DROID sales in the USA and the robo-promotional ads from Verizon has boosted Android sales, so much so that hits on my blog have started to double since the new phone went on sale.
Stats are good – Top searchs on Best Apps are going to my posts for Top Android Apps and 2 top Android apps from Google.
Sony Ericsson delivered a blow to Microsoft on Tuesday when it unveiled its latest Xperia handset, which unlike its Windows-powered predecessors is based on Google’s Android operating system.
Called X10, the flagship smartphone comes with a new Sony Ericsson-designed user interface that aggregates the user’s contacts and communications from the likes of Facebook and Twitter into a single address book.
The system is akin to HTC’s Sense interface, and Motorola’s Motoblur interface, both of which feature on the respective companies’ new Android phones.
“It’s time for Sony Ericsson to put more focus on the smartphone market and Android is a good platform for them to do this,” said Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner.
source: http://www.totaltele.com/view.aspx?ID=450402&mail=128&C=0
Recently the blogosphere has gone a bit crazy, excuse my lack of hyperbole about the Android platform. Was this ‘Android’ supposed to do battle with the iPhone?
Just because no operators or manufacturers have openly commented about their smart phone sales figures doesn’t mean its bad news. Looking at the number of Android powered phones out now or due in the next 2 months shows a lot of promise
As well we know that Sony Ericsson have robot phones coming and the other manufacturers have been toying with this platform.
As far as smartphones go though – Nokia admitted recently they have lost some of their steam to Apple and have not being able to come up with a device that is just as iconic. Some sales figures for Q2 2009 still show Blackberry as the most popular Manufacturer.
So for Xmas will you want an Android?
The HTC Magic came out recently, so far its a exclusive to Vodafone. As a phone it has all the features you could desire, but its music player needs an over hall – first problem is the volume, its just too quiet.
In a crowded room, on the London Tube or just working out at a gym the volume from the HTC Magic’s is just a whisper of what it should be – or am I going deaf?Critcally I’m one of those people that always has the volume set to full – to drown out the outside world and I use in-ear headphones so you don’t listen to my stuff.
I put the HTC Magic through its paces using the standard in-box headset, a bluetooth stereo headset and using my top end Sony headphones plus an HTC USB to 3.5mm adapter.
Thats right the HTC Magic only has a USB port for power and accsories, HTC says this might change in the future. The phone’s media player also only has a volume control and no equaliser tools – and no Android apps as yet have this.
HTC’s own headset
This is not one to wear in public or at the gym, its big and bulky with its own rectangular volume controller. The high notes and vocals sound clean – its good for midrange but lacking bass notes. Listening to Underworld’s Everything Everything was nice – the downside was the noise leakage as I could tell people on the Tube didn’t like it.
Bluetooth Stereo headset
Listening to the same Underworld album was just upsetting. The same headset coupled with the Sony Ericsson W715 provides a great aural pleasure. The HTC Magic bluetooth audio channel must have a volume limiter. I could hear everyone on the Tube and that annoying gym pump music.
USB to 3.5mm with Sony Headphones
This was the surprise winner … never using a USB to 3.5mm adapter, I thought it was going to impact the audio quality. Across the ranges, the audio sounds clear and vibrant. The volume passed through was also good enough to convince me to use it.
29 Sep 09: This is the better post to read: http://damiensaunders.com/2009/08/11/10-best-android-apps-for-your-phone/
Ok I’ve been using an Android from HTC for a few days now and I’m loving it … I’m so hooked I could almost get myself kicked out of the house, or have my ‘beautiful & precious’ phone smashed 
there are so many free Apps in the Android Market that you can’t get bored. Given how much I use a phone and my focus on the mobiles and music, heres a choice selection
LAST.FM – its more a radio station here than the super Vodafone Last.fm Scrobbler (which you know I love)
NewsRob – it works with Google Reader – but I’m still not sure why there isn’t a GReader app?
Android-VNC-Viewer – once I got it working I loved it, but its a tiny screen, don’t use it for trying to control WinAmp or something, but its funny if you know how to use it to turn off windose 
Toggle Wifi – its dead simple, but it still dont help if you then have to have a username or password for the wifi account
Barcode Scanner and Book Scanner – i love it … except when it goes beep in the bookshop (hehehe)
Nokia Corp. said it joined forces with Universal Music to offer unlimited music downloads for a year on phones bundled with its Ovi Web services platform.
Universal Music Group expects its deal to offer free music for 12 months on new Nokia phones to have a wider, “stimulating” effect on the digital music business next year, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The world’s largest music group Universal and the world’s top cellphone vendor Nokia said on Tuesday they would offer a free 12-month access to Universal’s music for buyers of Nokia music phones starting from the second half of 2008.
“I believe the announcement will act as a catalyst for a whole number of business partners to step forward. It’s definitely going to stimulate the business next year,” Rob Wells, Senior Vice President for digital operations at Universal, told Reuters. Universal is owned by French media group Vivendi.
The “Comes With Music” offering would differ from any other package on the market as users can keep all the music they have downloaded for free during the 12 months, the firms said.
sources: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB119676374309413001.html?mod=googlenews_wsj and Reuters
O2 sent an email to stores an hour after the launch, claiming that 2,000 customers who bought iPhones from O2 stores had registered their devices at 7:02pm. That figure soared to 8,000 by the end of the night.
Sales vary considerably from store to store, with anecdotes of disinterest from some, disbelief at the price tag from others and customers queuing in the snow at O2’s Aberdeen store.
Source: http://www.mobiletoday.co.uk/content/17234.asp?men=2&sub=1
Most O2 and Carphone stores said they sold ’solid numbers’ of iPhones – tens rather than hundreds.
O2 UK expects to sell around 200,000 iPhones by the start of the New Year. Sales will start on 9 November, and Matthew Key, CEO of O2’s UK business, told the Financial Times he expected “a couple of hundred thousand” iPhones to be sold in the first two months.
O2 has ordered “hundreds of thousands” of iPhones from Apple for its stores and online outlets as well as shops run by Carphone Warehouse. After the June launch in the US, 1 million iPhones were sold in just under two and a half months.
The iPhone will sell for GBP 269 in the UK, and customers will have to take out an O2 contract for at least GBP 35 per month for 18 months.
On the rumour mill for some weeks has been the story that Vodafone and t-Mobile were in discussions about sole distributorship rights for a European iPhone. But now Gizmodo, have suggested that an announcement is due today and that both operators will win, leveraging the successes of both networks in different countries.
This would be great news for GSM users globally, a non-exclusive agreement would have far reaching appeal to mobile phone users than the American AT&T arrangement. Gizmodo also suggest that Carphone Warehouse (its name in the UK) will also get a distributor licence.
We wait to hear if it will be a 3G phone with better camera and more memory!
