android

The mobile industry has never been more active and interesting, with much of the froth centered on Apple's impressive iPhone. In the wake of the iPhone's success a range of competitors have arisen, many of them open source, including Google Android, Symbian, and...the LiMo Foundation.

That last one may not be top-of-mind for many people, but LiMo, launched in February 2007 with the goal of establishing a collaborative platform for Linux-based handsets, has quietly been making headway amongst mobile handset manufacturers, with more than 30 handsets shipping the first release of its software and a bevy to … Read more

Though the open nature of Android has always allowed you to alter the G1's software, options for personalizing the exterior of the phone have been few. Fortunately, however, the upcoming T-Mobile MyTouch 3G offers customization choices both inside and out.

We can get a preview of what's in store for new MyTouch 3G users by looking at current Android modifications. By far, the most popular options are home-screen replacements. For a couple of bucks, users can purchase apps in the Android Market that completely replace the default home screen. Once installed, there are hundreds of free themes for … Read more

Google Voice released its first mobile client to the Android Market this week. The mobile application allows you to make calls and send text messages from your Google Voice number. Also included with the service is visual voice mail, which offers transcriptions of your messages.

The new service works by converting your voice messages into text that is easy to read. When a new message is available, Google Voice sends an alert to the notification bar. The transcription is not always perfect, but most messages are readable. During playback, you can easily jump to any part of the recording by … Read more

Microsoft's competition might be looking for a silent contender, but they won't find it in CEO Steve Ballmer. Rather than relying on the software giant's marketing professionals to dish dirt on competitors, Ballmer does it himself. And he does it quite often.

On Tuesday, Ballmer had some interesting things to say about Google and its upcoming Chrome operating system.

Speaking in an onstage question-and-answer session following his speech at the Worldwide Partner Conference in New Orleans, Ballmer told those in attendance that he doesn't "know if Google can't make up their mind or what the problem is over there...The last time I checked, you don't need two client operating systems."

Ballmer couldn't quite stop himself there. He had a few more interesting things to say about Chrome OS.

"Who knows what this thing is?" Ballmer said. "To me, the Chrome OS thing is highly interesting--it won't happen for a year and a half, and they already announced an operating system (Android)."

With all those zingers flying around, it made me start remembering other instances in which Ballmer has taken a company or product to task. So I decided to search Google for all results matching "Ballmer disses." Amazingly, the search returned more than 125,000 results.

Microsoft's CEO likes to hit the competition with some pretty tough comments. Here's what he's had to say about some of his most prominent competitors over time.… Read more

Imagine uploading your photos from your digital camera and from your mobile phone to Facebook and Flickr using the same software interface. Now imagine downloading a YouTube video to your phone by clicking a browser bookmarklet. You can do both in Dazzboard, a new media Webtop in open beta that fast-tracks your photos, songs, and videos to and from your mobile device to your computer or the online world.

There is a catch: the USB leash. You've got to plug the device into the computer via USB. The trade-off is being able to manage the phone's media content from a computer dashboard, which is infinitely more comfortable than managing it from the device's tiny interface. If you're not on the move, dashboards like Dazzboard offer most of the convenience of mobile management, and are overall much easier on the eye.

Here's how Dazzboard plays out. After registering for a free account, plug your device--like your mobile phone, digital MP3 player, or Sony PSP (or all three in succession)--into the computer by way of a USB cable. You may need to switch some devices, like BlackBerry and Windows Mobile phones, into mass storage mode for this to work (see FAQs). Dazzboard's "universal" device manager recognizes the device and lets you bilaterally interact with music, photos, and videos. You can upload content to the Web or to the PC, or quickly transfer media from your computer or from the Web to your device.… Read more

Though Android allows you to use multiple third-party e-mail accounts, the most feature rich is Gmail. A computer is still required to get the full Gmail experience on your phone, but the official Google mail service offers tight integration with your contacts and has many tie-ins with other Android applications.

Contacts After activating a new Android phone, you'll need to enter your contacts. It is easy to copy existing contacts from your SIM card, but transferring contacts from e-mail and other apps takes a few more steps. So how can you make it happen? The best solution is to … Read more

On this week's Dialed In, a tan and relaxed Bonnie joins us back in the studio to discuss a gallery of new phones for AT&T, T-Mobile, and Sprint. We also gab about Apple ending the Palm and iTunes party, upcoming Android updates and the dangers of texting while walking. And, of course, we report on our latest reviews and take your questions.

Bill Gates wonders why Google would want to make a browser-based operating system. In fact he wonders what exactly a browser is anyway. We also have some crazy Steve Ballmer quotes and some crazy stats of how many people respond to spam.

Bill Gates on Google's Chrome OS http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10286308-56.html

Ballmer: what IS this thing!? http://paidcontent.org/article/419-microsofts-microsofts-ballmer-on-google-chrome-os-who-knows-what-this-t/

Gates: Natal to bring gesture recognition to Windows too http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10286309-56.html http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-10286772-56.html

TechCrunch receives … Read more

Google is ready to bring Google Voice to a place where it really makes the most sense: the smartphone.

Android and BlackBerry owners who are also Google Voice users will be able to use the service directly on their handsets starting Wednesday, said Vincent Paquet, senior product manager for Google Voice and a co-founder of GrandCentral, the product currently known as Google Voice. Google Voice, which is expected to be available at some point Wednesday, lets users assign a single number to ring their home, work, and cell phones, and also get voice mail messages as text transcriptions.

With the … Read more