Android to join Palm at GDC this year and offer free phones

Palm isn’t the only company who thinks quality games are an important part of a mobile platform. Android has jumped on the GDC (Game Developers Conference) wagon and will be working with developers at the show in San Francisco on March 9th and 10th. They will be giving demonstrations and working with developers on developing Java and C++ games for the Android platform. Google says that 7/10 of their 20,000 applications are games and that they are very excited to support the growing trend by helping developers create some games. We don’t know just yet if this means we will see EA or any other big mobile developers showing off any 3D games, but it is a possibility. No one thought Palm would do it, we have seen Apple hold the 3D game flag for some time, and now it is Google’s turn to show us just what Android can do. Also Google will be offering up some rewards for developers in attendance!

If you sign up before February 4th for the All Access or Tutorials and Summits passes then you will receive either a Motorola Droid or Google’s Nexus One from HTC. Show up to help out Google and in return Google will give you one of the two hottest Android phones available today!

[Via Android Developers Blog]

[Via http://fonefrenzy.com]

Does Senator Juan Ponce Enrile Want To Lower Our Cellphone Load?

Look, I totally get what Senator Juan Ponce Enrile wants to do for the country. The dude is all for protecting the rights of prepaid SIM cellphone users. That much is clear. I’m cool with it, conceptually. It’s a completely relevant, practical cause to champion.

But the man may want to consider hiring new copywriters for his propaganda.

Spotted this on the back of a bus, while driving over to SM Mall of Asia this morning.

A few minor quibbles first.

There’s a lot to be questioned on the art direction side.

I’m not a tremendous fan of the shade of orange he chose, although I will concede that it does project a fair sense of kinetic energy and enthusiasm on his part (a little bit of Gaussian blur and judicious use of the ‘clone’ tool on his wrinkles might have helped too).

His pose itself is less than meaningful – at first glance, it looks like he’s shilling some new Chinese knockoff cellphone brand (NOKLA, anyone?), and I fail to see how it reinforces how he’s supposed to be the “Sipag at Talino ng Senado” – although considering how complicated it can be to use today’s generation of cellphones, I suppose they do take a fair amount of “sipag at talino” to operate. I mean, gosh, have you even tried using a Motorola phone lately? I feel like I need three thumbs and an intricate system of finger gymnastics and smoke signals just to type out “WRU N?” or “HUS DIS?” on one of those bad boys!

He won’t be winning any awards for Most Breakthrough Use of Outer Glow on Photoshop In The 21st Century either. But at least they had the restraint not to Lens Flare the hell out of this either.

But let’s get to the point.

Here’s what the copy says.

Patuloy na naglilingkod upang pababain ang cellphone ‘charges’ at ‘load’ natin.

Wait, what?

Part 1 makes a lot of sense. He wants to lower our cellphone charges. I dig that. I hate hidden charges as much as the next person. That’s one of the main reasons I’m switching from Smart back to Globe when my contract holding period is up in April.

But part 2 – I’m not the greatest Tagalog speaker in the world, but just to continue the logic that he so neatly set up in part 1 of the line, is he saying that he’d like to lower our cellphone load too?

Patuloy na naglilingkod upang pababain ang cellphone ‘charges’ at ‘load’ natin.

Am I the only one getting mixed messages here?

(Although considering how much money people waste on sending all sorts of craptacular jokes and allegedly inspiring quotes, perhaps they do deserve to have their load taken away from them…)

[Via http://mdjsuperstar.com]

Estimated Nexus One Sales: Only 20,000 Units in the First Week

Flurry, which monitors usage of over 10,000 developers, has published some (projected) sales numbers for Google’s and HTC’s new flag ship smart phone, the Nexus One. According to Flurry, only about 20,000 Nexus Ones were sold in its first week on the market. It was outsold by Droid by more than 12 times, myTouch 3G by 3 times and iPhone 3GS by 80 times.

“To estimate first week sales totals for the Nexus One, myTouch 3G, Droid and iPhone 3GS, Flurry detected new handsets within its system, and then made adjustments to account for varying levels of Flurry application penetration by handset. Flurry additionally crosschecked its estimates against Apple actual sales, released for iPhone 3GS, which totaled more than one million units over the three days, June 19 – 21, 2009. Flurry first week sales estimates can be found in the table below.”

Nexus One was a highly anticipated mobile phone, but Google didn’t spend millions of dollars advertising it, opting for a sort of a soft launch for the device. Verizon and Motorola, on the other hand, had spent close to 100 million dollars advertising the Droid, and if Flurry’s numbers are correct, it definitely shows the difference a good advertising campaign can make.

via Estimated Nexus One Sales: Only 20,000 Units in the First Week

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

My Everthing Droid first blog post

Since November 6th 2009 I have been a Proud owner of the Motorola Droid.   I was very excited to receive this phone even though I had to return it a week later because it had a strange rattle in it.   I had already downloaded and installed over a 100 apps on it and was very disapointed that I would now need to return it.  I thought what a pain in the butt, now I gotta find all the apps I put on it.  Well to my pleasent surprise after I got it and put in my e-mail account about 2 hours later I pulled my phone out of my pocket and Viola all my apps were there.   I didnt have to go out an download them all over again they were just there.   Since this day I have been a Fan of the Droid. 

That leads to what this Blog is going to be about, it will be about all things Droid and Android, as well as all smartphones and devices that will have the Android OS on them.  I would like to deliver all the exciting things I learn about the droid and what is to come.  This is my first blog site to bare with me as I am new to the whole blog scene.

Thanks to anyone who reads this and stay tuned for more about the DROID…

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

Dell, HTC, and Motorola smartphones coming to AT&T with Android in 2010

AT&T’s news press room is giving anyone who will listen the scoop on 2010. AT&T will be offering a new SDK for developers and a few Android phones in their new ‘Bring apps to all‘ initiative. Today AT&T announced they will be offering 5 new Android handsets in the first half of 2010 from Dell, HTC, and Motorola. They don’t say specifically which but we will do our best to venture a guess. The Motorola handset will feature Motoblur and what AT&T says is “a unique new form factor”. So they must be talking about the rumored Motorola Backflip which was expected to come sometime in 2010. As far as Dell goes I think it is safe to assume this will be Dell’s Mini 3 which launched in China earlier last year. Hopefully it will come with WiFi and no dumbing down of features. HTC is the trickiest, we could see the rumored Hero 2, the Dragon, or even the HTC Legend which looks to be a successor to the Hero. Whatever it ends up being we are expecting some Android on AT&T which is currently the largest GSM carrier in the United States. Once this happens Android will be on all 4 major carriers leaving behind iPhone who is stuck with AT&T and Palm witht he Pre/Pixi who is stuck on Sprint but rumored to arrive on Verizon soon. Anyone else excited to see if Android phones work better or worse then the iPhone with AT&T’s 3G?

AT&T’s official press release can be found here

 

[Via http://fonefrenzy.com]

Google's Nexus One: Winners And Losers

The Web giant is an obvious winner in its latest wireless scheme. Not everyone benefits, though.

Now that the world knows Google’s big announcement–a new “Nexus One” phone and an online store to sell it directly to consumers–see “Google’s Nexus One Revolution”–it’s possible to determine who will benefit and who won’t from the Web giant’s latest move. Here’s a list of Nexus One winners and losers.

The Web giant can’t seem to lose. Though selling its own phone appeared destined to alienate its manufacturing and carrier partners, the company’s Android-centric consortium, the Open Handset Alliance, continues to grow. Thirteen new companies recently joined the OHA, including China Telecom, NEC ( NIPNY – news – people ) and Freescale.

According to Google, there are now more than 20 Android devices on 59 carriers in 48 countries, with more to be announced at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show. Plus, Google has the satisfaction of having built a phone to its exact specifications. As Google’s Android chief, Andy Rubin, said at the company’s Tuesday press conference, “This the best possible Google experience.”

Call the handset maker a surprise winner. While sales of the Nexus One are likely to cannibalize those of the Droid, the Android phone Motorola released with Verizon ( VZ – news – people ) in November, Google has moved quickly to keep Moto a close ally.

Google not only invited Motorola’s mobile devices CEO, Sanjay Jha, to speak at its press conference, it also agreed to promote the Droid in its online store for the next few months until Verizon begins carrying the Nexus One. Motorola appears to approve of Google’s new plan. Judging from comments made at the event, Motorola will be the next manufacturer to make an Android phone especially for Google.
http://www.forbes.com/2010/01/05/nexus-one-motorola-technology-wireless-google.html?partner=alerts

[Via http://ramanan50.wordpress.com]

Quickie: Sony Ericsson TM717 (Equinox)

After Mobilize, I asked T-Mobile for a Motorola CLIQ review unit, but this Sony Ericsson TM717 (Equinox) arrived instead – oops

So I’m not the target demographic for this device, but I have to admit that the Equinox is quite sexy for a flip phone! It’s surprisingly compact, and features some interesting touches like a secondary OLED display and a programmable notification light…

Unfortunately once again, T-Mobile crippled messaging and Java on the Equinox (like on the Memoir and the ZINE) – it’s getting ridiculous how many of their devices are crippled considering how affordable their unlimited data plans are.

Also, when is Sony Ericsson gonna to give up on its proprietary Fast Port connector and Memory Stick format? It’s just FoF

Device pictures and video:

Pros:
- Attractive design
- Small, thin, and light
- Nice, bright primary screen
- Decent 3 megapixel camera
- 3G (T-Mobile compatible) and GPS
- Good battery life
- Bluetooth ObEx (file transfer/sync), and A2DP (stereo audio)
- USB 2.0 mass storage support
- Google maps pre-installed

Cons:
- No camera auto-focus, macro, or flash
- No multitasking other than music
- No gapless music playback
- Crippled default messaging client (uses MMS for emails and SMS for IMs)
- No configurable POP3/IMAP/IM client
- Crippled Java support (impossible to install unsigned applications)
- No iSync support (but vCard support)
- No Bluetooth DUN (tethering)
- Proprietary audio/USB/power connector and memory card slot
- No data cable, earphones supplied with device
- No memory card supplied with phone

Photo samples (slide show):

Video samples (download original):

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