android

To encourage gifted developers to give iPhone programming a rest, most mobile platforms have built app stores that lure with the promise of a cash-positive distribution. But not Google. It baits with cash.

Sure, Google installs and sells Android applications through its on-board Market, but a mobile platform with such a slim slice of the pie needs an infusion of fresh and original apps if it's to stay in the bake sale. Google's answer: the second Android Developer Challenge, or ADC2, as it's nicknamed.

This time, submissions will vie for popularity and 'wow factor' on the Android … Read more

It's never dull in cell phone land, and this week is no exception. As we gear up for the June 6 release of the Palm Pre and the start of Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference, there is much more to talk about.

Bonnie, for one, has amassed a roundup of AT&T smartphone rumors and gives her take on whether Sony Ericsson will adopt Android. Nicole chimes in with some Samsung Jitterbug news and Kent catches us up on AT&T's 3G expansion, Nokia's Ovi Store, and a possible release date for the new iPhone. … Read more

I usually follow a simple rule when it comes to consumer electronics: I avoid buying any first-generation products. That doesn't mean I haven't ever done it, but I tend to wait for generation two or three before I plunk down my dough, particularly when it comes to heavily hyped stuff.

As I've written before, I'm a prime candidate to buy the Palm Pre. I'm a Sprint customer who has a contract conveniently expiring in June and I have a phone (the Mogul) that's on its last legs. Ideally, the Pre would cost $50 less and not have a mail-in rebate, but at least Sprint didn't price the thing at a pure $299, as I'm sure it would have preferred to do. Pricing aside, the biggest hurdle I'm facing is the fact that the Palm Pre is a first-gen phone--and platform--and I'm really not a first-gen guy.

By contrast, the iPhone will be on its third generation and its platform is already fairly mature. We'll find out exactly how the new third-generation iPhone specs out at next week's WWDC event, but it's safe to assume that many of the small, nagging kinks that were found in earlier editions of the iPhone will have been ironed out. I don't expect it to be perfect (no phone ever will be, because there's always something better around the corner), but I feel pretty good about getting a lot more iPhone for my $199 than those who purchased the original non-3G model (which was originally $599--with contract!) or even the iPhone 3G.

Sometimes, of course, a brand new product can come along that's so far ahead of the pack that even the introductory version is too tempting to avoid.… Read more

SAN FRANCISCO--Google provided a few glimpses of what will be possible with Android 2.0 on Wednesday, before it promptly made every developer in attendance at Google I/O forget those details with a good old-fashioned giveaway.

Calling it his "Oprah moment," Google's Vic Gundotra received the biggest applause dedicated to any moment of the Google I/O conference here so far when he announced that everyone in attendance would be getting a free unlocked Android handset. Lost in the moment were the announcements of a few APIs (application programming interfaces) that will appear in Android 2.0, code-named Donut.… Read more

For a holiday, it's been an eventful day in the world of HTC-Android-phone news. First came those leaked internal AT&T documents that showed, among other things, a new HTC Android device called the Lancaster that's supposedly targeted for an August U.S. launch. Now comes word of HTC's plans, starting next month, to sell an Android-powered smartphone in China, the world's largest wireless market.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the new China-bound Android phone will be a version of HTC's Magic, the successor to the T-Mobile G1 (formerly known as the HTC Dream) that launched in February.

The phones will reportedly be customized with software from wireless carrier China Mobile and called OPhones (referring to Open Mobile System, the name for China Mobile's customized version of Google's mobile operating system). And yes, the name does bring to mind another little smartphone we've heard of, but at least, as far as we can tell, the "O" will be capitalized.

There's no final word on price yet, but the WSJ speculates that HTC's new China phone will retail for about 5,000 yuan, or about $730. … Read more

Engadget Mobile got its hands on some AT&T internal documents, and one of them shows a new HTC Android device called the Lancaster. Like the HTC Dream, this model comes with a slide-out keyboard, though the front looks similar to the design of the newer HTC Magic.

According to the specifications, it will come with HSDPA connectivity, Bluetooth, and a 3-megapixel camera. Apparently, its display resolution is 240x320 (QVGA), which is strange considering all the other Android phones have been sporting 480x320 (HVGA) screens. Hopefully this is a mistake, because a QVGA display on an Android phone would … Read more

Despite an overwhelming wealth of confidence from Google's Android team, smartphones and other devices running the open-source operating system remain few and far between. As Crave's Kent German wrote earlier this week, 2009 was supposed to be the "year of Android" and five months into the year, not a single new Android device has landed in the United States.

But it looks like Panasonic is getting closer to taking the plunge into non-Japanese markets as the company launches the HT-03a, its first Android-based device for NTT Docomo this summer in Japan.

Speaking at a press conference … Read more

We already know that Sony Ericsson has plans to release a Google Android phone in 2009, but ever since joining the Open Handset Alliance in December 2008, we haven't heard a peep from the company. That is, until now.

Speaking at a launch event in Taiwan, Peter Ang, Sony Ericsson's Asia-Pacific vice president of marketing, told reporters that its first Google smartphone will arrive in the "near future" and that it will run Android 2.0 (aka Donut). Ang added that the device will have Sony Ericsson's unique style and though he did not elaborate … Read more

Open-phone specialist Koolu says it is two weeks from shipping beta developer versions of the Neo FreeRunner mobile phone running Google's open-source Android 1.5 "Cupcake" operating system.

Full consumer versions should follow toward mid-July.

Toronto-based Koolu is using the GTA02 version of the Neo FreeRunner from Openmoko, which is entirely based on open-phone standards.

Speaking to ZDNet UK at this week's Cloud Expo Europe conference in London, Koolu Chief Technology Officer Jon Hall said the phone is aimed at small and midsize businesses and at developing countries. The phone will be available worldwide.

"We'… Read more