Finally! Now You Can Get Thousands Of The Best Android Apps On Your PC (GOOG)

With the exception of the Apple's App Store, PCs have yet to get on board with the vibrant app ecosystems that power popular smartphones and tablets.

Today it finally became possible (and easy) to get Android apps on your PC thanks to a nifty platform from BlueStacks.

It may not sound appealing at first, about the poor selection of apps and games on PCs, the BlueStacks approach makes perfect sense.

Suddenly, you have access to thousands of apps that have never been able to run on a PC before.

And it opens up the possibility of seeing Android apps on any device with a screen, not just smartphones and tablets.

BlueStacks works in conjunction with your Android phone to push your apps to the cloud and then download them to your PC later. (Sorry, Windows only for now.)

The apps run within BlueStacks on your PC, and can even be scaled up to full screen.

Even though Android apps require touch controls to work, we're told by BlueStacks VP John Gargiulo that you can use about 85% of them just as easily with a keyboard and mouse. The obvious exceptions are apps that require smartphone-only functions like accelerometer and GPS.

BlueStacks is in Alpha right now, meaning some features will be limited until the full, paid version is ready.

But Gargiulo tells us there are big plans ahead for bringing the Android ecosystem to the PC. Of note, the company is in talks with Opera to bring the Handster app store to BlueStacks. (Opera acquired Handster last month.)

If the deal goes through, developers will be able to have their apps available on both smartphones and PCs without having to deal with multiple app stores.

"Just submitting to an app store will make it work. Developers won't have to do anything else," Gargiulo says.

Handster isn't the only app store in BlueStacks' sights. Gargiulo says they're talking with all the other big players in Android such as SlideME.

Even farther down the road there's an opportunity to bring Android apps to other devices, not just Macs and PCs.

Conceivably, BlueStacks could make it possible to get Android everywhere, even those fancy Windows 8 tablets coming our way.

I you have a Windows PC and want to try BlueStacks, you can download the alpha version. You'll also need to download the Android app to push your apps to your computer.

And that's not just good for BlueStacks, that's good for Google too. The more exposure Android gets, the faster it gain adoption and continue to stretch its lead over Apple's iOS.

Check out this quick demo for an idea of how BlueStacks works:

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THE GOOGLE INVESTOR: iPad Market Share Grows While Android Tablet Share Shrinks (GOOG)

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GOOG Strong In Up Market 
Markets are on the rise for a fourth straight session after major central banks coordinated efforts to offer liquidity into the strained European banking system. Shares of GOOG are up strong, exponentially more than the rest of technology. Catalysts include continued Android momentum in the smartphone and tablet markets worldwide; Motorola acquisition approval and integration; regaining ground in China in search and pushing forward in mobile; any signs of life for Google TV (including Motorola); the roll-out of Google Music and social network Google+; and progress in other newer initiatives (location-based services, mapping, gaming, Chromebooks, etc.). The stock trades at approximately 11.2x Enterprise Value / EBIT, inexpensive relative to historical trading levels.

Why Did Google Buy Zagat? (TechCrunch)
Marissa Mayer, Google's VP of maps and local, says that aside from the strong brand the company has created over the past 32 years, Zagat has a lot of great partnerships, content, and a great team behind it. "We thought there was a lot of value for our users," she says. "Users want to know, what to expect when they're going somewhere." Could spell trouble for OpenTable. Zagat will remain separate from Google Places. And it's ZaGAT, pronounced like cat.

Android Tablets Lost Market Share In Second Calendar Quarter (Various via iDygest)
According to IDC, Apple not only continues to dominate the global tablet market, its share of the market continues to grow while Android's slips, even to the hands of RIM's PlayBook and HP's TouchPad. Worldwide media tablet shipments rose by 88.9% on a sequential basis and 303.8% year-over-year in the second calendar quarter of 2011. Apple took a 68.3% share in the second quarter, up about 3% from the first quarter. Android tablets slipped to 26.8% of the market from 34% in the first quarter.

Microsoft, Yahoo And AOL Team Up To Take On Google (All Things Digital)
In an effort to outsmart Google, AOL, Yahoo and Microsoft have reportedly agreed to share remnant ad inventory with each other. Can anyone say collusion? Bing now powers Yahoo search in North America and the two companies share advertising sales and revenue, but Google still brings in the lion's share of online-ad cash. Under the plan, each of the companies will sell each other's "Class 2 display" inventory or leftover banner ads the companies can't sell on their own. Why doesn't Microsoft just buy both companies?

Google Buys Patents From IBM (Bloomberg)
Google has acquired a group of 1,023 patents from IBM. Terms of the transactions were not disclosed. The transaction is the latest move in the ongoing arms race in the mobile computing business. In particular, the company would appear to be seeking ways to protect Android.

Julian Robertson And Sequoia Say Google's A Great Investment (Seeking Alpha)
Julian Robertson is an investing legend. The Sequoia Fund isn't too shabby either. Both like Google as an investment idea. How strong is Google's search share? The days of someone coming up with a clever algorithm and competing against Google in search are essentially over. There’s really only one competitor out there and that’s Microsoft. And we all know what a money pit that is.

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Yes, Android Fragmentation Is Still A Huge Problem. This Chart Proves It (GOOG)

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We know that one of the biggest problems facing Android is fragmentation.

Google knows that too.

That's why it announced the Android Update Alliance at Google I/O in May. The alliance is made up of a bunch of smartphone manufacturers and is supposed to make sure phones stay up to date when Google releases new versions of Android.

The alliance also pledges to keep phones update for at least 18 months.

So how are they doing? Android And Me conducted a great study breaking down all the Android phones out now and the versions they're running.

As the chart below shows, manufacturers are still pretty slow to update their phones to the latest version of Android, 2.3 Gingerbread. Many are still running version 2.2 or earlier. And in many cases, it took several months for manufacturers to finally get to Gingerbread.

Check out the chart below for a breakdown. Then click here to read the complete study with even more charts and graphs >

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Apple: Android Actually Started Here (AAPL, GOOG)

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Apple says that Andy Rubin may have gotten one of the ideas used in Android from way back when he worked at Apple.

Apple is suing HTC for patent infringement in the International Trade Court, alleging that HTC's Android phones infringe on its patents.

Previously, HTC made an argument that Android founder Andy Rubin started working on mobile platforms in the mid-1990s when he was with General Magic.

Not so, says Apple. In a court filing uncovered by Florian Mueller, Apple says:

Android and Mr. Rubin's relevant background does not start, as HTC would like the Commission to believe, with his work at General Magic or Danger in the mid-1990s. In reality, as the evidence revealed at the hearing, Mr. Rubin began his career at Apple in the early 1990s and worked as a low-level engineer specifically reporting to the inventors of the '263 [realtime API] patent at the exact time their invention was being conceived and developed. [...] It is thus no wonder that the infringing Android platform used the claimed subsystem approach of the '263 patent that allows for flexibility of design and enables the platform to be "highly customizable and expandable" as HTC touts.

So far, Apple hasn't sued Google directly -- it's only gone after Android resellers.

But if Apple sues Google over this patent, Mueller believes it could result in an injunction forcing Google to stop shipping the operating system.

See also: Google Stole These Ideas To Make Android A Success, According To Patent Lawsuits.

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This Guy Bought A TouchPad And It Came With Android On It (HPQ)

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In the video below, you can clearly see a new TouchPad booting up with an Android logo displayed on the home screen. When browsing to the "About" screen, the TouchPad says it's running Android.

Some sort of hoax, or did an HP employee decide to have a little fun before shipping this particular tablet?

If it is legit, maybe he should apply for this $1,500 prize.

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THE GOOGLE INVESTOR: What If Google Made Android Proprietary And Exclusive To Motorola? (GOOG)

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GOOG Up As Market Holds Tight
The markets are edging higher despite new home sales hitting a 5-month low and persistent fears that the economy is taking a double dip dive. Shares of GOOG are up stronger than the rest of technology. Catalysts include continued Android momentum in the smartphone and tablet markets worldwide; Motorola acquisition approval and integration; regaining ground in China; any revival or partners for Google TV (including Motorola); the roll-out of Google Music and social network Google+; and progress in other newer initiatives (location-based services, mapping, gaming, Chromebooks, etc.). The stock trades at approximately 10.2x Enterprise Value / EBIT, inexpensive relative to recent trading levels.

Android Still Leading Smartphone OS Platform
(The NPD Group)
Surprise, surprise. Android is still the leading U.S. smartphone platform, with 52% share in the second quarter, according to NPD Group. Of note, Motorola’s market share fell in the quarter to 9% from 12% the year prior. Motorola’s overall Android sales halved since last year from 44% to 22% in the face of Android competition from Samsung and LG. However, Google’s recent Motorola purchase will likely bring new life to the phone manufacturer.

What If Google Went The Apple Route With Motorola? (9To5Mac)
There’s a good reason why Apple’s products “just work.” But it’s been a bumpy road from the onset as competitors and critics ridiculed its vertically integrated approach to business. But what if Google actually tried the Apple model with Motorola (which today makes about one in ten Android smartphones)? According to Piper Jaffray, Android proprietary and exclusive to Motorola would add about 35% to operating income and by 2015, the phone business would add $10.5 billion in operating profit and $56 billion in revenue. There's only a few problems with that: significant share and ad revenue loss.

Samsung Could Squeeze Google In Response To Motorola Acquisition (Forbes)
Samsung’s chairman has asked the firm’s top management to strengthen its software capabilities. This could be a longer-term threat to Google. Google is the market leader in the smartphone operating system market with Samsung as the largest player in the Android ecosystem. With the help of Android software, Google mainly makes money through mobile advertising revenues as Google is the default search engine on Android smartphones. One good thing, it's also forcing Samsung to develop and innovate.

Motorola Helps Google In Two Key Areas, Both Of Which Have Been Well Discussed
(Seeking Alpha)
The deal with Motorola solves problems in two areas:

It will add 17,000 patents to Google’s patent portfolio to help defend Android and the ecosystem from Microsoft and others. The benefits should be both immediate and long lasting.The three main competitors for Android all have vertically integrated OS and smartphone manufacturing either in-house or through mutual agreement. Google will obtain a strong smartphone manufacturing partner with a checkered history.

The market sell off has negatively affected Google’s share price and August is historically known for weakness in technology stocks. Once the selling abates, Google will become very attractive.

HTC Continues To Insist The Motorola Acquisition Was Good (The Wall Street Journal)
HTC doesn't plan to ditch Google's Android or build its own rival operating system in the wake of Google's acquisition of Motorola, according to the CEO. Mr. Chou says, "we welcome the news of today's acquisition, which demonstrates that Google is deeply committed to defending Android, its partners, and the entire ecosystem". He was quick to point out that the OS is only part of the device's "ecosystem" and that HTC had the means to differentiate its phones in other ways.

Traffic From Streaming Video Expected to Grow by at Least 1300% (ReadWriteWeb)
If you think we're eating up a lot of bandwidth streaming video now, just wait. That 3.45 Tbps figure from last year will be blown out of the water within five years, according to a detailed report put together by Akamai, Harvard University and University of Massachusetts. The researchers suggest that "it is reasonable to expect that throughput requirements for some single video events will reach roughly 50 to 100 Tbps" within two to five years. The low end of that estimate represents an increase of about 1349% from 2010's peak (at least as far as Akamai's CDN is concerned). Great news for YouTube.

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Google says Hello Moto to patents and gold-standard Android

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Posted 18 August 2011 09:30am by Rich Holdsworth with 0 comments

If I had the cash, I’d have bought Motorola just to sack the marketing department that came up with the cringeworthy ‘Hello Moto’ line on their adverts.

I hope Google has this as the third action on its to-do list after ‘grab the patents’ and ‘make a bloatware-free android handset’.

There’s no way that Google looked at Motorola and decided that it had to have their hardware. Since the days of the StarTac I’ve always thought of Motorola as an also-ran in the hardware market. The company lacks the build quality of HTC, the glitz of Samsung and the previous design innovation of Nokia.

This (planned acquisition) is a play to strengthen Android's position as it comes under threat by patents that will push up the price of use and set a standard by which other Android manufacturers will be judged in terms of implementation. But I suspect there is more.

In considering this recent news I have considered further what Microsoft and Nokia may be up to. I’ve had a revelation – not saying I’m right – but suddenly things make more sense.

Accept for a moment that iOS devices stagnate, as many learned commentators think they will, and consider only Android and WP7 operating systems.

Microsoft has cleverly protected its UI and device specification, reducing the on-screen variation to a bare minimum. Looking at Windows 8 previews and the upcoming Xbox dashboard update and it's easy to understand why.

Metro is a wonderful UI and consistency across multiple screens is going to an essential part of Microsoft’s proposition over the next decade.

Google has done quite the opposite. Its operating system is so open and the rules so relaxed that there is a ridiculous amount of variation across the many devices out there. This weakens the Android proposition completely as consumers cannot share their loyalty to this platform among themselves.

These recent moves by Microsoft and Google seek to level out these issues and strengthen both of their positions.

Microsoft will not be diversifying its OS, that would weaken it. But consumers buy handsets, not operating systems. If Nokia can get back to what they were good at, then we can expect there to be some seriously innovative hardware running WP7 OS.

This will set a precedent and promote more ingenuity from other WP7 manufacturers.

To date, Google seeks to control and define its OS on devices more than it has to. Perhaps to say control is going to far but it certainly wants to influence they way Android is implemented.

Providing a ‘gold standard’ by which Android devices will be judged and can be recognised by consumers is attractive by anybody's standards. Imagine an Android device running at peak performance with only first part bolt-ons to the OS. Maybe I’m just weird but that’s exciting.

Where does this leave Apple? Well, wearing my burn suit I’d say that it could well leave them out in the cold. iOS is looking old now but to truly innovate on a software level Apple needs to compromise either by removing legacy app support in future hardware or adding legacy support into new OS revisions that is costly and unreliable (a problem that Microsoft knows only too well).

While I said earlier that consumers buy phones not operating systems this can only go so far. And I suggest that Apple’s device design is so iconic, so simple that only revolution can keep them relevant over the next few years.

Rich Holdsworth is CTO and Co-Founder at Wapple and a guest blogger on Econsultancy. You can also follow Rich on Twitter. 

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10 Cheapest and Best Android Mobile Phones in India

As of now you would be aware of the latest market trends that it’s Android all over. These phones are gaining popularity amongst the young people as it is the powerful, eye-catching and user-friendly operating system launched by Google.

For those who don’t know about what Android is – Android is a software or the operating system for mobile phones that includes applications, firmware and the big advantages comes as its being an open source development by Android Inc with association of Google. The phones built-in Android allow users to create applications which are available to the Android market which can be downloaded directly from your handset.

While the top Android phones are the high-end smartphones like Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy S2, HTC Thunderbolt, HTC Incredible 2 and Motorolo Triumph but those are priced well over Rs 20,000 in India but not all the users would like to go with those smartphones. What they would be looking is the price attached to that mobile phone and with Android it’s possible to get mobile phones below 10,000 Rs. Even when you have 10,000 Rs budget in your mind, there are a lot of choices available for you in the Android.

Listed here are the top 10 Android mobile phone and order of the mobile phone doesn’t signify its ranking.

Acer beTouch E110

Acer beTouch is one of the cheapest Android based mobile phone available in the Indian Market. Apart from being Android OS, it’s also a 3G phone. It features a candy bar form and has resistive touchscreen with a screen size of 2.8 inches. It includes a primary camera of 3.15 mega pixel and provides a talk time of 5 hours and a standby time of 400 hours through its Lithium Ion based 1500 mAh battery. It includes Android 1.5 versions, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, mini USB and FM Radio.

It’s priced at Rs 7,000. So if you want the perfect combination of 3G and Android with a limited price range in your hand than Acer beTouch E110 is the mobile to go with.

Samsung Galaxy 5

Recent launch from Samsung to its Galaxy series through Galaxy 5 marks the cheapest Android phone available from them. It’s mostly equivalent to the Acer beTouch but the only difference is that it has got much better screen and it has capacitive touchscreen. Additionally it comes with Android 2.1 Eclair operating system.

Samsung Galaxy 5 has got 2.8 inches screen with multi-tasking support up to 7 home screens.

It supports Swype keypad input for faster typing and its loaded with 600 Mhz MSM7227 processor. Additionally 2 megapixel camera is handy and required tool in today’s phones. It offers a decent talk time of 7.5 hours and a standby time of 21 days. It includes features like Bluetooth, WiFi, miniUSB, FM Radio and includes 90 MB internal memory.

Samsung Galaxy 5 is priced at Rs 8850 and it’s the next cheapest handset than Acer beTouch. Yes, you can have a go with it if you are looking for capacitive touchscreen.

Dell XCD 28

Dell XCD 28 boards a 2.8 inches resistive touchscreen. It boards 600 Mhz ARM processor with 256 MB of dedicated RAM and 256 MB of ROM. It has 3.2 megapixel camera and takes the snaps at its best resolution with autofocus.

It gets Android 2.1 operating system and has graphical rendering through the Adreno 200 GPU and chipset from Qualcomm. Additionally it has got GPS support through AGPS.

Moreover this is a 3G compatible mobile phone with 3G speeds of 7.2 Mbps with WiFi, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, microUSB port.

At 10,500 rs you can expect much better than this mobile configuration.

Spice Mi 270 Mobile

Spice Mi 270 runs Android 2.2 Froyo Operating system and it has got 2.8 inches capacitive touchscreen. Apart from being Android mobile phone Spice has made it dual SIM compatible with GSM + GSM. It includes a 2 megapixel camera with utmost resolution and A GPS support can be handy most of the times in navigation.

It includes connectivity through WiFi, mobile internet sharing through the WiFi hotspot, connectivity and file sharing through Bluetooth with A2DP. It’s priced at Rs 6400. It includes 600 Mhz processor.

Though you get 3 hours of talk time through its Lithium Ion 100 mAh battery it’s a go with the price mobile handset.  Its available in all Spice retails stores and other retails chains.

LG Optimus One

LG Optimus One has made it to the list of top cheap android mobile phone in India. It’s available with Android v 2.2 and can be upgraded to 2.3 now. It is also 3G compatible mobile phone with 3.2 inches capacitive touchscreen with accelerometer and proximity sensor.

It includes 600 Mhz processor and a dedicated graphic engine similar to Dell XCD 28. You can expect faster performance with this mobile phone as it includes 512 MB of RAM and supports 32 GB of memory card. It includes a primary camera with 3.15 megapixel clarity.

With Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, micro USB port and a top speed of 7.2 Mbps through HSDPA connectivity makes this mobile best at its price. It’s priced at 10,000.

Micromax A70

Micromax recent launch of A70 mobile phone get Android v 2.2 Froyo operating system with 600 Mhz processor and impressive 3.2 mega pixel camera. The mobile phone has some of the impressive features like 5 mega pixel camera with autofocus, connectivity through WiFi, WiFi hotspot sharing, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, micro USB port, and also includes secondary VGA camera.

It includes a Li ion 1450 mAh battery with talk time of 4 hours and a standby time of 168 hours. Micromax A70 is priced at Rs 7500 and it’s affordable with those specifications.

Spice Mi 310

The Spice Mi 310 mobile phone has 3.15 inches touch screen display with phone running on Android 2.2 Froyo OS. It’s a 3G mobile phone with connectivity options like Wireless LAN, high-speed 3G connectivity and GPS support.

It also has Wifi sharing option and USB tethering for laptop internet access.

The 2 megapixel camera and 3.5 mm audio jack along with FM Radio, Trackpad and proximity sensor makes this mobile well worth of its price Rs 7100.

Huawei IDEOS U8150

The Huawei IDEOS U8150 is an ideal 3G compatible mobile phone running on Android Froyo operating system. It has good hardware configuration with 528 Mhz ARM processor, Adreno 200 GPU and Qualcomm MSM7225 chipset. It includes 200 MB storage, 256 MB RAM and 512 MB ROM.

It has 2.8 inches screen with accelerometer and proximity sensor. It has 3.15 mega pixel camera with autofocus and geo tagging. The connectivity options includes the WiFi, WiFi sharing, 3G HSDPA, micro USB v2.0 and GPRS with EDGE.

Its available in Black body / blue, red, yellow backpanels and it’s priced at Rs 8400.

Andro

Micromax Andro is the cheapest 3G & Android based mobile phone which runs Android 2.1 operating system launched by Google. It has 2.8 inches screen with accelerometer sensors, get 3G connectivity through HSDPA and HSUPA, includes WiFi, USB port and Bluetooth v 2.0 with A2DP.

It boards 3.15 megapixel camera with autofocus which is powered with 600 Mhz processor. With 4 hours battery backup and 240 hours of standby time makes the Micromax Android A60 to be priced at Rs 6600, the price can’t be beaten by any other 3G + Android mobile phone.

LG P350 Mobile or LG Optimus Me

The new LG P 350 mobile phone provides a complete smart phone experience with mobile running on Android 2.2 operating system and features like mobile TV. Basically it’s a 3G mobile phone with 2.8 inches screen with accelerometer and proximity sensor. The connectivity options includes the Wi-Fi with Wi-Fi sharing and microUSB.

It has a primary camera with 3.15 mega pixel with autofocus and video recording capabilities. It has A GPS for navigation and provides social networking integration. The battery lasts for 8 hours through lithium ion 1250 mAh battery.

It’s available in Black, silver, blue, red, pink colors and it’s priced at Rs 8300 in Indian market.

So whats your price and whats your choice among the Android phone mentioned above.

Yogesh Patel is a writer of technology gadgets, digital products like mobile phones, tablets PC, laptops & notebooks & on anything that is related to the gadgets which makes the daily lifestyle easier.

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