I apologize for not posting lately

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I know I have not posted any news lately, but i have been in poor health and have at had a lot of stuff going on. I probably wont post for the next week, as I get stuff for school out of the way, but after that I should be back.

Thanks for your understanding!

Galaxy S Devices to get Android 2.2 in the Next Month

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Based on information in an announcement from the Spanish version of Samsung Mobile, the Samsung Galaxy S phones will obtain the Android 2.2 in the next month. The Samsung Galaxy S phones include the Epic 4G, Captivate, Fascinate, and Vibrant.

The update is expected in mid to late October, and will be a greatly anticipated update for these devices.

For the time being however, this is another update to be released in the next few days that users of the Epic 4G can try out. This update is being released in order to correct a problem with 3G upload speed on these phones. The update was originally planned to be released 9/30, but has been pushed back.

Expect more news about the Android 2.2 update in the next few weeks, as more details are uncovered.

AT&T Likely to be Exclusive Windows Phone 7 Carrier

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A report by the Wall Street Journal reports that AT&T will be the exclusive carrier with Windows Phone 7. According to the article, AT&T will begin selling 3 new devices, the HTC Mondrian, the Samsung Cetus, and the LG Optimus 7, on November 8th. Official names and specifications of these devices are expected to be released October 11th.

AT&T is gearing up for a busy fall with many phones being released soon, including a Blackberry Curve 3G and Blackberry Pearl 3G, in addition to the Windows Phone 7 devices. By the end of November, AT&T will have released 12 new devices since June.

It may seem curious that Microsoft has decided to with AT&T as an exclusive carrier, but when you think about it, this may be just another opportunity to compete with Apple.

Samsung Continuum May Have 2nd display

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According to a recent report, a new Samsung Galaxy S phone is on its way to Verizon, dubbed the Samsung Continuum. What is particularly interesting about this device is that in addition to the standard display, the Samsung Continuum will have a small secondary display. This display will be located beneath the main display and buttons, and will likely be used for scrolling information typically provided by widgets such as weather, feeds, and the time.

From what is known about this phone, it is expected to be a standard Galaxy S phone, including a 5 megapixel camera, a 4 inch screen, Android OS, and a 1Ghz processor. Being on Verizon, it is expected to have Bing as the default search engine as opposed to Google.

There has been no pricing information or release date details released, but it is expected that we could perhaps hear more information very soon.

Amazon App Store Near Certain

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In just a span of a few days (in which I did not cover the original story as i took a couple days off from blogging), an Amazon app store as gone from just another rumor to nearly confirmed.

Slashgear has obtained a copy of the initial terms and conditions for the Amazon App Store in which Amazon has asked developers to read and sign. A few things that stand out in the agreement include that developers will have to pay a $99 developer fee, as well as allow Amazon the rights to modify the code and add DRM protection.

The Amazon App Store is expected to be a boost to the Android platform, but not all critics are convinced. Some believe that another storefront will just add to Android's fragmentation problems and confuse the average user. However, the benefits could be substantial, and if anything, the Amazon App Store will at least push Google's App Market to keep improving.

2/3 of Android Apps Leak Private Data

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According to a study of 30 of the most popular applications in Google's App Market, as much as 2/3 of apps access personal information in a way not desirable for users. The study stated that of the 30 apps studied, 15 reported a user's location to remote advertising servers and 7 broadcast the device number or phone number to outside servers. Nearly 100 percent of the time, the data was being collected without the users knowledge.

The study shows a large flaw in security on the Android platform, as Android users do not have much of a way to discover what information is actually being used when they install an app from the App Market. This study was made possible because the Android operating system is open source, so it is unclear how the Apple App Store would fare in a similar experiment. For the time being, however, one must be cautious when downloading applications until improvements are made.

Droid X 2.2 Update Issues

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With the release of Android 2.2 for the Droid X, many users finally got their long anticipated upgrade. However, that upgrade has not necessarily gone smoothly. According to several reports, an issue with SMS (text) messaging has been discovered on the 2.2 update. Apparently some incorrect time and date settings in the software have affected the order of messages received, which can really be a hassle for users. There is no current workaround for this problem, but Motorola has stated that they are working on solving the issue, and we should expect a solution soon.

This problem was around during all of the beta builds of Android 2.2 for the Droid X, but was not addressed before releasing the official version for some reason.

Hopefully we will see a fix over the next few days (or perhaps weeks). Then we can finally turn our attention to Android 3.0, Gingerbread.