Android - 158/169 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Jul

HTC-Branded Android Devices Wildfire, Desire, and The New Tianyi Headed To China On China Mobile, No Mention Of Google Or Android

Posted by David Ruddock in Desire (Bravo/BravoC), HTC, Tianyi, Wildfire (Buzz)

HTC issued a press release today announcing four HTC-branded phones (HTC phones were previously branded Dopod in China) are to be released in China in a deal with China Mobile and electronics retailer GOME Electrical Appliances (the largest electronics reseller in China). Three of those phones run Android. One, the Tianxi, looks to be a rebranded HD2 running Windows Mobile, which as we all know, can run Android.

Unfortunately, it appears removal of Google branding from Android devices (including the Market) in China will continue with these new phones. This is a requirement for Android phones running on China Mobile, which is the dominant (and state owned) carrier in China.

Jul

Story Claiming Only 20% Of Android Users Would Buy Another Android Phone Is False: CNN Money Just Can’t Read

Posted by David Ruddock in News

Last week, CNN Money published an article claiming Android had an 80% customer turnover rate based on a survey by Yankee Group. Despite the fact that this number would mean Android users are more dissatisfied than users of any other smartphone OS, the story made the rounds.

CNN Money later came out and admitted they had made a rather large mistake. The statistic they quoted was the percentage of smartphone users who said “Android” in response to the question, “What operating system will your next smartphone run?” Clearly this 20% goes from being abominable to rather positive for Android, which is currently estimated to control 13% of the smartphone operating system market.

Jul

The Five Things Android Needs To Grow Up

Posted by Kenny Embry in Applications, Editorials, News

Android’s introduction in the marketplace hardly seems like it was less than two years ago. In that time we’ve gone from zero apps to a robust app market and enough unique handsets to give whiplash to every early adopter wanting to ride the bleeding edge.

With over 60 different phones, 70,000 apps in the marketplace, about 20 OS updates, and enough interest to keep dozens of full time blogs crammed with news, we can’t call Android a “baby” OS anymore, but we can’t call him mature, either. We’re in that limbo of adolescence where choices have long range repercussions that are difficult to predict.

Jul

Android Market And Google Checkout Problem – Buy Your Apps/Games But Receive Nothing, Sorry!

Posted by Andrew Huff in Applications, Apps/Games, Games, News

Recently it has been reported that Google plans to add carrier billing options to the Android Market. This is great news for developers, but it may be moot, as we’re getting reports that a lot of users are having issues downloading apps that they have purchased. When a user tries to purchase an app, it seems that the market is hanging while authorizing their payment, regardless of their checkout method (credit card or carrier billing).

This isn’t the first time that users have had issues with the market – just recently Google had to address the issue of applications mysteriously disappearing.

Jul

Official ICQ Mobile For Android App Goes Live

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Applications, News

ICQ, a still popular IM network that started it all, today released the official ICQ Mobile For Android v1.0.0 application to the Android Market.

While ICQ hasn't been at the top for a while, it still remains popular in Europe, and Russia specifically, with 100s of millions of registered accounts and 50 million active users as of 2008.

History

In 1996, ICQ became the first Internet-wide instant messaging service, changing the Internet chat, previously dominated by IRC, forever.

AOL acquired Mirabilis, the company behind ICQ, on June 8, 1998 for $407 million and then 12 years later (April 2010) sold it to Digital Sky Technologies of Russia for $187.5 million.

Jul

Sprint's Samsung Epic 4G Galaxy S Series Phone To Be Released By August 20th?

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Epic 4G, News, Samsung, Sprint

Last Updated: April 2nd, 2011

If the past is any indication of the future, it looks like we may now have the latest release date for the Epic 4G on Sprint. Let me explain.

You see, Samsung has so far posted 2 SPS TV (Samsung TV) videos of their hosts showcasing the Captivate and the Vibrant, with video post dates coinciding with the official phone release dates:

the Captivate video was posted on Monday, July 19th, which happens to be the first business day after the official launch date that fell on a Sunday (July 18th)
the Vibrant video was posted on Wednesday, July 21st, which seems late, as the phone was released on the 15th.

Jul

Android’s First Gaming Tournament – AGC #1

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Apps/Games, Games, News

Gaming has progressed a long way since the first consoles were introduced in the 80's. Since then, PC and console gaming has grown to the point where televised tournaments are held for huge prizes and, for some [lucky] people, it can even be a full-time job! Now mobile gamers can join in on the fun, as Droid Gamers have announced the first ever Android Gaming Challenge.

The Android Gaming Challenge (or AGC1 for short) will put players against each other in the first ever Android gaming tournament and quite possibly the first ever mobile gaming tournament. The champion is to receive a Grand Prize package which will include a new Android phone of their choice courtesy of Wirefly.

Jul

Oh, Snap – Chinese Carriers Removing Google From The Android Equation

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in News

Ars Technica, via TechCrunch, published an article yesterday on the state of Android in China. The good news: Android is set to explode in China – just check out these facts (direct quote from TechCrunch):

- Number of Mobile Internet Users in China (start of 2010): 233 million
- Number of Mobile Internet Users in China (projected for 2014): 957 million
- Population of USA + EU (2010): roughly 800 million

The number of mobile internet users in China today is roughly 80% of the population of the US, and according to TechCrunch, Android is gaining market share fast. That sounds like good news; unfortunately, it’s not – it’s a problem, because China is removing Google from Android.

Jul

Power Of Adobe Air Demonstrated With Video Calling On Android

Posted by Nate Kimmey in Applications, News

Adobe has given us a nice taste of what Air is capable of. Using the upcoming version 2.5, Adobe developer Mark Doherty created a demo of video calling on Android on two Nexus Ones, which he cleverly called “FlashTime” (a not-so-subtle jab at Apple’s FaceTime.)

Doherty tells us that Air 2.5 adds support for many features, including use of cameras and microphones on a device, and that the Android version is on par feature-wise with its desktop equivalent; however, though these features are “working,” he also tells us that they may not make it into the final release of Air.

As for the video calling itself, it is not an Adobe product and will never be released as such.

Jul

HP Cans Android Slate Tablet For webOS Slate Tablet, Promptly Reminds Us That They’re HP

Posted by David Ruddock in HP, News

All Things Digital is reporting that HP’s planned Android Slate tablet has been delayed, possibly indefinitely. Given HP’s recent acquisition of Palm, it seems likely that HP is choosing to focus on development of their webOS tablet to compete with Apple’s iPad as quickly as possible. From a business standpoint, HP is probably making the right move. For Android and open source fans, though, this is indeed a sad day.

Despite HP’s less-than-perfect reputation for hardware quality, the Slate platform is definitely the slickest-looking tablet this side of the iPad, and Android would have benefited from a wide-release, US market tablet.