Planet Android

Wow, what a change a few months make. As most of you know, HTC have announced a new phone called the HTC Hero which seems to be the first phone to get the uk press genuinely excited and with only one mention (so far! ) of the monotonous tone of it being an Iphone killer.

Most of the press seemed to be lauding its support for the tech-love of the moment that is twitter. If any of them bothered to do any research they would know that all android phones have had twitter capability since virtually day one via the market. Whatever gets the press excited about android works fine for me.

What HTC did right…..

HTC seemed to have flown directly to the 3rd time lucky spot with hero. It seems to have all the items left out of the previous incarnations of its flagship phones.
Multitouch pinch, better widgets, better keyboard, better battery life, better camera, standard audio jack… its all here. If this phone had a hardware keyboard (which incidentally I hear is coming) then this would be my dream phone.

Secondly I always thought that HTC had missed a trick in keeping their devices locked to a single carrier. Post launch the HTC magic and G1  virtually disappeared from adverts.  This clearly didn’t go unnoticed by HTC who are planning to launch the Hero through both Orange and Tmobile.   Hopefully the competition between the two will drive down prices and create a more sustained publicity drive.

What are the downsides of HTC’s move?

Firstly, a part of me thinks that its wrong to upgrade to  a telephone, purely for software.  After all software can be loaded onto any other device, so the only real reason to upgrade is to get a better performing handset, with a better camera.

Secondly, Htc seems to be very quick out the gates and releasing the Hero so soon after the HTC magic, is bound to have some major detriment on the Magic, Vodafone, and no doubt the customers who ran out to buy the now legacy htc magic when it came out.

Looking at the big picture, HTC have fired the first warning shot Nuclear missile across the bow of its competitors who are planning to release android phones this year.  The UI is fresh, flash and works great and has made this the standard against all future phones are judged.

Its all just got really interesting people.

After watching the video from Orange showing off the phone, I must admit I am very tempted to throw my G1 to the wind and bring on that Hero goodness.

Take a look at Orange’s great Youtube video showing off the phone- nice work gents.

The phone is scheduled for release in the UK in the next two weeks, and like many of you, I will be waiting with baited breath.  For those thate are looking to order it, the graphite HTC Hero can be purchased here from Orange, and the Tmbile link is yet to be released.

Related posts:

1. HTC Magic Review Roundup Now that t
2. T-mobile G1 Touch Announced! Great News

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

China Mobile isn’t projected to offer an App Store to its nearly 500  million subscribers until September, but the Mobile App Store website (mmarket.com) was found up and running today. Mostly with broken links, sure - but the implications are humongous.

China Mobile is launching their “OPhone” later this year which is slated to be an extremely customized version of Android. While HTC Sense takes Android and gives it a next gen “TouchFlo 3D” feel, OPhone gives Android a very iPhone look - at least that is how the previews appear.

Also on the site is a link for Android Market. Considering China’s censorship of the web via government, I’m wondering what type of implications this will have on the OPhone and Android Market in China. Any way you look at it, offering Android to 500 million people will certainly increase adoption dramatically.

Developers might not be all that happy as local sources are saying China Mobile will take a whopping 50% of all paid applications purchased. We’ll keep our eyes on the China Mobile App Store, OPhone and Android Market for sure.

[Via PCWorld]

Post from: Google And Blog

4 Must Have Free Android Apps for the Next Time you Hit the Road

Driving can be one of life’s finest frustrations. Getting lost, encountering traffic, and not being able to find exactly what your looking for are all stresses that make driving, especially in an unknown area, such an unpleasant experience. Thankfully, through the power of Android, drivers can download several applications that can curb these stresses and make driving a more pleasant experience. So without further adieu, here are four must have free android apps for the next time you hit the road.

1) Waze

Waze is a sweet social mobile application that enables drivers to build and use live maps and real-time traffic updates for an optimized commute. When you use Waze, not only do you get access to constantly updated driving maps and turn-by-turn directions, but you also receive live road condition reports from other users in the area.

On top of getting the best route to your destination, you can also find out about road annoyances such as traffic, hazards, road construction and even police traps before you’ve left your driveway. Ultimately, by using Waze, you will be able to save time, fuel and much of the frustration that comes with day-to-day commuting.

Waze looks like it could be one of the most interesting and useful applications that have surfaced in a long time.

Of course, since it is 100% powered by users, it will only gain value as more and more people start using it.

This app clearly has a lot of potential and I hope it catches on for the sake of my daily commute.

2)Google Maps V 3.1

Obviously many people are familiar with Google Maps but did you know that Google released an updated version for Android with a few new cool features? Aside from a new and improved UI, Google Maps 3.1 now includes the option to search anything through voice recognition.

Additionally, using this new version of Google Maps, you will be able to see ratings & reviews straight from Google Maps Mobile whereas previously this information was only available on the web.

Other cool new features to Google Maps 3.1 are options for directions using either public transportation or simply by walking. As you would expect from Google, it has public transportation coverage for almost every major city in the US.

As of now, this updated version of Google Maps will not come automatically to your Android phone. You must visit the Android Market and download it manually.

3)Where

Driving to an unfamiliar destination? If so, be sure to have this useful app handy.

Where allows you to find everyday needs that are in their proximity at the click of a button.  Need a coffee? Click the Starbucks button. Low on gas? Click the gas button. Simple as that.

If you are looking for a specific business or restaurant, you can simply type it into the free text box and Where will locate it for you using the Yellow Pages directory.  Another option is to search within the Yelp directory, which contains reviews from other Yelpers.

In addition, Where provides you with news that is relevant to your proximity including whether and traffic reports. You can even ask advice about anything from locals living in the area by posting a message on their Where walls, a nice social feature.  Overall Where is an easy app that can help you adapt quickly in unfamiliar places.

4) Zagat nru

Being in a new place can be a lot less fun if you haven’t a clue about good restaurants or bars to check out.

Fortunately the Zagat nru application can direct you to some well recommended restaurants, nightspots and shopping.

Being free, it beats buying a Zagat book or becoming a Zagat member.

The Zagat nru application has a cool UI shaped like a compass where Zagat-rated places appear with their direction and distance from your current location.

Reviews of a specific Zagat locale and maps of its location can be found by clicking on any of the results within the Zagat compass.

For some, you can even reserve a table right from your mobile.

The first Android-powered phone will launch in Japan on July 10th. New Japanese customers will have immediate access to free applications in the Android Market, with paid apps following sometime later. That’s according to a notice sent from Google’s Eric Chu to Android app developers late Wednesday. Bulgaria and Romania are on the target list after Japan, first with phones and free apps and then with paid apps.

In other news, Google says that the over the air roll-out of Android 1.5 (Cupcake) is “nearly complete”. And of course, all new phones come with 1.5 already installed. That means that Android developers can take advantage of 1.5 features such as Home screen app widgets without worrying about trying to support older versions.

(And in other, other news, I just put the finishing touches on an update of Hello, Android that features a new appendix on how to write app widgets in Cupcake. The update will be free to all owners of the PDF, mobi, or epub versions, and cheap for owners of the dead tree version.)

[ Follow me on Twitter at: @eburnette ]

Continue reading: Full text of the notice from Eric Chu >

Babbler for Android is the first full-featured native Facebook application.

Babbler is the first application developed to cover nearly all the features offered by the Facebook Platform, including direct video and photo uploads.
Thanks to the Open Stream API, Babbler behaves just like any other application from the Facebook Application Directory and needs to be authorized before it can act on a user's behalf. This ensures that the account data and privacy are secure and that the application cannot be used for spamming.
Just like in the full Facebook site, the default screen that Babbler shows on launch is the Feed, which enables users to post, read, „like” and comment on updates and Wall posts. It also provides quick access to friends' profiles , albums, events and tagged photos. The „Friends” section shows all users' conections, additionaly providing information on whether his/her friends are online at the moment.

website: www.babblerforandroid.com

Rogers Wireless slashes Android PricingOn June 2nd, after an extensive advertising campaign encouraging consumers to "Join the Revolution," Rogers released the HTC Dream and HTC Magic Android powered phones for $150 on a three year contract.
But just a month later, Rogers Wireless has announced that they will be lowering the prices of both the HTC Dream and HTC Magic to $99.99.
Whether the 33% price reduction just one month after its introduction is due to tough economic times or due to the June 17th launch the iPhone 3G S is unclear.
via Digital Home

YouMail has launched their Visual Voicemail Plus (VVP) app in the Android Market, allowing users to play and see their voicemail right on their handset. Further, there are all kinds of other features that come with the app.

• Completely visual - see who called, from where, and even their picture (when before all you had was their number!)
• Use your smart phone or your computer - or you can still dial in like before (if you feel the need!)
• Save time - Point, click and play or delete.

Enabling the Ecosystem is a series of interviews with those people and firms that are helping to build the overall Android ecosystem.

Today we wrap up the interview with Rick Pierson of ABBYY’s Mobility Group.

AG: How accurate are the recognitions?

RP: The accuracy rate depends on two factors; the camera and the photographer.  The camera has to have autofocus if you want to OCR magazine and business card sized print, the megapixels are not as important as the autofocus.  ABBYY does recommend a 2+ megapixel camera with autofocus.

The person taking the photograph does have to take a good quality picture, the better the photo the higher the OCR accuracy.

When I’m demoing one of ABBYY’s applications like business card reader on a Nokia n-95 (5 megapixels with autofocus) my recognition is usually 99% or better.

AG: How fast are those recognitions? After all, mobile phones do not have screaming-fast CPUs.

RP: This depends on the size of the image being OCR’ed and the quality of the picture.  On a Nokia N-95 it takes about 12 seconds once the photograph has been take to OCR the card, parse the information from the card and place it into the correct field in the handset contact list.  The OCR engine running on the handset was designed for smaller OCR applications; business card reader, poster, placard, paragraph from a magazine, etc.

ABBYY Mobile OCR Engine is a flexible and convenient technology that allows you to change its setting depending on the objective and the set of goals. You can select one of the two mobile recognition modes:

• Fast mode of express recognition – it is most convenient when the image is of good quality and allows cutting down the time required for its recognition and processing
• Full mode for accurate recognition – it is best for low-quality images, when more time is required to achieve the optimal result

The applications that will use the mobile OCR are not targeted for multiple full page OCR applications, if you want to build an application for that then we strongly suggest using ABBYY’s server based OCR solutions.

AG: If a developer wanted to deploy MOCR in their application, how much of a footprint will it require?

RP: The ABBYY Mobile OCR Engine is a compact code OCR technology and is optimized to work with small memory size systems such as mobile phones:

• ROM: 2.5 – 3Mb for program installation plus 0.5-1 Mb per recognition language; CJK requires 10 Mb per language.
• RAM: 2.5 – 3Mb for program storage plus 0.5-1 Mb for each recognition language used; 1.5 – 5Mb for program operation; 1 – 3Mb for storing the input picture/image file.

Exact memory requirements vary depending on the operating system and specific recognition tasks (e.g. multilingual recognition requires more memory).

We have a new algorithm for memory management which allows the system to determine the exact memory size required to process an image. This eliminates the necessity to allocate significant memory segments in advance, which has an impact on the recognition speed and the application’s capability to work reliably, ensuring efficiency and fast performance speed.

AG: Is it truly standalone, working on a disconnected device? Or does it communicate back to a server to perform the actual OCR function?

RP: The ABBYY Mobile OCR engine does the OCR on the handset without any connection to a network, it is truly stand alone.  ABBYY does however also offer a server based OCR solution, this is our “full” OCR engine called FineReader 9.  FineReader has more functionality however it is also 10 times the size of the Mobile version.

We used a custom Comparator in the previous post to be able to compare Strings content in our mock object's method invocations.

While this method is valid a more generic approach would be to introduce hamcrest, a library of matcher objects (also known as constraints or predicates) allowing 'match' rules to be defined declaratively, to be used in other frameworks. Hamcrest also provides adaptors for EasyMock 2.



We will be revisiting our previous example introducing hamcrest for our matchers.

Hamcrest matchers

Hamcrest comes with a library of useful matchers. Here are some of the most important ones.

    · Core
          o anything - always matches, useful if you don't care what the object under test is
          o describedAs - decorator to adding custom failure description
          o is - decorator to improve readability - see "Sugar", below
    · Logical
          o allOf - matches if all matchers match, short circuits (like Java &&)
          o anyOf - matches if any matchers match, short circuits (like Java ||)
          o not - matches if the wrapped matcher doesn't match and vice versa
    · Object
          o equalTo - test object equality using Object.equals
          o hasToString - test Object.toString
          o instanceOf, isCompatibleType - test type
          o notNullValue, nullValue - test for null
          o sameInstance - test object identity
    · Beans
          o hasProperty - test JavaBeans properties
    · Collections
          o array - test an array's elements against an array of matchers
          o hasEntry, hasKey, hasValue - test a map contains an entry, key or value
          o hasItem, hasItems - test a collection contains elements
          o hasItemInArray - test an array contains an element
    · Number
          o closeTo - test floating point values are close to a given value
          o greaterThan, greaterThanOrEqualTo, lessThan, lessThanOrEqualTo - test ordering
    · Text
          o equalToIgnoringCase - test string equality ignoring case
          o equalToIgnoringWhiteSpace - test string equality ignoring differences in runs of whitespace
          o containsString, endsWith, startsWith - test string matching

hasToString matcher

Let's create a matcher to replace stringCmp. EasyMock2Adapter is an adapter class provided by hamcrest.

import org.hamcrest.integration.EasyMock2Adapter; import org.hamcrest.object.HasToString;        /**      * Create an {@link EasyMock2Adapter} using a      * {@link HasToString.hasToString}      *      * @param <T> The original class of the arguments      * @param o The argument to the comparison      * @return o      */     public static <T> T hasToString(T o) {         EasyMock2Adapter.adapt(             HasToString.hasToString(o.toString()));         return o;     }

testTextChanged

Now, the watcher mock object checks will include this matcher:

watcher.beforeTextChanged(hasToString(sar[i-1]),        eq(0), eq(sar[i-1].length()), eq(sar[i].length()));     watcher.onTextChanged(hasToString(sar[i]),        eq(0), eq(sar[i-1].length()), eq(sar[i].length()));     watcher.afterTextChanged(        hasToString(Editable.Factory.getInstance()        .newEditable(sar[i])));

Conclusion

We have introduced hamcrest that makes a great number of matchers and the ability to create new ones and adapt them to be used by EasyMock.

---

Copyright © 2009 Diego Torres Milano. All rights reserved.

Illusion Labs has announced the full version of their popular Labyrinth game with over 1,000 levels. Also available is a feature that gives users the ability to create custom levels using an online level editor.

Labyrinth is the classic game where you control a steel ball by tilting a wooden labyrinth. It is available for Android. The full version of Labyrinth has over 1000 levels and is controlled by the accelerometer with high accuracy. Labyrinth has been downloaded more than 5 000 000 times (Yes, 5.0 million!).

via Android Guys

Illusion Labs has announced the full version of their popular Labyrinth game with over 1,000 levels. Also available is a feature that gives users the ability to create custom levels using an online level editor.

The free version of the classic wooden maze game involving balls, holes, and tons of frustration has been downloaded over over 500,000 times from the Android Market.   It has been among the most popular titles in the market since its release.  The game comes in both 2D and 3D flavors so players can choose which version they like best.

It appears as though EngadgetMobile has spotted a version of the HTC Hero with 850/1900MHz 3G support for AT&T’s network on the U.S. government’s FCC website.  This does not necessarily mean that we will see that version of the device sold in this country, though.  Often devices are approved by the FCC even when they don’t go [...]

Connect 4 Online is a multiplayer-enabled version of the classic “four in a row” game. The aim is to connect four pieces either horizontal, vertical or diagonal — before your opponent does! Enjoy worldwide multiplayer games with random opponents or in private rooms. A computer opponent with three difficulties is available for offline games, as well as a variable grid size! The game can be found in the market under “Games -> Brain & Puzzle -> By Date“.

The game connects to a simple threading TCP-Server written in python, which pairs new players, sends the game-signal and passes the game-stats around. A typical delay on a GSM network is just around 50 to 100 milliseconds; easily sufficient for a round-based multiplayer game.

• Real-Time Server Visualization

We have bundled the game with an android emulator (for linux and windows), so it’s not even restricted to playing on the actual android devices. Anyone can download the bundle, unzip it and jump right into the game! :-D (The downside of this approach is that the bundle has to include qemu and the full android stack, counting up to ~ 40 MB)

• Download for Linux
• Download for Windows

Enjoy the game, and let us know what you think of it! :-)

We have just stumbled across a note sent by Google’s Eric Chu on Wednesday evening to the numerous Android app developers. It was made clear in no uncertain terms that the first Android powered phone will launch in Japan on July 10th. Furthermore, Google have added the ability to target applications to both Bulgaria and [...]

Having finally sorted their website, news from the Geeks’phone camp is starting to come smooth and steady. What’s more, we have somewhat of an exclusive to show you here. Below are a couple of pictures of the official prototype taken at their manufacturing plant in the Far East. After a closer inspection, it is clear [...]

We’ve already reported on the upcoming Android Archos internet media tablet, and in truth we still are awaiting official release date announcements and the full specification sheet. However, according to Register Hardware, Tony Limrick, Managing Director of Archos Northern Europe, advised those in attendance of their private London event held yesterday to keep 15 September [...]

Post from: Google And Blog

How to Make HTC Sense of the New Android Phones

The recent announcements of the expected myTouch 3G – aka The G2 for the United States – and the Hero – effectively a G2.5 – the most interesting is the new HTC Android UI called Sense.

HTC Sense is a new User Interface for Android from HTC which was previously called Rosie and originated from TouchFlo.

Sense is graphically impressive along with being relatively simple thus making “sense” as it provides:

• Breadth of inherent widgets
• Customized content profiles
• Combining your contacts IM, text messages, calls, status, photos, and social media into a single view
• FLASH Support

This last item is the MOST interesting in my view as its what most people have been clamoring for and makes for a true counterweight over the iPhone.

Processing power and depth of RAM is key for FLASH since its a huge drain of resources and why its taken so long to be ported effectively to mobile devices.

One of the hopes conveyed at Google I/O is that the advancement of HTML5 will remove the need for the processing burden of FLASH, Silverlight, & Flash FX for a full web experience.

Now, in my opinion, the best mobile web experience is enhanced by the 2 new Android phones recently announced – The myTouch 3G & Hero.

For clarity the myTouch 3G is just another name for the 2nd generation Android phone which also has other names:

• G2 (Android Engineers HATE this term)
• Sapphire (Initial name of the device that Android Engineers have been accustomed to using)
• Google Ion (Version given away by Google at Google IO 2009)
• Magic (Most common reference to the phone outside the United States)

Its like a Mattress store calling the same thing different names so its tough to compare prices from store to store.

The Hero is essentially a prettied up G1 minus the keyboard while the myTouch 3G is a smaller rounder device.

The myTouch 3G is nearly an ounce lighter than the Hero, while the Hero has a 3.5mm audio jack and nearly 2 megapixels higher camera along with its HTC Sense Android UI.

Under the hood they both have the same Qualcomm MSM7200A 528 MHz processor, 512 ROM, 288 RAM, and essentially the same battery of approximately 1350 mAh.

I questioned HTC why these phones have a MSM7200A processor which seems like a downgrade from the MSM7201A processor on the G1 – I was simply told there is no noticeable performance difference but not properly explained why the name change.

So HTC Sense makes “sense” on post G1 devices while as Android Engineers feared the G1 with its 256 ROM & 192 RAM will struggle.

In the end my “sense” is that for FLASH to be in a true usable state with Android the processing power NEEDS to be further advanced and increasing the RAM to at least 1GB.

The HTC Hero was approved by the FCC for the US, and it’s carrying AT&T’s 850/1900 MHz 3G bands. This doesn’t rule out the rumor of Sprint being a carrier of the Hero, but it seems more than likely AT&T will be the first to release the hot new handset. We’ll keep you posted once we start seeing leaked internal memos.

If you’re having trouble sleeping, head over to the FCC’s website for some really dry reading PDFs on the Hero.

[via Engadget]

LaunchIt is your hub for searching and organizing content on your Android phone. Think of LaunchIt as your universal search beast: find favorite bookmarks, locate apps in the android market, access phone settings, SMS and so on.  It’s almost like a type of Quicksilver (or Launchy on PC) for your Android.

Worthwhile Features:

• Send Tweets within app
• Keeps track of things you launch
• Remembers your most common actions: favorites
• Keep shortcut in Notification bar
• Search filters
• Build in skins; more coming
• Voice commands: open programs
• Updates data atomically
• Index: Contacts, SMS, Calendar, Browser, Apps, Music, Gmail
• Voice search
• Create Live Folder: able to group any kind of content together in a folder
• Change commands
• Reorder Lists
• Search Amazon, Wikipedia, Google and Android Market

Another notable feature isn’t the app but its developer. App development is ongoing and Tim Hoeck doesn’t seem to be slowing down. The app’s speed could be better, but that is also being improved.  The app isn’t flawless but is heading in that direction. With many of its options and features bundled together it saves time because of less jumping around.

LaunchIt may be a winner for productivity buffs out there.  Users will appreciate the countless options and features the app offers. The developer gives users quite a bit of control which may speedup or slowdown operations/commands, including overall performance.  Compared to other search apps available, LaunchIt stands head and shoulders above the rest.

Check out the following video walk through from the developer.

[Review submitted by Miguel Wickert]

Yet another Android handset from a rather unknown manufacturer. Available from a Russian company called Vobis Computer, and previously known as a Windows Mobile handset called the Mobinnova Ice. The handset is called the HighScreen PP5420, and it appears to already be on sale in Russia only for 15,990 Rubles, or about $514USD. The unique selling point is the secondary touch-sensitive OLED display that replaces the trackball on most of the other Android handsets we’re familiar with. As well as being the first Android handset for Russia. Hit the link for the full the specs.

[HighScreen PP5420 (Translated page)] [via Unwired View]

Although not yet available for preorder yet, the HTC Hero has appeared on the Orange UK website. Sporting the sexy graphite, which I think looks better than the white. According to their earlier statement, it should be available within a week or two, with prices starting from FREE with qualifying plans and contract.

[Orange UK]

There have been grumblings about a July 8th launch event for the T-Mobile MyTouch 3G and we can now confirm this is 100% true because we’ve just received our invitation!

So take off work, schedule a fake doctors appointment or just sit in your office chair with Phandroid on refresh and enjoy while we bring you as much awesome coverage as we humanly can. A ridiculous amount of people weren’t down with the physical keyboard of the G1 but craved an all-touch Android on T-Mo and that time has almost come…

The company line on the HTC Hero has been Europe in July, Asia later this summer and North America before the year ends. That last part crushed the spirits of many Americans and Canadians craving the latest and greatest Android. Fortunately for us the FCC has come through with  July 4th holiday weekend spirit by giving Americans a little something to chew on:

FCC documents show approval for WCDMA 850/1900 MHz which - guess what? - would point to an AT&T bound HTC Hero! Earlier rumors have been focused on the Hero coming to Sprint but maybe, just maybe, the phone will truly save the day by coming to multiple carriers.

I know there are a lot of you saying the sooner the better and we couldn’t agree more. AT&T, Verizon and Sprint need to get their Android on ASAP!

UPDATE: The confidentiality agreement requests confidentiality agreement for 180 days starting May 29th which suggests this HTC Hero flavor wouldn’t launch until the very end of 2009 at best.

[FCC via EngadgetMobile]

(Scroll down for the pictures!!!)

It was only last week that Vodafone held a high-priced and celebrity-filled Hotel party to celebrate the launch of the HTC Magic in New Zealand. For some reason, only a week later, all instances of the HTC Magic have not only been yanked from the website but they are nowhere to be found on store shelves either. What did Vodafone New Zealand officials have to say about this? Not much:

The response to calls to Vodafone retailers this morning was that the phone can be bought for $1099, but there are none in stock and it is not clear when it will again become available.

Vodafone spokesman Paul Brislen said that the phone’s sudden absence was due to a “commercial issue that Vodafone is having” but declined to give any details.

“We are working to resolve it,” he said.

The disappearing act was first noted by blogger Ben Gracewood who attended the party, snapped a bunch of pics, posted them on his blog and then received a request from Vodafone to take all his pictures down. Some are suggesting that Vodafone’s use of a naked woman with the Google logo painted on her body for promotional purposes has caused conflict between carrier and Google about the use of their “With Google” branded phone.

Here is that picture:

The story was then picked up by larger outlets like ComputerWorld and New Zealand Herald, the former of which is running with a much more graphic version of the nude/painted and unauthorized Google painted woman - see left.

Gracewood complied with Vodafone’s request but then realized his freedoms and reposted the picture with an apology to his readers, noting his “obligation” to them. Surely he isn’t the only one with pictures from the event… if you’ve got some send them to us! And preferably one where that young lady right there turns around!

The invitation to the event seemed to showboat the line-crossing things one might see my attending:

Vodafone’s invitation to its “Black & White Launch Party” last week reads: “Elephants, snow, oompa loompas and roller girls, Vodafone parties have them all and more. This year it’s time for party goers from outside the walls of Vodafone to experience Black & White Magic.

“Create history with us as we combine the infamous party style of Vodafone with the Magic of a phone even Google have put their [sic] name on.

“Heck, if you ever needed a reason to party this is it, dress in black or dress in white but dress to be seen at the only party this year that will have you struggling to explain the facebook snaps to your granny.”

The spinsters are spinning this as a tech related issue with the phone although we can understand how Google would be protective of this situation - afterall the “With Google” phones have certain rules and stipulations assigned with leveraging the Google brand. If you want to have naked women steampeding around a hotel party - use your own darn brand (and invite us to the party)!

Of course the connection between the party pictures and removal of the phone from Vodafone New Zealand is pure speculation based on the timing of these two things in addition to the alledged take-down request of the pictures.

Thoughts? Or are you still drooling… you pig!

SEND US YOUR PICTURES OF THIS EVENT AND WE WILL KEEP THE GALLERY UPDATED HERE!!!

The smart phone market is getting more crowded all the time as handset makers are expanding the product lines.  Every carrier now has at least one smart phone hovering around the $200 price point.  How does one hope to grab market share in an increasingly more competitive field?  How can a company like Motorola hope to get back in the game and compete against the likes of iPhone, Palm Pre and other high end phones?  They won’t.

And they’re not trying to.  And it’s okay with me.

Imagine the appeal of a $99 phone that does everything a G1 is capable of.  Users would be able to install all the same great apps that are available today and not break the bank up front.  Other countries are already offering Android phones free on contract.  Motorola would be wise to push the needle in that direction here in the states.

I could see Motorola dropping a phone like the Morrison just in time for Christmas.  Hit people right in the face with a $100 Android phone and watch that money roll in.  There is very little going on at that price point and if customers have their pick, they’ll go with the more advanced phones. If a carrier offers a mail-in rebate and gets the phone down around $50 for a few weeks, it could be difficult to keep in stock.

One could argue that Motorola needs to get in as soon as possible if they hope to turn heads again.  I’ve thought that in the past.  As time passes I think they are wiser for waiting a bit.  By the time Motorola’s Android devices arrive, there could be a half dozen other smart phones running Google’s OS.  Let people learn what Android can do and allow some of the better apps to roll out.

When the holidays roll around, customers will have much more of an overall awareness of Android.  That’s when you put out a phone that does all that, but at about half the cost.  We’ve heard for a long that time they are working on a device based around social networking.  Maybe they have some fancy widgets and apps preloaded, maybe they have a great UI in the works similar to HTC Sense.

I have the feeling that Motorola will get behind their handsets a little bit more than we’ve seen for the G1.  It wouldn’t surprise me to see them advertise their Android phones once they come out.  If the hardware looks right,  a great campaign could help them claw their way back.

And that’s okay with me.

In a previous post we analyzed the alternatives we have to run our tests on the Android platform and we suggested that the best way to create our tests is into a separate parallel project. As a convention this project will be named as the original project plus the Tests suffix.

For example if we have the MyAndroidProject project tests will be in MyAndroidProjectTests.

Create the project using this name, the same Build Target as the original project, Application name can be empty, for package name use the original project's package name appending the suffix .tests, and you can opt not to create an Activity as it's not needed in most cases.

As usual we will be using a variation of our AndroidTemperatureConverter project and consequently our tests will be in a parallel project named AndroidTemperatureConverterTests.

AndroidManifest.xml

Some changes must be introduced to the default AndroidManifest.xml to run our tests.

First, under Instrumentation, select the Name of the class implementing Instrumentation, usually android.test.InstrumentationTestRunner, the Target package and optionally a Label which is the one that will be displayed in the Instrumentation list as described in Running tests.

Target package is the package containing the code you are testing not your tests.

If you try to run the tests just now, you'll receive

ERROR: Application does not specify a android.test.InstrumentationTestRunner instrumentation or does not declare uses-library android.test.runner

To solve this, let's add android.test.runner as an uses library Application node.

Creating the TestSuite

We need a TestSuite, a Composite of Tests, to simply run all of our tests. Let's name this class AllTests.
Using TestSuiteBuilder we can automatically include all of the tests under the specified package. Obviously, we still don't have any test yet and the TestSuite will be initally empty.

/**  * Test suite  */ package com.example.tests; import android.test.suitebuilder.TestSuiteBuilder; import junit.framework.Test; import junit.framework.TestSuite; public class AllTests extends TestSuite {     public static Test suite() {         return new TestSuiteBuilder(AllTests.class)         .includeAllPackagesUnderHere()         .build();     } }

Running the tests

Using Run as... -> Android JUnit Test will run our, still empty, list of tests.

Conclusion

Organizing the tests into a seprate project gives you the advantage of isolating them and its dependencies in a different APK. Shortly we will be introducing mock objects for our tests, using libraries like EasyMock, and in such case we will be adding it to the build path of the tests project only keeping the tidiness of the target untouched.