Google have announced that it’ll soon be possible to search your Android phone by using written gestures.
The article posted on Google Mobile’s Blog described how spoken queries aren’t always appropriate when out and about for example, so the “Gesture Search” app available for Android 2.0 + should solve this problem if you don’t fancy typing with the keyboard of course…
Gesture Search - fad or useful? You decide.
What's in a name? That which we call a "rose," by any other name would have as many buttons.
Kinda sucks when other people take your shit, huh, Apple? Cisco could have told you that, and did back in 2007 when you stole the name of their trademarked product. In a way, you set the precedent for how the cell phone arms race was going to go when you pulled a fast one on former partner Cisco. The only thing funnier than this coming around to bite you in the ass with HTC is the fact that The Slippery Brick page, where I first caught wind of this story, that was posted back in 2007, now looks like this:
Highlighted in red, for your amusement, actual irony.
Don’t get me wrong, I think Apple is extremely innovative and they did certainly set the precedent for the modern technological shift, but unless the 20 component patents can be found to be identical in the system used in the Nexus One, this suits going bye-bye faster than the Cisco trademark suit. It would like HP suing Dell for infringing on a particular PC set-up. However, these charges and allegations are a major slap in the face to Google, which if the suit does in fact go through would lose them the right to sell their first step into the tactile US market (every single other product they distribute, save merchandise, is virtual). This would be detrimental to the procession of Google’s plan to take over the world. If that happens we’ll just have to wait for the fiber optics network that gets everyone speeding around the Intertubes one-hundred times faster than we’re currently doing, even on broadband speeds, then connect our paltry iPads to Google’s infrastructure. If Google doesn’t release their own net-tablet by then, of course, operating on Chrome OS.
Here’s the thing, if I am going to be totally frank on the subject of patent infringement: I don’t want Apple to win this lawsuit. As Cracked columnist, Robert Evans, points out here, Apple is super proprietary, and insists that they need to sell devices with certain amounts of GB for memory, when if they’d just install a USB port, the memory would be limitless. How do I know they’re shitting me when they don’t put one in? Because my shitty two-year-old cell phone has a USB port – a USB mini, which last I checked is just as good as any standard-sized USB 2.0. This is a capitalistic country, and at that, a technologically advanced country, so to create a monopoly on the next wave of tech is not only a bad idea, it also happens to be unlawful here. This is why I think that Steve Jobs is going to either see this through court and possibly (probably?) fail, or maybe try and getting HTC into a settlement, because I’d sort of surprised if Apple takes the cake on this one.
According to BGR, AT&T will be picking up the HTC Desire and it should be on shelves anywhere from May to June! This is great news for AT&T users wanting a big boy Android device. The Backflip is nice, but it is no HTC Desire. On the other side of the carrier battle, Sprint is said to be picking up the unibody sexiness of the HTC Legend and calling it the Hero 2. We don’t have a time frame for the Legend/Hero 2, so not sure if it will hit in fall like the original HTC Hero, or if it will drop in the summer. Either way this is great news for Android fans on both carriers!
Via [Boy Genius Report]
First, let me start off by saying : I am not a geek. At best, I am a GBA (Geek By Association). Up until I met my girlfriend (about 2,5 years ago) I guess you could say I sorta knew my way around the internet, I knew the concept of chatting and did so intensively, I had a cellphone I used a lot and I guess that’s about it. And then I met my über-geek girlfriend…
She convinced me to take it a step further : I bought an iPhone 3G and a MacBook Pro, created a Facebook, Myspace, Flickr and Twitter account and even attended some geek events. But being the über-geek that she is, that was not enough of course. So two weeks ago, she found herself a new challenge : make me use an android cellphone (the HTC Magic with android 1.5 to be exact) instead of my beloved and familiar iPhone.
Now I barely knew what “Android” meant, exept that “you could do more with it” and that Apple “was a closed system” (Remember, i.am.not.a.geek) But hey, since I do like gadgets I didn’t mind giving it a try. I mean, at my age, why not try something new, try to evolve and become one of the hip geeks ? I thought it was my task to be critical but apparently my girlfriend didn’t share my opinion : it lasted about a week before she practically MADE me go back to my iPhone because she was going crazy over all my questions and comments.
Looking back on that week, here is what I can say about HTC Magic vs iPhone :
The HTC hardware definitely sucks big time compared to the smooth iPhone. I already had a HTC Touch from work which I didn’t like and my hopes that the HTC Magic would be different disappeared as soon as I tried to post my first tweet. I felt that the touch screen of the HTC Touch and HTC Magic were a lot less responsive than my iPhone’s. It took about 3-4 taps before a letter actually appeared on screen.
On the software side I immediately missed the little looking glass from the iPhone which appears when you press and hold in a text. Sure, you can use the trackball on the HTC but it doesn’t work as smoothly as on the iPhone. Another minus for me were the apps : my girlfriend installed two facebook apps on the HTC and they both sucked compared the one on my iPhone.
For example : neither one of them could upload pics. I had to go to the pic itself and then send that one to Facebook. I know this was mostly Facebook’s responsibility since they were the ones developing the app but it still affects my opinion on Android since i don’t have the same functionality. However, a big plus for these apps was the functionality of being able to upload pictures from the media gallery immediately with comments.
Although the camera on the HTC seemed promising with its the 3.2 megapixels, the quality of the pics was less compared to the ones taken with my iPhone, especially pics taken during the evening or in places where the light isn’t very bright. But it wasn’t all bad of course 
One of the major ones is the fact that apps can run in the background. I find this a big minus on the part of the iPhone that for example, every time I switch from webradio to, lets say Twitter, the music stops playing. I don’t understand why Apple doesn’t do something about that ? Same goes for the inability to load Flash on the iPhone by the way, which the custom Android ROM my girlfriend installed does perfectly. However, apps running in the background can really drain your battery, especially when you sometimes forget about half of them.
Conclusion : After one week I went back to my iPhone and have never been happier with it. Maybe I didn’t give Android enough time to get used to it and thoroughly use and discover all the possibilities. Or maybe it was because of the HTC hardware that I didn’t like it and maybe I would enjoy Android better on another cellphone ? Who knows ..
Either way, I do think Android and low tech geeks are a difficult match at this point. But maybe if with every new iPhone, the “wow”’s get less and less as they do for me nowadays and the apps for Android improve, my opinion will change and Android will become my “new iPhone” experience
Consistency in quality features is what we expect from any good handset and HTC Touch2 is just the same. Whether it is the LCD screen of the phone or the Window Mobile OS, everything is special about this phone. The consistency can be seen even in the network coverage and battery support.
Features of HTC Touch2:
HTC Touch2
Quad band of GSM network other than the 3G HSDPA networks is used in the phone in order to ensure that roaming and network coverage is good in the phone.
Then there is a 3.2 megapixel camera in HTC Touch2 phone that is capable of taking great shots and videos. The music player of the phone is worth listening to.
The HTC Mobile Contract is available with Best Deals.
As promised, T-Mobile announced new features for the HD2 at Mobile World Congress today and I’ve gotta say, it isn’t all that thrilling.
If you’ve ever held the HD2 in your hands as I have (jealous much?), you’ll notice that the screen is unusually huge and vivid. The 4.3-inch WVGA display is perfect for games and movies. Coupled with Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor, this phone has a lot of multimedia potential. So that’s exactly what T-Mobile is doing — pumping up the media and fun.
The HD2 will come with Blockbuster On Demand so you can download videos wherever you are, and you’ll also be able to view that content on your TV, Blu-ray player and PC with Blockbuster software. To get the ball rolling, the HD2 will come pre-loaded with “Transformers” and “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” right on the 16GB memory card.
Goodies thrown into the package are MobiTV, free Gogo in-flight Wi-Fi for up to six months, and Barnes & Noble’s e-Reader app. Did I say this device wasn’t that thrilling? I take that back. The only reason not to get one of these bad boys is if you have a serious aversion to Windows Mobile, especially with Windows Phone 7 coming later this year. Otherwise, if you find yourself drooling over this phone’s features, you’ll be waiting in anticipation until an official release date is announced.
– Post From My iPhone
