Hands On: Video Calls with the iPhone 4 and Android | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

Hands On: Video Calls with the iPhone 4 and Android | News & Opinion | PCMag.com

Finally, you can view Google Docs on Android

Finally, you can view Google Docs on Android: "

Can't tell you how long we've been waiting to be able to view Google Docs on Android -- but that day has finally come, all without having to download the file (or even an app, for that matter). It's all done at docs.google.com from your Android browser. (Or iPhone and iPad, too.) And from there you can access all of your Google Docs. No editing yet, but viewing's better than nothing, right? [Google Mobile blog]

Posted originally at Android Central

Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories

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Android gaining on iPhone among developers

Android gaining on iPhone among developers: "

Survey finds Google OS is most highly rated for long term outlook in US

The iPhone 4 may be on sale now, but the Android community is doing a good job of keeping quite a lot of the spotlight on itself - mainly thanks to Verizon Wireless' aggressive promotion of its flagship phones, Droid Incredible from HTC and the new Droid X from Motorola. Such efforts are beginning to show results in terms of Android's market share and developer commitments, and could even create some enterprise momentum soon, say analysts.…

Data Center Savings

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HTC Vision Android phone with dual-core processor

HTC Vision <b>Android</b> phone with dual-core processor: "

Mobile Magazine

Forget about Google Android 2.2 Froyo. You'll want the newer Google Android Gingerbread (2.3) that'll come pre-loaded on the HTC Vision smartphone. ...

See all stories on this topic"

The week in Android news

The week in Android news: "

The Droid X came and took the world by storm in a week when the iPhone 4 release all but dominated the news. And that's just the tip of the Android iceberg. Check out some of what you may have missed below.

News

• Droid 2 taken for early hands-on, is one speedy (and familiar) devil
• Droid X video high on tease, creepiness
• Screen showdown -- AMOLED vs. LCD vs. SAMOLED in direct sunlight
• Latest Froyo build isn't final -- but you already knew that, right?
• The truth about Android
• Nexus One rooted -- with a new twist
• Motorola Droid X initial hands-on
• Froyo code now available for developers
• Motorola Droid X hands-on video
• Motorola Droid X system dump available; hackers already hard at it
• Swype expects to be on 50 devices by 2011 -- but this is not one of them
  
• Sprint Hero, Moment won't get Froyo
  
• HTC addresses AMOLED stock issues by moving to Sony Super LCD panels
  
• Motorola Droid X benchmark tests
  
• The Droid X does not have Motoblur

Posted originally at Android Central

Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories

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Android 2.2 Source Code Now Available - Phones Review

Android 2.2 Source Code Now Available - Phones Review: "

Gadgets Reviews

Android 2.2 Source Code Now Available Phones Review Probably not of much interest to your normal everyday Android smartphone toting public, but of great interest to the Android hacking and modding community, ... Yes, Google started rolling out Froyo. Here's the proofComputerworld (blog) Android 2.2 (Froyo) source code releasedIntoMobile (blog) Google outs source code for Android 2.2Register Inquirer -T3 -Techwatch all 73 news articles »

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A week in security: Google Android security concerns - V3.co.uk

A week in security: Google Android security concerns - V3.co.uk: "

Sydney Morning Herald

A week in security: Google Android security concerns V3.co.uk This week in the security space has been dominated by new security concerns over the apps that may be lurking in Google's Android Marketplace. ... Google remotely deletes Android appsTelegraph.co.uk Google claims its Android apps are safeInquirer Google remotely wipes apps off Android phonesCNET ZDNet UK -Forbes (blog) -ITProPortal all 282 news articles »

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BBC iPlayer comes to Android but Xbox 360 misses out - TechRadar UK

BBC iPlayer comes to Android but Xbox 360 misses out - TechRadar UK: "

Crave

BBC iPlayer comes to Android but Xbox 360 misses out TechRadar UK The BBC has announced that Android 2.2 users can now access the BBC iPlayer service, all because the OS upgrade comes with Flash 10.1 ... BBC iPlayer comes to Android: But only with version 2.2 and Flash 10.1Crave Android 2.2 to get BBC iPlayer: In your face, iPhone 4Recombu all 5 news articles »

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5 Things That Can Make Android the No. 1 OS

5 Things That Can Make <b>Android</b> the No. 1 OS: "

Techtree.com

Google's Android OS went from being just an idea to a roaring success in a very short time. It just seems like yesterday when the first Android phone was ...

See all stories on this topic"

Salon app for Android

Give Your Ancient Android Sparkling New Features With This Free App

Give Your Ancient <b>Android</b> Sparkling New Features With This Free App: "Around 50 per cent of Androids still run under 1.6, making this ADW.Launcher app a must-download app. It brings some of the later features of Android to the early OS versions, such as multiple screens. Need more convincing? It's free.


Gizmodo: cellphones - http://gizmodo.com/tag/cellphones"

Google Removes Questionable Apps from Android Market | WebProNews

Google Removes Questionable Apps from <b>Android</b> Market | WebProNews: "Yesterday a questionable report from SMobile Systems was released talking about Android security and how a fifth of Android apps pose security risks. The methodology behind this report has pretty much been ridiculed throughout the ...


WebProNews - Google - http://www.webpronews.com/taxonomy/term/21/0"

Google remotely wipes app from a few phones, explains why

Google remotely wipes app from a few phones, explains why: "

If you didn't know, Google has the ability to remotely delete applications from your phone that may be malicious or otherwise violate the Android and Android Market Terms of Service. And it's a pretty big deal when that happens, and it's a testament to the platform and the developers that it doesn't often happen in this open community.

But Google recently took steps to remotely wipe an app from a small number of phones. And in the interest of full disclosure, they're telling us why:

Recently, we became aware of two free applications built by a security researcher for research purposes. These applications intentionally misrepresented their purpose in order to encourage user downloads, but they were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data — or system resources beyond permission.INTERNET. As the applications were practically useless, most users uninstalled the applications shortly after downloading them.

After the researcher voluntarily removed these applications from Android Market, we decided to exercise our remote application removal feature on the remaining installed copies to complete the cleanup.

The remote application removal feature is one of many security controls Android possesses to help protect users from malicious applications. In case of an emergency, a dangerous application could be removed from active circulation in a rapid and scalable manner to prevent further exposure to users. While we hope to not have to use it, we know that we have the capability to take swift action on behalf of users’ safety when needed.

Good on Google for not wielding this sword unnecessarily, and good on them for explaining to us why it was done. Hit the source link for the full deets. [Android Developers Blog]

Posted originally at Android Central

Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories

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Google Remotely Removes Android Apps - PC World

Google Remotely Removes Android Apps - PC World: "

Sydney Morning Herald

Google Remotely Removes Android Apps PC World Google disclosed in a blog post on Thursday that it remotely removed two applications from Android phones that ran contrary to the terms of the Android ... Google denies malicious Android apps reportInquirer Google Remotely Deletes Two Apps From Android PhonesInformationWeek CNET retracts article on Android app privacy threatZDNet (blog) Register -Sydney Morning Herald -StrategyEye all 126 news articles »

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20 Percent of Android Apps Can Threaten Privacy, Says Vendor

20 Percent of Android Apps Can Threaten Privacy, Says Vendor: "

PC World

Twenty percent of applications on Android Market let third parties access private or sensitive information, according to a report from security vendor ...

See all stories on this topic"

Tweaking Your Android for More Battery Power - Mobile Deals Compared (blog)

Tweaking Your Android for More Battery Power - Mobile Deals Compared (blog): "

Moby1 (blog)

Tweaking Your Android for More Battery Power Mobile Deals Compared (blog) But aside from the usual tips and tricks that apply to all smart phones in general, the Android operating system has some settings that can be adjusted to ... Sony-Ericsson shows off cut price Android phoneTech Eye Conserving Batteries on Your Android PhoneMoby1 (blog) More Details about the New XPERIA X8 RevealedBest Mobile Contracts (blog) Mobile News -Techie Buzz -Business Mirror all 121 news articles »

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Google 'activating 160000 Android phones a day' - The Guardian

Google 'activating 160000 Android phones a day' - The Guardian: "

Mobile Deals Compared (blog)

Google 'activating 160000 Android phones a day' The Guardian Google is now activating 160000 mobile phones using its Android software a day, equivalent to 4.8ma month, according to the company's chief executive, ... Google's Android Gains on Apple iOSBusinessWeek iPhone 4: what it means for Google AndroidTop 10 Mobile Phones (blog) Apple Gets Developer Love, But Android Shows PotentialBilling World San Francisco Chronicle (blog) -Computerworld (blog) -MediaPost Publications (blog) all 44 news articles »

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Adobe releases Flash 10.1 to partners as content providers line up

Adobe releases Flash 10.1 to partners as content providers line up: "

Adobe today announced that it has released Flash 10.1 to its mobile platform partners. This includes Android, BlackBerry, webOS, future versions of Windows Phone, LiMo, MeeGo and Symbian OS.

Of course, we've been using Flash 10.1 in its beta form for a month now, on the early builds of Android 2.2. Flash 10.1 for Android will be made readily available as a free download once Froyo is released to the public. (Nope, still don't know when that will be. Sorry.) Adobe does mention a slew of devices that it expects to get Froyo, including the Dell Streak, Google Nexus One, HTC Evo, HTC Desire, HTC Incredible, DROID by Motorola, Motorola Milestone and Samsung Galaxy S. Hardly a surprising list, indeed.

What will you do once you have Flash? Check out the list of content providers Adobe already has lined up:

AgencyNet, AKQA, Armor Games, Blitz, CNET.com, HBO, JustinTV, Kongregate, Mochi Media, Msnbc Digital Network, Turner, Nickelodeon, Odopod, Photobucket, RAIN, Roundarch, Sony Pictures, South Park Studios, USA Network, Viacom, Warner Brothers

That's plenty of gaming and video goodness to go around. But what's all this mean for you right now? It's another step -- and a big one -- toward getting Flash 10.1 on your Android phone. But first we've got to get Froyo finished and shipped. Full presser after the break. [Adobe]

Posted originally at Android Central

Sponsored by Android Cases and Accessories

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Toshiba debuts ultraslim Android laptop - CNET

Toshiba debuts ultraslim Android laptop - CNET: "

UberGizmo (blog)

Toshiba debuts ultraslim Android laptop CNET Toshiba announced Monday that it will ship an Android-based laptop, the first among top-tier laptop makers to sport a dual-core ARM ... Toshiba launches Android-based MID - the AC100TechRadar UK Toshiba to launch AC 100 Android netbookGadgets Reviews Toshiba's AC100 Netbook Has Got The Android TouchGadget Review (blog) TFTS (blog) -AndroidSPIN (blog) -Stuff Magazine (blog) all 53 news articles »

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The week in Android news | Android Central

The week in <b>Android</b> news | <b>Android</b> Central: "Can't stop, won't stop...that's how the Android news has been recently, and it doesn't look like it is going to be changing anytime soon. Just as soon as it looks like the calm has begun, another storm rolls in and stirs things right ...


Android Central - Android Central - http://www.androidcentral.com/"

Game Development for Android: A Quick Primer

Game Development for Android: A Quick Primer: "

[This post is by Chris Pruett, an outward-facing Androider who focuses on the world of games. — Tim Bray]

If you attended Google I/O this year, you might have noticed the large number of game developers showing off their stuff in the Android part of the Developer Sandbox. Unity, EA, Com2Us, Polarbit, Laminar Research, and several others demonstrated high-end games running on Android devices. Part of my role as a Game Developer Advocate for Android is to field requests for information about Android from game developers, and in the last six months the number of requests has gone through the roof. Since there’s clearly a huge amount of interest in Android game development, here’s an overview of how Android games work and what you as a developer should know.

Step One: Decide on a Target Device Class

There are basically two types of devices running Android that you should consider: lower-end devices like the G1 (which I’ll call “first generation” devices), and high-end devices like the Nexus One (”second generation” devices). Though there are a lot of different Android phones on the market, they fall rather neatly into these two classes when it comes to CPU and graphics performance, which are the variables that game developers usually care the most about.

First generation devices are generally phones with HVGA screens, running Android 1.5 or 1.6 (though a few are starting to make their way to 2.1), typically with an 500mhz CPU and hardware accelerated OpenGL ES 1.0 backend. A large number of devices sport internals similar to the G1 (Qualcomm MSM7K CPU/GPU at ~500mhz), so the G1 is representative of this class (and can be safely considered the low end of the spectrum). Based on my tests, these devices can push about 5000 textured, colored, unlit vertices per frame and still maintain 30 frames per second. Using OpenGL ES to draw, I can get just over 250 animating sprites on the screen at 30 frames per second (at 60 fps I can draw just over 100 sprites per frame). These aren’t hard numbers; my benchmarks are fairly primitive, and I’m sure that they can be improved (for example, I haven’t done tests using the GL_OES_point_sprite extension, which the G1 supports). But they should give you an idea of what the first generation class of devices can do.

Second generation devices generally have WVGA screens, much faster CPUs and GPUs, and support for OpenGL ES 2.0. The Nexus One and Verizon Droid by Motorola are both good examples of this class. These devices seem to be about 5x faster than the first generation devices when it comes to raw OpenGL 1.0 performance (I can get at least 27,000 textured unlit colored vertices per frame at 30 frames per second on all of the second generation devices I’ve tested). Using OpenGL ES 2.0 can be even faster, as these devices typically incur some overhead translating OpenGL ES 1.0 commands to their 2.0-native graphics hardware. However, the large screens on these devices often mean that they are fill-bound: the cost of filling the screen with pixels is high enough that it’s often not possible to draw faster than 30 frames per second, regardless of scene complexity.

Since there is a pretty wide performance delta between the first generation class of devices and the second, you should be careful when selecting a target. Based on our metrics about Android versions, first generation devices represent over half of all of the Android phones on the market (as of this writing, anyway; 2.0 devices are growing very quickly). Those games that are able to scale between the first and second generation devices have the largest audience.

Step Two: Pick a Language

If you’re an Android app programmer who’s thinking about getting into game development, chances are you are planning on writing code in Java. If you’re a game development veteran who’s thinking of bringing games to Android, it’s likely that you prefer to do everything in C++.

The side-scrolling action game that I wrote, Replica Island, is entirely Java. It uses OpenGL ES 1.0 to draw and is backwards compatible to Android 1.5. It runs at a good frame rate (close to 60 fps on the G1) across almost all Android devices. In fact, many of the popular games on Android Market were written in Java, so if you’re the type of person who finds coding in C++ like speaking in tongues, you can rest easy in the knowledge that Java on Android is perfectly viable for games.

That said, native code is the way to go if your game needs to run as fast as possible. We’ve just released the fourth revision of our Native Development Kit for Android, and it includes a number of improvements that are particularly useful to game developers. Using the NDK, you can compile your code into a shared library, wrap it in a thin Java shell to manage input and lifecycle events, and do all of the heavy lifting in C++ with regular OpenGL ES APIs. As of Revision 4, you can also draw directly into Java Bitmap pixel buffers from native code, which should be faster than loading bitmaps as GL textures every frame for 2D games that want to do their own scene compositing. Revision 4 also (finally!) includes gdb support for debugging your native code on the device.

You should know that when using the NDK, you don’t have access to Android Framework APIs. There’s no way, for example, to play audio from C++ (though we announced at Google I/O our intention to support OpenSL ES in the future). Some developers use the AudioTrack API to share a direct buffer with native code that mixes and generates a PCM stream on the fly, and many call from C++ into the Java SoundPool interface. Just be aware that for this type of work, a jump through JNI back into Java code is required.

Step Three: Carefully Design the Best Game Ever

Once you have a target system spec and have decided on a development environment, you’re off and running. But before you get too deep into your epic ragdoll physics-based space marine action online RPG with branching endings and a morality system, take a minute to think about your end users. Specifically, there are two areas that require consideration for Android games that you might not be used to: texture compression and input systems.

Texture compression is a way to (surprise!) compress your texture data. It can improve draw performance and let you pack more texture into vram. The problem with texture compression is that different graphics card vendors support different texture formats. The G1 and other MSM7k devices support ATI’s ATITC compression format. The Droid supports PowerVR’s PVRTC format. Nvidia’s Tegra2 platform supports the DXT format. The bad news is, these formats are not compatible. The good news is, all OpenGL ES 2.0 devices (including the Snapdragon-based Nexus One, the OMAP3-based Droid, and Tegra2 devices) support a common format called ETC1. ETC1 isn’t the best texture format (it lacks support for alpha channels), and it isn’t supported on the first generation devices, but it’s the most common format supported (the Android SDK provides a compressor utility (see sdk/tools/etc1tool) and runtime tools for this format).

The bottom line is that if you compress your textures, you’ll need to somehow provide different versions of those textures compressed with different formats. You could do this all in a single apk, or you could download textures from a web site over HTTP, or you could use ETC1 and restrict yourself to only OpenGL ES 2.0 devices. For Replica Island, I just chose not to compress my textures at all and had no problems. You can query the GL_EXTENSIONS string to see what the device you are currently running on supports.

String extensions = " " + gl.glGetString(GL10.GL_EXTENSIONS) + " ";
String version = gl.glGetString(GL10.GL_VERSION);
String renderer = gl.glGetString(GL10.GL_RENDERER);

boolean isSoftwareRenderer = renderer.contains("PixelFlinger");

// On 1.6 and newer, we could use ActivityManager.getDeviceConfigurationInfo() to get the GL version.
// To include 1.5, I'll use the GL version string.
boolean isOpenGL10 = version.contains(" 1.0"); 
boolean supportsDrawTexture =
extensions.contains(" GL_OES_draw_texture "); // draw_texture extension
boolean supportsETC1 =
extensions.contains(" GL_OES_compressed_ETC1_RGB8_texture ");  // standard ETC1 support extension

// VBOs are guaranteed in GLES1.1, but they were an extension under 1.0.
// There's no point in using VBOs when using the software renderer (though they are supported).

boolean supportsVBOs =
!isSoftwareRenderer && (!isOpenGL10 || extensions.contains("vertex_buffer_object "));

You should also think carefully about how your game will be played. Some phones have a trackball, some have a directional pad, some have a hardware keyboard, some support multitouch screens. Others have none of those things. Per the Compatibility Definition Document, all Android devices that have Android Market are required to have a touch screen and three-axis accelerometer, so if you can get away with just tilt and single touch, you don’t need to worry about input much. If you want to take advantage of the various input devices that these phones support (which, based on several thousand comments on Android Market about Replica Island, I wholeheartedly recommend), the Android API will package the events up for you in a standard way.

That said, one of the most dramatic lessons I learned after shipping Replica Island is that users want customizable controls. Even if you have added perfect support for every phone, many users will want to go in and tweak it. Or they prefer the hardware keyboard over their phone’s dpad. Or they prefer tilt controls over trackball controls. My advice: plan on providing customizable controls, both so that you can support phones that have input configurations that you didn’t consider, and also so that you can allow users to tweak the experience to match their preferences.

Step Four: Profit!

The rest is up to you. But before you go, here are a few resources that might come in handy:

• HeightMapProfiler. This is a simple 3D benchmarking tool that I wrote. It is the source of the performance numbers in this post. You can also use it to test how various GL state affects performance on your device (texture size, texture filtering, mip-mapping, etc).

• SpriteMethodTest. Another simple benchmarking tool, this one for sprite drawing. This code is also useful as a 2D game skeleton application.

• GLSurfaceView. This is a Java class that makes it trivial to set up an OpenGL ES application. You can use this code in combination with the NDK or with Java alone.

• Quake Port. The complete source for an Android port of Quake has been made available by Jack Palevich, an Android team engineer. It’s a great sample of how to mix Java and native code, how to download textures to the sdcard over HTTP, and all kinds of other cool stuff (check out his memory-mapped-to-sdcard texture manager).

• Replica Island. Here’s the complete source to my game, released under Apache2. Use it as a reference, or to make your own games.

"

Samsung Galaxy Q is Going to be a Blackberry Style QWERTY Phone - The Gadgets (blog)

Samsung Galaxy Q is Going to be a Blackberry Style QWERTY Phone - The Gadgets (blog): "

New York Times (blog)

Samsung Galaxy Q is Going to be a Blackberry Style QWERTY Phone The Gadgets (blog) Android is changing the fate of many near-to-death smartphone manufacturers. First Motorola got back to life with Android, then Sony Ericsson and now ... Samsung beefs up its Android range with two new handsetsBroadband Genie Samsung Galaxy Apollo Android phoneWeb User (blog) AT&T To Bring Samsung Captivate - An Android DeviceTechie Buzz TopNews United Kingdom (blog) -Unthinkable -PC Magazine all 202 news articles »

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