Skype removed on Market?

"This isn't a decision we've taken lightly, but the reason is simple. Neither of these apps offered a great Skype experience." SO what is a great Skype experience? I find this decision strange for an application that has been in the mainstream so long. When software are outdated, you are usually offered an upgrade that fixes the bugs. They are not removed.

Imagine what life would be if Microsoft, Google, Apple and others just pulled out there software because THEY think the user experience is not good enough. If that was regular and accepted business practice, I guess we'd be running our gadgets without software. We'd be carrying bricks around pretending to make a call over IP; pretending to be enjoying a fabulous user experience on our phones that Microsoft and Apple developed and then pulled out.

Clearly this is a decision taken lightly. So long Skype.

Google Earth for Android released.

Google Earth has actually been released for the Nexus One phone. Which kind of makes sense since the Nexus is Google's flagship device that sports a 1gHz processor. I can well imagine that Google Earth can be quite resource intensive.

According to the team, "Ever since we got our hands on one, we have been putting it through its paces, drawing complex scenes of 3D imagery, terrain, roads, and other layers, and Nexus One never misses a beat."

Read more here.

Hands-on video of the Motorola Devours.

Via Engadget.

How to install non-market apps on your Android phone?

Pocketnow.com has an interesting how-to on their site that explains how to install an application that is not on Google Market on your Android phone.

Android applications are packaged as .apk files. This is a new file extension that I need to add to my "dictionary of extensions". So far, I had .cab only listed under mobile file extensions for application packages.

I strongly recommend you read this how-to at http://pocketnow.com/how-to/how-to-install-non-market-apps-on-your-android-phone

Sent from my HTC Touch Pro 2.
http://pocketpcmauritius.blogspot.com/
http://sanddroid.blogspot.com/

HTC Legend announced.

The Legend is another Android device announced by HTC at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
“At its essence, the mobile phone is the most personal item you have in your possession. HTC Sense was created to magnify your ability to create and define your own unique mobile experience,” said Peter Chou, chief executive officer of HTC Corporation. “HTC Legend and HTC Desire take Android to another level in both substance with HTC Sense and style with HTC Legend’s revolutionary crafted aluminum uni-body design.”

Read more here.

HTC Legend hands-on video:

HTC unveils HTC Desire with new Sense.

The HTC Desire looks similar to the Nexus One in terms of hardware. The Desire has the same 1gHz Snapdragon processor, the 3.7inch AMOLED screen, a 5MP camera with LED flash. So what differentiates the Desire from the Nexus One are the omission of noise cancellation feature, Google voice text entry and the HTC Sense. With these omissions, the Desire should be slightly cheaper than the Nexus when it reaches the market in April 2010. The Desire runs Android 2.1.In my opinion, it does not look as sexy as the Nexus One.

Read more here.

Motorola Expands Android™ Portfolio: Introducing QUENCH™ with MOTOBLUR™, a New Touch-screen Smartphone

Motorola today announced the Quench with Motoblur powered by Android. The Quench supports pinch and zoom technology, Adobe Flash Lite for a 3.1 high resolution screen.

"MOTOBLUR is Motorola’s Android-powered content delivery service created to make phones more personal and socially smart. It is the first solution to sync contacts, posts, messages, photos and much more — from sources such as Facebook®, MySpace, Twitter®, Gmail™, work and personal e-mail and Last.FM — and automatically deliver them to the home screen. Content is fed into easy-to-manage streams allowing you to spend less time managing your life and more time living it."

Read the full press release here.

Winter Sports Live for your phone.

Handmark is offering an application that will let you get news, scores photos and more in real time on your Andoid, Windows phone, Blackberry and iPhone. Winter Sports fans will certainly appreciate having this free application on their devices.

Winter Sports Live can be downloaded free here.

I'm more a summer sports and FIFA world cup fan. Hopefully, there will be a similar application for these events.

Engadget has the Dell Mini 5.

The folks over at Engadget got a prototype of the Dell Mini 5 and have posted a bunch of pics and a video. They will take questions if you have any and answer them in their review. More in the link below:

http://www.engadget.com/2010/02/11/dell-mini-5-we-have-it/?s=t5

HTC Hero will get 2.1 in March.

According to HTC Benelux, a team is currently working on a ROM upgrade for the HTC Hero. I can see the smile on the face of the Hero's owners :) Unfortunately, I do not have more information about the ROM content. I will post back if I come across more news.

Watch this place.

Hello readers.

I will start posting here when I get my Nexus 1 phone. Just like the Windows Phone blog, I will cover everything Android here. I will be posting mostly using my device. Otherwise, it defeats the purpose of promoting mobility.

Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments area or, better yet, contact me if you would like to join as editor.

Can't wait to get my hands on the Nexus.

Linley.