Daily Bits

Mobile

Dropbox App Coming Soon to Android Phones

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Among the cloud storage services I’ve tried, I stuck with Dropbox for its superb storage solution. I used Dropbox to synchronize my files from my online, desktop and iPhone applications and pretty soon I might get another interface – for my Android-powered Google Nexus One phone.

Yes, you read it right. If you have a Dropbox account, you will soon be able to access your files from your Android phone as Dropbox is about to launch its new Android app pretty soon. And will the upcoming Dropbox app for Android offer us Android phone owners?

The new Dropbox iPhone app will let you:

Access your Dropbox on the go – view all the contents of your Dropbox account, including music and movie streaming right on your Android phone.

Make edits to your files and sync them back to Dropbox – Changes you make to your files using the Android app will be automatically synced to your Dropbox account/

Download files for offline viewing – Have all your files accessible anytime, anywhere by adding them to your “Favorites.’

Upload files and sync them to your Dropbox – Use your Android phone’s powerful camera to take snapshots, shoot video and then upload them from your Android phones to your Dropbox account to make them accessible. You can also send an email containing the links to your files to your friends quickly and easily.

Share links to files in your Dropbox –  That practically include any  files in your computer.

No words yet on the exact date that this Android app will be available, although the Dropbox blog mentioned something like in the next few months.

TV is Not Dead! Americans are Still Using it Together with Internet and Mobile Phones

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Here’s a rather surprising findings by Nielsen which debunks the myth that TV is on its way to extinction in favor of the Internet and mobile phones. According to Nielsen’s report, Americans have in fact increased their overall media usage and media multitasking activities by using TV simultaneously as they connect to the Internet and use their mobile phones.

The Nielsen report called “Three Screen Report” tracks consumption across TV, Internet and mobile phones.  The report showed that in the last quarter of 2009, TV consumption and Internet use combined have reached three and a half hours monthly. This is a 35% growth from the third quarter of 2009.  In addition, 60% of  TV viewers are watching TV while using the Internet at the same time.

Nielsen Company media product leader Matt O’Grady says that using the Internet while watching TV have given TV viewers a unique on-screen and off-screen relation with TV programming.

“The initial fear was that Internet and mobile video and entertainment would slowly cannibalize traditional TV viewing, but the steady trend of increased TV viewership alongside expanded simultaneous usage argues something quite different,” said O’Grady.

The study also found that on the average, Americans watched 35 hours of TV per week and two hours of timeshifted TV via DVR. This is attributed to the fact that DVR provides them with added convenience. At the same time the growth of HD programming and flatscreen TVs have also contributed  the renewed interest with watching TV programs. The availability of more channels and choices due to digital delivery be it via cable or satellite are also contributing factors.

Other findings of the study include – increase in online video consumption as well as increase in the active mobile video users courtesy of the booming smartphone market.

RIM to Roll Out BlackBerry Internet Service IS 3.0 on March 28

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If you own a BlackBerry device you either have it connected with your company’s BlackBerry Enterprises Server to access your email or on BlackBerry Internet Service (BIS) to connect your IMAP, POP3 email accounts.  If you’re BlackBerry is tied up with BIS, expect some downtime to happen during the wee hours of the morning as RIM will be upgrading BIS to version 3.0.

The scheduled BIS network maintenance will happen 0500 CT/0600 EDT on March 28 and will last for four hours. All BIS customers will be affected by the upgrade – meaning you may be unable to send or receive messages, view email attachments, and activate email service. In addition, wireless service providers and device resellers may be unable to create subscriber accounts or provision services for subscribers.

And what do you get after the upgrade? The BIS  version 3.0 promises the following new features:

  • enhanced Google Mail integrations through synchronization of read, unread, and sent email message status for new Google Mail integration
  • enhanced Google Mail Plug-in to allow you to create and delete labels
  • additional language support for Basque, Catalan, Galician, Romanian
  • increased attachment compatibility – OpenDocument Presentations, OpenDocument Spreadsheets, OpenDocument Text, Open Document Text Templates, Windows Media Audio
  • Extensible Hypertext Markup Language (xHTML) Support for non Thick Clients for richer user experience
  • Device Switch Revalidation to optimize email setup and deactivation experience
  • Hosted Email Address Passwords
  • Send Delivery Receipts

Via CrackBerry

WordPress for BlackBerry Updated to 1.1 with Geotagging, Notifications and More Features

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When I first tried WordPress for BlackBerry app, I was pretty amazed at how it simply gets the job done. I mean despite its simplistic approach to a mobile application, that is minus all the fancy interface, it’s really commendable that the app works fast. Perfect for mobile blogging.

And guess what, making  WordPress for BlackBerry even more efficient are some new cool features that extend the app’s blogging functionality. WordPress for BlackBerry 1.1 is now out and it’s really loaded with great new features including the following:

  • Comment Notifications
  • Geotagging of Posts
  • Improved UI interaction on Touch devices
  • introduction of Touch Gestures:
    Sliding a finger to the left or right quickly on the Comment screen displays the next or previous comment.
  • Photo Resizing improvements with user defined dimensions
  • New File Browser with thumbnails support
  • Overall enhancements to the speed and stability of the app

I was going to point out its greatest features but then as I was scrolling through the list, all new features are very important in making the app a great mobile blogging app. But yeah, the comment notifications is a much needed feature. While the geotagging of posts makes the app at par with the current location-aware feature of most mobile apps.

Wait, there’s more. The app also now supports several languages including English, Italian, Finnish, French, Indonesian, German, and Portugese.

You can snag the WordPress for BlackBerry 1.1 from the BlackBerry App World. It’s free to have, download, install and use.  Or you may fire up the old app from your BlackBerry and you will be prompted to update to the new version.

Nexus One, iPhone, Motorola Droid Sales Compared

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Mobile analytics company Flurry has published an interesting report. A comparison actually of the sales figures of the first generation iPhone, Motorola Droid and Google Nexus One during the first 74 days since these phones were first released. And guess what? The report found out that sales of the Nexus is nowhere near the outstanding sales achieved by both Droid and iPhone.

Apple managed to post its 1 million units sold on its 74th day of being released. This is the reason why Flurry decided to measure the same for the Nexus One to see how far its sales went after 74 days. Unfortunately, Google’s first major venture into the mobile phone market is an epic fail with the Nexus One managing to get only around 0.135 million units sold.

Interestingly, the Motorola DROID managed to post the most number of units sold during its first 74 days of becoming available in the market with 1.05 million units sold.

Can we now conclude that Google’s first venture into the selling and marketing of mobile handset is an epic fail? Before we do so, we might want to consider first how these three phones were made available. For all we know this might have affected the Nexus One’s sales performance.

Apple has its brick and mortar stores scattered across the states which helped Apple in selling the iPhone. This is in addition to its online store. For Motorola Droid, this was distributed by Verizon Wireless. While the Nexus was only made available for purchase online through Google’s web store. Even if it was released under T-Mobile contract plan, Google did not allow T-Mobile to distribute the phone on their own. [Read more…] about Nexus One, iPhone, Motorola Droid Sales Compared

BlackBerry Users Ready to Ditch Their Phones for the iPhone, and Android Too

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I was about to write a post about a different topic but decided not to when I chanced upon this article currently running on Ars Technica saying that 40% of BlackBerry users are willing to trade their current phone for  an  iPhone.  This has caught my attention since I recently got a BlackBerry Bold 9700, but I did not ditch my iPhone 3GS for it.

The report was citing the study conducted by market research Crowd Science. According to the study, two in five BlackBerry owners are said to be planning on swapping their current phone for an iPhone as soon as its time for them to upgrade.  And among the reasons suggested by the study is the fact that RIM may not be keeping up with consumer demand in its effort to fight the encroachment from the iPhone and even Android devices more particularly Google Nexus One.

This is quite interesting since RIM holds a pretty strong reputation in the smartphone market although this was slightly rocked by the iPhone’s rapid growth last year.

CrowdScience also suggested that this development can also be attributed to the fact that many smartphone users are now using their units for both personal and business use and not for business purposes alone anymore. And since the iPhone is both personal and business oriented it is no wonder that it is threatening BlackBerry’s stronghold in the business mobile phone market as well.

Aside from the iPhone, current BlackBerry users are also eyeing to replace their units with an Android-based phones, more particularly with the Google Nexus One phone. 32% of the surveyed BlackBerry users says they are ready to exchange their phone with a Nexus One.

Crowd Science CEO John Martin said that BlackBerry users are getting restless with the BlackBerry brand and are getting enticed by the allure of iPhone.

“Rather, BlackBerry as a brand just isn’t garnering the loyalty seen with other mobile operating systems,” said Mr. Martin.

Now, here’s the best part. About 90% of current iPhone and Android users are not planning to swap their current phones with another model.