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]

When Android was first introduced way back in 2008, it came to public knowledge that Google had a remote “killswitch” to remove applications from your phone. Immediately everyone was all up in arms with speculation that Google would be just like Apple with the iPhone and have it under a dictatorship. Fast-forward to now and we know that’s just not true. Actually quite the opposite.

Google recently used their removal feature for two applications that violated the Android Market terms of service. And did a really good job of letting everyone know and also why they did so.

Recently, we became aware of two free applications built by a security researcher for research purposes. These applications intentionally misrepresented their purpose in order to encourage user downloads, but they were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data — or system resources beyond permission.INTERNET. As the applications were practically useless, most users uninstalled the applications shortly after downloading them.

Read the fully story and explanation on the Android Developers Blog.

It may come as a surprise to some Nexus One owners that their device is already 802.11n capable from a hardware aspect, but the software doesn’t support it yet. Sort of like how the Motorola CLIQ has an FM radio receiver, but the Android 1.5 that it ships with doesn’t make use of it. Google has already hinted at all the new features coming with Android 2.2 coming as soon as next month, and we’ve seen evidence of some of it such as automatic application updating, but it’s a wait-n-see game till we get our hands on it. There is also a rumor of possible trackball color changing, such as the Blackberry Pearl did.

[via Electronista]

The Business Insider has an interesting article about what Google should be doing to fix the Android Market for customer as well as to attract iPhone developers. While some are very obvious such as desktop browsing (like iTunes) and selling more phones, they hit on a few subtle points, such as making all paid apps the same currency and device fragmentation. Although sites such a Cyrket make desktop browsing possible, the only way to install is through a QR code, or still having to find the app in the Market on your device. Any changes would not happen overnight, but we know Google is a smart company and Android has been very big for them so far. We’re confident the Android market will rival the iPhone app store in no time.

While most of the ideas in the article are geared toward developers, it would benefit Android users as well. What changes would you like to see come to the Android Market system as a user or developer?

[Read the full article]

Despite somewhat sluggish initial sales of Google’s Nexus One phone, HTC CEO Peter Chou is calling it a success.

According to a story on Forbes.com, Chou said the phone was a technical achievement based on its design and that lived up to Google’s goal of showing how good Android could be.

He declined to comment specific sales figures, but said that, “Considering Google didn’t do retail or marketing for it, the Nexus One is doing pretty well.”

Mobile analytics firm Flurry estimates that the Nexus One sold roughly 135,000 units since its launch on January 5th. This figure disappointed folks on Wall Street, but when you consider that it’s only sold on-line, and compare it to say, Palm, who sold 408,000 phones (in retail stores, with heavier marketing) last quarter, it’s pretty damn impressive.

Overall, 60,000 Android phones are selling per day, making it the fastest growing mobile platform out there.

As always, The Android Site will keep you up-to-date on the latest and greatest of all these new devices.

T-mobile customers had the exclusive Nexus One love from Google for long enough. They just announced that you can now order your Nexus One with 3G bands for AT&T in the US and Rogers in Canada. The only downside is no subsidies here, you’re going to have to plunk down the whole $529 to get the slickest Android phone straight from Google.

Here’s the official announcement:

In early January, we announced the Nexus One, the first device sold through Google’s web store. The Nexus One is unlocked, which means you can use it with a SIM card from most GSM operators worldwide. Currently the device is compatible with most 3G networks, including T-Mobile in the US. However, there are some carriers that have different 3G frequencies, such as AT&T in the US and Rogers Wireless in Canada, so users with these SIM cards can only access 2G or EDGE networks on their Nexus One.

Starting today, an additional version of the Nexus One is available from the Google web store that is compatible with AT&T’s 3G network. This new model can be purchased as an unlocked device without a service plan. In addition to AT&T’s 3G network, this device will also run on Rogers Wireless in Canada. And like the first version of the Nexus One, it can be used with most GSM operators globally.

Additionally, Nexus One devices can now be shipped to Canada from Google’s web store, and will work with a SIM from Rogers Wireless.

[via Google Nexus One Blog]

One of the selling point of the Nexus One and features of Android 2.1 is the voice recognition software. Nearly every text field will accept voice input, and fairly accurately, transcribe your voice as text.
But an interesting feature, is that curse words are purposely filtered out, and replaced with a string of #’s. While we believe it should at least be an option to turn this feature on or off, Google’s explanation makes sense from their standpoint:

“We filter potentially offensive or inappropriate results because we want to avoid situations whereby we might misrecognize a spoken query and return profanity when, in fact, the user said something completely innocent,”

“Ultimately our goal is to return results that show exactly what you said, and we’re constantly working to improve the technology to better fit our users’ needs.”

What do you guys think? Good move on Google’s part, or just a censoring feature? Afterall, you still can type whatever vulgar words you want.

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]

What started as an employee’s 20% project at Google is now a fantastic companion to using Google Maps to find places on your Android phone. From the Official Google Mobile Blog:

As the name implies, Places Directory allows you to browse nearby places in categories like Restaurants, Movie Theaters, Hotels and Banks. You’ll see distance and directions to the destination, and if you tap on the listing, we’ll show ratings and photos. You can also call the business or view its location on Google Maps.

Similar to the Where or Restaurant Guide applications, Places Directory is more of a category-based system than a regular search. By using your GPS to locate your position, you can view places around you easily and see how far they are, then one-touch call or view them on Google Maps. The photos and ratings are also a nice touch if you’re contemplating a restaurant you’ve never heard of, although less consesequential with places like banks or gas stations. You can also save places to Favorites or share a place via SMS or Gmail.

I, for one, am really happy to see such high-quality applications coming from the good people at Google. From Google Finance to Sky Map to this, and of course all the other Android optimized apps and mobile sites. Keep up the good work, Google.

The application is available in the Android Market now. Just search for “Places Directory.”

[via Google Mobile Blog]

Fresh from a post over at xda-developers, someone got the link to the US version of Cupcake. Get it now, while it’s hot. You can download it here. No more waiting for the T-Mobile OTA update, this is the real thing.

As always, here’s how to apply the update:

1. Download the image.

2. Rename it to update.zip, and place it at the root (the very top directory) of your Micro SD card. (If you added the file to your microSD card by connecting the handset to your computer via USB [rather than using a dedicated microSD card reader], make sure to unmount it and disconnect the USB cable now.

3. Turn off your G1, then turn it back on by holding the Home+End keys until you see an icon popup after the T-Mobile G1 logo.

4. From the icon screen, open the keyboard and hit Alt+L. This allows you to see what’s going on during the update.

5. Press Alt+S to begin the update. Remember, the update needs to be in the root of the Micro SD card and needs to be named update.zip.

6. Once it finishes, follow the onscreen instructions and press Home+Back to finish.

7. The G1 will reboot a few times to flash different parts of the firmware.

And while you’re waiting for it to update, you can read through the official feature list.

Thanks to everyone that that sent this in.

Update: Those of you running rooted ROMs like JF1.5 check this link: http://code.google.com/p/android-roms/wiki/Unroot Thanks BenderUnit9000