Monday 12 July 2010

Android Community

Android Community

Motorola Droid X Launching with Limited Inventory

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 10:19 AM PDT

Here’s your friendly reminder for today: Motorola’s Droid X launches this Thursday. However, while the device itself is high profile, it doesn’t look like Verizon locations around the country are getting high profile numbers in the inventory category. According to some screen shots sent over to Droid Life, it looks like quantities are being kept at a pretty respectable level.

Admittedly, the two stores in the included image aren’t actually high profile stores in of themselves, either. One of them is a kiosk, and the other is a smaller retail location. Though, in the latter’s defense, it is in the downtown area, so it should still see plenty of customers on a daily basis. And, considering both locations are only seeing about 20 units per store, it’s pretty safe to assume that the rumors we had been hearing over the weekend, about some locations only getting close to 70 handsets per location may be coming true, after all.

Indeed, a call to several Verizon retail stores around our area reveals that the corporate store closest to us actually received only 44 units to sell on Thursday (they received 45, but one is used for the floor demonstration model). So, is Motorola keeping stock at a choke-point for a reason? Perhaps they don’t want to see what’s happening with HTC-manufactured devices, so they’re making sure they’ve got enough in the back-log (and for other online retailers) to keep making customers happy in the now, and not a month later.

[via Droid Life]

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Google Open Spot crowdsources free parking spaces

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 02:51 AM PDT

Google’s inveterate tinkerers continue to have their way, with another Googlelabs project breaking cover.  Google Open Spot is billed as a way to alert other Android users to available parking spaces nearby, relying on helpful tagging of free spots which show up on a GPS-led map.

The freshness of spaces is indicated with color-coding – red means it’s a fresh spot, orange means it’s five minutes old, yellow spots are over 10 minutes old, and after 20 minutes they’re cleared from the map by default – and only those within around 0.9 miles of your position are displayed.  An Android 2.x app, Open Spot is currently available in the US, Canada and the Netherlands.

Unimpressed by Open Spot?  You could always try making your own version; Google pushed out App Inventor this morning, a simple drag & drop way to create your own apps, even if you don’t have any coding skills.

[Thanks JD!]

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Verizon Motorola WX445 leaks: budget Android phone

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 02:42 AM PDT

What looks to be Verizon’s latest budget Android smartphone has leaked, with Engadget being sent live photos of the Motorola WX445.  A touchscreen candybar described by the tipster as a Palm Pre Plus without the keyboard slide, it runs Android 2.1 with some form of Motorola’s MOTOBLUR enhancements, a touchscreen between 2.5- and 3-inches in size, and a camera with no flash and no currently known megapixel count.

There’s also a 1,170mAh battery and, frankly, not too much enthusiasm.  The tipster says it’s “not a very impressive phone” and says build quality is less than what you’d find with the Pre Plus.  Still, cheaper Android devices are always welcome, so we’ll be watching Verizon for an official launch.

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Google App Inventor makes Android app creation drag & drop

Posted: 12 Jul 2010 01:14 AM PDT

Google has unveiled App Inventor, a straightforward way for would-be developers who lack programming skills to create software that will run on Android smartphones.  Similar to the create-your-own-game software of many years ago, App Inventor uses preset functionality blocks that together represent pretty much everything that an Android phone is capable of; by shuffling those blocks around and setting some basic parameters you should be able to create your own app.

Games, information apps and other content are all possible, with titles capable of GPS awareness, integration with the Android handset’s phone functionality, internet connectivity and more.  According to the NYTimes, the company has been testing App Inventor on “sixth graders, high school girls, nursing students and university undergraduates who are not computer science majors” which should give you an idea of the sort of ability level required.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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