HTC Magic, a very famous handset by the company is now getting Android Froyo update. This is quite big news for all the users of this phone who fell in love with it the minute it was launched.

However, the Android phone users felt left out in the latest Android OS updates coming every few months. What more, these new updates also bring along with them a new string of cool features.

If your memories serve you right, then HTC Magic was the first Android phone to be launched in India officially. The phone is now getting ready to receive the new Android 2.2 Froyo update. The update will first reach the users of the Vodafone UK network.

Here are the following features that will come along with Android 2.2 Froyo update on HTC Magic phone
• Support for USB Tethering
• New GMAIL
• Youtube versions for mobile
• Support for Exchange
• Copy applications to flash memory cards [ earlier not possible for HTC Magic]

Due to hardware restrictions on HTC Magic some of the Froyo features are not supported. Here they are
• Live wallpapers
• Support for flash
• Wi-Fi hot spot creation

All those using HTC Magic on Vodafone UK network will soon receive a notification about the Android update on their phones. Though the fate of unbranded HTC Magic is still under the shrouds.

Let’s hope HTC Magic users find a reason to rejoice!

Starting today i.e. 15 December 2010, the latest Android Market updates have finally reached India!

Now one can enjoy the new improved and updated version of the much popular Android market. Herein, all the android mobile users can purchase their favorite applications from. It is just like Apple’s App store.

The android market comes installed with new enhancements, an attractive user interface and cool applications. Let’s have a look one by one for the various updates and enhancements added to the android market which has finally come to India!

Market Main Page
Update- a more green page with iPhone album art like interface
Brief- the page mainly consists of the lost of the applications along with another list of applications on the top of the page which rotates automatically. The rest of the page has normal buttons of search, app games and downloads. However, downloads have been changed to My Applications.

Market Settings
Update-filtering and notifications options
Brief- this page now offers the Filter options with various levels of it i.e. mature, teen, preteen or all for all the available content! An added attraction is the Notifications option which will then allow the market to keep you updated about the application of games which are already installed on your device!

Application and Games Pages
Update-scrolling iPhone album art like banner on top
Brief- this page contains the usual list of categories of applications with the additional change of iPhone album art like banner on top!

Application Page
Update-complete makeover!
Brief- this page now shows all the icons in big along with Related Applications. There are bigger icons on display for applications. An Install button is on the right with a description below. There is also a More button for expanding details. Right below the details are Application screen shots and Reviews. And right below Reviews is the Related Application section.

Security Options
Update- complete make over
Brief- on this page, when a person clicks Menu on Application Description Page then a new option comes for Security. It works for both installed and applications being viewed by you. In fact this options helps to detect what all the applications have access to on your device!

The Gmail application on Android was anyways the matter of pride. Now with its new improved updates and features, GMAIL will become one thing that would leave behind iPhone and Blackberry behind and accelerate the success of Android phones.

The speculations about the proposed GMAIL Priority Inbox for mobile phones have come true! The application has just been tested on an android run mobile phone i.e. Samsung Galaxy S. Apparently, this mobile is using the latest Android OS which is called Froyo!

GMAIL Priority Inbox which lets you differentiate between your more importantly and urgent emails work incredulously on mobile devices just like it works on your desktop. In fact, it appears just as same! So what are the results of the test performed on the Android Froyo run Samsung Galaxy S mobile for the newest GMAIL feature i.e. GMAIL Priority Inbox!

•GMAIL priority inbox for mobile works in the same manner as on desktop!

•One can mark their emails as important or non important from the options available on the priority inbox applications manually only!

•The only difference that one can site between desktop interface and mobile interface is that while on desktop all the unread mails were piled up on top together whereas on mobile interface, the GMAIL priority inbox showcases the unread messages as well.

It would be quite interesting to see the response garnered by GMAIL priority inbox on Android mobile phones. Who knows priority inbox becomes the next cool thing on mobile applications this winter!

It has been confirmed finally. Google is indeed going to introduce an Android powered Motorola tablet. This tablet will utilize Honeycomb which is a mobile operating system meant for smart phones. Apparently, this mobile OS Honeycomb is being updated for use in tablets.

The prototype for this Motorola tablet was unveiled by Google Vice President for Engineering Andy Rubins during the D: Dive into Mobile conference held at San Francisco.

It is rumored that this Honeycomb tablet is being introduced to give direct competition to Apple’s iPad tablet which was launched few months back!

Speculations are rife about the features and specification of the new tablet and what it has to offer. Few things however have been confirmed. For instance, Honeycomb Motorola Tablet will boast of a 3D processor from NVIDIA. The new APIs will allow the application to be split the functionality into multiple views.

The upcoming tablet will also feature GMAIL application with 2 pane view which is quite similar to the GMAIL application on iPad.

Here are some speculations made about the Honeycomb Tablet

•A full 10 inch or 9. Inch screen quite similar to iPad.
•Video chatting facilities just like the FaceTime application being introduced in the upcoming iPad 2.

Motorola Honeycomb tablet will release sometime in next year. Only then it would be decided if this Android powered tablet will be one up over iPad or not!

Barely months after the launch of Apple’s computer tablet i.e. iPad, the company is hearing up for its advanced version iPad 2. This new tablet device which revolutionized the digital world with its introduction has managed to become an instant hit with almost everyone. Corporate are the most that are benefitted by its mobile features which makes it easy for them to handle their affairs!

So what can the new iPad 2 offers to its customers which already are not available in the iPad? There were in fact some features which were desired a majority of people to be included in the iPad. It would make the tablet much more appealing and useful to its users! So what all is the iPad 2 offering and rumored to possess?
• Video calling
• Lighter body
• USB ports
• New display technology
• New 3 axis gyroscopes

Besides this, iPad 2 will also feature FaceTime technology which allows the user to connect with iPhone 4, iPod Touch and MAC computer at the same time through front and back facing camera. The tablet computer boasts of carbon fiber panels with thinner glass which reduces its mass by a fair margin. The latest retina display technology which was used for iPhone 4 is also been incorporated in iPad 2 device which raises the resolution and color performance by manifolds.

Even then, the iPad 2 tablet computer will be available in the earlier three versions i.e. 16 GB, 32 GB and 64 GB. Apple is known for revising its iOS on a yearly basis for its every product. Henceforth, the new developed iOs4.1 which will be used in iPad 2 will increase its performance!

So far 7-8 million iPads have been sold till September of this year and 6 million more are expected to be sold by the end of this year. With the news flitting about a May 2011 release for iPad 2, one must be concerned about the fate of the current iPad. Unfortunately, this tablet will not follow suit like the iPhone models which become cheap after the release of a new model!

iPad prices will not slash down by a large amount after the release of iPad 2. Then why should a person buy the new iPad and not stick to its earlier model only? Well, it basically depends upon the needs and likes of the people. After all, a person might be contend with the same mobile for 3-4 years while another person likes to change their handsets at quite rapid intervals!

So the cat is out of the bag! And it is not because someone forgot to draw the strings on the bag! Well, the Sony Ericsson company is itself announcing to the world about the launch of its playstation phone early next month precisely on December 9. The Sony Ericsson France CEO Pierre Peron himself sent out invitations to various European media houses about the event taking place in December.

The event is being touted as ‘the most anticipated presentation of the decade’ by the company. This indicates the alliance formed between Sony and Sony Ericsson for a playstation phone which will hit the stores soon. It can be duly confirmed that Sony is planning to unveil the playstation phone on the presentation itself! It can be deduced from the invite sent by the company which showcases buttons from the famous any playstation.

Also, if one goes back in time, last year i.e. in 2009, when Sony hinted towards as possible alliance between Sony Ericsson in the near future. The image for the Sony Playatation Phone has already been leaked on Engadget. The presentation which will be held on December 9 at 20:00 hours will see Sony flagging off the Playstation Network Service for mobile platform. It would be made available firstly on the playstation phone.

Some of the spectacular features of this Sony Playstation phone are
• 4.1 inch touch screen
• Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread Update
• 1GHz microprocessor
• 512 MBA RAM
• 1 GB ROM
• Also features Android marketplace
• Connectivity to Playstation Network Service

The verdict about the playstation phone and the new playstation network service will be out on December 9 when the phone is revealed in front of the media persons. Till then let’s wait and watch the changing course of the mobile phones and technology which is increasing day by day month by month and year by year!

Incidentally, this was the same mistake made by Sony Ericsson but it is showing signs of amends with the use of Android 2.1. Update in its new Sony Xperia X10 series phones.

The announcement about 2.2 Update on Dell Streak came in the form of Facebook post wherein Dell gave an indication about the update being available by the end of this month only!

The first beneficiaries of the new DELL streak Android 2.2 Update would be the smart users of UK. It would be made available though over the air mechanism. After UK, the rest of the world will follow suit in getting the more powerful software. No specific dates have been announced for India so far!

All the below mentioned prices are officially declared by Apple. So find out which one comes in your price range in India!

Apple iPod Touch 4G
• Modeled on iPhone 4G
• Dual camera
• High retina display
• 40 hours of battery life

US price 8GB ($229), 32GB ($299) and 64GB ($399)
Indian price 8GB (Rs 15400), 32GB (Rs 19900) and 64GB (Rs 25900)

Apple iPod Shuffle
• Dedicated voice over button
• Buttons included in the hardware
• 15 hours of music playback

US price 2GB @ $49
Indian price 2GB @ Rs 3200

Apple iPod Nano Multitouch
• iPod Nano with Multitouch
• MP3 player

US price $149 for 8GB | $179 for 16GB
Indian price Rs 10700 for 8GB | Rs 12800 for 16GB

All the Apple iPods products will have a global release including India!

• 3.2-inch TFT-LCD screen
• Wi-Fi 802.11n
• Bluetooth 3.0
• Samsung Apps support
• Social Hub
• 5MP camera with LED flash
• dedicated camera button
• flip leather cover
• microSD card slot
• accelerometer
• USP port
• GUI application support
• 320 x 240 resolution video recording
• A-GPS

The social hub in Samsung Wave 723 allows instant access to facebook, user contacts and their address books. It acts as one stop shop for social media management for this smartphone.

The phone comes with integrated Auto UI scaling in SDK 1.1. of Bada OS. This makes it quite easy to tackle the varied screen resolutions. It helps the application developers to scale new horizons and allow them to port their already developed applications without any hassle.

Samsung Wave 723 resembles the earlier Samsung Star phone complete with a leather flap in the front. Its body is although metallic and boasts an attractive design. The phone is expected to be priced lower than the Samsung Wave but higher than the Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro phones.

It might hit the markets by the end of September 2010 with its first stop in Germany followed by a release in various other parts of the world like European, South East Asian, Middle East, Asia and African nations.

It has been in speculation for months now and the announcement from Google about voice calls has managed to create a buzz in the market. In fact, Skype the reigning king of internet voice calls is said to be concerned regarding this recent development.
These voice call service will be free of cost within U.S. and Canada.

However, international calls made to cell phones will come at a price
PC to landline-$0.02 onwards
PC to cell phones- $0.19 onwards

GMAIL users can get hold of prepaid calling credits through soon to become live Google Checkout.

How to make voice calls through GMAIL?

For outgoing calls
Just press the call button given in the corner of GMAIL and start typing your number

For incoming calls
A pop up window just like a chat window comes on your screen with a simultaneous ring on your Google voice enabled phones
Calls can also be diverted to your voice mailbox with a single tap on phone.

This feature has already been started in US and will soon become active in other parts of the world to. Let’s see what wonders does Google Voice Calls can make!