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News from the world of Android
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Toshiba rebooted the netbook market in style today with the announcement of the Android AC100. Boasting an awesome 7 day battery life, this baby sits between laptop and smartphone form factors. Weighing in at a dainty 870g it sure pushes all the right portability buttons, and as we know by virtue of Android we get top notch connectivity and web browsing. One thing which may take existing Android users some getting used to is the screen - specifically, the non-touchiness of it. Instead we get the usual trackpad laptop users will be familar with to use as a mouse.
UK Android users found a nice present on their handsets today - the maps application now has the long-awaited turn-by-turn satnav extension and it's all free!. It runs on Android 1.6 or later, so this means Hero users will have to be a little more patient as they wait for their June OTA update. The service is extra special too as it trumps the more traditional offering with its streetview overlay. That's right - your route is shown physically over the streetview image, so you see a floating ghostly arrow pointing the way down the road.
Android game fans got the news they had been waiting for when Google made an announcement of the latest NDK, version 3, yesterday as it features OpenGL ES 2.0. This brings native, i.e. C++ or non-java, support for the latest version of the 3D graphic system and brings it in line with the iPhone and Palm Pre SDK's. The significance of the NDK and C++ is that it allows developers to "hit the metal" directly, bypassing java which is often blamed for the performance problems seen in apps which demand realtime updates, such as games. This is great news indeed - but this latest Open GL support is only for Android 2.0 and above users.
