A new set of studies conducted by Arieso reveals that Android users love to consume data.  According to their findings, phones running Android tend to have more data call volumes, time connected to the network, and data volume  uploaded and downloaded than iPhone counterparts. It’s not all downloading and streaming either, as Samsung Galaxy users upload roughly 126% more data than iPhone3G users.  One other detail in the report, which I can attest to personally, is that today’s smart phone users are  using their devices for data consumption more than making calls.  Arieso‘s findings are part of a white paper called “Emerging Smartphone Trends: The Next Wave in the Data Tsunami” which available upon request.

Via: Fierce Mobile

Android Users Love Data originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

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Well, the people have spoken, at least according to one poll by Consumer Reports about consumer satisfaction with mobile carriers. AT&T is now ranked dead last with customers, followed by T-Mobile, then Sprint, then Verizon, and topped off by U.S. Cellular.

A lot of the flack AT&T is receiving is coming from iPhone customers, who were “much less satisfied” with the service when compared to other smartphone owners on the same network. Perhaps those T-Mobile ads about AT&T’s service aren’t so slanderous after all?

AT&T the worst mobile carrier according to consumers, iPhone users particularly displeased

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

Oh. My. God. I cannot keep up with the flood of news regarding the Nexus S and Gingerbread coming through our ship’s lower deck, as of late. But we’ll fight through it! Another hour has gone by and even more tidbits from the blogosphere have trickled in. Firstly, how about something tangible from the SDK image to get onto your current non-Gingerbread phones?

Droid-Life’s been able to grab the new software keyboard seen on various videos and pictures. While it still isn’t the best looking keyboard we’ve ever seen, it looks to be a huge improvement over the old stock offering. Peter Alfonso – the man behind the fabled Bugless Beast – has thrown the .zip file up here. (Yes, this means you do need to be rooted, and due to integrated Voice Search controls, you’ll need Froyo.)

1. Download .zip file HERE
2. Place on root of SD Card and boot into Recovery.
3. Install .zip as you would themes etc.
4. Reboot and select “Android Keyboard” under Input Method and you are good to go.

*Note* – DX users, “In Clockwork, go to mounts and storage>mount system and then back to install .zip from sd card”.

In other keyboard news, it has been discovered that the KeyEvent class in the Android SDK has new-found support for what looks to be gaming buttons. (A, B, C, L1, L2, R1, R2, Start, Select, X, Y, and Z.) Sounds pretty darn convenient for the folks at Sony Ericsson who are to be bringing out a new device (which they aren’t calling the PlayStation Phone) with a gamepad.

Awesome! Android Police has also taken the new build for a spin in their emulator. Our friend Artem states that the Gingerbread’s emulator instance is staggeringly slow compared to Froyo’s and Donut’s, but we hear that this is the fastest version of Gingerbread yet. Could just be an issue with the emulator or SDK image. Go ahead and check it out over there for the full suite of images and accompanying impressions.

Europeans – specifically those in the UK, for now – will be happy to know that Carphone Warehouse is carrying the Nexus S starting at the end of December. And unlike us poor souls here in the states, you guys can grab it up for free on a 35 pounds per month tariff from either Vodafone or T-Mobile, tethered to either or for two years. If you’d rather not deal with that, you can always get the device for 549 pounds.

AT&T users will be sad to learn that their Nexus S won’t be 3G-enabled, according to tnkgirl who was retweeted by John Gruber of Daring Fireball. For now, we’ll just assume they mean this T-Mobile version will only work on AT&T’s 2G network. We’ll be digging for more information as the days move on.

And finally, Samsung’s come clean regarding the “Nexus S” and why they didn’t go with Google’s first naming suggestion, the “Nexus Two”. Their reasoning? “We don’t like being number two.” That’s very understandable, and judging by the reaction from our user community here at Phandroid, we can tell that many others don’t consider it a “number two” either.

If another wave of Nexus S news comes in between now and the next couple of hours, we’ll report it in similar style.

View full post on Android Phone Fans

If you’re shopping for anyone who owns a Mac this season, we’ve got 10 suggestions for great gear you should check out.

View full post on Macworld

Remember that leaked image of a DROID X running 2.2.1 that we assumed could be faked, but figured it wasn’t? Well, it wasn’t, and My Droid World has released a fully working ROM of the build for all (rooted users) to download, flash, and enjoy. Remember, everything you do to your phone is your own responsibility. There is no SBF for this version of Android on the DROID X yet, so if anything goes wrong, or if you try to use an SBF for an older build, you’re going to be out of a phone (at least for the time being.) Be sure to carefully follow all instructions down to each letter if you do try it. Instructions and the necessary files can be head at MDW. (We opt to link to instructions wherever possible in case they change in the future.)

[via Droid-Life]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

One of the many things that gets thrown out regarding the “failure” of Google Wave has been the lack of Mobile support. After all, what could be more instant than being able to collaborate no matter where you are? Personally, I love Wave. I use it for a LOT of my projects that require multiple people across a great space. It’s incredibly convenient for me. Probably the most convenient part, though, is that it IS possible to use it on my phone. And what’s more, it’s not even hard to do.

I’m sure anyone who has tried to go to Google Wave in their Android, or any other unsupported browser is familiar with this screen. Back in the 2.1 days, if you tried to click go ahead the browser would crash and you would be unable to go any further. Fortunately for us, the mobile world is finally growing into the 2.2 shoes, so I felt it was time to share what I discovered back when the Nexus One first got 2.2. It turns out the FroYo browser is, in fact, capable of running Google Wave.

As you can see, I am brought into a mobile formatted Google Wave. It’s limited view is similar in ways to Google’s other mobile web products like the recently modified Google Docs. From here I can select any of my Waves and continue to work, or I can start a new wave. The character above the Google Wave logo shows us that Google is not quite ready to slap their infamous Beta tag to this product, though I was unable to figure out why.

As you can see here, I am perfectly capable of interacting with any of my Waves, and I can interact with the gadgets inside of it, like the flash video that is embedded in the Welcome video. The ability to edit a wave remains intact, and there seems to be no real performance decrease when editing anything.  Although Wave seems to be on it’s way out as one of Google’s shining products, it’s good to see that the functionality had been built in beforehand, so those of us who do use it can continue to enjoy it!

View full post on AndroidSPIN

Registered as part of the ongoing Swype beta? An update is now available for you, so jump on it. The new version brings many improvements, including Speech to Text support, double tap to edit, and continued fixes to accuracy and test input. You will have to download the update manually to your handset by visiting the Swype beta page and entering your info.

Speaking of Swype, in the wake of several top class text-entry alternatives for Android, does it still hold the favor of as many as it used to? Or have people moved on?

[via DroidLife]

View full post on Android Phone Fans

RecipePad – The iPad continues to become a chef’s companion with an increasing number of apps dedicated to the culinary arts. Among the latest is RecipePad, which is usable for creating and saving recipes.

You get the most out of RecipePad if you have a Mac and use MacGourmet or Yummy Soup. If so those files can be moved from your desktop to the iPad through iTunes. In many ways it is a pain to have to physically connect the device to a computer just to get files transferred. On the other hand, long-time users of MacGourmet and Yummy Soup will rejoice that they now have the ability to move their recipe collection to the iPad.

The interface of RecipePad is very easy to follow and is an excellent way to view the details of a recipe. (…)
Read the rest of RecipePad Lets iPad Users Rule the Kitchen, and Organize Recipes

AppCraver.com, 2010. | RecipePad Lets iPad Users Rule the Kitchen, and Organize Recipes | Best iPhone Apps | Best Free Apps

View full post on AppCraver

This one has been popping up around the net the past couple of days but I figured we’d save it for the weekend…

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this comic strip from C-Section Comics is more like a 20,000 word thesis on the smartphone consumer market. It’s funny, cuz well… it’s mainly true  

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Weekend Humor: How Smartphone Users See Each Other

View full post on CrackBerry.com blogs

Hilarious! So True! Of course, it’s quite obvious… everything in the Android category is true. Except the way we actually look. If that were true, we would all look like Neo from the Matrix… right? I think so.

Where do you see yourself? Hopefully in the Android Group. Be sure to let us know what you think or where you fall in in the comments!

Android cartoon: How Blackberry, iPhone, Android users see each other and themselves

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

DROID users, if you received this text, you’ve been officially invited to the online “Android Smartphone Workshop” hosted by Verizon Wireless on November 8th. This will be especially beneficial for those new to the world of Android who haven’t yet gotten the swing of things on their powerful new smartphone. Best of all, it’s free of charge!

Apparently, VZW customers can also attend workshops at various carrier stores. Just plug in your zip code and see if a workshop is being held near you!

VZW inviting DROID users to Android Smartphone workshop November 8th

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

Retina-X Studios has released a mobile monitoring/filtering software called Mobile Nanny on the Android Market today. Mobile Nanny is the app for the ultimate paranoid parent. The application records and blocks any particular activity or game/app chosen by parents and can be set to timed schedules.  Other features include the ability for parents to login from the internet to view logs and GPS locations. There is also an anti-theft feature that allows the user to track the number of any SIM inserted to the device should it be lost or stolen

Hit the jump for the full press release and QR code for download!

Read More…

Mobile Nanny application available for parents of Android users

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

Earlier this week, we posted an article letting everyone know that a Motorola Droid 2 update was released by Verizon Wireless. However, D2 users who have rooted their phones SHOULD NOT update their devices, as this could break your root and maybe even brick your phone.

The problem with this update was that rooted users would not be able to flash their Droid 2’s back to normal if they were bricked because the SBF files for that update version were not available yet.

Well, that problem has been solved! The folks over at MyDroidWorld have SBF files (version 2.3.20) that will take your device back to stock settings if indeed it becomes bricked.

Check out the available downloads from MDW here.

Thanks to my friend Brendan Hatlee for sending this in!

Droid 2 SBF files released for rooted users who recently updated

View full post on Android News, Rumours, and Updates

Having seen BIS 3.2 released to APAC and EMEA users already, many folks in North America should now be waking up to find that their BlackBerry Internet Services has now been updated as well. Reports from all major carriers indicate that the update went as planned and the new options are now available. Those options include:

• Google Calendar Sync – The option to sync your Gmail calendar with your BlackBerry calendar
• Automatic Login Enhancement – Username and Password in order to access the BlackBerry Internet Service no longer required when on your BlackBerry
• Show and Hide Password Option – Subscribers can choose to show or hide the passwords for all email addresses that need to be validated by clicking the Show password or Hide password options.
• New Password Criteria – Newly created passwords for BlackBerry Internet Service accounts and BlackBerry email addresses must meet new criteria.
  • Must include 8 to 16 characters
  • Must include at least one letter and one number
  • Cannot include the word "password"
  • Cannot include the user name of the BlackBerry Internet Service account or BlackBerry email address that the password is associated with

Some long awaited additions there. Have at it folks and let us know how the calendar sync is working out for you all should you opt to use it. Word is it works with Google Apps as well which is a plus.

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. BIS 3.2 rolled out to North American BlackBerry users

View full post on CrackBerry.com blogs

Android hasn’t exactly had the most success in the enterprise world, with Android devices making up less than 30% percent of enterprise activations, according to a survey conducted by Good Technology. Instead, business users have been more loyal to Blackberry devices produced by Research In Motion.

The reason for this was Android’s lack of VPN support. Android 2.2 features some native support for VPN, but does not support Cisco IPSec VPN.

The Droid Pro, however, could be dubbed the next ‘Blackberry-killer’. In developing the Droid 2, Motorola teamed up with AuthenTec to provide a VPN app that is designed to be easy to configure. Other VPN solutions like Tunnel mode IPSec, two way certication, IKEv1, IKEv2, and Split Tunneling will also be supported.

Check out Motorola’s press release on their hopes for the Droid Pro to help Android break into the business world.

Droid Pro security features hopes to bring more enterprise users to Android

View full post on Google Android News Android Forums

For those of you who are still on the fence about whether or not you will be purchasing a Samsung Galaxy Tab, Samsung recently released a batch of photos showing the Galaxy Tab in action. Doctors, students, businessmen, the young and the old are all featured using the Galaxy Tab.

Clearly, Samsung is marketing this 7″ Android tablet towards every type of user.

View full post on Google Android News Android Forums

The Skype Android App is now available for Verizon Android users and can be installed on Android phones that have Android OS v2.1 Eclair or higher. The app features include:

• Skype chat
• ability to manage your Skype contacts
• ability to make calls over Wi-Fi for Android users in the US and 3G calls are available in some other countries
• free Skype-to-Skype calls and paid SkypeOut calls

To download this app go to http://www.skype.com/m with your mobile device.

View full post on Android App Review Source

Sccope, winners of the CrackBerry Editors Choice Award have just announced a great deal for BlackBerry Smartphone users. For the next 10 days you can now get the application for only $1.99 US. As noted in the press release:

Sccope won an Editor’s Choice CrackBerry Award for its BlackBerry app at the BlackBerry Developer Conference in San Francisco last week. The Crackberry Editor’s choice awards are given to the five apps that the Crackberry team feels are absolute must-haves for every BlackBerry owner.

Douglas Orr, Founder and CEO of Sccope, said, "We are thrilled with the success of the Sccope app to date and we are honored to be recognized by the Crackberry team and the BlackBerry community. We are offering this limited time price cut to encourage more shoppers to save time and money by researching product prices before they buy online or in the store."

Congratulations once again to Sccope. Be sure to grab the application from BlackBerry App World while it’s on sale. You can check out our previous post about Sccope to learn more about the application itself.

• Click Here To Download Sccope From BlackBerry App World Today>> 

Source: PRWeb

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Sccope announces limited time price cut for BlackBerry Smartphone users

View full post on CrackBerry.com blogs

If you’re of a certain age—read: you’re a college student—you likely already know all about Texts From Last Night, or TFLN for short. TFLN is a Webby Award-winning website, a popular Facebook group, a book, a soon-to-be TV series on the Fox network, and, now, an iPhone app.

The basics of the iPhone app are just like those of the full-featured website: Texts From Last Night is a stream of user-submitted text messages from, you guessed it, last night. Users may submit their own text message to the stream, and the texts are up-voted or down-voted by other users, Reddit style. The most popular part of the app/website is probably the “Top Nights” feature, which is a collection of the most up-voted texts, organized by day, week, month, or all time.

So, why should you care about anonymous, out-of-context, possibly made-up text messages? Bluntly, you should care because they are hilarious. These aren’t just any texts, but only the most debauched and embarrassing. The best entries are like short stories that imply the existence of entire worlds of filthy humor and regret, outside of the 160-character limit of the message. Texts From Last Night is like a Twitter feed from a teen sex comedy. Read the full story

The folks over at MyDroidWorld.com have a nice little guide up on their forums for getting the latest Froyo build onto your rooted Motorola Droid X.  Yes, this is another early leak of the Froyo update, but hopefully this time it will not interfere with automatic future updates as this is an official OTA release, not a port or custom ROM.  You can thank Team Black Hat for their work on this.

So go on, get your delicious Froyo and let us know how it tastes in the comments.

[thanks to everyone who sent this in]

View full post on Google Android News Android Forums

Google is now letting any Yahoo users sign in to Google using OpenID, the company announced Tuesday.

When you’re signing up for a Google account, there’s now a new button you can click on that says “Verify by signing in at Yahoo.com.” Click it, and you’re sent to Yahoo, where you’re asked to allow Google and Yahoo to link up your accounts.

Tuesday’s development marks Google’s first attempt to be an OpenID relying party — a website that accepts OpenID logins from third-party providers. Also, this only works for Yahoo users for now, but Google says it’s going to start offering support for other OpenID providers soon.

On the surface, this may look like an attempt by Google to poach users away from Yahoo by making it even easier for them to switch. In fact, it’s a real-world example of the type of interoperability that OpenID has been promising to bring to the open web for some time.

The more services, web apps and social networks we sign up for, the more places we have to create an account, remember a password, find friends, and build up a user profile. OpenID and the other twiddly bits in the “open stack” of social web technologies — like OAuth and Portable Contacts — make it easier for us to securely re-use this data across numerous websites and applications while only having to maintain one user account and one password at the provider of our choosing. With OpenID and OAuth, your data can easily be forklifted into other social networks with just a few clicks. OpenID currently powers the majority of third-party logins on the web.

This new Google/Yahoo system works because Yahoo is an OpenID provider. If you have a Yahoo account, you can use it to log in to any website that accepts OpenID. Google has simply started using the Yahoo OpenID API, the bit of code that makes it easier for third parties to create a simple, streamlined login experience for visitors who want to use their Yahoo ID to log in.

The same type of third-party login is possible using your Google account, since Google exposes the information necessary to make that happen in its own OpenID APIs.

So there’s no poaching happening here, just an open door policy on Yahoo’s end, and the implementation of one of Yahoo’s APIs on Google’s end.

Google is currently only offering OpenID logins for Yahoo users, the company says. The Google Code blog gives some more detail: “As [the new login feature] is based on an internet standard, we plan to use it in the future with other e-mail providers that add support for this usage of OpenID and related standards like OAuth, such as in the Microsoft Live identity APIs.”

Google is also experimenting with an OpenID/OAuth hybrid called Step2, which builds on similar community efforts to build a new system based on those two technologies. Among other things, these new hybrid systems aim to make the process less confusing for users, and to make OAuth sign-ins easier for applications that run on a phone or on the desktop rather than in a web browser.

See also:

• New ‘OpenID Connect’ Proposal Could Solve Many of the Social Web’s Woes
• Video: The Open and Social Web Explained
• Facebook Adopts Open Standard for User Logins
• Twitter Moves to OAuth: The OAuthcalypse Is Nigh

View full post on Webmonkey

Everyone wants Android 2.2 on their device, but UK Desire users on 02 updated that they received a buggy 2.2 which led to reports of freezes and device crashes. After receiving these reports from their users, HTC quickly pulled the update and posted a statement in the O2 forums.

“Hi all
As some of you will have noticed the Android 2.2 Froyo update for HTC Desire on O2 went live this morning. While we’re pleased that so many of you have been able to download it successfully and are enjoying the benefits of 2.2, we have seen that a small number of people are having problems installing the update.

While we check out these issues we’re putting the 2.2 update on hold. We’ll update you as soon as possible and would like to thank our HTC Desire customers for their patience.

Thanks
JP”

If you have yet to upgrade your device, you can probably find the O2 update.zip floating around somewhere. We would recommend that you leave that one alone until O2 can push a bug-free version of 2.2 to your device.

Via: TalkAndroid

The other week we posed a question to readers of CrackBerry asking what apps they would like to see come to BlackBerry from other smartphone platforms. The post got a pretty solid response with a wide mix of apps and games suggested, so we combed through the comments to assemble a quick Top 10 list. Hopefully some of these developers out there are paying attention!

Top 10 Apps CrackBerry Readers Would Like to See Come to BlackBerry

1. Angry Birds
2. ESPN / Sportscenter App
3. Mint.com
4. Tweetdeck
5. Weight Watchers
6. Plants v. Zombies
7. Dropbox (currently in beta for BlackBerry, so this one is coming soon!)
8. a better Facebook app! (technically shouldn’t be on the list, but we can’t help but agree)
9. Netflix (an official one)
10. Words with Friends.

And there were a LOT more suggestions than that. If you’re curious to see them all, jump over to our original post and browse the comments. As for the #1 pick, while the popular Angry Birds iPhone/iPad game doesn’t quite meet RIM’s definition of a BlackBerry Super App, there’s no denying it’s one that the people want to see come to BlackBerry (myself included!). 

Reminder: Super Apps Challenge Sept 6th Deadline Approaching: While we’re talking what apps we’d like to see come to BlackBerry, it’s a good time to remind all the BlackBerry Developers out there that September 6th deadline for the BlackBerry Developer Fund’s 2010 Super Apps Developer Challenge is almost here. This year the BlackBerry Partners Fund is looking for anyone who is building super apps. Be it an application which you feel is already a super app or a new app you are currently working on. At stake is over $1.5 Million worth of prizes and includes developer services from leading industry partners, featured placements on BlackBerry App World, marketing programs from Research In Motion and much more. If you are a BlackBerry developer who is delivering super apps, you’ll want to take on the BlackBerry Developer Fund’s 2010 Super Apps Developer Challenge. The full list of contest prizes, eligibility and requirements are available on the BlackBerry Partners Fund website, just click the link.

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Top 10 Apps users would like to see on BlackBerry; Reminder to Devs: Super Apps Challenge Deadline Almost Here!

View full post on CrackBerry.com blogs

Canadian Milestone users that have been patiently waiting for a Froyo update are going to have to wait a little longer.  Yesterday, Motorola updated their software update list, and the Milestone is now slated for a Froyo OTA update in Q1 2011.  Fear not my fellow Canadians, Hockey will be starting soon, and that should make you forget about Froyo until next June.  For now, practice your waiting game a bit more.

Canadian Milestone users will not be seeing Froyo this year

View full post on Google Android News Android Forums