VLC media player is coming to Android very soon

According to tech blog GigaOM, the team behind the popular media player VLC will release a VLC Android app in “a matter of weeks”. This follows from the release of a dedicated VLC iPad app in September of this year, with iPhone support arriving in October.
VLC has become extremely popular on desktop devices in recent years as it’s capable of playing almost any file format imaginable, and can play corrupted files also. Corrupted files are quite common on peer-to-peer file sharing networks where downloads often remain incomplete.
VLC will be of particular benefit to Android users who wish to stream video formats not traditionally supported by the platform.
Janko Roettgers of GigaOM spoke to lead VLC developer, Jean-Babtiste Kempf, who stated that two basic modules for audio and video output on the Android NDK have been developed, and are near completion.

“They need work, but we are approaching.”

If all goes according to plan the app could be released in “a matter of weeks”. However, Kempf was cautious about giving a specific date as Android device fragmentation could delay the application’s release. The VLC team must first ensure it can run on specific versions of Android OS before it’s released.

In China, an Android goes by the name ‘Huawei’

MANILA, Philippines—The brand “Huawei” is stamped on every USB Wi-Fi dongle sold by major telcos. It popularized the use of 3G Internet or wireless Internet via HSPDA (high-speed packet data access) for mobile devices.

Now the Chinese original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is keen on establishing itself as a maker of branded mobile devices like smartphones and tablets targeting mass consumers.

Recently, it announced the coming of affordable touch smartphones and a tablet device that runs on Google’s Android operating system.

With a suggested retail price of P8,888, the IDEOS U8510 may be the most affordable Android smartphone available. Running on the latest Android Froyo 2.2 mobile operating system, the IDEOS U8510 is powered by a 528 Mhz mobile processor and capable of 7.2 Mbps Internet speed.

Available in black, yellow, blue and purple, this compact phone doubles as a Wi-Fi hub that enables users to enjoy the Internet wherever they are. IDEOS may instantly turn into a password-protected wireless hotspot providing simultaneous wireless support for up to eight devices at a time.

Equipped with a 528MHZ processor and 256MB RAM, the IDEOS provides users a responsive and smooth interface.

The smartphone has a 2.8-inch capacitive touchscreen and other useful features, such as voice dialing, voice navigation, and the ability to run applications off an SD card.

As an Android phone, the IDEOS allows users access to over 70,000 applications available in the Android market.

The U8300 is a chocolate-bar shaped smart phone running on Android 2.1 Éclair.

This Wi-Fi ready smartphone features not only a touchscreen display but an ergonomically designed qwerty keypad.

Targeting young users engaged in social networking, the U8300 will be available in green, yellow and purple.

The G2100 is Huawei’s entry-level bar phone meant for everyday use.

It already features a colored 1.47-inch LCD screen and an internal FM radio antenna.

But by far the most interesting Huawei product is the IDEOS Tablet S7, an Internet tablet/communications device/multimedia player that has an 800 x 480 pixel screen resolution, which is enough to provide users with 720p high definition video playback.

Retailing just below P20,000, the IDEOS Tablet S7 features Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile processor (768 MHz) and Android 2.1 Éclair mobile operating system.

Android 2.3 Ported To Nokia N900

The Nexus One, Google‘s first Googlephone, has yet to be updated to Android 2.3 “Gingerbread.” Meanwhile in the world, Android 2.3 “Gingerbread” has been spread to the Nokia N900. Yep, Nokia’s Maemo smartphone/portable computer has been gotten an unofficial port to Android 2.3 courtesy of a modder who goes by the name ‘DrunkDebugger’ (lol).

Alexey Roslyakov, the man behind the DrunkDebugger name, is responsible of the Gingerbread port to the Nokia N900. Android ports to other devices can sometimes be messy, as anybody will know, but he seems to have gotten it to an almost usable state. He’s gotten the cellular data, WiFi and sound working on the device, with the rest still in development.
DrunkDebugger hasn’t released the code yet, but says that a publicly available ‘experimental build’ will come out for the phone by the time the year is up. If that’s too cutting edge for your liking, DrunkDebugger has a much more stable Android 2.2.1 release coming for the Nokia N900 very very soon.
Nokia likely isn’t happy about this. The Finnish phone giant has been the subject of constant speculation regarding a move to the Android operating system. Their defense has been that using Android would make them just another countless Android manufacturer in a sea of them. But, if you’re wondering what Android would be like on Nokia hardware, now you’ve got your chance.
And by the way – the Nokia N900 is one of the most underrated piece of hardware in the last two years, in my opinion. Well, Maemo 5 needed some work, but the hardware was great.