android

According to "sources familiar with the matter," Verizon Wireless will release the Nexus One on March 23. Tech Web site Neowin.net is reporting that the nation's largest carrier plans to make the official availability announcement on the first day of the annual CTIA trade show in Las Vegas.

Although no Verizon reps are scheduled to take the stage for any keynote address, the carrier will have a booth. As the Google Android handset isn't brand new, a simple press release might suffice for getting the word out.

Last week, a CDMA HTC phone cleared the FCC … Read more

Adobe Systems released a new version of its Photoshop.com Mobile application for Android phones on Thursday night, an upgrade that came with an apparent attempt to tweak Apple's nose.

The new version gets more editing options. It adds "vibrant" to make photo colors richer and "pop" for a pop-art style. Also new are "soft black and white," "warm vintage," "vignette blur," "white glow," and "rainbow," Adobe said.

But more significantly, perhaps, the mobile editing software also now can be incorporated by other programs on … Read more

On today's show, Apple wants to wipe all HTC phones from the face of the earth, apparently because Steve Jobs is just grouchy about this whole business. Donald and Molly engage in a nice long talk about the validity of software patents, and then we wonder whether anyone would actually line up to buy a new 3D HDTV. Meanwhile, the well-meaning House of Lords is probably going to destroy the Internet.

Apple: HTC phones caused ‘irreparable injury’; asks for ban on … Read more

Google is giving Android users another method for searching their smartphones: finger-drawn letters.

The company has launched a new app called Gesture Search, which lets Android 2.0 users find items by drawing a letter on the screen. Draw an "A," for example, and all contacts, bookmarks, applications, and songs that begin with an "A" appear on the screen.

Neatness doesn't count. If your handwriting is sloppy, and your "A" looks like an "H," Gesture Search will bring up items that start with "A" and "H," according … Read more

New York's Skype is on the fritz today so only Bonnie's voice joins us from The Big Apple. Or maybe she's not in New York at all? It's all about the economy these days as Sprint cuts the price of an unlimited plan and Nokia and T-Mobile role out a bargain smartphone. Also in the podcast, Bonnie slams the Moto Backflip and Verizon's Palm commercials, Nicole takes us into the fascinating microcells, and we welcome back Jason Howell.

Rumor … Read more

After getting a taste of the big leagues during the playoffs last year, MLB At Bat is officially entering its rookie season on Android and BlackBerry phones.

MLB released the app Wednesday to their respective app stores, Android Marketplace and BlackBerry App World. At Bat was previously only available for Apple's iPhone and iPod Touch. At Bat for Android and At Bat for BlackBerry includes live streaming audio--both home and away feed choice--scoreboards, box scores, and pitch-by-pitch or play-by-play updates, along with updated video highlight reels. The biggest difference between the version of At Bat available for Android and BlackBerry and the one for the iPhone is that there's no option for live streaming video. iPhone and iPod Touch users get one free live streaming video per week.

The iPhone and iPod Touch At Bat app also got a pre-season tune-up. MLB released an updated version Tuesday, to coincide with the first day of spring training. The price for all three versions of the application is $14.99. That's $5 more than last year, when At Bat for iPhone cost $9.99.

The price hike is due to more content and features being available for the 2010 season; it was released before the regular season begins and includes all news and scores from spring training. New features for the iPhone version of At Bat include a whole season of MLB.TV access for subscribers (last year that feature wasn't rolled out in the mobile app until July), the choice between home and away broadcasts, a video highlight library that's searchable by player or team, push notifications, and favorite team shortcuts. The iPhone version also has the option to do background audio streaming this season. Since the iPhone doesn't run multiple apps simultaneously, if you want to continue listening to a game in the background while checking e-mail or browsing the Web, the audio will automatically be switched to stream through Safari.

During the World Series last year, MLB counted 1.2 million downloads of its At Bat app. And this year the league says it's off to a fast start. After debuting the At Bat 2010 on the App Store Tuesday, MLB says it was the No. 1 paid sports app and No. 3 top paid app overall after just 24 hours.

More screenshots after the jump:… Read more

We're big fans of most Android apps that can help us get the skinny on nearby restaurants and bars, Yelp included. We weren't overly impressed with Yelp's initial attempt for Android, however, but the last two updates have brought it closer in line with Yelp's other mobile apps.

A small but significant update on Wednesday fills in two missing holes in Yelp's features roundup. First, you can now bookmark a business from the phone to view later. Thankfully, you can remove bookmarks as well. Second, opinionated Yelpers can draft a review of a business from … Read more

China's second largest mobile phone company will be selling Google Android phones after all, according to a report from Reuters.

China Unicom's chairman Chang Xiaobing told Reuters Wednesday, on the sidelines of a conference in Beijing, that the carrier "recognizes that Android is a mainstream system." And he told the news service that the company "will definitely use Google's Android in our mobile handsets."

Google postponed the launch of two Android-based mobile handsets in China on Unicom's network earlier this year after Google discovered a sophisticated and targeted attack on its network … Read more

When you're on the lookout for businesses while you're also on the go, Yelp's version for Android phone comes in handy. It contains the usual GPS search for restaurants and businesses that you either search for or can filter based on your location. Results records include ratings, reviews, and photos you can view from the phone. You can click or press a button to call the business. There's another button to map the location to a movable Google map, and this version thankfully includes our favorite new feature: a link to pop open directions in a … Read more