Introducing our new YouTube channel for Google Mobile

By now, some of you may have noticed our new Google Mobile YouTube channel, with a fresh look that includes a video box that rotates along multiple axes (we love the Rubik’s Cube here at Google). As you click on and discover more videos, we hope you’ll have fun checking out all the ways the box can turn.

In our channel’s “featured” section, we highlight some of our mobile search capabilities — like search by voice, sight, and location — that really help you take advantage of your phone’s unique technology. Since we understand that these represent new modes of searching for many of you, we’re going to launch some new videos that help illustrate the variety of practical and fun ways that you can use these features. To start with, check out our “Shoot This” series of videos for Google Goggles. Goggles can actually recognize much more than just bar codes and book covers, and these videos really let you take Goggles for a test drive. You can navigate through these videos by clicking on the embedded annotations to fast-forward or rewind.

When looking at “all apps,” you can not only check out any of our latest videos at a glance, but also quickly sort them by mobile platform or by app.
We’ve also made it easier for you to share videos by email or through popular social networking sites.

We hope you enjoy trying out our new Google Mobile YouTube channel. We’ll be adding many more new videos, so please visit youtube.com/googlemobile and subscribe. Also, if you’ve already subscribed to our old channel, note that you need to subscribe to the new one separately.

Posted by Heaven Kim, Product Marketing, Google Mobile

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Introducing our new YouTube channel for Google Mobile

Google Finance smartens up for your smartphone

Here on the Google Finance team, we’re always looking for new ways to help you access the finance data, charts, and reports that you need in the blink of an eye. But all the data in the world won’t help if you can’t access it when you need it most. Since many of us are on the run throughout the day and don’t always have our computers in front of us, it came as no surprise that one of users’ most frequently requested features was a fast, easy-to-use mobile website for Google Finance.

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Google Finance smartens up for your smartphone

The Iterative Web App: New Stacked Cards Interface for Gmail on iPad.

In April 2009, we announced a new version of Gmail for mobile for iOS and Android. Among the improvements was a complete redesign of the web application’s underlying code, which allows us to more rapidly develop and release new features that users have been asking for, as explained in our first post. Today’s topic for the The Iterative Web App, a series where we continue to release features for Gmail for mobile, is the Stacked Cards Interface on the iPad.

When we announced our new interface for Gmail on the iPad, we requested feedback on how we could improve this experience for tablet devices. In June, we responded with a new compose screen. Today, we’re addressing the top feedback by launching a new “stacked card” interface for selecting and managing multiple conversations.

In the past, performing actions on selected conversations was awkward. There were two similar toolbars on the screen: one on the bottom left and the other on the top right. The former affected the selected conversations, while the latter affected the currently open conversation. Since the toolbars’ buttons looked similar, it was easy to mistakenly use the wrong toolbar. Sound confusing? It was.

In the new interface, selected conversations are displayed stacked on the right panel for easy organizing, archiving or deleting. The second toolbar is gone so it’s always clear which conversations you’re working with.

This new interface has also been an opportunity for our team to experiment with CSS3 transitions, which give mobile web applications a similar look and feel to native applications. More details on the implementation are posted on the code blog.

To try the Gmail webapp on the iPad, just go to gmail.com in Safari. For quick access, create a homescreen link. Please note that the new interface is only available in US English for now.

Posted by Liam Asher Segel-Brown, Software Engineering Intern, Google Mobile

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The Iterative Web App: New Stacked Cards Interface for Gmail on iPad.

Just speak it: introducing Voice Actions for Android

To use Voice Actions, tap the microphone button on the Google search box on your home screen, or press down for a few seconds on the physical search button on your phone to activate the “Speak Now” screen. Let Mike LeBeau, the lead engineer for Voice Actions, show you in this video.

Speak any of these commands to perform a Voice Action on your phone:

• send text to [contact] [message]
• listen to [artist/song/album]
• call [business]
• call [contact]
• send email to [contact] [message]
• go to [website]
• note to self [note]
• navigate to [location/business name]
• directions to [location/business name]
• map of [location]

And of course, you can still conduct a Google search using your voice.

While we’re at it, we’re also releasing an updated version of the Google search widget for Android. When you type a local search query, like [italian restaurants] you’ll see suggested restaurants with addresses and ratings. Also, as you type queries, you can refine them further by tapping the pencil icon that appears to the right of search suggestions.

Both Voice Actions and the new Google search widget require Android 2.2 (Froyo), and will be pre-installed with the new Droid 2 phone from Motorola and Verizon. Voice Actions are currently available for U.S. English speakers.

If you have another phone with Android 2.2 (like the Nexus One, HTC Evo or the original Droid), you’ll need to download several app updates from Android Market to get all the latest goodness:

• Voice Search (this app includes Voice Actions)
• Google Search widget
• music apps (e.g. Pandora, Last.fm, Rdio, mSpot)

To get started fast, scan the QR codes for these apps below.

We think Voice Actions help you get things done on your phone faster and easier. Give it a try, and let us know what you think!

Posted by Hugo Barra, Product Management Director, and Dave Burke, Engineering Manager

Voice Search

Search widget

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Just speak it: introducing Voice Actions for Android

“Annyeong Haseyo! “안녕하세요” to Google Search by Voice in Korean

So if you speak Korean, grab your phone and bid Google Search by Voice a hearty Annyeong Haseyo! 안녕하세요!

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“Annyeong Haseyo! “안녕하세요” to Google Search by Voice in Korean

Fun on the Autobahn: Google Maps Navigation in 11 more Countries

There’s nothing quite like driving through Europe in the summer. In the past week, I’ve seen the beautiful Val d’Aosta, the Swiss Alps, the Cathedral in Chartres, and travelled through the Channel Tunnel as I road-tripped from Milan to Geneva, Zürich to Stuttgart, and on through Paris to London. Why the burst of mileage? Well, I’ve been testing Google Maps Navigation version 4.2. Yes, road-testing it around Europe was a grueling process, but somebody had to do it

Try Google Maps Navigation in your local country and language today — and have a great time touring around the Continent this summer if you get the chance!

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Fun on the Autobahn: Google Maps Navigation in 11 more Countries

Salut! Willkommen! Benvenuto! ¡Bienvenido! Google Search by Voice in French, German, Italian and Spanish

Here’s a test for the German speakers out there: which is faster…saying Geschwindigkeitsbeschränkung (German for speed limit), or typing the same query character-by-character?

Voice has always been the most natural way to interact with a phone — speaking is typically faster and easier than typing. We first developed Search by voice for English, and then for Mandarin Chinese and Japanese. Today we’re excited to welcome speakers of French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

Images of Google Search by Voice in Italian (Android), German (iPhone), Spanish (BlackBerry)

Our goal is to bring Google Search by voice to speakers of all languages. We follow a rigorous process to add each new language or dialect. Working directly with native speakers in each country, we spend weeks collecting spoken utterances to create the specific models which power the service. Our helpers are asked to read popular queries in their native tongue, in a variety of acoustic conditions such as in restaurants, out on busy streets, and inside cars. We also construct, for each language, a vocabulary of over one million recognizable words. It’s no small feat, but we love doing it.

Note that our new language models are designed for accents from Spain, France, Italy, and Germany. If you speak one of the new languages with another accent (for example, German in Austria, French in Switzerland, or Spanish in Mexico), Search by voice may not work so well for you.

How you get started with Google Search by voice depends on what kind of phone you have. If your phone runs Android 2.1 or later, and you have the Quick Search Box installed, all you have to do is tap the microphone icon to start a voice-powered search. iPhone and BlackBerry users who already have Google Mobile App installed can enable voice search by selecting the new languages from the settings panel within the app.

If you have Android 1.6 or 2.1 (Donut or Eclair), and you have already installed the Search by voice application, starting later today voice search will return recognition results for French, German, Italian or Spanish if your phone has one of those languages chosen in ‘Language and keyboard’ settings. If you do not have the Search by voice application, you can install it from Android Market on your phone - search for ‘voice search‘. This application is only available in the Android Markets for France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

To get Google Mobile App for iPhone, search for ‘Google Mobile App’ in the App Store or follow this link. BlackBerry and Nokia S60 users should visit m.google.com using their phone’s browser.

Learn more at http://mobile.google.com and select your country in the footer.

So if you speak French, Italian, German, Spanish, grab your phone and bid Google Search by voice a hearty Salut! Willkommen! Benvenuto! ¡Bienvenido!

Posted by Amir Mané, Product Manager, Google Speech Technologies

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Salut! Willkommen! Benvenuto! ¡Bienvenido! Google Search by Voice in French, German, Italian and Spanish

Making AdSense for Mobile Applications Work With More Ad Networks

We’re always working to help people grow their mobile business with ads. Today we’re making our tools even more flexible by allowing publishers participating in our AdSense for Mobile Applications beta program to use third-party mediators. Mediation lets app developers use multiple ad networks simultaneously - reaching a greater pool of advertisers, and focusing more time on building their apps, and less time managing ad inventory.

AdSense for Mobile Application beta publishers will now be able to manage their ad inventory using third party ad serving mediators, as long as their apps meet these conditions, including:

• Using the latest version of the AdSense for Mobile Applications SDK
• Abiding by the AdSense for mobile applications terms and program policies
• Agreeing to Google’s privacy policy

We think this is great news for our AdSense for Mobile Application publishers because it will allow them to easily optimize and fill their ad inventory. We believe this also shows our commitment to develop the mobile advertising ecosystem by ensuring that the most optimal ad is shown to users, and enabling our AdSense partners to earn more regardless of which networks they use.

To learn more about monetizing for mobile, or to learn more about how to apply for the AdSense for Mobile Applications beta program, please visit www.google.com/mobileads/developer.

Update 6/3/10 10:30 PST: We had previously written that this helps developers avoid implementing individual SDKs from each ad network, but this is not the case.

Posted by Jim Kelm, Product Manager, Google Mobile Ads

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Making AdSense for Mobile Applications Work With More Ad Networks

Lemon Mobiles Launches iQ7: QWERTY Mobile with Opera Mini Browser

Smartphone-seekers in India can now surf the Web with the Opera Mini browser on the sleek and stylish iQ 707 from Lemon Mobiles, the mobile brand promoted by Fastrack Communications Pvt. Ltd. The iQ 707 QWERTY phone was recently launched in the Indian market and has a 3.2 MP camera, EDGE, quadband, Java and a trackball, and the latest addition is the integrated Opera Mini Web browser, which dramatically improves performance and the overall user experience.

Opera Mini, the world’s most popular mobile browser, offers server-side compression, which shrinks Web pages by up to 90 percent before loading them on the device. This speeds up the browsing experience and also saves users a substantial amount of money on their data usage bills.

On this collaboration, Dag Olav Norem, VP Products, Opera Software said, “India has been one of our fastest-growing markets over the past few years. Today, it represents our third-largest Opera Mini user base, after Russia and Indonesia. With the rapid rise in the number of people browsing the Web from their mobile phones, users are picking only the best software for their devices — and that is Opera Mini.”

“India is one of the largest and fastest growing mobile markets in the world. Over the years, there has been a steady rise in the number of users connecting to the Web with handsets, and the onset of 3G services will only see an upsurge. We at Fastrack, aim to make every Indian a part of the mobile revolution,” adds Gopal Kalra, Director, Fastrack Communications. “Integrating Opera Mini with iQ 707 was an obvious choice, because we want our users to enjoy a feature-rich Web experience while simultaneously minimizing their data-usage costs.”

Lemon iQ707 QWERTY Mobile Features & Specification:
* Type-GSM+GSM GSM Band-Quadband
* Display-2.2? Display Type-TFT
* Dimensions-111.9*61.5*11.9 mm
* Weight with battery (grams)-96
* Battery-1100 mAh Talk time - 4.5 hrs; Stand by time11 days
* Phonebook Capacity-3000 SMS-500
* Internal Memory - 20MB
* Expandable Memory -Upto 8 GB
* Multimedia: Ring Tones (Supportable format)-MIDI, MP3, AMR MP3 player,Video player (3GP, MP4, AVI)
* Video Recorder and FM
* Camera 3.2 Mega Pixel
* Voice recorder and Java
* Connectivity: Bluetooth GPRS/WAP, MMS, PC Synchronization, Work as Modem, USB drive
* Others: Torch, Alarm clock, World clock, Stopwatch, Calculator, Magic and Shake, Pre-loaded applications-Opera Mini and Nimbuzz IM

Lemon iQ707 QWERTY Mobile Price at Rs. 4400 in India.

Source: Lemon Mobiles India

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Lemon Mobiles Launches iQ7: QWERTY Mobile with Opera Mini Browser

Nokia Launches Ovi Music Unlimited (OMU) Services in India

Nokia announced the launch of its much anticipated and localized Ovi Music Unlimited (OMU) service. Delivering the latest and rich local catalogue and created specifically for the Indian market, the service will offer more than four million tracks from across 19 genres including Rock, Rap, Hip Hop, Pop, Bollywood, Sufi, Indipop, Indian Classical, Devotional, Ghazals, Malayalam, Tamil, Gujarati, Bengali, Punjabi and Bhojpuri, amongst others. Consumers who buy a Nokia Ovi Music Unlimited enabled device will be able to download millions of tracks for free, direct to their mobile phone or to their PC from the Ovi Music Store for 12 months. More importantly, they will get to keep all their downloaded music forever.

Ovi Music Unlimited will redefine the way Indian consumers discover, download and enjoy digital music. The service offers consumers free access to the latest high quality legal digital music downloads and customized playlists. The service also offers full metadata and improved search, with the ability to search for tracks by the name of the actor, actress or movie. Tracks can also be shared between Ovi Music Unlimited users via Bluetooth technology. New songs by major labels will also be available on Ovi Music Unlimited when released in India.

“Ovi Music Unlimited delivers a compelling digital music download experience with features unique to the market,” says Ms. Elizabeth Schimel, Global Head of Music and Connected Entertainment, Nokia. “In partnership with major global labels and more than 150 local music labels and publishers, the service offers the richest choice of local music paired with tracks from major international artists, creating the largest catalogue of its kind in India.”

Continues Schimel, “India is the 30th market to launch our unlimited music download service, and follows recent launches in China and Indonesia. The service adds further scale, evolution and differentiation to our global music services.”

The service will include catalogues from major global labels Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment, Warner Music Group and EMI Music. Nokia’s local partnership with Indian Music Industry (IMI) brings a consortium of more than 150 music companies; Hungama that represents major labels including Yash Raj, Tseries, Eros; and SIMCA (South Indian Music Companies Association), amongst others.

Mr. D. Shivakumar, Vice President & Managing Director, Nokia India says, “Music is an intrinsic part of the Indian culture. We did in-depth research over months with Indian consumers on how they would like to consume music on their mobile phones and used the findings to create a ‘Made for India’ music service proposition in the form of Ovi Music Unlimited. We are very excited about launching this amazing service that is truly unique and addresses key challenges of accessibility, affordability and piracy that have existed around music consumption.”

The customization of Ovi Music Unlimited includes reducing the Ovi client size from 60 MB to 3 MB to address broadband seed challenge, multiple PC access to address the challenges around low PC penetration, sharing music through Bluetooth and creating search parameters by actor, actress and movie names. The freedom and simplicity of the service is unparalleled and Nokia is confident that it will influence how the Indian users consume music in the future.

Nokia X2 in India:

Also announced today is the Nokia X2 - the latest Ovi Music Unlimited enabled music device. Designed for young music lovers, the Nokia X2 comes with dedicated music keys and 3.5mm AV connector, FM radio with built-in antenna, a digital music player and loud stereo speakers for sharing music. On top of a great music experience, the Nokia X2 offers a 5 megapixel camera with flash and a video recorder.

With access to Facebook from the home screen, and the latest games and apps downloadable from Ovi Store, the Nokia X2 also offers Nokia Messaging for email and IM. Priced at approximately EUR 85, excluding local taxes and subsidies, the Nokia X2 will be available in India during the third quarter of 2010.

Source: Nokia India

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Nokia Launches Ovi Music Unlimited (OMU) Services in India