Android Portal & Community

Since today an Android Roadmap is available which shows the next in the whole Android Development and last but not least also when Android Phones / Devices will sold to the public.

• 12 November, 2007 - “Early Look” SDK released
• January to August, 2008 - Android Developer Challenge I
• 18 August, 2008 - Android 0.9 SDK beta released
• September 2008 - additional Android 1.0 (pre) SDK releases made available, as necessary
• Q3 - Q4 2008 - Android 1.0 SDK release 1 available (first actual 1.0-compatible SDK)
• Q4 2008 - Android 1.0 devices available at retail
• Q4 2008 - Source code released
• Q4 2008 - Key Announcement on Android Developer Challenge II

Just some minutes ago google announced the availability of a new BETA Release of the Android SDK.

The new Release is the first big step on the SDK’s road to compatibility with 1.0. Since this is a beta release, applications developed with it may not quite be compatible with devices running the final Android 1.0. The APIs seem to be pretty stable right now and google don’t expect any major changes in till Version 1.0. In the current 0.9 Version the APIs for Bluetooth and GTalk Service were removed. But perhaps they will find the way back in the SDK later with 1.0. Here are some more details about the new SDK 0.9 for Android Phone Development:

• First and most obviously, the new Home screen is included, along with a ton of UI changes for 1.0.
• Some new applications are included: an Alarm Clock, Calculator, Camera, Music player, Picture viewer, and Messaging (for SMS/MMS conversations.)
• Several new development tools were added, such as a graphical preview for XML layouts for users of Eclipse, and a tool for constructing 9-patch images.
• A number of new APIs are fleshed out and improved, and others are now close to their final forms for 1.0.
• Tons of bugs were fixed, of course. (If you had problems with the MediaPlayer, try it now!)

As just published, the new Android Phone which will be offered by T-Mobile USA is definitly called “Dream” (Model DREA100) and has just passed the FCC. There also exists a model with builtin WiFi 802.11b/g. Both models will have a 3G Chip inside to surf the web at full speed. The ” jogball” which is shown in nearly all videos will also be built into this device for easy surfing and menu navigation.

Here are some specs for the HTC Google Phone:

• Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR
• 802.11b/g WiFi
• Jogball
• Wider display than Iphone - a 5″ long by 3″ wide touch screen
• GSM/GPRS/EDGE 850/1900 AND WCDMA 1700 (3G)
• 3 Megapixel builtin camera
• a slide out Qwerty keypad
• Colors: white,brown,black

It looks like that with the news about the upcoming android HTC “G1/Dream” Device, Google will also Release a new SDK to the public. Some people in the official IRC channel stated that a new SDK will be released and it will contain nearly 30% changes to the current SDK, which should include renamed, removed and added APIs. Also tons of the current Bugs/Issues which are filled at the official Android Bugtracker will be obsolete after the new SDK release.

It seems that after a long period of zero SDK Updates and News for Devices, the whole Android thing is coming up to new speed and we can expect more and more details in the near future because of the T-Mobile HTC Device public release. So stay tuned for more breaking news…

Since some days, more and more rumours are getting written on Blogs and Websites about Android. So it seems that T-Mobile USA will be the first carrier which will ship HTC (one of worlds biggest mobile device manufacturer) based devices including Android as the operating system on it. It seems that the Phones are expected  to go into sale in October for people which already have a T-Mobile Plan. Later also new customers will be able to buy the HTC device. Most sites on the net talk about prices between 150$ and 250$, perhaps it will depend on your current plan or how long you have your plan @ t-Mobile.

Perhaps you already used apple`s App Store ? T-Mobile is also planning a Store for Android powered phones where you can download commercial and free apps/games for your device. This is due to the fact that more and more people want to customize their mobile with usefull appications instead of the already installed apps. Hopefully we see some of the “Android Developer Challenge” Applications in this store ready to download and use.

Here are some of the android phone specs which can be also found on various sites on the net:

- 3G (UMTS/HSDPA)
- 3 Megapixel builtin camera
- a 5″ long by 3″ wide touch screen
- a slide out Qwerty keypad
- Colors: white,brown,black

If you wanna see a video of the HTC device with Android running on it, have a look at the following Youtube page:

H

Just found an interesting room for android news on friendfeed.com

http://friendfeed.com/rooms/android

Jason Chen, Dan Morill from Google and other people are posting some really interesting stuff there, like a PDf which is published for wired.com, In this PDF Daniel Roth is writing about the future and goals of the Android Stack. So, have a look at the PDF which is just called “The Google Phone” and start with a very promising header:

“Here comes Android, the open source operating system that will break the corporate stranglehold on the wireless web, make it fun to surf from your cell, And (oh yeah) scoop up billions of dollars in mobile Ads.”

Screenshot of the PDF:

Today the Team of GClue, Inc. Japan will release a first Beta Version of their Golf Application for Android named “Golfzilla”. You will probably think why is it so important to write about a Golf Game on a mobile? Because this is not a simple Golf game, its a MashUp between a mobile game and the built in Google Maps application from Android. Here is the offical press release text which we got this night by the GClue Team :

We release Android Application “Golfzilla” Beta at Today.
Golfzila is mashed up application with Google Map’s real
map picture. We can play golf game on Google Map.

We schedule final release at end of 2008. And final version,
we support P2P vattle mode that using by GTalk, and ranking
that used by Google App Engine.

More information of “Golfzilla”:

Youtube:

PicaSa:
http://picasaweb.google.co.jp/gclue.akira/Golfzilla

GClue Homepage:
http://gclue.com/

Yesterday we found an interesting video on YouTube showing the first real android device with real nice applications like google street view including a compass system. also a nice feature of unlocking the android home screen was shown, you simply have to paint a line on the device which will then unlock the device if the line was correctly painted. Simple but usefull and cool idea instead of using passwords or a pin. The webbrowser (web kit engine) supports nearly the same features like the iphone safari browser, but on addition to the apple one, it supports zooming into page content via a magnifying glass. So i must say, i was impressed by the features and hope they will release an android mobile devide as soon as possible.

Now that round 1 of the Android Developer Challenge has come to a close everyone in the community is obviously anxious to see the winning 50 entries. The ADC organizers have promised to publish an opt-in list of winners very soon. Unfortunately that’s not out yet, but we can already give you an early look at some of the winning applications.

Please note: This list is based on what we learned on the ADC mailing list and various blogs, so it’s neither complete nor confirmed. We will updating this post as new info becomes available. If you’re one of the lucky 50 and wish to be included/excluded or have any corrections to offer, feel free to contact us or post a comment.

Update 1: Added Marvin, BreadCrumz and Eco2Go.

Update 2: Enhanced “callacab-android”with the help of the developers of the project.

So here they are (in no particular order):

CALL A CAB - ANDROID

With CallACab it is possible to get a cab anywhere you are with just
a single click. No need to know a cab company number, no need to know
your current address. Just a single click and the cab is on its way.”

LOCALE

(picture courtesy of www.crunchgear.com)

Locale is one of 7 Android applications submitted by MIT students. It enables you to set up location- and time-based profiles for your phone, so you can make it shut up when you’re at work, forward calls to your landline when you’re at home. This could save forgetful church-goers a lot of embarassment, I imagine.

POCKET JOURNEY

(picture courtesy of www.pocketjourney.com)

Pocket Journey is an application that lets you access user-generated audio and video guides based on your location. There’s a neat demo video on the developers’ website.

ANDROID SCAN

(picture courtesy of scan.jsharkey.org)

Android Scan lets you scan barcodes and searches a number of stores for the best prices. It can even find reviews for CD’s and books, play sample tracks and search your local library for the titles. More info and a demo video to be found on the author’s website.

SPLASHPLAY

(picture courtesy of www.splashplay.co.uk)

SplashPlay is an interactive guitar-trainer for Android. More information here and here.

COMMANDRO

(picture courtesy of www.commandro.net)

Commandro offers location-based social networking and instant messaging. More information at www.commandro.net.

GOLFPLAY

GolfPlay is an application for Golf players. It provides rotateable maps, scoring, statistics and weather information. Website: http://www.inizziativa.com/GolfPlay/

MARVIN

(picture courtesy of marvin.lpontier.com)

Marvin is a geo browser that lets you place user-desined objects on a map. More info at http://marvin.lpontier.com/

BREADCRUMBZ

Apltly named BreadCrumbz is an application that provides picture- and map-based navigation and enables you to generate and share geo content with other users. Project website: http://www.bcrumbz.com

ECO2GO

(picture courtesy of www.eco2go.org)

Eco2go calculates your carbon footprint, finds public transit alternatives for your trips and provides sustainable living community functions. Website: http://www.eco2go.org

BIOWALLET

A biometric authentication system for Android. This application features iris recognition and can act as a password safe and provide single sign-on for other Android apps.

MOBEEDO

Mobile search engine.

And here is a list of the “50″ winners, as you might notice, the list contains “46″ Winners, this is due to the privacy of 4 submitters. They want to keep their app secret.In my opinion, these 4 hidden android applications must be a killer if they still hide them.

• AndroidScan - Jeffrey Sharkey
• Beetaun - Sergey Gritsyuk and Dmitri Shipilov
• BioWallet - Jose Luis Huertas Fernandez
• BreadCrumbz - Amos Yoffe
• CallACab - Konrad Huebner and Henning Boeger
• City Slikkers - PoroCity Media and Virtual Logic Systems
• Commandro - Alex Pisarev, Andrey Tapekha
• Cooking Capsules - Mary Ann Cotter and Muthuselvam Ramadoss
• Diggin - Daniel Johansson, Aramis Waernbaum, Andreas Hedin
• Dyno - Virachat Boondharigaputra
• e-ventr - Michael Zitzelsberger
• Eco2go - Taneem Talukdar, Gary Pong, Jeff Kao and Robert Lam
• Em-Radar - Jack Kwok
• fingerprint - Robert Mickle
• FreeFamilyWatch - Navee Technologies LLC
• goCart - Rylan Barnes
• GolfPlay - Inizziativa Networks
• gWalk - Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus ten Hagen, Christian Klinger, Marko Modsching, Rene Scholze
• HandWx - Weathertop Consulting LLC
• IMEasy - Yan Shi
• Jigsaw - Mikhail Ksenzov
• JOYity - Zelfi AG
• LifeAware - Gregory Moore, Aaron L. Obrien, Jawad Akhtar
• Locale - Clare Bayley, Christina Wright, Jasper Lin, Carter Jernigan
• LReady Emergency Manager - Chris Hulls, Dilpreet Singh, Luis Carvalho, Phuong Nguyen
• Marvin - Pontier Laurent
• Mobeedo - Sengaro GmbH
• Multiple Facets Instant Messenger - Virgil Dobjanschi
• MyCloset - Mamoru Tokashiki
• PedNav - RouteMe2 Technologies Inc.
• Phonebook 2.0 - Voxmobili
• PicSay - Eric Wijngaard
• PiggyBack - Christophe Petit and Sebastien Petit
• Pocket Journey - Anthony Stevens and Rosie Pongracz
• Rayfarla - Stephen Oldmeadow
• Safety Net - Michael DeJadon
• SocialMonster - Ben Siu-Lung Hui and Tommy Ng
• SplashPlay
• Sustain- Keeping Your Social Network Alive - Niraj Swami
• SynchroSpot - Shaun Terry
• Talkplay - Sung Suh Park
• Teradesk - José Augusto Athayde Ferrarini
• The Weather Channel for Android - The Weather Channel Interactive Inc.
• TuneWiki - TuneWiki Inc.
• Wikitude-the Mobile Travel Guide - Philipp Breuss
• Writing Pad - ShapeWriter Inc