Opera fans will be happy to hear that Opera has ported their Opera Mini browser to Android.  Opera Mini is a fantastic mobile browser, with speedy rendering, and I look forward to benchmarking as browser options are released (Firefox Mobile?).

Opera has posted about their experiences in porting the browser on their blog here.  They relied on MicroEmulator’s implementation of JavaME, and discuss the challenges in working with the changing API.  To try the current Opera Mobile for Android, click here to download the APK.

Source: Opera Mini for Android [labs.opera.com]

A small update to the SDK was released today. The new version is m5-rc15 which includes a bug fix “1012640: Incorrect handling of BMP images.”.

To download, visit the SDK homepage.

Google released an update to the Android SDK today which includes a significant change to the user interface, as well as the ability to geo-code addresses into co-ordinates to significantly enhance mapping.  Other updates include the inclusion of more media codecs (OGG Vorbis, MIDI, XMF, iMelody, RTTL/RTX) and updated Eclipse plugins.

At first glance, the new UI is a welcome update, although the forums still rumble of a lack of chance in telephony and overall innovation.   As developers release tutorials and sample code for the new UI, we’ll link to them here, as well as to information about our own reader’s projects.

Source: Android SDK M5-rc14 Now Available [android-developers.blogspot.com]

New UI pics displayed at Mobile World Congress by NEC are of the new Android UI which were spoken about by Google’s Dan Morrill at the Google Android Workshop in Munich, Germany at the end of January. The new UI will be included in the next SDK update.

Reuters and Engadget both feature photo galleries featuring the new UI.

The first real Google Android prototypes were all on display at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona today.  ARM, Marvell, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, NEC and ST Microelectronics were all displaying various prototypes, trying to offer a glimpse of what will come when the first phones are released in late 2008.

Google spokesman Barry Schnitt explained the event to the AFP.  “What is happening with Android today is that we are seeing a number of technology companies demonstrating how Android will operate on their technology”

All of the major tech blogs are there to cover the event today.  Engadget is showing off an amazing gallery of photos, while TechCrunch has a limited video of the Android interface, which will be nothing but familiar to those working with the SDK.

If anything, the event shows that the big players are working with Android, that progress is being made, and that hopefully, the internet will start to become very accessible to average people in 2009.  By making the mobile internet easier to use, and more accessible, we will likely find ourselves taking advantage of the increased connectivity for communication, commerce, and information at a level that’s hard to imagine, even for a culture that in 10 short years has found themselves increasingly connected to the internet.  The potential is similar to the adoption of PC computers in the home.  The open source Android platform will make it easier and cheaper for handset manufacturers to distribute and sell a more internet-able phone.

In fact, with Google’s play into the 700Mhz spectrum, mobile computing may finally become affordable, and many may see cell phones as a cheaper alternative to owning computers.

Source:  Google’s Android software debuts in Barcelona [AFP]

Reuters is reporting that British handheld chip manufacturer ARM will be demonstrating a prototype of a phone running Android this Monday. Many news sources have reported that they have been contacted by ARM to participate in the private demo. It is not clear whether the ARM demo will include parts/phones from other suppliers, or what the demo will reveal.

The progress is good news for developers, and for Google who expects handhelds running Android to be released in the second quarter of 2008. As more progress is made, we draw nearer to the Android Developer Challenge deadline of April 14th. The progress is encouraging for Android developers who look forward to releasing their apps and capturing part of the Android market, which has recently been estimated to start at 2% by Strategy Analytics.

With the iPhone set to release their SDK this month, Android faces an initial setback. While their SDK has been first to market, allowing developers to pre-develop their applications, Apple will allow developers to get their applications live first, and many developers may choose to support iPhone apps over Android apps, at least initially. This is similar to Facebook launching their app platform first, and other social networks struggling to attract developers with unique applications. What platform will you be developing for in March?

Source: ARM Google phone platform demo Monday: source [reuters.com]

USAToday reports that A La Mobile has released a suite of applications for Android which feature a web browser, phone dialer, mapping utility, camera, calender, contact manager, games, calculator and notes. Their plan is to pitch their prototype application suite to handset manufacturers for inclusion in the first round of Google Android phones planned to be released in 2008. The prototype was featured on the HTC Qtek 9090 smartphone.

A La Mobile says the “demonstration proves that Android can deliver on its promise of making it easier for consumers to get access to all sorts of applications.”

With its’ modular based operating system, allowing users to choose which applications perform core functions such as the web browser, camera, phone dialer and more - application suites such as these will compete heavily for market share of the Android “desktop”. While most Android users will likely opt in for open source (free) applications to meet their needs, it will be interesting to see what suites each handheld manufacturer chooses to distribute and how each handset’s software will differ from the rest, and whether any of them will develop their own, alone or in cooperation with the wireless networks.

Source: Introducing the first Android prototype [usatoday.com]

db4objects announced today that their db4o Database software developed for Java and .Net has been fully tested on the new Open Handset Alliance backed Google Android platform.

db40 describes developers need for their software on the Android platform

Although Java programmers are delighted with Android’s full object oriented platform they are frustrated by its bundling with a relational database, requiring cumbersome plumbing between objects and tables. db4o fills the gap by providing a fast and secure, native Java object database that makes storing objects and sharing of data between applications simple and easy.

db4objects goes on to describe uses for their software in development, especially in contrast to Android’s built in SQLLite relational database system. They describe a scenario in gaming where a user may want to freeze their game state so that they can resume it for later play.

Already, db4o has redeveloped 2 previously released Android applications which have been rewritten to work with db40. Android Password Manager, originally written by Steve Osborne and available here. Also, MapMe, based on original code for BrowseMap by and first written about at AndroidNotes here.

Both projects offer code samples for how they repurposed the applications to use db40, and if more tutorials become available we will list them here.

Source: db4objects Announces db4o Database as Android Ready [db4o.com]

In today’s Android news, Verizon has announced that they will support Google Android devices in their networks. This announcement builds upon Verizon’s announcement last week that they will be opening their network to any device, and any platform. Since it became a requirement for purchase of a slice of the upcoming 700Mhz spectrum, Verizon has moved in the direction of an openness that wins them a lot of PR favor from customers who had become frustrated with the closed nature of the contracts they were being forced to sign. By supporting Android, Verizon has committed to spending their time ensuring that the Android platform and Android applications are compatible with their network, enabling them to support their customers, hopefully winning their contracts through support rather than terms and conditions.

For more information, read any of these articles:

• Verison Wireless to Join Google’s Android Effort [rcrnews.com]
• Verizon Furthers Plans for Open Network; Going with Google Android [moconews.net]
• Verizon Wireless CEO Says Company Will Use Android [informationweek.com]
• Verizon joins Google’s Android project [weblogs.redeyechicago.com]
• Verizon Praises Google’s Android. Can a 700 MHz Bid Be Far Behind? [gearlog.com]
• Verizon Wireless says its on board with Google’s Android [sfgate.com]

kriggio at Bumble Machine has written a helpful description of his experiences writing his first Android application (Android Blackjack). He outlines the ease at which he was able to transition his Eclipse and Java skills to the Android SDK, and discusses challenges he faced with some of the differences in accessing resources (card images). He’s also been kind enough to release his source code.

There has been a steady release of source code and tutorials this week as developers begin to port their existing applications, and write new programs for the Android platform. It’s becoming obvious that Google is really winning over the open source community with the Android platform, and it will be very exciting once the Android phones are released to have such a wealth of applications (often open source) available to us to make our phones enjoyable.

Android applications are starting to remind me of widgets. Since applications are able to mash together Android features with data from the internet, I think the possibilities really will become endless here. I’d especially like to see applications become very easy to add and remove like widgets on iGoogle and NetVibes are. The unfortunate thing about a platform like the Palm Treo 650 that I own is that applications are terrible to add and remove requiring a frustrating syncing process, plus they install databases and leave residuals behind that clog up internal memory and eventually make the system unstable. I don’t see this as being a problem with the Android platform.

Source: My first Program using the Android SDK [blog.bumblemachine.com]