Another ANDROID, come on already (lol). The Android train just keeps on chugging with news rumors and excitement. This February another Smartphone running Android is expected to be here called the Samsung Galaxy. The specs sound pretty solid as well:
This seems to be a good tip and no photoshop job invloved. If the rumors hold some water this device could be announced at Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona which is coming up real soon (15-18 Febuary 2010). Can’t wait to see what happens.
I doubt you could conquer the world with this little guy. But he is cute– although not $3,000 cute. I can make my dog dance like that for free. For real.
Give me a RC car or helicopter controlled by wifi or bluetooth and i’ll bite. Reminds me of the famous Sony Ericsson Car-100 from back in the day. I still have mine sitting on the shelf, it is amazing… I want “an app for that“.
As of now this is just a rumor. But it seems that HTC is working on the new HTC Supersonic, which is also know as the WiMAX-powered A9292 That appeared on the Sprint roadmap. But what makes this even more confusing is that this is the same device that is seen bellow with a screenshot running on T-Mobile.
The screenshot below also shows the device running Android 3.0…. Which to me is crazy.We know it will be called Froyo – short for frozen yogurt, it shows a 3-D home screen, and a different app drawer. I hope that we see more of what is to come with Android 3.0. Until then stay tuned to AndroidFeens for more information.
Android: The default home screen in Android is fine and mostly functional. SlideScreen, a replacement utility, provides way more information on messages, weather, calendar events, Twitter or RSS streams, stocks, and whatever else you want, in a slick-looking black wrapper.
Grab the free version of SlideScreen from the Market, and after installing and setting up your weather location and other logins, you’ll be given the option to replace your standard home screen with SlideScreen, or just keep it as an app you can open at any time. Give SlideScreen the home screen tryout; you just might fall for its visual scheme and organization.
A center weather/time/date bar can be slid up or down to reveal more information from the "top" (email, SMS, calendar items, missed calls) or "bottom" (stocks, Twitter, and Google Reader items). Long-press on an item to get more information, or click the icon on the right to launch its corresponding app. Swipe an item to the right to dismiss it (or mark as read, in Reader feeds), with a satisfying haptic buzz that happens when you do. Hit your Menu button to pull up the app launcher (pictured at left), which keeps 8 slots open at the top for your most frequently accessed apps, and otherwise acts like the pull-up app drawer on the stock home screen.
My only complaints have to do with SlideScreen defaulting to the default Messaging app for SMS, when I have Google Voice installed and supposed to run as a default messaging app. I’d also like to add a few other items—Google Talk chat notifiers, non-Gmail email pings, and Voice updates—that show up in my normal Notifications bar to SlideScreen’s home page. I can still get at them from the app launcher page, but that’s far from ideal. Otherwise, I’m impressed with how well it runs, even on my not-so-snappy HTC Dream. Like Dan at Gizmodo, I’m considering trying it out as my default home screen. If you don’t use the apps that SlideScreen doesn’t pick up data from all that often, you’d have even more reason to give it a go.
SlideScreen is available as a free download for Android phones, with an ad placed at the home screen bottom, or as a $7 Pro version that’s ad-free.
Slide Screen [Larva Labs via Gizmodo]
It’s all in the title! I recently got my beautiful Nexus One from Google and there are lots of things about it which I truly like. But for some reasons that I will try to clarify in this post, I can’t seem to give up my iPhone.
Google Nexus One – The Pros:
Keyboard, touchscreen, camera, apps and media player: the deal breaker !
If you’ve read that far, you would have noticed that for a true iPhone fan, I give lots of credits to Google’s latest baby and I love it. Unfortunately, I can’t seem to adopt it and keep switching back to my iPhone.
Conclusion
Don’t get me wrong, the Google Nexus One is a great phone. It is even, in many aspects, superior to the aging Apple iPhone. Unfortunately, the accuracy of the screen and more importantly the keyboard, as well as some major apps such as Skype and Facebook, prevent me from fully adopting the Nexus as a replacement for my iPhone. More importantly, if iPhone OS 4.0, expected to be announced next week, brings in the ability to run apps in the background, Google might have a tough time trying to impose its new device as a serious competitor to Apple’s best seller !
Another day another great mobile list. This time a list of the top web browsers for your mobile. This time courtesy of the excellent About.com You can see the full article here or the highlights below. Keep the feedback and comments coming – you guys are loving the lists!
Opera MobileWatch this mobile browser in action.
Read the Review.
Read the Review.
SkyfireWatch this mobile browser in action.
Sign up for the Open Beta
Watch this mobile browser in action.
Mozilla’s MinimoWatch this mobile browser in action.
Bitstream’s Thunderhawk
via blog.nature.org
In addition to posterous and aquariumdrinker I do some blogging for the day job. My latest post is on the Apple v. Google mobile war — but it’s not on who will win, or why. Rather, it’s on why we’ll all surely lose without the proper safeguards.
The post examines why the race to win the mobile war — and remember it’s not just about phones — could potentially create a glut of e-waste in the next several years without both companies implementing robust, free and verifiable recycling programs. It also calls for Google to begin recycling all phones equipped with the Android operating system.
Go check it out.
Posted via web from davidconnell on posterous
WOW Now this is THE device I am waiting for! Below are all the juicy details:
HTC ‘Supersonic’ to ring in WiMAX on Sprint, Android-style: 
“Remember that mysterious HTC A9292 with WiMAX rumored for Sprint a few days back? Well, take a seat, folks — we think we’ve got the lowdown on it here from a trusted source, and it’s a bit of a monster:
HTC ‘Supersonic’ to ring in WiMAX on Sprint, Android-style originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Jan 2010 22:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Yêu cầu:
Đã cài Netbeans 6.5 trở lên.
Đầu tiên, bạn mở Netbeans.
Vào Tools -> Plugins sẽ xuất hiện màn hình sau:
Chọn Plugins, sẽ xuất hiện màn hình sau:
Chọn Tab Settings, sau đó nhấn nút Add, điền vào nút Name và URL như hình vẽ:
Name:nbandroid
URL: http://kenai.com/downloads/nbandroid/updates.xml
Nhấn OK và đợi trong giây lát, sau đó khởi động lại Netbeans.
Vào lại Netbeans, chọn New Project, suất hiện màn hình sau:
Chọn thư mục Android, nhấn Next để tiếp tục.
It’s brief, it’s gaming news, it’s gaming news in brief:
- New Super Mario Bros for the Wii outsold the combined sales of Modern Warfare 2 in America during December. This information is from the statistics of the North American market research company the NPD Group.
Mario shifted 2.82m copies whereas Modern Warfare only managed 2.75m. An impressive victory for the stout plumber and friends that will no doubt leave the Nintendo executives very happy.
- Google Android Market, the main competitor to the iStore in the mobile world, has ran into rebellion from game developers because of a bizarre rule. If a customer purchases an app from the market that is worth less than £7 on their credit card and then questions the charge on their bill… Google will refund them the money.
However this is not the cause of the rebellion, the rebellion comes from Google also charging the developer a £5 fee if the card holder queries the purchase.
This has led to Russian mobile game company HeroCraft offering the games directly from their WAP site and bypassing the market, an option other developers may choose to follow.
- The U.K had it’s release date confirmed for the Dsi XL as March 5th 2010. Some cheered, I let out a slight sigh at the constant tinkering of Nintendo handhelds that seem to always get money out of the consumer.
- I Am Alive, the highly promising yet very allusive survival game from Ubisoft has been the first major casualty of the year, being pushed back in 2011.
- Gran Turismo 5 has been delayed even more.. “it better be amazing” thinks every Playstation owner.
I am working on something for the site at the moment and have had a few problems with it. Once I get into the swing of things I will be able to start pumping out the news far more regularly and may very well begin a “report as it happens” style, but that shall only occur once I’ve tried other avenues.
Flurry, which monitors usage of over 10,000 developers, has published some (projected) sales numbers for Google’s and HTC’s new flag ship smart phone, the Nexus One. According to Flurry, only about 20,000 Nexus Ones were sold in its first week on the market. It was outsold by Droid by more than 12 times, myTouch 3G by 3 times and iPhone 3GS by 80 times.
“To estimate first week sales totals for the Nexus One, myTouch 3G, Droid and iPhone 3GS, Flurry detected new handsets within its system, and then made adjustments to account for varying levels of Flurry application penetration by handset. Flurry additionally crosschecked its estimates against Apple actual sales, released for iPhone 3GS, which totaled more than one million units over the three days, June 19 – 21, 2009. Flurry first week sales estimates can be found in the table below.”
Nexus One was a highly anticipated mobile phone, but Google didn’t spend millions of dollars advertising it, opting for a sort of a soft launch for the device. Verizon and Motorola, on the other hand, had spent close to 100 million dollars advertising the Droid, and if Flurry’s numbers are correct, it definitely shows the difference a good advertising campaign can make.
via Estimated Nexus One Sales: Only 20,000 Units in the First Week
Three are a number of scenarios that are being discussed these days about the Motorola Droid, Android and the Google NexusOne phone and what they mean for the future of mobile applications. Before I give my opinion on who will win, I want to take a moment to talk about why the mobile app platform market is so important.
The fact is, humans have fallen in love with mobile phones from the outset. And each incremental level of functionality, (sms, e-mail, lousy web, good web, web enabled clients, non-web apps – actually that sounds like a blog post on its own right there!) has caused us to love our phones/mobile devices even more. We’ve become dependent on our phones to entertain us and keep us in touch with our friends. We send a text when we can’t get a call through or are on another call. We use our phones to find movie times, addresses, menus, phone numbers and directions. We use them to run our businesses. We just flat out love our phones, even the basic ones.
In order to focus on each possible scenario in detail, I’m going to do 3 or 4 blog posts. And here’s why I don’t know if I’m going to write 3 or 4 parts – I just don’t know where the Blackberry fits. As a former Blackberry lover I know that there are some people who will never ever give up their Blackberrys. They just won’t and I don’t blame them. But in the mass market phone/smart phone/app phone discussion, the folks at RIM hold the wildcard. (And now I’m asking myself, what card do the folk at Nokia, Palm and Sony Erickson hold? The Joker?)
Scenario 1 – Android Takes Over
To many, this seems like the inevitable story and they may be right.
Why It’s Great: There is a great deal to admire about Google’s approach to an Open Source smartphone operating system with great web and application capabilities. The fact that phone manufacturers and industry specific manufacturers can take Android and customize it for their own purposes means that there will be an amazing amount of creativity, a wide selection of powerful phones to choose from and a dizzying number of applications to download or purchase.
Another positive movement is the fact that Google is selling their phone direct, allowing customers more flexibility. For instance, if you travel overseas, the NexusOne will allow you to insert your own SIM card in the phone. This means cheaper phone service when you travel and I’m sure there are already providers thinking about selling 1-week SIM cards. Other Android manufacturers can offer the same functionality. This will be a powerful asset for the Jet Set.
Why It’s Scary: We know that there will be plenty of ads on the NexusOne. Ads are Google’s primary business. Another important business for Google is data crunching and you can be sure they will be tracking trends like crazy for those on the NexusOne. Are there Google data hooks in the browsers on the other phones leveraging the Android platform? I’m guessing yes. (btw, How soon before they drop that NexusOne name? Any guesses?)
But the scariest part of the Android phone movement is viruses. Apple runs all apps through the App Store review process for a reason. They may have a bunch of rules and seem to take a long time to approve apps, but Apple are looking out for their customers. Android is an open source platform. Android phone providers will not have the controls or legal standing in place to review every application. Even as an iPhone user I am occasionally freaked out by some of the apps my kids have downloaded. They look like they are running viruses even if they aren’t. Those of us who commit to the Droid are looking at a future where we really need to be careful about what we download, about virus protection, virus removal, etc. Can you imagine if a virus got a hold of your mobile phone address book or your text message history? Yikes! Here’s a great article from Phandroid about the potential for malicious programs to run on Android and the exposures in Google’s construct.
If Google = Microsoft and Android = DOS/Windows, we are in for a bumpy ride.
Next Posting: Scenario 2: The Semi-Smart Phone
Hey everyone,
Now that we have the SimpleCursorAdapter figured out, when writing your Custom Cursor Adapter you’ll see where some of the parameters come into play. Here’s an example of a Custom Cursor Adapter that I built:
public class ContactListCursorAdapter extends SimpleCursorAdapter implements Filterable { private Context context; private int layout; public FacebookListCursorAdapter(Context context, int layout, Cursor c, String[] from, int[] to) { super(context, layout, c, from, to); this.context = context; this.layout = layout; } @Override public View newView(Context context, Cursor cursor, ViewGroup parent) { Cursor c = getCursor(); final LayoutInflater inflater = LayoutInflater.from(context); View v = inflater.inflate(layout, parent, false); int nameCol = c.getColumnIndex(People.NAME); String name = c.getString(nameCol); /** * Next set the name of the entry. */ TextView name_text = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.name_entry); if (name_text != null) { name_text.setText(name); } return v; } @Override public void bindView(View v, Context context, Cursor c) { int nameCol = c.getColumnIndex(People.NAME); String name = c.getString(nameCol); /** * Next set the name of the entry. */ TextView name_text = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.name_entry); if (name_text != null) { name_text.setText(name); } } @Override public Cursor runQueryOnBackgroundThread(CharSequence constraint) { if (getFilterQueryProvider() != null) { return getFilterQueryProvider().runQuery(constraint); } StringBuilder buffer = null; String[] args = null; if (constraint != null) { buffer = new StringBuilder(); buffer.append("UPPER("); buffer.append(People.NAME); buffer.append(") GLOB ?"); args = new String[] { constraint.toString().toUpperCase() + "*" }; } return context.getContentResolver().query(People.CONTENT_URI, null, buffer == null ? null : buffer.toString(), args, People.NAME + " ASC"); } }The Custom Cursor Adapter created above extends the SimpleCursorAdapter and also implements the Filterable class (which I’ll get to later). Here you can see the importance of passing in the layout of the list row entry as in the cursor adapter when the actual views in the list are being built (via newView and bindView) and both methods use this layout to inflate the view, which you can then use to retrieve the TextView / ImageView / etc that are custom designed in your list entry row XML file.
In my example, when a view is created for the first time (via newView), you first inflate the view and retrieve the cursor WHICH YOU PASSED IN. Remember this as depending on which columns you told your cursor to return, those are the columns that you can retrieve information from in your Custom Cursor Adapter. In other words, if my cursor looked like:
Cursor c = getContentResolver().query(People.CONTENT_URI, new String[] { People._ID, People.NAME }, null, null, null);And I tried to retrieve the People.NUMBER column from my cursor, it will return an SQL exception.
The rest should be pretty self explanatory – simply grab the data you want and do what you want with the data (i.e. calculations, grabbing images, etc) and then put them into your inflated views.
One more thing to note is that YOU MUST place something into each view (even if it is NULL). For instance, had my adapter looked like:
String name = c.getString(nameCol); TextView name_text = (TextView) v.findViewById(R.id.name_entry); if (name_text != null && name != null) { name_text.setText(name); }Then you’ll notice some weird behavior – namely, that you’ll see the names start shifting as you scroll up and down the list. What happens is that if you don’t instantiate and place something into your TextView (basically to act as a place holder) then in your bindView method nothing gets bound to some of the TextViews and thus the shifting. So basically, if you see stuff shifting around in your lists, then that’s a big flag for make sure you are binding things to all of your views in both your newView and bindView methods.
Finally, a little on the Filterable implementation. If you want a list that filters as the user starts to type then this is what you need to do. Once you implement the Filterable class, you’ll need to override the runQueryOnBackgroundThread() method and this code snippet:
StringBuilder buffer = null; String[] args = null; if (constraint != null) { buffer = new StringBuilder(); buffer.append("UPPER("); buffer.append(People.NAME); buffer.append(") GLOB ?"); args = new String[] { constraint.toString().toUpperCase() + "*" }; }And basically the StringBuilder is just building the constraint that the cursor will run. If you want to mess with this, then you’ll need to keep:
buffer = new StringBuilder(); buffer.append("UPPER("); // this you can change buffer.append(") GLOB ?");But you can customize the rest of the constraint, for instance:
buffer = new StringBuilder(); buffer.append("UPPER("); buffer.append(People.NAME + " IS NOT NULL" + " AND " + People.NUMBER_KEY + " LIKE '630%'"); buffer.append(") GLOB ?");And that’s it! Next post will be on BaseAdapters, and I’ll also talk a little on the comparison between these two adapters.
Happy coding.
- jwei
With the advent of Android, I think we should say bye-bye to J2ME/JME and should be presumed dead for use on cell-phone devices, at least. Android apps are written in java and is compiled into Dalvik bytecode. The Dalvik VM is based on the Apache Harmony implemention and has no relation to the Sun’s libraries.
So if any of you are into JME dev for mobile device, STOP! and move to developing Android apps…fair warning!
That said, iPhone will be a thing of the past in 3 years. It is cumbersome to dev an app for the iPhone because of the difficulties in dev(need a mac, need an acct approved by the Gods and the use of a God-forsaken language 
) The only thing setting iPhone apart now is its AppStore. Google has to get up to speed with that plus give two paths for downloading apps..the official tried and tested apps path and a place where cowboy apps can be gotten from.
Go Google & Android.
Google combines the the first and last names into one “Name” field. For example, if you had a contact record with a first name of “Bob” and last name of “Smith”, Google will combine that into Bob Smith.
Android phones (like Droid, Nexus One, CLIQ, etc.) also do this. But what if you need to sort by “last name, first name” format?
CompanionLink has a new Name Order feature that addresses this with Google and Android-based phones. Users can choose which format they’d like contacts to appear on their Android phone.
AT&T’s news press room is giving anyone who will listen the scoop on 2010. AT&T will be offering a new SDK for developers and a few Android phones in their new ‘Bring apps to all‘ initiative. Today AT&T announced they will be offering 5 new Android handsets in the first half of 2010 from Dell, HTC, and Motorola. They don’t say specifically which but we will do our best to venture a guess. The Motorola handset will feature Motoblur and what AT&T says is “a unique new form factor”. So they must be talking about the rumored Motorola Backflip which was expected to come sometime in 2010. As far as Dell goes I think it is safe to assume this will be Dell’s Mini 3 which launched in China earlier last year. Hopefully it will come with WiFi and no dumbing down of features. HTC is the trickiest, we could see the rumored Hero 2, the Dragon, or even the HTC Legend which looks to be a successor to the Hero. Whatever it ends up being we are expecting some Android on AT&T which is currently the largest GSM carrier in the United States. Once this happens Android will be on all 4 major carriers leaving behind iPhone who is stuck with AT&T and Palm witht he Pre/Pixi who is stuck on Sprint but rumored to arrive on Verizon soon. Anyone else excited to see if Android phones work better or worse then the iPhone with AT&T’s 3G?
AT&T’s official press release can be found here
Another awesome phone from Google : Nexus One, manufactured by HTC and powered by Android operating system.
This phone officially got released on 5th Jan 2010.
Check out its technical specifications here.
Take a Nexus tour here.
Get all other general information here on wiki.
Google Android is equipped with a powerful browser built from the WebKit open source project. WordPress is one of the most popular open source publishing applications. This site is currently powered by WordPress 2.7.1 and I own a T-Mobile HTC G1 so I wanted to test how these two open source projects interacted with each other.
Managing posts
Logging in to the admin panel was a breeze. I was instantly able to view the full dashboard and interact with all the widgets. Even with the small screen size, most basic functions are possible to perform on the phone. I was able to administer comments, edit post, and publish new content. However, you are not able to upload photos with the new built in image loader since it utilizes Flash. The new post page also has problems with the screen size as it loads different widgets on top of each other.
Currently there is no official WordPress client for Android. I did find one for the iPhone so I can only hope that one will be developed for Android. A quick search on the Android Market netted two results: PostBot and wpToGo. Both of these apps use the XML-RPC protocol so you will need to make sure you enable this feature on your blog. It can be found in Settings > Writing > XML-RPC.
Quick post entry
Both clients offer similar features including the ability to upload photos which is a plus. PostBot even allows you to manage several blogs at the same time by allowing you to switch between different profiles. I played around with each client and they worked, but I don’t think I will be using either to update this site. They are great for simple posting, but lack many of the features found in the full web client. Also if you are using a theme with a custom post page, you will not be able to access certain options.
Overall I was satisfied with the current options available to me via Android. Using the core browser, I can peform most of the admin functions with a few finger taps. Posting articles with multiple images and thumbnails does pose problems, but this could be corrected with a new mobile UI. I look forward to see what the community comes up with and I will be following the two clients for further development.
PostBot entry screen
If you would like to share your WordPress on Android experiences please leave a comment or contact us. I consider myself a rookie with both platforms, but hey I was able to post this.
Via:
http://androidandme.com/2009/02/reviews/using-wordpress-on-google-android/
Interest in buying Google-powered smartphones soared in the latest ChangeWave survey
Click to enlarge. Source: ChangeWave Research
Take this with a grain of salt, because it’s a survey of early adopters who were already planning to buy a smartphone. But when they were asked what kind of device they hoped to purchase in the next 90 days, 21% said they wanted one powered by Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system. That’s “a monstrous 15-pt jump” since a similar survey three months ago, according to a report released Monday by ChangeWave Research.
And although Research in Motion (RIMM), with 39%, and Apple (AAPL) with 31%, still dominate the installed base among ChangeWave’s plugged-in membership, Google’s Android is growing faster. Four percent of those members now own Android phones, up from 1% in September.
Meanwhile, interest in buying iPhones fell four points over past three months, from 32% to 28%.
“To put this in context,” write ChangeWave’s Paul Carton and Jean Crumrine, “three months ago Android OS was tied for last place in consumer preference among the major mobile operating systems. But since then it has surged into second place ahead of all competitors except the iPhone OS X (28%) – which remains the number one choice.”
Interest in buying Palm (PALM) and Microsoft (MSFT) devices continues to shrink, as evidenced by the chart below the fold.
Source: ChangeWave Research
The survey was conducted between Dec. 9 and 14 among 4,068 consumers drawn, according the ChangeWave Alliance website, from “a worldwide group of 25,000 highly qualified business, technology, and medical professionals … who spend their everyday lives working on the frontline of technological change.” For the full report, click here.
[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is scheduled to kick off on Thursday, Jan. 6th in Las Vegas. The show will be smaller than it has in the past but there are still lots of exciting devices expected to be revealed.
One of the most talked about electronics that could potentially be revealed two days before the big event is the Nexus One. This is Google’s version of the iPhone using the Android 2.1 technology.
New tablet style computers are also expected to be introduced by several different manufacturers as well. There is hope that Apple will be unveiling their version of the tablet.
Electronic readers for the popular e-books are expected to be very popular at the show this year. E-books have taken off with warp speed in the past year and consumers are excited for different versions, including the very popular Amazon Kindle.
3D HDTV’s are undoubtedly going to be an integral part of the electronics future; the first will be introduced at the upcoming show. Several different companies are expected to reveal their latest versions of this exciting technology that is in high demand.
