The era of WYSIWYG mobile development has just begun. App Inventor is another cool free Google Labs product that enables anyone to start making Android applications with a couple of clicks. With no programming skills whatsoever, only good idea can be sufficient for the success of the application.
An application is born just by combining building blocks and arranging components on the screen. We suppose that this will boost the growth of Android Market even faster. So, what are you waiting for, check out this location and apply for the App Inventor.
Just recently, Long Zheng uploaded photos from this year's TechEd conference on FlickR. Check out the improvements in newer test version of Windows Phone 7. Sure looks good. Even though Microsoft planned WP7 for the "Holidays", or so we heard at MWC 2010, a miracle just may happen. Could Microsoft deliver earlier than planned ?
The manufacturers are ready, and we want our HD3 in full glory.
A giant statue of a cup of frozen yoghurt has been photographed alongside other oversized statues of desserts, such as the Éclair, the donut and the cupcake, in front of Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. This is a clear indication the launch of the latest version of its mobile phone operating system is imminent.
The operating system will have fully integrated Adobe Flash support, and there will be a massive improvement in speed, with unverified benchmark tests reported by the AndroidPolice website showing a 450% increase in speed over Android 2.1 (Éclair).
According to TechCrunch’s Michael Arrington, the new version will enable Android phone owners to use their phone as a portable Wi-Fi hotspot, and it will also have USB tethering built-in, which will allow the phone to be used as a modem to share its Internet connection with laptops and other portable devices such as gaming consoles. It is unclear at present if the Wi-Fi hotspot and USB tethering features could be disabled by carriers or allowed only for an extra charge. (AT&T still has not enabled iPhone tethering.) It is also unclear which phones will run the new version. Google has not yet confirmed any details about Froyo except Flash integration, but industry analysts are confident features such as FM radio, enhancements of OpenGL ES 2.0, color trackball notifications and additional free RAM will be included. Froyo is also expected to allow Android phone users to automatically upgrade applications and to install applications on an SD card, which would allow them to install more applications than they could using only the phone’s small built-in memory. Froyo is expected to be launched officially at next week’s Google I/O developer conference in San Francisco.
It appears that bluebox Ai is responsible for future version of iPad customized for airline travel. The iPad devices will give passengers the full iPad experience including access to iPad games and apps, iBooks, consumer magazines offered through Zinio and airline-specific custom applications.
We'll have to wait a while and see what they will come up with…
We are really hoping everything works out OK for Microsoft this time. Smartphone OS arena definately could do with another strong player, competing with iPhone OS, Android, BlackBerry OS… Windows Mobile failed to deliver, and frankly, versions 6.5.x were a big disappointment. So we bring you a recap of the important news since the unveiling we covered live at Mobile World Congress 2010, Barcelona.
We really dig the new flat 2D look, with effective annimations in all the right places. The search engine linked to the hardware button is, of course, Bing. The most interesting part was not shown completely -- The way Office Hub will look and function like. Now we have more details, and two videos of Office Hub in action.
As far as the hardware goes, for starters new WP7 phones need to have 3 hardware buttons below the screen: back, windows, search. Therefore some of the current high-end models do not qualify for the upgrade (for instance HTC HD2). Processors must be ARMv7 compliant, video vith hardware acceleration, all the screens must be capacitive (no more stylus) multi-touch, camera and WiFi/BT are a must as well as the FM radio receiver (why?). All the sensors you'd expect from a new phone must be present in all of the upcoming WP7 devices: Accelerometar, digital compass, light sensor, proximity sensor. More info on the architecture and update process can be found at BGR.
Then came the MIX10 conference in Las Vegas, where guys from Microsoft presented more info on this platform. All the recorded sessions can be found on a Windows Phone Developer Blog.
Windows Live ID account will be needed to use the phone (did anyone say Gmail+Android?). It is great to hear that 3D grapics are run using Direct3D 11, and one of the demo games was shown on a couple of occasions.
Windows Phone Developer home page has all the necessary tools, so you can join the hype and start developing. Or you can just try out the emulator and get to know the look and feel of the new OS. One of the guys from Microsoft has been very productive on Twitter, so everyone that wishes to be informed on this topic, check out Charlie Kindel's Twitter page.
One of the cool applications shown on Microsoft events was Foursquare. We really like the directions and positive vibe Microsoft is sending to the developers. There is just one small problem, new Windows Phone platform is not compatible to previous applications that made Windows Mobile popular. Microsoft is starting from the beginning. At this point iPhone has about 185.000 applications, and Android has been chasing them with over 50.000 and rising fast (april 2010). Microsoft will definitely have a great plaform, but near-empty marketplace. A lot of effort has been communicated towards the developers, and the required tools made free (check the above address). Silverlight all the way.
Another controversy is multitasking, as far as things stand at this point -- WP7 won't have it for 3rd party applications. We could think of many situations where we would like multitasking (even iPhone users will say they need it as soon the OS gets it ). Microsoft still has to decide if it will allow copy/paste, something that was missing in the first versions of the iPhone OS. Strange…
To recap:
Windows Phone 7 at this point looks great.
The Office integration is something that will bring the business users to new platform, and we like the new approach.
Thumbs-up for Microsoft for focusing on developers.
Not being able to upgrade existing devices (HTC HD2, Samsung Omnia II) to new OS is just slap in the face for loyal Windows Mobile users.
WP7 needs to get out fast -- WP7 to be polished ASAP. We need this devices in september not at the end of Q4 as Microsoft stated.
Microsoft needs to hear the crowd a bit more: we need multitasking, copy/paste, emulator for old applications, better keyboard support.
Open up the Marketplace, lower the prices, atrtact more developers.
Do not delay launch in Europe, rest of the World. Do it the right way.
Google has released new version of SkyMap application for Android phones, maybe just to mark two decades of Hubble telescope in space, this month?
With Google Sky Map for your Android phone you can discover and browse the night sky just by pointing your phone to space, and now also see images from Hubble telescope
By using your Android phone's orientation sensors, you can see a star map above your current location or explore planets, stars and constellations.
Great use of Android phone sensors to learn something new.
Google's Gesture Search application for Android is finally out. It enables you to quickly find a contact, bookmark, application or music track simply by drawing alphabet gestures on your device's screen.
Sadly, it is only working on Android 2.0 and up, supports only English language, and according to some user comments, is available only on selected Markets. If you can't find it on Market available in your country, you can try to use Market Enabler application, but only if your device is rooted.
It is now possible to explore new set of historical aerial images, taken over European cities during World War II, via the historical imagery feature in Google Earth. They can now be compared directly to images from the present day.
To access all the imagery for yourself, and compare to the present day cityscape, click the clock icon in the top-level toolbar to activate a time-line in the Google Earth display. Move back in forth in time by dragging the time slider from left to right or by clicking the back/forwards arrows.
Now it is official as Firefox was announced for Maemo plaftorm. Firefox is the only mobile web browser that supports add-ons (life is just not complete without AdBlock plus ). The list of features also includes:
Awesome bar – Go to your favorite sites in just a couple of keystrokes with intelligent and personalized searching
Weave Sync – Sync your Firefox tabs, history, bookmarks and passwords between your desktop and mobile device for a seamless browsing experience
Add-ons – Customize your Firefox by adding small pieces of functionality, like games and news readers, that help make the mobile Web browser your own (40 Add-ons already available)
Location-Aware Browsing – Get maps and information relevant to your location
Tabbed browsing – View open tabs as thumbnails to easily identify and select the Web page you’d like to go to next
Safe Browsing – Get an Instant Web Site ID and easily access and edit security settings
Available in more than 30 languages and counting
Firefox will be announced for Android soon…
We are eager to see how Maemo will do in the future, as it has great potential.
Memory: 512MB ROM, 256MB RAM, expandable via microSD cards (up to 32GB)
Camera: 5MP, Auto Focus, LED flash
GSM: Quad-band GSM support, triband 3G with HSDPA and HSUPA
OS: Windows Mobile 6.5
Battery: 1350mAh Li-Ion, up to 5 hours of talk time, up to 400 hours of standby
Other: GPS receiver, accelerometer, light sensor, proximity sensor, FM radio with RDS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth + Enhanced Data Rate, miniUSB, 3.5mm stereo audio jack
). Microsoft still has to decide if it will allow copy/paste, something that was missing in the first versions of the iPhone OS. Strange…
