At the end of July I declared my intention to quit the iPhone and AT&T, port my mobile phone number to Google Voice and use any mobile device that I pleased (or lots of them at once) in the future. Like others, I will no longer blindly follow all things Apple. Today I’m pleased to report a status update on those efforts: complete. I am no longer a member of the Cult of iPhone.

Porting my phone number to Google Voice was a three day process, which I was pre-warned about. The mobile carriers in the U.S. have made the porting process between them fairly easy, and it occurs over a couple of hours. But they are in no hurry to help customers move their phone numbers to Google Voice, and so it took a few extra days. Also, I’m one of the first people to port their phone number to Google Voice, and there are always a few hiccups when you’re a guinea pig.

A week ago I was an unhappy AT&T iPhone customer. I couldn’t get cell phone reception here at my house and so I was always missing important calls.

Today I’m a happy Google Voice customer. My old mobile number, which all of my contacts already have, now rings simultaneously on my home Vonage phone and the TMobile myTouch 3G Android phone that I’ve started using (and, by the way, TMobile works just fine here at home, too). If I want to start using a new phone, I can make a switch in the settings at Google Voice and calls will ring through to that instead. no carrier will ever have a stranglehold on me again.

Not only are calls being sent to both of my phones simultaneously now, but all my voicemails are now aggregated at Google Voice and immediately transcribed and emailed and SMS’d to me. And since I’m using the Google Voice application for the Android, all my outgoing calls appear to be from my existing phone number, not the one assigned to the phone.

Single best feature of Google Voice: Call blocking. Someone spams my SMS or calls me too much, I click a button and they can never call or SMS me again.

So what’s the downside?

I had to pay the AT&T termination fee of $175. But that’s it.

And this myTouch phone (which TMobile has supplied to me for free for a test period) is an excellent piece of hardware. I believe it is superior to the iPhone 3GS – it loads the camera app and video app faster, and web pages load in about 2/3 the time it takes on the iPhone/AT&T (likely more AT&T’s fault than the iPhone). The Android apps are far more interesting because they have the ability to integrate with any native function (so, for example, Google Voice, banned on the iPhone, has taken over the myTouch native dialer). And I can run persistent apps in the background like Google Talk, which lets me keep a chat window open to contacts all the time.

Google Voice really is nearly perfect. The only thing that would be better is if they became a MVNO and offered mobile services directly as well. And tethering would be a nice feature. But for now I’m extremely happy with my mobile situation. And I plan to never do business directly with a carrier again.

Want to port your mobile number to Google Voice and do what I’ve done? You can’t just yet, but porting will be released later this year publicly. Prepare yourselves, and don’t sign any new long term contracts with your carrier. Life will soon be good for you, too.

by Michael Arrington

When Google announced its Chrome OS, there was one question we kept asking in the back of our heads: what’s going to happen to Android? Android, Google’s mobile operating system, is coming to netbooks next month. But Chrome OS is also starting with netbooks, so where does that leave Google’s other operating system?

Apparently, Android has found a new market for assimilation: home appliances. According to a report on Forbes, a wave of touch-screen devices are about to be unleashed on the market later this year. They will be capable of everything from controlling your lights to managing your stereo remotely. Oh, and all of these devices are going to run on the open-source Android platform.

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Android’s “Touch Revolution”

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Touch Revolution, a company that builds the touch screens and provides the Android features for these types of devices, makes the assertion that well-known companies are coming out with home management tools this year that will run on the Android OS. In fact, the company divides them into three categories:

1. Home control devices: These will be touchscreen platforms that can activate and manage security, control the house lights, or switch off the A/C
2. Media control devices: More adept remote control over things like DVRs and stereos
3. Home Phones: What Touch Revolution calls “smart phones for the home”

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A new purpose for Android

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While we see the utility in these types of devices, you may be wondering why they would pick Google Android for this sort of thing. The Forbes article touches on that too:

“Why use Android at all? Brown says its partners liked the operating system’s ease of use, openness and touch-centric features. They also regarded it as a bargain since Google is distributing it for free.”

Android was originally built for touch-screen phones, and thus a modified Android OS for touch screen tablets and devices seems only logical. Google Chrome OS, on the other hand, will focus on web applications and load speeds.

So it looks like Androids will soon be running our toasters and Chromes will eventually be powering our netboooks. That’s both really cool and a little scary at the same time.

by Ben Parr

Locale is an app that let’s you take control of the settings of your phone based on specific conditions that you can choose from. Locale essentially automates all of the functions that you would normally have to switch manually after you configure it to fit your needs.

There are two different areas of Locale that you’ll need to setup: Default and Situations. Each one has a series of conditions you have to choose from. They are: Battery, Calendar, Contact, Location, and Time. Each one of these has their own series of options for you to configure. Once you configure the conditions you can move on to the settings tab. In this area you can pair changes and updates to your Network, Ringer Volume, Ringtone, Twitter, and Wallpaper to that specific Situation.

Where situations covers specific instances, default covers everything else. In default you can configure the base settings for Network, Ringer Volume, Ringtone, Twitter, and Wallpaper without worrying about any specific catalyst to set them off.

This is a really great app that makes using your phone a lot easier. You’ll definitely need to spend some time configuring everything to just how you want it before you’ll truly enjoy this app. After that, you won’t even have to think about it until you need to add another situation to your list.

“HEY APPLE!!!…F-U” -Love, Google

Apple rejected Google Voice almost two weeks ago, removing it from the app store. Now under investigation by the feds, AT&T has pointed the finger at Apple for the rejection. In an exciting move, Google is moving its rejected application online in an effort to essentially negate any attempts by Apple to police the application.

You will be able to link to it with a shortcut icon on your home screen. The specially crafted iPhone-shaped web page will offer all the features of the original app. They could be accomplishing this with HTML 5 app caching. In other words, in a move akin to flipping the bird to Steve Jobs, Google has essentially highlighted a way for app developers everywhere to easily publish their rejected content.

The move could usher in a new era of freedom for iPhone users. Freed from what Apple dictates are fit and proper apps, the phone’s true potential could finally be achieved. Rejected apps like eBook readers (rejected en masse over piracy concerns) could simply move online. As the New York Times’ Dave Pogue puts it, “What’s Apple going to do now? Start blocking access to individual Web sites?”

Google’s decision to defying Apple is an exciting development. And one thing’s for sure — Apple’s likely not happy and is likely trying to scheme how to stop them.

Android users on the other hand have had seamless Google Voice service as soon as they download the app from the Market.

Android got off to an admittedly rocky start when it first debuted on the T-Mobile G1. Since then the OS has proved to be popular and a strong contender in the marketplace. More phones are being introduced that run Android than most other operating systems right now.

Android is also starting to gain ground on the class leading iPhone for apps according to Flurry. According to the research firm the iPhone owns 79% of the applications market on a platform basis while Android holds 15% of the market and Blackberry holds a mere 3%.

The iPhone has 74% of the developers working on its platform compared to 22% of them working on Android and a scant 3% working on Blackberry apps. The company also says that Android users are more loyal than those using the iPhone are. Application user retention on Android devices is 83% within 30 days and only 63% for iPhone users after the same period. Android consumers used their applications significantly more frequently than their iPhone counterparts. 37% of iPhone consumers who downloaded applications used those applications fewer than 5 times per month (”superlight users”) with Android having only 11% in the superlight usage category. Toward the other end of the spectrum, 35% percent of Android users can be defined as “heavy users,” using applications more than 50 times per month, compared to only 15% on the iPhone.

Does this mean Android users are more sophisticated than iPhone users? After all most people I know, that have an iPhone, is because it’s trendy. They don’t even really use the thing other than as a phone and texting device.

[Read the full story on Flurry]

Engineer’s sketches of the upcoming Motorola Morrison have been leaked, ahead of what’s presumed to be the budget Android handset’s Holiday 2009 launch.  A sliding QWERTY touchscreen device, the Morrison is expected to carry a roughly $100 price tag when it lands on T-Mobile USA later in the year.

The handset is expected to have triband WCDMA 900/1700/2100 support, together with quadband GSM, as well as stereo Bluetooth and a speakerphone.  There is some difference between the controls of the Morrison in this image and in leaked photos of the handset; the sketch appears to show hardware buttons beneath the phone’s touchscreen, while leaked prototype shots suggest touch-sensitive keys instead.

T-Mobile USA are believed to be slotting the Morrison in underneath the G1.  The device was first spotted on a leaked roadmap back in May.

Rumour has it that an official app for Facebook running on Android is coming soon. The official launch may be closer than we thought. The app looks finished in the screens that have surfaced online. When Android made its handset debut on the T-Mobile G1 back in October of 2008, a nasty bout of drama between Facebook and Google kept the former from developing on the nascent platform.

There has still been no indication from Google or Facebook that the app is coming. The screen shots show what you expect to find in an official Facebook app. The app lacks static tabs found on the iPhone version; they are presumably in the drawer accessed via the menu button.

One screen points to a widget for the home page of Android devices that would allow the updating of the status without opening the app. That means you can post your pointless update without having to launch Facebook.

During the official launch of Samsung’s new handset the Samsung Reclaim, senior product development manger at Samsung, Casey Ryan, told the New York Times that:

“by next year, touch-screen phones, with full Web browsers running the Android operating system will be available for well under $100″.

It is not clear whether Ryan is referring to free, contract, or even subsidized handsets, although it does seem that an Android phone under $100 on contract would be the most likely option.

Ryan gave no other indication as to what new handsets would fall under the price point, nor whether his comments were just limited to Samsung or the wider market.

Currently the T-Mobile G1 is the cheapest Android phone available in the US priced at $149.99 as part of a 2-year contract with T-Mobile US.

The amazing application Qik has made its way to the Android platform and not a moment too soon. Read More…

Over a year ago, Android fans saw the debut of Opera Mini for Android. This past January we let you know the company launched Opera Mini version 4.2 to the Android Market. But I assume the existence of an alternative browser in Android Market has largely fallen on deaf ears – the Web-kit based default browser provided by Google is already quite capable.

But Opera isn’t going out easily. According to CEO Jon von Tetzchner, the company is working on producing a full Opera Mobile version for Android, something that exists for Windows Mobile and Symbian only as of now. The “mini” version of Opera passes web data through Opera’s servers and re-renders the pages for mobile optimized viewing whereas the complete version would display the full HTML display.

Can Opera compete and/or does anyone care? I definitely think so. Mobile web browsing is far from perfect and we’ve got a LONG way to go in the field. There is a TON of room for innovation and Opera is in a position to make an impact. While Google’s “Chrome Lite” comes prepackaged with Google Experience Android phones, I assume that those without the Google branding are free to choose a competing default browser. Perhaps Opera can build some relationships and sign some contracts to become the default browser on a number of handsets?

As of now the details and timeline for the project are unknown – heck, there is no guarantee an actual full Opera for Android will ever launch, we just know it is being worked on. But the more minds focused on perfecting mobile web browsing the better, if you ask me.

[via Phandroid]