone had better get ready for a let-down: Android is far from ready for netbooks. The review laments the lack of a proper Marketplace, the poor implementation of both the inbuilt browser and Firefox, and the general pointlessness of it all in its current incarnation as a quick-boot alternative. Yes, it will get better, but at the moment it’s hardly going to lure people away from even Windows 7.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Link to the original site

Android Goes To the Battlefield

Posted by on 27/10/2009 No comments

wiseandroid writes “Google’s mobile operating system Android has won plenty of adherents among cellphone makers and gadget manufacturers since its 2007 debut. Now defense contractor Raytheon is preparing it for a more urgent mission: saving lives in places like Afghanistan and Pakistan. Using Android software tools, Raytheon engineers have built a basic application for military personnel that combines maps with a buddy list. Raytheon calls the entire framework the Raytheon Android Tactical System, or RATS for short. Mark Bigham, a vice president of business development in Raytheon’s Intelligence and Information Systems unit, says the company selected Android because its open source nature made developing applications easy.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Link to the original site

50+ Android Phones Expected In Near Future

Posted by on 20/10/2009 No comments

wiseandroid writes “It’s not even a year ago that the HTC Dream G1 became the first Android enabled phone to be released publicly (on October 22nd, 2008) and now we have listed more than 50 Android phones expected in the near future.” Of the 51 phones on this list, 12 (from nine manufacturers) are currently available.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Link to the original site

Verizon touts Android’s superiority over iPhone

Posted by on 20/10/2009 No comments

By Tim Conneally, Betanews

Every major iteration of Android is named after a pastry (Cupcake, Donut, etc.), and whenever the latest version is being worked on, a giant foam rendition of that pastry is planted on the lawn of Google’s headquarters. Last week, a giant eclair, signifying the impending drop of Android 2.0, was unveiled.

This is normally a pretty big event in and of itself, but it happened on the same day that Google had its quarterly earnings call, and CEO Eric Schmidt made the bold statement that “Android adoption is about to explode,” without providing too much more detail.

But not a lot of detail was needed to see what was going on. A little more than a week prior, Google and Verizon made a joint announcement that Verizon would be getting its first Android phone, and Schmidt’s enthusiasm for the mobile operator was abundantly clear at the time (“Verizon’s data network is the best in the US by far.”) Additionally, Motorola’s Android device destined for Verizon had not made its debut yet, so it looked like only a matter of time before something big happened.

Over the weekend, the push began with a captivating television advertisement.

Moving beyond the tame MyTouch3G advertising campaign which has an untoward number of former Saturday Night Live cast members (none of whom seem to appreciate the device), the new ads take an aggressive stance against Apple’s iPhone.

The first ad shows no product yet. It simply lists a number of things which the iPhone cannot do (“iDon’t allow open development, iDon’t run simultaneous apps,” etc.) and closes with “Droid Does…November.”

“Droid,” though a trademark of George Lucas, is expected to be the official name of the phone which has until now been called Motorola Sholes, an Android 2.0-equipped QWERTY slider running the powerful TI OMAP3430 processor.

While the ad harkens back to the 16-bit era of video gaming when Sega ran a campaign with a nearly identical tag line (“Genesis Does what Nintendon’t,”) it is one of the most direct advertising attacks a Fortune 500 company has made on Apple, which has itself been directly attacking Microsoft Windows in its advertisements for many years.

Any photographs and specs related to the Droid are still totally unofficial. Today, Boy Genius Report, which has been leaking information about the Motorola Sholes for months, posted an early hands-on report which lauds the device as “the thinnest QWERTY slider we’ve ever seen….the fastest Android device we’ve ever used….the best screen we’ve ever seen on an Android Handset…the most impressive phone we’ve used since the iPhone.”

That’s a lot of superlatives. Pair them with Schmidt’s glowing praise for Verizon and things get downright mushy.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009

Link to the original site

Verizon’s Challenge To the iPhone Confirmed

Posted by on 20/10/2009 No comments

misnohmer writes “Verizon has just launched a new set of ads confirming the rumors of its upcoming iPhone competitor: ‘Unlike previous Android phones, the Droid is rumored to be powered by the TI OMAP3430, the same core that the iPhone and Palm Pre use, and which significantly outperforms Qualcomm 528MHz ARM11-based Android phones that exist today. Droid will also be running v.2.0 of Android, with a significantly upgraded user interface. The Droid poses a different and more significant challenge to the iPhone than any other phone to date. The Palm Pre could have been that challenger, but it lacked the Verizon network, and users were unimpressed with the hardware. According to people who’ve handled the device, the Droid is the most sophisticated mobile device to hit the market to date from a hardware standpoint. When you combine that with the Verizon network, you’ve got something that is most definitely a challenger to the Jesus phone.’”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Link to the original site

Acer Launching Dual Android/Windows 7 Netbook

Posted by on 14/10/2009 No comments

Barence writes “Acer has unveiled an Aspire netbook that dual boots Google Android and Windows 7. ‘User demand is not there for [other forms of] Linux [but] we never give up. We adjust,’ said Jim Wong, Acer senior corporate vice president. ‘We introduce Android with the Windows OS, and why Android? Because it has the best connectivity built into the OS.’ Acer has also talked up Google’s forthcoming Chrome OS. ‘Chrome can be a viable alternative to Microsoft’s OSes for web applications on different mobile devices,’ he explained.”

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Link to the original site

Acer rings in year 2 of Android with a Snapdragon-based device

Posted by on 14/10/2009 No comments

by Tim Conneally, Betanews

Acer today took the lid off of its first Android-based smartphone, the Liquid, formerly shown off as the “A1.” In addition to being the top computer manufacturer’s first Android smartphone, it’s also the first Android phone based on the 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset.

Acer Liquid Android smartphone

It’s not the first Snapdragon phone altogether — that honor went to the Windows Mobile-based Toshiba TG01 earlier this year — but the Liquid will become be the most powerful Android handset available. Sony Ericsson is rumored to also be working on a Snapdragon-based Android phone with a UI known as “Rachael,” and HTC is reportedly working on the “Dragon,” but neither company has officially debuted a product as Acer has today.

The majority of the half dozen or so Android handsets available worldwide run at 528 MHz; but as the software platform approaches the beginning of its second year in commercial availability, companies are beginning to step up its processing power. November more or less marks the beginning of the “Android year,” so Sprint will be breaking out the 800 MHz Samsung Moment on the first of the month.

Acer however, did not announce when the Liquid will be made commercially available. Today’s announcement was made in the UK, so that will presumably be the first market to receive the new Acer Liquid.

The specs for the Liquid have yet to be released, but the Snapdragon chipset specs are no mystery: 1 GHz CPU; 600 MHz DSP; 3D graphics support (up to 22 million triangles per second and 133 million 3D pixels per second); 1280 x 720 HD video support; integrated 3G, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth; built-in gpsOne engine; support for cameras up to 12 megapixel; and mobile broadcast TV support.

Though Snapdragon is capable of 720p HD, the Liquid’s resolution is only WVGA (800 x 480). Additionally, Acer says the device will come with “a new user interface with easy access to entertainment and Web bookmarks,” so expect yet another manufacturer-specific Android UI like HTC’s Sense and Samsung’s TouchWIZ.

Similar to the way T-Mobile packaged Geodelic’s Sherpa exclusively with the MyTouch3G, Acer will package a Spinlets app exclusively with Liquid. Spinlets is a relatively new media company which has partnerships with Sony BMG, CBS Interactive, Grab Networks, and Vio Mobile to provide free streaming music and video content.

Copyright Betanews, Inc. 2009

Link to the original site