Droid's impressive showing has revived Motorola's hopes of its halcyon days coming back. To say that Android rescued Motorola from the brink would be an understatement of Android's contribution and Motorola's woes. In fact, Motorola was already past the brink and was helplessly waiting for the earth below to put it out of its misery when the Droid plucked it out of thin air.

Now, it is banking on Android to turn the tide in its favor. Spiros Nikolakopoulos, Motorola's VP for Asia Pacific, told Cnet Asia that his company plans to launch 20 to 30 Android-based smartphones in 2010. Interestingly, the company currently has no plans to launch a non-Android smartphone.

However, the company's faith in Android may not yield as much as it expects. Google's decision to confront the Chinese government could not have come at a worse time for Motorola. The mobile phone maker hopes to make serious inroads into the lucrative Chinese smartphone market with Android-based offerings. But Google's latest decision to postpone the China launch of two Android phones, including one from Motorola, has cast a gray cloud over its plans.

Motorola has a new Android smartphone out, and judging by the looks of it, it’s going to be one of those love-it-or-hate-it devices.

Its most prominent feature is a full QWERTY keyboard that opens up in an unusual way, like a book in reverse; the device also packs some interesting innovation in an otherwise not-too-exciting package.

First, a quick rundown of the specifications. It’s an Android () 1.5 device (it should get Android 2.1 support later on); it has a 3.1-inch, 320 x 480 pixel TFT display, a 5-megapixel camera with auto-focus and a LED flashlight, 2 GB of memory (a bit low for today’s smartphone standards, but it can be expanded to 32 GB with memory cards), and it supports EDGE, HSDPA, Wi-Fi and aGPS.

If those specifications and the look of the device seem familiar to you, you’re right: It’s very similar to Motorola’s first Android device, the CLIQ. The innovation part, besides the “reverse QWERTY flip” form factor, comes in the form of a touchpad on the back of the screen, which can be used to control the phone… well, from the back of the screen. We’ll have more about that bit when we actually try out the device.

How useful (and practical) these innovations really are, only time will tell. The phone’s form factor is odd, and it does make it a bit chubby, which (together with the fact that it launches on the outdated Android 1.5) will probably make the Backflip a niche product, aimed primarily at users who loved the CLIQ but wanted something slightly different – if such a niche exists.

Stan Schroeder

Motorola Unveils Another Android Phone, the Backflip

Now there’s another AndroidAndroid device on deck that’s not a phone, dubbed Vega. Made by Seattle-based company Innovative Converged Devices, the Vega is a tablet-like device with a detachable stand to prop it up, running Android 2.0 (the same version used in the Motorola Droid).

The device, slated to launch in the first half of 2010, will actually come in three sizes: 7, 11 and 15-inches. It will support connectivity via Wi-Fi as well as 3G, and be available at reportedly “low cost” (read: subsidized) from major carriers throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, and the Middle East.

Designed to be put to flexible use throughout the home, the Vega will feature high-definition entertainment and a touchscreen along with a webcam, BluetoothBluetooth support, accelerometer, 512MB RAM and storage via microSD. The brain of the machine will be NVIDIA’s Tegra processor, a high-powered combination CPU and graphics chip that was designed for low power consumption and long battery life.

There’s no word on what that “low cost” price may be, and it may end up varying by carrier as well (no word on whether you’ll be able to buy it outright without 3G yet, either). Nonetheless, the Vega is certainly an interesting entrant into the once again nascent tablet device playing field, with the Apple Tablet and the Microsoft Courier being the two hot tablets that no one will admit are real yet.

Check out a few more images of the Vega below. Do you see a place for these tablet devices in the home? What would the price need to be for you to pick one up? Would you rather it run Android, Mac OS X, WindowsWindows, or something else?

[via VentureBeat]

mashable.com

We brought you news before that Dell was working on an Android powered tablet and now they have announced a new Android powered Tablet PC, named the Dell Mini 5, at this year’s CES in Las Vegas.

The new tablet boasts:

• 5 inch screen
• SIM card slot for use outside of a Wi-Fi hotspot.
• 2 cameras, a 5MP camera on the back of the tablet and one on the front.
• Prototypes at CES ran Android 1.6.
• Various colors including red, black, and pink.
• Multitouch display

It will be interesting to see which tablet reigns supreme between the new Dell Mini 5 and the Archos Tablet. Any guesses out there?

1. zip file to rename and copy Update.zip root on the SD card (directory)
2. Switch off phone
3. With camera button and pressed power button to boot up / '\ comes.
4. Whenever Lautertaste and camera button and text appears
5. Update.zip flash

Learn more about this also nodch.de - Root for the Motorola Milestone is completed. General discussions about the Motorola Milestone in Motorola forum at Milestone Android Hilfe.de.

Now begins the play -

PS : Terjemahin sendiri ya ..... he he he

We’ve gathered up 10 of what we feel are the best applications in various categories to give you some guidence in what you should be taking up valuable space with on your Android based phone. Communicate with friends, play games, check the weather and more because it’s all here!

All of the apps in this list are free, so feel free to explore and try as much as you like!

Bonsai Blast: An addictive and highly professional looking puzzle game that features 90 levels of increasing difficulty for you to master. You can test your skills in the never ending Survival mode or play Adventure mode, collect treasures in bonus levels, swap between multiple shooters and more.

Foursquare: Foursquare is one of the hottest properties in social media right now, and while it may fall out of favor a few months down the road, for now it is the place to be, and this Android app does a very nice job of allowing you to connect with the service.

Meebo: Meebo for Android allows you to talk with all of your friends across the various instant messaging services such as AIM, MSN, GTalk and many others. The program stays on all the time to allow you to receive messages from all of your contacts at all times.

Google Listen: Podcasts keep growing in popularity, and Google Listen allows you to search for podcasts that contain keywords that interest you. You can download those podcasts over the air and listen to them at your convenience.

MySpace: Say what you will about what has become of MySpace, a lot of the problem has been in the form of clutter on the site. Luckily the mobile apps for the service strip the site down to the most essential parts, making it usable again.

Pandora: Just like Netflix is trying to add its streaming service into every conceivable device, it seems Pandora is doing the same by coming to every mobile device it possibly can. Use all of your favorite Pandora features while you are on the go for the day.

Ringdroid: An open source project that is built around the simple concept of clipping MP3 files to make your own ringtones for your phone.

ShopSavvy: ShopSavvy allows you to use your phone’s camera to take a picture of a product’s barcode and receive information on pricing from numerous online shopping sites so you can compare pricing while on the move.

Twidroid: A full-featured Twitter app that gives you support for the vast majority of your favorite features of the service, and even features native image support for Tweeting.

WeatherBug: WeatherBug provides you with live images of your neighborhood, always on emergency alerts, seven day forecasts and more.

Source : Top 10 free apps for Android

First off, this is not a guide to pirating apps. There are legit reasons for wanting to backup your applications. Sometimes an older version of the app worked better, or had features you liked better. Sometimes new versions don’t work with specific phones and you need to revert back.

Now, you can use AppManager to backup most apps, but protected apps are not included in this because they are stored in a different directory. With a rooted phone, you can access this directory and copy the apps to your SD card or to your computer. After all, you paid for it, it’s yours. If you want to pirate apps, or buy an app, copy it then return it, that’s on you, I’m not advocating that.

First method, copy with your phone to SD card:

1. Install and open a Terminal Emulator on your phone.
2. Enter su to be superuser (root).
3. Enter cd /data/app-private/ to enter the protected application directory.
4. Use ls to view the apps in the directory.
5. Enter cp filename.apk /sdcard to copy a single app to your SD card.
   (Or to backup all the protected apps: cp * /sdcard)
6. If you want to backup all your apps, they can be found in /data/app/

Second method is to use Android Debug Bridge with your PC:

1. Install the Android SDK on your PC
2. Connect your phone to your computer via USB cable, and make sure USB debugging is enabled on your phone (Settings > Applications > Development)
3. Enter adb shell to fire up Debug Bridge and enter shell mode
4. Enter su to become superuser
5. Enter cat /data/app-private/filename.apk > /sdcard/filename.apk to copy the file to the SD card.
6. exit
7. exit
8. And finally adb pull /sdcard/filename.apk filename.apk pulls the .apk file from your SD card to your computer.

Success? Problems? Moral issues with copying software? Let us know in the comments.

http://theandroidsite.com

1. December 22nd, 2009 at 14:08 | #1

   Reply | Quote

   I installed eclipse + droid sdk with the most recent updates. When I run the commands above I get this.

   $ su
   su
   su: permission denied

   *Also, I cannot see anything in the /data directory, thus a directory /data/app-private is not found either.

   Is there a way to elevate permissions without rooting my phone?

2. spaz
   December 28th, 2009 at 00:02 | #2

   Reply | Quote

   No there is not

3. aziz
   January 2nd, 2010 at 13:34 | #3

   Reply | Quote

   i tried the adb method.

   when i type in “cat /data/app-private/filename.apk > /sdcard/filename.apk” replacing filename.apk with the app im tryin to backup…i get error saying cannot create /sdcard/filename.apk: read-only file system.

   I followed the steps exactly as specified… i have a HTC Hero rooted running firmware 1.5.

   Help would be appreciated.

4. Brian
   January 5th, 2010 at 13:48 | #4

   Reply | Quote

   This has worked for me, however one thing everyone should be aware of (that I just ran in to) if you are planning to perform a hard-reset _for the purpose of changing the primary google email address_ is that you may have issues with the Android Market recognizing which apps you’ve purchased.

   Backing up the applications works fine, however if you perform a hard-reset and then change the primary google email address, the Market will no longer acknowledge that you’ve purchased an app (because it is associated with the original gmail address) and you won’t be able to receive app updates from the market unless you actually re-purchase & download the app via Android Market.

   So far the developers I’ve asked about this have been okay with issuing a refund for the second purchase if I could prove that I actually paid for the app, but this can definitely be a hassle so keep it in mind.

Realitas tertambah, atau kadang dikenal dengan singkatan bahasa Inggrisnya AR (augmented reality), adalah teknologi yang menggabungkan benda maya tiga dimensi ke dalam sebuah lingkungan nyata tiga dimensi dan menampilkannya dalam waktu nyata.^[1] Tidak seperti realitas maya yang sepenuhnya menggantikan kenyataan, realitas tertambah sekedar menambahkan atau melengkapi kenyataan.^[2][3]

Benda-benda maya menampilkan informasi yang tidak dapat diterima oleh pengguna dengan inderanya sendiri. Hal ini membuat realitas tertambah sesuai sebagai alat untuk membantu persepsi dan interaksi penggunanya dengan dunia nyata. Informasi yang ditampilkan oleh benda maya membantu pengguna melaksanakan kegiatan-kegiatan dalam dunia nyata.

Realitas tertambah dapat diaplikasikan untuk semua indera, termasuk pendengaran^[4][5], sentuhan, dan penciuman. Selain digunakan dalam bidang-bidang seperti kesehatan, militer, industri manufaktur, realitas tertambah juga telah diaplikasikan dalam perangkat-perangkat yang digunakan orang banyak, seperti pada telepon genggam.

"Realitas tertambah" .... he he he aneh ya

ya mudahnya menurutku sih, misal kita melihat pertandingan bulutangkis di televisi, kemudian di dalam lapangan kita lihat ada iklan atau skor nilai yang seperti muncul dari layar padahal itu dilapangannya (keliatanya pemain bisa nginjek layar tuh - he he he ).

..... nah kalo pake HP Android misalnya, kita pake aplikasi augmented reality yang kemudian menyalakan kamera video, terus kita arahkan ke satu tempat misal monas, nah nanti akan muncul informasi tentang monas diambil dari internet (server augmented reality) .... gitulah kira-kira

Gimana cara bikin aplikasi Augmented Reality di Android ya? ... lets find now .. he he

bisa lihat di http://phandroid.com Layar: Augmented Reality Browser For Android