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Top ten most indispensible apps for Android in 2008

asif — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 15:15:08 +0000

2008 has been a great year for the Android community, with the T-Mobile G1 being introduced in October, and many apps being released since then. The platform is growing in strength, and will continue to get better, as paid apps come to the App Market.

As the year winds down, we've gotten in on the "top 10" list action with our own listing of the top ten most indispensible apps for the Android platform in 2008. We made our selections with an emphasis on smaller apps, like utilities and tools, instead of picking the most popular apps, in the hope that people will find a great app that they may not have heard of. We also included a game, for some fun.

Reviews and listing after the break.

Recession hits Google, employees get G1 as a Christmas bonus

asif — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 02:40:47 +0000

It looks like even Google is getting hit by the recession. They just announced that they are replacing their traditional Christmas bonus - generally around $1000, with an unlocked dev version HTC Dream. The Dream is the same phone that T-Mobile markets as the G1. The phone goes for about $400.

In an e-mail, Google blames economic crisis and says that this is a great opportunity to "dogfood" the phones. Dogfood in is a tech industry term for testing products in-house.

Obviously, this is bad news for the employees at Google who may have been looking forward to the Christmas bonus, but it seems like this will be great news for the Android community. All the great minds at Google will be using the same phone that we have in our possession right now -- meaning we should see really cool improvements sooner rather than later.

The full e-mail is quoted after the break.

Android powered Garmin handsets coming in the second half of 2009

asif — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:17:32 +0000

Great news for Android fans today, one of the new members of the Open Handset Alliance, Garmin is set to introduce a handset running on Android for the second half of 2009.

There is a chance we may not see it in the US, since they didn't mention it at all. Tony An, Garmin’s Asia Pacific Marketing Director says:

Garmin will launch Nuvifone, its first GPS-enabled handset, in the Taiwan market in the second quarter of 2009, An noted. Garmin also plans to launch self-developed Android handsets in the second half of 2009, with production to be outsourced.

Cupcake's on-screen keyboard shown on T-Mobile G1

asif — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 06:33:19 +0000

Google's "Cupcake" branch of Android includes a on-screen keyboard, along other bug fixes and functionality improvements. We've found a video on YouTube showcasing that new on-screen keyboard on a real T-Mobile G1. we can't wait to see the feature improvements from Cupcake hit retail phones. Video after the break.

Extended capacity battery finally available for your T-Mobile G1

asif — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 21:06:52 +0000

Even with all the updates, your T-Mobile G1 phone's battery might still run out quicker than you would like. The 1150mAh battery that comes with the phone has been upgradable 1200mAh for a while now, but it provides a miniscule improvement over the original.

Samsung to introduce Android phone, Q2 2009

john — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 18:55:11 +0000

2008 is almost over, with 2009 looking to be great for Android. Samsung has just announced that they will be launching Android phones in Q2 of 2009 on both Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile in the US.

The touchscreen phone is an adaptation of the Omnia and the Instinct. Basically, a rectangle with a full-screen display and a few buttons just like every other touchscreen out there. Quotes from the report after the break.

Google announces optimized search result pages for Android and iPhone

john — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 18:17:16 +0000

Google today announced changes to the search results pages for the search widget on the Android home screen and when browsing to google.com.

Google search results for Android now lead to results that are faster and are formatted to fit the screen so you don't have to zoom or scroll side-to-side. They've also added touchscreen friendly buttons, along with nicer maps for local business results.

More photos of Lenovo's Android powered OPhone

asif — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 18:38:29 +0000

Lenovo's Android powered OPhone is looking quite attractive. We've got some new photos and info on the phone, courtesy of ModMyGphone. Features include a 5 megapixel camera (with autofocus and flash), a microSD card slot, English and Chinese input via a touchscreen keyboard, a media recorder and Bluetooth 2.0. More photos after the break.

Bug fix release of Steel (0.04) brings working virtual keyboard

asif — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 18:09:38 +0000

Kolbysoft just released a new release of Steel which comes with a host of new features, including a newly improved virtual keyboard, along with some added preferences for various geeky stuff. It also seems to run faster than before. Check out the new release at the Android Market.

via Kolbysoft

Android Developer Challenge winner Jeff Sharkey releases two Android apps before joining Google

asif — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 17:08:20 +0000

Jeff Sharkey, who won $250,000 from the Android Developer Challenge for his app Compare Everywhere (an amazing barcode application) scored a job at Google working on Android starting this week.

The new apps released today are:

GroupHome which organizes your Android apps (using the same categories as on the Android Market), and allows you to delete and get details on apps easily.

OilCan is an Android version of Greasemonkey, which allows users to customize websites by using JavaScript. This is a very neat application, since there are loads of awesome Greasemonkey scripts available, that can make many sites more fun or easier to use.

Congrats to Jeff Sharkey scoring the job at Google, be sure to check out his apps... especially OilCan. Video of OilCan posted after the break.