A new report by mobile ad company AdMob measures the amount of ad traffic sent from different smartphones in March — and the Droid’s blinking red eye is going to be very pleased with what it found.

AdMob and the Android Lineup

First up, let’s be clear about what exactly we’re discussing here: AdMob measures the number of ad impressions served by applications and mobile Web sites using its platform. In nondipstick speak, that means it’s counting the number of times its little ads show up on apps — you know, the ones that are free and thus ad-supported — as well the number of times they pop up on smartphone-specific versions of Web pages.

That said, here’s what AdMob discovered: The Motorola Droid accounted for nearly a third of all the company’s Android-oriented traffic during the month of March. No other handset even came close to matching the Droid’s 32 percent stronghold: The HTC Hero came in second place, with 19 percent of the traffic. The HTC Dream (T-Mobile G1) and HTC Magic (myTouch 3G) tied for third, with 11 percent each.

Next came the Motorola Cliq, with 10 percent of the total March traffic. Then you have the Samsung Moment, at 6 percent; the Samsung Behold 2, at 2 percent, and the Nexus One, also accounting for only 2 percent of all Android-based AdMob traffic.

Android’s Expanding Options

What’s interesting about this data is how it shows the increasing spread of popular options within the Android ecosystem. Just seven months ago, two handsets were responsible for nearly all of AdMob’s Android-based traffic. Now that same traffic is divided among nearly a dozen different options.

This is truly the key to Android’s inevitable mobile market dominance: choice. I’m not talking about the choice to customize a device and use it the way you see fit (though that’s certainly relevant, too). What I’m talking about here is choice in hardware: Whereas certain unnamed platforms present you with only one basic form, Android devices come in all shapes, sizes, and flavors; there’s something to meet practically any desire.

Case in point: keyboards. Turns out more than half of AdMob’s March Android traffic came from devices with physical QWERTY keyboards — namely the Motorola Droid, Motorola Cliq, and T-Mobile G1. The physical QWERTY keyboard is one reason why I personally prefer using the Droid over newer and more technically impressive handsets such as the HTC Incredible. It’s all about the options.

The Android-iPhone Comparisons

Now, I like a good Android-iPhone smackdown as much as the next guy — but one thing AdMob’s data doesn’t do, contrary to what some reports floating around the blogosphere suggest, is imply that Android has now surpassed the iPhone in overall Web traffic.

In addition to the Android-specific data, you see, the AdMob report breaks down March ad impressions based on mobile operating systems. For the first time, Android does come out ahead of the iPhone, with 46 percent of all U.S.-based traffic compared to the iPhone’s 39 percent. But let’s consider what that really means.

AdMob, as I pointed out early on, measures the number of ad impressions served by applications and mobile Web sites using its platform. The important phrase to take away from that: “using its platform.” When you’re looking within a single operating system like Android, you can draw some general conclusions by treating the data as a broad sample. But when you’re looking from one platform to another, it’s just not a consistent comparison.

AdMob, after all, very well could serve far more apps on Android than it does on iPhone. Developers have options as to whether to include ads and — if they do go the ad-supported route — which mobile ad provider they want to use. Differences in the number of and popularity of AdMob-using apps on each platform would clearly skew any meaning a cross-platform comparison would have.

So, sorry to disappoint, but there’ll be no crown-changing bragging rights awarded here today. That doesn’t mean Android and Apple fanboys can’t still call each other names, though, and mock each others’ platform limitations. Just don’t do it in Apple’s App Store; I hear uttering the word “Android” there can get you banned.

Resource:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/04/27/google_backtracks_on_nexus_one/

As we mentioned in our previous coverage of the update — which was initially supposed to land sometime in early February — it includes pinch-to-zoom multitouch capabilities in the web browser, maps, and gallery applications. It will also include Google Goggles, a visual search app for Android that generates search results from photos.

Other new features include speech-to-text support for any text box, a 3D layout in the pictures gallery, and support for Yahoo e-mail. Inexplicably, Verizon notes that Yahoo e-mail isn’t accessible over Wi-Fi.

The update started rolling out at noon yesterday to 1,000 Droid owners and reached 10,000 users by midnight last night. Verizon planned not to roll out any updates today, possibly for troubleshooting purposes in case something goes wrong with the update. The roll out will continue tomorrow, April 1, at 200,000 users a day until all Droid owners receive it. If you’re anxious to receive the update right away, you can try manually updating as demonstrated by TechCrunch.

Resource:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/01/technology/personaltech/01pogue.html

A suite of Google mobile applications including Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail and YouTube are integrated into the device. Users also have access to thousands of apps and widgets from Google’s Android store Android Market, as well as unified Google, Microsoft Office and Facebook contacts.

Faisal Siddiqui, country head, mobile devices, Motorola India, said in a statement, “Milestone is targeted at the well informed, socially connected individual. As an Android 2.1 device, Milestone does what other smart phones don’t. It was designed to enhance consumer experiences with its full screen web browsing experience, ability to juggle between multiple apps and suite of Google applications.”

Milestone comes preloaded with voice based street level navigable maps of 401 cities in India. The navigation service works independent of mobile network and can be used without inserting the SIM card as the maps are loaded on the handset.

Android is a software platform designed to deliver a customisable user experience on mobile devices. Other than the web browsing capability, it enables interactive web services such as email, social networking, mobile games and video sharing.

The Google Android mobile operating system (OS) was first launched in October 2008 with the HTC Dream handset. India got Android in July 2009 with the launch of HTC Magic. The Android OS has become widely popular especially owing to the fact that it is an open source platform which means that the program’s code is freely available and any developer can create applications to run on it, without having to take permission or licenses.

Currently, HTC, Samsung, Sony Ericsson and now Motorola sell Android based phones in India.

Resource:
http://telecomyatra.afaqs.com/news/?sid=689_Motorola+rolls+out+its+first+Android+phone+in+India

Since this is a Nextel iDEN phone, it comes with lots of Nextel Direct Connect extras, including one-to-one push-to-talk with any other Nextel subscriber – the first time an Android phone has taken advantage of this feature. It also includes Group Connect, International Direct Connect, Direct Talk, Direct Send and Group Messaging — features Nextel likes to push front and center with its phones.

The Motorola i1 will run Android 1.5 and has a 3.1-inch, 320-by-480 TFT touch screen, a 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, and Opera Mini 5 Web browsing. It appears to share many build similarities with the Motorola CLIQ XT, another slab-style Android phone with mostly equal specs.

That said, the i1 will not run on 3G because it is Nextel’s network, and there’s no word if the phone will run MotoBlur, the social-networking oriented build of Android 1.5. If it doesn’t run MotoBlur, there will be questions about why the phone doesn’t have a newer version of stock Android.

The device is also the first truly rugged Android phone we’ve seen. Like several earlier “rugged” products from Motorola, the i1 meets military specification 810F, which means it should be able to tolerate dust, shock, vibration, extreme temperatures, humidity, and more. It will support up to a 32GB microSD card and claims about three and a half hours of talk time. The phone will be available for Nextel and SouthernLINC some time this summer.

Resource:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2361660,00.asp

The MWC 2010 finally ended February 18, 2010. It was a hectic week full of interesting announcements, exciting new devices and almost no sleep. But thanks to Barcelona for such a warm welcome yet another year.

More than 49,000 visitors from 200 countries attended the 2010 GSMA Mobile World Congress. The event welcomed 1,300 exhibiting companies and occupied more than 56,000 net square meters of exhibition and business meeting space.

Unfortunately, Nokia didn’t make a product announcement despite all the rumors. In fact Samsung, of all manufacturers, was the only company to present a ground-breaking mobile phone (a new OS and a new type of display). But even they didn’t show anything interesting alongside it.

Anyway, we still found some interesting topics and devices to cover but we leave this year’s congress with mixed feelings – mainly due to our high initial expectations.

New announcement from Mobile world congress 2010:

• Nokia

  Nokia did not announce any new mobile phones in Mobile World Congress 2010

• Samsung

  Samsung announcement ne mobiles phones in Mobile World Congress 2010

  1. Samsung S8500 Wave
  2. Samsung I8520 Beam
  3. Samsung C3200 Monte Bar
  4. Samsung E2550 Monte Slider
  5. Samsung B3410W Ch@t
  6. Samsung E2370
• Sony Ericson

  Sony Ericson announcement mobile phones in Mobile World Congress 2010

  1. Sony Ericsson Vivaz pro
  2. Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 mini
  3. Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 mini pro
  4. Sony Ericsson Aspen
• MICROSOFT

  MICROSOFT announcement in Mobile World Congress 2010

  1. Microsoft announces the all new Windows Phone 7 Series platform
• LG

  LG announce below mobile phones in Mobile World Congress 2010

  1. LG GD880 Mini
  2. LG GT540
  3. LG GW990 MID
• HTC

  HTC announce below mobile phones in Mobile World Congress 2010

  1. HTC Desire
  2. HTC Legend
  3. HTC HD Mini
  4. HTC Smart
• ACCER

  ACCER announce below mobile phones in Mobile World Congress 2010

  1. Acer beTouch E110
  2. Acer beTouch E400
  3. Acer neoTouch P300
  4. Acer neoTouch P400
  5. Acer Liquid E
• Toshiba

  Toshiba announce below mobile phones in Mobile World Congress 2010

  1. Toshiba TG02
  2. Toshiba K01
• Motorola

  Motorola announce below mobile phones in Mobile World Congress 2010

  1. Motorola QUENCH (CLIQ XT)
• ELSE

  ELSE announce below mobile phones in Mobile World Congress 2010

  1. ELSE Mobile First Else
• HUAWEI

  HUAWEI announce below mobile phones in Mobile World Congress 2010

  1. Huawei U8100
  2. Huawei U8110
  3. Huawei U8300
  4. Huawei U8800
• ALCATEL

  ALCATEL announce below mobile phones in Mobile World Congress 2010

  1. Alcatel OT-606 One Touch CHAT
  2. Alcatel OT-710
  3. Alcatel OT-800
  4. Alcatel OT-806
  5. Alcatel OT-808
  6. Alcatel OT-880 One Touch XTRA
  7. Alcatel OT-909
  8. Alcatel OT-980

Resource: http://www.gsmarena.com