The Official Google Mobile Blog has some information about Google Maps for the critically acclaimed T-Mobile G1. Google Maps on the G1 is more robust when compared to other mobile offerings. I might even go as far to say it looks better than it’s bigger brother on the desktop.

While I’m not a big fan of Streetview (or probably its because I’m not living in the US) I have to say I really dig that Maps on Android is integrated with email, IM and the web on the G1.

Maps is also integrated with email, IM, and the web on Android. For instance, street addresses that appear as plain text in these apps become touchable zones that you can click on to take you straight to Maps. Something similar happens when a Google Maps link is pasted into an email, IM or placed on a web page. When I touch it, I can choose whether to view the map in the browser, in Google Maps, or in any other application that’s built to handle what’s known to Android developers as an “intent.” Or, I can make the choice once and save it as my default map-viewing application

Check out below for a video of Google Maps for Android showing off on the G1

In our previous posts, we saw how to set up basic preference XML to drive an Android-supplied preferences view, and how to structure that XML into categories and screens. The net result was we could have this rich preference XML…that let you check checkboxes and pick ringtones.

Of course, not all preferences are checkboxes and ringtones. And so, today, we’ll take a peek at other forms of preferences, in an excerpt from The Busy Coder’s Guide to Android Development.

For preferences beyond checkboxes and ringtones, like entry fields and lists, Android uses pop-up dialogs. Users do not enter their preference directly in the preference UI activity, but rather tap on a preference, fill in a value, and click OK to commit the change. This is much like the ringtone selector, except that you control the content.

Structurally, in the preference XML, fields and lists are not significantly different from other preference types, as demonstrated in the following sample:

<PreferenceScreen
xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
<PreferenceCategory android:title="Simple Preferences">
<CheckBoxPreference
android:key="@string/checkbox"
android:title="Checkbox Preference"
android:summary="Check it on, check it off"
/>
<RingtonePreference
android:key="@string/ringtone"
android:title="Ringtone Preference"
android:showDefault="true"
android:showSilent="true"
android:summary="Ping a tone, any tone, even silence"
/>
</PreferenceCategory>
<PreferenceCategory android:title="Detail Screens">
<PreferenceScreen
android:key="detail"
android:title="Detail Screen"
android:summary="Additional preferences held in another page">
<CheckBoxPreference
android:key="@string/checkbox2"
android:title="Another Checkbox"
android:summary="On. Off. It really doesn't matter."
/>
</PreferenceScreen>
</PreferenceCategory>
<PreferenceCategory android:title="Simple Preferences">
<EditTextPreference
android:key="@string/text"
android:title="Text Entry Dialog"
android:summary="Click to pop up a field for entry"
android:dialogTitle="Enter something useful"
/>
<ListPreference
android:key="@string/list"
android:title="Selection Dialog"
android:summary="Click to pop up a list to choose from"
android:entries="@array/cities"
android:entryValues="@array/airport_codes"
android:dialogTitle="Choose a Pennsylvania city" />
</PreferenceCategory>
</PreferenceScreen>

With the field (EditTextPreference), in addition to the title and summary you put on the preference itself, you can also supply the title to use for the dialog.

With the list (ListPreference), you supply both a dialog title and two string-array resources: one for the display names, one for the values. These need to be in the same order – the index of the chosen display name determines which value is stored as the preference in the SharedPreferences. For example, here are the arrays for use by the ListPreference shown above:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<resources>
<string-array name="cities">
<item>Philadelphia</item>
<item>Pittsburgh</item>
<item>Allentown/Bethlehem</item>
<item>Erie</item>
<item>Reading</item>
<item>Scranton</item>
<item>Lancaster</item>
<item>Altoona</item>
<item>Harrisburg</item>
</string-array>
<string-array name="airport_codes">
<item>PHL</item>
<item>PIT</item>
<item>ABE</item>
<item>ERI</item>
<item>RDG</item>
<item>AVP</item>
<item>LNS</item>
<item>AOO</item>
<item>MDT</item>
</string-array>
</resources>

When you bring up the newly-revised preference UI, you start with another category with another pair of preference entries:

Tapping the Text Entry Dialog one brings up…a text entry dialog – in this case, with the prior preference entry pre-filled-in.

Tapping the Selection Dialog one brings up…a selection dialog, showing the display names from the one array:

If you’ve been following the entries into the Android Developers Challenge, you’re probably familiar with CompareEverywhere.  Formerly called Scan, it allows for users to scan UPC barcodes with their handset to find the best prices online and much more.  The creator and developer behind the app, Jeffrey Sharkey is one talented guy who just upped his Android street cred again.

After already winning $275,000 for his first application, Jeffrey is releasing his latest app for free.  Before we get into what the app does, we have to say the “free” move might do him a world of good.   His name is going to be everywhere as it is, but now he’ll be a superstar.  It’s a pretty safe bet that some bigger players are keeping an eye on him and may have already started trying to get in touch with him.

It was only a few days ago that the mobile tech fansites were all loving on the iTunes Remote application for iPhones.  People were describing it as one of the best apps to come from the App Store yet.  With the simple concept of controlling all of your music, video, movies and more stored on your computer or AppleTV, it hardly sounded revolutionary.  Just like you get with iTunes, the applications show you the album art and your playlists.  So where’s the draw? You control everything in your iTunes library as long as your connected together in the same network.  Yep, it’s a remote control for your PC or Apple TV.

It only took a few days for Sharkey to show people the beauty of Android by releasing his program…  For free.

I’ve written an Android client that implements the protocol, allowing your new Android phone to remote control iTunes out of the box, without any extra software. I’ve had several people with actual Android G1 handsets test it on several recent PC/Mac iTunes versions, all with very positive results.

So in a few weeks when you start firing up your G1’s, head over here and download the APK file and start rocking out!  And for you developer types who want to tinker and tweak, Jeffrey’s released the entire code under GPL license.  So who wants to make it play through your G1 and not the PC itself?!

Strapping on an unlimited data plan and remotely accessing your library sounds like lots of fun to us.

Congratulations to Jeffrey for yet another killer app!

See it in action here!

Android iTunes Remote Control from Jeffrey Sharkey on Vimeo.

A Dopod branded HTC Dream is expected to arrive some time in the first quarter of 2009, claims an insider.  The source said that the Chinese version of the G1 will be adapted to China’s network but no decision has been made as to whether or not it will be an EDGE or TD-SCDMA handset for data. Currently, TD-SCDMA, is a Chinese-developed technology that is the 3G standard in China.

According to TMT China, “as a partner of HTC, Dopod China sells selected models of HTC phones in China under the “Dopod” brand.  HTC agreed to acquire nine Dopod International subsidiaries in Asia for approximately $14.5 million in May 2007 and began to unify Dopod International’s products under the HTC brand.”

Dopod China was not involved in that acquisition and today they continue to making and selling phones under the Dopod brand in mainland China.

Jeffrey Sharkey, the Android developer behind Compare Everywhere, has put another notch in his Robot Belt… and this is a HUGE one. Sharkey has created an Android Application that works as a Remote Control for your iTunes. That’s right… you can use your T-Mobile G1 and future Android Phones as a remote control for iTunes on your PC or Mac!

Sharkey reversed engineered the technology on the iPhone and iPod Touch that allows for this and re-programmed it to work with Android. All you have to do is download the application, virtually NOTHING else is needed. And even better, in the open source spirit of Android, Sharkey has made the application FREE to download and supplied the FULL SOURCE CODE!

Take a look at the application in action on an emulator:

Congratulations, Jeffrey… this is an AMAZING application for Android and will surely be one of the most popular. This very application release serves as a great testament to what Android stands for and what consumers and tech enthusiasts can look forward to.

To give you a frame of reference, when the Application was launched for the iPhone it was one of the first that Gizmodo reviewed and they had this to say:

• There’s only one word to describe it: perfectomfgthisissocool
• Verdict: download it now.

Its getting harder and harder NOT to jump on the Android bandwagon. As Android progresses, so will the applications. Your phone might age, but the possibilities will always be increasing with an eternally expanding library of applications.

Android iTunes Remote Control is what Android is all about. Thank you and Congratulations to Jeffrey Sharkey and all the other developers out there who are making Android what it is!

Android DACP Remote Control

Ted Leung talks about the lack of dynamic languages in desktop applications. There's something ironic about that: Ted works for Sun Microsystems. Sun Microsystems, back in the day, was a big contributor to Tcl and Tk. Despite not being the "in thing", Tcl and Tk are used a lot more than people think. Not so much in the latest and greatest things being built now, due to the (undeservedly) "uncool" reputation, but in lots of products that are still chugging along, earning money and serving their users well, if not noisily so. Interestingly enough, my biggest client here in the Innsbruck area is one of these. They have offices worldwide, make a good living at what they do, and their user interface is mostly in Tk.

A quick note: I'm going to be in Oslo from the 20th to the 22nd of October. I probably won't have time to meet anyone, unfortunately, but if you are up for it, send me an email with a cell phone number and we'll see what can be arranged.

Also, I'm trying out Dopplr. I'm not a frequent traveller, but I really like to meet people when I do go someplace new:

http://www.dopplr.com/traveller/davidnwelton

Dopod China is planning to introduce a Chinese version of the G1 in the region for the first quarter of 2009.

“We intend to introduce the G1 to China, possibly in the first quarter of 2009, through a deal with High Tech Computer Corp. (HTC). It will be branded as a Dopod. We are now discussing a partnership with China Mobile,” a source from Dopod China told Interfax.

The Chinese G1 will be adapted to suit China’s network although Dopod have not currently decided whether the device will be EDGE or TD-SCDMA. With TD-SCDMA being the only 3G standard technology currently in use in China.

As a partner of HTC, Dopod China sells selected models of HTC phones in China under the “Dopod” brand.

[via InterFax]

Post from: Android Forum

Dopod To Bring The G1 To China In 2009

WiMAX is here.  And by here, well, we mean only Baltimore for the time being.  But it’s a great start for Sprint who looks to jump almost two years ahead of their competitors.

Competing network operators have reason to worry.  Over 70% of Baltimore is in a hotspot now thanks to the rollout of their Xohm WiMAX network.  Known as IEEE 802.16, it’s intended for wireless “metropolitan area networks”.   WiMAX can provide broadband wireless access (BWA) up to 30 miles (50 km) for fixed stations, and 3 - 10 miles (5 - 15 km) for mobile stations.  In contrast, the WiFi/802.11 wireless local area network standard is limited in most cases to only 100 - 300 feet (30 - 100m) according to WiMax.com.  No other carrier is within 18 months of this stuff.

If you reside in Baltimore and want to use WiMAX you can buy devices that plug in to your computer so you can get your wireless high speed internet fix. In the future, you’ll see WiMAX chips in everything from gaming devices to laptops and internet tablets.

We watched a webcast today for the official unveiling and gathered a few tidbits.  So far there are a handful of manufacturers working on designs including Dell, Lenovo, Asus, Acer, Samsung, Panasonic, Sony and Toshiba.  It’s odd to think of a WiFi card that has to shift down to 3G but that’s where we’re at with Sprint.

Seeing Dan Hesse speak earlier, we got the sense that he is genuinely enthusiastic about his company and their potential.  He comes across as excited and truly grounded.  The guy wrote his notes with pen and paper in his hotel this morning for crying out loud.

So why Baltimore of all cities? Because it represents a challenge to RF engineers and is somewhat representative of American cities in general.  With all of the water in the area, it presented some tricky situations in the build out.

Living in Baltimore and using Sprint WiMAX service?  Tell us what you experiences are in the comments!  You can sign up for an introductory price of $25 per month with no long term commitments right now, so AndroidGuys readers are encouraged to check it out!

Via [baltimoresun]

Our all mobile encompassing sister site - MobileRoar.com - has published a more extensive “review” of Sprint’s WiMax event in Baltimore. You can only say/show so many things about a Wireless Internet Connection and we’ve summed them up for you:

• Its as fast
• Its fast
• We want it

Seeing as how we’re based in Baltimore, we’ll probably be picking up XOHM in the next week or so to give it a long-term test drive. Afterall, you don’t have to sign a long-term contract, you only have to commit month-by-month and its only $50/month ($25/month during the trial period). Sounds like a deal to me!

Not only is this thing BLAZING fast but you can use it ANYwhere in Baltimore as illustrated at the event. In your house? Of course. In the car? No problem. In the middle of the Inner Harbor on a Water Taxi? You betcha!

Not only that, WiMax currently covers 70% of Baltimore city and a quick look at XOHM.com shows the expansion within the Baltimore area over the next several months. My folks live in Columbia, MD which is 20 minutes away and only 30 minutes or so from Washington DC… their area will be covered in 2009 as well. Awesome.

If you want a more in depth look at how the day went, check out the MobileRoar WiMax post. Otherwise, take a look at the super quick and uber random video below, with bullet points below briefly explaining what the heck you’re gazing at:

• Barry West (XOHM President) and Dan Hesse (Sprint CEO) spoke at the presentations and busted out a few quirky jokes including West cluelessly claiming, “I’m not sure why you would buy anything with the New Egg.” The Press Conference was exactly what you would expect: WiMax is the best thing since sliced bread… NOW EAT IT!
• Kiosks displayed the new devices launched (laptops and internet tablets) that were WiMax enabled and they worked as advertised - fast as hell.
• A limousine van drove about 10 guests at a time through Baltimore City to experience WiMax on the go. Speeds ranged from 10 MPH to 30MPH and it was OCCASSIONALLY spotty but mostly right on the money. And when it was on… BOY was it on. Once again, FAST!
• Time to move to the In-Home demonstration. Sprint rented out a nice row home on the water to display WiMax in the home including data and voice.
• The house overlooked Water Taxis which were… giving more WiMax tours of how the service performed in the middle of the freaking Inner Harbor. And guess what? It worked!

If there was a main problem with WiMax its that its hard to get worked up over an Internet Connection. Most people get amped about hardware and stoked about software but the common thread that is able to tie the two together is seen as just that: glue… boring old glue.

Barry West actually acknowledge that to some degree saying that people don’t care HOW the technology works.. just that it WORKS. Sprint has a long road ahead of them in explaining why choose Sprint WiMax over Comcast, for instance. Their marketing campaign of “WiMax: A Hotspot As Big As A City” really hits home and explains to most regular, tech friendly folks exactly what WiMax is.

As far as I’m concerned, Sprint has a few major challenges and they are:

• Educating the public
• Convincing the public to sign up for 1 more service when Comcast already bundles it all. Nobody likes having more bills to pay, even if they add up to the same amount. And frankly, I don’t think anyone wants to speak to any “lenders” who will “consolidate their monthly payments” at the moment.
• The economy - do people have the money to spend?

As far as WiMax and Android/Mobile goes, we’re a little bit away from seeing that. The focus of the day was on devices - mobile devices - but that means notebooks/laptops and Internet Tablets… NOT Mobile Phones.

Sprint said that WOULD come at some point, but not until the scope of their network was larger. Later this year, Baltimore will already see a Sprint AirCard that is based on 4G and DEFAULTS to slow 3G connections when it is forced to (do you sense our sarcasm?). Selling these localized products/services to Baltimore consumers makes sense… but Mobile Phones is another whole step that will have to wait.

“How Long Will It Have To Wait, Rob?”

I’m glad you asked. It will have to wait until the New Clearwire - the new legal entity of which Google is invested, officially “passes” the restrictions of the FCC. Today, Sprint executives said they fully expect that deal to be completed by the end of the year.

What then? Then $3.2 Billion Dollars of Capital go towards expanding the WiMax network on a global scale. Dan Hesse explained it would likely take $5 Billion dollars to get the job done and noted that they, “better start fundraising.” They’ve got partners with a lot of deep pockets, but I’m sure Intel execs weren’t overly thrilled when Sprint execs drooled over their cash, commenting at their Balance Sheet and how they could narrow the $1.8 Billion Dollar gap.

Imagine a tribal village somewhere in Africa or India where there are no wires… no telephone landlines… heck, perhaps not even bathrooms. But imagine still being able to get Internet access there… and faster access than you get on your desktop computer. Its possible, and Sprint hopes to cover over HALF of the world’s population (area wise) in the next several years. That’s a lofty feat.

Sprint executives made it perfectly clear that Wireless Carriers should NOT feel threatened and that WiMax was mainly for DATA delivery purposes… for now. It seems much more likely that in the next couple years we’ll first see a device that uses 3G voice as a maximum but when browsing the web, it first looks for 4G WiMax.

Since basically the beginning of this whole “Android Thing” we’ve been talking about how Google and Android could usher in an era of 100% Free cellular phone service that is subsidized by on-phone advertising. Thats not likely something that would happen in 2009… but why shouldn’t it or couldn’t it happen in the next several years? And why not a WiMax enabled Android Phone?

There are SOOOO many pieces out there and it can be really fun to try and put together the Mobile puzzle. WiMax/XOHM has the potential to be one of those edge (no pun intended) or corner pieces that serve as the foundation and reference point to which you can start filling in the details.

We’ll likely be getting WiMax in the office for at least a couple months as a trial. But in the meantime… where do you think Sprint/WiMax/XOHM will be in 1, 2, 3 or even 5 years from now?

Your favorite Android site is looking to pick up a couple of beat writers!  Are you already running a tech/mobile blog and wanting to pick up a little extra exposure?  Do you have an Android site of your own and need a some traffic?  We’re here to help.

We don’t have concrete job requirements, but we do have some recommendations.  We’d love to have some help with things like…

• Gathering entertaining articles from around the internet on OHA related topics
• Finding links to relevant topics

To be part of the team, you’ll just need to meet a couple of basic guidelines.  Specifically, were looking for…

• Genuine passion and interest in Android related technology
• Good/great writing ability
• Dedication to AndroidGuys and our cause
• Preferred background with a member of the Open Handset Alliance
• Able to write opinion articles with substance
• Organized, detail-oriented

FAQ’s

• Writing degrees are not required but certainly help.
• You do not have to live in the United States.
• You may cross promote your own site, book, or blogs as long as it’s tastefully done.
• You do not have to cover one specific topic, but if you are an expert we’d appreciate it!

If you are intersted in joining the team, send an email to jobs @ androidguys.com with your details.  No need to send a resume.  If you have some writing examples, we’d love to see them.  We love to find new sites, so send us your URL’s.  On occasion, we may ask for you to write a sample article on a relevant topic.

China’s TechFaith Wireless Communication Technology Ltd have today revealed their plans to launch an Android powered handset at the start of 2009.

TechFaith provides mobile phone design solutions to handset manufacturers that have their own brands, such as Motorola, LG, Amoi, Bird and CECT, as well as telecom operators including France Telecom, Sprint and SK Telecom.

“The development of a prototype Android phone has basically been completed. However, the launch of commercial products is unlikely to happen before the end of this year,” Ji Changxi, a senior vice president of TechFaith, told Interfax.

Aimed at the mainland China market, TechFaith are expected to announce the name of the manufacturer at the end of November.

“We are still in talks with several interested customers,” he said.

[via Interfaxchina.com (subscription)]

Post from: Android Forum

TechFaith Launching Android Powered Handset In Early 2009

By definition, an android is an automation in the form of a human being but for smart developers Android could be an automation in the form of cash if they focus on location.

Mobile display advertising in its current infancy is worth $200 million a year according to M:Metrics but by 2011 the global mobile advertising market is predicted to be worth over $19 billion.

The bulk of those billions of dollars will result from location-based ads as Diana LaGattuta, head of global marketing at Nokia Interactive, claimed mobile click-through rates fluctuate from 2 percent to 20 percent, with a consistently higher click-through rate than standard Web ads, sometimes up to eight times higher.

Google’s view of this is expressed by their spokesman Gareth Evans, “I think it’s fair to say there are still some perceptions in the industry that mobile advertising is hard to do. This is something Google is trying to change by evangelizing the mobile space and helping advertisers develop integrated mobile campaigns that make full use of the platform.”

Thus Android is the means Google is evangelizing the mobile space to capture this predictably vast monetary advertising stream.

Gareth continues to say “By opening up mobile devices to all developers we believe we can drive greater innovation, and faster innovation, for the benefit of mobile users everywhere. Put simply, our hope is that the next big application will actually be built for mobiles, not PCs.”

As Google dominated the search space Adwords and Adsense allowed them to monetize it and mutually benefit webmasters hosting those ads so by dominating the mobile space it will monetize Google Maps and then mutually benefit those developers creating location apps and mobile sites.

Cole Brodman, CTO and chief innovation officer for T-Mobile. “Simply, what’s been lacking in mobile is a compelling set of apps and content that take advantage of those broadband networks. The U.S. over-consumes everything. We lead in mobile usage and home Internet penetration. But the mobile Internet is at a dismal 16 percent in the U.S., because there really haven’t been that many compelling experiences for people to lean into.”

Nokia’s CEO even echoed last week what I stated here that America will leapfrog Europe in mobile technology as in the 1990s Europe was the center of mobility when the focus was on texting and making calls, but Silicon Valley’s Internet and PC heritage is starting to give the U.S. the edge.

It is my opinion that it will be an Android developer that fills this need and will be greatly compensated in both money and prestige.

Which developer and what application do you think it will be?

We’re still a couple of weeks away from getting G1 handsets in the hands of the masses, yet that doesn’t stop some from thinking considerably further ahead.

If you think about about 6 weeks ago, we first reported on the domain names that were secured by T-Mobile.  As a refresher, Android Community had dug up 5 domain URL’s that ranged from T-MobileG1.com through T-MobileG5.com.  We’ve speculated here a time or two that a G2 device might be completely different looking from the G1 that everyone is familiar with.  Perhaps a flip phone or all touch screen device.

Our expectations were, and still are, that T-Mobile will roll out their next Android handset a few months after the G1 dust settles.  Maybe sometime in the first half of 2008 would be my guess.  It’s hard to imagine the carrier dropping something relatively soon after their biggest handset of all time.  There’d be serious outrage if something better, shinier, or less “clunky” arrived right on the heels of something that just tied people up for two years.

Nevertheless, someone is already talking about the G2 like it’s already a foregone conclusion.   The boys over at PhoneDog have a pair of tipsters who claim that Magnificent Magenta is hard at work on a handset based on the HTC Touch HD as their follow up.

A couple of things to point out.  First, the article from PhoneDog is the only place we’ve seen this so far.  Secondly, it’s already a week old and nothing else has been confirmed or even hinted at elsewhere.  Apparently it doesn’t matter to Noah Kravitz who says that one of the sources is “somebody with a decent track record when it comes to accurately leaking info on upcoming handset releases.”  We’ll see.

If you’re not familiar with the Touch HD, you ought to do yourself a favor.  It’s by far the best looking device to come from Taiwan-based HTC.  The specs are almost identical to the G1, yet it looks more polished and capable of taking on you know who.

Your Turn to Talk

What do you guys think?  Could the rumor hold water?  And if it’s proven to be true… Your thoughts on that device?

With all the effort being poured into Javascript lately, it's pretty evident that that's the way forward. However, there are still some neat things you can do with applets that you can't do with Javascript. For instance, I use the microemulator applet to let people play with a simulated phone on the Hecl web site.

Unfortunately, the user experience hasn't that good. While playing around with the code for that site, Firefox crashed a number of times, and I've heard other browsers have trouble as well. No fun.

So it is with some satisfaction that I found this:

https://jdk6.dev.java.net/plugin2/

It's an updated Java plugin that seems to work much, much better than the old one. Unfortunately it doesn't appear as if it will be in the new Ubuntu, as it was released recently, but I'm quite happy to have something a bit more stable to develop with.

You can download that version of the Java SDK or JRE here:

http://download.java.net/jdk6/

It's good to see this effort, even if it may be a bit late.

In a previous post, we covered the basics of the new preference system in Android. To recap: you can define preference characteristics in an XML file. This in turn gives you an Android-generated preference screen, which you can launch from an activity. The results are stored in the SharedPreferences for your application for later retrieval. Today, we will continue our look at the preferences UI, in an excerpt from The Busy Coder’s Guide to Android Development.

If you have a lot of preferences for users to set, having them all in one big list may become troublesome. Android’s preference framework gives you a few ways to impose a bit of structure on your bag of preferences, including categories and screens.

Categories are added via a PreferenceCategory element in your preference XML and are used to group together related preferences. Rather than have your preferences all as children of the root PreferenceScreen, you can put a few PreferenceCategory elements in the PreferenceScreen, and then put your preferences in their appropriate categories. Visually, this adds a divider with the category title between groups of preferences.

If you have lots and lots of preferences — more than is convenient for users to scroll through — you can also put them on separate “screens” by introducing the PreferenceScreen element.

Any children of PreferenceScreen go on their own screen. If you nest PreferenceScreens, the parent screen displays the screen as a placeholder entry — tapping that entry brings up the child screen.

For example, here is a preference XML file that contains both PreferenceCategory and nested PreferenceScreen elements:

<PreferenceScreen
	xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android">
	<PreferenceCategory android:title="Simple Preferences">
		<CheckBoxPreference
			android:key="@string/checkbox"
			android:title="Checkbox Preference"
			android:summary="Check it on, check it off"
		/>
		<RingtonePreference
			android:key="@string/ringtone"
			android:title="Ringtone Preference"
			android:showDefault="true"
			android:showSilent="true"
			android:summary="Ping a tone, any tone, even silence"
		/>
	</PreferenceCategory>
	<PreferenceCategory android:title="Detail Screens">
		<PreferenceScreen
			android:key="detail"
			android:title="Detail Screen"
			android:summary="Additional preferences held in another page">
			<CheckBoxPreference
				android:key="@string/checkbox2"
				android:title="Another Checkbox"
				android:summary="On. Off. It really doesn't matter."
			/>
		</PreferenceScreen>
	</PreferenceCategory>
</PreferenceScreen>

The result, when you use this preference XML with your PreferenceActivity implementation, is a categorized list of elements:

A preferences UI showing categories and the launch-point for a secondary screen

And, if you tap on the Detail Screen entry, you are taken to the child preference screen:

The secondary screen, launched from the main preferences activity

Next time, in the third and final(?) part of this series of blog posts, we will look at elements that support free-form text entry or a selection of an item out of a list.

A serious problem that developers face is knowing where to spend their time and effort when working on an application.  It could be said that real work doesn’t start until after a program is released into the wild.  Wouldn’t it be nice to know what kind of handsets are being used to run your apps?  Where are the people using your program?  What should you focus on when you start the software updates?  What was a waste of your time the first go round?

San Francisco based Flurry provides developers with a great analytics tool allowing for real-time information.  Flurry Analytics can help a developer figure out just what it is that iPhone users like about your software.  Maybe your Android version of the program seems to be taking off like crazy.  The analytics tools can help you pinpoint what the hot spots are in your apps and find why so many people are flocking to it.

“The mobile phone is evolving, but without detailed information on how consumers are responding and using new applications, it’s a real challenge for developers to make strategic product decisions that grow their businesses effectively.” - Simon Khalaf, president and CEO of Flurry.

Mobile internet is going to be more demanding on developers.  Users will want the latest and greatest from their handsets and developers will need to be able to respond as quickly as possible.  Success can be measured by more than the sheer number of downloads, however the 60 million apps downloaded in the first 30 days from Apple’s App store is a compelling figure.  It’s a safe bet to assume that most of these developers would like to know where opportunities exist. Of those 60 million, how many people are using it on a daily basis?

So how does it work?  It’s pretty simple actually.  A small file is essentially placed within the application that reports back to the developer in analytic format.  Tools like this will be essential to those wanting to constantly improve their software with release updates.

As I’ve said before, even if Android fails miserably, Google still will have accomplished the desired effect of drastically accelerating the proliferation of the mobile web. After Google announced Android we saw the iPhone App Store, announcement of Android Market and now… BlackBerry App Center.

The App Center news seems to have slipped along with information of the upcoming BlackBerry Storm touchscreen phone. That device is launching on Vodafone and Verizon Wireless sometime in November and a screen shot of the new RIM OS 4.7 on the BlackBerry Storm serves as the proof:

Take a look at the rumored “features” of the device:

Check out the feature list:

• The Application Center will be available on 4.7 Storm devices and will be designed for the Storm touch screen UI.
• Carriers will be responsible for hosting the application data and sending updates to the directory to RIM.
• The main application screen will provide the user with a list of all applications that are available for install from the particular carrier for the specific device model and OS version. Incompatible applications will not be displayed.
• The main screen will provide the user the ability to quickly browse the application list, then view the available information about each application in a detailed description screen which shows the logo and full description. Installation will occur with one click (launches the web browser).
• The user will be able to access the Options > Applications screen from within the App Center (allowing the user to delete applications directly from within the App Center).
• The user will be provided with various status info: date the app list was most recently updated; notification that updates are available; option to reapplication list was completed, etc.
• Since the download and installation will be handled by the browser in this first release, the Application Center will not be capable of restarting the application / download intelligently.
• The Application Center will automatically check for updates daily.

Uhoh… will the BlackBerry Storm be an immediate T-Mobile G1 competitor, offering an equally competitive catalog of applications? Check out the second bullet:

Carriers will be responsible for hosting the application data and sending updates to the directory to RIM.

So basically, the “App Center” is just BlackBerry putting a trendy title and cleaner UI on Verizon’s various Get It Now! Services. SUCH a disappointment.

To be honest, we were nervous about T-Mobile and other carriers crippling Android and the Android Market. Its one thing to have full functionality and the carrier TAKING AWAY functionality and options on purpose. But with the BlackBerry App Center, it appears the carrier has to be the source of putting Application on the market to begin with. Hmmmm.

Verizon did launch a developer program earlier this year (or maybe late last year) but we have seen absolutely ZILCH from it. It seems as though this “App Center” was built specifically for the Storm OS but that it is just the start of something larger?

Whatever RIM has up their sleeve… we’re happy to see this development. We’re not Pro-Android and Anti-Everything-Else as it seems many iPhone Fanboys are. We appreciate the forward thinking of Apple and now RIM… they are both working to drastically improve the capabilities and options available to consumers. SO much is possible and we’re just now starting to unlock all of the potential.

It doesn’t seem like the iPhone App Store or BlackBerry App Center will come close to the openness and flexibility of Android and the Android Market. But, if the success of Android pushes Apple and RIM to move in that direction, it will be a great success for the OHA and a big win for consumers.

Thanks to some crafty animation work, you can now use an online emulator to test out various features of the T-Mobile G1. Lots of functionality is missing, left out or simply not working - but for those craving to get their mitts on the phone, this is one more thing to help fill that void in your heart.

To use the emulator, visit the following link:
http://tmobile.modeaondemand.com/htc/g1/

You’ll need to click the “Emulator” button in the upper right hand corner to actually play with the Android interface. You can also get a 360 degree view of the phone, view animations of the Keyboard Slide, Battery Removal, SIM Card Insertion and SD Memory Card Insertion.

Enjoy!

[Thanks Isaac]

UPDATE: hmmmm the website seems to be down at the moment. Anybody have another link?

An article went up on Gadget Lab just before the weekend arrived called “Top 5 Cellphone Letdowns of 2008” and the G1 landed at number 2, right behind the iPhone 3G.

What’s the big letdown?

“The handset poised to out-iPhone the iPhone had a laundry list of hardware letdowns: bulky, unattractive, and saddled with yet another proprietary headphone jack.”

Let’s be careful not to confuse reviews of the G1 with Android in general.  That’s a common problem and it looks like Terrence Russell knows the difference between the two.  “Updates to Google’s Android OS could salvage the device (à la the iPhone 3G).”   The bigger complaints of Android are almost all addressable.  The stuff about the G1 however might not be as easy.  There’s not much one can do to “un-bulky” a phone.

The other phones to make the list are Palm Treo Pro, LG Dare, and Motorola Z10.

Have a strong desire to satisfy your G1 jones?  Yeah, we feel for you.  We’re going through the same thing ourselves.  Until your G1 handset arrives later this month or next, you can play with the T-Mobile G1 emulator.

We spent a few minutes with this over the weekend found it kinda fun.  You can get a sense for how the phone notifications work, like new SMS or incoming calls.  You can also play with the menu, checkout the email setup, and add shortcuts to desktop.

Also on the same page are demos to show basic things like SIM, battery, and memory card insertion.  Oh yeah, there’s a fully rotatable look at the G1.  Something tells us that you guys have pretty much seen every angle of this handset already though.  Still, it’s fun to look at and play with until yours arrives.

T-Mobile has seen incredible success thus far with the G1 handset preorders.  They’re doing so well in fact that they had to nearly triple the amount of handsets available for the October 22nd release.

Because of overwhelming demand, we’re setting aside even more T-Mobile G1™ phones as a special thanks to you, our loyal T-Mobile customers. This is your chance to order yours today, before it hits the streets, and guarantee you don’t go without. - T-MobileG1.com

This comes as good news for T-Mobile as they aim to claw their way towards becoming the third largest wireless carrier in the US.  With Sprint having a few down quarters in a row and T-Mobile continuing to add net customers, this handset might be what is needed to catapult them towards the top three.

It might take more than a few lucky quarters to get them in there, but it’s becoming more obvious to us by the week that T-Mobile is a much more progressive thinking company than most.  Dan Hesse has done some great things for Sprint so far, but he’s got to keep his foot on the gas.  Hopefully, there’s a few tricks up his sleeve for the end of this year as we wait for their Android handset.

Congratulations to T-Mobile on the initial success of the G1!  Hopefully, once the handsets are in the world, users are showing them off and bringing new customers in droves, wanting their phones to do similar things.

If preorders ain’t your thing, you can sign up for the email alert that let’s you know the second the G1 hits the street.

Japanese telecommunication company KDDI is at it again with the showcasing of two 3.1 inch OLED display’s for Mobile phones from fellow Open Handset Alliance member Samsung as well as an unnamed Japanese manufacturer.

The Samsung 3.1 inch OLED display has a 800×480 resolution that should be enough to watch some DVD movies without it being a pixelated mess. The same thing goes for the unnamed Japanese Manufacturer OLED 3.1 inch display.

Samsung’s OLED display will launch on a KDDI device later next year and I’m hoping it’ll be a Android device.  KDDI has been very busy at CEATEC this year showing off a bunch of stuff including their Superman phone, I hope to see the same dedication put towards Android handsets!

For those not watching too closely, NTT DocoMo is a founding member of the Open Handset Alliance (OHA). The Japanese carrier has announced plans to sell Android based handsets in Japan by 2009. Rumors indicate that the chosen model is the HTC Dream / G1.

This good news for the Japanese Android’s Fans was brought by Ryuji Yamada, DoCoMo’s president.

NTT DoCoMo will also be carrying some other high profile handsets, like RIM’s latest handset, the BlackBerry Bold.  The Bold will be available in Japan in the first quarter 2009.

Via 3GWeek Asia

In a statement issued on friday, T-Mobile USA commented on the huge pre-order demand for the Android G1 and the measures they have taken to try and meet it.

Although the G1 has currently out sold it’s pre-order allocation, customers can still order the handset through October 21for an expected November delivery date.

“Given the great anticipation and the heavy pre-sale demand for the T-Mobile G1 with Google, we nearly tripled the number of phones initially available for delivery on our October 22 launch date, and have sold through them all. However, to accommodate additional T-Mobile customers who want to pre-order a device, they now have the opportunity to place a pre-order through October 21, for delivery at a later date. Also, people can still pre-register on the T-Mobile G1 Web site to be notified prior to launch where they can purchase the device beginning October 22. Details are available on the T-Mobile G1 Web site, www.T-MobileG1.com.”

This recent statement follows reports last week that the operator intends to sell up to 500,000 G1s by Christmas 2008.

Post from: Android Forum

T-Mobile Triples G1 Launch Stock, Still Accepting Pre-Orders For November

A Wired.com article titled “Top 5 Cell Phone Busts of 2008” is the target of this rant-filled post for naming the T-Mobile G1 as one of the biggest busts of the year. Actually, they called it the Google G1 - their first mistake.

First of all, if you’re going to name a cell phone that hasn’t yet been released to your biggest busts lists how about pointing your finger at the Xperia or Tube or something… ANYthing besides the G1 - a phone with a RIDICULOUS amount of potential? So whats your beef with the G1?

The Letdown: Letdown: The G1’s unveiling was a lot like the Bigfoot press conference — a long, awkward presentation that left a lot of people confused and/or disappointed. The handset poised to out-iPhone the iPhone had a laundry list of hardware letdowns: bulky, unattractive, and saddled with yet another proprietary headphone jack. Under the hood, the G1 had even more perplexing issues. Any sort of multitouch interface was missing, as was Microsoft Office support (beyond viewing), and video playback. Updates to Google’s Android OS could salvage the device  (à la the iPhone 3G). But for now, the G1 doesn’t even trigger the same excitement as a gorilla costume in an ice chest.

Well it obviously left ONE person confused.

The hardware let down is a matter of function over design. iSnobs can make as many jabs as they want at the T-Mobile G1 but I guarantee that having a device with a touch-screen, several dedicated, physical keys, a trackball and a full QWERTY keyboard will make the G1 MUCH more of a pleasure to use in the long run. I saw the phone live and I think its pretty darn attractive.

Any sort of multi-touch is missing? Well I was demonstrated the longpress which is the virtual equivalent of a right click with your computer mouse - that seemed pretty cool and functional to me.

Microsoft Office, Video Playback, etc…. the list goes on and on but these are all things that can be solved by 3rd party developers. THIS is the power of the platform AND the phone. The APPLICATIONS. Somehow so many people are missing this point and it is unnerving.

Finally, the author sums up the article by saying, “the G1 doesn’t even trigger the same excitement as a gorilla costume in an ice chest.”

What does that even mean? If it actually HAS a meaning please don’t tell me - save your breath - it’s really, really not worth explaining. The phone is selling like hotcakes, excitement is extremely high and this phone will be T-Mobile’s hottest handset in history by a landslide. And… there are more Android phones on the way.

I just wanted to make an equally idiotic list to illustrate a level of epic fail unmatched for the day.

Top 1 Dumbest Articles of October 3rd 2008

1. Wired.com - Top 5 CellPhone Busts of 2008

The T-Mobile G1 Pre-Orders racked up so quickly that earlier this week they were forced to momentarily halt all new orders. It didn’t take long to get the system back up and running but with a message that will thrill some and devastate others:

Already ordered your T-Mobile G1? If you ordered before October 3, 2008 it will be delivered right to your door as early as October 22, 2008*.

That’s truly great. But what about folks who have yet to order it, want to order tomorrow or whatever?

Order yours before October 21, 2008, and it will be delivered as early as November 10, 2008.* After all, as a loyal customer, you deserve to get what you want—when you want it.

Okay… so as a loyal customer what if I want mine before November 10th? Like… by October 22nd when all the other loyal customers are getting theirs? Too bad.

So did HTC really have to go back to the drawing board and up the production levels to fulfill unit demand by November 10th? Did they purposefully create a shortage to build hype and buzz? I’m not sure we’ll ever know.

But whats REALLY crazy is that this demand is ONLY for EXISTING T-Mobile customers. What happens when the floodgates open? Will Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, Alltel, etc… customers flock to T-Mobile to get their hands on a G1?

There HAS to be a lot of strategizing and plotting behind the scenes - there IS a method to this madness - but we’ll never know what the raw, untamed conversations behind corporate doors contains. I imagine they want the G1 to create a spectacle. Only allow a select group to own it and in the time frame of when THEY get it and its available at RETAIL, start a ridiculous marketing push that will have everyone wanting one but nobody selling them.

People want something they can’t have. Especially when they see other people have it… and those other people are showing off all the awesome features to them.

Its a good move and I assume thats what they’re doing. Of course, I’m just speculating as to what I’d do if I was marketing the device… I think they’re playing their cards well. What do you think?

[Via T-MobileG1.com]

The inevitable G1 unboxing pictures have surfaced. While we would have preferred an unboxing video, all in good time… all in good time. Until then, these pics give us a nice little look at the box exterior, whats in the box and a closer look at the accessories and doohickies inside.

Props to TmoNews.com for scooping up the first unboxing! Great job guys.

The application Locale is one that has to be admired for its simplicity.  It’s one of those programs that you wonder why it hadn’t been invented long ago.

We’ve seen programs that change ringtones, sound profiles, and turn on features like WiFi or Bluetooth before, but they’re all time-based.  If you have anything but a Monday-Friday 9-5 job, you know that this can be hectic and more of a hassle in your daily life. Sure, you can set your phone to go to loud rings at 5:01PM since that’s when you’re supposed to be off work, but what happens if you leave work early, or have to stay late?  Did you WiFi start searching 2 hours before you got home, unnecessarily draining your battery?

Locale offers a very compelling alternative by basing your profiles and more around your location.  Let’s say you work at random times because you’re in retail.  You never have the same shift from week to week, but you want your handset to go silent as soon as you get near work.  Once you’re out of the building, you’d prefer a loud tone with vibration alert.  With Locale, this is no problem.  Even if you left for an hour over lunch, it would adjust for you during that time.

There’s a great read over on xconomy that profiles the team of MIT students who helped create Locale.  They talk about the ideas that birthed it as well as where it can help to improve our lives.  It’s a 3 page read that’s somewhat detailed.  If you’re like me, you’re a fan of the behind-the-scenes stuff that this article has.

Other location based handset changes include, wallpapers, WiFi, GPS, and call forwarding and more.  Imagine being able to tell your phone to automatically silence itself at theaters, hospitals, funerals, and other places.  Such a small task, yet incredibly useful.  Locale can also be integrated with other programs to help those around you.

“We wrote a Twitter client that posts updates to your Twitter account based on whatever is going on with your phone.  Say you’re on a trip to San Francisco, and you want your family back home to know that you got there safely and you want your friends in San Francisco to know that you’ve arrived. As soon as you land and your phone detects that it’s in San Francisco, it can automatically post that fact to Twitter.”

The Locale team is asked whether or not they plan to make this app for the iPhone and it’s here where we find one of the fundamental differences between Android and Apple’s operating system.   Until that gets changed, look for programs like this, and many others, to draw interest to Android.