We've heard a lot of numbers about the number of Android device activations per day in the past, but it's always nice to see it displayed visually. AndroidDevelopers has posted a very cool video that does just that, showing the number of Android activations throughout the world from the beginning - all the way back to the G1 - to January 2011. It's a nice reminder of just how far the platform has come. Take a look for yourself below.
Source: YouTube
The most anticipated Verizon phone of the month, the HTC Thunderbolt, just got its first official commercial, complete with lightning, thunderbolt (no kidding), and a guy on the hunt for HTC's newcomer who ran away straight from the Ocean's 11 set. Two things are for sure - rooftops are definitely cooler than barns, and lightning is always a good idea.
Oh, and you know what else would be a good idea? A release date for the very thing Verizon is advertising as well as Skype at launch. That would be just super.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2TkxqVrVeQ
Source: VerizonWireless
Whilst browsing the Apps and Games section of XDA-Developers we came across an interesting thread about a relatively new application from Samsung, for the Galaxy S. This simply-named Video Editor looks to fill the void until the delicious-looking one from Honeycomb trickles down to our phones' OS versions.
Strangely enough, the app appears to only work on 2.2+ devices, limiting it to the i9000 and Vibrant when it comes to Samsung's own devices. The XDA devs have unsurprisingly gotten it working on a bunch of non-Samsung devices too, so check out the source thread beneath for that. Along with this thread also came a highly informative walkthrough from Aatif Sumar at ZOMGitsCj.com, so we'd suggest you give it a read before having a go yourself.
About this time last week, I first started playing with our Inspire 4G review unit. And at first blush, I admittedly found myself enamored with this phone. Unfortunately, it was a love that started to splinter as the days went on, and the more I used it, the more I noticed just how unfinished some parts of this phone can feel. Overall, the Inspire is a good phone with the potential to be great, and I'll talk about what's holding it back (software, connectivity) further on in the review.
Don't let that statement deter you from considering purchasing it, though, because at $99 (or $60 on Amazon), the Inspire 4G is a steal of a deal if you're looking for a reasonably priced 4G smartphone.
There's certainly no shortage of homescreen replacements for Android, but who's to say that we can't have one more? And you've got to admit, this concept app - Fipplr - looks really nice, and doesn't appear to fall short in terms of functionality, either.
Fipplr includes widgets for multiple apps, including Flickr, Twitter, and Google Latitude, although they aren't exactly the widgets we are used to. These widgets display quick information, and a quick swipe to the right will bring up an expanded view of the widget. On the right side of the homescreen are the launcher icons, which - while unmistakably similar to Windows Phone 7 - still look great.
Right now at MWC, Eric Schmidt is showing off a brand-new, Google-developed Android app: Movie Studio. The app, as the name may suggest, is a video editor. It's designed specifically for Honeycomb tablets, and as a video editor, that sort of makes sense. It's pretty rough trying to edit video on a smaller screen, though not impossible (which is to say, I imagine an XDA port for phones will happen as soon as an APK gets leaked).
Movie Studio will contain most of the features you'd expect in a competitive (*cough* iMovie *cough*) video editing app: transitions, audio import, splicing, A/V timeline, and multi-format export and sharing options.
Last week our friends at WireFly unboxed the HTC Thunderbolt, but spent little time actually using the device. They left us with a few tantalizing tidbits though, saying "this phone cranks," and promising a full video review, as well as head-to-head comparisons with the iPhone 4 and the EVO 4G. Yesterday, the last of the three videos went up - let's take a look.
The review video is just over 8 minutes long. The first few minutes are spent running through the system, and from the 4:10 mark onwards, they run some benchmarks and compare the scores to other devices.
Earlier today at MWC, LG officially unveiled its most powerful upcoming smartphone: the Optimus 3D. We've already heard of the Optimus 3D before, and even witnessed both decent and disastrously cheesy ads LG put out ahead of the release, but what we didn't know is that the Optimus 3D would end up being the most powerful smartphone currently on the market.
Not only is the phone powered by a 1GHz TI OMAP4 dual-core processor (which seems to be just as beefy, if not beefier than Tegra 2), but it's also the world's first dual-channel and dual-memory Android smartphone to aid those 2 cores and squeeze every last bit of juice out of them.
Let's be honest here: Android's current multimedia situation is a mess. For one thing, the included music/video players are seriously lackluster; for another, there's no officially sanctioned way to buy songs or movies from an Android device. Though such features are probably in the pipelines, I believe these are issues Google needs to address now - after all, the iPhone has had these features since its incarnation.
Yesterday afternoon I unboxed an HTC Inspire 4G, the first Sense UI-equipped smartphone I've used. And let me say right now: I'm impressed. The interface has very little lag, is quite nice to look at, and very informative on the Inspire's large 4.3" LCD display. Anyway, I'll just direct you to my video hands-on:
Our full review of the Inspire 4G will be making its way to you next week, so be on the lookout.
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