Google Android - News, Features, and Slideshows

News

• Google bans tethering app from Android Market

  A developer is reporting that Google has banned his tethering application from the Android Market, one of the first hints that the store may not be as open as Google has promised.

• HTC to launch 'at least' three Google phones this year

  High Tech Computer (HTC) will ship "at least" three smartphones this year that use Google's Android software, HTC's CEO said Tuesday.

• Android Market needs more filters, T-Mobile says

  The average user of an Android-based G1 phone at T-Mobile USA has downloaded more than 40 applications from the Android Market, but the carrier's CTO thinks he can help them find more.

• Google blocks paid apps for unlocked G1 users

  People who bought an unlocked version of the Android G1 phone are no longer allowed to download new paid applications from the Market, after a change Google made late last week.

• 'I am Richer' app appears in Android store

  For a cool US$200, Android G1 users can buy at least one app that iPhone users can't: the "I am Richer" application.

• Google opens Android store to paid apps

  Developers of Android applications finally will be able to charge consumers for them, ending a few months of free Android downloads and potentially making Google's mobile platform more attractive to developers.

• Kogan "indefinitely" delays Google Android-based smartphone

  Melbourne-based company Kogan today announced that its Android-based smartphones, the Agora and the Agora Pro, have been "delayed indefinitely". The cancellation, announced on the company's blog, comes only two weeks before the phones were meant to be released.

• Unlocked Android phone: Pricey outside the U.S.

  Just in time for the end-of-year shopping season, Google is offering an unlocked Android phone, targeted at developers but available to anyone. While the phone might be attractive to consumers and developers alike in the U.S., its price in other countries is putting off even developers.

• Huawei to launch Android and Symbian smartphones next year

  Chinese network company Huawei Technologies is planning to launch smartphones based on the Android and Symbian operating systems in the first half of 2009, according to James Chen, director of marketing for the company's terminals division. It will also launch a new embedded 3G module at the GSMA Mobile Asia Congress this month, he said.

• Android may not need antivirus software, researcher says

  Antivirus developer SMobile released software this week to protect users of the G1 Android phone, although one security analyst wondered if people really need it.

• Android apps market is a hit, Google says

  The average user of the Android-based G1 phone has downloaded 14 applications, out of 200 now available on the Android Marketplace, a Google executive said Wednesday.

• Will Android be Motorola's savior?

  With no popular phones released for this holiday season, and hardly any this year, Motorola is <a href=" http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122523624204277979.html">set to revamp</a> its entire mobile phone division with the help of Google's mobile operating system, Android.

• Android users favoring apps over games

  Owners of the Android-powered G1 handset seem more anxious to get things done with it than to play games, according to download statistics from the long-awaited phone's first few days on sale.

• Android Market to open to any app Monday

  The Android Market currently has about 50 applications, but that number should go up next week when Google opens the market to developers.

• Android phone launch day relatively quiet

  The first day of sales in the US for Google's Android phone hasn't quite echoed the frenzy surrounding initial iPhone sales, but a few hardy souls across the country got up early to buy the first devices available in stores.