The Android Site

According to a recent report by NPD Group, Android is outselling both Apple and RIM in terms of handsets sold. Clocking in at 33%, Android has toppled RIM’s top spot, which they’ve held for the past 3 years. And the top five phones, all from Verizon and Sprint: Motorola DROID, HTC DROID Incredible, HTC EVO 4G, HTC Hero, and HTC DROID Eris. I’m surprised there’s no T-Mobile phones in there considering their long history with Android. But still the point is clear, Android is here to stay, and it won’t stop growing any time soon.

[via BGR]

Lifehacker had a really good post last week on what to expect when making the jump from iPhone to Android. Perhaps it’s just the company I keep, but I’m seeing a trend of it happening and this article is a good read if you’re considering it. Although I don’t agree with everything they say about Android in the “Bad” section, such as claims of rampant spyware and their trash talking about HTC Sense, but to each their own. They are unfortunately dead on about the Evo 4G‘s battery life. Overall they do stay pretty fair to representing Android, and there’s more than a few good points if you need to coax your iPhone-toting friends over to the dark side.

[Lifehacker]

We knew it was being worked on by several different hackers, and now we have the video right before our eyes. Android fully up and running on a first generation iPhone. The normal for porting has usually been to HTC Windows Mobile phones, but it’s nice to see someone sticking it to Steve Jobs. This would definitely make the iPhone more appealing to an Android fan, but hey, it’s still no Android phone. Hit the read link for more nerdy details and source code to do it yourself. Doing so could brick the iPhone, so be sure to try with your friend’s iPhone.

[Read]

They might currently be top taco, but according to a study conducted by AdMob, the largest mobile advertising firm, Apple and the iPhone have some serious worrying to do.

The iPhone is currently holding onto 50% of the worldwide smartphone marketshare. Meanwhile Android has been gaining ground like a meth-addicted Olympic runner, jumping up to 24%, which is up from approximately 2% a year previous.

The next closest competitor is Symbian, which most devices are probably found in Europe. It’s well known Symbian OS has struggled to gain a foothold in the US.

“The top five Android devices worldwide, by traffic, were the Motorola Droid, HTC Dream, HTC Hero, HTC Magic, and the Motorola CLIQ.”

[via TGDaily]

Martin Cooper, the man who led the team at Motorola that made the very first cell phone has said he got rid of his iPhone for a Motorola Droid. Good to see him stay true to his Motorola roots, and to give Android some love. Check out the video below for his interview from CSPAN.

[GoodDroidBadDroid via AndroidGuys]

Perhaps a bit steep at $6.99 just for a theme, but Elecite has a HTC Hero, Sense UI theme for your Blackberry Bold, Storm, Tour and 8900 series device. But if you’re locked into a Blackberry for the foreseeable future, this might be the only way to get your Android fix. Here’s the full details on the theme, and check out the video below for a full demo of what you’re dishing out 7 bucks for:

The massive homescreen allows for 5-6 customizable icons, profiles/manage connections buttons, a Today page with hidden today items for phone log, messages and calendar icons, a Media page with quick access buttons to music, media and pictures, and finally, a dedicated menu for quick access to your options, contacts, and more.

[Product Page] [via CrackBerry]

While there’s already portions of the Android Donut code in various ROMs floating around, such as the Cyanogen Experimental ROM, it has yet to trickle down to carrier releases and general public consumption. But just to give you a *taste* of what’s right around the corner, a giant donut joins the Cupcake and the Android Robot outside the GooglePlex in California.

[via Phandroid]

Not much to say here. There current rumor is that the sequel to the HTC Touch HD will be running the latest Android instead of Windows Mobile 6.1 or 6.5 like most other HTC handsets. Other rumored features are said to be a 100Mhz bump in processor speed from 528Mhz to 628.

[via Unwired View]

Flyscreen is an application that came from non-smart phones, and is just now being worked for Android, and soon Blackberry devices. Like the Symbian version, it’s essentially a layer on top of your normal Android lock screen that gives you access to widgets and RSS feeds. Integrating Twitter, Facebook, or your favorite blog, and access to weather and news. And it’s not just a one-way information center, there’s also sharing options and integrated search. If it catches on, people are going to be spending a lot more time on their lock screen than just checking the time or battery life.

TechCruch is giving away 1,000 invites to try out the application before it’s released to the general public. Not sure if they’re all used up or not, but you can still head over to the FlyScreen site and check out all the features of this unique application. We have yet to try it ourselves (still waiting on an invite) but you can be sure we’ll put it through its paces.

[FlyScreen via TechCrunch]