About a year ago that we had a story on NTT DoCoMo, planning to make an Android-based phone in Japan. This time, Sharp and SoftBank are the ones making waves, first, SoftBank, which is Japan’s third biggest cell phone carrier, announced last week an Android-powered phone for next year. Then, we have Sharp, who just two days ago in Tokyo, promised to roll out a number of Android-based handsets on the first half of 2010. Exactly how many phones? Well, we have no idea just yet.

In Japan, Sharp has the biggest market share out of eight cell phone makers, so, if they really jump in the Android bandwagon, it translates to great news for the Google OS, since Japan is consider the most advanced mobile society in the world. There’s no word from Sharp on which of the three big carriers in Japan will get the Android handsets. But they did say that the features on said handsets, will be unique to the Japanese market. One of the possible specific features might be a tuner for 1seg, which is a digital TV standard used not only in Japan, but also in some parts of South America.

[Via TechCrunch]

Related posts:

• NEC Android tablet rumored for Japan this fall
• NTT DoCoMo comments on recent rumors
• Big in Japan Exclusive Video Interview

T-Mobile USA will be hoping for strong sales from the handset, too, after the performance of the G1.  That’s taken fifth place in the best-selling smartphones in the USA during Q1 2009, beat only by the iPhone 3G and a trio of BlackBerry devices.  It’s a confidence in both devices shared by Rogers Wireless, who are planning to offer the HTC Dream (aka G1) and HTC Magic in Canada from June 2nd; meanwhile, slightly further afield, NTT DoCoMo are tipped to be offering the Magic in Japan as the HT-03A.

The Magic comes preloaded with Android OS 1.5 “Cupcake”, and so it’s only fair that G1 owners get the same software update.  T-Mobile USA have finally confirmed that they will be rolling out the latest firmware from the end of this coming week, in an upgrade plan expected to run through to the end of May.  They may be hoping that distracts us from the Android leaks this week: firstly, their own device roadmap which pegs the G1 v.2 and Samsung Houdini as arriving later in 2009, and secondly an in-the-wild sighting of the HTC Hero.

Stay with Android Community this coming week for the Vodafone HTC Magic review and more video content!

Related posts:

• Android Community Week in Review – Week 2 2009
• Android Community Week in Review – Week 41 2008
• T-Mobile USA confirm Cupcake delay

There’s not much we didn’t already know about the HTC Magic, but buyers finally have the chance to pick one up on Vodafone Spain at least and, from this weekend, Vodafone UK.  We’ve got all the details here, plus a video unboxing here.

As for the I7500, Samsung have taken their long history in cellphones and piped Android into a slick touchscreen body.  Unlike the HTC handsets’ rather half-hearted cameras, there’s the promise of a 5-megapixel snapper, and the whole thing is just 11.9mm thick.  Check out the live images and video demo for the full details.

Motorola’s first devices running Android were also tipped; no official announcement so far, but word is that the hardware QWERTY handsets will reach Verizon Wireless sometime later this year.  Finally, software made a splash this week, as Android OS 1.5 “Cupcake” finally reached devices.  It brings with it features like an on-screen QWERTY keyboard and direct YouTube uploads, but also its own fair share of controversy as developers blame Vodafone Europe for rushing the launch and not giving them enough time with the official release.

Related posts:

• Android Community Week in Review – Week 2 2009
• Android Community Week in Review: Week 19 2009
• Android Community Week in Review – Week 41 2008

Compounding the problem is the fact that the Android Market won’t allow more than one version of an app, which means developers aren’t able to simply create a new, 1.5-friendly update and leave the existing version in place for those without Cupcake.  Instead, Big in Japan face creating a new build that’s also backward compatible with earlier versions of Android, something they conservatively estimate should normally take around two to three weeks of development.

However according to some reports, Cupcake will be pushed as an over-the-air to Android device owners in just two days, and it’s already live in Spain.  That means three weeks of development needs to be squashed into two days, never-mind any time for testing:

“The good news is that we will release our new version whenever Cupcake is pushed OTA to users.  The bad news it will be untested.  It will have bugs, bugs that we will fix.  Please bear with us and realize that we don’t have much choice in the matter” Alexander Muse, Big in Japan

As Alexander notes, the Big in Japan team are likely more prepared for the coding challenge ahead than many others, particularly those part-time developers who have been cooking up Android apps in their spare time.  The public perception of Android as a platform depends in no small part on the success and stability of its third-party software; have Google shot themselves in the foot by allowing carriers to rush out Cupcake 1.5?

[Image via]

Related posts:

• Android Community Week in Review: Week 18 2009
• NTT DoCoMo’s first Android phone is HT-03A aka HTC Magic
• Big in Japan wins again: $700k startup funding

In a nutshell, ShopSavvy allows you to “scan” a barcode on a book, DVD or other item in a store, and search for that product both at online retailers and in nearby bricks & mortar shops.  To do that it uses the G1’s integrated GPS, figuring out where you are and which retailers are physically nearby.

“Directing shoppers to local stores is a core feature of ShopSavvy, and being able to present our users with up-to-the-minute, local inventory across hundreds of product categories and merchants adds huge value for our users.  Our recent enhancements to ShopSavvy’s location awareness make our new relationship with Krillion even more compelling for ShopSavvy users” Alexander Muse, co-founder, Big in Japan

Now, thanks to a deal with Krillion, ShopSavvy can not only check whether a store usually carries that item but whether it has inventory in stock.  We’re not sure exactly how many stores are covered by the new system, but Krillion claim over 40,000 US locations; we’re presuming that means the European version of ShopSavvy won’t have this new functionality.

[via jkOnTheRun]

Related posts:

• Google Finance for Android app released
• ShopSavvy reportedly does not work with unlocked handsets
• Big in Japan wins again: $700k startup funding

T-Mobile also released their Q4 2008 numbers, and the results left some wondering if the G1 was really able to compete with the iPhone, as it hadn’t drawn near the same number of subscribers to T-Mobile from previous carriers. Another factor to consider is the currently bleak job market and economy, and the possible unwillingness to pay early termination fees to switch for a new phone.

In other T-Mobile news, the first publicly available Android phone, the G1, is now available at all US company-operated retail outlets. Previously the phone was only sold by T-Mobile in markets with 3G connectivity, causing EDGE users the need to order online.

Interest has grown in the market of deploying Android, and not just in mobile phone applications. Fujitsu Japan have announced their “Service Built For Android” program, assisting companies in deploying the OS on everything from cars to embedded applications. Another option is Android Bootcamp, a week-long intensive course diving into everything needed to develop for the platform.

Several anticipated applications were released into the Android Market this week, including the Last.fm client, allowing personalized streaming internet radio content. Another app allows users (currently the Netherlands only) to use a form of “Augmented Reality” paired with their Android device’s GPS capabilities to get directions to the nearest ATM. A final version of Opera Mini was also released into the market, giving users a robust alternative to the built-in Android web browser.

General Mobile has announced their intent to bring an Android handset to the market, but the specifications are currently under review to ensure compatibility with the OS. When released, the handset would offer a dual-SIM function allowing two phone numbers (presumably one personal, one business or similar applications) to be used in the same phone.

Certainly weighing on everyone’s Android Brain is the impending availability of a new version of the OS, dubbed “Cupcake.” Users were able to see a video demo of the new features this week, as well as plug the new distribution into their desktop simulators to play around with it. Still not ready for general public consumption, T-Mobile and Google have not announced a specific time period for Cupcake’s release.

Related posts:

• Android Community Week in Review – Week 2 2009
• Android Community Week in Review: Week 19 2009
• Android Community Week in Review – Week 41 2008

Open source developers who prefer using Python to Java can now rejoice as Damon over at damonkohler.com has managed to get it running on his G1. As most projects are in the first stages this is still a little rough, but it does show great promise with future development. More photos of the OpenMoko FreeRunner running Android have surfaced. Nothing new or exciting to report here.

ShopSavvy needs your help to win the Crunchies 2008 Best Mobile App award. Voting only takes a few seconds and two clicks of the mouse. Please help Big In Japan win the award for creating such an amazing application. Google has sent out an email to those registered as developers informing them that paid applications will indeed be available in mid January. So grab the free applications while you can.

HTC has a firm belief that the cupcake update will become legitimately available through Google in time. HTC has no say while Google and T-Mobile are in full control of what is included in the update. Right now Google and T-Mobile are declining to comment on such a statement. The guys over at VentureBeat have managed to get Android running on the Eee PC 1000 netbook. Though there are still a few issues with the port, they say that the process was fairly easy. There were a few other discoveries made while digging through the source code.

The RC29 firmware has made its way to the Internet and now users who upgraded to the RC30 firmware and lost root access can now regain it. The process is fairly easy to do and has been confirmed to work. As with all firmware updates we advise you to proceed with caution.

Related posts:

• Android Community Week in Review – Week 2 2009
• Android Community Week in Review: Week 19 2009
• Android Community Week in Review – Week 41 2008

If you wouldn’t mind taking a trip over to the Crunchies Awards page and casting a vote for them it would be fantastic. They really have a shot at winning this award and we feel they deserve it more than anything. The developers over at Big In Japan have put countless hours of support into making sure Shopsavvy is as up to date as possible.

All it takes is 5 seconds of your time and two clicks of a button to cast the vote. On a side note tell us what you think of the application. Where does it exceed expectations and where can it use a bit of improvement. Your input helps this application get better every day.

Related posts:

• Android Community Week in Review – Week 1 2009
• T-Mobile G1 hands-on: Award-Winning Android App feature ShopSavvy
• Top ten applications in the Android market have been announced

aTrackDog though has a “MAJOR” design flaw, if a beta tester is also an aTrackDog users then all users of aTrackDog will get a notification that there is an update when in reality the application is up to date.  The guys over at Big In Japan learned this first hand when they received plenty of email stating that users could not download the newest version of ShopSavvy.

“Starting on Friday we began getting emails from aTrackDog users who complained that they could not download the latest release of our software.  Our current version is 3.0.0, but aTrackDog showed that our most recent version was 3.0.5 (an internal alpha version).  We DO have a public beta running at 3.0.4, but the most recent public/stable release (i.e. the one in the Market) is 3.0.0.  aTrackDog is listing 3.0.5 as our latest release so each aTrackDog user receives an alert that they need to update their version of ShopSavvy.  Our users are becoming more and more frustrated as their emails reveal.”

aTrackDog’s only suggestion to developers at Big In Japan was to suggest users to select ‘Not Track this version’ in the aTrackDog settings. aTrackDog needs to really step it up a notch here because developers should not have disclaimers and notes for each conflicting application that is later released. Developers do not have any control over what their beta testers use on their phones. Rylan went on to say in an email to aTrackDog developers:

“I think your method of version tracking is very clever.  You managed to let your users’ phones do the difficult data-collection for you.  Unfortunately your strategy is not 100%, it’s not sustainable.  When there are 10,000 applications in the Market and half of them are releasing private versions how will you handle the flood of support emails and admin emails coming your way? I recommend that you change your model such that it includes some sort of review process first.  When a new version is submitted to your database, before you notify the world, you should go verify its existence first.  This would include either finding it in the Market or updating the URL for manual download.”

Big In Japan believes the real purpose of this application is for gaining data market intelligence. With this application they are able to see how many people are using which applications. Data such as this is “VERY valuable” and should compensate those giving the data in some way rather than give false information to users about current versions. Big In Japan, as do I suggest that you uninstall this application as it isn’t useful and will likely cause confusion.

[Via BigInJapan]

Related posts:

• Android Community Week in Review – Week 52 2008

Employees over at Google didn’t experience a swell in their paycheck, but rather a “Dream Phone.” How many presents can you buy your family with a T-Mobile G1? Of course these G1s are not just your everyday run of the mill handsets, these have a special “droid” on the back to sweeten the deal. You can probably expect a lot of these “special edition phones” on Ebay in the next few weeks. This must be Google’s way of converting their team.

Google did manage to at least make these handsets unlocked so that team members can use any carrier they would like. There are a few countries that Google’s legal team could not “work their magic.” These countries include India, China, Brazil, Korea, Israel, Russia, Argentina, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mexico, Turkey, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Egypt, Chile, and the Ukraine. The employees in those countries will receive the cash equivalent (about $400) in their December paycheck. Google has even attached a Q&A to the letter for anyone who has any more questions.

The full employee letter:

Googlers,

The holiday bonus is a Google tradition – it’s a great way to thank everyone for their hard work. In the past, we’ve done this in cash. This year, we’ve decided to give Googlers a different kind of present – a Dream phone (this is the same device T-Mobile (NYSE: DT) markets as the G1). We’re really excited about getting the phone to more Googlers in more countries, and also seeing all the cool new things you do with it.

Shipping these special edition phones in such a short time frame (they were designed especially for Googlers with a ‘droid’ on the back) and making sure they would work anywhere in the world was no small feat. So a big thank you to the Android and Legal teams for making this happen. While these phones do not have SIM cards, they are unlocked so they can be used with the network provider of your choice. Plus – thanks to more fancy footwork from the Android team – they’ll work immediately as WiFi devices!

Sadly, despite all our best efforts, there are some countries – India, China, Brazil, Korea, Israel, Russia, Argentina, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mexico, Turkey, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Egypt, Chile, and the Ukraine – where even our legal team could not work their magic. Googlers in these countries will receive the cash equivalent of the phone in their December paychecks, which is about $400 USD. Overall though almost 85% of Googlers globally will be able to receive the phone – including the United States, Western and Central Europe, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Japan.

The holiday gift team in your office will be sending out an email with logistical information on distribution shortly. We know that some of you are already on your holidays – don’t worry – your phones will be waiting for you when you come back! For more information, check out the FAQ here.

Some of you will of course be wondering why we decided to change from a cash bonus to the Dream phone. Here are the reasons. First, we’ve never developed anything like the Android software before and this represented a unique opportunity to celebrate that achievement. Googlers globally have been asking for the Dream phone and we’re looking forward to seeing all the different things that you do with them. This is a chance for us to once again dogfood a product and make it even better! Second, as we discussed in our email this week, the current economic crisis requires us to be more conservative about how we spend our money. We felt that giving the Dream phone would be a great holiday present – something we could all celebrate.

Thank you for all that you do to make Google the company that it is. We hope that you will enjoy using your Dream phone in 2009 and have a very happy holiday!

…and the Q&A that followed:

Q: What is the holiday bonus for 2008?
The holiday bonus is a Google tradition. In the past, we have chosen to make this a monetary gift. This year we decided to try something different: on December 19th, we will begin distributing free Dream phones to Googlers worldwide.

Q: I already have an Android phone. What happens to my holiday bonus?
These phones are a personal gift. We hope you will put them to good use! Please do not resell them as this is against Google [policy link removed].

Q: Why did we decide to give Dream phones as our holiday bonus this year?
The launch of Android was one of this year’s highlights for the company. When the Android phone was announced, Googler interest was extremely high – we had scores of TGIF questions, misc threads, and just general buzz about how Googlers could get a phone of their own. After seeing the amount of interest in the Android phones from Googlers, we agreed that every Googler should have one.

Q: Will all Googlers get phones?
It was a huge task to ensure that the phones would work around the world and we want to thank the Android team and Legal team for making this happen. We’re proud to say that almost 85% of Googlers globally will receive Dream phones, including Googlers in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and Japan.

Q: I’m not getting a Dream phone because I don’t live in an eligible country. Do I still get a holiday bonus?
Yes, Googlers who live in countries where it was not currently feasible to distribute Dream devices will be getting a cash equivalent gift in your paycheck in December. This includes people in India, China, Brazil, Korea, Israel, Russia, Argentina, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Mexico, Turkey, Kenya, United Arab Emirates, South Africa, Egypt, Chile, and Ukraine. For more information, please see [removed].

Q: I do live in an eligible country. Can I opt for the cash equivalent gift instead?
Only those Googlers in countries where it was not currently feasible to distribute Dream devices will be getting the cash equivalent gift. All other Googlers will receive a Dream phone.

Q: Can I resell my phone?
Googlers should not resell any item given to them by Google. Please review our Personal Transactions policy [removed].

Q: Will I be able to take my SIM from my Google managed Corporate Mobile device (BlackBerry (NSDQ: RIMM)) and use it in my new Dream phone?
No, this is against policy and Google could incur significant overage charges. Placing a Blackberry SIM into a Dream device may cause the data plans to be disabled and break data for both the Dream and the Blackberry. Please review [link removed] for more info.

Q: Are there tax implications to this?
Google is covering the taxes for this gift; there will be an extra payroll run before the end of the year to cover the taxes. If you have further payroll or HR-related questions about this gift please email [address removed].

Related posts:

• Android Community Week in Review – Week 52 2008
• The Gphone aka Nexus One Could be Just Android Dogfood for the Holidays
• Android phones still on track this year!

This issue was first reported when A Phoenix user phoned ShopSavvy developers, Big In Japan, reporting that the application was not in the Android market.  Turns out the user did not have a compatible SIM card in their G1; this creates a problem with the application being “internalized” for each market.

By not having a SIM card your location cannot be found resulting in the application not showing up. Developers say that if more users go the unlocked route they may adapt accordingly to fit the overall needs of customers, but until then users with an unlocked G1 are simply out of look.

Related posts:

• Android Community Week in Review – Week 48 2008
• CellHut selling T-Mobile G1 without a contract for a pretty penny
• ShopSavvy gets real-time local stock checking

Every one of our members has contributed to making this site a community by creating and joining social groups, posting photos blogging and pulling together to help each other out when there is a problem. In talking with members the last few months we have really gotten to know some amazing people out there. Thank all of you for your time and effort in our community.

To our Moderation staff and Lead Androids, not just for making sure the site stays spam free, but for helping keep our site in order. They all contribute to AC in so many different ways, from updating the Knowledge Base to making sure the Android Apps section stays as up to date as possible. We really appreciate all the efforts made by our Moderators and Lead Androids and would like to say thank you for all that you have done.

We are also thankful for all the support that companies such as Google, T-Mobile and HTC for always lending a helping hand whenever we need it. Everyone has always been so prompt when confirming or denying rumors or product info when we need details fast. T-Mobile was very willing to help us prepare for one of the first G1 reviews. Special thanks go out to developers for Android who have helped us out along the way, including Jason Hudgins, Rylan Barnes and Alexander Muse of Big In Japan for all the updates and interviews.

We want to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving and holiday season this year. We hope everyone has the chance to be with the ones that they love during Thanksgiving today.

Related posts:

• Happy Holidays from Android Community!
• Happy New Year from Android Community!
• Google Maps Navigation Available for Android 1.6 as an Update, no Rooting Required

Jason Hudgins, developer that worked on Tunewiki (and that is now a part of ShopSavvy), along with Rylan Barnes, the original developer of GoCart (now known as ShopSavvy) will be demonstrating their applications and sharing development experience on Google’s Android platform. Basic points that will be covered during the camp are: How to get started on Android, Google’s Android Developers I and II, lessons learned in the development of ShopSavvy and understanding Android fundamentals.

The event will include breakout sessions where developers can share ideas and form working groups to begin building Android apps. AndroidDevCamp 1 in Dalas is being sponsored by SpringStage and hosted in the Big in Japan/Architel offices located in the Dallas INFOMART. They can support around 75 ‘campers’ for the day.

AndroidDevCamp is organized by Anuj Bhatia, Alexander Muse, Rylan Barnes and Jason Hudgins. If you are interested in sponsoring, helping, organizing or hosting an event please email Alexander Muse at amuse ‘at’ m-ven.com.

Event location:
Infomart
1950 Stemmons Fwy
Suite 2022
Dallas, TX 75207

Photo courtesy of Android Community member heyitsnan.

[Via Upcoming - Yahoo]

Related posts:

• Android Community Week in Review – Week 43 2008
• T-Mobile G1 hands-on: Award-Winning Android App feature ShopSavvy
• Android Community site updates

The G1 phone was quick and responsive as when we played with it at the launch event last week. We were able to get hands on time with the full version of ShopSavvy. We scanned a barcode (for demonstration purposes, a Logitech webcam) and were able to compare prices online as well as at many stores in the area.

No word on when the application will be released, or if it will be a free application or one in which you must purchase. We can imagine it would be particularly useful for all the Christmas shopping coming up over the next few months.  One particularly useful feature is price alert, allowing you to save products to a wish-list that updates you when the product is discounted into your pre-set price range. Check out the video interview we did with Big In Japan here.

Related posts:

• Help ShopSavvy Win the Crunchies 2008 Best Mobile App award
• Android Community Week in Review – Week 40 2008
• Top ten applications in the Android market have been announced

The money joins Big in Japan’s existing win from the first round of the Google Developer Challenge, in which the company found itself among the top ten entrants and took away a $275,000 prize. ShopSavvy uses a combination of a cellphone’s camera, GPS and data connection to check prices for items at online and local retailers.

“Architel’s investment provides the resources we need to build the ‘idea factory’ we want Big in Japan to be. ShopSavvy is the first of many commercial applications we intend to make a reality for users of Android-based handsets and iPhones” Rylan Barnes, Big in Japan co-founder and lead developer of ShopSavvy

Android Community interviewed Big in Japan last week; you can see the video here.

[via yahoo]

Related posts:

• Japan to Release Android Phone next year made by Sharp
• NEC Android tablet rumored for Japan this fall
• Big in Japan Exclusive Video Interview

“Finally people are going to think of their phones as something more than a way to talk to their friends” Rylan Barnes, Big in Japan

GoCart is a mobile shopping comparison app, that uses the camera on an Android device to scan a product’s barcode. Once recognized, the app checks pricing for the product in online stores; however, it also uses GPS to find local stores and query their inventory, offering alternative places to shop if you’re not willing to wait for delivery. Alternatively, users can set a price band they’d be willing to pay, and choose to be alerted when the product drops to that price.

“The Android platform, being open, really creates a lot of opportunities for us, where you can decide what you want the phone to look like: is it a phone or an internet device? Really that line becomes blurred with the Android platform. With the iPhone platform, it’s a really closed environment that’s really neat – it’s a phone, and it does really neat things – but you have to play by Apple’s rules, and Apple’s rules say “right now, you can’t touch the camera”, the SDK doesn’t let you manipulate that. There’re all sorts of things that you can’t necessarily do with the iPhone platform” Alexander Muse, Big in Japan

In the interview, Ewdi and the Big in Japan team discuss Android versus Apple SDKs, how they see the platform benefiting from having Google behind it, and the problems an open-source, multi-device OS faces in trying to stand up to a more managed environment like the iPhone. They also touch on the possibility of carriers and device manufacturers creating their own custom Android builds, and what impact that could have on code development.

Our thanks again to the Big in Japan team for the invite.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related posts:

• T-Mobile G1 hands-on: Award-Winning Android App feature ShopSavvy
• Big in Japan wins again: $700k startup funding
• We want to wish all our members a happy Thanksgiving this holiday season