Google recently announced the launch of Android Instant Apps, a new technology which allows just the bare minumum of an App to be downloaded from links, bypassing the Play Store. This sounds cool enough on its own, but the implications of this reach far deeper than at first appears, and could end up changing the entire internet.
Android Pulse Mini just £20
- Bill Damage 0 Comments
Ok - it's pink. Ok - it's a keyboardless mini form factor. Ok - it's screen is resistive, not capacitive (you get a stylus). But it's £20 contract free - online only from T-Mobile. Is this a sign of things to come - and where will it end? Should I be careful what pops out of my cornflakes packet from now on? The implications of throwaway Android handsets are staggering, and those predictions of 48% market share in 2012 will start to look positively feeble. How on earth can the closed proprietary guys come close to anything like this? This baby features the full on Google Android experience, with voice control, the market, sat nav with turn-by-turn navigation and the realtime sat imaging with blows away many dedicated units. Incredible. Once you get past the pink part, that is.
2.5 Million Android activations per week
- Bill Damage 0 Comments
Hold onto your hats folks - 350,000 Android devices are now being activated every day. This explosive growth shouldn't be underestimated - recently Microsoft reluctantly issued the sales figures from WP7 3 months after its release at 3.2 million. That's what Android shifts every 9 days. With Symbian now dead, Microsofts share actually falling, Nokia/Microsoft unlikely to deliver anything new for the rest of 2011 and the iPhone stagnating at a steady 25% (Android is 33% and rising, taking share from RIM) it's clear Android is the mountain the competition has to try to climb now - and it's getting higher daily.
Google Doodle an Android Ice Cream tease?
- Bill Damage 0 Comments
What a difference a doodle makes. The long standing tradition of the Google doodle being changed to reflect something topical has Android fans excited right now - it's showing an ice cream sundae, and as it's followers know that's the code name for the next release after the current one, Honeycomb (Android 3.0). Barely a few months old itself, and since there are only a handful of devices out there running it, a new version must be months away, and theres much speculation around its name even being "Ice Cream" let alone Android 4.0 - it's more likely either Android 2.4 or 3.1 going by these timescales. That's the same way things played out when Eclair (Android 2.0) was succeeded by Froyo (Android 2.1).
Distributing APK's for testing
- Bill Damage 0 Comments
Here's a tip for anyone involved in writing and distributing Android apps to others for testing. The usual way has been via a web server with the APK's available in a download area - then all you need to do is tell your testers to point their onboard browser to the URL. Note, if you do this it's essential you set the MIME type for .apk's (application/vnd.android.package-archive) or the browser won't launch the app installer on download. However, theres now a smarter way which has the benefit of not needing a server - use DropBox. Install it on your PC, place the .APK in a folder, get your testers to install the Android DropBox app and share that folder. They'll get a notice when you add the apps and they'll be able to just click it to install. Very cool...
Umeox Apollo solar powered Android handset
- Bill Damage 0 Comments
Here's a twist we weren't expecting after all the on-off tomfoolery surrounding the Facebook phone last year - apparently it's now very much on and there's two of 'em! There's to be a big announcement at MWC2011 from its manufacturer, HTC. Recently there has been a real flurry of activity surrounding the social networking giant, ranging from their purchase of drop.io (who OTAMate were developing an Android app for), through to its purchase of CardMunch for their tech allowing business cards to be imported to your smartphones. Facebook named mobile their "no.1 priority" for 2011 - looks like we're seeing just what they meant by that.
Drinkminder
- Bill Damage 0 Comments
Lets face it - we all like a drink now and then. But how much do you know about what you're drinking? How many units are in that drink for example - can you legally drive? Are you on a diet? Few people are aware of the number of calories in their drinks, yet they obsess over them when it comes to food. Drinkminder to the rescue! This FREE Android app will keep you informed with its instant unit/calorie reckoner or its drink session recorder, where with a carefully designed 1-tap drink logger you can track your sessions over time. There's a handy suggest-a-drink feature, full help built in and a wide range of inbuilt drinks ranging from ale to champagne.
Nexus S emulator skin
- Bill Damage 0 Comments
When Google releases a new SDK it intentionally does not provide skins for any particular handset models.
This is to emphasise the fact you are writing for a platform, one which has many particular implementations. However, it's really nice to have a skin for a handset you are interested in if for no other reason than to reassure yourself your app really does look good on it!
For a while there was no Nexus One skin, and then Tim Hoeck added one to his blog. Following the recent release of the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) SDK it was proving a little tricky to find one for the Nexus S, so we present ours here along with the steps needed to start making use of it. Together with the Gingerbread SDK, this amounts to a free (virtual) Nexus S!
The Facebook phone
- Bill Damage 0 Comments
Here's a twist we weren't expecting after all the on-off tomfoolery surrounding the Facebook phone last year - apparently it's now very much on and there's two of 'em! There's to be a big announcement at MWC2011 from its manufacturer, HTC. Recently there has been a real flurry of activity surrounding the social networking giant, ranging from their purchase of drop.io (who OTAMate were developing an Android app for), through to its purchase of CardMunch for their tech allowing business cards to be imported to your smartphones. Facebook named mobile their "no.1 priority" for 2011 - looks like we're seeing just what they meant by that.
LG Announces worlds first dual core smartphone
- Bill Damage 0 Comments
LG won the race to launch the first dual-core smartphone with the Optimus 2X, which goes on sale in January in Korea. The Android 2.2 powered Optimus 2X has a 1Ghz (NVIDIA Tegra 2) dual-core Processor, a 4-inch WVGA display and an 8-megapixel camera. LG is said to be shifting 2 million Android devices a month and has always said 2011 will see massive activity in this area. Since we are in a whole new ballpark now when it coms to performance, focus on battery life will be intense. The Optimus 2X comes with a 1,500 mAh battery, but LG stress the Tegra 2 has advanced power-saving technology built right into the core, so overall battery life will be comparable to existing models.
