android

T-Mobile launches iPhone challenger

NEW YORK--T-Mobile USA is betting big on its second Android smartphone, the MyTouch 3G, as it officially launches the device making it its flagship smartphone to compete against Apple's iPhone on AT&T.

The company announced the MyTouch 3G, which is essentially the same phone as the Google Ion or the HTC Magic, last month. And on Wednesday T-Mobile made the device available for pre-orders to its existing customers. The device will be generally available starting August 5.

The MyTouch is the second smartphone the carrier has introduced that uses Google's open-source mobile operating system, Android. T-Mobile … Read more

Possible Sony Ericsson Android interface?

News broke over the weekend that Sony Ericsson is planning on releasing its latest Android-powered phone, code-named Rachel, before the end of the year. The Xperia-branded phone is reportedly built on the Qualcomm Snapdragon QSD8250 platform, with a processor speed of up to 1Ghz, a large 4-inch touch-screen display, possibly an 8-megapixel camera with autofocus, and a 3.5-millimeter headphone jack.

Now there's also a leaked video of the Android interface of Sony Ericsson's Rachel. It doesn't quite look like the Android OS we're familiar with; in fact, it looks better. We really like how the … Read more

Preorder your MyTouch 3G

Starting today, T-Mobile customers can preorder the carrier's second Google Android phone, the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G. The touch-screen phone is selling for $199.99 with a two-year contract; available colors include white, black, and merlot. The carrier is guaranteeing that preorders will be delivered by August 5, which is when the handset will arrive in retail stores for sale to non-T-Mobile customers.

The MyTouch 3G is a variant of the Google Ion and HTC Magic. Features include stereo Bluetooth, seamless integration with Google apps, Wi-Fi, a digital music player, a 3.2-megapixel camera, quick access to music and application … Read more

Sharetones: Make a ton of ringtones on Android

Industrious cell phone users can always create their own ringtones, and lazy ones can buy them packaged. Sharetones 1.0 beta for Android, released to the Android Market on Tuesday, falls somewhere in between.

The premise is simple, but intriguingly computational. You create ringtones from songs you already own on your phone. Instead of asking you to do the tedious editing legwork, Sharetones will send your songs to a database of over 65,000 tones and return several options that someone else has created. One ringtone may capture the intro instrumentals; another may clip the chorus.

The key here is … Read more

Collect them all

Start with your own music collection on the phone. Sharetones compares your list to its growing database of user-cut ringtones and returns matches. After previewing and picking, Sharetones will extract metadata information about the sample ringtone and rip your own song to match it, including fade-ins and fade-outs. Bottom line: the only person's music you touch is your own.

The application's actual interface is a tad sparse. You can preview the ringtone, pausing or saving it. The menu button reveals options to sort by title or artist, to re-sync the library, and to view the ringtone, alarm, and … Read more

Waze brings free turn-by-turn GPS to Android

Waze is an innovative new GPS app for Android that supplements Census Bureau maps with user-generated data. This social approach to road conditions offers a new level of data that is not possible with other GPS services.

Just imagine your daily commute to work. Though you may have the best route down to a science, significant delays can affect even the best-laid plans. Fortunately, that's where Waze comes into play.

By utilizing real-time information from others, Waze can optimize your drive time and help you make informed decisions. It provides helpful information such as speed traps, accidents, and road … Read more

Creative Zii touch-screen player outed by FCC

A filing with the FCC offers some evidence that Creative has a new touch-screen portable media player in the works. Named after the system-on-a-chip processor Creative showed off during CES 2009, the Zii (and the developer-only Zii EGG) include music and video playback capabilities, 802.11b/g Wi-Fi, and an HD camera on the back.

Little else about the player is revealed in the FCC filing, but it's pretty easy to connect the dots and see that Creative is playing catchup with Apple's iPod Touch. Creative is no stranger to playing second fiddle to Apple, but the company … Read more

Google prepares next Android Developer Challenge

Starting in August, Google will open submissions for the second Android Developer Challenge (ADC2). With close to $2 million in prizes, expect to see some amazing entries.

The first Android Developer Challenge gave us many of the top applications available today. The 50 finalists included Locale, TuneWiki, PicSay, GoCart, Compare Everywhere, and more.

The challenge For the second challenge, Google has changed the format of the contest. This time around, the Android community will play an important role in deciding the winners. Sometime in late August, a voting application published on the Android Market will allow users to sample the submissions for each category and vote for their favorites.

Instead of 50 finalists, there will now be 200 finalists divided into 10 categories. They'll be selected based on the score they receive from the community votes. The official contest categories include:

Education/reference Games: casual/puzzle Games: arcade/action Social networking Lifestyle Productivity/tools Media Entertainment Travel Miscellaneous

… Read more

Upgrade Android icons to display unread count

Android's open nature makes it easy to customize the look and feel of your phone with widgets, themes, and home screen replacements. Not surprisingly, many have chosen to make their Android phone look and operate like the wildly popular iPhone.

Yet, Android and the iPhone differ in the way they display unread application notifications. Android places new alerts in the systemwide notification bar while the iPhone places a notification directly over the specific app. Both systems work well, but some might prefer the iPhone's system.

SMS Unread Count is a free Android widget that attempts to emulate the … Read more