A little while ago, we updated our iPhone App to 1.2.0 and we have now done the same for Android!

This version features numerous updates and social media sharing for your completed ringtones. It’s a recommended update for everyone, and also includes the ability to instantly set your ringtone as an Alarm or Notification sound almost instantly.

Check it out, and please send us feedback if you can! Enjoy. This is an update for both Free and Pro ($0.99) users, and both Apps still offer full ringtone creation functionality.

Download now: http://mobile17.com/android/download/

We’ve had a ton of downloads from you guys! The App is a year old today (since 11/10/10), and it feels like time has really flown by. Thank you very much for all of your support, and we’ll be sure to have an update out for your shortly.

To check out the official Ringtone Maker for Android, visit: http://mobile17.com/android/

According to Michael Degusta at TheUnderstatement.com, Android is seemingly creating “orphans” – often neglecting to upgrade or update any of its products, even sometimes selling products that are 2 major updates behind.

I went back and found every Android phone shipped in the United States¹ up through the middle of last year. I then tracked down every update that was released for each device - be it a major OS upgrade or a minor support patch - as well as prices and release & discontinuation dates. I compared these dates & versions to the currently shipping version of Android at the time.

The most important question that comes to mind is, why don’t android phones get updated? One of the main problems seems to be the delivery of any updates is very complicated. While iOS goes from Apply directly to the devices, Android “has to go from Google to the phone manufacturers to the carriers to the devices.” It’s the cell phone equivalent of the childhood game, whisper down the lane. According to Degusta, there’s seemingly no incentive for smartphone manufacturers themselves to update the operating systems, because manufacturers don’t make money after the sale.

Don’t think that these issues go unnoticed. Baird Research polled 250 working developers on the matter, asking them: “Do You View Android Fragmentation As A Problem?” The results speak for themselves:

To read more about Degusta’s conclusions, visit his site here.

Today, we’re announcing that the first version of our Windows Phone App called “Ringtone Maker” is now available on the Marketplace.

This brings our website to three smartphone platforms, to date, including iPhone and Android. Stay tuned for more updates and more features.

The App is a free download and works nicely in pair with our website.

~

UPDATE (2011/10/21): For help activating and syncing your ringtones to our Windows Phone App, visit: http://mobile17.com/help/windowsphone/

 AT&T previously announced that they had plans to introduce 12 news Android devices this year, and they weren’t kidding around. The company has just released five new Android smartphones, making AT&T’s total 19.

The news phones are – Motorola Atrix 2, Samsung Captivate Glide, Samsung DoubleTime, Pantech Pocket and one other smartphone for the pre-paid customers called the AT&T Avail. Pricing and availability are both unknown at the moment, but all five smartphones will hit the market in 2011.

Leading the pack is the powerful Motorola Atrix 2, with a 4.3-inch, 960×540 (qHD) screen, 1 GHz dual-core CPU, 1 GB of RAM, a 8-megapixel camera capable of full HD video capture and an additional camera for video chat.

Samsung Captivate Glide, as its name suggests, has a side-slide QWERTY keyboard. It also packs decent specifications: a 4-inch, 480×800 Super AMOLED screen, a 1 GHz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 CPU, 1 GB of RAM, and two cameras, a 1.3-megapixel one at the front and a full HD 8-megapixel one at the back.

Both devices support AT&T’s HSPA+ fast data transfer standard and both are running Android 2.3.

The Pantech Pocket is a mid-range device running Android 2.3, with a 1 GHz CPU, a 4-inch screen, a 5-megapixel camera. To like it, you’ll have to appreciate its form, as the device’s dimensions are 114.7 mm x 7 8mm x 11.3 mm, which makes it a lot wider than most candy bar phones.

Samsung DoubleTime is a device for those who want something different. Its specifications are nothing to write home about – a 600 MHz CPU, 3.2-inch screen and Android 2.2 – but its candy bar form opens to reveal a second 3.2-inch screen and a full QWERTY keyboard.

Finally, the AT&T Avail is for those that don’t like contracts (the other pre-paid smartphone in AT&T’s roster is LG Thrive). It’s a fairly standard candy bar mid-range smartphone, with Android 2.3, a 3.5-inch screen, a 5-megapixel camera and 512 MB of RAM.

UPDATE: The celebration was a great success! Enjoy the Apps, everyone.

Last year, on October 11th, we published our first iPhone App — Ringtone Maker for iPhone. This year, as a thank you to everyone for making our free App so popular, we’re making ‘Ringtone Maker Pro’ available for Free (normally $0.99), for 1 day only!

This version of the App, which you must download in the next 24 hours, does not contain advertisements and, in the future, may contain secret “bonus” features. By getting the App today, and staying up to date with the latest versions, you may get an even better Mobile17 experience!

It costs nothing to download today only, and there are no rainchecks! Grab it, and enjoy, as a thank you for being such loyal Mobile17 fans. — Don’t forget to ‘like us’ on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/mobile17

New software will allow you to run Android apps on nearly any device:

Announced yesterday, Myriad’s Alien Dalvik 2.0 will support Android apps on tablets, e-books, TVs, and even cars.

Initially unveiled for the MeeGo OS earlier this year, the software allows most Android Package—also known as APK—files to run on a myriad of devices with little or no tweaking, according to the company. Users can simply trigger the APK file to install and then launch the app on their chosen device.

Dalvik 2.0 is set to be unveiled next week at the CTIA 2011 Conference.

Imagine everytime your phone rings, you hear Neil Armstrong’s “One small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind” or how about “Houston, we’ve had a problem” everytime you receive an email. It’s possible now thanks to NASA’s decision to scourits audio archives for a selection of what it’s collaing “historic and interesting sounds.”

“NASA has been making historic sounds for over 50 years,” NASA App project manager Jerry Colen said. “Now we’re making some of these memorable sounds easy to find an use.” The sounds are organized into four categories: shuttle and station, Apollo and Mercury, current missiongs and beeps & bytes. There are 36 audio clips available.

In addition to the memorable lines, there’s plenty of sounds you’ve probably never heard. “Landing comments begins with the speaker tapping the microphone to check it’s working, before saying, ‘Nose gear touchdown. Having fired the imagination of a generation, a ship like no other, its place in history secured, the space shuttle pulls into port for the last time, its voyage at an end.’” There’s even a clip from JFK’s historic moon landing speech.

All of the audio clips are available in MP3 and M4R formats. Android users can download the clips by first downloading the NASA App. iPhone users should follow the instructions here. To listen to all the available sound bites, click here.

A new Android app offers users the ability to browse the web even if they don’t have a data plan. The app, called Smozzy, circumvents the traditional mobile browsing experience. By utilizing Short Message Service (SMS) and Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Smozzy delivers web content. 

The app is free to download and looks and acts like the regular Android browser. Smozzy receives website and search term requests via SMS. The data is received and that’s when Smozzy’s servers go to work to find the information you’re seeking. The results are then zipped and sent back  as a PNG files via MMS. The app itself receives the files and displays them on the phone in a functional webpage, complete with links and relevant content.

Don’t go cancelling your data plan just yet, though. According to Smozzy’s Android Market page, it’s only available in beta version for T-Mobile subscribers in the United States. Not to mention that the data exchange between the app and their servers isn’t encrypted — don’t enter any passwords or sensitive material. Also, the app itself recommends that the user have unlimited text messaging as it sends and receives numerous SMS and MMS messages that could result in overages for users on tiered messaging plans.