Console di gioco portatile con Android

Viene annunciata al mondo ODROID, nuovo dispositivo basato sul sistema operativo mobile di Google.
Si tratta di una console di gioco, dal design non particolarmente innovativo, ma con caratteristiche tecniche di tutto rispetto.
Il dispositovo è equipaggiato con touchscreen capacitivo da 3.5 pollici (480 x 320 pixel), processore Samsung S5PC100 a 800 MHz, 512 MB di RAM, 2GB(TFLASH) di ROM, connettività Bluetooth e wi-fi, accelerometri, slot per schede di memoria SD ed uscita mini-HDMI a 720p. Manca solo il supporto al 3G.
L’uscita è prevista per dicembre ad un prezzo di circa 200 euro.
Non vediamo l’ora di averla tra le mani.

Android Developers Blog: Now available: Android 1.6 NDK

Today Android 1.6 NDK, release 1 is available for download from the Android developer site.

To recap, the NDK is a companion to the SDK that provides tools to generate and embed native ARM machine code within your application packages. This native code has the same restrictions as the VM code, but can execute certain operations much more rapidly. This is useful if you’re doing heavy computations, digital processing, or even porting existing code bases written in C or C++.

If you already use the Android 1.5 NDK, upgrading to this release is highly recommended. It provides the following improvements:

• The ability to use OpenGL ES 1.1 headers and libraries If your application targets Android 1.6, your native code can now directly call OpenGL ES 1.1 functions to perform graphics rendering. This will help those programs that need to send large amounts of vertex data to the GPU. Note, however, that activity lifecycle and surface creation must still be performed from the VM. This NDK contains a new sample (”san-angeles”) that shows exactly how to do that with a GLSurfaceView object.
• The ability to target either Android 1.5 or 1.6 devices The NDK parses your project’s properties to know which platform release it is targeting. It will then automatically use the proper headers and libraries to generate your native code. Any application that targets 1.5 will run on Android 1.5, Android 1.6 and any future official system release. Targeting 1.6 should, thus, only be done if your application requires new 1.6 features / APIs, like the ability to call OpenGL ES 1.x headers from native code.
• The ability to put your native sources under your application’s project tree You can now conveniently place all your sources (C, C++ and Java) under the same tree, for editing or version control purposes.
• Many fixes to the NDK’s build scripts The changes to the build scripts fix some annoying bugs and also increase host system compatibility.

via Android Developers Blog: Now available: Android 1.6 NDK.

HTC Dream ya es Android 1.5

Aunque probablemente algunos de vosotros esperabais una actualización para poder ejecutar HTC Sense en el terminal HTC Dream (me temo que esperaréis eternamente porque no se va a publicar oficialmente), al menos HTC ha hecho pública una actualización para este dispositivo, HTC Dream (que comercializa Movistar en exclusiva) y que permite pasar de Android 1.1 (versión oficial de estos dispositivos), a la nueva edición Android 1.5.

El caso es que esta actualización para la memoria ROM del dispositivo permitirá sincronizar datos con los servicios en la nube de Google (contactos de Gmail, calendario o Google Talk). Paralelamente, en lo que se refiere estrictamente a HTC, añade lector de PDF y de documentos Office (mediante Office Viewer), así como la posibilidad de sincronizar una cuenta de correo en un servidor Microsoft Exchange.

Otra de las ventajas es que, una vez instalada la actualización, ya será posible escribir mensajes de texto SMS con vocales acentuadas (cool, ¿eh?), pero sin que esto reduzca notablemente el string de capacidad total del mensaje (sin que reduzca el número de caracteres total).

¿Interesados?, pues para acceder a la actualización debéis dirigiros al enlace oficial habilitado por HTC. Y recordad: la actualización borrará los datos almacenados en el sistema, así que es muy recomendable hacer una copia de seguridad antes de aplicarla.

The truth about Cyanogen Vs. Google!

Believe it or not!

I. Background on Android Open Source

Android is an open source project, but there are a few apps in Android that are NOT part of the normal Android OS. The Market, GMail, and Google Maps for instance (if you live overseas and bought an HTC Magic without the Google Experience logo on the back, you would have noticed that these apps are definitely missing from your phone). These apps not only are not technically part of the Android OS but they are also closed apps (they do not allow people to alter them and get into their code). There is a good reason for this, especially with the Market. As Google, you would not want people to be able to get into Market code and change anything for the security of the people purchasing apps through the Market.

II. What Google is ACTUALLY Mad About and Why

Cyanogen received a Cease and Desist notice from Google because of the inclusion of “certain closed source apps” in his ROM.

These apps are not licensed to Cyanogen for redistribution, so Google can definitely stop him from giving them out technically.

Bottom line though guys, this is NOT about rooting it is about the Market, GMail, and Google Maps apps that make up the Google Experience being given to phones that do not normally have them installed. Google charges manufacturers to distribute these apps and do not want those who did not pay for them to have the ability to get these apps by using the Cyanogen ROM.

If anyone has any more insight into the situation, please comment.

Update: GOOGLE RELEASES A STATEMENT!

Google officially APPROVES of custom Android builds!
Google goes on to talk about how GMail, Market, and Maps are their own developed software for Android (as opposed to apps that are normally included with Android) and they make money off them just like any other developer would if they made an app for the Market. Google makes money by selling the Google Experience (all of these apps combined) to manufacturers, even though the Android OS is free (sneaky if you think about it, who would want Android without the market?). So they don’t want people to be able to get them for free.

The issue I have with this explanation is that Cyanogen was making ROMs mainly for devices that already have the Google Experience logo on them so what are they losing? Couldn’t he just put in something that would stop non Google experience phones from loading his ROMs (there are so few of these phones out anyway and I doubt there will be any of them in future versions of phones from manufacturers, I mean who would honestly want an Android phone without the Market??)

IN CONCLUSION

1. The Google Market, GMail and Google Maps are NOT free apps and are separate from the Android OS. Even though we don’t pay for them as end users, the manufacturers do.
2. Google doesn’t want phones that don’t normally have those apps on them (because the manufacturers did not pay for them to be there) to be able to get them for free using Cyanogen’s ROM.
3.. This came about all of a sudden most likely because of Cyanogen releasing the not-yet-released version of the Market.
4. Phones that already have the Market, GMail, and Google Maps on them are of no concern to Google as those manufacturers have already paid for those apps.
5. Google encourages rooting and modding of Android, they just don’t non Google Experience phones to gain the Market, GMail, and Google Maps without their manufacturers purchasing them.
6. Can’t Cyanogen just put in a block to stop certain Non Google Experience phones from loading his ROMs (they are such a small percentage of devices anyway) and stop Google from breathing down his neck about this?

-Droidboy

Android Market for apps

One nice thing about the Android store is that after you buy an application you have 24 hours to cancel the transaction and get a refund. This is useful if there is no trial/demo version of the software you are interested in and makes purchasing a no-risk venture. I have bought a few things to test them out, found out they were not up to scratch and then sought a refund. It is easy to do….just go back to the Market, hit on the “My Downloads” tab, browse down to the application, open it up from there and then hit the “refund’ button. A minute or so later you get an email confirming the refund. All very straightforward.

To date I have bought and kept only about 4 bits of software, the two main ones being an RSS application and a weather app. I have however downloaded quite a few bits of stuff that is free and some widgets to plonk down on one of the home screens for quick access….stuff like wifi on/off widget, an “airplane” mode button and a great 2G/3G option widget. These widgets are quite useful and save ferreting around in the settings menu.

HTC Hero: Celcom Promo

It’s finally announced. Celcom revealed it’s HTC Hero promo today. Priced at RM1,799 on-top of a monthly commitment of RM149 which includes RM50 for calls and RM99 for Data Unlimited. It will come with a 16Gb MicroSD Card and Jabra Bluetooth headset as well. Available from today at all Celcom BlueCube outlets – nationwide. Is it a good deal? Depends. If you’re planning on using Celcom – you’ll be paying RM149 a month anyway. Otherwise, Maxis will cost you RM108 which consists of RM50 for calls and RM58 for 500Mb of data. If you’re a light user like me – Maxis will do just fine. But if you’re heavy on tethering – then yes, it’s a damn good deal. After all, the HTC Hero is still currently going for RM2,399 (Add RM100 for a 16Gb Card) in retail shops.

Age old dilemna

How often does this happen? To me, it just sums up the problems you can have choosing between devices and platforms. The HTC Hero is a very good little device and there are quite a few things on it that I think are handled in a much better way than on the iPhone, for example, and at the same time there are quite a number of things that the iPhone does much better too.

Without going into a huge amount of detail just yet, as I will try and do a fuller Hero review later this week let me say this instead…the Hero is a much nicer device to use on a daily basis as it has better battery life, is more compact, has buttons that make navigating about a doddle, a better camera (note lack of “much” in there), a wipe clean easy screen, is super speedy, a great in built notification system, a much better Gmail native application than you can get on the iPhone, a super duper homescreen customisation set up and some decent apps. Yet, I still find myself, when I pick up the iPhone and use some of the iPhone apps thinking…..”the apps on this thing are on the whole waaaaaayyyyyy better”. It also feels a lot more solid and you forget what it is like to have a device that has the apparant advantage of replaceable batteries but with the downside trade-off of a bit of all round sqeakiness. I hate pressing down on the back and feeling it flex, makes me shudder.

I have enjoyed, so far, using the Hero and am still finding little apps that are useful but I could not say yet that it is doing enough to stop me wanting the iPhone 3GS in 3 months time over it. An ideal situation would be the iPhone apps in the Hero shell. I would say however that in my view the Hero and the Android o/s is already in front of current Symbian, Win Mob and BlackBerry devices in terms of ease of use. I can’t see myself going back to any of those phones in the near future nor I can see the Palm Pre being any better.

HTC Tattoo on Android

There’s been a lot of chatter over the past month about the HTC Click (or now dubbed the HTC Tattoo. The HTC Click / Tattoo is a budget device, low end Android phone that’s been officially announced and will be releasing in Europe in early October. What’s amazing is that even though it’s not targeted for the high-end user (it’ll be offered free, after all) the Tattoo will still run HTC Sense.

The downside of the HTC Tattoo is it only sports a 2.8-inch QVGA (240×320) resistive touchscreen. We know the resistive touchscreen was used to keep costs down but it seems like it’s at the expense of user experience, it’s a tough pill to swallow. I think the average consumer probably won’t go for this but if people want to skimp on price when buying upgraded devices, maybe they will.

It comes with a 528MHz Qualcomm processor, 3.2 megapixel camera, 512MB ROM, 256MB RAM, 3G, quad-band GSM, GPS, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, compass and accelerometer.

*ROM* CyanogenMOD (Version 4.0.4)

I want to review a whole ROM due to issues arising lately so here it goes.

CyanogenMOD is the most popular and currently the most talked about ROM for Android since the JF’s ROMs.

It requires your android to be rooted but once rooted I would normal recommend Cyanogen as your first choice of ROMs.

BUT recently the suppose to be OPEN SOURCE Android and the company behind it have given the creator a cease and desist order meaning he must stop making the ROMs due to what I believe to be “copyright” issues.

In a recent tweet the creator (@Cyanogen) said

“Sorry everyone, CyanogenMod in it’s current state is done. I am violating Google’s license by redistributing their applications.”

The main things it can do is

- Allow FULL Root Access (Giving you awesome features not normally accessible on the standard ROM)
- Themes Support

I must say overall the UI is stunning against Googles standard ROM with its theme support.

The Pros

- Easy To Use
- Great UI
- Themes
- Great Speed
- Great Preinstalled Apps
- Better Features (Against Googles ROM)

The Cons

- ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!!

Last Word

All in all this ROM is by far the best ROM created and understandably it must be ceased as those apps are property of Google Corp. But I was told Android is Open Source so this auction kinda amazes me.

In my opinion Google needs to stop worrying about things that make Android great and start worrying about things to make Android greater.

Such as Paid Apps Support in more countries…

I personally think Cyanogen was doing Google a favor but if they don’t like it they should hire Cyanogen’s Creator he works faster and gives better results then Google themselves.

Final Rating (Out Of 5 *s)
***** (5 Stars)

The promise of mobile augmented reality

My intention with this blog is always to write medium-length “think-pieces,” about technology, government, or preferably both. I’m working on several (the Jefferson Gov 2.0 piece, the Evil Twin 2.0 piece, and one on “whither the multilingual web”), but they do truly require thought and some free time, so they percolate a bit.

In the meantime, readers like the latest cool demo videos, so for Friday fun here’s another below, featured on TechCrunch last night (“Bing comes to the iPhone via Robotvision”), with an augmented reality app for the iPhone which uses Bing Maps and Bing’s real-time data (website here). The company describes itself this way:

Robotvision augmented reality is an exciting new way to explore the world around you. Using the accelerometer and compass technology of the iPhone 3GS, along with new camera capabilities of the 3.1 OS update, you can discover content and locations around you like never before. Search for nearby locations, restaurants, points of interest — you name it! All using the power of Bing local search. Discover photographs taken and geotagged by Flickr users in the area. Find and engage with people on Twitter in your area – all just by looking around like you normally would!” -robotvision website, emphasis added

As TechCrunch points out, “Last month, Microsoft announced its Bing iPhone SDK, which this app is using.” There will be more along these lines for the Windows Phones being released imminently this fall (using WinMo 6.5).

If you like what you see in that video, you should follow Tim Sears, the engineer who has created robotvision, who writes on Twitter as @u2elan.  I also follow several other good augmented-reality Twitter feeds, here’s a short starter list if you’re interested:

• @augmented
• @ARmapping
• @TalkingDogAR
• @ARtweets
• @ARwiki
• @AugmentedPlanet
• @RobertRice
• @ubistudio
• @jack_benoff
• @KobraKai
• @LayarMobile
• @augReality
• @augmentedAR
• @totalimmersion
• @joeludwig
• @eventhorizons
• @comogard

It’s obvious that the AR field and the real-time web are heading toward immersive convergence, with what will almost certainly be astounding consequences and capabilities. For example, I’ve written about Microsoft Tag before – and now Joe Wilcox is making a provocative argument in an article with a benign title, “Could Microsoft Tag Augment Windows Mobile Reality?” At the end of the long piece which looks at competing strategies from Nokia, Google’s Android and others, Wilcox proposes the following (I’ve added bold emphasis to a couple points):

There is yet no mobile barcode economy. Google doesn’t control tagwords. Microsoft Tag has potential to become the barcode development and services platform. The Bing and Windows Live teams should be all over Tag. Microsoft isn’t exactly early barcode adopter, but there is yet time as there is no widely adopted standard. There are competitors, like Nokia Mobile Codes. Google isn’t sitting idly by, either. For example, the aforementioned Sky Map Web page has a ZXing barcode. Just point your Android phone camera to download the application.

Microsoft is building the services infrastructure to do much more, if company executives have the wherewithal. Tags could be the commercial backbone for mobile information, with no manual search necessary. They could build economy into mobile augmented reality.

I say to Microsoft: Don’t wait for third parties. Tag it! Tag everything. Microsoft Tag already is available for most mobile platforms, not just Windows Mobile. I would start with Windows Live Maps, augmenting reality in the browser as well as the device. Even do some augmented augmented reality, by overlaying mapped rooftops with Microsoft Tags. The user clicks or touches the Tag to get more information. Sure, you could overlay name of the store, but a mobile barcode could access so much more information tied to a database service.

Building out infrastructure will take years, and Google is sure to push its own technology if Microsoft does. Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates built the company by selling stuff cheaper than competitors and by controlling key file formats and technology standards. The mobile barcode is a technology standard Microsoft shouldn’t want any other company to control, particularly Google.

 

Agree or disagree with Wilcox, there’s sure to be movement along those lines. Let me know your thoughts.

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WpToGo auf dem G1 mit Android

Erster Testpost auf dem Google G1 mit dem Programm WpToGo.
Bisher funktioniert es wunderbar und problemlos. Dank der Hardware-Tastatur lässt es sich recht komfortabel und schnell tippen.
Erster Eindruch: sehr positiv! (9/10)
Lediglich das Hinzufügen von neuen Kategorien ist nicht implementiert.
Nächster Test: Bilder-Upload (soll angeblich noch Probleme machen)

Nvidia conferma Chrome OS su Tegra

Ad inizio mese alcune indiscrezioni dalla Cina indicavano l’arrivo di uno Smartbook basato su piattaforma Nvidia Tegra e dotato del sistema operativo Google Chrome OS. La notizia chiamava in causa nomi come Acer e Lenovo ed indicava “fine Settembre” come data prevista per la commercializzazione.

Tre settimane dopo il General Manager del reparto Mobile Nvidia, Mike Rayfield, ha confidato al sito jkontherun la collaborazione in atto tra la casa e Google, destinata a far entrare il misterioso sistema Chrome OS tra le soluzioni possibili per la piattaforma Tegra.

In pratica oltre a Windows Mobile, Windows CE e Android, anche Chrome OS sarà tra i sistemi operativi utilizzati nei prossimi Smartbook. Cosa influenzerà la scelta? Nulla, a detta di Mike Rayfield, il tutto sarà deciso esclusivamente dai produttori. Nel testo dell’articolo non si parla ancora di date precise, ma si indica, ancora una volta, il periodo che ci separa dalla fine dell’anno.

Via: netbooked

Android Magic-o da HTC chega ao Brasil

HTC Magic - Primeiro aparelho com Android a aparecer oficialmente no Brasil

Quinta-feira passada (17/09/2009) foi lançado no Brasil o HTC Magic, primeiro smartphone com Android a aparecer oficialmente por aqui. (Auto-intitulada) Líder internacional na plataforma do Google, a empresa chegou firme para demarcar território com o aparelho. Além do Android, temos mais algumas ótimas novidades, como a presença do HTC Sense e a fantástica tela do aparelho. E algumas novidades não tão boas, como a inexistência de um acordo com o Google sobre apps para o aparelho. Mas vejamos sua mágica.

O HTC Magic é da nova geração de aparelhos da HTC, que tenta acompanhar a nova geração de usuários de smartphones. Hoje muito mais do que nunca aparelhos dessa categoria tem muito mais de uma função na vida das pessoas. Além disso, a tendência corrente é que os aparelhos fiquem conectados (praticamente) o dia todo, para os mais diversos usos. O Magic é uma ótima maneira encontrada pela HTC de encarar esses novos desafios. (E eu emprestei esse parágrafo de parte do discurso do apresentador do produto =P).

A grande mágica trazida pela gigante Taiwanesa nesse dispositivo foi o HTC Sense (que merece um post só para ele), conceito de experiência de usuário que será empregado pela empresa em seus dispositivos com Android. A idéia central do conceito é permitir que o usuário seja capaz de criar um aparelho único, que seja completamente aderente às suas necessidades. Projeto ambicioso. Mas não é que a HTC conseguiu!?

Tão fantástico é o Sense que até hoje não se viu (eu não vi, você viu?) nada parecido quando o assunto é personalização em dispositivos móveis. É possível por exemplo criar diversos perfis para um mesmo usuário. Isso parece simples (e realmente é) mas é uma idéia com muito potencial. Imagine ter configurações diferentes do seu aparelho para trabalho, idas a shows, aulas e o que mais for necessário. O que você precisa naquele momento da sua vida é o que o aparelho te oferece. E para cada perfil, você tem várias telas para colocar seus aplicativos mais usados, widgets e tal.

E isso é uma novidade exclusiva, ao menos por enquanto, do público brasileiro. Ao que tudo indica, lá fora, o Magic não têm (tinha?) o Sense. Ponto para eles.

Software com certeza é o forte desse aparelho. Clientes para Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Twitter, You Tube, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Talk, Google Calendar, … ufa. E eu nem terminei a lista. E ainda melhor: tudo isso integrado! Com certeza o sonho de muita gente realizado. Mas eles levaram isso a sério mesmo: o dispositivo oferecerá acesso até ao Street View do Google Maps.

Essa você já deve ter ficado com a pulga atrás da orelha. Se tem Street View, deve ter flash. Tem mesmo. Eu não diria que é o melhor suporte de flash do universo, mas pelo menos o suporte existe, o que para esse tipo de dispositivo já é bastante coisa.

O discador do aparelho também promete fazer mágica. Chamado espertamente de Smart Dialer, ele promete encontrar com apenas algumas teclas o contato que você procura. A idéia é deixar que o aparelho encontre o contado para você, sem muito esforço. Só experimentando para ver.

Outros dois softwares muito interessante são o Footprint e o Barcode Scanner. O primeiro é uma aplicação muito útil para gerenciar fotos com geotagging e comentários. Tire fotos, guarde a posição onde tirou, comente-a. Volte no mesmo lugar anos depois e a aplicação de mostra os momentos ali registrados. Muito simples, muito útil. A segunda, um scanner de códigos de barra que utiliza serviços do Google para encontrar informações sobre o produto associado ao código de barras. Outra aplicação que todo mundo quer, mas não sabia quando teria acesso.

Smart Dialer, Street View e Barcode Scanner - E isso é só uma parte do que o HTC Magic tem a oferecer

No hardware, tenho um ponto forte a ressatar, antes de mais nada. É mais uma das novidade que realmente deixa o queixo no chão. A tela do aparelho é capacitiva e multitouch! (Apple que se cuide.) Além disso, tem resolução de 320 x 480 pixels (HVGA) em 3.2 polegadas com 64k cores. Veja parte das especificações do aparelho:

Processador Qualcomm® MSM7200A™, 528 MHz Memória ROM: 512 MB
RAM: 288 MB Display LCD TFT de 3.2 polegadas, com 65.536 cores, resolução HVGA 320 x 480 pixels, tela capacitiva sensível ao toque. Câmera Câmera colorida de 3.2 MP com foco automático. Teclado Teclado virtual Navegação Track ball
Botões de atalho (home, menu, back, search, verdinho e vermelinho) Bateria Bateria recarregável de íond de Lítio
Capacidade: 1340 mAh Dimensões 113mm C x 55,56mm L x 13,65mm E Peso 116g com a bateria Redes HSPA/WCDMA: 850/2100 MHz
Velocidades de até 2 Mbps de up-linke 7,2 Mbps de down-link
Quad-Band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz Conectividade Bluetooth® 2.0
Wi-Fi®: IEEE 802.11 b/g
Mini USB 2.0 de 11 pinos e conector de áudio GPS Antena GPS integrada Expansão microSD™ (compatível com SD 2.0)

O resto do hardware não tem nada de muito extraordinário. Processador Qualcomm MSM7200A de 528 MHz, igual ao de outros modelos da marca, como Hero, Touch Pro 2 e Touch Diamond 2 e de outros aparelhos como Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 e X2 e o Samsung GT-i7500 Galaxy. A quantidade de RAM é um pouco superior ao que estamos acostumados a ver nos smaprtphones atualmente: 288 MB nele contra 256 MB na média. Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, acelerômetro e GPS, o que atualmente não é mais que obrigação num aparelho da cateoria. E o armazenamento interno é bem pequeno, apenas 512 MB, o que praticamente exige uma expansão por meio da entrada MicroSD disponível. E para finalizar, a informação da duração da bateria: “depende do uso” (!?).

Botoẽs do HTC Magic: home, menu, back, search, verdinho e vermelinho, além do track ball

Ao contrário de diversos aparelhos da nova geração que andam vindo com pouquíssimos botões (ou nenhum no caso do N900), o Magic vem com vários: home, menu, back e search, os clássicos verdinho e vermelinho, além de contar com uma track ball. Home e menu não são muito diferentes do esperado. O back oferece navegação para trás, tela a tela, também como esperado. E o search abre as buscas contextualizadas do aparelho, que prometem ser revolucionárias (mas veremos).

Outras informações são um grande mistério. Preço sugerido: vai depender das operadoras (Oh!). Operadoras que vão oferecer o dispositivo: ninguém sabe. (Ou seja, o preço vai ser descidido por ninguém sabe quem.) Disponibilidade no varejo (aka venda de desbloqueados) também é uma ingócnita. Acordo com o Google para vender apps por aqui: inexistente e ninguém sabe se vai sair em algum momento ou quando sairá caso saia. Praticamente todas as questões comerciais estão em aberto. Você está perdido? Nós também.

Com ingredientes requintados como os usados no HTC Magic, fica difícil errar a receita. Hardware bastante razoável munido de uma fantástica tela capacitiva multitouch. Conceito HTC Sense com grande poder atrás de sua simplicidade. Android como plataforma, rica e flexível. Uma mistura que tem tudo para dar muito certo. Pelo menos se o escuro em que estamos com relação as questões comerciais não atrapalharem.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2

HTC Hero: Another Joined The Club

Last nite, James finally joined the club. He got himself a white one. Ed’s white unit will be reaching my US address by 24th Sept and will be brought back by my sister 1st week of October. So far, a total of 6 of us have ditched the iPhone for the HTC Hero. Including 3 iPhone 3GS users. This phone is really something. The social networking, connectivity, interface and Android Marketplace – make the user experience like no other. We’ve all heard about the iPhone Killer – and being an Apple FanBoy myself, I think we do have a very strong opponent here. The Hero makes iPhone feel dated and old. The only 2 areas the iPhone excel compared with the Hero are it’s Music Player interface and Video Recording. Everything else – Hero rocks.

HTC Hero update.......where is Edinburgh weather?

My chum at work, Steve, has very kindly taken the Hero overnight and will attempt to perform the HTC updater for me as he has a laptop at home that has Vista on it.  A couple of further odd problems had arisen overnight. The built in HTC weather app comes with about 7 cities that are dialled in. They all update no problem. I tried to add Edinburgh but continually met problems as it just refused to update, telling me at the same time that “no weather data was available”. I tried adding a few other cities and they worked just fine but for some reason it doesn’t want to know about Edinburgh. It’s not like it is some small in the sticks town, flippin” nora, it is the capital of Scotland after all!

I ended up trying to add it about 10 times and then, when I checked the “cities” in the settings, I saw that Edinburgh was listed 10 times. What made this more annoying was that I then couldn’t delete any of those entries but could delete all the other pre-installed ones. Tis a pity as the HTC Weather app is very nice looking and would have done the job rather well. I’ll need to seek out an alternative weather application.

Rather worryingly, with the whole Android thing being so customisable I have already set out on the search for extra themes and initially wanted to get an iPhone one. What does that say about how things arfe going so far?

New Eclipse Android Test Features

I think the biggest improvement that both new Android developers and exerpeiced developers will like cocners how unit testing was set-up.

We are no longer forced to create a new src folder in the parent and remember to create the first test class pointing to the already created application package and other tricks as you can see from the above screen shot unit tests of an application is  now a separate project bringing it in-line with other non-Google non-eclipse IDE Android plugins.  Thanks Google Eclipse ADT Engineers this was unexpected. but nice.

Hero is back! Updated and rooted.

Hero-то ми най-после се върна от ремонт.  Доста време им отне на румънския сервиз да ми сменят счупеното стъкло на дисплея. Докато го нямаше (~20-тина дена) успя да излезе нов ром.  Няма да ползвам официалния метод,  ще го флашна с модифицирания rom от Paul от Modaco.

Стъпките са:

1. Качване на пачнатия рековъри имидж за по-лесна работа след това.

2. Ъпдрейд на радио-то.

3. Слагане на новия rom.

NB. За влизане в рековъри режима Power+Home (винаги го забравям това и после проверявам как беше. ).

Флашнат е. Сега почва катеренето на приложения.

Universal Translation

This video discussing the concept of a universal translator is pretty cool.

I thought about writing something like this for the Android Developer Challenge just because it sounded fun, but ultimately decided I didn’t have time to do it. It shouldn’t be too hard – Cupcake already supports speech-to-text, Donut supports text-to-speech (and in the meantime, there are libraries like this one), and the Google Translate API is available to do the heavy lifting.

Obviously, implementing something like this on a mobile phone with out of the box technologies poses some issues, but the basic idea is cool, it’d be fun to play with, and it would come in handy in lots of situations. Hopefully someone with the time to work on it will put it together – I’d like to see how well it works.

Google publica la SDK de Android 1.6

Nos levantamos con nueva versión Android, bueno en realidad nos encontramos con que Google ha publicado de cara a desarrolladores el SDK para Android 1.6, a la que mucha gente conoce como Donut y que trae consigo interesantes novedades.

Los principales cambios que encontramos en Donut son el soporte a dispositivos CDMA, y lo más interesante, la posibilidad de trabajar con diferentes resoluciones y tamaños de pantalla, entre las que están QVGA, como es el caso del HTC Tattoo, y altas resoluciones como WVGA (800 × 480 píxeles).

Desde el punto de vista del usuario encontramos cambios en las búsquedas rápidas desde la pantalla de inicio, desde la que podemos elegir buscar en la web, los favoritos del navegador, el historial o entre nuestros contactos, música y aplicaciones.

La cámara también era un elemento que necesitaba mejoras, al parecer no ha habido grandes cambios desde el punto de vista funcional, pero se ha realizado una revisión importante para mejorar su tiempo de carga en un 39%, reduciendo el tiempo de espera entre fotos en un 28%. Su interfaz ha sufrido algunos cambios, tanto en modo fotográfico como vídeo, también en la galería.

Como ya vimos hace unos días, el Android Market recibe un lavado de cara, con las novedades que explicamos en su momento, posibilidad de colocar capturas y descripciones por parte de los desarrolladores, nuevas categorías, etc.

No me olvido de las mejoras en accesibilidad con la presencia de text-to-speech, y la menos importante aplicación para la gestión de la batería, monitorizando el gasto de los recursos que tenemos en funcionamiento, ayudándonos a mejorar en un aspecto débil de los terminales android, su autonomía.

Está claro que Android va evolucionando poco a poco, demostrando que puede convertirse en el futuro rey de la gran mayoría de Smartphones del mercado, de hecho las cifras siguen en aumento, al igual que la cantidad de nuevos modelos que se lanzan gobernados por él.

También encontramos un nuevo panel de control para las VPN (Virtual Private Network) que nos permitirá configurar y conectar con diferentes tipos de VPNs:

• L2TP/IPSEC pre-shared key based VPN
• L2TP/IPsec certificate based VPN
• L2TP only VPN

• PPTP only VPN

Existen muchos cambios no tan evidentes como un nuevo Kernel, y un montón de nuevas APIs, pero son de cara a los desarroladores y no creo que aporten mucho a esta noticia.

La actualización no será accesible por todo el mundo el mismo día que Google la haga pública, los dispositivos “With Google” la tendrán el primer día, que se espera que sea en el próximo mes de octubre.

Celulares com Android devem chegar ao Brasil ainda em setembro

Finalmente, uma coisa boa para nós: os aparelhos com Android, sistema operacional do Google, estará à venda no país. A HTC informa que trará para o Brasil em breve um modelo (amanhã terá coletiva onde saberemos mais sobre o assunto), já a TIM também vem divulgando que terá o primeiro celular com Android do Brasil. O Samsung Galaxy já foi homologado e falta pouco para chegar ao mercado.

Os celulares com o sistema concorrem com o iPhone, pois possuem câmera de 3 MP, teclado Qwerty, tela touch e aplicativos, que não precisam passar por aprovação do Google para serem disponibilizados, diferentemente dos apps da Apple.

A TIM, por meio de sua assessoria de imprensa, não informa tem mais detalhes sobre os modelos e planos dos smartphones, mas garantiu que o anúncio será feito em breve.

Eai, vai garantir o seu ?

Android - Primeiras impressões

Bom pessoal, hoje tive um dia atarefado. Passei praticamente o dia todo na rua apenas com meu N95 online no TIM 3G+, só para postar no twitter e ver meus e-mails e noticias

Nos próximos dias vou me dedicar a algo que me despertou a curiosidade é novo sistema operacional para celulares e smartphones sendo desenvolvido pelo Google e a The Open Handset Alliance. O Android que chega ao Brasil amanhã em um aparelho da HTC como foi divulgado num dos post anteriores.

O que já se sabe é que ele vem com a promessa de romper algumas fronteiras dos atuais sistemas operacionais do tipo justamente por ter código-fonte aberto e com isso permitir que desenvolvedores diversos criem seus aplicativos aumentando assim a oferta de funcionalidades e serviços que podem ser aproveitadas em cada aparelho e o melhor sem custo!

Nos próximos dias vou postar uma matéria mais completa sobre o Android, por enquanto segue alguns vídeos disponbilizado pelos desenvolvedores explicando algumas funções no sistema:

Truques de Navegador

Copiar e Colar

Leitor e Fotos

Mídia e Navegador

Até a próxima!

Ultimativ konfigurierbar: HTC Hero

Das HTC läßt sich wirklich so individuell konfigurieren, dass es wahrscheinlich keine zwei gleich eingestellten Geräte im Umlauf gibt. Schön dabei ist, dass sich die Oberfläche nach Kontakten individuell organisieren läßt, d.h. die Screenelemente werden entsprechend individuell angeordnet. Dabei werden Informationen aus Social Networks mit integriert. Konkret bedeutet das z.B. wenn jemand anruft, dass man dessen letzte Updates in den Networks sehen kann oder auch allgemeine Informationen wie z.B. den Geburtstag. Gut funktioniert auch die Suchfunktion, bei vielen Smartphones immer noch ein Schwachpunkt. 

Im Internet surft es sich mit dem HTC Hero ebenfalls gut, auch Flash wird vernünftig angezeigt, keine lästigen Fehlermeldungen oder zerstörte Elemente mehr auf dem Bildschirm. Das Betriebssystem Android läuft stabil und ist performant. Recht leistungsfähig für den Alltagsgebrauch ist auch der Akku mit über 400 Minuten Gesprächszeit, da kann sich ein etwas abgenudeltes iphone eine große Scheibe von abschneiden.

Und gute Fotos macht dieses HTC, die 5-Megapixel-Autofocus-Kamera ist ähnlich leistungsfähig wie vor 2-3 Jahren noch eine kompakte Digitalkamera der mittleren Preisklasse. So lassen sich Reiseberichte einfach erstellen.

The Glass Platform

Cloud Telecomputing's The Glass Platform

So we’ve seen  Android hit many different platforms, but is it really in the market for a landline phone?  Cloud Telecomputers thinks it is, and definitely went out of their way to prove it.  They are presenting the new wave of business phones using what they call the Glass Platform.

The company’s first wave of phones will feature the following:

• 8″ color touchscreen
• Tap to dial by name on phone
• Click to dial from Outlook
• Bluetooth
• Voice dialing and notetaking
• HD speakerphone

The Bluetooth interface on the phone is actually used to let you answer your cell phone from the desk phone.  This is a pretty interesting feature that sets this aside from most business-class desk phones.

Cloud Telecomputing has completely revamped the look of the Android OS for their product.  One of the great roles the company has taken upon themselves is creating their own market for applications to run on the Glass phone.  Among their applications are automated pickup for FedEx and UPS packages, integration with LinkedIn profiles and the ability to do screen-sharing with your desktop PC.

Something that may disappoint readers of this blog is that the phone won’t be available for individual sale from the company.  The product is being sold through license of the platform or by resellers to slap their brand on the phone.  Many ideas have been thrown about for various implementations of the Glass Platform such as use in law firms, medical offices and patient rooms, engineering offices and various other small to large scale businesses.

For more information check out Cloud Telecomputing and be sure to leave your input.

View of the Contacts screen

Simulador Flash del skin MOTOBLUR, el androide de Motorola

Si tienes curiosidad por probar el skin Android de Motorola (de nombre MOTOBLUR), no pierdas tiempo y dirígete a la página del fabricante siguiendo este enlace para usar un simulador del software. Aunque la aplicación Flash no permite acceso total a todas las opciones del móvil DEXT, es suficiente para ofrecernos una idea bastante completa del sistema operativo y los cambios que incluyó Moto. Parece que la integración que han hecho con servicios de internet como Facebook y Twitter funciona muy bien con las opciones de Android (incluyendo el acceso fácil a aplicaciones y las notificaciones)

Bringing its Augmented Reality to Mobile Applications, Total Immersion Partners with Smartphones App provider INT13

Embedded Mobile AR Solution to be Available on Variety of Platforms

LOS ANGELES and PARIS (September 14, 2009) — Total Immersion (www.t-immersion.com), the world leader in augmented reality, today announced that it has signed an exclusive distribution partnership with int13 (www.int13.net), a French software firm that specializes in next-gen smartphone applications.

Total Immersion and int13 will integrate their respective technologies to market embedded augmented reality applications through Total Immersion’s D’Fusion Mobile platform. Compatible with the majority of next-generation mobile phones, the initial application will operate seamlessly on Symbian and Windows Mobile devices, with iPhone and Android support following thereafter. The application will be released early in Q4.

Total Immersion’s patented D’Fusion® augmented reality technology integrates real time interactive 3-D graphics into a live video stream. The partnership between Total Immersion and int13 expands the D’Fusion® platform to mobile devices. D’Fusion Mobile complements Total Immersion’s D’Fusion Professional, D’Fusion@Home and D’Fusion Web browser implementations.

“At int13, we recognize the value of augmented reality as an engaging new way to interact with consumers,” said Stéphane Cocquereaumont, Managing Director of int13. ”Our aim is to develop games and augmented reality applications that make the most of what smartphones have to offer. With this distribution partnership, we look to benefit from Total Immersion’s premier market position as the company brings our combined technology to a global audience.”

”This is a win-win for both companies, and for consumers,” said Bruno Uzzan, CEO, Total Immersion. “int13 has developed one of the most dynamic augmented reality libraries for mobile phones. With this agreement, Total Immersion enters the booming smartphone application space, marketing a compelling augmented reality experience on mobile devices.”

About Total Immersion

Total Immersion (www.t-immersion.com) is the global leader in augmented reality. Through its patented D’Fusion® technology, Total Immersion blurs the line between the virtual world and the real world by integrating real time interactive 3D graphics into a live video stream. Leading the augmented reality category since 1999, the company maintains a presence in Europe and the U.S., and supports a network of partners worldwide.

About int13

int13 (www.int13.net) is a mobile game studio that creates original and innovative content for all mobile platforms. int13 develops its own cross-platform middleware and own mobile augmented reality technology to power its games.

Aplicación de Flickr para el iPhone

Flickr ya creo una página especial para el iPhone y para los móviles con Android, pero era muy básica y los usuarios pedían más. Sus suplicas han sido escuchadas y Yahoo! a lanzado esta aplicación para el iPhone y el iPod touch. Aunque de momento solo está disponible en la App Store americana, ayer mismo explique como hacerse una cuenta en la misma, por lo quien la quiera, no tiene excusa.

Más fotos en el Flickr del blog.

[Via http://applesblog.wordpress.com]

G1: Delete unwanted stock application

If you want to get rid of some application from the G1 you do not need anyway, just ADB into your device, su and:

1) mount -o remount,rw -t yaffs2 /dev/block/mtdblock3 /system

2) cd system/app

I deleted (rm):

a) Voice Dialer – Never used: VoiceDialer.apk

b) Voice Search – Never used: VoiceSearch.apk

c) Amazon MP3 – Works in US only: com.amazon.mp3.apk

Matthias

[Via http://nitschke.wordpress.com]

Συγκριτικό Android κινητών

Συγκριτικό Android κινητών-koutsou.gr

Δεν είναι πολλές οι επιλογές για κάποιον που θέλει ένα Android κινητό. Τουλάχιστον μέχρι στιγμής. Όλοι οι κατασκευαστές προσπαθούν να πετύχουν το μεγαλύτερο σκορ όσων αφορά τον δείκτη απόδοση/τιμή. Και όσο για την απόδοση αυτή μεταφράζεται είτε σε hardware είτε σε software. Και μην μου πείτε ότι όλα έχουν Android OS. Η HTC με το Hero πλάσαρε το Sence UI όπως έκανε και η Motorola με το Dext και το MotoBlur, έτσι ώστε να δώσουν το κάτι παραπάνω στο Android OS.[next]

[Via http://xollothnews.wordpress.com]