Motorola CLIQ in pictures

The Motorola CLIQ was a prophet, hinting at the future… It told us Schaumburg was coming back to life. It told us that Android was the new lifeblood pulsing through Motorola’s veins. The Motorola Droid was the messiah, securing its title as Motorola’s comeback device!

So what of the CLIQ now? Eclipsed by the Droid a mere 2 months after being born, is it completely irrelevant or is it a worthy phone in its own right? After weeks of requesting a CLIQ review unit (since Mobilize), the people at T-Mobile finally obliged. Better late than never, I guess

Android 1.5, a slower processor, and a smaller screen put the CLIQ square into the “first generation” device category. It features the same form factor as the T-Mobile G1, but with a 5 megapixel camera and a standard audio connector.

Instead of serving standard Android, Motorola decided to use BLUR, a custom user interface, which is unfortunate. I recently wrote:

Frankly, this user interface fragmentation is a shame. Standard Android is fine – just ask the phenomenal Motorola Droid! Why bother with a custom look and feel?

I’ll be using the CLIQ on and off for a few days, so I’ll keep you posted… For now take a look at my pictures and video:

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

AT&T to get Nexus One love? You betchum!

Today a label bearing FCC information was unveiled in a new FCC filing for a phone with  FCC ID NM899110 while the N-One has an FCC ID of NM899100. That is only one digit off of the phone in the new filing which could lead a suspicious mind to think that the new filing is a variant of the Nexus One. And the suspicions could be fed by noting that the new filing covers a device that includes 3G coverage on WCDMA bands I, II and V. Those bands cover AT&T in the U.S. and Bell, Rogers and Telus in Canada. Now what would a suspicious mind think?

[PhoneArena]

[Via http://fonefrenzy.com]

Google's Android will surge in mobile OS wars, IDC says

Computerworld – Google Inc.’s Android software will be the fastest growing operating system betwee\en now and 2013, when it will become the second most popular mobile OS, according to IDC.

The IDC projection nearly mirrors recent findings by Gartner Inc., which predicted that the Android OS will hit the second spot behind Nokia’s Symbian in 2012.

IDC based its projection on research of market trends along with interviews of vendor executives.

IDC said that Symbian and Android will be the two most popular operating systems on the 391 million smartphones it projects will ship in 2013. Blackberry will be the third most popular mobile OS, followed by Windows Mobile and the iPhone version of Mac OS X, IDC said. Gartner predicted almost the same mix of OSs in 2012 as IDC did for 2013, but put the iPhone Mac OS X in fourth position, ahead of Windows Mobile. While Android will have the fastest growth of any OS through 2013, IDC noted that it will be running on the devices of a variety of manufacturers, which could “generate confusion among end users comparing their experiences with different Android devices.”

IDC also noted that to date, independent application developers have struggled with Android, having to install multiple fixes and patches to apps in order to adhere to different specifications for multiple Android handsets. “Device fragmentation will most likely continue to plague [Android] developers. Those with deep pockets will most likely thrive while smaller ones struggle,” IDC said in its report.

IDC analyst Will Stofega said in an interview that early last year, industry followers weren’t sure what to make of Android. However, most analysts had concluded by the end of the year that “this OS is going to be a big deal.”

IDC’s projections come despite the addition of proprietary interfaces and other touches by individual manufacturters of Android devices. “We’re already seeing splintering of the user interface with Android,” Stofega said, noting the MotoBlur service in some Motorola Android handsets.

Some observers have said Google was looking for such diversity in Android devices, citing its role in creating the Open Handset Alliance. “Whether Google intended this diversity depend on how one sees Google’s role. Is Google trying to be the overseer of Android? If so, they need to impose an iron fist because every manufacturer seems to do what they want. On the other hand, a lot of manufacturers are interested in Android,” Stofega said.

Symbian, from Espoo, Finland-based Nokia, is not as well known in the U.S. as some other mobile operating systems, but to date has shipped on 250 million smartphones worldwide, IDC noted.

Symbian will maintain its top position over the next few years in part because it allows developers to use a wide variety of programming languages, IDC noted. The researcher added that Symbian apps are available in at least nine online application stores, while most applications for OSs are available in only one store.

IDC predicted that WebOS from Palm Inc. will be the sixth most popular mobile OS in 2013, followed by all Linux OS flavors in and Maemo. By contrast, Gartner had Maemo as the sixth most popular in 2012, followed by Linux and WebOS.

In 2009, 6 million Android devices were shipped, far less than most of the other OSs. The numbers improved consistently through 2009, and by year’s end nearly a dozen Android-based models had been launched, IDC noted. The researcher projects that 68 million Android-based units will ship in 2013.

IDC said it expects 132 million Symbian devices to ship in 2013, up from 75.8 million in 2009.

IDC found that 18.3 million Windows Mobile-based devices shipped in 2009, about 7% less than in 2008. Nonetheless, IDC expects 51.7 million Windows Mobile systems to ship in 2013.

IDC said the Windows 7 version of Windows Mobile will boost its “consumer appeal” by being easier to use and supporting more multimedia applications and games.

Nearly 25 million iPhone units shipped in 2009, and IDC projects that nearly 49 million units will ship in 2013. While many analysts have called the iPhone today’s iconic smartphone, IDC contends that it is “still not well-suited for the enterprise environment, but the company is making steady progress in this segment.”

IDC also cited the need to provision the iPhone through iTunes, and the Apple smartphone’s inability to support battery replacements and its lack of a physical Qwerty keyboard.

About 34 million BlackBerry OS devices shipped in 2009, a number that IDC says will grow to 66 million in 2013. BlackBerry, an enterprise stalwart, is currently making a strong marketing appeal to consumers via TV advertising,

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

Phone Smart: For Gamers, the iPhone Is a Player

Quick, name the fastest-growing video game platform. Wii? PlayStation? DS?

Skip to next paragraph

Try the iPhone.

Like everyone else with software to sell, top-tier game developers are flocking to the iPhone, and gamers are reaping big rewards. Blockbuster titles like The Sims 3 or Grand Theft Auto, which might cost $30 or $40 on other gaming platforms, are selling for $7 and $10, respectively, on iTunes.

And the iPhone’s processing power makes it a formidable challenger to hand-helds like Nintendo DS and Sony PSP. And then some.

“The iPhone 3GS actually blows both of them out of the water,” said Dave Castelnuovo, founder of Bolt Creative, the developer of PocketGod ($1), the top-selling iPhone game.

Things will get even better this year, said executives from Sega, Electronic Arts, GameLoft, Ngmoco and others. Gamers can expect more social-networking elements similar to the Mafia Wars and FarmVille titles on Facebook, as well as the chance to sample many more premium titles free.

What about Android, BlackBerry and Palm devices? It’s a mixed bag. Electronic Arts released a spate of titles for the BlackBerry, but some developers, like Ngmoco, have so far ignored the platform.

Android phones and Palm’s WebOS phones have far fewer games than BlackBerry, partly because they are not yet popular enough to earn the attention of most game developers.

Meanwhile, the latest big-name game to reach the iPhone may not thrill parents who have lost control of their children’s media consumption. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars made its debut last week on the iTunes store, featuring a main character with a seedy circle of friends, a deep well of expletives and a penchant for homicide.

Even though Chinatown Wars is $20 cheaper on the iPhone than on the DS or the PSP, the game can do more tricks on the iPhone. With a few button pushes, for instance, users can listen to their iTunes library, rather than the game’s music.

Some users will quibble that the iPhone’s touch-screen controls are not as good as the actual buttons on other game platforms. They’re right, but the gaming experience is still quite good.

With Grand Theft Auto, unlike many other premium games, users can move the controls around the screen to suit their preferences. Look for other developers to follow suit.

While we’re making predictions, look this year for an enterprising hardware maker to create a Bluetooth game controller that snaps onto the iPhone. It is an accessory that is begging to be built.

The Grand Theft Auto release also is noteworthy for something it lacks — in-app charges. Developers last year began giving away their games, or charging low up-front fees, then charging for new food, weapons, game levels, skins and the like.

Case in point: If you want to blow through a few hours of Ngmoco’s Eliminate Pro — a slick, futuristic first-person shooter title released in November — without stopping to recharge, you will have to pay for the privilege.

Expect more of that, executives said. Because software advances are making it even easier for game developers to bring new titles to the iPhone, there’s just too much competition for companies that charge high prices on anything other than franchise games like Grand Theft Auto.

Both Eliminate Pro and the highly popular TouchPets, a simulation game for dog aficionados, follow the so-called freemium approach. But they add another dimension, in letting players interact with people globally, via Ngmoco’s Plus+ social network.

Multiplayer, socially connected games on the iPhone and iPod Touch will grow more common, gaming executives said, as more technologists adopt the wisdom that people buy gadgets to connect with other people, not to the devices themselves.

The fullest iteration of the trend can best be shown with a throwback game. I used the iPhone this week to play a Scrabble game hosted on Facebook. I competed against two friends who played on their PCs. The Scrabble iPhone app ($5) sent me messages whenever it was my turn, and it also displayed smack-talk, in real time, from the game’s instant messaging feature.

And yes, my productivity suffered. Immensely.

When fellow iPhone or iPod Touch owners are nearby, most new games will let you challenge them, through Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connections. I dashed through a few rounds of Super Monkey Ball 2 ($5) with my children this way. I used a first-generation iPhone, one child used an iPod and the other used an iPhone 3GS.

They thrashed me, so I switched devices, suspecting that the older iPhone was probably slower or harder to control. They thrashed me again.

Which raises an important point for owners of first-generation iPhones and iPod Touches. Namely, game developers will not completely leave you in the dust. On games with the richest 3-D graphics, like James Cameron’s Avatar ($7), you will wait longer to load the game, but the graphics are just as impressive.

Sometimes the devices will show subtle differences. Need for Speed Shift ($7), a new racing game, was built to capitalize on the iPhone 3GS’s processing speed, so it renders shadows and motion with more precision and elegance than Need for Speed: Undercover ($5), which had its debut last May. But they were both great.

One caveat about these graphically rich games: they are power vampires, sucking your battery dry as they flood your brain with endorphins.

Of course, sometimes a drained battery is a good thing — when you’re too obsessed, for instance. Or just lame.

For instance, while recently playing N.O.V.A. ($7), a first-person shooter that supports multiplayer action over a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection, an assassin cornered me and began firing. I pushed every button on the screen, then inexplicably began sprinting toward the bullets.

I somehow made it to the shooter, who sidestepped me and blasted a hole in my cranium. We repeated this dance five times in five minutes, with roughly the same result, when I noticed my battery, which was low when I started, was nearly dead.

Lucky for you, DumbBlond3818. Next time you won’t get off so easy.

Quick Calls

T-Mobile’s new MyTouch 3G Fender Limited Edition ($180 with a two year contract, on T-Mobile.com) boasts a sunburst finish, a music player preloaded with tunes from artists like Eric Clapton and Avril Lavigne, and something earlier MyTouch devices strangely lacked: a built-in 3.5mm headphone jack. A pair of guitar-related apps are included, as is a 16-gigabyte SD card. …Aliph, the maker of the Jawbone Bluetooth headset, has released a new version, the Jawbone Icon ($100 at www.jawbone.com). Sound quality is very good, and the device sheds a few aggravating design flaws from earlier versions…. Want to write music but you can’t play an instrument? Download Voice Band ($3, for iPhones), sing the melodies and rhythms for different instruments, and the app creates the bass, guitar and drum tracks to your specs. Then just add the voice track and send it off to the record company.

[Via http://mohawkmem.com]

Android hurts me!

I have been using Anroid OS for nearly a month. I really enjoy it, especially the smart searching function. However, this is the fist time it disappoints me. Way back on this weekend, I picked up the phone, connected to the Internet via EDGE to search for something but the device suddenly turned itself off due to the low battery. I thought the connection was totally cut off thereafter.

At home, I re-charged the battery, turned the phone on, and left it on the table. I found many scores of messages sent from the mobile network provider warning the balance was insufficient! (I’m using pre-paid.) I was so shocked, and I later noticed the GPRD/EDGE connection remained active. I turned it off thinking the phone must be too smart. It automatically retrieved the previous setting just before it was electrical-free.

Fortunately, it was only about 50 Baht. I must be more careful next time. I heard a multitude of smart phone users have to pay for such a thing. The new generation of smart phone is generally designed for the Internet connection.

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

Quick Hits: Naming and Branding News

A little late to the party: The Beaver changes its name.

Google has taken a sweet approach to crafting names for Android updates…Cupcake, Donut, Éclair, Froyo: they’re all named after desserts.

Hostess invented their signature cup cake in 1919, surely with the hopes that their treat would be inimitable. Now, the company is suing Little Debbie for infringing on their brand’s white loop de loop.

In 1920 The Beaver was the perfect name for a Canadian magazine that celebrated the early culture of the region’s fur traders. Now, Canada’s second oldest magazine is changing its name to avoid being a target for browser censorship and spam filters. After March it will be known as Canada’s History.

We’ve talked about the potential names for Apple’s tablet before, but the latest rumors circulating insist that Jobs will be naming the anticipated product the iPad or the iSlate.

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

App Usage To Soar In 2010

 

Mobile app investment should grow significantly this year, according to a report from DM2PRO and Quattro Wireless. Spending on social apps, however, will stagnate even though more marketers have already developed the applications.

Fewer than one-half of marketers created either a mobile or social app in 2009, but most plan to invest in a mobile app this year. The iPhone is the platform of choice, followed by Android.

Among those marketers who already had an app in 2009, however, Facebook was the leading platform.

Engagement was the top reason to choose either mobile or social as an app platform, but social sites were perceived as better for many top goals, including engagement, audience targeting, sharing and branding potential, and reach. Mobile scored higher on creative control and persistence.

The top one-third of advertisers and agencies using mobile apps planned to up their investments by 75% or more. Marketers who used apps reported a growing market, client demand and increased standardization in the app world as reasons to spend more in the coming months.

Those same reasons would spur publishers and marketers to develop mobile applications. They were also interested in better tools, distribution and discoverability.

Those factors will only increase in importance as apps continue to proliferate and marketers and other developers attempt to stand out from the competition. According to DM2PRO and Quattro, 15% of advertisers and agencies spent more than 60% of their app budgets on promotion in 2009, but more than one-third spent less than 5%. Promotional budgets will need to increase along with overall investment for apps to find their way to users.

[Via http://igroupadvisor.com]

I want a hardware refresh of the G1 (original google android phone)

I see all those new android phones come out with faster hardware and better camera, but no real keyboard and other deficiencies…

After having lived with the shortcomings of the G1 and comparing to that for a while, I feel that I really just want a hardware-refresh of the existing G1 phone and not the new droid nor the N1.

I want to have the faster cpu, more RAM, better camera (led flash, light sensitivity) and faster USB read speed (12MB/s instead of 5MB/s) of the N1 but I do not want to give up the hardware keyboard of the G1, the hardware buttons of the G1 (accept call/home/back/hangup). I actually love the slide-out keyboard design, it allows me to switch to real typing mode real fast.

The droid hardware keyboard is a joke, it is worse than the on-screen keyboard in terms of accuracy.

I love htc’s special usb cable that allows me to connect any headphone as well as my car stereo to it, with a microphone on the connector plus a button that allows me to skip mp3 songs and accept calls mostly hands-free while driving.

The G1 is a pretty good smartphone, just the cpu and ram deficiency makes it painfully slow.

I even like the form-factor, fits well in my pocket.

Can I just get a hardware refresh instead of a new broken design please?

Michael

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

The Blind Buzz on Accessibility

Accessible Android Smartphone: Free Webinar on Jan. 20th at 2 PM Eastern | DAISY Consortium

Accessibility in Windows 7 – Microsoft article.

Apple Event Scheduled for 27/January/2010– The Mac-cessibility Network – News [Lioncourt.com] – the event, in San Francisco, wouldn’t be something to do with the Apple Tablet, by any chance?

Free T-Mobile Calls to Haiti – Ziggytek Blog

SeroTalk Podcast 33 – Skype for Windows and iPhone and Dr. Robert Carter 

Listen to the mp3 audio

Skype for iPhone Now Features Accessibility for VoiceOver Users– The Mac-cessibility Network – News [Lioncourt.com]

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

My iPhone Enterprise Wish List

At Slalom we don’t dictate what mobile devices our consultants use.  Given the choice, about 40% of our consultants have chosen the iPhone, making it the most popular handset at Slalom.  We have developed a few internal applications for the iPhone using the enterprise deployment model, including an app called Cards.  Cards is a global address book that allows us to get in touch with any other consultant and understand more about them, such as the market they work in and their current client.

Distributing a consumer application through the AppStore is great.  Once your app is submitted and approved, it is there for anyone to install, either from their computer or over the air directly onto your phone.  Alternatively, the enterprise distribution method (similar to the ad-hoc method) makes it challenging for our IT organization to manage application deployments and upgrades across a growing user base.

Here is my wish list to improve enterprise distribution, and interestingly enough, a few of these requests are already in place on other platforms.

Over-the-Air Distribution

At a minimum it would be a great improvement if enterprise applications could be installed over-the-air directly to the device.  The current process of instructing users to download the application and provisioning profile from our internal portal, copy them into iTunes, and sync their phone ends up being a fairly cumbersome process for many users.

Blackberry, Windows Mobile and Android all support some version of this and from an enterprise perspective, this is crucial.

No Annual Provisioning Profile Expiration

Currently, when an app is signed for deployment the provisioning profile for deployment will expire in a year.  So even if your app does not have any updates in that time, you must still deploy a new profile to your users for them to continue to using the application.  This proves to be even more confusing for users than the standard application install.

Android takes a different approach with application signing; they actually recommend you sign for an extended period of time (more than 25 years).

Enterprise AppStore

In addition to over-the-air distribution, a custom enterprise app store on the the device would be the best solution of all.  Everyone is familiar with downloading consumer apps to their phone. If Apple could replicate that experience for enterprise applications, it would make for a lot of happy enterprise customers.

- Greg

[Via http://blog.slalomworks.com]

AutoLinQ - allways connected vehicle and allways distracted driver

From the web spanish version of autoblog/technology, I have known about a product that is being developed by Continental for the vehicles, named AutoLinQ and which I have been waiting for a long time, to tell you the truth. It is an entertainment and communication application that, based on the Google Android system, will get the car applications to a new upper level of possibilities.

Since the vehicles, each day more, move forward to a more automated manner of transport and with more presence of leisure time, it seems to me that this type of systems will win market share at a more than interesting rate.  Moreover, Android base, will make Continental to get a quick implementation on cars, it could be not as an propper and integrated system on vehicles, but it is so probable that it will start fittable touch-screens with the system to be on market so everyone can have one of it.

About the AutoLinQ system, it is propper to analyze two points:

First, the possibilities offered, that seems to be infinite. To connect the vehicle with home, the mobile phone and internet gives us a wonderfull potential and applications like this will be more present on vehicles gradually for sure. As it is written on the Autoblog/technology blog, “For example, if you let the car parked and latter you start to doubt if it is closed or not, you will can send a sms like “Have I closed the doors?”. If the answer is negative you will only have to send another with the order to close it and AutoLinQ will close it for you”. Impressive.

What´s more, if we could connect the system to the vehicle electronics, or maybe get it to a higher level (I am convinced if you let Android programmers enter to the car electronics you will get a lot of applications), the car will be the funniest “gadget” of the driving passionated added to the ones that enjoy the “entertained trip”.

And second, driver on driving use with security. As a car interiors designer and as everyone that drives or work in the automotive world, it is known that driving is not the same as surfing the net with a laptop or using apps with the mobile phone. This one itself implicates a series of risk factors and demands concentration not at a minimum rate, but at one with a decent quality; let´s remember we are moving 1200 kg at more than 50 km/h, in the majority of cases, and 2 seconds of distraction can drive us to the disaster.

The fact of interacting with the vehicle dashboard, or any other button or element that has been placed for the use and pleasure of the user, implicates one action that happens for a determinated time and in what influence several factors. We have to remember that the driver, driving in a public road, has to think on what has to think: driving, moving a vehicle with a load or some passengers from A to B, in a secure manner, being quick, efficient or relaxed, but secure after all.

Having more or less buttons on a dashboard is something that the public appreciates as brand personality and user likes, being correct in a manner. BMW has the iDrive and a center display of buttons that implicates infotainment, confort and so little more; Audi and Opel have a lot of buttons, even having systems like the MMI. Ones need more steps to do an action, but with less buttons or controls; in others, the action is more direct, but with more scattered and diverse buttons. Even so, everything is where has to be, or at leastas  is corroborated by the studies and hours of intense work with proffesionals in the development phase of the vehicle.

In a lot of concept cars have been shown dashboards with big tactile screens that promised an usability and level of personalization out of common, a great break; so did I, jeje. It could be feasible, but there´s a missing detail: tactile sensation of irregularities and the localization of buttons without having to look at them. Unconsciouslessly we learn where the buttons are so to on driving not to have to look at them, but on a tactile screen it is not possible; what´s more, we lose the haptical feeling of having touched it. This last one has been solved on mobiles with the vibration, but on car they are not well perceived (but it will be analized, for sure).

The AutoLinQ system is integrated on a tactile screen and drag all of these problems. Applications with an on-driving use should have an easy and common use logic, so to make feasible the comprehension and quick of use of the driver. It is not going to be an easy task, but Contintental has said applications will have to pass a quality and security control to make them available on driving.

In conclusion, the possibilities of this “free” system gives us a lot of joy and way to go and it is something people has been waiting for a long time, avoiding brand systems. However, on an on-driving use, security will have to have its weight well measured.

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

SweeterHome2 Public Beta Now Available

Its the most anticipated app we have been waiting for on Android. SweeterHome2 public beta is now available for download. The only sad part about it is that its for Android 1.6+. It sucks for those of us that are stuck with Android OS 1.5, like me.

The latest version works with Android 1.6 and Android 2.x, while Android 1.5 is unsupported.

Highlighted new feature since Sweeter Home Preview 1:

• Integrated Server-Based Theme Sharing makes finding and sharing themes easy
• Android Widget Support
• Tag Trays is a collaborative tagging system that helps keep your apps organized.
• Search Widget Support
• Editing improvements, including previews during editing
• Major performance and stability improvements

• This release contains bugs and quirks that will be resolved before a release on the market. Use this version at your own risk.

• For Android 1.6
  • http://www.sweeterhome.com/attachments/download/148/sweeterhome_preview2_nomap_b589.apk

• For Android 2 and later (do not use with android 1.6!)
  • http://www.sweeterhome.com/attachments/download/146/sweeterhome_preview2_b588.apk

• To install one of these APKs:
  • Enable install of non-Market apps. Go to System Settings, Applications, enable “Unknown sources”.
  • Navigate to the APK using your phone web browser
  • Click the link to install the APK
• Press the Home button to launch Sweeter Home 2
• It is strongly suggested to log in from within the app. The market version may require users to log in with an account. If you have an account here on sweeterhome.com, you can use that to log in. Otherwise you can create an account from within the app.

[Via http://fiercetechnology.com]

Quick Tip: Swipe The Keyboard To Launch Voice Input in Android 2.1

 

One of the coolest features of Android 2.1 (and the Nexus One) has to be the new voice input feature–it uses an awesome, always-learning speech-to-text engine that displays whatever you say on any text input screen. All via voice. You just tap the microphone button and say what you want, it’ll process and then display those words on the screen. Really amazing stuff that works pretty darn well.

But one slight problem? That microphone button used to launch voice input is frustratingly small, it’s just too hard to find and press. Luckily, if you just simply swipe your finger across the entire keyboard, you’ll bring up the voice input and it’ll work like usual. Swipe across the keyboard, say what you say, works like magic. Voila.

Note: this only works in Android 2.1

Hit the jump to see a video of it in action! Starts around the 25 second mark.

[lifehacker]

read more

Quick Tip: Swipe The Keyboard To Launch Voice Input in Android 2.1

Casey Chan

Thu, 14 Jan 2010 08:41:38 GMT

Technorati Tags: Android 2.1,Lifehacker,Tech

[Via http://bryan646.wordpress.com]

Motorola Droid Has A Security Breech..

So the Motorola Droid has had a security breach. It seems that if you use the unlock pattern to secure your new Droid, you may not be safe. how you might ask. Well it seems that through a call, the person is able to back out of the call and, they can unlock it through the settings and then are able to use your apps to get your info. The only bad news for someone wanting to do this to your Droid is that they actually have to have your device’s phone number and physically have it in their possession.

So as a warning keep your new Motorola Droid close to you, and hope that there will soon be an update sooner then latter.

[Via http://androidfeens.com]

Sony Ericsson Robyn Further Pictures Leaked!

We showed you some leaked photos of the Sony Ericsson Robyn earilier.

Now here are some more live pictures of the Sony Ericsson Robyn next to the Apple iPhone.

We will bring to you more news about the phone as it arises. Till then, enjoy the pictures.

Source

[Via http://erazer007.wordpress.com]

Android Widget

The android widget package contains user interface elements to use on your application screen.

We can design our own widget by extend view or a subclass.

The classes under android widget package are:-

• AbsListView
• AbsListView.LayoutParams
• AbsoluteLayout
• AbsoluteLayout.LayoutParams
• AbsSeekBar
• AbsSpinner
• AdapterView
• AdapterView.AdapterContextMenuInfo
• AlphabetIndexer
• AnalogClock
• ArrayAdapter
• AutoCompleteTextView
• BaseAdapter
• BaseExpandableListAdapter
• Button
• CheckBox
• CheckedTextView
• Chronometer
• CompoundButton
• CursorAdapter
• CursorTreeAdapter
• DatePicker
• DialerFilter
• DigitalClock
• EditText
• ExpandableListView
• ExpandableListView.ExpandableListContextMenuInfo
• Filter
• Filter.FilterResults
• FrameLayout
• FrameLayout.LayoutParams
• Gallery
• Gallery.LayoutParams
• GridView
• HeaderViewListAdapter
• HorizontalScrollView
• ImageButton
• ImageSwitcher
• ImageView
• LinearLayout
• LinearLayout.LayoutParams
• ListView
• ListView.FixedViewInfo
• MediaController
• MultiAutoCompleteTextView
• MultiAutoCompleteTextView.CommaTokenizer
• PopupWindow
• ProgressBar
• QuickContactBadge
• RadioButton
• RadioGroup
• RadioGroup.LayoutParams
• RatingBar
• RelativeLayout
• RelativeLayout.LayoutParams
• RemoteViews
• ResourceCursorAdapter
• ResourceCursorTreeAdapter
• Scroller
• ScrollView
• SeekBar
• SimpleAdapter
• SimpleCursorAdapter
• SimpleCursorTreeAdapter
• SimpleExpandableListAdapter
• SlidingDrawer
• Spinner
• TabHost
• TabHost.TabSpec
• TableLayout
• TableLayout.LayoutParams
• TableRow
• TableRow.LayoutParams
• TabWidget
• TextSwitcher
• TextView
• TextView.SavedState
• TimePicker
• Toast
• ToggleButton
• TwoLineListItem
• VideoView
• ViewAnimator
• ViewFlipper
• ViewSwitcher
• ZoomButton
• ZoomButtonsController
• ZoomControls

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

Nexus One For Verizon Wireless

As you all know Nexus One is out and a lot of people are trying to get their hands on it. Unfortunately I cannot do that until Verizon Wireless gets it this coming Spring. By then I guess Nexus One would be old news and would be no point of getting my hands on it. This is the one and only true problem we have as being Verizon Wireless customers. We get the high-tech phones later when everyones done playing with them. Later when it becomes available in Spring, its like whats the point in getting one now since its few months old already, you know what I mean. Because by then there would be another better, yet smarter phone out. I believe smart phones should be Dual system GSM and CDMA like some of them Blackberrys’ are. See no one really looks into these sorts of issues. Its the small things that matters. Currently everyones chasing after cell phone market because thats where the $$$$ bug bucks are at. All thanks to Google’s Android OS.

[Via http://fiercetechnology.com]

Logic Shrinker - Digital Logic Simplifier for Android

I just published my first application on Android Market. “Logic Shrinker” is a little utility that takes a digital logic function and simplifies it using the Quine-McCluskey algorithm. This application comes actually out of my Amiga emulator project – in particular it is part of the logic function generator for the Blitter component.

In the last couple of weeks I digged a little bit deeper into digital logic and having a portable simplifier has been very useful to me at times. It also helped me quite a bit in confirming what I knew about the Android application life cycle.

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

Preview of CES 2010

NEWS

Preview of CES 2010

TV of the future: Sensio previews the latest in 3D technology ahead of the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show.

3D TV’s, shows are coming soon: Popular TV channels will soon be rolling out programs for viewers in 3D. CNN’s Errol Barnett explains.

Preview of CES 2010: CNN’s Errol Barnett highlights the standout advancements expected to debut at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

© 2009 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc.

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

Some links about Java memory leak and memory usage analysis

http://kohlerm.blogspot.com/2009/02/how-to-really-measure-memory-usage-of.html

http://kohlerm.blogspot.com/2009/02/memory-leaks-are-easy-to-find.html

http://kohlerm.blogspot.com/2009/04/analyzing-memory-usage-off-your-android.html

http://kohlerm.blogspot.com/search/label/memory

http://dev.eclipse.org/blogs/memoryanalyzer/2008/05/27/automated-heap-dump-analysis-finding-memory-leaks-with-one-click/

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

Android - Enable small screen resolution of your Android Application

For all Android mobiles, there exists 3 screen sizes:

• Small: devices with a screen size smaller than the T-Mobile G1 or Samsung I7500, for example the recently announced HTC Tattoo.
• Normal: devices with a screen size roughly the same as the G1 or I7500.
• Large: devices with a screen size larger than the G1 or I7500 (such as a tablet-style device.)

After the WatchFootballApp v1.1 was published, my HTC tattoo cannot search it in Android Market and i have to install it by running the .apk in my phone directly. The reason is you have to enable the small screen support in the AndroidManifest.xml before publishing your application and it is only applicable to Android SDK 1.6. Otherwise, your application can only be searched in those Android Market of Normal and Large screen phones.

So in order to enable the small screen resolution, you have to upgrade the Android SDK to 1.6 and add the following code in the AndroidManifest.xml.

By the way, the WatchFootballApp v1.1.3 (記得睇波 v1.1.3) has been published with better performance and small screen support. Now, you can download it thought the Android Market even you are using small screen Android phone.

Done =)

Reference: Support for additional screen resolutions and densities in Android

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

Smartphone impressions: HTC Hero

Sprint’s HTC Hero is where things began to get interesting.  The Hero is the first phone I tried that lacks a hard keyboard, making it physically more similar to the iPhone that I’m used to.  I’m fond of hard keyboards, but I’m also comfortable relying exclusively on a soft keyboard, so that issue didn’t bother me.  And as I’ve said in my impressions of other phones, I don’t like moving parts, so the lack of a sliding mechanism pleases me.  The build quality was fine: while the bottom button assembly felt a bit plastic-y, it didn’t feel cheap to the point of concern.

The arrangement of buttons at the bottom was a little odd, with the menu, search, home and back buttons forming a square around the trackball, then with the start and end call buttons hanging off either side.  It’s a lot of buttons, and I feel like the four grouped in a square would serve better as a horizontal row above the trackball and call buttons.  Also, the center area of the button cluster is strangely raised.  I’d prefer a simpler design where it’s just flat with the trackball in the middle.  The buttons aren’t delineated at all by the gradual raising of the surface, so I couldn’t discern any benefit from the raising.  I’m sure I’d get used to both the button placement and elevation quickly enough, but the layout was still a bit odd off the bat.

Where things start to heat up, however, is in the software.  This is the first HTC phone to bear their “HTC Sense” user interface, and the changes to Android that come with it are really nice.  There are a lot of little visual tweaks about the place, most visibly being the tabs at the bottom of the home screen for accessing the phone and apps are redesigned as a single crescent and now features an “add” button for more easily adding widgets and shortcuts to the home screens.  While I find most of these visual changes appealing, they don’t affect function significantly.  What does are Sense’s “scenes” concept and a new soft keyboard.

“Scenes” is a new feature that HTC has brought to Android.  One of the great features of Android is how heavily customizable the home screens are.  You can add shortcuts to as many or few apps as you want, wherever you want, and you can add widgets, contacts and so on in addition to that.  This is already one of Android’s greatest advantages over the iPhone in my book, but HTC takes it even further.  Once you’ve set up your home screens the way you like, you can save that setup as a “scene”, and then start all over and create another.  Once you’ve got multiple scenes (and the phone comes preloaded with several), you can switch between them on the fly.  The most immediate use for this would seem to be having a work-oriented scene (with the e-mail widget, business contacts and so on) that you use during work and then a play-oriented scene (with Facebook, friend contacts and so on) that you switch to when you leave the office.

They keyboard has also gotten some significant reworking at HTC’s hands.  The rows of keys are spaced apart a little more, making things a little less cramped.  The list of auto-corrections now floats semi-transparently over the text field you’re typing into (rather than in an opaque bar above the keyboard), allowing the Sense keyboard to consume less space than the standard Android keyboard.  The Sense keyboard also indicates what alternate character you can get if you hold down on the key (for example, holding down on the “A” key will give you an explanation point).  Between the roominess, smaller footprint and increased functionality, the Hero’s new keyboard struck me as a big step up from the simpler soft keyboards I’d used on the Motorola CLIQ and Samsung Moment.

Speed was reasonable.  It wasn’t lightning-quick, but even with a few apps running and a couple of windows open in the browser, things remained responsive.  I didn’t get any notable delays when switching apps, tapping buttons, scrolling, etc.  Also welcome was the inclusion of iPhone-style pinch-to-zoom multitouch in the browser, something missing from the CLIQ and Moment.

Overall, I was pleased with the Hero.  After the lackluster (or outright disappointing) performances of the other phones, this was a nice discovery.  It’s not perfect, but it’s the first phone I’ve played with that I’d consider taking home.  We’ll see how the next few fare in the shadow of the Hero.

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

complications with ListView and headers/footers

Well, of course it’s always the obvious thing you don’t try. There really was only one field in R.drawables – what I wanted was android.R.drawables! *facepalm* GridView is much more useful here than Gallery – not sure where Gallery would actually be preferable now that I look at it.

I ran into a little quirk. I set up a listview’s data by calling getListView().setAdapter(adapter), and later when I tried to retrieve the adapter with getListAdapter(), I got null. I dug into the platform source a little bit. It seems that ListActivity#setListAdapter sets the adapter both on the ListView and its own member mAdapter. ListActivity#getListAdapter is not simply a convenience method replacement for getListView().getAdapter() but actually gets the stored mAdapter in the ListActivity. Apparently the intention is that ListActivity#setListAdapter be called so that both places are set. But the storage in two places isn’t necessarily redundant – when ListView#setAdapter is called, if headers have been added to the ListView, the adapter is wrapped as new HeaderViewListAdapter(mHeaderViewInfos, mFooterViewInfos, adapter) and stored. I saw some reference to this before but didn’t understand it until I saw it for myself.

Here’s another interesting bit I found in the code for ListView. If you add a header with addHeaderView(v), it is assumed you want that view to receive focus / be selectable, because that’s how it’s implemented (though docs say nothing):

    public void addHeaderView(View v) {

        addHeaderView(v, null, true); // where “true” is for “isSelectable”

    }

I’m not sure why this would be the default, but it is what I’ve observed – headers act like list items (and footers work the same way). I think it’s out of consideration for those who are using buttons or trackballs to navigate and so need to be able to “get to” something to see it. This isn’t so great if your header/footer has views in it that need to receive focus/clicks, like form fields. The entire header/footer gets focus, not the views.

But actually that’s true even if the header/footer isn’t selectable – then the focus doesn’t go beyond the list items. Either way there doesn’t seem to be a way to navigate to the subviews, unless of course you have a touchscreen and can just touch them. That’s fine with me but I’m not sure it’s great for everyone else. Maybe there’s a way to work with the attributes to manually set up where focus goes.

And it gets better – if the list has no items in it and an empty view defined, the empty view is shown, and NO header or footer! This seems dumb to me. Maybe I’m just dense but I think the most useful thing to do with a header or footer is implement a button or input form to create a new list item, right? So you want to see “list has no items, create a new one here” but the way it works now, you would have to re-implement your header/footer in the empty view – even if you can the relevant layout, you would need to wire up observers and data for it separately.

So to recap what I’ve found so far: if you want a list with headers/footers that scroll with the list and include focusable elements themselves, ListView has significant problems because there’s no way to navigate from the list items to the header/footer items. And if you specify an empty view, the header/footer won’t display.

This is the 1.5 API – I wonder if any of this works differently in later APIs? This seems like a common problem, and it seems easily fixable in the platform – just have headers and footers display with the empty view, and have the ends of the list continue focus to the header or footer views if the header/footer isn’t selectable. But this must be harder than it sounds or surely the main Android developers would have done it already.

Maybe I can create a custom ListView subclass that can accept XML attributes specifying header/footer elements and also automatically wires up where the focus goes for them.

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

Decisions, Decisions – Nexus One

I’m torn.  $530 is a lot of money.  And yes, I realize that the $530 is a rumor, but I believe it’s accurate.  I just got my G1 working better…applied a RAM hack after re-flashing Cyanogen’s and going into spare parts and disabling lock home screen to memory – this was killing my phone (IMO).  It’s actually pretty usable (the past few weeks it’s been horribly slow).  So my dilemma is whether the Nexus One is worth $530.  I would have to pay $530 because I’m on Cincinnati Bell, (but only pay $35 a month for unlimited data/text/plenty of voice)!

The Nexus One does not have a physical keyboard.  I’m not sure how much this will affect me.  I find the predict/replace feature on Android’s touch screen keyboard to be better than the iPhone’s.  Typing accuracy is worse, but actually having the right word come out is better.  This could also be because the iPhone’s screen is bigger.  That brings me to another point.  Side by side of Nexus One and iPhone, the iPhone’s screen is wider.  The Nexus One’s is just taller and a little skinnier, I think.  This is bad because that means the keys are smashed together.  Besides the whole onscreen keyboard debate, I can’t think of another downside to this phone, besides money.

What do I gain?  The fastest mobile processor and tons of RAM.  This phone should still be one of the top 5 fastest phones on the market by the end of 2010.  Nothing should “surpass it” except for maybe phones that have HDMI-out or something, but I don’t want or need that.  So speed is a HUGE plus.  It’s also beautiful and sleek.  I would ruin this by being paranoid and getting a case, but it’s beautiful none the less.  Screen is brighter, bigger, better.  The camera has a flash.  3.5mm headphone jack!  That’s great!  Not to mention someone on XDA saying it has 3 times the battery life of the G1, which would be amazing.

Is speed and looks worth it?  It can’t really do anything that my phone can’t, except for play music out of a headphone jack and take pictures in the dark.  Can I justify $530 on a phone that really isn’t that much better than my G1?  I’m thinking of iPhone owners.  How many 3G users upgraded to the 3GS?  That’s basically what I would compare this to.  Kind of.  I think I can justify this.  For a couple of reasons.

I would have the best phone on the market for a while.  It’s made by Google so it will always be up-to-date (where-as the G1 is probably at the end of its updating life).  Better battery life is almost a must at this point.  Also, a skinnier phone would be nice.  But the real reason is so that I can leave my G1 in my car and have not only a usable “standalone” GPS (using CoPilot from market), but a BACKUP phone.  One to take that I wouldn’t cry if it got destroyed.  I’m thinking of when I go to Kings Island or other places where a phone could get destroyed.  Right now whenever I go to Kings Island I use my Razr V3i = PAIN.  It’s hard not having a smart phone while standing in long lines.  It’s also hard having a phone with a WORSE battery life than the G1.  So having the convenience of a backup phone?  Worth it.

So I guess I’m going to make this purchase as soon as possible (January 5th!).  It’s a great phone, “perfect” in every way (minus the keyboard).  I’ve also made a lot of money over break.  So look forward to my first impressions post when I get it.

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