But app building is not limited to simple games. You can also build apps that inform and educate. You can create a quiz app to help you and your classmates study for a test. With Android’s text-to-speech capabilities, you can even have the phone ask the questions aloud.

To use App Inventor, you do not need to be a developer. App Inventor requires NO programming knowledge. This is because instead of writing code, you visually design the way the app looks and use blocks to specify the app’s behavior.

App Inventor is simple to use, but also very powerful. Apps you build can even store data created by users in a database, so you can create a make-a-quiz app in which the teachers can save questions in a quiz for their students to answer.

	Because App Inventor provides access to a GPS-location sensor, you can build apps that know where you are. You can build an app to help you remember where you parked your car, an app that shows the location of your friends or colleagues at a concert or conference, or your own custom tour app of your school, workplace, or a museum.
	You can write apps that use the phone features of an Android phone. You can write an app that periodically texts “missing you” to your loved ones, or an app “No Text While Driving” that responds to all texts automatically with “sorry, I’m driving and will contact you later”. You can even have the app read the incoming texts aloud to you (though this might lure you into responding).
	App Inventor provides a way for you to communicate with the web. If you know how to write web apps, you can use App Inventor to write Android apps that talk to your favorite web sites, such as Amazon and Twitter.

In line with the same policy, a Swedish company “People of Lava” has announced to launch the first Android Powered Google TV by September this year. It has been named as Scandinavia and will be the first global TV with fully interactive internet. It also boasts a full HD LED display and will run on Google Android platform.

The first model to be launched will have a 42 inch display screen costing around $2,500. Other models with bigger displays will follow after the first model is launched. The TV will be powered by ARM Cortex-A8 based processor which is the same processor being used in Android mobile phones. The first model will come with Android 1.5 which can be upgraded from the internet. in addition to some Google apps like YouTube, Google Maps, Weather, Time, Calender, Internet Browser, the company also plans to run their own app store with the help of partners like Facebook and Twitter because Google does not support TV sized displays.

The company also has announced that natural material like stones etc will be used in Scandinavia TV giving it a ceramic finish.

The performance of this TV cannot be determined unless it is used by interested people who love to buy such like unique products. The base price of $2,500 is also beyond the reach of common public and they will have to wait till the time the price falls down to an affordable limit with the introduction of other models or launching of similar TVs by other companies with reduced rates in order to capture major share of the international market

Via androidandme

That’s because of the way the display uses color in its pixels.  It turns out that, rather than each pixel having all three color channels (red, blue and green) they actually have either a blue/green or red/green pair, with the blue or red pixel being double-width.  The technology is called PenTile, and there are various justifications for using it that include apparently extending blue pixel longevity.

So, when you add up the number of RGB triplets on the display, you get the lower 392 x 653 resolution.  That’s apparently why the Nexus One display – while brighter and richer in color than that of the LCD-based DROID – has text that is less sharp than the Motorola smartphone.  There’s far more to it than that, of course, but the underlying issue is that the AMOLED display Google and HTC used doesn’t quite deliver what buyers probably thought they were getting.

[via IntoMobile]

Google Inc’s Nexus One smartphone will soon be available to subscribers of Sprint Nextel Corp, the second US wireless service provider to announce an agreement to support the touchscreen phone.

Currently, the Nexus One is available only as a version that works with the GSM network, for $179 with a two-year contract on Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile USA, or $529 without a service plan.

The information was passed on to a XDA Modaco member and re-posted by a XDA member, when questioned about the latest firmware for HTC Hero. (emphasis added by me)

Thank you for your enquiry about htc hero.

Some of the phones in our Android line up including your Hero are due to receive an upgrade, and it is scheduled to be released starting at the end of April. Your phone should be upgraded Over-The-Air. You can expect a pop-up message on your phone when connected to the internet once it is ready. When the upgrade is ready, we will notify you via our website and on various social media networks including Twitter and Face book.

If these steps have not helped, please let me know by responding using the link provided and I will be happy to check again for you.

Best regards,
Name removed
HTC customer support team
HTC Corp. Global Service Division

According to the reports of ZDNet, it was estimated that the Google’s super phone would be a hit and would gather a sale of at least 3.5 million units in 2010. But the phone failed miserably as now it is posed for only a million sales in total.

It is believed that the dismay caused is primarily due to the limited marketing and customer service issues, which cropped up after the phone’s release. As per initial reports, Google sold 20,000 units in the first week, and 80,000 in the first month, both annualizing to 1.0 million only.

This is in sync with the decision to include Motorola in the kitty to boost the sales. Meanwhile, it still remains as a question, what Google will offer next to boost the sales.

Follow me @arjunz

The Swype beta for Android is capped at a limited number of registrants. To notify, this particular version will expire after three months as the company will provide periodic updated versions that will include new features and functionality.

The new software
supports phones with HVGA and WVGA resolutions and features built-in dictionaries for English and Spanish.

The new Swype beta is open to all phones using Android which do not already have Swype pre-installed by the phone manufacturer/carrier. Users are advised if they have Swype pre-installed on their mobile device then do not attempt to install this beta software.

Users can register with an email address they can access via their mobile and Swype will send a link to download Swype beta software. That’s it!

This wasn’t the first time where Apple has sparked a legal battle against HTC. Back In 2007, Apple and HTC stood against each other for Trademark tangle over the word ‘Touch’. And now, Apple has filed a suit against HTC for infringing 20 iPhone related UI, underlying architecture and hardware patents. HTC started disaster management with an official statement – HTC is a mobile technology innovator and patent holder that has been very focused over the past 13 years on creating many of the most innovative smartphones.

HTC added that this lawsuit will have no major impact on its operations in the short term. What is new here is that Internet giant Google backed HTC through an officially issued statement saying, “We are not a party to this lawsuit. However, we stand behind our Android operating system and the partners who have helped us to develop it.” Google Nexus One is one of the many Android OS clad HTC devices that is a proof of Google-HTC partnership. Hence, despite this being HTC’s battle, Google is actively supporting it since the Android OS is being questioned here.

Apparently, HTC had plans to launch Google Chrome OS based Tablet but got those plans shelved citing they wanted to focus more on handset production. But that doesn’t mean it won’t happen ever. Apple might have anticipated the level of competition in that segment as well. However, this legal battle between Apple and HTC is serious and would certainly continue for a long time.

[via Techtree.com]