It seems like results for Android’s Developer Challenge are finally showing up in developer’s inboxes around the globe. The top 50 winners of the challenge will be published Monday and will receive US$25,000. We have learned that one of the apps we covered here at AndroidAuthority recently has made it into the top 50, TuneWiki.
Jump below to see a few of the submissions received for the Android Challenge.
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Although there are no true Android phones available at the moment, TuneWiki is anticipating them hitting the market soon and has fine tuned its application specifically for the new platform. TuneWiki allows users to download lyrics from the web directly to their handheld and shows them synced in real time during music playback. Think karaoke.
To see more on TuneWiki for Android, see our gallery and the video below.
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Recently our friend Sascha Segan got up close and personal with T-Mobile’s SVP of Engineering and Operations, Neville Ray, and was able to get the carrier to open up about its latest network upgrade, as well as Android.
Here is an excerpt from the interview:
Q: Is the network UMTS or HSDPA?
A: Right now it’s HSDPA 1.8. But HSDPA 3.6 is just a software upgrade, and T-Mobile Europe is already running networks on HSDPA 7.2. What we’re seeing with test devices is a very good average experience in the 600 kilobit range, with bursts into a megabit or slightly north of that.
Q: Where are the smart phones, data cards, etc?
A: We’re moving and working very hard with the Open Handset Alliance, (more…)
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A new Android app called AutoHTN is being developed that will let users control thermostats, lights, outlets, blinds, and other home accessories/equipment directly from their Android handhelds. The open source OS has allowed home automation to be taken mainstream by the Home Theater Network company and will allow users an affordable option to regulate and automate their home systems. A video of AutoHTN in action can be found below.
AutoHTN app can help with the following:
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Well, it appears that we will not be seeing HTC’s much-anticipated Android-based Dream smartphone next week at its London launch event. According to a story in the Taipei Times, HTC’s chief financial officer, Cheng Hui-ming, said earlier this week that the company would be launching the VGA display equipped HTC Touch Diamond in May.
While this doesn’t mean that the chance of an Android device announcement from HTC next week has been reduced to 0, it certainly does lower it quite substantially.
[via EngadgetMobile]
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It appears that Quickoffice, the Microsoft Office document editing suite, has already been ported to the Android smartphone platform, and that the company is merely waiting for Android phones to start shipping before it releases the product formally.
The Quickoffice folks paid PC Magazine a visit and showed them the application running on the Android SDK’s emulator. A complete set of photos of Quickoffice for Android is available for viewing.
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EE Times posted an article yesterday about T-Mobile’s plans for open software platforms and, in particular, its plans for the Google Android platform. The company expects to be the first U.S. based carrier to offer an Android based smartphone, something it expects to do later this year, and plans to offer many such devices in the future.
In the same story, the EE Times quotes Qualcomm’s Sayeed Choudhury, who says that his company is currently working with clients on “more than five” Android smartphones. He then goes on to say that Android based phones will offer functionality that is similar to Apple’s iPhone, yet will be available for purchase at significantly lower prices.
[via TalkAndroid]
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Fierce Wireless has posted a decent little story that details some of the highlight’s of Android’s somewhat brief life so far. They touch on topics such as the prototypes shown at this year’s Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona and the HTC Dream rumors, among other things.
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Google announced that it has received over 1788 entries from developers around the globe for its Android Developer Challenge. The Challenge will provide up to US$10million to developers who build mobile applications for Android. Android is the first completely open and free mobile platform from Internet giant Google.
According to Google, the U.S. leads with the largest number of entries. Germany, Japan, China, India, Canada, France and the U.K also had a good number of submissions. The company will announce the winners on July 21.
[via Pocket-Lint]
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The guys over at TalkAndroid.com have posted a nice feature on 6 upcoming games that are being developed for the Google Android smartphone platform. Some of them are pretty basic, like the Atari Tempest clone SpaceBugs, but others are much more complicated and attempt to blur the line between online and reality by building game worlds based on real world interactions.
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