So Samsung decided to release its second Android phone in Russia. But news can never remain buried on the Internet. So we know that it is called the Galaxy Spica. This is the same phone that the rumors were calling the Galaxy 17500 Lite. Spica is the official name.

The press release says a lot of things, as usual. You know it has Android and that it runs on an 800MHz processor. But what it does not tell you is what version of Android it will ship with when it does. My guess is Android 2.0, because the release seems imminent. [read]

Then we have the T-Mobile Project Dark plans. After a long line of rumors, spy shots and leaked marketing material, the carrier finally unveiled its twin plans. And they are right on time too because their timeline was already leaked by the rumors.

So what are the plans like? Look above. There’s the $79 Even More Plus and there’s the $99 Even More. Those are the maxed out prices. They start from $49 and $59 respectively. The first one has no annual contract and the second one has a 2-year contract. [read]

Nokia in the meantime has brought out ‘Illuvial Special edition’ phones in Europe. These are normal Nokia phones with floral prints on the back, purple backlighting and purple/pink graphics in the UI. I still think of this tech industry practice of feminizing products as highly patronizing. Plus, companies tend to charge more for these frills. Et tu Nokia? [read]

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The app store is growing rapidly and is now over 85,000 apps. Ever since the $99 iPhones became available, everyone’s been buying an iPhone. And everyone who can is making an app and sending it in. Even the American stock exchange has its own app now.

Yes sir, NASDAQ has an app in the App store. It lets you check stocks and see live activity, which are quite obvious. What is not obvious though is the fact that it shows you live tweets about various stocks from StockTweet. Now that’s something extra that is worth having. Plus the App is very well-designed. [read]

Next up we have a remote app for …get this – starting your car. That’s right folks, now you can start your car from practically anywhere with a free iPhone app. The catch? You have to buy a kit for your car for this to work and Best Buy has the exclusive retail deal on it. You have two models available. One is for $299 (for cars that have the initial system built in) and the other for $499 (for the complete system). [iTunes link]

The next one is only half new because it was already launched in the US last year. Amazon has released their iPhone shopping app in the UK. This app lets you buy from Amazon through your iPhone. It connects you to your account and also allows you to use features like one-click ordering, etc. [read]

Another Amazon app is coming soon though. I am talking about the Kindle app that is headed for us in November. [read]

So I guess these two halves make one, except that you can only buy one half right now. But the US half is already available. So that makes one too. Okay, enough with the halves.

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According to this blog post the Google Chrome OS is “an open source, lightweight operating system” targeted initially at netbooks. Google will publish the code as open source and netbooks running the operating system will be available int he second half of 2010. The operating system is designed to boot up and display the web in a few seconds with a minimal user interface and most of the user experience taking place on the web. Google Chrome OS is compatible with today’s chipsets and uses a “windowing system on top of a Linux kernel”.

Journalists create a Microsoft Windows killer out of these information. It should be noted that Google is initially targeting the netbook market which has risen in popularity in the past years. Netbooks currently have a market share of about 20% of the mobile PC market which is predicted to increase further in 2010. The concentration on netbooks on the other hand dismisses the rest of the mobile PC market and the complete desktop PC market. It is impossible to become a Microsoft Windows killer with such a narrow focus.

Google probably has plans to offer their operating system to manufacturers of laptops and desktop computer systems as well although no announcement has been made so far.A cloud operating system could confuse and irritate customers as they might be buying a PC only to find out that they need Internet and cannot play the latest games or run Microsoft Office on it.

Talking about PC gaming and software programs. It is very likely that PC games will not run on the Google operating system and that game developers will not develop games for the operating system until it has a market penetration that makes developing worth their while. Web browser games are surely going to work but they usually cannot match the quality of desktop PC games. It is possible that PC games will use a netbook with the Google Chrome Os as a secondary PC but it is very likely that they stick with a PC running Windows in the near future.

The same is true for software programs. Many users are used to certain software programs which they do not want to change. A switch to a cloud based operating system would mean that these users have to learn new interfaces and programs. Tech savvy users on the other hand are used to these web applications and are therefor the most likely to give the Google Chrome OS a chance.

Businesses on the other hand are also not likely to switch to a cloud based operating system as it would raise security and privacy concerns but also mean intensive training of their staff.

Here is a prediction: Google Chrome Os will be a niche product in the next five years. It will not be a Microsoft Windows killer and it will mostly be used by tech savvy users who use the Internet all the time.

What’s your take on the new Google OS? Will it be able to compete with Windows 7 in the netbook market or be a niche product just like the Google Chrome browser and Google Android?

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UI

Concerning UI, it’s pretty clear that both Google and Palm have taken two very different approaches. In fact Google’s approach is more in line with Microsoft in allowing OEM’s to customize the UI to their needs. Palm however has taken this into their hands and pitched a ball straight at Apple and their ever so flawless OSX user interface.
Unfortunately there is no clear winner or loser here as both offer advantages and disadvantages. One advantage of Android is that it can take on any shape it wants. This allows people to pick a UI based on their needs but more so likes. The disadvantage to this is that since the navigation can change drastically from device to device, it might be a little rough for those who are used to a specific layout and decide to change from let’s say an HTC Hero to a Sony or Samsung. On the other hand Palm has decided to use one UI for its entire fleet and since they will be the only ones manufacturing phones to run on webOS (at least for the time being) it will stay that way. This however leaves the problem of monotony, something that is plaguing the iPhone at the moment. It’s very interesting that Windows Mobile can take on so many different shapes and forms based on who makes the device running it. A classic example is the Samsung Omnia, Sony Xperia and HTC Touch Pro. So I will hand it to Palm for having the sleeker and better of the graphical interface, but Android has the upper hand on customizability and scalability.

Features

Both Palm and Google have done a good job at bringing some well needed features to the smartphone arena. Both support such basic features as copy paste, Exchange support, emailing, productivity and more. But for now we’ll have to judge at what’s out there in terms of third party programs (apps), and Google is clearly the winner here. I’m not saying that Palm isn’t saying anything, but seeing how new webOS is, we’ll have to give it at least a year before we can really compare its developer community to that of Blackberry, OSX, WinMo and of course Android.
That said, built in features, webOS does have the upper hand as it has a much better browser, music player etc, then that on the Android OS. But third party apps is its weak point and as I said before we’ll have to wait a year or so before we see what people have done with the Mojo SDK.

Devices

It’s ironic that Android has been around for quite some time now and the only company who has a phone running on the OS is HTC. Yes we know Samsung, Motorola, Sony and a whole host of others are working behind the scenes but come on. Palm has just put out their Pre and we’re already hearing plans of the release of the EOS which would be the Centro replacer.
So who would win this round? Well clearly we’re seeing such things as OLED and Flash coming to Android in the near future, and with the stellar lineup of partners it’s not surprising that Apple is looking at Google as more of an enemy then a friend at the moment.

Concerning Palm, while they have not totally put off the idea about allowing third party manufacturers to run their webOS, they’re still on their first device so we can’t fault them too much in this area. But if both companies decide to keep on their course we will give this round to Android as more OEM’s has always spelled better products. Speaking of Flash, Palm is also on that list of manufacturers who will be getting a taste of Flash mobil this fall.

Hacking

Yes you read right, I’m going to include this category because both Android and webOS run Linux on the Linux framework and so it’s only fair we compare what the hacking community has done for the systems to date. For an OS that is open source, we really have to chide Google on their lack of support in the hacking community. The Pre has been out for just over a month and already we have Bluetooth tethering hacks, PlayStation emulation hacks, web server hacks and a bunch of others that not only geeks but every day people would be interested in.

So far little to nothing has been done in the Android arena concerning major hacking. Maybe it has to do with the fact that the G1 (the first Android device) carries lower internal specs then that of the Pre. But whatever it is, Palm clearly has the upper hand. Things might change in the near future however as the devices which are making their way to Android are getting more powerful. But for now, Palm owns this scene.

Corporate Support

This is a major factor in smartphones these days. To date the dominators in this field have clearly been RIM and Microsoft. So far Apple has been making small strides into gaining corporate acceptance. That said, both Palm and Google have been courting IT departments to accept their OS as readily as they will accept a Blackberry Curve or HTC Touch Pro.

Right now it’s too early to say what will happen to both OS as there is a huge lock in this area (RIM and Microsoft) and to date, companies have been very cautious about adopting ant other operating system. As it stands Android and webOS are head to head with no apparent winner in sight. But depending on customizability and sheer support, Android just might pull out as the winner here although we cannot deny that Palm has been in the cellphone (and more so the smartphone) market before Google was born so they just might just have a few tricks up their sleeves.

Potential

Until today I would have given this round to Android, but after Google’s plans to scrape Android for netbooks, MID’s and UMPC’s I think it is a little harder to decide a winner. Clearly both systems excel at different things, but then again both are competing for the same type of customers, those who are not swayed by Apple’s iPhone but who want something different then the regular Blackberry Curve or HTC Touch Diamond.

Based on what webOS has to offer they have an advantage in online and location based apps and this is the future. But in uniqueness and lifestyle applications, Android does carry a little more weight in this area. However, it is too early to say. We’ll have to wait until both mature and of course the second version is released before we can make a final verdict on where we expect to see both of them in the next five or so years.

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It is with this success and support that T-Mobile announces the details regarding their much anticipated follow up to the HTC G1. In case you’re wondering, this phone has been around for some time (over in the UK where it sells under the name of the HTC Magic). But the device is finally coming statewide. The myTouch operates off of Android v1.5 and promises to fix a lot of the problems people had with the first device.

The phone is thinner and lighter then its predecessor and as we said before carries the same hardware found in the HTC Magic (also known as the Google Ion). The feature list sounds pretty impressive also:

Powered by a Walcomm MSM7200A™ chip, this little bad boy pumps out 528MHz of power. As said before the phone is running on the x1.5 build of Android. ROM is set at 512MB and RAM is 288MB. Dimensions are pretty slim with 133 x 55.56 x 13.65 mm (4.45 x 2.19 x 0.54 inches). The phone weighs only 4.09 ounces with the battery in so you have a device that is a little smaller then the iPhone but bigger then the Pre.

One of the major differences between the myTouch and the G1 is the keyboard. While the G1 has a full QWERTY keyboard, the myTouch lacks that and instead has opted for a virtual one with haptic feedback. From using the iPhone, Instinct, HTC Touch, Storm and many other phones, I can assure you that technology hasn’t advanced to the point where a virtual keyboard will give you everything you would require from a QWERTY keyboard. That said, haptic feedback does lessen the blow a bit so we’ll just have to see how this fits into the whole stage.

Those buying the T-Mobile myTouch will also get a 4GB microSD card, so all your tunes will be available to you. You will also be able to expand the memory though the limits are yet to be made clear by either HTC or T-Mobile at the moment.

The T-Mobile G1 will be available on T-Mobile’s U.S network come late July. Customers of T-Mobile will be able to pre-order the device 4 days after Independence Day though. Price is set at $199 with a two-year contract so this falls right in line with the Blackberry Storm, iPhone 3GS, Palm Pre and others.

While a lot of the applications are unchanged, T-Mobile does have a hand in some of them. An example of this is the Sherpa application which was created by Geodelic. This location based application allows you to find restaurants, theaters, stores, businesses, banks etc nearby. While those features have been available for ages on other apps this one adds to it by collecting data about where the user has been, searched for etc. and incorporating this into the search results. It is also able to make recommendations based on the data collected as well as offer advice to events happening locally. This app will be exclusively available to T-Mobile so other Android users around the world will have to wait says Geodelic.

Other then that there are 5,000 other apps currently available on the Android marketplace so while the device may be new, its coming to an already matured platform as well as app store.
While I am quite excited to see the device I cannot help but notice that out of all the networks T-Mobile is one of the worse to be having such a good operating system locked into. It’s quite understandable though as Sprint has the Pre (at least for the next six months) Verizon is in love with Blackberry (and rumored to be playing around with an LTE version of the iPhone), and Apple seems to have had a lock on AT&T for some time now as to prevent any further competition with its beloved iPhone.

That said, most of the U.S carries have expressed interest in Android, but due to politics Google is stuck with T-Mobile. We’ll just have to wait and see what the myTouch can do for them. Hopefully they will be able to move at least a million of these devices like what they did with the G1.

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T-Mobile G1 users can access the Android Market to download additional applications for their cell phone. One of the interesting applications is the PC remote access software Android Remote which makes it possible to access and control music and videos on the Android phone from any computer system running the server application. To achieve this the Android Remote software has to be installed on the Android cell phone and the Gmote Server application on the PC that the user wants to access remotely.

The Gmote software can be downloaded directly from Android Market to the cell phone. Users can perform a search to find the application which is located in the Multimedia category. The second required step is to download and install the remote server application (from here) to the computer system that should be accessed by the Android phone. The remote server application is available for Windows, Macintosh and Linux operating systems.

A window will show up after execution of the server application asking for a password that is used to protect the contents from third parties. The very same password has to be entered on the Android phone on first usage.

The user can then add files and folders to the server so that they can be accessed and controlled from the Android phone.

The Gmote application can establish a connection over a wireless network or cellular network’s data connection.

Music can be streamed from the computer system to the Android phone. Everything else, e.g. playing movies, controlling PDF or PowerPoint presentations, is happening on the server system while being controlled from the Android phone. The Gmote application on cell phone can be used as a wireless touchpad and keyboard which extends its functionality further. All in all a very interesting application that might come in handy in many different situations.

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The requirement is a rooted or developer phone. Rooting an Android phone is not a difficulty process so it basically means anyone with an Android phone can do this. It is possible to download all applications from Android Market for free because of the inefficient application protection and the return policy. A user downloads an application from Android Market. He might need to purchase it first but should not worry about that as he will get a refund if he returns the app in the next 24 hours after download.

The only protection that the Google Android team has implemented is the location of the Android apps. Users without root cannot access this location on their Android cell phone. But everyone with root can. There is no other protection in place which means that it is possible to copy the Android application to another location, return the application and install it again from the new source.

All protected Android apps are located in the folder /data/app-private/ which can be accessed on rooted Android phones. It is therefor theoretically possible to purchase, install, copy, return all Android applications to get them all for free. It should also be noted that the copied versions of those protected Android applications can be installed on all Android phones, even non rooted ones. Will probably not be long before the first Android app packs hit the dark side of the Internet.

The only difficulty that arises is that the applications will not be updated automatically as Android Market does not recognize them. Be sure to check out Androideka if you are interested in Google Android news.

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Connect Bot is probably the number one must have application for webmasters who operate their own servers. It can be used to log into the server using the phone. For those who do not know what SSH is, it basically allows a user to exchange data using a secure channel between two network devices.

Some examples where this could come in handy would be to restart the web server, configure services or monitor the connections, processes and resource usage while on the road.

The application can be installed right from the Android Market. Must have for any webmaster and admin with their own servers.

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The Android application store got some great feedback last year when the application competition ended which produced more than 1000 different applications for the Android phone. It is usually not possible to see what the Android application store has to offer unless you already have an Android phone. Not very practicable for evaluation.

That’s why the guys over at Cyrket have implemented the Android application store on their website.

The Android store mirror divides all Google Android applications into categories. The main page is divided into games, applications and newest contents. A click on games or applications will load a new directory level displaying subcategories. For Android applications those are Communication, Finance or Travel among others. A click on any subcategory will display a file browser (like in the image above) that will list ten Android applications per page. Applications can be sorted by popularity or date. The ratings, names, developers and versions of the Android applications are displayed in each line.

A click on a line will open a detailed view that contains a short description of the application, user comments and additional information about the selected Android appl.

Impatient users can use the search on top to see if the Android application store contains an application or game with the functionality that they need. The Cyrket website provides a great overview over all Android applications for non-Android users.

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Taking those limitations aside the Android phone emulator does provide a good overview of some of the functions that the Android phone will offer. It is possible to get a first impression of the Google browser, Google maps and other functions like receiving calls, sms or mms. There is no real interaction with the emulator though. It is for instance not possible to use it to open any websites or actually call someone.

The flash based website about the Android phone contains two additional sections that are important if you want to get an impression of the phone’s dimensions because they seem to display the phone in the correct size.

The above screenshot has been taken from the Android phone emulator while the screenshot below was taken from the 360 view option. The screenshot from the Android phone emulator had to be reduced in size to fit on the screen while the screenshot below depicts the actual size of the original screenshot.

It would have been better if T-Mobile would have used the correct Android phone dimensions for the emulator as well so that potential buyers and interested users would get a real feeling for the phone’s dimensions which is especially important for tasks like web surfing, emails and the phone’s qwerty keyboard.

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There is however one fundamental difference between Apple’s marketing strategy and Google’s. Android is an operating system and several companies are developing mobile phones based on the operating system which means more choice for consumers eventually.

The G1 is just the first phone based on Android and receives coverage because of that. Not everything is perfect yet though and the article tries to look at some of the functions and features that are missing or inferior to today’s standards.

It basically comes down to the user and the things that he might want to do with the phone.

A few problematic elements can be identified by simply looking at the announcements that have been made:

• No support for Microsoft Exchange Active Sync.
• Uses proprietary headphone connection.
• Access To Amazon MP3 store only over WLAN.
• Media player seems to be incapable of playing videos, only Youtube supported
• No Multi-touch.
• Only 1 Gigabyte of Flash Memory, maximum of 8 Gigabyte supported
• No video recording.
• No virtual keyboard

Every user has to make the decision on his own if any of the missing features is a criterion to pass and wait for the next Android phone.

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Users should be aware that the Android Marketplace will host free and commercial applications just like the Apple iPhone App Store. Most of the applications listed below have been taken part in the first ever Android Developer Challenge.

This Challenge pushed the development of many Android applications and was an important step for the plattform.

Compare Everywhere: Compare Everywhere, formerly known as Android Scan, could be the killer application for Android. It uses the digital camera of the mobile phone to scan the barcodes of products to identify them. It offers then options to compare prices online, read product reviews and even sample music or video content. An alternative seems to be GoCart which basically does the same.

Cooking Capsules: The idea behind Cooking Capsules is simply. Let the user watch a short cooking video, show him the locations of the next grocery stores to shop for the items and give him a step by step instruction on how to cook the meal once he’s back home.

My Closet: The dream application for women. Take pictures of your clothing and the application keeps track and suggests outfits based on weather information and items chosen in the past.

Share Your Board: Jigsaw is an Android application to share, process and capture data on a whiteboard.

Wertago: An interesting application for nightlifer enthusiasts that makes use of Google Maps to show the hottest locations in town and provides means to coordinate with friends.

Got any other applications not in the list? Let me know about them. I did not include applications that would track friends and family members. This had various reasons, one being that every family member would need an Android phone for this feature to work.

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British citizens will most likely be able to lay their hands on the phone in November while the rest of Europe will have to wait until 2009 to do the same.

The G1 phone has some strong arguments on its side. The phone uses an Open Source operating system which will win the Linux crowd over in no time. The QWERTY keyboard comes in handy for everyone who uses his phone regularly for writing.

T-Mobile G1 Specs:

• Processor: Qualcomm MSM7201A, 528 MHz
• Operating System: Android
• Memory: ROM: 256 MB, RAM: 192 MB
• Dimensions (LxWxT): 117.7 mm x 55.7 mm x 17.1 mm (4.60 in x 2.16 in x 0.62 in)
• Weight: 158 grams (5.57 ounces) with battery
• Display: 3.2-inch TFT-LCD flat touch-sensitive screen with 320 x 480 (HVGA) resolution
• Network: HSDPA/WCDMA: Europe: 2100 MHz US:1700/2100 MHz Up to 7.2 Mbps down-link (HSDPA) and 2 Mbps up-link (HSUPA) speeds. Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE: 850/900/1800/1900 MHz
• Keyboard: Slide-out 5-row QWERTY keyboard
• GPS: GPS navigation capability with built-in GPS receiver and map software
• Connectivity: Bluetooth 2.0 with Enhanced Data Rate, Wi-Fi: IEEE 802.11b/g, HTC ExtUSB (11-pin mini-USB 2.0 and audio jack in one)
• Camera: 3.2 megapixel color camera with fixed focus
• Audio: AAC, AAC+, AMR-NB, MIDI, MP3, WMA, WMV
• Battery: 1150 mAh
• Special Features: Digital Compass, Motion Sensor

Not everything is that shiny however. One of the main disadvantages of the G1 phone is the missing headphone socket. The only way to connect headphones to the G1 is by using an USB adapter.

The T-Mobile G1 does a few things better than Apple’s iPhone namely the full QWERTY keyboard and the Open Source operating system. It’s not an iPhone killer but a worthy contender. One of the main selling points will be the applications which can be downloaded from the application shop.

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