ShapeService’s IM+ v4.0 Adds Support for Push Notification

The all-in-one instant messaging application that is IM+ has just seen a sizable update, bringing it to v4.0. The app, available in both free (ad-supported) and Pro ($4.99) editions, lets users connect with friends and associates across a number of messaging clients. Services include Google Talk, Facebook, AIM, Skype, ICQ, and a handful of others. Working over the data connection, IM+ doesn't cost anything extra, meaning there are no per message fees or hidden charges. This latest release features push notifications which will be welcome to many of you Android users as it puts less strain and drain on the battery!

Other features in IM+ 4.0 include:

• Completely new user interface with new features
• Various screen DPIs support for equal precise app look on all devices
• Push messages support for longer battery life
• Custom statuses and message templates
• Skype topics
• LED notification and customizable sounds for incoming messages
• Chinese and South Korean localizations
• Major bugfixes and performance improvements

 

SPB Shell 3D for android

DOWNLOAD HERE

Description

Next generation user interface. Enjoy your phone!

To launch SPB Shell 3D press the Home button once installation is completed.

Features:

3D Home screen/launcher
Smart folders
3D widgets
Collection of panels and widgets

Release notes:

Tablets are not supported
Live wallpapers are not supported (for performance reasons)

HTC Thunderbolt users: there is a chance of black screen on app launch. If you still decide to give it a shot, please contact support in case of any problems.

Please rate the app if you like it. If you have any questions or comments, please email us at shell3d@spb.com.

Keywords: SPB Shell 3D, SPB Mobile Shell 5.0, home screen, launcher, widgets

Recent changes:
-Fixed problem with return from landscape mode on QWERTY devices (Droid, Milestone, etc)
-Improved localization

Latest version: 1.0.1 (for Android version 2.1 and higher)

SparkFun intros IOIO for Android, a hack-free breakout box to get your mind spinning

Meet any seasoned techie, and they'll likely spin whimsical tales of computing's early days, and the challenge of finding a practical use for a device with seemingly limitless potential (you know, like feeding your cat while you sleep). A new product from SparkFun promises to bring this old-school awesomeness into the smartphone age: introducing IOIO (pronounced yo-yo), a breakout box that enables any Android 1.5+ device to control electronic circuits from within Android's applications. Designed in collaboration with Google, Spark's PCB connects to your phone over USB, working its magic through a Java library that hooks into your apps. This DIY paradise will begin shipping in a few weeks, and can be yours for $49.95 on pre-order. We've already witnessed some clever mods with IOIO, and when it sent a real alarm clock ringing, we couldn't help but smile. Crack one yourself after the break.

Top 2 Android superphones: Atrix 4G vs. HTC Thunderbolt

he Android phone space is hard to keep up with as new phones get released seemingly every day. The top 2 superphones currently available are the HTC Thunderbolt on Verizon and the Motorola Atrix 4G on AT&T. This is sure to change soon as new phones appear, but based on testing these are the two to beat currently.

Check out the photo comparison of the Motorola Atrix 4G and the HTC Thunderbolt.

These two phones are as different as two Android phones can be, with the Atrix 4G sporting a dual-core Tegra 2 processor and the Thunderbolt a single-core Snapdragon. The 4.3-inch display makes the Thunderbolt a bit larger than the Atrix with its 4-inch screen. The Atrix comes standard with Motorola’s MotoBlur interface, while the Thunderbolt has the HTC Sense interface onboard. The connectivity is the biggest differentiator on the two phones with Verizon’s speedy 4G LTE network supported by the Thunderbolt and the AT&T “4G” HSUPA+ network supported on the Atrix.Quick comparison:

The Atrix is smaller than the Thunderbolt and feels much lighter in the hand due to the plastic construction. It fits comfortably in the hand and will work best for those with smaller hands. The Thunderbolt is as heavy as a smartphone can get and still be easy to use, and is wider in the hand. That extra screen width comes in handy when browsing the web as more can be displayed on the screen at once.

I have been using both of these phones for a few weeks, and while I expected the dual-core Tegra processor of the Atrix to be faster that is not my experience. The Atrix is fast, but it occasionally exhibits minor lags in operation that plague lots of Android phones. They are not particularly troublesome, just noticeable. The Thunderbolt, however, has not exhibited any lags at all throughout all facets of operation. I put the two phones about even in the operation speed category.

The network operation is a different matter entirely. The Verizon 4G LTE network is the fastest of the two by far, and this is evident in the Thunderbolt operation. That connection speed comes at a heavy price, however, as the battery life on the Thunderbolt is not very good when operating on 4G. The battery doesn’t last all day on the Thunderbolt, while it easily does on the Atrix. That is in part due to AT&T’s failure to fully enable 4G speed of its network on the Atrix. The carrier has admitted it is not enabled but will be soon via a software update. See the photo gallery for a comparison of network speeds.

Conclusion:

Both of these phones are the best of the best in the Android world currently, and I have no problems with either. They are each as capable as a phone can be, more so in fact as they are both full-blown handheld computers. The Atrix has special docks available to turn the phone into a laptop and a multimedia nettop computer, at extra cost. I have no qualms recommending either of these phones to those in the market for a good Android smartphone.

HotPads Releases Real Estate App for Android Tablets

Property search site Hotpads launched on Friday, April 8, 2011, a free real estate application for tablets running on the Honeycomb version of Google’s Android platform.

The new app allows users to search for for-sale homes, rentals, and hotels nearby or at a location they specify, filter their results, view listing details and photos, save favorite searches and listings, share listings via email or Facebook and contact an agent directly from the app. In map view, users can navigate the map on one screen while keeping a listing page open.

Last week, HotPads released an iPad app which received more than 1,100 downloads so far. The HotPads site is closing in on 4.5 million monthly users, 10 percent of which are accessing HotPads from mobile apps, according to company spokesperson Paul Gleger.

HotPad’s Android tablet app has the same features as the iPad app but more new features are expected for the Android tablet app because of the Android platform’s flexibility.

The app’s next update will include HotSpots, a color-coded map tool launched on the HotPads site in February that allows users to compare listings on a cost-per-bedroom basis. The new feature is expected to be available for the Android tablet app by the end of Friday or on Monday.

Right now in the battle of iPad vs. Honeycomb, iPad is winning due to the large number of apps available in the market. HotPads’ lead mobile software engineer Keith Sanders said that last month, there were 65,000 iPad apps to Honeycomb’s 100.

The Android operating system is predicted to account for 49 percent of the smartphone and tablet market by 2012.

Androids get iPlayer, overseas version to be 'tailored for different audiences'

The BBC got round to releasing its iPlayer app for Android devices in February, soothing a sore point for people who don’t like Apple.

Screenshots from iPlayer for Android

There was a version of the iPlayer made for the iPad before the device was even launched to the public (although the standalone apps were launched at much the same time), but Android tablet users have had to wait until their devices became fashionable enough, which has taken a while.

Trying it out on a Samsung Galaxy Tab it’s a fine app, pretty well indistinguishable in practice from the iPad app, the PS3/Wii version or the html5 ‘Bigscreen’ version accessible through web browsers, with a few formatting changes. It uses Flash, which doesn’t make anywhere near as much difference to the viewing experience as Steve Jobs would have you believe but will burn through your battery charge pretty quickly. It requires Android versions from 2.2, which might give big-screen users some scaling problems. Some users have reported problems with syncing audio and video, but I saw none.

It is, of course, only available to UK users, although there’s no licence fee verification. International BBC fans will have to wait a little longer until the overseas version arrives, although we do have some news about what will be available on it.

Details are still a little sketchy, but we can be sure that it won’t be the full catalogue of the past seven days of television and radio that the UK iPlayer presents. I asked the BBC what users would get for theirrumoured $10 per month, and they told me: ‘The global iPlayer will be different from the UK BBC iPlayer, which is a catch-up service. It will not be the BBC’s entire UK services for a year, seven days at a time, wrapped up in an app. Instead, the global iPlayer will be a combination of current and past ‘best of British’ shows, editorially tailored for different international audiences. Whereas the licence fee entitles UK households to receive a total of 10 TV channels, 15 national and 40 local radio services, BBC Online, BBC Mobile and BBC iPlayer – all free at the point of use.’

They also said that overseas sales brought the corporation £214.8 million in the 2009/10 financial year, which probably explains why it won’t be the full schedule. There would have to be 2.9 million subscribers to equal that income and, while it seems achievable with the rapid table take-up we’ve seen, they must be hoping to preserve some of that revenue by offering less to direct customers than to corporate broadcast buyers. This strikes me as less than audacious, but understandable. Legacy income is difficult to argue against when proposing new products in a risk-averse place like the BBC.

HTC Flyer Available To Pre-Order

The HTC Flyer is due for launch in May and is now available to pre-order from the Carphone Warehouse.

The HTC Flyer is a power-packed Android tablet and the price listed on the website is £599.99. That may seem like a lot for a tablet that only has a 7 inch touch-screen but the specification really is impressive.

A whopping 1.5 GHz processor powers the HTC Flyer  and is has 1GB of RAM. The onboard memory comes in at 32GB and it features a rear-facing 5 mega-pixel camera and a front-facing 1.3 mega-pixel camera.

Another unique feature is that it comes with a stylus pen, called the HTC Scribe, which enables you to use the touch-screen more accurately. One downside of the HTC Flyer is that it will launch on Android 2.3, but will be upgraded to Android 3.0 in the future.

The Carphone Warehouse has listed the launch of the HTC Flyer as "early May".

CyanogenMod 7.0 now stable, released for over 30 Android devices

It's official, folks! CyanogenMod 7 is now deemed stable enough to be called, well, stable. The ROM is available now for your flashing pleasure on over 30 devices -- including some tablets. Don't worry, it doesn't disappoint; I've been using it through the development process for months and it's well worth the wait.

If you haven't been following the updates on its progress, here's a quick recap: It's based on Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread, it's got built-in root access with all the command-line goodies, Apps2SD capability (built-in), Incognito Mode for the Android Browser, built-in CPU frequency adjustment and scaling (including overclock and choice of governor), loads of UI improvements and interface tweaks, OpenVPN and SIP calling settings, USB/WiFi/Bluetooth tethering, FLAC support, an FM Radio player, and loads of other features and enhancements.

It's even got a one-click UI theme-switcher that T-Mobile helped develop (open-source, no less).

Even if you aren't into flashing custom ROMs on your expensive new smartphone, you have to admit that this release is a pretty great thing... After all, it means a fully-functional version of Android 2.3.3 is now running, with loads of bells and whistles, on about 30 devices whose manufacturers and carriers are simply too lazy to update.

Alright, enough jabbering. You can learn more about the ROM at CyanogenMod.com, or jump straight tothe download mirror if you already know what you're doing! 

Is Amazon Stealing Android from Google?

 Two weeks ago, it launched the Amazon Appstore that focuses on Android apps, and last week it announced a cloud-based music service with a special version just for Android. Although Google has its own Android Marketplace, Amazon is bringing a more structured store to Android with room for users comments and reviews—a key step to vetting the apps it carries.

This is a very strategic move by Amazon, and it could actually bring some sanity and consistency to the Android development community and all Android users. At the moment, Google's approach to creating Android is scattered. There are so many versions of this OS floating around that the OEMs who license Android are increasingly frustrated with Google's lack of discipline in laying out a consistent roadmap for Android that they can follow.

At first, Google said it would have one version of Android for smartphones and another for tablets. Now it says that it will merge both versions into a product codenamed Ice Cream and that it most likely will be the same OS used on Google TVs in the future as well. Initially, vendors could only use one version for devices with up to 7 inch screens and another one for screens larger then 7 inches but less then 11 inches.

Part of the problem with Google's Android strategy is that it thinks Android needs to be open source. This means that Google creates the core source code and then vendors who use it can customize it to deliver various forms of differentiation. While that is great in concept, what it has led to is various levels of fragmentation within Android devices, apps, and even services. Interestingly, Google's main goal with Android is to get it on as many devices as possible and to use it as a medium to deliver Google search and advertisments to millions of users around the world. As I understand it, it has an annual goal to bring in $10.00 of ARPU (average revenue per unit) annually by the end of 2012. If it could get Android on 1 billion smartphones, tablets, TVs, car navigation systems, etc, that could mean as much as $10 billion annually to its bottom line sometime in the future (if it achieves this level of success).

But since Google is an engineering driven company, the focus has always been about delivering an OS that meets the goals I mentioned, not necessarily to create a structured OS with strict guidelines and enforce rigid practices to deliver a constant user experience between devices. It has pushed this open source model for Android from the beginning, and now it's coming back to bite Google in the form of serious fragmentation, as well as causing continual frustration and angry feedback from the licensees.

There are reasons why Apple and Microsoft's OSs are extremely successful and why Linux has struggled to gain any market share beyond its use in servers and controllers. Apple has total control of its OS, UI, and, in its case, standardization of certain connectors that are part of its IP. That means that all hardware and software developers must subscribe to Apple's strict rules and SDK structure in order for their products to work on Mac OS X and iOS. This control makes sure users' experiences on Apple products are consistent.