Google activating 300,000 Android devices per day, for free

Google's vice president of engineering Andy Rubin sent out his second tweet, this time announcing the company is now activating 300,000 Android phones each day. That's unlikely to have passed Apple's current activation rate for iOS devices, and Google is making no direct revenues from the widespread distribution of its software.

"There are over 300,000 Android phones activated each day," Rubin tweeted from his little used Twitter account. The tweet appeared to be a response to reports that Android activations were plateauing.

Expand Full Story.........................

Android Will Give NFC a Boost, but Challenges Remain

Android-based smartphones with NFC (Near Field Communication) will help turn mobile phones into wallets, but there are issues that have to be solved before that happens, according to analysts.

On Monday, Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced at the Web. 2.0 Summit that the next version of Android, code-named Gingerbread, will support mobile payments and he also showed an upcoming Android-based smartphone with an integrated NFC chipset.

“We think actually that Android devices should support [NFC],” said Schmidt.

NFC is a short-range wireless technology that, for example, can be used to make contactless payments.

Expand Full Story...................

Dell replacing employee BlackBerrys with its own phone

Dell is looking to market its own smartphone as an alternative to the BlackBerry and is starting the push with its own employees.

The PC maker will give its BlackBerry-carrying employees new Venue Pro smartphones in return for their existing phones. The transition is expected to save the company around 25 percent in mobile communications costs, mostly by getting rid of its BlackBerry servers, Dell's chief financial officer Brian Gladden told The Wall Street Journal.

The 25,000 employees who currently have BlackBerrys will receive Venue Pro phones with both voice and data plans; remaining employees (about 71,000) will also get Dell phones but only with voice plans.
Read Full Story..............

Android leaderboard: The 10 best smartphones

Because there’s a stampede of Android smartphones barreling into the market — including both excellent models and a few duds — many people feel a little overwhelmed when trying to choose one. I get a lot of the “Would you get this one or that one” questions and requests to rank my favorites.

So I’ve decided to do something a little dangerous — create a leaderboard of my top 10 Android picks. It’s dangerous because this is very subjective stuff. The smartphone that is the best fit for you is going to depend heavily on your needs and preferences.

But, since I’ve had my paws on virtually all of the Android devices and I’ve written reviews of the best ones, I’m going to rank them in terms of the overall quality of the devices, with much more emphasis placed on the smartphones themselves than on the wireless carriers that they’re tied to.

I’m also going to keep this leaderboard up to date. So, as I review new Android devices and decide that they deserve a place in the top 10, I will add them to this list and bump other phones down or off the list.

Caveat: This ranking is primarily US-based. In each country/region, the telecom carriers tend to name these devices by different names. In many cases you’ll be able to find a close match between the devices on this list and devices in your area, but not in all cases.


1. HTC EVO 4G

Pound-for-pound and feature-by-feature, there’s still nothing out there in Android land that can hang with the HTC EVO 4G. With its 4.3-inch WVGA screen, 8 megapixel camera, 1 GHz Snapdragon CPU, front-facing VGA camera, Micro HDMI port, 3G Wi-Fi hotspot, and 4G WiMAX capability, the EVO has it all. And, with its large on-screen keyboard and handy kickstand for watching video, it’s a device that’s easy and pleasant to use. When I reviewed it, I called the EVO “The Hummer of smartphones” because it’s so huge and it’s such a power hog, but there’s no denying that it is the elite device of the Android fleet.

Read More.................................................

Google’s Android army outselling iPhone, research firm says

New York-based NPD Group said that in the first quarter of 2010, Android devices outsold iPhones to become the second-most popular phone type sold during the quarter. The was the first time Android phones have racked up more sales than iPhone in the U.S.

This doesn’t mean Android-based phones actually outnumber iPhones. Even though Android phones sold better during one period of time, Apple is likely still significantly ahead of Google in the phone game.

Tech tracking firm comScore Inc. said its data from March showed Apple with a significant lead in market share, with 25% of smart-phone users owning its iPhone units, compared with only 10% for Google. Still, that represented a more-than-40% increase for Google-powered phones since January.

According to NPD’s sales data — which are based on large consumer surveys — Android-based devices accounted for 28% of the phones bought in the first quarter, while Apple’s domestic iPhone sales stayed relatively flat and dropped to third, with 21%. Research in Motion Inc.’s BlackBerry OS, with 36%, stayed on top.

Read Full Story........................................

Apple iOS 4: Complete Review

With three years of major iPhone software versions under its belt, Apple’s strategy for releasing updates has fallen into a recognizable pattern. So far, every release has been anchored by a tentpole feature that many will argue should have been there from the beginning. In iPhone OS 2.0, that was support for third-party apps; in iPhone OS 3.0, it was cut, copy, and paste; now, in the re-branded iOS 4, it’s multitasking.

Make no mistake, multitasking is the lynchpin of iOS 4; for better or worse, the rest is just window dressing-though welcome window dressing, to be sure.

Read Full Story............

Verizon Wireless Said to Get Apple IPhone in January

Verizon Wireless, the largest U.S. mobile-phone company, will start selling Apple Inc.’s iPhone next year, ending AT&T Inc.’s exclusive hold on the smartphone in the U.S., two people familiar with the plans said.
The device will be available to customers in January, according to the people, who declined to be named because the information isn’t public. Natalie Kerris, an Apple spokeswoman, and Jeffrey Nelson, a Verizon Wireless spokesman, declined to comment.

iPhone 4 Leads the Pack With Stunning Design, Interface

Apple’s fourth-generation iPhone makes its predecessors look like toys. Heck, even the iPad looks sissy now.
It’s an impressive upgrade. The iPhone 4 ditches the curvy plastic case of the older models in favor of a thinner, squared-off glass body laced with a stainless-steel band. It has a higher-resolution display, a brand-new front-facing camera, an improved back camera with flash, double the RAM of the iPhone 3GS, and the same A4 processor that powers the iPad.......Read Full Story.

"Motorola Quench" Review Article.

Motorola, Inc. (NYSE: MOT) announced QUENCH with MOTOBLUR, Motorola’s Android-powered content delivery service, which organizes messages and synchronizes contacts to keep conversations in constant motion. QUENCH’s sleek touch-screen design, combined with great navigational features such as pinch and zoom and a touch pad, as well as the inclusion of Adobe Flash Lite, make browsing the web on its 3.1” high-resolution display a breeze. Motorola QUENCH™ will be available beginning in the first quarter of 2010. Read More................

Garminfone - T-Mobile available by June 2010 for $199.99

Good news for everyone who has been waiting on a launch date for the T-Mobile Garminfone, as today it was announced that the GPS-centric and Android-powered smartphone will be available starting June 9th. Priced at $199.99 after a $50 MIR on a 2-year contract, the Garminfone isn’t exactly cheap for a phone that offers a 3.5″ display, 3 megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1 and HSDPA to the table, but let’s be real here — the Garminfone is all about its amazing GPS and navigational features. Right, we almost forgot… T-Mobile is currently running a contest in which it’s giving away 5 Garminphones.