Jerry Hildenbrand's blog

There's a lot of new, behind-the-scenes goodness going on in Gingerbread, and not all of it was made with the end user in mind.  One of the new APIs, "StrictMode," is built for Android application developers to use as a debugging tool.  It monitors code as it's executed, detecting things that can slow an application down.

It specifically was designed to target disk reads and writes, and network activity, which as Android software engineer Brad Fitzpatrick points out can cause stuttering animation and UI elements that don't respond to input as fast as we would like.  Having an easy to use tool like this means that developers can find spots in their code that might contribute to a bottleneck and take care of the issue before the app goes out for testing.

While the changes that come with Gingerbread don't appear very big on the surface, all these little things add up.  We've went over all the "showcase" changes, but these smaller additions are just as important.  Gingerbread is shaping up to have great potential, and I can't wait to get my hands greasy with it. [Android Developers Blog]

The Samsung Galaxy S i9000M (aka the Vibrant) from Bell Mobility seems to be having a high rate of failure with the internal SD storage.  Starting back in September, some folks started seeing their internal SD card become unreadable, unmountable, or just plain invisible to the kernel.  There seems to be a few things in common here -- most of the affected users are running Froyo, most of them have also applied some flavor of "lag fix," and the only sure-fire way to fix it is to ship the phone back to Samsung.

There's a lot of theories, ranging from bad hardware, inferior components, and unsafe hacks.  After reading for half the day, I think it's a combination of all three.  It certainly seems like folks who have upgraded to Froyo but haven't mucked around with their file system aren't seeing many issues, and those that have used some sort of lag fix are seeing the most.  Of course Samsung didn't use hardware that did not meet their specs, but they also didn't use the absolute best available -- that's not very kind to the bottom line.  SD media doesn't take repartitioning very well, and it's likely that the hours spent applying and removing various lag fix schemes has caused early failure for many.  Add in the ever-present bad piece of hardware, and you have the makings of a mess.  And since the only real fix is to send it in and spend time without your phone, my advice is to stop messing with the file system -- inflated Quadrant scores just aren't worth it. Thanks Gregg for bringing this to our attention!

In an almost overlooked note on the Android Developers Blog, Tim Bray lets us know that starting with the Nexus S and Gingerbread, some Android devices will be moving from the YAFFS file system to the ext4 file system.  This is going to bring a big boost in input and output file operations, and explains some of the amazing speed improvements we're already seeing on the Nexus S.

Two things to mention here -- the increase in speed comes with a cost, and not all current (or new) devices will see this change.  The lifespan of the media will be reduced by using the ext4 file system, but modern solid state memory should still last for quite a few years, so I don't see a serious problem with it.  The other issue is which phones will see this boost.  I've a gut feeling that this is reserved for only new devices with big internal memory space, like the Nexus S, that have a controller that can use it.  I wouldn't count on your current phone to get this change -- at least officially -- but hopefully manufacturers will make sure their new devices meet the needed specs.

Not sure what exactly an ext4 file system is, or want to talk about these changes and what they might mean to Android?  Get in the Gingerbread forums and suss it all out.  Feed your geek. [Android Developer blog via Thunk.org] Thanks Sean!

Documents at the FCC show the Pantech P8000, with 850MHz and 1900MHz radio frequency bands, has been approved and can be made available for sale in the United States.  There's not much info out there about the P8000, but a quick look at the Bluetooth Special Interest Group website shows it's running Android, and has the code name "Moon."

Of course FCC certification is only one step in the process, so there's no telling if and when you'll see this on on the shelves at your local AT&T store.  I imagine we'll see this one in Q1 of 2011, as an entry-level phone in Google's plan for Android world-domination.  And we're fine with that. [FCC via PhoneScoop]

LG quietly announced that the Optimus One line (see our review) has breached the two million sales mark, with sales in North America leading the way.  In mid-November, LG announced that the Optimus line had sold over one million units in its first 40 days, and just 20 days later they have sold over two million worldwide.  The breakdown:

• North America: 1.3 million units sold
• South Korea: 450,000 units sold
• Europe: 200,000 units sold
• Asia 50,000 units sold

It's a great handset for the price, it ships with Froyo and will be getting Gingerbread, and has quite the development community growing.  What's not to like? [LG (Korean) via Mobile Crunch]

We saw Andy Rubin showing off the new Google Maps application on the mystery Motorola Honeycomb tablet on Monday, now we get to see Google showing it off on the upcoming Nexus S.  While it's a render, the 3D buildings and smooth scrolling look great, and it's something we're all looking forward to getting our hands on.  

And let's be honest, the way the video was embedded into a frame of Nexus S goodness, well that's just plain cool.  Be sure to hit the source link and see for yourself, and we have the video itself after the break. [Google]

Google has updated the Gmail application to version 2.3.2, and with it comes some often requested features.  Android phones running Froyo or higher can and should grab the update, the new features look awesome:

• Better support for priority inbox
• Send from any address you have set up in your account
• Switch between reply, forward, and reply all while composing
• And of course, the magical "Bug fixes"

Hit the source to see the full set of changes.  It looks like Google is keeping their promise of updating some of their core applications independently of the operating system, as we saw Google voice, YouTube, and Voice Search get nice updates yesterday as well.  Update in the Market, or hit the download link after the break for a shortcut. [Google Mobile blog]

Andy Rubin, the person at the top of the Android project, just tweeted that there are over 300,000 activations of Android phones per day, up a full 100k per day since Aug 2010.  Let's have a look at that number, shall we?

• That's 2,100,000 weekly
• Or 9,000,000 monthly
• Or 109,500,000 yearly

That's a lot of phones, and we like it a whole lot.  Go Android! [@arubin] 

 The YouTube for Android and Google Voice Search applications have been updated (no it's not Gingerbread! :p ) with some welcome improvements and the obligatory bug-fixes.  With the YouTube app update comes what everyone has been wanting, commenting from within the app itself.  You also can now see videos you subscribe to on the main screen, and an "All" category has been added to the browse screen.  Add in some bug-fixes and the app really gets better, even if all we care about is commenting.

The Voice Search app also brings some very nice improvements, namely "improved connectivity" to squash some of those connection errors many now see, and better name recognition when using Voice-Actions.  We all welcome those kind of changes.  Of course, the bug-fixes are there, too. You can update right from the market, or hit the download links after the break. [Android Central Forums]

Update: Google has posted the full changelog, which you can find here.  Also worth mentioning -- "Please note that the new YouTube app only works on devices running Android 2.2. To install it, search for 'YouTube' in Android Market. It also comes pre-installed on many upcoming Android 2.3 devices, such as the Nexus S."

If you're using Twidroyd (4.3 or higher) to get your Twitter on, there's a new goodie for you -- OTA themeing. Just fire up the browser on your phone and head to the Twidroyd Factory  ( twidroydfactory.appspot.com ) to check 'em out and download one. Or two.

If you're feeling a bit artistic, the engine to create your own themes is up and running, too -- hit the same URL from a computer and crank out something wonderful. There's a couple of pics of the "Sunset L.A." theme after the break. [Twidroyd Factory via @twidroyd]