Also getting the update treatment are the data layers like photos, Wikipedia articles and various other points of interest. In the prior version, I had to be very precise when tapping an icon or I had to waste time zooming in farther. Tapping a spot close to multiple data layer icons now opens up a menu of the various data points, making it easier to choose. Google also added support for another 18 languages, bringing the total to 31. Here’s a full rundown of the supported ones:

English (U.S), English (UK), French (France), German, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Danish, Swedish, Finnish, Norwegian, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Polish, Turkish, Ukrainian, Arabic, Thai, Czech, Greek, Hebrew, Indonesian, Malaysian, Romanian, Slovak, and Croatian.

I’m also finding performance to be a little more snappy in general, but that could just be hopeful observation. It seems to me that panning and zooming is improved, but I’m not a frequent world traveller in Google Earth — just a frequent traveller to WaWa.

I’m not representative of your mainstream consumer, but I can’t remember the last time — or even the first time — that I looked for software in the iTunes store on a computer. I don’t think a desktop app store alone is the answer, but it wouldn’t hurt — instead, Google needs to continue revamping its mobile Android Marketplace to make it easier to find apps. I’m not against Jason’s suggestion to revamp the existing Google Android Marketplace website with a “buy here and push to phone” software store. While that would be useful, I don’t see much value added — the best mobile solution is to have customers find what they need for their handset right on their handset, not in front of a computer. Google can start by making better use of screen real estate in the Market — I find that the large “Update” and “Install” buttons are too big and there’s too much scrolling in general when look at an application’s details. Is it just me?

While we ponder and debate Android software approaches, let’s not forget that some new hardware is due out this week. The Samsung Behold II arrives for T-Mobile customers on Wednesday. That price of admission nets you a 3.2″ AMOLED touchscreen display, Samsung’s TouchWIZ interface riding atop Android 1.6, a 2 GB microSD card, Wi-Fi, 3G and 5 megapixel camera. I’ve read two different price tags for the Behold II — $199 and $229 — and Samsung’s official press release does nothing to clarify a price. I’m thinking $199 is the cost later this week because we’re starting to see real competition to get good smartphones under the $199 barrier after subsidy.

Windows Mobile 7 is the upcoming version of the mobile OS that everyone, including Microsoft, is expecting to help bring the smartphone platform up to speed competitively. WM7 is long overdue, even Ballmer thinks so, and according to those in the know it is still on track for a release during the third quarter of 2010. That’s almost a year away, and I wonder how far the competition will go in that time. WM7 could be obsolete before it’s even released.

• Support for Yahoo! in Synergy, Calendar, IM and Mail
• Ability to forward text messages
• Palm Backup now includes browser cookies
• Google Contact sync only includes records in My Contacts, not all contacts
• Music app now has a playback slider for faster in-song navigation
• New Secure Unlock feature
• Tapping a YouTube video in the browser automatically opens a YouTube card

My installation is still in progress, so if I see anything else worth mentioning, I’ll add an update.

Backup

• Backup now includes browser cookies, so that after a restart, for example, if you stored your username and password on a web-based email site, you can continue to access the site without needing to log in.
• Backup no longer saves online account passwords. If you perform a partial or full erase or buy a replacement phone, after signing in to your Palm profile, you are prompted to enter the password for each of your online accounts. If you choose to skip this step, to continuing synchronizing this account, you must open an app that syncs with the account (Calendar, Contacts, Email) >application menu > Preferences & Accounts > tap the account name > enter your username and password.

Calendar

• Yahoo! now appears as a Calendar synchronization account. You can synchronize Yahoo! calendar events by opening Calendar > application menu > Preferences & Accounts > Add An Account >Yahoo!
• An event’s location now appears with the same formatting in Day view and in the event notification.
• Calendar notifications no longer reappear after being dismissed.
• All-day events that span more than one day now appear correctly in all Calendar views.
• If you create a Google calendar event on the phone and the event location contains an apostrophe, the event now correctly synchronizes with Google online.

Camera

• After taking a picture, if you tap the picture thumbnail in the lower-left corner of the camera screen, the picture now opens in full-screen view, not Thumbnails view. Making the back gesture returns you to the camera.

Contacts

• Yahoo! now appears as a Contacts synchronization account. You can download contacts from Yahoo! online to the phone by opening Contacts > application menu > Preferences & Accounts> Add An Account > Yahoo!
• Automatic contact linking based on name matches occurs only if the first and last name fields are populated with the same names. If either field is blank, the Contacts app no longer links the contacts. In addition, the Contacts app no longer automatically links contacts with the same name but with different suffixes (such as Jr. and Sr.).
• Contact phone numbers in an Exchange account display the same label that is used for the number in Outlook.
• If you set up Contacts to synchronize with a Google account, the account synchronizes only entries in Google’s My Contacts, not all contacts.
• If a contact entry includes a linked Google instant message that contains a special character (such as an apostrophe or ampersand), the special character now displays correctly.

Device Info

• If you copy a music file to the phone and then delete it, Device Info now shows the correct amount of available memory after the deletion.

Email

• Forwarded and replied-to messages include improved formatting, such as the original sender’s email address in forwarded messages and correct inline image display in replies.
• The list of mail types available in manual setup now includes Google Apps (Hosted Google Domains) and Yahoo! Small Business Domain email accounts. Selecting one of these types automatically enters the correct settings for these accounts.
• If you have multiple Exchange accounts, doing a Global Address List (GAL) contact lookup searches all the accounts.
• When you set up more than one email account from the same provider-for example, two Gmail or two Yahoo! accounts-in Account List view, the account names display the associated email address so that you can distinguish them.
• A new Select All menu item selects message body text so that you can cut or copy it. A new Copy All menu item copies the entire message contents-sender, date, recipient, subject, and body text-so that you can paste it elsewhere. These menu items appear only when a message is open.
• If you turn the All Inboxes preference off, email notifications now show how many new messages are in each of your email accounts.
• Performing a message search in the All Flagged folder returns flagged messages only.
• If an Exchange 2003 implementation requires a password, you can select an alphanumeric (strong) password even if the server does not require a strong password.
• If an Exchange implementation allows use of a simple PIN (numbers only), the phone supports entry of a PIN that is longer than four characters.
• If a notification appears for an incoming email message whose subject line contains an ampersand, the ampersand appears correctly in the notification.

Messaging

• Yahoo! IM is available as an instant messaging account.
• You can select a unique ringtone for new message alerts: Open Messaging > application menu >Preferences & Accounts > Sound > Ringtone.
• You can forward a text or multimedia message by tapping the message > Forward.
• You can copy the text of a text or multimedia message by tapping the message > Copy Text.
• If you receive a message from an email address, the sender’s name (if in Contacts) or email address (if not) shows up correctly on the new message notification and on the open message in Messaging.
• If you copy a conversation using the Copy All menu item and then pastes the conversation text, the pasted text now appears correctly as plain text, without any HTML tags.
• Messaging notifications now show the number of senders and the number of conversations.
• If you enter a message and start it with a standalone letter-for example, “R” or “r” for “are”-when the auto-correct feature expands the letter to a word, the word is correctly capitalized (“Are”).

Music

• While listening to a song with album art displayed, you can tap the screen below the art to display a playback slider. Dragging the slider jumps forward or backward in the song.

Phone

• If the you are on a call, calendar notifications no longer partially cover the End Call icon.

Screen & Lock

• A new Secure Unlock preference allows you to set the time interval the phone is idle before the phone locks, requiring you to enter the PIN/password to unlock the phone. This can be the same as or different from the interval after which the screen turns off. To set the preference: OpenScreen & Lock > Lock After.
• If you select the Simple PIN Secure Unlock option, you can now enter a numeric PIN of more than four digits.
• If you press power to turn off the screen, the screen locks at the same time. Previously, there was a gap of a few seconds before the screen locked.

Sounds & Ringtones

• If you select a new ringtone and throw the card off the screen, the phone saves the new ringtone selection.
• If you set the Ringer Switch Off setting to Mute and turn the ringer switch off at any time, the ringer is muted and the phone does not vibrate, regardless of any other Sounds & Ringtones settings.

System

• The application information dialog box (accessed by pressing and holding the orange key/Optionand tapping an app icon) displays the total (uncompressed) size of the app, including the amount of storage the app requires. For apps you installed, this number represents the amount of memory you free up on the phone by deleting the app.
• If you change the apps in Quick Launch, after a backup and partial erase, the new apps still appear in Quick Launch. Previously, Quick Launch reverted to the default apps.
• You can access USB Drive mode by pressing and holding the orange key/Option + Sym + U after connecting the phone to the computer. This enables you to access USB drive mode if the screen is broken or stops responding to taps.
• A new option is available for restarting the phone: press and hold power > Power > Restart. The prior restart method (Device Info > Reset Options > Restart) is still available.
• You have two options for shutting down the phone completely: 1) press and hold power > Power> Shut Down/Swap Battery > Shut Down; 2) open Device Info > Reset Options > Shut Down >Shut Down.

Tasks

• If a task notification shows a single task, tapping the notification now opens the details screen for that task, not the task list screen.

Videos

• Widescreen videos now display in widescreen mode on the phone by default, instead of being cropped.

Web

• Backup now includes browser cookies, so that after a restart, for example, if you stored your username and password on a web-based email site, you can continue to access the site without needing to log in.
• If you tap to play a YouTube video embedded on a web page, the YouTube application launches and the video plays in the app.

YouTube

• Widescreen videos now display in widescreen mode on the phone by default, instead of being cropped.
• If you tap to play a YouTube video embedded on a web page, the YouTube application launches and the video plays in the app.

Courtesy Clicky

What happens when a phone like the Droid, that is focused on web integration, launches on the U.S. network widely recognized as the best 3G network (Verizon)? Statistics released by Clicky, a web analytics firm, show that the Droid has made an impact on usage in the U. S. from the very launch of the phone. The Droid on Verizon has accounted for over two percent of total mobile browsers accessing the 150,000 web sites that Clicky tracks, starting on Nov. 11, the launch date for the Droid.

This is significant, not only for demonstrating the immediate impact the Droid has exhibited on the mobile web, but for the fact that it is accounting for almost a third of usage of all Android phones in the U.S. There are other Android phones that are in the wild, and some have been for quite some time, yet the Droid is already climbing the usage charts tracking them all, after just a few days. Of course, reliability of statistics depend on a lot of factors, but this big chunk of browsing share is attention grabbing.

(via Geek.com)

PreCentral doesn’t think that Pre owners have any reason to switch to the Pixi, although that’s not surprising. Pixi has no Wi-Fi, a smaller display and a slower processor. The lagginess of webOS may have something to do with the chosen CPU, in fact. Also not too hot in the review was output from the 2 megapixel camera. On the plus side, the device lasts longer on a charge, has a thin and small form factor and offers a solid keyboard, something that not every Pre owner can say.

Engadget also loved the Pixi’s keyboard, but wasn’t too keen on performance in general. Their video demo shows a lack of response by the phone as it tries to load a web page over EVDO. Engadget also struggles to see who will buy the Pixi when the Pre is now only $50 more expensive. I’m in agreement although I anticipate folks that want a thinner device will overlook or not see the differences between the two devices as a wide gap. Had the Pixi come out three or four months ago, it might have been a different story.

PC Mag’s Sascha Segan sees some of the Pixi’s perceived gaps as a plus — in the hands of the right person.”The Pixi raises the bar the same way the Centro and Pearl did when they first came out, saying that you don’t need to be a “smartphone buyer” to use a little bit of smarts in your phone.” Based on his view, is the Pixi appealing to a current smartphone user? Probably not. But there’s a large number of consumers that are on the fence between featurephone and smartphone. Could Pixi get them to fall on the smartphone side?

Of interesting note in all of the reviews — that Facebook app that’s hitting webOS with the updated firmware? It’s not the Facebook you (or I) was looking for. The application seems focused around the status timeline of your friends and not so much into the other useful features of Facebook. That’s personally disappointing because as an early partner, Facebook has had insights to webOS before the Pre was even announced. This doesn’t bode well for one of the biggest gripes I have with the Pre and it fits in with the reason that my Palm Pre may only have a few months left.

Looking for a Windows Mobile software experience like Apple’s iTunes App Store or Amazon’s Kindle store? Then you’ll want to hit Microsoft’s new online Windows Marketplace for Mobile, which just gained new features. The website now makes it an easier to scour the store for applications and directly buy software. Any purchase made online is sent to your Windows Phone or Windows Mobile device over the air — you’ll need to run the Windows Marketplace client on your handset for the wireless magic to happen. That makes it pretty easy to buy and install titles.

I definitely like the idea of a web-based store as opposed to the iTunes client software approach used by Apple — you can access this store from just about any computer. In fact, based on my hands on experience with the Marketplace on a Windows Phone, I’d probably use the online store over the handset store, but that’s just me. I’m curious — who’s using the store on the handset and who prefers the marketplace on a bigger screen?

Along with the storefront update, Microsoft also confirmed that Windows Mobile 6.0 and 6.1 devices will gain access to the Marketplace later this month. That information isn’t new, but it’s a nice confirmation that everything is still on track for those oldies but goodies.

UPDATED: Livestreaming is all the rage today, be it from a handset or a home computer with a webcam. But one of the major challenges to overcome is how to view that live content on a handset without re-encoding it. Vimeo today took the same approach that YouTube did for the iPhone — it went back to certain video content and re-encoded it for mobile handset playback on iPhone and Android devices. While that works, it’s not ideal. Wouldn’t it be nice if a company could provide a method for livestreaming to mobiles without a lengthy re-encoding process?

Lo and behold, enter Livestream and its Procaster beta application for Mac and PC. I just got my hands on the software a short while ago, so I have a “quick and dirty” video — don’t worry, it’s not that kind of dirty — to show you some of the basic capabilities. I was up and running in just a few minutes with Procaster. The application uses any attached webcam and microphone and livestreams from your computer. OK, that sounds like most of the other livestream platforms, right? But here’s the kicker: your live stream from Procaster can be viewed immediately on an iPhone by using the H.264 HTTP streaming built into the handset’s Quicktime application. That’s the bulk of what I show you in my brief video demo because it’s just too cool.

With Livestream Procaster, you can set up your own channel and chatroom to go with your video. I see a multitude of uses for this as I allude to in my short video demo: I’m thinking of trying this out at the Consumer Electronics Show to give you some show floor experience in real time, for example. And this solution could come in handy for tips and tricks because you can easily switch between the webcam view and a screen sharing view. Or you can display both in real time to an iPhone. The possibilities are endless and with the H.264 HTTP streaming, it opens up the floodgates to mobile viewing as well. Livestream’s full press release follows and you can find their beta application right here. Livestream will be using the new Procaster features at our NewTeeVee Live event tomorrow, so you can follow along on your iPhone! It is, after all, NewTeeVee Live, not NewTeeVee Recorded.

Update: After my post went live, I realized that I had an early look, so check out Procaster starting tomorrow.

Livestream Launches Free iPhone Service

Delivers ‘One Click’ Live Streaming to the iPhone

No need for iPhone users to download any application

NEW YORK (Nov. 12, 2009)—Livestream, the leading live Internet video platform, today announced the immediate availability of its free service for streaming live to the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Using Livestream Procaster, users can stream live from their webcam, video camera or even broadcast their PC or Mac desktop. Livestream producers can start streaming live to the addressable iPhone and iPod Touch audience over 3G or Wi-Fi connections, with less than five minutes of setup.

Livestream is the first to offer a turn-key streaming service that uses the new H.264 HTTP live streaming functionality included in the native QuickTime player that Apple has pre-installed on the iPhone. This means that Livestream producers do not need to obtain iPhone App Store approval to launch their own iPhone live streaming channel, nor do their viewers need to install any application. Streams are viewed using the iPhone’s Safari browser.

Livestream has also provided a simple Representational State Transfer (REST) API for developers to integrate live streaming into their own iPhone websites or their own iPhone applications. Livestream Procaster includes a free streaming encoder, which means that no third party application or license needs to be purchased in order to stream live to the iPhone using Livestream.

“A key breakthrough is that the service doesn’t require any proprietary player or application to be installed on the iPhone. Producers are free to integrate the iPhone live stream with their own website, iPhone portal or iPhone application using the API provided,” explained Livestream CEO and co-founder Max Haot.

Streaming live to the iPhone requires less than five minutes to install. Producers simply download and install Livestream Procaster for the PC or Mac from www.livestream.com/procaster, connect their video camera or webcam, select iPhone 3G Quality, and press Go Live. User can view the live streams on their iPhone or iPod Touch by pointing their Safari browser to the channel they want to view atiphone.livestream.com.

Livestream will first use this new feature at NewTeeVee Live, the conference for online video influencers being held on Nov. 13 in San Francisco. Viewers can watch it live at iphone.livestream.com.

To get started or for more information visit www.livestream.com/iphone.

-X X X-

About Livestream

Livestream (www.livestream.com – formerly Mogulus) provides everything needed to easily webcast live, build an engaged audience and monetize these efforts. Founded in 2007, the company is based in New York and includes Gannett Co. as a minority shareholder and investor.

Producers can use Livestream to create live, linear and on-demand Internet television to broadcast anywhere on the Web through a single embeddable player widget. The service comes in two flavors: Free (ad-supported) and Premium (ad-free, white-label, higher-quality). Unique features include the ability to mix multiple live cameras, overlay graphics, and desktop streaming with 3D effects.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Sue Huss, for Livestream

sue.huss@comunicano.com

619-379-4396

Speaking of solid products, did you see the Gigaware HD Radio tuner for iPhone? This $80 add-on brings the goodness of HD Radio to your Apple handset and as one would expect, allows for song tagging for later purchases in the iTunes store. Personally, I really like this feature that’s baked into Microsoft’s Zune, but not enough to drop $80 for it on my iPhone 3GS. It doesn’t look all that mobile as it uses a cable to dock to the iPhone. For stationary, docked iPhones it might be appealing. It has to be more appealing than static, which you can’t even listen to on today’s iPhones.

So you can’t listen to terrestrial radio over FM on an iPhone, but you can Tweet until the cows come home. (That’s around 4:30pm in my neighborhood — for realz) Last week, I bought Tweetie2, but I’m already looking at adding the free TweetDeck to my iPhone. There’s a new version out and it incorporates some useful new features like Facebook support, video uploads, landscape composition and more. Have a look and you’ll see why I’m about to “buy” this free app for my iPhone.

I keep Om’s old G1 around the house for software testing and such — he wouldn’t swap it for the Droid, go figure. Most of the time, it sits idly on my desk, but maybe it’s time to start getting into that hackability zone with this one-year old. Android by itself is getting better and better, but it seems to me that all of the fun stuff happens when folks start tinkering with the platform. Since I’m still terrified by a solder iron, this seems like a better way to channel my efforts. Any suggestions on where to start and what to do with a G1?

The big question in my mind isn’t where Windows Mobile 7 will be when it arrives, but rather, where will all of its competitors be at that time. Apple appears to be on a major release schedule each June or July with updated handsets and new operating system features. Google is proving that it can press the gas pedal with Android updates, too — not long after version 1.6 hit the air, we saw a flashier version 2.0 arrive. Nokia’s first Maemo phone is now shipping, but updates for that platform have no history to form a basis. BlackBerry also continues to move forward and, of course, some of us are still waiting for more great things from Palm.

Three quarters of a year can be a lifetime for mobile devices, so my hope is that Microsoft debuts something that’s ahead of its time with Windows Mobile 7.

The enterprising individual has detailed the process and explained the whys and wherefores of the components chosen for the project. The Pre sits on the Touchstone charger by magnetic connection, and according to the hobbyist, the phone sits firmly on the mount. If you decide to tackle such a project yourself, bear in mind that tinkering with the car’s electrical system can be dangerous, and you could have horrific consequences if proper care is not exercised. Pretty cool, though.

Matt found the browser to be a little “slow and buggy,” but that’s to be expected from a beta version. The Mozilla Fennec team has added lots of tweaks as development progresses, including:

• Enabled official branding, with Firefox name and logo
• Support for localizations, currently including Spanish, German, French, Italian, Dutch and Russian
• Enabled plugins
• Viewport meta tag support
• Fixed a number of sites that resize their content after the page is loaded
• Added a form assistant to make filling forms easier
• Improved panning performance and behavior
• Zooming doesn’t jump around anymore
• Numerous other bugs and polish issues addressed

What is better than free Wi-Fi for the holidays? Unlocking your iPhone from the O2 network in the UK for free. That’s exactly what O2 in the UK is allowing iPhone customers to do after Nov. 10. Unlockers will still have to honor the remainder of any O2 contract, but can use any SIM in the iPhone at no charge. Pay and Go customers can unlock the iPhone 12 months after paying off the phone for a £14.69 one-time fee.

Here’s all you need to do to unlock your iPhone according to the O2 site:

“Firstly, complete the unlocking form – it will take up to 14 days for the iPhone to be unlocked and we’ll text you to confirm the unlock request. Then place a non-O2 sim into the iPhone and connect to iTunes via a USB cable. iTunes will confirm that the iPhone has been successfully unlocked.”

Thanks to Gavin Miller for sending this in!

Adobe and RIM announced a partnership to help create richer Flash-based apps for the BlackBerry. This joint venture goes beyond video consumption, it is intended to merge Flash technology into the BlackBerry developer tools to make it easier to create enabled apps.

Google has released a new version of Google Maps for the BlackBerry. It is not clear what is new in version 3.2.1, although I can tell you for certain it doesn’t add that cool Navigation capability. To get the update just visit m.google.com/maps from your ‘Berry. Version 3.2 was only added a short while ago, and that version added the useful Layers function to Maps. This new update is probably just an incremental batch of fixes, but better get it just in case.