Android Atlas Weekly 43: Google cracks down to be more open (Podcast)

Google cracks down on fragmentation, but does doing so put the Android Open Source Project's openness in jeopardy? First an app store, then a cloud streaming service, and now is Amazon planning an Android-based phone? What podcatching app do you use on your Android phone? We have the answers to all of these questions, plus Antuan tries to name as many popular Android devices as quickly as he can in this week's episode of Android Atlas Weekly with Justin Eckhouse and Antuan Goodwin.

Watch this: Ep. 43: Google cracks down to be more open

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EPISODE 43

There’s been a big stink lately about Google stepping up to prevent fragmentation. The anti Google crowd has been quick to cry foul and say Google is becoming Apple or that it runs completely contrary to the open source principles AOSP stands by.

To me it sounds like this is going to be aimed squarely at manufacturers and Android will be no less open when it reaches the hands of consumers. It will prevent the licensing of Android to manufacturers selling a product if the OS is altered too much and will slow down access to source code updates for manufacturers that make more significant changes to Android. However, it sounds like source code will still be made available to developers later on and it won’t do any more to prevent users from rooting their own personal devices. This is in stark contrast to the Apple ‘walled garden’ approach, which some have referenced in response to the news in their “”Android is now closed”" comments.

Can you discuss this during the show this week? There’s a lot of confusion regarding the issue with some worried their Android handsets will no longer be open.

Love the show,

Matt

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Alleged crackdown shows Android politicking
http://news.cnet.com/8301-30685_3-20051588-264.html

Report: Motorola has sold about 100,000 Xooms
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20051692-251.html?tag=mncol;title

Gartner: Android market share to near 50 percent
http://news.cnet.com/8301-13506_3-20051610-17.html

Share your GPS location without compromising your privacy
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20050649-251.html

Rumor: Amazon may launch its own phone: BLAZE
http://www.androidpolice.com/2011/04/01/exclusive-amazon-to-introduce-4-3-inch-dual-core-blaze-smartphone-this-summer-leak-pictures/

Verizon and Sprint Galaxy Tabs drop to $199
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20051416-251.html

Report: Dell 10-inch Android tablet to arrive early
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-19736_7-20051230-251.html

Novell brings .NET and C# to Android developers
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2041773/novell-brings-net-android-developers

Fring for Android, iPhone getting group video chats
http://download.cnet.com/8301-2007_4-20049768-12.html

HTC Desire solves dodecahedron Rubik’s Cube, will blow your mind (video)
http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/06/htc-desire-solves-dodecahedron-rubiks-cube-will-blow-your-mind/

E-mail (androidatlas@cnet.com)

G’day Android Atlas,

Simon in Sydney again. I have a question for your future show on
rooting your phone. I understand that rooting your phone will
invalidate your warranty. If, after rooting, you install an OTA
system update will that return your phone back to an unrooted state?
If so, does that also hide from the manufacturer that you previously
rooted your phone and so effectively reinstate your warranty?

Thanks

Simon
IT Operations Manager, Asia Pacific
QAD Australia

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Hey guys just wanted to add my two cents on podcast apps. I have tried many different apps all being free and the best that I have come across is Acast. It does playlists, autodelete, automatic downloading, and a new feature just added, to higher end phones, is increase playback speed. It allows you to schedule updates, both time and method i.e. wifi vs 3g, charging vs. battery. I love it and use it for all 10+ of my regular podcasts. Sorry if this is turning into a mini review, but it has enabled me to set aside my trusty 30gb zune.
Love the podcast
Jon the Electrician,
Tacoma, wa

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Hi,

I love your show! You had an email from a listener who wanted recommendations on a podcast catcher. For my money it’s BeyondPod. There are other catchers/players, some are free. However, you’ll get frustrated with them. I paid for and used Dogg Catcher. It’s not very customizable. That was frustrating because I used BeyondPod during my Windows Mobile days and loved it. Then I found out that they had an Android app! BeyondPod is an excellent customizable podcast catcher, but it also had a pretty good player.

Some of the setting that I use are:

You can schedule the downloads.

You can set it to only download 1 to 50 episodes of each feed and to store 1 to All episodes of each podcast.

When you finish playing a feed, you can have it set to automatically delete or play next podcast or do nothing.

You can set it to automatically delete podcasts after 5 days or up to 99999 days.

Headset controls are excellent,

As you can tell, I love this app.

Wendy, I’m a 56-year old woman who loves smartphones dating back to my HTC 3125. Currently loving my EVO”

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Hey Guys,

I remember a few weeks ago you did a short mention of an app called Line2 by Toktumi. I did a little looking into the program and it seems ok. It let me take about $55 a month off of my Verizon Phone bill by switching my plan and my wife's plan to a 700 shared minutes family plan with no texts. So I still have to pay the full costs of the data and a small(er) cost of the Family Plan, plus $19.90 for two Line2 accounts, but over all I am saving about 35 bucks. So thanks for the advice.

I was just wondering if you all had any tips or tricks on ways to make the service work better. It isn't really bad, unlimited talk and text to any number, but the call quality over VoIP can be a little sketchy both for you and the person on the other end. I was hoping you may be able to help out some of the Line2 users to improve sound quality a bit. If you could find a little time to maybe have a little recap on some of the ins and outs of Line2 I would really appreciate it.

Thanks, keep up the good work.

Brandon

P.S.- I was wondering if there was a way to do VoIP calling with Google Voice using my Android phone; Do you know of anything?”

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