Chinavision Robot budget Android phone

Looking for Android on a budget?  Lured in by the subsidized prices for today’s Android smartphones, but reluctant to sign up to a new, two-year agreement?  Chinavision’s Robot promises the scratch that itch for you: at $179.10 it’s about the same cost as a regular Android phone, but you’re getting it SIM-free.

Over at The Red Ferret Journal they’ve reviewed the Robot, and as you might expect there are some compromises to hit that price-tag.  For a start there’s no 3G – it’s GSM/EDGE only – and the OS is Android 1.5; the 2.8-inch touchscreen is resistive and runs at 320 x 240 resolution.  Meanwhile the CPU is just 400MHz and the camera only 2-megapixels.  The end result is a phone that isn’t exactly swift, but otherwise the review seems surprisingly positive.

In fact, the Robot feels well put together (even if the style is borrowed a little from the BlackBerry Storm) and the lack of 3G means you get around three days use out of a full charge.  Considering something like the HTC Tattoo still runs to £179.99 ($270), the Chinavision Robot might not be such a bad deal.

[Via http://f3.kz]

Neofonie WePad: Not just a funny name

TechTechies has posted an article detailing an interestingly powerful notepad, by a company who’s name is just as interestingly odd.  The Neofonie WePad, despite its silly ass name, boasts a large 11.6″ 1366×786 display, a 1.66 GHz Intel Atom N450 Pineview-M processor, and 16GB of NAND storage with the option of 32GB internal and  32GB SD for all of your porn multimedia needs.  Hit the link for more detailed information and a specifications comparison with Apple’s iPad.

I’d be very interested in checking this notepad out, specifically to see how they modified the Android Home Launcher to suit that big display.

[Via http://fonefrenzy.com]

A bad week for Google?

By some accounts, this week hasn’t been so great for Google.

The first bit of bad news concerns sales of Google’s Nexus One phone.

On Tuesday, the market analytics firm Flurry released a report saying initial sales of Google’s Nexus One phone have been slim compared to the Droid and the iPhone. The firm compared sales of those those phones over the first 74 days they were on the market. In a blog post, Flurry says it chose that time period because that’s how long it took the original iPhone to sell 1 million handsets when it was released in 2007.

By comparison, only 135,000 Nexus One phones were sold in that phone’s first 74 days. More from Flurry’s post:

As Google and Apple continue to battle for the mobile marketplace, Google Nexus One may go down as a grand, failed experiment or one that ultimately helped Google learn something that will prove important in years to come.

Google responded to that news by playing up the Android Market, the online store where people with Android phones — like the Nexus One and Droid — buy applications, according to Engadget. 

Google issued a statement to CNN, saying:

We’re pleased with our sales volumes and with how well the Nexus One has been received by our customers. The Nexus One is one of a fast growing number of Android handsets which have been brought to market through the open Android ecosystem. Our partners are shipping more than 60,000 Android handsets each day compared with 30,000 just three months ago.

Not everyone says this news is so bad, though. Concern about the Nexus One’s slow start is “more than a little ridiculous,” writes Derek Thompson at The Atlantic:

Google is still a software company dabbling in hardware. And its mobile smart phone software is very, very good.

The other potentially troublesome story concerns Google’s search traffic.

Microsoft’s Bing search engine appears to be making slight inroads on Google, which still dominates that territory. A Nielsen report, issued Monday, found Microsoft searches in February made up 12.5 percent of the search market, compared to 10.9 percent in January. Meanwhile, Google still accounts for 65.2 percent of all U.S. searches.

The Wall Street Journal’s D: All Things Digital blog notes that the shift in the search market is “slow going”:

… Bing is clearly whittling away at both Google and Yahoo’s search market share. Of course, the flip side is that with Yahoo in decline, the search side of the Microsoft-Yahoo partnership isn’t showing all that much growth.

What do you think? Is Google, clearly one of the world’s dominant tech companies, in any trouble here?

Was its jump into the mobile phone hardware market misguided, or do you think Nexus One sales may still take off? We welcome your thoughts in the comments section below.

[Via http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com]

SlingPlayer coming to Android

I’m sure those of your following the Android scene will have already heard that the SlingPlayer is coming to an Android device near you soon.

For those who don’t know about Sling, it’s basically a setup that allows you to stream television from your home to your mobile device.

Connect the SlingBox to your Sky box (or Freeview if you’re poor like me) and connect it to your broadband router and away you go. You now have access to your home TV – but on the move. It’s even clever enough to allow changing of channels remotely which is surely a God-send? Imagine if you had accidentally left your Freeview set to ITV2 and had to put up with a whole day’s worth of Trisha and Jeremy Kyle.

The app is supposedly going to be out sometime this summer so not too long to wait. It will work both over 3G and WiFi so you should be able to catch up with Neighbours or Home & Away wherever you are.

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

Got QR?

Scan this with your iPhone or Android Phone

We do!  QR codes are becoming more and more popular.  Their typical use is directing traffic to a website.  If you run a website and want people to be able to view it using their mobile devices (mainly iPhone and Android devices), add a QR code to your link and let people scan it.  Most of the current “smart” phones have free (and paid) barcode or QR code scanning apps available for them.  To take advantage of them you must post a QR image, like this!  (It sounds like Windows Phone Series 7)

It’s actually very simple to setup, there are websites out there that have eveything you need to set one up.  It takes less than a minute.  We used Kaywa and their free QR-Code Generator, they allow you to set the code to link to a URL, MMS, Phone Number or Text message.  Give it a shot and let us know how it goes.

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

72 Hrs Into Foursquare = ADDICTION!

Watchouts Discovered In First 72 Hours of  Foursquare Use:

Given my Gamer past and competitive nature, I was quite eager to get several check-ins down on my first day.  My first Check-in was at The Pub, the location of the monthly New Media Cincinnati 2nd Saturday Meetups and I made several stops (aka- ‘drive bys’) on the way home following the event.  Love racking up the points for first time visits. The next day gave me an opportunity to add some new venues to the location menu.  Downside- you need to have the full address information for input.  I tried to put in my favorite coffee spot, Luckman’s Coffee and there was absolutely no address anywhere on the front door or shopping center.  Looks like we need a Super User to swing in and clean things up!  Apparently, Foursquare assigns these tech savvy folks to keep the “neighborhood” blight-free.  So here are some things I discovered in my first 72 hours:

• I AM ADDICTED!
• It it is a thrill to be Mayor.
• I spend a lot of time at my church(3 Check-ins already)-looks like I’m praying, but actually I’m involved on quite a few volunteer projects and boards ( but yeah, I’m praying for you between meetings!)
  
  
• Pushing info out to friends, Twitter, Facebook– make it reasonable, like sharing info on becoming mayor or unlocking a badge
• Be careful who you add or accept as a friend- does said person really need to know your whereabouts?
• DO NOT ADD YOUR HOME LOCATION-even if you call it ‘Heaven’, Foursquare will still pick up your ACTUAL location coordinates
• Being on Foursquare shows you info that  you may not really care to know about other people- for example, did I really need to know that Jon was out pubbing it until 3:00 a.m.? or that Liza is a Baptist, cus she checked into Hyde Park Baptist on Sunday morning?  Even found out who rides the Express Bus from Anderson into downtown Cincinnati for the daily commute.
• Haven’t uncovered any business specials yet; but I am digging the tips that others are leaving behind about each venue.

Warning:  Don’t try to shop and Check-In/Add tips at the same time- you will inevitably run your cart into another human being and risk looking a bit “shiny toy”-obsessed!  Listen to the vid below and answer the question in the comment section underneath. Thanks!

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

Goodbye iPhone 3Gs, Hello Nexus One

I have really enjoyed my iPhone and mobile Safari but AT&T and Apple will not unlock an iPhone for any reason. I am moving to Ghana and there is no way that I will be roaming with an AT&T international plan. It seems that iPhones are not yet sold in Ghana so I would have to try to buy an unlocked one in Amsterdam in transit or buy something in Ghana.

I couldn’t resist the new Google Nexus One. It was almost tailor-made for solving my problem. MTN in Ghana has 900MHz UMTS, which is supported by the Nexus One. And, of course, the Nexus One is sold unlocked.

Initial key selling points:

• Unlocked
• Can be tethered (via rooting or PDANet)
• Integration with Google Apps
• Multitasking
• Not tied to iTunes or any other desktop software

Android is a Java-like VM called Dalvik which runs on top of a core Linux OS and some C libraries like WebKit and SQLite. I was definitely concerned that the phone would be sluggish or klunky. It is neither. It is fast and it is slick.

My initial impression is that this phone has everything that I loved about the iPhone and either has built-in or add-on fixes for all the things that annoyed me.

Initial observations:

• Phone “activation” is dead simple. You sign in with a Google Apps, regular Google or Exchange account (or a combo) and you’re done.
• This thing seems faster than the iPhone 3Gs.
• WiFi performance is great and Edge (I’m still on AT&T) seems the same as the “3G” (which often falls back to Edge) performance I have been getting in my little slice of Washington, DC.
• The Voice app is like Visual Voicemail on steroids. Yeah, sometimes the transcripts are bad but then you fall back to the same behavior as Visual Voicemail. Incidentally, you don’t need a Google number for Voice to work. It sets itself up with your carrier to replace the voicemail system provided by your carrier and you can turn it off if you want to go back.
• Gadgets are a cool way to embed applications like calendar, weather and news and search right in your home screens.
• The Google Market store for apps is well done and it’s a nice touch that there is an Amazon music store app.
• Listen is fantastic at pulling down podcasts over the air and caching them. It also can pull them down in real time and I can still surf the web at the same time. On iPhone this wasn’t possible because the media streaming component of Safari is modal. You can’t do anything else with Safari unless you kill the stream.
• I love that the alarm clock has a cock crowing ringtone.

I have been seeing more and more Droid phones popping up around town. This feels like the future.

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

Indosat Android Expo

Sebagai provider pertama di Indonesia yang memperkenalkan teknologi bergerak Android, Indosat secara serentak di tujuh kota mengadakan Indosat Android Expo dari tanggal 3 – 7 Maret 2010. Semarang sebagai salah satu kota untuk expo ini mengambil lokasi di lantai dasar DP Mall Jl.Pemuda Semarang.

Pembukaan dilakukan pada tanggal 3 Maret 2010 di stand dan dilanjutkan dengan media gathering untuk Indosat Android Expo 2010 ini. Ada enam ATPM handset yang bekerja sama dengan Indosat untuk memperkenalkan tekhnologi Android ke masyarakat Indonesia. HTC – Hero, Motorola – Milestone, Samsung – Galaxy, Huawei – U8220, LG – GW620, dan Sony Ericsson – XPERIA X10. Masing-masing ATPM juga telah membuka kesempatan pre-order di www.indosat.com/android dari tanggal 23 – 28 Februari 2010 dengan harga special. Khusus di stand Semarang, beberapa ATPM juga menawarkan paket pembelian ditempat dengan cicilan 0% hingga 12 bulan dengan kartu kredit tertentu.

Indosat sendiri juga telah menyediakan paket-paket Internet Broadband yang menunjang kinerja handset dengan sistem Android. Matrix Broadband, Mentari dan IM3 tersedia pada expo tersebut dengan harga paket khusus. Matrix Broadband dengan kecepatan up to 7,2Mbps bisa didapatkan dengan Rp.90.000,-/bulan untuk 500MB pertama dan Rp.0,5,- untk per kb selanjutnya. Paket unlimited Matrix Broadband dibundling dengan harga Rp.175.000,- per bulan. Sedangkan untuk IM3 dan Mentari cukup reload pulsa dan mendaftar ke *777*1*5# dengan pilihan quota dan unlimited [paket IM2 inside].

Terbukti antusiasme warga Semarang akan Android cukup besar. Selama expo tercatat 36 unit handset secara cash terjual dan 46 unit masih indent. Sebanyak 65 aplikasi Matrix Broadband juga telah terdaftar dan aktif.

INFO : www.indosat.com/android

www.android.com

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

Google Gains, Apple Stays Steady, And Palm Loses In Smartphone Share

No wonder Apple is suing HTC for patent infringement over its Android phones. In the three months between October and January, Android’s overall share of smartphone subscribers in the U.S. rose 4.3 points to 7.1 percent, according to mobile market share data released by comScore.  Android showed the biggest single gain of any of the top five smartphone platforms.  Apple’s share was virtually flat at 25.2 percent (up 0.3 percent), while RIM’s Blackberries saw a 1.7 percent gain to 43 percent.

Overall, 42.7 million people in the U.S. owned a  smartphone during the period, up 18 percent. So even though Apple’s relative share didn’t go anywhere, it still grew with the market.  But watching RIM and Android phones take share cannot be pleasant for the folks at Cupertino.  The iPhone still rules the mobile Web, but again here Android is catching up fast.  Time to release a new iPhone.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s Windows Mobile and Palm saw drops in their shares.  Windows Mobile was down 4 percent and Palm was down 2.1 percent.

Top Smartphone Platforms

3 Month Avg. Ending Jan. 2010 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Oct. 2009

Total U.S. Age 13+

Source: comScore MobiLens

Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers Oct-09 Jan-10 Point Change Total Smartphone Subscribers 100.0% 100.0% N/A RIM 41.3% 43.0% 1.7 Apple 24.8% 25.1% 0.3 Microsoft 19.7% 15.7% -4.0 Google 2.8% 7.1% 4.3 Palm 7.8% 5.7% -2.1

Photo credit: Flickr/svensonsan.

CrunchBase InformationiPhone 3GSAndroidResearch In MotionInformation provided by CrunchBase

[Via http://techcrunch.com]

Google TV search

Ever wondered if you can search some of your favorite TV shows or channels on your TV like how you search YouTube videos in the internet. Well, this will soon be a reality as Google is now testing TV Search with Dish Network Corp that would allow subscribers to search for and create their own lineups of shows and online content by typing on a keyboard instead of using a remote control. The new search service would run on Internet connected set top boxes loaded with Google software. Google, the search engine giant is now targeting search advertising to the TV audience as well. The set-top box would run on Google’s Android operating system, providing additional markets for the platform beyond smartphones and mobile devices. Check out this video:

make money online

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

Forget the iPad -- Who's Gaming on Android?

Gaming on a larger, higher resolution display already has some salivating over the iPad’s potential. Kotaku today shares the “first ever gloriously big, gloriously detailed” pics of game specifically headed for Apple’s newest creation, and they do indeed look good. I tend to keep my gaming life separate from everything else, so I rely on an Xbox 360 (s msft) — I play a mean Hofner bass in Beatles: RockBand, for example. But I dabbled with a few iPhone games when I had the device. Now that I’m solely using a Google Nexus One (s goog), I haven’t even looked into any gaming — I had it in my head that all the good games were in Apple’s ecosystem and that Android couldn’t possibly have much to offer. After installing the free trial of HomeRun Battle 3D this past weekend, I realize that I’ve been walking past a mobile gaming opportunity.

The first thing I noticed about this game is how well the graphics look on the high-res Nexus One display. It certainly doesn’t hurt that this handset offers enough horsepower to make the game run smoothly. Although simple in style, I’d equate the look to be at least as good as that of a Nintendo DS title, if not better. Have a look at this video to get a feel for the gameplay and the visuals on a Motorola Droid — I balked at doing my own vid because I’m not that good just yet.

This same title is available for iPhone (s aapl) and it was wise of the developer to offer cross-platfrom, multi-player support. An iPhone gamer can play locally against an Android slugger, for example. I haven’t done that just yet, but I did play seven rounds with someone in South Korea. Why so many? I lost the first six rounds — ’nuff said.

I have little doubt that games on the 1024 x 768 iPad screen will shine, and I’m sure to check them out when the device hits stores. But I incorrectly assumed that Android didn’t have anything to offer in the way of gaming entertainment. Back in January, this video of 50 different Android games didn’t impress me that much. Between my HomeRun Derby 3D experience and videos of other new games like ExZeus and others, I’m coming to appreciate what game shops can do with Android. No, one game doesn’t make it a winning platform by any means, but there’s far more potential here than I expected to find. I’m sure we have some mobile gamers out there, so I have to ask — what other games should I be looking at on my Nexus One? I’ll let you compile a list while I head virtually to South Korea for an eighth match.

Image courtesy of Com2uS

Related research on GigaOM Pro (sub req’d):

Could Games Redeem Windows Mobile & Palm’s webOS

[Via http://jkontherun.com]

Desktops Gone With The Cloud - Think Smartphone

by Elias Shams

On my way back to DC from NYC  yesterday, I read an interesting article about one of Google’s vice-president, John Herlihy and his view of desktops vs smartphones.  He is predicting the desktops will be irrelevant in three years time and the Smartphones will take over. Well, given they are not in PC business, but aggressive plan to push their Android Operating System and Nexus One, no surprise there for his prediction.  Frankly, this was expected. In fact, I covered such prediction a few times on my blog. I guess we should thank Apple, Google, and RIM for the launch of their iPhone, Android, Nexus One, BlackBerry, and now iPad which has significantly contributed the path to such direction.

The rise of Cloud Computing in conjunction with widget-style applications developed for the mobile phone platform have contributed to faster adaptation of doing many tasks via our smartphones.  I think the testosterone war between Apple and Adobe over HTML5 vs Adobe’s Flash that began since the launch of iPad last month will be a factor in such transformation.!–more Read more…–>

Anyway, what does all this mean to the corporate market? How would they know which smartphones to pick for their employees? Once such transformation kicks in, how about blocking certain sites on smartphones that you can do with the desktops in corporate networks today? How would they stop the employees from watching porn during working hours? If you are a man reading this, you know what I am talking about. On average, how much do we spend on porn? 101% of our time!<

Such phenomena will certainly be a big headache for the CIOs and CTOs of the companies responsible for thousands of the corporate employees. Not to mention the installed base of applications, the data, platform transparency, the firewalls,  intrusion detection systems (IDS) at VPN endpoints, and file structure coming with transformation which I will address- in a different post.

If you are an enterprise IT manager trying to make sense of all this, and trying to figure out which smartphones to select for the employees who need one, here are a few tips for you to consider.

Before getting into specific device choices, you need to define the criteria and the needs:

First, the frequency that employees will need to carry or access phones for voice calls, text messaging, and in some cases, email, calendar, phone book, and other applications.

Second, the type of information needed to access? Are they the information stored on the open Internet or behind the company firewall, or whether the employees need to create work while in the field, and if so, what type of work. Any needs to access data collection, PowerPoint presentations, or long memos or other documents?

Third, whether the employee and the employer understand the basics about wireless and Internet access, as Internet is not a mission-critical network, and Wireless connectivity is not always available. Our wireless devices can best be described as being always on and ‘most of the time connected’. There is no guarantee of connectivity, nor is there a guarantee that you will always be able to access the information you want and need when on the road if you are connected. Data that resides only in the cloud or behind your corporate firewall is not always accessible.

Once the criteria are defined, you can then evaluate different types of wireless devices in the hands of the right employee. To make such determination, you really need to evaluate the right Smartphone OS (operating systems). Questions like:

a) Are they business friendly?

b) Which ones provide easy set-up and access to corporate email and information, support data encryption?

c) Which ones can be remotely managed by IT departments?

Based on my own personal experiences and coverage of BlackBerry, Android, iPhone, and reviews on other type of smartphones, here is how I would rank them for business use:

1. RIM (BlackBerry OS)

2. Microsoft (Windows Mobile OS)

3. Nokia (Symbian OS)

4. Apple (iPhone OS)

5. Sprint (Palm OS)

6. Google (Android OS)

Although, I have an Android myself, it is certainly not made for the enterprise. Even Google says so. At least for now. Android does not support most of the business functions listed above. They say they will offer that in the near future. So, for now, they are at the bottom of the list. You need to follow their progress very closely.

While, Android, Droid, iPhone, and Nexus One are the most popular smartphones for the consumers, they are not for corporate use yet. They can’t handle the corporate email, calendar, and address book functions quite well. All of the other operating systems provide solutions that will work in the corporate environment, some with more capabilities than others.

BlackBerry is primarily for the enterprise market for its robustness – particularly its awesome synchronization with the corporate applications. The downside to the BlackBerry platform is its weakness in browsing the Internet. The screen size and the slow page download times make- the BlackBerry not nearly as robust as the iPhone or Android.

As for Windows Mobile Phones, I never had one. My evaluation is based on reading reviews and feedback from former colleagues who had one. Microsoft certainly lost some ground in the mobility space in recent years. They do a good job of integrating desktop and server-based Microsoft applications with those on the handheld. It will continue to be a player in this space and perhaps gain more market share when it releases Windows Phone 7.

As for Nokia Symbian OS, I would say they do most of the functions as Windows Mobile Phones and BlackBerry, but not quite all the goodies offered by other two.

As for the iPhone, I would say their third version is decent for the enterprise market. The first version of the iPhone was pretty much a consumer oriented product and not at all business friendly. However, with the 3GS model, it is a solid choice for business customers, partly because of improvements to interface with Microsoft Outlook and partly, because of it is ease in writing company-specific applications-. Not to mention the iPhone’s ability to multitask. You can send and receive messages while on a voice call, which works very smoothly on the iPhone today and will become commonplace for all smartphones in the near future. [As far as I know all the smartphones can do that – I can certainly do that on my Nokia]

Here are a few interesting related surveys I found conducted by ZDNet UK late last year. Looking at the statistics, it appears that the smartphones are breaking out of the ‘only-for-the-suits’ niche they occupied. That said, many companies are still conservative when it comes to anything that smacks of consumer frippery, with the usability of the iPhone almost counting against it in some circles, where seriousness goes hand in hand with complexity and a poorly thought-out user-interface.

View This Poll

polling

[Via http://awesomedc.com]

iPhone vs Android OS

So…I know this topic has been written about on almost every tech and gadget site on the web. Well I’ve been thinking a lot on how I can familiarize you the reader, with myself. So I’ve come up with some topics which will hopefully give you an insight into my likes and dislikes in the tech and gadget world. I hope it will in turn, bring back some like minded or critical readers to my blog, and spark up some great conversation.

To start off, I have both the iPhone3GS and a Motorola Droid phone. While I’ve only had my droid now for 2-3 months, I’ve had an iPhone for over 2 years. I do like both phones and will cover what I see as strengths and weaknesses of each. One topic I will not cover is the At&t vs Verizon debate. I know that both companies have their own opinions but where I live I am blessed to have both carriers equally strong and relatively no difference as far as I can tell. My argument for which OS is the better all gravitates one argument.

iPhone… I still remember the night I purchased my first iPhone. It was a gadget lovers dream. I looked at every app which is pre-installed with awe and wonder. Sending a text, email, entering a calendar event or even dialing a phone number was a new and life altering action. The one thing which really overwhelmed me was the App Store. I couldn’t believe how many different apps were available. I think the first one I downloaded was the zippo app. I starred at it for hours. Jump forward to today the iPhone has grown into a monster. The one strength that puts it over the top is also it’s greatest problem….the app store. While it has way more apps than the android market, its lack of open development will always hinder it. With the controversy surrounding the apple app approval process, I feel the iPhone will have a black mark on its record. Don’t get me wrong, I couldn’t exist without my iPhone. I just feel it could be 2x as big if it did allow open development.

Android… When I got my Droid I was very impressed with it. Not like my iPhone experience, but I still could appreciate it. I waited for the Droid to be released because I was not at all impressed with the other Android OS phones. The Droid was the first phone with the power I need behind my mobile device. The greatest advantage of the Android market is it does allow open development and you can tell by the more popular apps. The first ones I bought were the Nintendo and SNES emulators, and while I still play the old games often, I had a emulator on my Treo before I got my iPhone. Which brings me to my biggest problem with the Android OS, its just too late. I feel if google had waited any longer than what they did to get in on the mobile app market, they would have fell flat on their face. Luckily for them, they do allow and promote an open market. Which will always give them a place in the mobile phone market.

To sum up what I feel is the biggest factor when deciding which OS is the better and ultimately wins the argument is the App Store and App Market. I give the advantage to the iPhone and crown them the victor. Though I will say, even though google does lack in comparison, the one advantage to it’s market is what will ultimately keep Android in a close 2ND. And who knows…with time and great planning they could possibly over take Apple.

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

Let me introduce myself.

My name is JMSN for Android. I was born to serve MSN Messenger to Android users. Look around my features.

Invisible Login

You can sign in your password with invisible status.

Display Picture

You can set your display picture (aka. avatar) in JMSN. Select ‘Change Picture’ in menu or just Touch your default profile image (upper left corner), and you can select your favorite photo in the media gallery. Then, JMSN will automatically resize your photo to fit your network volume. and send that to your all contacts.

Of course, you can show your contacts’ display pictures. If you connected to MSN network via WIFI, all pictures will be automatically downloaded and displayed on the buddy list screen. and will update when contacts change their photo.

Be careful. If you are in 2G or 3G network, you may not want to download display picture, and don’t want to send your display picture to your friends. In Settings, Pictures on 2G, 3G option will help you to prevent swallow your traffics.  This option value is off in default.

Swipe among chats

When you chat with 2 or more friends, it is very boring job to change windows. Touch a menu..and touch a friend you want to chat.. No more! just swipe chat window. toward left, and right. It is very easy than Alt+Tab

Block and Super-Block

Of course, you can block a contact in context menu. but think about you want to block all of your coworkers. and the number of coworkers is 30. Block them all with 30 operations? ridiculous. In JMSN, just select a group you want to block, and choose Block all in this group. that’s all!

More…

I will have more features such as Viewing Chat histories, Viewing Multiple Buddy List views, Export Chat Logs to SD card or your Google Docs, Enhanced Chat Windows..  etc.

I have to consider user experience and performance so feature updates won’t be deliver. be patience!

Any suggestion? Let me know what you think.

[Via http://jmsn4android.wordpress.com]

Android: The New Angeles Blues

Android became a running joke in my group of game-playing friends. It had a reputation online for being complex and bit-tacular, which seemed wholly deserved from ogling the back of the box. The theme, noirish detectives competing to prove their hunches about a murder in the futuristic city New Angeles, with all the hints of Blade Runner that carries, enticed us all. But no one was willing to take the plunge and buy the game. Being frugal young people, we like to try a game out once or twice before throwing down. We are, as a rule, not early adopters when it comes to board games.

So it became the go-to name for a game for which no one was about to front. “Oh, it’s so-and-so’s turn to buy something. Go grab Android.” Then we kept promising we’d jump on the first demo available, waiting to see it crop up on a convention schedule somewhere. Alex came the closest, planning to try it out at TempleCon last month. He wound up only keeping an eye on the group playing it; they began before he got to the game room, Alex related, and were still going after his own party got through three or four plays of several games. That longing glimpse motivated him, I guess, because Alex ordered the game a week or two after Templecon. After another week of digesting the rule book and Universal Head’s player aid, we broke it out one Sunday afternoon.

The game lives up to its reputation as a cornucopia of game pieces. There are character sheets, scenario sheets, character-specific strategy sheets, hero markers, conspiracy puzzle pieces, two decks of twilight cards for each detective, three sets of plot cards for each character, evidence markers, and more I’m sure I’m not remembering. It’s a dizzying amount of stuff to take in all at once.

My plan for this session was to focus on the primary aspect of the game. Fortunately, the detective I pulled, Louis Blaine, was suited to that element: gathering and utilizing evidence to pin the murder on a particular suspect. In addition to piling up sufficient evidence to prove hunches — in Android, the detectives try to verify their personal suspicions, rather than uncovering a single objective culprit, as in Clue — the detective needs to garner favors to access locations’ special abilities and trigger beneficial light cards, fulfill and avoid certain conditions or actions in order to successfully navigate their personal plots, which are a series of light/dark decision points that depend on how much good or bad emotional baggage a detective racks up in a week, plus uncover pieces of the deeper conspiracy behind the initial murder. Depending on which organizations can be linked to the murder, certain victory point bonuses come into play. Link the mining bosses, and remaining corporate favors become worth two more victory points each.

But I decided to ignore all the sub-elements of the game and focus on gathering evidence to pin to my guilty hunch and my innocent hunch. That’s what my character was good at and it was the most straight-forward element of the game. Also, Louis was the only detective on Earth when the game began. Both Floyd the bioroid and Rachel the gambling addict were up on the moon. They spent several turns up there as well, doing I don’t remember what, so I had plenty of time to scoot around snagging evidence tokens.

Everything in Android takes Time, rather than Speed or movement points. The entire game unfolds over the course of two weeks. A detective’s turn has so many units of Time in which to do things. Their spinner, for lack of a better word, travels so far in one unit of Time, which is measured by a map compass sort of thing. Following up a lead to get evidence is another unit of Time. Racking up favors, or spending them to activate location abilities, takes yet more Time. The effect is Android plays like one of those games where there are far too many things to do with too little time in which to do them, in the first play, anyway. With more experience, I imagine players begin to feel out the patterns of movement and understand how they can pack more activity into a single turn.

I got a hefty lead gathering evidence for the murder while Rachel and Floyd puttered around on the moon. Unfortunately, I kept pulling evidence markers good for proving a suspect’s innocence. When the guilty hunch is worth fifteen points and the innocent only five, there’s strong incentive to focus on finding the culprit. By the end of the game, I was sure Vinnie hadn’t done it, but was far less certain about Eve’s guilt. As it turned out, Floyd had been obsessed with a suspect by the name of Noise, meaning he had the suspect’s innocent and been steadily piling evidence on his sheet, handily proving his guilt by a wide margin. Next time, I’ll know to keep a more attentive eye on all the suspects and share the innocence-proving love.

Focusing on following up leads almost bit me halfway through the game. In each of the game’s two weeks, detectives go through a personal plot, a series of cards with pass/fail conditions. Depending on what the detectives do, or is done to them, they get good and bad baggage tokens, the final amounts of which at the end of the week determine which way the plot goes. Louis’ first plot, trying to get off the take of the esteemed legitimate businessman Mr. Li took a bad turn at first, as I hadn’t bothered to get any tokens at all, meaning it took the dark route. After that, I turned things around and wrapped them up as best I could — putting Mr. Li out of the picture permanently was the only way, in the end.

Most of the player interaction comes from the twilight cards. Each detective has light and dark decks. That character’s player draws their own light cards to help them while the other players spend Time to draw their dark cards, to delay, aggravate and otherwise harass the gumshoe. Playing one or the other shifts the detective along their twilight track, meaning that to play one kind of card, they have to play the other to shift back. It’s an interesting way of emulating the twists and turns of a noir character’s fortunes, but I was underwhelmed by Louis’ options in the light dark. The costly cards seemed irrelevant to following leads and the cheap cards usually had a secondary cost in the form of favors, which I never felt like I had the opportunity to generate, given how much of Louis’ Time went to just getting around New Angeles after stray evidence markers.

The plot cards sparked a discussion of whether they were supposed to be secret or open knowledge. Sarah felt they should be secret until the player flipped the card over. I took the position that since the cards were double-sided, there was no way for the information to be secret. And the rules would have said if they were meant to be so. It wasn’t a knockdown debate by any means, but it meant Sarah partially played in the dark. If she’d known how her second plot played out, she’d have made different choices in the final turns, instead of effectively duplicating efforts by working to get in play what the plot gave her at game’s end.

Android was definitely fun. I like the theme and nods to the noir genre. For example, detectives don’t die; they just get beat up more and more, taking trauma tokens for negative victory points. However, it felt a little dry. That could have been because we were so intent on learning the algorithms of play — a couple times I threw down dark cards against other detectives just to get used to how that worked — that we missed enjoying the flavor of the game, or because we weren’t bringing the characterization ourselves. There’s so much flavor text, often it’s easier just to read it silently to yourself than out loud to the group. I went for a compromise of summarizing the travails of Louis’ attempts to redeem himself from corruption and failure.

It’ll take a couple more plays to really get what’s going on and be able to sit back mentally to enjoy the flow of the story. I’m at that point with Arkham Horror, where the steps of the game are second nature, so I can just hoot with joy and moan with despair as the situation demands. I’m looking forward to having that state of mind with Android as well.

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

Android - Milestone

Amigos,

Sou fanatico por celulares… para voce ver os meus ultimos foram:

Iphone 3g, iphone, Nokia E90, Nokia N82

E agora estou com o milestone da motorola.

Minhas primeira impressoes:

* Cabe bem na mao, bateria melhor que a do 3g

* Aplicativos mais interessantes que o 3g

* BUG quando esta usando o carregador o touch screen nao fica “accurate” (é BUG SIM, nas Fastshop testei 4 e todos tinham o mesmo problema)

* Trava muito quando esta com aplicacoes concorrendo pela rede (testei com OI, TIM e Claro) erro avisando que a aplicacao sera fechada exemplo: Acast, Twitteroid, Ebuddy, Bloo nao Dá… trava mesmo….

* Confiavel, mais que o iPhone, consigo bater papo no Fring e baixar podcasts e ouvir musica streaming ao mesmo tempo…

* Browser animal (mais nao tem flash)

* IMAP e-mail nao faz busca… (somente gmail) BLEARGH

Muita sacanagem tirarem o Google Navigation… e o carhome… mas ja dei um jeito… instalei “por ai” sem ROOT no device o navigation do google e é animal heheheh

* MOTONAV… É TRISTE… quase comprei… mas é triste… PQP…

* SYNC TRISTE TAMBEM COM MAC… o Missing sync é legal.. mas o jeito é exportar tudo para TXT e depois importar… ou entao usar o share do itunes…

RESUMINDO…

Gostei… volto pro iPhone? Nao sei… o iPhone travava menos… CLARO so roda 3 processos por vez entao… vamos ver… estou testando ele e o bichinho ta indo bem….

É um celular para GEEK… se vc é lesado, ou lerdo com coisas tecnicas… do-yourself-a-favor.. NAO COMPRE…. Fique no seu mundinho iTunes LOCKDOWN mesmo !!!!

Aplicacoes que estou usando:

ABC- Animals

Abduction

Acast

Aldiko

Androitris

Aurora <— FUDIDO… Deixa vc pesquisar dentro do note do adressbook

Balance The Beer

Bloo

Bluetooth File Transfer (CHORRAAAAAAA IPHONE USERS…)

ClingExplorer (CHORAAAAAA IPHONE USERS)

eBUDDY (tosco…mas funciona)

FRING (Desconecta quando perde conexao 3g ou Edge e nao volta… Bug do Android? nao sei)

Goggles (PQP… CHORAAA FORTE IPHONE)

Hi MSN (bom… mas meio devagar para rodar)

Issu (Animal…. revistas online… requer um pouco de pratica)

Labyrinth Lite

LightRacer 3f

Listen (PQP… SHOW)

Meridian (SHOW SHOW SHOW) CHORRRRAAA IPHONE

My Tracks

PDANET (Ahhhh o doce 3g tethering sem root e sem jailbreak… AHHHH)

SNESoid

Snow Rally

Splat Bugs!

SportyPal

StreamFurious

TasKiller (lembra o winmo… ARHHH)

Terminal Emulator

tic tac toe

TwidgetLite

Twidroid

uNote (ANIMAL)

Whack-a-driod

WorldWeather (Uso para timezones diferentes e tambem tempo)

Xgalaxy2

nao tenho tempo para ficar colocando fotos e toda a firula de quem é pago apara fazer reviews de aplicativos…

Quem quiser instalar o Google Navigation me manda um TWT em PVT que mando como fazer

Um bom aparelho… O Re-born da Motorola na minha opiniao… Nao testei outros Androids… mas gostei muito do aparelho

* Camera é uma merda! para tirar fotos… pega o seu N78 ou qualquer celular VGA que é melhor… PARA FILMAR É SHOW DE BOLA….

O Android ainda esta em BETA na minha opiniao… mas BEEEEmmmm melhor do iPhone que tinha 3g… Falta pouco… vamos ver o que o JOBSo vai fazer….

Nao sou religioso em relacao a tecnologia… posso voltar para o iPhone…mas tem que ser PELO MENOS multi-tarefa ne? ninguem merece….

FALTA UM ITUNES_LIKE para o android… Tá muito tosco… o rpograma da motorola nem instale…

twitter.com/dimas4u

FOLLOW ME IF YOU WANT TO LIVE…

Linkedin: Dimas4u

[]’s

[Via http://dimas4u.wordpress.com]

Android vs. Apple: The flyover states

Google phones may outsell iPhones in eight U.S. states. Can you guess which ones?

Click to enlarge. Source: Myxer

Here’s a bit of geographical trivia that may have business consequences.

According to a Myxer BoomBox report scheduled for release Friday morning, smartphones running Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system have closed the gap and may actually outsell Apple’s (AAPL) iPhones in eight states U.S. states.

Unfortunately for the manufacturers of Android phones, the states where they are selling best, according to this report, include some of the least-populated in the country.

They are, in alphabetical order:

• Arizona (2009 pop. 6.6 million)
• Montana (974,000)
• Nebraska (1.8 million)
• New Mexico (2 million)
• North Dakota (647,000)
• South Dakota (813,000)
• Wyoming (544,000)

States where the difference is less than 10%, Myxer lists as swing states. They include Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, South Carolina and Virginia.

Source: Verizon

Why the geographical differences? It’s tempting to read into the BoomBox map some kind of anti-Apple resistance in the so-called flyover states. But we suspect it has more to do with the holes in AT&T’s (T) 3G coverage made famous my Verizon’s (VZ) “There’s a map for that” ads.

And take the whole thing with a grain of salt. Myxer bills itself as “a go-to consumer destination for mobile entertainment and personalization — with one of the world’s largest catalogs of ringtones, wallpapers, videos, applications and games.” There’s enough sample bias in that description to fill the wide open spaces of Wyoming.

There are more charts and graphs about Android user patterns in Myxer’s January BoomBox report. It’s scheduled to be posted here on Friday.

See also:

• Verizon vs. AT&T: There’s a map for that

[Follow Philip Elmer-DeWitt on Twitter @philiped]

[Via http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com]

Android Application Development, Android Mobile Application Development, Google Android Applications

Android Application Development

V-Soft, Inc. offers Mobile Application development for Android Platform. Android is a software stack for mobile devices that includes an operating system, middleware and key applications. The Android SDK provides the tools and APIs necessary to begin developing applications on the Android platform using the Java programming language.  Android provides support of Java Language for developers that make Mobile Application Developers to build third party applications on Java which can run on Android Platform.

Android is the framework developed by Google and Open Handset Alliance. Android is software platform as well as Operating System. It is basically designed on Linux Operating system.

V-Soft, Inc. provides android mobile applications through Android spans simple to composite applications that sport certain performance ratios and constant quality levels.

Android is an Open Handset Alliance, which helps developers use Java programming language and create applications of different types. Android has rich support for Audio/Media types and Graphics and has support of its core library for developers to construct third party applications.

Our Mobile Application Developers has wide experience in mobile application Development using java language and android framework. We have a proficient expertise in creating android application / mobile applications, testing in a simulator, and porting to mobile devices.

Please click on Sample Projects for Mobile Applications to have an idea on the Projects developed by our expert Mobile Developers or you may get free quote from V-Soft, Inc. for  your Project.

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Android Mobile Application Development - Android Application Development V-Soft, Inc. provides high quality Android Mobile Application that are developed by professional Developers who are expert at using Android Application Framework to develop featured rich Google Android Applications.Android application development, android application framework, google android applications, android application programming, android development environment, android software development, Google android development, android mobile application development, mobile application development, android, android application, android mobile, android application, android developer, android software, application, mobile application, mobile software.

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

How to explain Open Source Software to rugby players

I work beside a young guy who, for reasons best known to himself, enjoys playing rugby at the weekends. He’s a big bundle of fun and we get along great, but he’s not the maturest gent I’ve ever met.

He’s been talking for a few weeks about buying an iPhone, cos, you know, they’re cool, right? I explained to him that whilst I think the iPhone is a beautifully designed piece of kit, I won’t buy into Apple’s locked down, proprietary world. He asked me what I meant by this. (I think proprietary was a new word to him). I tried to explain the virtues of an open platform and the freedoms that this choice entails. Normally when I start talking like this, he starts muttering “geek geek geek” under his breath and I’m forced to beat him up. (Whilst I would never normally condone violence in the workplace, or anywhere for that matter, I specifically asked my boss about this and he said that provided I did no permanent damage it was fine. Hey, I don’t want to get fired!)

Anyway, I could see that my monologue on the joys of open source were gaining no traction whatsoever, when I remembered a story I’d read on the web over the weekend. Apparently, Apple are withdrawing apps which contain any sexual content from the App Store. This includes even mildly risque applications with pictures of women (and men!) in bikinis, and the iWobble app (use your imagination). I’ve no desire to get into a debate on the pros and cons of borderline soft-core pornography; the issue here is that Apple has allowed these apps to flourish in the App Store, then unceremoniously yanked them without explanation. In a nutshell, it is censorship. The iPhone has parental control, so I see no reason why Apple needs to block this type of app from adults, when clearly there is a market for them. And the irony is that an iPhone user can open their browser and, within seconds, be looking at lots of pics of ladies (and men!) without their bikinis.

I realised that the simplest way to explain to my rugby-playing colleague the difference between an open source platform and Apple’s “walled garden” approach is as follows:

Locked-down, proprietary platform (i.e. iPhone) = No wobbly bits

Free and open platform (i.e. Android, Maemo) = Boobies galore

I think I made a convert!

[Via http://mesanna.com]

Rhodes framework brings.............. Agile to mobile development

A new edition of Rhomobile’s Rhodes framework for cross-platform smartphone development is designed to facilitate Agile methods, the company has announced.

Rhodes is an open-source framework for writing Ruby applications that run natively on Android, BlackBerry, iPhone, Symbian and Windows Mobile devices. It includes binaries that abstract away each underlying platform, and developers use a single API for accessing native resources, said CEO Adam Blum.

Rhodes 1.4 features built-in tools for test-driven development, and it allows developers to write executable specifications that test applications, said Blum. The update was released earlier this week.

Further, Rhodes lets people write interfaces in HTML, which allows for rapid iteration, he added.

“[Test-driven development] is part of the general theme of taking Agile development methods that are mostly applied to only Web development, and taking all of that goodness, productivity and nimbleness to building smartphone apps,” Blum explained.

A newly introduced interactive debugger gives developers the ability to step through Ruby code on devices. At present, it only works for Android and iPhone emulators from the respective SDKs, Blum noted.

The upgrade also adds an integrated debugger for Mac OS X, database-based event logging, and support for BlackBerry Java Development Environment v5.0. Future editions will add support for MeeGo and Palm’s Web OS, Blum said.

Ruby is a modern and productive language that enables Web developers to leverage their skills to write applications in a modern Model-View-Controller architecture, Blum said. “They don’t need to use a 30-year-old language like Objective C,” he added.

An embedded module executes the Ruby code to run natively on each platform, he explained.

Rhodes is free for open-source development, but customers must pay US$500 if they wish to keep their source code private. The license places no limits on developers, and allows an unlimited amount of users and devices.

A server that synchronizes offline data costs an additional $5,000. A SaaS edition of Rhodes is available starting at $20 a month.

Source: http://www.sdtimes.com

http://www.amperesoftware.com/MobileApplicationDevelopment.html

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

The iPad

So it has been a while updating and the iPad is old news but I thought that I would update a little bit and go over some of the big headlines in the tech world.

The iPad

At the end of January at Apple’s media event they unveiled the iPad, the newest piece of the Apple computer line, that is to fit somewhere between the Apple iPhone and the Macbook Air. There were so many rumors circulating around that it became quickly the most anticipated event in Apple history. The TWIT network was hitting 100,000 people + streaming their live coverage of the event, making a network record. So what is it about the iPad that is getting so much fuss? There were several “Slate” Computers already on the market, most of them running proprietary OSs or a version of Google’s Android. It seems all the hype is about presentation. Apple has not been too notorious for failing at the unveiling of new technologies, but the question is still up in the air on the iPad. Will it be as successful as all the Apple fanboys hope? It does have competition. There is Amazon’s Kindle, which is everything right for an E-book reader, and there is the Archos 7 running android. My opinion? The iPad is Apple’s answer to the netbook movement. We’ll see how it goes.

[Via http://jstarr20052005.wordpress.com]

AndroidManifest.xml : Demystified..

Just like every living being has a soul..every Android application has an ‘AndroidManifest.xml’.

Like the soul, it tells about the application and it various properties like the permissions it uses, activities it has, minimum version of the SDK required etc. Below is an example to demonstrate the content in an androidmanifest.xml file:-

As shown in the above example, every ‘androidmanifest’ file has the following structure:

:It’s the root element. And all the elements are described as the child to this element. It also tell us about the java package for the application.

:This tag groups all the activities used in the application.

:It describes the activity declared in an android application. We provide the name of the activity class to it, preceded with a “.”(means the current directory).

:These are for declaring how the activities will be activated etc. Like in the above example, ‘basicElements’ is declared as the MAIN activity of the application, which will be launched by the LAUNCHER.

:It tell about the access it has over the device, like to be able to use GPS services one needs to declare it as:

< /uses-permission>

: It is for the declaring the minimum version of the android above which the application will run. For the android 1.0, it’s 1.

Apart from some of these other elements which can be described in the manifest are:

1. permissions

2. instrumentation

3. uses-library etc.

More can be read here.

[Via http://127bytes.wordpress.com]

Unlocked v Locked Mobiles/Smartphones?

These days new smartphones are released sadly with SO many bugs! (E.g. The Nokia N97’s currently at v.22!) Resulting in a rediculous situation of ‘Joe public’ ending up effectively as Beta testers! Well that’s what I think. But luckily new devices are generally followed by firmware upgrades from the manufacturers. Now, if you’ve got an unlocked device you can benefit from getting the very latest firmware upgrades as they’re released; either as an upgrade directly on the device (best via a 3G or Wi-Fi connection) or during a connection with PC Suite or Ovi Suite on your PC via a broadband connection. BUT, if your device is locked to a network provider such as Orange or Vodafone etc in the UK, you’ll unfortately have to wait for firmware upgrades to first be approved by the networks, uurrgghh! Which could mean the upgrade which positively fixes problems and adds enhancements may take weeks/months to be available! So, my recommendation is to try where possible to get hold of factory unlocked devices. I’ve also been told by a great local Nokia Care Centre to me (Fleet Communications, Eltham (SE London)) that if ‘Care Centres’ do a firmware upgrade to a (High Street) unlocked device it is likely to be re-locked after the upgrade to it’s original network!

Then I found this site… http://www.unlockedmobilephones.org.uk/

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

Desiring the "Desire" :)

The HTC Bravo (now officially renamed the “Desire”) was officially announced by HTC at the 2010 MWC in Barcelona, Spain yesterday. I don’t think I’ve ever felt so much anticipation over a cellular phone before. EVER. From what I’ve seen/read, I’m almost certain I will go out and get a Desire once it’s released (some sources say 29th March, some say April).

The leaked HTC road map pretty much nailed the Desire’s specs on the head, save for a few discrepancies. It will indeed have the same 3.7″ AMOLED screen as the Nexus One (also built by HTC), have an optical trackpad instead of the trackball the Nexus One had, and come with a 5.0 megapixel camera. Numerous sources have also stated that the Desire will have 576MB RAM (HURRAY!), including the official HTC Desire website here, so it must be legit. However, there doesn’t seem to be any word regarding its HD video recording abilities (which was mentioned on the road map), but no matter. Everything else about the phone is perfect!

The other Android-powered HTC phone that was announced, the HTC Legend (successor to the Hero) was also quite nice.

So far, the phone looks amazing, and I really cannot wait for it to be released

In other news from my life, Valentine’s Day was this past Sunday. Spent a terrific day with my girlfriend, Jenny. We had lunch dinner (:P) at Umi at Sylvia Park, then caught “Valentine’s Day” at the Extreme Screen at Hoyts (also at Sylvia LOL). I was a bit skeptical when seeing the trailers, as I was expecting the movie to implode, considering how many big-time Hollywood stars they managed to pack in. I’m glad to say I was pleasantly surprised. It was full of laughs, and was done very well. Taylor Swift takes the cake by far for the best performance in the film. Boy, the girl can sing AND act! What next?!

All in all, V-Day was a terrific day, and I’d like to say Happy Valentine’s Day to all, especially to my darling, Jenny!

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

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

Adobe's Flash of Insight

Disney Buys Marvel!

David Gardner called it. He’s up 1,334%! See what David’s recommending that you buy NEXT.

• Click Here Now

Adobe Systems (Nasdaq: ADBE) ain’t going down without a fight.

Adobe’s market-defining Flash platform, which powers the majority of all online video sites and lots of other applications , is in danger of becoming irrelevant as fresh Web programming standards take hold. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) already lets you watch some YouTube videos without Flash, for example. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) has never offered a Flash player for its popular iPhone and iPod product lines, and the iPad will be Flash-free as well.

But the next version of Flash comes with some very significant changes that may keep Adobe in the game for the long run. Unlike earlier versions, where the inferior Flash Lite was required for mobile environments (and not supported by many phones), Flash 10.1 offers the same player experience across all platforms and looks like it will be rapidly adopted.

And that’s another key point: This Flash version runs on Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Windows, Apple’s Mac OS, Google Android, Nokia’s (NYSE: NOK) Symbian, Research In Motion’s (Nasdaq: RIMM) BlackBerry, Palm’s (Nasdaq: PALM), WebOS, and eventually Windows Mobile as well. The only big name that’s missing is the iPhone operating system. For that, Adobe’s upcoming Flash development tool lets you write Flash-based applications and then export them as iPhone apps with a few simple clicks.

The long-term vision is to provide a unified environment for programmers everywhere using the company’s AIR runtime — write once, deploy to any device you like. Sun Microsystems did this with Java years ago, and that platform is still very much alive: Your cell phone probably runs Java applications even if it isn’t a smartphone, and there are enterprise-class business applications built on the Java framework as well.

Adobe’s platform-agnostic strategy makes too much sense to fail. Once again, I see value in the $3.4 billion buyout of Flash designer Macromedia. Is this unified cross-platform strategy enough to save Flash? I think so, but your mileage may vary. Please share your thoughts in the comment box below.

Are we due for a market pullback? You better believe we are! This could be YOUR OPPORTUNITY to make a bundle – with deep value plays… special situations like spin-offs, mergers, turnarounds… and even microcaps! To learn more, enter your email address here.

Fool contributor Anders Bylund owns shares in Google, but he holds no other position in any of the companies discussed here. Microsoft and Nokia are Motley Fool Inside Value picks. Google is a Motley Fool Rule Breakers recommendation. Apple and Adobe Systems are Motley Fool Stock Advisor choices. Motley Fool Options has recommended a diagonal call position on Microsoft. Try any of our Foolish newsletters today, free for 30 days. You can check out Anders’ holdings and a concise bio if you like, and The Motley Fool is investors writing for investors.

[Via http://financedaily.us]

Is There App Multitasking in Windows Phone 7? (Hint: It's Just Like the iPhone) [Windows Phone 7]

Multitasking’s been a bugaboo for the iPhone since like forever, which Droid and the Pre have gleefully exploited. But what about Windows Phone 7? Well, it sounds like it multitasks in the same sense that the iPhone does. We asked Joe Belfiore, the director of Windows Phone, what’s up with multitasking, and here’s what he told us:

“The core operating system is a modern multitasking operating system. If you play music for example, the music will play back as you navigate around the experience…if you’re using email, we have great support for push email and that happens in the background. … For third party applications—we’ll get into a lot more detail on this in MIX—but we have a few ways we’re going to make sure that third parties can bring their value to the user even when the app is not running. Live tiles are an example. Data feeds in the hubs are another example for some apps.”

That sounds to us a lot like how the iPhone multitasks. That is, select processes, like push email, the browser and music can run in the background, but it sounds like third-party multitasking in the same sense as Android isn’t part of the program. Still, the compromise in WP7 sounds like a happy medium: Piping data into its hubs and live tiles, where you can see info from multiple apps, sounds like it could work really well. We’ll see. [Windows Phone 7 @ Giz]

[Via http://mohawkmem.com]

Motorola QUENCH - next Android to appear

Motorola leads a frenetic pace in the presentation of terminals and is playing with a clear that Android is emerging in all effect, so if a formula works, why not go with her? and indeed, the next will be the Motorola or Motorola CLIQ QUENCH XT, what it is called in America. We continue with a terminal with a large 3.1 inch multi-touch screen user interface and MOTOBLUR, where we find shortcuts in the form of widgets to social networks more popular, plus the new text input system called Swype, in which according the company will be much easier and quicker to respond to messages.

In addition, the Motorola QUENCH has a camera 5 Mpx with autofocus and LED flash. In the section we will have both WiFi connections, bluetooth stereo and connect to 3G networks.

Of course, a compatible GPS with aGPS module could not miss. Regarding the design of the terminal can say little except that in addition to guide us through the menus using small taps on the screen, also we have a directional touchpad on the bottom of the chassis.

So far no details available, but we know that it will release within a few months and will be available in the U.S. in the catalog of mobile operator T-Mobile, while in Europe at the moment is unknown.

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

Samsung Super AMOLED Blows All Others Away; Side By Side Comparison

Forget the rest, Samsung Super AMOLED is by far the best display built today on a mobile handset. As demonstrated in this extensive review by Mobile Review with by side photos of the new Samsung Wave running Bada against Google’s Nexus One, Nokia X6 (although I would like to seen the N900 here) and Samsung’s own S9000 Jet. This is a truly remarkable and stunning color screen , with never before seen brightness and screen resolution all packed into one package. A direct result of some great engineering at Samsung’s headquarters. Hit the link for side by side pics.

Samsung Wave S8500 vs. Google Nexus One

Samsung Wave S8500 vs. Nokia X6

Samsung Wave S8500 vs. Samsung S8000 Jet

[Via http://fonefrenzy.com]

HTC Legend Appears On Dutch Website, Will Go On Sale March And Look Even Sexier Than First Anticipated [Android]

Glimpsed in the most hi-res outfit we’ve seen so far is the HTC Legend, which—if rumors prove correct—should be shown off next week at MWC. It still looks like the Hero only with a unibody aluminum shell, but according to Dutch carrier KPN it’ll go on sale March. KPN’s advert for the Legend touts it as having a 600Mhz processor, an optical trackpad instead of the ball seen on previous models, and a 3.2-inch AMOLED capacitive touchscreen. The other specs gleaned from KPN seem par for the course—a 5.0-megapixel camera with LED flash, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and Android 2.1 (Eclair), and it looks like it’ll be running HTC Sense, the Android skin which they’ve used on a lot of their recent models. The leaked pics we saw recently of the Legend showed it as having black plastic inserts at the base and top of the back casing, where the SIM card, microSD card slot and camera are. It’s still got a chin by the looks of the profile photo on KPN’s site, but if you ask me that’s a good thing. This is definitely a phone to get excited about. [Tweakers via Electronista]

[Via http://mohawkmem.com]

Swype on myTouch 3G -- Text Entry Without Lifting a Finger

One of the challenges I’ve noticed on my Google Nexus One is the software keyboard. Obviously, I can use it since the device is my primary phone, but it’s not quite as good as the iPhone implementation. My speed is diminished just a tad and I occasionally revert to using voice-to-text for short bursts of input. That’s why I’m very interested in Swype — a new method for using that old QWERTY keyboard. Today, the company announced a product partnership with T-Mobile and the first fruit of that relationship is Swype on the myTouch 3G as of today. Swype isn’t just for Android (s goog) handsets though — when the HD2 arrives for the T-Mobile network, it too will offer Swype as a companion to the native Windows Mobile (s msft) software keyboard.

The video demo shows how quickly you can enter text, but like any other input method, there’s going to be an adjustment period. Luckily, there’s no new keyboard layout or any other barrier to adoption — you simply trace your words out, letter by letter, without lifting your finger. These days, I use two hands for data entry on handset keyboards, so Swype could free up a hand. While I haven’t tried the product yet, I’ve mimicked the method on my Nexus One and I think I can swipe text using just my thumb. I’ve got a request in for a beta review code, so if and when I get my hands on the software, I’ll try it for a few days and report back in.

[Via http://jkontherun.com]