Google Offers expands with new Android app

Google’s home-grown deal engine Google Offers is getting a mobile makeover. Google released its first official app for the service in the Android Market today, and you can download it now for free. The local-driven deal finder has been available for a while on the web and via an email list, but now you can get live updates sent directly to your phone. Keen-eyed readers will note that yet again the Ice Cream Sandwich interface makes an appearance, just like in recent updates to Google Reader and Google+.

Probably the most useful feature is the live update that appears in your status bar. It’s basically an alternative to Google Offers’ daily email, and should help some of us cut down on the volume in our Gmail accounts. Featured Offers and Recent offers are available, though it has to be said that the local listings aren’t nearly as comprehensive as Groupon or Living Social, which both offer their own local deal apps.
Upon installing, Google Offers immediately uses your location to recommend local deals. An integrated QR code reader will let you see if there’s a better price available online, and thankfully, you can disable the notifications if you want to browse deals passively. The app automatically keeps track of the offers you’ve redeemed in the “My Offers” section. Initial reviews are overwhelmingly positive, so why not give it a try – you’ve got nothing to lose but retail prices.

Related articles

• Google+ app gets an official update with ICS user interface enhancements (goandroid.co.in)

Read more »

Kobo Vox available now, beats Kindle Fire and Nook Color 2 to market

The e-reader tablet market that the original Nook Color opened up last year is about to explode, and dark horse Kobo doesn’t intend to linger around the starting gate. The company’s Kobo Vox reader, with a form factor and specs that fall roughly in line with Barnes & Noble and Amazon’s offerings, is available online at retailers across the U.S. and Canada. The Android Gingerbread based tablet is tied into the Kobo bookstore, and costs $199.99 – almost exactly the same price as the upcoming Kindle Fire.

Like its competitors, the Vox isn’t designed to light the world on fire with powerhouse specifications. A 7-inch, 1024 x 600 screen is optimized for book and periodical reading, while a modest 800Mhz processor and 512MB of RAM should cover basic web browsing and non-gaming apps well. Like its full-color competitors, the Vox has Wifi and no 3G connection. 8GB of storage will hold plenty of books, and if you fancy movies, music or extra apps a MicroSD card slot should have you covered. Kobo’s customizations to Gingerbread make it ineligible for the Android Market, but the company is claiming “Access to over 15,000 free apps” via its own custom app store.
Kobo is claiming that users will have “unencumbered access to Android 2.3,” with an emphasis on “Freedom”. Does that mean that third-party apps will be enabled via side-load? Will the Kobo’s source code become available any time soon? We’ve reached out to Kobo for clarification and are currently awaiting a response; we’ll be sure to let you know what they say. The Vox is available in black, pink, green and blue, but it looks like their online orders are backed up at the moment, and there’s currently a 5-day wait for shipment.
With Amazon’s Kindle Fire shipping out on November 15th and the Nook Color 2 announcement likely on the 7th, those looking for cheap, reader-specific Android tablets will soon be spoiled for choice.

Read more »

Microsoft provides justification for lawsuit against Android

According to statements released by a senior attorney being employed by Microsoft, the large number of patent related lawsuits between companies in the mobile industry is very understandable as it is caused by the nature of related laws in the United States. He suggested that the software giant will be expected to go on with its litigations against the Android mobile platform from Google. Microsoft’s deputy general counsel, Horacio Gutierrez, has told the media that the protection of patents is very necessary in the business. He stated that Microsoft already holds the patents for many features which add to the efficiency of smartphones, for using which Android should pay royalties to Microsoft.

The strong stance of Microsoft comes at a time when it is also signing agreements for licensing with Samsung and HTC, and in turn generating much more income from these deals than it does from its Windows Phone mobile OS. Very often, the legal battles related with patents are with the aim of striking such agreements, as most manufacturers would prefer to agree to licensing than shutting down the production of their devices altogether after injunctions and bans.

However, the instances of such legal recourses have increased many times during the last couple of years, which has prompted arguments over how the patent system affects the innovation and reforms in the market. Gutierrez categorically denied that Microsoft is waging a war against the Android platform, stating that the patent disputes take place when the involved technologies are extremely disruptive. He said that these cases are unique to the current time and situation and that the patent system in the US doesn’t need to be redone.

One of the possible solutions which have been proposed, the America Invents Act, is an attempt to cleanse the patent related regulations as it grants the rights of intellectual property on the basis of earliest filing rather than the first invention. This new Act in the federal jurisdiction might prevent some of the lawsuits from proceeding as the patent applications are speeded up by the law; however it is unlikely that it will keep the likes of Microsoft from pursuing lucrative rewards from patent litigations. Microsoft, being one of the biggest technology companies of the world, has a huge patent portfolio, thus manufacturers like HTC and Samsung agree to pay Microsoft settlements instead.

Related articles

• Microsoft's lawyer says "Android stands on our shoulders" (goandroid.co.in)
• More trouble for Android, Apple granted Slide to Unlock patent (goandroid.co.in)

Read more »

Android’s US Market Share Nearing 50 percent in Latest Nielsen Report

Android continues to lead US smartphone market share, and the gap is growing according to the latest figures from Nielsen. For the third quarter of 2011 Android’s share reached 43 percent, up from 39 percent, compared to Apple’s 28 percent, which saw no change. Android saw its gains at the expense of RIM and Microsoft, whose dropping share combined for 25 percent of the smartphone market. Symbian and webOS featured such a small showing that Nielsen dumped them into the “other” category with 4 perent total share.
Nielsen reports 43 percent of all mobile phone users own a smartphone, with Apple ranking as the top vendor despite conflicting reports from other analytics firms.
[via Nielsen]

Related articles

• Android serves up 56% of mobile ads in third quarter (goandroid.co.in)
• HTC takes top smartphone spot in U.S. according to Q3 data from Canalys (tech-gadget.co.in)

Read more »

XOOM 2 and XOOM 2 Media Edition tablets confirmed

Motorola’s much-rumored new tablets have been made official, in the UK at least, with the 10.1-inch Motorola XOOM 2 and 8.2-inch Motorola XOOM 2 Media Edition both being confirmed today. Each packing a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, splash-resilience and a pair of cameras – 1.3-megapixels upfront, 5-megapixels on the back – the only real disappointment is that they run Android 3.2 Honeycomb rather than 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Inside, each packs 1GB of RAM along with 16GB of storage. There are various preloaded business apps on the bigger tablet, while the Media Edition gets Motorola’s music/video streaming app preloaded. The Media Edition also boasts 178-degree viewing angles.
The XOOM 2 is 253.9 mm x 173.6 mm x 8.8 mm and 599g, 100g less than its first-gen predecessor, while the XOOM 2 Media Edition is 139 mm x 216 mm x 8.99 mm and 386g. Both have Gorilla Glass. No word on pricing, but they’ll each arrive in the UK midway through November.





[via SlashGear]

Related articles

• Motorola Razr vs Apple iPhone 4S (goandroid.co.in)

Read more »

PayPal may finally be coming to the Android Market

There are a lot of supporters, and to be fair, detractors, for PayPal. But since Android is all about choice, the lack thereof has irked the debit-card-toting masses behind the eBayer’s payment of choice for some time. But according to some of the folks at AndroidGuys, some code found in the latest Android Market indicates that the payment service will be added soon.

Rumblings of PayPal support have been running around the Android rumor mill for years, but so far, it’s been just that: rumor. Of course there’s the official PayPal app, and you can use PayPal for many in-app purchases, like ComiXology, but the addition to the Market could make paid apps a lot more accessible to international Android users, or those who just don’t want to sign up for yet another online payment system.
The code found in the Market app is certainly promising. It’s hard to imagine why Google would put it in there if they didn’t intend to use it, and soon. And it’s a bigger deal than you might realize – lots of contractors and online workers get most or all of their salary via PayPal, and official support would mean one less hoop for them to go through to get some app action. With Google expanding into book, movies and soon music, they might be eager to make paying as easy as possible.
[via Phandroid]

Read more »

HTC Flyer tablet lands at T-Mobile

The popular 7″ HTC Flyer tablet has finally made a safe landing at T-Mobile this week. Way back in June it cleared the FCC with T-Mobile bands but that was the last we’ve heard of it until today. While not for sale from T-Mobile themselves you can buy the T-Mobile powered HTC Flyer right now from HTC’s website. With a new 2-year agreement the price is just $299, like it’s been for a while at Best Buy.

The Flyer is a 7″ Android 2.3 Gingerbread tablet (no official Honeycomb) with a 1024 x 600 resolution display, 1.5 GHz single-core Qualcomm processor, front and rear facing cameras, and stylus support with the HTC scribe pen . While it runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread we do have a leaked Honeycomb build for those wanting to enjoy some tablet OS on the Flyer.
The slate is priced at $299.99 when purchased with new compatible individual plans for the tablet ranging from $39.99 for 2GB of data to $79.99 per month for 10GB of data and a 2-year agreement. Users can also choose to upgrade an existing plan or add the Flyer to it but that will run you a more painful $450 or so. The HTC Scribe stylus pen is still sold separately so that will be another purchase for those interested. Either way fly on down to HTC.com to pick up your own T-Mobile powered HTC Flyer tablet.

Related articles

• Verizon Wireless issues HTC ThunderBolt Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) update (tech-gadget.co.in)

Read more »

DROID RAZR initiated on Droid Does and DroidLanding pages, get ready to hunt

It looks like we are all in for another crazy round of @DroidLanding and DroidDoes.com for the new and upcoming DROID RAZR. Both have been initiated and all systems are a go. Put your tray tables in their upright and locked positions folks. We have seen this with the Bionic, the Charge and even the Droid X2 and now its the RAZR’s turn for a scavenger hunt.

I’m sure you all remember the party for the DROID Bionic and the huge augmented reality scavenger hunt that followed, we can expect something very similar for the new DROID RAZR. The same initiative for the DROID Charge had us tracking 5 devices around different cities, what do you think we’ll see with the RAZR?

Either way be sure to follow @DroidLanding on Twitter, and follow us at @Androids while you’re at it. I’d be checking that DroidDoes.com RAZR page periodically for updates too because once the party gets started things will get a little crazy up in this DROID world. We’ll be seeing a few tweets from @DroidLanding over the next few days as everything gets initiated and then the hunt will begin. I have a feeling we will be seeing some QR codes this time around, but that’s just me.

Related articles

• Motorola DROID RAZR confirmed for November 10th retail release (goandroid.co.in)
• Motorola DROID RAZR costs $649 off-contract (goandroid.co.in)
• Motorola DROID RAZR available for pre-order from Verizon tomorrow for $299.99 (tech-gadget.co.in)
• DROID RAZR pre-orders start tomorrow, ship out November 10th (goandroid.co.in)
• Motorola Razr vs Apple iPhone 4S (tech-gadget.co.in)

Read more »

Google Reader update brings ICS user inte

We saw a few leaked screenshots of what was claimed to be an updated Google Reader application last night that turned out to be either fake, or a bit old. Today Google has officially pushed the brand new Google Reader v1.1.1 to the Android Market complete with a new user interface and widgets that resemble 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and plenty of other navigation and usage improvements. While the actual interface hasn’t changed a lot, they have added swipe navigation and it works extremely well.

Along with Google Reader, Google Docs also received a very similar update that has a slightly more noticeable change to the user interface — one that closely resembles Google +. Both Google apps have received a slight makeover giving them a closer appearance to that of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and we have the slide to navigate through stories or documents both, as well as enhanced share options that are closer to the web versions. Then the widgets, the new widgets look great and I’m loving my Google Reader unread ticker although I still feel it moves a bit fast. We've got a few screenshots below for you guys to see what your missing if you’re not yet a Google Reader user.

Like mentioned above, the slide to navigate feature is now present in Reader v1.1.1 and it works great. It marks the stories as read and the entire swipe gesture is simple, smooth, and very fast. You get an annoying notification below (shown in the picture) but you can quickly hide that as the feature is one you wont be forgetting any time soon. A few comments on the market said stories aren’t getting checked as “read” when swiping, but everything works great for me here and so far I’m loving the new improvements.
You’ll quickly notice all of the sharing and following type options that were present before have been removed, as those features are now offered by Google+. Instead we have the familiar share icon in the top right just like recently updated Android apps and the market have featured for some time.
The widget improvements are also quite nice and work great. I’ve thrown a few on my homescreen and took a screenshot for everyone to see them in action. Like mentioned above, the new unread ticker works great but still is a bit fast and I wouldn’t mind being able to manually set the refresh time myself.
You can see all of the screenshots in the gallery below for a better idea of what to expect with the new Google Reader v1.1.1 that was just updated today. Feel free to head to the market and try both of these new apps (links below). Interesting enough, Google Docs received plenty of changes yet the change-log remains untouched in the market, but I’m sure you can see the differences yourself if you’re a daily user.
Google Reader
Google Docs

Related articles

• Google+ app gets an official update with ICS user interface enhancements (goandroid.co.in)
• Official Ice Cream Sandwich for the Nexus One won't happen, Google says (tech-gadget.co.in)
• Google TV 2.0 update coming to Sony next week, Logitech Revue later (goandroid.co.in)

Read more »