Eric Chu of Google’s Android is aware of the issue and has announced that the Android market now has better security for the developers who contribute their works to the mobile platform. They have released a new licensing service, Market browsing enhancements (allowing users to easily access apps made for specific versions of the OS, such as apps for the Android 1.5 Cupcake) and most importantly, a method for the market to assess the license status for every user accessing the system.

While Google has not released any details on how the new licensing system actually works, it has been revealed that the system works in a real time basis –constantly checking users whenever they log into the Android market.

This level of security is pretty much on par with that the Apple iTunes store offers. However it has yet to be seen in action so we will have to reserve our judgment for later.

In other Android smart phone news, it appears that the Android 2.2. Froyo update has been leaked prematurely for the Samsung Galaxy S. Since this is an unofficial release, the update is not yet complete -though it is fully functional. According to Galaxy S owners who have braved the risk of trying out an update to the system firmware, the Froyo update is indeed as fast and efficient as Google claimed it to be.

According to the developers of the world famous search engine, they made the Nexus One for a very specific purpose, and in that regard, the smart phone is a success. But the company has no plans to keep selling the handset indefinitely and has finally decided to pull the plug on the online store.

Of course, the Nexus One is still available through other means. Vodafone UK is still offering the impressive Android smart phone on various plans and tariffs. In the meanwhile developers who were not able to snag a unit earlier this year will still have a change to get the device straight from Google –the developer exclusive channels are going to remain open. This means that the Nexus One will still serve a very important purpose in the development of the Android operating system.

While Google has directly announced that they have no intentions of working on or releasing a Nexus Two smart phone, no one can say if the company will stop working on actual smart phones altogether. As long as the industry’s technology keeps evolving, so will the Android operating system –and Google will eventually have to come up with a technologically superior handset to serve as part of their new developer’s tools.

For those who missed out on the details of the Google phone, this device was actually manufactured by Taiwan based phone maker, HTC. It also shares many similar hardware features with the Desire, an HTC made Android handset. Both devices use a 5 mega pixel camera, a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU and both phones have 3.7 inch AMOLED capacitive touch screen displays.

That missing feature happens to be third party application multitasking. Unlike Apple’s iOS4, there is no way to simultaneously use two apps at once. The moment that you launch a new app, the first once is automatically terminated. It is truly a surprise considering the fact that Microsoft is aware of the fact that a lot of consumers are after multitasking, not only in mobile phones, but also in personal computers.

The announcement came from Mr. Yochay Kiriaty of Microsoft. He said that only a single application will be able to run in the foreground and all other background apps will be terminated. Say a game app is open, once the user tries to make a phone call, the game app is automatically close. Even by simply launching a picture browser, your current app will be closed.

“When a user navigates away from your application, either to a chooser like picture chooser, or to a launcher like phone call, Windows Phone operating system terminates your application.”

The only good news is that the last state of a particular app will be restored when the program is launched again. This may work for simple applications but for games and music apps, the lack of a proper third party multitasking is truly a big blow.

Hopefully, Microsoft has some sort of trick up its sleeve to increase the hype for their upcoming platform. After how the Kin duo fared, they really need it.

The Desire is not the only smart phone affected. Other HTC Android 2.1 smart phones are expected to get updates around August this year.

The reason why there is so much fuss about the Desire’s delayed update is that many consider it the benchmark for other non-Google branded Android smart phones; that is if the Desire is getting an update, then updates for other devices will surely follow soon.

For now, only the Google Nexus One has the update for the new Android Froyo. The reason for the delays has not been explained by either HTC or Google, but many believe that they are simply biding their time. Google has had no qualms releasing updates with compatibility issues (a constant problem for the Android as there is a wide variety of phones that use the OS), so there really is no reason to hold back on the launch date.

Another reason why the Desire is a very important phone for many is because it practically serves as a non-Google substitute to the Nexus One. And considering that HTC manufactured both devices, the Desire is a pretty good choice too. The specs are even the same. Both phones have 3.7 inch AMOLED capacitive touch screen displays, the Qualcomm Snapdragon 1GHz processor and a 5 mega pixel snapper.

Still, it is a big step for the web format developer in their quest to show critics and the market that Flash is still a widely used web format. And they are right. While Adobe also recognizes the need for HTML5 development and they also support the new media (Adobe has confirmed that they are currently working on HTML5 development software), Flash is still a well accepted medium.

Anyway, the launch of the Flash Player 10.1 is still big news. So far, none of the existing mobile phones are compatible with it simply because Google’s launch of Android 2.2 Froyo is still not applicable for a vast majority of Android devices.

And that is an issue that Google needs to fix as soon as possible. While it has been confirmed that the HTC Desire will be getting a 2.2 update in the next few days, there are plenty of other impressive Android handsets that have yet to taste the power and versatility of the new Android version.

According to the original announcements, Android 2.2 features a whole host of new features such as tethering and support for turning a handset into a WiFi router. Froyo also improves existing Android performance by boosting the performance speed up to two times faster and the browsing speed up to three times faster.

Naturally, the new Flash Player support is considered to be the main attraction of the new OS, and once it is available for other smart phones; many mobile users will be able to enjoy Flash content on the go.

At the CommunicAsia event in Singapore, many expected Altek Corporation to show off their latest cameras made for mobile phones –in order to attract phone manufacturers. But they instead surprised everyone when they went up onstage to show off the new Altek Leo. With the device’s 14 mega pixel camera, Xenon flash, 1/2.3 inch CCD sensor and 3x optical zoom, the device seemed like a handy little camera –until they announced that it was also a mobile phone.

And not just any mobile phone; aside from the fact that the Leo allowed users to make and receive phone calls, the real clincher is the fact that this smart phone is an Android handset. Yes, right behind that spectacular 14 MP lens is a large capacitive touch screen display with Google’s ever familiar mobile platform user interface.

It brings apps, plenty of Google features such as Maps, Goggles, Mail, Chat and more, a really powerful camera and what we can only assume would be a decent CPU and a sufficient degree of internal storage (or at least some microSD card support). Overall, this is one smart phone that you people should not pass up –if they get a chance. It seems that there are no confirmed plans to release this handset in any European territory at the moment.

So far, Altek has only confirmed an Asian release for this impressive piece of technology but considering the amount of interest there is in the device, it would a great idea for the Taiwanese camera maker to consider bringing this smart phone to the west.

First off, Apple really hates Google now. In fact, it has just been confirmed that Bing will be the primary search engine for the new Apple phone. While it is expected that other search engines will also be available, Apple’s decision to support Microsoft is a direct attack on Google –who is now the major competitor for the iPhone thanks to Google’s Android OS.

Another revelation about the new iPhone is that it will not have a touch sensitive casing. While the initial reports were full of rumors of this innovative new input system, it appears that Apple might have scrapped the idea entirely. Without any actual application of the technology on smart phones, it is hard to determine as to why the idea has been scrapped.

At long last, the new iPhone will be coming with a high resolution OLED capacitive touch screen display. This will provide the iPhone with better graphical capabilities. And with the announcement that the new phone’s display being the same size as the original iPhone’s, having better resolution is a logical next step. Still, with the large touch screen on new smart phones and many uses going for high resolution screens, the decision to keep the iPhone at 3.3 inches will help keep its appeal to the mid range market.

The front facing camera is now official. With all the leaked images of the handset and the many close ups of the device’s front face, it is hard to deny that the little hole on the top is a front facing camera for video chatting.

First off, the Apple iPhone promises users a consistent degree of performance. While the Android is known to suffer from varying compatibility issues (mostly due to the hardware differences of the various handsets that use the OS), the Apple iPhone is consistent and reliable. While the hardware of the iPhone is lower than the average modern day Android device, this level uniformity in performance means that Apple’s OS is still able to deliver speed and system stability that is comparable with newer and faster devices.

In terms of Apps, Apple has the larger library. The Android Market is still relatively new and is still growing. In terms of actual content however, the Android brings more to the table. While the iTunes App store is full of redundant applications, the Android market delivers more in terms of actual diversity of functions. This is expected to increase as more and more developers create apps for the Android OS.

Also, the Android supports Flash (well, as of version 2.2 that is), and pretty soon, most smart phones will be updated to the new OS. Google has also confirmed that version 3.0 Gingerbread will also have support for HTML5 –leaving the Apple iPhone behind in terms of web format compatibility.

Overall, the Apple iPhone is a good choice for anyone who is not too picky about additional functions and simply needs a basic reliable smart phone. But for those who want full functionality and support for web formats, as well as tolerate the occasional app instability problems, then the Android makes for the perfect OS.

According to reports, the Flash Player 10.1 is exclusively available to Froyo and the beta is already available for download. At the time of writing, only the Nexus One is the only smart phone that supports the new Android update though it is expected that other devices such as the Samsung i9000 Galaxy S and the HTC Desire will also be getting updates for the new OS in a matter of weeks.

The addition of Flash to the Android is not the only thing that Google and Adobe have been working on. They also recently unveiled VP8, a new web format for video encoding that is going to be used in YouTube. According to Adobe, the new Flash player will support standard Flash content, VP8, VP6 and H.264 encoded video content. VP8 is slated to be open sourced which means that anyone will be able to use it soon.

In many ways, the big scuffle between Adobe and Apple has proven to be beneficial for the Flash developer. With Apple, they always found themselves on the receiving end of complaints and lacked support from the platform that they were supporting. This is ultimately what made the Adobe’s previous efforts unfruitful. As seen with their team up with Google, Adobe has a lot to offer on the table –more than just Flash.

The ironic thing is that Apple’ was forcing a sudden shift to HTML5 –which is why they never wanted Flash at all (since HTML5 is stable under Apple’s operating systems). Right now, Adobe’s Dreamweaver update is the most impressive integration of instant HTML5 on the internet –making it the most viable development tool for the platform.

In their efforts to bring in more services and features, there have been times when people witnessed that the company can become a little too eager –such as the case with Google Buzz where the hasty implementation of the social networking feature and the haphazard way it was tied up to existing Gmail accounts caused many to wonder if the company is losing its touch.

Recently, the Google Street Car became a familiar sight in the UK and many neighboring countries as Google pursued its Street View service implementation. The service provided users with a 360 degree view of all the major streets in the major cities of the world. This data, when combined with GPS technology, provided a unique navigational tool that was very useful for its use of actual images and also provided people with a way to visit distant cities from the comfort of their computers –small business also benefited from the extended exposure of their stores as well.

However, not all has been good. While the street car was taking images, it was also running a program that Google had already scrapped –the mapping of WiFi networks. The street car had been making a log of unsecured WiFi networks and has also managed to capture bits of data. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has already admitted to the problem and has stated that Google is doing everything in its power to delete the 600 GB of information.

Various countries such as Germany and Spain are already investing the data on Google. UK and Ireland on the other hand, have accepted Google’s decision to destroy the data –the action was monitored by a third party to ensure the accuracy of reports.