Adobe Air peer-to-peer video call concept Android app hands-on (video)

If you recall, a few days ago we stumbled upon a cheekily-named concept app (which has since been renamed for obvious reasons) from Adobe that does video-calling on Android. This is pretty rad considering it's just Qik and Fring offering the same service for the green bot right now, so we trotted along to Adobe's London office to get a closer look at this demo. As with many things in life, not all went as planned as you can see after the break -- the video stream froze up on several occasions, but then again Adobe's Mark Doherty only spent three days cooking this simple app. Regardless, this should still help Android developers understand the beefed-up peer-to-peer capabilities in the forthcoming Air 2.5 runtime, which is now "feature-complete" and undergoing extensive testing ahead of launch later this year.

Things are less positive for Flash availability on other mobile platforms, though. While Nokia's just waiting for a Linux SDK before it can start porting Flash apps to its devices within 2010, Adobe implied that it's still waiting for two other vendors to respond -- Palm's already been shown a Flash build running on webOS devices, and it's just a matter of the company signing up for Adobe's device certification system; RIM, on the other hand, is a bit more vague, but we were told it's definitely interested in both Air and Flash. And here's the surprise of the day: no comment on Flash for iOS (not to be confused with its digital publishing tools for the iPad), but there's no stopping you from hacking it in yourself.

Android and Arduino-packin' Cellbot features voice recognition, autonomy, and charm to spare

The Cellbots gang has been furiously productive as of late. Not even a month after their wooden "boxbot" was first spotted on You Tube the project has moved on from its humble beginnings of lumber and windshield wiper motors to a full-on a neon green acrylic Truckbot that uses a G1 and Arduino board combination for control. Sure, we've seen Android-powered robots before, but these guys have done some pretty cool things, and have no intention of stopping now. They've already implemented an ultrasonic range detector so the 'bot can override the operator and prevent itself from running off a cliff (although we'd like to suggest mounting one on the rear as well -- for obvious reasons), voice recognition, and the Android compass into the control system. If anything, the amount of progress makes this project very well worth keeping an eye on

Motorola's i1 hitting SouthernLINC Wireless, Georgians and Alabamians rejoice

Moto's i1 went from rumored device to ready for retail over the span of just a few weeks, and now we're finding out just where it'll be available -- though the news isn't exactly good. Motorola is announcing that the iDEN device will be hitting SouthernLINC first, a rural carrier that you may not have heard of if you're outside of Alabama, Georgia, or the western half of the Florida panhandle. That is the extent of this carrier's coverage, and so it's not a huge coming out party for this military spec push-to-talk smartphone, but we're hoping down the road it gets a little more love from carriers with slightly broader coverage maps.

Verizon begins Android 2.1 update rollout for Motorola Droid

Flippin' finally, right? Verizon Wireless put the long-awaited Android 2.1 update on hold for its cadre of Motorola Droid owners earlier in the month, with an all-too-vague "TBD" as the only detail as to when we could look for it to actually, really land. We've just happened upon what looks to be an internal Verizon email that went out this morning, and sure enough, it sounds as if the update will at long last begin hitting Droid owners in just a few minutes. At noon on 3/30 (that's today, vaquero), a grand total of 1,000 users will receive notification of the update, while 9,000 more will get a similar alert just before midnight. If all goes well, the rest of ya will see v2.1 slide down starting on Thursday, though it looks as if patience will be your only friend as you await your turn. Head on past the break for the full memo, but don't get your hopes up too high -- wouldn't want to be let down again, would you buttercup?

Oh, and drop us a tip if you see the update hit your phone, alright?

Starting 03/30/2010, Verizon Wireless is pleased to announce a new software update for the DROID by Motorola. Users will be able to upgrade their software to version AP: ESE81/BP: C_01.3E.03P to receive new improvements and enhancements.

*Key Advantages:*

o Email - Yahoo Mail is now supported - customers can simply
sign in with their Yahoo! Email address and password. Note:
Yahoo! Email is not available over Wi-Fi
o Pinch to Zoom now available in the Browser, Maps, and Gallery
o Speech-to-Text - Customers can now use their voice instead
of typing whenever a text-entry box appears
o Google Goggles is now preloaded
o The new Gallery application uses 3D layout and shows both
pictures taken with the customer's Android device and images
from Picasa Web Albums account online

*Software Schedule:*
Below is the software-upgrade notification schedule (All times listed are Eastern Time):

o At noon on 03/30, 1,000 users will receive notification of
the update.
o At 11:59 PM on 03/30, 9,000 more users will receive the
update notification.
o After the first 10,000 users receive the update on 03/30,
there will be a 24-hour period when no additional upgrades
will be delivered.
o On Day 3 (04/01), 200,000 users will receive the update
notification at 11:59 PM. This schedule will continue each
day thereafter until the update has been delivered to all users.

*Download & Install Conditions:*

o An OTA download requires 40% or more power availability if
the device is not connected to an external power source or
20% or more power if it is connected to an external source
o If roaming, the customer will not receive the update. The
only option in this scenario is for the subscriber to enable
Wi-Fi and wait for a mandatory OTA. The wait period in this
case will not be more than 12 hours
o User must wait to receive the upgrade via OTA
o User is unable to make or receive calls, including emergency
calls during this time
o Users will see the following information when they select*
More info* on the update screen:/ This software update
includes new enhancements to support Yahoo! Email,
pinch-to-zoom, and many other improvements for your DROID by
Motorola. You will be unable to use your device or make
emergency calls for the duration of the install. The
software updates automatically, and your DROID will power
off and on as part of this software upgrade.

Sharp IS01 Snapdragon-powered 3G MID introduces AU to Android

After Softbank announced the HTC Desire and DoCoMo began pushing its very first Android smartphone (Xperia X10), Japan had big hopes for AU's press event today. An EVO perhaps, or maybe something more from this once proud home of the original superphones? Unfortunately, Engadget Japanese let out a collective meh in response to a 5-inch IS01 handheld from Sharp running Android 1.6 on a Snapdragon processor and measuring 83 × 149 × 17.9mm and 227g. While it looks like the classic Japanese eDictionary, the IS01 is meant to be used as a general purpose MID with a 5-row QWERTY, Sharp-built "New Mobile ASV" multi-touch capacitive display pushing a 960 x 480 pixel resolution and a 5.27 megapixel auto focus camera on back with a 0.43 megapixel jobbie up front for video calls. Rounding out the specs are 802.11 b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR, microSD slot, 1Seg mobile TV tuner, IrDA, 4GB of internal storage, and Qualcomm 3G CDMA data. Look for it to ship in October while a developer friendly version (JN-DK01) should be available in May.

Archos 7 Home Tablet up for pre-order, could ship first week of April

The first week of April is going to be a good one for prospective tablet owners. If a certain highly talked-about slate isn't to your liking, it seems that Archos 7 Home Tablet we spent some time with earlier this month will soon be making its debut as well. Both Redcoon.de ("usually ships in two weeks") and Amazon.de ("soon") have the 8GB model available for pre-order, for €180 and €200 (or about $240 and $270) respectively. Not the most stunning hardware, to be sure, but for less than $300 you can't really complain.

Xperia X10 multitouch issue is hardware-related?

Sony Ericsson's flagship Android smartphone, the Xperia X10, has been plagued by laggy performance since we first laid eyes on it, but that won't always be the case; the company has confirmed repeatedly that upgrades (including a newer Android OS version) will come. However, it now seems that multitouch is not in the cards. "There's no multitouch in X10 – and I also can confirm that it's not only related to [software] but also to [hardware]," said product manager Rikard Skogberg at the official company blog. If true, that means the X10 won't get multitouch even when rooted, much less a Nexus One or Milestone-like level of native, official multitouch support. But remember, Sony Ericsson has fancy UI quirks of its own -- though you may never pinch-to-zoom on an X10, at least you can enjoy reticulating Splines.

HTC Desire turning Japanese with SoftBank in late April

The HTC Desire is spreading its wings today with the announcement of a distribution deal with Japan's SoftBank. One of the big heavies over on that most famous archipelago, SoftBank will carry a WCDMA version of the handset with the standard Android 2.1 with Sense software and brownish externals. Sorry to disappoint our dear readers yearning for a silver or black option. Maybe in the future, eh? We don't know what reaction to expect from the Japanese audience, but we suspect the language of effortless responsiveness and snazzy AMOLED screens will prove to be universally understood.

European Milestone gets OTA 2.1 update, Droid update MIA

Motorola Milestone owners, your moment is now. The Android 2.1 update you've been waiting for is now available en masse. Users outside of Hong Kong (which already got served) have received notice that an over-the-air update is available to unlock the nine home-screens, Google Earth, and other goodness that comes along with the latest flavor of Google's mobile OS. When can US-bound Verizon subscribers hope to get their point release of goodness? That, sadly, is still TBD, but we're guessing it'll be any day now.

Stats: iPhone OS is still king of the mobile web space, but Android is nipping at its heels

AdMob serves north of 10 billion ads per month to more than 15,000 mobile websites and applications. Thus, although its data is about ad rather than page impressions, it can be taken as a pretty robust indicator of how web usage habits are developing and changing over time. Android is the big standout of its most recent figures, with Google loyalists now constituting a cool 42 percent of AdMob's smartphone audience in the US. With the EVO 4G and Galaxy S rapidly approaching, we wouldn't be surprised by the little green droid stealing away the US share crown, at least until Apple counters with its next slice of magical machinery. Looking at the global stage, Android has also recently skipped ahead of Symbian, with a 24 percent share versus 18 percent for the smartphone leader. Together with BlackBerry OS, Symbian is still the predominant operating system in terms of smartphone sales, but it's interesting to see both falling behind in the field of web or application usage, which is what this metric seeks to measure. Figures from Net Applications (to be found at the TheAppleBlog link) and ArsTechnica's own mobile user numbers corroborate these findings.

Exclusive: Android Froyo to take a serious shot at stemming platform fragmentation

We had a couple people at CTIA last week -- people whose words carry weight -- tell us off the record that the next major version of Android would take big strides toward stopping the ugly trend toward severe fragmentation that has plagued the platform for much of this and last year. You know, the kind of fragmentation that has already left users running not one, not two, not three, but four distinct versions of the little green guy (1.5, 1.6, 2.0, and 2.1) depending on a seemingly arbitrary formula of hardware, carrier, region, software customization, and manufacturers' ability to push updates in a timely fashion. Put simply, Google's been iterating the core far faster than most of its partners have been able to keep up.

Thing is, in light of our CTIA conversations, we didn't have an idea of how Google planned on fixing this -- until now. We've been given reason to believe that the company will start by decoupling many of Android's standard applications and components from the platform's core and making them downloadable and updatable through the Market, much the same as they've already done with Maps. In all likelihood, this process will take place over two major Android versions, starting with Froyo and continuing through Gingerbread. Notice that we said apps and components, meaning that some core elements of Android -- input methods, for instance -- should get this treatment. This way, just because Google rolls out an awesome new browser doesn't mean you need to wait for HTC, Samsung, or whomever made your phone to roll it into a firmware update, and for your carrier to approve it -- almost all of the juicy user-facing stuff will happen through the Market.

The second part of this doubled-edged attack on platform fragmentation comes from a simple reality: we're hearing that Google may be nearing the end of its breakneck development pace on Android's core and shifting attention to apps and features. By the time we get to Froyo, the underlying platform -- and the API that devs need to target -- will be reaching legitimate maturity for the first time, which means we should have far fewer tasty treat-themed code names to worry about over the course of an average year. We like awesome new software as much as the next guy, but Google's been moving so fast lately that they've created a near constant culture of obsolescence anxiety among the hardcore user base -- and in turn, that leads to paralysis at the sales counter.

How much of this strategy actually materializes -- and how effective it is at changing the direction of the platform at large -- remains to be seen, but it sounds like a promising turn of events. Considering it's been a solid five months since the Eclair SDK premiered, that's an eternity in Google years; time to shake things up a bit, we reckon .

China Unicom won't use Google's search engine on Android phones

Oh, brother. This just keeps getting better and better, and by "better and better," we mean "uglier and uglier." Google's abrupt decision to stop censoring results in China and redirect users on the mainland to the outfit's Hong Kong portal has stirred up all sorts of tense feelings around the globe, and if you thought this whole war would be confined to the desktop, you were sorely mistaken. China Unicom, which is gearing up to present its customer base with a few more smartphone options with Android loaded on, recently announced that it wouldn't be using Google as the search engine on those very phones. Lu Yimin, president of the operator, was quoted as saying that his company was "willing to work with any company that abides by Chinese law," but that it didn't have "any cooperation with Google currently." Granted, this is just the latest in a series of blows to Android's proliferation in the world's biggest nation, but you can really tell it's getting personal now. C'mon guys -- can't we just hug it out?

Mobinnova Beam netbook spotted running Android, sporting other improvements

Mobinnova had already mentioned that it planned to ditch Windows CE in favor of Android for its Beam netbook before the device was actually released, and it looks like it's now finally made the jump, as evidenced by Laptop Magazine's recent hands-on with the netbook. Whats' more, the 8.9-inch device was also seen sporting a few other minor improvements, including some new media playback keys on the keyboard, and CinemaNow pre-installed on the system for downloading movies. Expectedly, you won't have access to Android Market, btu Mobinnova says it will include some games that "leverage the Tegra chip's multimedia prowess," and that it's even working on its own app store for the device.

Mobinnova Beam netbook spotted running Android, sporting other improvements

Mobinnova had already mentioned that it planned to ditch Windows CE in favor of Android for its Beam netbook before the device was actually released, and it looks like it's now finally made the jump, as evidenced by Laptop Magazine's recent hands-on with the netbook. Whats' more, the 8.9-inch device was also seen sporting a few other minor improvements, including some new media playback keys on the keyboard, and CinemaNow pre-installed on the system for downloading movies. Expectedly, you won't have access to Android Market, btu Mobinnova says it will include some games that "leverage the Tegra chip's multimedia prowess," and that it's even working on its own app store for the device.