When this was brought to our attention, the sad truth is that we weren’t really all that surprised by it. For one, it’s not like this is the first time that China and Google have been in the news together recently, so something like this almost seems natural, if not a direct response to those past events. But, is that really even the reason? Should we really be upset that Motorola has chosen to use Microsoft’s Bing as its primary search engine in China?

According to Reuters, this could very well be the reason. It’s a sad truth that politics can come between a great many things, and if this situation is indeed the case, then chalk this one up as another loss. And while many think that an Android-based device isn’t an Android-based device if it’s lacking such distinct features as (Google) search and (Google) maps, that’s simply not the case. No matter how you look at it, the Android mobile Operating System is planted firmly in the open source market. Meaning, once someone decides that they want to use Android on their device, it’s fair game.

We’ve seen such travesties before, naturally. Sure, it doesn’t help Motorola’s case that the last great debacle featuring a missing Google feature happened on another one of their devices, but this just seems to be a case of freedom of choice. The manufacturing company has decided to stake their claim in an open project, and by the result of that, can do whatever they want with the platform once it makes it onto their hardware. (Let’s not forget that AT&T is more than likely also very much to blame for the Yahoo! Search on the Motorola Backflip, the other handset in question.) As much as we all expect, or even need our Google-centric applications on Android devices, the nature of the beast is far more robust, and has a lot more options.

It’s no secret that Google and China aren’t exactly BFFs at the moment, but now Motorola has thrown its hat into the foray in a rather large way in order to protect its own interests and presumably make a nice bit of coin while doing so. As of this quarter, all of Motorola’s Android smartphones sold in China will see Google search and Google Maps replaced by Bing search and Bing Maps. Devices currently in the hands of consumers or sitting unsold on store shelves will be getting an OTA update sometime in the not too distant future. Both Motorola and Microsoft have not announced any specific plans to expand on their partnership outside of China — one could argue it’s already in the US — but based upon our understanding of the term “global alliance”, we don’t doubt for a second that this partnership will be forced upon other markets.

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Today, ComScore released its search engine market share numbers for February 2010, and to be honest, there wasn’t much movement. Google and Bing both gained a little ground: Google’s market share rose 0.1 percentage point from 65.4% to 65.5% while Bing’s share gained 0.2% rising from 11.3% to 11.5%. Yahoo and Ask both gave up a little bit of the search pie: Yahoo declined from 17% to 16.8% and Ask fell slightly from 3.8% to 3.7% market share.  AOL’s slice of search remained unchanged at around 2.5%. We’ve got the full report, and all the insipid details that go with it, linked up for you. 

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Back when the T-Mobile G1 launched for T-Mobile USA, there was a lot of speculation circling Google and their little green Android. Was it going to be a success? Would anyone even care? Considering that the G1 didn’t make that big of a splash on the consumer side of things, it was a pretty much unanimous (with some nay-sayers mixed in for good measure) vote that the G1, and the software powering it, was a game changer. At least, it would be. And now, since the launch of the Motorola Droid on the Verizon network, we’ve seen that change in perception, as the Android revolution continues to spread. The newest target? Canada.

Rogers, one of the largest wireless carriers in Canada, has just received their latest Android-powered handset. Not HTC built this time, the Samsung Galaxy Spica is a 3.2-inch, 320×480 capacitive touchscreen device, running (unfortunately) Android version 1.5. There has been word that the device will be upgraded to 2.1 eventually, so if you’re looking to pick up an Android phone, don’t let the 1.5 version hold you back too long. 2.1 is coming. If the rumors are true. It’s also got a 3.5mm audio jack, 3.2MP camera on the back, and a 2GB MicroSD card sold with the phone.

As is standard up in the Great North, a three-year deal will get you the device for $79.99. It jumps up to $349.99 on a two-year deal, and if you’re one of those people who hates contracts, it’ll be a cool $449.99. Not bad for the out-right price (if you don’t look at the software version), but we’re guessing that many Canadians out there are going to enjoy their three-year plan. Anyone up there going to go check out the Galaxy? Let us know!

[via Android Central]

There are two sides to the proverbial “cloud coin” for small business owners. You can view cloud services, like Google Apps, as a time and money saver, allowing you to focus on your core business as opposed to IT needs. Or, you can view them as your worst nightmare, and shun the thought of having all your business data stored on third-party servers. For those whose views align more closely with the former perspective, Google wants to offer you greater flexibility and options for your cloud data. Yesterday, Google announced that Google Apps customers will have the ability to purchase and use third-party tools in their Google Apps cloud deployments. The Apps Marketplace has over 50 applications ranging from payroll and tax software to project management and development tools. “The Google Apps Marketplace eliminates the worry about software updates, keeping track of different passwords and manual syncing and sharing of data, thereby increasing business productivity and lessening frustrations for users and IT administrators alike,” writes Google. Quickly running through the new Apps Marketplace we think this could be a pretty big hit for Google’s Apps service. We’ve got the launch video queued up for you after the break.

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As was widely expected, Rogers today announced the immediate availability of the Samsung Galaxy Spica. The carrier’s fourth Android smartphone, the Galaxy Spica offers a 3.2″ AMOLED HVGA capacitive display, 3.2 megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, 3.6Mbps HSDPA/UMTS, 800MHz processor and up to 7 hours of talk time and 10 days of standby for $79.99 on a standard 3-year deal. Anyone that was hoping it would come pre-loaded with anything past Android 1.5 aka “Cupcake” will be sorely disappointed, although we’ve received official word from Rogers that an update to Android 2.1 is in the works, there are “no details on timing to share at the moment.” C’est la vie.

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Google is very keen on giving away Nexus One units, as they did during their 2009 Christmas party (Google employees only) and now they’re up for a new session of gifts, destined to reach the hands of Android developers. This time, devs will choose between a Motorola Droid or Google’s very own phone.

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Tags: free Motorola Droid, free Nexus One, free phones for developers, gifts for Android developers, Google gives away phones

It’s been out in Canada for a little under three weeks now, but the Motorola MILESTONE has already proven itself to be quite the popular handset thanks in part to all of the Canadians watching American TV and witnessing Verizon’s huge media blitz for the DROID. For a device that has been on sale in one form or another for many months, we have to wonder — is the MILESTONE still worth it? Put on your reading glasses, sit back and relax, and join us after the jump for our hands on the the TELUS Motorola MILESONE to find out.OS

Seeing as this is a hardware review we decided we’d bypass once again dissecting Android because everything that needs to be said about the Android OS has already been said by BG in his epic Android tirade post. If you’re seething at rage just thinking of what it is he said or simply as the prospect of reading well over 1,400 words then let us quickly catch you up to speed: Android, while a damn fine OS that has all the promise in the world, has “practically no human emotion with Google when it comes to technology. Everything is statistical and analytical.” On we go.

Tech Specs

When its EV-DO counterpart came out late last year, it was easily the most advanced Android handset to come to market. Quite a lot of things have changed since that time — what with the release of the Nexus One and the announcing of the Desire — but as it stands, the MILESTONE is still no slouch. Here are some key specs to keep in mind before you go on:

• Android 2.0.1
• 550MHz OMAP3 processor
• 256MB RAM / 512MB ROM
• 3.7″ WVGA capacitive touchscreen display
• 5 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash
• aGPS with MotoNav pre-loaded
• Wi-Fi 802.11b/g
• 10.2Mbps UMTS/HSDPA
• 6.5 hours talk time / 380 hours standby (3G)
• 60mm x 115.8mm x 13.7 mm, 165g
  

Build Quality

As far as build quality goes, it’s pretty hard to fault the MILESTONE. On the top half of the device we have the display, encased by a metal bezel, and made up of a sturdy slab of plastic that does a more than admirable job of resisting scuffs and scratches. Underneath this is a fairly unique sliding mechanism that relies not on an easily breakable spring but a simple and unseen rail system. When pushed open or closed, it locks itself into place with a delightfully reassuring “click”.
On the lower half of device is where we see the plastic components come out of hiding. But fear not because they’re amongst the best we’ve ever encountered. The bezel immediately surrounding the keypad and d-pad is matte black while the entire backing of the device is made up of rubberized plastic save for the rectangular piece directly below the camera module that bears the “with Google” mark. Your average hardware-related creaks and groans and nowhere to be found on this device.
The only real concern we have with the hardware is the volume rocker/camera zoom because it’s looser than… well, we’ll let you fill in the blank. All of this high quality fit and finish means that the MILESTONE weighs in at an incredibly hefty 165g but oddly enough it feels great in the hand and surprisingly light in pockets. Bonus: This weight equals crime deterrent.

Display

It’s not an AMOLED nor is it even Super AMOLED, but for the life of us, we haven’t come across many screens that have wowed us like the 3.7″ WVGA display on the MILESTONE. Popping to life with rich color, easily viewable from all angles and bright enough to overcome direct sunlight, this display is also very accurate making things like web-browsing and typing on the virtual keypad all the easier. How would we rank it overall? Second only to the iPhone, but just by a few hairs because of the slightly better capacitive factor.

Keyboard

We know it looks like it might be nightmare to type on what with its lack of very flat surface, lack of major definition and overall footprint, but the QWERTY keyboard on the MILESTONE is actually quite nice. Okay, it doesn’t even come close to anything RIM makes and could definitely have used a bit more refining before the design was finalized (who in God’s name thought the tiny spacebar, two blank keys and non-sensical punctuation layout was a good idea?), but after a few days we think most people will be rather happy with it. And let’s be honest: with the stock Android virtual keypad being as bad as it is (who actually likes it?) you’re really going to want to use the real deal as much as possible. Or get Swype.

Camera

The MILESTONE’s 5 megapixel auto-focus camera is barely passable as a camera on a modern smartphone. It boots up in an acceptable amount of time, but the saving of images consistently took 4 plus seconds. The worst part is that after going through the whole boot up, focus, snap the pic and save it routine, any special moment you had hoped to capture forever will invariably come out looking like they were taken on a VGA webcam in a dimly lit room way back in the early 2000’s. Just in case you were wondering, the dual-LED flash seems to be as effective as the goggles Radioactive Man once infamously wore. Yeah.

Multimedia

Simply put, Android needs some work when it comes to multimedia. It can do everything you want reasonably well, but the interface feels rushed and incomplete and, what’s more, is quite clunky and cumbersome. We did find ourself enjoying videos if only for the screen, but things like the music player might prove to be a cause for concern for those hat refuse to carry a phone and a dedicated MP3 player. Nonetheless, it still manages to do an admirable job given what we honestly feel is a lack of effort on Google’s part.

Browser

Thanks to the MILESTONE’s snappy processor, awesome display and a little thing called multi-touch, the web experience on the MILESTONE is fantastic. We hate to do it, but for the sake of a benchmark that everyone can understand, we pitted the device against an iPhone 3GS (you knew this was coming, didn’t you?), the de facto standard for mobile web browsing. Speed wise both devices loaded up content-heavy sites within +/- 2 seconds of one another over 3G and 1 second over Wi-Fi. What set them apart, however, is rendering. We really appreciated how big everything seemed on the MILESTONE and how easy it was to read even the tiniest text, but overall the  iPhone 3GS did a much better job of accurately and properly rendering websites as they’d appear on a desktop. But again, it’s a very close call.

Email Support

Being a product of Google, Android naturally has great Gmail support built into it and supports all of the goodies you’d expect like labels (sadly you cannot create, edit, or remove them), stars and search so we’ll leave it at that. The thing we really want to talk about is Exchange. Yes, the MILESTONE supports it, but we use the word support loosely. We hooked up one of our Exchange accounts to the MILESTONE and, truth be told, we wouldn’t count on Android for our BGR email if you paid us. Here’s a few reasons why: On several occasions the notification panel let us know we have a new Exchange email only for us to find it actually hadn’t been downloaded by the Email. This either led to us having to wait 5 seconds (!) while a sweet and simple text email was downloaded or manually hit Menu > Refresh. No doubt this is a bug and will likely be addressed in a future update, but the reality is we have no idea when an update is coming and have no guarantees it will completely fix the issue. Another fatal flaw with Exchange is folders because you can’t actually place an email into a folder of your choosing. To make matters worse, you can’t look at emails that are already in folders that are older than the maximum length you set up for synchronization (it caps out at one month). Add to this the fact you cannot even do something as basic as search for messages and the picture is quite clear: business users stay the hell away, get on board with Google Apps, or use one of the hideous looking but very function third party clients like Touchdown.

Telephony

We don’t often use our cell phones for actually calling people any more thanks to things like email, IM, BBM and SMS, but when we do we demand excellence, and thankfully the MILESTONE delivers. Calls came in loud and clear on both ends, and a few of the people we spoke to made a point of mentioning the lack of background noise.

The Network

Reality check: TELUS’s HSPA+ network is brand new and most of its customers are still milling about in the land of EV-DO. Because of this we think it would be unfair and inappropriate for us to compare its network (or Bell’s, for that matter) to Rogers’s which has been at the GSM/HSPA game for years. Having said that, commenting on it in and of itself is fair game. So how then would we summarize the network? Mind-numbingly fast. In fact, we ran speed tests on a daily basis and not once did we see speeds drop below 4Mbps.

Two Huge Issues

So far most of what we have said about the MILESTONE is positive, so naturally it’s time for two huge drawbacks.
The first is that paid apps from the Android Marketplace are unavailable in Canada. So unless you want to be greasy and get into pirating apps, you’re just going to have to make do without. Hope might be on the horizon considering it was just this week a spokesperson for Google mentioned the possibility of an announcement related to paid apps in Canada as early as next week, but this wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard such a thing.

The second major drawback won’t hit everyone like the lack of paid apps, but it will sting the keeners. As you no doubt know, one of the greatest things about Android devices past is the ease in which users can root, hack, and load custom ROMs. Unfortunately when it comes to this particular device, Motorola has made what we consider to be a very weak move in locking up the bootloader. It doesn’t mean hacking is forever out of the question, it just means it’s going to be tough and take some time (odds are someone ends up gaining root access not too long after the first software update is issued). Nonetheless, we can’t help but think such a move violates the spirit of Android and is just plain odd considering the DROID does not have this restriction. “Smartphone Without Limits”? our asses.

Overall

There’s no denying that we’ve had some pretty uncomplimentary things to say about the MILESTONE, but it must not be forgotten that we’ve also given it a lot of praise. As we sit back and try and think of how to sum up our thoughts into a few sentences, we can’t help but come to the inevitable conclusion that, despite our perceived flaws, we think the average consumer who is out for a smartphone will really enjoy the MILESTONE provided they’re okay with dedicating some time to what is for some a bit of a difficult learning curve. As for the nerds, it’s really hard to say. If you’re not totally put off by the lack of paid apps and the fact that rooting is presently an issue then we say give the MILESTONE a shot. After all, we like it.

FREE THE BOOTLOADER

Believe it or not, those other search engines are still out there. In fact, they even manage to show up in the least likely of places. But, it must be hard for these other engines when they keep getting forced into the shadow of another, far more colorful mechanism. About a year ago, T-Mobile signed their mobile browsing souls away to Yahoo!, but it looks like that agreement has ended, and the fourth largest carrier in the States has had a change of heart.

Instead, T-Mobile USA has gone ahead and signed up with the Mountain View-based company, also known as Google. In addition, they’re also partnering up with Medio Systems, to better index results of premium content like wallpapers and ringtones. The switch has apparently taken hold already, as Google is available now in their Web2Go, along with their mobile web homepage.

But all is not lost for the purple Y in the land of magenta. Yahoo! is still making their services useful for the carrier by providing access to Yahoo! services like News, Finance, Messenger, Mail, and Flickr. So apparently the split was mutual, at the least. We’re not really surprised by this, considering the push that T-Mobile has been making on the Android side of things. Sprint’s pushing Android as well (not as hard, but they’re trying), and they’ve got a deal going with Google as well. The main contender to that would be Verizon Wireless, which is still rocking Microsoft’s Bing as their primary search provider, but that’s not a surprise either. And AT&T? Well, they’ve still got the Yahoo! love.

[via unwiredview]

We don’t have a whole lot to go on other than a couple of emails that were bounced around by some curious customers and some rather knowledgeable reps, but it certainly looks to us as if Verizon has begun training at least some of its employees on an EV-DO variant of the Google Nexus One. A tentative release date was not mentioned as one has not yet been communicated down the chain of command, but apparently this sucker will be sold in Big Red’s retail stores across the country once it’s available. Again, this is about as far as confirmed as it gets and we’re merely passing it on to our readers because we love you guys and gals to death, so please don’t come kicking in our doors if it doesn’t exactly pan out. The actual Nexus One won’t be available in stores, just through Google’s webstore.

Thanks Kappy!

Google has just introduced a new app that’ll allow Android users to search on their handsets simply by “drawing” on the screen surface with their fingers. Gesture Search can help you find bookmarks, apps, songs and contacts and it requires Android 2.0 or above to run.

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Tags: Android search queries, Gesture Search, Google Gesture Search app, Google Search on Android

Although the Nexus One is probably the hottest Android phone to be released so far, it does have its flaws, like the multitouch system and its issues, mentioned by quite a bunch of the handset’s users. These problems surface specially in apps and games and if you want to see what we’re talking about, feel free to check out the video below:

Robert Green of Battery Powered Games created an app that identifies where your touch display “thinks” that you fingers are placed when using multitouch and used it to test the Nexus One and Motorola Droid. While the latter handled the test pretty well, Google’s handset had a major axis flipping issue.

One would think that this is an issue solved by the next OTA update, so Google, HTC or whoever should try to fix this, till it doesn’t get embarrassing. If you want to do the test yourself, you can try it through the Multitouch Visible Test app on the Android Market.

[via Permalink | Comments | Author )
Tags: multitouch test app, Nexus One multitouch issue, Nexus One multitouch problems, Robert Green

Another day, yet another Android handset headed to Canada? In the words of Palin, “you betcha!” The Samsung Galaxy Spica, which was unveiled this past November, will purportedly go for $79.99 on a 3-year contract while also being available for $449.99 without strings. Not too bad considering the fact it has a 3.2″ AMOLED capacitive display, 3.2 megapixel camera, aGPS, Wi-Fi, 3G and a 800MHz processor. So far there is a bit of confusion about what OS it will ship with, but some people who say they are in the know think the Galaxy Spica will be shipped out with Android 2.0 as opposed to 1.5. We’ll let you know what’s up as soon as we find out ourselves.

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Good news for UK wireless customers as the Daily Telegraph is reporting that the Google Nexus One is slated for an April launch on Vodafone UK. Originally announced back in January, the Nexus One was expected to launch with Vodafone in the Spring of 2010 with Vodafone reportedly hoping to get the handset out the door in March. Inside sources have reportedly told the Daily Telegraph that the March date is most likely off the table and April is a much more realistic time frame for launch. Such a date is not surprising as April is a pivotal month in the Spring season and fits perfectly with Google’s original projection. Let’s hope similar inside sources inside the US will be as loose lipped as their UK counterparts and will soon share the launch date for either the Verizon Wireless or the AT&T Nexus One. You know where to go if you are feeling rather talkative.

[Via Android Community and Engadget]

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Verizon Wireless customers may have a welcome but difficult decision soon as two hot new Android handsets prepare to launch on the wireless carrier. Earlier this week, the HTC Incredible made its appearance in Verizon Wireless’ inventory system and today, another HTC handset, most likely the CDMA variant of the Nexus One, was spotted on its way out of the FCC. The EV-DO Rev. A device sported a HTC designated model number of PB99300, which is close to the PB99100 assigned to the Google Nexus One and the PB99110 assigned to the rumored AT&T 3G-capable Nexus One. This approval comes hot on the heels of another mystery CDMA device (PB31200) from HTC that received FCC approval earlier this month and is thought to be the HTC Incredible. The timing for FCC approval is about perfect for both handsets and, until additional details surface, we will assume that this one is the Verizon Wireless Nexus One, slated to be sold through Google, and the previous one is the HTC Incredible, slated to be sold through Verizon Wireless. The only lingering question is: which one do we buy?

[Via Unwired View]

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