With the advent of more advanced cell phones, it seems as though it is only a matter of time before we start seeing the kind of viruses and spyware creeping into the ecosystem that you have on Windows. Yet, at the same time, we haven’t really seen that kind of malware spreading on cell phones In the same way that you see it spreading elsewhere.
The biggest reason, of course, is that up until now. Software vendors had to work directly with the cell phone service providers to certify their software before it was allowed to be pushed onto phones. Also, the films themselves were very limited in their capabilities, and most of the programs were written in Java with a tight security model dictating their behavior. That is a stark contrast from the way that Windows software is developed and distributed. Read more…
It shouldn’t surprise anyone who uses it that Gmail is the most useful, and among the most popular of all free e-mail services. Yet, if you have a mobile phone you realize how many of those great features you really miss using a mobile phone e-mail client. However, there are a select few phones that really do the whole Gmail service justice.
The most obvious of course, is the new phone from T-Mbile and Google. Since this built by Google and Google software, it just makes sense that e-mail integration with e-mail service works very well. If you want, you can use either the built-in e-mail client and access GMail via push mail, or You’ve access Gmail directly via the web browser. Personally, I think setting up Gmail using the IMAP protocol so that changes are made automatically across all devices works extremely well. This is also my preferred option, using the iPhone. Read more…
The first Android-powered phone, T-Mobile’s G1, was officially released today. It comes preloaded with a varity of Google Applications (Search, Maps, Gmail, Calendar, Google Talk and YouTube). The Gmail app has most of the features of the web version (labels, conversations, etc) and Maps comes with StreetView built-in.
The phone itself isn’t a slouch either. It has a 3.2-inch TFT-LCD (at 320×480 resolution) and a full QWERTY keyboard. It has a 3.2 megapixel camera, and 8 gigs 1 gig of storage (plus a microSD slot). The phone does not have video capabilities, and it’s chained to the T-Mobile network. Undoubtedly, a unlock crack will be developed quickly.
Here is a video produced by Google showing off the phone:
And here are a bunch of photos of the device. It sure looks slick!
It appears Google will have an app store of their own, dubbed the “Android Market”. For all intents and purposes, it will likely be very similar to the iPhone app store (download apps for your phone).
When it initally launches, it will be for free apps only, though they plan to launch paid apps at some point in the future. It will also feature much less control than the iPhone store, instead putting it on the users to flag bad apps. The hope is that this will allow apps to be released (and updated) much more quickly, and I think they might be right.
There are over 500 applications available, including 135 free ones. I’m quite disappointed to not see much from Google (I was hoping for Gmail, Reader, etc), but overall there is some good stuff.
Personally, I’m pleased to see applications like Evernote and SmugShot in there, along with the expected ones like the Facebook app. What do you see that really grabs your attention?
Google has been showing off some excellent new Android features at the Google I/O conference today. There are a handful of videos and a ton of pictures over on the AndroidCommunity site. Here are the videos:
Google has just released Google Gears for Mobile Devices. As posted in the GearsBlog:
The mission of Gears is to extend the capabilities of web browsers. It is clear to us that mobile browsers can benefit just as much as desktop ones. By adding features to mobile browsers, it becomes possible to deploy an increasing number of mobile applications as web apps.
Gears currently only runs on Internet Explorer for Windows Mobile versions 5 and 6. However, it is expected to find its way onto other platforms soon.
It’s not as exciting as they’d have you believe, but it’s a useful application nonetheless — the Google Search Shortcut for Nokia N-series and E-series phones.
The application simply adds a shortcut to your standby screen that allows you to access Google search with a single keypress — the pencil icon on most phones. Very useful.
Prototypes of phones running Google’s Android OS have been popping up, and now we have rumors that the phone may debut at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona in February.
Google has just released Google Gears for Mobile Devices. As posted in the 