Android

Amazon rolled out another update for the Kindle Android app today, and it looks like they did some serious work cleaning up the code. The v3.4 release includes a number of bug fixes, but more importantly it is also a smaller file. Amazon knocked a couple MB off the file size.

When Amazon last released an update (when they added PDF support), the app was 10MB in size. That’s actually quite large, because it replaced an app that was only 5MB. While this size difference might not matter to most people, I have heard a couple complaints from users.

This update also adds a rather fun feature. The Android app now supports page numbers. Amazon added page numbers to select Kindle eBooks last year, much to the delight of anyone who is trying to sync a paper copy with the related Kindle eBook.

Android Market

In what has to be  truly unlikely coincidence, Wikipedia has just released an official Android app just in time for the entire site to go offline as part of the SOPA protest.

This is not the first Android app to use Wikipedia. There are quite a few apps in the Android Market that fill the same purpose. It almost makes you wonder why an official app was released; it seems redundant.

But the official app is  good one. It’s rated at 5 stars with 75 reviews. The app features include the ability to save article to read later or offline, search, multiple language support, search related articles, and sharing articles.

The saving articles feature is nice, and it is not included in some of the competing apps.

Android Market

It’s been some months since we last heard from Foxit, and now we know what the company has been doing. A few weeks back Foxit released its Mobile PDF app in to the Android Market.

The app offers text reflow, annotation, and bookmarks, but that’s only a bare summary of the features. You can scribble on or highlight text in a PDF in multiple colors. The app comes with its own file manager, and it includes a robust page jump feature.

This app offers far more abilities than your average free Android PDF app. It’s also priced the same a number of other paid PDF apps. While it might not be the best it is certainly worth paying for.

Android Market

via

An Android phone is not an iPhone 4S, but still you can trick out an Android phone with apps to include some of the features you’ll find in the iPhone 4S. FoxNews has put together a list of six free Android  app alternatives to the iOS 5 updates.

On their list Vlingo replaces Siri, Whatsapp Messenger replaces iMessage and Postagram replaces Cards. Here is more from Fox: “Newstand Alternative: Zinio: Newsstand on iOS 5 supposedly organizes your magazine and newspaper app subscriptions, but Zinio has been around for far longer and already aggregates many of your favorite digital publications in one place. You can purchase both single issues and full subscriptions of top titles in the app, plus watch videos, bookmark content, view interactive media, and even share articles with friends. Best of all? Zinio gives you access to a sampling of the best pieces across top News, Science & Tech, Art, Lifestyle, and Entertainment magazines—for free—as soon as you download the app.”

Admittedly it’s not the same as having an iPhone, but its a nice list for Android users.

The Washington Post staked a claim in the Android world this week with the launch of their new app.

This is The WP‘s 6th app, and it’s free to download in the Android Market. Unfortunately the app also appears to be restricted to only certain platforms. I cannot see it from my Asus eee Transformer tablet, which means I cannot offer a first hand description of its features.

The Washington Post app offers a mix of content avaialble on the website both inside and outside the paywall. You can checl the weather forecasts, local and regional traffic reports, view photo galleries created by award-winning journalists, as well read breaking news reported by The Washington Post reporters.*

Android Market.

How would you like to go digital but not give up the joys of pen and paper? Then the Apen A3 just might be what you’re looking for.

The latest digital pen from Apen is designed to work with any Bluetooth equipped BlackBerry or Android. It writes just like a normal pen and will work on all the usual types of paper. But what sets it apart from regular pens are the sensors in the base unit and the battery powered transmitter in the pen.

The base unit uses a pair of sensors to triangulate the location of the pen.  It then sends the data to your BB or Android device while you are drawing or writing. So long as the sensors can see the tip of the pen, it will continue to send what you’re scribbling and you’ll see it on screen in near real-time. The sensors are fairly accurate – just so long as you don’t shift them around.

It’s available now from retailers in the US.

Android dominates the smartphone market with 40.1% of U.S. smartphone owners using Android-based smartphones, according to a new report from comScore that measured mobile subscriber market share during the three month average period ending June 2011. Android adoption rose up 5.4 percentage points from the previous three month period.

Apple’s iPhone held the No. 2 position, with 26.6% of smartphone owners owning an iPhone, up 1.1% from the prior reporting period. RIM held the No. 3 position with 23.4% share, followed by Microsoft at 5.8% and Symbian at 2%.

According to the report, 78.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in June 2011, up 8 percent from the preceding three month period.

The Philadelphia Media Network, which runs the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily, is trying to get ahead of the digital revolution by giving out Android devices with their papers on them to print newspaper subscribers.

The Sacramento Bee has more: “The pilot project slated to be launched in late August will distribute about 2,000 tablets to customers who buy subscriptions to The Philadelphia Inquirer or Philadelphia Daily News, according to Mark Block, spokesman for Philadelphia Media Network. The computers will come with four news apps, including two that offer replicas of the papers’ print editions. Customers will also get an Inquirer app with additional content and an app for philly.com, the website shared by both newspapers, Block said.”

Via Andrew Phelps.

TI has has announced that its OMAP4 CPU, its latest generation SoC platform, has been approved by Netflix for the 1080p HD streaming video. This appears to be the first time that a mobile platform has been approved.

“Netflix already has a rich heritage of streaming to PCs, Macs, game consoles, Internet-connected TVs,  iPhone and iPad, and many set-top-boxes, so we sought a semiconductor partner that could bring our service to the broader mobile environment smoothly and securely,” said Bill Holmes, Vice President Business Development, Netflix. “TI’s OMAP architecture and M-Shield security will set the stage for a high-performance, low-power, secure platform that will help Netflix members instantly watch unlimited TV shows and movies on Android devices.”

This is great news for Android owners. If you ‘re like me, you’ve been watching as support for Android was added 1 device at a time, waiting in agony for your phone to be added. even with the hackers working on adding less-than-authorized support, the delay has been frustrating. Hopefully this certification will mean that all (or at least most) phones running on a TI OMAPs CPU will soon be able to use the Netflix Android app.

Engadget was tipped to a leaked product listing yesterday. Samsung’s latest gadget showed up on Best Buy’s mobile shopping app, price and all ($270).

The Galaxy Player is Samsung’s newest PMP. It’s based on a 5″ (800×480), and it runs Android v2.2 with Wifi, 8GB Flash storage, a microSD card slot, and a pair of cameras. This is by no means a smartphone, and that suggests that Samsung plans to go after the iPod Touch.

There’s no word on release date, though.