Android and Me |
- Download Skype with Video for the HTC Thunderbolt
- Deal: Get the T-Mobile myTouch 4G for free
- New ad campaign from Sprint wants you to “unlimit” yourself
- Rumor: HTC Thunderbolt and HTC EVO 4G getting Gingerbread by end of June
- A.I.Type keyboard: Text prediction in the cloud
- Honeycomb devices powered by Intel coming in May
- Gartner: Android will run on 39% of tablets in 2015
- WiFi Only 7-inch Galaxy Tab is finally available for purchase
- CyanogenMod 7.0 now available for the masses
| Download Skype with Video for the HTC Thunderbolt Posted: 11 Apr 2011 04:39 PM PDT HTC Thunderbolt users, is your lucky day. Following news that you’re getting Gingerbread soon, we now bring you Skype with Video chat. For those not in the know, the Thunderbolt was supposed to launch with Skype with Video, but the app was yanked at the last minute. None of that matters now, Skype with Video is here for all to enjoy — except for everybody else not using a Thunderbolt of course. I’m still not sure why companies like Skype and Qik launch their apps with video-calling support for just a few phones (deals with carriers?). It’s just one of those extremely annoying ‘fragmentation” things we have to deal with Android. At least until Google lays down the law and releases Google Talk with Video for everybody. Meanwhile, we’ll have to make do with Tango.
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| Deal: Get the T-Mobile myTouch 4G for free Posted: 11 Apr 2011 03:20 PM PDT Clearly, T-Mobile doesn’t want Amazon to have all the fun with crazy phone deals. Today, the soon-to-be-assimilated carrier launched a deal that it’s really hard to resist; you can get the myTouch 4G for free with a new contract. That’s not all though, you can get any color you want (gasp!). You have black, white, red and plum colors to choose from. Here’s a summary of the many features the myTouch 4G packs:
So, any of you guys in the mood for a free plum-colored myTouch 4G?
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| New ad campaign from Sprint wants you to “unlimit” yourself Posted: 11 Apr 2011 02:44 PM PDT Sprint has launched a new ad campaign playing off the fact that they’re the only carrier in the U.S. with a truly unlimited everything plan. The new campaign — All.Together.Now — makes an emphasis on how people can tweet, email, chat, text and watch YouTube videos all they want while using Sprint’s network. In summary,
They’ve also released the first video for this new campaign. Our buddy Andy is shown a lot during the video, which never hurts. I have to say, I like this ad more than the Verizon LTE 4G and Xoom ads. For the simple fact that it shows the various ways people can use Android. That’s what people need to see, just show Android and all the things you can do with it — not how some dude gets eaten by an alien spaceship.
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| Rumor: HTC Thunderbolt and HTC EVO 4G getting Gingerbread by end of June Posted: 11 Apr 2011 01:51 PM PDT By now, most people running Froyo are getting a little annoyed that OEMs and carriers are taking their sweet time to push the Gingerbread OTA update. Well, today there’s a bit of hope for you guys using the Thunderbolt or Evo 4G. According to TalkAndroid, one of their readers received an email from an HTC rep disclosing that both of these phones will receive the Gingerbread update anytime from now until the end of June. Here’s an excerpt from the email:
It’s kind of ridiculous that it takes OEMs and carriers longer to push out an update to one phone than it takes a couple of hackers to do the same for 30 phones. Gingerbread was released almost 6 months ago and nearly nobody has it yet. If people with high-end phones like the Evo 4G get an update 6 months after Google releases it, what’s left to say about those with low-end phones like the T-Mobile Comet? You’ll be lucky to get Gingerbread at all. The Android team needs to fix this mess yesterday. Do you guys feel as furious as I do about this? Let it all out in the comments, we’re here for you.
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| A.I.Type keyboard: Text prediction in the cloud Posted: 11 Apr 2011 01:50 PM PDT Android’s text prediction feature helps a lot while typing on your on-screen keyboard, but have you ever felt like you need it to do more? A.I.Type keyboard basically predicts not only the word you are typing, but also the word you are about to type, before even typing a single letter. The developer actually claims that this nifty software will save you about 75% of your keystrokes, and whether that number is accurate or not, it definitely does save you a good amount of effort. A.I.Type’s predictions are actually done "in the cloud," which means that the application will not be too heavy on your storage space, but if you happen to find yourself without an internet connection, such feature will simply not work. If you have used Swiftkey before, A.I.Type is definitely another choice to consider. Swiftkey is definitely a very good option; if you have used it, you would know that it pretty much reads your mind. A.I.Type keyboard is the same concept, but it uses the Gingerbread keyboard, as opposed to Swiftkey, which uses its own "iPhone-like" keyboard. The produt is actually in beta, but it is good to try it out, and I did not run into any issues while trying it out, so it seems pretty stable. For a better view of what A.I.Type is able to do, the developer has put together a video, which is posted below if you are interested. Please do let us know what you think of this new keyboard. Do you guys like it? If not, which one do you prefer?
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| Honeycomb devices powered by Intel coming in May Posted: 11 Apr 2011 12:52 PM PDT According to Intel, the company is working with Google to bring Android 3.0 Honeycomb to devices running Intel’s Oak Trail chips. The single-core chips will run at 1.5 GHz and be powered by a PowerVR SGX535 graphics core. Intel admitted that Oak Trail chips are not as good as ARM chips at power consumption, but that the company plans to compete better as chips get smaller and faster. Around 35 tablets running Intel’s Oak Trail chips are expected to be shown this week at the Intel Developer Forum in Beijing. Companies like Lenovo, Fujitsu, Samsung and Motion Computing, Kircos will be showing their devices at the show, with devices running Oak Trail expected to become available around May of this year. I’m not so sure I’d choose Intel chips over Nvidia’s Tegra 2, especially with Tegra 3 in the horizon. But to each its own, are any of you guys interested in a tablet powered by this chip?
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| Gartner: Android will run on 39% of tablets in 2015 Posted: 11 Apr 2011 12:08 PM PDT Right after releasing a report on the smartphone market, Gartner is at it again. This time, the research firm is taking a look at the tablet market. According to Gartner, Android is poised to own 39% of the tablet market by 2015. In contrast, the obvious leader in the tablet market, Apple, will see its market share drop from 83.9% to 47.1%. Other players like Meego and WebOS have almost no chance at competing in the tablet market. Gartner predicts the two will stay below the 5% mark for next the few years. Unsurprisingly, Gartner believes that Android will have the same kind of success that the OS is enjoying right now in the smartphone market. Like any other Android fan, I can’t get enough of these reports predicting Android’s success. However, I think Gartner is taking a somewhat conservative approach to predicting Android’s growth in the tablet market. The research firm is forecasting a linear and slow growth trajectory for Android — going from 14.2% to 38.6% in five years. That’s not the case in the phone market, where Android grew at a much rapid pace going from 0.5% to 22.7% in just two years. There’s not a lot of difference between the phone and tablet market. There’s a good chance that Android will take over the tablet world like it’s doing in the smartphone’s. If we look at the Samsung Galaxy Tab as the T-Mobile G1 and 2010 as 2008, then Android should own half the tablet market around 2014 — and not 39% in 2015. It’s interesting that at this point we’re discussing how fast Android will dethrone the iPad. Everybody agrees that’ll eventually happen — it’s just a matter of how fast.
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| WiFi Only 7-inch Galaxy Tab is finally available for purchase Posted: 11 Apr 2011 12:08 PM PDT Last week, Samsung announced that they would release the WiFi-only version of the 7-inch Galaxy Tab by April 10, and our old friend is now to be found in a few online retailers listed at Samsung’s site. As before mentioned, the device is going for $349.99, which is sure a price that would have worked perfectly if it was released along with the 3G versions. WiFi-Only Samsung Galaxy Tab (7-inch) Specs:
About 5 months have passed since the Galaxy Tab came to every major carrier in the U.S. Technology grows rapidly, especially within the Android world, and waiting that long for this product was simply too much. For a slightly higher price, tablets like the Acer Iconia Tab A500 ($450), or the ASUS Eee Pad Tranformer ($400), are coming out with dual-core processors, Android 3.0 Honeycomb, and overall much better specs than the Galaxy Tab (Some people even prefer the Nook Color, which is actually intended to be used as a reader). Whether you like the device or not, it is still another choice in the catalog, and choices are definitely good for the market. The Galaxy Tab may actually be a good choice for someone who does not care much for Honeycomb, or the extra specs that the new tablets sport. The 7-inch size is actually preferred by many users, so they might even ignore all the stronger, bigger tablets. So, are you excited to finally be able to purchase this device? Or is it too little, too late? Gallery     
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| CyanogenMod 7.0 now available for the masses Posted: 11 Apr 2011 08:12 AM PDT It’s finally here. The moment you’ve been waiting for – or not if you’ve been using the release candidates. The devs/hackers/code-ninjas at CyanogenMod released version 7.0 of its famous ROM today. CyanogenMod 7.0 is available for 30 devices and has way too many improvements to even bother listing them. But the most important feature of all is that the ROM is based on Android’s latest and greatest version: Gingerbread. To refresh your memory, Gingerbread features:
There you have it folks, more features and improvements than you can shake a stick at. If you have one of the 30 supported devices head on to CyanogenMod’s website and select your device from the list. Now how about adding support for the LG Optimus One? Pretty please, with sugar on top?
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