Intellectsoft Blog

The rumors about introduction by Apple the first Internet tablet iSlate by the end of the month were confirmed. On the 18th of January Apple sent invitations to the presentation to be held on January, 27 at 10 am local time in the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater (San Francisco).

Apple Event

In addition to the tablet itself, Apple representatives will be announcing the latest iPhone OS 4.0, as well as the software set iLife 2010. It’s not ruled out that iPhone 3GS with 8 GB flash memory will be presented, too.

Characteristics of Apple iSlate are kept secret. But if “leaks” are to be believed, the tablet will have 7.1″ touchscreen, 2.26-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB DDR3 SDRAM, 120 GB hard drive, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, LAN, two USB ports, SD card reader.

Google has introduced a new smartphone Nexus One. Google headquarters in Mountain View (California) was the venue of this significant event.

Nexus One operates the Android OS, used for several Motorola phones for quite a time now. HTC company carried out the development of this attractive device. Nexus One may become a competitor to Apple iPhone, which is now at the peak of its popularity.

After the presentation at the official website the price can be seen – it makes $ 530. As Google representatives declared, they will take all the responsibility for Nexus One sales. The new device should help to make a further step in distribution of Android software.

Nexus One is equipped with ARM-Qualcomm 8250 processor with a CPU clock of 1 GHz, 3.7-inch AMOLED touchscreen, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, GPS-receiver supporting A-GPS. Nexus One supports the memory card microSD format. A digital compass, accelerometer, proximity sensor and ambient light can be mentioned among extra features of the device.

Nexus One is currently on sale only in the USA. Distribution of Nexus One in Europe is scheduled for spring.

The following post will concentrate on the impressions of an iPhone user without promoting or humiliating Apple’s product.

iPhone appeared when the level of mobile devices development showed necessity to combine a phone, book-reader, pdf reader, digital voice recorder and mail client in one device. Hp hx4700 was the only device of such kind previously, but its operating system was far from being perfect. Finally the decision was made to embody all these functions in Apple. More »

New SDK version – Android 2.0 (Eclair) – was announced to be released in November.

Android 2.0 is a base platform for Android gadgets. Mobile phones for this platform are expected to come to market in November, 2009. The latest release offers new performance capabilities both for users and developers.
For developers, Android SDK is presented as a downloadable component Android SDK including wholly compatible Android libraries and system image, alongside with the set of skins for the emulator. The platform is fully compatible and doesn’t require any third-party libraries.

SDK introductions:

Bluetooth – Switching on/off, connecting to remote devices via RFCOMM, sending/receiving data support.
Accounts manager – centralized accounts manager for secure storage and access to tokens and passwords
Other – new themes system, new wallpaper manager.
More »

The next competitor of Apple iPhone called Motorola Droid (utilizing Android operating system) will be released soon. The anti-iPhone campaign was initiated by launching the www.DroidDoes.com website. Lack of iPhone flash, removable battery, a physical keyboard, etc. are emphasized.

Motorola Droid combines in itself:

* 5-megapixel camera (with flash)
* The operating system Google Android 2.0,
* Multitasking,
* Physical keyboard and touch screen.

With its stylish design, the Motorola device may become the main holder of Android OS.

Contact Intellectsoft Android Development team to fulfil your dreams in Android apps development.

British mobile operator Vodafone will become the third to start retail sales of the Apple iPhone.

“Vodafone and Apple have confirmed that they had reached agreement to start selling the iPhone 3G and iPhone 3GS in the United Kingdom and Ireland at the beginning of 2010,” – official press release says.

Vodafone has already started pre-registration of those willing to buy the popular devices, promising to publish the tariff plans and complete terms of sale later.

The other day another UK operator – Orange (owned by France Telecom) – announced it has reached an agreement with Apple to start selling the iPhone in the UK at the end of this year, without disclosing an exact date.

Introduction of two new iPhone operators will put an end to the O2 monopoly for iPhones retail sale and service in the UK.

iPhone was put on sale in the UK in November 2007. It can be bought in Apple or in Carphone Warehouse mobile shops, or in O2 shops (currently the largest mobile service provider in the UK owned by Spanish Telefonica). Meanwhile, all iPhones are intended for use only in O2 network.

Meanwhile, O2 is not going to give in and will continue selling iPhone. It has already announced that O2 will be an exclusive distributor of a new multimedia smartphone Palm Pre which is called by some market experts an “iPhone killer”

Google has announced the release of the package Android 1.6 (Donut) SDK for Android application development, it is already available for download. As expected, the new version 1.6 of the Android operating system  is not a major upgrade, but still includes several new features. They are reflected in the SDK. For instance, cellular CDMA standard and several new display resolution support, including QVGA and WVGA,  appears. Also gestural control, the function of converting text to speech (text-to-speech) and integration with the Quick Search panel “Quick Search Box” are available.

The Android developers note that the new version of the Android operating system provides a quicker operation of built-in camera, plus several enhancements were made to the Android Market operation. It is assumed that the first devices based on Android 1.6 will come to market in October.

Android SDK 1.6

Two videos devoted to new applications for Android OS - Augmented Traffic Views and Wikitude Drive – appeared online recently. Both use the so-called «Augmented reality» – when the actual imagery from the smartphone camera are supplemented by various information layers. These two applications combine the driving process with «augmented reality» and are used to facilitate the process of driving and navigation.
This is a new word in navigation.

Augmented Traffic Views uses the data from traffic surveillance cameras in Toronto, to inform drivers of the latest «reports from the road». Appendix imposes a layer of surveillance cameras in the current view of the camera phone (using your current GPS position and direction of motion). Clicking on the icon of any camera allows to see what is currently happening at the appropriate intersection, and thus decide whether to drive there or better seek a detour.

Meanwhile Mobilizy, creator of the existing program for augmented reality Wikitude announced the release of a new app called Wikitude Drive, the app for «augmented navigation» in which the navigational guidance directions of movement are superimposed on a picture of the road obtained from the camera. This  is a fully-featured navigation program that does not contain maps and works with existing navigation programs, such as NavTeq and TeleAtlas via API. In Wikitude Drive voice prompts, using the engine TTS (text to speach) are also implemented. Constant connection to the Internet is required to use the app.

The TomTom application for iPhone including gps navigation is released.

What are the main features of the app:

The iPhone OS 3.0 and above are required to run an application on your iPhone 3G or 3GS (please remember that twice as much memory as the file size will be needed during the installation of the application).
The application can be downloaded in iTunes using the buyer’s existing account. The basic download version includes the map region the buyer is interested in (is chosen by the buyer).
The storage space for the application differs depending on the map chosen. Exact file size is defined in the AppStore.
The price for the application varies as well depending on the chosen map.
Maps are updated by TomTom four times per year, which guarantees that users receive the most up-to-date map version when purchasing an application.
TomTom IQ Routes is the application which creates unforgettable driving experience for millions of TomTom users. IQ Routes calculates the fastest way possible using the actual travelling speeds, not only the ones posted. With this super intellectual application you’ll always choose the most efficient route saving both your time and money.
You don’t need to purchase the TomTom carkit coming soon to start your application work on your iPhone. Carkit just extends the number of available options and GPS functions to maximize the advantages of using IQ Routes application.
TomTom carkit will be available soon. Just register your account at www.tomtom.com, and you’ll be among the first people who will be notified about the release.

TomTom App video at youtube

Most programmers did not expect it to appear so soon, but here it is.
There were a couple of fixes that were expected to be fixed, e.g. battery life.
Let’s see what new features it demonstrates:
1. The first and foremost is the option to save the original videos by pressing the “Save as copy”  button
2. Ability to copy/paste numbers into iPhone application dialer (conversion of alphanumeric phone numbers into real phone number)
3. iPhone vibration when switching on icon-wiggle mode (notifies of any accidental activations). Very useful!
4. MMS function seems to be set as default (still not working for AT&T users).

5. Voice control via Bluetooth

But still it’d be better to wait for the final release version of the iPhone OS 3.1 which is expected to be more stable.

I’ll update this post as soon as new features appear.

Intellectsoft is up to the latest iPhone arrivals and new tendencies on the mobile apps market.