As an avid user and supporter of Boxee for my HTPC needs, the announcement of Google TV left me wondering how I was going to be able to combine both the best interface for an HTPC hands down with my beloved Android platform. The guys over at Boxee are WAY ahead of me it turns out! A blogger over at the Candler Blog had an email conversation with Andrew Kippen of Boxee, asking him what he thought about the announcement of Google TV, and the implications it might have for Boxee. The following is Andrew’s response taken from said article: We obviously followed the [GoogleTV] announcement and the demo. We think that it would be great to see an open OS such as Android gain market share in the living room. It would enable users to download Boxee on their TV (we will be building an Android-based App) and start using it without the hassle of connecting their computer to the TV. We have somewhat of a different view of browsing the web on TV. While it was a big part of the Google Demo we believe browsing the web as-is makes more sense on laptops and mobile devices (due to their personal nature, the screen size and the input device) than it does on TV. We look forward to playing with the TV and working with them to bringing Boxee to Android devices. You read correctly. if there’s a TV platform running on TVs that can deliver a great Boxee experience then we want to be there. That means we’re looking at developing an Android App version of Boxee for the upcoming Google TV . [emphasis added] I wanted to make sure I read that correctly. I’ve heard they are working on an Android remote app similar to the one they have on the iPhone, but this sounds like something different: You read correctly. if there’s a TV platform running on TVs that can deliver a great Boxee experience then we want to be there. That means we’re looking at developing an Android App version of Boxee for the upcoming Google TV . [emphasis added] It will be interesting to see what this Boxee app is going to look like. It sounds like Boxee is going to leverage the Sony TV’s that are going to have Android built into them so people can run thier Boxee app without any computer necessary. This would be a major step forward for Boxee, and sounds like an incredible idea to capitalize on all the risk that Google is taking with Google TV, at no risk to themselves. I am getting more and more excited about Google TV, especially as I see useful, practical applications being thought about. Stay tuned for more details as they come out. Might We Suggest… Google TV Coming to a Set Top Near You! Google is reportedly teaming up with Sony and Intel to create a set top box based on the Android OS to bring home viewers rich web content via Android like apps right on their TV screen….
The world’s largest browser based games network, Mochi Media, is announcing that they will be launching a Flash 10.1 based site that will allow Froyo users to play 25 browser based games on launch. From the press release: The site, m.mochigames.com will feature more than 25 games and will be available upon the release of Google’s next version of Android (“FroYo”) phones. The site features mobile-optimized versions of puzzle game Biomass, card game Magic Towers Solitaire and strategy game Wheekling, as well as other puzzle, strategy and shooter games This is an exciting development as we near the time that Flash is finally going to be a viable reality for Android users, and a MAJOR leg up on iPhone users who will not be able to use flash based sites. The site mentioned above is live now, so those Nexus One owners who have already gotten Froyo should be able to play the games there. Leave some comments and let me know how it works! As I am still rocking the G1, so I am relying on you all to let me know how awesome it is! Might We Suggest… Flash Player 10 Coming to Android in October Adobe’s Flash Player 10 is coming to Android, officially. No more speculation or hoping… we are a ‘go’ for launch. During a recent earnings call for Adobe, President and CEO Shantanu Naraye annou…
We’re not sure if this is a bug that will get fixed, an easter egg, or what, but when we heard reports of unrooted EVO users being able to use the screen capture app ShootMe , we had to test it out ourselves. And it worked! You’re looking at the results of our test on the left. Previously, getting screenshots from an unrooted Android device required hooking it up to a P.C. that has the Android SDK installed. Applications in the Market that take screenshots, including ShootMe, all note requiring a rooted phone to work. We tested this on a stock HTC EVO 4G distributed at Google I/O. Let us know in the comments if other screen capture apps work on your unrooted EVO, or if you’ve come across other methods of getting screen captures on unrooted devices. Might We Suggest… PSA: Pre-Order Your Sprint HTC Evo 4G at Radio Shack, Best Buy Now! As of a now, Evo fans can go into a Best Buy and Radio Shack and preorder the Evo 4G for pickup when the Android superphone launches on June 4. You will have to go into an actual store to p…
So I just happened to notice Adobe Reader in the Android Market a few minutes ago, sitting there with less than 50 downloads! What a sneaky little product release that was, Adobe. This marks only the second title from the company, following last year’s Photoshop app. The photo editing tool has seen over 250,000 downloads since launch so we fully expect Reader to hit that mark too. A free official PDF client has long been asked for by fans. Features listed in the market description include: Open PDF files as email attachments and on the web Interact with PDF files using advanced multi-touch gestures like Pinch zoom, Double tap Zoom, Flick scrolling & Panning Reflow view fits the page contents to the screen for easy viewing After spending a couple of minutes with the app, we’re already hoping to see support for opening locally stored PDF files. We’d love to sideload our Watchmen comics to read back on a 4.3-inch EVO screen! BE ADVISED: Reader needs Android 2.0 or higher to install. Might We Suggest… Android 2.2 To Recommend ‘Flash-enabled’ Websites To Users Engadget is reporting that the latest version of Android — you know, the one with 450 percent performance improvement and Flash playback — will, upon updating, guide you to visit a selection of…
FroYo (Android 2.2) is now available to download for Nexus One owners. Phandroid posted a tutorial on how to do it here . So, N1 owners… flash it, tell us what you think. Edit: First impression, this thing is FAST. Just navigating around the menus, this thing is “Wickid Fast” (as Ray would say)! Thanks to Phandroid: Manually Update Your Nexus One To Android 2.2 Froyo! | Android Phone Fans . Might We Suggest… Froyo Arrives at Googleplex It was only a matter of time before we saw the giant frozen yogurt show up on the Google campus. Check out a pic of the sculpture sitting under wraps courtesy of TechCrunch. Can’t wait to see it…
Photo: Daniel Sancho We all rejoiced when we heard that in Froyo, Android would officially implement a way to store apps on SD card storage (commonly known as “apps2sd”). Documentation on how this will work has been published , and some of the details, while reasonable in the context of addressing real concerns, may be surprising. The most important surprise: no apps currently in the Market can be stored on the SD card without being updated. While many of us have already taken advantage of unofficial ways to use sd card space for app storage, its inclusion in the OS will encourage developers to think big, and will remove a barrier to entry for those deciding whether to buy an Android phone. Not to mention the fact that what’s been implemented is a way to store apps on any external storage, not necessarily an SD card. This could have implications as we see Android popping up on different kinds of devices. But we waited so long for an official solution because of a number of barriers : developers needed to be assured that app storage on a card that can be mounted as a mass storage device would not facilitate piracy; users needed a seamless, easy experience that does not require special partitioning of the SD card, and there had to be some provision for the fact that sometimes sd cards get taken out or are otherwise not available. The implementation of this feature in Froyo addresses all those concerns, but it does so by placing some limitations on how it works. Or rather, by allowing app developers to place limitations. The key limitation is that developers will choose whether or not their app can be installed on external storage. Why would a developer choose not to do so? Froyo’s apps2sd solution does not require a specially partitioned sd card, so there is an issue when the phone is connected to another computer and the user mounts the sd card as a mass storage device. When that happens, it’s as if the sd card has been removed: apps stored there are unavailable to the system. Because of this, Android’s documentation recommends that apps that use certain features (such as services, alarm services, live wallpapers or folders, widgets, and others) should not be eligible to be installed on external storage. Games and other apps not deeply integrated with the system will be the best candidates for external installation. For safety’s sake, the assumption is that unless specifically authorized by the developer, an app cannot be installed on external storage. So, until developers update current apps to include this authorization, no current apps can installed externally. Another important concern was making sure externally installed apps would not be more easily pirated. To address this, apps installed on the SD card will be encrypted in such a way that they can only be decrypted by the device they were installed with. In other words, if you remove the SD card and put it in another phone, the apps stored on the card will be unavailable to you. Two final notes: private user data is never stored on external storage, even if the app it is associated with is, and the documentation claims that “there is no effect on the application performance so long as the external storage is mounted on the device,” with no mention of requirements for the SD card’s transfer speed. Thanks to Thomas Riley for pointing me to the official documentation of how this works. Might We Suggest… Android 2.2 Rolling Out To the Nexus One Right Now TechCrunch is reporting that Android 2.2, codenamed “Froyo”, is going live for the Nexus One. That’s right folks, it appears to already be on the way! Get ready Nexus One owners! If I were you,…
If you are still rocking a G1 handset, you are probably used to hearing “NO SOUP FOR YOU!” when it comes to getting an update for your “ancient” phone. You have probably already either rooted and used Cyanogen, or you have been waiting patiently with your stock device, hoping that Google would see the light of day and give the early adopters who jumped at the first Android phone some love. The guys over at Android Police may have some good news for you , as they have a reporter attending Google I/O, and had some conversations regarding whether or not the G1 will see the Froyo update, check out their article for the full rundown. The article reports that the reporter had a convo with some of the people who are working on Android at Google, when he asked them about the G1, the response he got was that, “Froyo will technically run on any Android phone on the market today.” Along with that, there were some rumors passed along that Google had some test builds of Froyo floating around the Googleplex for testing purposes. The reporter was told that the builds were FAST, and written with the slower processor and memory in mind. To cap it all off, the Android people said that they had no doubt that Cyanogen would be successful in porting Froyo to the G1 sometime in the future since he has solved the issue of memory in the G1. There simply is not enough memory in the handset to support the new builds, but Cyanogen solves that with partitioning and some other magic he weaves. Now that Cyanogen has ported 2.1 over to my G1, I am waiting to see if he will do the same to Froyo. Even better for us G1 users? That Google will bring some love to us early users of the Android platform as a way of saying thanks. Might We Suggest… The G1 is Relevant Again… No Thanks to Google Lately I have been looking with envy on my Android Guy brethren who have some of the cooler Android based handsets out there. I almost jacked my friend’s Nexus One after letting me play with. I thoug…
Sliding its way into my heart! T-Mobile just released this press release regarding the MyTouch Slide: The T-Mobile® myTouch 3G Slide™ will be available on June 2 at T-Mobile retail stores, select authorized dealers and partner locations, and online at http://www.T-Mobile.com , with additional availability and an expanded marketing campaign beginning on June 16th. Available in three colors – black, white or red – the myTouch 3G Slide will be available from T-Mobile USA for $179.99 (after $50.00 mail-in rebate) with a two year service agreement and qualifying voice and data plan. For more information on the myTouch 3G Slide, customers can visit http://mytouch.t-mobile.com . So, anyone really interested in running out and picking one up? Might We Suggest… Rumor: T-Mobile myTouch 3G to Get Sense-Flavored 2.1 Here’s one we missed last week… Techland is reporting that the refreshed myTouch 3G from T-Mobile will see Android 2.1 once testing is finished. Techland’s Peter Ha interviewed Andrew Sherrard, th…
Sarah listens, you should too! That’s right! Tomorrow night at 7PM Pacific/10PM Eastern we will be recapping all of the Android news from Google IO 2010! You will definitely want to tune in live to the podcast as we’ll have some new voices on the panel and we’ll be taking your live calls! Tomorrows panel will consist of AndroidGuys Ray Walters and Chuck Falzone , as well as Canadian blogger and Android Developer, Puleen Patel ! Critical Info: Call in number: (347) 637-2112 Chatroom/Listen URL: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/androidguys/2010/05/21/android-guys-thursday-nights Be sure to join in on the fun! Might We Suggest… Why Tune In To The Thursday Night DROIDcast? Let Me Tell You… [caption id="attachment_13252" align="alignright" width="300" caption="I'm the tall one, Matts the short one."][/caption] “Oh Scotty,” you say… “why do you harass us constantly about tuning i…
Android Police reports that they received a tip about upcoming changes in the Android Market, giving some exciting details about some possibilities that could be in the works. According to their source, Google flew in a focus group from around the country, and asked them about a variety of topics, including social networking integration in the Market, “guru/expert ranks” for certain developers, the ability to follow or favorite certain developers, app recommendations, filters, and the ability for developers to respond to comments. (Android Police has a full run down of what was discussed– click over there for more detail.) Remember, this is all rumor, so take it or leave it as it comes, but it seems like we have the following possibilities for the Market: Allowing Devs to leave feedback to feedback received Giving rankings to Devs, declaring them experts or the such. A better way to filter Apps, PRAISE THE ANDROID GODS Recommending apps to friends, A LA HTC Wildfire. Android Police is saying that they have good word that the above WON’T be in the next update of the Market, but could be possibilities for the future. Here’s to the future then! Might We Suggest… Android Market is Official Although it’s not much of a surprise to Android followers, Google formally announced that their application repository today. Dubbed “Android Market”, it’s exactly what we expected it to be. Accordi…
