Daily Bits

android

Picplz: New iPhone App

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Apps for the iPhone are all over the place, and yet people are on the perennial quest to find a new one that they will obsess about.  For those who cannot get enough pictures and cannot wait to upload them to the Internet as soon as possible, here is a new iPhone app that will satisfy your needs easily: picplz.

This app has been around for a while, but not specifically for the iPhone.  It is developed by the founders of Imeem, the social media service that gained popularity several years ago.  In its heyday, lots of people availed of Imeem’s sharing service – videos, music, and photos.  It has been closed down, though, thanks to its acquisition by MySpace.

Anyhow, the same people behind Imeem have made picplz available for use on the iPhone.  It’s really not that revolutionary if you think about it  -it functions much like Twitter, except that it’s meant especially for photos.  Now that the iPhone has a decent camera, it is a simple matter to snap pictures and share them with your friends anytime.

You may be thinking – but there is a host of other apps that offer a similar service.  So why should anyone bother to give picplz a try?  For now, the value lies in instant uploading and tagging the location (which seems to be all the rage these days).  The founders are also working on providing more features in the future.  Besides, the app is FREE, so you really have nothing to lose by trying it out.  Oh, and this app is also available for Android phones.

Adios, Google Nexus One

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This is what happens to me when I do not go online for two solid days: I get disoriented. (Trust me, I didn’t want that to happen, but Mr. Murphy just had to pay me a visit.)

Anyway, when I read about the Nexus One web store shutting down for real – I just went wowza! Of course, if I were actually using my brain, I would have remembered that Google announced this shutdown earlier this year. Still, the announcement made on Friday just makes things seem so final:

Earlier this year, we announced that we will be closing the Nexus One web store. This week we received our last shipment of Nexus One phones. Once we sell these devices, the Nexus One will no longer be available online from Google. Customer support will still be available for current Nexus One customers.

The good news – at least for those who are still interested in the phone – is that the Nexus One will not totally disappear from the market. In Europe, the phone can be purchased via Vodafone. In Korea, it will be KT. The same announcement also said that the phone just might be available in other locations depending on “market conditions” – that is, if enough people will make noise about it, I guess.

I suppose that despite the initial excitement over the Nexus One’s primary point of sale, it just really isn’t something that works well. After all, wouldn’t you want to hold and play with the unit before spending your money on it? Google learned the hard way. Then again, when Nexus Two comes out, things just might be different.

Be Your Own App Maker With Google’s App Inventor

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Don’t you sometimes find yourself wishing for an application that actually meets your needs? While there are countless apps – some free, some paid – out there, I am pretty sure that there is at least one app that you wish someone had thought about. The next step is wishing that you could actually make an app yourself.

While not everyone does not have the programming skills necessary to create an app, there are tools that can equip the average person to do just that. Enter Google’s App Inventor, which has been dubbed by The New York Times as the tool that will “bring Android software development to the masses.”

This software is free to general public, and it will allow practically anyone to come up with his own app for Android. Google is promoting the software as being as easy as pie to use:

To use App Inventor, you do not need to be a developer. App Inventor requires NO programming knowledge. This is because instead of writing code, you visually design the way the app looks and use blocks to specify the app’s behavior.

The interface and the whole concept are quite simple, but Google is quick to point out that simplicity does not mean less power. In fact, they are placing a lot of emphasis on the potential of this software. If anything, I think this might be one of the factors that can push Android phones to the public as a more viable alternative to the iPhone.

Swype, Don’t Type

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One of the biggest drawbacks of touch screen phones is the fact that people have a difficult time adjusting to the virtual keyboard. While Apple has done a marvelous job with their on screen keyboard, there are still people out there who prefer to have a tactile keyboard to work with. And yet, if touch screen phones are what you want, you really have no choice.

Enter Swype, a piece of software that allows users to drag fingers from one letter to another instead of having to merely tap on each individual letter. It’s easy to see how much more convenient this technology is, and how much easier people can adjust to virtual keyboards.

Developed by a company based in Seattle, Swype was launched on a commercial phone in December. Now, the news is that the new Motorola Droid X is going to feature this technology. That spells good news for Swype, as Motorola is a huge player in the mobile phone industry.

Indeed, Swype says that they want to be in more mobile phones – not excluding the Apple iPhone! In fact, one of the engineers has already a version ready for the iPhone, even though there are no formal talks between them. Apple has not even seen the technology for themselves as of yet. I would think, though, that with the complaints people have about the iPhone’s virtual keyboard, Steve Jobs et al. would be interested in what Swype has to offer. For now, Droid users will have the advantage in this regard.

iPhone users: would you want something like this on your gadgets?

Android Phone And Music Piracy

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There is no denying that music piracy – or any sort of piracy, for that matter – is an illegal thing. However, we also cannot ignore the fact that there are still countless people all over the world who engage in this activity. For one reason or another, music piracy still exists.

Now, it seems that there is more potential for music piracy, as Android apps for music downloads are surfacing. We all know how cool Android phones are, and the fact that policies on third party apps are laxer makes these phones even better!

The news is that there are several apps that have come up – all of them with the idea of downloading music straight to the phone. Some examples are Music Junk, Music Wizard, Pandemonium, Tunee Music, MP3 Music, and Music Zilla. So what’s wrong with the rationale behind these apps? Well, it’s just that they were all made with the goal of bypassing music stores where you have to pay for the music that you download.

The thing about these apps is that users can only download one song at a time. This is unlike current peer sharing apps for computers, where you can download albums. Also, the Android apps do not really allow users to share their files. It’s more like downloading a single song from an anonymous location.

What does Google have to say about this? They do not monitor all third party apps, but if they do find out that a particular app violates certain rules, then it can be taken down. For now, I believe there are still music download apps that you can use on Android phones…

Android turns one: a few interesting statistics

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android-logoAs Google’s Android mobile operating system turns one year old today, here are a few interesting statistics for you.

According to mobile advertising firm AdMob:

  • Android OS now has seven percent global market share. That puts it well behind Symbian, BlackBerry OS and the iPhone OS, but comparable to Windows Mobile.
  • In the UK, 10% of smartphones run Android OS, with the HTC Dream being the second most popular phone for surfing the mobile web after the iPhone.
  • Android’s key markets are North America and Western Europe, with the HTC Magic in the top 10 of smartphones.
  • The HTC Dream is ranked fourth globally.

A survey of 1,000 mobile phone users found that Android users download about nine applications per month, compared with about 10 for iPhone users and over 18 for iPod Touch users.

Though Microsoft is hoping its latest initiatives will push its flavours of Windows Mobile OS forward, I’m sure Android will continue to flourish as more handsets become available in the coming year.