EdTechDev

developing educational technology

ContentNotEditable: What the “death” of the mouse and keyboard means for content creators

First let me start with some disclaimers to try to make sure this post is not misinterpreted: I am not arguing that the mouse and keyboard are really dead or that the lack of a mouse on tablets is a bad thing.  I am not arguing that the ipad or similar devices are awful for education or content creation.  I am just thinking about how to make them even better in these areas, and conceptual and technological roadblocks in the way.  Some of the criticisms of the ipad as a content consumption device (here, here), have been addressed with the ipad 2 and other new android tablets with their inclusion of cameras and input ports, and some tablets are even coming out with a stylus, like the HTC Flyer.

But imagine any creative person – creating a 3d character for a game, drawing a picture, composing a music score, creating a graphically rich document or presentation, etc.  They likely have something in their hand, or their hands are busy doing something.  When that involves interacting with a computer they are likely clicking the mouse to drag something around or edit text, for example, or using a stylus on a digitizer surface (like a wacom) for drawing, or typing away on a keyboard.

These input devices are all essentially gone on new tablets and smartphones.  You can still type (slower) on virtual keyboards, and you can click like a mouse with your finger (tap).

An example of the impact of this is rich text editing, like with a word or openoffice or google docs document.  Many browser-based wysiwyg editing tools, which are used virtually everywhere, such as in moodle (which uses the TinyMCE editor) or drupal, no longer work when you access them from an ipad or iphone or android device (or other mobile platforms like blackberry or palm webos).  Even the newest “HTML5″ editors, such as Aloha Editor, pop up an error message if you try to access them from a mobile device.  Other browser-based editing and drawing tools also no longer work on these new platforms, or you have to draw with your fingers.  Most of Google’s and others’ tools like Google Presentation do not work on mobile platforms.  Really, just imagine most any software people use on a desktop to create stuff – like office, or the flash ide, or gimp/photoshop, blender 3d, etc.  Even when programming, which really is just typing in plain text, we usually prefer to use IDEs that popup suggestions and corrections to help us out.  For many of our desktop apps its hard to even imagine them working on a tablet or phone.

The rich text editing tools in browsers like TinyMCE or CKEditor primarily rely on the contenteditable HTML attribute to support editing.  Add that attribute to an HTML element, and the contents of that element become editable inside the web browser.  It works in all browsers, including old Internet Explorer versions. It doesn’t really work well or even at all on mobile browsers though (see here, here, here, here).

Newer versions of android, webkit, and mobile firefox have been slowly improving their support for contenteditable, and maybe they will eventually “fix” the issue, but I’m not sure that this will be fixed through engineering alone.  Some code editors like codemirror 2 and the ace editor are trying out workarounds like using a hidden textfield that captures key presses.  Codemirror 2 works on an ipad somewhat, the ace editor does not.  It remains to be seen if a similar trick might work for a rich text editor (it’s tricky enough just to do it for plain text).  And like I said, the HTC Flyer and other tablets (esp. those being designed for medical and other professionals) are starting to include a stylus, and it remains to be seen if that will catch on (it didn’t before with older tablets).  Others are coming out with dual screen tablets, where the second touchscreen can work like a touchpad on a laptop or nintendo ds, but that also may not catch on.

Another more general alternative strategy to this issue of tablets having no mouse or other input devices other than the touchscreen and the camera (which can be used for gestural or other input), might be to conceptually rethink how to support multimedia creation on these mobile platforms.  Perhaps we should drop the notion of “documents” or “pages”.  After all, you don’t think of a flash widget as a page or document.  You don’t think of a game as a set of pages or documents.  And Apple and other developers have already created apps for some specialized types of content creation and creativity, such as musical instrument simulators and so forth.

So, this may be a pre-paradigmatic moment where we’ll see what catches on: will we try to perfectly “emulate” the mouse and stylus and its supported interactions via other means such as gestures, or will new and unique types of interactions continue to catch on (like multitouch stuff).  Probably a combination of both, but so far the camera is hardly being used at all for input, other than recording videos or taking pictures.  And some may dismiss the idea of a stylus ever catching on again, but Apple has occasionally made “mistakes” before (the first mac didn’t have a floppy drive, for example), and others have been successful in incorporating a stylus, like the Nintendo DS, which my little boy continually loses :)

March 3, 2011 Posted by | android, computers, development, edtech, html5, opensource, software | 2 Comments

Android Tips, Open Source, Educational Apps

Like I mentioned in the previous post, the CES show next week promises to reveal a slew of new android tablets and phones, so we’ll see what is announced (and what is actually released).

Here are some android tips & resources I’ve run across in the past year:

Some free educational apps:

Some free games:

  • angry birds, of course
  • minisquadron
  • hungry shark
  • falling ball
  • sliceit
  • hit the penguin
  • air attack
  • hyperspace
  • my paper airplane
  • toss it
  • winds of steel
  • flying high

December 30, 2010 Posted by | android, children, opensource, technology | 1 Comment

Upcoming Android Tablets – Wait and See

For a couple of projects, I’m looking into tablets that students can use for taking notes and so forth.  There are finally some android tablets out already or coming out this month.  This google doc I created has some notes on upcoming android tablets, including prices and features.  The Archos 101, for example, is comparable to the ipad but half the price.  My conclusion at the moment however is to wait a bit longer until we hear more about the next versions of the android OS (2.3, 3.0), which will run much better on tablets.  There seem to be issues with android 2.2 and tablets.  We should hear more about android 2.3 and 3.0 very soon, and as the NVIDIA CEO says (the Nvidia Tegra dual-core processor is used in most next generation android tablets coming out), there are lots of android tablets coming out.

Android tablets do seem to be a major focus of hardware development now:

“This isn’t a fad. Everybody’s building tablets because it’s just so important. Car companies are working on tablets, consumer electronics companies are working on tablets, computer companies are working on tablets, and communications companies are working on tablets. The medical industry is working on tablets,” he said during the earnings conference call. “I don’t remember in the history of computing [when] a singular device is being worked on by all of the industry.”

November 12, 2010 Posted by | android, technology | Comments Off

A Snapshot of the HTML5/Javascript Universe

This is a follow-up to “What’s the Platform of the Future for Developing Interactive Graphical Educational Software?“, which I argued is HTML5, especially since java applets and flash don’t work or aren’t well supported on mobile and emerging tablet platforms (like the ipad and android tablets).  I’m lumping many things under the “HTML5″ moniker, including the HTML5 Canvas element, WebGL for 3D, and various Javascript and CSS frameworks and libraries, even though most of the latter weren’t designed for HTML5 in particular.

Here’s a taste of the current tools and frameworks out there for developers interested in learning more about this platform.  Probably the first thing you have to decide though, is are you more interested in running your HTML5 app on mobile phones and tablets (iPhone and iPad’s iOS, Android, and to some extent Blackberry and Palm), or in a regular desktop browser (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, IE…), or both?  Some tools for mobile web app development are listed below.

Keeping Up with the HTML5/Javascript/CSS Universe

First, here are some places to keep up with this rapidly evolving field:

General Javascript Application Frameworks & UI Toolkits

  • JQuery – most popular and almost universal javascript framework.  It lets you ‘select’ elements in the DOM to operate on, in a very functional way. See numerous jquery tutorials, books and plugins and jquery.ui.  Has a little mobile support (touch/swipe).
  • YUI – very java-like user interface toolkit from Yahoo, very complete and accessible.  They have started adding mobile support (touch/swipe/etc).
  • See this comparison of javascript frameworks for others such as Sproutcore, Dojo, qooxdoo, mootools, etc.  Some other frameworks listed on that page actually involve coding in Java (or another language) which is converted to javascript, such as GWT and pyjamas.
  • JS Optimizers – to compress/obfuscate and combine into one file your js code see Google Closure Compiler, YUI Compressor, JSMIN
  • Mobile application frameworks – these frameworks are specifically for creating mobile applications (iphone/ipad/android) using javascript/html5, although usually that doesn’t include the canvas yet, and also unfortunately most of their demos work ONLY on mobile platforms, not on the desktop.  The main problem is that on the desktop with a mouse you can click and drag and drop, whereas on mobile/tablets with no mouse you touch and swipe and so forth instead. One decision you also need to make is, do you want to access native elements of the mobile platform (like camera, tilt sensor, etc.).  If so, see the first two options (PhoneGap and Appcelerator).  The latter options often work with PhoneGap, too.
    • PhoneGap – has an open source permissive license. They support Blackberry and Palm and Symbian and so forth, as well as iOS and Android.  They create a native webview wrapper for your HTML5 app, so that you can access native things such as the camera or sensors.
    • Titanium from Appcelerator – also has an open source permissive license, for fast, native mobile apps developed with javascript/html5 that can access native sensors and so forth, too.  See their kitchen sink demo and other demos.
    • Sencha Touch – built off of ExtJS and JQTouch – any app you develop with it either needs to be GPL or else you have to pay for a commercial license from them.  Can work with PhoneGap, they have some nice demos, esp. for the iPad.
    • Ansca Mobile – Corona SDK, better for game development, commercial license.
    • appMobi – commercial, too, I believe
    • Rhomobile – you actually develop in Ruby and it converts it to a javascript/html5 mobile app

HTML5 Canvas & Javascript Drawing / SVG Libraries

There are hundreds of html5 canvas demos out there if you search around.  Again, unfortunately many canvas demos do not work as well on mobile or tablet platforms, or lack interaction support (drag or swipe or whatever).  The harmony demo listed below is one exception.  Android 2.2 will incorporate a much faster v8 javascript engine from google, and future versions of the webkit browser used by most mobile/tablet devices will hopefully add support for 3D with webgl, too.  See the WebGL / game development stuff in a later section below.

Alternate Languages/Parsers/Class systems for Javascript/CSS/HTML

As I mentioned in the previous post, one potential downside of the HTML5 platform (at least from a beginner’s perspective), is that you are stuck with the javascript language (as well as HTML and CSS).  Well, that’s not always the case now.  There are alternate languages that compile to javascript (like coffeescript) or css (like Sass and Compass) or even HTML (like HAML).  Javascript, in a sense, is the new C.  Many of the types of tools we used to mainly see in Java-land are also now available in javascript, such as parser generators.

  • Coffeescript – alternate language that compiles to javascript.  It is still mostly like javascript, but adds some things that make your code much more concise.
  • Sass and Compass – alternative to CSS – adds some smarter features to CSS like variables and so forth
  • HAML – alternate to HTML, not as popular perhaps, or as needed as the above two, since there are 2000 HTML WYSIWYG editors out there.
  • Javascript parser generators – if you want to create your own DSL or language:
    • jison – used by coffeescript
    • PEG.js
    • canopy – ties you to his ruby-like JS.Class library
    • ANTLR‘s javascript target – not so lightweight, but has a lot of advanced functionality and features, such as being able to create better error messages
  • Actionscript to javascript – see Jangaroo and Gordon
  • If you want a more ruby or java-like class system (inheritance, traits, mixins, design by contract,etc.) to use rather than javascript’s built-in prototype object system, see:

Server-Side Javascript

Javascript is no longer a language that only runs in the browser.  It has become a first class language for the server / desktop, too.   Just run “node myscript.js” for example like you would any other kind of script on a server or linux box.  Coffeescript works with node.js on the server or desktop, too.

  • node.js – Uses Google’s fast V8 javascript runtime.
  • narwhal – an alternative to node.js
  • CommonJS – a standard library for javascript, mainly meant for the server-side at this point.  node.js and narwhal implement commonjs.
  • npm – a package manager for node.js, similar to gem for ruby
  • I’m still waiting to see a drupal-like content management system built all in javascript.
  • Jake – a build tool for javascript (like make, rake, etc.)
  • WebSockets – a new HTML5 feature that allows for better persistent server-client connections.  You’ll find some demos around of multiplayer games and web pages that use websockets, and on github there are node.js websocket server examples.  You need the Chrome browser or Safari or  Firefox 4 beta.
  • ExpressJS – server-side web application framework

Javascript Game Development, 3D & Physics Engines

Further evidence that javascript is the real deal, you can do 3D and interactive games with it.  To run the WebGL stuff you’ll need a recent build of the Chrome (or Chromium) browser or Firefox, see the Learning WebGL FAQ section.

Browser-based Development Environments

  • See my earlier post Browser-Based IDEs, but also these:
  • jsdo.it – Has built-in support for javascript libraries such as processing, jquery, etc., and you can share/fork/rate code.  jsFiddle is a similar tool.
  • http://sketchpad.cc/ along with hascanvas and others work with processingjs for creating animations
  • I mentioned it in the previous post, but the bespin editor continues to evolve and improve.  It now supports code completion using jsctags.
  • GUI Designers – really nothing out there that is finished and free and open source (see Ext Designer for a commercial option), other than of course free WYSIWYG HTML designers, but see these rough demos:
    • Opus-js – see the composer demo
    • Blok – rough demo for Joose, runs on google app engine

August 1, 2010 Posted by | android, development, html5, opensource, programming, software, Uncategorized | 4 Comments

Browser-Based IDEs (programming environments)

As I wrote about earlier, HTML5 (Javascript, Canvas, WebGL, etc.) is allowing people to create rich, interactive applications that run in your browser and don’t require flash or java. Cloud computing (such as Google App Engine and others) and AJAX are also allowing us to run things in our browser that before were typically run on the desktop because they require quickly saving and retrieving a bunch of info. Google docs, gmail, etc.

So it’s not so surprising that there are now even some programming environments starting to emerge that you can run and develop from inside your browser. These are websites where you can edit code, run your application, and sometimes even instantly share your application for others to try. This is much more convenient than the typical process of downloading and installing a huge IDE such as Eclipse or Netbeans, and then compiling and packaging and distributing/hosting an application on your own.  Browser-based environments are also nice for students at schools, because they typically are not given permission to download and install software on their own, but can run these tools in the browser, as long as they aren’t blocked by IT.  I imagine it won’t be too long before we start seeing kid-friendly browser-based IDEs start to appear.

UPDATED LIST (December, 2011)

This mostly lists browser-based development tools, but also a few desktop applications that help you create HTML5 applications or animations/games:

OLD NOTES:

Here are some browser-based coding environments I know about. All are free and most are open source.

  • [Some updates in July 2011, over a year since this was originally posted:]
    • Cloud9 IDE – create server-side node.js javascript apps in this browser-based development environment
    • Erbix - another Javascript App editor
    • Akshell – and another Javascript application editor
    • Kodingen – edit php/html/css/etc. files on the server via the browser (I used this in my web development class)
    • Maqetta – visual HTML5 editor, builds on the dojo toolkit
    • SketchPad.cc – etherpad + processing.js (I used this in my html5 class)
    • Zeon.js – still early in development, not open source – analyzes javascript source code for issues
    • other javascript/html/css online editors: jsFiddle, jsdo.it, jsbin
    • browser-based game development sites: Pixie (coffeescript), Play My Code (uses a ruby-like language called quby)
    • Alternative languages that compile to javascript - a huge list, some of which let you edit and compile scripts in the browser.
  • HasCanvas – an IDE for Processing.js. Processing is a very popular java-based development environment, with a free IDE you can download. Processing.js is a port of that to javascript. With either one, you can create animations and artwork and so forth. HasCanvas has a weird interface – hover over the arrows on the left side to show the source code for any animation, and use your mouse wheel to scroll. Click Browse to see other scripts.
  • Bespin – [replaced by Ace editor, used in cloud9 IDE listed above] an editor from Mozilla that you can use either on their site, or embed into your own site.
  • CodeRun – Develop ASP.NET, php and Ajax applications in your browser. Not open source.
  • App Inventor for Android – This is unique in that it has a visual designer, along with a visual blocks-based language for creating applications (similar to that in Lego Mindstorms and Scratch). From this description it does appear to be web-based, although you use it to develop applications that run on an Android cell phone, not the browser. Here’s a course that used the tool last fall, along with the beginnings of a textbook. Unfortunately, it’s still only in private testing and not available to the public. I’ve signed up to use it with students in my multimedia development course this fall. If that works out I’ll post all the resources and videos online, just like all my courses.
  • There are also many programming command line interpreters (repls – read-eval-print loop) that work in the browser, such as Lord of the REPLs (lotrepls), which lets you try many different languages out.
  • Some other browser-based IDEs: Ares (Palm WebOS development), Zembly (discontinued when Sun was bought out by Oracle), Yahoo Application Platform and Yahoo Pipes, Glowday Google widget designer…

March 19, 2010 Posted by | android, development, html5, java, programming, software | 6 Comments

What’s the Platform of the Future for Developing Interactive Graphical Educational Software?

So, what is the platform of choice for folks who want to create interactive graphical educational software (see for example all the stuff at PHET and NLVM). Currently, there are two primary options: Flash and Java Applets. I’m not covering in this post web applications, which can still use just about anything you want: PHP, Java, Ruby, Python, .NET, etc., or business/office/administrative software which can either be web apps or desktop apps coded in C++/Java/.NET/Python, etc., or 3D desktop games, usually coded in C++/Java/.NET/Python. I’m centered on interactive, graphical educational software like you see all over the web now.

The PHET project, for example, uses both java and flash. These haven’t always been the main options, however, and I suspect it will change again in the near future. Here’s a short history of some of the development tools I’ve leaned on for educational software development over the past 15 years:

  • early 90s – hypercard / supercard, Perl/CGI for web apps
  • late 90s – java, visual basic, real basic, PHP emerges for web apps, javascript in the browser
  • early 00s – by this time, commercial options no longer cut it for me, too many bugs, ignored feature requests, too expensive, vendor lock-in – free and open source is king: python, java (later open sourced), C#/vb.net (esp. the Mono open source clone). Unfortunately there is no alternative to the commercial, proprietary flash, which becomes king of RIAs (rich internet applications) instead of java applets.
  • late 00s – by this time, desktop apps no longer cut it. RIA is king for creating interactive graphical educational apps – java and JVM languages like scala, and still no real alternative to flash (there is javafx, but it hasn’t largely caught on yet, and just about all the demos so far require you to download the app (JNLP) rather than run in the browser, despite support for JNLP applets). The move to RIA means no more Mono/.NET since it doesn’t run in the browser – support for silverlight is weak/non-existent on many browsers/platforms. And no python, although perhaps one day browsers will support it as an alternative language to javascript. I’m not holding my breath on that though. Mono/.NET is emerging again now in 3D virtual world space, however, because it is the basis for Second Life / OpenSim, and its only open source competitor, the java-based Project Wonderland is no longer supported by Oracle, who bought out Sun. The project is continuing outside of Oracle, but it’s future is unclear.
  • early and late 10s? – This is the question of this post. Mobile platforms can no longer be ignored, and that means no java. Actually android is essentially java (dalvik), but standard java applets do not work. Flash is only just now being ported to work on android, and it may become available for the iphone as well, although Apple is hostile to it (as well as java). Since google doesn’t support browser applets (even android applets), and Apple wants total control of their platform, Flash is only increasing its dominance and importance.

HTML5

Since Oracle bought out Sun, and there is no support nor any planned support for java on the android and iphone platforms, it appears the only open source alternative for the future of RIA apps may be HTML5. But that cannot be used for creating the kind of highly interactive graphical educational software that you can create in java and flash. For this to work in HTML5, it would require WebGL, a 3D (OpenGL ES) canvas for HTML5. WebGL still does not work out of the box on any mobile platform, but it has been or is being ported to work on WebKit (the browser engine for Palm’s WebOS and the iphone web browser) as well as android. Currently, to run WebGL you need to grab a nightly build of Firefox, WebKit, or Google Chrome (I’m trying out the last one). Official builds will have likely have built-in support for WebGL come November 2010 or so perhaps (Firefox 4). Here are some more resources on WebGL:

The main drawback to the HTML5 platform is that javascript is the only language supported. That’s not a problem for me, personally, I’ve been using javascript since when it was called livescript. But my interest also is in programming languages/tools that make it easier for students, teachers, and other non-CS types to develop interactive educational software, as discussed in this chapter (pdf). A workaround for now would be to create a to-javascript compiler for alternate languages, as has already been done for java with the GWT project (which has various WebGL controls in development: WGT, GWT-G3D, GWTGL, GWT-WebGL), but in the long run it would be best if a common runtime were developed for WebKit and Firefox to support other languages than javascript, but then we are just re-inventing java and the JVM. So I don’t dismiss the java platform at all just yet, but it’s definitely not having a good year so far :)

February 7, 2010 Posted by | android, development, html5, java, opensource, programming, scala, software | 14 Comments

Some Android Applications

Just a run down on some android apps in case I lose my phone and have to re-install.  These are all free.  I can’t find many educational apps unfortunately:

News

  • NYTimes – more up to date
  • USA Today – more graphical
  • 1Cast News – video news stories
  • Sports Tap

Social Networking Tools

  • Twidroid – there are too many twitter apps out there
  • Facebook – comes with Android 2.0 on the droid
  • WpToGo – wordpress client
  • NewsRob – google reader client

Utilities

  • Barcode Scanner – to read QR codes
  • DockRunner – for the droid if you don’t have a multimedia dock – activates the multimedia interface
  • Advanced Task Killer – android apps don’t have a quit/exit button
  • Astro – file manager – read your SD card, etc. – very nice
  • Digital Clock – smaller clock widget
  • Gmote – run the gmote server app on your computer and you can remotely control it
  • Locale – change android settings based on location or other triggers
  • The Weather Channel – there are some other weather apps & widgets too
  • Teradesk – store files on the cloud – DropBox app in the works too

Productivity

  • AK Notepad – there are numerous sticky note / notepad apps
  • Astrid – there are also numerous todo list apps
  • Documents To Go – read word, ppt etc.
  • Evernote has a web-accessible site, too, with a forthcoming android client app
  • Voice Recorder – app & widget for quick voice notes

Google Apps

  • Voice – essential – use for voicemail, forwarding calls, etc.
  • Listen – podcasts
  • GDocs
  • Maps – navigation in android 2.0
  • Market – of course to find other software
  • Talk – built-in for instant messaging

Educational

  • Aldiko – incredibly nice e-book reader application
  • Google Sky Map – incredible app, point it at sky and it shows the stars & planets

Games

  • Labyrinth Lite – tilt game to get ball through maze
  • AirAttack – click on planes and helicopters flying overhead to shoot at them
  • Air Hockey Demo
  • Craigs Race – tilt to race a little car on a track
  • Speed Forge 3D – very nice 3D tilt racing game, see this video
  • PapiJump – tilt game to bounce a ball upwards
  • Robo Defense
  • Bubbles – blow on microphone to create bubbles

Music / Video / Photos

  • Music – built-in app, plays videos too
  • Youtube – built-in app, plays youtube videos embedded on webpages too.
  • Qik, Ustream – broadcast live video, and record it
  • TV.com – app for watching CBS and related videos.  NBC has a mobile-accessible website: m.nbc.com
  • Pandora – listen to music online
  • Photoshop has an android app now, see also PicSay and others
  • Picasa photo album support is built-in to android now

Development

  • ConnectBot – ssh

Miscellaneous

  • Amazon, Amazon MP3
  • Bubble – bubble level app
  • Compass
  • ShopSavvy

I’m also keeping an eye out for note taking / handwriting recognition apps for a research project:

November 12, 2009 Posted by | android, software, technology | Comments Off

Comparing 4 Android Phones

Well this has little to do with education, other than Android is the only smart phone platform that you can quickly and for no cost develop educational software for I suppose. The other platforms such as iPhone and Palm Pre are either not free and open source, and/or take forever to make your app available for others to use and cost money to develop for. There is still the J2ME platform too, but I’m limiting this to newer generation smart phones.

There are now (in the U.S.) 4 Android phones to choose from. Well, 2 of them are not yet released but will be soon. All are basically identical under the hood: processor speed, touchscreen, camera, bluetooth, wireless, GPS, etc. This engadget post compares the technical features of the different Android phones, but I wanted to mention a bit more about these 4 options:

  • T-Mobile G1 (or “Dream”, $97 at walmart/amazon + 2 year contract) – This has been out a year now. Features slide out keyboard, 3.2MP camera. No headphone jack, only USB. A little bigger than the newer Android phones below.
  • T-Mobile MyTouch (or “Magic”, $99 with Oprah coupon code + 2 year contract) – Released last month, this is the second generation of the G1 but still basically the same software-wise. It is smaller partly because it has no hardware slide out keyboard. Slightly bigger battery. Also no headphone jack, only USB.
  • Sprint Hero ($279 at bestbuy or sprint + 2 year contract – $100 rebate) – To be released October 11th (see announcement). Has more tailored and polished software (HTC Sense). Has a 5MP camera, but no keyboard. Supports Sprint features like Sprint TV. Sprint supposedly has 20x the high speed 3G network coverage as T-Mobile but may add roaming charges.
  • T-Mobile Cliq (?? + 2 year contract) – Due out later this fall. Smaller form factor, has a slide out keyboard and enhanced MOTOBLUR software tailored for folks who use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. See this demo.

For all the phones you have to get a voice plan + a data plan. Starts around $65/month at T-mobile ($85 for family plan) and $69/month or so at Sprint ($129 for family plan).

Some popular third party Android software includes ShopSavvy (scan barcodes to compare prices), Pandora (listen to music online like the Pandora website), and Repligo (read pdfs).

September 11, 2009 Posted by | android, technology | 2 Comments

   

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