Android in Canada Blog » Android Apps

XM Online+ App For Android Will Be Ready “Later This Summer”

Billy — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:30:11 +0000

Earlier this year, XM Canada released an app called “XM online+” for the iPhone and Blackberry.

XM online+ essentially gives users access to all of the talk, music, sports, and entertainment shows on XM and costs $7.99 per month (or $2.99 per month when bundled with a XM subscription).

This week, the company announced that they have an Android app in the works for XM online+ that should be available later this summer.

While there is no information beyond “later this summer”, there is an information page where users can sign up to be notified when the service goes live.

The sign up also gives users a 14-day trial of the service right away (used through a browser).

[XM]

Android Market To Reach 100,000 Apps This Month!

Billy — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:30:41 +0000

This month, the Android platform is set to pass the 100,000 app (paid & free) milestone! To date, the market has over 90,000 apps, giving it a few more weeks to reach 100,000.

While this is not yet an official Google number, we expect Google to make a formal announcement soon.

It was only just the end of June 2010 that Google passed the 65,000 app mark. It is clear that the Android platform is rapidly growing.

While the Android Market is still behind Apple’s App Store, which is currently serving more than 225,000 applications, the Android Market is catching up.

Many major developers, such as Amazon and Sling Media, have recently begun porting apps that had previously only been available on other platforms, such as Apple’s iOS.

These new apps, mixed with a growing customer base, have helped the Android Market grow.

[Electronista]

Android Market Passes 65,000 Apps!

Billy — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 08:30:23 +0000

The Android platform has officially passed the 65,000 app (paid & free) milestone! It was only just the end of April that Google passed the 50,000 app mark. It is clear that the Android platform is growing and growing quickly.

While the Android Market is still behind Apple’s App Store, which is currently serving more than 200,000 applications, the Android Market is catching up. Over the last few weeks, the Android customer base has been quickly increasing as more Android devices hit the market.

Android developers are also experiencing more users/customers and finding the community to be a lucrative platform for development.

The Android Market is estimated to exceed 100,000 applications this September 2010.

[Phandroid]

Google Maps Navigation Now Available In Canada

Billy — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 08:30:27 +0000

This week, Google announced the availability of its Google Maps Navigation app (version 4.2) in more countries worldwide, including Canada.

Today we’re launching Google Maps Navigation version 4.2 in Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Switzerland for Android devices 1.6 and higher.

Google Maps Navigation is an Internet-connected GPS navigation system that provides turn-by-turn voice directions as a free feature of Google Maps.

The app also includes the Search by voice functionality and Street View.

Android 2.0 owners have additional functionality by being able to switch to French, German, Italian and Spanish languages for the navigation instructions.

Google Maps Navigation is available to all Android 1.6 devices and higher in the Android Market.

[Google]

Rogers Releases Navigator App For Android

Billy — Sun, 23 May 2010 08:30:54 +0000

This month, Rogers has officially launched their Navigator app for Android. The Navigator application is a re-branded version of the previous Rogers TeleNav service, which first launched on iPhone and is now available for Android.

Features

Navigator for Android features 2D or 3D color maps, available in both landscape and portrait display modes. The maps are further available in day or night modes.

Like TeleNav, maps include automatic map updates and also automatic updates for business listings. Maps further include pedestrian route enhancements and choices to avoid toll roads.

Navigator for Android also features real-time traffic alerts with one-touch rerouting. At this time, traffic support is available in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa. For additional user friendliness, Text to Speech (TTS) can be used for driving to a destination. For example, pressing a button and saying where you want to go.

Users may also pre-plan their trips online at www.rogers.telenav.com

Pricing

Rogers Navigator for Android is available in the Android Market for $4.99/month for Canada-wide navigation. The cost of the app is in addition to your monthly data plan.

Kindle For Android Coming Summer 2010

Billy — Fri, 21 May 2010 08:30:46 +0000

Amazon has announced plans to release an Android compatible version of its popular eBook application Kindle. The app should be available in the Android Market within the next few weeks.

With the Android release of the Kindle app, the eBook application has the ability to purchase books directly from within the Kindle app on the Android device.

Users of the Kindle app for iPhone or iPad will know that purchasing an eBook requires users to make the purchase via the web browser, meaning users must leave the app to make a purchase and then go back into the app to view the purchase.

After the release of the Android version of the Kindle app, Amazon will have advanced its influence with the eBook app across Mac, PC, iPhone, iPad, and Blackberry.

Kindle for Android Features:

Get the best reading experience available on your Android phone. No Kindle required

Access your Kindle books even if you don’t have your Kindle with you

Automatically synchronizes your last page read and annotations between devices with Whispersync

Adjust the text size, add bookmarks, and view the annotations you created on your Kindle, computer, or other Kindle-compatible device

Read in portrait or landscape mode

Tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn pages

Shopping for books with Kindle for Android:

Buy a book from the Kindle Store optimized for your Android phone and get it auto-delivered wirelessly

Search and browse more than 500,000 books, including more than 96 of 110 New York Times bestsellers. If you are a non-U.S. customer, book availability may vary

Find New York Times® Best Sellers and new releases from $9.99

Get free book samples. Read the beginning of books for free before you decide to buy

Books you purchase can also be read on a Kindle, computer, or other Kindle-compatible mobile devices

Kindle newspapers, magazines and blogs are currently not available on Kindle for Android

Kindle for Android requirements:

Requires Android OS 1.6 or greater
Requires an SD card
Supports Droid Incredible, Google Nexus One, HTC MyTouch, Motorola CLIQ, Motorola Droid, and many more Android phones

[Amazon]

Dropbox Now Available On Android

Billy — Thu, 06 May 2010 08:30:39 +0000

Dropbox, one of the major popular and successful file-sharing and document-syncing services, is now available officially as an Android application.

The Beta build of Dropbox has been available for Android for some time, but now the full application is ready for mass consumption via the Android Market.

Dropbox provides users with 2GB of free online storage. The service is also able to be synced with a Mac or PC so that files from computers can be accessed via an Android device. Moreover, the uploaded files may further be shared with friends and other Dropbox users.

The Android version of Dropbox supports uploading of photos, audio, video, and text files from an Android device.

Some of the application features are listed below:

Application features:

Access your Dropbox on the go.
View documents, videos, and photos.
Use your Android camera to take photos and videos and save them to your Dropbox.
Share and send files via email or copy and paste links to use in another app.

With Dropbox, any files synced to your account will be accessible on an Android device. This is a quick way to share photos, videos, and more from your computer to your phone.

[MobileCrunch]

Official Twitter App For Android Now Available

Billy — Sat, 01 May 2010 09:00:39 +0000

At the beginning of April, Twitter announced its intentions to launch an official Twitter app for the Android platform. At the time, Android for Twitter was no easy task, as few Twitter clients have managed to heavily penetrate the Android platform.

There are many mobile apps that provide Twitter services which among themselves, also compete against built-in device tools such as Motorola’s MOTOBLUR, as found on the Backflip and Dext with Telus and Bell, that also provide a basic level of Twitter access.

Reading tweets is easy in a bunch of places on your phone. Quickly access your timeline with the home screen widget, view a tweet location on a map, and see your friend’s latest tweet in your phonebook, GoogleTalk list or any application that uses Android’s QuickContact bar.

So after a slew of not-so-great Twitter apps, Twitter official has launched an application that is now available in the Android Market. The official Twitter app could very well be the best Twitter related app on the Android platform as the app offers a clean UI, has support for widgets, and support for viewing tweets from the QuickContact bar.

Users may also upload images and video right from the Gallery.

Other than the lack of support for multiple Twitter accounts, the one major drawback is that the Twitter app requires Android 2.1. This requirement unfortunately severely limits the number of devices that the app can run on.

[Twitter]

SIRIUS XM Radio Coming To Android In May 2010

Billy — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 17:15:12 +0000

Fans of SIRIUS XM will be happy to know that the company will soon release an Android compatible version of its free mobile application. The app will enable Droid (Milestone?) and Nexus One owners (and presumably others) to have access to the over 120 channels of satellite radio.

Currently, the SIRIUS XM app is available for iPhone, iPod Touch, and Blackberry devices, but Android will now be added to the list.

The company has expressed intentions to release the Android app this May 2010 and that all users of the app will receive a free 7-day trial of the satellite radio premium online service.

The SIRIUS XM App will give subscribers to SIRIUS or XM Premium Online who own a DROID or Nexus One the ability to access exclusive sports talk and entertainment programming from SIRIUS XM’s satellite radio service. Exclusive programming includes MLB Network Radio, SIRIUS NFL Radio, NHL Home Ice, PGA TOUR, Mad Dog Radio with Chris Russo, CNN, Fox News Talk, NPR, MSNBC, The Foxxhole channel presented by Jamie Foxx, Blue Collar Comedy Radio, The Virus featuring Opie & Anthony, Playboy Radio, Rosie Radio, Oprah Radio, and Martha Stewart Living Radio.

Certain programming, including MLB Play-by-Play, NFL Play-by-Play, SIRIUS NASCAR Radio, and Howard Stern, will not be available via the SIRIUS XM App for DROID and Nexus One. Listeners will continue to be able to access that programming through the SIRIUS XM platforms where they are currently offered.

Once released, the SIRIUS XM app will be available for download via the Android Market. For now, Android owners can sign up to be notified for when the app goes live.

[MobileCrunch]

Android OS 2.2 To Feature Automatic App Updates?

Billy — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 08:30:51 +0000

As the rumors of Google testing Android OS 2.2 have emerged, more 2.2 goodies have slowly become available.

In the latest batch of OS 2.2 news, reports indicate that the upcoming Android update will feature automatic application updating, or at least a toggle to enable the function.

Concerns regarding whether the function will include some sort of user authentication have risen, or if the automatic update will happen without any user intervention. The concern here is if users would rather have one type of app update automatically but not have another type of app automatically update.

In any case, the feature is too early to make any kind of assumption, but if (or when) released, the feature will at least assist users in not having to update applications one-by-one.

[MobileCrunch]