All About Android 56

All About Android Episode 56

All About Android 56: It's On The PHONE!

Google and Oracle duke it out, Galaxy S III event scheduled, Android watches, and more.

Guests

• Nicole Lee (@nicole)

Top Stories

• Oracle-Google patent trial starts today
• Oracle thinks you can copyright a programming language, Google disagrees
  • Oracle and Google go head to head starting today in a court case that has been years in the coming. The trial revolves around three phases.

• Matt Macari of LitigatingApple.com couldn't make it today, but he did give us an impressive amount of insight into the case. Some takeaways:

• Three phases in the trial:
• 1) Claims that Google infringed Java-related copyrights. This will probably begin tomorro
• 2) claims that Google infringed Java related patents.
• 3) all remaining issues including monetary damages.

• Patent part has little to go on as many patents were dropped from the case, leaving two: one that expires soon or another that has minor implications.

• Copyright part deals extensively with Java APIs and if that language is copyrightable. Google argues a programming language is not copyrightable "A given set of statements or instructions may be protected, but the protection does not extend to the method of operation or system—the programming language—by which they are understood by the computer," -- and therefore neither is an API **"Without the APIs, the Java programming language is deaf, dumb and blind," its lawyers have claimed.

• Oracle obviously claims the opposite. That Java is itself free to use without a license, but the APIs within are not.

• Dan Crow, CTO of Songkick told the BBC "If Oracle wins the case and APIs are held to be copyrighted, then in theory, virtually every application - on Android, Mac OS, Windows, iPhone or any other platform - has to be at least re-released under new licence terms,"

• Matt Macari: Another interesting part of the case is the now-famous Lindholm email to Andy Rubin. If nothing else, this is the type of thing you hate a jury to see if you're Google. You end up starting off on the wrong foot and have to figure out a way to explain it away without looking like you're afraid of it. It won't win or lose the case for anyone, but it could set a tone. I suspect Google's attorneys have put a lot of time into figuring out how to deal with it at trial.

• CEO Larry Page Says Google Is Focused On Low-Priced Android Tablets – Confirms Nexus Tab?
  • Google had its quarterly earnings call last week, and during the call, Larry Page made a passing mention of what we have discussed on the show many times so far. “There has been a lot of success on some lower priced tablets that run Android. Maybe not the full Google version of Android, but we definitely have a belief that there is going to be a lot of success at the lower end of the market as well, with lower priced products that will be very significant. And it’s definitely an area we think is important and are quite focused on.” So, does this further convince everyone of a low-priced Google tablet in the near term?

• Is Google planning to sell Motorola's handset business to Huawei?
  • The Wall Street Journal reported on sources that claim Google is interested in offloading the Motorola hardware division to none other than Huawei. But DigiTimes reported on Taiwanese sources saying that a sale was unlikely. Take a look at Google's ambitious Project Glass and you'll see that Google has a vested interest in having hardware smarts on board for projects like these. Then again, Andy Rubin has made mention of building a "firewall" between Motorola and the Android group. Look into you crystal ball. What do YOU think?

Hardware

• Samsung issues official Galaxy S III invite: rumors suggest it'll sport a 4.6-inch Super AMOLED Plus display
• Samsung Galaxy S III launch details reveal multiple models, official device of 2012 Olympics
• Sprint confirms Galaxy Nexus release date: coming April 22nd for $200, preorders open now

• Toshiba unveils 7.7-, 10.1- and 13.3-inch Excite tablets
• The Toshiba Excite 13 sports the largest tablet screen yet
  • ALL: Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and Tegra 3 quad-core processors.
  • WiFi only - 1GB of RAM, 5-megapixel rear cameras, and 2-megapixel front-facing cameras.
  • Excite 13: 0.4-inch thick, 2.2-pound, 1600x900 resolution display, 13 hours of battery life. $649.99 for 32GB. 64GB model will retail for $750. LAUNCH: June 10
  • Excite 10: 0.35-inch thick, 1.32-pound, 1280x800, 10 hours of battery life. $449.99 for 16GB, LAUNCH: May 6
  • Excite 7.7: will start at $499.99 for 16GB of storage, LAUNCH: June 10

• Sony SmartWatch launches; delivers 'Android power' to wrist
  • Sony unveiled its SmartWatch for $149.99! Designed to work alongside an Android device via Bluetooth. 1.3-inch OLED display at 128x128 resolution (less than the WIMM ONE at 1.4 inch 160x160 for $300). Apps: Phonebook, missed calls, email, Facebook, twitter, calendar, watch faces, and other widget apps as they are developed. Can act as a second screen for certain apps.

Email

"Hi guys,

If buying paid apps in order to support developers isn’t reason enough to part with your money perhaps extending the battery life of your device is. Research by Purdue University suggests that up to 75% of free apps battery use is spent on advertisements and other hidden tasks.

Link to Cnet article

The show is great, RJ"

Apps

• Amazon’s Takes In-App Purchases Out Of Beta: Here’s How They Compromised On Revenue Share
  • Amazon has officially taken in-app purchasing out of beta so developers can cash in on the opportunity. It uses Amazon's 1-click system but Amazon isn't dictating that devs only use Amazon's in-app payment system. The Kindle Fire is the exception here. Devs are looking at a flat 70-30 split on in-app purchases which is different than their share for paid apps (80-20 if dev sets the price, 70-30 if amazon sets the price). It's important to note that research by Flurry has found that the majority of revenue for apps is generated by in-app purchases.

• Google Play Music introduces labs features: Desktop notifications, HTML5 audio and 5-Star ratings

• Google Fixes “Purchased App” Issue for Sideloaded or Third Party Installed Apps

• Google Drive detailed: 5 GB for free, launching next week for Mac, Windows, Android and iOS

Email

"Hi,

I really like the show. Given you guys talked about a Twitter client on the Arena on the last show, I wanted to ask for recommendations on Twitter clients. I use Twitter both on an Android phone (Galaxy S II) and tablet (Galaxy Tab 10.1). Ideally I would like a client that looks good on both the phone and tablet and keeps my spot on the timeline across these devices. So I can pickup from the same spot when I switch devices. Do you know of clients that can do this?

Keep up the good work with show.

Peter in LaGrangeville "

"DaveLoft left a comment on last week's poll with this solution!

• TweetMarker
• Works with Plume on Android!

Android Arena!

• Last Week's Poll
• Ron - Canabalt HD (2.99)
• Jason - Cloud Music Sniper ($2.60)
• Eileen - BlingBoard Social Widget (FREE) - Thx Nate!
• This Week's Poll

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Production Information

• Edited by: Jason
• Notes:

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