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App review: ShapeWriter soft keyboard

As the date fast approaches when paid commercial apps will be available on the Android Market, we start to see more trial and beta apps being released publicly. As one of the top 50 apps chosen in Google’s Android Developer Challenge, there is already clear interest in the product they offer – an on-screen keyboard [...]

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Review and teardown of T-Mobile G1 unveils inner workings of the first Android phone

The team over at phoneWreck has posted a full review and teardown of the T-Mobile G1 showing the semiconductor brains and the mechanical finesse of this offering from HTC. Included are high resolution images of the PCB’s and mechanical innards of the first commercially available phone running Android.

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New “Cupcake” Android branch adds exciting features

The long list of Android system updates reads like a laundry list of all the requests and complaints heard since the G1’s release. Posted in the roadmap section of the Android site, a development branch of Android has been made public by the Google team. This branch was developed in private and is now only [...]

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Android in Automotive Applications?

While most of the Android community so far has focussed on its use on cell phones, a few people are looking farther out. There have been suggestions that the platform would make an ideal OS for the burgeoning netbook market. Now a posting on the Headlight blog, focussed on “Digital Automotive Trends”, takes a look [...]

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Google releases My Maps editor for Android

Brian Cornell, a software engineer at Google, has announced availability of an Android app for viewing and editing custom My Maps. Brian created the app using the 20% free time Google provides employees to work on their own projects. Available now (by searching) on the Market, the new app brings up the user’s existing saved [...]

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VoIP options growing for Android

Options are growing for Android users looking to connect with a VoIP service.  While none technically offer VoIP on the G1, all utilize VoIP services to connect callers to their desired party. Skype partner iSkoot has released an Android version of their mobile app which connects users to their Skype account. The app allows users [...]

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Hackers enable autorotate for G1 browser

Providing a fix for an irritant that has been calling out to be corrected, a post on Android Unleashed provides instructions for a hack that enables autorotate in the browser based on the orientation sensor. The hack appears fairly simple, though installing it does require root access, making it more difficult for the crowd already [...]

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Dataviz bringing Microsoft Office apps to Android in 2009

Dataviz, longtime provider of PDA software offering document access and mobile email, has announced they will be releasing versions of their Documents To Go and RoadSync apps for the Android platform in 2009. Having enabled Palm access to Word, Excel, and PowerPoint documents for over 10 years, and currently providing productivity software for Palm [...]

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Google releases unlocked devices for Android developers, quickly hacked by modders

Now, in addition to obtaining T-Mobile branded and locked G1 phones to develop Android applications, developers have the option of purchasing an unlocked phone directly from Google. The Android Dev Phone 1 is available for $399 (USD) to developers registered through the Android Market. The price includes free shipping in the US and the phone [...]

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ShareYourBoard simplifies whiteboard image capture in Android

As one of the winners of the Android Developer Challenge, the ShareYourBoard app has generated a great deal of interest in potential users. For all those meetings or classes that end with an hour’s worth or more of scribbling, diagramming, and outlining on the whiteboard, this is a tool that could remove the need for [...]

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