Facebook Phone to use Android OS?

Facebook is making a smartphone and rumour has it that they will be using the Google Android operating system as the template.

The news may not come as a surprise to observers who have seen a tense competition forming between Google and Facebook over the years.

Facebook has attempted to take on many of Google's qualities including a similar advertising revenue system and search within Facebook.

When the owner of Wikipedia declared that he wanted his company to eventually replace Google, Wiki was quickly punished in the SERPs.

But Google would be powerless to stop Facebook adapting the Android OS. The social networking company, which now has 500 million users worldwide, wants to branch out and offer its services on a mobile platform.

Facebook liked the look of the Google Nexus One and the company realised it could not achieve what it wanted to simply through the use of an application.

Facebook mobile products head Erick Tseng, who was recently pinched from the Android mobile team, said at the MobileBeat 2010 conference: "We really see mobile as the future."

Facebook creatives Joe Hewitt, who previously worked on the Firefox browser, and Matthew Papakipos, whose experience includes Google Chrome OS, may now be turning their attentions to a Facebook phone.

Expect the Facebook phone to include a calendar based on your events and, of course, your extensive Facebook contact list. It also might make it easier to use Facebook applications such as Places.

Rather than building an operating system from scratch, Facebook will have access to one of the fastest-growing smartphone services and all of its third-party applications.

At the same time it is likely that a Facebook Phone would fragment users of the Android OS even more.

Android Mobile Continues Ascendancy

Android mobile has continued its rapid ascendancy in smartphone market share at the expense of Blackberry and iPhone. Meanwhile the new Windows Phone 7 has not yet been released.

The report by marketing research company Comscore showed that Android mobile picked up another 5% of the smartphone user pie between April-July 2010.

Over the same three months Apple dropped 1.3% while RIM continued its recent decline and dropped by 2%.

However the smartphone market as a whole is booming (11% increase between April-July 2010) thanks to the massive popularity of the Android and iPhone.

Some industry analysts believe that one reason why iPhone is losing ground to Android OS is because it does not have as many contracts with large network providers. The main network for Apple in the US is AT&T, while Android works over Verizon Wireless and Vodafone.

However the iPhone4 has only been out for a few months, and is selling very well, despite the data showing a faster take up of Android.

The next Comscore report will provide a much clearer view of the situation; after all the iPhone4 had only been out for one month when this report was compiled.

Angry Birds Ready to Fly on Android Mobile

The full version of Angry Birds for Android mobile will be released in the next three weeks according to developers.

The beta was released at the beginning of the month, but it only allowed access to the first level of this phenomenon.

Although this engrossing game requires a lot of patience to complete as you try to find the right angles with which to catapult birds at pigs, it is safe to say that many people have completed the level and are hoping for more.

Furthermore there were some handset issues when the beta for Angry Birds was released. Because the HTC Wildfire phone uses QVGA displays these were not supported but efforts are being made to address the problem.

An Angry Birds developer called Rovio said: "We are currently working hard to ensure that Angry Birds on the Android mobile will offer best game experience for as many people as possible."

Angry Birds has been a massive success on the iOS4 where the app costs 99 cents, so expect the Android mobile to be priced competitively.

3CX Launches Free VoIP Phone for Android Mobile

3CX, which makes the VoIP PBX 3CX Phone System and the Windows 3CX softphone, today added a free VoIP phone for the Android OS to its growing list of products.

The phone can be downloaded for free by both consummers and enterprises.

Therefore Android smartphone users on a variety of phones (including the Google Nexus, the HTC Desire and the Sony Ericsson Xperia) can make free phone calls via 3G and wireless.

The 3CX free VoIP phone for Android mobile works with standards based SIP servers including 3CX and other Phone Systems.
It is not locked down to a particular PBX or provider.

This gives users the flexibility to pick and choose their favorite VoIP PBX. They can also switch at any time or use different VoIP providers simultaneously.

The CEO of 3CX, Nick Galea, said: “Smartphones will soon be the defacto mobile communication option. With a docking station they can even act as a desk phone in time.
"A VoIP PBX must embrace this technology and deliver seamless integration to provide true mobility to its users.”
“Smartphone support is a key component of our strategy and the 3CXPhone for Android delivers on this vision”.

Mr Galea added: “We chose Android as our first platform because it is gaining market share and evolving at a rapid pace. Right now in the smartphone market Android has an advantage as it is standards-based, open and vendor independent. Furthermore Android mobiles are available at competitive prices.”

3CXPhone for Android is based on SiPagent. 3CX acquired this popular SIP phone for Android in June 2010. SiPagent users are able to upgrade free of charge to the 3CXPhone.

Android Mobile has Angry Birds in Hand

Android mobile users may be glad to know that the smash hit game for iPhone, Angry Birds, is now available on their OS.
However, you can only download it from the Android market if you have version 2.0 of Android, and even some versions of Froyo are incompatible.
Furthermore the Angry Birds Lite free trial has locked some of the game levels as it has not completed testing. The developers had planned to make a closed test but in the end they bowed to intense public pressure to release Angry Birds.
Rumours are that there are some bugs in the system and CNET has even reported that game will not work at all on the HTC Evo Android mobile handset.
That is bad news for people who are trying to get their hands on one of the bestselling smartphone apps of all time.
Personally I cannot see what all the fuss is about. It's basically just a version of Tetris which involves birds catapulting themselves at pigs . Apparently this is incredibly addictive. It must be getting to grips with the precision needed to angle the catapulting correctly...

Sony Ericsson to dominate Android Mobile

The handset producer Sony Ericsson is aiming to be the world’s largest Android mobile supplier.

According to a report by Business Week the statement came direct from Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB, which is the the mobile phone venture of Ericsson AB and Sony Corp.

They have a direct contract to produce smartphones for Google's Android OS. Rights now those include the XPERIA X10, the X10 mini pro and the X10 mini, with another Android mobile phone, the X8, soon to be released.

Based in London, Sony Ericsson controls 17% of the Android mobile market share making it one of the biggest players in the production of their smartphones.

The largest Android mobile maker controls 23% of the market share, although the company declined to mention who this was. Direct competitors for Sony Ericsson are Motaorola, HTC and Samsung.

The Chief Executive Officer of Sony Ericsson, Bert Nordberg, spoke of these grandiose plans while giving a talk in Beijing but did not mention a timeframe for achieving world domination.

Google Finance for Android Mobile is Awesome

As you may have gathered by now I am somewhat sceptical about applications for the Android mobile but I have finally come across one that I really like the sound of. Google Finance is absolutely awesome.

Now I don't know much about finance but I certainly plan to. Interest rates are awful at the moment. I feel stuck in that sort of situation where you can slave away for the next decade banging your head against a wall or take a risk that could transform your fortunes.

So I want to play the stock market and hopefully strike it big. I'm pretty good at poker so I fancy myself as a gambler, but I have none of the requisite knowledge needed to invest. I may sound naive but I am smart enough to know that you do not try to crack Wall St without doing a hell of a lot of research.

But research is tedious and it reminds me of University. Yet an application with all of the fancy features and widgets is far more appealing. And it means that you can spend what is normally dead-time travelling instead learning something important on your Android mobile phone.

Google Finance gives you all of the latest market news and allows you to keep up to date with your portfolio. You can basically keep your eye on any sector that you are interested in all the time. Real-time data is fed to you along with many up-to-the minute quotes.

I have to say that I am impressed.

Android Abuzz with VoIP App Nimbuzz

Android users will soon be able to make use of the NimBbuzz application. Nimbuzz allows cheap calls using VoIP and IP telephony over Wi-Fi or 3G networks. This mobile app is available with the latest version of the Nimbuzz software for the Android OS.

It gives customers the choice of a number of different VoIP providers because Nimbuzz is an open application which is not restricted to a single client.

Nimbuzz even has its own VoIP service called NimbuzzOut. The app is expected to increase VoIP usage as it will give more Android users access to the technology. Nimbuzz also supports instant messaging from Google Talk and Windows Live Messenger.

Quentyn Kennemer of Phandroid wrote: "With NimBuzz for Android the Call quality is clear and I couldn't find anything to complain about. They use the Jingle XMPP protocol which delivers unrivaled audio clarity for VoIP calls."

VoIP phones for Android released

VoIP and SIP phones for Android seem to be all the rage at the moment with 3CX having recently released their free client.
Now Infrax Systems has also jumped on the boat. The corporation provides unified products and services for the Utility and Energy industries and has now announced the release of an Android-based mobile phone with various data applications. The phone system is encrypted and works on the HTC Desire handset which allows users to safely manage data and voice calls.
It operates via a peer-to-peer connection to provide secure VoIP. The calls can be made on HSDPA (3.5G), Wi-Fi, EDGE (2.5G) and UMTS(3G)networks. There are Industrial, Government and Business phones available, with a Utilities model to be released soon.

How is the Android OS running?

An Android developers site has posted the make up of the Android consumer base.
It suggests that the Nexus One, which is the smartphone running Froyo 2.2, has only 3% of the market share. However the Nexus One is about to be discontinued.
By far most users are on Android 2.1 making up 55.5% of the market, followed by 22.1% on version 1.6 and 18.9% on 1.5.
XA tiny fraction (0.3%) of OS systems are running on obsolete versions according to the data which was collected over a period of two weeks at the beginning of July.
There is also a table of how many versions the various API's are compatible with. Versions 1.5 and 1.6 are compatible with most APIs while the 2.1 share is growing.


The site states: "Notice that the platform versions are stacked on top of each other with the oldest active version at the top.
"This format indicates the total percent of active devices that are compatible with a given version of Android.
"For example, if you develop your application for the version that is at the very top of the chart, then your application is compatible with 100% of active devices (and all future versions), because all Android APIs are forward compatible."
However this can lead to a problem of fragmentation as picked up in a Guardian article. This is because old versions of the Android OS can't run applications that target more recent versions.
The Guardian says that we don't really know how the Android OS is running because Google won't tell us. Available data on Android market transactions would make the whole picture that much clearer.