Cell Bytes

We know you love you some Android, and the mobile OS has become pretty darn dominant over the past three years, but it’s no secret that Google has some other tricks up their sleeve besides Search Engines and Androids. While Chrome Browser hasn’t taken off in terms of adoption and market share like the search giant had hoped, it IS one of the primary options of an oligopoly driven market. And if you can remember, it wasn’t too long ago that we were talking about Chrome neck-and-neck with Android, wondering if one of them would swallow the other one in the long run.

This is a friendly reminder that while Android seems to have taken over mother earth recently, Chrome could be a dark horse this holiday season. Last night we saw the launch of Sony Internet TV, essentially an iteration of Google TV, featuring Android 2.1 and eventually featuring Android Market. But Google TV is also pumped full of Chrome juice, something that you can’t really miss when searching your Google TV (Omnibar FTW).

I’ve been surprised at the lack of excitement for Google TV in the Android universe but I think the phans will come around once the product is in the streets. And when Android Market lands on the units – watch out. But while Android and Chrome combined to form their Google TV love child, it doesn’t say much about Google’s overall Chrome initiative.

What initiative you might ask? A little something the world forgot about called Chrome OS. To jog your memory, perhaps you should watch this video from November 19th, 2009 where they show sample products and promise Chrome OS products in one year time, including launch plans.

It’s almost a year later and Google has confirmed that Chrome OS hardware will launch before the end of the year:

In terms of Google Chrome OS schedule, we are very happy with the progress of Chrome OS and expect devices will be available later this year. We’ll have more details to share at launch.

In August, Google filed for the Speedbook Trademark, and it’s looking like Chrome OS Tablets could be included in the mix along with Netbooks. I’ve said before that the launch of the iPad will only help Android and Chrome have success on Netbooks, Tablets and other form factors. But now, as Chrome hardware waits silently and patiently in the shadow of Android, I think it’s a great time to revive the discussion about the intersection of Android Avenue and Chrome Court.

While Sergey Brin said they “will likely converge over time,” Eric Schmidt had this to offer:

In fact the Chrome OS is a different product and a different target market. One way to think about it is that Android is really targeted towards people who are phone centric… and we all understand what phone-centric means: it’s a mobile device, it has a Wi-Fi connection and you carry it. If it isn’t a phone it’s something like a phone – a tablet or something like that.

The Chrome OS is really targeted at the PC/Netbook-centric user. And that’s somebody who is at a desk, they’ve got a keyboard or something like that, they’ve got a reasonable screen and a they’ve got a good processor.

The uses are different and we don’t think the two completely overlap.

That was November 23rd, 2009 and things were a lot different then. That’s when Google still thought they could revolutionize the method of mobile phone buying. They’ve since abandoned that and more recently taken a different approach that pretty much admits defeat in terms of selling phones direct.

Android has, up until now, been mainly featured on smartphones with 4.3-inch screens or smaller. With the launch of Google TV, the biggest takeaway was that the largest screen in your house wasn’t getting the attention it deserved. Google TV would make better (and awesome) use of your television… with the help of Android and Chrome together. But what about screen sizes in between? What ABOUT netbooks? What ABOUT tablets?

Android netbooks have, thus far, failed pretty miserably. Android tablets it appears, with offerings like the Samsung Galaxy Tab, could become pretty popular. It’s clear that the use-case for Chrome OS is different than that of Android, but might creating Android this and Chrome OS that further confuse consumers who are still trying to figure out what “Droid” really means? Or could Google be working on a hybrid solution for larger devices that makes use of both Android and Chrome, similar to the nature and integration of Google TV?

I don’t have all the answers, but if Google makes good on their promise to release Chrome OS products later this year we won’t have long to wait. But as we saw with the Nexus One experiment, Google isn’t too proud to admit they miscalculated and take a newer and re-calculated approach, and they should be applauded for that. Either way, until we know the bottom line, I’m asking you again one year later…

What will we see from Chrome and Chrome OS this holiday season and how will it affect Android?

Users of Facebook who are nervous about using their real password on public computers can now get a one-time password sent to their mobile phones. eBrand reports.

In an attempt to ward off keyloggers, Facebook on Tuesday unveiled a new security feature that will provide users with a temporary password for use on public computers.

Those signing into Facebook from a public place like a hotel or café can just text “otp” to 32665 from your mobile phone, and Facebook will then answer back with a password that can be used only once and expires in 20 minutes, blogged Jake Brill, product manager for Facebook’s integrity team. “In order to access this feature, users will need to add a mobile phone number in their account. We are rolling this out gradually, and it should be available to everyone in the coming weeks.”

Read full article.

In what is the exact opposite of what wireless operators and government have stated before, the wireless trade association 4G Americas, is claiming that text messaging is NOT reliable in case of emergency. Or at least that’s the way Rethink Wireless reports it, inaccurately in my opinion with the misleading headline “SMS cannot be trusted for emergency communications”.

The wireless trade association, 4G Americas, has warned of the risks of relying on SMS or instant messaging to contact emergency services, an issue it says is increasingly urgent for safety and cellular groups.

In a white paper called ‘Texting to 911: examining the design and limitations of SMS’, the body says there is a “perception that SMS is reliable; however SMS was never designed as a reliable means for life saving critical communications”. It has similar reservations about instant messaging, MMS and other varieties of ‘texting’ such as Twitter.

… “Today, voice 911 communication is the best and most reliable method of reporting an emergency and summoning help quickly. The industry is working on developing a reliable, non-voice solution to contact emergency services that is not based on SMS.”

This solution is called Non-Voice Emergency Services (NOVES) and is being developed by various north American safety organizations plus wireless groups like 3GPP. This could be applied to other countries too.

Here is what we’ve been told over and over again until this day:

Text messaging can be a fast, efficient and reliable way to communicate in the event of an emergency, it doesn’t clog cellular lines lines as much as voice calls. And, if more wireless users rely on text messaging in crisis situations, the people who need to make voice calls the most – emergency responders and 911 callers – can get through more easily.

Here’s a more accurate press release. The bottom line? Sending data by text could be made more efficient than the actual SMS system in emergency situations so the Wireless industry is working on a new and different text messaging system.

The industry is working on developing a reliable, non-voice solution to contact emergency services that is not based on SMS.” The report notes that there are substantial limitations inherent in the design of the current Short Message Services which make it impractical to be used for emergency service.

No priority or special handling is given to SMS messages, so a potential emergency message would contend with the millions of other messages being processed at any given moment.

– SMS is not a real-time communications service. SMS messages is “store and forward” and thus may have a delayed delivery, may be delivered in a different order than the sender intended, or may be lost or discarded.

– SMS was not designed with security mechanisms.

Read more.

Android 2.2 (v2.25.771.1) will begin its push to HTC Desire handsets on the UK carrier Three tomorrow, October 14th, according to the mobile provider. They are so ready to push the update that they have its launch pinned down to an exact hour (now that’s something you don’t see everyday). That time would be 9AM when you can begin to feverishly refresh your “System Updates” menu item until Froyo descends from the Android heavens unto your Desire.

[via AndroidCommunity]

The recently leaked Android 2.2 ROM for the Dell Streak has to mean the official update is coming soon right? Well if you haven’t installed it already, Froyo isn’t too far off though Dell won’t commit to anything other than their “before the end of the year” stance. The timeframe was reconfirmed, but users are promised the update will come “much sooner” than December 31st.

In fact, due to the additional resources necessary to get Froyo ready for its push to the Streak, Dell is calling off any future Android 2.1 updates and ceasing to push the update to users who have yet to receive it. That’s a bummer, especially if Android 2.2 manages to get delayed. However, it’s a small price to pay if it means we will see Froyo that much sooner.

[via StreakSmart]

Analysis of 50 handsets bought from second-hand resellers on eBay found that more than half contained personal messages or photos, according to exclusive research from the mobile and forensics experts Disklabs. More than 60% still contained phone numbers left on a call log.

[via The Guardian]

Virgin Mobile in Canada’s just let a huge one leak out. Most of the phones in this particular leak aren’t Android based – and the one that we can see isn’t one of Samsung’s prettier offerings – but it looks like Virgin will be getting the Samsung Galaxy 5. It was originally said that the device would be coming November 12th, and this roadmap keeps it right on track. Remember the specs on this one? If not, listen up: a 2.8-inch QVGA touchscreen, Android 2.1, TouchWiz, a 600MHz processor, a two-megapixel camera with video recording, GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth, and more.

[via Mobile Syrup]

Finally! You can get the phone you originally wanted but weren’t able to because it is only available on one carrier, and as an added bonus you get two outdated operating systems to choose from on this dual-boot system (hint: neither are iOS). This Android 2.1/Windows Mobile 6.5 iPhone 4 clone is a pretty impressive copy by the looks of it, though you surely won’t be getting the retina display or build quality of the real deal. Still it packs a 3.6-inch screen (a whopping 0.1-inches bigger than the actual iPhone 4), 512MB of RAM, and a 5MP camera.

At the very least you can look cool regardless of legitimacy. I think the French call that “le posuer.”

[via TalkAndroid]