Applications on Android

HTC T8290

HTC T8290 is the successor of the first Android phone, HTC Dream (Google G1). Main difference between the two is that Magic has no slide QWERTY keyboard, so you can take the only touch screen to write text. The advantage is that the new phone is lighter and thinner. Android is a great operating system. I think that is the only operating system that can compare to iPhone OS. If you take a HTC Magic, you will do it for the software for sure. Hardware is somewhere in between, there are many other phones (including Samsung) are looking beyond this point. However, if you use more Google applications on the phone or Internet, then Magic's not going to disappoint you.

In size, the phone falls into the normal range for a smartphone. It has a length of 113 mm, a width of 55.56 mm and a thickness of only 13.65 mm. Weight does not exceed more than 116 grams. It is very comfortable in your pocket or palm the feeling of keeping it in your hand and use it is very pleasant. The phone design is excellent. HTC pays great attention to detail. Even if for making the case it was used only plastic, it is a quality plastic, solid and pleasant to the touch. The surfaces are glossy, but resists to fingerprints very well. The shapes are rounded, making the phone look so good.

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Nexus One

I recently bit the bullet and ordered myself a new phone – a brand spanking new HTC/Google Nexus One.

These are a few comments after having the phone a few weeks:

The good stuff:

• The screen is fantastic, very very sharp and excellent colour range
• The phone is really fast most of the time
• Contacts management is excellent, although the facebook integration needs a bit of improvement
• The integration with google apps and services is fantastic
• The range of Android apps available is pretty good

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First Look: Google Nexus One

The Nexus One is the king of the Google Android heap for now. It has the fastest processor, best-looking screen, decent camera with flash and noise cancellation to weed out the background buzzes - all housed in a slim and light body. Storage-wise, it has 512MB of internal flash memory, of which only 190MB are for the applications (apps). The rest is reserved for the Android operating system. In contrast, the iPhone lets you store apps and data in the entire 8GB, 16GB or 32GB (depending on the model) of its built-in memory, although you cannot add flash storage. The N1 allows you to slot in a micro-SD card of up to 32GB.

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Multitouch Browsing Brought to the Google Nexus One Through Hack | Walyou

Unlike previous Android-based phones, Google's recently unveiled Nexus One ships without Multitouch support for its applications, but fear not confused Nexus One owners, a relatively simple hack is available to enable this common smartphone ability.

When browsing the web on a display as small as ones found in the common touchscreen smartphone, it can be difficult to render websites properly and still be able to read the text and view the images without much eyestrain. Adding multitouch features to a touchscreen smartphone provides abilities such as “pinch zoom”–placing two fingers on the screen and expanding to zoom out or contracting to zoom in. This is a quick method to change the size of a site's text and images without having to add dedicated hardware buttons or clunky on-screen zoom interface buttons.

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How to Enable Multitouch in Nexus One Web Browser - ihelplounge

Nexus One add-on, which enables full multitouch functionality, including gestures like pinch-to-zoom in NexusYou’ll need to first root your Google phone before you follow the steps posted below.

Follow at your own risk the step by step instructions posted below to install the multitouch add-on for Nexus One to enable multitouch functionality. 

Warning: You may lose your bookmarks and browser settings by doing this.

Step 1: Follow the step by step guide posted here to root your Nexus One if you haven’t already.

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LG Apollo

In the gossip circles the tables seem to have been turned somewhat. The end of 2009 proved to produce a lot of attention for Google Android and its rare manufacturer-fans, but now we are seeing more sources surfacing with the necessary information about Windows Mobile 7. There is talk of a Windows Phone 7 Business Edition OS, especially made for OEM phones with their own GUI as well. One of the first Windows cell phones that are named is the LG Apollo, which is probably the same model that we named as the possible LG Windows Mobile 7 phone for the third quarter of 2010. The MWC 2010 in Barcelona will surely provide more information about this.

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Nexus One Multitouch Available Now; Floodgates Open for Hackers - Nexus one multitouch - Gizmodo

For every Android phone, the hacking process comes in waves: it's tinkered with, then rooted, then flashed with totally new ROMs. At under a month old, the Nexus One's landed its first native multitouch hack, and soon, much, much more.

Virtuoso Android hacker Cyanogen, who maintains the definitive custom Android ROM for the G1 (among others) just posted an installable version of the native Android browser with multitouch enabled. (If the ADB install instructions don't make sense to you, just read this—they're not as complicated they looks.) This is big news! But not nearly as big as what's coming next, probably within a matter of days. Says Cyanogen, echoing the sentiments of other Nexus One developers:

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Motorola Works Around Google Issues in China - PC World

Following Google's decision to postpone the launch of a new Motorola Android phone in China, Motorola announced services and partnerships that will enable it to pursue the Chinese market without Google.

Motorola on Thursday introduced its own Android app store for China and a deal with Baidu, the leading search provider in China. The new Shop4Apps store will be available on smartphones by the Chinese New Year in mid-February, Motorola said.

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Motorola to tap Baidu, others for China search| Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Motorola Inc is letting consumers in China use Baidu Inc or other rivals as default Web search services instead of Google Inc, on phones using Google's Android operating system.

The announcement on Thursday of a partnership with Google's arch-rival Baidu, China's No. 1 search engine, and Motorola's promise of more search deals, follows Google's threat to exit China due to a cyber attack and censorship dispute.

Motorola also said it is providing an Android app store in China, that it will offer on its own phones and to rival handset makers who can obtain licenses to offer the store.

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iPhone And Android Now Account For 81 Percent Of Mobile Ads Seen On Smartphones In The U.S.

When it comes to the mobile Web, increasingly there are only two mobile platforms that matter: Apple's iPhone and Google's Android. According to market share data put out today by AdMob (which is being acquired by Google), the iPhone and Android combined captured 81 percent of U.S. mobile ad impressions on smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2009, up from a combined 55 percent in the first quarter of 2009.  Most of that growth comes from Android, which nearly doubled its market share from the third quarter to 27 percent.  The iPhone OS made up the other 54 percent. (Worldwide, the iPhone had 51 percent share and Android had 16 percent, for a combined total of 67 percent).

Back in the first quarter of 2009, Android only had a 4 percent share of mobile ad impressions (which is also a decent proxy for overall mobile Web and app usage).  It took a lot of share from Blackberry, which went from 20 percent to 10 percent over the past year, and Windows Mobile, which went from 12 percent to 3 percent.  And Palm, which Android passed long ago, is barely a rounding error now, compared to its 7 percent share a year ago.  During all of this time, not only has the combined market share of Android and iPhone been growing, but so has overall mobile Web traffic. In North America alone, mobile Web traffic has doubled in the past year.

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