Describe Your Perfect Android Phone

Phandroid first started a LONG time ago – well over a year ago – yet still we’ve only seen one mass market Android Phone distributed, the T-Mobile G1. While there have been plenty of rumors on upcoming phones, from the indefinitely delayed Kogan Agora to the soon to be released (fingers crossed) HTC Magic, it’s safe to say that not NEARLY enough mainstream Android devices have launched. We want more. You want more. Lets have a little fun and play pretend. You find a magic lamp, rub it and a robot looking genie pops out and says you can create any ONE Android phone based on the following criteria: Form factor Features/Specs Carrier Manufacturer What would you make? Describe your perfect Android Phone.

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Describe Your Perfect Android Phone

Enhanced Version of CallerID by WhitePages Released into the Wild

One of the first major name releases in the Android Market, Caller ID by White Pages, has been given an overhaul with all new features.  Features like reverse lookup and telemarketing alert in addtion to much more! What was already a fully loaded app to begin with, the new version brings users: Adds a database of 600 million numbers to ID more numbers successfully Shows instantly who is calling from both landlines and mobiles through a notification window that displays the caller’s ID while the incoming call is ringing Alerts users to incoming calls from known telemarketers, helping people avoid unwanted calls on what is often their primary phone number Lets users identify numbers, including unknown texts, on demand with reverse phone lookup Offers the ability to update address books by adding a caller’s phone number and address as a contact with one tap   So what’s the catch?  This is the paid version of the application.  The cost?  You can get a 6-month subscription for $6.99, or roughly $1.17 per month.  As anyone who has ever called 411 knows, that’s cheaper than one call.   You can try this new version out for a week for free.  Check the Android Market for “White Pages” and you’ll find it. White Pages knows that everyone is going to be willing to cough up a few bucks twice a year so they are going to keep their free version in the Android Market.  Proving to be quite a popular app on its own, this version has seen over 100,000 downloads so far.  (Editor’s note: At the time of publishing this article, the free version cannot be found in the Market).   Here’s a video to go along with the press release we were sent today.  Turn it up and enjoy the soft, subtle, soothing sounds of Flo Rida. We’d also like to point out that the White Pages team is beginning to see the future in Android as noted in their blog.   Check out what Kevin Nakao (VP Mobile & Monetization) has to say below: We have been experimenting for a while with Caller ID for mobile, but a good user experience requires integration with the incoming call functionality and call history, something previously off-limits to developers. Android’s open platform makes this integration not only possible but easy. -  Why I believe in Android: Game On to develop new G1 apps

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Enhanced Version of CallerID by WhitePages Released into the Wild

You Tell Us: What Have You Purchased in the Market?

Ok, so the Android Market has been up now for a little over a week and a whole new batch of apps have arrived.  We’d like to know what you guys are spending your money on.  Are there any apps you found to be worth the money? Leave a comment below and let us know your thoughts on the paid apps.

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You Tell Us: What Have You Purchased in the Market?

Microsoft Microscope on Android and Apple

The “concern” of open-source mobile operating system Android is not far from Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s mind. Ramping up investments into a client operating system, Ballmer says the line between a phone and PC operating system is changing. Windows Mobile currently ranks third, just in front of Apple iPhone with Ballmer seeing Google Android as a “blip on the radar”. Having said this, the concern for Microsoft is that the real market momentum with operators and device manufacturers is swinging toward Android, even if “consumer market mojo is with Apple and to a lesser extent BlackBerry.” Competition is moving across two fronts: Firstly selling software independently from hardware and secondly, selling a combination of software, hardware and services bundled together. Ballmer said on Tuesday during a midyear update that “the dynamics with Linux is changing somewhat. I assume we’ll see Android-based, Linux-based laptops, in addition to phones, and we’ll see Google more and more as a competitor in the desktop operating system business than we ever have before.” Microsoft is not discounting any player in the field at the moment, you always need to keep an eye on the little guy… Click here to view the embedded video. [via CNET ]

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Microsoft Microscope on Android and Apple

Blogger connects to Google Friend Connect

When we introduced the Following feature for Blogger last fall, we wanted to help you connect with fans of your own blog and discover communities of people who share your interests. It has been exciting to see Following grow over the past few months, to say the least. With nearly three million communities of followers on Blogger blogs, and with one person following a blog every second, we’ve been looking for ways to help these communities continue to thrive. As a first step toward that goal, today we are integrating the Blogger Following feature with Google Friend Connect . Not only does this make it easier for anyone to follow a Blogger blog, but also it gives your blog expanded visibility across the web as your followers join other sites and share their activities with their friends. Blogger joins an open network of websites already using Friend Connect and visitors can now follow any Blogger blog by signing in with their Google, Yahoo, AOL, or OpenID credentials. The blogs that readers start to follow will appear alongside the other Friend Connect sites they’ve already joined. Additionally, you can find some new blogs and websites to join by checking out the profiles of other followers. This video shows you how to follow a blog: If you have a Blogger blog and you’re already using the Followers gadget, you don’t need to do anything to get these new features up and running — we’ve already migrated all of the existing Followers gadgets to the new version with Friend Connect. To learn more, visit our blog post on Blogger Buzz . Posted by Mendel Chuang, Product Marketing Manager, Google Friend Connect

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Blogger connects to Google Friend Connect

JRuby Hacked to Run on Android

Thanks to Twitter , we’ve started following (and getting followed by) some really cool folks – people who are capable of some truly amazing feats.  Take for instance today’s news coming courtesy of Charles Nutter ( @headius ) who is a member of a group who calls themselves the Ruby Users of Minnesota . At a meeting earlier this week, the group of guys hosted three chat sessions.  The topics were Android development, iPhone development, and migrating from Struts to JRuby.  Charles was inspired by the talks and decided to try his hands at getting JRuby onto Android. He was able to after an hour. So what does this mean?  Well, for starters, it’s another open source language for developers to work with, opening the doors for even more collaboration and growth.  People may be able to write for Android in a language that they may be more familiar with. The tip comes from Twitter user Jared Mehle ( @jrmehle ). I asked Jared for his take on this and what it means.  Here’s his response: The benefit to fans or owners of Android devices is that this opens the platform to a very active community of developers. More interest in Android from a wider developer audience means a wider variety of apps in the Marketplace. For developers, this means that you are no longer required to write Android applications in Java. Personally, I prefer programming in Ruby over Java. Being able to write Ruby code that can be run on Android devices opens up a whole new world to us. I have had several ideas for apps and I know I could implement them, but the thought of sitting down and writing Java is enough to prevent me from going any further. I’m sure I’m not alone. It is important to note that while Charlie shows it is possible to write Ruby and run it on Android, we are a ways off from seeing real world apps done this way. He has merely proved that Android can be made to run Ruby code through JRuby. With JRuby in the picture, Ruby’s future on Android is bright. Anyone out there already working with Ruby or JRuby? What does this mean to you? POST EDITED: Twitter names were mixed up in this article.

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JRuby Hacked to Run on Android

Translate between 41 languages with Google Translate

Google Translate recently added Turkish , Thai , Hungarian , Estonian , Albanian , Maltese , and Galician to the mix. The rollout of these seven additional languages marks a new milestone: automatic translations between 41 languages (1,640 language pairs!). This means we can now translate between languages read by 98% of Internet users . In just a few years, the machine translation group within Google Research has taken its initial research system from two languages to 41 languages and is now handling millions of translation requests a day. For several languages, Google Translate is the first freely available machine translation system for these languages. Of course, there’s always room for improvement, and we’re working hard to improve translation quality. Our statistical models are built from vast quantities of monolingual and translated texts using automated machine learning techniques. It’s exciting and satisfying to work on a product that can help people access content they may otherwise be unable to understand. We’ve heard stories of people using Google Translate to help them do business internationally, and we’ve seen many websites (e.g., New York’s Metro Transit Authority ) and blogs add the Google Translate My Page Gadget to their pages to make their content more accessible to people from all over the world. Whenever I personally travel, I do lots of research on the web to figure out what to see and do, and where to stay and eat. With Translate, I’m able to use the cross-language search feature to find and access the latest info (e.g., restaurant recommendations, most recent trains/bus schedules, special events, etc.), which is often only available in the local language. More importantly, Translate provides people who may not otherwise have a lot of web content available in their own language with access to the wealth of content on the truly worldwide web. Posted by Jeff Chin, Product Manager

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Translate between 41 languages with Google Translate

Android and Windows Running Simultaneously

Alright folks, take a look at this video of VMWare for mobile devices – a demo of the Nokia N800 running VMWare’s MVP hypervisor that allows Windows (Embedded CE 6.0) and Android to be booted up and running simultaneously as if they were merely applications and not entire OSes. Its awesomeness pretty much speaks for itself: I’m sure there are plenty of people who would like to run Windows for work out of pure comfort and Android for fun because of its ever increasing number of cool apps and games. We hope that Android’s depth of apps will reduce the need/desire for such a feature but its a security blanket that serves a purpose. It’s impressive to say the least, but before this comes to market a manufacturer will need to license the technology and embed it in their handsets… but is the demand for this type of flexibility enough to warrant that? Show of hands – who would fork over the dough to get a phone running both Windows and Android instead of Android alone? [Via Gizmodo ]

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Android and Windows Running Simultaneously

Snaptell & Shazam Video Reviews

I’ve been talking these last few days with John Walton who does work over at PhoneDog .  He’s a very cool guy who puts together app reviews and most often includes these fun-to-watch videos.  Today, I’m gonna embed a double app review that he did on Snaptell and Shazam. Here’s a bit of information to go along with his review: Snaptell does with visual data what Shazam does with audio information. See a great flick at your buddy’s house and want your own copy? Take a photo. Later on, open that photo up with Snaptell and find a store online or nearby to purchase it. It works with books, CD’s DVD’s and some other items. You can scan bar codes as well. Check it out. Watch for John’s obvious love for Soulja Boy! Snaptell and Shazam: Android App Review(s) from John Walton on Vimeo . Thanks John !  Looking forward to seeing some more!

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Snaptell & Shazam Video Reviews

Kogan return: Agora will launch after redesign [Video]

Kogan made waves last year with their Agora smartphones , which at the time were promised to be the second commercially available Android-based handsets.  That didn’t pan out, and back in January Kogan confirmed that the Agora and Agora Pro were “delayed indefinitely”. Now Kogan is back, with founder Ruslan Kogan claiming that their new model will be more like the Apple iPhone in design, with a large 3.8-inch touchscreen for Android to roam freely across.  Midnight Update’s Seamus has interviewed Kogan (you can see the video below), who insists that the device will hit the market and, after that, gets to play with an Agora prototype to confirm that it actually exists in more than just renders. Of course, the phone in the video doesn’t have a 3.8-inch display, so we’re still in a position of not seeing a functional prototype of what Kogan are talking about releasing.  As an aside, this is a pretty frustrating demo video; was it Kogan’s mandate that it had to be shot outside, in the dark, with no lighting? Click here to view the embedded video. Click here to view the embedded video. [ via Gadgetell]

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Kogan return: Agora will launch after redesign [Video]

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