If you are an Android user, but are missing some of the features of the BlackBerry handsets, weep no longer. According to TechnoBuffalo, RIM’s popular BlackBerry Messenger service is set to launch for Android and iOS sometime later this year. Buffalo’s sources were able to provide a shot of the app running in an Android code debugger. Looks cool, huh? Check out another shot of BBM running after the jump. Expand Expanding Close
Stemming from reports earlier this week from National Defense Magazine, a Boeing spokesperson confirmed to Geekwire this morning that the aerospace and defense company is developing an Android device for the United States government security and defense markets:
“We are developing a trusted mobile device that will serve the US Government Defense and Security market, which require a higher level of security than is currently available in the commercial marketplace.”
According to the earlier reports from National Defense, Boeing Network and Space Systems President Roger Krone expects the device to launch later this year. He claimed the device would début at a lower price than similar encrypted and secure devices sold to government for upwards of “$15,000 to $20,000 per device.” The Boeing phone will not hit the mass market, but Android was selected and not proprietary software to meet demand from users wanting access to the apps and features they are familiar with in smartphones. It is dubbed “The Boeing Phone,” but no decisions have been made whether the device will ultimately carry the Boeing brand. Expand Expanding Close
Blackberry Playbook users have —for a long time— been able to sideload Android apps for those who have not been updated with native versions for RIM’s tablet. As noted in a recent report from CrackBerry, Vice President of Developer Relations at RIM Alec Saunders announced via Twitter that the feature is being removed and an alternative solution for developers is on the way. In an earlier tweet, he noted, “Privacy is a huge problem for Android devs, and we don’t want to duplicate the chaotic cesspool of Android market.” CrackBerry explained the reasoning behind the move:
It is very easy to make a snap judgment on the 5.3-inch-screened Samsung Galaxy Note. Yes, it is significantly bigger than the smartphone you use now. It even makes the Galaxy Nexus seem petite in comparison.
The dimensions of the Note put it somewhere between the biggest smartphones you ever saw and the 7-inch tablet form factor made popular by Amazon, BlackBerry, Motorola, Samsung, and pretty much everyone else except Apple.
However, the Note makes and receives phone calls, so it is a phone and it should be judged as such, right? End of story?
That is where you are mistaken. The phone functionality on the Note is a tertiary function at best. I see it as more like a reason to not carry a phone as well as the Note in your pocket. With that said, for a growing number of people, myself included, the actual “phone part” of a smartphone is very low on my list for what I want to do with the device in my pocket.
I make or receive only a few calls per day, and most of those are while I am at home/office with Google Voice and a headset or home phone. Therefore, other things rank higher on what I want to do with a device like this:
Maps are becoming the most used and most important feature on my phone, except for secondary review websites like Yelp, TripAdvisor, etc. I get all of my travel lookups from the Maps.app. I do almost all of my turn-by-turn navigation and lookups on this device much more efficiently with its huge display and fast network connection.
The Web Browser is the most important app outside of Maps. I would love the Note to somehow get the Chrome Browser before Samsung gets around to upgrading it to ICS. Alas, the stock browser is still unbelievably fast/crisp.
Gmail/Calendar/Contacts. You know…work.
AIM, GoogleTalk, GoogleVoice, and other instant messaging.
Social: Twitter, Google Plus Facebook, etc.
Netflix, Pandora, YouTube, and other Music and Videos.
Various other apps, such as my bank’s check cashing app, WordPress, Kayak, and a bunch of Angry Birds-type games.
Without exception, I can do any of the above better on a 5.3-inch 720P display than on a typical smartphone display. The one caveat: (As you can see from the gallery) moving my mid-sized thumb from one side of the portrait screen to the other is a bit of a stretch when using it one-handed. This does not turn out to be a problem very often, though, perhaps only 5 percent of my time. This is not a one-handed device.
Therefore, the Note is about tradeoffs: Amazing, huge display = better experience vs. portability. In my particular use-case, I am happy to make the trade. Here are the details:
Bizztrust is essentially a customized version of Android created by the Center for Advanced Security Research Darmstadt (CASED) and Fraunhofer trade group specifically to bring BlackBerry-like business class security to Android users.
With Bizztrust for Android installed, applications are then installed into one of two partitions– “work” and “personal”. Users can quickly swipe between either partition using an onscreen toggle baked into the UI. Of course, a business’s IT team will control anything installed on the “work” partition, while the end user will have full control of their “personal” partition. Any content installed on the work partition is also automatically scanned before a user is granted access to the company network and any transferred data is automatically encrypted. If an issue is detected prior to the user joining the network, any apps related to the issue will be disabled.
Ahmad-Reza Sadeghi of CASED says Bizztrust “significantly improves the security of today’s mobile terminals at no cost to user-friendliness.” If successful, this could be a huge hit to RIM’s quickly decreasing market share which still greatly relies on business users, as the Blackberry’s security features are often its only selling point. Expand Expanding Close
This upcoming device on Sprint is a slightly-modified Droid Pro with what looks like a much nicer keyboard and Sprint features such as a push to talk button. Other notables on this Blackberry to Android transition device are 3.1-inch display, 5 megapixel camera and a light touching of Motorola Blur mixed Santorum-style with Sprint’s own ID overlay.
For those Crackberry addicts that are looking for some Android methadone on Sprint, here you go! Expand Expanding Close
Like politics, smartphone wars come down to two major parties – Google and Apple – embroiled in a never-ending fight for consumers, especially those who have not made up their mind as to which operating system they’d like in their next smartphone. According to July 2011 data from Nielsen survey, “these ‘undecideds’ will be the ones device makers will be hoping to win over”. Interestingly, the Late Adopters among likely smartphone upgraders are the ones most likely to be undecided about their next phone platform.
The research firm discovered that forty percent Americans aged 18+ now have smartphones. Android leads the pack with a forty percent OS platform share and iOS came in second with 28 percent. Compared to Nielsen’s June 2011 study, Android grew its share by one percentage point while iOS growth fell flat. The BlackBerry platform lost one percentage share and now stands at nineteen percent.
Of those buying a new smartphone next year, one third would opt for an iPhone and another third would go Android. This leaves other manufacturers outside the Android-iOS duopoly to fight for the remaining 33 percent of buyers.
Android, however, is the preferred platform of choice for the earliest of early adopters:
Among those who say they are usually the first to embrace new technologies, “Innovators” or the earliest of early adopters, Android leads as the “Next Desired Operating System” – 40 percent for Android compared to 32 percent for iOS. (Survey respondents were asked several questions to determine their attitudes toward new technologies.)
We’ve known for quite some time that RIM’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet would have access to Android apps via the QNX platform and the Android app player. However, today a report from Bloomberg suggests sources have confirmed the company will introduce “QNX phones in “early” 2012” that will also have support for Android Market apps.
The report notes the devices will be getting the same Android player as the PlayBook only “tweaked to fit the different screen size and resolution of various BlackBerry models”. The app player would also come pre-installed to avoid frustrations similar to that surrounding the PlayBook launch.
RIM has been on a huge decline in recent months and is quickly losing market share thanks to outdated BlackBerry OS, and less then stellar sales of their current smartphone lineup. This is why it’s not surprising they aren’t shying away from embracing the Android Market’s 250,000+ apps, a number approximately six times higher than RIM’s App World. They are even supporting iOS devices with their latest version of BlackBerry Enterprise Server.
This is my next has unveiled an Android device heading to Sprint, which is said to be a beefed up Motorola XPRT with a dual-core processor. The device is code named the Motorola Pax, and is looking very Blackberry esque with its portrait keyboard. Besides the dual-core processor, the Pax is also believed to include Sprint’s new CDMA 1X Advanced push-to-talk system. There is no word on pricing or availability. Check out another shot after the break.
Best Buy Music Cloud streams songs to Android, iOS and BlackBerry smartphones and supports offline mode
Come on, you knew this day would come now that Amazon, Google and Apple have legitimized music lockers in the cloud. Yes, Best Buy is jumping on the bandwagon with a cloud service of their own, dubbed Music Cloud and powered by Catch Media Inc’s Play Anywhere platform. Should you care? It depends, as Music Cloud seems to be a mixed bag of best ideas taken from others, clearly with some limitations stemming from their lack of Apple’s stranglehold of the music industry.
You can upload songs to Music Cloud, just like with Google’s Music Beta and Amazon’s Cloud Player. More importantly, the service lets you stream songs from the cloud to any device, unlike Apple’s service that only lets you download individual files (although that’s likely to change in the near future). Best Buy’s offering, however, excludes the scan-and-match feature that Apple’s iCloud will offer for $25 a year come this Fall. Music Cloud has a couple of other nice perks (and more annoying limitations)…
