- Android 2.0.1, revision 1
- Android 1.6, revision 2
- SDK Tools, revision 4
These were updated today! Check out the official article at: Android SDK Updates
Posts Tagged ‘android’
Android SDK Updated
Friday, December 4th, 2009How to sell Applications on the Android Market without a Google Checkout Account
Thursday, December 3rd, 2009
Well, in two words: you can’t! 
Everyone knows that, but there is some sort of a workaround to fuzz. Get a Google Checkout Merchant account. Yes, Google Checkout only allows a couple of countries and if you don’t come from one of these you cannot get such an account.
Especially a lot of our developer buddies are not located in “the west” and come from “exotic” countries like the Singapore, Macao, Hong Kong, United Arab Emirates, Russia, Belarus, Qatar, Brasil, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Argentina, and so on. You get the idea. I have read forum entries and blog articles of so many such great developers who have awesome apps but can’t get them sold on Android Market.
Here comes the trick: Fortunately, one of the supported countries is the United Kingdom. It is very easy to setup a Limited company in the U.K. as they have a very liberal law on this and every entity (individual or company) can incorporate a Limited company; no matter which nationality. There are lots of agents that provide an easy company setup (mostly even just online) which in the end they do online at the U.K. Companies House as well. A U.K. Limited company also allows to have the principal bank account in your local country. In that way you can withdraw the cash on your Google Checkout account to your local bank account (may be even through an intermediate bank).
All of this of course, costs quite some fees and needs time to be set up. However, it is better selling apps and get 80% out of it than not selling any and get 0%.
FYI: A U.K. Limited company setup might set you back US$1,000 in setup fees; a bank account setup may be US$250; yearly company maintenance costs might come up to US$500 per annum.
So find your agent now and get it going! It worked for me. In the meanwhile, learn more about How to earn money with your application through the Android Market.
P.S.: Let us know how you got it! Leave a comment.
“Motorola Droid” will be called “Motorola Milestone” in Germany
Monday, November 2nd, 2009… how gay is that?
Remember my previous article about the Motorola Droid? Well, back then I already thought that name was questionable as it comes around a bit cheesy – especially when the device is running Android on there. It is kind of like calling a BlackBerry weather app “BBWeather”. But “Milestone”? Come on Motorola … you are a US company and US companies usually put shit loads of money into branding and marketing of products. If feels like they are cutting costs and try to save money on that front. Then a clever manager dude came along and named the phone “Milestone” because it will be the next big milestone for Motorola to get back on the profit making track.
That might be understandable, but then that question comes up: Why do you use that name just for Germany? Because lots of Germans don’t speak that well? Indeed … we they even call a cell phone “Handy”. Back to our topic. “Milestone” is not such of a common name in Germany that people would recognize it better than “Droid”. Some naming decisions are really funny.
Perhaps some readers from Motorola can shed some light in here 
Website: Motorola Milestone
P.S.: Sorry for the expression at the top. No offense my gay friends – I like you too. It is just not my thing 
Motorola Droid with Android 2.0 on November 6th
Thursday, October 29th, 2009
Motorola is releasing this beaty very soon! Somehow it reminds me very much of the Google G1. A bit sharper edges and stuff but that seems to be “in” right now. Therefore, most specs are the same with one highlight: the screen resolution will be 854 x 480 pixels. That sounds pretty nice to me! Moreover, Motorola put a capacitive 3.7 inch display in there which means the display definitely supports multi-touch. Micro-SD, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS, 5 MP auto-focus camera with double-flash.
The US CDMA model will be available for $200 with a 2-year contract on Verizon. Check out the Droid does website.
By the way, I found that note on Golem.
Android SDK 2.0 has arrived!
Wednesday, October 28th, 2009Android Developer Blog Article: Announcing Android 2.0 support in the SDK!
Android SDK Download: Download the Android SDK
Release Notes: Android 2.0, Release 1
Motorola to get back on the mobile track with Android
Thursday, August 27th, 2009
Motorola is one of the largest mobile phone makes in the world. With the RAZR phone Motorola had a huge success some years back, but these times are over. The mobile phone giant is struggling and needs to compete with other phone vendors like Apple, RIM, and Nokia. The Motorola platform was never really good. They used Symbian sometimes as well their own Motorola OS and Windows Mobile. Still today the variety of phones and software platforms of Motorola is quite fragmented.
With the announcement some while that Motorola will develop Android powered devices, a step in the right direction was done. The OS is free, open and provides basically all features a modern smartphone needs. It seems they are really going forward with this as I just read on golem that Motorola is due to release a new Android phone at September 10th.
Moreover, the MOTODEV – Motorola Development Center – lists the MOTODEV Studio for Android for download. The studio is based on Eclipse and seems to be some kind of an Eclipse plugin – so it will be easy to use for most developers as everyone has Eclipse anyway, right?
Everyone who is interested, check out the MOTODEV Studio for Android here: http://developer.motorola.com/
Help the Community
Wednesday, July 15th, 2009Hi folks,
as you might have already mentioned, I have not published an article for quite a while. I also haven’t published a proper developement article for even a longer while. Honestly, I really want to change this, but I got one problem: I am lacking in time. I don’t see much more space in future but I will definitely try to squeeze in more time for this blog. I really like the Android platform and basically the whole idea it. It is worth and fun to write about it!
Anyway, what I actually wanted to ask you guys: Is anyone interested in sharing simple code samples with the community?
(Example: DialANumber)
What I can see from the day-to-day increasing access to this site is, there are definitely lots of people interested in this blog and its content. This means I did something right with my previous articles
So if there is someone out there who would like to share his / her experience with the Android platform please drop a comment below this article. I am sure we can make the world better, and bring useful information to the Android community.
Samsung I7500 – New Android Phone Upcoming
Tuesday, April 28th, 2009With Samsung we see another major phone manufacturer entering the market of Android phones. The phone is gonna be released at O2 Germany in June ‘09.
- 3,2 inch AMOLED-Touchscreen
- 320 x 480 Pixel
- 16 Million Colors
- 5-Megapixel-Camera
- Built-in GPS
- Dimensions: 115 x 56 x 11,9 mm
- HSDPA, GPRS, EDGE, GSM
- WiFi 802.11b/g
- Bluetooth 2.0
- Weight: 119 g
- MicroSD card slot for up to 32 GB
- 3.5 mm headphone jack
Skytone Alpha 680 – Android powered Notebook for kids made in China
Thursday, April 23rd, 2009I just found this article on a German news site. It says, a new Android powered Notebook just appeared on a Chinese website. It looks like this:
The technical data of this notebook reads as followed:
| Model Name | Alpha 680 |
| Operating System | google android |
| Display | 7“ TFT LCD true color |
| LCD resolution | 800 x 480( WVGA) |
| Internet Connection (Optional) | ADSL, WiFi,（ GPRS, CDMA,EDGE,WCDMA） |
| Memory | 128MB DDR2 (up to 256MB Optional) |
| Solid-State Disk | 1 GB Nand Flash Memory (up to 4GB Optional) |
| CPU | ARM11 533 MHz 32bit |
| LAN / Connection | 10/100 MB Ethernet ; RJ-45 |
| Wireless | Built-in WiFi |
| Media | Support MPEG1/2/4,H.263,H.264,WMV9 |
| USB Output | USB 2.0 x 2 |
| Media Storage | SD/MMC card slot ( support SDHC) |
| Input Device | 80 Key standard keyboard; Capacitive TouchPad |
As it is supposed to be used by kids, the artwork can also look a bit more funny:
Website: Skytone Alpha 680
More Chinese companies with Android products:
- Fake Android Phone Dream G2 SciPhone
- Real Upcoming Android Phone N12 SciPhone
- Android Phone from Huawei
Update 2009-04-28: Golem.de and Internetnews.com report this device will cost $250. Pretty cheap!
N12 SciPhone with real Android OS
Saturday, April 18th, 2009
Just some days ago we wrote about the Dream G2 Phone “Made in China” that looks like Android but isn’t one.
On that same show I took a flyer with their product showcase and it listed not just the fake Android phone. Bluelans actually plans to publish a real Android powered mobile phone in July 2009. At least that’s what they told me. I am not sure if they can hold their roadmap and release but it would be great to have another Android on the market! When I saw the fake one I first thought: “Why don’t they just take the free Android OS and put it on a phone rather than using a crappy Chinese OS and lots of programmers to wirte a fake Android User Interface?
Anyway, here is the data of the upcoming N12 SciPhone from Bluelans; if it will ever be released:
- Processor: Marvell Monahands (624MHz) + Qualcomm MSM6246
- Operating system: Android/ Windows Mobile
- Dimensions: 117*58*12.7
- Mode: UMTS-2100MHz, GSM-900/1800/1900 MHz
- Bearer: GSM, 3G(WCDMA)
- Display: WQVGA 240*400 pixels, 3.2 inch TFT 262K
- Main camera: 3.2M pixel
- Secondary Camera: 0.1M pixel
- Storage: ROM-256MB+64MB, RAM-256MB+64MB
- Extended Storage: Micro SD, up to 16GB
- USB: USB 2.0 high speed
- Bluetooth: Ver 2.0
- GPS: Yes
- WiFi: IEEE 802.11b/11g
- TV: CMMB
- Battery capacity: 1000mAh
- Standby time(GSM): Up to 220 hours
- Voice talk time(2G): Up to 170 minutes
Here you can download the original scanned Flyer which I took from the fair: N12 SciPhone with real Android OS Flyer.
