Applications

Not only did the recent Android 1.5 "cupcake" update add many new components that allow users to customize the look of their phones, but it also included a widget API for developers to create their own widgets. In the short time this feature has been available, over 200 widgets have appeared in the Android Market.

The widgets, which come in all shapes and sizes, can show weather forecasts, battery information, and more. They also can display information directly on the home screen, change the look of your phone, toggle system settings, and perform actions without launching an … Read more

Just the other day my daughter was trying to sing along with Coldplay's "Viva La Vida"--but, let's face it, those are some tough lyrics to catch. If only I'd had Lyrical, a new app that looks up song lyrics--for the currently playing song.

That's pretty slick. Just start a song on your iPhone or iPod Touch, then run the app. In a matter of seconds it retrieves the lyrics from crowd-sourced site LyricWiki.org.

Of course, you don't have to play a particular song to get its lyrics: Lyrical also lets … Read more

Though we thought that TomTom would bring us the first turn-by-turn GPS app for the iPhone, AT&T is offering an alternative of its own. On Tuesday, the carrier released a version of its AT&T Navigator specifically for the the iPhone 3GS and earlier iPhone models with the OS 3.0 software update.

Features include voice-guided and onscreen directions, automatic rerouting, real-time traffic updates, a points-of-interest database and regular map updates. You'll also be able to search local gas prices when you need to fill up your tank.

Though the app downland is free, a $9.… Read more

T-Mobile has finally unveiled its second Android phone, but how does it stack up with the carrier's first release? If you purchased a G1 back in October, is it time to upgrade? How were the major concerns of the first phone addressed?

The MyTouch 3G won't launch in the United States until August, but the phone has been available in other parts of the world for months. The Google Ion, which made the rounds at the Google I/O conference last month, is a limited edition version of the HTC Magic, and shares the same hardware and many features with the MyTouch 3G.

Battery life One of the biggest complaints of the G1 concerned its limited battery life. Users were forced to disable many features in order to prolong use. Indeed, on my G1, I routinely had to disable Wi-Fi, GPS, and other features that I wasn't using. Normally, my phone would normally survive the day, but it was near dead when I placed it on the charger at night.

Luckily, the battery life is no longer an issue on the second Android phone. The Ion's 1300mAh battery offers increased capacity over its predecessor. Though it's only 13 percent larger than the G1's 1150mAh battery, it feels as if it has twice the capacity. Even if I leave all features turned on, my phone is still going strong at night. There have even been a few nights where I skipped charging the Ion, which is something that I could never do with the G1.… Read more

Back at GSMA 2009, Adobe Systems announced that it would bring Flash Player 10 to a number of smartphones in 2010, and it looks like the company is making good on its promise.

In a Q2 audio press release, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen confirmed that Adobe will release a beta version of Flash Player 10 in October for a number of smartphone browsers, including Windows Mobile, Google Android, Palm WebOS, and Symbian. In addition, Narayen said ARM, Nvidia, Broadcom, Intel, Texas Instruments, and Qualcomm are currently optimizing the player for their products.

Obviously, this is great news for smartphone owners, … Read more

Animoto, the DIY-music-video-meets-slideshow tool, has released a new version of its iPhone app that brings it a little closer to its desktop counterpart.

Users of its paid premium service can now create and watch full-length videos right on their phone. Previously, users (both free and paid) were limited to 30-second clips consisting of just 16 shots. The new version allows you to create versions of as many as you want--or at least whatever photos can fit inside the length of the song you've chosen.

Anything you create on the iPhone can now be shared through Animoto.com and vice … Read more

SMS charges can quickly bankrupt a text-happy teen, which is why free-SMS apps are so popular. These programs effectively recreate the texting experience, but with one major shortcoming: they can't notify you of new messages unless they're running.

iPhone OS 3.0 changes all that, and mega-popular TextFree is one of the first free-SMS apps to support the operating system's new push-notification capabilities.

Specifically, TextFree Unlimited 3.0 pops up a new-message alert whether it's running or not, and whether your iPhone is on or off. In other words, it functions more like Apple's stock … Read more

Of all the great enhancements, fixes, and goodies in iPhone OS 3.0 (video overview here), I quickly realized there was one glaring omission. With the useful addition of a Voice Memos app, an old problem reared its ugly head. The update put the Voice Memos app icon on the home page, pushing whatever lone app icon that sat in the lower right of the homepage onto its own screen on the next page. This meant that in order to maximize my use of page space (I have a lot of apps!), I now had to rearrange my apps on … Read more

It's one thing to talk about the iPhone's improvements with the 3.0 software upgrade, and another to see how these puppies actually respond in real-life third-party applications.

The pressure is on, and not all of the applications that came across our paths made the cut. We bring you the best examples from the early crop in a slideshow that shows you how new features like in-app purchases, push notification, and spinning iTunes from within an app plays out.