Technology Android

[Casey]

Rumor: T-Mobile's HSPA+ Phones (HTC Vision and Desire HD) Will Appear Next Month)

 

[Casey]

So Google's event today was the official announcement of Chrome-To-Phone. Makes sense to give it it's own event, as it got lost with all the I/O news in May, and since many more people are now running FroYo, it's time for mass adoption. Trust me when I say this will be a BIG part of Android going forward.

Prediction - the extension that you have to install in Chrome will eventually become native to the browser, and definitely with Chrome OS.

Google Launches Chrome-To-Phone Extension To Link Chrome With Android)

Today at its press event in San Francisco, Google has just announced that it is officially releasing Chrome-To-Phone, a Chrome Extension it showed off as a preview at Google IO. The extension allows you to take a page you’re currently viewing on your web browser and send it to your Android 2.2 device — if you’re looking at a map and want it on your phone, you can just click the ‘Chrome to Phone’ button in your browser, and your phone will immediately open that map in the Maps application. You can download the extension here.

Other possible uses for the extension: if you’re looking at a webpage and want to continue reading it on your phone, just click the button in your browser. And, if you come across a phone number on the web that you’d like to call, you can send that directly to your phone to automatically launch the dialer (no more typos when you’re trying to place a call).

The extension is open sourced. Google Engineering Manager Dave Burke says that he built this feature in his 20% time.

Proof that the 20% of time that Google allows it's employees to work on whatever they choose continues to bring innovation.

 

[Casey]

Oops, I spoke to soon!

The announcement of Chrome-To-Phone was the SECOND announcement of todays event! Here's the first.

Google Unveils Awesomely Fast And Accurate Voice Actions For Android)

Today at Google’s office in San Francisco, the mobile team took the stage to unveil a couple new products. Hugo Barra, Google’s director of product management for mobile kicked off things by noting that we’re entering the mobile supercomputing era. What he means by this is that thanks to computation in the cloud, modern mobile devices are actually more like supercomputers.

The first new feature Google showed off was the ability to send text messages with your Android phone — using only your voice. This is a part of Google’s new Voice Action feature in their new version of the Voice Search application which is available starting today for Android phones. It’s awesome — but that’s not the only voice action, there are 12 of them (plus search) — and growing.

Another feature is the ability to call any business in Google Search. This does not have to be a company in your local contacts app — it can be any business. Another feature is driving directions in their navigation app. Another feature is searching for music on the web — again, any music on the web, not just music you have locally. These songs can then launch in apps you may have on your Android phone — such as Pandora or Last.fm.

Also included is the ability to dictate email messages — and again, it actually works. Google showed this off in a live demo on stage.

Another cool one was the ability to set an alarm on your phone simply by speaking. Basically you can now control almost anything on Android devices with your voice. And, of course, there’s a “Note to self” feature — a way to give yourself vocal reminders (these are sent to your email so you remember them later).

Here’s a list of the current voice actions:

send text to [contact] [message]
listen to [artist/song/album]
call [business]
call [contact]
send email to [contact] [message]
go to [website]
note to self [note]
navigate to [location/business name]
directions to [location/business name]
map of [location]
Apple offers similar voice control features for the iPhone — but it’s extremely limited compared to this. For example, that is all based on information you have on your phone. Google’s solution is basically anything they index on the web AND whatever is on your phone.

This feature comes pre-installed on the new Droid 2 phones, we’re told. Sadly, this is only available for Android 2.2 and later. And these voice actions are only available in U.S. English for now. Google promises other languages will be coming shortly.

See more in the video below:

Totally awesome!

 

[Pittsey]

Do I need to update to 2.2 to take advantage of these?

 

[Casey]

Do I need to update to 2.2 to take advantage of these?

Yeah, these functions require 2.2.

There is a 2.2 ROM available for flashing if you are rooted, as I understand it.

If this feature is as accurate as it seems - it may negate my need for a QWERTY keyboard. We'll see. I'm going to have to do some thorough testing of it.

 

[Casey]

Android Overtakes Apples in World-Wide Market Share According to Gartner | Android Phone Fans

 

[Casey]

Mouth On With Android's Voice Actions (Verdict: It's Great))

 

[Cooper]

You tried it yet?

 

[Casey]

Not yet. There's an issue with installing it on CyanogenMod right now, you can't install it via the normal method, you have to do some stuff in the terminal to make it work.... Cyanogen is aware of this and it'll be fixed with this next release.

Anyway - it looks like the HTC Vision (which was speculated to launch as the G1 Blaze)....is now going to launch as the G2! Which makes way more sense.

T-Mobile G2 to launch as first Android handset with HSPA+ – Android and Me

T-Mobile is set to launch their first HSPA+ handset next month and our sources have informed us it will be branded as the T-Mobile G2, a true successor to the original G1 . This is the same device we have previously referred to as the HTC Vision and G1 Blaze.

Believe it or not, the T-Mobile G2 is said to be a Google-experience device like the G1 and ship with stock Android. T-Mobile recently held a regional meeting to discuss new phones coming out and our insider said the G2 was showed off running stock Android 2.2 FroYo.

Powering the G2 is a Qualcomm MSM7230, which is sort of like a budget Snapdragon targeted at the mainstream audience. The MSM7230 has the same Scorpion CPU as previously commercialized in the Snapdragon QSD8x50 chipset found in other HTC phones and it has a clock speed of 800 MHz to 1 GHz. The G2 prototype was said to currently be running at 800 MHz, but I suspect it will be bumped to 1 GHz by launch.

T-Mobile already has a teaser site for the phone and their leaked roadmap indicated a device called the “HTC Vanguard” was slated for September 9th. The launch date might have already been adjusted, but we still expect to see the device next month.

Similar rumors have recently surfaced on TmoNews and AndroidSpin so I believe the information is accurate. I chatted with David from TmoNews to compare our sources and they are different people, so it sounds like several people who attended this regional T-Mobile meeting are talking. Look for more details to leak over the coming weeks.

 

[Cooper]

It's good

 

[Synful*Luv]

Sweet! Next month?! Sweet! Now I still can't decide if I want the Samsung Galaxy or the G2. >.<

 

[Casey]

Sweet! Next month?! Sweet! Now I still can't decide if I want the Samsung Galaxy or the G2. >.<

My advice.... don't make a decision till the end of September. There'll be a bunch of killer devices being released between September and November, so the phone companies can all get that Xmas gift moneyz.....

 

[Prize Gotti]

the G2 looks sexy, im hoping i can get my phone reconnected soon cos my upgrade should be due november/december, thats if they have the G2 in the UK.

 

[masta247]

It's going to be confusing because here we had a Hero and Hero with with full QWERTY that were called G2.

 

[Casey]

It's going to be confusing because here we had a Hero and Hero with with full QWERTY that were called G2.

T-Mobile marketed the Hero here as the "G2 Touch".

There was never a Hero with a QWERTY.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

T-Mobile marketed the Hero here as the "G2 Touch".

you beat me to it. lol.

anyone seen or played around with the Samsung Galaxy Apollo? How is it?

 

[THEV1LL4N]

Great news for Droid X consumers (or those that will buy the Droid X):

http://androidcommunity.com/motorola-droid-x-now-features-clockwork-recovery-20100813/

MOTOROLA DROID X NOW FEATURES CLOCKWORK RECOVERY

One feature that wasn’t listed with the Droid X, was Clockwork Recovery. Why? Because Motorola doesn’t want you to root your phone and do whatever you want to it. They went as far as to add that pesky eFuse aspect, and ever since, folks have been wondering if the Droid X would ever, ever be able to feature custom ROMs. Well, thanks to ridiculously talented developer Koush, we can safely say that the device is one giant leap closer.

As you can see form the image above, that’s Clockwork Recovery. Obviously on a Droid X. Now, that’s very, very good news for all X owners out there who want to add custom ROMs to their phone, because this means Koush, and other developers, are so close it’s ridiculous. With Clockwork on there, custom ROMs are right around the corner (hopefully). So basically, if you’re feeling a little giddy right now, we completely understand.

 

[masta247]

you beat me to it. lol.

anyone seen or played around with the Samsung Galaxy Apollo? How is it?

They have:
Samsung Galaxy 3 and Galaxy Apollo review: Galactic twins - GSMArena.com
Pretty bad. Most of all 240x400 screen resolution is a joke. I'm a fan of unifying Android screen resolutions. It would be good if there were like 3 of them - "lowest" (the good old 320x480), "medium" and "high" for high end phones. Considering that we can assume that most screens in the future will be between 3 and 5 inches it'd be perfect.
Creating phones with strange resolutions like 320x400 for a platform like Android isn't very good because only some apps would support them and I bet most smaller developers wouldn't want to create more than a few versions of 1 app. Not to even mentioning how stupid releasing a phone with that small resolution is with a 3,2 inch screen. I mean, it's almost QVGA - suitable for +- 2 inch screens.

T-Mobile marketed the Hero here as the "G2 Touch".

There was never a Hero with a QWERTY.

I thought that there was a Hero with Qwerty here.

Most of all here most phones aren't known by their English names but by model numbers, symbols or names that are common in English and our languages.
For example most people haven't ever heard about "Spica", "Hero" or "Galaxy". It's i5700, G2, and i7500.
HTC hero here was available here only through "Era GSM" which is our local carrier, T-mobile's partner:
T-Mobile G2 / Era G2 / HTC Hero - kolejne zdjęcia

At some point also HTC Magic was being sold as HTC G2 which was confusing:
HTC G2 Magic - prezentacja i ciekawostki | KomorkoManiaK.pl

That's why the fact that now they are releasing the real HTC G2 was confusing to me and definitely will be for many other people here.

 

[Casey]

Only T-Mobile own the G-series branding.... anyone else using it is wrong! lol.

Anyway it remains to be seen whether this device will actually be branded as the G2.

Moving on.... I know most people are only just getting FroYo, but I'm really looking forward to Gingerbread.... since Matias Duarte (genius UI designer) joined Google a few months back I'm really looking forward to the UI overhaul/evolution he's going to bring. This guy headed the design teams at Danger (Hiptop/Sidekick OS) and Palm for webOS on the Palm Pre, widely heralded as one of the best modern smartphone UI's. So I'm really looking forward to that, as well as the new web-based Android Market and Google Music services that were briefly shown at Google I/O last May.

 

[dilla]

How are you guys installing this? From the Market? I'm running 2.2 with no custom ROM. I think it will be the future OTA, the more recent version of 2.2 than the one pulled by VZW a week ago. I'll give it a try if someone has as link.