Wireless

As part of a series of blog posts, Google has released more information this week about some of the goodies we can expect out of version 1.5 of the Android operating system, which has been going by the code name Cupcake, and which wireless carrier T-Mobile is expected to push out to U.S. customers at the end of next week. High on the list of upgrades is the ability to record videos and upload them to Google-owned YouTube.

Take the video. Share it through YouTube.

(Credit: Google)

Based on what we can ascertain from Google's introductory video, shooting a video on the Android 1.5 platform will be nearly as straightforward as taking a photo--except that after framing the picture, you'll need to turn the recorder on and off. After taking the video, you'll be able to share it via e-mail or MMS, or as a YouTube upload. You'll have the chance to type in a title and a caption, and set the viewing access as public or private before sending your recording on its way.

For the time being, YouTube will support one login per person, and you'll need an account before you'll be able to upload video. Those wishing to manage video on a separate account will need to access YouTube from the browser of T-Mobile's G1 phone for now.

Add a title, description, and privacy settings.

(Credit: Google)

We also learned more about what's in store in Android 1.5. Following the phone-to-Web upload theme, G1 owners will be able to more easily push photos from the Android device to Google's Picasa Web Albums online. In much the same way you'll upload videos to YouTube, shooting photos to Picasa will be an option you encounter after taking a photo and pressing Share.

In addition, Android's Gmail will gain some batch editing capabilities similar to what's available in Gmail from the desktop browser. Instead of managing messages one at a time on the phone, as is the current mode of operation, you'll be able to select multiple e-mail threads to archive, delete, label, and mute at once.

You can watch more in Google's Cupcake walk-though video, and lick your chops in anticipation of the greater Android computing power that's imminent for T-Mobile's U.S. customers.

T-Mobile USA has sold 1 million G1 Android phones, six months after launching the product.

T-Mobile corporate parent Deutsche Telekom revealed the number as part of its earnings announcement earlier this week, as spotted by Telephony Unfiltered. The G1 was released in October and accounts for about two-thirds of all the 3G phones running on T-Mobile's network.

It's an important milestone for both T-Mobile and Google, and a little surprising that it went undiscovered for several days. Android phones are also available in other parts of the world, but both Google and T-Mobile have put a ton of weight behind their efforts in the U.S. They have yet to capture the public's attention the way the iPhone did when it was originally released: Apple sold 1 million iPhones in about two months, and 1 million iPhone 3Gs in its first weekend.

The news comes as a recent report from AdMob shows that Android now owns about 6 percent of the U.S. smartphone market as measured by operating systems. That puts it in fourth place, behind the iPhone, the BlackBerry, and Windows Mobile phones, in that order.

T-Mobile and Google may have sold 1 million G1 phones in the U.S., but they've got a way to go to catch Apple's iPhone.

(Credit: AdMob)

Don't expect to find tethering applications on the T-Mobile G1.

(Credit: CNET)

Google has reportedly pulled a tethering application from the Android Marketplace to mollify its first wireless carrier partner.

Android, which Google says "brings Internet-style innovation and openness to mobile phones," will apparently not support applications that violate the terms of service of its carrier partners, namely T-Mobile in this particular case. Seth, a developer who worked on an application called "Wi-Fi Tether for Root Users," said Tuesday that the application was pulled after Google pointed out that T-Mobile, the only wireless carrier shipping an Android phone, doesn't allow tethering.

Tethering, the act of connecting your mobile phone to your Mac or PC to use it as a modem, is allowed by some mobile carriers with the purchase of an extra data plan but forbidden by others. Their concern is that data sent and received via personal computers could overwhelm a wireless network, but some carriers, such as AT&T, are fine with the practice so long as you pay extra.

Google's apparent refusal to allow a tethering app is also confusing since Android handsets are expected to be eventually available on carriers around the world, some of whom permit tethering, and unlocked versions of the T-Mobile G1 are available for use on any network.

Is Google planning to create versions of the Android Market for specific carriers, where some applications are allowed and some aren't? While that may be business as usual in the mobile world, it's not exactly the strictest definition of "open."

For years, wireless carriers have been denounced as the force holding back innovation in this industry, fairly or unfairly. And Android, as originally envisioned by Google, was supposed to help break down those walls and become "an unprecedented mobile platform that will enable wireless operators and manufacturers to give their customers better, more personal and more flexible mobile experiences," according to the press release that announced Android's arrival in 2007.

In the past, Google has wrestled with the conflict between creating a truly open platform and the need to manage compatibility requirements and balance carrier relationships. The company did not respond to a request for comment on the Wi-Fi tethering application.

T-Mobile will push out a major firmware update to users of the G1 Android handset in April, the mobile operator has said.

The update will introduce features such as virtual keyboards and stereo Bluetooth support, as well as an upgrade of the underlying Linux kernel. A number of bugs in the Android operating system will also be fixed. The browser enhancements include upgrades to the latest version of the Webkit core and the addition of cut-and-paste. The browser is also getting support for the new Squirrelfish Javascript engine.

T-Mobile G1

(Credit: Corinne Schulze/CBS Interactive)

The contents of the update come from Cupcake, a read-only mirror of a private development branch within the wider Android development effort. According to the Android development Web site, the changes introduced in the Cupcake branch have now been merged into the master branch, as part of the gradual open-sourcing of what started out as a Google project.

A spokesperson for T-Mobile could not give a precise date for the release. "Google controls the update as to when it goes out. The only thing T-Mobile knows is (the update will come out) next month," the spokesperson told ZDNet UK on Thursday.

A Google spokesperson could not give a more specific release date. "We're not confirming the timing on when Cupcake will be ready," the spokesperson said. "We'll push it as soon as it's ready."

T-Mobile's G1 is the first, and currently the only, handset to use the Android mobile stack. The second is likely to be Vodafone's Magic handset, which is also manufactured by HTC.

David Meyer of ZDNet UK reported from London.

A special unlocked version of the G1 phone available to developers is unable to run paid Android applications for fear of piracy.

(Credit: CNET)

Mobile developers who purchased an unlocked HTC G1 phone from Google discovered this week that they can't run paid applications from the Android Market.

Google is denying those developers access to copy-protected applications sold in the Android Market because developers have a higher level of access to the G1 phone than regular users, and could potentially break the copy protection on those applications, according to IDG News Service. "We aren't distributing copy-protected applications to these phones in order to minimize unauthorized copy of the applications," a Google representative said in a statement sent to CNET.

Developers willing to join the Android developer program for $25 can buy an unlocked G1 handset for $399. That version of the device also apparently allows them access to a special folder where paid applications are stored away from the prying eyes of regular customers who may be interested in breaking the copy protection on those applications.

For that reason, Google has simply blocked those using the unlocked G1 from downloading paid applications from the Android Market. That didn't sit well with some developers on a thread on Google's Android Forums, who felt Google was unfairly portraying them as pirates while also denying them the ability to download their own paid applications on the Android Market.

It doesn't appear that the ban on paid applications extends to those who have unlocked the retail version of the G1, at least not as of yet.

Google on Thursday released an application called My Tracks that turns the T-Mobile G1 Android phone into a full-fledged GPS receiver.

The free software can record tracks showing where you've been, display them on a map, show elevation gains and losses, and share data with various online services.

As a geography buff, I have to confess that this one of the first applications that actually got me excited. I carry a Garmin standalone GPS device so I can geotag my photos and keep track of my trips, but My Tracks one-ups it in several ways.

For one thing, it's a phone and therefore much more likely to be toted at all times, not just on dedicated occasions. But more important, it's an Internet-enabled device, which means it shows my position on Google Maps--either map mode or satellite image mode, not just the feeble and expensive Garmin Maps--as long as it can find the Internet. Track data can be saved not just as a GPX file, but also uploaded and shared with Google Maps. And statistics can be uploaded into Google Docs spreadsheets or even Twittered (for example using the Twidroid application).

TeleNav GPS Navigator on the T-Mobile G1

(Credit: TeleNav)

On Thursday, TeleNav announced that starting February 24, it will make its location-based service, TeleNav GPS Navigator, available to T-Mobile G1 owners, bringing real-time turn-by-turn navigation to the Google Android smartphone.

In addition to turn-by-turn driving directions, TeleNav GPS Navigator offers traffic alerts with one-click rerouting, business searches (with more than 10 million listings), gas prices, weather updates, and restaurant reviews.

Speech recognition is also supported, meaning that you'll be able to press a button on the G1, dictate an address or business, and TeleNav will then route to the destination. Alternatively, you can preplan trips through TeleNav's Web site and send it to your phone.

TeleNav is no stranger to the business, providing its navigation services to a number of GPS-enabled smartphones and carriers, including Sprint and AT&T. Developing an application for Android and G1 owners was an important step for the company, according to TeleNav co-founder and Senior Director of Marketing Sal Dhanani.

The service will initially be available only through TeleNav but will then make its way to Android Market later this year. G1 users can go to TeleNav's Web site to sign up for a 30-day free trial of the service; afterward, it will cost $9.99 per month for unlimited use.

Opera Mini 4.2 enables standard features absent in the beta.

(Credit: Opera Software)

The final release of Opera Mini 4.2 for Google Android adds regular features of the Java browser that were disabled in its November beta version. Think more of a mechanic tightening up loose nuts and bolts, rather than operating on engine guts, and you've got the premise.

Available starting Wednesday in the Android Market, Opera Mini 4.2 for Google Android now lets you upload and download files, save pages, and zoom in and out in response to a double tap.

You'll also be able to enter URLs directly into the address bar--instead of having to go through the phone's native input system--and, as with Opera Mini on other mobile platforms, launching a video from a Web page links up to your media player. Video playback had not been supported in Opera Mini 4.2 beta.

Opera has also dispatched some bugs in this final version, including one that displayed the characters of your password when you typed it in, and another that caused upheaval when you closed the app via the Back button. Opera Mini 4.2 also boasts a speedier response to the trackball and a slightly larger font size on most pages to improve readability.

Bringing the Mini browser up to snuff does improve the surfing experience for owners and future owners of Android phones. But for Opera, getting its browser first to Google's mobile platform, and maintaining a dominant presence on all the mobile platforms, is the company's big win.

HTC and T-Mobile are readying a new version of the G1 Android phone, according to the gadget blog Gizmodo.

On Wednesday, Gizmodo posted pictures of what is supposed to be the new Android "G2," which the blog says is expected in May. The new device is much thinner than the previous G1 because its slide keyboard is gone. Instead, HTC has taken a page out of the Apple iPhone playbook and will only offer a virtual keypad.

Pictures of the new G2 also show that it will have a 3.2 megapixel camera. The new phone will operate on T-Mobile USA's network, and the interface will be "very similar" to the G1, according to Gizmodo's sources.

In September, HTC and T-Mobile introduced the first phone to use Google's open-source operating system, known as Android. So far, the G1 remains the only Android phone available on the market. But more phones are expected soon. While none of the big phone manufacturers announced Android devices at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas earlier this month, there will likely be plenty of action next month at the upcoming Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Rumors have already been flying around the blogosphere about which manufacturers will be next with their Android phones. Samsung is supposedly readying an Android phone that will go on sale in the second quarter. Sony Ericsson is also rumored to be working on an Android phone for this summer. And HTC is said to be working on a whole portfolio of Android devices.

Overseas, there are also reports that China's Huawei Technologies will have an Android phone ready for the Chinese market in the third quarter.