Android Atlas

Freebie: Vlingo voice launcher for myTouch 3G Slide

If you've got an Android-powered T-Mobile MyTouch 3G Slide, voice company Vlingo wants to do you a favor--by giving you its $9.99 app for free.

Speak the words and Vlingo's voice launcher for Android will open apps on your phone, update your Twitter and Facebook status, dial contacts, and send e-mails and texts as you dictate them. You can also tell it to search the Web and Google Maps. Its SafeReader feature can relay incoming e-mails and texts so drivers can keep their eyes on the wheel.

So, what prompted Vlingo's sudden generosity, and why is … Read more

Google: Half of Android app users onto 2.0

After months of breakneck development, Google's Android team has succeeded in getting a slim majority of its users into the Android 2.0 world.

Google released usage statistics Thursday showing that 50.4 percent of all Android devices that accessed the Android Market in the past two weeks were running Android 2.0 or higher. Android 2.0 was released last October along with the Motorola Droid, which has become one of the best-selling Android devices yet released.

The numbers don't necessarily reflect the number of Android 2.0 devices out in the wild, instead focusing on just … Read more

Shazam-rival SoundHound in action (video)

Audiophiles who have an iPhone or Android phone should do themselves a favor and try out song-searching app SoundHound.

SoundHound (free or $4.99) gives you five ways to name an unknown tune, and delivers the expected artist bios and related video content. It also throws in lyrics, and to its credit, doesn't yank them from the more limited free version.

Our favorite feature, unfortunately found only in the iPhone edition for now, meshes with your on-board iPod to pony up lyrics and bio information for songs you already own.

--SoundHound Infinity for iPhone ($4.99)

--SoundHound for iPhone (free)… Read more

Move fast: Speedy Swype keyboard for Android now in limited public beta

Like Shapewriter for the iPhone, Swype is a gestural alternative for the virtual keyboard that spells out words when you trace them with your fingertip. The software senses a finger press to mark the beginning of a word and a lift to denote the the end, then works out one or more possible combinations to make sense of the jumbled letters in between.

Most of the time Swype gets it right, and if you're a slow touch-screen typist for whom the hunt-and-peck method isn't going so hot, now's your chance to try out Swype.

Swype hasn't … Read more

Android Atlas Weekly 3: Android iPhone 4 killer and Android viruses (podcast)

Motorola has big plans for its iPhone 4 killer, including a 2Ghz processor. Norton Security is out to defend against Android viruses, but do they exist? What's the deal with the Droid 2, the Droid X, and the HTC Aria? Join Justin Eckhouse along with guest hosts Bonnie Cha and Wilson Tang for a special Android Atlas Weekly from New York.

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EPISODE 3

Stories

Sprint Overstates Early EVO 4G Sales

Motorola Droid for Verizon gets a price drop

Droid 2, Droid X prepped for summer launches… Read more

New SoundHound names that tune--for free (Android)

Got a song stuck in your head that you can't place?

Instead of clicking up Shazam, music-ID app SoundHound may soon be the first stop for budget-conscious, Android-loving music aficionados.

Today, SoundHound for Android, ordinarily $4.99, followed in the footsteps of its iPhone kin by debuting a free version.

Like Shazam, SoundHound (known as Midomi, once upon a time) can record a few seconds of song straight from the source and return a plethora of information about the tune's title, artist, related videos, and where to buy it.

What impresses us with SoundHound is that it takes … Read more

Top 27 Android apps

Google's Android platform may only command 8 percent of the marketshare, according to Apple CEO Steve Jobs in his keynote speech at WWDC 2010.

But if you let the burgeoning number of Android smartphones in the market, Motorola's commitment to Android phones, and the fact that Sprint stores sold out of the Android-powered HTC Evo 4G guide you, Android is on fire and rocketing toward the top, even in the face of the forthcoming iPhone 4.

With that in mind, it's time we once again rounded up our top picks for getting started on a brand-new Android … Read more

Developer's dream: Androids...in space!

Danny Pier wants to send a smartphone into space. An Android smartphone.

Why? Well, because. Also, he is concerned that U.S. space exploration might not be progressing apace. His parents and grandparents got to witness an astronaut land on the moon, while Pier, 25, worries that he will have to wait until 2035 to see a man step on an extraterrestrial surface (Mars, according to plans laid out by President Obama).

So while Piers waits for middle age, he wants to try shipping the first smartphone into the stratosphere as a symbol of his belief in the importance of … Read more

Google serves up knowledge bytes on iPhone, Android, WebOS

When is Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday? What is the currency used in Kiribati? If you've got a short question burning a hole in your brain--and an Android, WebOS, or Android phone in your hand--Google may be able to help.

On Thursday, the search giant opened its ability to surface short answers to definitive search queries to select mobile platforms. Search in English for a well-documented query, like a country capital or president, famous composer, or movie release date, and you should see an answer--and its Web sources--surface near the top of the search results page.

Not every … Read more