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New Media News Every Morning

Google Android Steadily Gaining Market Share, At the Expense of iPhone?

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Comscore has released its February 2010 U.S.  Mobile Subscriber Market Share. And guess what?  Google Android is steadily gaining on market share in the smartphone category while Apple slided down. RIM continues to be on top of the pack while both Microsoft and Palm showed decreasing market share as well.

Google Android Platform’s market share for February 2010 increased from 3.2% to 9%. While it still lags behind at number four of the top five smartphone platforms, the increase was bigger than what RIM achieved during the said period – 1.3% at the current 42.1% market share. Apple’s market share on the other now stands at 25.4% down from previous 25.5%. Both Microsoft and Palm also loose some market share with 15.1% and 5.4% respectively.

It’s quite interesting to see how the Android Platform is slowly gaining market share. Although this should not be attributed only to the market share of Google’s own Nexus One as there are many other Android devices available in the market which is more widely used than the Nexus One.

If there’s one thing that Apple should be thankful for is the fact that there is only one current iPhone device going up against several Android phones.  Or maybe, Apple is recognizing Android’s threat already that’s why it will be unveiling the new iPhone OS 4.0 on April 8?

Opera Mini 5 for Android Promises Faster Web Browsing, Almost Failed

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Opera has been pretty much around the news the past few weeks with one announcement after another.  In fact, we’ve covered several of  its headlines starting off with the release of Opera version 10 for Nokia smartphones, Opera Mini for Windows Mobile, and the release of Opera desktop browser version 10.

Now, here comes Opera with another major announcement – the release of Opera Mini 5 for Android phones. With this version of its mobile browser, Opera is bringing a fast and cost-efficient web experience to all Android phones. Of course if you’ve been an Opera user before you’d know that what makes it possible for Opera to deliver fast mobile web browsing is because of the fact that it compresses data by up to 90% before rendering them on mobile phones. [Read more…]

Googles’s Bundle of New Search Related Features

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Google recently introduced twin cool features relating to its search services – one is for Android devices, while the other is on web search. But both are aimed at making user’s search experience no matter what the platform is – faster and more fruitful. So, let’s take a look into each of these two search-related features.

First up is Gesture Search for Android-powered devices running on version 2.0 or above in the U.S. This is a pretty cool method of searching content from Android phones. Not just cool but a faster way of finding information. And how does this feature works? Simply draw alphabet gestures on your phone’s touch screen and Gesture Search will give you a list of items that starts with the letter that you’ve drawn. It searches your phone’s contact, installed application, a bookmark or a music track.

It told you it was cool, right? Even cooler than the Nexus One’s voice-enabled search feature. In addition, this app (yes it’s actually an Android app) also learns your search history, so your phone’s search quality improves in time. Gesture search is available now for free in Android Market.

The other search-related feature is about making web search more personalized for individual users. And that is through star markers that will be displayed next to individual search results. If you mark a search result with a star, it will appear on a special list right at the top of your results when relevant, the next time you do a search.

What’s good about stars in search is that you don’t need to exert extra effort in managing or using them. It just might even remind you that you’ve actually starred items related to your current search activity. In addition, this feature also syncs with Google Bookmarks and Google Toolbar, giving you an automated way of seeing your starred items.

So there, two new, cool search related features that Google introduced almost simultaneously.  Which of these two search features will you most likely use?

U.S. Android Phones to Get Firmware Update, Finally

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Finally, after being available for Google Nexus One for quite some time now, the latest version of Google’s mobile OS – Android 2.1 will soon be available for all Android phones released in the U.S. so far.  The folks from Android and Me broke the news citing “several inside sources familiar with the matter.”

Now while, all these U.S. Android phones will get their firmware upgrade via over-the-air update in due time, some features of the Android 2.1 may be missing though. For instance, those cool live wallpapers of Nexus one phones will not be making its way to all Android phones. I think, this is one feature that makes the Nexus One feature unique afte all.

Another important point that you should also remember, in case you own an Android phone is that some phones will require a complete wipe when they are upgraded to Android 2.1. Likewise, some phones will require PC-based install and OTA update will not work afte all.

In  case you’re interested to know, only the Nexus One and the Motorola Droid  are curerntly running Android 2.1. And according to Android and Me, around 80% of Android phones are still running on the earlier version of the OS.

And now for the schedule of Android 2.1 updates – expect it to happen sometime in Q2 2010. Owners of phones such as G1 and myTouch 3G will be the among the first gen Android phones will get the firmware update first.

There, hope everyone feels happy with that news. And hopefully, Android and Me’s sources are realiable enough. Google badly needs to spike up interest with the Android OS as well as the different phones that use it. Nexus One could not advance Google’s mobile strategy agenda alone.

Google Earth for Android Released, Nexus One Users Get the First Taste, Again

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Google is really making sure that all its mobile products and services that it has released for the iPhone get into its flagship mobile device, the Nexus One as well. The latest of these products is the cool Google Earth mobile app which has just been outed and ready for use on Android 2.1 phones, which if you might have guessed by now include the Nexus One.

So, what does the Google Earth for Nexus One offers? Many good things actually. The app is taking advantage of the phones 1GHz processor, advanced 3D graphics and of course Android 2.1 OS.  With those, you’ll get a cool mobile app that is on its fastest version so far – with smooth framerate rendered on a beautiful 800×480 screen resolution.

Google Earth for Android, or should I say for Nexus One packs in some great new features as well, which is not present in its iPhone iteration. The roads layer for one was carried over from the desktop version of Google Earth. This layer tells you where you are when viewing Google Earth on top of the satellite imagery.

Another nice feature takes full use of the Nexus One’s voice recognition functionality into Google Earth search feature. You can speak out a location name to search for its exact location on the globe.

The app also lets you browse photos, places and local businesses no matter where those are located. It also allows you to customize your own version of Google Earth.

You can grab the Google Earth for Android app from the Android market by searching for it on your Nexus One phone. Google says it will soon be available to other Android phones with version 2.1 or later of the mobile OS.

I’ve downloaded the app on my Nexus One, and so far the app seems pretty good.