Google Libera Android 2.0

O Android, que é um sistema operacional para Smartphones, tem uma boa repercussão por onde passa e não é para menos, pois a plataforma é open-source, baseada em linux, e está presente em vários aparelhos de diversas marcas(como samsung galaxy, htc magic, que serão vendidos no Brasil pela TIM).

E para competir com as outras plataformas, especialmente a Iphone OS, a Google lança essa nova atualização que melhora e muito em vários aspectos a usabilidade do  OS.

Com certeza, esse será uma das grandes pedreiras para o Iphone e a Symbian em pouco tempo! E o melhor, quem ganha somos nós, consumidores

Para saber o que muda nessa versão acesse aqui e veja o vídeo:

Free Manga Goodness, Game Design & All Around Busy.

So, I’ve been uber busy making quite a few things since… GRADUATION~! What with that being official and all now, I am quickly reminded that I have to hurry before the time comes whereas banks begin to hold their hand out to me in all earnest for the money I presently owe them for my education. Yee. Haw.

 

Anyway, aside from that wonderous journey I am having to make, I am also crafting a free online manga! This will be in full color, and be quite the exploratory journey for me artistically!

 

Emperor GANT, my comic, follows the tale of a young Grecian Girl, Terri Alexander, as she awakens in an alien world shaped by the enigmatic Emperor. She doesn’t know how she has gotten there, or why she may have been “taken” to begin with.
It is an Action/Adventure set over 10,000 years in the future, with heavy emphasis on story-telling, imagery and Action. >:3

 

The comic itself is actually already up! Previews and link to follow~!:

 

The Cover! Which doubles well as a poster!

Page 3~! Explosions not limited.

Yeah, it's anime... we've got curves.

Very Exciting! >:3

 

More of which can be found HERE: www.migoart.net/gantmanga

 

I’ve spent a lot of time getting together some promotional materials too! I put up a poster in my local comic shop, along with a couple that the gracious people at ITT (Namely John! – Thanks John!) allowed me to put up!

 

In the world of Game Design however, I should probably make a seperate post about how my FINAL in Game Design went. Though, just to be clear now… it went FANTASTIC. I made a 2-D sidescroller using the Torque Game Engine, which I shall post shortly to be played for free! (I’m gonna make a silly poster too!)

 

In fact, I’ll be posting it in the condition it was in when I showed it to the classroom~! This means there will be a beginning, an end, hand-drawn animations, custom music, levels and gameplay… but no cut-scenes and recycled sound-effects. I’ll add (And replace) those later: once I’m more comfortable with my time. :3

 

Aside from all of that, I’ve got eight commissions to finish, a website to update, t-shirts to make, reservations to fill and designs to… well… design! All before Dragon Age : Origins comes out.

 

Can’t miss out on my Dragon Age.

 

No matter what happens though, I’ll be free for any questions regarding the Torque Game Builder, which is my engine of choice in terms of game design.

GPS Makers Just Got Lost Due to Google Maps for Android 2.0

While today might go down as the day the Droid took over, it’s just one handset. Oh, it’s a sweet handset — one that has me tempted to get a new Verizon account — but at the end of the day, it’s just one handset that will have the spotlight until the next great handset hits. The bigger news in the long term is what comes with the Droid, and other Android 2.0 phones in the future: the free Google Maps Navigation for Android 2.0.

I’ve watched the above video demo — and I’m boldly going to make a prediction. Google has trumped just about every other navigation service on the phone and will own a majority of the portable GPS  market within two to three years.

Yes, it’s that good. Why?

• The service leverages the cloud and Google’s massive search information. No need to download or purchase maps, POIs or any other updates.
• The easy voice search doesn’t require a specific POI or address. You can search for anything in simple terms, just like you can with a regular Google search. Example in the video: “navigate to the museum with the King Tut exhibit in San Francisco.” If you don’t know which museum it is, how will a standalone GPS device know where to look?
• Street view and satellite integration adds an extra touch that competitors just can’t match easily. And I can see the value of each because I’ve had some doubts when told to make a turn. Having a view of exactly what I should see is fantastic.
• Google is clearly working with the hardware vendors. The new Verizon Droid, for example, is built by Motorola and can use a car dock for the Maps software. When placed in the car dock, the phone intelligently knows to use “car dock” mode for easier navigation and button presses.
• The navigation service is free, aside from any data charges from the carrier. Essentially, you’re getting a superior standalone GPS as a free bonus with your phone.
• Android is on a huge upward growth path. Early predictions for 2012 are over 75 million Android devices sold — and most, if not all of them, are likely to offer this navigation software. Those numbers have to hurt if your a personal navigation device maker.

I’m not trying to play down the Verizon Droid launch here. The phone looks incredible and if I didn’t already have two monthly phone bills, I’d likely be snapping one up. Android 2.0 combined with great coverage is a potent combination. But I don’t want to overlook the long-term and bigger impact of what Google has done for navigation today. Simply put — they nailed it at the same time they put a nail in the coffin of the existing GPS market.

Droid trio faces user inertia in ten countries

The Motorola-Verizon-Google collaboration may be a solid contender to Apple’s iPhone, yet is starting from far behind.

At least that’s what over 20,500 mobile phone subscribers in 10 countries had to say about it by how they’re using mobile phones today. MetaFacts surveyed these respondents as part of its Technology User Profile 2009 Global Insights Edition.

First, MetaFacts classifies SmartPhones differently than most research firms – based on how actual users end up actually using their mobile phones. We believe customers vote with their fingers, and are the final and best judge of what a smartphone is, and what a basic mobile phone is.

Basic phone users should be admired for their bob-ness. In tech lingo, BOB means Best Of Breed, which is about those who prefer to use the best tool for the job versus the all-in-one Swiss army knife approach. The simplest mobile phone users use their mobile phone for less than three activities on average, with only one activity reaching half of this group: making a phone call.

At the other end of the spectrum, the smartest mobile phone subscribers busily juggle over 13 activities on average and with 15 activities done by over half of this handy group.

We compared the share of mobile phone users who use their phones with the smartest breadth of activities versus those who are the simplest. We found the U.S. carriers with the richest ratio of the smartest to basic users are with MetroPCS, Sprint Nextel, and AT&T. Although these carriers have lower overall shares than Verizon, they have savvier subscribers in how their use their handsets.

We similarly looked at the brands of mobile phones in current use across 10 countries. Of the top 12 mobile phone brands, Motorola ranked last, edging out Sanyo, while Apple ranked first, followed by RIM, HTC, Palm, and Sony. The findings are similar in the U.S., although with the top five in a slightly different rank order. Whether in the U.S. or in any of the other nine countries we surveyed, Motorola and Sanyo have whole new types of customers to reach.

We also looked at survey respondents to see Motorola’s share among those who use Google to search the most, and found that Motorola has a slightly higher share among those who use Yahoo, MSN, Bing/Live Search, or Wikipedia.

Enthusiastic engineers, marketers and perhaps investors will see this half-empty glass as room for tremendous growth. Their speed of market success will depend less on the technology itself and more about how soon mobile phone users change what they do.

About this TUPdate

MetaFacts releases ongoing research on the market shifts and profiles for Windows Vista, Mobile PCs, Workplace PCs, Home PCs, Moms and Dads, Web Creators, Broadband, and many other technology industry topics. These TUPdates are short analytical articles in a series of specific topics utilizing the Technology User Profile Annual Edition study, which reveals the changing patterns of technology adoption around the world. Interested technology professionals can sign up at www.metafacts.com for complimentary TUPdates – periodic snapshots of technology markets.

About MetaFacts

MetaFacts, Inc. is a national market research firm focusing exclusively on the technology industries. MetaFacts’ Technology User Profile survey is the longest-running, large-scale comprehensive study of its kind, conducted continuously since 1983, the year before Apple released the Apple Macintosh. The detailed results are widely recognized as a primary market sizing and segmentation resource for leading companies providing consumer-oriented technology products and services, such as PCs, printers, software applications, peripherals, consumer electronics, mobile computing, and related services and products. For more information about the syndicated research service, publications and datasets, contact MetaFacts at 1-760-635-4300.

Sense UI made official for HTC Magic owners in Taiwan!

We were all surprised to hear the sense ui was going to be updated for htc phones only! Now it has come! Owners of the HTC Magic in Taiwan are getting the update. Unfortunately, this update isn’t for many magics and will not come to the dream. Brazil’s website already showe a magic with sense ui on it! Now so can taiwan. One this is for sure and that is google branded ones wont get it.

Please comment on this!

-Droidboy

AT&T Mobility is nipping at Verizon's heels

Verizon Wireless’ subscriber rolls are growing, but not as fast as AT&T’s

Source: Company reports

In the quarterly report that Verizon (VZ) issued Monday, the number that’s getting the most attention is 1.2 million.

That’s how many new wireless subscribers Verizon added over the past three months. And it’s being compared unfavorably with the 2 million that AT&T Mobility (T) gained in the same period.

Verizon, with a new total of 88.8 million subscribers, still has the largest wireless network — something its ads never tire of reminding us. But AT&T, with 81.6 million, is catching up, and there’s no mystery why. Of AT&T’s 2 million new subscribers, 1.28 million bought Apple (AAPL) iPhones — more customers than Verizon added with all its cellphones, smart or otherwise.

But AT&T’s momentum may be short lived.

AT&T’s churn rate, while much improved (down from 1.69% a year ago to 1.43% today), is still higher than Verizon’s (1.13% for contract customers). Meanwhile, complaints about AT&T’s spotty service, especially in densely populated metropolitan areas, have not abated.

What the iPhone did for AT&T

Meanwhile Verizon has started to strike back, both with TV ads that directly attack AT&T and the iPhone, and with promises of new services and devices.

Verizon is scheduled to begin deploying a faster, so-called 4G network this fall; AT&T’s 4G rollout won’t begin until next year.

And the iPhone may soon have tough competition from a pair of devices Verizon is about to launch that run Google’s (GOOG) Android system. One of them, Motorola’s (MOT) Droid, is getting strong early reviews.

Verizon reported Monday that its revenue grew 10.2% in the third quarter to $27.27 billion while profits fell 9% to $2.89 billion  — results that were better than expected.

AT&T reported last week that its quarterly earnings had dropped 1.2% to $3.2 billion on revenue that dipped 1.6% to $30.86 billion. Revenue from AT&T’s wireless division, however, increased 8.2% and wireless profits grew 41%.

See also:

• Verizon and Google go after Apple
• Verizon vs. AT&T: There’s a map for that
• The Droid: Serious iPhone competition

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]

τα χαρακτηριστικα του Droid της Motorola

Τα στοιχεία του νέου Droid της Motorola « Productivity

Η Motorola κατά λάθος «άνοιξε» το site του νέου της κινητού, Droid, στο οποίο φυσικά υπήρχαν και όλα τα στοιχεία της συσκευής. Βασισμένο στο Android της Google, διαθέτει οθόνη 16:9 3,7» με ανάλυση 480×854, κάμερα 5MPixel με δυνατότητα 4x zoom, autofocus και διπλό LED flash. Δυστυχώς, ο επεξεργαστής του κινείται σε πιο περιορισμένα επίπεδα, στα 550MHz – όχι πολύ γρηγορότερος από τις παλαιότερες προτάσεις της HTC, που, ας πούμε, «δεν φημίζονταν για τις επιδόσεις τους»[next]

I love [background-processes] Android

When I started  my initial focus was to develop apps only for the iPhone.  To my shame I didn’t even consider Google’s Android.  Being a start-up I don’t have the budgets to develop for multiple platforms.

But then I bumped into the  limitations of  the iPhone platform. Not being able to run background processes was a real turn-off. At the same moment my first T-Mobile G1 arrived. Although the G1 is not the latest and not the most exciting phone I was hooked.

So it won’t come as a suprise that our beta apps will also include an Android version.

Dell's Android MID -- Everything but a Phone, Which Might be Good

I’d say Dell just beat the pants off of my homebrewed Android UMPC. The Dell Streak and its lovely 5-inch multitouch display just made an appearance over at SlashGear and it looks sweet from a form factor perspective. The video demo gets a bit choppy at times, so I can’t be sure if the device has a little lag or if it’s an issue with the video. Regardless, it’s likely that the device on camera isn’t a final version, so there could be optimizations to come.

The 800 x 480 resolution is just about the right size for this screen — perhaps it could stand to be a wee bit higher, but it’s pretty, nonetheless. Streak runs on Android 2.0 and while it offers no cellular voice capabilities, it does provide for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and 3G connectivity. Perhaps you could get by on a cheap feature phone or pre-paid voice plan and tote this around instead of smartphone? I’d be tempted to try. There’s also a 5-megapixel camera on the back, front-facing camera and an input jack for a dock on the bottom.

Nook, eBook con Android

Barnes&Nobles lanzaron ayer su lector electrónico de libros: NOOK.

Nook cuenta con una pantalla principal de 6 pulgadas con 16 niveles de grises y capacidad para ajustar el tamaño de la fuente. La pantalla secundaria es una TFT táctil de 3,5 pulgadas a color, que sirve para navegar y seleccionar libros a descargar. Nook tiene conexión Wi-Fi/802.11 b/g y 3G, para med¡ante tecnología LendMe ser capaz de sincronizar e intercambiar entre los Nook, iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, PC y Mac OS. Soporta archivos PDF y JPG.

Nook

Tiene capacidad de almacenamiento de 2Gb, que son más o menos 1.500 eBooks, ampliable hasta 16Gb mediante Micro SD.

En EEUU cuenta con más de 1 millón de libros disponibles para su descarga con un precio medio de 10$, 500.000 libros de distribución gratuita y suscripciones a más de 20 periódicos y revistas.

Su peso es de 317 gramos y sus dimensiones 196.2×126x12.8 mm, con carcasas intercambiables en 4 colores.

Su precio es de 259$ y estará disponible a finales de noviembre.

Nook es una gran competencia a Kindle, apoyado por una gran fuente de contenidos.

Fuente de la noticia

Meet Alex: The Android-powered eBook Reader

eBook-junkies (like me) are indeed living in interesting times.  A company called Spring Design has just announced that they are prepared to release their own eBook reader they dubbed “Alex”.  What sets Alex apart from the current crop of eBook readers is not only its revolutionary two screen design but what lies under the hood: Google’s Android.

The dual-screen design will allow owners to read on the primary monochrome “electronic paper display” and the secondary LCD screen displays multimedia information.  The LCD screen presumably also serves as a touch-screen interface for the device.  It supports external storage via SD cards to extend its capabilities.  Since its running Android, Alex will suppose to provide full internet browsing capabilities over an alphabet soup of connectivity options (GSM, EVDO/CDMA, wi-fi, 3G, etc.).

According to their website, Spring Design is currently in talks with various “major content providers” and they are planning to release the device for strategic partners by the end of this year.

Look Sir, Droids!

You may have heard a couple of weeks ago that Verizon, the No. 1 cell phone carrier in the United States, will soon carry smartphones running Google’s Android operating system. At the time of the announcement, neither Verizon nor Google revealed any details about upcoming handsets running the OS. As we shift toward the holiday season, information is beginning to appear. One of the new handsets is called the Droid.

The Droid (a phone from Motorola formerly known as Sholes) features a physical QWERTY keyboard and will run on Android 2.0. It also has a 5-megapixel camera with a built-in flash, among other interesting specs. But to me, the most interesting thing about the Droid is how Verizon is advertising it.

Recently, Verizon launched an advertising campaign that hypes the Droid by tearing down the iPhone. Here’s the ad I’m talking about:

Not exactly subtle, is it? Then again, Verizon has an uphill battle — the iPhone has a pretty strong lock on the minds of consumers. Most people I talk to seem to think of the iPhone as the sexy, cool smartphone on the market. And the Droid phone never even appears in the commercial! Verizon’s Web site for the phone doesn’t offer much more information.

Another tactic Verizon employs is to throw stones at the cell phone carrier in the United States that has exclusive rights to the iPhone: AT&T. Currently, Verizon has the most subscribers out of the four top cell phone carriers in the United States. AT&T is No. 2 (Sprint and T-Mobile round out the list at three and four, respectively). One of Verizon’s recent ads takes aim at AT&T’s 3G network while tweaking a tag line used in iPhone commercials. The original line is “There’s an app for that.” Here’s the commercial:

Is this the right strategy for Verizon? I’m an unapologetic Android fanboy and I’m excited to see the OS hit more handsets in the United States. But even with my enthusiasm I tend to wince when I see commercials that advertise a product or service by attacking a competitor. Still, it’s not like Apple hasn’t been guilty of the same thing — the PC/Mac spots Apple is famous for have blazed that trail for years. Hopefully we’ll see ads that actually feature the Droid phone so customers can decide if it really is a worthy opponent of the iPhone juggernaut.

Learn more about smartphones at HowStuffWorks.com:

How Smartphones Work
How the iPhone Works
How the Google Phone Works

On Mobile Phones, Firefox's Big Bet Is Nokia & Android

With little or no chance of ever being able to make it through the draconian approval process of Apple’s (s AAPL) iTunes App Store, Mozilla, the not-for-profit organization behind the Firefox browser, is betting on two major, if emerging, mobile operating platforms: Mameo, Nokia’s (s nok) new Linux-based operating system, and Google’s (s goog) Android OS. But don’t count on Mozilla supporting RIM’s (s rimm) BlackBerry OS anytime soon.

This weekend, during my onstage interview with Mozilla CEO John Lilly, I asked him what his plans were to get Firefox going on mobiles, especially since Webkit had gained so much attention and market share. “It is a different day, same story on the mobile as it was on the desktop,” Lilly quipped. On the desktop, Firefox continues to try to disrupt the entrenched incumbent, Microsoft’s Internet Explorer.

“Sure, we are behind, but we didn’t want to do a browser that didn’t do the whole web,” Lilly said. “We wanted to build a browser that did everything — Javascript, CSS, Flash, SVG, video and audio. What that meant was we had to wait for a while for devices to get better to handle this modern browser.” Lilly said that Mozilla’s mobile browser, code-named Fennec, is Firefox with the most advanced rendering engine. “It is the most advanced mobile browser,” he said. Fennec is based on the Firefox 3.6 engine, which is not even available on the desktop just yet.

And Lilly isn’t just tooting his own horn. I’ve been playing around with an early version of Nokia’s N900 device, and Firefox is perhaps its single biggest standout feature. It works just like it does on a desktop and, thanks to the seamless integration of AwesomeBar, a smarter version of a URL bar that uses Mozilla Weave, I can get access to all my bookmarks, my browsing history and other preferences. (Related Post: “Coming Soon: A Mozilla App for the iPhone.”)

When I asked Lilly about why Mozilla is interested in the Nokia Mameo, which is still not a viable platform, he explained that Mozilla was betting on the future and Mameo was a modern mobile OS built with the Internet in mind. “Nokia is invisible in the U.S., but that is not the case in rest of the world,” Lilly said. Even if N900 doesn’t prove to be the device that gets explosive adoption, then the next Mameo device will be the one that gets traction. Mozilla will release Firefox for Windows Mobile and then Android, he said.

Some of our recent posts about Mobile browsersOpera Mini, Unite & the Future of Mobile BrowsersOn Mobiles, there’s no stopping Webkit.For Firefox. a challenging future awaits.This just in: the mobile web isn’t the PC web.

Why? Because he thinks there is a lot of overlap among folks who use Firefox and those who might buy Android-based devices.  When I asked why not develop Firefox for BlackBerry, Lilly said that because the BlackBerry is a Java-based platform, Mozilla had no interest in building a browser for it, regardless of the number of devices in use. Mozilla also has some misgivings about Symbian, preferring to develop for Mameo instead.

“Until recently, Android was Java, but they released Android NDK which uses C/C++ and that is what we program in, so we are now looking at developing Firefox for Android,” said Jay Sullivan, vice president of Mobile for Mozilla.

“Mozilla Firefox will be the first mobile browser to support add-ons,” boasted Sullivan, pointing to the fact that nearly 2 billion Firefox add-ons have been downloaded to date, and they’ve spawned successful companies such as StumbleUpon. He expects similar traction for Firefox on the mobile. “We have been spending a lot of time on making sure that Javascript and our engine work really fast on ARM processors,” Sullivan said. “That has taken some time.”

Subscribe to GigaOM Pro and get this indepth analysis of the mobile apps market for $79.

The reason: Mozilla wants developers to embrace the more open HTML5 standards instead of developing separately for different mobile platforms. “For a company of 20 people, it is hard to support multiple platforms,” Lilly said. “Even if one platform takes 20 percent of the  market, there are other platforms you still need to develop for, and that isn’t easy for a small company. So that is why we are with Google in supporting HTML5 technologies.”

Latest on Mobile from GigaOM Pro: Subscription RequiredIs an iPhone- and Android-Only World the Best We Can Do?What the evolution of the app store model could mean.Will Google lead the way in mobile app innovation?.

Like Lilly, Sullivan acknowledges that they have their work cut out for them: Webkit-based browsers and Opera are the dominant players in mobile, and Firefox will need to prove itself.  The good news is that mobile is a much bigger market than desktops; multiple browsers and companies can thrive. With Nokia, Mozilla has a willing (and somewhat desperate) ally, and that is a good start.

Android 2.0 Leaked with Screenshots!

We hope you Android lovers out there are sitting down, because we’re about to knock your socks off. Android 2.0 hasn’t been released, announced, or even pictured. Until now. And we’re doing it like we’re doing it for TV — major screenshots and major information right here, just for you, our beloved readers.

Android 2.0 looks to be a major improvement in Google’s mobile OS and we couldn’t be more excited about it. From native Exchange support to native Facebook support (it will sync with your contacts), browser improvements, a completely updated Maps application, unified email Inbox — there’s much, much more — and a brand new UI makeover, version 2.0 starts to make Android a really viable (and interesting) platform. Bounce over the jump for all the screenshots and our walkthrough!

Please note: this isn’t the final build of Android 2.0 and the follow reporting is based on the version we have running. Things can and will change prior to release.

Microsoft Exchange compatibility looks to be built-in to the OS now, and the new unified Inbox is perfect for keeping up with your personal and corporate email. You can star (flag for the corporate world) emails, mark multiple as read or unread, delete, forward — whatever you want basically. Emails load effortlessly. Unfortunately (or not so unfortunately) the unified Inbox won’t work with your Gmail account as that uses the specific Google-made Gmail email application in Android.

Maps has been updated to include Layers. We’d imagine this will grow over time but now you can overlay search queries, Wikipedia entries, Latitude buddies, traffic, transit lines, and even load remote My Maps where you can share and receive directions with others. Android 2.0 seems to have some multi-touch gestures built-in like two-finger tapping in Maps, that will zoom in, however, there’s no gesture to zoom out and pinching doesn’t work. © Apple.

The browser has a nice little UI makeover with a redone URL entry bar which includes a Favicon. In terms of performance, no this version we have doesn’t have Flash 10, Google keeps making strides in the browser space. It’s worlds better than anything we’ve used previously on a stock Android OS, and jumps one notch higher than HTC’s customized browser. There is not multi-touch in here as of now, but, you can double tap to zoom in and zoom out which is really all we’ve been asking for since Android 1.0. Oh and did we mention this thing flies? We’re talking ridiculously close to iPhone 3GS web page speeds.

There’s now a YouTube widget you can place directly on your homescreen and that allows for literally two-click YouTube video uploads. You hit record, the video recording app launches, you type in a title and description for your newly-recorded video, and it’s up and away.

While the settings area is roughly the same overall, there’s a lot of interesting additions in 2.0. For starters, there’s haptic feedback built-in and a brand new Accessibility option. There’s also a new option for Text-to-speech and generally with Android 2.0, you’re given more control over the settings of your phone and more opportunities to customize it based on your liking. Something completely bewildering is the fact that if you set a lock code for the phone (seriously give people a choice to use numbers or letters as the passcode), there’s no lock interval option, so each time your phone turns off (about every 30 seconds when not in use), you’re forced to enter the password again on arrival. Lame.

Car Home. What? You don’t know what that is? Ok, it’s a new application that’s meant to be used, uh, in your car. Seriously it’s actually quite nice. It’s a consolidated list of icons that help you perform things (presumably using voice commands if you’re driving). Things like doing a voice search across the internet, getting driving directions, viewing a location on a map, selecting a contact, searching through your phone, etc. It’s very cool that you can say, “map of gas stations” and that will open Google Maps and show you on the map where all the gas stations are closest to you. Not exactly new technology, but hey, we didn’t say it was. We said this was all about pushing Android forward, and it is.

The Amazon MP3 application seems to work over 3G instead of just Wi-Fi now, but whether that is something done because of Android 2.0 or just because of the carrier it’s running on, we’re not positively sure.

Contacts seem to be much more roomy and there’s some great functionality built right in. Instead of hitting the contact and then diving through it to find the contact information you need, just tap the contact’s photo. Up will spring a clean and tidy sub-menu with the pertinent information which can be clicked on. Send someone an email instantly, open up their Facebook profile, or even call them! Very cool and all great things that we love seeing.

Things like the music application and gallery application don’t look to have changed too much, if at all. There also looks to be some more flexibility when defining homescreen shortcuts and things of that nature.

That’s all we have for you today, guys. What do you think of Android 2.0 in its not-final version? We’re loving it. And it could help that it’s running on a pretty bad ass piece of machinery, but hey, that’s for another day. Comment of what you guys think!

-Droidboy

Samsung Galaxy Update

Seit ein paar Wochen habe ich nun das Samsung Galaxy I7500 und bin eigentlich recht zufrieden, nur die Akkulaufzeit war ziemlich kurz gehalten. Nachdem ich die beiliegende Software (welche nur für Windows verfügbar ist) von Samsung auf meinem Computer installiert hatte, bekam ich die Meldung von einem verfügbaren Update für das Android Smartphone. Das Smartphone schnell mit dem beiliegendem USB-Datenkabel an den Computer angeschlossen und das Update gestartet. Leider kam immerwieder die Meldung, dass die Verbindung mit dem Server von Samsung fehlgeschlagen ist und somit das Update nicht heruntergeladen werden kann. Nach einiger Recherche im Netz habe ich gelesen, dass dieses Problem sehr bekannt ist und durch das Umstellen der Sprache auf Englisch behoben werden kann. Tatsächlich funktionierte danach der Download. Bei dem Flashen stürtzte einmal die Verbindung mit dem Smartphone ab, sodass es zwei Versuche bedurfte und zwischendurch das Emergency-Image installiert werden musste. Als das Update endlich installiert war, kam eine Fehlermeldung über einen nicht richtig funktionierenden Prozess. Diese bekam ich nur durch einen Hardreset weg, sodass zumindest mein Handy auch mal richtig entrümpelt wurde.

Die Akkulaufzeit scheint tatsächlich besser geworden zu sein, auch wurde eine neue App namens Switchers installiert. Mit dieser App kann man bequem die Funktionen GPS, WLAN, Bluetooth und Auto-Sync einschalten und ausschalten. Zudem bekam ich eine neue App von O2 untergeschoben, die bei Aufruf nur das O2-Active Portal anzeigt. Genau wie ich darüber nicht begeistert bin, bin ich auch nicht über die Akkuanzeige begeistert. Konnte man vorher noch die Akkuladung in Prozent aus dem Status Menü lesen, ist dieses Feld nun verschwunden. Dazu kommen noch ein paar kleinere Bugs beim Entsperren, die aber nicht weiter stören.

Das Samsung Update braucht wirklich viele Nerven und erfordert viel Geduld. Haben sich O2 und Samsung bereits mit der letzten Firmware Version nicht gerade mit Ruhm bekleckert, ist es bei der neuen Version genauso. Hier ist noch viel zu verbessern. Zum Beispiel fehlt immer noch die Möglichkeit der Sprachwahl und das Senden von Mediendateien via Bluetooth.

Google 中文手機 Voice Search(語音搜尋) 近期發佈

Google今天(10/15)在北京舉行的行動應用交流論壇上，發布中文Voice Search，以中文發音進行搜尋的服務，數週後將會在Android平台，iPhone，BlackBerry及S60平台上線。（WM尚不支援）

Google語音搜尋運用語音辨識技術，利用說出關鍵字來進行網頁搜尋。2008年11月推出了英文版的語音搜尋，中文是第2個推出的語言。(還不含各種方言，純粹國語)

現場工作人員示範了一段在Android及S60手機上使用中文的語音搜尋。第一段工作人念了一長串地點名稱，
，第二段則是念出了清華大學附近的水煮魚搜尋，找到餐廳資訊網頁。

片段一

這段是示範是辨識錯誤時的狀況，辨識得出來的話直接開啟搜尋結果的網頁，但若伺服器對語音有疑問時，就會列出一些可能結果讓你選擇。Google語音搜尋 也藉此，各地，多人，每天的使用，取得各種口音或是說話習慣，來校正或建立模式，也就是說，越多人用，時間一久，取得的樣本越多，以後辨識會越準確。

片段二

實際試用
現在的Android手機上，就有一個Google搜尋的Widget了，加了語音搜尋功能後，這個Widget旁邊或多了一個麥克風，點了麥克風就可以說出句子辨認成文字。那在其他平台上則是以下載程式後安裝的方式使用。

基本上語音搜尋的技術，主要是把語音 > 轉變成文字，搜尋結果則是根據轉換出來的文字而定，所以如果語音辨識出來是對的，搜尋的結果就跟打字輸入一樣是對的，如果語音辨識出來是錯的，那就像你打錯字一樣，搜尋結果也會是錯的。

至於念的東西的長度，除了單詞外，複合式的，比方王力宏的照片, 某某電影時刻表也ok，或是長到像一個地址，也辨識得出來。

搜尋時也會跟位置結合，比方因為採訪時人在北京，就開啟了中國Google的頁面。若是人在國外的城市，也可以在當地念出國語，搜尋到中文結果。

–至於大家最關心的準確率，除了工作人員的示範外，後來有跟開發人員比較近距離的問答時，請他示範了一些使用過程。最一般正常的念法，準確率還不錯。搜尋結果也會直接出現地圖可選。

–那中英文混念呢? 我唸了忠孝東路PizzaHut，但搜尋錯誤，在這之前我也試念了Mobile01(01念了是零一)，試了幾次都找不到，現階段中英混念還無法做到，要就全中文，要就全英文。而且方言目前也還無法辨識，只能使用國語。

地圖也有voice search
現在最新的Google Maps版本是3.1.2，之後到了3.2版的Google Maps，裡面也會加入語音搜尋，就可以念出地點，在地圖上標出。像影片的例子，打開3.2版的Google Maps，念出Pizza，就在在地圖上標出附近有哪些Pizza店了。

技術運作
其實Windows Phone或S60的使用者，應該有聽過一個叫賽微輕鬆說的程式，它就是用說來取代Keyin打字，可以用念的來寫簡訊跟mail，這個軟體在使用前，會 讓你先錄大約20個句子，讓機器認得你口音的特點，提高辨識率，事實上試用之後，發現這套軟體的辨識率也很不錯，越用越聰明。(插個話：下個階段賽微也會 推出一個語音搜尋的服務，也是把語音辨識出文字後，藉這文字再進行搜尋附近的店家，或是台灣在地的交通資訊…等的，不過是在特定範圍，不是全部的 web搜尋)

Google中文語音搜尋，你不用先念句子對機器做training，直接講就可以了。Training這件事，是Google來做。
在服務推出前，Google就找了非常多的一般使用者來建立語音的資料庫，所以裡面有各種口音，各種講法，以及哪個發音最常被搜尋的詞是什麼…等。
使用時你對著手機講，語音就傳到資料庫去做比對，找出字詞出來，然後搜尋出結果。這過程發生在雲端，不是發生在你的手機，所以不會因為這個服務讓手機太耗電。
對於準確率，Google並不願意透露數字，但表示是認為資料庫已經建立到一個程度了，可以上線了。上線後經過大家的使用，就會繼續增加比對資料，提高中文辨識準確率。

目前辨認上比較難的是：中英文混念(比方T恤)，數字以及同音字(比方會, 惠)。
如果是同發音但不同詞的，比方 交代/膠帶，就會以比較常被搜尋的那個詞為結果。
當然背景噪音也會影響到辨識正確率。

今天在現場試用的結果，菜菜子心裡對辨識度的評分是65%左右吧。一般名詞, 食衣住行地名或是名人的名字，都算OK，但自己的名字認不出來, 然後地址有講到數字的話也有辨錯，然後我要搜尋日月潭飯店，飯店一直辨識不出來，換成念酒店才認出正確的，但酒店好像不是台灣的習慣說法。
不過說法上可能自己也要掌握依些技巧，忠孝東路 7-11，這樣算混念辨識不出來，誠品跟成品同音，念誠品書店比較正確，全家也是，念全家便利商店辨識得比較正確。
但是不用打字，真的還是一件很便利的事情，尤其是地址。

正式上線時間會在公布，上線之後，Android，BlackBerry，Symbian S60及iPhone的使用者，可以去下載來試試囉。

Android, here we are!

Zonet heb ik mijn eerste eigen applicatie werkende gekregen voor Android. En wat schrijft elke programmeur natuurlijk eerst? Hello World! And so did I! Basically komt het er op neer dat ik de tutorials van de Android Dev site gevolgd heb (dewelke trouwens voor mij tot zowat de beste tutorials behoren van het volledige Wereldwijde Wijde Web). Ik ben er echter wel zo snel mogelijk beginnen van af te wijken, al doende leert men zegt men, maar het meeste nog met vallen en opstaan. Dus vooral door zelf te proberen en uit te zoeken maar met de tutorial altijd dicht bij om even te kijken kwam ik al vrij snel (na 45 minuten setup van de ontwikkelomgeving en 1,5uur programmeren/tutorial volgen en nog wat knoeiwerk bijgerekend) kwam onderstaand resultaat tevoorschijn. Simpel, alles behalve mooi, maar een basis voor hopelijk meer!

Mijn persoonlijke IDE-voorkeur voor Java development gaat uit naar IntelliJ maar omdat Google enkel een plugin uitgebracht heeft voor Eclipse (en de tutorial hierop ook gebasseerd is) heb ik besloten voorlopig met Eclipse van start te gaan. Voor IntelliJ is echter wel al een plugin beschikbaar op Google Code.
Dit alles wordt ontwikkelt gebruik makende van de laatste SDK op ogenblik van schrijven (versie 1.6) en Eclipse Ganymede met de ADT plugin.

Acer D250 с две операционни системи – Android и Windows XP

 

Появи се обещания от Acer нетбук с операционна система Android на американския пазар и това е Acer Aspire One D250-1613. Той е почти напълно идентичен с познатия ни Acer D250, като изключим факта, че разполага с по-нов Atom процесор и работи с две операционни системи -  Android и Windows XP. На теория, потребителите могат да стартират Android за секунди, вместо да чакат няколко минути да зареди XP. Общо взето, удобството на нетбук с две операционни системи има за цел да се изяви най-вече като скорост. Учудваща в случая е липсата на 3G модул, което някакси просто не се вписва, предвид че Android е система ориентирана най-вече към мобилните телефони. Новият D250 изглежда още не е “съвсем напълно официален”, така че очакваме допълнителна информация.

El Héroe que quería volar.

iPhone killer. Esta es la cita favorita que emplean la mayoría de sitios al hablar de cualquier nuevo móvil con pantalla táctil que aparece en el mercado. Y cuando además se trata de un dispositivo con sistema operativo Android las referencias aún son más directas. Y en el caso del nuevo HTC Hero y su nueva interfaz Sense eran inevitables las comparaciones. Pero el Hero no es un iPhone killer. Afortunadamente.

Desde hace poco más de un mes soy el poseedor de un HTC Hero. Me lo compré porque me gustó su diseño externo (nada que ver con el Magic y mucho menos con el Dream, gracias HTC), me gustaba Android como S.O. móvil y me pareció muy elegante la interfaz Sense que han desarrollado en HTC para Android y que está basada en su interfaz TouchFlo.

Hasta aquí todo bien. Pero el uso diario da una nueva dimensión a las cosas y tras la primera impresión positiva vinieron los problemas. El de la velocidad de la interfaz no se me hizo evidente en un principio aunque en algunas ocasiones se quedaba congelado al cambiar de pantalla o lanzar una aplicación. Pero fue al compararlo con el iPhone 3GS de un amigo cuando las evidencias se hicieron patentes. Además de eso había aplicaciones como el Peep (el cliente para twitter de HTC) que no actualizaba automáticamente y que la mayoría de las veces que lo hacías manualmente daba errores de conexión.

Por suerte HTC estuvo atenta a las quejas de los usuarios y sacó una actualización que ha mejorado la velocidad y ha eliminado casi por completo los retardos que se producían, y aunque es más lento que otros dispositivos con Android debido a la interfaz Sense, estoy muy contento con el rendimiento actual.

No voy a analizar cada apartado del dispositivo porque para eso ya hay buenos análisis aquí o aquí. En cambio si es mi idea mostrar mis impresiones tras el uso diario desde el punto de un usuario, eso si, bastante aficionado a la tecnología.

Una de las mayores quejas de estos dispositivos es la corta duración de la batería. Y el Hero no es la excepción. En las pruebas que he hecho y que no son ni mucho menos empíricas he tenido resultados muy dispares dependiendo del uso que le dé al móvil. En el peor de los escenarios con el GPS, la red 3G y el WiFi conectado la duración de la batería fue aproximadamente de unas 10 horas. Que se amplían a casi unas 22 horas con la conexión de datos en 2G y que se dispara a unas 36 horas si no hacemos uso de la conexión de datos. Eso si, siempre con el GPS encendido (aunque sin conectarse continuamente) y con un uso del WiFi de al menos 2 horas diarias. En este sentido ninguna sorpresa y se agradece la batería intercambiable.

Uno de los principales atractivos del HTC Hero es su interfaz Sense. Para mi es muy importante el aspecto y la usabilidad y aunque el Android tiene una buena usabilidad su aspecto me parece muy industrial y poco pulido. Es en ese aspecto donde el Hero destaca sobre otros dispositivos. Tiene una interfaz muy cuidada y muy elegante en tonos negros lo cual, además, evita que te deslumbre demasiado el abuso que, a veces, hace Android del blanco. HTC ha ido más allá e incluso ha desarrollado aplicaciones y widgets especialmente adaptados a esta interfaz. Además también han añadido en algunas de las aplicaciones los gestos multitouch lo cual facilita el hacer zoom. Desgraciadamente hay muchas aplicaciones en las que no han podido aplicarlo imagino que por problemas legales. Me sorprende también que el acelerómetro solo funciona al girarlo hacia la izquierda. Desconozco el porqué de este comportamiento.

Android usa el concepto de widgets a la hora de acceder a la información y como forma de personalización. HTC además de los que vienen con Android ha incluido varios de su propia cosecha y con el “look&feel” de Sense. Así disponemos de widgets de calendario, álbum, SMS, twitter o correo con la apariencia negra y brillante del Sense. Otro añadido además muy práctico son los widgets que permiten conectar y desconectar las diferentes redes de las que dispone el móvil y que evitan que tengas que entrar en los ajustes para hacerlo.

Una de las cosas más interesantes que aporta éste móvil (y que comparte con webOS y los futuros Android de Motorola) es la integración de las redes sociales con tus contactos. En principio solo soporta facebook y flicker pero espero que el sistema permita añadir en el futuro otros servicios (sociales o no). Igualmente dentro de cada contacto tienes un registro de los correos que has tenido con él y que no has leído. Lo ideal aquí hubiese sido que SMS, correos, mensajería y redes sociales hubiesen estado integradas en la misma pestaña de la misma manera que lo hace webOS y creo que el MotoBlur (interfaz desarrollado por Motorola para sus móviles Android).

Otro aspecto a destacar es la multitarea. Con esto te permite tener varias aplicaciones abiertas trabajando simultáneamente. El problema radica en la forma de cambiar entre aplicaciones ya que no hay una manera única y sencilla. Según como hayas accedido a la aplicación será más o menos sencillo volver a la tarea anterior. Al menos manteniendo presionado el botón Home puedes acceder a las últimas 6 aplicaciones usadas lo que permite un cambio más rápido si hay aplicaciones que usas mucho. Después están los servicios. Estos funcionan en segundo plano sin intervención del usuario y permiten que estén funcionando cosas como el correo push, la mensajería instantánea o twitter. Una de las cosas en las que destaca y que mejor funciona en Android son las notificaciones. En este sentido creo que solo webOS supera ligeramente a Android y es exclusivamente por su diseño un poco más refinado. Las notificaciones aparecen en la barra superior y en ningún momento interrumpen ninguna acción que esté realizando el usuario. Sencillamente va mostrando pequeños iconos por cada una de las notificaciones y luego desplegando un menú te muestra el listado más desarrollado. Simplemente pinchando en ellas te lleva directamente a la aplicación y te muestra el objeto que ha generado el aviso. Rápido, sencillo, muy cómodo y nada, absolutamente nada, intrusivo.

Aunque en conjunto todo funciona muy bien tiene ese tipo de detalles que te hace pensar que hay veces en las que no se piensan bien las cosas. En mi caso son dos cosas que me resultan tremendamente molestas. Una es la imposibilidad de editar o crear calendarios desde el móvil, la única manera de hacerlo es a través de la web de Google Calendar. Es aún más absurdo ya que ni siquiera puedes editarlo desde el navegador del teléfono, que te envía directamente a la versión móvil de GCalendar desde la cual… tampoco puedes editar los calendarios. Realmente asombroso por lo rocambolesco del sistema. La otra característica que sorprende por su inexistencia es la imposibilidad de guardar diferentes configuraciones de red. Esto es aún más grave puesto que hablamos de un dispositivo móvil que será más que probable que deba conectarse a diferentes redes y la ausencia de esta opción chirría demasiado. Más aún cuando el móvil suele conectarse automáticamente a redes a las que ya ha estado conectado.

Otra gran decepción han sido las aplicaciones. Más bien los desarrolladores de las aplicaciones. Hay muchas muy buenas y por ahora no echo en falta nada pero he notado que mientras para otras plataformas (léase iPhone/iPod) los desarrolladores ponen mucho mimo tanto en la interfaz como en el uso no ocurre lo mismo en Android. Por esta razón ya son varias las aplicaciones de pago que he devuelto. Y es que una de las grandes ventajas de la tienda de aplicaciones para Android es que te permite devolver la aplicación en las primeras 24 horas de la compra si no estás conforme con ella. Algo que la App Store debería aprender.

Conclusión

Tiene todavía muchas cosas por mejorar pero sin duda alguna adoro éste móvil. Y Android. Y Sense. He de admitir que tras una primera impresión muy positiva me sentí un poco decepcionado por la lentitud en algunas ocasiones (demasiadas) y el comportamiento errático de algunas aplicaciones (las de HTC sobre todo) además de sentir que el número y calidad de las aplicaciones era muy pobre. Evidentemente uno siempre tiende a comparar con lo mejor que hay y no podía evitar pensar en el iPhone. Afortunadamente la actualización apareció hace más o menos 4 semanas y aquello fue un cambio. Más velocidad, casi no hay atascos al cambiar de aplicación o moverse por la pantalla… y fin del extraño comportamiento de las aplicaciones de HTC. En cuanto a las aplicaciones hay muchísimas y si buscas lo suficiente hay bastantes de calidad, siendo las gratuitas muchas veces mejores que las de pago.

El Hero es un teléfono que se siente sólido en la mano, es cómodo al agarrarlo, elegante y con un buen acabado, muy lejos del primer Android, el HTC Dream, que parece un teléfono muy mal construido y con aspecto muy “plasticoso”. El añadido de la interfaz Sense le hace ganar muchos puntos al Android al ponerlo a la altura del iPhone en velocidad y, para mi gusto, mejorando mucho la funcionalidad. En resumen: para aquellos que estén buscando un teléfono avanzado éste móvil es una opción ha considerar muy seriamente.

Fin de la entrada.

HTC Hero on Sprint: Not All Are on the Faster EVDO Rev. A Network

Image courtesy engadget

I have been impressed with the HTC Hero phone I have been evaluating on the Sprint EVDO Rev. A network, even though I just found out this evaluation phone is not actually on the faster Rev. A network; like other Hero owners are beginning to report, this one is only running EVDO Rev. 0. The Rev. A network is the newest flavor of EVDO on the Sprint (s s) and Verizon (s vz) networks. Rev. 0 is the predecessor to Rev. A and is slower, especially for uploads.

Sprint owners have begun to report that their phones are in fact running on the the slower Rev. 0 Sprint network, not the Rev. A as advertised. It is not across the board, many of the owners are reporting their phone is running Rev. A as is should. What has emerged from this confusion is that some of the Hero phones have “with Google” branding on the back, where others do not. So far, it appears that no phone lacking the Google branding reports Rev. A support, while those with the branding are hit and miss as to which network is reported.

It’s important to realize that there could be local network issues at play here, EVDO phones automatically drop to Rev. 0 if Rev. A coverage is not there, even if the phone can support Rev. A. Most current EVDO phones can support Rev. A, so I doubt anything sinister is at play here. I suspect that early Hero phones have an older firmware version that lacks Rev. A support erroneously, and HTC has updated the firmware to address that. They need to get the update to everyone if that is the case, as some owners are not getting what they paid for.

I have been pretty happy with the performance of this evaluation Hero, but it would be even better with Rev. A active. This unit shows Rev. 0 like many, and since I have the Pre on the Sprint network I know for a fact I have Rev. A coverage here.

(via engadget)

Google Android is getting huge

Google Android Is Getting Huge.

Smart-Phone Market Update: Apple’s Eating Everyone Else’s Lunch.

android logo

Why is Android a good bet for the mobile industry — and why is it becoming popular?

• It’s technically solid. Especially better than Windows Mobile, which manufacturers are weighing it against. (Though it’s not as polished as the iPhone or perhaps the Palm Pre.)
• It’s free. No license cost for phone makers.
• It has the next-best mobile app platform to Apple’s, and unlike Palm or RIM, could actually support decent games. Developers are paying attention to Android, moreso than other platforms.
• It’s open-source. This means manufacturers and carriers can mess with it to their hearts’ content, in an effort to offer differentiated experiences. Thus, stuff like HTC’s Sense user interface, Motorola’s BLUR user interface, and custom services promised by Verizon. (Hopefully, this can be more productive than how PC companies compete in the commoditized Windows-powered computer industry — mostly on price.)
• Google is investing millions of dollars into helping companies who want help. Google’s hope is that Android will get hundreds of millions of more people using the Internet on their phones, so it could eventually make billions in mobile advertising.

Apple has gone from 2% global share to 14% share in a year.

RIM’s creeping higher worldwide–now 20%–but it’s losing share in the US.  Nokia’s still dominant worldwide, but it’s slipping (44%).  Everyone else is getting crushed.

In the US, the market breaks down basically as follows:

Research In Motion: 52% (down from 56% last year)
Apple: 23% (up from 7%)
Google: 2%
Everyone Else: 23%

Again, Apple’s gaining share astonishingly fast…from 7% to 23% in a year.  Imagine what will happen when the company cuts loose from AT&T.

Grandes acuerdos traen buenos proyectos o buenos proyectos traen grandes acuerdos?

Hoy me he levantado mejor del brazo (quién lo diría, ayer no tenía mucha esperanza) y estaba leyendo las noticias sobre Android y leo sobre el acuerdo que han llegado Verizon y Google.

Esta unión viene porque tenemos un buen producto o parahacer un buen producto?

La verdad es que me he puesto a pensar porque me salen unas dudas… este acuerdo entre una de las empresas más importantes del mundo y con más expansión (Google) y una delas operadoras más importantes de USA es porque se alían contra el iPhone y AT&T como dice el artículo y se creen con posibilidades de derrotarlo o porque Google sabe de su poca/escasa experiencia aún en la telefonía y lo que quiere es tener un acuerdo con un grande que le lleve de la mano?

En realidad, mi opinión es que Android es un producto excelente, realmente muy bueno. Tiene un rendimiento muy alto pero, por supuesto, también tiene algunas debilidades. De los teléfonos en los que se ha distribuido Android tengo varias opiniones:

a) HTC Dream… En principio un buen equipo pero el soporte que le está dando Movistar a dejado y deja mucho que desear.

b) HTC Magic… Similares características al anterior pero Vodafone decidió sacarlo con menos RAM y una microSD de 8Gb al contrario que en otros paises. Discrepo con la decisión y más viendo y sabiendo el precio de las memorias.

c) HTC Hero… Técnicamente superior aunque tampoco es para tirar cohetes.

d) Nuevos terminales…. motorola, Dell, Huawei, etc… Vamos por buen camino pero no es suficiente.

HTC Hero.. la más potente hasta el momento pero la opinión pública dice que... le falta...

La unión de muchos fabricantes en la creación de Android ha sido un paso importante para intentar acabar con la hegemonía de Apple pero creo que el Hardware no ha acompañado demasiado.

Nos duela o no, el iPhone es una máquina muy potente, va increíblemente suelta con la pega de que todo es cerrado.

El iPhone no es, ni de lejos, perfecto... pero, desde luego, es un gran producto

Android va muy bien pero los equipos se quedan cortos y eso se nota.

Yo creo que Google (el gran impulsor de Android) es una empresa suficientemente grande como para conseguir acuerdos de por si, y más si el producto es bueno. Y en este caso lo es.

Tal vez sería más importante unificar esfuerzos y fabricar, bajando el coste, unos terminales capaces de soportar lo que Android es capaz de hacer y es mucho.

Igualmente, Android debe mejorar el market (la actualización 1.6 no ha supuesto ninguna mejora de calidad y la espera a la 2.0, eclair, se hace eterna) ya que es una de las bazas más importantes que tiene (demostrado por Apple) y, además, es código abierto.

Con un cambio de color y cuatro fotos... por lo menos para mí... no es suficiente! queremos un buscador como Dios manda!

Yo opino que es una buena noticia el acuerdo que han tomado pero creo que si el producto mejorase, las ofertas vendrían solas.

Android em evoluçao

Analistas da consultoria Gartner Inc. acreditam que o Android, sistema operacional do Google presente atualmente em 2% dos smartphones, será o segundo mais popular do mundo em 2012, superando os rivais iPhone, Windows Phone e dos dispositivos BlackBerry.

As previsões da Gartner indicam que o sistema, que tem o Google como um dos desenvolvedores, estará em 14,5% dos aparelhos, atrás apenas do Symbian OS, presente em smartphones da Nokia, que terá 39% do mercado em 2012.

Segundo o Gartner, 76 milhões de dispositivos com Android serão vendidos até 2012, enquanto o Symbian estará presente em 203 milhões de aparelhos.

Na sequência aparecerá o iPhone, com 71,5 milhões de unidades vendidas e 13,7% do mercado. Em quarto, o Windows Phone, com 66,8 milhões de aparelhos e 12,8% do mercado. Atual segundo colocado, o Blackberry deve perder espaço nos próximos anos – em 2012 estará em 65,25 milhões de smartphones vendidos,  contando com 12,5% do mercado.

Popularização
Segundo o Gartner, diversos fatores contribuirão para a popularização do Android.  O principal deles deve ser o apoio do Google e o leque de funções e aplicações da computação em nuvem que estarão disponíveis nos próximos anos.

Os analistas acreditam que, por estar presente em diversos aparelhos e variadas empresas, o Android pode facilmente bater o iPhone. Até o final de 2010, mais de 40 modelos de dispositivos contendo o sistema operacional estarão no mercado, e a próxima atualização do Android, chamada internamente de “Donut”, estará disponível no segundo trimestre do próximo ano.

Um bom exemplo de como o Android pode se popularizar, segundo o analista Ken Dulaney, é através do Motorola Cliq, com a interface Motoblur que “lida com a comunicação de maneira bastante eficaz”, diz.

Para explicar, Dulaney diz que as interfaces dos smartphones parecem ser divergido para dois caminhos, com o iPhone focado em aplicativos, enquanto o Windows Mobile e o Symbian focam nas tarefas e na comunicação. Mas o Android, ele diz, “consegue misturar tarefas e aplicativos muito bem.”

A interface do Android permite que o usuário realize diversas tarefas sem precisar voltar para o início para trocar de tarefa, ele diz. “Os produtores do sistema fizeram um excelente trabalho sabendo como você trabalha com um telefone”, afirma.

fonte: IDGnow

Q5 使用歷程 [上]

不經不覺已經在Q5上玩了幾天機械人, 現在就讓我來說說使用感覺及利與弊。

與 Q5 結缘

我購入的Q5昰屬於第二批的機, 而我在Q5之前使用的昰 Sharp Zearus SLC-1000, 因女王要學習日語而被取去, 在這段期間知到了這架Q5的存在, 思想爭鬥了幾天(在於質量、性能、價格等等的考慮), 終於在其899的售僧引誘下, 在5月1日返回國內購了一架回來。

在購買Q5前已經知到它的運作不大快, 但最令我感到難以使用是它的程序介面, 大部份都太大了, 廠商只是把卓面版的軟件編譯後就放進Q5(直到現在也是一樣), 令我時常要把視窗移來移去! 至於它的低下的視頻播放能力, 我反而不太在意, 因為—向在PDA上看視頻的我都需要轉片子的, 另一個原因是我也購入了一架CC1600的RMVB視頻機。(兩架加起來的售價還是比以往任何一架PDA還便宜), 到了後來Q5可運行CE, 但CE的介面在其800×480的屏上又顯得太小了。

直到日本的Covia公司發放了Android後, 情況好了很多, 須然此版本還有些許問題, 但大至上可用, 介面須不是很華麗、但在Q5上絕對比原生的Linux及CE好! 至於運行速度我覺得比Linux怏, 大概與CE差不多吧! 至於軟件方面在機机人平台下也有齊我須要的。

我日常須要用到的軟件類別:

• 記事薄
• 聯絡人
• 日程表
• 電子郵件
• 網頁瀏覽
• 遠端管理(VNC、Remote Desktop 及 SSH)

android donut: the download links

Courtesy the Phandroid blog comments and the T-Mobile forums, here are the Google download links for the Donut 1.6 update:

T-Mobile G1
http://android.clients.google.com/updates/kila/signed-kila-DRC83-from-CRC1.c41b93c1.zip

T-Mobile myTouch3G
http://android.clients.google.com/updates/opal/signed-opal-DRC92-from-COC10.1c95e995.zip

How to apply and what to do with these are easily Googled and discussed heavily, just passing along the knowledge.

HTC Hero Review -- "It's Super"

I have enjoyed my brief time with the HTC Hero, easily the best Android phone I have tried. Podcast co-host Matt Miller is enjoying his Hero too, and he’s published a thorough review of the phone. Matt makes it clear that he finds the phone to be a true “super Hero”, and his review touches on a lot of the reasons why he feels that way.

He touches on the “Scenes” the Hero can use, which is basically a theme utility to save the entire user environment just the way you like it. The scenes can be switched on the fly, so it is easy to have a standard scene for daily use and a special setup for other times such as when traveling. They are easy to use and quite fun to play with.

Matt is a heavy Exchange user, and he’s quite pleased with how well HTC has implemented Exchange support in the Hero. Matt says “HTC did a very good job integrating Exchange into the native apps on the device.” Check out the entire review to learn a lot about this cool phone.

Tmobile Confirms that Android Donut 1.6 is underway!

Rumors last night were that tmobile would be distributing the Android 1.6 update (known as “Donut”). If so updates should be coming. This update is good for stability and other “under the hood” things.

The big changes here include a fix for a bug that would reset your phone after dialing 911 (Oops!), the new (and much prettier) market, improved voice search, a new camera interface, and homescreen search. Here’s the official word from ol’ Magenta themselves:

The rollout of Android 1.6 (Donut) to T-Mobile’s G1 and myTouch 3G customers is now underway, and provides new features and software enhancements. The update also includes an important fix for isolated instances of system reboots after dialing 911. We have worked with Google and HTC on a solution, and the rollout of Android 1.6 is being accelerated to ensure the system reboot fix is rapidly delivered to our customers.

The over-the-air update will be delivered to all G1 and myTouch customers in the coming days. Given the system reboot fix, we strongly encourage all users to install Android 1.6 when prompted to do so.

Regarding new and enhanced features, Android 1.6 includes:

* An improved Android Market experience that makes it easier to discover great applications.
* An integrated camera, camcorder, and gallery interface.
* Updated Voice Search, with faster response and deeper integration with native applications, including the ability to dial contacts.
* Updated search experience that make it easier to search various sources, such as browser bookmarks & history, contacts, and the web, directly from the home screen.

Additional details on Android 1.6 can be found at http://developer.android.com/sdk/android-1.6-highlights.html

If this is true then updates should be underway soon! Let us know when you guys get yours!

-Droidboy

Nova versão do sistema Android chega aos usuários nos EUA

via www.terra.com.br

Notícia retirada do portal do terra, mostra a vagaresa de nossas operadoras em nos fornecer aparelhos equivalentes ao do primeiro mundo, e novidades.
A operadora de telefonia norte-americana T-Mobile já começou a distribuir a seus usuários a versão 1.6 do sistema operacional Google Android, usado nos smartphones G1, Hero e Magic, todos produzidos pela HTC, segundo informações do site CNET.

De codinome Donut, seguindo a tradição do Google de batizar seu sistema com nomes de sobremesas, esta versão traz várias mudanças, tanto para os desenvolvedores quanto para os usuários finais. Para os usuários há um novo sistema de busca universal, um novo aplicativo de câmera (mais rápido), suporte a síntese de voz, um aplicativo que permite monitorar o consumo de bateria de cada aplicativo e uma nova interface para o Android Market, a loja online de aplicativos do Google.

Para os desenvolvedores, há frameworks que permitem a criação de aplicativos capazes de reconhecer gestos sobre a tela e suporte a múltiplas resoluções. Além disso, por debaixo dos panos há drivers para interfaces WiMAX e suporte redes de telefonia CDMA, em adição ao sistema europeu GSM já suportado, o que vai possibilitar o lançamento de smartphones Android em outras operadoras nos Estados Unidos, como a Sprint e a Verizon, algo crucial para o crescimento da plataforma. O Google já havia liberado um kit de desenvolvimento (SDK) para o sistema em meados de setembro.

Os primeiros smartphones Android (o HTC Magic e Samsung Galaxy) chegarão nos próximos dias ao mercado brasileiro, ambos rodando a versão 1.5 do sistema operacional. Fabricantes e operadoras ainda não definiram como será a política de acesso ao App Market ou a atualização do sistema operacional.

Vale lembrar que o Android é baseado no Linux.

Rafael Rubie Loth.

www.plenosistemas.com.br