2010 seems to be the year of tablet PCs. With the increased tablet PC boom, LG has also geared up to enter the tablet PC revolution. LG is one of the several companies that are planning to come up with a tablet computer during 2010. The tablet is part of LG’s upcoming stream of 10 smart devices that will be revealed by this year end.
LG plans to build a rival to the Apple iPad on the Android mobile OS platform. The tablet computer which will be powered by Android 2.2 is expected to hit the market by this year end.
Compared to other similar tablets on the market, this tablet is claimed by LG to deliver highly superior performance. LG previewed UX10, the Windows 7-based tablet at Computex a month ago. As such, we need to wait and watch if the Android-based tablet is going to replace or compete with UX10.
Today, people are looking for a device having awesome battery-life, which can be turned on instantly, get connected easily and has an agile, touchscreen interface. However, we cannot find any of these factors on the existing Windows-based mobile computing platforms such as netbooks and notebooks.
Today’s trend is to build a tablet PC on the same mobile OS platform used in the smartphones. As such the new LG tablet will run on Android OS. No further details have been unveiled by LG about its Android tablet yet.
Till date, Apple has been leading the tablet Bandwagon by leaving its rival tablets in the dust. However, Apple’s rivals can beat the competition by launching tablet PCs having things like USB ports or Flash compatibility which are missing in Apple’s iPad.
As Android Froyo has hit some roadblocks, HTC Desire, HTC Legend and HTC Wildfire seem to be the first ones to get affected.
As per initial plans, the Froyo was to be launched on the Nexus One and then on the HTC Desire after a week. However, Froyo does not seem to hit the handsets anytime before September as Google and HTC continue to keep the issues under wraps.
It is not just the HTC handsets that will be affected by the delay because most other Android Smartphones are also awaiting the Froyo. The recently launched Samsung i900 Galaxy S and the Dell Mini 5 (Streak) are few such handsets which will have a significant impact.
HTC has been in the forefront of manufacturing stunning handsets on the Android platform and as we all know they made the Nexus One for Google too. HTC Desire is the basis for the Google Nexus One and hence the striking similarity between the two handsets is inevitable.
Google on the other hand will be under pressure to get the Android Froyo out thanks to the launch of the iPhone 4. Inspite of multiple issues in the iPhone 4, it is still a stiff competitor for the Android 2.1 Eclair.
Mobile equipment manufacturer, INQ has made clear its plans about scrapping its operating system, Brew and going all out for a line-up of Android phones.
INQ has decided to move away from Qualcomm’s operating system to join the league of players like HTC, Motorola, LG, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung and offer Google’s Android OS based devices. INQ has been famous for manufacturing socially aware handsets all the while.
INQ is gearing up to move away from the value market to the Smartphone market. And as it does so, it wishes to replicate the success that Motorola achieved last year by launching its Android based social networking phones, Motoblur and Cliq. Motorola could get back on track after launching Android based handsets last year.
Despite the fact that INQ might not garner the same attention that HTC or Sony Ericsson command, it could sell 1.5 million of the INQ Chatting gadgets which is no less an achievement.
For INQ the switch from Qualcomm to Android makes all the more sense as it gears up to notch more of the market share from the current leaders. This move would mean that more of Qualcomm developers might jump on to the Android bandwagon.
Apple needs to wake up to face the fact that it’s been dethroned by Android based Smartphones in the marketshare for Q1. The rise of Google as a powerful player has been observed by most of us over the last few months; however, the NPD statistics stunned a lot of people when it reported Apple’s ouster by Android based Smartphones for Q1.
NPD reports that RIM continues to be on the top with 36 percent market share while Android-based handsets gathered 28 percent market share even while Apple’s iPhone OS is left grappling at 21 percent.
An important point to be noted is that there are lesser iPhone models compared to the numerous choices offered by Android based Smartphones in the US market viz., Backflip, Droid, Droid Eris, and Nexus One.
Apple iPhone is in the market either as the 8GB iPhone, the 16GB one or the 32 GB iPhone 3GS. Apart from the variety offered by Android platform in terms of handsets, there is flexibility in choosing the carrier as well. The iPhone on the other hand is closely tied to one operator only.
Vodafone finally put rumours to rest by officially announcing the release of their first own-brand handset incorporating the Google Android platform. The mobile christened the Vodafone 845 will be manufactured by Huawei – the largest telecommunications provider in China.
The interesting part is that the Vodafone 845 might be offered by other service providers as the Huawei Joy in what you can call a different wardrobe. And, for all those who love a petite phone, this Android is expected to be the smallest smartphone on the market come this May.
The 845 features a 2.8 inch QVGA touch-screen, an optical trackpad, a 3.2 MP camera and supports GSM/GPRS/EDGE (900/1800/1900 MHz), UMTS/HSDPA (900/1200 MHz), Wi-Fi (b/g) and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity. And all this in a form factor that is only 100 x 55 x 13 mm. The phone is also rumoured to come bundled with Vodafone 360 services, GMail and Google Maps.
As stated earlier, the phone is expected in May this year with a contract free price tag of 130 to 150 pounds, something we can consider, a steal!
Google’s new satnav software, called as Google Maps Navigation can now be downloaded by people in the UK who use Android based handsets like HTC Desire.
Google Maps Navigation, the programme was launched in the US, last autumn and is now being made available to the UK. Any mobile handset which is running on Android 1.6 and above is compatible to run this program.
However, users with the HTC Hero, which runs on Android 1.5 will be left out until June 2010 before which HTC is not likely to release any update for that handset.
Google officials denied commenting on any timeframe about the availability of the software on the Apple iPhone.
As per reports from comScore, there was a jump of 86 per cent in the number of users who use mobile for mapping services in the UK from February 2009 to February 2010.
The highly popular Android Operating System from Google has a problem formatting memory cards with higher capacities though they are declared compatible with the OS as per specs. The Google N1 product guide mentions that microSD cards upto 32 GB can be formatted using the device’s software.
As per reports from CNET, a CNET reader reported the issue with his Nexus One Smartphone. Google website declares the Nexus One to be compatible with microSD cards with capacities upto 32 GB, but the underlying Android platform’s inability to format 32 GB cards has been reported.
Google on the other hand confirmed the bug and claimed that it has been fixed. The updates would soon be available by Google over the air though they have not come up with a specific timeframe for the updates.
The background is that microSD cards need a a quick format often before using them in a new device. However, Android is limited to be able to format microSD cards with storage less than or equal to 16GB.
The bottomline is that any user who intends tp use a 32GB microSD card would have tp format it on a PC, and it implies that the user needs a Card Reader except in the cases where the computer comes with an in-built reader.
Looking at high acceptance of Android operating system and a whole lot of new applications and libraries built over it, Myriad (middleware developer for mobile applications) has come up with a new conversion tool to translate Java MIDIets into Android applications.
Myriad J2Android is the name of the tool. This tool is built to capitalize the popularity of Android Operating System, with a key principle to convert non Android based most popular applications into Android based applications. This conversion activity revolves around working on new features of Android like flexible screen and virtual keyboard capability. Myriad is trying to make most of this market, before the market gets saturated.
Virgin Mobile has already announced its support to this new set of Android based applications for its new four yet to be launched mobile phones and in this band wagon we have LG touch Max, Samsung Galaxy Portland, HTC Desire and Sony Ericsson Xperia X10.
LG is finally all set to launch its first Android based mobile headset. It is joining Android club with GW620 Smartphone with a full hardware horizontally sliding keyboard.
GW620 is a 3G enabled phone with GPS and Wi-Fi capabilities. It is equipped with a full touch based screen of 3 inches in size to view full size pictures taken with its 5 mega pixel camera equipped with flash. The system has inbuilt 150 MB of internal memory and a micro USB port improve its portability of data.
More important of all the features is its operating system. The phone is based on Android 1.5 and above that, LG has come up with its own set of applications for it. One of such application Social Networking Service Manager (SNS), it lets user to work with and manage social networking sites like twitter, facebook or Bebo.
Another interesting application is Moxier, which enables users to synchronize with their Outlook enabled activities like to do tasks, calendar, reminders, mails and contacts. The phone also comes with Quickoffice to access MS Office applications like MS Office, Excel, MS Power Point.
3 Mobile
Wireless carrier 3 UK is reportedly getting ready for the launch of a number of no less than six handsets powered by Google’s Android operating system, the latest news around the web suggests. It seems that the operator is set to enhance its offering of handsets powered by Google’s mobile operating system, something that other carriers also seem interested in.
Just like every other operator is buoyed up to offer Android based phones, 3 UK seems busy enhancing its Android platform offerings. No less than six handsets powered by Google’s flagship Android OS are reportedly being decked up for launch by 3 UK.
A 3 UK executive reportedly emphasized that 3 UK was focussed on Android as theme for the ongoing year. 3 UK seems confident that Android can help it boost its sales and that is the reason behind more Android-based phones being offered in the near future. HTC Hero is the only Android powered phone in 3’s kitty as of now.
Smartphone users could soon be jumping in joy now that Opera has announced the launch of Opera Mini 5 beta version for the Android Operating system promising faster browsing experience. Opera claims that the new browser will provide surfing capabilities on a mobile handset similar to a PC by data compression as high as 90 percent.
Opera has also stated that this new software will provide a host of features to Android users’ viz., Password manager, Speed Dial, bookmarks, and tabbed browsing. Opera’s goal is that Android users ought not to compromise about surfing on their mobile phones and Opera Mini 5 will scale up to provide the users swift and cost-efficient access to internet.
Opera has driven a crisp and clear message to the market from the many launches targeted towards the Smartphone browsers that they have done so far this year. All it wants is to grab a significant pie of this ever-burgeoning market.
Smartphones which run on Windows Mobile 5 and 6 will have the Opera Mini 5 Beta pre-installed. And don’t be surprised to see a dedicated iPhone browser from Opera because it has already announced one at the Mobile World Congress.
Google beat its rival Yahoo when it was chosen as the default search engine for T-mobile phones. Google’s popularity coupled with the customers usability are the apparent reason behind this move from T-mobile.
Going forward in all the new phones released by T-mobile, Google will be the preferred search engine.
Previously yahoo was the preferred search provider and T-mobile handsets like the blackberry RIM used yahoo search engines. Now this move will facilitate the users with better services and makes the mobile browsing experience all the more easy and needless to say a pleasant experience.
Google and T-mobile are teaming up for Google’s new android phone. But this move came in soon after AT &T, the provider of iPhone services chose yahoo as their default search engine service. This arrangement may still be in place for some of yahoo’s services like Flickr, mail, sports, messenger and finance. In spite of gaining popularity with its tie ups in Taiwan and Germany yahoo still lost to Google. More importantly, it is the end users like you who is going to benefit in ways more than one.
Motorola has delivered a series of devices powered by Android, Google’s mobile operating system and it is not yet done with it as there are a series of more such devices yet to be delivered in 2010. Motorola will also be offering some feature phones and chances are fair that it will launch a Windows Phone 7 series powered handset by 2010 end.
Excerpts from a recent article on pocketnow confirm that Motorola’s focus continues to be to deliver Android powered handsets for the rest of 2010 and that there is a possibility for it to come up with a handset for Windows Phone 7 series OS.
As might be known to most of you, Motorola was a Windows Mobile licensee earlier; however there is no clarity about its return to Microsoft’s mobile platform. The possibility of Motorola launching handsets powered by Windows Phone 7 OS cannot be written off given the fact that Microsoft announced the availability of the Windows Phone 7 powered handsets in time for the holiday season.
Motorola created waves in the market with the launch of Motorola CLIQ and Motorola DROID / MILESTONE handsets earlier based on the Android OS. Even as Motorola continues to focus on Android powered phones at the moment, its return to Microsoft’s mobile OS should not draw any flak. Microsoft has changed strategy and switched to focus more on the user experience with Windows Phone 7 OS.
Samsung i7500 also called as Galaxy is first Android based non HTC phone is much awaited release of this year just not because of non HTC Android based but also because of first Google phone from Samsung and also because of its powerful 5 Megapixel camera.
Samsung Galaxy sleeker than others of its kind and breed is equipped with 528 MHz of CPU which gives enough processing power to perform up to its expectations and 128MB RAM to provide enough space for that performance. First non HTC phone with Android base tag is also increasing the expectations. Touch Screen with virtual keyboard gives full space for its users to touch everywhere and feel everything with most powerful sensors.
Samsung Galaxy is also a weight conscious among all comparables with 119g, which is still on a slight higher side. But one cannot expect something lighter than this with these kinds of features. It not only provides enough memory for CPU performance, but also more than expected to store memories. It comes with inbuilt 8 Gb, which can be extended up to 16 GB with expandable MicroSD card. With so many features is Samsung i7500 is so much awaited in market for its release.
We can expect far reaching implications for all handset manufacturers who use Google’s Android operating system, if we are to believe some analysts. Forrester Research suggests that this law suit against alleged patent infringement could just be the first of several such suits.
A lot of the patents named in the suit relate to operating system processes though Apple did not target Google in its law suit. And HTC has got support from Google which sounds unusual in such cases. Google claims not being a party to the lawsuit, but supporting Android operating system as well as the partners who helped them build it.
The first manufacturer to use Android as the operating system in its phones, HTC is also the manufacturer for Google’s debut handset, the Nexus One. Analysts are floating views that Apple is attacking Google “in proxy” by suing HTC.
HTC has meanwhile denied commenting on the suit, before assessment of validity of the claims.
Forrester research believes that this suit could have implications for other manufacturers including LG, Sony Ericsson, and Samsung who showcased their phones at the prestigious Mobile World Congress, last month.
