The popular Yahoo-owned photo sharing site Flickr has recently launched their official app in the Android Market. While there have been third party solutions and integration with HTC Sense and the like, there’s nothing quite like an official app. The app is a bit of a cross between a camera app and a gallery, offering an array of features that Flickr users will be happy to use. From the Market description:

• Capture and enhance with one of our custom filters. High resolution photos that look good everywhere (on your PC, tablet or internet fridge).
• Upload straight to Flickr and share to your friends on Facebook, Twitter, via email and more. Stay up to date with latest comments and activity on your photos too.
• When you upload to Flickr you also get access to powerful online organizational tools, groups, fun photo apps, and a community of over 60 million members. That’s a whole lotta photo sharing unleashed in one app!
• Share photos only with the people you want to with easy privacy settings.
• Full screen browsing and slideshows for your photos, your contacts photos or any of the public photos from the global Flickr community.
• Share the story behind your photo with titles, descriptions, comments and tags.
• Keep your track of where you took your photo by keeping your location data automatically through geotagging.

Mozilla has not only been hard at work improving the Android phone version of their Firefox browser, but also working on a tablet version for Android devices running 3.0 and higher. The build will still be based off the phone version, but adds some elements of the desktop version and optimizes it for tablets.

Taking advantage of a tablets screen real estate, tabbed browsing is brought front and center in the upcoming version of Firefox. There’s the same “awesomebar” you know and love from your desktop browser. And also theming has been added to make Firefox look good, not just function well.

You can read more about the next version of Firefox on the blog here, or visit their Flickr pool for a set of mockup photos showing how it will look on your Android tablet.

Windows and Linux computers should be able to connect to Honeycomb devices just fine, perhaps requiring a USB driver that Windows will automatically install. But if you want to transfer files via USB between your Mac and Honeycomb tablet, you’re going to need this little utility from Google. Conveniently located for download at Android.com

Not that it’s a Google conspiracy against Apple or anything, probably just a technical limitation or something.

[image via Flickr]

Well well, nice to finally see the HTC Merge get official after many long months. From countless leaks and rumors, to an almost complete disappearance. Once thought to be coming to Verizon, then it popped up with Alltel branding. At least we weren’t tortured with Thunderbolt type teasing.

Today HTC finally officially announce the Merge, touting it as a CDMA World Phone. Slated to come to multiple carriers Sprint 2011, we’re looking at you Verizon and Alltel. Sprint probably is out of the picture since they already have the Merge’s cousin, the Evo Shift.

If you’ve been following along at home, you probably already know the Merge’s specs. Android 2.2 with HTC Sense, slide out QWERTY keyboard, 5MP camera, 3.8 inch touchscreen, and presumably the same 800Mhz Scorpion processor found in the HTC Desire Z.

Full Press Release:

BELLEVUE, Wash., Feb. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — HTC Corp., a global designer of smartphones, today announced that the new HTC Merge smartphone will be made available through multiple North American carriers beginning in spring 2011. The HTC Merge smartphone combines a full QWERTY slide-out keyboard with the power of Android 2.2, the HTC Sense experience, a large 3.8-inch touch-screen display and a 5 megapixel camera to create a complete mobile experience for those looking for a truly complete smartphone. The HTC Merge is also HTC’s first Android-based CDMA world phone.

“HTC prides itself on creating unique solutions that meet the needs of different customers, and with features like a full keyboard and global 3G roaming, the HTC Merge smartphone is the perfect example of this commitment,” said Jason Mackenzie, president, HTC Americas. “Combining the functionality of Android with the HTC Sense experience, the HTC Merge is the perfect device for those customers who are looking for a reliable mobile experience with the features and functionality of a smartphone, whether it’s at home or travelling around the world.”

Customers will appreciate seamless integration with Exchange ActiveSync, enjoy quick and easy access to Flickr® for sharing and viewing pictures, and find new ways to customize their experience with the Android Market™ with more than 100,000 applications. With a full slide-out QWERTY keyboard, customers will be able to keep in touch with friends and family no matter where they are, as well as stay in the loop with Flickr, Facebook® and Twitter™ updates through HTC FriendStream™.

In addition, the HTC Merge smartphone has a 5 megapixel camera with auto-focus and flash that captures outstanding images, while 3G connectivity makes sharing those special moments with friends and family quick and easy. The HTC Merge smartphone also comes with integrated GPS, Wi-Fi connectivity and even the ability to capture high-definition 720p video.

Availability

HTC Merge is slated to be available from multiple North American operators beginning in spring 2011.

About HTC

HTC Corp. (HTC) is one of the fastest growing companies in the mobile phone industry. By putting people at the center of everything it does, HTC creates innovative smartphones that better serve the lives and needs of individuals. The company is listed on the Taiwan Stock Exchange under ticker 2498. For more information about HTC, please visit www.htc.com.

HTC, the HTC logo, FriendStream, HTC Merge, and HTC Sense are the trademarks of HTC Corporation.  All other names of companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

 

For some of us, installing an .APK file (and application package for Android) is a simple process that we’ve all done many times. Copy it to your SD card, or download on your phone, navigate with your file browser and install it. But for users new to Android, or without the tools, it can be a painful procedure. Have you ever tried to explain to a friend new to Android how to do it? Right.

Thankfully, xda-developers member htc-hd2 was in the same situation and has come up with a simple website to assist in the process. It’s been likened to uploading a picture to Flickr or Facebook. And who can’t do that?

You just upload the .APK to APKinstall.com then scan the QR code with Barcode Sanner, follow the prompts on your phone. Done and done.

Bonus, the stock photos on the site are hilarious.

[xda-developers forum via xda-developers blog]

Ok, I would like to say, this is a beta version. Some things do not work. Do not ask how to install this, because I do not feel like answering questions when something goes wrong. If you’re thirsty for this, go hang out over at xda-developers and follow the threads. That said, let’s get to the juicy bits.

In addition to all the wonderful things that are packed with the G1 cupcake, this version (still 1.5) has some additional goodies that you won’t be seeing from T-Mobile or Rogers. These is pure HTC additions from what I can tell. This is also probably pretty close to what we’ll be seeing on the HTC Hero when it’s released, rumored to be locked in exclusively to Orange.

I’ll try to keep this short, since this isn’t meant to be an in-depth review.

Some key features:

• There is no “Rosie” included. No word on if it will come as part of the complete OS when the Hero ships. But this may be part of the Personalize section in the Settings that I could see, but nothing in it worked. (“Choose a lifestyle to set widget layout”)
• 5 Home screens.
• Much longer initial setup, including choosing language and setup of Exchange accounts and Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.
• The previous mentioned Social Network services are integrated in with your contacts for getting their updates and sharing items. It matches Facebook friends to your contacts and you can link pictures and birthdays. View Facebook status updates straight from you Android phonebook! I could not get the Twitter or Flickr to work.
• Contacts is now People. Visual makeover. Scrolling has that iPhone “bounce” effect. There’s a cool slider bar at the bottom to check messages, email, updates & events, FaceBook and Flickr photos, and of course call history.
• Text messaging: A bit of a visual makeover here. A nice Compose Message button at the top of your conversations list. And I’m really digging the fact that it uses the contact icon next to the message.
• Calendar: Another awesome visual makeover. Looks a lot better than the old version. There’s a screenshot floating around, you know the one that uses the iPhone icon, yeah, it’s there.
• Dialer is the one from the other HTC roms that we’ve seen coming from Haykuro with a couple of tweak, nothing major here.
• Lock screen shows the current open app behind it instead of wallpaper. You can also choose lockscreen wallpaper, but that feature was broken.
• HTC Footprints app is included and working fine for me. Geotag photos and save your favorite places.
• Music player makeover with album artwork and slick working “swipe to switch tracks” interface. I love this feature.
• The web browser: Ooh, the browser. Little tweaks to the location bar and loading bar, all these minor tweaks make the whole phone feel much more polished. The bookmarks are what people are gonna love. No more boring list of URLs, now you have small preview pages “Visual Bookmarks” ans it’s named, and you can swipe sideways to scroll through. Also the same when switching between browser windows. Very cool stuff here. Full-screen browsing. Zooming of any sort did not seem to work in this build.
• Option in the Settings to calibrate the G-Sensor.
• Option to auto-download firmware, prompt, or never download.

Well, that’s about all I have. It’s 7:00amEST and I’ve been up all night. I’m going to keep playing with this and maybe post more. At the very least more screenshots. Tell me what you want to see!

Update: Yes, I know this isn’t finished. And those of you that follow xda closely will know exactly what’s going on. I just report the news, I don’t make it. The kids just want to see what all the fuss is about.

Inauguration Report is more of a social tool that lets users submit text, photos and audio. The data is then aggregated on the web at InaugurationReport.com and on other sites.

The other app, simply titled Obama, is the other side of things that aggregates information from Twitter, Flickr, various blogs, and YouTube. It features a countdown timer and basically is just buttons that link to searches.

If you can’t be near a computer or TV during the inauguration tomorrow, these are the best alternatives for your Android device.