Grab your coffee and get ready for a big ol’ donut.
On Sept. 15, Google released the Android 1.6 SDK. The software development kit allows developers to write native 1.6 appear and update already existing appear so ad to be compatible with Donut.
As for when we might see Donut pushing to our phones remember that the HTC Hero on Sprint is launching in October and Sprint is a CDMA network — it needs Donut and its CDMA support in order to even operate on Sprint’s network.
In addition to CDMA support expexct universal search, better camera and gallery apps and a new battery usage screen as well as a widget to toggle wifi and gps usage on and off.
For anybody who uses wpTogo on Android, I have a handy tip for you, especially if you want to write a post while the phone is in Airplane Mode.
I’m sitting on a SWA flight going to work and wanted to rip out a few posts but unfortunately wpTogo doesn’t seem to like saving drafts when the phone is in “Airplane Mode.” (Note to wpTogo: fix this, please.) However, I had an idea. So I opened my “Sticky Note” widget and have now written two posts.
When I get back on the ground and have a signal I’ll copy these into wpTogo and post them.
The nice thing about using Sticky Note is that is it’s extremely fast for text entry. Plus, I can organize and color code posts right on my homescreens.
Try it out and let me know what you think.
T-Mobile has announced that by the end of 2009 they will start rolling out HSPA+ upgrading their network to true 3.5G.
While this isn’t 4G, it will allow phones already equipped for it (myTouch 3G for one) to reach download speeds of 21Mbps.
T-Mobile has commited to LTE technology for their 4G network and is calling their HSPA+ rollout a “bridge” to the 4G network. LTE is extremely fast and makes wimax look like yesterday’s news.
With all the buzz over Motorola and T-Mobile it may have been easy to miss the fact that facebook has finally released an official app for Android.
It’s not perfect and needs some features added but overall it works decently enough.
Easily one of the best streaming music apps on any platform, Pandora has finally been released for Android.
Pandora on Android
It’s a new era for radio. Personalized, mobile, and free.Pandora Radio is your own FREE personalized radio now available to stream music on your Android phone. Just start with the name of one of your favorite artists, songs or classical composers and Pandora will create a “station” that plays their music and more music like it.
Already a Pandora user? Even easier. Just log in. Pandora on Android is fully integrated with Pandora on the web. Enjoy all your existing stations – and create new ones right from your Android phone.
Grab it from the market, or scan this barcode with your Android phone. 
phandroid.com has a neat little story and pic pointing out that the Googleplex now has a giant Donut sculpture out front right next to the Cupcake and Android statues. Could this mean Donut is close to launch? Probably.
Well yesterday Motorola took a giant, conceptual at least, grab at pulling themselves out of the grave the industry has dug for them.
Welcome the Motorola Cliq (known about the blogosphere as the Morrison).
First the specs:
- T-Mobile USA will release it here in the states “this fall”
- In fact it looks as if the phone will retail for $399 off contract, or FREE on a 2yr contract.
- Full Touchscreen with FULL QWERTY side slider
- 3.2″ capcitive, GLASS, 320 x 480 pixel screen
- Android 1.5 (Cupcake) with the MOTO Blur custom UI
- 5MP camera with auto-focus
- 3.5mm headset jack
- MicroSD up to 32GB support
- 1420 mAh battery
- Syncs contacts, posts, messages, photos and much more—from sources such as Facebook®, MySpace, Twitter, Gmail™, work and personal e-mail, and LastFM
- Five homescreen widgets to keep you always in-the-know: Happenings, Messages, Social Status, News Feeds, Calendar
- MOTO Blur account allows you to back up your contacts/data, find a lost phone and easily integrate your existing contact info for friends/family/business
T-Mobile already has a promotional website up for the phone. On it you’ll find information and an interactive demo of the MOTOBlur UI. Click here for the fun.
Blur is Motorola’s custom UI, similar to HTC’s Sense UI, but it is also a service that allows users to pull all their social networking sites into one account. Blur features five home screens (please take note of this Google and include this in Donut or Eclair) and custom Motorola widgets. As noted, Blur is a system to take all your contacts from social sites and the phone book and keep them in one place, similar to WebOS’s “Synergy” system but then to take that social information from inside various, different apps and place it all out on the homescreens. The ideas, in concept, are great but the execution, as always, will be key here.
Also related, engadget.com has a nice comparison of all the Android devices on the market right now, check the link for the full story. However, the guts of the story is this; there is not a lot of difference between the phones in terms of hardware. In fact they all run the same processor. The minor differences are in the RAM (with the exception of the G1 they all have the same ROM), camera resolution and the headset jack. The differences really come down to the software and keyboard solutions.
Now some videos, courtesy of phonedog.com
I will say that T-Mobile has really gone for the kill shot in terms of Android. They are pushing three android phones, two of which are viable and exciting. I peronally like the myTouch. I’m hoping that Donut and Eclair will be bringing a lot of the features popping up in sens and Blur to the stock version of android. I do really wish T-Mobile had invested in the 288MB RAM version of the Magic/myTouch. All the new phones are sporting 256MB and it really shows. The 192MB on the myTouch isn’t a death blow by any means but why start out behind the curve.
The Cliq is shaping up to be a very nice device. This is what the G1 should have been, at least in terms of form factor, and we’ll see how well it sells. But if T-Mobile really offers the device for free on a new contract they may finally have a true and relevant iPhone competitor.
The vid says most of it:
Sprint officially announced that the newly redesigned HTC Hero, Sense UI and all, is indeed launching on their network.
Looking a lot like the myTouch/Magic, the Sprint Hero will begin selling on Oct. 11 for $179 on a two year simply everything plan.
The Sprint version of the Hero is shipping with a measly 2GB Micro SD Card, according to Sprint’s press release.
A few weeks back the internets were abuzz with love for Creative Lab’s newest PMP/MID combo theCreative Zii EGG. Billed as a development model, the device was rumored to be running Android and or Creative’s own OS “Plaszma” and it all fell under a mysterious term called “stem-cell computing.”
Why should you, and Android devotee, care? Well the device is being shipped, it seems, with Creative’s “Plaszma OS” but is also being billed as ”Android ready.” However, according to Creative’s website, “The Zii Plaszma Platform supports Android and the Android SDK, giving developers the chance to use the familiar Android OS. The difference, however, is the marked improvement in High-definition and 3D Graphics performance.”
Call me crazy but it seems to me that Creative has taken the open sourceAndroid, tweaked it to handle 1080p video playback, added OpenGL ES support and re-branded their version of Android as “Plaszma.” Of course this is purely speculation on my part, but watch the video, read Creative’s website and Plaszma looks very reminiscent of Android.
In fact, Creative says “The Plaszma OS is a robust, full-featured multi-tasking Operating System built on a Linux 2.6 kernel. This enables the creation of native and web-based applications that are significantly enhanced by the advanced 3D media and communication capabilities of the ZMS processor and Zii Plaszma Platform.
The Plaszma OS supports a rich set of industry standard APIs that have been optimized by ZiiLABS. Equipped with a wide range of multimedia CODECs, you can get powerful video, image and audio playback, recording capabilities and advanced audio processing, including a text-to-speech engine. The Plaszma OS also supports a desktop grade Opera 9.7 browser with Web 2.0 capabilities, 2D graphics, and OpenGL ES 3D graphics, plus a powerful intuitive gesture-based user interface.”
The Creative website is also claiming that the “stem-cell computing” is, in fact, a new breed of processor. Again, according to the website, “The Zii EGG is an energy efficient handheld StemCell Computer based on the powerful ZiiLABS ZMS-05 media-rich applications processor. The ZMS-05’s 24 floating-point processors deliver up to 8 GFLOPS of raw processing power, while the StemCell Computing’s flexible architecture allows stunning display of 3D graphics on a small handheld battery powered device. The revolutionary chip delivers a superior experience of media-rich applications on a mobile device. It’s the perfect processing solution for scalability, flexibility and low-energy consumption.”
And, thanks to the guys at engadget.com, you too can now see video of the device running, in the wild as engadget.com is reporting that this video is from an actual purchaser of the device.
The specs are as follows:
| • Capacitive 10-point multi-gesture touch display | • Hardware GPS receiver |
| • 3.5” 320×480 true-color display | • Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR |
| • X-Fi audio processing | • 3-axis Accelerometer |
| • Up to 32GB Internal Flash Storage | • Ambient light sensor |
| • 32MB NOR Flash (Linux Kernel Boot ROM) | • SDHC slot (supports up to 32GB of external SDHC Card) |
| • 256MB Mobile DDR RAM | • USB 2.0 Mini-B (MTP and Charging) |
| • Supports 720p and 1080p HDTVs via HD cable | • Universal Docking connector (USB, Audio) |
| • Composite video out | • Headphone socket, built-in speaker and microphone |
| • Dual cameras | • Supports Plaszma OS and Android |
| - Forward facing VGA camera | • 1200mAH rechargeable lithium-ion |
| - Rear facing HD camera | • Light weight: 108grams |
| • Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g | • 115 x 62 x 12 mm |
R. John Klimut
