Sales of smartphones in the last quarter of 2010 shows that for the first time since its release,Google’s Android platform has overtaken Nokia’s Symbian in terms of market share, with Android achieving 32.9% compared to Nokia’s 30.6%. Apple and Blackberry both noted a drop in sales and the new boy on the block, Microsoft trails the field with a poor 3.1% of the market share.

This puts Android in a great position, as the operating system which sells the most phones attracts more providers to manufacture phones that can be used with it. Whilst Nokia ruled the mobile phone world in the late 20th century, the times they are a-changing. Nokia are the soul manufacturer of phones on the Symbian operating system, which is fine if you love the N7 but for those of us wanting more choice and variety the wide range of handsets available on the Android platform makes operating system choice a no brainer.

Whilst the Android platform apps market is still playing catch up to Apples thriving App Store, with around 90,000 apps available on Android compared to over 300,000 in the App Store, there are significantly more free apps available for Android and a wider choice of developers working on new ones. Android phones support a wider range of file formats for music, video and documents, although they do lose out on Apples Lossless audio file format, which allows super compression of CD quality music into MP3 sized files without losing any of the audio playback quality.

As the number of manufacturers supplying the OS increases, the price of the handsets gets driven down. The latest mid-range offering from popular manufacturer HTC, the HTC Gratiapromises to be one of the smallest, most powerful smartphones available for the money. Whilst it is not in the same league as the much revered iPhone 4, the HTC Gratia outstrips the performance of most of the handsets in its class and with a price tag of less than half that of the iPhone. And with ever better and cheaper phones becoming available on the Android platform, such as the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy Ace, the competition is going to have to up its game if they are to keep up with Google’s wonder horse.

With the likes of the HTC Gratia and the Samsung Galaxy Ace setting the bar for smartphone providers, Apple, Microsoft, Nokia and Blackberry are going to have to work hard to catch up with the value for money these little phones and many others like them can provide on the Android

platform.

Tagged as:
Google Android,
Mobile

Nokia N900 sure is one solid piece of hardware. The features are great and the quality of the device is superb but the area where the cellphone lacks is it’s OS. While Maemo seemed like a promising OS but lack of support on Nokia’s part didn’t let the N900 flourish.

It’s actually Google’s Android that’s making it to the top these days. The OS is widely popular and is grabbing the market share like fire. Developer support for the OS pretty good, so the Android Market is flooded with apps.

Tagged as:
Google Android,
Mobile,
Nokia

Sony Ericsson‘s upcoming Xperia Arc is surely making waves these days. The 4.2 incher will come with Android Gingerbread and will be available in black and silver. The device looks really slick and sexy and comes with Sony Mobile BRAVIA Engine display. Sony Ericsson has not kept the Timescape and Mediascape UI and has rather scaled them down to mere widgets, making the UI snappier. Check out the video below for a preview of the device.

Tagged as:
Google Android,
Mobile,
Sony Ericsson

There is a lot riding on the shoulders of T-Mobile’s G1 Android phone. In some ways, it carries the collective hopes of Linux, open source and Google fans everywhere. It’s open, collaborative and community-based, in other words, everything the iPhone and Windows Mobile aren’t. As so many onlookers crowd around this newborn phone, there’s no way it can hold up all of their expectations—and it doesn’t.

Verdict:

The G1 phone and the Android operating system are not finished products. There are only three working Google Apps here—Gmail, Maps and Calendar—while Google Docs, Google News, Google Reader, Google Shopping, Google Images, Google Video, Blogger and Picasa are nowhere to be found. What’s the deal?

We have high hopes for third-party coders to fill in gaps Google intentionally or unintentionally left in this OS. There’s already a video player, and we’re sure VLC will try and port some kind of version over. But your question is not whether the phone will be great down the line, it’s whether or not it’s good enough for you to buy it now.

The answer depends most on who you are. Despite all the UI quirks and bad design decisions, it’s still better than other smartphone OSes out there. It’s not perfect, but for people who like tinkering, its cons are outweighed by its pros such as Gmail and the Marketplace. Hopefully Android updates and more ports of Google apps will augment not just future phones but this one too. This isn’t something you’re going to give your mom for Christmas, but if you’re an adventuresome gadget guy with some money to spend ($179) on a totally new, pretty exciting venture, then why not?

Read the full review ..

Tagged as:
Google Android,
Mobile