Google Earth is now available for Android 2.1 handsets

Last week during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Google showed off Google Earth finally running on an Android handset – the Google Nexus One.  Today that application has now gone live in the Android Market.

Sadly the Application only supports the latest version of Android – 2.1 and that means currently only the Nexus One, so for those of you with Magic’s, Hero’s and Droids, you are going to be out of luck.

I’m amazed that it has taken Google so long to get one of its applications onto its own mobile platform.  The App has been available on the iPhone for a long time now.  There has been lots of requests for the app on various forums here and here. Better late than never Google.

Get the Sky News App on your Android mobile

Following the success of the Sky News App for iPhone which has recently reached One Million downloads, Sky have annocunced that the app is now available for Android mobiles.

The Sky News App for Android is available for free from the Android Market.

The Android app delivers breaking news in text, images and video and features seven different categories for users to choose from: top stories, UK news, sport, politics, business, world news and showbiz news.

The Sky News App for Android also includes a Sky News Widget that you can place on your Android homescreen, to allowing you to see your chosen news category at a glance.

Open the Android Market from your phone and search for Sky News, and download for free.

New ROM Upgrade for UK HTC Hero available for download

HTC have started rolling out their long awaited update for the HTC Hero that resolves the performance issues when using the phone.  The update was released last week for Nordic user, but now the UK HTC Hero ROM Update is availabe for download.

The update version Hero_2.73.405.5 can be downloaded from the HTC website and installed using the ROM Update Utility (RUU).

A new Market in Android 1.6 is coming

An updated Android Market is on its way in Android 1.6.  The changes to the look and feel of the place that Android users buy and download games and applications will bring some much needed improvements to the discovery of products.  The Android Market will now feature Top Paid, Top Free and Just In categories making the user experience more like that of Apple’s App Store.

Check out the Android Market in the video below:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ma9Xh67Eyo

Review of the Android HTC Magic

The HTC Magic is the second HTC handset to hit the shelves running Google’s Android platform. If you were a little disappointed by the G1, then you will want to take a look at the HTC Magic.

Hardware

The Magic is the second Android phone produced by HTC, the first of course being the Google G1 that launched the Android platform in October 2008.

This new iteration of Android mobile phone, is smaller, lighter and sexier!  The chunkiness has now gone and we now have a sleek, curvy handset that can at least give the iPhone a run for its money.

The slide-out screen and keyboard from the G1 has also gone – this phone is purely about touch!

Like the G1 the Magic features hardware buttons on the front, this time with the addition of one more – Search which sits alongside Home, Menu, Back and Call Pick-up and Call Hang-up and the trackball.

The side of the handset features the volume rocker and the bottom has the USB charger slot.  Sadly HTC failed to listen to the complaints about the lack of 3.5mm headphone jack on the G1 and again opted for the headphones to be used via an adapter plugged onto the USB slot.

On the back of the handset you will find the 3.2 megapixel camera, again no flash.

Tech specs

• 3G / HSDPA
• 3.2in TFT LCD touch screen
• 3.2 megapixel camera with auto-focus
• GPS
• WiFi
• Bluetooth 2.0 (with A2DP)
• MicroSD Card slot

Software

The underlying Android OS has been slightly improved upon since the G1 with the release of Cupcake, which brings video recording & sharing, Widgets, Voice Search, better web browser and all round better security and speed improvements.

The same lightening fast set-up with Google is still there, provided you already use Google’s services.

The handset also has a link to the Android Market – a shop front of games and applications that you can download (some free) to your handset. It may not be as well known or well stocked as the iPhones App Store, but the content is growing daily.

Compared to other handsets

The HTC Magic is a great looking handset, it’s light and will fit easily in your pocket.  Holding the HTC Magic and the Apple iPhone at the same time, did make the iPhone feel really big and heavy.

As you can see from the image below there isn’t much difference in size between the Nokia N97, HTC Magic and Apple iPhone.

HTC seem well on their way to getting into the same league as the iPhone, with great hardware and the unrestrictedness of Android, Apple had better watch their backs!

T-Mobile’s myTouch 3G is being advertised by Whoopi Goldberg

Popular movie star Whoopi Goldberg is one of 3 big names that will be fronting T-Mobile’s new advertising campaign in America for the myTouch 3G (the HTC Magic as the rest of the world knows it). Also on board are Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson and TV personality Jessie James.

You can check out the new video below:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLU2_w91QEU

It’s great to see big names getting behind the Android platform, and hopefully pushing it more into more people’s concious for it so stand a better chance against Apple’s iPhone.

[Via: TechCrunch]

Review of the Google G1 – the first handset to run Android

On the 22nd October 2008, Google entered the mobile world with it’s first mobile phone, called simply the G1.  The handset manufactured by HTC was powered by a brand new mobile operating system designed by Google called Android.

Get Started

Once you have the phone out of the box and powered on, you will be prompted to enter your Google Account if you have one.  On entering these details within moments, your Google Contacts, Calendar and Emails are all swiftly synced to your phone. It really is an amazingly simple process, and even tops Apple on simplicity.  Of course this is all well and good if you use Google’s services, but then this is a Google phone!

The Hardware

The Google G1 (or HTC Dream as it is also known) doesn’t have the wow factor that the iPhone holds.  It is a nice little handset, but there is just something about it that just makes it look chunky and clunky.

The handset features 5 buttons and a track ball on the front of the device.  These are Menu, Home, Back, Call Pick-up & Call Hang-up. On the side you will find the volume rocker and on the bottom you will find the port for charging.

One thing to note is that the handset does not feature a standard 3.5mm headphone jack for listening to your music.  This can be done via an adapter in the port at the bottom of the phone.

Touch screen

The G1 is primarily a touch screen handset and is dominated by the 3.2in display. All of the phones features can be accessed by touching the display when held vertically, this includes the phone dialler.  When the handset is rotated into landscape, the keyboard can also be used for navigation.  The touch user-interface does not appear as polished as that of the iPhone and Multitouch is not present – the feature that gives the slick pinch-and-zoom experience.

One thing that the touch-screen does suffer from and that is fingermarks!

Keyboard

Not only is the G1 a touch screen handset it also features a slide-out QWERTY keyboard for use in landscape mode. The buttons are easy to use, and don’t feel at all cramped.

It’s nice to have a choice between touch-based text entry and using a physical keyboard.  Sometimes it’s just easier to use a tactile buttoned interface for writing emails and responding to text messages.

Android

Android has come into a market already shaken up by that of Apple’s iPhone and of whom have already set a very high standard. Google’s new OS is a very nice OS to use, and it certainly makes the likes of Nokia look really old and stale.  There are lots more settings available to the end user than you find on an iPhone and the OS makes the whole user experience much more customizable allowing you to have things how you want rather than being dictated.

The home screen is much like the desktop of your PC, allowing you to have icons, and links to your favourite applications.  These are easily drag-able and can be placed where you want them.  You can swipe the screen left/right for more desktop space.

All of your applications are neatly tucked away in the applications folder, which can be accessed by pressing the menu button, or pulling the tab up from the bottom of the screen.

Although there is much more user freedom with Android,  it just doesn’t quite have the spit and polish that Apple have with their iPhone.

Compared to other mobiles

The image below shows the Google G1 sat beside some of the other high-end smartphones available at the time.  These are from left to right the Nokia N82, Google G1 and the Apple iPhone.

The Apple iPhone is currently the leader of the technology pack at the moment, it may be flawed, but the all round design and user experience are second to none.  The Google G1′s Android operating system, neatly puts it into technology’s second place with Nokia’s Symbian trailing in third.  Nokia had previously a leader in mobile technology and now with the likes of the iPhone and Android have suddenly made the interface and user experience very dated and in much need of an overhaul. The hardware of the G1 may not be to everybody’s liking, but it is still a nice little handset.

Find your mobiles IMEI number

What is an IMEI Number?

Each mobile phone has a unique identity number called a International Mobile Equipment Identity (or IMEI) that is stored within the handset during manufacture.

An IMEI number is used to identify a handset to the mobile network that it is connected to.

Should your handset get lost or stolen you are usually asked to provide your IMEI number, so that network operators can then prevent the handset from connecting to theirs and other operators networks.

You may also be asked for your IMEI number when buying and downloading software to some phones.  This allows the software creator to make sure that the bit of software that you purchased will only be used on one handset and to prevent it from being pirated.

Get the IMEI number for your phone

The easiest way is to enter the below sequence into your phone, as if you were dialling a phone number:

*#06#

You will then be presented with your 15 digit IMEI number.

If you have the original box that the phone came in, you will often find the 15-digit number printed on the side.  You can also find the IMEI number printed on the inside of the handset, usually where the battery and SIM card are held.  You will need to take the phones battery cover off to see this.

]]> http://mypocketos.com/2009/06/10/find-your-mobiles-imei-number/feed/ 0 http://mypocketos.com/2009/06/10/the-os-choices/ http://mypocketos.com/2009/06/10/the-os-choices/#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2009 18:02:17 +0000 Neil Bird http://mypocketos.com/?p=3

The Pocket OS Choices

There are 3 main ‘advanced’ mobile phone OS’s that are currently dominating the (UK) mobile market today:

Symbian

Symbian is the oldest of the 3 mobile OS’s having been around for numerous years and can primarily be found on a range of Nokia handsets.

The most popular version of the user interface (UI) for Symbian OS is Series 60 or S60 as it is more commonly known.  This in-turn has a few different versions, with the most popular being 3rd Edition which is popular on a variety of Nokia Nseries handsets, such as the N73 and N95.

The latest S60 Edition to hit the streets is S60 5th Edition which has just appeared in the Nokia N97.

See more Symbian articles

iPhone

Apple came into the mobile phone arena in 2007 with the launch of their iPhone – a ground-breaking touch mobile phone. The OS that runs on the phone is a variant of the UNIX operating system that can be found in Mac OSX.

The user interface (UI) of the iPhone is purely driven by touch, with features like pinch to zoom in-and-out of pictures, and flick to move through image collections.

iPhone OS 2.0

On 18th July 2008 Apple released a major update to the iPhone OS at the same time as the launch as the iPhone 3G.  The update brought with it the iPhone App Store a marketplace for software developers to promote their applications for the iPhone.

iPhone OS 3.0

On 17th June 2009 Apple launched the iPhone 3GS along with OS 3.0. The update brought with it many features that people had wanted since the first iPhone had launched including  MMS, Cut, Copy & Paste.

See more iPhone articles

Android

Google came into the mobile phone market in late 2008 with their G1 handset running Android. The OS, based on, Linux was developed by Google but then handed over to the Open Handset Alliance.

Currently there are only four handsets that run Android, these are:

• HTC Dream (G1)
• HTC Magic
• HTC Hero
• Samsung I7500

See more Android articles