The jury is still out on whether Google will be successful marketing the Nexus One to the average consumer but when your product is endorsed by a giant in the Open Source community, you know you are on the right track.

Linux Torvalds, best known for developing the Linux Kernel, acknowledged that “the Nexus One is a winner” and has replaced his rarely used G1 phone.

What is his view of cellphones in general?  His direct quote,  “I generally hate phones–they are irritating and disturb you as you work or read or whatever–and a cell phone to me is just an opportunity to be irritated wherever you are”.

What changed Torvalds’s mind about this horrid device called a cellphone, “I no longer feel like I’m dragging a phone with me ‘just in case’ I would need to get in touch with somebody – now I’m having a useful (and admittedly pretty good-looking) gadget instead. The fact that you can use it as a phone too is kind of secondary.  I’ve wanted to have a GPS unit for my car anyway, and I thought that google navigation might finally make a phone useful.”

The Android OS is an open source mobile platform that is fully customizable which allows developers total control and ease of application development.  There are currently 20,000 plus applications available and that number is expected to skyrocket.

Sources: http://torvalds-family.blogspot.com/2010/02/happy-camper.html

After weeks of anticipation from techies the world over, Google has unveiled to members of the press the Nexus One, its first consumer electronics device previously known as the Google Phone.  Set to compete with Apple’s iPhone and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry, the HTC-made Nexus One runs an updated tweak of the Google Android OS.

Apart from what are expected from smartphones developed post-iPhone-touchscreen display, 5-megapixel camera, and stereo Bluetooth for headphones-the Nexus One pulls off features that impress us.  The phone includes a Global Positioning System, two microphones (one for noise cancellation), and a speech dictation technology, which transcribes what you speak on the Nexus One as you compose e-mails, tweets, and Facebook status updates.

Reactions, however, were not as mind-blowing as Google might have expected.  “The Nexus One has attractive features, but many of them were already available on other phones that use Google’s Android operating system,” wrote Jessica Guynn of Los Angeles Times.

Michael Gartenberg, an analyst from Interpret research firm, says that the new phone provides a perception that not all Android phones are created equal.  “If I was a (Motorola Droid) customer who just bought the phone a month ago, I might not feel so good.”

The Nexus One is now available on Google’s online store for US$529 if you want it unlocked or $179 with a two-year contract from T-Mobile.  Similar offers will be available from Verizon Wireless and United Kingdom’s Vodafone within this year.  It is also expected to be shipped in Singapore and Hong Kong.

Image source:  Google

Widgets: Bluetooth OnOff, GPS OnOff, WiFi OnOff, LockPattern OnOff, AutoRotate OnOff, Brightness LevelPublisher: CurveFish

IntroductionThe CurveFish OnOff widgets were the first widgets I downloaded when I got my new Motorola DROID. I needed to have complete control over my connections to save on battery life, and found a few little fun widgets along the way. And to have found a publisher that has released multiple widgets of the same theme excite the OCD inside me.

Bluetooth OnOff, WiFi OnOffThe Bluetooth OnOff and WiFi OnOff are just that, great widgets for controlling the state of your Bluetooth and WiFi connections. Straight forward and usable.Bluetooth OnOff Rating: 4.5 out of 5 starsWiFi OnOff Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

GPS OnOffThe GPS OnOff widget is very much like the Bluetooth OnOff and WiFi OnOff widgets, with the exception that it must be linked to another service. I originally linked it to the Bluetooth service, but the GPS froze and never turned on. I linked it to the WiFi, and seems to work, but I hate losing my WiFi connection just to turn my GPS on or off.GPS OnOff Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

LockPattern OnOffLockPattern OnOff is nice for configuring whether, once your phone locks, it unlocks using the slider or lock pattern. I use it to switch between being home, and away from home, as I don’t need anyone having that easy of access to all of my data.LockPattern OnOff Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

AutoRotate OnOffI honestly don’t enjoy my phone rotating from landscape to portrait without me explicitly telling it to. This is where AutoRotate OnOff comes into play. If your keyboard is retracted, your phone’s display is set to portrait. If your keyboard is extracted, your phone’s display is set to portrait. And putting your DROID in the car dock in portrait mode overrides the widget, which is perfect.

AutoRotate OnOff Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Brightness LevelWhile not specifically an OnOff widget, it works with with the battery saving features of the OnOff widgets by allowing you to EASILY change the screen brightness, saving you battery when you don’t need the screen on, or don’t need it bright.Brightness Level Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Final ThoughtsOverall, very satisfied with these widgets. So much so that I have a desktop devoted to geek tweaks, and they occupy the first six positions.Overall Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

Game:  Crystallight DefensePublisher: Smartpix GamesPrice: Demo available, full version $2.99

Description:Crystallight is a game of “tower defence” genre with extensive online rating system and hours of exciting gameplay. (taken from the Crystallight Defense website)

Introduction:While searching for another defense game in the Android Market that I’d been told about, I came across Crystallight Defense. It looked pretty good (I liked the graphics, honestly) so I opted to download it. After installing, I went through the tutorial and had a rather difficult time grasping the game. I started playing through individual battles, and to be quite honest, I struggled. It took me a couple days to beat the first battle (I left it on the default 40 waves). After beating it once, I started through the story mode, and found it rather easy. I’ve been hooked on the gameplay, and found myself enjoying it for hours when I have better things to do, like sleep.

Pros:Addicting gameplayMultiple levels of play in demo, and 40 levels in the paid versionOnline rating system

Cons:Tutorial leaves a bit to be desiredGame should have an “Additional Help” option that opens the website up in a browser

Graphics Rating: 3.5 out of 5 starsGameplay Rating: 4 out of 5 starsTutorial Rating: 2 out of 5 starsOverall Rating: 3.17 out of 5 stars

Final Thoughts: What started as a time killer to “play one before bed” turned into a bit of an addiction.  So much so that now, when I’ve found myself at a level that I’m unable to beat, I find myself frustrated and playing three or four times before giving in for the night.  It’s quickly become my favorite game to play on my phone, and the only game I’ve been addicted to more than this one was StarCraft.

Google wants to open a new front in the land of the mobile telephones with the first that works with its “Android” software. Its greater attractive is the open code, which enormously lowers the costs to the manufacturers. This first device, known as the Google Phone, is a product of the Taiwanese HTC, wants to shade the Apple iPhone or the Blackberry in the land of the mobile communication. The popularity of the Google brand name and the benefits of the price of 199 dollars could be the keys.

The project is very ambitious and HTC has gained an enviable position next to Google in their jump to the mobile communications, a technological landmark that had been awaited for a long time. HTC has a great presence in the market and its models are very popular; although until this moment it had been in the shade in the West, manufacturing for other companies like Compaq or Palm. One of every six smart phones sold in first half of this year in the United States was made by HTC although they did not use this name, according to the consultant Nielsen Mobile. Now, the Google Phone, known as the T-Mobile G1, could be its luxury business card. The head of HTC marketing explained on the comparisons with the sector giants like Apple or Research in Motion: “We are far from being there”. They face the problem of not having its own software to develop the mobile devices, as it does happen with iPhone or Blackberry. Until the moment, HTC mobiles have used different versions of Windows Mobile. HTC are the people in charge of the first “smart phone” based on Windows, the Orange SPV, which was distributed in Europe. On its part, Google does not make mobiles but web pages and online services. The union of both companies took place two years ago, when they began thinking about the T-Mobile G1 or the Google Phone. So far T Mobile has the exclusivity being the G1 cell phone provider company.

Google wants that its “Android” software to become the standard within “smart phones”. The G1 could be the “Trojan horse”. For this reason it has enticed operators and manufacturers to join its side, using the nature of the open code of “Android”, which will enormously lower the price of the costs, as the main argument. As far as the design of the G1 goes, it will follow the present canons, it has a tactile screen of great dimensions. In addition, it will incorporate a “touchpad” in the inferior part. The screen will slide to one side revealing a keyboard, equipping it with an aspect similar to the one of a small laptop. As far as navigation by Internet and the use of applications, it’s been thought and it optimized to use those of Google, like Google Maps, its search engine, YouTube or the electronic mail Gmail. “Android” will also “borrow” ideas from the iPhone or Mobile Windows. For example, it will be possible to cut and paste text as in the Microsoft software and is developing a platform for content download similar to the AppStore, although in this case everything will be free. This will be called the Android Market.

To Google is today the leader of the market of internet advertising, with an income of 16,500 million dollars only in 2007. T-Mobile will profit from the device, not only with the sales, but also through its online partner company Amazon.com, that, with a service that allows to download content to the T-Mobile G1. Together with the telephone launch more than six million songs will be available.

Sherpa is very useful application in latest Android phone from T Mobile.Sherpa will be the unique application for T Mobile my touch 3G (HTC my touch 3g) users. This amazing application can makes local discovery,find your favorite places and recommend new one s that you might like ex. cafes, restaurants, bars, bank, coffee shops and everyplace do you want,depending upon your location.

Wherever you are, you can open this application and find whatever you want based on your location. Easy way to use Sherpa, use your thumbs-up or thumbs-down on screen to a individual location or stores.So, if you don’t like some place all you have to do is give it a thumbs-down and Sherpa would not make an effort to choose any places.And  on next searches Sherpa will further places where you don’t like down to the list and move up things you like to the top.In addition Sherpa would list all of the similar place in the immediate area and can show a map with pinpoints to obtains directions that you can scroll horizontally along the top of the screen to see it.

Sherpa developed by Geodelic with important learning engine that able to automiatically customize itself to the user’s preferences and recommending user’s favorite place call “GENIE” (Geodelic Engine for Interest Evaluation).Moreover,there are useful applications and widgets in T Mobile my touch 3G which selected and recommended by T Mobile.For example,the CNN widget  allowed you to read the latest headlines,have alert feature that pop up with the latest buzz ,T Mobile’s movie widget allowed you to see movie and categorized information by release date, movie rating,etc., Sports Tap showed you the latest news of the professional leagues.

T mobile my touch 3G was released as HTC Magic which has been release in Europe for about a year. Some difference is the newest T mobile phone use T mobile 3G’s network with 1700/2100 MHz frequency but HTC Magic use 3G network with 900/2100 MHz frequency.If you compare T mobile my touch 3 G with T mobile G1 you will see the main difference is keyboard because My touch does not have a physical keyboard (T mobile G1 have a physical keyboard with Slide-out 5 row QWERTY keyboard)and that is the biggest disappointment.Nonetheless, T mobile my touch 3 G has more internal Rom memory (512MB),more Ram memory(288MB) which make an applications run faster,better battery life (Rechargeable Lithium-ion battery,Capacity: 1340 mAh) which make T mobile my touch 3 G can standby up to 660 hours for WCDMA and up to 420 hours for GSM,more micro SD memory card support (4GB),have Microsoft Exchange Support which good for business user,have Sherpa application which help user to discovery local location and find favorites place and absolutely beautiful more than T mobile G1.Another important is that T mobile my touch comes with the Cupcake Android 1.5 firmware with user interface refinements,performance improvements,new applications,new features, including the ability to type messages in portrait or landscape view, video recording, and improved browserSo,if you don’t mind about software keyboard and think T mobile G1 is not good enough for you especially its ugly model.I think T mobile my touch 3G with 199$ and two-year contract is a good choice for everyone.

Google’s gPhone with Android, an alliance of over 35 different carriers and device providers that have joined forces to bury the iPhone and replace it with the gPhone.
With the rumors circulating around a unique open source-coded phone called ‘gPhone’, people suspected this might just be able to hurt Apple’s monopoly on their niche. With the release of the retitled ‘G1′, this might just be able to win it out.
We’re going to break everything down and look at each individual part of each phone, and decide who is the winner in this unique and fierce cell phone war.
The Basic Design
The iPhone’s design is something that many can identify on sight – smooth lines, shining back, and a touch screen that’s a comfortable size for use.
Holding the iPhone is easy, though actually using it takes some getting used to. The buttons have a distinctive ‘squishy’ feel to them, and bigger fingers tend to have issues, as they would with any touch screen.
Overall, the design itself is smooth and streamlined.
G1 has a similarly smooth and sleek design, but there are serious differences between these phones that make them unmistakable. The biggest being the QWERTY keypad that you can get when you push the screen to the side.
The buttons of the keypad feel a little rubbery, but it’s a nice feeling, and you can get a firm grip as you type and send messages. The screen is clear, crisp, and greets you warmly.
How it Operates
The iPhone’s deep and sophisticated operating system has been developed and polished for a while, and you can tell when using and navigating with your phone.
However, Android – the system – is slightly unpolished, and does not offer the style of an iPhone. It works fine for an early release. However, after a while of playing with it, that they had waited to release it and put those final touches on it.
The Camera
The iPhone’s camera is what you would expect from a smaller phone – it’s okay, with decent quality when you take into perspective it’s not a dedicated camera.
The G1′s camera is 3mp of crisp, clear quality. Need a quick picture while out of friends or in the heat of a moment? You will be surprised how it comes out, and the auto focus is simply fabulous. Its picture quality is impressive.
The Real Advantage: Software
If you’ve ever used an iPhone, or any Smartphone for that matter, you’ll probably notice that you have little software options. The browser that comes with it is what you use. The mail options are as they are – no choice.
You’ll be able to download new software and features from various websites and places. Android is completely open source, and as the platform gets more attention and as applications are released your options will expand.
Overall
The G1 is a great phone, but right now, it’s simply in the shadow of Apple’s iPhone. But don’t count this baby out, because as more and more features and options are available, it will just get better.
In truth, the G1 has the real potential to outshine any other phone on the market right now. If you’re the type of person who switches phones every few months, go with an iPhone. But if you’re searching for a phone that’s going to just get better with time, the G1 is certainly the ticket for you.

There’s no question that, when it comes to the battle of the smartphones, the iPhone is the current king. Most people know at least one person who has one of these sought-after handsets, if not several, and it’s clear that their popularity is showing no sign of waning. Blasting rival Microsoft out of the water with its innovative iPhone operating system, Apple seems to be on top of the world. That is, until you consider Google. Currently working on an operating system of its own, it perhaps only seemed like so long before the Mountain View search engine got its claws into the world of mobile. After all, with millions of people accessing Google Maps, Google Docs and Gmail on their smartphones every day, it would make sense for Google to leap in with both feet and create its very own phone. The HTC G1 was a success when it came out, though was met with some mixed reviews. Much anticipated as a needed alternative to the iPhone, the Google phone was a welcome reprieve in a market that was growing in Apple dominance. Run with Google’s Android operating system, the phone was snapped up by millions and has proved to be quite a hit so far. Has Android got what it takes to beat Apple once and for all? Android certainly does offer users a lot – a smooth, well-integrated OS with plenty of apps and a wide range of features. However, it’s also still in its early stages, meaning there are some wrinkles that still need to be ironed out. Once such tweaks are made, however, it’s very possible that Google will be left with an ‘iPhone killer’ on its hands and, in the end, it will all be down to the taste of the user to decide which phone they like best. With a handful of the world’s top manufacturers on its side, though – Nokia, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and LG have all expressed desire to design their own handsets that will run the Android operating system – it looks like Android will take the lead when it comes to choice. Because, while the iPhone is massively popular, there’s no denying that users aren’t offered much choice when it comes to choosing their handset. With Android’s offerings, though, choosing between contract or cheap pay as you go deals will be the least of your worries, as a world of choice opens up while the technology develops.

This month October 22nd the search engine king Google is going to sell its first Android capability phone G1.The phone, which is manufactured by Taiwan-based HTC Corporation. Though it’s out looking is something like as iPhone but a lot of

Google is breaking away from the virtual world this autumn with the launch of its first mobile phone. Not content with dominating the search and online advertising arenas, the innovative company has developed a phone that has as much power as the desktop computers in use just a few years ago, and is clearly intended as a serious challenger to Apple’s iconic iPhone.

There’s a three megapixel camera, one-touch access to YouTube and instant messaging service Google Talk, and as well as listening to music users will be able to download tracks from a new service, Amazon MP3.

All of which shouts loud and clear that the G1 is targeted firmly at consumers. In fact when it’s launched in the UK in November on the T-Mobile network, there won’t even be a business tariff at first.

The phone, officially called ‘the T-Mobile G1 with Google’ will be free on a

Google and T-Mobile have teamed up to create a new breed of cell phone. The T-Mobile G1 is the world’s first Android Phone. An “android” is traditionally defined as a robot with human qualities. Perhaps the name was chosen because of the capabilities of this new phone. It’s known as the T-Mobile G1 Android, the Android Phone, the G1 Phone, or (more informally) the Google Phone. The G1 Phone integrates fully with your Google accounts. Here are a few of the features and capabilities of this new cell phone:

The following Google applications can be accessed and used directly by the Android Phone:

All of these Google applications will be available to you with a single logon – and they will automatically be synchronized with the web. What that means is that any change you make in one of your google accounts from your phone will also show up the next time you log on from any other computer. For example, when you are out and about with your phone and you meet a new contact, you might want to save their contact information. All you do is save it into your Google Contacts on your G1 phone. That information will be available to you any time online, in your Gmail account, and in any other applicable Google account, and you can access it through any computer in the world which is connected to the Internet. Any information you save on your phone in this way will appear on your computer as well – and vice-versa. If you lose or break your phone, you won’t lose your information. Your data will be there waiting for you on your Google account, which you can access the next time you are online. And there is no need to worry about your information being stolen, as its password-protected. Here is another example of the a use of a Google Android phone. Once you have a contact address saved into your Google account, you can easily find that location on a map – using Google Maps, of course. And what’s more, you can access street level events in any area where this is available. This makes it a breeze to get directions to a new location! Simply find your contact on a a map with a couple of clicks, and use a street-level view to find your way if needed! Another example of the use of the this phone is the integration of the cell phone with your Google Calendar. Any event you save on your Google Calendar will be available to you on your phone, wherever you are. So you can access your schedule easily, on the go and from anywhere, as long as you have your phone with you. No more schedule books! And you can say goodbye to those tiny notebooks and pads of paper you carry around so that you can jot down notes and phone numbers. What’s more, once you save information on your Android phone, there’s no need to transfer it over after you get home. Its all there, safely stored on your Google account, for ready access whenever you need it.

Open source code means that Chinese manufactures will