GOOGLES ANDROIDS BASED CELLPHONES: Taking over the Mobile Phone Marketplace Like A Storm
It is no secret that Google wants to dominate the Cellular Phone Marketplace with its GOOGLE ANDROIDS application.
New statistics reveals that the product sales of GOOGLES ANDROIDS structured mobile phones have over run cellular phones with the Microsoft Windows system.
Product sales of mobile phones that exploit the Android application have taken roughly 10% of mobile devices sold worldwide. Moreover this just the results in the 1st quarter of this year. We are reminded that this is a massive increase on the 1.6 market share Google it grasped last year at this time. Windows Mobile structured applications were not as popular by users in the same time frame. The truth is, Windows Mobile Handsets sales that had accounted for 6.8 per cent of all handset sales in the same period are now behind from 10.2 per cent in the first quarter of last year.
Furthermore, earlier this month, the analyst firm, NPD Group, noted that mobile phones with the Googles Androids application accounted for 28 per cent of all mobile phones product sales in North America. Now equate this to the Apple iPhone's 21 per cent market share. However, BlackBerry devices (made by Research in Motion (RIM), go on to dominate. In actual fact, RIM owns 36% of the cell phone market in the US, in the 1st of 2010.
Googles Androids Phones are quite fresh on the cell phone scene but they have been taking over like a whirlwind. The figures reveals that handsets with Googles Androids Phones application are being purchased at astonishing rates. Keep in mind that the actual initial Google Android supported handsets barely went on sale in October of 2008. Since that time scores of additional phone makers have touted the Android application, including such companies as HTC, Motorola and Sony Ericson. According to Google's chief executive, Eric Schmidt Android devices are being shipped at a rate of 60,000 per day.
Analyst Caroling Milanesi who works for Gartner believes that this upward momentum is the direct result of intensive marketing. This marketing is visable when you go on line. It looks like each internet site you go to that employs Google's Adsense, is running ads for cellphones that come with the Google Android platform.
To be honest, Google has the monopoly on advertising in the world. It has in a very brief time branded the Google Android. There seems little that its competition can do to slow them down at this time. We expect Googles Androids Phones to be a household name in 2010.
DAVID WANG: Would you like the Google Android on your iPhone
Hacker and programmer David Wang has at last done it. He has breached the closed source cod on Apple's iPhone. Wang has successfully booted the iphone with Google's Android.
This is certainly quite an triumph: booting Google's Android OS on Apple's iPhone
David Wang, full fledged member of the a group identified as "The iPhone Development Team," which is fully committed to hacking iPhones. Last week he posted a video revealing the Google Android on an iPhone.
The video demonstrates the booting process complete with the Tux Linux mascot. Also it shows Wang using the Google Droid for surfing the internet, getting a text message, answering a phone call and playing music. Wang has the iPhone set up with a dual-boot configuration. You can observe this as Wang starts the video with the iPhoine running on its OS.
David Wang promptly admits that his hack is not production-quality at this point. He claims that the hack is still in its Alpha phase but he claims that everything works when it comes to functionality.
Wang's Droid patch on the iPhone is quite a technical accomplishment Some say it will not transform the industry nor the behavior of mainstream consumers. The one noteworthy thing Wangs hack does make evident is that the iPhone may be hacked even with its grip on the source code.
David Wang remarks that he has been working on his patch since 2008. The video he uses to exhibit his victorious hack is done with a first-generation iPhone. Yet, newer iPhones are also apt to be compromised by this hack.
David Wang claims that it should be simple to port ahead to the iPhone 3G. He readily admits that the 3GS will take extra effort however. Wang's wish is to make the Google Droid a viable alternative or supplement for the iPhone and perhaps we can ultimately add Flash.
According to androidauthority.com, Geeks'Phone ONE is the first offering from the Spanish based start-up operating out of Madrid. The phone comes ready to roll, with root access, unlocked and network free. It is priced as a mid-range handset (285� or $425) and offers a hybrid Android 1.5/1.6 operating system with a modestly customized user-interface. Android Authority has been following the development of the Geeks'Phone since early May this year, and we encourage you to read on to find out whether this device is a good option for your holiday spending.
Physical Aspects
The Geek's Phone ONE appears to be a rather standard slider-phone, but in the flesh the device looks much more attractive than online mug-shots would suggest. It comes in just one color, which is a glossy black, and when 'opened', the device reveals sleek reflective silver contours around the keyboard, and this certainly gives it a classy edge which underpins the general impression you are left with after using the device for a few days. Overall, it is a stylish device, especially when considering the price point, and why shouldn't it be?
Given that the ONE comes in a high-gloss black finish, it is understandable that it suffers from the same issue other handsets with this finish also suffer from; oily fingerprints. I much prefer a matte finish with a Teflon coating to help keep things clean, but the ONE does not provide in this department. In comparison to any other device with this finish, it actually brushed up rather nicely. The Samsung i8910HD you see in some of the comparison photos requires more wiping more often to keep things looking tidy.
The Geeks'Phone ONE is a compact phone by today's benchmarks, and it is certainly forgettable when in one's pocket. Overall, it is slightly smaller than the HTC Hero, as it measures up as 110mm x 55m x 14mm. I find that it is a well proportioned piece of kit, and given that there is a slide out keypad, the thickness of the device is very good. The actual slide mechanism is spring loaded and is very satisfying and well-built. Remember, you do not have to pay premium prices to get your hands on one of these. Furthermore, it weighs in at 123g, an acceptable number, as I am sure you'll agree. Nonetheless, despite the relative weightlessness of the device, it feels robust and sturdy in your hand, as though you are holding something of value, without it being over the top. Now, personally, I am a fan of screens that push right up to the boundaries of the device's front fascia. The ONE leaves something be desired here, but only at the top and bottom. Around the sides, the fascia borders are slight and unimposing.
The display itself is a 3.2-inch touchscreen WQVGA (400 x 240 pixel) TFT-MVA new-gen resistive panel. The screen is the same physical size as that on the HTC Hero, but offers less in terms of resolution. Reading the display in bright sunlight was decent and comparable to an AMOLED display. However, the colors were far from as vivid as any of Samsung's AMOLED offerings, and to the touch the screen felt slightly soft. This is to be expected, as a resistive touchscreens require far more pressure than capacitive touchscreen, and I personally do not enjoy using them as much.
Moving away from the touch-aspect of the phone, there are a number of different hardware keys on the device. Starting at the front, along the top you find a slit for the speaker, along with a VGA camera for video calling. Across the bottom and below the screen there are three keys: green, white, and red. The green and red make and end calls, respectively. The white key is used for menu and also acts as the home key. One the right side of the device, there is an interesting jog button which adjusts the volume, along with a dedicated camera button for taking photos.
At the back of the device we find a recessed hole where the obligatory 3.1MP autofocus camera resides. There is no flash, which effectively rules out any night-time action man shots unless you have an alternative lighting source. At the top end of the device you'll find a microSD card slot offering up to 32GB of memory expansion, along with a 3.5mm headset minijack. This is an excellent addition to this device and is certainly a selling point as far as I am concerned. To get things to and from the device, and for charging, there is a micro-USB 2.0 port that is protected by a plastic cover. The left hand side of the phone is totally devoid of things to press and fiddle with. Finally, the stylus slots in the top side of the device, towards the right-hand-side.
The keyboard itself is actually quite nice, although somewhat different from other physical QWERTY keyboards. It uses a membrane finish, whereby each key does not have its own recessed place holder. Instead, a membrane layer appears to covers the keys, which are then underneath. I did not find this difficult to use, and actually quite liked the feel on my fingers after prolonged typing. Each key is emphasized by a mixture of yellow, white, and blue lights. The yellow lights designate numbers, while the blue lighting reveals the FN characters, such as those accessed by a SHIFT key on a computer. Finally, the white light is for the alphabetic characters and the space bar, along with delete and return. The keyboard has four rows, not five. I did not find this to be a problem, although productivity would surely be increased on a five row keyboard. Overall, I enjoyed using the keyboard and found it very easy to use and to send text messages from.
Core Functions
While using the Geeks'Phone ONE, I was impressed by the general overall call quality, with and without 3G turned on via the Android settings. It is surprising to me how even some higher-end devices can offer you the world in terms of features, but overlook some basic aspects such as call quality. There was no noticeable difference with the call quality on my ONE compared to my landline, when at home. Furthermore, the ONE obtained a solid signal for voice calls, including in some pretty large buildings. A number of different devices with the same SIM card cannot boast the same results. Unfortunately, at times the 3G connectivity was marginally weaker than other devices I have used with the same network operator and SIM card. It goes without saying that I experienced no dropped calls while using the ONE.
The device's 1100mAh battery offered enough juice to keep the ONE ticking over for about two days of heavy use. Alternatively, it lasts a lot longer when left to handle just calls and general use. If you plan on using GPS and 3G data connectivity with push-email throughout the day, you can expect the device to last closer to 24 hours. In terms of data connectivity, the ONE supports HSDPA downoads at 7.2Mbps and HSUPA uploads at 5.7Mbps, when used on networks that support those speeds.
As you might expect, the Android contact manager is the first port of call for managing your contact details on the ONE. Similarly, it performs great. Unlike the Hero, you are unable to search for contacts from a hardware key, but you can of course start typing from the home screen and that will begin to narrow down your options. As with other Android devices, you can add favourite contacts and a myriad of contact data for each one. On my version of the ONE, there was SmartDial installed, which may prove useful if it ships on the retail version.
Geeks'Phone ONE offers an odd jog switch button for lowering or increasing the general ring volume on the device. This switch is found on the right face of the device. If you push it far enough down, it moved into a semi-locked position, which silences the device. Obviously a vibration alert can be enabled in this situation. As with other Android devices, you are able to set your own custom ringtone very easily, although the stock options are a little thin.
My copy of the ONE had been passed around a little bit prior to arriving at my desk. It was not entirely clear to me what applications will be shipping with the device, but after some digging, I turned up the following list; Notepad, GDocs, Cleanoid, , Ebuddy, iMusic, RMaps, GPS Waypoint Tracker, Shazam (music-tagging), GeekStore, Java J2ME Virtual Machine, Bluetooth File Transfer, Bluetooth A2DP Driver, Range+ Enhanced Wireless Driver, SlideType. My favorite is eBuddy. This application supports a myriad of instant messaging clients, including MSN, Yahoo!, and AIM. Text messages were organised in a simple to follow threaded routine, whereby previous messages are displayed above one another in a chronological fashion. It goes without saying that the usual IMAP/POP support is available via the Android OS, but if you would like exchange support, Dataviz RoadSync is included for free. We really like this addition.
The data speeds achieved by the ONE were variable, but comparable to other devices such as the Hero. I would not go so far as to say that it performed as well as the Samsung m900 Moment, although we do not have any analogous speeds figures in order to make the comparison. WiFi connectivity is also available, and this was a seamless process thanks to Android OS, along with the WiFI hardware the device offers. Furthermore, the ONE works with Bluetooth stereo headphones as well as headsets.
Multimedia/Applications
For a mid-range device, the ONE is adequate in terms of multimedia, but nothing special. The 3.5mm headphone jack separates it from its adversaries and is a needed boost to the ONE's portfolio. The camera on this device is a 3.2MP autofocus camera, which is a great start. Unfortunately there is no Flash, LED or otherwise, on this device. The camera took satisfactory photos in good light, but as you might expect, it performs rather poorly in lower light conditions. I was not overly impressed with the camera on the device, but after playing with some of the settings on the Android camera tool, I was able to achieve some pleasing results.
Where the ONE lacks in camera specifications, it somewhat makes up in the audio department. Through the inclusion of the 3.5mm headphone jack, the ONE puts itself in good stead when it comes to tunes. Overall, the ONE is a sound music device (excuse the pun) and thanks to the default player that ships with Android, there are plenty of different ways to organize your playlists. Furthermore, you can play music in the background and access it from a homescreen widget.
The web browser on the ONE is lacking when compared to the HTC Hero's browser, not least of which is due to the Hero providing multi-touch support. With that said, the browser performed well even though it uses a resistive touchscreen. Zooming in and out is a little annoying, but pressing the on screen keys is made easier with the inclusion of the stylus. I can really see this being a situation of where a stylus is a great addition to this device. Rendering speed and general performance were excellent and puts the ONE in contention as an affordable device with a practical and usable browsing experience.
It is nice to see Geeks'Phone thinking of the practicalities of owning a mobile phone. A key application that comes free with the device is WaveSecure by tenCube. WaveSecure enables users of the application to remotely lock, block, backup, and wipe their device. It is an extremely useful feature for the security conscious, and is a prompter for those that should be. Owners of the ONE receive a lifetime free service of WaveSecure location wipe and backup service, which usually costs 15� per semester. Unfortunately, there was a small bug in the version of WaveSecure that I was sent (which has now been completely resolved). Also shipping with the ONE is 'SlideType', a bespoke virtual keyboard that can be enabled in the 'Localization settings'. Geeks'Phone dropped the proposed DVB-T tuner due to technical impossibilities related to current Android energy management policies and Instead offer 'Streaming TV'.
Overall, the GPS functionality was quite slow connecting, but compared to other devices in this price bracket, it was perfectly acceptable. Using SirfStar 3, it is possible to get a very precise lock, but upon using it for the first time, it can take over 10minutes to get the initial lock. After this, a lock can generally be achieved within 2minutes, although when inside, it is almost impossible. There is assisted GPS on the device, whereby you can use carrier information from cell towers to help the GPS satellites get a lock on your location. This helps speed up locking in all situations. If you are patient with regards to your GPS locks, there is no reason that this device cannot serve you perfectly well. Being open source in nature, it is also possible to install any type of mapping software you would like, including Google Maps (although this is not a 'With Google' device).
User Interface
The user interface on the ONE is based on a stock Android experience. I am a big fan of the general Android user experience and although HTC's Sense UI or perhaps the forthcoming Rachel UI from Sony Ericsson have that wow factor, it is not always about jazz. While the ONE may not match up to the Sense UI, there are plenty of third party applications to keep you busy customising the device until the early hours of the morning. Indeed, Geek'sPhone philosophy includes the 'development, promotion and commercialisation of "open source" mobile telephony solutions'. The very nature of their device encourages the end-user to customise their product as much or as little as they like. This is why the device comes unlocked and network free. Nonetheless, I was a little disappointed by what Geeks'Phone themselves are offering.
Just like any other Android device, everything is laid out in a straight forward manner. The applications tray is accessible by a swipe 'up' or a tap at the bottom of the screen, and the core settings can be reached by swiping down the status bar at the top of the display. This will reveal your system and notifications tray. Everything can be accessed by a few taps or swipes. Unlike some other devices that run other operating systems, such as Symbian, there is complete continuity between actions. For example, on a current Symbian device I use, sometimes one has to double tap menu items, other times you press them just once. With the ONE, everything is consistent.
As with the HTC Magic, it is possible to bring up the call log via the green 'call' hardware key, and this reveals the favourite contacts, contact lists, and the dialer. When navigating these types of screens on the Android user interface, I found myself torn between using the stylus and using my finger. Indeed, for some tasks my finger would do just fine, but for other more intricate ones, the stylus performed better. Knowing when to use either one will come from experience, but I found the thought process annoying and draining after a while. I like to increase my productivity on any device as much as possible, and I found that not knowing when to pull out the stylus a drag. For some things, such as small webpage links, it was obvious to use the stylus, but other times such as playing with the Android settings, it was not as clear cut.
Conclusion
While testing the device, I had to remind myself that I was not using a $650 phone. For the price, I find the ONE a reasonably good option. It is by no means an entry-level handset as it will cost you around $425 (285�) to buy. Indeed, it is not cheap. But for your money you get WiFi, aGPS, 3G, a 3.5mm headphone jack, a full QWERTY sliding keyboard, and a decent screen resolution. It is possible to pick up a HTC Magic, unlocked and without a contract for about $40 (27�) more, but the most obvious drawback is you don't get the keyboard. Instead, you would receive a slightly better screen resolution.
Considering the more negative points made above, the ONE picks up fingerprint marks quite easily, but they rub away easily too. The battery life on this device was slightly above average � especially when considering the battery capacity � but was nothing amazing. It would probably require nightly charging if you used it heavily each day. Furthermore, the resistive touchscreen will not suit everyone, although the inclusion of a stylus remedies some of the issues. The overall design of the device is nice, but not exciting. The camera is a little on the entry level side for me, and for this price I would have liked to have seen a 5MP sensor and a better lens. Despite the fact that the build of Android Geeks'Phone are using for the ONE has suffered intense optimization, using Android 1.5 is a real drawback, especially since two fully fledged subsequent released could have made our pockets prior to Geeks'Phone hitting the shelves. I found that I thoroughly enjoyed using the keyboard and preferred it to my Blackberry Curve. In the long term though, I cannot say how it will hold up in terms of durability. The inclusion of Dataviz RoadSync is a welcome addition, and something that will suit many consumers who require Push Email support.
Overall, there are better devices out there that will cost you far more money. However, it is still cheaper than the HTC Magic, which is about where the phone now sits in terms of specifications. If you want a device that does everything, but isn't the best at anything, the the Geeks'Phone ONE may be for you. I can easily recommend it for those that wish to be foot-loose from a carrier and do not have to spend a fortune on a phone.
We and our team at www.googlesandroids.com has conducted our own review on this product and our reviews are as follows:
The Good:
+ 3.2 MP camera has autofocus and auto white balance + Wide screen + Video and audio is good + Easy to use for basic stuff
The Bad:
- There's no "BACK" or "HOME" buttons! - No standard headphone jack, no service. - No keyboard, no camera flash. - Camera is poor in low light locations.
