What a great idea and way to bring the developer community together. Hopefully this helps bring all your minds together in some amazing collaborations and learning environments.

Source: G+ via AndroidPolice

CyanogenMod has just passed a huge milestone in their existance. It is no contest when considering them as the most popular Custom ROM team in the Android open source project scene, and oh boy do they have the stats to prove it. CyanogenMod is available on over sixty different devices, with the majority of ROMS installed being of the Gingerbread variety.

So as we wait patiently for CM9 releases, take a moment to drop by the CM forums and congratulate all the Developers and supporting team members of the ever growing success of CyanogenMod!

Source: CyanogenMod Twitter account

In steps a company called Apkudo. A developer can submit their finished, so they hope, application to the service. Then they run it through 289 various devices and see how it runs. Then it they produce a report for the developer showing the number of devices that failed to run the app and which ones those were along with a log of the issue that happened on those devices. One might think that this would take weeks and be full of people sitting around running apps all day long. That isn’t the case though, once submitted, you get your results in less than a minute. Talk about near instant results for all your hard work.

The service is set to be officially announced at AnDevCon coming up on November 6th. The initial cost for the service won’t cost you a penny to use. At some point they will be offering a premium service that will offer more in-depth testing along with other features. This is without a doubt the single greatest service that been offered to our developers. It should help nearly eliminate market comments of the app not running on a certain device. Of course there will always be those one-off devices that will have an issue though.

Source: AndroidPolice

Google I/O, the namesake search giant’s annual two-day developer conference, historically held in May at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, has been scheduled to return for its fifth iteration on April 24 and 25, 2012.

Last year’s event reportedly sold out in minutes after ticket sales opened, and with Android assuming honors of the top utilized handset OS globally just before the last event, this one is likely to sell out even more quickly. Over the years, Google products and platforms such as Android (itself, as well as major revisions), Chrome, Music, TV, Wave, as well as numerous developer tools have been introduced, highlighted, touted, dissected, and celebrated. Another well-known component is the “After Hours Evening Party”; many a YouTube video originated from that little shindig.

Source: Google Code blog

or a long time there has been one consistent choice as far as custom ROM selections go, and that’s been CyanogenMOD (CM).  It’s been around since the dawn of Android and joins the list in the Android hall of fame. No matter what happens to CM, it will always be a favorite of the community and will always be remembered.  CM was originally developed by a community developer named Steke Kondik, known as Cyanogen in the community.  Cyanogen is still heavily involved in the development of CM, but there is now a complete development team scattered all over the world who fix and enhance CM on a daily basis. CM is available on almost every Android phone available today.

CM is an amazing piece of work based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) and then modified with a great selection of the best enhancements available for any Android device.  It’s one of the most successful ROMs you can install on your device and is the pinnacle of achievement in the community.

I also feel that CM has created a problem in the community which is not a problem of theirs but the other developers in the community.  Many developers are now using the CM source as the base for their own creations.  This is great, but it also has its problems.  There are now so many CM wanna-bees appearing, it’s getting hard to know what’s a simple rename or recompile to the CM source. It also means that people are basing their latest creations on the CM source and more than likely the nightly source, which is inherently the beta code from CM. Some of them are using the stable branches, but not that many. You may say that this is the same if they use the AOSP source code, and you would be right, but the AOSP source is created by Google and does not have all the Modifications and enhancement create by the developer community. The AOSP is also managed internally at Google and the only branches we see are the stable releases Google allows us to see.  It has less chance of including badly written code (I hope) than something thrown together by a new developer who has only been coding for a couple of weeks.  I’m no developer so I can’t really say how hard it is to create a straight forward AOSP build from CM, but we do see experienced developers like faux123 slowly creating an AOSP like experience by reverse engineering the CM source and slowly removing many of the features they’ve added.

We all have a fall back

Everybody has one ROM that they always go back to when they are flashing new ROMs on their devices.  My own personal history started out with Enomthers TheOfficial series of ROMs, no matter what ROM I use to try on my devices, I would always end up going back to Enomthers TheOfficial.  TheOfficial was the first ROM I ever used that included its own kitchen allowing complete customization of its components to your own personal taste without having to go and search for different MODs. Enomther retired from ROM development (I still have quiet thoughts that maybe one day he’ll come back) and Cyanogen built and grew a complete team of developers for CyanogenMOD and then CyanogenMOD became my go back to ROM.

The CM team has helped the entire development community by creating a base that any developer can download and build upon.  Many of the ROMs available today wouldn’t even be possible without Cyanogen and the CM team working miracles with the Android source code and building the kernels they have created.  It’s impossible to count the number of developers who use bits and pieces of the CM source to make their own creations function.

There is one inherent problem with CyanogenMOD! It’s feels like it never quiet gets to a stable point.  CyanogenMOD is continually developed with nightly builds which are automatically compiled by the servers and released to the public on a daily basis.  I’m not saying that it’s not a stable ROM, but there is always something that crops up in the nightlies.  Again, this is not a problem of the CM team as they clearly state all over the web that the nightlies are work in progress code and they are not responsible for any problems you may experience. They also have releases marked as stable, but these are very quickly outdated and the number of new features constantly added are just a dangling carrot for the Android community.  Features are added at such an alarming rate that every release seems to have something new.

MIUI please step up to the table!

Move forward to today and there is another big fish in the lake known as MIUI and pronounced “Mee-You-Eye“.  MIUI is a completely custom ROM written by a group of guys in China and now taking the world by storm.  MIUI has taken the best of the best in interfaces, components and modifications from almost every other mobile operating system that exists and created an Android custom ROM that is the most user-friendly piece of software that exists today.  Many people have compared the simplicity to that of Apples iPhone iOS.  It has the type of desktop where all your applications are floating on screen instead of inside an application tray, just like the iPhone.  No matter what you say about Apple and iOS, there is no arguing that it’s incredibly simple to use, although limited in what you can customize.

MIUI HomeScreen

I’ve now reached a point where MIUI is my fall back ROM whenever I try anything else.  I’m running a T-Mobile myTouch 4G as my daily phone and due to the excellent job TheDerekJay is doing on building that MT4G version of MIUI, it draws me back every time.

MIUI has many of the same underlying features that CM7 has, but to me, they are just better integrated.  One example of this is the text messaging system.  When you receive a text message, MIUI can be configured to wake up your device and display an alert on the lockscreen.  You can then swipe directly on the notification to go directly to the text message.

MIUI Lockscreen Text Message Notification

If your device is already awake, the text message will pop up on the screen where you can immediately reply or ignore the text.  I know you’re going to say that you can make CM do that too by installing an application or a simple Mod from the community.  The difference is that MIUI already has it all.

MIUI Homescreen Text Message Notification

This is only the tip of the iceberg for MIUI, the list of features just keep going on and on.  Much of this would not have been possible without CyanogenMOD as at the heart of many of the MIUI releases is the Cyanogen kernel.  The kernel is the life and soul of every Android device.  Cyanogen and the CyanogenMOD team have performed an amazing feat with the CyanogenMOD ROM and the Android community wouldn’t be what it is today without it, but the AOSP has gone stale.  Every new release of Android has made vast improvements to the underlying architecture, but the front end is stale.  Does it really look much different to the days of the T-Mobile G1?  I suppose it does a little, but not enough for me.

MIUI is fresh, clean and extremely simple.  What’s better about MIUI is the fact that it’s an all in one package. No MODs required.  It has a built-in theme engine with local access, and an endless library of Internet-based themes.  Head into your settings to change your ring tone and not only do you have access to local sounds, but again, they have an online library of sounds for your ring tones and notifications.  The same goes for wallpapers.  It’s just easy and all included from the first day you flash your phone.

MIUI Online Theme Selection

MIUI is what is needed to shake up the Android world and we need more of it. We need the developers to be more creative and create something different, something special.  What we really need is for Google to take note and do something more with Android.  With Ice Cream Sandwich coming just around the corner, they have been more creative, but I’ll hold my breath for now and see what it ultimately offers.

I’m not saying the MIUI is perfect, far from it, it has its faults just like CM has, but it’s different.  I know that everybody has their own personal preferences of the software they want to run on their phone, and this is just my own view point of what I consider the current leaders in the community.  In the end you will all make up your own mind.  What I will say is that if you haven’t already tried MIUI, then you’re missing out and you should give it a go.

If you’re ready to give it a whirl, you can check in the Community Release system for the currently available MIUI releases, or you can head over to the MIUI China site from the original authors.  There are also many regional sites dedicated the MIUI ROM so you could also check out the US MIUI site or any other site.

Another sign of the growing popularity is the number of developers who are starting to convert their CM7 themes into MIUI themes.  Choice is an excellent thing and with MIUI increasing in popularity day by day, it gives one more choice in the hands of the community.

Again, none of this is a dig at the CM team as they are the most accomplished Android OS Developers in the community.  Almost anyone who has made a name for themselves in the community has somehow been involved with the creation of CM.  While I am currently running MIUI and don’t see that changing, I still frequently test out the latest features in CM and have great respect for everything they have achieved.

Where do they stand?

Both CM and MIUI have built-in statistics system that record, with the user’s permission, every time a copy of their software is installed and used on the phone.  The MIUI US team is currently recording for MIUI so I don’t think their stats keep a track of all releases worldwide, but not too sure. It records what make and model the phone is and what version of the software they have installed.  The results of these stats are freely available to the general public and are so similar; I’m almost 100% certain they share the same capture technology.  As we already know they have worked closely together in the past, we can easily assume that the CM team shared the system with the MIUI boys.

CM has been around for a long time and has gathered a tremendous following so the results of their stats are staggering.  MIUI is still building and the stats they have collected show this.  Regardless of what these numbers say, the more people I talk to I’m finding out that once they try out MIUI, they rarely look back.  Obviously this is not always the case, but among the people I know, it’s an incredibly high percentage.

CyanogenMOD Installation Statistics 9-25-2011

As you can see, the CyanogenMOD installation count is pretty amazing, especially when you compare them to the MIUI installation statistics shown below.

MIUI US Installation Statistics 9-25-2011

Bring on the Hardware

The MIUI guys have now gone so far as to design a build a phone based on MIUI and currently being sold in China and available for order to other parts of the globe.  I’m not sure how far they would get if they try to distribute officially outside China.  I think Apple, given their current spout of legal activities, may have something to say about its similarities to their Apple iOS interface.  In the first 2 days of pre-orders they received 300,000 phone orders, which is an amazing feat for a community driven device.  Now I just cant wait to get my hands on one and give you guys the complete low down.  You can find more information at the Xiaomi website.  For a start up company these guys have done an amazing job and I hope to see more companies like this succeeding just as well.

MI-One Phone

Should the AOSP include more functionality?

Slightly related to the functionality of MIUI is an old argument surrounding what should and should not be included in the AOSP from Google.  CM and MIUI just highlight even more the shortcomings of the AOSP source code.  This may be an argument that only I am having, but I still feel it’s a very important one.  The argument is all about Safety and hands free support in Android!  There are a huge number of accidents caused by people using cell phones while they are driving and Android has done nothing to help prevent this.  In fact, I would say that Android has taken us a step backwards.  I had plenty of older phones, before I became a smart phone user, that all did simple things like display text messages as soon as they arrived.  Simple things that prevent you from having to reach out and interact with your device while you’re  driving.  There are steps in the right direction in Android that try to help with this, but to get proper hands free functionality, you have to start downloading extra applications.  More and more of the carriers are also starting to include their own choice of hands free technologies or includ these applications as standard, but it’s still not there.  VLingo is probably one of the top choices for hands free integration with your Android device.

Getting this information out to the devs is paramount for the quick success and adoption of the latest Android OS. With out the developers on board, we will suffer from app compatibility and potentially lose developing companies that aren’t getting apps up to speed at launch. If you happen to be a developer and are curious to see what is coming and things to think about, now is a s good of a time as any to start reading.

Source: Google Blogspot

We’ve all heard about the amazing bounty laid down for the person who can get Android running on the HP TouchPad. It sounds like some people are getting a lot closer.  rhcp011235 and other members of the team working on the port of Android to HP’s TouchPad have now been successful in booting into Android’s recovery mode and ClockworkMOD recovery. The team has been kind of fragmented and not really working as a lean mean working machine, although it still appears the project is heading in the right direction.  Chatter in the TouchDroid IRC channel indicates they are progressing nicely.

There is also the previously leaked Android System Dump for the HP TouchPad that some lucky users received on their Touchpad’s when they turned them on.  So we know that Android was being tested by HP for this device and should be running once more on every HP TouchPad out there.  Just give them time!

The latest update indicates that ADB is now running in webos and mini android as well as in ClockWorkMOD Recovery on the HP Touchpad, which is very important and takes them another step closer to full blown Android on the HP Touchpad.

rhcp011235 has posted a photo showing ClockworkMOD Recovery loading on his HP TouchPad (shown above) and another anonymous user shared a photo of ADB working in WebOS itself (shown below).

HP TouchPad ADB Working in WebOS

For the latest updates on the TouchDroid project, keep monitoring Twitter or join in the conversaton on the TouchDroid Freenode channel.

Source: rhcp011235

 

Ok, so I was perusing through the market looking for something exciting and interesting to let you guys know about. Then I came across a trending game called SuperNinjaCatGo by NanjaAndroid. The screen shots looked pretty decent, the ratings looked good and the graphics looked nice. The game is a simple side scroll run and jump style game. We have a lot of those in the market, but I thought a ninja cat might be cool and offer a different visual to a classic style game.

Then I looked to the left, under the “More from Developer” section. To my surprise, they have 4 other games. NinjaCatFly, NinjaCatGoGo!, SuperNinjaCat and CatNinjaFly. You catching on yet? They have 5 total games in the Android market. All of them are the same game! The only difference I can find is the version number. Rather than updating the original app, they renamed each one and released it at it’s own application. Now I am not mad at these guys, just frustrated no one let them know that they are flooding the market with the same game. The game might be amazing, and people that got it when it originally launched have missed out on 4 updates now. The latest version should be version 1.9 which was released on August 23rd, but if you click through the other games, you will find version 1.8 released on August 25th. What’s even better about this whole story is how different the star rating for each is.

Words of wisdom, don’t flood the market with the same application, update your original one!

There is some hope on the horizon though. According to the Google TV Blog they have just released the a preview of the Google TV Add-on for the Android SDK. This will ultimately help developers start to port their apps and even create new ones aimed directly at support for how users interact with their Google TV.

The more developers that jump on board in the early stages have a better chance of survival on the big screen. Especially since the leaked update is floating around and is installed. If any developers take advantage of the new preview and make their app run on the Google TV, please let us know so we can share it. There are enough hacked users out there that would be happy to see if it works or not.

If you are interested in getting started on bringing your apps to the big screen, or just want to give it a shot, please go check out the Google TV Blog for further information, or just jump right to the Google TV Add-on and get going. We all look forward to what you can get running on a 50″ screen with a full key board at your disposal.

Source: Google TV Blog

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