Android Market In Full Swing, Tops 100,000 Apps And Nears 2,000,000,000 Downloads!

Android Market In Full Swing, Perhaps Improving App Quality Will Bring Apps Above Clutter http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

I getting Android news from all ends today. NYT has wrtten and article about how the Android App Market is stepping up to the plate. Looks like the there are about 109364 apps in the Android Market according to Androlib. Also according to Androlib, 86.7% are Applications while the other 13.3% accounts for games.

 It could be that Android users do more work that iPhone users and play less. But on the other hand it is a good indication for Android developers of the vast playing field that they have. The pointer to the article on Android at the end carries a good article on App quality and how it could turn into better and popular app;

A better app can go a very long way: a higher quality app will translate to higher user ratings, generally better rankings, more downloads, and higher retention (longer install periods). High-quality apps also have a much higher likelihood of getting some unanticipated positive publicity such as being featured in Android Market or social media buzz.

It might be different from developing apps for monolithic platform like iPhone but I do not see that much of a issue as stated by the NYT article. Yes there are many devices, but when we developed our first app, we did not even have a single device, we relied on the Android emulators.
With Android devices selling like 200,000 a day, there going to be a huge app hungry users, be your app free or for pay, one will certainly be able to reap in benefits with a well designed quality Android App.

Android Developers Blog: Improving App Quality
Stats from Androlib

Android Dev Phone 1.1 Fixes Developer woos.

We were more than appy when Android Developer Device 1 was released in December last year. One of us already was playing with the real thing, T-Mobile G1, or Android G1. And the rest were busy with the Android Emulator and procrastinating about getting one ADP1 Android Developer Phone, when the developer revolt broke out! The lack of capacity to run Android Apps from Android Market was widely spoken about and we were wondering if it was a good idea to pocket out $400 and the $25 (actually we have already done that part) to get a partially operational phone.
Todays news from Android Developer blog, (link below) cleared up some of out doubts. Now the Android Developer Phone 1, ADP1 with the new system image seem to have been cured of all the trouble but some issues regarding copy-protected applications. The application with forward locking copy protection will not be available on the ADP1 through the Android Market.
Upgrading to System image 1.1 is highly recomended and incase if you are not happy with it, you will be able to roll back to version 1.0 as the image 1.0 also available.
Follow the link for more information and the link to HTC's release of tje software. Now I hope Diordna will get me a ADP1
Android Developers Blog: Software Update Available for the Android Developer Phone

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

Tags: Android emulator, Android Developers, ADP1, Android Phone, Android G1, forward locking, Android Apps, Android Market

Android Emulator, Next Best Thing To Android Developer Device

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

Android has made bounds as leaps ever since Goggle decided to go with Google phone. We all were waiting for coming of the Google phone but at last it turned out to be the Android, together with OHA, Open Handset Alliance.
Then came the T-Mobile G1 and for various reasons and other, people rushed to get one. I did not because of some mouth off about no VoIP by a big honcho at T-Mobile. I have been playing and porting my gPhone application(s) with the Android Emulator, which is this article is about.
But winds have changed and the Android developer device, a hardware unlocked G1 is available to android developers. Yes, I am Getting one. But the price might hit some good developers in far away lands. So get the Android emulator. I have already finished one vertical market and private application that runs on Android, without ever touching the T-Mobile G1.
To give a brief explanation about the Android Emulator, (because I an sending you off to the emulator site soon to get all the information you need), it is a QEMU-based application that provides a virtual ARM mobile device on which you can run your Android applications. It provides a full Android system stack, down to the kernel level, and includes a set of pre-installed applications (such as the dialer) that you can access from your applications. It provides a skinnable mobile device UI, customizable key mappings, and a variety of commands and options for controlling the behaviors of the emulated environment.

The Android system image distributed in the SDK contains ARM machine code for the Android Linux kernel, the native libraries, the Dalvik VM, and the various Android package files (such as for for the Android framework and preinstalled applications). The emulator's QEMU layers provide dynamic binary translation of the ARM machine code to the OS and processor architecture of your development machine.

Adding custom capabilities to the underlying QEMU services, the Android emulator supports many hardware features likely to be found on mobile devices, including:

• An ARMv5 CPU and the corresponding memory-management unit (MMU)
• A 16-bit LCD display
• One or more keyboards (a Qwerty-based keyboard and associated Dpad/Phone buttons)
• A sound chip with output and input capabilities
• Flash memory partitions (emulated through disk image files on the development machine)
• A GSM modem, including a simulated SIM Card

So go get the Android, at least an emulator, until you get the real one. Also don't forget the Android 1.0 SDK, release 2. Now I have to port that application to iPhone!

Tags: Google Phone, Android emulator, Android Market, Android, VoIP, T-Mobile, gPhone, Android developer device, simulated SIM Card, Dalvik VM

Andoid Based Netbook, Andbook!

Image belongs to Venture Beat

http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/
Venture beat has stirred up some net traffic after writing an article about running Android OS on an Asus EEEPC, they actually has some photos like the one above as well. It was an interesting article and as any developer who played around with Android dev kit knows that is not much a feat but a not easy one either for the uninitiated. But the Android emulator is another matter. I actually have not got either running on my netbook, an Acer Aspire One, yet. But now it is on my list. May be I will wait, VB says it is due in 2010!
Now don't go rushing looking to run T-Mobile G1 on your Netbook because it is next to no and not working!
So Venture beat has also cooked up a FAQ on the subject to explain the whole issue. So go along read the article and then read the FAQ!
Andbook indeed!

Tags: android, Android emulator, Venture beat, Andbook, Andoid Based Netbook

Android Emulator For G1

Google blogscoped reported that the T-Mobile has put up an Android Emulator and when I followed the link, it was not available! Looks like it has been taken down or perhaps will come back on later after the surge has gone down.
But actually there has been a Android Emulator included with Android Development kit (Android SDK). So if you really want to try that is one way to do so!
The Android emulator mimics all of the typical hardware and software features of a typical mobile device, except that it can not receive or place actual phone calls. It provides a variety of navigation and control keys, which you can "press" using your mouse or keyboard to generate events for your application. It also provides a screen in which your application is displayed, together with any other Android applications running.
http://snapvoip.blogspot.com/

Tags: Android emulator, T-Mobile, HTC G1 Emulator