For mobile web addicts, Éclair’s addition of double-tap to zoom is great because it means that Android-based smartphones will finally be on a par with the iPhone’s much-loved approach to quickly bringing a column of content up to full screen width. Android 2.0 also adds webpage thumbnails to your bookmarks and the ability to directly tap the browser’s address bar for instant searches and navigation.
Settings... and more settings
And Google has added support for HTML 5, allowing web-based apps to be cached locally, the device to share its GPS-detected location with website and to play web-hosted video full-screen.
Surfing the web or writing text messages and emails should be much easier with Android 2.0 than previous versions. According to Google, the updated OS offers a virtual keyboard that's "virtually error-proof".
How has this been achieved? By re-jigging the keyboard layout that makes typing faster and more accurate, and leveraging the OS' new multi-touch capability to ensure that “key presses aren’t missed while typing rapidly with two fingers”.
The OS’ dictionary will now also learn from your word use and automatically suggest names.
This game runs simultaneously on two Android 2.0 phones using the OS' new Bluetooth API
Android now supports Bluetooth 2.1, including the wireless standard's Object Push Profile and Phone Book Access Profile, allowing data to be sent to other devices and for them to look up information in the handset's list of contacts.
Other new under-the-hood features include the ability for developers to create custom sync adaptors that allow new types of information to be synced alongside the tradition phone book and calendar content.
Developers can set Android to run services when the handset is docked, change wallpapers from within an application and better manage an app's life-cycle according to how system resources change over time. ®
Kit of the Year Android Smartphones
Android 2.0: what to expect
COMMENTS
So you wrote half a page to bitch about the iPhone and Android that you don't own and won't buy
You knew about Google's "privacy problem" long before they created the Androit platform, so how were you tempted by it ? I call bullshit. You just wanted to bitch a little bit about Google without seeming an unreasonable ass (which you are) and since you were at it you took the opportunity to bitch about Apple as well.
If your privacy is so damn important to you and everybody is out to get you, how about you get off the fuckin' Internet and leave us alone. Cause here we can all see you. We got your IP and we know who you are. We're coming for you. Better throw away your computer and run hide in that cave.
Bored with iphone?
It's supposed to be a Phone. Not a toy.
When the E65 came out I had fun installing Sat Navs, Maps, pairing with BT keyboard, laptop, BT GPS etc.. Installing Scumm for Games, VNC, Putty etc. Streaming music clients, barcode decoding via camera etc. Setting up email accounts, browsing websites.
Now I use it for what I bought it for. Phone calls and occassional SMS or Snap if I don't have real camera.
I've tested a lot of gadgets and built a VOIP touchscreen PDA running Qtopia & Linux. I conclude that really anything less than 800x480 @ 4.5" to 5" approx is a novelty for anything productive. Even the iphone screen is just too small and too low a resolution.
A 5" 800x480 gadget can *just* be pocket sized if the designer is clever (1024x 400 might fit in pocket better), but for a phone with no buttons (stupid) an iPhone has a big a screen as you would want. For an actual PHONE that is mostly for phone calls, a smaller screen and physical keypad is more ergonomic.
Galaxy
Got a Galaxy?
"Samsung HQ are currently not supporting a migration path to upgrade Galaxy to Android 2.0. Samsung UK continue to push for this but confidence on the change is low as Samsung HQ will be launching new devices on Android 2.0 in Q1."
From O2, today.
No mention of the basic faults....
Hopefully they have now added a way to delete multiple emails in one go, and a way to empty the deleted items in one go as well. And maybe even a notes app that can sync to the desktop. And a WiFi driver that doesn't disconnect when it feels like it and need WiFi turning off then back on again to re-connect. And a calendar app that actually shows a week in a useable format (like Agenda Fusion and Agendus used to do on my Palm).
And I wonder how many existing devices will get this update. At least iPhone users GET the updates all at the same time. I have two Android phones in the house and one of them is still on 1.5, one on 1.6 and no idea if either will get an update.
Paris - because like the Android, I like the look of her but not sure if I could live with her.
E-mail?
How are the IMAP capabilities looking on the new e-mail package? The Hero / G2 Touch is a lovely device but Android's standard mail package is a complete dog if you filter your e-mail into folders at the server end.
