The HTC Wildfire handset is getting the Froyo update. Users under Vodafone and T-Mobile will be getting the update a little earlier with the expected update to launch by the end of this week. For those Wildfire users under other networks, the wait might take as long as until February of next year. Version 2.2 Froyo brings Flash support, better performance and of course, is a step closer to the Gingerbread OS.
Speaking of the Gingerbread, the Google branded Nexus One smart phone will be receiving the update in a matter of weeks, though it has yet to be confirmed when the exact release date would be. As the first Google branded device (and the one that Google has handed directly to developers), the Nexus One is one of the first Androids that we should expect to receive standalone updates first.
Android smart phone owners will be happy to know that the touch screen typing aid Swype is finally coming. The tool that makes typing on the virtual keyboard a lot easier and more intuitive is finally here; this allows users to send messages and updates faster than ever, without the need for a slide out QWERTY keyboard.
Location based service app Foursquare has now updated their servers to take on not only the light load of user login details, but also for longer comments and more importantly, images. Users of the app can now choose to upload images of the locations of various Foursquare locations.
Lastly, Microsoft is enjoying a quiet success with the Windows Phone 7. While the overall public reaction seems lukewarm, the sales show a different scenario with over 1.5 million devices sold in a span of six weeks. While this does place the new OS only slightly over the Samsung Bada, it is still a good start –and only time will tell if the platform can live up to Andy Rubin’s earlier visions for it.
Archive for the ‘Google Phones’ Category
Mobile Phone News: Today’s Top Headlines
Wednesday, December 22nd, 2010WP7 Update Coming, Android Honeycomb Designated to 2.4
Monday, December 20th, 2010
It seems that the Windows Phone 7 update will not be arriving as early as we thought –that and there is a possibility that smaller updates might be released along the way. According to the latest reports, the WP7 Mango update (yes, Microsoft is calling it the Mango), will be released sometime during summer of 2011. This tags the release date of the patch to be sometime around August to September.
Originally, it was believed that the first major update of the Windows Phone 7 mobile platform will be out by the first quarter of 2011; however it seems that there are certain add-ons that are proving to be so massive that it will take a while before the update gets released. At this point, many are calling the Mango as “7.5” and from the initial reports, it appears that HTML5 support, and more Silverlight will be added in the update. There are also rumors that the Windows Phone 8 mobile platform will be released by 2012.
Google’s new Android version has finally gotten a designation, and we are not talking about the recently launched Gingerbread operating system. Indeed, the search engine giant is churning out one massive Android update after the other, starting with the Éclair at the end of last year, to the flash capable Froyo that came out mid-year and just a couple of days back, the 2.3 Gingerbread. Google has not made it a secret that the next OS to follow the big G is the Honeycomb, but no designation has been confirmed.
It appears that the Honeycomb might be taking on the 2.4 designation, though there are questions as to whether the update is really not that far from the 2 series. It has been confirmed that the Honeycomb is designed specifically for touch screen tablet devices –which the original Android is not all that good for (or so Google says).
Today’s Mobile News Highlights
Thursday, December 16th, 2010
Google’s NFC plans are being charted out as the August acquisition of the Zetawire payment firm points to the Android developer moving forward with providing payment services. This may not be exclusively used by the Android OS either –it is also possible that a payment platform powered by Google may also be opened as well.
In any case, this latest bit of news confirms that NFC is truly the next big thing for smart phone technology. With Google and Apple solidly backing the innovation, it will not be long before we see actual application of the feature.
Apple’s iPhone 5 has just moved on from rumor-ware to confirmed-ware. The new smart phone is still far off from the production line, but Toshiba has just been confirmed as the manufacturer for the new touch screen to be used in Apple’s new smart phone. With the strong competition between super LCD, super AMOLED and the retina display, Apple needs to bring in new expertise to their displays.
In other news Microsoft will be launching new tablet devices pretty soon. However, instead of the using the newly launched Windows Phone 7 mobile platform, MS will be sticking with the original Windows desktop operating system. While Apple and Google have opted to use their mobile platforms, the choice of MS to use Windows is not that surprising. Considering that a different OS is more suited to the larger screen, Microsoft is certainly right on track.
Samsung and LG: Still Pondering Gingerbread Update
Friday, December 10th, 2010
Korea’s two largest mobile phone makers have certainly made an impact in the industry. Currently, the LG and Samsung both occupy spots in the top three mobile phone manufacturers in the world –coming in second only to Finnish super giant Nokia. It is also pretty well known in the industry that the two are solid supporters of the Google Android operating system as well.
LG’s Optimus series focuses on both the Windows Phone 7 and the Google Android mobile platforms with Samsung’s Galaxy line up of devices are composed of a pure Android line (including the Galaxy Tab touch screen tablet). However, despite their strong backing for the open source platform –and the fact that Samsung has had a direct hand in the development of the Nexus S, the bottom line is that both companies still do not know what to do with the Android Gingerbread update.
This is mostly due to the fact that Google has yet to release specific details on the hardware requirements for the latest version of the platform. LG has already made the mistake of jumping the gun by announcing yesterday that there would be no update for the Optimus One with its 600MHz CPU. The statement has since been retracted and now, LG is still undecided.
The same goes for Samsung. With the Galaxy S already doing so well, they see no reason to back off from a good formula; while they are not against an update, they would like to see first how it would affect the overall performance of the device.
In any case, there is really no need for further concern. The Android update to Gingerbread is still not officially out, and many phones are still waiting for an Android 2.2 Froyo update. Google will certainly be helping out manufacturers make the transition once the update is officially available for download.
In the News: Nokia, Asus, Google and More
Tuesday, December 7th, 2010
Nokia has decided to make the most out of the delayed launch for the N9 N-series MeeGo smart phone. The device was supposed to launch this December, but due to a wide variety of reasons, the N9 never made it to the production lines in time.
Now it appears that development has been cancelled in order to upgrade the current specs of the device, and the new focus of the updates hardware is for gaming. A new processor clocked at 1.2 GHz and a graphics card that can process 160 polygons per second has been added in the device –further improving the current hardware that includes an 8 mega pixel camera, a 4.2 inch touch screen and more.
Asus’ E600 Windows Phone 7 handset has finally been put up in the FCC list which means that the device is about to hit the production lines and will be shipped straight to sellers soon. While there is still no confirmation on the device’s actual price and launch date, many expect to see this Asus device ready by the end of the year.
The Android OS is getting a new supporter in the form of the Carphone Warehouse. Graham Stapleton, Carphone Warehouse’s chief commercial officer firmly believes that the Android OS will be leading the technological forefront. Currently, the gadget retailer has an exclusive deal with Google in order to distribute the Nexus S Android smart phone when it finally comes out.
The Nexus S has been developed by Google and Samsung and it brings together plenty of the best technologies both sides can offer. In terms of hardware, the new phone will pack NFC, a super AMOLED touch screen, an 8 mega pixel camera, a 1.2 GHz CPU and more. The OS itself will be the latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread version. Expect to see the Nexus S smart phone in Carphone Warehouse’s stock before the end of the year comes.
NFC Technology in Our Mobile Phones
Wednesday, November 17th, 2010There is no doubt that near field communications (NFC) technology is the next big thing for portable electronic devices. Not just mobile phones mind you, this applies to plenty of other handheld electronics such as tablets, gaming devices, and media players. Of course, the implementation of the technology is still a little far down the road, right now, manufacturers have only begun to start adding in the hardware to next generation devices.
The NFC excitement pretty much drew on the initial news that earlier this year, Apple started venturing into it. After a small company acquisition, Apple now holds the patents and technologies to some NFC-specific hardware. There are plenty of rumors that the next iPhone will have embedded NFC capable hardware.
But the Cupertino based company is not alone, Finish phone maker (and largest one to boot) Nokia has already taken the initiative to actually make a mobile device that actually has the necessary hardware: the Nokia C7. Of course, actually being able to use the NFC chip is currently disabled on the device, though the latest update is that it will be activated with an upcoming patch.
Lastly, Google has confirmed that the Gingerbread OS is prepared for using NFC and some Gingerbread specific handsets will be launched –packed with NFC hardware. This means that the fastest growing operating system, Android, will also be NNFC ready pretty soon.
Judging from that, it is pretty easy to see how the NFC can be easily spread out. The only question now is how the technology will be used. One of the most basic, yet really important functions that the feature could serve is direct device connectivity. While WiFi and Bluetooth have both proven to be reliable, NFC promises a faster and stronger connection –with the slight compromise of device proximity.
Android News: Today’s Big Headlines
Wednesday, October 20th, 2010
The Android OS has been making plenty of waves in the past couple of weeks. Despite the overwhelming surge of updates regarding the upcoming Windows Phone 7, it seems that nothing can really get in the way of the unstoppable growth of the Google Android.
The biggest news of the week comes with some details of the upcoming Android 3.0 Gingerbread. The new version of the Android OS brings together several key features that have been planned by the folks at Mountainview for quite some time.
The big new focus on version 3.0 however, is stability. The biggest problem that Google has faced is the fragmentation of the Android OS. In more detail, the simple fact that there are so many handsets that use the OS that no two are alike in terms of user experience. Add in the fact that the system can be altered and changed using to many internal settings and downloadable apps that creating a uniform user experience is completely out of the question –but that is where the Android’s strength lies. And this is why stability will be a big new factor for Google.
Smoother is the best way to describe how Google is promising the next Android UI to be. The previous version, 2.2 Froyo, already brought an incredible surge in speed as the new OS was performing about three to five times faster than version 2.1 Éclair –and by then, the Android was already pretty fast and stable.
Originally, it was announced at the Google I/O conference that the next update to the OS would arrive by the end of this year (at that time, it was still a month before the launch of the Froyo). However, the slow migration of Android devices to the newer OS as well as development issues has delayed the launch of Gingerbread. Many believe that the new version will be out by the start of 2011.
Mobile Industry News: SE Profits, Palm Hires and Google Soars
Monday, October 18th, 2010
It seems that the folks at HP are pretty serious about bringing their game to the smart phone industry. With the buyout of Palm already well and done, the time to start focusing on new projects is at hand, and as predicted, HP will need some pretty strong players on their team to keep up with the competition.
Former Nokia-MeeGo head Ari Jaaski and Samsung’s Victoria Coleman (who was previously the head of the R&D for the Korean phone maker) are reportedly joining in the ranks of HP’s top ranking officials. Right now, HP has not yet given a public statement regarding their long terms plans for the smart phone industry.
But with some rather impressive people on their side, the patents and technologies of Palm (including the famous WebOS), and HP’s long experience in the tech industry, we can expect nothing but some of the best mobile phones ever conceived.
Sony Ericsson is certainly enjoying seeing plenty of profits this year. While they may have had a pretty rough time in the past couple of years, the Swedish Japanese joint venture is now back in the game with a great lineup of mobile handsets and of course, plenty of revenue. Technically, Sony is making fewer sales. The volumes of handsets that have been shipped out are slightly lower than the previous months, but it is the actual profit they are making that has gone up. Thanks to the Android XPERIA lineup, as well as their Greenheart line of handsets, SE looks set to start claiming back its throne from Samsung pretty soon.
Lastly, Google has reported that the Q3 growth of the company has continued. In fact, the overall profit for Google is said to be around the range of 600 million GBP. With more than half a billion in revenue, there is little doubt that Google’s growth is going to stop anytime soon.
Needs More Chrome: Android Blamed for LG Tablet Delay
Tuesday, October 5th, 2010
LG, or Lucky Goldstar, is a pretty big name in the mobile industry. The Korean electronics manufacturer has been developing some pretty interesting devices as of late and among these is a touch screen tablet that has had plenty of folks excited.
According to reports, this very same tablet is already deep in the development process but has been delayed due to certain issues with the instability of the Android operating system. And until Google is able to create a more stable version of the OS, the LG tablet will stay delayed.
Now, Google obviously has no responsibility in this matter, after all, it is LG’s prerogative to create the hardware. Besides, with plenty of other tablet devices running the Android OS already coming (take the Samsung P1000 Galaxy Tab for example) and showing that they can run the Android 2.2 just fine and LG’s arguments show that they are the ones that are having issues running the OS properly on their device.
The big clincher here however, is the fact that Google has already declared the Android operating system as unsuitable for tablet devices. While manufacturers are banking on the Android’s fame as a mobile platform to sell their tablet devices, they are completely ignoring the Google Chrome operating system (not to be mistaken for the Google Chrome browser). Sure, the Android OS can work on a tablet –we have all seen that already, but Google’s Chrome OS is far more suitable for non-mobile devices.
Perhaps part of this confusion is due to the public’s own misconception of the two platforms. After all, many feel that after the launch of the Android OS, development of the Chrome platform has been greatly neglected. Even Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer states that the Google needs to make up its mind and choose just one –though that would defeat the point of having two platforms targeting specific industry needs.
Research Shows Market Share Growth for Android OS
Friday, July 30th, 2010GfK, a major retail research company in the UK has stated that the Android mobile platform has managed to climb from a market share of just 3% last year to a much larger 13% this year. Market share was not the only number that went climbing fast, according to the research firm, the volume of actual handset sales has increased by a full 350%.
This is big feat for the Android operating system, despite the fact that it is already one of the most used operating systems among smart phones (it is reportedly the OS used in the largest number of devices), but it has also managed to become a constant favorite among users.
Retail store employees have stated that customers would specifically look and ask for Android smart phones by name –showing that these buyer have come to store with the intention of buying and Android smart phone and knowing full well what an operating system is (as opposed to Nokia devices running Symbian, as the devices’ target market are not too keen on what OS is being used).
Even the Apple iPhone OS (now known as the Apple iOS), is going to have trouble dealing with the growing fame of Google’s Android. After all, most buyers of the iPhone are after the handset itself, not because of the iPhone OS. It is believed that an iPhone shaped device that has an Android operating system should do quite well –and while one of Samsung‘s high end Android smart phones (the Galaxy S) fits the bill, the handset lacks Apple’s iBrand to make it work.
In any case, fans of the Google Android operating system would be happy to know that the latest version of the open source mobile platform (version 2.2 Froyo) is expected to be released for other mobile phones (aside from the Google Nexus One) in a matter of weeks.