Jordan Kahn

In addition to an updated iPad app, VMware has also announced today that the Android version of their mobile View client is officially available for public consumption. Until now, the Android client had only been available as a tech preview.

“Whether you are using a Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 or 10.1, an LG/T-mobile G-Slate, a Motorola Xoom or any of the other newly available Honeycomb-based Android tablets or the Cisco Cius, you can get the most of your View desktop on the Android tablet you choose.”

Available as a free download in the Android Market, the VMware View for Android client allows you to access a Windows-based virtual machine running in the VMware View 4.6 (or later) desktop software over WiFi or 3G.

Much of the look and feel of the Android client mirrors the recently updated iPad version. The client supports multitasking, (allowing you to switch to another Android app without losing your current session), and the majority of other features including quick connect VM list, an overall similar UI, embedded RSA soft tokens, and support for the PCoIP display protocol.

The app currently includes support for German, French, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese languages, as well as local input mode as explained below:

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Adding to that estimated $444 million Goldman Sachs predicts Microsoft will earn off license agreements with Android vendors, the company has just entered an agreement with Compal Electronics, Taiwan-based makers of  tablets, phones, and e-readers running Android and Chrome. Compal currently has revenues of approximately $28 billion per year.

As part of the Compal announcement, Microsoft also wants you to know that more than half of all Android devices are now covered by their “cross-license agreement”. In other words, manufacturers accounting for half of all Android devices produced now pay Microsoft a patent related royalty.

This follows Microsoft signing up smartphone industry heavyweights Samsung in an agreement similar to those already in place with HTC, Acer, ViewSonic, and others. The graphic below shows the percentage of Original Equipment Manufacturers currently in cross-license agreements with Microsoft due to Android. The company posted a similar graphic showing 55% of Original Design Manufacturers, such as Compal.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=oX4dp1F171w#!]

We know Google is always trying to expand their street view content in Google Maps, but the addition of the Albula-Bernina railway line in the Swizz Alps might be the most scenic virtual route yet. As you can see in the video above, Google took its pedicab trike camera, attached it to a section in front of the train, and in the process captured video for over 122 km for the first  railway to be included in Street View. This follows the inclusion of footage shot from a boat in the Amazon and snowmobile captured video in the mountains of Whistler.

Other than being a beautiful and varied landscape, the railway is also the “highest altitude transalpine railway in Europe” and “one of the steepest adhesion railways in the world”, according to a website dedicated to tracking its progress. The specific section Google went to film runs from Thusis, Switzerland to St. Mortiz, and finally heads to Tirano, Italy. Look out for the railway Street View experience to hit Google Maps shortly.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ZhlL-ys5iOA#!]

Up until now we haven’t had a lot of proof to back up Google’s claims that the 5-megapixel camera on the Galaxy Nexus is really as good as they say it is. The video above was posted by Android software engineer Romain Guy (who also lists “photographer” as one of his occupations) showing some incredible 1080p video shot with the new flagship Google/Samsung smartphone. You may recognize some of the footage, as a shorter version was shown at the Galaxy Nexus launch event, but the poor quality of the event’s live stream certainly didn’t do it justice. Don’t forget to hit 1080p and go fullscreen so you can really appreciate the quality.

Guy explains the video was shot at Rockaway Beach in California, with time-lapse clips courtesy of Dynamic Perception’s Stage Zero Dolly seen in the image below and a little editing in Adobe After Effects CS5. Before signing off, Guy teases how great the footage looks when watching on the device’s “gorgeous 720p screen at 315 dpi”, calling it “amazing”. Enjoy!

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According to research firm Strategy Analytics (via Bloomberg), Google’s Android-based tablets gained market share in the iPad dominated tablet market during the third quarter, specifically led by new models from Samsung (presumably referring to the same Galaxy Tab family that is currently the focus of patent related litigation between Apple and Samsung).

The report claims Android was up from just 2.3 percent from the same three month period last year, to a 27 percent share of worldwide sales during the third quarter in 2011. The iPad’s market share during the same period reportedly fell from 96 percent to 67 percent. The research firm notes that Samsung’s Galaxy tablets currently account for 9 percent of the total tablet market.

There is also reason to believe Android’s growth on tablets will continue to grow into 2012, as the introduction of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (the first Android OS specifically designed for both phones and tablets) could help tablet adoption among Android smartphone users. Strategy Analytics believes that Amazon’s Kindle Fire will also drive Android tablet sales, estimating the company will sell more than 15 million units by 2013.

In contrast to this obvious good news for the Android tablet market, which the WSJ’s Walt Mossberg recently described as having “flopped” in an interview with Google mobile chief Andy Rubin, there are conflicting stats for Android tabs in the enterprise. The recently released Good Technology Device Activations Report for Q3 2011 shows that when it comes to tablets in business, enterprise users are clearly choosing iPad over the alternatives, noting “iOS tablets represent over 96 percent of total tablet activations”. Their graphic (above) also speaks volumes.

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Following the introduction of YouTube movie rentals and Google eBooks in the UK earlier this month, The Telegraph is reporting that Google has now opened up movie rentals to UK users via the Android Market.

Starting at £2.49, users have one of two choices for renting movies. Either grab the video app from the Market, or head over to market.android.com/movies to rent and watch films from your PC. Of course, films rented through either method will be available to watch through your phone, PC, or Android tablet during the rental period. As with the service in the US, you’ll have up to thirty days to watch a film after purchasing the rental. However, after the first play it will expire after 48 hours.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF2I8c3fNQs]

According to a report from Google Operating System, a video from Google’s YouTube channel (which has recently been made private) leaked a new Gmail interface that will more than likely be introduced publicly in the near future.

As you can see from the video above, they’ve redesigned the overall look of the UI (based on the new Preview theme) by using large icons opposed to text labels, a brand new conversation view with profile pictures, and a new flexible layout that maintains maximum usability when resizing browser windows.

A new customizable search bar adds the ability to easily select filters and advanced options for searching and even create new filters right from within the new search dialog. Display density settings including “Comfortable”, “Compact”, and “Cozy” will allow you to adjust the amount of content displayed in your inbox, and Label and Chat areas can now be resized. Many of the themes have been updated with new HD imagery as well.

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Google mobile chief Andy Rubin just got off stage at AsiaD with Walt Mossberg where, among other things, he answered questions on the recently unveiled Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and showed off the latest OS running on a Galaxy Nexus.

After talking Ice Cream Sandwich for a bit, an audience member asked about the lack of support from developers for tablet-specific Android apps (noting the absence of a Twitter and Flipboard on Honeycomb).

“I don’t think there should be apps specific to a tablet, Twitter phone app runs fine on tablets. I don’t think it’s necessary to make the distinction… If somebody writes an ICS app, it’s going to run on phones and it’s going to run on tablets… I want an app written for televisions to run on phones…” 

Walt then questions him, “There is a difference in the way you can run an app on a smaller screen vs a bigger”:

“Not after ICS, there’s no difference… a developer that develops an app for ICS will run fine on both”

Walt doesn’t back down from the hard hitting questions asking, “How come Android tablets have completely flopped in the market?” Rubin responds:

“Well Walt, I wouldn’t say completely flopped….There’s a little over 6 million Android tablets that we know about…It’s a healthy start….anything, I would say, over a couple hundred thousand pays for itself…but it’s not thirty million.”

When talking about Amazon’s Kindle Fire and the fact it’s version of Android looks nothing like the Google-designed Android UI, he said:

“If Amazon has an App Store, Google would be very happy to put Google search in the Amazon app store… I don’t view this as some kind of walled garden, we spent a lot of time breaking down the walled gardens of the carriers… and that was the notion of openess… the fact that somebody took it [Android] and used it, and is building great products around it, maybe this is going to solve the tablet problem.” 

When will Ice Cream Sandwich land on tablets?: 
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In case you’re wondering what it looks like on a tablet…The Verge have posted this screenshot of Android 4.0 running in the new SDK‘s emulator at a screen size much larger than your typical smartphone or even the just unveiled Samsung/Google Galaxy Nexus. More screenshots after the break.

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Get downloading! Alongside the unveiling of the Galaxy Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich, Google is making the Android 4.0 SDK available at developer.android.com. It includes an emulator, which gives us a preview of Ice Cream Sandwich running on tablets by providing an option to view for larger screen sizes.

Android 4.0 is a major platform release that adds a variety of new features for users and app developers. Besides all the new features and APIs discussed below, Android 4.0 is an important platform release because it brings the extensive set of APIs and Holographic themes from Android 3.x to smaller screens. As an app developer, you now have a single platform and unified API framework that enables you to develop and publish your application with a single APK that provides an optimized user experience for handsets, tablets, and more, when running the same version of Android—Android 4.0 (API level 14) or greater.

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During the Galaxy Nexus/Ice Cream Sandwich event happening right now, Google has just introduced a new feature called Android Beam.

Taking full advantage of the Nexus’ NFC capabilities, Android Beam will allow users to share content by simply bumping two NFC-enabled Android devices together. There aren’t any menus or applications to launch, however. After establishing a connection the sharing UI will appear allowing you to share music, contacts, apps (link to market), videos, and “almost anything”. Users simply touch the screen to share the content they’re currently viewing.

Of course, the phones wont actually have to touch, much like third-party apps with similar functionality using bluetooth, the devices can be up to a few centimeters apart. Google notes that developers interested in initiating connections with larger payloads can also send data over Bluetooth without “user-visible pairing”. Screenshot and Video demo after the break.

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In the Ice Cream Sandwich unveiling going on right now, Google has just introduced their new People app for Android 4.0. The new app is an an evolution of Contacts providing a brand new UI and a number of new ways to interact with contacts. The main screen will provide you with a simple list of all your contacts with you at the top, while swiping to the left will give you a magazine style photo grid (the same list accessible from the new phone app). Tapping one of those photos will pull up the contact details including Google+, Twitter, and LinkedIn info. Images can be pulled from Google+.

At the center is a new People app that offers richer profile information, including a large profile picture, phone numbers, addresses and accounts, status updates, events, and a new button for connecting on integrated social networks.

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The unofficial Google Operating System blog reports Google is currently in the process of testing near half page ads on the Gmail sign in page. The charm of the normally inconspicuous ads we’re used to on Gmail is they are usually relevant to the content within our inbox. These new ads are far from unobtrusive and judging by the Vistaprint ad shown in the image, they dont appear to be relevant.

The report also notes Google has since removed mention of not displaying untargeted ads from their “Top 10 reasons to use Gmail” page. The page used to include the following:

“With Gmail, you’ll never see pop-ups or untargeted banner ads. Instead we display text ads and related links you might find useful and interesting.”

As of right now, those seeing the ad are reporting it only appears when logging out of Gmail. Google may have plans to make the experimental Gmail ad permanent, as a support document notes “occasionally we may show a banner ad on the Gmail logout page” similar to the ads appearing on the YouTube homepage. Let us know in the comments if you’re seeing the ad and how you feel about it.

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Google announced a huge update today for presentations in Google Docs. The update brings it up to speed with features implemented in documents and spreadsheets over the past year 50 new features and enhanced collaboration tools.

A year and a half ago, we released completely new document, spreadsheet and drawing editors. Google Docs has been picking up speed ever since with more than 60 new features and millions of new users. Today we’re rounding out the suite by previewing a new version of presentations with faster collaboration and more features. 

Among the 50 new features– Transitions with fades and 3D effects, animations, new themes, drawings, and rich tables merged cells. Collaboration tools consist of colorful notifications when others are collaborating, the ability to collaborate simultaneously, access revious history, and built-in chat. There aren’t any groundbreaking features here, but it’s nice the presentations feature set is now on par with the rest of Google docs.

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Motorola has just unveiled the Droid Razor which features a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED display (960 x 540), 1GB of RAM, micro SD slot, 1.2GHz processor, 1.3 front-facing camera, and a 8MP camera.

It runs Gingerbread (Ice Cream Sandwich in the future) and Motorola webtop, supports 1080p video recording, and builds in micro USB and HDMI out. As expected, it will run on Verizon’s 4G LTE network and will also download HD videos from Netflix.

We already knew the physical design would feature kevlar from earlier leaks, but we got a better look at the device today which features gorilla glass and aluminum accents and is the first to feature Motorola’s new Splash Guard nanotechnology.

Motorola is claiming up to 8.9 hours of video playback and 12.5 hours of talk time thanks to a 1780 mAh battery.

They also attempted to show off some ‘MotoCast’ cloud syncing features that didn’t go too well due to a failed demo, enterprise support (Citrix, remote wipe, government-grade encryption), and a number of expected accessories including docks, lapdocks and headsets.

Pre-orders will start October 27 with a price tag of $299 with an expected launch sometime in November. The device will drop the “Droid” moniker outside the US and be known as simply the Motorola RAZR. Full press release after the break.

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We’re live at the Motorola and Verizon media event and they just announced the Moto ACTV, a tiny iPod nano-like device designed specifically for fitness. The device is bundled with the wireless SF700 handset & ear based heart rate monitor and sports a 1.6-inch full-color touch display made of Corning Gorilla Glass, a 600Mhz processor, FM radio, WiFi, and Bluetooth. The device itself is 46mm x 46mm x 9.6mm and weighs in at 35 grams.

The ACTV allows you to track your running, walking, cycling, calories burned, and includes GPS features for tracking workout routes– an all around Nike+ iPod nano competitor. They also demoed its ability to transfer calls from an Android device, such as the also unveiled Droid RAZR, to the SF700 headset. The headset has a biometric sensor that allows you to bypass the need for a traditional heart rate monitor strap and also builds in other features specific to the ACTV’s ability to track fitness stats. The device will also automatically sync all your stats over WiFi and make them accessible at the Moto ACTV website.

Motorola is promising five hours battery life for workout/outdoor related activities, two week standby, and ten hours for music playback/indoor activities. The device will work with any Android phone, reports The Verge, and will do so via a syncing app available from the Market upon launch. They also went hands on, video after the break.

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While it’s not exactly a flagship feature, lack of native screenshot support on Android has been an annoyance for some (especially those who don’t use select Sammy and HTC devices that build the feature in).

The guys over Android Police are reporting two binaries, “Screenshot” and “Screencap”, provide hints that screenshot functionality will be baked into Android natively. The feature is enabled by pressing “VolDn+Power” and returns the “Sreenshot saved to Gallery” prompt seen below. They note that the feature could be easily stripped out before a public release, but if not it would allow all Android users running ICS or above to snap screenshots without third-party apps, root, or carrier specific implementations.

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Although we already got our first look at it back in August, the Android-powered I’m Watch smartphone/wristwatch hybrid is another step closer to hitting the market. The company has announced we will get our first hands on look at the device during ARM TechCon on October 25th in Santa Clara.

Other than the 249 € (~$340) price tag, we don’t learn much new info. The app will come with a selection of apps specifically optimized for the smaller screen. All the usual suspects will be included– weather, stocks, Twitter, Facebook, etc. Of course the company will be urging developers to get their apps ready when the I’m Watch SDK is eventually released.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=OxzucwjFEEs#!]

Google just made things official for next year’s Google I/O. The event will be kicking off April 24, 2012 at Moscone Center West in San Fran. That same venue welcomed over a million devs (and sold out in under an hour) at the two-day, all things Google developer event in 2011.

This years event will most likely be no different with Ice Cream Sandwich and whole bunch of other Google goodies on the way. If you’re not familiar with the event, you can check out videos here of sessions from the last event. The video above is the keynote from day 1 of Google I/O 2011.

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Google has announced some new interesting features for YouTube partners over at The Official YouTube Blog. In addition to announcing the site is now reaching over 800 million visitors per month, they’re also introducing the ‘Merch Store’.

The Merch Store will allow YouTube partners to sell concert tickets, digital downloads, merchandise, or events such as “meetups” directly through their channel. YouTube has also partnered with affiliates to power the merchandise and ticket sales. “Concert tickets and experiences” (and merchandise) will be powered by Topspin, Songkick will take care of concerts, and iTunes and Amazon will handle digital downloads.

While the Merch Store will start to roll out across the globe over the next couple weeks, TechCrunch notes that Google has declined to inform partners of profit sharing percentages. As of yet, they’ve only confirmed they will take “a small percentage of sales just to cover costs”.

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Florian Mueller, who writes at FOSS Patents and often takes a harsh stance on Google in covering patent related litigation, has revealed that he’s being funded by Microsoft to create a new study related to “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory licensing obligations”.

While mentioning his usually “anti-Google stance”, Google’s Matt Cutts points out on Google+ that Mueller is a patent analyst and “not a lawyer”, and also links to a post discussing the study.

Mueller explains:

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