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Frustrated Nexus One owner sues Google over "sporadic" 3G speed
Sep 3rd
Imagine that your name is Nathan Nabors and that you live in the sunny climes of Orlando, Florida. Imagine further that, back when Google announced its own Android phone and called it the Nexus One , you realized that your Orlando-based life would only be complete with the purchase of this shiny new gadget. So you bought one, paying the full unlocked price of $563.38 from Google’s online store …
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RIP: Cellular Phone Plans, September 3, 2010
Sep 3rd
I mark today the death of regular cell phone plans. Well, the beginning of a long but certain process to see the end of mobile phone plans. Why now? Well, if not now, when? If now me, who?
So, let’s mark this day. And how?
By turning my G1 into mifi device. I’ve told everyone my T-Mobile number will no number work (which isn’t true) and they ought to call my Skype ID or Skype number or Google Voice number. I haven’t set up forwarding calls to my Google number to my Skype number yet but in time, I will.
Furthermore, starting today, I am going to truly go mobile and tethering completely via the G1 and T-Mobile 3G network. In the last week, the 3G speed has doubled most of the areas I frequent. I think HSPA+ has been turned on. Perfect timing for my little scheme.
While I’m very interested in the Samsung Galaxy S or the THC G2, I don’t know if I’m willing to pay an extra $50 a month for a voice plan that I use once or twice a month.
So, the death of the voice plan begins for me. And in the circle of mobile warriors I hang around with, they’re mostly headed down the same road I’m on. Right now, I’m at work, streaming “First Contact” on my iPhone via G1. I know, but it is Friday.
So this weekend, I’m gonna tether the heck out of my G1 and hope that T-Mobile doesn’t say anything. Otherwise, I’ll simply take my money and head over to Virgin Mobile and its $40 unlimited wireless access. It’s more than the $25 I’m playing for just data but less than the $85 I’m paying for data and voice with T-Mobile.
I’ll report back from time to time on how it goes. But i think I’m hardly going to to missing having a traditional cell function.
Huawei Bets on Google Brand, Low-End Smartphone in Europe Push
Sep 3rd
Source: Bloomberg By Matthew Campbell
Huawei Technologies Co., China’s largest phone-equipment maker, is betting Google Inc. branding and smartphones targeting the lower end of the market will build its sales in Europe.
Huawei’s unveiling yesterday of a 99 pound ($152) Google- branded smartphone will help the company grab market share in Europe, Tim Watkins, the company’s western Europe vice president, said in an interview in London. Huawei hasn’t yet named the operators who will first offer the Ideos phone, which carries a Google logo and doubles as a portable wireless Internet hotspot.
The Chinese phone-equipment maker is trying to build market share and revenue outside of its home region while overcoming security concerns. The Shenzhen-based company, founded by a former Chinese military official, failed in talks to buy two U.S. assets in July on sellers’ doubts about regulatory approval, two people familiar with the matter said in August.
“This kind of device brings the price down and increases the adoption of smartphones, especially in Europe,” Francisco Jeronimo, an analyst at IDC in London, said by phone. “Other companies like Samsung and LG will have to follow this price trend.”
Google’s Android operating system became the third-best- selling operating system in the second quarter, with 17.2 percent of sales compared with 1.8 percent a year earlier, according to researcher Gartner Inc. Apple’s iOS dropped to fourth place. Nokia Oyj’s Symbian and Research In Motion Ltd. ranked first and second.
Android Growth
“We think the big growth is going to be in the Android, affordable end of the smartphone market,” Watkins said. “Huawei has established a very good brand on the infrastructure side,” and is looking to extend that success to the device market, he added.
Apple, Taiwan’s HTC Corp., and Research in Motion Ltd. are competing for high-end customers with phones that cost as much as 599 pounds without a contract. Android phones will outnumber Apple units by 2012, according to researcher iSuppli Corp.
On the network infrastructure side of Huawei’s business, “there are various options available,” including setting up separate local subsidiaries, to allay government security concerns, Watkins said. “The political stuff is clearly a challenge, but actually in many countries we can point to success,” especially in emerging markets like Africa, he said.
In addition to fellow Chinese companies like China Unicom, Huawei has won contracts to supply equipment to operators including Telstra Corp. and Vodafone Group Plc.
Security Concerns
In 2008, Huawei dropped a bid for computer-equipment supplier 3Com Corp. after the U.S. began investigating whether the deal could give China access to anti-hacking technology used by the Defense Department.
In April, India’s government blocked Huawei and ZTE Corp. from selling network equipment to domestic phone carriers because of security concerns, according to two people with knowledge of the matter.
“The situation in India is changing on a daily basis, and all of our competitors are struggling with that,” Watkins said. “Business is now flowing in India.”
Phone Friday: Google Places, a parent’s best friend
Sep 3rd
Google Places for Android (known on my phone only as Places) answers the simple question: what’s nearby. Right. This. Second.
I’m sure it’s useful for finding trendy cafes and hipster boutiques. But, I have to admit I’ve repeated found it useful for one key thing: finding the nearest park in an unknown area (say, Boston, for example). Because where there are parks, there’s often playgrounds. And where there’s a playground, there’s an instant fun activity for our little one.
Of course, as a parent, it’s useful for more than just park hunting. You’ve got other attractions, as well as restaurants and other local businesses you might need. It makes on the fly planning as convenient as possible.
In many ways, this app is one of those game changing uses for your phone. Like a GPS, suddenly a stream of information is available to you that tells you just what you need to know, at just the right time.
While I thought I installed the the app separately, apparently my memory is incorrect. It seems that Places is part of Google Maps. You’ll want to make sure you have the latest version of Google Maps, which should insure you have the Places app.
So tell me – as a parent – what resource is most important for you to be able to find in a hurry?
Awaz Apni :Google Nexus One: Android 2.2 Froyo Build FRG33 Leaks
Sep 3rd
CNET Analysis: If you have installed Android 2.2 on your Nexus One you probably think things can’t get much better, however it seems as if Google aren’t totally satisfied and have been working on a new firmware version. This firmware version is called FRG33, a version of this has recently leaked, it comes with a new radio, however no other new features or apps seem to have been included. Users who have installed FRG33 say that it makes the devices a little snappier, other than that there are no real noticeable changes. If you understand the risks associated with flashing your smartphone you can download the leaked firmware version here , please ensure that you take all of the necessary precautions beforehand. Have you installed this firmware version? If so, feel free to add your opinions in the comments section below. Source: IntoMobile More On: Android 2.2 , Google Android , Nexus One For more coverage: Follow Product Reviews on Twitter Become a Fan on Facebook
Google Responds to Steve Jobs’ Android Activation Jab
Sep 2nd
“We
think some of our friends are counting upgrades in their numbers,” said
Jobs, most probably referring to the recent figures from Google (), whose Eric Schmidt claimed 200,000 activations daily in August 2010.
Google has quickly responded to Jobs’ allegations. In a response to an inquiry from Fortune, a Google spokesperson said: “The Android activation numbers do not include upgrades and are, in fact, only a portion of the Android () devices in the market since we only include devices that have Google services.”
So
there you have it: according to Google, it might even have more than
200,000 Android device activations every day. Who do you trust: Apple or
Google?
Android App Developers Endure Lower Sales in Search of Growth
Sep 2nd
Pinger Inc., a developer of mobile applications, can get twice as much in sales from programs for Apple devices than for phones powered by Android software. That’s not stopping it from creating its first Android app.
“Even if the revenue generation might be less, we think it’s still going to be significant,” said Joe Sipher, chief product and marketing officer at San Jose, California-based Pinger, which makes text-messaging and other programs. “Our users are saying, ‘Gosh, I switched to an Android phone, can you put your Textfree app on Android?’”
Pinger and other programmers don’t want to miss out on the $40 billion that Booz & Co. estimates will come from sales of apps by 2014, much of it from Google Inc.’s Android platform. Android unseated Research In Motion Ltd.’s software as the top mobile operating system in the U.S. last quarter. That’s making developers more willing to put up with its drawbacks, including higher app-creation costs and an online marketplace some users consider harder to navigate than Apple’s App Store.
PopCap Games Inc., maker of the “Bejeweled” and “Plants vs. Zombies” games, doesn’t yet have any titles in the Android Market. By mid-2011, the Seattle-based company expects to release games simultaneously for iPhone and Android handsets.
‘High Hopes’
“Even though we are not making any money on Android right now, we have pretty high hopes for it,” said Andrew Stein, PopCap’s director of mobile business development. “There’s really no reason why users shouldn’t consume and buy content to the same extent on an Android phone as they are on an iPhone.”
Android phones like Motorola Inc.’s Droid X and HTC Corp.’s Droid Incredible are gaining devotees. Stein said he expects revenue generated from Android games to approach that of its iPhone versions by the end of 2011.
A wide variety of apps — as well as the availability of the most popular ones for games, location, texting and content — is critical to luring phone buyers. Apple has more than 250,000 apps available, compared with about 70,000 for Android.
Like Apple, Google takes a 30 percent cut of revenue from apps sold in its marketplace.
“We want to reduce friction and remove the barriers that make it difficult for developers to make great apps available to users — across as many devices, geographies and carriers as possible,” said Randall Sarafa, a Google spokesman.
Google rose $10.32, or 2.3 percent, to $460.34 yesterday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. The stock has lost 26 percent this year.
Android Remedies
Google may be taking steps to remedy some of the issues that make Android app creation less lucrative to developers.
Apple iTunes users can do one-click shopping because iTunes saves their information. While Android buyers can do the same if they sign up for Google Checkout, that service doesn’t have as many users. Android Market also lacks features for in-app purchases, which some developers of Apple apps use to sell new game levels or virtual products, said Tim Chang, a venture capitalist at Norwest Venture Partners, whose investments includes iPhone-game maker Ngmoco.
Google is in talks with EBay Inc.’s PayPal to add its payment service, three people familiar with the matter said last month. That may ease the process for buyers. Google may also offer tools that let developers sell subscriptions and virtual goods from within apps, Andy Rubin, Google’s vice president of engineering, said in June.
For now, producing programs for Android isn’t as lucrative. Loopt Inc., the maker of an app for locating your friends on a map, and Zecter Inc., which offers the ZumoDrive file storage service, said they derive less in sales from Android apps than iPhone versions. Neither of the Mountain View, California-based companies would specify the difference.
Paid Versus Free
“There’s no question Android has a lot more phones out than six months ago, but that’s very different from saying Android is a more appealing platform for developers,” said Sam Altman, chief executive officer at Loopt.
ZumoDrive makes money by getting people to download the free program and then upgrade to a paid version. Thirty percent more iPhone customers do that, said CEO David Zhao.
Besides attracting fewer paid app downloads, fewer people click on ads in Android programs, according to data from Smaato Inc., a Redwood City, California-based mobile-ad firm. In July, the iPhone had a “click-through” rate of 140 in the U.S., compared with 103 for Android, Smaato said, citing data that measures which operating system had users that clicked on advertisements more often.
Plus, the market share Gartner Inc. measures for Android — 34 percent in the U.S. last quarter — doesn’t mean there are that many customers for apps, said Pinger’s Sipher. Some Android phones don’t have the ability to access Google’s app store and the proliferation of different models means some programs won’t work on some phones.
Product Variables
App creators have to contend with various versions of Android and differences in screen resolution and keyboard. That makes it more expensive to test programs and can force developers to design for the lowest common denominator, said Bill Predmore, president of POP, which builds mobile applications and ads for clients including Google, Microsoft Corp. and Target Corp.
Still, the accelerating rate of Android phone sales is luring some developers that keep long-term prospects in mind. While Zumobi, which makes MSNBC’s mobile app, gets less than 3 percent of its traffic from Android, the developer is investing almost as much in Android apps as it does for the iPhone, said co-founder John SanGiovanni. Zumobi’s free, ad-funded programs get about the same revenue, and in some cases, even a bit more, from Android, he said.
‘Senseless’
Google, itself, could help narrow the revenue gap for developers, according to Trip Hawkins, the founder of Electronic Arts Inc. who now runs mobile-gaming company Digital Chocolate. He calls Google’s policy of letting consumers use paid apps for as long as 24 hours and return them for a full refund “senseless and lazy.”
“As a game platform right now, Android strikes out,” Hawkins said. “As long as they keep selling devices, Android could be a good game business by 2012, but it would blossom now if Google would get out of their own way.”
Android Drive
Sep 2nd
I like when people do not get – is the market willing to turn.
Last week, Google released a geek Gizmo interface makes it possible for average people to create Android applications a simple user interface-term brain. was the reaction of the technical community involved in hysterical laughter, ridicule the instrument and the alleged restriction on trade rules. Evenly, giggling noting that, while Apple's App Store, download the software loaded polished professionalGoogle has been encouraging point-and-meow. They used the Nexus news beat Google with a laptop that had a life before mobile carriers just started selling its own Android phones.
The technical community is not replaced, which means that the market is shifting in the process.
Nexus One and the Android App similar Inventor served, namely seeding the market. Android was a relatively new entrant in the mobile operating system market and go against AppleMicrosoft, RIMM, Symbian and other established players. The adoption of Android is a threat to all – mobile phone manufacturers, software developers, operators and consumers. To reduce the risk and the acceptance test required Google to a phone in the hands of the people get. So he moved to build HTC Android One, and that HTC was (this essay to take this opportunity for their development and production possibilities). This ensures that developers earlyAdopters, carriers, analysts, journalists and even competitors see what could be done in the Android market and, in turn, created pleasure and in FUD.
Google Android uses Nexus to move past a market barrier.
remaining most important advantage of Apple's market is the App Store (face it, Android, Symbian ^ 3, WebOS, and perhaps even Windows Mobile-what-are-called-by-7 this week similar/identical/good- enough capacity to operational level). Apple AppWealth is a market barrier. To overcome past requires people to believe that Android East is a good environment for creating applications (and how well things Durn sell Android Apps is a redundant phrase Asia). Android App Inventor is a simple tool for creating applications, and the Nexus One of the application development tools – is to reduce the risk of discovery and as a side effect, perhaps because users the next great idea for an incentivemobile application.
Misreading the intention of an event is indicative of a shift in the market, because this cycle that inert missiles wrong rhetorical thought. If conventional view prevail, able to think unconventional. Google recognizes the obstacle app market while a number of technology experts and industry do not. “The goal is to empower people to become creators, not just the consumer, in this mobile world,” was expressed as the Android App Inventor Project. “IInventor thinks Google App tool that allows anyone to Android application program could deep, “says one wag.
Unconventional thinking is the same that drove the social networks. The people are the unruly crowd, which together ideas less than all professional developers, and raised several orders of magnitude, then sleep multiplied by the number of trainees, with politicians (the last item, an incredible amount). Each of these users can never be perfectan app, but they can invent more applications that Steve Jobs has invented her wet dreams digital. Android App unleashed imagination.
The best parallel I can recall was Borland. In the early days of MS-DOS, a compiler 1980 will cost a few thousand dollars. Borland Turbo Pascal put it on the market for $ 49 and write every two-bit hack applications began. Borland and shareware market places, not Microsoft, MS-DOS made successfully. Rough hack were created by enthusiasts and kidnappedconverted into mainstream applications. Android App Inventor follows the same path, taking a step further programming power in the hands of every man, woman, child and dog, well-functioning (though still members of Congress have not yet advanced enough).
Android App Inventor is a game changer. Experts do not understand the game.
Tags : Android Apps
i-Station introduces 3D Android tablet
Sep 1st
from Liliputing by Brad Linder
i-Station introduces 3D Android tablet: ”
What do you get when you combine all the latest buzzwords in consumer electronics? Apparently, you get the i-Station Z3D. Let’s see, is it a tablet? Check. Does it run Google Android? Check. Does it have a 3D display? Check. Wait… what?
That’s right, Korean company i-Station has dumped a 3D display onto a 7 inch Android tablet. And it’s not one of those fancy 3D displays that you’re supposed to be able to see without special glasses. Nope. You need to don a pair of shades to get the full 3D effect.
I guess if you buy into the idea that consumers are going to buy 3D HDTVs and appropriate glasses for their homes, maybe this makes sense. After all, if you’ve got the glasses lying around anyway… Nah. Still doesn’t really make much sense. While I could maybe see putting on a pair of glasses to watch a 2 hour movie or even to play a PC video game, I just don’t see myself wearing accessories to stare at graphics on a 7 inch display.
Anyway, the rest of the Z3D tablet’s specs look halfway decent. It runs Android 2.1, has 802.11b/g/ WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, an FM radio, and a DMB TV tuner for catching digital TV signals in Korea. It has a high capacity 5,000mAh battery and comes with 32GB to 64GB of storage.
i-Station introduces 3D Android tablet is a post from: Liliputing
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