Samsung Infuse 4G announced for AT&T: 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, crazy thin

First introduced just last year on the Wave, it feels like Super AMOLED was just starting to get its sea legs... but here we go again: Samsung's latest handset -- announced today in collaboration with AT&T at CES -- is the first to tout "Super AMOLED Plus" technology that features a 50 percent boost in sub-pixel count, promising improvements both in contrast and outdoor readability. Maybe more importantly, the display clocks in at a whopping 4.5 inches, besting HTC's 4.3-inch range (the EVO 4G, Desire HD, and likely the Thunderbolt) without getting dangerously close to Dell Streak territory. It's got an 8 megapixel camera on back paired with a 1.3 megapixel shooter up front, a 1.2GHz single-core Hummingbird processor, and still somehow promises to be the thinnest smartphone on AT&T when it launches at a to-be-determined date. Now, the controversy: despite the name, the Infuse 4G apparently doesn't have a hint of LTE -- it's HSPA+, which means AT&T's now playing the same game as T-Mobile.

Voice Search for Chrome Searches and Fills Input Boxes with Your Voice

Chrome only: Got a microphone? Got a knack for talking faster than you type? Even if you don't, you might enjoy trying out Voice Search, an experimental Chrome add-on that uses your voice as text input, just like on Android.

The extension's maker notes up-front that voice input is fairly experimental at this point, and that it may require adding a switch of --enable-voice-input to your Chrome shortcut (a process detailed in our power user's guide to Google Chrome). But when it works, it feels like magic.

Android Market Hits 200,000 Apps Milestone

Approximately five months ago we told you that the Android Market was hosting close to 100,000 applications and now, at the end of 2010, the same market is home to 200,000 applications. 

Simple math shows that there were around 20,000 apps added to the Android Market on average per month, a huge number compared to Windows Phone 7 apps that are added at an average rate of around 3,300, currently counting over 5,000 in total. Taking into consideration that a year ago, the market offered less than 20,000 applications, it's an incredible growth that testifies for both maturity and popularity of the Google Operating System. 

HTC EVO Shift 4G headed for a January 9th launch at $150, according to RadioShack leak

HTC's worst kept secret (this side of the Thunderbolt) has popped up online again, this time as part of some RadioShack promo materials, which list its price, launch date, 4G capabilities, and screen size. Earlier indications had this Android slider launching on January 9th at a $150 price point with a two-year contract and now, lo and behold, both data points seem to have been confirmed. $450 is the price for the EVO Shift 4G sans any carrier obligations, though you'll probably want to stick with Sprint to make use of that WiMAX radio contained within. Bring on 2011 already!

via Engadget

Angry Birds creator praises iPhone as a platform, talks Android fragmentation

Angry Birds creator, Peter Vesterbacka, in a recent interview had some fairly positive things to say about Apple and the opportunities they have created for developers with the iPhone and iOS platform. He also gives a short explanation for the price tag for the iOS version versus the free Android version.

Apple will be the number one platform for a long time from a developer perspective, they have gotten so many things right. And they know what they are doing and they call the shots. Android is growing, but it’s also growing complexity at the same time. Device fragmentation not the issue, but rather the fragmentation of the ecosystem. So many different shops, so many different models. The carriers messing with the experience again. Open but not really open, a very Google centric ecosystem. And paid content just doesn’t work on Android.

Get Android for Christmas? Here's how to get started with your new phone

So you just unwrapped our first Android phone, eh? Welcome to the world of smartphones. Whether you're upgrading from a feature phone, or switching to the greatest smartphone platform around, we know things can be a little overwhelming at first. But we're here to help. Welcome, and here are a few links to help get you started!

VLC Player Coming To Android

The incredibly popular VLC Player is finally coming to Android after months of hard work by the open source project developers. Originally a desktop media center for Linux, Windows, and Mac, this versatile player will bring many new video-playing features to our beloved OS including a wide variety of formats such as DivX and Dolby TrueHD. The lead developer in the project, Jean-Baptiste Kempf, has confirmed that it will hit the Android Market in "just a few weeks", which means that Android will be the first mobile platform to have a version of this software finally follow iOS and get its own port (thanks, Mikeyy). This was made possible through various NDK (native development kit) improvements found in Gingerbread.

Google Maps Android App Goes 3D

If you have an Android 2.0+ device head to the Android Market to get the updated Google Maps if you haven’t already got it. The latest features includes 3D buildings, 3D tilting & rotation plus better map caching as seen in Andy Rubin’s demo of Honeycomb Motorola tablet. Map caching is most convenient if you’re using turn-by-turn navigation and loose connection for some reason (i.e. in a tunnel, rural area, in the mountains, etc.) the app will still be able to operate normally as more map data is cached. The maps have a smaller footprint as well to easily store the data. You can see from the vid the cool things you can do to control the map like 3D compass rotation with your physical body, see Google Earth-like 3D buildings, two-finger swipe to tilt or rotate the map. Rub that in your iPhone friends faces as they don’t have this feature yet!

Google Chrome OS Will Die Says Gmail Founder

The man behind Google Adsense and the lead developer behind Gmail is convinced that Google Chrome OS will either be killed in 2011 or merged with Android OS.

Paul Buchheit, who left Google to launch Friendfeed which was later acquired by Facebook, said on Twitter that "Prediction: ChromeOS will be killed next year (or “merged” with Android)". His follow-up thoughts can be read on his Friendfeed here.

This doesn't come as a surprise to us; Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder, told Cnet in November 2009 that it would make sense for both projects to be merged together, thereby allowing Google to focus on one single product.

Back in July 2009, we suggested that Google was likely to merge Android and Chrome OS, something that we suggested was because Google wanted to build "the Holy Grail of operating systems, a platform that is scalable from a set top box to a super computer".

Android 2.3 Gingerbread Review: Better Than Fruitcake

It's hard to believe this is what Android looked like two years ago. It's a testament to how far it's come that Android 2.3 Gingerbread is focused on making it feel good more than anything else.

Specs

Version: Android 2.3

Phones: Nexus S, for now

When you can get it: Over the next couple months

Price: Free update

Android has evolved more aggressively, more rapidly than any other mobile platform. But now it's reached a point of maturity, and you can see that in Gingerbread: The newness in Android 2.3 is all about refinement. Not new features or functions or just stuff. It's Android where Google's slowed down and taken the time to think about how it looks and feels and responds.

Facebook updated to 1.5, FINALLY gets Facebook Chat, Push Notifications

It seems the Facebook for Android application has finally become all-encompassing, with the long-awaited features of chat and push notification finally making their way onto the Android platform. This is certainly a welcome addition to the Android application, as the lack of these features have been a gripe of many Android users for a long time. After spending a few minutes with the application, both the chat integration and the notification features seem to be done pretty well.

Check out the screens below to preview the changes, or just head over to the market and update the app to test it out for yourself. Not using the Facebook app yet? Is the addition of these features enough to convince you to start/switch from a 3rd party application? Sound off below!

CR-48 Netbook: World’s First Chrome OS Netbook

Google, the world’s famous search engine giant, maybe transforming itself into something bigger than just a database for the world wide web. Last January, the company has launched its flagship smartphone, signalling its entry into the mobile market. This time, Google has announced its Cr-48 Netbook, the world’s first chrome OS netbook.

The Cr-48 Chrome Netbook’s release may come as a surprise since Google has been hinting only of the company’s very own Operating system early this year. But the plain black, no design, no logo Cr-48 Chrome Netbook looks so freakin bland that people are sensing it as a marketing ploy for the Google OS. Whichever is true, only time will tell.

Nexus S review

It can be difficult to review a phone like Google's Nexus S in a world already populated by so many outstanding Android devices. Not only does the manufacturer of this phone make a series of handsets that are all essentially the same (the Galaxy S line), but countless other OEMs are cranking away on hardware for the platform. Of course, the Nexus S is a decidedly different phone altogether. Picking up where the company's Nexus One left off, the S continues Google's legacy of creating standalone, "pure Android" phone experiences, seemingly aimed less at the mainstream and more towards developers. Unlike the failed experiment of the Nexus One, Google appears to be taking a more realistic approach to the S; the phone will be sold through Best Buy (and Carphone Warehouse across the pond), which suggests that the company has bigger plans for this device.

First Look of the New Android Market(Video)

If you haven’t or couldn’t update your phone to the new and more polished Android Market, then check out our quick first look below, so that you can see exactly what you are missing out on.  And that was a rude way to start a Monday morning.  It really is awesome though.

HTC confirms Gingerbread rollout coming to “some phones”

Now that Google has officially unveiled Gingerbread, you’re probably wondering when or even if your current Android phone will be updated to Android 2.3.  HTC appears to be the only manufacturer so far to mention their update strategy, even if their statement is a bit vague: “We are excited about the OS update coming for Android, and while HTC will definitely have some phones running this OS, we do not have a specific timeframe for new phones or updates at this time. Please stay tuned for more details.”

Since Google’s requirements for android 2.3 are the same for android 2.2, it’s pretty safe to assume that the majority of HTC’s phones that have received the Android 2.2 update should be seeing Android 2.3 as well. We’ll most likely see Android 2.3 hit the latest HTC phones (myTouch 4G, T-Mobile G2, Desire HD, and Desire Z) first in order to keep their newest customers happy, though updates for the HTC Desire, DROID Incredible, and EVO 4G shouldn’t be too far behind.

Google Maps 5 Demo'd on a Phone

We saw the upcoming Google Maps 5 demonstrated on an unannounced tablet-device running Android Gingerbread earlier this week. We also heard that this version of Maps will run on phones as well as tablets, and that it will be available "in a few days". Today we got a pretty good demo of Google Maps 5 running on an Android-powered phone, over a cellular network (not Wi-Fi). 

Likely the most important breakthrough in this iteration of the Maps app is the use of vector data, rather than the bitmap tiles that current and previous versions have used. This requires faster processors, but vectors are significantly smaller than bitmaps, resulting in a significant reduction in required bandwidth. How much smaller? The number being thrown around is version 5 using 1/100th the data as previous versions.

Android Market getting a stealth face lift

It seems that the Android Market is getting a stealth face lift. Some handsets running Froyo are finding an extra tab on the app listings, offering users the chance to search for related or similar applications to the one that you are checking out. Interestingly, the language between devices is a little different. For example, on the Motorola DROID X. the third tab reads "similar" while the HTC EVO 4G says "related".

The Android Google Reader app is here!

It’s been a long time coming, but the official Google Reader app for Android is finally here. Let’s jump into the features, shall we?

The app supports all the basics you’d expect like unread counts, friends, sharing, liking, and starring, but it also has a whole lot more, including:

• Multiple accounts
• Synced preferences
• Full subscription features (subscribe and search from your phone)
• Search

Pocket God for Android now available

Been waiting for Pocket God on Android? Wait no longer, as the game is now available on Android for a mere 99 cents. The collaborative effort between Bolt Creative and ngmoco brings the popular iOS game to Android -- think of it as a new Sim City on an island, where the Pygmies are subject to your control. Download link and press release are after the break. Now excuse us while we control a virtual universe for a few hours.

Bolt Creative Teams Up with ngmoco to Bring Pocket God to Android and Windows Phone 7 

Pygmies Discover New Islands, Ready to Please More Gods

Google Earth 6 adds 3D trees and integrated Street View

It's not hard to love Google Earth: it's free, it gives great views of one of our top five favorite planets ever, and it's free. Now Google is adding in some new functionality to push the realism to the limit in Google Earth 6. Most importantly, Street View is getting seamless integration into your virtual travels, with the little yellow Pegman set right next to the navigation controls for placing any which where. Google has also "planted" millions of 3D trees to make the 3D building view a bit more realistic, and has a new easy-access method for pulling up historical imagery. It all sounds very exciting in theory, but the best part? Google Earth 6 is free, and you can download it right now to find out for yourself.