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Labels: android, Google

Labels: Google

In general I don’t like to write about unofficial news regarding upcoming cell phones because I prefer to have some press releases to count on, as they come with high resolution images as well, but this is an interesting information I don’t want you to miss though.

According to different sources providing information to US websites, European blogs and technology India reviews sites, it seems that HTC established a release period for its new smartphones running on the Android platform, and you might be able to get your hands on one starting September, some give a more precise date, on September 17.

After several successes one after another, including the release of HTC Touch, HTC Touch Diamond and the Dual Touch smartphones, the top mobile handsets manufacturer is expecting significant sales growth until the end of this year, culminating with the Android-based models.
The retail price would be of $399 while the 2-year contract with a telecommunication company would reduce the price up to $150, and this should happen via T-Mobile.

Codenamed HTC Dream, a nice and attractive name, the smartphone will provide 3G connectivity, a large touch-sensitive display for web browsing, sliding QWERTY keyboard, a built-in 3MP digital camera for high-resolution pictures captured on the go and video recording capability, as well as Google software including Gmail access.
In addition there will be wireless connectivity via Bluetooth and Wi-Fi module built in, VoIP support, and many other cool functionalities.

With Google Android open platform, the HTC handset would provide an operating system and several useful mobile applications created in Java programming language, including Internet browser, custom 2D graphics library, 3D graphics based on the OpenGL ES 1.0 specification, SQLite for structured data storage, multimedia files support, GSM, Bluetooth, EDGE, 3G, WiFi, camera, GPS, compass, accelerometer sensor, email client, SMS program, calendar, maps, custom alerts, and personal data sharing.

One thing seems to get clear – if we won’t have it in stores in September, it’ll surely appear by the end of this year.

Labels: Google, HTC

There're more and more applications being developed for the iPhone and personally I’m not cribbing. Google has already firmly planted itself in the iPhone team with on-board Google Maps, but they’ve now decided that that's not enough. Google fans will be pleased to know that they have released a version of Google Talk that will reportedly work perfectly in tandem with Safari on both the iPhone and the iPod Touch.

The only issue is that it’s a web-based feature so using it while you’re surfing the net might be a bit of a chore switching between screens. Even though the reports say that this version is going have a similar if not the same feel as your PC version with the capability to handle multiple conversations and alike, the window that has the GTalk version running will show the users as unavailable till they return to that page. Hey, it may not be perfect but it’s there.

To use the service go to www.google.com/talk on your iPhone or iPod Touch’s Safari Browser.

Labels: Google, Iphone

Jumping into the “me-too” iPhone wagon, the Google Reader now boasts an iPhone version that works mighty fine on other phones. The thing that irks me is putting an iPhone tag to everything these days, although I guess that’s one way companies can get any attention. Not that Google wants it, but still — it’s free publicity for Apple as well.

Anyway, the iPhone Google Reader is now out in beta (what else?), and provides a simple list view that lets you scroll through the feeds and entries. Check it out at Google Reader (iPhone). It works fine on the Nokia N95 and the Nokia N800 tablet.

Post by Mobile Review

Labels: Google, Iphone

Google just released a new interface for the iPhone/iPod Touch that lets Google Apps users easily access everything they need in an integrated environment. This new interface lets you use applications like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and other services that aren’t associated with Google Apps like Google Reader, Google Notebook, Google News and Blogger.

If you have Google Apps for your domain, you can bookmark or set http://www.google.com/m/a/your-domain.com as your default page for quicker access to the information you find the most useful. This specific functionality is new, but the interface you will be using is actually a few months old. With regards to the interface, Google also announced today that it is now available in several languages. Since Google knows that mobile internet is going to be a big thing in the future, they have been increasing the amount of time and resources assigned to work on mobile related products.
The mobile interface for Google (be it using Apps or not) works great. I find that I use my iPod Touch to keep on top of daily routine tasks — then I use my laptop to do the heavy lifting. The majority of my time online is research, and who needs to use a real computer for that when the iPod/iPhone alternative is quicker, and is far more mobile?

Post by Mobile Review

Labels: Google, Iphone, Ipod

With the advent of Apple’s new iPhone and iPod Touch, a whole host of websites have set up mobile version of their regular site. Notable among these various sites is Gmail and all of the related Google web services. (disclaimer: for the rest of this article I will be referring to the iPod touch, but I tested the application to the same extent on the iPhone as well.)

For a while I didn’t have any native mail application on my iPod touch. I bought by iPod in September and didn’t want to pay 20 dollars for the January application upgrade. Being a Gmail user, I was delighted to find that Gmail was such a versatile web app and can be conveniently accessed both from iPhone and iPod Touch.

When you first go to www.gmail.com on the iPod you’ll find a very simple login interface which is great because it takes very little time to load. One problem that could be fixed is that you need to zoom in extensively before the small area of text fills the entire screen. Once you zoom in, however, this is what you get:



The interface is simple which is nice on the small iPod screen, and the addition of the Remember Me option means that you only need to type on the sometimes laborious iPod keyboard once to login the first time. This means that you can conveniently add Gmail as a webclip to your springboard, although if you have that capability then you probably can use the wonderful mail application supplied by apple.

Once you login you have an interface that is very similar to regular Gmail, but with a few functions helpful for the iPod’s small screen and touch interface.

The positive points of this webapp are simple and powerful. The buttons and check boxes are large and easy to press. The search option is readily available at the bottom of the page. Most importantly, the same three buttons are available at the bottom and the top so you don’t have to keep scrolling up to access a few useful options.

Even though the interface looks simple, almost all the email options available in regular mail are available in the Gmail webapp via a small button labeled “more” that opens up a whole menu of email actions:

In terms of writing mail, Gmail continues with its simplicity with a clean interface that offers all regular composing options as normal Gmail except for adding attachments.

As you can see, the interface transitions smoothly from portrait to landscape mode.

Actually, it is worth noting that every page in the Gmail iPod touch and iPhone web application switches nicely from portrait to landscape which is helpful depending on which keyboard you prefer.

The only drawback of the web application is its lack of any advanced options. In the case when you need to change your email settings, there is a convenient little link at the bottom of the regular mail page that lets you view Gmail in the regular Desktop version. For email, this mode is rather cumbersome and not nearly as polished as the iPod touch web app that Gmail provides. It is, nevertheless, very useful if you need to configure your filters or any of the other various advanced email options.

Overall the web application the Gmail provides is stellar. It’s pretty, simple, yet still relatively feature rich. Best of all, it’s fast and works without having to reload the page every time you choose a new option like you would in the desktop view. The only problem I really found was that sometimes the formatting was slightly off when the browser switched between landscape and portrait mode and vice versa. It is disappointing, but not surprising, that there is no way to access Google Talk on your iPod or iPhone.

One last thing worth mentioning is that the Gmail webapp is actually part of an entire suite of webapps provided by Google when you sign into your Gmail account. In the regular search page, there are tabs at the top that let you access the different Google online services.

Best of all, Google allows you to customize which services are accessible in the tabs at the top of the screen:


Post by Mobile Review

Labels: Google, Iphone, Ipod

Twenty-three percent (58 million) of all U.S. mobile subscribers say they have been exposed to advertising on their phones in the past 30 days, according to a new report out today from The Nielsen Company. Half (51% or 28 million) of all data users who recall seeing mobile advertising in the previous 30 days say they responded to a mobile ad in some way.

The findings come from the bi-annual Mobile Advertising Report from Nielsen Mobile, a service of The Nielsen Company, and are based on a survey of more than 22,000 active mobile data users who used at least one non-voice mobile service in the fourth quarter. In the report, Nielsen examines consumer recall, responses and attitudes toward banner ads on mobile web pages, SMS text-message advertising, sponsored applications, video advertising and other types of advertising that reach consumers while using data applications on their mobile phones.

The study further reveals that

* The number of data users who recalled seeing mobile advertising between the second and fourth quarters of 2007 increased 38% (from 42 to 58 million subscribers)
* Teen data users (ages 13-17) were the most likely age segment to recall seeing mobile advertising (46% recalled seeing some type of mobile advertisement, compared to 29% of all data users)
* Asian-Americans and African-Americans are more likely to recall mobile advertising (42% and 40%, respectively) than all data users
* 26% of those who saw an ad responded at least once by sending an SMS text-message, the most popular ad response. 9% say they have used click-to-call to respond to a mobile ad, where users follow a link on their phone to call a specific number
* 32% of data users said they are open to mobile advertising if it lowers their overall bill
* 13% (18% of males) said they are open to mobile advertising if it improves the media and content currently available
* 14% said they are already open to mobile advertising so long as it is relevant to their interests
* 23% expect to see more mobile advertising in the future (up from just 15% in Q1 2007)

While media companies and marketers explore the unique ways they can interact with consumers over the highly personal mobile platform, supporting mobile media content through advertising revenues, advertising researchers must examine the ways in which audiences are and are not willing to engage with mobile advertising.

"We see an increasing trend of consumers willing to trade off and receive advertising to gain more -- and better -- mobile content," said Jeff Herrmann, VP of Mobile Media at Nielsen Mobile. "Successful mobile marketers will meet the challenge offered by consumers by engaging with them in a way that adds value to the mobile user content experience."
Post by Mobile Review

Labels: Google

Google has released an updated version of their Android OS SDK, thanks to comments from participating developers, and this time around there are some pretty-fication factors which have been improved. New layout animations have been added, making the transition between applications look smoother. The SDK now also supports Ogg Vorbis and MIDI audio files. A tweaked geocoding process has also been added to help streamline location searches on the maps application.

Post by Mobile Review

Labels: Google, Software

Google is testing 2D bar codes for cell phone cameras on print ads. The plans is to make advertising more useful for readers and more measurable for advertisers. 2D barcodes allow readers to “click” on interesting print ads with their cellphones and seamlessly connect to relevant online content.

To read 2D barcodes, a phone must have a camera (ideally with a close-focus or macro mode) and the proper decoding software installed. The phone also must have a web browser and data service to visit any encoded URLs.

Testing the waters right now are ads for jewelry retailer Blue Nile.
Post by Mobile Review

Labels: Google

I currently carry two phones around with me during the day, my personal Nokia N95 and my HTC S620 for work. The S620 is a great phone for email, but unfortunately the Windows Mobile version of the gmail mobile app looks awful on it, and gmail IMAP had problems dealing with HTML email.

Luckily, the gmail IMAP problems with Windows Mobile have just been fixed and I now have good access to my gmail account on my Windows Mobile device. To get the gmail IMAP settings for your Windows Mobile device click here.

Using both a Symbian handset (Nokia N95) and a Windows Mobile device on a daily basis has been a real eye-opener for me. The Nokia N95 is fantastic for the weekends and evenings where the multimedia and better phone qualities come into play, but I just can’t fault the email access and particularly the Microsoft Exchange support, and now gmail IMAP, of the HTC s620 Windows Mobile 6 device.

I think when my Nokia N95 comes up for replacement in the autumn I’m going to have to get a Windows Mobile device, as the email support wins the day for me. Or, is there a Symbian device that offers better Exchange support e.g. syncing individual folders, sent folder etc?

Labels: Google

As if the marriage between the iPhone and Google wasn't solid enough. today Google released new interface made specifically for the Apple iPhone. The new interface puts many of Google's services/applications literally right at your fingertips. Easily accessible through the new interface is Google Search, Gmail, Google Reader, Google Calendar, and more.

The new interface (seen in the screenshot above) provides easy access to all of these Google services through a very functional tab-driven interface. Easy switching between types of searches are handily available, as is switching between applications, and the new interface even includes "advanced" features usually found in Google toolbar such as suggested searches.

The new interface is quickly drawing rave review from iPhone owners. Particularly pleasant is the new Google Reader interface, which seems to have made numerous advances over the previously available sample version from the GWT (Google Web Toolkit).

MyItablet.com has put together a nice little video demonstrating the new Google iPhone interface. You can view it below:

Labels: Google, Iphone

Though it will probably come as no surprise to iPhone owners or those who frequent sites like this, the search term "iphone" has topped off Google's list of fastest growing search terms for 2007. iPhone was joined on the list by other non-surprises such as "heroes", "tmz", and "facebook". Also making the list was something called a "webkinz", which this author is happily stupified by.

Last year's fastest growing Google search term was "bebo".

The Google list was announced by Marissa Mayer, Google's Vice President of Search and User Experience, yesterday morning on the Today Show. Traditionally, Google doesn't release their list until later in December, but this year they more closely followed Yahoo's release of their top 2007 searches (which incidentally was crowned by "Britney Spears").

Here is the full list of Google's fastest growing search terms for 2007:

1. iphone
2. webkinz
3. tmz
4. transformers
5. youtube
6. club penguin
7. myspace
8. heroes
9. facebook
10. anna nicole smith

Both companies lists do not reflect the highest search volumes of 2007, but rather indicate which terms have grown the most in volume as compared to the preceeding year. In 2006, Google described these as "explosive" search terms.

Labels: Google, Iphone

Familiar with Google Maps?
Then you know how easy it is to find the right spots; like restaurants, hotels, shops and much more.

Familiar with TomTom?
Then you know how easily TomTom guides you to these locations.

So imagine how easy navigation has become, now that we’ve seamlessly connected the two. You can send business addresses directly from Google Maps to your TomTom device! Simply click on the Send to TomTom button on Google Maps, and use the address seamlessly in your TomTom.

Try it out for yourself.

Labels: Google