0 Content rating coming soon to Android Market

If you are one out there fiddling to find the right app for your needs , the content rating will be the something you may need to look at in the Android Market before you grab any app from there . The content rating will be providing users additional information to help them sort out the best apps for their Android device .
The content policy on Android market remains the same having four content levels namely All , Pre-teen , teen and mature . Check out the content policy at the end of the post.
Android app developers need to get prepared for this launch . All apps and updates submitted there after will require rating while app developers will also have few more weeks of time to add a rating to their existing apps and games . Once the content rating goes live on Android market , apps which have not been rated will be treated as mature content and will be only available to users looking into that category . This has been implemented to make sure all android app developers update the content rating of their app .
Android has been blamed in the past for allowing users to download porn after Apple and Microsoft put in place measures to stop developers from creating these apps.
In September, Microsoft moved to banish any naughty apps from its upcoming Windows Phone 7 by publishing guidelines for developers looking to create programs for its forthcoming Windows Phone 7 platform. One underlying theme was a stringent focus on banning apps with violent and sexual themes and now its time for Android to do this .
This is nice move Google has made towards the Android Market giving it a much cleaner look , making sure the mature content doesn't get delivered to teen age and below teen age group .


Android market content policy :

There are four levels to content ratings:

• All
• Pre-Teen
• Teen
• Mature

Alcohol, Tobacco and Drugs
Apps that include references to drugs, alcohol or tobacco products or their use should be rated “Teen” or above. Apps that focus on the consumption or sale of drugs, alcohol or tobacco should be rated “Mature”. Illegal activity or content that is targeted at minors is not allowed in Android Market.
Gambling
Apps with gambling themes or that include simulated gambling should be rated “Teen” or above. Real gambling is not allowed in Android Market.
Hate
Hate speech is not allowed in Android Market. If your app includes inflammatory content that may be offensive to many users, please rate it “Teen” or above.
Location
Applications rated “All” should not ask users for their location at any point. Apps that ask to access course or fine location data should be rated “Pre-Teen” or above. Apps that enable users to publish or share their location with others should be rated “Teen” or above.
Profanity and Crude Humor
Apps that include profanity or crude humor should be rated “Teen” or above.
Sexual and Suggestive Content
Apps that include suggestive or sexual references should be rated “Teen” or above. Apps that focus on such content should be rated “Mature”. Pornography is not allowed in Android Market.
User Generated Content and User to User Communication
Apps rated “All” should not host any user generated content or enable communication between users. Apps that focus on allowing users to find and communicate with each other should be rated “Teen” or above.
Violence
Apps that include mild cartoon or fantasy violence should be rated “Pre-Teen” or above. Realistic or intense fantasy violence should be rated “Teen” or above. Graphic violence should be rated ‘“Mature”. Gratuitous real violence is not allowed in Android Market.

0 Use your Android Phone as a wireless(via bluetooth and WiFi) remote(mouse & keyboard) for your computer

Do you have a lot of presentation work or need a wireless input solution to type to surf around your PC ?
Did you try your Android phone as a wireless mouse and keyboard
If you have bluetooth or Wi-Fi in your laptop and your Android smartphone . Just check out the below guide , on how to set up your laptop/computer(P.C or MAC) operate on inputs from Android phone .
While there are couple of application available on the web which allow this functionality , but PRemoteDroid is one of the easiest to set up .
The other options are
RemoteDroid (works with WiFi only )
PaDroid (works without WiFi and Bluetooth , over the internet )

Check out the features of PRemoteDroid :

• Use touchscreen of Android phone as mouse
• Use keyboard of your Android phone to input text to PC
• Screen Capture functionality gives you the direct look of the computer screen on your mobile device to see the pointer position , for high precision , in case you are quite far and cannot see the mouse of monitor(can be toggled on/off)
• File Explorer which lets you surf files on your computer directly from your device and also open them on computer screen directly from your device .( you don't even need to look at the monitor to open files , just browse via phone and tap to open )
• Dedicated mouse buttons , left click , right click and scroll button .
• Ability to scroll page by scrolling the right most column of the phone's screen .
• Also supports the *click* audio and haptic feedback via vibration.

The service need two software's a server on your computer and a client app on your Android mobile phone :

1. Download PC/MAC software HERE  (You also need Java SE Runtime Environment 1.5 or higher version installed on your Computer. Get it here.) and install them .
2. Download Android app from Market via QR code below

Starting the PremoteDroid setup :

•  Unzip the  "PRemoteDroid-Server.zip" file and place it somewhere you can access it anytime you need , there is a PremoteDroid-Server.jar file and a PremoteDroid-Server.exe file and few more system files . Just open any of the PremoteDroid-Server files ,it can be seen in taskbar .
• Turn On your Bluetooth and Wifi ( whatever you plan to use ) on both ends and keep phones WiFi as discoverable to be on a safer end . Pair them and connect them via the Bluetooth wizard .
• Now install the Android app from Market . Open it > Go to Connections Add new > prefer Bluetooth (select bluetooth) > leave the password intact in mobile app as well as PC , and if you do change , do it for both PC and phone with same password, Name the connection as your wish , and add your computers bluetooth address by clicking Edit , this will bring in a list of bluetooth devices in range . Enable your phones Bluetooth before following this step .

If you cannot find the address follow the guide here on how to find bluetooth address on PC and Mac Now Enter this address in the Connections menu in Android phone and remember to save it .
Check if your Bluetooth Server is running on computer , by right clicking on the icon in taskbar and selecting in the menu . If it shows 'ON'its fine, if says "OFF " you need to check your bluetooth connection on computer .
You can share your view and doubts about the app in comments . We would be glad to add more knowledge to database .

0 Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8960 the V 3.0 would be running at 1,2 GHz

As our smartphones get smarter, we are continuing to need faster and faster processors to power our devices. However, the main problem with a faster processor is the power draw that comes along with it. Being a somewhat common problem, Qualcomm has developed it’s popular Snapdragon processor bringing in super fast speeds with minimal battery drain and now they’re adding to its success bringing in a new Snapdragon.
The Snapdragon is currently found in devices such as the Motorola Droid, HTC Evo 4G, HTC Desire HD and Google’s Nexus One. It’s been the “high-standard” to which we compare new Android devices entering the market to. This new Snapdragon chipset, named MSM8960, will perform up to five times better than its predecessor. It will be a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and will use a 28-nanometer process that has not yet been seen in mobile devices.
It is not only faster, Qualcomm states that it will use around 75% less power than current generation Snapdragon chipsets. These new chips will be ready for the entrance of mobile phones into the 4G market being fully ready to support LTE.
No word yet on when we will see these processors make their way into phones, but we can most certainly expect appearances in 2011.

0 Viewpad 7 from Viewsonic available on Amazon for $ 600

One of ViewSonic's tablets, the seven-inch ViewPad 7, has appeared for pre-order on Amazon. While the specs are no surprise, the price is $120 more expensive than ViewSonic promised just two weeks ago. The $600 price matches that of the Samsung Galaxy Tab that also uses Android 2.2 and has a seven-inch screen.

Both also have front- and rear-facing cameras, but the ViewSonic model has a 600MHz ARM CPU rather than the 1GHz Hummingbird in Samsung's tablet. The ViewPad 7 can, however, make voice calls, while this functionality is locked out of the Galaxy Tab in the US.

Otherwise, the ViewPad 7 has a relatively low 800x480 resolution, 512MB of onboard storage with a microSDHC memory card slot, a GPS sensor, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.

0 3 Million Galaxy S sold in US

msung could probably say that they have a hit on their hand when it comes to their Galaxy S devices, but that looks like it would be an understatement. Samsung has come forward with their results for the quarter, and they managed to sell a bunch of devices. However, the main takeaway, besides the fact that they sold 71 million handsets around the globe, is the fact that they sold 3 million Galaxy S devices in the United States alone.

All the variations, making an appearance on all of the major wireless carriers in this neck of the woods, played their part. From AT&T’s Captivate, to Verizon’s Fascinate, the Galaxy S devices played a huge role for Samsung, and it’s obvious that they’re not slowing down any time soon. It will remain to be seen if the Continuum, which is set to launch on Verizon here in just a couple of days, will see the same overwhelming appeal as the other Galaxy S devices.

0 Sony Ericsson's Anzu X12 leaked pictures

Sony Ericsson's Xperia X10 is an impressive phone with its large display and now a leaked picture of the phone's successor has apparently surfaced, dubbed the Anzu, or X12. Specific details on the phone haven't been mentioned, but it's been said that it's a very slim device, offering a 4.3-inch display and HDMI output. One of the more interesting tidbits is that it might be shipped with Android 2.3 Gingerbread (despite being pictured with Android 2.1). The X12 will apparently be in the same category as the PlayStation Phone and they're being tested alongside each other. Both devices seem to offer a similar display size and it's been said that both phones will be officially announced some time before or shortly after Christmas.

0 Android phones rank second in terms of sales according to Gartner Q3 reports

During Steve Jobs’ recent anti-Android tirade on an Apple earnings call, Jobs said his company “anxiously” awaited a report that would show which mobile operating system had the best performance. Here it is, Mr. Jobs.

Gartner released its Q3 2010 estimates and Symbian retained the top spot as best-selling mobile OS. But to Jobs’ likely dismay, Android has surpassed iOS to become the second most popular operating system among handsets sold in the last three months.

Android has already established itself as the best in the U.S., but not in the rest of the world. Gartner reports that Android accounted for 25.5 percent of global smartphone sales; iOS accounted for 16.7 percent. That’s a complete role reversal from Android’s 3.5 percent during Q3 2009 and iOS’s 17 percent.

Read the full report from Gartner. Here are a couple of cool nuggets from the report.

• Android is the No. 2 global operating system, but it’s No. 1 on Verizon. Gartner estimates that 75 to 80 percent of phones sold on Verizon were Android.
• The Galaxy S line helped Samsung become the second best-performing manufacturer, though that includes non-Android products.
• Other Android-producing companies include Sony Ericsson at No. 6, Motorola at #7, and HTC at #8.

0 Samsung's Galaxy Tab now on sale from T-mobile

Tempted by a Galaxy Tab this morning? T-Mobile USA has thrown open sales for the 7-inch Android tablet, with the price of entry being $399.99 with a new, two-year agreement or $599.99 contract-free.

As for the data plan, T-Mobile has two options. $24.99 per month gets you 200MB, while $39.99 gets you 5GB; both come with unlimited use at T-Mobile WiFi hotspots. No voice plans, of course, since the North American versions of the Samsung slate won’t make phone calls, but you do get unlimited SMS and MMS with both data plans .

0 Now do a lot more with Yahoo Messenger on your Android : Video Chat , Mail and multiple account login

 

Yahoo updated a couple of its more popular apps, Messenger and Mail, to include some much needed new features.  Messenger now has official support for video chatting on the MyTouch 4G plus “experimental support” on the EVO and zero support for the Galaxy Tab.  Actually, Yahoo apps in general appear not to support ANY Galaxy S devices which is a little odd.  There are only 3 million+ in existence around the world.  The mail app now allows for multiple accounts, lets you preview photos and has a more polished notification system.  Like I said, all “much need” stuff.

*For video chatting to work, you will need both the Yahoo Messenger app and the video add-0n.

Yahoo Messenger | Video Add-on | Yahoo Mail

0 Now experience the power of Google Instant from your mobile phone

You probably know by now what Google Instant does . We have been using Google Instant for a couple of weeks on our computers and now that everyone is getting used to Google Instant , Google has made the Instant beta available on most of the mobile devices in US .

To experience the Google Instant on mobile platform just visit Google.com or if you are visiting Google from some country specific Google domain , click the Go to Google.com on the homepage . On the Google.com page just turn 'On' the Instant (beta ) and you are ready to experience the power of Instant on your iPhone or Android phone .

Like the desktop version of Google Instant, when you type on your mobile device you’ll see predictions of what you might be searching for. If you type [air], for example, you should see [airtran] [airline tickets] along with other predictions. Results for the first prediction appear automatically, and tapping on the other predictions will display those results. Pressing the enter key or the search button skips the predictions and will display results for exactly what you’ve typed.

Google Instant for mobile works best on 3G and WiFi networks, but since the quality of any wireless connection can fluctuate, we’ve made it easy to enable or disable Google Instant without ever leaving the page. Just tap the “Turn on” or “Turn off” link. The new AJAX and HTML5 implementation has proved to be a great improvement on speed of search results and the capability to update pages with each key stoke rather than the need to load a new page on each query .

But the key question in our mind is the real estate which smartphones offer , while searching on the Instant , the keyboard consumes 40% of screen space and the 10% is consumed by search query box , so each query can display only 2 results and to look further we need to scroll down . While typing again takes us back to the query box even from the last result you are viewing and that's a smart feature . While the Instant beta will evolve over time and we will have a complete web based search solution on our smartphones too but before that just check out our demo video below :

0 Archos 70 tablet now available for a affordable $ 275

With the 4.3-inch Archos 43 tablet going on sale the company has put a larger device up to accompany it too, and we're talking about the 7-inch Archos 70 Internet tablet. The device is already available online and will set you back $275 for the version with 8GB of solid state storage, or wait for a model with a 250GB hard drive that's slated to be available soon for $350. Technical specifications of the Archos 70 include:

• 7-inch 800 x 480 pixel capacitive multi-touch display
• Android 2.2
• 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor
• Wi-Fi b/g/n
• Bluetooth 2.1
• G-sensor
• Front-facing VGA camera
• 720p HD video playback support
• Up to 10-hours of battery life while browsing, or up to 36 hours of music listening

0 Wi-Fi calling coming to G2 soon : Leaked snapshot

Get ready G2 owners because it looks like an OTA update will begin distribution on November 3rd (yes, that's today) to flip the switch on WiFi tethering and T-Mobile's WiFi Calling for Android feature. The anticipated update lets G2 owners make voices calls and send SMS messages from WiFi networks without a femtocell thus conserving their monthly contractual network allotments -- something that could prove very beneficial at home. It also includes WiFi hotspot tethering (a native part of the Android 2.2 Froyo OS) although T-Mobile won't have data plans ready at the same time. In other words, enjoy your free WiFi tethering while it lasts.

0 Androidsters are generally Youngsters says Neilsen

According to a recent report from Neilsen, one of the world’s leading suppliers of marketing information, half of Android users are under the age of 35 and this ratio is the highest when compared to other OS’s ,followed by Apple , Symbian ,Windows and Blackberry .
Variations in age groups on every OS shows the importance of categories of apps which will cater to the needs of the dominating age group in the particular OS .
What does it mean to Android application developers ? Does it mean they need to target the younger crowd (18-35) by creating apps and games which are entertaining and fun or just follow the same trends as in past .

0 HTC Mecha the new Android phone - Rumors or Mistake ?

After hearing many different rumors about the HTC Mecha smartphone for a few months, its about time that we are shown some real evidence. The photo below is from HTC’s HTC Sense website. When choosing your device for your HTC Sense account, the HTC Mecha shows up along side the Desire HD and the Desire Z.

Although this does provide some confirmation that HTC is working on a device named “Mecha”, the image shown below appears to be the old HTC Hero smartphone. I’m not sure if HTC is planning on recreating the Hero’s design for a new phone, but probably not. Unfortunately, the HTC Mecha will no longer show up on the website if you attempt to create an account. We will keep you updated on any more rumors/details on the HTC Mecha.

0 Swype Beta update coming soon , get ready for the improved and accurate version

For those of you in the exclusive Swype Beta program, get ready for an update!  A source at Swype Inc who has asked to remain anonymous just told Droid Life that a new version of the Swype Beta for Android is going through the last stages of internal QA testing now. If you have an account that’s been accepted to the beta, expect an update to hit your email inbox sometime during the first week of November.  The update should resolve the vast majority of – if not all of – the problems with installation, and fix some accuracy issues introduced in the last update. Supposedly there’s more stuff than that in the update, but yet to be confirmed .

0 HTC Incredible HD coming soon , headed to Verizon on Nov 23rd

According to reports, there is an HTC Incredible HD in the hands of certain Verizon reps and is scheduled to launch on November 23rd (Yes, next month.).  You may remember this device after shots of it leaked out through BGR a couple of months back, looking like the HTC device which we wish had landed on VZW from the beginning.  There were rumored specs such as a front facing camera, 4.3″ screen, etc., but what we really know now is that if it comes out, it’ll be the U.S. version of the Desire HD.  

All I can say, is that I know a mysterious HTC phone has been in the hands of a couple of testers, but have not heard one word about a possible release date.  It seems unlikely that it will be released for the holidays, especially with an entire lineup of phones hitting stores on the 11th including 2 new Droids, but you never know.  One thing I have been told is that the Droid Pro and Droid 2 Global were supposed to be the final “Droid” branded phones for this year, meaning if this comes out, don’t be surprised if lacks our favorite tag.

0 Android the best mobile OS says WSJ poll

Over the weekend, the Wall Street Journal started running a poll which asked users “Who makes the best mobile operating system?” and after Apple jumped out to an early lead, the Android posse brought us back to take over the top spot.  Then out of no where came Microsoft, who basically over night, managed almost 13,000 votes to take a substantial edge over everyone else.  This definitely pissed off some Android faithful who have apparently rigged up a bot or some sort of hack to drop vote after Android vote on the poll.

As you can see from the shot above, the Android numbers are well over 400K and if you refresh the poll page, can see that they aren’t stopping now.

0 Android app search using web browser and Google mobile

 

Along with iPhone app search on mobile Android comes up too . Not a big fan of the way the Android Market searches for apps?  Then feel free to use regular old Google Search for the task.  If you open up google.com from your mobile browser and hit the “more” pull down menu, you will see the option to search for “Android Apps.”  Once you find the app you have always dreamed of, like ours, tap on it and you will be redirected straight into the market for installation. Pretty nice , and you what happens when u hit the app , it launches Android market page of that app where you can buy /download the app . Hope we will soon see download and install in the web browser directly .

0 You would love browsing on the Dolphin HD v4.0 browser - Released on Android market

The Dolphin Browser HD hopped up to version 4.0 and is available in the market for free.  The screenshot above details some of the changes that were made to improve the overall experience in this top notch browser.  You will find new settings and bookmarks shortcuts if  you swipe from the left or right.  Nice additions, indeed.  

They also tweaked some things in order to fix a few minor bugs:

• Fix swipe action issue – side bar is too easy to slide out. 
• Fix drag down window issue – cannot click the links on the top of the page. 
• Bookmarks Folder Support 
• Multi-language Support ( 12 languages) & UI upgrade 
• Add Page Management feature to address bar. 
• Fix some tiny bugs which are supported by you.

0 Motorola Milestone running on Android 2.2 test build – PICTURES

You have a Motorola Milestone ? You are patient ?
If yes you probably would be running the Android 2.1 Eclair built on your device still , because Motorola has still not outed the Froyo love . But at least we know it’s coming. And, sure enough, the European side of the company has taken some steps to show off the test build for the device, and show them off.
Details are still on the way , so have a look at these images until we come across few more . But possibly you can expect an updated keyboard with Swype support .