(Credit:
gdgt)
A lot of attention has been lavished on the Motorola Droid today--and rightfully so--but it's merely the "cornerstone" of Verizon's Droid family. HTC's Droid Eris is gonna be the cheap stepbrother, at 99 bucks.
Though it's been speculated that the Droid Eris will run Android 1.6 and sport a hard-to-get-excited-about 528MHz Qualcomm CPU, it would be the cheapest Android phone yet in the U.S. Verizon didn't mention it at all today, so we might be a touch skeptical of it making that rumored November 6 launch date, but we'll see.
This story originally appeared on Gizmodo.
Ever since the mobile version of iTunes allowed podcast downloads, there's been reason to rejoice - on-the-fly podcast accessibility is better than ever, but it's still not great for managing subscriptions. For a limited time, Mediafly will be free for download for the iPhone and iPod Touch through the Apple App Store. Mediafly gives users access to video and audio podcasts across the internet. It also allows for downloads for offline listening on subways, a plus for big-city living. And it also accesses Digital City, so what's not to like?
Users can seamlessly create content channels via a Web browser or Internet-capable portable device, which means you can stream or preload your favorite content to devices such as the iPhone, iPod Touch, Creative Zen, and BlackBerry (in beta now), just to name a few. App versions for the Palm Pre and Android and Windows Mobile devices are coming soon, too. The iPhone and iPod Touch versions will go back to costing 99 cents eventually, so grab and play around with it while it's free to see if it's worth your while.
Check out the video below for demo of Mediafly in action. You can also download Mediafly for the iPhone, iPod Touch, or BlackBerry using your mobile browser: enter www.Mediafly.Mobi
Perhaps because the Google Android operating system is already a year old, because the Android Developer's Challenge will be kicked off after Google's I/O developer conference instead of before, or because the platform differences between Android 1.0 and Android 1.5 aren't as dramatic as those between iPhone 2.0 and iPhone 3.0, Android apps and the 1.5 Cupcake update failed to produce as much excitement this year compared to last.
However, that didn't stop a couple dozen publishers from showcasing their applications developed for Android 1.5, and it didn't stop us from picking out six favorites. Some of the apps implement newer technologies and solutions that further push what you can do on a mobile phone, while others demonstrated the seamlessness of their service between the desktop and device. With more Android phones expected to arrive on the market, like the HTC Ion Google given away to conference attendees, independent software developers will have greater opportunity to distribute their applications to a greater audience.
The HTC Magic and HTC Dream: we could see more HTC Android handhelds soon.
(Credit: HTC)Here's some news straight from the horse's mouth. At Thursday's launch of the HTC Magic in Singapore, Executive Vice President Jason Juang told CNET Asia in an aside that the company will be releasing at least two more Android smartphones by the end of this year. He remained coy when pressed for more details.
HTC's no longer alone in the Android party as Samsung has recently announced its first Android offering, the I7500. We'll continue to keep you updated. Meanwhile, check out our hands-on pictures of the Magic, or if motion images are your kind of thing, click to a First Look video here.
(Source: Crave Asia)
Updated: To correct licensing information.
The music player on the Google Android G1 phone isn't bad, but can it scroll lyrics while the song plays, download you new songs for free, and play music videos?
All that is packaged into the free TuneWiki music player, a much more complex and ambitious Android app than most of its cohorts debuting in the Android Market today. Not only does TuneWiki catalog the songs already on your phone, it also supplies you with quick links to download free songs, and links to play videos coupled with lyrics, some licensed.
You can use TuneWiki to create a playlist, listen to top 50 videos and songs, and search for song lyrics in multiple languages. TuneWiki's real ambition shows in its tools to search, save, and play YouTube music videos with synchronized lyrics.
It stumbles slightly, however, with a partial-screen playback of medium quality and song lyrics that don't quite sync if there's a spoken intro. While there is a tool tucked into the context menu to resync lyrics, this wasn't always successful.
Like most apps of our age, TuneWiki has a dorky-cool social-networking aspect. You can search a "music map" to see what people nearby are playing on TuneWiki at any moment, and then click on the anonymous TuneWiki user to see how many other people are playing the song worldwide. As another social-networking spoke, other users can contact you through TuneWiki, anonymously or otherwise, to talk tunes.
In other details, TuneWiki displays some small Google Ads, and you'll need an account to access some features. That's something you have to do online, though, not from the phone.
Regardless of any drawbacks, TuneWiki is one of the highest-reaching music applications we've seen on any mobile platform. It may be somewhat flawed at this stage of development, but it's well worth the download.
Read more CNET news and reviews on Google Android, Android applications, and the T-Mobile G1 phone.
A LOLdog I made using PicSay.
(Credit: CNET)PicSay's stated purpose is to e-mail or text annotated photo messages to friends, but there's nothing stopping you from using the free program as a makeshift photo editor.
PicSay is a simple application made especially for Google Android, but it's nevertheless the most customization-focused application I've reviewed today. You start by choosing a picture from your photo album or the image you most recently viewed (this won't work if your Android phone is in mass storage mode.) Then press the Menu key to start adding in the special effects: word balloons, colorful headings, cartoony images, and zany photo distortions.
There are more sober embellishments, too. You'll be able to stamp an image with a time and date, and can click into Effects to adjust hue, saturation, sepia tones, and color balance.
PicSay's biggest drawback is that it doesn't take photos from within the application, it only edits them. It also misses the opportunity to upload images to the social networking mainstays of Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, MySpace, and any other blog you own; however, it's early days and perhaps this is all yet to come.
Read more CNET news and reviews on Google Android, Android applications, and the T-Mobile G1 phone.
Cab4Me Light finds your a ride in portrait and landscape modes.
(Credit: Cab4Me)Why isn't there ever a cab around when you need one?
The free Google Android application Cab4Me Light makes finding, scheduling, and calling cabs to your side virtually brainless. Cab4Me Light's interface is simple and efficient, with one tab that shows where you are on the map and another that shows the details of cab companies in your area.
Step 1, drag your approximate location on a zoomable Google map. You can use GPS to locate yourself or enter a new address or a contacts' address to call the cab to a different location. Step 2, either click the orange button to call a cab company or switch to the Taxi tab for a scrollable list. The application asks if you're sure you want to place the call, a good precaution.
There's more to it, of course. Press the Menu button and you'll be able to view maps in satellite and illustrated modes, you can view the map for taxi stands a short distance away, and you can ping Cab4Me with news of other gathering points, like train stations and hotels that they can add to their lists.
The "light" features in Cab4Me Light refer to the service's current way of giving you the tools to flag your own ride. The full version, still in development, will have you ordering cabs from the interface, without first placing a call.
Cab4Me will partner with taxi companies that will respond when you press the button. Why isn't that out yet? Those partnerships are still being finessed as cab companies opt in and fill up Cab4Me's database.
Get more news on Google Android, including a CNET video review of T-Mobile's G1 phone.
(Credit:
Joyity)
Wednesday marks the release of the HTC Dream T-Mobile G1 featuring Google Android. If you're planning to pick one up, you're probably going to want to do something other than make calls and send texts. I mean it is a phone, for crying out loud.
On the same day, Zelfi will release a new software development and gaming platform for Google Android, called Joyity.
Once you have it installed, you'll be able to play a number of games designed for the platform. Joyity games are unique in that they are physically interactive and some require you to actually walk or run around your city in order to play.
In one of the games, called YouCatch, you play with other people while they're using their phones. Once you start, you'll get a quick picture of your target (another player) and then will have walk or run around your city (within a predetermined radius) to find him/her. At the same time, other players will be looking for you.
The games will make use of the GPS and location-based services on the phone. Using the platform, you'll also be able to design your own games and then share them with the Joyity user community.
The gaming software can be downloaded, free of charge, for HTC G1 with Google Android at the Android Market.
This sounds a lot like Geocaching actually. It could be fun, if you don't mind looking like an idiot running down the street chasing random strangers. But, if you're into that sort of thing, at least now you'll have a legitimate excuse.
(Credit:
Corinne Schulze/CNET Networks)
It's been a little more than a year since Google Android was announced and rumors of a little device called the HTC Dream started to leak onto the Web. We think it's fair to say that the Dream stirred up as much anticipation and hype as the Apple iPhone, not only because it would be the first smartphone to run Google's mobile platform but also because of the potential to overtake Apple's darling. (Hey, like it or not, the iPhone set a new bar for handset design and convergence, and serves as a sort of benchmark for touch-screen smartphones these days.)
On September 23, the world was officially introduced to the HTC Dream, now known as the T-Mobile G1, and the initial reaction ranged from "That's it?" to "I have to have it!" Which category does the G1 actually fall into? Check out our hands-on photo gallery and read our T-Mobile G1 review to find out and see whether you should run out to get one when it hits store shelves on October 22.
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