Google has the Android Market for app distribution, but GetJar has Angry Birds with an exclusive deal that shuts Google out of the hot game phenomenon. GetJar is an app store with over a billion downloads, and Angry Birds will likely score a few more. Read more »
As Microsoft and its partners get ready to hit the market with Windows-based tablets to compete with the iPad, my thoughts have turned to the all-important out-of-box experience (OOBE) that will create consumer’s first impressions of such products. Windows and tablets just don’t mix. Read more »
Opera Mobile will be hitting Android within a month, according to the company. This is the full mobile version of the Opera browser, and will add pinch/zoom and hardware acceleration to take advantage of high-powered smartphones currently on the market. Other platforms will get it later. Read more »
Android phones like the EVO and Droid X have a front-facing camera to enable making video calls. The iPhone 4 has a camera too, and while FaceTime is Apple’s app for making calls on that platform, newcomer Tango makes calls possible on both iOS and Android. Read more »
Nearly three of every four handsets hitting the Android Market are now running modern versions of Google’s mobile operating system, just as rumors begin swirling around Gingerbread, the next Android version. Between Froyo’s uptake and core apps developed as add-ons, Google is quietly reducing Android fragmentation. Read more »
Tablets are the hot ticket in the computing space, if comments by Intel CEO Paul Otellini are any indication. Otellini admitted the iPad has impacted Intel’s business, and the company is looking to the tablet space to rebound. Intel better be thinking battery life to compete. Read more »
A mobile keyboard plays a big role in determining how productive a smartphone can be for tasks involving text entry. I’ve used many keyboards for Android, and Ultra Keyboard is heads and shoulders above the pack. This video shows the major features of the app. Read more »
New, private 3G networks in India combined with mobile adoption and Google’s march towards powering inexpensive smartphones in the Asia-Pacific region could bring half a billion more people to the mobile web in India by 2014. Is this the perfect storm for small, upstart handset makers? Read more »
There really is an app for everything now that LEGO has released software that turns an Android handset into a wireless remote control for robots. MINDroid uses a wireless Bluetooth connection and phone accelerometer to send commands to a robot with the flick of a wrist. Read more »
It is easy to get started with phones running Android, but it can be a bit daunting for new users to tap into the full capability of the platform. Here are five simple things users can do to get the most out of an Android phone. Read more »
It’s been a good month for Adobe and its mobile efforts, first with Apple’s relaxing of its Flash developer tool ban and now the release today of AIR for Android, which opens the door for AIR applications on Android devices. Read more »
The first beta version of mobile Firefox for Android has been released and is now available in the Android Market. We have taken it for a test drive and while it shows good potential, it may be solving a problem that doesn’t exist on Android. Read more »
Cold season is upon us, based on the number of GigaOM staff members currently afflicted. A search of the Android Market for an app that offers medical advice turned up the app iTriage. I’ve testing it and find it is pretty good for a free app. Read more »
The T-Mobile G2 is a phone that may have a first for such handsets: an internal cop that detects if the user “roots” the phone and if so, undoes it. Hackers working the G2 have rooted the phone, but the modification gets removed automatically. Read more »
Motorola isn’t content to rest on the success of its Droid line of Android phones; it’s announced six Android phones to join its ranks. The phones cover a wide range of form factors, from the square Spice to the Flipout with a rotating screen. Read more »
I spend a lot of time checking RSS feeds for news that affects my work. I follow thousands of websites through the feeds, and those generate many thousands of posts that need my attention. My Android app of choice to do this is gReader Pro. Read more »
Gesture Search allows searching for information on Android phones by spelling words a letter at a time on the screen. A recent demo of the app made it clear that many Android owners have never tried it. Here’s a review of the useful utility. Read more »
Google this morning asked a court to dismiss Oracle’s patent suit alleging the Android operating system violates Oracle’s newly acquired patents and copyrights for Java. Google asserts it has not violated any of the alleged patents, which Oracle obtained after it bought Sun Microsystems. Read more »
VoIP calling fans are having a good day with the release of both Skype and FringOut for Android. Skype is available for Android 2.1+, and non-U.S. customers are not restricted to 3G calling. FringOut allows users to make cheap calls to any phone. Read more »
The tablet space is hot currently, and those anxiously waiting for a good model to appear generally fall into the Windows or Android camps. The folks at Tegatech have unveiled the first tablet to unite both groups by offering a Windows 7 and Android dual-boot tablet. Read more »
T-Mobile is releasing new phones in waves: just as the new G2 is appearing in stores, the carrier announced an updated myTouch running Android 2.2. This new model uses a second-generation CPU and also offers video calling on either Wi-Fi or T-Mobile’s speedy mobile broadband network. Read more »
T-Mobile is releasing new phones in waves: just as the new G2 is appearing in stores, the carrier announced an updated myTouch running Android 2.2. This new model uses a second-generation CPU and also offers video calling on either Wi-Fi or T-Mobile’s speedy mobile broadband network. Read more »
You folks in Silicon Valley who are waiting for Sprint to light up the 4G network are going to like what I have to tell you. I’ve been in San Francisco for four days and have tested the 4G coverage all over the SOMA area. Read more »
Microsoft has legally declared its belief that Android uses technology covered by Microsoft’s intellectual property by suing Motorola for patent infringement. Motorola is one of the top sellers of Android phones, and the suit sends a clear message to Android phone makers. Read more »
Google is not selling phones directly to consumers since canceling the Nexus One, but it is showcasing many of the Android phones available in the U. S. through the new Google Phone Gallery. The site gathers information about the top Android phones. Read more »
Your Android phone may be selling you out, as the GPS tracking ability integrated in most of them may be sending your personal information directly to advertisers. Location-based services (LBS) are useful applications that open up a world of information about your immediate surroundings. Read more »
A few weeks ago, we conducted a survey of app developers in partnership with analytics company Distimo and across our own network of sites. We asked developers which platforms they’re developing apps for, what types they’re making and plans for the future. Here are the results. Read more »
Twitter for iPad gets attention due to the innovative way it displays multiple panes of information in landscape orientation. The latest version of Twidroyd for Android implements a similar landscape display that is a useful way to see previews of webpages linked in tweets. Read more »
While Apple and Oracle have enjoyed tremendous success with their integrated suite approaches to business, the open ‘read/write’ model that open source encourages provides a better platform for third-party developers and promises to be the basis of successful startups, not to mention national economies. Read more »
Sony Ericsson has no current plans to use Nokia’s Symbian platform to power smartphones going forward and is instead turning to Google Android for future handsets. Given how long it’s taking Sony Ericsson to get phones off of Android 1.6, maybe it should stick with Symbian. Read more »
Android has become popular with app developers, and with the Android Market now supporting paid apps in a dozen new countries it may become the platform of choice. Previously Google has restricted the countries where apps could be sold and customers were denied them. Read more »
Japanese consumer electronics giant Sharp has entered into both the e-book and Android tablet business with the announcement of the Galapagos cloud media service. Galapagos will launch initially in Japan in December, and will offer e-books, magazines and newspapers with automatic push delivery. Read more »
The ability to replace a smartphone ROM with a totally different set of software has gone mainstream, and anyone can do it. It’s not without risk, and certainly not for the faint of heart. Even so, thousands of phone owners are flashing them with custom ROMs. Read more »
The developers call Ringio a “new approach for call collaboration.” When a call comes in, users are presented with a real-time popup showing data about the caller, so that one can decide to take the call, redirect the caller to voicemail or to another team member. Read more »
A big draw to the Android phone is the ability to customize virtually everything on the phone to make it work the way you want. This customization reaches deep into the interface; here are 5 of them that are readily available in the Android Market. Read more »
Verizon opened the Verizon Developers Conference (VDC) in Las Vegas today by announcing tools for developers to produce apps for the carrier’s VCAST store. Over 5,000 developers have signed on to create apps for the Verizon store, and the NavBuilder Inside SDK will help create them. Read more »
Google unveiled a new mobile login verification system today, and perhaps more importantly slipped in that editing of Google Docs would be coming soon to Android and the iPad. The ability to edit docs on the two mobile platforms will bring real-time collaboration to mobile users. Read more »
Samsung has officially announced that its iPad competitor, the Galaxy Tab, will be coming soon to all four major carriers in the U.S. Hitting all four carriers is a continuation of the strategy that Samsung employed with the Galaxy S handsets, but lacking 4G. Read more »
The CEO of South Korean consumer electronics giant LG resigned today to take responsibility for the company’s poor performance in the smartphone space. Yong Nam will be replaced by the head of LG International. LG reported a loss of $103 million in the latest quarter. Read more »
MeeGo may have been neglected at Nokia World this week, but a German company is readying a MeeGo tablet for launch next week. MeeGo is a joint venture of Intel and Nokia, and the WeTab is an iPad competitor that is running the open platform. Read more »
