Nexus One for Sale by at Least One Third Party

Google announced last week that the Nexus One would soon be making an appearance in third-party retail channels, and now we've seen the first example of that. An online phone retailer and T-Mobile affiliate called iWireless is now offering the Nexus One, but it's going to cost you. The iWireless price for the Nexus One is $299.95 AFTER 2 year contract discount. By comparison, Google is only charging $179 for customers that agree to a new contact.

Google did say they hoped to get the Nexus One into more retail channels, but they also said people wanted to try the phone in real life. This iWireless deal doesn't really change anything about how people get the phone, other than costing them more. It's possible we'll see the Nexus show up in T-Mobile retail stores. The carrier does not currently have a similar high end Android handset like Verizon and Sprint do.

The only benefit customers on the iWireless site have is the ability to choose more inexpensive plans than the Even More 500 Google requires. But that small savings is dwarfed by the $121 premium you'll be charged.

Google Announces Android 2.2 "Froyo" at I/O Event

Google has officially announced Android 2.2, codenamed Froyo. The new smartphone software comes with a plethora of improvements. One big addition to the platform is the new Just In Time (JIT) compiler. Google is claiming this new system will be able to run apps 2-5 times faster than the old Dalvik compiler. Google is also rolling out a cloud-to-device messaging API that looks like a sort of push notification system on steroids. Instead of just popping up a message, the system can launch apps or deliver data like map coordinates.

The rumored W-Fi hotspot functionality is on board as well. But the browser can make better use of that data as well. Google is updating the browser with the new V8 JavaScript engine which should double the speed of code execution. Flash 10.1 is on track for a public release next month, but will require Froyo. The Android Market is getting a boost with auto updates, and a web-based store with over the air downloads. Apps can also be moved to the SD card, but this feature must be enabled by developers. Finally, there is a slightly revamped home screen with links at the bottom of the screen that open the phone and web browser.

No word on official release dates. Google just said the new software would be out in the coming weeks. We assume that means it will be out for the Nexus one and maybe the Droid. Phones running a modified version of Android are likely in for a longer wait. Did you hear what you wanted from Google today?

Notion Ink’s Adam Poses Fierce Competition for the iPad

PIQOO | www.piqoo.blogspot.com

Since the introduction of the iPad, which isn’t yet available to consumers, the tech world has been abuzz with news on tablet PCs, both real and imagined. Whether any these tablets has a chance of being an iPad-killer (if in fact the iPad needs to be killed), matters as little as the technology they promise. Take, for example, Notion Ink’s Adam, which sports specifications that some suggest give it an edge of the vaunted iPad.

The Adam is powered by NVIDIA’s Tegra processor, and runs on Android--off the shelf technology that allows open-source possibilities. It also provides full 1080p HD output (better than the 576p of the iPad), contains a GPS, a digital compass, speaker, microphone, 3 megapixel camera, up to 32GB of memory, and an SD card slot. Battery life, for Internet use, is estimated to last up to 16 hours. And, yes, it will support Adobe’s Flash.

Also interesting is the Adam’s 10-inch touch screen display. It is a new low-power display from Pixel Qi that uses natural light to aid brightness, reducing the need for backlighting. The display uses 0.2 watts of power, or about 50 percent less than a regular backlit LED screen.

The Adam is expected to retail for $325. An announcement on availability is expected next week at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Image Credit: Slashgear

iPhone and Android Market Share on the Rise

PIQOO | www.piqoo.blogspot.com

New statistics from comScore show that Apple and Google are both gaining ground in the battle for smartphone market share in the United States. Perhaps, as Google indicated when introducing the Nexus One, the iPhone and Android platforms are really next-generation "superphones" and the comparison with "normal" smartphones is unfair.

RIM, maker of all things BlackBerry, still has a solid grip on first place, carrying just under 42 percent of the market for the fourth quarter of 2009. However, RIM did decline from Q3, as did Microsoft, and Palm.

Apple gobbled up 1.2 percent of the other platforms' losses, inching above 25 percent market share for smartphones in the United States and solidly in second place for the foreseeable future. If the rate of RIM's losses and Apple's gains continue at the pace seen this past quarter, the iPhone would pass the BlackBerry as the dominant smartphone by this time in 2012.

Google's smartphone market share more than doubled during the fourth quarter of 2009. Of course, it started at only 2.5 percent of the overall market and doubled to just over 5 percent, still in last place just under a percent below Palm.

Like its Web browser sibling Chrome, the Android statistics are a little less impressive when viewed through that lens. However, again assuming gains and losses consistent with this past quarter, at the rate Android grew it would actually pass BlackBerry and jump into second place by mid-2012, and be in a position to challenge Apple for first place by 2013. Not too shabby for the new kid on the block.

One interesting aspect of the comScore report, though, is the gap between smartphones, and mobile phones in general. While smartphones like the iPhone and the Droid get all of the attention, and media headlines make it seem as if smartphones are the only devices being developed, Apple doesn't even make the list for overall mobile phone market share, and first place smartphone platform RIM drags in at last place for mobile phones in general at only seven percent.

Apple has certainly made strides to make the iPhone a more business-friendly platform, but it could be as popular in the board room as it is in the living room if Apple would do more to provide some sort of iPhone equivalent to the BlackBerry Enterprise Server to provide IT administrators with more control over the devices.

Some sort of alliance with Microsoft--providing native Microsoft apps for core business applications like Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook, would also radically change the smartphone landscape and help Apple leapfrog RIM in a fraction of the time it will take at the current pace.

Watch Out, Nexus One: Here's HTC's Incredible Phone

PIQOO | www.piqoo.blogspot.com

It's only a matter of time before another Android phone trumps Google's Nexus One, and based on an early glimpse, the HTC Incredible could be the one.

PocketNow got some very unofficial photos of the HTC Incredible, along with word that the phone will run HTC's Sense interface over Android 2.1. An earlier rumor from Engadget Mobile suggests the phone is coming to Verizon Wireless.

The Incredible packs a couple of the Nexus One's key specs, including a 3.5- to 3.7-inch AMOLED display and a Snapdragon processor. The style is quite different, however, with a flat black face and a layered back side (colored red, in these photos) that seems to mold around the phone's internals. Like the Nexus One, it appears to lack a physical keyboard.

Things get more interesting if this is the same phone as HTC's Bravo, revealed in a product roadmap last December. As Phandroid notes, HTC's roadmap literature refers to the phone by both names. In that case, expect the Incredible to have a 5-megapixel camera with dual LED flash, an optical mouse pointer, an FM radio and a digital compass. It'll also support 720p video capture and DivX video playback, and will have sound from Dolby.

The person who originally leaked specs and photos of the Bravo/Incredible and other 2010 HTC phones believes this could be HTC's flagship model. Looking at other phones in HTC's roadmap, this is clearly the most powerful and feature-rich, and it could certainly stand up to the Nexus One, running the same version of Android -- albeit with a different interface -- with a few hardware improvements.

The only question, then, is whether an HTC phone can outdo a Google-branded phone in popularity. If the Nexus One's sales don't pick up, the Incredible shouldn't have too much trouble.