ADC 1 finalists get early access to SDKs

The 50 finalists will be getting an early look at the SDK before a public version is released. Although, the participants will be bound by a NDA prohibiting them to give out any screenshots or feature lists. Google sent out emails to all the finalists,

As a Round 2 participant, we'll be providing you with the most up-to-date Android SDK so that you can take advantage of the latest tools & platform capabilities that will be shipping in devices later this year. These early access SDKs have many enhancements, additional features, and bug fixes. However, these SDKs have not had the same level of testing as public SDKs, so there are bugs; these releases are definitely "bleeding edge." As we continue to update the platform, you'll receive periodic drops of updated early access SDKs. We'll do our best to give you a rough timeline on when these early access SDKs will be available so that you can better plan your development schedule. Approximately 3 weeks before the submission deadline, we will provide a final early access SDK. You will need to submit your entry using this version of the SDK.

Since these early access SDKs are not ready for the public, you need to execute a special SDK license. This is the same SDK license that governs the public SDK with the addition of a confidentiality clause. We've attached the SDK license document to this email.

And like every other deadline in ADC 1, the deadline for Round 2 of submissions has also been extended to July 28th.


Via [HelloAndroid]

Android on Mimique concept phone

Android is getting onto new phones. Many small/big manufacturers have embraced the Android platform. The latest to join in is RKS, a South Californian company with their concept phone - Mimique. According to RKS, "The Mimique is a response to feature-heavy cell phones that look more like PDAs than phones. Playful and engaging, the Mimique's design marries the heritage of old-school cell phones with next-generation style and touch-screen technology."

The selling point is said to be downloadable features and skins, so the user need not buy a new phone for new features. "Skins will allow users to change the graphic interface to match their mood or preferences. Designed for users who don't take themselves or their phones too seriously, the eye-catching Mimique concept phone is poised to play a whole new game."


take a look,









Via [Pocket-lint]

The other side of Android Developer Challenge 1

So Google has come out describing the backstage events of ADC 1. Good to know what was happening when the whole Android community was wondering what would happen.

Dan Morrill, Developer Advocate, explains the details of how they got started with appointing the judges, shipping of the Ubuntu laptops around the world, collecting the scores and making sure no evil happened. The full story can be read here.

Its nice that they have opened up the process. This should somewhat calm down the backlash going on for the last few days about how the final 50 were chosen. When I first looked at the winners' list, my reaction was like "enh ?!" although it should have been more like "wow !". And going through the mailing list and the irc echoed the same reaction from other developers. I think when an app/idea exists on some other platform then the score for "Originality" stands at zero and when such an idea makes to the top 50...., I guess this was probably one of the reasons for the discontent.

Nevertheless, ADC 1 is done and over. Some are happy, many are unsatisfied but have moved on(possibly to other platforms). It will be interesting to see how many individuals return for ADC 2 or will it be a corporate play ?

Top 50 of Android Developer Challenge

The top 50 of Android Developer Challenge 1 were announced. 4 of the authors chose not to reveal their apps, so we have only 46 in the listing,


1. AndroidScan - Use your phone to scan a barcode, get pricing information from dozens of stores, product reviews and more. Never make a bad purchase again! (by Jeffrey Sharkey)

2. Beetaun - Social network around geographical content created by people and for people (from your neighborhood, from your city, from your country, from all over the world). By Sergey Gritsyuk and Dmitri Shipilov

3. BioWallet - A biometric authentication system for Android. This application features iris recognition and can act as a password safe and provide single sign-on for other Android apps. Jose Luis Huertas Fernandez

4. BreadCrumbz -Navigate your route using pictures instead of a map (there’s also a map, if you like). Easily record routes using your smartphone. Share them with your friends, share them with the world. By Amos Yoffe

5. CallACab - Konrad Huebner and Henning Boeger

6. City Slikkers - a Pervasive Game (alternatively Location Based Game) which takes place in the real-existing city. It is designed to connect a large number of players through-out the world and change the way the surroundings are seen. The central idea behind the concept is to give people the opportunity to symbolically interfere with the everyday urban environment and come into contact with previously unknown people. By PoroCity Media and Virtual Logic Systems.

7. Commandro - Commandro shows where are your friends REALLY are and what they’re doing at the moment. Using GPS location information, it will display 100% true real-life event and location information with regards to you and your friends. By Alex Pisarev, Andrey Tapekha.

8. Cooking Capsules -Simply “watch” a very short cooking show, “shop” with the grocery list, and “make” using the handy step-by-step recipe directions. If you are out of your usual neighborhood you can use the ‘find nearest market’ gps feature. If your friend is stopping at the market, simply hit the ’send to friend’ button to text your list to them. By Mary Ann Cotter and Muthuselvam Ramadoss

9. Diggin - Daniel Johansson, Aramis Waernbaum, Andreas Hedin

10. Dyno - Virachat Boondharigaputra

11. e-ventr - The domain is password protected, but a Whois Lookup shows it is owned by the developer named by Google. By Michael Zitzelsberger.

12. Eco2go - Reduce your carbon footprint. Eco2go finds and suggests public transit alternatives for your trips - right on your phone. By Taneem Talukdar, Gary Pong, Jeff Kao and Robert Lam

13. Em-Radar - Em-Radar is a revolutionary mobile product that alerts you about emergencies and severe weather anywhere, any time. By Jack Kwok.

14. fingerprint - Robert Mickle

15. FreeFamilyWatch - Navee Technologies LLC

16. goCart - Rylan Barnes

17. GolfPlay - give support to all the real time necessities of a golf player during a game, using GPS location and an online querying site where it is possible to access to their game statistics, tournament creation and a social network to exchange impressions with other users about the sport that links them: golf. By Inizziativa Networks

18. gWalk - Prof. Dr.-Ing. Klaus ten Hagen, Christian Klinger, Marko Modsching, Rene Scholze

19. HandWx - Delivers 7-Day weather forecasts to your phone. By Weathertop Consulting LLC.

20. IMEasy - Yan Shi

21. Jigsaw - Mikhail Ksenzov

22. JOYity - Coming soon. By Zelfi AG.

23. LifeAware - Mobile Tracking Service formed to help people be aware of where their friends and family are. A quick search on the Internet shows that approximately 700,000 children are classified as missing annually. The intent of Life Aware is to help you be aware of where you family and friends are. Gregory Moore, Aaron L. Obrien, Jawad Akhtar

24. Locale - Locale is one of 7 Android applications submitted by MIT students. It enables you to set up location- and time-based profiles for your phone, so you can make it shut up when you’re at work, forward calls to your landline when you’re at home. Clare Bayley, Christina Wright, Jasper Lin, Carter Jernigan.

25. LReady Emergency Manager - A quick Whois Lookup shows the domain is owned by Chris Hulls, named by Google as a developer of LReady. By Chris Hulls, Dilpreet Singh, Luis Carvalho, Phuong Nguyen.

26. Marvin - Marvin allows you to publish and browse geo-localized objects around you. Objects can be static or move by themselves and follow you. You publish and browse where you are, based on your current location or where you virtually are on the map. By Pontier Laurent.

27. Mobeedo - Mobile Search. By Sengaro GmbH.

28. Multiple Facets Instant Messenger - A Whois Lookup shows the website is owned by Virgil Dobjanschi who is named by Google as the creator of this application. By Virgil Dobjanschi.

29. MyCloset - Mamoru Tokashiki

30. PedNav - an application that helps you plan your activities efficiently when moving around and interacting with an urban environment. Like a good personal assistant, PedNav first inquires about your general plans for the day. By RouteMe2 Technologies Inc.

31. Phonebook 2.0 - Coming soon. By Voxmobili.

32. PicSay - Eric Wijngaard

33. PiggyBack - Christophe Petit and Sebastien Petit

34. Pocket Journey - connects your location to the voices of a global community of artists, historians, architects, musician, comedians, and others so you can quickly know everything about anywhere. By Anthony Stevens and Rosie Pongracz.

35. Rayfarla - Rayfarla turns your phone into a musical instrument as well as providing a variety of mini games that are music related. I’m not saying too much about Rayfarla at the moment as I’m now in competition with 49 other semifinalists but suffice to say there will be some interesting twists when it is finally released on hardware. By Stephen Oldmeadow.

36. Safety Net - Michael DeJadon

37. SocialMonster - Ben Siu-Lung Hui and Tommy Ng

38. SplashPlay - SplashPlay offers the next generation in musical tuition and learning to play the guitar just got a whole lot easier. Simply attach the pod and light panel to your guitar and start strumming to your favourite songs in minutes. Songs are sent to the pod from a mobile phone or computer using a USB or Bluetooth connection, giving total portability. Other features include a guitar tuner, guitar metronome and a hands free, Bluetooth foot pedal. The product will provide an easy, portable and fun method of learning music.

39. Sustain- Keeping Your Social Network Alive - Niraj Swami

40. SynchroSpot - Shaun Terry

41. Talkplay - Sung Suh Park

42. Teradesk - José Augusto Athayde Ferrarini

43. The Weather Channel for Android - The Weather Channel Interactive Inc.

44. TuneWiki - Our goal is to have the lyrics always on, always available, always synchronized to music - on any device that can play music back and connect to the internet. By TuneWiki Inc.

45. Wikitude-the Mobile Travel Guide - Find points of interest based on your current location. By Philipp Breuss.

46. Writing Pad - ShapeWriter is an innovative, original, fun, and highly efficient method of entering text into touch screen mobile phones. ShapeWriter lets the user to simply draw a continuous stroke from letter to letter on a soft keyboard and lift to complete the word. The resulting trace is recognized as the intended word. For example: to write the word “fun”, land the pen (or mouse cursor) on the F key, drag to the U key, continue to the N key and lift up the pen. ShapeWriter recognizes the curso trace F-U-N as the word “fun”.By ShapeWriter Inc.


Source [Phandroid.com]

TuneWiki for Android

TuneWiki has announced a media player for Android which features an iPhone-like interface, support for syncing with iTunes, and the karaoke-like lyric functionality that put them on the map. The app plays music with the ability to edit and translate karaoke-like synchronized lyrics, subtitled on video and audio.

iPhones users will be familiar with TuneWiki, the iPhone version has seen several downloads since its launch. The iPhone version has a player displaying karaoke-style lyrics in time with songs in the device’s library. TuneWiki has partnered with Universal to provide lyrics legally, and has ongoing talks with other music labels.

Just a thought tho, why copy iPhone's interface to Android ? Could have done something new with the UI.

You can try the app online here.





Source [TechCrunch]