Android Mobile Device

According to a recent tweet by Andy Rubin, Android device activations now exceed 500,000 per day. That’s an increase of at least 100,000 handsets and tablets each day since the last tally of 400,000 was given in May at Google I/O. That isn’t too big of a surprise after taking into account that the figure is growing by 4.4 percent week over week, according to Rubin. The new stats continue a trend that has seen Android explode in popularity from virtual non-contender to leader of the smartphone pack in a span of less than two years.

The huge success of Android must bring a great sense of satisfaction to Andy Rubin. His work on Android started long before Google bought up the fledgling mobile OS and gave it the backing it needed to create a global phenomenon. More recently, Rubin’s efforts leading up the Android team resulted in a promotion to senior vice president at Google.

[via Twitter | Thanks, Fayez]

Remember when we used to have 24 hours to get a refund for our apps? Then it was reduce dramatically to 15 minutes which does not seem enough. The Taiwanese government  agrees and apparently has a law that requires any product bought over the internet to have a least a 7-day “trial period.”

Google does not want to comply and they are faced with a $1 million fine for non-compliance. They were given 15 days to comply and after negotiations broke down, Google decided to remove access to all paid apps for Android devices in Taiwan.

Apple was faced with this same comply period, but they gladly complied. Google is arguing that the provision in question does not apply to app stores because consumers can instantly try an application and make a decision in a matter of minutes. All is not lost because Google will meet on Thursday to continue talks.

I find it interesting that Apple complied so easily, but Google wants to fight this. $1 million in fines won’t hurt Google, but is it worth the fight?

Google suspends paid applications in Taiwan, 15-minute return window is unlawful

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I hope you’re hungry because we have one doozy of an Android Overload for you tonight. The reason it’s so jam packed tonight is someone forgot to hit publish on Friday’s Android Overload resulting in the smorgasbord you see in front of you (I blame that new Chavez, kid). As usual, most of these news worthy articles were occurring overseas. So grab your fork and dig in!

• HTC Sensation begins arriving in Canada. Launching any day now. [MobileSyrup]
• Future has begun taking pre-orders for the LG Optimus Black on TELUS and the HTC Sensation on Bell. [MobileSyrup]
• Xperia Arc on Rogers receives Android 2.3.3 OTA update. Now with more Facebook! [MobileSyrup]
• Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 headed to the UK on August 4th. [PocketLint]
• Asus Eeepad Transformer 3.1 kernel source is released for devs to mess around with [Droid-Life]
• Telus’ HTC Desire HD Gingerbread upgrade is beginning to roll out. [MobileSyrup]
• HTC has hidden a Resident Evil easter egg in their preview image for the Friend Stream widget found in Sense 3.0.
• The HTC Incredible S has begun seeing its own round of nightly CM7 builds.
• The HTC Salsa and ChaCha are headed to Vodafone in Australia.
• Three UK is set to carry the Sony Ericsson Xperia Ray.
• The HTC ChaCha is also going to Telus in Canada. The Salsa looks likely for release there as well. [MobileSyrup]
• The Motorola DEFY on T-Mobile UK is getting Android 2.2 next month.
• Play.com is now offering presales for the new Xperia Mini phones. [USEB]
• The Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo is now available in Europe.

It’s been a delicate issue within the Android community, mainly with those who are current T-Mobile customers. If you recall, the latest update of Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread brought with it a much anticipated new feature, video chat. A lot of users were ecstatic with the new prospect of Google Talk’s video chat feature. But that excitement was quickly turned to outrage when users who attempted to take advantage of video calling were prompted by a message stating this feature was only available via WiFi. It was a puzzling move by T-Mobile but it looks as though they may have had a change of heart.

We have been receiving our share of Phanmail from happy Nexus S users notifying us that they are now able to make video calls using the new Google Talk app via 3G. Cruising by Reddit, I found a few users on that site experiencing the same thing. I don’t know exactly what is going on but it looks as if T-Mobile has finally flipped the 3G switch on Google Talk’s video chat feature. Let us know in the comments if this is working for you.

Thanks, to everyone who sent this in!

[Image Via A&M]