Archive for June, 2010

Google Kills Apps from Market : But Android developer issues still exist

Jun 30, 2010 Android Phones, News

The Android Market is open and just as Android platform is, but Google keeps an eye on the market and controls it in any possible way it seems to be the suit the best of its requirements , and proved its control over the market few days back by removing 2 applications from the market and also the devices remotely , these were the apps which violated the Android Market rules .
These apps were hardly dangerous; Google claims they were “built by a security researcher for research purposes” and “were not designed to be used maliciously.” Furthermore, most users that installed them have removed them from their Android device themselves.
Still, since the apps “intentionally misrepresented their purpose,” Google decided to remove the remaining installed copies, probably not because it perceived them as a real threat, but simply to show that the Android Market is safe.
The post on the blog was written:
“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.”
It’s a good sign for Android application development , that Google is concerned about the market but the biggest concern for Android app developers is the payment methods the payment options are not well integrated and user friendly , this is the main reason why Android app developers have to go for other methods to receive payments such as operator billing , this reduces the flow of paid apps in the market and is also a lackluster for Android application development . Let’s see what Google can do more for the benefit of its users and Android developers .

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Amazon not paying equal attention to Android application development : Kindle for Android lacks what iPhone was gifted long back.

Jun 29, 2010 News, android apps

And finally, Android geeks have a Kindle reader. Amazon plans to sell e-books across various mobile platform and not just its very own Kindle device , but its Kindle app supports iPhone , iPod Touch , iPad , Blackberry , PC and Mac , and now Kindle jumps over to Android platform . Android application development is growing at a very fast rate and it’s a reason why a new app can be seen almost every day in the Android Market.

With the Kindle for Android you can read about 620,000 books, sync your bookmarks and library across other devices so that you can pick up where you left off on other device. Kindle app for Android is a very nice app and promises to turn any Android tablet into an e-reader.

Android developers have worked pretty hard to get the Android version of the application but still it lacks few key features like: Audio support and video playback. The Kindle with video and audio capabilities is only available for iPhone / iPad as of now, but is supposed to come sometime later for Android too. Also the Kindle app for Android lacks full text search, and you cannot buy books within the app, instead it takes you to the default mobile browser for purchases. These deficiencies will be fixed soon, promises Amazon, but does not commit whether Audio and video version will come soon.

Amazon is investing its resources in iPhone development before Android application development . Check out the Kindle for Android features below :

- Search and browse more than 620,000 books, including 108 of 111 New York Times Bestsellers, plus tens of thousands of the most popular classics for free directly from their Android device. Bestsellers such as “Backlash” by Aaron Allston, “Big Girl” by Danielle Steel, “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks” by Rebecca Skloot, and “The Lost Symbol” by Dan Brown, and hundreds of thousands of other popular books are $9.99 or less in the Kindle Store
- Read the first chapter of books for free before they decide to buy
- Access their library of previously purchased Kindle books stored on Amazon’s servers for free
- Synchronize last page read between their Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, PC, Mac, BlackBerry and Android-powered phone
- Customize background color, font color, and font size to help ease eyestrain
- Read in portrait or landscape mode, tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn pages
- Adjust screen brightness from within the app to make reading easier

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Android 2.2 for Nexus One rolls out today

Jun 29, 2010 News

Today Nexus One users will begin to receive Android 2.2 , Froyo OTA (Over the Air) , this updates brings new features to the device like turning it into a WiFi hotspot and Adobe Flash support in browser . This update will be gradually rolled out to users  , users may receive a  message on phone’s notification bar , open the message and download it and wait until it installs ,this is all you need to do in order to upgrade your Nexus One .

The Android 2.2 upgrade is great improvement over the previous OS Android 2.1 . The upgrade was also sent a month back in late May which was only accessible to the press and few other lucky users . While there also had been other non-official methods which came up with the leak of Android 2.2over the official website which were distributed on by many forums to their members . But now you don’t need to panic nor do you need to risk the life of your Nexus One by such un-official methods , just let it play .

Due to variations in hardware and skins used by companies like HTC Sense it may get further complicated for end users to avail the upgrade , but still the best thing is Froyo is out and may come soon to your device .

With rolling out new releases at a much faster rate , android application development has a better opportunity to grab the attention of application developers unlike palm and few other OS’s which are stagnant with their firmware’s .

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Steve Responds to iPhone4 Antenna problems

Jun 28, 2010 News

Antenna and the Display issues in the new iPhone 4 seem to be the talk these days on forums, and surprisingly there’s a fix at this time. When Jobs was emailed and asked about this issue and its solution he replies with the following –

“Gripping any phone will result in some attenuation of its antenna performance, with certain places being worse than others depending on the placement of the antennas. This is a fact of life for every wireless phone. If you ever experience this on your iPhone 4, avoid gripping it in the lower left corner in a way that covers both sides of the black strip in the metal band, or simply use one of many available cases.”


Also check out the one-liner Jobs sent to another user that Engadget obtained:
“Just avoid holding it that way.”


This talk gave rise to a very funny video of Hitler uploaded at Vimeo , check out below –

Whats your opinion Android developers on this for Apple .

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Handcase launches Gune for Android

Jun 28, 2010 News, android apps

Recently Handcase launched a mobile search system called Gune. Gune is a system of meta-search that searches other sites (like Google and Bing) and generates a single page results, optimized for smartphones which have a limited real estate on the screen to display entire results. Currently Gune consults Google and Bing for search results; it may also integrate other search engines later on.Now Gune is available for Android devices .

Unlike other meta-search engines, Gune is the only mobile search with results on one page, put in list of ten results per search engine. “The goal here was to optimize the time of the User and aims to provide a superior experience with search.” Explains Ricardo Garay, CEO Handcase. If you want to do a new search, simply use the search box, without having to give up or back. Always have one, search box accessible.

Gune for mobile is available for various leading platforms like Nokia ( S60 , S40 , N-series , Meego ) , Limo and Java support devices , Blackberry , Windows Mobile (with / without Java), Android , Moblin and java support devices , java devices , PalmOS . I think these are almost all the platforms you may have used, the one missing iPhone, we hope Gune tries to get through the Apple firewall and make it to App store.As it is in Beta we expect more to come up with the final build of this service .

Installation is easy , just download the file available here and port it to your device , generally a “.apk” file is used in Androids , “.sis , .jar “ for Symbian and java generally seen on Nokia and other java platforms , for PalmOS if you already have installed JavaVM, it is enough to just install Gune.prc .

Gune also has a mobile directory which lists few good mobile sites; you can browse the directory with your Android device now.

Gune is a service which is provided by Handcase a Brazilian software industry to more than 2 million users in over 105 countries with tons of free content for mobile platforms. To know more about Gune visit http://www.handycase.com/gune

Android Application developers can check out this app and leave some comments about it .

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Android Developers get the Android 2.2 Source Code now

Jun 25, 2010 Android App Development, News

Google has released the Android 2.2 Source Code to Android application developers which is about to release , as every major Android OS update carries a code name , so does this and is called “Froyo” which is the 7th release of Android since 1.0 and will be the next official update . Andy Rubin revealed the news during Droid X event , Andy Rubin said “We just open-sourced it today. That’s when everybody says, ‘Go!’. That just happened today”  and now Android developers can download the source code freely.

Since the source code has just been released , Android 2.2 may take several months to come along some devices . Rumors had suggested the Droid X might ship with Android 2.2, but it will launch with Android 2.1 and receive an over the air update in “late summer”.

Several new API and services have been introduced like data backup API’s , also a Dalvik JIT compiler which improves overall CPU bound code performance by 2-5 times when compared to 2.1 version . It also includes better support for enterprise capabilities like Exchange account auto discovery and calendar sync , global address list look up and remote wipe .

It also has a “faster, more powerful” web browser that includes the V8 Javascript engine, resulting in a three times improvement in Javascript speeds and the ability to send Android Application Error reports.

Users of Nexus One get few additional features including ability to turn their Nexus One into Wi-Fi hotspot and share internet with upto eight devices .

Phones that are expected to receive Android 2.2 include the

Motorola Droid X, Motorola Droid 2, Motorla Droid, Motorola Milestone,

Dell Streak,

Google Nexus One,

HTC EVO, HTC Incredible, HTC Desire,

Samsung Galaxy S,

myTouch 3G, myTouch 3G Slide, and others.

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