This Week in Android News - April 30/2010

Twitter finally releases an official app for Android. On the heels of Twitter releasing an official app for the iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad, Android gets some lovin' too. Only problem? It requires Android 2.1.

Skyfire 2.0 beta web browser has been released for Android and now people who can't wait to get Flash Lite or full Flash support from Adobe can at least be able to view Flash videos that exists on many sites. Still a beta, but from initial reports says that it works quite well at detecting Flash video on a webpage and plays the video quite nicely. One thing that does not work yet is "trick play" (i.e. FF or RW within a video).

Speaking about browsers, not to be outdone by Skyfire, the team at Firefox has finally released a public pre-alpha of "Fennec" for Android. Initial reports says that the native browser that ships with Android is still faster, but the team is using the Android NDK (Native Development Kit) to optimize the Gecko rendering engine. We're pretty sure they'll get Fennec running much faster and more stable in future builds.

A new milestone this week as the Android Market plays "catch-up to iTunes App Store" in the number of applications available. The Android Market has reached 50,000 applications. Of course in an "open" market, we're not quite sure how many of those apps are exactly worth anything other than "spamming" the market, but at least the Android Market can claim it's on its way in catching up with Apple.

Soon it will be May... and next month... June... in which the next version of Android will finally hit. Froyo, otherwise known as Android 2.2, will have its "public preview" during Google I/O conference in May. Kevin Lynch, CTO of Adobe, has gone on the record that Froyo will hit general release sometime in June. Now all of you can play FarmVille on your phones...

And for people who complain about the lack of space for the "hundreds" of apps you have installed on your Android phone, do not fear. It looks like an "official" version of Apps2SD is coming soon thanks to the infamous Issue #1151 on the Google Code android bug tracker. The rumor is that it'll appear with Froyo... but Google is being tight-lipped about when it's coming.

Now that the HTC Incredible has been released... it also appears to have sold out of them too through their on-line store for at least until May 4th. Both Engadget and Gizmodo have done a proper review and so far, it seems to be as impressive as many had hoped. For Verizon, the HTC Incredible *is* their "Nexus One" and the Nexus One is not being planned for Verizon anymore. Strange thing though... seems that Vodafone U.K., ran out of Nexus One phones. Maybe they are selling well...

And finally, still have that G1 or MT3G and can't bring yourself to getting an Android 2.1 handset like the Nexus One just to get Eclair? Have no fear... Cyanogen (Steve Kondik) is here! In what seems to be one of the ultimate hackery of all time for the HTC Dream platform, Cyanogen & #teamdouche has released CyanogenMOD 5.0.7-test1 for the G1/MT3G platform which brings Android 2.1 (Eclair). Unlike the previous Eclair builds for G1's and MT3G's, everything seems to be functional including YouTube and the camcorder application. There is one caveat if you're a G1 user (and this does not apply to MT3G users). Due to the size of the ROM, if you're a G1 user, you need to install the DangerSPL to help reclaim some space in order for the ROM to fit. -- So follow the instructions to the "T"... and finally enjoy Eclair on your Dream devices!

This Week in Android News - April 16/2010

Hello Everyone! First of all, I'd like to thank Ari for bringing me on-board. Also, I wish Dan Grisby the best after his decision in regards to Mobile Orchard. As Ari introduced me earlier in the week, my name is Daniel Kao and I currently work and reside in Seattle, WA. I'm employed by Übermind, Inc., one of the premiere consulting companies on iPhone/iPad and Android development in the world, as an Engineer however my primary subject matter expertise is in Enterprise-level Infrastructure Architect. But I dabble in Android & Java development so there's my link to Android News! We have many mobile applications underneath our belt including "Twilight Tracker" for Summit Entertainment and the AllRecipes.com "DinnerSpinner" thanks to a strong relationship with Apple. Again, thanks goes to Ari for allowing me into his "blog home" and now onto the first ever edition of , "This Week in Android News!"

This was sort of expected, but not so soon. Twitter Confirms Official Twitter App Coming To Android after last week's acquisition of Tweetie by Twitter itself. Twitter's CEO, Evan Williams, made the announcement at Twitter's first ever developer's conference called Chirp. It's unknown at this time if Twitter will pull a "Tweetie" and acquire an existing Android Twitter app, but the first one that comes to everyone's mind is twidroid.

HTC Droid Incredible officially official for Verizon, April 29 for $200 and it has a lot of Verizon customers drooling at the mouth. Loaded with Android 2.1 with HTC's Sense UI, 8MP Camera, 1 GHz Snapdragon CPU (based off the ARM Cortex-A8), WiFi, 8GB of internal memory with microSD expansion, and a 3.7" AMOLED screen. Has a lot of people wondering if the Nexus One at this point will ever come to Verizon now that the HTC Incredible is virtually the same unit with the Sense UI and a higher spec'ed 8MP camera. Alas, Verizon has finally loose the HTC Incredible page with e-mail sign-up to be notified when you're able to pre-order, which at this time is April 19th. Pricing? $199.99 after a $100 rebate or sans the rebate at your local Best Buy when it hits for $199.99.

Still thinking about purchasing that Apple iPad? Word on the street that Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, recently stated to friends at a party in Los Angeles that they're working on something! Least NYT is stating that it's arrival is imminent.

And onto more Google related news, during Google's Q1 earnings call, the Nexus One is in the black with 60K Android devices activated per day. A lot of folks were wondering if the Nexus One would ever be able to sustain itself and prove profitable to Google with it's seemingly new model to sell mobile phones in the U.S. And apparently it has. With the 2010 mobile market shaping up, the Android OS is on target to hit 15% of the installed smart-phone user base by the end of the year, we're sure Eric and the rest of Google is extremely pleased so far.

Alex eReader now shipping, powered by Android OS after telling everyone that it would ship two weeks after the release of the Apple iPad... And it's true. The $399 Android-powered device features both a 6-inch e-ink display and a 3.5-inch, 16-bit color touch-screen LCD. It has no tie-in with Barnes & Noble but it is usable with Google Books and anything that supports Adobe DRM, plus the typical EPUB, PDF, HTML and TXT formats. With built in Wi-Fi and the ability to stream video and surf the Web, on the smaller color screen, it's also able to run certain Android applications too. Overshadowed by the Apple iPad however, for only $100 more... the Alex eReader might be a tough sell.

Android OS has been ported to Intel Atom Processors (x86) which comes to no surprise. Android was written to run on ARM-based CPU's like the Snapdragon, but with Intel's interest recently with the mobile market, it definitely wants its mobile processors in a growing market. The largest jump that ARM-based chips currently has over Intel based solutions comes down to power-consumption. Here's hoping that Intel continues to work on their 25mm² Intel Atom CPU's to use even less juice and jump into the fray for the mobile market.

Vonage VoIP App Comes To Android and with it comes the ability to make international calls with your phone either with your normal minutes or over WiFi. The Vonage Android application will automatically recognize that you're placing an International call and at that point will route the call through their network either over your existing provider's network, or if you have WiFi, a VoIP call over WiFi which wouldn't use any of your minutes from your carrier's plan. Now you don't have an excuse to call Mum in Manchester...

And on the Disappointing-News Dept., Adobe Flash Release for Android Pushed to 2nd-half of 2010 which has a lot of Android users quite angry after it was promised for the 1st-half of 2010. There have been modified ROM's out for certain Android phones (i.e. DROID, Nexus One) which has the "Flash Lite 10.1" beta that was stripped out of the HTC Desire ROM. However, the "full" Flash 10.1 has been pushed to 2nd-half of 2010 now (maybe as a Christmas Present?) and we'll have to wait.

And finally some fun stuff, Myxer’s Android App GeoPix Blends Wallpaper Images With Geolocation. And interesting application in which your phone's wallpaper changes depending on your location. GeoPix basically allows you to define certain wallpapers to be used when you're geo-located to a certain area or region. Love that NSFW image but don't need it to be displayed as your wallpaper when you arrive to work? Easy. Set GeoPix to use a different wallpaper when you're at work!