Android

T-Mobile adds second Android app purchase option

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 … Read more

Android's unintentional beneficiary: Funambol

Google Android adoption--both that which is publicly announced and that which is still under wraps--is amazing. Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently declared that Android adoption is set to "explode." This is good news for Google, of course, as well as the wireless carriers and handset manufacturers that support Android.

It's also extremely good news for Funambol, the open-source mobile cloud sync company.

Even as the mobile telcos seek winning alternatives to the controlling grasp of Apple, that same industry is simultaneously enthusiastic and leery about Google: enthusiastic about the operating system, but leery about tying all of … Read more

You got a Motorola Droid. Now what?

We don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that the Motorola Droid was the hottest Android phone to be released in 2009. Of course, the Verizon Wireless ads attacking AT&T and the Apple iPhone did a lot to bring attention to the smartphone, but it wasn't all hype. The smartphone delivered with excellent performance, an attention-grabbing 3.7-inch WVGA touch screen, and the benefits of Android 2.0, including Google Maps Navigation.

With the combination of clever marketing and just being a solid device all around, the Droid has quickly become one … Read more

Verizon pushes out update for Droid Eris

Verizon announced on Thursday that it has begun pushing out a software update to HTC Droid Eris users.

Like the upgrade for the Motorola Droid, the over-the-air update (specifically, ROM version 1.16.605.1/Radio version 2.32.40.11.09) will be delivered to small group of customers first and then slowly rolled out to everyone within a week. Users will receive a notification on their smartphone alerting them when the update is ready for download.

Highlights of the update include:

While on a call and the device is in screensaver mode, pressing the End key now takes … Read more

Dialed In 107: Nokia slows down

It's been a slow week but we still have quite a bit of cell phone news for you. We hear that Nokia will be slowing down smartphone production, that Android updates are imminent, and that the FCC is asking Verizon some tough questions about ETF. We also chat about our latest reviews and answer your questions.

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News Nokia to reduce smartphone offering by half in 2010 HTC Droid Eris to get Android update in 2010 Android 2.0.1 for Droid users FCC questions Verizon over ETF hike … Read more

Leaked lineup tips HTCs Android hand for 2010

Thanks to the popular XDA Forums, we now have a pretty good idea of what HTC is planning for new Google Android handsets in 2010. Among them are new designs that differ from the company's standard touch-screen candy bar models that we've seen this year.

The images scanned from a brochure indicate that the Taiwanese manufacturer is grouping its handsets into targeted demographic categories. While the Legend appears to be a descendant of the Hero and Droid Eris, the Salsa brings a BlackBerry feel to Android with its four-row portrait QWERTY design. Both phones fall into HTC's … Read more

Yelp finds you food on Android

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 … Read more

Android Team announces revisions to SDKs

We learned on Thursday that Verizon's Motorola Droid will be getting an update to Android 2.0.1 to address camera and voice reception issues. Today brings news that all 2.0 devices will be updated to this version before the year is out.

As of right now, the only other known 2.0 handset is the Milestone, also from Motorola. This update also deals with additional bug fixes and framework behavioral changes. For a look at the complete release notes, you can read them at the Android Developers blog.

The Android 1.6 SDK also gets a slight … Read more

In mobile, do developers or consumers matter most?

The mobile-computing world is increasingly a two-horse race between Google and Apple, with Apple clearly in the lead but Google Android making up ground quickly. Microsoft and Symbian are also still in the game, but the ultimate winner will be the one that best appeals to consumers or developers.

Or both.

This struck home while reading Mark Sigal's analysis of the "inevitability" of Google Android. On his way to dismantling the idea that Google's victory is assured, Sigal stumbles into apparently divergent interest groups:

[U]nlike the PC, where "good enough" was the bar … Read more

HTC Droid Eris to get Android update in 2010

While Motorola Droid owners are prepping to get Android 2.0.1 delivered to their smartphone in the coming weeks, HTC Droid Eris users might be wondering, "Hey, what about us?" Well, the good news is that there is an update coming. The bad news is you're going to have to wait a bit longer.

Verizon said Friday that it plans to release an OS update for the Droid Eris, which currently runs on Android OS 1.5, in the first quarter of 2010. The carrier did not specify which version of Android it would release for … Read more