Optus which is a leading Mobile service provider in Australia has apparently blocked Aussie Android users from downloading paid apps from Android Market. We recently reported that Optus has plans on launching their own App store. Optus is Australia’s 2nd largest mobile carrier and the exclusive Australian mobile carrier for the HTC Dream and Samsung Galaxy Android phones.
There are also reports that Optus customers who use other outright purchased Android handsets and customers of Virtual Mobile Network Operators like Virgin Mobile which use Optus mobile towers are also blocked from buying paid apps.
apcmag.com is reporting that when they contacted Optus , they were given a dodgy statement “Optus is currently working with Google to provide an Android application store to our customers, and we are optimistic it will be available soon”. It’s likely that Optus are refusing access because they want a slice of the revenue from paid apps by selling it through their own app store.
There are ways around it:
1) Put a SIM from another carrier like Telstra, Vodafone, 3 Mobile etc into their phone and use local WiFi access or that SIM’s data plan to access paid Android apps
OR
2) Wipe the phone’s Optus Android Firmware and install custom Android Firmware. Then use the Market Enabler App (will void warranty and if things go south you might brick your device)
In any case, if you pick up an unlocked Android phone, is is best not to go with Optus.
Waze is a new GPS solution for the people by the people, its built by free street maps by using user-submitted data, collected from their application running on smartphones. To encourage users to fill in the gaps on the map they have added a new concept called Road Goodies.
‘Road goodies’ are small little icons on the map that you can munch to rack-up on points while improving the waze map. ‘Road goodies’ are placed in areas where their system has identified map problems and as you drive around munching them, your GPS data actually serves to automatically solve these issues while providing you with extra bonus points.
The various goodies you can collect are :
Present looks like a little gift box and it’s the most rare of the new ‘goodies’, worth 500 extra points.
Hammer is a bit more common on the road and it’s worth 250 bonus points.
Cherries, arguably the cutest ‘goodie’. It’s pretty common and worth 100 extra points.
Seesmic just announced their twitter application for Android. It has 4 large, easy-to-press tabs for quick navigation (timeline, replies, messages, and profile) that make for a very smooth user experience. You can share photos, videos and your location in your tweets, with the service you want like yFrog, TwitPic and even Youtube. You can also automatically shorten URLs you type with Bit.ly, J.mp or Tinyurl or share your location, among other Twitter-specific actions. Seesmic for Android groups all your Twitter timelines in one simple screen. One downside is that Seesmic doesn’t currently support multiple accounts.
Search for Seesmic in the Market app on your Android phone to get Seesmic App for Android.
Shanghai-based mobile technology company Urbian has launched a new app which features in app purchase in Android, apparently that makes them the 1st Android developers to do that. they’re the first developers that did. The app in question is Ringz, a puzzle game that’s available for free on the Android market (the iPhone version is in review by the way). Ringz lets you buy and download more levels (so-called Level Packs) from within the app. If the extension is returned or deinstalled, the extra functionality disappears from the base application.
Looks like the Motorola Droid has got a price drop. You just need to pay $199 through Verizon, or you could go through Dell Mobility and pick it up for $119, plus free shipping through Fedex. Of course, this offer applies only for those who are signing a new 2 year contract with Verizon.
With Fring for Android you can interact with friends on all your favourite social networks including Skype, MSN Messenger, Google Talk, ICQ, SIP, Twitter, Yahoo! and AIM. Fring for Android enables free VoIP calls over Fring, Skype.
According to MobileCrunch.com Finance Director of Gameloft Alexandre de Rochefort, recently informed that the company had significantly cut their investment in Android platform. They said this is because they feels that Google hasn’t done enough to “entice customers to actually buy products” on the platform. He also said that they have sold “400 times more games on iPhone than on Android”.
Theis is the spy shot of the new Motorola Motus, th new Android powered device with a keyboard that looks like it was made for people with large fingers.
VIP mobile ( Serbian mobile operator ) becomes the first in the world to offer exclusive covers with HTC Tattoo. Customers can pick out of three new exclusive covers, specially made for VIP mobile. via ai.rs
Sharp recently announced that they will roll out Android-based handsets as early as the first half of next year. Sharp commands the biggest market share of all eight cell phone makers in Japan so this is very good news for the Android. The company didn’t reveal which of the three big carriers in Japan will [...]
