Android 1.6 Donut being rolled out at T-Mobile US now
Today this morning i received the Android 1.6 Donut update on my G1 on T-Mobile US.
A pop-up appeared asking med to install it, wait or read more information. I choose the last option and took the above screenshot.
The information suggests that a bug in the emergency dialing process was fixed and that Maps, Search and Market got an overhaul. Support for VPN is also added.
The update was ready to install when the pop-up appeared so it must have been downloaded in the background unnoticed.
Google stops Cyanogen distributing Google apps
The most famous Android modder Cyanogen has apparently received a letter of Cease & Desist from Google stating that he has to stop distributing the custom ROM’s that he makes.
The issue is that these ROM’s include applications like GTalk, GMail and Google Maps etc. These applications are not like the rest of the Android framework open source, but under a Google license which mean they cannot be freely distributed.
Google have no problem with custom ROM’s as long as they do not contain these licenced application. They even say “We always love seeing novel uses of Android, including custom Android builds from developers who see a need”.
Cyanogen have made a post on his blog stating that he is trying to make a ROM’s that does not contain the licenced apps from Google but instead retrieves them from the original firmware on the phone. In this way there should be no problems with any Google license as the apps are the ones that the user already have when he bought the phone. One can think how updates of these apps will happen once the phone has been modded – but lets see what happens!
Google’s reply to the many unhappy Android phone fans has been posted here:
http://android-developers.blogspot.com/2009/09/note-on-google-apps-for-android.html
Android Developer Challenge 2 judging started
The Android Developer Challenge public round of judging has started. The public vote will count 40% so ensure that you are voting to let the best apps win.
Download the ADC2 voting app on the Android Market and once it is installed a app will be presented for you to download. You cannot skip this app and will have to download and review it to be able to review other apps. Once it is downloaded and installed a notification will appear in the status bar.
Facebook for Android is really official
When the new Facebook™ for Android application came to Android Market a lot of people were sceptical if this was a 3rd party app not developed by Facebook or the real deal. The first conclusion was that the app was not official as on the Facebook page for the app it says “This application was not developed by Facebook“. On the other hand another place it says that “The first version of the officially approved Facebook Application for the Android™ mobile operating system“.
Then other people argued that since the Android platform was not listed as supported on the http://www.facebook.com/mobile/ site it was not the official version.
Well guess what… Android is now listed on the Facebook Mobile site as an supported platform and the “Facebook for Android™” application is official!
ARCHOS 5 Android tablet finally ready
French tablet maker ARCHOS has launched their new Android tablet called ARCHOS 5. The device boosts the powerful OMAP 3440 ARM Cortex-A8 800 Mhz processor and comes with either 8 to 32 GB Flash memory or 160 to 500 GB Hardrive. It has GPS support and FM receive/transmit.
The tablet is really loaded with features like HDMI output and supports plenty of codecs like:
- MPEG-4 HD (up to 720p)
- MPEG-48 (ASP@L5 AVI, up to DVD resolution)
- H.264 HD (up to 720p)
- WMV (MP@ML, up to DVD resolution) including WMV protected files
- M-JPEG (Motion JPEG Video) in QVGA resolution
- Cinema: MPEG-2, WMV HD (720p), VOB
- Stereo MP3 decoding @ 30-320 Kbits/s CBR & VBR
- WMA, Protected WMA, WAV (PCM/ADPCM),
- AAC9(except protected content)
- AAC+ stereo audio files, Flac and OGG Vorbis.
- AC3 stereo audio and 5.1 sound files
Android 1.6 Donut is ready!
The Android-Developer blog has recently announced the Android 1.6 SDK and the new features supported.
- New telephony APIs to support CDMA
- Framework-level support for additional screen resolutions, like QVGA and WVGA,
- Gesture APIs
- Text-to-speech engine
Increasing performance on your Android Phone
Many of you have probably felt that the G1 or myTouch 3G can feel kinda sluggish from time to time. The old Qualcomm ARM 11 processor has a lot to do and there are a few bugs in the Android framework that makes it worse.
I have a few tips that I found at Androidtapp that might be useful.
- Reboot your phone from time to time: There might be some app that have not closed down properly and shutting down will release all the ressources.
- Disable location sources for a few seconds: There is apparently a bug in the Location services of Android that have not been fixed yet. This bug causes location notifications to not being properly cleaned up (memory leak) and the phone to get slow. Go to Settings->Security & Location->My Location sources and disable both “wireless networks” and “GPS” for 10 seconds. Then you should be able to enable them again and the phone will be much more responsive.
- Turn off effects: Go to Settings->Sound and Display and locate the display settings. You can try to disable “Orientation” and “Animation”
Update to Android Market finally!
In Android 1.6 (Donut) the Google team has finally made changes to the Android Market. The overhaul was much needed and there is now more features including support for screenshots and promotional images. Apparently it should also be easier to find applications – I cant wait to see the changes myself.
Google has made a YouTube video here.
HTC Tattoo™ announced
HTC has just announced the HTC Tattoo™ Android™ phone in Europe and the US. The phone specifications will be very similar to HTC Hero™ and it will also feature the Sense UI that HTC has created for Android. The phone runs the Qualcomm 528 MHz processor – the same platform that HTC has used for the G1, myTouch3G and the Hero. The specs also reveals that a FM radio is added to the phone which is a nice feature.
Motorola CLIQ™ announched
Motorola has just reviled their first Android™ enabled handset called CLIQ™. The CLIQ will be a predecessor for the Sholes phone and “only” be a Android 1.5 phone. The CLIQ is based on the older Qualcomm MSM7201A which features a ARM11 processor compared to the Cortex-A8 of Sholes. The CLIQ can hence be compared to the HTC G1 in processing power. The CLIQ however have a custom Motorola additions to the standard Android 1.5 such as Social Messaging called MOTOBLUR™ and Microsoft Exchange support. The CLIQ features 256Mb of RAM and the same amount of flash for user applications.