Portable Electronics Ltd // Technology you can carry.

Samsung Electronics revealed they were already working on a next generation tablet based off the upcoming Honeycomb version of Android (possibly Android 3.5) during a Q&A session today at IFA.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab will launch with FroYo (Android 2.2) and eventually be upgraded to Gingerbread (maybe Android 3.0), but Samsung said Honeycomb was for a different kind of tablet experience.

JK Shin, head of Samsung Mobile Communications, said that his company was working directly with Google on a larger tablet. “Moving forward with Honeycomb, that will be used in the next generation tablet as it is specifically optimized for different type of tablet, and will be used on another product only.”

Shin’s comments are interesting because not much is known about Honeycomb at this point. Many have speculated that Gingerbread would become Android 3.0 and be the first version of Android optimized for the tablet experience.

I still expect we will see Gingerbread in 2010 on a Tegra 2 Android device, but I doubt Samsung will make it available this year on the Galaxy Tab. It is nice to hear them commit to upgrading the Tab, but we all know how long these software updates can take.

Samsung also said there are no immediate plans to release a WiFi-only version of the Galaxy Tab. Their business plan is to work directly with carriers and have them subsidize the price so customers can have a lower entry point of purchase.

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So we've told you a little bit about Millennius, now we can tell you that they have just launched a new look online store. The online store now includes two variations of their Android Smartphone the Apanda A60 (8GB & 16GB) as well as two Android Tablets, the Millennius SmartQ and the Millennius SmartQ 3G. Their specs & prices can be seen in the image above. As for the quality of said items, we're hoping to review all, if not most of them in the coming weeks, stay tuned.

CoPilot Live is a fully-featured GPS system for your Android device. It includes turn-by-turn directions, live traffic, local gas prices, various route options, and more.

Price: $19.99 – $59.99

We’re giving away 2 full licenses of CoPilot Live (North America) at random to those who comment below!AndroidTapp.com Android App Review:(Tested using an HTC Evo running Android 2.2)
Pros & Cons:

Pros

• Maps are downloaded directly onto your SD card so navigation features work even without a wireless connection as long as GPS in enabled
• Multi-stop trips
• Lane assist eliminates confusion in unfamiliar multi-lane high traffic areas
• Additional maps are available for other countries such as Europe, UK, Australia, and more
• Route recalculation is quick and seamless

Cons

• HUGE download. The North America region download for this app is almost 2GB stored to your SD card
• No voice search feature. One of the most used functions on my Evo with the 2.2 upgrade.

Features:

CoPilot Live is a great app for anyone who finds themselves using GPS navigation often. This, of course, coming from someone who uses Google Maps often, having the offline capability was a huge plus! CoPilot sets itself apart from other navigation software by simply offering many services you would normally find only on a dedicated GPS device. Even better, you have more than one voice to choose from rather than the standard TTS voice (which on long trips can get annoying and causes use of the mute button) your given using Google Maps. This application is available on Android, iPhone, iPad and Windows Mobile. On your desktop, you can customize a variety of features for CoPilot Live using the free Windows software called CoPilot Central, also available from ALK.

There are several versions you can buy of this app (All available in the Android Market): North America, South Africa, UK + Ireland, Europe, and Australia. Using this app I only tested the North American maps in their most current form.

Key Features:

• Accurate navigation to either house number or street level
• Quick re-routing when needed. I’m no longer nervous about missing a turn!
• Several different views for navigation to choose from (2D, 3D, and Driver Safety)
• Enhancements such as speed limit indicator and lane indicator display just makes using this app that much safer
• Works in either landscape or portrait mode
• Thousands of POIs available for North America (almost too much to handle!)
• Share location via SMS. Cool feature to let your loved ones know where you are.
• Navigation available either by car, motorcycle, bicycle, RV, or walking. (I only tested the car method but feel free to send me a motorcycle or RV!)
• Download maps for several areas on one SD card
• Live Services (see below)

Live Services:

CoPilot offers a variety of different premium services that requires a data connection. Not all services are available in all areas. These are:

• Live Weather: Choice of local weather, at destination, or in another city (either Fahrenheit or Celsius). Provided you with current and 5-day outlook including highs & lows with weather conditions for the day. Clicking any of the 5 days will send you externally to AccuWeather’s websites.
• LiveLink: I was unfortunate enough not to get to try this out but it sounds very interesting. In theory, you would share you location with others either via their CoPilot Live application on-screen or via email to others through the CoPilot LiveLink website. I could see this being very useful amongst a group of travellers, only if everyone had the same application installed.
• Live Traffic: Shows any traffic-related incident in the area. Throughout my usage, I typically found construction as the items it provided me with. It separates this in two formats: via Map or via list of major highways effected. You can choose to automatically avoid the incident or select it manually.
• Live Fuel Prices: Shows the prices of nearby gas stations. Great information but no way to change whether the information is sorted by price or distance without going into the settings. Does allow you to be specific on the grade of fuel and the search radius.
• Live Local Search: Find different items of interest either nearby or in another city. Google Search SPOILS me so I was not impressed with the functionality of this feature. Area of improvement for sure.

Usefulness:

CoPilot is great for those who do a lot of traveling. This application feels like it wasn’t designed for just your average trip across town, however, it could easily be used for any destination no matter how far away it may be. Offline usage is a huge advantage and makes traveling in areas with limited cellular signal much easier. The additional services that CoPilot offers makes trips less of a headache and more enjoyable for you and your family.

Ease of Use:

Being used to Google Maps, this app takes on a different approach to how to use navigation software. It resembles a dedicated GPS device heavily so if your used to that platform, this should be a breeze.

Frequently Used:

If you need directions to an unfamiliar area, want up-to-date information on your common routes, or plan or traveling further than your own internal-brain-navigation can handle, this will be used often. Even though I know the route to work, I used it everyday just to keep updated on traffic.

Interface:

All icons and text is large and easily readable on the screen. Menus are a bit excessive at times but that can be viewed from a positive and negative standpoint. Lots of options and settings means lots of way to customize your experience with this app.

Battery Life (Updated):

This was one of my main concerns with this app (and all GPS nav apps for that matter). I’m happy to report that battery life with this application was minimal! During most trips, I saw about half the battery usage I normally see using Google Maps or Sprint Navigation. I guess it makes a big different to not be connected to the internet the entire time. In fact, a couple of times I used this application turning my mobile internet off completely and had no issues aside from not being able to use Live Services. Very pleased with this app’s battery usage!

AndroidTapp.com Rating

(4.25 out of 5)

Should you Download CoPilot Live? For anyone who uses GPS navigation more than once a week, YES! The added features and offline capability alone are enough to justify getting this app. Skeptical at first but after a few days of use it’s definitely worth the money.

This content was originally posted at AndroidTapp.com

That Folio 100 (alias Smart Pad) from Toshiba we'd been hearing about? Yep, totally real, and totally Tegra 2-powered -- a theme that we think is going to be pretty popular among tablet makers this season. We caught a handful of Folio 100s firmly affixed to a wall at IFA today, showing 10.1-inch multitouch LCD displays paired with a remixed version of Android 2.1, a handful of capacitive buttons, a front-facing 1.3 megapixel camera, 16GB of on-board storage, and not much else -- there's really nothing visually stunning about the setup as far as we can tell, and it's not particularly thin. After bouncing out that crazy Libretto W100, Toshiba's going to have to turn up the style dial to 11 if it wants to rise above the forthcoming onslaught of Google tablets, we suspect.

Gallery: Toshiba's Folio 100 with Android and Tegra 2 spied in the IFA wilds

Toshiba's Folio 100 with Android and Tegra 2 spied in the IFA wilds originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 07:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | CommentsChris Ziegler06896960033741588555083482037599083329441494599308413218585711030407284053886169095560990844213649640119485657681932763506008721996002204660151108243118403914810162951949978758056017214117192345817357156212603800319409481021945666561711659601760681598346401081050980063537550027891774199111576601727111747877140011860295104172403066967316940348177358090510451609066430319335031979053118220724714078691030053544347963321515607440085666377770

We've heard talk of the Gem before, and a new listing for the phone in Best Buy's September buyer's guide confirms the existence of Verizon's new low-end Android piece that'll likely slot in below the Fascinate in Sammy's lineup for the carrier. Looks like it's slated to launch with Android 2.1, not 2.2, and will include both TouchWiz 3.0 and Swype -- both Samsung staples at this point -- along with a 3.2 megapixel cam and 16GB of microSD expansion (though it's not clear whether they're going to do you the favor of throwing a card in the box). Despite the high-end name, we'd argue pricing is definitely going to determine the success of the Gem, especially in a world where Vibrants go for next to nothing on contract. $79.99 at launch, perhaps?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Samsung Gem for Verizon shows up in Best Buy buyer's guide originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Sep 2010 06:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | CommentsChris Ziegler1441786893540670307610219456665617116596

Today at IFA in Berlin, Samsung Electronics announced the Galaxy Tab which is the company’s first 7-inch Galaxy S Android tablet. The device is scheduled to launch in Europe around mid September, but it’s also headed to the U.S. in the coming months.

Specs of the Galaxy Tab are nearly identical to the Galaxy S smartphones, with the main differences being the display, camera, and battery capacity. The Tab features a 7-inch TFT-LCD display with WSVGA resolution (1024 x 600), 3 MP rear-facing camera paired with a 1.3 MP front-facing camera, and a massive 4,000 mAh battery.

The international version of the Galaxy Tab supports GSM and HSPA networks, but we expect it be customized to work with any U.S. carrier. A CDMA version has already been spied and rumors suggest it could be headed to Verizon. No U.S. versions were announced, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see Sprint push a 4G WiMAX model or T-Mobile offer one with HSPA+ support.

We got a brief moment to play around with the international version of the Galaxy Tab and I can easily say it’s the best Android Tablet I have seen yet. The Galaxy Tab offers all the performance we have come to expect from the Galaxy S lineup with the addition of a larger display, which makes this a great device for watching movies, playing games, and reading e-books.

The Galaxy Tab will clearly be marketed as a tablet, but it also includes a microphone so it could be used as a phone. You might look silly holding it up to your face (see my pic below), but it also supports Bluetooth 3.0 so you could pair a wireless headset to the device and make calls while it sits in your pocket.

There have been tons of rumors floating around about other Android tablets, but Samsung is the first to deliver one that is actually certified by Google. This means users can find all the Google apps they know and love, including the Android Market.

One area of concern I have is that Samsung is running Android 2.2 with a non-standard display resolution of 1024 x 600. Samsung told us that most Android applications from the Market should still work, but we need more time to perform additional testing to see how downloaded apps perform.

Developers have been slow to adapt their apps for smaller screens like the QVGA display of the Motorola Charm, and it might be awhile before they take full advantage of the larger display resolution found on the Galaxy Tab.

I also worry that Samsung could quickly be leap-frogged by the competition if we start seeing dual-core tablets running Android 3.0 in Q4. Samsung should be first to market, but it might be a tough sell if consumers know a better device could land around the same time frame. For example, several manufacturers are expected to show off Tegra 2 tablets during the same IFA show.

Overall I think the Galaxy Tab is an excellent Android tablet, but I don’t see it doing anything my current Android phone can’t already do. I would honestly like to have an Android tablet with a 7-10 inch display, but I have no desire for a 2nd device tied to carrier contract. It would be nice if Samsung offered a WiFi-only model of the Galaxy Tab, but their press release really focused on a device with a “constant connection” and it doesn’t sound like one is in the cards right now.

Check out our quick hands-on video below (that was recorded with an Epic 4G) and let us know what you think. Is the Galaxy Tab a device you can’t wait to purchase or would you rather wait and see what comes next? Would you prefer to purchase a subsidized version attached to a 2-year carrier contract or does a WiFi-only model sound more up your alley?

Is the Samsung Galaxy Tab the Android tablet you have been waiting for?

We should get some extended time with the Galaxy Tab later today, so be on the lookout for more coverage. If you have any burning questions, leave a comment and I’ll do my best to get them answered.

Highlights of the Galaxy Tab include:

• 7-inch TFT-LCD, WSVGA (1024 x 600)
• 1 GHz Hummingbird CPU (ARM Cortex-A8)
• Android 2.2 with TouchWiz UI
• 3 MP rear-facing camera with auto-focus and LED flash, 1.3 MP front-facing camera
• 16 or 32 GB of internal storage, 512 MB RAM
• Size: 190.09 x 120.45 x 11.98, 380g
• Battery: 4,000 mAh (7 hour movie playback)
• 30 pin connector for charging and accessories (like a dock with HDMI)
• Gyroscope sensor, geo-magnetic sensor, accelerometer, light sensor, 802.11n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0

Update: Youtube hates me and decided not to process my hands-on video. I will attempt to upload it again and see what happens. If all else fails I still have my real camera and will be recording some more videos with the Tab.

Gallery Show Press Release

Samsung GALAXY Tab Opens a New Chapter in Mobile Industry

A New Smart Media Device, surpasses mobile boundries, allowing you to enjoy more possibilities on the go.

Berlin, Germany, September 2nd, 2010 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in mobile technology, today announced the launch of the Samsung GALAXY Tab (Model: GT-P1000). Powered by Android Operating System 2.2, the Samsung GALAXY Tab is the first of the company’s tablet devices, representing a new category of mobile products for Samsung.

The Samsung GALAXY Tab brings together all of Samsung’s leading innovations to provide users with more capabilities while on the move. Consumers are able to experience PC-like web-browsing and enjoy all forms of multimedia content on the perfectly sized 7-inch display, wherever they go. Moreover, users can continuously communicate via e-mail, voice, and video call, SMS/MMS or social network with the optimized user interface.

“Samsung recognizes the tremendous growth potential in this newly created market and we believe that the Samsung GALAXY Tab brings a unique and open proposition to market. There is a new and emerging consumer demand that Samsung can satisfy since mobile is in our DNA. This demand continues to grow and develop as users tap its limitless potential,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Mobile Communications Business, Samsung Electronics. “The Samsung GALAXY Tab has been designed to enable consumers to maximize their online experience wherever that may be. The Samsung GALAXY Tab is pushing the market in new directions and Samsung believes this is only the beginning of its innovations as pioneers in smart media devices.”

A new concept of mobility for media

As a new category of device, the Samsung GALAXY Tab brings a wealth of experiences. Its striking 7? TFT-LCD display delivers exciting mobile experience for watching films, viewing pictures, e-reading or sharing documents. In design, its light (380 g) build provides perfect portability, with its svelte dimensions making it easy to grip and use. Supporting the latest Adobe Flash Player 10.1, the Samsung GALAXY Tab fully supports swift, seamless viewing of every single page of the web.

The ‘Readers Hub,’ Samsung’s unique e-reading application, provides easy access to a vast digital library – from classical literature to the latest bestsellers and reference materials. At the same time, Samsung unveils ‘Media Hub,’ a gateway to a world of films and videos, and ‘Music Hub,’ an application giving access to a wide range of music tunes.

The Samsung GALAXY Tab has made rich communication truly mobile; it presents a level of converged technology that moves beyond mobile or PC to an entirely new category. Users have new powers to consume, create and communicate from wherever they are.

Powerful, always-on communication

With 3G HSPA connectivity, 802.11n Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 3.0, the Samsung GALAXY Tab enhances users’ mobile communication on a whole new level. Video conferencing and push email on the large 7-inch display make communication more smooth and efficient. For voice telephony, the Samsung GALAXY Tab turns out to be a perfect speakerphone on the desk, or a mobile phone on the move via Bluetooth headset.

Powered by a Cortex A8 1 GHz application processor, the Samsung GALAXY Tab is designed to deliver high performance whenever and wherever you are. At the same time, HD video contents are supported by a wide range of multimedia formats (DivX, XviD, MPEG4, H.263, H.264 and more), which maximizes the joy of entertainment.

While the front-facing camera allows face-to-face video telephony over 3G, the rear-facing camera captuers still images and video that you can edit, upload and share, all without any hassle. As online content explodes, the Samsung GALAXY Tab is the best portable solution for every lifestyle that needs a constant connection.

The Samsung GALAXY Tabwill be launched in Europe in mid September, and in other markets including Koera, the US and Asia in coming months.

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While in Australia, Sony was showing off incremental 3D upgrades to existing TVs, attendees at the IFA trade show in Germany got to see Sony's newest creation: the Google TV.

Dubbed the unwieldy "Sony Internet TV Powered by Google", the TV features what's promised to be true integration between internet content and free-to-air channels.

The TV is due to be released in the next three months, and technology communications manager at Sony Australia Paul Colley told Gizmodo the set is also coming to Australia.

Unfortunately, Colley was unable to confirm pricing or release dates, though Google has previously announced it would be available worldwide in 2011.

Google TV is a collaboration between the search giant, Intel and Sony and appears to be an extension of Sony's existing Bravia Internet Video service.

(Photo credit: Gizmodo)

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A new update to the T-Mobile SCOOP site reveals that the G2 will indeed feature an 800 MHz Qualcomm MSM7230 processor. Even though our original leak said the CPU would be clocked at 800 MHz, we had been reporting the speed as 1 GHz after several sites continued to leak specs which showed the faster speed.

The Qualcomm MSM7230 features a similar Scorpion CPU as the Snapdragon, but it contains the much faster Adreno 205 GPU. We knew the MSM7230 was capable of speeds of 800 MHz to 1 GHz, but we wrongly assumed T-Mobile would bump up the speed to 1 GHz.

At the end of the day the newer 800 MHz MSM7230 will likely out-perform the older 1 GHz Snapdragon, but I’m sure we will see a lot of complaints due to earlier speculation. The G2 should be out soon, so let’s wait and see how it performs in our round of benchmarks.

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We had a chance to check out Philips' new GoGear Connect a few hours ago ahead of its IFA debut later this week, a brushed metal media player that pretty closely apes the Muse but adds a wee bit of girth, swaps in Android 2.1 for the proprietary OS, and adds a trackball down below. Interestingly, it's got both a 3.2-megapixel camera and edge-mounted microphone on board, meaning that it's basically just a GSM radio shy of being a full-on smartphone -- but we digress: the point is that the Connect will be going head-to-head with the likes of the Galaxy S-inspired Samsung Yepp YP-MB2 and the new iPod touch for the hearts and minds of the dedicated PMP crowd this autumn. Read on for our impressions!

Gallery: Philips GoGear Connect hands-on

Continue reading Philips GoGear Connect hands-on

Philips GoGear Connect hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | CommentsChris Ziegler1333063174976987587806462639552025498077065753926599977123151531797346207306795109556099084421364964014181327413559500880112757255284235252305858250231806961998016295194997875805600504079728800367954410756551381660532603116327512184004634680057992320796233690403520719333586328303003209333872692039040345392416620537463915310963425700747429

One of the main reasons people use their Android phones is for the built-in GPS functionality. Back in October 2009, Google pissed off just about every GPS company by launching their very own free GPS navigation system, Google Navigation, which tightly integrates this service with the Android platform. The one catch with Google Navigation? You have to have a data connection to use it, which can create some problems when there is a network outage or you happen to be in an area with spotty (or no) coverage.

Enter CoPilot Live. CoPilot Live has been around for a while now (since summer 2009 or so), but usage dropped right around the release of Google Navigation. After all, it’s fairly difficult to compete with a service that’s being offered for free without differentiating yourself in some key way. Well, CoPilot live is trying to do just that by showcasing the fact that CoPilot live can be used all the time, whether you have a data connection or not. The way they accomplish this is by loading the maps directly onto your SD card rather than downloading local maps every time you take a trip. We will discuss this a bit later in the review.

Setting a Route

The whole purpose of having a GPS navigation application (or standalone GPS-unit) in your car is to safely and successfully travel from Point A to Point B, perhaps stopping at points C, D, and E along the way. As such, one of the most essential components of a GPS navigation application is how easy it is to set up routes to get you where you want to go.

In CoPilot Live, you begin by entering the City or Zip Code of the destination, then the name of the street you are navigating to. Finally, you enter the business/house number or cross street. That’s right, a total of three different screens to enter a simple address. Though not a dealbreaker, it seems much more complicated than simply typing in an address into a single bar ala Google Navigation. I’m confident users can get used to either way of entering destination information.

CoPilot Live allows you to enter destination information in multiple ways. For example, you can use CoPilot Live to navigate to a location on the map by simply selecting a waypoint on the map itself. Though this might not be as useful for precise directions, it will certainly help you navigate to an area that’s “close enough” to your final destination.

CoPilot Live also makes it very easy to set multiple stopping points along the way, which is very handy when going on road trips with multiple stops at places of interest.

Finally, you can easily navigate to places of interest by selecting a few categories (i.e. Restaurant > Bar and Grill > Destination), and then picking which location you want to go to. CoPilot live does the rest.

Summary

Overall, CoPilot Live offers multiple means of getting you where you want to go. Though in some ways it is on par or slightly better than Google Navigation, in other key ways it leaves you scratching your head.

Navigating the Route

No GPS application is worth a lick unless the navigation process is intuitive and works well. As someone who has driven through all parts of the United States, I think I can safely say that some of the standard routes in Minneapolis are pretty wonky, and sometimes frustratingly confusing. Though it has the potential to aggravate drivers, it seems it’s the perfect testing grounds for navigation systems, in my humble opinion.

Over the course of the past week or so, I’ve tested CoPilot live on seven different routes in and around the Twin Cities. The navigation screen was pleasant enough; you are represented by a big red triangle and because the maps are preloaded onto your phone, the streets (with names) come and go in real time as you travel. This is a welcome feature especially in those areas that don’t have 3G yet, let alone 4G or HSPA+ (though those places are becoming few and far between).

All in all, the navigation process works as well as you’d expect, but with a few potentially large hiccups I experienced with the voice turn-by-turn directions. First, while navigating some of the more complicated sections I mentioned earlier, CoPilot Live’s voice instructed me to turn AFTER the exit had already passed. Because I was testing CoPilot Live, I was following the voice-guided navigation to the tee, and missed my exit. Because the alternate route CoPilot Live provided was through the heart of downtown Minneapolis, my 15 minute trek quickly turned into 45.

The second hiccup is the voice-guided navigation itself. There are some very cool features in CoPilot’s voice guidance system to be sure: you can select from multiple voices in over 20 different languages, for example, but the quality of the voice-guided directions themselves are not up to the standards that Google Navigation has set. Here’s an example taken from my routine drive to work every day:

Google Navigation: “In a quarter mile, take exit 17C for Washington Avenue North”  - Simple, Elegant, and detailed enough to let me know exactly what I need to do to get off of the freeway, without looking at the screen.

CoPilot Live: “In two tenths…of a mile, take exit” – Simple, yes. Elegant and Detailed enough? Not at all. Though the exit details appear at the bottom of the screen, this requires me to look directly at the GPS unit in order to figure out where I’m supposed to go (this area has 3 exits within 1/4 mile, hence the need for exit 17C noted above).

I know, I know, people with GPS units tend to look at them a lot of the time anyway, but it’s arguably less safe and convenient than having just enough information to successfully navigate to your destination without having to look at the screen.

Summary

CoPilot Live does many of the core navigation features as well as you’d expect from a navigation system, but really lacks in the voice turn-by-turn directions area. The quality of the directions is a bit less than it’s Google counterpart, and on two separate occasions it told me to take an exit after I’ve already passed the exit.

Other Features

One of CoPilot’s saving grace features is the point-of-interest integration. Users can find points of interest around their location simply by clicking on the places-like icons that show up on the map. Then, you can simply navigate to the point of interest with a few easy button clicks. This works a lot like places, but operates as a layer over the map itself.

Another cool feature is the ability to share your coordinates via SMS, so you can easily update friends as to your whereabouts if you’re lost, or let a family member know when to expect your arrival, or all kinds of other cool uses. Yes, you might not use it much, but it can be very handy in several situations.

Multiple map modes allows you to view your navigation content in 2D, 3D, or Driver Safety Navigation modes so you can enjoy your navigation the way you want to.

Pros

• Maps stored on the SD Card – allows you to navigate anywhere you want to go without the need to be connected to 2/3/4G.
• Was quick to load navigation routes.
• Though entering in route information was a bit more complicated, the text prediction was fairly good making it easy to enter in street names and cities.
• Access to maps from all over the world – handy for the traveling Android user.
• Ability to share location via SMS.
• Has biking, walking, and RVing directions in addition to the standard auto nav.
• Live Traffic, Gas Prices, Weather, etc.

Cons

• Maps stored on the SD Card – Takes up about 1.73GB of your SD card, which is a death sentence if you actually keep things (music, apps, CyanogenMod nightlies) on your SD card.
• Sometimes told me to take an exit after the exit had already passed – this of course will depend on your location, and the layout of your city in general.
• Voice guided navigation in general doesn’t hold up to the standard that Google Navigation set.
• $29.99 price (though they often discount it to $19.99).
• Have to buy maps for each country you travel to.

Final Verdict

CoPilot Live is a fairly good application for those of you who absolutely need offline access to navigation features, or if you want to travel to foreign countries without racking up immense roaming charges. For most U.S. users, the added features you’d get from CoPilot live simply isn’t enough to justify the $20-30 you’re going to spend on the application (not to mention the nearly 2GB of storage space on your SD card needed to store the maps themselves). Bottom line, if you do a lot of international travel and/or you’re not quite happy with Google Navigation, I encourage you to check out CoPilot Live as an alternative. For the everyday user going from simple point A to point B within the U.S., it’s probably not enough to overthrow Google Navigation from the Navigation throne.

CoPilot ALK Technologies, Inc MARKET QR GIVEAWAY

Want to try out CoPilot Live for yourself? The folks over at CoPilot Live were gracious enough to give us 3 application/SD card combos (with maps pre-installed) to give away to you lucky readers. We have already given one away at the Twin Cities Android Meetup we sponsored a week ago, but we have 2 more to give away to you!

How do you enter? Simply leave a comment in the comments section below, making sure to fill out the email address field so we can contact you to get your shipping information. You must leave a comment by 7 P.M. Central Standard Time on Sunday, September 5th to enter the contest. Winners will be contacted as soon as possible after the Sunday drawing to collect contact information so we can ship the material out to you.

Gallery

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You have explored all of your options and you've decided Android is the operating system for you, but now you don't know which of the top-shelf handsets to spend your money on.

We've seen stacks of exciting new smartphones this year, but the two handsets that definitely stand out are the HTC Desire and Samsung Galaxy S. Both phones run Android version 2.1, access the Android Market for app downloads and ship with the full suite of Google apps. So which of these beasts is right for you? Get the fire department standing by, this showdown is going to get hot.

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While looking at the leaked G2 pictures from yesterday, our eagle-eyed Chuck Falzone noticed something hiding in plain sight.  One of the icons listed on the home screen for the handset shows a shortcut for an app called Quick Keys.  Blowing things up a bit, he also found three hard keys on the keyboard which look much like the icon.  We're going to Occam's razor approach and figure these are programmable buttons designed to give one-touch access to your favorite or most-used apps.  Anyone care to throw another idea at us?

Update: One of our readers, tubaking, let us know in comments on this post that he was able to pull the Quick Keys app from the leaked G2 build and install it on his phone. This let him get a shot of the app's set-up instructions, which he took pictures of and posted on Twitter:

The instructions confirm what we suspected: Quick Keys will let G2 owners "quickly access super useful Google shortcuts and other applications that may take multiple steps to access."

Thanks, tubaking!

What Are the G2 Quick Keys? (UPDATED) originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

Immersion Corp. announced technology designed to enable touch feedback effects for tablets and other devices running either Android or Windows 7. The & TouchSense 2500& solution has already been built into Toshiba's dual-screen tablet, the Libretto W100, the company adds....(author unknown)

We’ve been a bit busy and short-handed this week at Android and Me, leaving a single staff member to suggest all three apps this week. Aren’t you guys lucky?

This week I’ve rounded up a collection of three utility apps I find myself using frequently to get things done. upStream is a Flickr uploader, adbWireless allows you to connect to ADB over wifi, and Floating Image is a rock solid photo slideshow. All three have earned a permanent spot on my phone, now I share them with you.

Clark’s Pick
upStream

Being a rabid photo nerd has left me on a seemingly never-ending hunt for the perfect Flickr uploading app. For the past few months though, the search has been called off as I’ve recently discovered the holy grail that is upStream.

upStream is a photo uploader with a simple interface that allows you to push pictures to your Flickr account with ease. upStream gives you complete control over sets, collections, geolocation, even linked blogs. I recently starting using upStream to push my silly day-to-day pictures to Flickr and on to Twitter, thus completely bypassing the need of janky, little Twitter-only photo hosts.

upStream has a perfectly usable user interface that makes setting photo details and uploading a snap. You can easily set the title and description of a single photo or select the whole batch to add a common tag or location. As you’d imagine, upStream is integrated with the Android share intent and pops up as an option just about anywhere you can share a photo.

The developer has even personally responded to emails and implemented fixes I’ve needed and changes I suggested- a surefire sign of a solid app. If you’ve been on the hunt for a feature-rich Flickr uploader, stop looking.

upStream Hooligan Software MARKET QR Clark’s Pick
adbWireless

Just the other day I was marveling at the head-scratchers showing up in the Market- I thought it’d be fun to continue that trend.

abdWireless (as the name suggests) is a simple utility for creating a wireless ADB connection as if you had your device tethered via USB.

Turns out, that’s a pretty handy bit of programming. In fact, I took this week’s screenshots while connected via adbWireless. If I wanted to, I could have done so with my phone in the other room.

Alright, so it’s not life or death functionality, and the app itself is really just a single, huge red button, but the wow factor more than makes up for it. Developing on a device through a wired connection is a pretty neat trick and I thought it deserved to be shared.

adbWireless MrSiir MARKET QR Clark’s Pick
Floating Image

Anyone that takes as many photos as I do probably does a fair bit of sharing and since we’ve got the web covered with upStream I thought it might be useful to single out an app for person to person encounters.

Floating Image is a photo slideshow application with a lonnnng list of custom features and settings. Not only can the app load up your local phone pictures, it can hook to feeds from the web (yes, like Flickr) for a full-on, web-connected, photo-scrolling free-for-all. You can change the animation type and the timing of the effects. When you click a photo floating by, it enlarges, full-screen, for easy viewing.

It has a perfect random-but-not-too-random sort order, scrolling images by in related groups but slightly out of the order I captured them in. For some reason I like this. It makes my photos feel fresh and I find myself scrolling through looking for even more of my own photos.

Floating Image is a perfect way to share a collection of photos with someone in person. Or by yourself. Really anytime you combine high resolution photos with fancy movement you can’t go wrong.

Floating Image Mark Gjøl MARKET QR

Sidenote: This is the first post using our new Market link codes. Each time we reference an app in the Market (in a review, head-to-head, top list, etc) you’ll see a gray bar like the ones you see above. Inside you’ll find the app title, developer, and download links.

Clicking QR will open a barcode you can scan with your phone to locate the app in the market.

Clicking the MARKET will launch an actual market:// link, perfect for cloud-to-phone services (like ChromeToPhone and FoxToPhone). With a ToPhone add-on installed, you can send things from your computer straight to your phone, no hassles or scanning needed.

Things for the mobile site remain largely unchanged (except now you’ll get an app title instead of plain ‘Download from the Market’ text). Enjoy!

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Ninja Kaka is a simple and fun game, which has an extremely straightforward gameplay. Fruits will be tossed up from the bottom of the screen and players will attempt to slice them by swiping their finger through it. Within limited time, the more you slice, the more points you’ll get. Leaderboard also available for users to get competitive.

Price: Free, $1.99

AndroidTapp.com Android Game Review:Pros & Cons:

Pros

• Fun and challenging game
• Responsive controls

Cons

• The spin-off of popular iPhone game Fruit Ninja, it’s missing a lot of cool features like bombs, various play modes, choice in the sword type, etc.

Features:

Ninja Kaka Fruit Dojo is a fun and challenging game of strategically using your Ninja slicing skills to chop random fruit stacking up points to advance to the next level under a timer. The key is slice in higher number combos without misses, a miss or no cuts in the higher rounds result in points taken away, and the speed of the game increases making it more challenging.

How to Play Ninja Kaka Fuit Dojo

• Swipe in any direction on the screen to slice the fruit, recommended to slice at least 3 or more pieces with every strike without missing.
• Each round has a timer and point threshold to beat, hence combo slices are vital
• Each advance in rounds get even tougher as the game speed increases
• Missing fruit subtracts score
• Nothing cut subtracts score
• Cut target fruit awards high score, miss target fruit and get penalized

Fun Factor & Addictive:

Though it’s a simple game it’s really fun, addictive and can get quite challenging as you’re not just slicing fruit but figuring out the best way to slice 3 or more without missing to maximize points.

Graphics:

The game features smooth & delicious fruit splattered 3D game graphics and is very responsive on Android devices with higher processor speeds.

Accelerometer, Vibration & Sound:

Ninja Kaka only uses sound which can be toggled.

AndroidTapp.com Rating

(3.9 out of 5)

Should you Download Ninja Kaka – Fruit Dojo? Yes! A Good Game for Killing Some Time (or Fruit) with a Challenge!

This content was originally posted at AndroidTapp.com

Here we have your daily does of Fascinate news, the commercial for Samsung showing the Verizon Fascinate has been put up on YouTube by Samsung. As if some of us weren’t already drooling over this phone enough, they had to go ahead and rub it in our faces.

It’s a pretty sweet commercial we think, at least they are not trying to rip off a Droid, or Halo commercial. If you would like to watch the video first hand feel free to below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

[via Samsung Mobile USA]

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So today we have more leaked info from the T-Mobile G2 from HTC that is rumored to be available late September early October. The pricing is showed to be $199 with a 2-year death sentence we are guessing, and $499 full retail we suspect.

The G2 specs rumored, are a newer 1GHz processor, Vanilla Android 2.2, 3.7 inch OLED display, 5 megapixel camera, HSPA+ and much more. So keep your browser set on Android Community to check back for more juicy details as they come across in the very soon future.

[via Androinica]

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The live streaming and broadcasting space gets a little more crowded today with the addition of the Justin.tv application.  Designed for phones running Android 1.6 and above, the free app lets users provide live video anytime, anywhere.  The title works over both 3G as well as WiFi connections and allows for sharing via Facebook and Twitter.

Although the arrival of the Justin.tv app comes after comptetors Qik and Ustream, it does offer a few goodies. For instance the hardware video encoding puts less strain on the batter while the bitrate gets tweaked based on your data connection.  Videos can be recorded in both portrait and landscape modes  and are automatically saved upon completion.  Click here to read more and to download and install Justin.tv today!

Justin.tv Gets in on Android Streaming Action originally appeared on AndroidGuys.

Have you wanted a Droid, but not wanted to suck-up and get deep into a 2 year contract? Well it looks like you will have the option to go pre-paid here really soon. The phones that you will be able to get through Verizon include, Droid, Droid 2, Droid Incredible, Devour, Samsung Fascinate, and the Ally.

This could be an outlet for a lot of people that do not have good credit to finally get into the Android smartphone world. Or, even those who are stuck with an i device that are wanting to get into Android. This will be a really nice option, and hopefully other carriers will adopt the pre-paid option soon.

[via Android Does]

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Bloomberg is reporting a short blurb today about Sony Ericsson and their lofty aspirations. According to Chief Executive Officer Bert Nordberg, SE has their sights set on becoming the number one Android phone supplier in the world. Currently, they sit at second with a 17 percent share, whereas the top seat occupies 23 percent. There was no timeline given as to when they plan to accomplish their goal, but we welcome the competition. Any guess as to who number one might be? said at a briefing in Beijing today, without identifying the rival. Nordberg didn’t give a timeframe for achieving the top spot.

Sony Ericsson CEO Gunning for #1 Android Phone Supplier in World originally appeared on AndroidGuys.