noam's blog.a.lish

Google's Android 2.0 mobile phone OS now has free turn-by-turn navigation included. That's right, F-R-E-E free, and you will get it on your new Verizon Droid phone which hit the stores today (i think). Read more here.

Well it's about time, seriously. I finally decided I needed to buy a GPS device because Avis charged me about $20 for a single day... and now I don't have to shell out the $200 to buy a TomTom or a Nuvi, and I definitely don't need to pay Avis... sweeet.

p.s. I really hope this will be in the next OTA release for my G1... I really don't feel like switching providers to Verizon.

My Google alerts job picked up this article from some kind of online news site that, according to compete.com they get an average of 10k unique users per day... not too shabby. That being I didn't see any spike in downloads of Clock Apps.

• The Weather Channel: What you'd expect. Nice widget with current conditions for your home screen, tap for more detailed and extended forecasts.

• Voice Recorder by Mamoru Tokashiki: Not sure why a voice recorder isn't part of the basic kit, but I found this one to be the simplest and easiest to use.

• Notes by Yuli: Again not sure why this isn't part of the basic setup, but this one is also simple and straightforward. But, with a voice recorder it might not get much use.

• Clock Apps by Noam Wolf: This app with the nondescript name is a useful, simple and easy to use countdown timer and stop watch.

• My Tracks by Google: This is the ultimate pedometer. It uses GPS to track your distance, time, average speed, elevation change, and more, all in real time. And it can show you where you are on a Google map in real time, too. When you're done with your walk or hike or whatever you can save your track, see it on a Google map, share it, etc.

• Barcode Scanner by the ZXing Team: Scans the UPC barcode for just about anything and pops up a Google page with reviews and pricing from online retailers for comparison shopping. It uses the camera to scan (duh) and capture can be a little finicky (tip: get as flat an angle of view as possible in good lighting).

p.s. Nice, maybe I should actually fix some of the bugs now.

I can't say much... well I can't say anything... so check this out instead.

p.s. It's hawt!

Nice promotion for the new Verizon Android phone I mentioned a few days ago. Check out the original at droiddoes.com

p.s. Looks like Verizon is really going after apple, personally I think that's great, competition only drives prices down and increases innovation... can't wait for the G3 whatever/whenever that may be.

While the advisory doesn’t provides details, Verizon has been expected to announce a Google Android phone for some time. Presumably, its unveiling would occur before the busy holiday season, where cellphone sales pick up. The announcement is significant for the No. 1 U.S. carrier because its smartphone line-up until now has mainly been focused on RIM’s BlackBerry. Therefore, in order for Verizon to have a more complete portfolio and to continue to compete effectively against AT&T (NYSE: T), which has an exclusive with Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), it’s expected to add not only Android devices, but phones from Palm (NSDQ: PALM), too.

First of all, the back story. Up until a year ago, Verizon and Google weren't the best of friends. There was that little issue over the 700MHz spectrum that brought nasty letters to the FCC from Google and some legal wrangling by Verizon.

What a difference a year makes. The two giants have apparently found some middle ground - plenty of it, in fact. Today, they had a press conference where they've announced that in the coming weeks there will be two new Verizon Android handsets. "Game changers" is the term that Eric Schmidt actually used.

This partnership has "iPhone" written all over it. Google wants to differentiate the Android handsets from the iPhone and, to a lesser extent, Blackberry and Pre. They aren't going to make much headway on Tmobile or Sprint which have smaller networks and fewer 3G towers than even AT&T, even if their services is much better. With Verizon, there is a clear (har) difference.

p.s. Looks pretty hot... can't wait to get a new device ;)

I'm not sure how I missed this but it looks like you can now be the proud owner of a G2 or a myTouch phone right here in the US.... who knew?

The price looks a little high but this phone looks really bad ass, and I have personally used it before. I wonder how many people will go for a the slicker phone without the keyboard.

p.s.I can get one for $149, I wonder if I should though...

It's happening, Flash on a mobile device! The first mobile device being demoed is the HTC Hero device as you can see here, it's quite impressive and I love the multi-touch (what they're referring to as "HTC Sense" technology.

The HTC Hero will be available in Europe starting in July and in Asia later this summer, while a "distinct" North American version will ship later in 2009 (aka as the Google Ion). However, pricing was not announced at this time.

Like the T-Mobile G1 and Google Ion/HTC Magic, the HTC Hero has the signature curve at the bottom, but it's a bit more svelte at 4.4 inches tall by 2.2 inches wide and 0.5 inch thick. In addition, it features a 3.2-inch HVGA touch screen with an antifingerprint screen coating.

This is really exciting, looks like the iPhone and Palm mobile devices really have their work cut out for them.

HTC is reffering to it as the Magic, this slim and sexy new phone looks like it will be the official next Android phone. Unfortunately it seems this phone will only be available in Europe and even if you buy it and try to use in the US you will not be able to enjoy 3G speeds.

You can actually order it online here, no this phone doesn't have a full keyboard, so you're going to have to wait for the official Android Cupcake release.

It's official! You can now charge for your Android application.

Android Market update

I'm pleased to announce that Android Market is now accepting priced applications from US and UK developers. Developers from these countries can go to the publisher website at http://market.android.com/publish to upload their application(s) along with end user pricing for the apps. Initially, priced applications will be available to end users in the US starting mid next week. We will add end user support for additional countries in the coming months.

Sweet! Only thing is I tried to set up my merchant account and something seems to be wrong with the "I accept the terms and conditions" button... everytime I click on it it takes me to a different page with no "approve/ok" button, then when I go back to the settings page for my merchant account that annoying "I accept the terms and conditions" button is still there... wtf??

Just received an official email from the Android team telling us developers what's on the horizon.

OK, wtf does "determining the appropriate pricing strategy" mean? If I understand correctly, and from what I've seen on the Market website you can state a price for your application. Where is the strategy part?

In other news, Google employees receive Android phone as xmas bonus which to me means many more awesome applications. Which lead me to think about how many applications are already available on the Android Market. I searched around and could not find an exact number. This lead to another question, which application should count as an application, have you seen the fart applications? Speaking of fart applications (oh btw if you have now idea what a fart application is, you basically click on a button and your phone farts... great...) it turns out that the two fart applications on the iPhone are on the top 10 best sellers... are you fucking kidding me? people pay for that garbage?

So while I didn't find answers to my questions I did run into a very nice website, taptaptap, which seems to be some kind of iPhone app company that have a very nice blog which taught me some interesting shortcuts on my iPhone iPod touch and also the fact that the iPhone app store has surpassed 10K applications. I think that's awesome, again not sure which apps should actually be considered but still great. Now that I see a lot of apps being ported over to Android I look forward to seeing the Android Market grow fast!

p.s. My next, and third, application for Android is on its way. Hopefully I'll be able to release by second week of January.

In an interesting article on the Motley Fool Anders Bylund reports that "Sprint's CEO Dan Hesse confirmed that the company plans to sell and support the platform someday soon" which was also reported by the Android Community. This comes as a surprise to me after about 2 months ago Dan Hasse was quoted saying that Android was ”not good enough to put the Sprint brand on it.” So in my book that makes CEO Hasse a corporate douche bag, especially in light of his latest TV campaign where he makes it quite obvious that he is a douche bag.

There's heavy speculation that Motorola (NYSE: MOT) is working on an Android handset, and Sprint Nextel (NYSE: S) CEO Dan Hesse confirmed that the company plans to sell and support the platform someday soon. Further signs of reinforcement come from Austrualia, where there are rumblings about an Android phone from maverick electronics retailer Kogan Technologies, which looks more like a BlackBerry than an iPhone and ships worldwide in January -- unlocked and ready to work on pretty much any mobile network.

And here comes the heavy cavalry. Fourteen more technology leaders have joined the Open Handset Alliance, which is the gang that keeps Android development organized. Among the heaviest of the new hitters, you'll find phone designers like Toshiba and Sony Ericsson, general mobile gadget expert Garmin (Nasdaq: GRMN), and multinational service providers Softbank and Vodafone (NYSE: VOD). And that doesn't even cover the fresh semiconductor and software blood. Or is that fresh hydraulic oil?

p.s. AndroidFound (or now, Phone Found) is doing well... should hit 5000 downloads tomorrow.

To all the skeptics out there, if these images are of an actual phone and not some UX designers attempt and mocking an iPhone in HTC speak then I think the G2 will be MUCH better than the G1 and it may also have some iPhone users jumping ship. (Obviously this is a joke, in case you didn't realize it).

In other alleyinsider.com is reporting a new android device from an Australian manufacturer, namely the Agora, that is said to ship by the end of January in two versions: a simple and a pro. From the pics (see blow) it's not looking too promising, why would I want less screen real estate?

p.s. AndroidFound is approaching the 2000 download mark, not bad for less than 24 hours.