Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Verizon Says Thunderbolt WILL Have Simultaneous Voice and Data, But Don’t Tell…

12:21 PM Simranpal SIngh No comments

We’ve been looking forward to the Thunderbolt’s launch, because it looks like a very capable phone.  Verizon just leaked an internal document, however, that actually announced a couple of cool features that I’m sure a lot of you wanted to see.  They had been rumored, but we were skeptical.  According to a newly-leaked internal Verizon screenshot, the Thunderbolt WILL, as opposed to initial reports, include the wireless hotspot feature.  Also reported to be making a premier with the Thunderbolt is the ability to simultaneously use voice and data services.  This will be the first appearance of this capability on any CDMA device, although Verizon claims that they “cannot promise the experience will be one consistent with [their] brand,” and that reps are not to quote that a selling point of the device.  We’ll see how well it works out, but it’s certainly a nice first step!
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Leaked Images of Gingerbread Running on Droid X

12:13 PM Simranpal SIngh No comments

Obviously, here at TalkAndroid, we love our Android phones, and we always want the latest and greatest. Gingerbread started making an appearance on the Nexus line of phones a couple of months ago, and of course we’re eager to see it rolled out to the rest of the Android line. To that end, when we discovered some leaked shots of Gingerbread running on the Droid X, we considered it a promising development. And naturally, we wanted to share. Mydroidworld has some exclusive leaked pictures of the Droid X running Android 2.3, but they will not reveal how they came to run Gingerbread. Regardless, it could be a sign of good things ahead!

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Motorola Super Bowl Teaser Ad Released To Generate Buzz, Puts Apple’s iPad In The Crosshairs

12:08 PM Simranpal SIngh No comments


The Super Bowl never fails to somehow deliver some of the best commercials seen all year around with some companies even shelling out cheddar in the millions.  Well, this is certainly not going to be a disappointment for those caught up in the mobile industry.  Motorola has released a teaser trailer of an up and coming commercial that will be released during the Super Bowl, taking aim at Apple’s iPad.  For me, it had remnants of the release of the Motorola Droid all over again.
The teaser does nothing short of portraying the fact that “its time for more choices” eluding that the Apple iPad isn’t the only contender on the block, as the Xoom steps in and gives it a run for its money.  Seems clever enough to me.  Let us know what you’re thinking in the comments below and hit the break to check out the teaser.  We’re highly looking forward to checking out the full spot during the Super Bowl.

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Dell Streak arrives at T-Mobile on February 2nd for $199

11:45 AM Simranpal SIngh No comments


We had the right date, but the rumored price was wrong. T-Mobile just tweeted that the Dell Streak 7 will go on sale this Wednesday, February 2nd for $199 with 2-year agreement (after a $50 mail in rebate).
The Dell Streak 7 is T-Mobile’s first 4G tablet and features Android 2.2, a 7-inch display, Tegra 2 processor, and dual-cameras. I like Dell computers, but I am not a fan of their Android devices yet.
If I was in the market for an Android tablet, I think I would wait until February 13th to find out what Samsung has been working on.
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Android OS Market Share Will Surpass Iphone’s OS By 2012

11:33 AM Simranpal SIngh No comments





United States – eMarketer has their statistical opinion on who will win the next war: Google’s mobile OS or the Iphone. The advantages of the Iphone are its multi-touch interface, sleek design and the apps.

Android proved it can gain market share quite fast. In 2009, Android had 6% of the U.S. market share. In 2010, it had 24% market share. Android is expected to continue its growth to 31% by 2012. In 2012, Iphone is forecasted to own about 30% of the mobile market share. This means that Android will win the war.
Noah Elkin, one of the authors of the upcoming eMarketer report, describes Android OS: “The open-source Android OS requires no licensing fee and allows handset manufacturers and wireless carriers considerable latitude to customize the user interface according to their desired specifications.”
He added: “With a growing roster of manufacturer and carrier partners in every major market and market segment, scale for Android is coming quickly in terms of device, market share, apps and ad revenues.” Google wants to put its Android OS on every phone. And the results keep coming.
In the last 2 years, Google Android gained significant market share. It “stole” the market share pie mostly from the non-Apple products.
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Will Nokia Go Android? › AndroidGuys -

11:30 AM Simranpal SIngh No comments

On a recent conference call discussing their Q4 2010 performance, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said that "there are multiple ecosystem patterns that need to be considered" as they move forward, one of several remarks in the call that analysts are interpreting as a sign that Nokia may abandon Symbian and the as-yet-unseen MeeGo and instead begin producing Android-powered smartphones. Though Nokia is still a huge force, it's smartphone marketshare has fallen precipitously over the past year. Still, a switch to Android would be an about-face. As recently as last November, they were insisting otherwise. And it's certainly possible that if they make a change, they could choose another platform, like Windows Phone 7, instead of or in addition to Android, especially given their new CEO's history with Microsoft.
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Rumor: Google to unveil browser-based Android Market with Google Music cloud services on Wednesday

11:21 AM Simranpal SIngh No comments

Google is holding a special event for the press on Wednesday which includes “an in-depth look at Honeycomb, Android ecosystem news, and hands-on demos.” We knew right away that the hands-on demos would be with the Motorola Xoom tablet, but the “ecosystem news” sounded a little vague so we did some digging. After talking with several of our regular sources we have a pretty good idea of what might be in store for Android fans. Check out the full rumor report after the jump.

The Rumor

Google has finally completed its web-based Android Market and they will reveal it at their Honeycomb press event on Wednesday. The online Market is said to be “on par with that of the Apple App Store or even better.”

The Source

This tip came from a regular source who has provided accurate information on Sprint in the past. As with most people that hand over sensitive information, he wishes to remain anonymous.

One Android Insider’s take on the rumor

I wouldn’t be printing this rumor unless I thought there was some truth behind it.  Keep in mind that this is just a rumor, so don’t take it to be the final word on what could happen this Wednesday. It seems pretty obvious that the new Android Market is coming sometime soon, but let’s review what we know already.
Google showed off the web-based Android Market and Google Music services during the last Google I/O, back in May 2010. “It’s called the Android Market, because it’s more than apps, ” said Vic Gundotra as he described the new features that Google had been working on.
They demoed both services on a Nexus One running Android 2.2 and said they would be available in a future version of the mobile OS. Half a year later we are still waiting on these new features and now Google is about to provide an in-depth look at Android 3.0 this week.
It’s not very often that Google holds these types of events, so you know that something big is going to drop for them to invite everyone to their headquarters.
Another possible hint appeared in a recent BusinessWeek story titled Larry Page’s Google 3.0. In the article it was revealed that Andy Rubin took over the leadership of Google’s digital music project and he was working with former YouTube lawyer, Zahavah Levine, to secure the needed licenses from the four major music labels.
According to three people familiar with Google’s plans, Andy Rubin’s team has “developed a service that will let users upload their music collections to Google’s servers and then synchronize them with any mobile device.” The service is widely believed to have been completed, with only the lawyers holding it up.
The same BusinessWeek report, which was published on January 26th, said that a deal was almost done and “the offering could be unveiled as soon as next month.” Representatives from the music labels said that no deals had been signed with Google, but something might have finally gone down this past Friday before Google sent out their event invites to the press.
Android platform group manager Eric Chu also alluded to the upcoming changes during a session at the Inside Social Apps conference last week. “Helping developers monetize is very important to us,” Chu said.
He told the audience that Google was “not happy” with the number of app purchases, but changes to the Android Market were on the way. Mr. Chu did not dive into specific details or provide any time frames, but said that Google’s roadmap included enhancements to carrier billing, in-app payments, improved discovery of apps, and taking advantage of “the best social graph” — the Android address book.
We were told time and time again at CES that Honeycomb was not completely finished and more surprises were on the way. This Android Market upgrade has been a long time in coming, so what better time to roll it out than with the release of Android 3.0?
What do you think Google has in store for their special event on Wednesday? Will they unveil another secret project and surprise the media?
Bonus video: Google will be broadcasting their Honeycomb event live on the web at youtube.com/android, but check out the following clip for a sneak preview of what the web-based Android Market could look like.

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74% of mobile apps are used more than once! read more about it:

11:14 AM Simranpal SIngh No comments

When we read the source piece (listed below) the headline was 26% of Apps downloaded used only once.  Of course that’s a large number considering there are over half a million mobile apps available in the world today. But 74% is a much larger number so let’s talk about that… Localytics, a research firm that specializes in tracking “engagement” released this study today which concluded on January 26th.  The results are very good for mobile app developers. Localytics studied thousands of IOS, Android, Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry apps using their real time app-analytics program. All one time uses of apps were grouped into the quarter they occured in and then calculated as a percentage.
While the source piece is suggestive that 26% of apps only get used one time, as we stated above the 74% that are more than one use is way more to talk about.
With the rapid growth of mobile apps and the fact that many sites have predicted that mobile apps will grow to a $15 billion dollar a year business, how many times a user actually uses an app could be a very important statistic.
Of the 26% remaining you could factor in an app that may have only called for a single use by the end user, or as Localytics suggests, first impressions are everything.

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Rumor Confirmed: LG Will Show Off a 3D Phone At MWC

11:11 AM Simranpal SIngh No comments

We told you last week that LG was likely to introduce a 3D phone at the Mobile World Congress in just a few weeks. And while it’s hard to really know with the Android rumor mill being what it is, this one panned out to be true. LG just issued a press release stating exactly that.
Mobile World Congress will be held February 14th (happy Valentine’s Day!) to the 17th. The Optimus 3D, the first 3D mobile phone — featuring glasses-free technology at that — will be making its appearance in Barcelona in about two weeks. As soon as the news comes out, we’ll be bringing it to you! Full press release below.
LG TO UNVEIL WORLD’S FIRST FULL 3D SMARTPHONE AT MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LG TO UNVEIL WORLD’S FIRST FULL 3D SMARTPHONE AT MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2011
3D Recording-Viewing-Sharing of Life’s Precious Moments Anytime, Anywhere
SEOUL, Feb. 1, 2011 – At this year’s Mobile World Congress, LG will unveil the LG Optimus 3D, the world’s first 3D smartphone offering consumers a full 3D experience right in the palm of their hands.
The LG Optimus 3D addresses the lack of 3D content issue — one of the biggest problems facing the 3D market — with a complete platform for a one-of-a-kind experience on a mobile device. LG’s most advanced smartphone to date will feature a dual-lens camera for 3D recording, a glasses-free LCD panel for 3D viewing and diverse connectivity options such as HDMI and DLNA for 3D content sharing anytime, anywhere.
Further details and a live demo of the LG Optimus 3D will be offered at Booth #8B178 at MWC in Barcelona from February 14 to 17.

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