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Apple to Stay with Google Maps for iOS 5

Arjun Komath — Sun, 29 May 2011 11:13:25 +0000

Over the last few years Apple has purchased two online mapping companies, Placebaseand Poly9. This has led many to speculate that Apple may want to abandoned Google Maps in favor of new mapping technologies developed in-house instead. Tension between Apple and Google has been on the rise ever since Google decided to expand into areas already dominated by Apple.

A new report coming out of 9to5 Google indicates that Apple may, in fact, stay with Google Maps when iOS 5 is finally released in the next few months. It now seems more than likely that Apple will instead enhance the mapping features in iOS 5 by building in a crowd-sourced traffic database and improving traffic related services as well. Apple may also choose to include it’s own turn-by-turn GPS navigation system when the next iOS update is released.

Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference starts June 6, and the focus of this year’s event will be the forthcoming new versions of Mac OS X Lion and iOS 5. In a little over a weeks time, Apple will finally reveal the future of iOS 5 and the fate of the Maps app as well. For now, however, it looks as though Apple will be using Google Maps for the foreseeable future. Exactly what upgrades the Maps app will receive is anyone’s guess at the moment.

Hopefully, the future of Apple navigation will include the ability to cache mapping data so you can still find where you’re going, even if you don’t have any bars. Oh, and voice recognition across the entire operating system would be really nice as well.

Source: 9to5 Google

Google Android Devices, Froyo On 51.8%, Gingerbread On 0.4%

Arjun Komath — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:53:26 +0000

Google Android 2.2 Froyo has gained 8.4% of the total number of Google-powered devices since we last took a look at the stats published by Android Developers back in December, a tad more than a month ago. According to the figures, Android 2.2 Froyo now powers 51,8% of devices while Android 2.1 Eclair is present on 35.2% (4.4% lower than last month’s 39.6), putting a solid 16.6% between the two. Unfortunately, Froyo is not the latest of Google’s operating system with the launch of Gingerbread, which is only active on 0.4% (most of them probably Nexus S smartphones) of the total devices powered by the platform.

[via pocketnow]

Creamy new Android 2.4 coming out in June ?!

Arjun Komath — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 11:59:56 +0000

Google has code named Android 2.4 as ‘Ice Cream’. Google already has made two new Android versions public, Android 2.3 Gingerbread, available on the Google Nexus S, and Android 3.0 Honeycomb, coming on board the Motorola Xoom soon. But it looks like a third, intermediate Android version is also going to be unveiled at some point in the future and that’s Android 2.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. Android 2.4 Ice Cream is scheduled to be released in June or July of this year.

First time around Android 2.4 was spotted on the newly announced Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, and Sony Ericsson quickly said that it was just a simple mistake. But now Android 2.4 has been spotted on a Google Nexus S, and below is a video proving that. So, it wasn’t a coincidence after all!

The mobile operating system’s nicknames are based on tasty dessert treats and are named in alphabetical order:

Cupcake
Donut
Eclair
Froyo
Gingerbread
Honeycomb
Ice Cream

No details about potential new features or improvements were provided.

Google Offering music sync on Android 2.3

Arjun Komath — Sat, 15 Jan 2011 11:34:08 +0000

Google will soon bring a native music syncing feature into its Android operating system, as you can see from the leaked image shown below. The image is said to be taken from a device running Android 2.3. It could also hint at an iTunes-like program from Google that would help users better manage their multimedia libraries. (Something like the iTunes store, with lots of media content.) With the Music Sync feature, you can sync all the music contents on your device, it will be stored in the server, so you will always have a backup of your purchase.

Have a look at the screenshot :

Google Cr-48 Notebook Hacked to Run Ubuntu, Mac OS X and Windows!

Arjun Komath — Mon, 03 Jan 2011 13:41:54 +0000

Google’s first Chrome OS notebook, the Cr-48 desinged to run Google Chrome OS has been hacked to run Ubuntu, Mac OS X, and Windows. The Cr-48 isn’t for general sale, instead being distributed as part of Google’s preview program for Chrome OS. You can find instructions on how to install Ubuntu and Windows 7 on Something Awful. A guide for Mac OS X should be posted soon.

Android 3.0 ‘Honeycomb’ Spotted, Nexus One will get Android 2.3 update!

Arjun Komath — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 16:27:35 +0000

Finally, Android 3.0 Honeycomb spotted in the air! AIR Benchmark, a website designed to test Adobe AIR performance on mobile devices, has seen pings recently from new versions of Gingerbread and Honeycomb. Both new Android OS builds were running on Nexus Ones. So, there are Nexus Ones or Nexus S in the wild, running both Android 2.3 Gingerbread and Android 3.0 honeycomb. There are two happy things :

The Nexus One is capable of running Android 2.3 Gingerbread and will get an official update from Google. Google’s Nexus Twitter had tweeted that the Gingerbread OTA will be coming, and coming soon. They said – “The Gingerbread OTA for Nexus One will happen in the coming weeks. Just hang tight!”
Android 3.0 Honeycomb is being tested out somewhere and we can hear a lot more about it soon!

Samsung Galaxy Player, The iPod Touch Killer ?

Arjun Komath — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 09:28:09 +0000

Samsung will be revealing a new Android-based Galaxy Player that will be showcased next week at the CES 2011. The Galaxy player was inspired by the success of Samsung Galaxy phone, they both resemble a lot in physical apperance as well as hardware specs. I believe that the Galaxy player would be the first portable media player, that can compete against the Apple’s iPod Touch, both the devices are having a really powerful hardware which is supported by two terrific mobile operating systems, the Apple iOS and the Google Android. Out of the box, Android and iOS, both features a lot more than just a Media Player, it now supports millions of everyday applications, Navigation, Media Sharing, Communication and lot more… It a lot more than just a thing that plays music!

Let’s have a look at the specs:

The Galaxy Player (YP-GB1) runs on Android 2.2 Froyo (They could have made it Android 2.3 Gingerbread ) OS.
It has a 1GHz CPU same as that of the iPod touch which has the Apple A4 with 1GHz processor.
4-inch Super Clear LCD screen supporting up to WVGA resolution (800×480) while the iPod touch features an awesome 3.5-inch (diagonal) widescreen Multi-Touch Retina display capable of 960-by-640-pixel resolution at 326 pixels per inch.
T-DMB, SoundAlive audio enhancing technology
Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0
3.2MP rear camera with front facing camera for video calling, iPod touch has a camera with HD Video recording (720p) up to 30 frames per second with audio; still photos (960 x 720) with back camera and a VGA front camera for facetime.
GPS, HD video playback, microSD card slot, Android Market and Samsung Apps access and a 1200mAh removable battery.

I would say that the Samsung Galaxy Player is an awesome contender for the iPod touch, and having Android OS make it even more better!

Here is the promo video of the other Galaxy Player ( YP-G50) :

Google Nexus S listed for Rs. 24000 at Infibeam

Arjun Komath — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 12:26:15 +0000

Popular online retail site Infibeam has listed the recently announced Google Nexus S device for Rs. 24,000. It’s the same company that gave India the Kindle alternative – Infibeam Pi reader. Even though it has been listed, there was no mention of a launch or availability date on the Infibeam website. The price at Infibeam beats eBay India’s price of Rs. 29890. Unlocked Google Nexus S is also being sold for $529 (Rs. 23, 850) in the US via Best Buy website, which is accessible only via US or UK listed Internet Protocol addresses. For the Indian buyers, if you can’t wait, just go for the item listed in eBay India, or if you willing to wait a bit longer, Infibeam has the best price for you!

The Best Smart Phones – 2010

Arjun Komath — Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:01:36 +0000

Another great year went by and now its time to have a look back at the best phones from 2010! A review of the top smart phones that 2010 has brought to us.

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

I will start with my favorite phone, The Apple iPhone. “This changes Everything, Again!“, Yes it did. The iPhone 4 is the best Smart Phone from 2010, it was successful in many ways. It brought many news features and upgraded that made it the king of the smart phone world!

Google Nexus S. The only phone with Android 2.3, directly marketed by Google, manufactured by Samsung, the Nexus S one of the most powerful smart phones. With all new looks and improved hardware it will be a great phone for the android fans. Even though it is a late comer, will can still consider it has an awesome phone from 2010.

Samsung Galaxy S. It features a 1 GHz “Hummingbird” processor along with 8–16 GB internal Flash memory, a 4-inch 480×800 pixel Super AMOLED (PenTile) capacitive touchscreen display, a 5-megapixel camera and on select models, a VGA front-facing camera. The base version of the phone, the GT-I9000, was quickly followed by variant models for the US carriers, including the Epic 4G, Vibrant, Captivate, and Fascinate.

Nokia N8. We may have had to wait longer than expected to get our hands on the Nokia N8 but when it finally arrived in October we were more than happy. The Nokia N8 delivered a lot more than I hoped it would. The first smartphone to pack Symbian3 inside, the multiple Homescreens and easy switching between apps is a joy. The problem was that, it was still laggy and the apps were terrible, which has started to improve.

HTC Evo 4G. Smartphone developed by HTC Corporation and marketed as Sprint’s flagship Android smartphone, running on its WiMAX network, which is currently a non-standardized platform. The smartphone launched on June 4, 2010.

I would love to know which phone my readers like the most, you can vote in the poll below:

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

GV Connect : Now on iPad

Arjun Komath — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:36:46 +0000

The popular Google Voice client for iPhone, GV Connect, is now a universal app. This means the same application will run natively on your iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

GV Connect hit the App Store following the revision of Apple’s App Store approval guidelines, back in September. This paved the way for the submission of many previously disallowed applications, including Sean Kovacs’ GV Mobile, and GV Connect. Since then, GV Connect has proved to be a popular Google Voice client. However, the approval of Google’s official (and free) Google Voice app, Google Voice, took some of the attention away from third party Google Voice apps.

[via]