Android Atlas

(Credit: Screenshot by Scott Webtser/CNET)

Effective Wednesday, T-Mobile customers with a Google Android phone running version 1.6 of the operating system will begin receiving an update to their Android Market. After installing the update and opening the Market, users can access a "T-Mobile Top Picks" section that showcases applications there were selected by the carrier. Besides being innovative, these applications can a great jumping off point for new users looking to personalize their handsets.

So far, there are 20 applications listed in the Top Picks. Though a quarter of the titles were developed by T-Mobile, most of the apps are free. The only paid titles are Absolute Fitness, FaceIT, FlightStats for Android, and Gem Miner: Dig Deep. Two included applications, Pandora Radio and Aloqa, are consistently ranked among the top rated and most download in the Android Market.

T-Mobile offers customers even more recommendations with the carrier's "AppPack." Serving as a filter for the Android Market, AppPack lets users browse apps that have been handpicked and tagged by T-Mobile. After launching with roughly 10 apps in its list, it expanded to include more than 30 yesterday.

The nice thing about AppPack is that it can run in the background and receive updates. Users will receive occasional notifications of new apps and will be directed to the Android Market to download them. With both Top Picks and AppPack, T-Mobile's aim is to introduce apps to people who might not have come across them otherwise.

(Credit: Screenshot by Scott Webster/CNET)

The Android Market has grown from zero applications to 20,000 strong in a little over a year. According to Androidlib, a Web site dedicated to tracking the Android Market, the milestone was reached on Tuesday. While this is an unofficial tally, it's a telling figure nonetheless.

Android shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, the number of applications is growing from month to month. After taking nearly 10 months to cross the 10,000 mark, the market doubled in size over the next five months.

With all the talk of unhappy developers, it's still becoming increasingly obvious that developers aren't sitting on the sideline any longer. I can't think of one company or team still taking the "wait and see" approach. The largest mobile application market, Apple's App Store, has over 100,000 applications available, but many analysts believe Android has the potential to contend with the iPhone in the coming year.

While the number of apps may have doubled in the last five months, the mix between paid and free titles has remained practically unchanged. Free applications accounted for roughly 64 percent of the selections back in September, whereas today that number is around 62 percent.

As promised, T-Mobile last night began rolling out a new billing option for Google Android users.

Customers of the nation's largest Android carrier now have an option to charge Android Market purchases directly to their monthly bills and bypass their credit cards and Google Checkout accounts. T-Mobile is the first carrier to offer a billing alternative, though Sprint has also committed to making a similar move.

As the update is considered "invisible," T-Mobile customers will not receive any notifications of a pending software update. Rather, you can access the new billing option by logging into the Android Market and making a purchase.

This update will roll out over the course of the next few weeks and should hit all handsets by the end of the year. Similar to Google Checkout, applications uninstalled within the first 24 hours after purchase will not show up on your T-Mobile bill.

For now, the only paid apps that can be applied to your monthly bill must be in U.S. currency. Titles priced in other currencies must be purchased using a credit card. According to the official T-Mobile Forum, they are working in conjunction with Google on a solution to convert these apps to U.S. dollars.

(Credit: Yelp)

Frequent Yelp users will be pleased to see a Yelp for Android app take its place in the Android Market on Monday. Be forewarned, however, that the app contains the minimum services from Yelp.com in this iteration.

There's the usual search for restaurants and businesses nearby, which Yelp sniffs out using GPS or cell tower triangulation. Results records include ratings, reviews, and photos you can view from the phone. You can click or press a button to call the business. There's another button to map the location to a movable Google map, and this version thankfully includes our favorite new feature--a link to pop open directions in a browser from your current location to the business.

Yelp on Android lacks many of the interactive program features that are present on the iPhone version, including the ability to contribute your own photos and tips. We'll presumably see more functionality in future editions. For now, Yelp is read-only on Android phones.

Residents of the U.S., Canada, U.K., and Ireland can download Yelp for free from the Android market.

AndroidStats

(Credit: Screenshot by Scott Webster)

As the number of apps and games continues to grow for Android, it's getting harder to keep on top of everything. Rather than trying out every title that enters the Android Market, I like to look for specific genres of apps.

For instance, I really enjoy casual games on my T-Mobile G1. I always find at least a few minutes of downtime throughout my day so I'm constantly trying to get a new high score or unlock a new puzzle. However, as much as I'd love to try out every brain game that's released, it's simply impossible for me to do so. Instead I look for the titles that seem to be making the most noise in the market. For this, I use an Android app called AndroidStats.

As the name implies, it provides statistics into what's going on in the Android Market. I glance through the app every few days to see if there are any significant movers or shakers I've yet to play. AndroidStats is very straightforward in that it lets me see how apps are performing from day to day as well as over time.

Two features of AndroidStats that you won't find in the Android Market are Biggest Weekly Movers and Yesterday's Price Changes. The former shows users which apps or games have gained the most ground in the last seven days. I find it very similar to Heatseekers on Billboard's music charts. The latter lists apps that have changed in price as compared with the previous day. While most of these are price drops, occasionally you will find price increases.

If you find an app that captures your interest, you can view the title and you'll get the same description that developers provide in the Android Market. One bonus here is that URLs are clickable. In addition, an accompanying chart shows how well the application or game has been performing in terms of overall rank. The menu button provides the option to find other apps by the author or go directly to the download page in the Android Market.

AndroidStats is a free application, but does have an unobtrusive AdMob advertising bar at the top of each page. For a glimpse into how it all works, you can also visit AndroidStats.com to see a Web-based setup.

Three developers made it past thousands of community voters and a panel of judges Monday to emerge as the winners of Google's second Android Developer Challenge (ADC2).

The top overall prizes went to SweetDreams, What the Doodle, and WaveSecure. These winners took home between $125,000 and $250,000 for their efforts. Smaller cash prizes were awarded to the top-three applications in each of 10 categories, which included media, entertainment, education, and travel.

SweetDreams is a lifestyle application that lets users sleep comfortably while knowing their handsets will block unwanted calls in the middle of the night but still sound the alarm clock at the designated time. You also can set a downtime for your handset, and disable Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and other battery draining items.

What the Doodle is a multiplayer game that finds players drawing out pictures for phrases while others guess the answer. The real-time game includes Free-For-All and team modes, global leaderboard, and voice recognition.

WaveSecure is a security app that gives users peace of mind in the event of a lost or stolen phone. Similar to Motorola's MotoBlur interface, customers can track the location of their phone, lock out prying eyes, and remotely wipe their data. The backup feature allows for full restoration should the user recover the lost phone or purchase a new device.

The developers who didn't win money still stand a chance of gaining some added visibility. T-Mobile, which currently offers the most Android phones of any U.S. carrier, served as a judge. The carrier's "AppPack" features a hand-picked group of apps that is pushed to new Android users. Landing on this or a similar list might be more than some developers could have hoped for.

Android Market 1.6.

(Credit: Screenshot by Scott Webtser/CNET)

As I said last week, fragmentation with the Google Android operating system is beginning to frustrate Android developers. And according to a recent report by Skyhook Wireless, the issue isn't going away. Though developers are excited about the future of Android, the platform may face significant challenges if it does not soon improve options to monetize apps and take steps to protect against the risk of fragmentation.

According to the study, four out of five surveyed developers are finding it difficult to get their apps noticed in the current Android Market. Also, more than half polled (57 percent) are less than happy with their profits so far. The gripes found in the survey seem to point a finger at the way the Android Market is designed, not so much at Android directly. To these developers, the platform holds promise, but the current way of doing business simply isn't enough to satisfy the masses.

One potential reason for the lack of profit might be all of the free applications available. For the first few months of its existence, the Android Market offered only free applications and then opened up to paid selections. It's possible that Android users got too comfortable in the initial phase and are simply content with the free apps that offer most of the same functionality found in paid titles.

The lack of a desktop client also makes it difficult for developers to give potential customers enough information to make informed decisions. With only 325 characters and two screen shots to use in the Android Market, it's simply not enough room to convince people to open up their wallets. There are no clickable links, or videos, and good luck squeezing the change log in the notes if your app has seen a recent update. Yes, the market was changed with Android 1.6, but so far only three handsets in the United States have the new look portal. More than half of all Android handsets still have the old market application.

Skyhook also suggests that developers feel Google Checkout is a hindrance to better sales. Roughly two in five claim they'd sell more apps if the Android Market allowed for carrier billing or another system. So far, T-Mobile and Sprint have already jumped on board with carrier billing and at some point in the near future both will allow users to have apps added to their wireless bills.

(Credit: Phandroid)

Oh, you knew someone was going to do this. So let's just get it over with. And though some might think of this as a battle between the Droid and the iPhone for the nation's morality, let's be open-source about it: someone's trying to make a lot of money from cell phone porn.

A company with the obtusely childlike name MiKandi has launched a mobile app store that will exclusively cater to adults whose brain food consists of content that reflects their age. Yes, the sort of stuff some prefer to refer to as porn.

MiKandi's publicity material naturally avoids this term, referring to the more PC phrase "adult only." However, there is a little kink in its offering. According to Android fanperson site, Phandroid, the MiKandi Market apps only work with Android phones and not with Apple's more morally minded handsets.

Cupertino steadfastly sticks to its policy of refusing to allow apps filled purely with adult content, though some might dispute whether its definition of "adult" isn't occasionally a little idiosyncratic.

Not for a moment would one suggest that Verizon or Motorola or the deities at Google are necessarily in favor of porn apps. However, MiKandi is attempting to take advantage of the fact that the Android system is more open than the iPhone's.

So while the Android Market itself doesn't offer porn, nothing on your Droid phone prevents you from using MiKandi's services. The wise people at Phandroid do, however, offer stern warnings about MiKandi's workings.

Despite attempting to use MiKandi's services, purely for scientific purposes, Phandroid failed to actually secure access to any mature content. Remember, children, this sort of thing will always be a somewhat risky business.

Google coupons now available on the go.

(Credit: Google)

Google has been giving companies in its business listings ways to offer digital coupons to visitors since 2007. It wasn't until this week, though, that Google could bring the same coupons to mobile users.

It works like this: Businesses add a coupon to their listing in Google's Local Business Center. When you search a Google local listing from your Internet-enabled phone, any available coupons show up. As with other mobile coupon sites and applications, you'll simply present your phone face at the check-out stand. The checker will enter in the coupon bar code and you'll get your discount.

Google's mobile expansion of its digital coupons brings the search and advertising giant in direct competition with coupon providers like Coupons.com, Coupon Sherpa, Cellfire, and Yowza. With the exception of Yowza, which is a mobile-only application for the iPhone and iPod Touch, each service has a mobile coupons site and at least an iPhone app. Yelp has also jumped into the mobile deal business by letting businesses place special offers to Yelp users on Yelp.com and in its iPhone app.

Users' biggest complaints with mobile coupons tend to boil down to one thing: variety. While national chains are easier (and generally more effective) for a coupon service to sign, millions of other shoppers may prefer discounts for local or specialized brands, restaurants, and stores. Any business model that can capitalize on a self-service coupon sign-up for local and national businesses should have the upper hand.

So long as mobile shoppers navigate to Google's site from their cell phone browsers, Google's coupon business should grow. After all, Google isn't creating a brand-new business for digital deal distribution, but extending one that's already in place.