Welcome to Buddymob's official blog. We hope to entertain you with our take on the mobile market's news and all the latest infos on mobile phones and Google's brand new OS, Android.
Android Jobs board has launched- an effective way to find and post jobs specifically for the Google Android platform.
The new job section is an excellent place for Companies and employers to post their Android-related job vacancies, and for Android developers to find new challenges and employment.
For a limited time only all Android job vacancies can be submittedFREE.
Each week we will also feature the latest Android job listings right here on the blog.
The T-Mobile G1 was released last Thursday in the UK and it has already become a popular item.
According to WebTrends Inc., newspapers websites, part of the Telegraph Media Group like the Daily Telegraph, the Sunday Telegraph and Telegraph.co.uk have received huge traffic from G1 phones.
The new application available at telegraph.co.uk/mobile has also generated over 5,000 downloads and around 31,000 visits.
Nick Sharp, VP and General Manager EMEA and Australasia, WebTrends, said:
"Part of Android's cache is its encouragement of third-party development due to the openness of its platform. As a result, many businesses are already creating applications to increase brand awareness and engagement,"
It's way too early to tell but it seems there is a new cool kid in town.
At their Q3's conference call, Motorolo Co-CEO Sanjay Jha spoke of their plans to focus solely on three operating systems: Android, Windows Mobile and their own P2K platform for low-costs handsets. This will reduce OS development costs and Motorola will focus on handsets to offer high ends smartphones.
As far as Android is concerned, Motorola plan to release several handsets, going from medium end to high end ranges at different prices. The first Android phone should land at Christmas 2009. This is later than we expected, with the original date announced for second quarter of 2009.
Will Motorola get back to the top thanks to Android? They seem to believe so.
It's all going very fast now. After it was discovered that the phone was now unlocked, the first first emulator for Android is also available.
AndroidBoy lets you play all the original Gameboy and Gameboy Colour games that enchanted your (early) gaming days. The likes of Kirby's Dreamland, Super Mario Land or Tetris all become available to you, right down in your pocket.
According to AndroidCommunity, the emulator is in its first version and needs a bit of twitching. The control are not great but no doubts updates will soon follow.
And you want to know the best part? It's waiting for you in the Android Market.
Every week or so, new companies declare their flame to Android. And now OpenMoko and Asus are joining in, both of them announcing their plans to bring out Android powered phones.
OpenMoko, a phone manufacturer company that believes in Open Source, have even released a code name GTA02 and specs for their Android phone. The phone will sport a 2.8 touch screen, with two hard buttons with acceloremeter, bluetooth and Wifi. It should look very similar to their previous product, the Neo Freerunner.
If you are still not sure of what OpenMoko do, have a look at their official website. They design completely customizable phones, both on hardware and software level.
It seems pretty natural that they come to Android. Some rumours are already talking of a November release.
Asus, known for developping smartphones on Windows Mobile, have also announced plans to release an Android phone, this as early as in the first half of 2009. Nothing much has been leaked yet but we can bet on some features like touchscreen, card storage or keyboard. We'll keep a eye on that.
We all know that the G1 is locked to T-Mobile. Well it seems it's not the case anymore. The G1 has been successfully unlocked and despite few glitches, works pretty well on other networks.
And because business is business, if you want to unlock your phone, Unlock-TmobileG1.com offers that possibility for $22.99.
The unlocked phone then opens up to other networks and allows you to make the usual phone calls or send text messages.
However, according to AndroidCommunity, there are few glitches. The most notable one is that they couldn't seem to log in with their Gmail account. No login in Gmail means no Android Market either. But still according to AndroidCommunity, there are no indication this cannot be fixed as they also point out they used the network's standard settings.
For the skeptical ones, here's a video showing an unlocked G1 working on AT&T network:
The T-Mobile G1, the first Android-powered phone, officially arrives in the UK today to any T-Mobile shops.
Note that the G1 over there is free and our British friends have the choice between two price plans, going from £35.
The first priceplan is called Combi, costs £35 per month and this for 18months and gives 800 minutes of voicecall to any networks and unlimited texts.
Or for those who like complete freedom over how they spend their money, they can go for the Flex priceplan. It is £40 per month, for 18months in total and gives £250 that you spend in any way you want. If one month, you mainly do texting and the other you find yourself calling a lot, this priceplan does give you the flexibility to do so. However, it is a bit like managing a budget and it can prove to be fastidious sometimes.
Please also note that both priceplans give out unlimited internet access. Check out all the infos you need on the T-Mobile UK's official website here.
A brand new update for the T-Mobile G1, the RC29, was released less than two days ago and it is highly recommended that you do get it as soon as possible.
Originally, Google had planned to release on Friday the RC28 update but with the recent security flaws uncovered on Android web browser, they decided to re-work that patch to fix the issues.
This flaw was confirmed last Friday by Google and allowed malicious users to install a keystroke recorder within the browser and which allowed then to record any usernames, passwords or even credit card details.
The RC29 is now ready to be downloaded, installed and make sure you do it to enjoy the wonders of internet on your G1, safely!
Gaming on mobiles has mainly been a solo experience but JOYity has brought social gaming to Android in a unique way. The app uses the GPS to locate players and play with them adventures in the real world.
The game, developped by German company Zelfi, offers three separate game modes, YouCatch, Roads of San Francisco and City Race Munich. You can also design your own game.
YouCatch is a sort of manhunt game where the last man standing wins and in which close to each others players sign up. You are both the hunter and the hunted as while you are assigned a target, you also become a target for another player. When you are 25feet away from your target, just hit the scrollbar to make the kill, baring in mind that each time you do so, your location is flashed on the map.
Roads of San Francisco is more of a scavenger hunt, in which several players follow a storyline and a series of indication.
There are no better explanations than watching all of this in motion, so check out these two vids below. The first one is a demo of the Roads of San Francisco mode by Appvee and the second shows a game of YouCatch, still by Appvee.
Roads of San Francisco demo
YouCatch demo
Oh boy, we hope you enjoyed these videos because we sure did!
Illegal G1s have been literally "pouring into China" since the US release, with dubious sellers speculating on expensive prices.
According to mocoNews, a G1 goes for more than 3,999 Chinese yuan (over $580, more than three times the US official price) and to this, you have to add a $70 unlocking fee. Of course none of this is official and is similar to what happened with the iPhone after its US release. iPhones were shipped all around the world at ridiculously high prices, sometimes reaching $2000.
The prices should not hit such crazy numbers, thanks to high supply level but when a popular desirable product is out, you'll always have people ready to bank on it.
In these harsh times of crisis, getting a G1 could prove to be difficult. For those of you who are desperate to get a G1 but decided to stick with your Sidekick for the time being, you can always get a feel of the G1 with these new themes.
The 2 G1 themes were created by CubanitaStylezz and are compatible with Sidekick LX / Sidekick Slide and so on...See below for the links
Lenovo and China Mobile are to team up to bring out an Android handset towards February or March, next year.
The pair could prove to be a winning couple, China Mobile announced 415 million subscribers last June and Lenovo is recognised for making quality laptops.
No specific infos have filtered yet, so it's down to imagination at the moment. Is it going to be a touchscreen, or even multi touchscreen? To be continued...
The T-Mobile G1 makes its European debuts this week on Thursday October 30th and we now know that 50 apps will be available for free to download on Android Market.
That's a bit less than for the American release but some of the best apps will be there. ShopSavvy, which lets you scan a barcode to see a listing of all the prices for this particular product will make it just in time to start some Christmass shopping.
Another cool app that will be available is Shazam. It finds out a song title, album and artist for you. However, we have no seen imeem Mobile in the listings, let's hope that it will soon be available too.
Here's what Jim Hyde, CEO of T-Mobile UK, said:
"T-Mobile is committed to opening up the internet to give customers the freedom to do whatever they want online, when the internet has no boundaries it drives innovation and the T-Mobile G1 and the Android platform is designed to do just that. The open nature of Android Market has already sparked an exciting range of applications which allow customers to tailor their phone to suit their lifestyle. We're really excited to be able to offer the first 50 applications free of charge and believe the T-Mobile G1 has the potential to revolutionise the way we use and view our phones."
And here's the full listing of all the apps available for the UK release:
Shopping:
Barcode scanner
ShopSavvy - lists and compares all the high street and online prices
ComparEverywhere - scans barcode and also gives directions to local shops
Lifestyle:
Mandalbrot Map - map viewer
Krystle II - pet for your phone
Pocket Seismograh - follow the earth's activity with your phone's accelerometer
iSkoot announced today its app iSkoot for Skype is now available on Android Market. iSkoot for Skype is Android's first VoIP application.
You will be able to keep in touch with friends and call your Skype contacts. The press release also states that no Wifi connection is needed and that "Normal carrier voice and data charges always apply".
This is simply because iSkoot actually makes SkypeOut calls and the call goes though a local server to reach a Skype contact. This means that you don't need to be connected to a Wifi network or to be in a 3G covered area to make these calls.
iSkoot on Android also means the app runs in the background and will let you know in real time when you receive a new message.
ShopSavvy, currently the most downloaded app, was created by BigInJapan and allows you to scan a product's bar code to check online what and where is the cheapest price for that very product.
Well today, the app's developers announced that it will now also list eBay items. To do so, they have explained the procedure:
"About an hour ago we decided that it might be worth it to launch an Alpha (i.e. not Beta) eBay listing tool. The tool is very simple. You enter:
UPC of item you are selling on eBay
eBay auction URL
buy it now price
Address of item
Phone number of seller
Auction duration
And pay us $1 via PayPal
Now your item becomes relevant to bargain shoppers out in the real world, people who are actually ready to buy."
Clever idea this is to be able to browse products like that at the tip of your finger and in time of crisis like now, saving a few bucks is certainly no luxury.
Check also this review of ShopSavvy by Androidapps:
For those big numbers lovers, stats for Android Market's first day have been released by Medialets.
First, in comparison to the first 24hours of the iPhone App store, there are several similiraties according to Medialets:
Both users play games
They know their music
They both shop
they share the same curiosity about the weather
For the first day of Android Market, 62 apps were made available, all for free. That's 10% less than on the App Store's first day but keep in mind that Apple also made available paid apps immediately, something that will only come in 2009 first quarter for Android Market.
About apps downloading, the most speaking stats are:
Each app was downloaded at least 7, 800 times
Nine apps reached the 10,000-50,000 download range
Picture from Medialets
When seeing in which categories those nine most downloaded apps are, it is easy to see that Android and iPhone users have similar taste. Games prove to be very popular once more, with three apps making the most downloaded chart.
These stats, however interesting or encouraging they might be, should not rush to any conclusion. They only relate to the first 24hours of Android Market and it only proves one thing, app downloading on mobiles are becoming a big thing and it will contribute substantially to the phone's success.
If you want more numbers, satisfy your hunger here with the original article. Enjoy!
The T-Mobile G1 being the first Android powered phone, we were expecting a big ad push from T-Mobile and it is coming.
The promotion of Android was mainly done through informative videos from Google but T-Mobile is now ready to launch a full campaign.
According to T-Mobile’s marketing head Denny Marie Post in an interview with WSJ, T-Mobile will roll out a tv spot based on the idea that "curiosity is everywhere". The TV spot will be aired this week and will build up over the next weeks.
About Goole, Post said the entire ad strategy lies with T-Mobile, Google, a"nontraditional marketer" will only ensure their company is represented fairly.
Post when she was asked if the G1 could generate as much buzz as the iPhone, also said:
“More than the device, it’s opening the door to the open platform. And I think that’s where the news is going to come from. I think we've taken our own path here."
But enough bla bla and here's what you are waiting for, the first tv commercial for the T-Mobile G1:
When you think that exactly a month ago on September 23rd, Google released the first promotional videos of the G1 and it has now become a reality. For old days' sake, here's one of these promo videos from Google.
MySpace already has released their Android app and we were all eager to see Facebook's response to that. Unfortunately, it seems that a Facebook app for Android will take some time to land.
A Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch that Facebook is looking for external persons to develop the app. The Facebook API is available to third-part developers or even Google to develop an app using Facebook services.
This means that Facebook have no intention on working themselves on an Android app, unlike what they did with the iPhone app which was developed internally by Joe Hewitt or with the RIM app, for which Facebook lent some developers to help RIM develop the app.
What is the reason behind all of this? According to TechCrunch, Facebook and Google developed an ill relationship when a year ago, Microsoft was chosen by Facebook as their ad partner and investor. Google reacted by supporting MySpace and by launching Open Social with most of Facebook's rivals.
Facebook seems to have made up their minds so having a sleek Facebook app on Android is still one for the future.
The Android Market has opened its gates and Eric Chu, one of the Android's developer has outlined on how the whole thing works.
The market is opened for downloads and there already are around 50 apps available with many more to come. Developers from next Monday (October 27th) will be able to publish their apps on the market. To upload their apps; developers will have to pay a one time application fee of 25$.
More interestingly is the fact that developers will be able to distribute paid apps, early 2009. They get 70% of the revenue from each download and the rest goes to carriers and billing fees. Eric Chu is keen on saying that Google does not touch a dime.
Having paid apps on Android Market will benefit companies like EA which declared their interest for the platform but were still waiting on seeing if they could distribute paid apps. Don't be surprised to see a Fifa or NBA live landing on Android real soon.
There is also an official website for the Android Market: http://www.android.com/market/ on which you can view a showcase of all the apps already available, like imeem mobile or shazam or even Namco's original Pacman.
For those of you who were still sceptical about the T-Mobile G1 sales, everything seems to be going well.
MocoNews are reporting that people were lining-up to get their hands on the first Android phone in front of a T-Mobile store in San Francisco, which opened at 6pm. People had a chance to go droid 11hours before the official release and that probably explains this lining-up. Ten minutes before the gates opened, there more than a hundred waiting for the precious.
We'll keep you updated on similar news when the phone is officially released this morning at 8 am. Will there be queues too? Possibly, mainly because of the limited stock availability. On the other hand, given the fact that T-Mobile customers were able to pre-order their G1 to receive it as early as the beginning of this week, it could also be quieter day than expected.
What is sure is that there is a genuine interest for the G1, both for hardware and software reasons, and that customers should soon see the infamous "Sould out" sign.
If you have any pictures or videos of people lining-up for the G1, don't hesitate to share them with us. Until then, let's keep our eyes wide open.
Buddymob is a community application for Google's revolutionnary new operating platform, Android. Buddymob's members can follow in real time every actions of their friends. It is also compatible with instant messaging services like MSN, Yahoo or Google talk.
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