Archive for March, 2009

The Android Market is a great tool to have on a phone, but we all know that it could use some improvements. Categories are fairly unspecific, reviews could always be better, and the search feature needs to be more accurate. Well, in the Android discussion group, Google’s Dan Morrill is looking to improve the marketplace by adding seperate categories for themes, adding more sorting options, and creating a desktop/web version of the Android Market. The Android Market is a great way to deliver various applications to users that want them, but it definitely needs some improvement. [AndroidCentral]

Hooray for Flash – coming to an Android Phone near you. BSQUARE has just announced that they will be porting Flash over to a “global teir-1 carrier” – what we’re thinking is that they’re talking about T-Mobile, what do you think? This kind of leaves a lot of information to our imagination. When is this feature going to be available, is it going to work well, is it going to work? We really don’t know much else other than that Flash is coming to Android – and we kind of already knew that, right? [AndroidCentral]

Reports have been telling us that Acer is going to release a smartphone arriving in September, and it will be called the Acer A1. A1 is a pretty good name to use – it can work with Acer, Android, etc., plus it just has a ring to the name. As of now, we don’t know all too much about the A1, but what we can assume is that it will launch with a focus on it’s touchscreen. More information when it becomes available, only here at AndroidTrek.com. [AndroidCentral]

When it comes to T-Mobile, the G1 is the biggest money making device for the company. According to a report done by comScore, the G1 brings in the largest profit for T-Mobile while being only the 8th best selling device by T-Mobile. What makes this possible is the juiced up fee for a data plan, plus selling the device for $179.99. For carriers such as AT&T and Verizon, the iPhone and BlackBerry Storm are the top money makers. So now it would seem that a touchscreens and smartphones are the best way for carriers to make money. [AndroidCentral]

When it comes to the Android Market, it has definitely been a rocky start for paid apps. With the Dev 1 phone having limited access, and some users completely locked out from accessing paid apps altogether, it hasn’t been a pretty site. Now there are reports coming in that developers are having problems with linking merchant accounts to their Android Developer accounts – leaving them unable to list paid apps. We’re not 100% sure if this is still going on, but we’re just letting you know about the reports that we have been getting. [AndroidCentral]

Google has officially updated their image search on the Android Devices. Now it is faster, easier to use, and better suited to fit the mobile platform. Google has even included various filtering options which allow you to sort by faces, Line Drawings, Clip Art, Safe Search, and Photo Content. Also improved is the layout, showing 20 images per page. Go right ahead, pick up an Android phone and start using the new and improved Google Image Search Today! [AndroidCentral]

In Android Cell Phone News today, Google just released a firmware update for the Android Dev Phone. This update includes fixes for POP3 e-mail accounts, the alarm clock, the Gmail send bug, mail notification, search by voice, and maps, but the app problem is only semi-solved. Although the Android Dev Phone is now able to have access too paid applications in the Android Market – it is only allowed access to paid applications that aren’t copy protected. App developers have the option of copy-protection which helps prevent the applications from being copied off of devices, but since the Dev Phone has unrestricted access to the content, it easily gets past any copy-protection, so copy protected paid apps (almost all of them) will still not be available in the Android Market. [AndroidCentral]

Today in Android Cell Phone News, a site called the iPhone Blog found a graph that illustrates the usage of all the mainstream mobile web browsers. Of course, on the graph, the iPhone browser is number one with a share of 66.61%, but surprisingly the Android browser is marathoning it’s way up the chart, and stands at number 4 as of now. This is fairly quick considering that it only released in October of last year, and is available on the smallest carrier in the United States. Soon enough the Android Browser will zoom past Windows Mobile, and it wouldn’t be surprising if it stood at a solid second place in the near future. The Android browser is an effective tool in rendering pages and it’s easy to use, so it’s no wonder why it’s climbing the ranks so quickly. [AndroidCentral]