Android Phone Fans |
- Things We Missed, You Shouldn’t [CTIA Edition]
- Official: BlackBerry PlayBook to Run Android Apps via ‘Optional App Player’
- Google Withholding Honeycomb Source from Developers Out of Concern for User Experience
- Android Market In-App Billing Launching Next Week, Ready for Developer Testing Now
- Is Gingerbread Headed to the Motorola Droid X this Weekend? [RUMOR]
- Square Enix Moves into Mobile Game Development with Launch of Hippos Lab
- XTR3D Aims to Bring a Kinect-Style Gesture Experience to Android
- HTC Opening Up Scribe API to Third-Party Developers, Hopes for More Apps with Pen-Based Interactions
- Samsung Captivate Gets Direct AT&T Billing For Media Hub Purchases
- Steam May Be Coming to Android Soon [Rumor]
- HTC EVO 3D Gets Its First Promo Video
- AT&T Faces Steep Climb With T-Mobile Acquisition Says FCC Official
- LG Says Google Won’t Allow Custom UIs on Honeycomb; Samsung Says “Huh?”
- HTC Site Shows EVO 3D with GSM Radio
- Motorola Looking to Introduce Their Own Web-Based Mobile Operating System?
| Things We Missed, You Shouldn’t [CTIA Edition] Posted: 24 Mar 2011 03:38 PM PDT
CTIA passed by in a whirlwind, and amid all the announcements, hands-on looks at upcoming devices, and sunny Florida weather, some things managed to slip under our radar. Here is a wrap up of what me missed during all the shenanigans:
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| Official: BlackBerry PlayBook to Run Android Apps via ‘Optional App Player’ Posted: 24 Mar 2011 02:54 PM PDT
When the rumors began swirling that RIM was cooking up support for Android apps in their upcoming BlackBerry PlayBook (and possibly future smartphones), most thought the idea a bit too out there to be true. Well, read it and weep (or rejoice): Android app support has officially been announced for the PlayBook tablet, which is set for an April 19th release. A “high degree of API compatibility” will make it easy for Android developers to quickly port their applications to the PlayBook, though it appears they will still need to be uploaded and accessed from BlackBerry App World. Once downloaded, apps will run via one of two optional “app players.” The implications of this could make or break RIM’s new tablet. Android currently has access to right around 200,000 applications (give or take 50,000, depending on who you ask), and if developers choose to do so these additional apps could sway more than a few buyers in BlackBerry’s direction. No word on how Google views the move, but it seems RIM has sidestepped some heat by at least requiring developers to modify their applications before they are BlackBerry capable.
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| Google Withholding Honeycomb Source from Developers Out of Concern for User Experience Posted: 24 Mar 2011 02:16 PM PDT
Android Honeycomb isn’t designed for smartphones. Andy Rubin and the Android Team have made that perfectly clear, but in case there was still any confusion, the man overseeing Google’s mobile OS has clarified why developers have yet to see the source code for the tablet-specific version of Android. While the Motorola XOOM is already available with Honeycomb on board and developers have already managed to squeeze out builds of the operating system for all sorts of Android devices out of an SDK preview, Google is not releasing the full Honeycomb source out of fears that developers may attempt to code Android 3.0 onto phones, resulting in a “really bad user experience.”
The quick turnaround of Honeycomb is the reason cited, with Rubin clarifying that the Android Team had no time to worry about any implementation of the new OS version other than the one headed to tablets. The withholding of Honeycomb from the public is sure to once again raise questions as to whether or not Google is really playing the open source game fairly, or if they are choosing to play by their own rules. [via Gizmodo]
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| Android Market In-App Billing Launching Next Week, Ready for Developer Testing Now Posted: 24 Mar 2011 01:57 PM PDT
It seems like forever since it was first talked about, but it was just announced through the Android Developers Blog that In-app Billing will launch next week. The feature is already up and running for testing in the Android Market developer console. Apps designed to take advantage of In-app Billing can be uploaded now, product catalogs can be created, and prices can be assigned. Developers can than test apps to make sure the billing process works exactly as expected. The apps uploaded for early testing won’t be pushed to the Android Market until the service launches next week. For interested developers, Google has made all the necessary documentation available. For those simply interested in using the in-app payments system, you won’t need to wait much longer to see what devs come up with. [via Android Developers Blog]
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| Is Gingerbread Headed to the Motorola Droid X this Weekend? [RUMOR] Posted: 24 Mar 2011 01:20 PM PDT
Don’t circle it on your calendar just yet, but a rumor has found its way to out good friends over at DroidLife claiming that not only is the Android 2.3 Gingerbread update ready to go for the Motorola Droid X but that it could also begin rolling out to handsets as soon as this weekend. The update is said to need only final approval from Verizon before it begins traveling out over-the-air and bringing the updated version of Android we saw a peek of a while back to the X. If it does indeed begin its roll out as the week winds down, expect to to continue pushing to handsets over the next week or so. [via DroidLife]
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| Square Enix Moves into Mobile Game Development with Launch of Hippos Lab Posted: 24 Mar 2011 12:42 PM PDT
Details are scant at the moment, but the makers behind the highly acclaimed Final Fantasy series of games is looking towards mobile with the launch of Hippos Lab. The new game development studio will have a focus on “high quality original content” for smartphones. This hopefully means more than new ports of old Square games, but we won’t know until their first games are announced. Apparently that could be soon, as the studio has been hard at work since March 7th and plans to have their first title (or at least more info on it) available in the near future. [via Engadget]
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| XTR3D Aims to Bring a Kinect-Style Gesture Experience to Android Posted: 24 Mar 2011 12:31 PM PDT We’ve seen stuff like this before, but never has it looked this interesting. A company called XTR3D has posted concept videos of a new gesture-based navigation and control system they’re working on that’ll allow users do what they need to do without having to touch their devices. In the first video, a pair of kids are playing a racing game on their phones where the hand is used to steer instead of tilting the phone. This use case seems a bit pointless considering the accelerometer offers more compelling gameplay for the racing genre. The second use case looked great, though. A guy sits down for his morning breakfast and props his tablet up to check the news. He waves his hands back and forth to switch between sites. When his wife (or whoever that beautiful lady is) calls him, he simply holds his hand up to accept the video call. The concept is great, but we all know it’s really about execution. If they are able to bring something to market that looks like this and looks this good, I’m sure they won’t have any problem generating interest from investors, users and developers alike. Check out the videos above and below. [via Droid Gamers]
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| HTC Opening Up Scribe API to Third-Party Developers, Hopes for More Apps with Pen-Based Interactions Posted: 24 Mar 2011 11:41 AM PDT
Even if the HTC Flyer comes off as a bit last-generation compared to the current rank of tablet heavyweights, it does offer one feature that few others have: a stylus used not for basic interaction and navigation, but rather for taking notes, doodling, and procuring and annotating screen grabs. For some, this may seem like a poor attempt at differentiation, but for others (myself included) it is a feature that would be welcome on more tablets and seen enabled in more apps. So it is good news that HTC plans to open up their Scribe technology to third party developers, inviting them to see what they can make of the pressure sensitive stylus that comes packaged with the Flyer. Whether it catches on is hit or miss, just as with many first party devices with unique features before. Like the Samsung Continuum with its ticker screen and Kyocera Echo with its dual screens, we don’t see many developers putting much effort behind such a limited market, but anything is possible. [via ReadWriteWeb]
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| Samsung Captivate Gets Direct AT&T Billing For Media Hub Purchases Posted: 24 Mar 2011 11:37 AM PDT Part of the reason making mobile purchases from your phone haven’t quite taken of yet is because, well… it’s a pain. You’ve got to fill in your credit card information, add this information, verify your e-mail address and whatever else. The promise of NFC is encouraging but its real-world integrations are currently limited.
Most people are enemies of carrier billing services due to scams like monthly “ringtone” rebills and ” joke of the day” offers where you download something once, didn’t realize you had to pay for it, and all of a sudden you’re paying a monthly fee from which you can’t unsubscribe. Once more legitimate companies start offering “real” services like this… purchases from mobile phones should definitely increase and get more diverse. Here is the E-Mail I received from Samsung regarding the new service:
Enjoy, Captivate users!
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| Steam May Be Coming to Android Soon [Rumor] Posted: 24 Mar 2011 11:35 AM PDT
Here’s an interesting rumor for you gamers out there. A member over at Valve’s forums has apparently spoken to the studio’s Gabe Newell and said the company head revealed some interesting information. One bit that stood out to us was that the company may be looking to bring an Android version of Steam to the platform. If you don’t know, Steam is a popular games repository for PC and Mac that acts as a social hub for players, a launcher for all the games you’ve bought (in Steam or otherwise), and has some unique features that third-party developers can take advantage of in their game. (These are called Steam-powered games.) While we aren’t expecting this supposed mobile version to bring us all the PC goodness we can currently download, we do hope it ushers in a new era of video game discovery on the Android market. OpenFeint is trying and doing very well and NVIDIA has jumped into the fold with their own Tegra Zone application that spotlights games which are optimized for Tegra devices. The addition of Steam would heighten competition and would bring a very big name in the gaming scene to Android. With all of these tablets and all of the complex-looking and graphically-rich games coming out for them, we can’t hope for anything better to happen. Let’s cross out fingers and hope Steam is indeed working on something. Head on over to the thread where the bearer of good news claims to have audio and will soon have video confirming this. [via Recombu]
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| HTC EVO 3D Gets Its First Promo Video Posted: 24 Mar 2011 11:22 AM PDT
[via YouTube]
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| AT&T Faces Steep Climb With T-Mobile Acquisition Says FCC Official Posted: 24 Mar 2011 11:21 AM PDT
As I expected. When Verizon bought Alltel in 2008 it faced a large amount of FCC and that company was MUCH smaller than T-Mobile USA. However, Verizon made enough concessions on a market-by-market basis, allowing Alltel to keep it’s assets in locations without ample competition, and they were able to go through with the deal. The question, in my opinion, is where do you draw the line? If Verizon could make enough concessions… why can’t AT&T make it work as long as 1 other carrier is in each market? And if AT&T can make buying T-Mobile work, why couldn’t Verizon buy Sprint as long as there was a competitor in each city-by-city basis? And if all that goes through, we’ll be left with 2 carriers and a bunch of scrapple. I hope the FCC looks at this deal with the highest level of scrutiny and thinks about the DISTANT future of mobile competition, not just the latest 3-year hoorah. We need healthy competition!
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| LG Says Google Won’t Allow Custom UIs on Honeycomb; Samsung Says “Huh?” Posted: 24 Mar 2011 11:18 AM PDT
At the Droidcon conference in Berlin this week, an LG spokesperson allegedly stated that Google is expressly disallowing the customization of Android 3.0 Honeycomb because they want the new platform to gain an identity of its own first. (I like that, by the way.) So we have a bit of a problem: either Samsung didn’t get the memo and have violated whatever terms Google supposedly set, or the LG spokesperson is just flat-out lying. Or maybe they dreamt it. Who knows? I hope the spokesperson isn’t met with a pink slip when he returns to his office after his boss finds out Samsung – their homeland competitor – did what they thought they couldn’t. If you haven’t seen what Samsung’s done to Honeycomb be sure to check out our hands-on video. [via The Unwired]
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| HTC Site Shows EVO 3D with GSM Radio Posted: 24 Mar 2011 11:06 AM PDT
The HTC EVO 3D is a CDMA Android smartphone headed to Sprint, right? If you ask the HTC product site, that is not the only place we might be finding the handset featuring a glasses-free 3D display. The site has a product listing for the EVO 3D that sports quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE radio frequencies of 850/900/1800/1900 MHz. It doesn’t look like the listing is a mistake, but has HTC played their hand sooner than intended? When the original EVO was released, folks in Europe and around the world yearned for a similar Android device, which they were finally granted in the form of the HTC Desire HD last fall. HTC might not want to keep people on the edge of their seats so long this time, but no official announcement of a GSM EVO 3D has been made. [via IntoMobile]
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| Motorola Looking to Introduce Their Own Web-Based Mobile Operating System? Posted: 24 Mar 2011 11:04 AM PDT
Manufacturers are often rumored to be working on their own operating systems for smartphones. HTC was frequently a part of that rumor mill. Sources forever said they were working on their own smartphone operating system, but we later found out that it was Brew – a feature phone operating system that provided more features than your average feature phone. (How many times can you say feature in a sentence?) Motorola is the latest to be thrown in as sources “familiar with the matter” have revealed that they may be working on an operating system of their own. It’s said to be a web-based offering utilizing HTML5 and Adobe technologies to power the user interface and experience. It’s an odd move as Motorola reaffirms their commitment to Android every chance they got. Commitment doesn’t necessarily mean they will remain tied to one operating system, though. (It’s not like a commitment in a relationship where taking on a second partner is considered cheating.) Information Week makes a good point when noting that there are uncertain times ahead for Android. Google is constantly slapped with lawsuits over licensing and patent violations. While many of these lawsuits never pan out for the attacking side, it can’t be easy being a major hardware partner to see that the very asset you base your product on could one day disappear. It’s possible Motorola could just be crafting a backup plan in case things do go afoul, which is a smart move. Or they could just be looking to differentiate themselves from their competitors as nearly every OEM who doesn’t make their own operating system uses Android. It’s still a rumor for now, but it’s far from farfetch’d.
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