Android

One unique security feature of Android is the permission check when installing 3rd party apps. The system lists all permissions that an app requires and asks the user to check if that’s alright. Such permissions are the ability to receive your location, send or receive text messages, internet access, phone calls and many more. The user can be sure that the app is not doing any of such activities without the appropriate permission. In case the developer forgets to add a particular permission then the operating system will simply block the corresponding function which leads to a “Force Close”, which means the app will be terminated. ...

On the 2nd day at Google I/O 2010 developer event, Google has announced Android 2.2 with Flash along with Google TV, a new technology for television and Internet freaks. Watch the Introducing Google TV video below:

Kindle is, without a doubt, the highest profile e-reader platform running. With applications on iPhone, iPad, BlackBerry, Windows, and OS X as well as its own line of e-paper Kindle devices, Amazon had an estimated 90% share of the e-book sales market last year. Today, Amazon announced that a Kindle app will be launched on the Android mobile operating system this summer. Like the BlackBerry app, Android users will be able to purchase Amazon e-books inside the mobile app. That functionality is noticeably absent on the iPhone and iPad versions, where users must go to the browser to download new books. ...

In February we learned that a future version of Google Googles would translate text in photos. The future is here — Google Goggles v.1.1 for Android 1.6 and higher can now read and translate English, French, Italian, German and Spanish language text. The Google Goggles translation feature is pretty simple to use. Simply point-and-shot a word or phrase by drawing a box around desired text and snapping a photo. Should Google recognize the text, you can then select the translate button and define the source and destination languages for translation. ...

Smartphones carrying Google’s Android operating system outsold the iPhone in the first quarter of 2010, according to new research out today from NPD. During the quarter, Android handsets accounted for 28% of Smartphone sales, beating out iPhone OS and its 21% share. BlackBerry was the bestselling OS, with its devices capturing 36% of the market. NPD attributes the shift to strong sales of the Motorola Droid and Droid Eris. The news follows a report last month from AdMob that showed Android’s share of the mobile OS market had actually grown past that of iPhone OS, at least in the U.S. Worldwide, iPhone OS still has a big lead, however, with 46% share compared to Android’s 25%. AdMob’s data is based on ad requests across mobile websites and applications. ...

Although Google announced only last month that Sprint would carry its Nexus One phone, the carrier has since retracted from that plan. Gizmodo reports that the carrier will instead focus its efforts on the upcoming HTC EVO 4G it will be launching this summer. Both devices are Android phones, but the EVO is arguably more full-featured and will take advantage of Sprint’s 4G network — the next-generation cellular service that will be more akin to true mobile broadband with faster speeds than current 3G networks. ...

The Android Team today published a snapshot of the platform which shows the versions of Android most commonly in use. Though the platform is frequently criticized for being highly fragmented, there are three versions used far more than the rest. Out of the six supported versions of Android, it is a close three-way split between 1.5 (37.2%), 1.6 (29.4%), and 2.1 (32.4%). Version 1.1, 2.0, and 2.0.1 combined only make up 1% of Android users. ...

On a day when investors began celebrating Apple’s report of having already sold its one millionth iPad, news from this morning’s New York Post — which was the first with the story of the Sirius + XM merger — has thrown a cold towel on investors’ sentiments. The Post cites a single anonymous source as saying that essentially the only thing stopping a government inquiry into whether Section 3.3.1 of Apple’s Developers’ Agreement violates antitrust law, is a dispute over which government department gets first crack: the Federal Trade Commission, or the Dept. of Justice Antitrust Division. ...

Earlier today, a staging site for the HTC Incredible was found on Verizon’s servers with information about its release date and new name. According to the site — which is now password-protected — the Droid Incredible by HTC will launch on April 29. As we mentioned yesterday, the specs behind HTC’s latest device are pretty drool-worthy: a Snapdragon CPU, an 8-megapixel camera with autofocus and video, a 480×800 OLED screen — it pretty much looks like the next great Android device. ...

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has confirmed that his company is developing a tablet device based on the Android operating system, according to friends that spoke to the executive at a recent event in Los Angeles. The New York Times reports that Google has “been working with several hardware manufacturers,” and “hopes to make its own apps marketplace available for new slate-like devices.” Although Google is yet to publicly announce such a device, many signs point to its likely launch. For starters, Google has been rumored to be developing a slate device with HTC – the same company it brought Nexus One to market with – since January. Moreover, the company has already announced plans for an e-book store expected to launch within the next few months. ...

Multitasking, the feature that has been the absolute top of every iPhone user’s want list –which, by proxy became a major marketing point for both Android and webOS — has made its way to iPhone OS 4. “We figured out how to implement multitasking for third party apps and avoid those things [battery life and lag]. So that’s what took so long,” said Apple CEO Steve Jobs this morning. While it’s not actually full background processing, Apple has devised a way to reproduce the feeling. The company provided 7 APIs to developers which constitute the always-on services that apps can communicate with. These include: background audio, VoIP, Background Location, push notifications, local notifications, task completion, and fast app switching. ...

BlackBerry users rejoice, Google Maps for mobile just got a huge update that adds support for voice search, Google Buzz and more. Google Maps for BlackBerry has always been a feature rich application, but the additions to Google Maps 4.0 bring it more in line with their offerings for the iPhone and Google’s own Android platform. Here are some of the highlights of the new version: Search by voice: Google’s voice search feature is now supported by all BlackBerry devices, meaning users can search using phrases or even addresses, just as users can on the iPhone or Android. Google Buzz: Google Buzz for mobile is also now available with a heavy focus on Buzz’s geolocation feature. This means that you can see what’s going on nearby and also post your own public Buzz messages. This instantly adds some Yelp-like functionality to the app. Personalized searches and starred item support: If you have Web History enabled on your Google Account, you can save time typing search queries in maps.google.com because Google will provide you with suggestions based on your previous searches. So if you found a place at home but didn’t write down the number, you can just type in a few letters on your phone and it will pop right up. You can also synchronize your starred items between your computer and your phone, which is great for keeping track of places you want to visit or need to get directions to. Labs: Google Maps 4.0 supports Labs features like the terrain layer and scale adjustments. Find nearby businesses: You can view nearby businesses by selecting a point on a map or your current location. ...

At age five most kids can hop, skip and tie their shoes without help. Google Code turns five this week, and while they’re still working on the shoelaces thing, they’ve grown from a simple site for hosting a couple of APIs into a destination for developers to prototype their ideas in a Code Playground, host all kinds of open source projects and find out about our growing family of APIs and products like App Engine, Google Web Toolkit and Android. ...

You can now access Google Buzz from your Android mobiles easily using the official Google Buzz widget, that lets you post text and photos with a single tap. The widget lets you choose to tag your post with the location or place from which it was posted. To save time, your posts will upload in the background. It is initially available in English for Android phones running v1.6 and later. To download it, search for ‘Google Buzz’ in the Android Market. Once installed, you can add it to home screen: tap “Menu” while on the home screen and select “Add > Widgets > Google Buzz”.

Google has rolled out a significant update to the Google Maps application for Android 1.6+ devices, which includes a new search results page, support for multiple accounts, a new Latitude homescreen widget, and a new Maps live wallpaper for 2.1 devices. Previously, when you performed a search in Maps, you would have to choose a result from a list of markers on the map. When you clicked the marker, it would open a page with three tabs: Address, Details, and Reviews. Under the Address tab, there were options to Show the result on the map, get directions to it, call it, look at it in Street View, or add it as a contact. The other two tabs contain exactly what you’d expect, details and reviews. If you wanted to pick a different listing, you’d have to go back to the map view and pick a different marker. ...