Sony Ericsson launches two Android smartphones

Xperia Ray will be available in the second week of September while Xperia Active may hit the markets in the 4th week of the month and are expected to be priced between Rs 17,000-Rs 20,000.

Sony Ericsson has launched two new smartphones in India under its Xperia brand. Both phones - Xperia Active and Xperia Ray - were announced in June during the CommunicAsia 2011 event in Singapore and feature the latest Android 2.3 operating system along with a 1 GHz processor. With this, the Xperia brand will include nine phones and there are more to come.

Xperia Ray will be available in the second week of September while Xperia Active may hit the markets in the 4th week of the month. Both the handsets are expected to be priced between Rs 17,000-Rs 20,000.

Xperia Active has a 3 inch reality display with Sony's Mobile Bravia display technology, and a 5 megapixel camera with HD video functionality. It is a dust and water resistant phone, and incorporates wet finger tracking which means that the phone works perfectly even when the screen or the user's fingers are wet.

Sony Ericsson's Xperia Active is for health conscious people and comes pre-loaded with sports apps that enable consumers to easily track their fitness levels. Users can set their ideal training route using the built-in GPS, barometer and compass. The on-screen heart rate and pulse can be monitored in real time (enabled by ANT+ wireless networking technology), while the iMapMyFitness app can monitor day to day performance. In addition, Facebook inside Xperia allows consumers to share their progress and experiences with friends.

The phone comes with a changeable soft-touch back cover, and detachable ear hooks for the portable handsfree that ensure the earpieces remain in place while you are running. It is packed with a wrist strap and arm case for use during workouts as well.

The phone is not the lightest - it weighs about 110.8 grams. Besides, the battery has a capacity of 1,200 mAh, which is measly for smartphones. We hope that Sony Ericsson has some tricks up its sleeve to make the battery last a full day.

The other new Sony phone is called Xperia Ray. Aimed more at style conscious consumers the phone comes with a sleek aluminium frame, reality display, mobile Bravia engine, and a 3.3 inch screen.

Xperia Ray, which also runs on the latest Android platform for smartphones (Gingerbread 2.3), is powered by a 1 GHz processor. The phone is quite sleek, with a thickness of 9.4 mm, and it looks gorgeous.

Besides, it has an 8.1 megapixel camera with Exmor R Sony camera technology and HD video functionality, which means that the camera will be one of the best, if not the best, in its class.

Xperia Ray incorporates a front facing camera and a scratch resistant screen with excellent resolution and brightness, and integrated touch keys. The phone is light at just 100 grams. All the other bells and whistles of the smartphone such as WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth and DLNA are all present.

MTS brings out Android smartphones under Rs. 5,000

MTS have announced the launch of their new Android smartphones today, according to Telecom Talk. These two new phones have been named the MTS MTag 3.1 (Huawei  C8511) and MTS Livewire (ZTE N600). Both the phones run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S1 processor and work on the CDMA EV-DO REVA technology.

The MTS MTag 3.1 has a 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen with a display resolution of 240 x 320. It features a 3.2 megapixel rear camera along with an MTS TV application that allows users to view Live TV and on-demand video playback. It also includes voice search capabilities and comes equipped with a 3.5 mm headphone jack slot. On the other hand, not many details have been disclosed about the MTS Livewire besides the fact that it operates on the CDMA EV-DO network and will provide users easy access to Google services like YouTube, Google Mail, Google Talk and Google Maps.

Both the smartphones will be equipped with Google’s Android 2.2 Froyo OS and will be launched in the sub Rs. 5,000 category. It seems that Android is going viral amongst both phone and tablet manufacturers in India. The launch of the sub Rs. 5,000 Android smartphones definitely gives MTS an edge over the competition, but eventually it’s the performance and complete specs that will decide the phones' success.

Google Android Now on 135 Million Devices

Google's Larry Page had a quite successful first quarter.

Among the highlights was certainly Android, which is now said to be present on more than 135 million active devices. According to Google, 550,000 Androids are now activated every day and there have been more than 6 billion App downloads.

Google is categorizing Android as a "high consumer success" product, next to Chrome and YouTube. Page noted that Google is heavily investing in those segments to ensure their "long-term success." Android appears to be especially growing like a weed as the activation count was at just 500,000 per day a month ago and the total device count was at just 100 million two months ago. Google noted that more than 250,000 apps are now available for Android.
Page also briefly commented on the patent situation of Android and told investors that Google is building its defense against lawsuits. "Obviously we have a number of intellectual property patents in progress not just already issued." However, he deflected the question by an analyst, by simply adding more numbers explaining the success of Android: 400 different devices, 39 OEMs, 231 carriers in 123 countries: "And that velocity is only increasing. Despite the efforts of some of our competitors, there hasn't been any slowdown in any of those things," Page said.
Of course, that may make Android an even more attractive patent suit target. According to Spencer Wang, an analyst with Credit Suisse, Google holds only about 650 patents in total, which less than the number of patents IBM gets approved every 2 months.

HTC Sensation unlocked priced in UK

Image via WikipediaAs you probably know, HTC Sensation was announced to be headed to UK market. Looking to purchase this powerful dual-core smartphone? The online retailer Play.com offers the handset for £499.99 SIM free, which meand you'll be able to use a SIM card anywhere in the world on any operator.

Contract-free, the Android smartphone can be pre-ordered from Play.com with the mention that the due date for release is set for June 30. Converting the amount in dollars, it means around $820, a little too pricey.

But there is also an alternatie. You can take advantage on a monthly contract, to get the Sensation for free or less expensive. Unless, you're too anxious to be among the first owners of an HTC Sensation in UK.

Flexible display concepts are cooler with Android

For years we have seen people toying with the idea of a digital display that can bend and fold like paper. Nothing has ever materialized into a mass market device, but we still like seeing the concepts, and this one with an Android interface looks pretty darn cool.

California-based designer Andrew Namminga came up with the concept to use Android in a fabric-like "computer" of sorts that you could use to check your e-mail and Facebook while you're sipping a frappuccino at Starbucks and then fold up and put it back in your wallet when you're done.

Of course, this is just a concept and nowhere near any actual computer engineer's desk yet. But beyond the idea of a flexible Androiddevice, we like the way Namminga came up with a dual-display design. You have the standard Android homepage on the top with a clock and all the app icons, and on the bottom there is a Facebook feed, Google Maps picture and thumbnail for your latest photos.

We'd like to see that kind of interface employed on a real Android device first, and then take it to the still-emerging world of flexible tech.

Nevertheless, you can't deny this concept display looks pretty sick. It'll only be available in your dreams for now, but we have no doubt that if and when flexible displays are actually robust and durable enough mass market consumption, Android will be first in line to take advantage of it.

Android Basics Refresher

Covering the fundamentals of the hottest platform in mobile right now.

Reading through my Android notes today, I realised the quick-read format might be useful to others. Although fellow zoneleader James has been featuring some excellent articleson Android, I'd thought give my take in a simpler format - just in case it triggers your memory.

Android Basics

Every app;

• runs in its own Linux process
• shutdown when more resources needed
• each process has its own VM
• assigned its own user ID so its data is visible only to that user (and app)
• can call upon components developed elsewhere to allow for reusability

Activity

An activity is a UI representing a task the user wants to perform, such as entering a phone number into a text-box, or a list of menu items the user must choose from. Applications are made up of many activities. A Java class must extend the Activity class.

Views, or 'widgets', are what make up the components in an activity. As subclasses of View, these represent standard items in a UI such as a button, textbox or Image.

Services, Broadcast Receivers and Content Providers Services

Run in the background. Extend the "Service" base class. The platform will start them by passing Intent to Context.startInstance(). "onStart()" will be called by Android on the instance of a new Service and an Intent passed to it. To get a hold of an established Service (i.e. one that's already running), you can call Context.bindService(); in such a scenario the Service is given an Intent instance and its onBind() method is called.

Broadcast Receivers

Receive and react to broadcast announcements. Examples would be battery is low, or the language has been changed. Extend BroadcastReceiver base class. They do not have a an interface and typically display an icon in the notification area.

Content Provider

Exposes one application's data to another. An extension of ContentProvider, these act on calls from ContentResolver (which other apps invoke) to access data controlled by this provider.

Intents

Activities are started by passing Intent instances to Context.startActivity() or Activity.startActivityForResult().

Android Basic Programming

Image by Aaronage via Flickr
Android is developing applications (software) for Android (mobile) devices.
- Is often referred to as the Open Handset Alliance
- It includes an operating system, middleware and key applications
- The mobile platform is available, for free, as the Android Open Source Project
The Android Web site is a good place to start.
Latest Version: Android 2.3
The Android Dev Guide provides a practical introduction to developing applications for Android.
Using Android
System Requirements
Windows XP (32-bit) or Vista (32- or 64-bit)
Mac OS X 10.4.8 or later (x86 only)
Linux (tested on Linux Ubuntu Dapper Drake)
Note: users should download Eclipse and Android SDK (1.6)
- Begin here by Installing the Android SDK
- Those using Eclipse, make sure to install the Android Development Tools (ADT) Plugin
Using Android SDK
- It provides the tools and APIs needed to begin developing applications.
Using Eclipse
- to edit files and verify that they compile
- used for error checking
- to check directories in search for Java files
Users can highlight and execute a piece of source code by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + D
Users can highlight or select text by pressing ALT + SHIFT + UP ARROW (or DOWN ARROW)
Programming
Android applications are written in the Java programming language, so learning a bit of Java is necessary.
Also, Android supports XML syntax. It's used for designing application screens.
Need help getting started? There's a helpful forum (blog) that users can learn Android Basic Programming. The site: Android Competency Center. It contains Android tutorials and tips.
For users wanting to build graphical user interfaces for the Android cell phone platform, there's DroidDraw.
Android uses the aapt tool into an Android package, an archive file marked by an .apk suffix.
Using the Android Asset Packaging Tool
./aapt (used by Linux and Mac OS)
aapt.exe (used by Windows)
- Is included in the tools directory of the SDK
- It allows you to view, create, and update Zip-compatible archives (zip, jar, apk)
Building the code
Note: To build the files, run make from within your working directory.
$ cd ~/mydroid
$ make
Note: If users are missing the "run-java-tool," try setting the ANDROID_JAVA_HOME env var to $JAVA_HOME
$ export ANDROID_JAVA_HOME=$JAVA_HOME
To Create an AVD (Android Virtual Devices)
android create avd --target 2 --name my_avd
To Select, Add, Delete, and Modify Data - use the content provider URI (CONTENT_URI)
The CONTENT_URI consist of three parts:
The string “content://”
The segment representing the kind of data to retrieve
The specific item of the specified content provider
Importing (examples):
import android.app.AlertDialog.Builder;
import android.content.Context;
import android.content.DialogInterface;
import android.content.DialogInterface.OnClickListener;
import android.preference.ListPreference;
import android.preference.Preference;
import android.util.AttributeSet;
To Ask for a User's Name:
androidid=”@+id/nameMessage”
Examples of how to define the activity entry in the AndroidManifest.xml:
android:name=”DialogActivity”
android:label=”@string/activity_dialog”
android:theme=”@android:style/Theme.Dialog”>
…
</activity>
To Create a Dialog:
MyDialog dialog = new MyDialog(context); dialog.show();
Using AlertDialog:
AlertDialog dialog = new AlertDialog.Builder(context).create();
dialog.setMessage(”Do you play golf?”); dialog.setButton(”Yes”, myOnClickListener); dialog.setButton2(”No”, myOnClickListener);
dialog.show();
To Add a Record:
private void insertRecords(String name, String phoneNo) {
ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
values.put(People.NAME, name);
values.put(Contacts.Phones.TYPE, People.Phones.TYPE_MOBILE);
values.put(People.NUMBER, phoneNo);
}
To Display a Record:
private void displayRecords() {
String columns[] = new String[] { People.NAME, People.NUMBER };
String name = null;
String phoneNo = null;
name = cur.getString(cur.getColumnIndex(People.NAME));
phoneNo = cur.getString(cur.getColumnIndex(People.NUMBER));
}
To Modify a Record:
private void updateRecord(int recNo, String name) {
ContentValues values = new ContentValues();
values.put(People.NAME, name);
}
To Delete a Record:
private void deleteRecords() {
Uri uri = People.CONTENT_URI;
getContentResolver().delete(uri, null, null);
}

Android market share topples Blackberry

It was only a matter of time, not a matter of if, Google's Android operating system would become the dominate mobile platform. That time is now.

According to the very latest data from Nielsen, Android now commands a 29% market share of smartphone users in the US. While that isn't even close to being a majority, it is a plurality that topples all of its competitors.
Meanwhile, Blackberry has fallen to 27% and Apple's iOS platform remains largely flat at 27% as well, where it has seemed to comfortably sit for a while.

Bringing up the read was Windows Phone 7 at 10%, Palm OS at 4%, and Nokia's antiquated Symbian with 2%, thanks only to people who have legacy Nokia phones as there are no current Symbian smartphones on the market in the US.

This is a cataclysmic event, as it brings Android ahead of a platform that for years was the leading smartphone software. Blackberry's operating system became so ubiquitous with business that it seemed impossible to ever dethrone it from the top spot in overall market share. After all, companies would buy Blackberry phones in bulk, sometimes hundreds or even thousands at a time.

No one really expected enterprise customers to start switching over, en masse, to the new consumer platforms of Android and iOS, but that's exactly what it happening. Blackberry had managed to hold onto its #1 title for a while, but that was only because it had such a commanding lead. The company behind Blackberry, Research in Motion, has been sloughing off market share for over a year. In just the past 12 months it has dropped double-digit market share thanks mostly to Android. The iPhone hasn't really advanced much, but it isn't falling either.

Apple still has a pretty nice lead in the tablet market, though that may change as 2011 gets into full swing and a number of anticipated Android tablets hit store shelves.

source : tgdaily.com

Android market share continues to increase

33.3 million units in Q4

According to the latest figures from Canalys, Android phones are the new black.

In Q4 2010 one in three mobile phones shipped with Google's OS and the trend is still positive. Of course, all this comes at a price for the competition, mainly Nokia. Android phones accounted for 32.9 percent of the market, while Nokia trailed with 30.6 percent. Apple ranked third with a 16 percent share, while RIM snatched 14.4 percent of the market.

It appears that Windows Phone 7 did not manage to do much for Microsoft's numbers and Windows-based smartphones account for just 3.1 of the market.The strongly contested smartphone market is in for even more turmoil in 2011, with the advent of faster dual-core processors, new operating systems and a host of other features.

source :fudzilla.com

Take Android Market Share Numbers With A Grain Of Salt

Recently, many reports have arrived showing the open source Android mobile OS beating Apple's iPhone and iOS in market share terms, with some over-enthusiastic observers pronouncing the iPhone "dead in the water." These have been accompanies by forecasts showing that Android will trounce the iPhone and iOS over time. In an attempt to get to the bottom of the competition,
Business Insider has conducted its own survey of smartphone users--2,000 of them, to be specific--focusing on the Android vs. iPhone competition. The results, while interesting, show that it's important to take Android market share numbers with a grain of salt.
Here are some of the basic findings from the Business Insider survey:
Almost all of the survey participants already use smartphones
The majority of participants use Android, with most of the rest using iPhones. (This is similar to the recent market-share figures from Comscore, although Android and iPhone appear to be over-represented and BlackBerry appears to be under-represented).
Most survey participants are planning to upgrade to a new smartphone in the next year or two.
Most participants say they will upgrade to the "latest, greatest" smartphone, not an older, cheaper one.
Most survey participants are NOT planning to switch platforms when they upgrade
Most participants say "features" and "platform" are the most important factors when choosing a smartphone.
Of course, the big data point that jumps out of these results is that most of the respondents say they use Android. However, there is no information to accompany the survey results regarding who was surveyed. In many enterprises, Android phones are not even sanctioned as business devices, and internal app development is often done only for the iPhone, BlackBerry, and non-Android devices. Android is, no doubt, emerging as a consumer success story, but the iPhone and the BlackBerry are favored by businesses over Android. Android is also favored by open source-friendly users, and it's not clear from the latest survey results whether the audience was skewed in this way.
Android is such a new operating system still--having only picked up momentum in the last 18 months--that it remains important to watch its success as a consumer phenomenon and a business phenomenon on separate tracks. Time will tell if the OS wins in both of these arenas.

source : ostatic.com

iPhone Flat in U.S. as Android Takes Market Share Lead

This week, the latest U.S. smartphone market share report from comScore has little good news for Apple, except possibly that things could be worse. For the three-month period ending in January, the iPhone was flat at 24.7 percent, up just 0.01 percent from October. In sharp contrast, Android surged 7.7 percent during the same period, ending at 31.5 percent, and taking the number-one spot previously held by RIM. The Canadian smartphone maker tumbled 5.4 percent, down to 30.4 percent share, and will almost certainly be passed by Apple during the first half of this year. Windows Phone 7 was unable to halt Microsoft’s slide, down from 9.7 to 8.0 percent, while HP’s webOS fell from 3.9 to 3.2 percent.

Last week, Nielsen released market share data for smartphones that saw Google edge out Apple and RIM in the U.S. From December to January, Android was up from 27 to 29 percent, while iOS on the iPhone dipped from 28 to 27 percent, and RIM was flat at 27 percent. While that wasn’t great news for Apple, it at least showed iOS keeping pace with Android, which the comScore report seems not to indicate.

Looking back at 2010, the rise of Google’s smartphone OS is simply amazing. Last January, Android was at just 7.1 percent according to comScore. The question now becomes whether Apple can stop Google from achieving a majority, if not a super-majority, of smartphones sold in the highly lucrative U.S. market in 2011, and avoid becoming a niche player. To do so, Apple needs to address to address two major issues with the iPhone business model: distribution and price.

In 2009, the Motorola Droid was launched on the Verizon network, beginning Android’s rapid growth. One can only imagine what might have happened had there been a Verizon iPhone available at the time. In 2011, Apple has finally rectified that mistake. Expect the next report from comScore to show the impact of Verizon’s 90 million potential iPhone buyers.

As for price, the LG Optimus V running Android is now available in the U.S. on Virgin Mobile for $149 without a contract, and that’s just the beginning for low-priced Android smartphones, but Apple may be prepared this time. An article from Forbes highlights a meeting between Bernstein Research analyst Toni Sacconaghi and Apple COO Tim Cook that offers some hope. According to Sacconaghi, Cook “appeared to reaffirm the notion that Apple is likely to develop lower priced offerings,” that Apple is “not ceding any market,” and that company does not want its products to be “just for the rich.”

Aggressive pricing on the iPad is evidence of that, and were the iPad, and the iPod touch, counted in mobile platform totals, the market share numbers would look very different. If Apple transitions the iPhone to a similar business model of wider distribution and lower price points, Android’s world conquest might yet be halted.

source :gigaom.com

App Store To Retain Major Market Share of Paid Apps Despite Android Growth

Google’s Android is increasingly becoming popular as most handset manufacturers are adopting the Android platform. We recently reported thatGoogle’s Android Market is expected to surpass the number of apps available inApple’s App Store to become the largest store for mobile apps. But, does more apps mean more revenue?

by 2014 and Apple is expected to retain 60 percent of the paid apps market. In terms of revenue Google’s Android Market is witnessing strong growth as revenue for 2011 is predicted to cross $425 million but is still far behind Apple whose revenue is projected to cross $2.91 billion.

RIM turned out to be the biggest loser as the BlackBerry platform for apps hasn’t attracted many new developers.

The app market (including Apple, Google, Nokia, RIM) is predicted to grow 77.7 percent in 2011 making it cross the $3 billion mark and is expected to show tremendous growth by 2014 and crossing $8.3 billion in revenue.

Google’s Android continue to grow in the number of apps however Apple’s strong presence and well defined ecosystem will help the Cupertino based company maintain the lead when it comes to revenue share.

source  : touchreviews.net