eBay has launched a free eBay app for Android smartphones 1.6 Android and higher. The Android eBay app allows users to check status, watch auctions, search and buy eBay auctions items.

The eBay Android app features voice search, alerts, advanced search functions, feedback and payments via PayPal.

The eBay Android app just launched today and user feedback shows there are some login problem.  The eBay app for Android does have a 4 star rating as of today.

The current Android smartphones that will run this app inlcude Droid, T-Mobile G1 (with 1.6), T-Mobile myTouch 3G, Google Nexus One, Motorola Devour and Sony Xperia X10.

Hollywood's awards season is in the home stretch with moviemakers' most anticipated night happening in just a few weeks. As the nominees write their stirring acceptance speeches and prepare to walk the red carpet on March 7, Verizon Wireless phones can get you caught up with box office hits with a slew of entertainment-themed applications.

The Droid by Motorola has received excellent reviews and Verizon heavily promotes the smartphone with deals. Previously their channeled highlighted sports, useful tips and many of their Verizon app-picks had appeared on our favs. This time Verizon's picks did appear in the Wireless and Mobile News Top Ten (Plus) Best Coolest Free Android an' Droid Apps Review of Reviews.

Verizon Wireless customers can find these Tinseltown apps and other helpful, cool and popular apps in the Verizon Channel in Android Market on their DROID by Motorola smartphones. This week's highlighted apps include:

• Fandango Movies - Get to the theater to see all of the nominated work. Fandango Movies is free and makes going to the movies simple by allowing you to watch trailers of new movies, view fun ratings, and use GPS to find the closest theaters and the movies playing at them - even purchase your tickets quickly and drama-free. It  Fandango will be waiving all service fees for ticket purchases on Android through March 7, 2010.
• E! Online - Now you can get the very best of E! Online, including the latest entertainment news, photos and videos of your favorite celebrities while on the go. This free app allows you to watch clips of your favorite E! shows, including "The Soup," "The Girls Next Door" and "Chelsea Lately." The exclusive My Celebs feature lets you create a personalized experience.

Droid by Motorola owners will be getting an update this week.  Motorola by Droid owners recently were able upload an update to Gogle Maps 3.4 to enable multi-touch in mapping, following a super mult-touch update to the Nexus One.

Android OS 2.1(Eclair) has a lot features that the present Droid Android OS 2.0 doesn't have like:

• Multi-touch support in the browser, maps and camera features.
• Google Goggles scan to search pre-installed.
  
• Voice to text in all all fields except for curse words.
  
• "Sentient" live-wallpapers.
• News and weather widgets.
• App launcher.
• 3D photo gallery.
  

Google has released a new multi-touch version of Google Maps for Droid by Motorola smartphones. The new version of Google Maps 3.4 is available through Android Market. 

This version of Google Maps  brings pinch and zoom in out to the Droid by Motorola when viewing maps.  The Droid also comes with Google Navigation with voiced turn-by-turn directions.

Earlier this week the Nexus One was updated with multi-touch.

The Droid Android OS does allow for voice search which are very useful. The Droid by Motorola has gotten excellent reviews. Droid came in second in The Wireless Mobile News' Top Ten Best Smartphones of 2009 Review of Reviews. It has voice search and turn-by-turn directions.  Featuring Google's Android 2.0 operating system, the DROID boasts a large and brilliant display, and is fully customizable with apps downloaded from the Android Market. The voice search on all Droid and Android phones is a major asset.  It is packed with  cool time-saving  features.

The Droid is currently on sale for $99 at Wirefly for new customers and $119 for renewing Verizon customers with a contract.

Wirefly is kicking off Super Bowl weekend with some touch-down deals for the winning Android team with touchscreen Android phones including the Droid Eris, and Motorola Cliq and the line-backer with a kick out QWERTY keyboard, the Droid by Motorola which makes it our best top cheapest coupon deal of the weekend. Shipping is always free at Wirefly

The Android Motorola Cliq is going for $9.95 for T-Mobile with a contract. The Droid by Motorola is $99 for new customers and $119 for renewing customers with a contract. The real deal for team players however is the a free Droid Eris for either new Verizon or renewing Verizon customers with a plan, you can also get up to 2 free phones with a family plan.

The Droid by Motorola has gotten excellent reviews. Droid came in second in The Wireless Mobile News' Top Ten Best Smartphones of 2009 Review of Reviews. It has voice search and turn-by-turn directions.  Featuring Google's Android 2.0 operating system, the DROID boasts a large and brilliant display, and is fully customizable with apps downloaded from the Android Market. The voice search on all Droid and Android phones is a major asset.  It is packed with  cool time-saving  features.

The Droid Eris by HTC received excellent reviews for its web browser, brilliant screen, interface, virtual keyboard and excellent call quality.The Droid Eris, can use the great, top best Android apps. The Droid Eris by HTC will be updated to Android 2.1 in the first quarter of this year.
 
The Droid Eris by HTC is a touchscreen smatrphone that came in fourth place in our Top Ten Best Smartphones of 2009 review.  It has 528MHz Qualcomm processor, a 320x480 screen, and Android 1.5. The Droid Eris came in at fourth place for top best coolest smartphones.

The Motorola Cliq  was also in Wireless and Mobile News Top Smartphones. The Cliq has MOTOBLUR that offers peace of mind, widgets and social-networking skills. Features include a 5 megapixel camera, GPS, Wi-Fi, video capture, Full HTML web browsing and Android Market apps.

Who is the winner of this Super-Deal-Bowl? You the customers, because you gain wins and points for getting high-end receiving smartphones at great cheap prices.

Game-winning plays don't just happen on the field, notes the latest set of sporty apps chosen for Verizon's Droid Channel.  With applications available in the Android Market, every fan gets the chance to be a star.

Verizon  Wireless customers with DROID by Motorola and can choose from a variety of sports-themed apps featured in the Verizon Channel in the Android Market to get them in the game for events happening this month. The Droid by Motorola has received excellent reviews and Verizon heavily promotes the smartphone with deals.

This time Verizon's picks didn't appear in the Wireless and Mobile News Top Ten (Plus) Best Coolest Free Android an' Droid Apps Review of Reviews, but we did mention the V CAST coverage of the Vancouver Olympics, earlier this week. Previous Verizon Droid Channel selections were in WMN tops and favs.

Previously, Verizon announced some of their favorite apps, some of which appeared on Wireless and Mobile News' Top Best Coolest Android an' Droid Apps. Now, Verizon would like Droid users to check out the Verizon Channel on Android Market.

"We're thrilled that there are thousands of app that customers can discover in the Android Market," said Verizon spokeswoman Debra Lewis, "The Verizon Channel highlights the app we hope our customers will find fun and useful on their Droids. "

Lewis notes that Verizon also hopes to make the app discovery process easier.

Verizon's Android smartphones were well-reviewed. The Droid by Motorola has received excellent reviews. The Droid Eris by HTC has also gotten great reviews, however, the Verizon Android Market channel is not available on the Droid Eris.

Verizon Android Market Channel free and paid apps selections are updated and changed weekly.

This week, customers can find and the Verizon Android Market Channel:

FREE

• Weatherbug - With the WeatherBug Mobile app, customers can access live, local weather information and images for thousands of locations; customized maps; daily videos; severe weather alerts from the National Weather Service and much more, all free of charge.
• Slacker Radio - Listen to free personalized radio on your mobile phone with Slacker Radio, the best way to discover new artists and hear favorite songs. Customers can choose from more than 100 expert-programmed radio stations from every genre or can create their own custom stations.

A few weeks ago, our editor attended a meeting and a woman showed her new Android phone.  She asked our editor what she though the Droid and the Nexus One. Our editor took out the a Droid and tapped the search button, then spoke into the smartphone, "Wireless and Mobile News."

Then like a mini-miracle our website appeared.  The woman was amazed, what she didn't realize  was that she could have done the same thing on her Android phone, which we now believe to be the Samsung Moment, HTC Hero, T-Mobile G1, myTouch 3G, Droid Eris or Motorola Cliq.

It doesn't really matter which Android phone she owned, because since early 2009 and all Android phones can use voice search, which is especially handy when you want to use only one hand, and don't have keyboard. The voice search features works on Droid, Nexus  One and all most of the recent Android smarpthones.

The voice search feature even wowed the techies at the Mobile Marketing Association when I attended in a busy hotel seminar room.

Although, it is easy to use voice search on an Android smartphone, there are some tricks on how to do voice search on an Android an' Droid phone more efficiently.

• The first step to start voice search is to tap the Google search widget icon on your phone or the search button(key). The search icon looks like a magnifying glass. On some phone search is accessed via the menu button.

• You will see the Google search box with a microphone next to it.
• Tap the microphone.
• You will then see a gray square with a microphone in the middle.
  
• Move your Android phone's mic close to your mouth.
• Say your search slowly.
  
• Make sure you leave spaces between the words.
• You will see the voice turn into lines on the screen and then see search results.
• The voice search can also be used to search contacts, Gmailm mpas and messages by tapping the microphone and speaking clearly.

Note: At a party we offered an Android phone to guests who were not native English speakers, the results were not very good for them. 

The Droid Devour by Motorola aka the Calgary should be seen at Verizon soon, because an unnamed source found it on the Cellbrite system then sent a photo to Android Central.

The Droid Devour is a slider phone that comes in black and silver and expected to be lower priced than the Droid by Motorola and offer a QWERTY keyboard for heavy texters/surfers. It is expected to be have a lower resolution screen than the Droid by Motorola but still have the three buttons near the screen and a touchpad.
It supposedly will come loaded with Android 2.1 and social networking MotoBLUR. Other expected features include a 3 MP camera, Wi-Fi, microSD, and GPS. There is no word yet if it qualifies for a buy one get another model phone free deal like for the Droid, LG enV3 or the Palm Pre Plus.

Sears, the original catalog store, is offering many new ways to shop for Sears products. When you are in a Sears store, you can order the matching pants to the jacket on the computer in store, and now you can buy on your Android, Droid or Nexus One phone.

the Sears2Go Android app is a fast, easy way for shop at Sears on the go. The Sears2Go Android app has access to full listings of items and categories available on Sears.com.

Some of the features on Sears2Go Android app include:

• Deals, Deals and more Deals! - Customers can also see sales and deals from weekly ads that are also available on the Sears.com web site
• Search and Browse Capabilities - Search by keyword or product category to find what they need fast, or they can just browse and buy, right in the app. They will be able to pick up purchases in-store or have it delivered to your home (available in select locations)
• GPS Functions - Customers can also easily find their local Sears store address, hours and contact info, using the Sears2Go Andorid app's GPS or zipcode tool
• Product Description and Reviews - Customers can view detailed item descriptions and read individual product reviews and customer ratings

Sears2Go is free and available on Android Market.

Wireless and Mobile News' Top Android an' Droid Free Apps

The well reviewed and heavily promotoed Droid by Motorola materials cost $187.75, reports iSuppi which contians $179.11 worth of componoents and $8.64 to manufacture, not icluding software and materials.

Droid does offer more features than the iPhone such as a QWERTY keyboard,  5 megapixel camera, microSD(highest cost) and removable battery.

Verizon is still heavily promoting the Droid by offering a free Droid Eris, if you buy a Droid by Motorola or a Droid Eris. You also don't have to wait for a rebate if you use the Wireless and Mobile News' coupon-link  Instant Phone Rebate Only Available with Online Purchase. Starting January 18, Verizon's new cheaper unlimited plans go into effect.

The prive gives the Droid a component cost similar to other comparable smartphones introduced during the past year, including Apple Inc.'s iPhone 3GS and Google's Nexus One ($174.15).
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Disassembling the Droid A major differentiating feature between the Droid and the iPhone is the inclusion of a microSD slot for adding additional NAND flash memory to store user data and content, such as apps and video and audio files. The Droid comes bundled with a removable microSD card that contains 16Gbytes of NAND flash memory, the same density embedded inside the high-end model of the iPhone 3G S. At $35, the microSD card is the Droid's most expensive single component.

Many Android and BlackBerry smartphone users have discovered that syncing iTune playlists, videos and photos from your PC can be confusing and take time.  Sometimes the phone maker offers a sync program such as Media Link for Motorola Android phones.

However if you are looking for a way to sync to your Android, myTouch 3G, Nexus One, T-Mobile G1, Galaxy, Samsung Moment, Droid Eris or BlackBerry Storm, BlackBerry Bold, BlackBerry Curve or Palm Pre, you may want to try the free beta version of doubleTwist that lets you drag and drop media to your samrtphone.

doubleTwist syncs your photos, iTunes playlsits, and videos to your Android, BlackBerry, or Windows Mobile smartphone.   It is so popular it is coming preloaded on the new Fender version of the myTouch 3G.

doubleTwist will download and convert any video to watch on your device. You just drag and drop; doubleTwist will convert to the correct format for your device. You can also use doubleTwist to send your photos, videos and music to friends and family.  It reads all the photos your comptuer and camera. It uses your address book, to get email addresses, friend then see the stream from the doubleTwist website. Video follows at the end of the article.

Android  Apps, Applications and Accessories Page.Top Ten (Plus) Best Coolest Free Android an' Droid Apps Review of Reviews.
Review of Reviews Best Top Free Android Apps T-Mobile G1 and T-Mobile myTouch 3G.

BlackBerry Storm Apps and Accessories. BEST BLACKBERRY STORM APPS ARTICLES:

The Ritmo Advanced Pregnancy Sound System, allows in-utero babies to hear sounds from cell phones, iPhone, BlackBerry smartphones, Nexus One, Droid, Droid Eris or mp3 players.  This super big pregnancy belly headset, lets babies hear Daddy, Grandma, relatives and friends when they are out of town. Babies in the their mother’s belly can also listen to music that soothes them.

Ritmo was created to provide a c comfortable and safe way for families to share sound and music with their developing baby.

Ritmo can connect to most audio devices with a universal stereo plug (3.5 mm headset plug) such as iPods, MP3 players, iPhones, Blackberry smartphones, Nexus One Google Phone, Droid Eris, Droid and other smartphones.

The expectant mother wears a belt around her pregnant belly. The belt has four speakers and a controller, the size of a deck of cards.

Any audio player or smartphone plugs into the controller, which utilizes Nuvo’s patented Safe & Sound Technology to regulate the output of sound to a safe level for a baby to hear in-utero.

On the very top or your Nexus One, Droid, Droid Eris and/or other model Android phone is a bar showing the Notifications and Connection Status Icons. These tiny little icons (symbols) range from obvious like the battery and the phone signal can be confusing so we at Wireless and Mobile News thought we would go through all of them.  It also makes it easier for us to remember what they all are. So what do all those icons on the top mean?

Bars with an R means that you are roaming.  Bars with an "X' on top show that there is no signal. An exclamation point next to Sim indicates "No SIM card installed."  A phone with buzz marks around means that the Android phone is in vibrate mode.  A speaker with an "x" on the right shows that the ringer is silenced.  The microphone is mute when there is diagonal slash through a microphone. The battery is low when there is very little orange in the symbol that looks like battery. When there is yellow in the battery it is low. When there green in the battery it is partially drained. When the battery is all green the battery is full. The battery is charging when there is a design in the battery. A satellite dish by itself indicates that the GPS is on.  When the satellite dish has signal coming out of it, the Android phone is receiving location data from GPS.

An independent website labs.moto.com, did its own study of touchscreens based on using a basic drawing program, a steady hand, and a few straight lines drawn very slowly on the screen.. The video is by Moto Development Group, the guy's name is Morgan. Moto Development Group is not associated with Motorola, but they appear to be consultants to the Android industry.

A video shows what happened when they recently took several touchscreen systems from the iPhone, Droid Eris by HTC, Droid by Motorola, and Google Nexus One out for a Do It Yourself test drive.

The results show the iPhone bested the HTC Droid Eris and Nexus One (note the Eris and Nexus One look about the same because they are made by the same company), followed by the Droid by Motorola.

They contend that the iPhone won because the lines were straighter when drawing diagonal lines with finger pressure.

Note: a user of a Droid by Motorola on a forum wrote, " Dunno what app this guy is using but I tried this on my DROID and the lines were practically perfect, did not look anything like the wavy lines he made."

Do you ever draw diagonal lines when tapping on an Android screen?  Does it really matter in 99.99% of phone functions?  Probably not. No reviewer of the Nexus One, Droid Eris by HTC  or  Droid by Motorola ever noted a problem operating any of the phone's touchscreens. These smartphones were not developed to be drawing phone. Also many people have come accustomed to the way the iPhone worked and have adapted their fingers to work the best on an iPhone.  The Droid and Eris have haptic fedback which can effect the way the finger responds to the screen. So what's the point of the test?

Chevrolet and OnStar unveiled smartphone apps that enable Chevrolet Volt owners 24/7 connection and control of vehicle functions and OnStar features remotely.

OnStar's apps allows drivers to communicate with their Volt from Droid by Motorola, Apple iPhone and Blackberry Storm smartphones. It uses a real-time data connection to perform tasks from setting the charge time to unlocking the doors or even starting the car to get the air conditioning cool or the heat hot.

 The iPhone, BlackBerry Storm or Droid App:

• Displays charge status - plugged in or not, and voltage (120V or 240V).
• Provides flexibility to "Charge Now" or schedule charge timing.
• Displays percentage of battery charge level, electric and total ranges.

We had a sneaky suspicion that since Sanjay Jha, CEO of Motorola,appeared at the Nexus One press event, there would be more Android updates on the horizon from Motorola. 

Although the speakers were clear that some devices would not be backward supported for Android update, Motorola has confirmed that they their Android smarpthones including the Droid  will be updated to Android 2.1.

At a CES press conference Sanjay Jha revealed that all Motorola Android phones including the Droid by Motorola and the Motorola Cliq will be upgraded to the snappy Android 2.1 with all its great features. The Droid, however, will not have some of the 3D features enabled.

The Droid will get pushed an update that will allow Adobe Flash 10.1 to work. A list of features of Android 2.1 appears at the end of this article.

Meanwhile, Verizon is still running their Buy a Droid or Droid Eris and Get a Free Droid Eris Deal.It's part of  Verizon's Current Promotions

The Droid by Motorola has gotten excellent reviews. It came in second in The Wireless Mobile News' Top Ten Best Smartphones of 2009 Review of Reviews. It has voice search and turn-by-turn directions.  Featuring Google's Android 2.0 operating system, the DROID boasts a large and brilliant display, and is fully customizable with apps downloaded from the Android Market.

Reviewers of the Google Nexus One Super Phone concurred that is the best Android phone yet, It does not, however, have a QWERTY like the Droid, or come with a free Droid Eris for a friend.

mPayy, Inc., mobile and online alternative payments service,  announced their "mPayy Mobile Payments" application is available at the iPhone app store.

They recently also announced an mPayy  Android app available in Android Market. The mPayy application runs on all Android devices - from the Sprint HTC Hero and T-Mobile Motorola CLIQ running Android 1.5  and the newly released Verizon Motorola Droid running Android 2.0.

All mPayy Personal and Business accounts may use the e application to make and receive person-to-person payments, track activity, and withdraw funds from their mPayy accounts to linked bank accounts. Business account holders are also able to issue refunds for any sale through the application, even if it occurred on their website.

You may have noticed that there has been an explosion of Android an' Droid apps in the last few months. We thought it would be a good time to round-up all the best free Android an' Droid apps. We were going to make this a top ten Android an' Droid apps, however, when we surveyed the reviews and the most-important media-syncing apps compatibility, we had to add a few more applications that don't run on Android smatphones  but run on your PC.

With over 20,000 apps in Android Market it can be overwhelming.  We grouped the apps into types - Music, Lifestyle, Syncing, Search, and Photos.

Please note with some apps that will only run on certain Android phones such as Droid, an alternative is offered when available for the other Android smartphones such as, Droid Eris by HTC, myTouch 3G, T-Mobile G1, Motorola Cliq, Samsung Behold II, Samsung Moment, and HTC Hero.

Streaming Radio, Music, Ringtones

Part of the beauty of having an unlimited data plan with your Android phone is the ability to get streaming radio stations that you like.  There are a number of streaming audio apps that work on Android phones, here are some of our favorites:

Slacker - their news release calls Slacker a "music discovery experience," giving users the ability to create a nearly unlimited number of custom stations, over 100 expert-programmed Slacker genre, seasonal and spotlight stations, or over 10,000 artist stations.

iHeart Radio - iHeart Radio streams broadcasts from nearly 400 of America's favorite local radio stations from Clear Channel. Many of the radio stations are talk and discussion. All of iheartradio's digital-only channels like erockster, Pride, Christina Aguilera Radio, Eagles Radio, the White House Brief and dozens more

Ringdroid - Dominic Mazzoni developer of the uber-popular open-source sound/audio editing/recording program Audacity, now works for Google.  Google encourages employees to write their own programs and Ringdroid is a special gift from Mazzoni that keeps on giving. He really knows how develop music editing programs.  Ringdroid lets you record or edit music and turn it into a ringtone. It supports WAV, MP3 and 3GPP/AMR files.

Also-Ran Pandora - a favorite app on the BlackBerry, iPhone and Palm Pre, Pandora creates radio stations based on songs and artists that you like based on algorithms from the Music Genome Project. Pandora Radio streams the songs to you. Note: according to the Pandora website Pandora only currently works HTC G1 on T-Mobile, HTC Hero on Sprint and HTC myTouch 3G on T-Mobile. Because Pandora doesn't work on Droid, we made it an Also-Ran.

Lifestyle Lightening

Feel-Goodies - this app reminds you how wonderful you really are. Just tap through empowering Feel-Goodies, to uplift you during down time.  There's a free version and a premium version in the works.  Download Feel-Goodies, today. You never know when you're going to need them.

Media Syncing
Media Link - to save you the trouble of having to manually copy your media files from your computer to your Droid by Motorola, or Motorola Cliq, Motorola offers a free version of Media Link to Droid owners.  This app is a must-download for to move, sync, and manipulate pictures, videos, and music. It syncs music in Windows Media and iTunes. 

For other Android smartphones, there's Salling Media Sync that works on both PCs and Macs. Salling Media Sync is compatible with Droid, Droid Eris, HTC Hero and T-Mobile G1 and myTouch 3G. This syncs iTunes and Adobe Photo Elements only.

Also-Ran: Dazzboard Android Universal Media Management (UMM) provides Android media access through the web. Dazzboard allows users to push-and-pull data instantly between their portable Android phone and PC, or to move content directly from a device onto the social media.

Droid owners may have noticed that your battery cover has a tendency to fall off. Some of you may have lost your battery door/cover.  Have no fear, Verizon is offering the Droid battery cover for free. Verizon likes to give Droid customers free stuff.  It is still offering the Buy a Droid or Droid Eris get a Droid Eris Free deal, which gives you a complete Droid Eris for free as part of Verizon's Current Promotions.  If you bought a Droid within the last 30 days, you can still get the deal.

Whoops, when you go the website to get your freebie it is "Out of Stock."

If you have lost your Droid battery cover, you may be better off to contact your local Verizon store, and ask your sales rep to help
.

The description : For use with your Motorola Droid standard battery. (PART# MOTA855BATDR.)

There have been reports of people taking their Droids to Verizon stores and the rep put a piece of tape that looks like a Band-aid on it.  We think that cellophane of duct tape would work as temporary fix Masking tape however, is probably your bet choice because it can be easily removed and should not leave a residue.