Google used their Android 2.2 Froyo launch today to bring the fight squarely to Apple and Steve Jobs, saying in essence they created Android because they feared a future where one man (Steve Jobs) and one company (Apple) controlled the mobile space.

Now I’m not going to call that cake a lie (because it’s technically a chilled desert this time), but let’s be clear — Google created Android because they feared any future where any company — be it Apple, Microsoft, or some unforeseen upstart to lock them out of their cash-cow, advertising. That’s why Microsoft built Bing and why Apple is making iAds.

That’s smart business. But to claim any form of benevolence or greater-than-thou community spirit is disingenuous-to-insulting. Google, like Apple or Adobe is as open as suits them and as proprietary as their revenue generation demands. As much as Apple controls the iPhone, as much as Adobe owns Flash, Google’s crown jewel of advertising is theirs and theirs alone. AdWords isn’t open source.

So they can make fun of Apple curating the App Store, or that at any one time any of a dozen high-end Androids can perform certain tasks well, or that they can put Flash on a phone but not Silverlight or ActiveX, or poke at iTunes not yet being cloud-based. But they can’t and don’t talk about the Android Market’s enormous selection of keyboards, fess up to the battery problems as a platform issue, come to grips with the inconsistent user experience, deal with the reality that is recent devices have unclear and fragmented OS paths, and acknowledge those users burned severely by the still immature cloud who want local solution options as well.

Google pushed out a lot of tech this week. A scary, wonderful, crazy, beautiful amount of tech I don’t think we’ve seen in such volume in such a short time before. It will be challenge enough for them to realize most of it, much less all of it. It’s just plain gutsy.

Even gutsier was poking Apple before the much better spoken Steve Jobs takes the much bigger stage at WWDC 2010 to announce the much more attention getting 4th generation iPhone.

[Android Central]

Google takes shots at Steve Jobs and Apple, forgets rubber and glue rule is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Pinball HD brings classic pinball arcade playing to the iPad. The graphics are beautiful and motions are smooth.

There are three tables included with Pinball HD: Wild West, The Deep, and Jungle Style. I find Wild West to be the least interesting table to play, but it will probably be great for a child who doesn’t need a complicated and involved table. The Deep and Jungle Style are much more detailed and require much more skill to get a good score.

Pinball HD can be played in 3 different views. Holding the iPad in landscape will display the full table from a perspective view (the front is bigger than the back). In portrait, you can either view the full table or play with a “flying-table” view. The latter view follows the ball around the table and zooms in even closer when the ball is doing something interesting like bouncing around a bunch of bumpers or entering a special hole. The graphics in “flying-table” are very impressive; however, I find myself getting a little dizzy when playing in this view.

If you’re a fan of pinball, Pinball HD will not disappoint. The physics are accurate and the gameplay is fun. For video and screenshots, follow us after the break!

Pros

• Beautiful graphics
• Realistic physics
• 3 tables
• 3 views
• Detailed instructions for each table
• Local and global high scores

Cons

• “flying-table” can make you dizzy and is the default view for portrait play
• Table instructions are busy and sometimes difficult to follow the lines

[$2.99 - iTunes link]

Pinball HD for iPad – app review is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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If you’re a frequent browser of the iTunes movie section, you may have noticed the addition of a Rotten Tomatoes rating section.  If you’re not familiar with Rotten Tomatoes, it’s basically a site where users and critics can rate movies as fresh or rotten.  To the left you’ll see the classic TomatoMeter rating system while to the right you’ll see a few of the most recent ratings for that specific movie.

And if you still want to know more about a movie, clicking the find more option will take you to the Rotten Tomatoes site page for that film.  Fancy! What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

[via TUAW]

iTunes Store Integrates Rotten Tomatoes Ratings is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Good news for those of you ready to lay down your hard earned cash for a new iPad at your local Apple store. With the help of 7 on Your Side and Dianne Campbell, Apple has overturned their credit and debit card only policy and you are now able to make your iPad purchase with cash and gift cards. The only thing Apple would like you to do for them is set up your Apple account in-store.

“As of today, anyone can pay for an iPad with cash as long as they set up their Apple account at the store. Apple accounts are needed for the iPad anyway, so that is not putting anyone out.”

Originally it was thought this policy was set in place to make sure iPads did not end up on the black market but Apple claims this was not the case rather just a simple way to make sure the devices were fairly distributed during high demand.

[7 on Your Side via Mac Rumors]

Apple changes policy, now accepts cash for iPads is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

Google seems set to announce the next version of their Android operating system, deliciously dubbed Froyo (frozen yogurt) at the Google I/O conference today. Android Central’s Phil Nickinson is at the conference and will be bringing us the action live and as it happens.

The exciting and terrifying thing about Google is that you never know what they’re going to do (and give away free) next. Last time it was Navigation, and TomTom is likely still reeling. This time it could be free cell service for everyone in Rhode Island. Who knows?! My official prediction is up as part of the Android Central Round Table. They’ve also got a ton of coverage from yesterday, which included the announcement of the VP8 video codec being released open source and freely licensed as part of their WebM initiative (which includes the MKV container and Ogg Vorbis audio codec), a Chrome Web Store, Adobe’s HTML5 exporter for Dreamweaver, Google’s foray into the 10″ TV “experience” with Clicker.tv, and more. Here are some more highlights, but join Phil and crew for all the live fun and we’ll be back with our thoughts later:

• The Great Wall of Android
• Hands-on with the Android Kindle app
• Google IO keynote liveblog – day 1

We’ve seen much of iPhone OS 4 (iPhone HD/iPhone 4G special features not withstanding), we’ve seen BlackBerry OS 6, we’re not sure what’s up with the next version of webOS yet (are we?), but after today we should see what Apple has to compete with when it comes to Google for the next half a year or so…

Android 2.2 “Froyo” unveiling today – the competition is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

TiPb - The #1 iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch Blog

So you have an iPhone and you use Twitter, but with the plethora of Twitter applications available in the App Store (including one that just went official), which do you chose? TiPb is here to help with a Twitter app roundup! Now this is not your typical top 5 or top 10 must-have, best Twitter app list. This is about options and alternatives, and Ally, Leanna, and guest writer Alli Flowers have chosen the following 12 to review and help narrow your search:

• Twitter for iPhone
• Twitbit
• Tweeterena
• Osfoora
• HootSuite
• SimplyTweet 3
• Tweetdeck
• Twitterrific
• Twitbird Pro
• Twittelator Pro
• Echofon
• Fluttr

To see what we had to say, follow us after the break!

Twitter for iPhone

Previously known as Tweetie, Twitter for iPhone [Free - iTunes link] is the official Twitter application from Twitter. It is full featured and easy to use. Swiping a tweet will get you reply options, and tapping the tweet will allow you to view attached photos or url's. The swipe to reply seems so natural, and it's uncluttered. Likewise with Tweetie's settings – you know exactly what you're looking at and what will happen if you turn something OFF or ON.

— Alli

Twitbit

If you’re looking for a Twitter client with fast and reliable push, Twitbit [$2.99 - iTunes link] is the app for you. However, an excellent push notification system isn’t the only thing appealing about Twitbit. The UI is very clean and clutter free. On the bottom toolbar, you will find tabs for your timeline, mentions, messages, lists, and more. Twitbit comes with 4 themes: Gradients, Dark, Plain, and Chat.

The two main complaints about Twitbit is the lack of “quick reply” from the timeline and no option to “reply all”. The most impressive feature is how quickly notifications are pushed to your iPhone. Notifications are received within seconds of them being sent.

The developers of Twitbit regularly release updates and do an excellent job of replying to users and adding requested features.

— Leanna

Tweeterena Series

Tweeterena currently comes in 3 flavors; Tweeterena Lite [Free - iTunes link], Tweeterena [$0.99 - iTunes link], and Tweeterena Pro [$3.99 - iTunes link]. The free version is ad-supported while the $0.99 version is sans ads. Tweeterena Pro will get you the following features, which the cheaper versions leave out:

• Multiple Account Support
• Facebook integration
• Custom Backgrounds
• Quick watch user functionality
• Friend grouping

I spent most of my time with the Pro version. As far as I'm concerned, Tweeterena (Pro version or not) has little improvement since I last evaluated it. In terms of functionality, it doesn't offer anything some other clients offer for a lower price or even free. My biggest issue with Tweeterena was honestly the general layout and color schemes. They just don't work well. You get funky shading that just doesn't look right over the backgrounds. Also, custom backgrounds are somewhat very misleading. You don't get to customize your background throughout the entire layout, only in the compose screen. So to me, that just doesn't cut it when several other clients that offer that allow it through the entire thing. And lastly, the settings are split up. Part are found in-app and part are in settings, which to me makes no sense. My honest opinion is that there are much better clients out there for cheaper that are a much better value.

— Ally

Osfoora for Twitter

Osfoora [$2.99 - iTunes link] offeres a clean UI with all the features anyone could want. "Borrowing" from Tweetie, Osfoora allows you to pull down to refresh in any view. While Osfoora has been my primary Twitter client for about a month, my main complaint is that you must tap on a tweet in order to Reply All. Otherwise, tap/hold will get you the typical reply options. I have two favorite things about Osfoora. One: it does a super job of showing conversation threads. Two: the Osfoora developer is extremely active on Twitter, and very responsive to user requests.

— Alli

HootSuite

HootSuite [$2.99 - iTunes link] is a cute little twitter app that also supports Facebook integration. If you use ow.ly to shrink your links, HootSuite will display your stats of shared links.

Unlike most Twitter clients, HootSuite uses columns instead of tabs as method of switching between your timeline, mentions, DM’s, etc. To switch between columns, just swipe left or right from your current column. The advantage to columns is that you can add and remove and organize custom columns so you can taylor your experience Twitter to you.

HootSuite is missing one important feature: conversation view. Reading conversations is a huge part of my Twitter experience, so I find the lack of support very disappointing. HootSuite also does not support push notifications. Other than those two missing things, HootSuite is an excellent Twitter client.

— Leanna

SimplyTweet 3

SimplyTweet 3 [$4.99 - iTunes link] was honestly one of my favorite clients I reviewed. It's drop dead simple to navigate around and very similar in style to Tweetie 2. Along the bottom you have all of your essential functions.

One thing I really enjoyed about using SimplyTweet 3 was how fast it was. SimplyTweet also supports all your essential functions. A major plus of SimplyTweet is built-in push. I was a little skeptical at first, but it was extremely quick. And the conversations view is something I really wish other clients would start implementing.

Final thoughts on SimplyTweet 3? It's an extremely decent twitter client. At $4.99, it's a bit steep compared to some other respectable options. Either way – if you'd like built-in push bundled with a twitter client with a great UI and easy to navigate interface, SimplyTweet may just be for you.

— Ally

TweetDeck

If you like TweetDeck on your desktop, you might very well be happy with TweetDeck [Free -iTunes link] on your iPhone – especially since it's free. I love being able to view my tweets in columns (similar to Twitter lists). It can save you time when you don't really want to look through your entire follow timeline – especially if you follow a large number of people. All the basic features of any Twitter client are included in TweetDeck, and I really can find no fault in it. Columns begin zoomed out so that you can scroll left and right between them, and when a column is chosen, it zooms in so that you can scroll up and down through the tweets. TweetDeck's columns work the same way as the views on every other client, but with a little more flexibility in that you decide exactly who you want in each column. Not much variety in design – you can choose from "dark" or "light."

— Alli

Twitterrific

Twitterrific was the first Twitter application released with the launch of iPhone OS 2.0. So it has been around for a long time and has seen many improvements and won many design awards. Twitterrific is available in two versions: a free, ad supported version [iTunes link], and a premium ad-free version [$4.99 - iTunes link]. Neither versions include push.

Those design awards were well earned as style is what Twitterrific does best. The UI is beautiful and you can easily change font size with a tap of a button on the timeline. Twitterrific includes 3 themes: Raven, Snowy, and Basic. It also offers the unique option of left-handed controls. Twitterrific is an excellent full-featured Twitter client with a wonderful design.

— Leanna

Twitbird Pro

Another client that showed up on the Twitter scene not too long ago that pleasantly surprised me is Twitbird Pro [$2.99 - iTunes link] Not only is Twitbird Pro rich with features, there are tons of customization options, including changing your wallpaper throughout the entire app, which I enjoyed. Twitbird Pro has a very unique conversations view which was implemented extremely well. Twitbird Pro also has built-in push services. There's a slight catch though. The push that comes with Twitbird Pro only supports push between Twitbird Pro users. If you'd like global push from all Twitter users, that'll cost you $2.99 for the upgrade in-app. I did not buy the push service, so if anyone has any hands-on, sound off in the comments about the reliability/speed. Boxcar supports Twitbird Pro, so I just set Boxcar to open Twitbird Pro and had no issues. My verdict is that TwitBird Pro has tons of potential. The implementation and layout is almost there, but not quite.

— Ally

Twittelator Pro

Twittelator Pro [$4.99 - iTunes link] was the first truly great Twitter app for iPhone. There are so many options it can sometimes be confusing. Perhaps when iPhone 4 is released, there will be a real purpose to having sounds on new tweets, but for now it's a feature that you can't take much advantage of, and due to the lame nature of the sounds… you probably wouldn't want to. Nonetheless, Twittelator Pro does everything: sounds, themes, conversations, photos, geotagging, you name it. For some reason, scrolling quickly to the top in Twittelator Pro is disconcerting. One tap goes up a page, two taps goes straight to the top. It just seems like one option too many. Replying to a tweet in Twittelator Pro can be a trial. Double tap the time shown on the right to quick reply, tap the avatar for the full set of options beneath the user's profile.

— Alli

Echofon

Echofon for Twitter is one of the few Twitter clients that offer push notifications. The free, ad-supported version [iTunes link] only pushes mentions and DMs from other Echofon users. The “pro” ad-free version [$4.99 - iTunes link] sends notifications from all Twitter users.

If you are looking for reliable push notifications, Echofon is not for you. I highly recommend test-driving the free version before purchasing the ad-free version to see if push meets your standards. If you’re a FireFox or Mac (or both) user, one great feature of Echofon is that it syncs unread tweets across all platforms.

One thing that some people may love and others may hate is that conversations are viewed with oldest on top. This is obviously the most natural way to read a conversation, but I find it a bit awkward because it goes against the Twitter style.

Other than my disappointment with push notifications, I view Echofon to be a great Twitter client.

— Leanna

Fluttr

My last client was Fluttr [$2.99 – iTunes link]. I somewhat decided to review Fluttr last minute. I was browsing the app store and the layout looked pretty slick.

Unfortunately, I don't have too much to say at this time. Every time I tried to test it out, I got tons of API errors and it never wanted to load my mentions (see screenshots).

From what I could get out of it, it had the same problem TwitBird Pro has with mentions. You have to click back to the home screen in order to access anything. To me, it's a bit redundant, as you shouldn't have to do that for main functions. They should be easily accessible all along the bottom. The UI is put together very nicely and I think it's a client to definitely keep an eye on. A few good quality updates and it could be a good contender. It does have several features including lists. If I could have used them without getting errors, I may have been more willing to give it more time on my main iPhone home screen. The bugs are what keep me from recommending it as of now. Either way – jump down for screens!

— Ally

Conclusion

Given the packed field of competition amongst Twitter clients, the winner will have to have something very special. Something way beyond push notification or themes. I know several people who continue using the first Twitter client they tried when they got their iPhones. Some of us (like the three of us bringing you this roundup), keep trying new Twitter apps in search of that je ne sais quoi. We'll know it when we see it, I'm sure. But we have to keep trying them all, and discovering which tiny things we love and which we dislike, waiting for that one perfect app that puts all our favorites together in one beautiful package. Which one is right for you? Heck if we know – we can't even decide which is right for ourselves. But this is truly a case of it being the trip and not the destination that makes it all worth the ride.

iPhone Twitter app roundup is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Overnight Apple began enabling the on-device iPad App Store for international users. That is to say, it no longer spits up the dreaded “the App Store is not supported in your country” error and actually renders the WebKit storefront now. It’s still a bit of a work in progress with iPhone apps hard to distinguish from iPad specific ones off the main featured page, but it’s a huge step forward.

Likewise, some apps that weren’t previously offered for sale outside the US App Store — we’re looking at you EA — are now available, however Apple’s own iWork suit of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote still seems to be MIA at the moment.

With the first 9 international iPad nations already past the pre-order stage, and sales set to start May 28 Apple has to get the App Store up and running at some point. That those who snuck across the border to snap up US iPads can now spend way too much money help test it out in advance is a Good Thing.

If you’ve got an iPad on an international iTunes account, let us know how your local App Store is doing, what the selection is like, and most importantly — what you’re buying?

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

On-device iPad App Store goes international is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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The popular IM client BeejiveIM is now available on iPad. It offers much of the same functionality of it’s iPhone cousin, but really takes advantage of the iPad screen real estate. Here are the key features that BeejiveIM boasts to bring:

• Reliable and efficient networking: be connected 24/7, and it’s gentle on your battery
• Be connected even after you close the application. Get notified instantly when you get a new message with push notifications
• Works with multiple IM networks, multiple accounts per network: AIM/iChat, MSN, Yahoo, GoogleTalk, Facebook IM, ICQ, Jabber, and MySpace IM
• Send and receive files, including pictures and voice notes. View and forward received documents.
• Desktop-like instant messaging with all of your IM buddies from a single intuitive user interface.

I have spent a little time with BeejiveIM for iPad and I find the experience to be wonderful. The UI is strait forward and the app is very stable. Notifications come in quickly as well. I dare say that BeejiveIM offers the best IM experience currently available on the iPad.

If you pick this one up, let us know what you think!

[$5.99 - iTunes link]

BeejiveIM now available for iPad is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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It was only a matter of time that developers searched through the latest iPhone OS 4 beta to find secret goodies and this time we see that the next generations of the iPod and iPad both may receive a LED camera flash (which we guess also presupposes they’re receive cameras, right?). The code is as follows:

FLASHDISABLEDiPad = "The iPad needs to cool down before you can use the flash.";

FLASHDISABLEDiPod = "The iPod needs to cool down before you can use the flash.";

Knowing that it is highly likely the next generation of iPad will contain a camera with flash, anyone out there regretting picking up the first generation? Or after the iPod touch incident last year, can we even be sure it’ll make it into the next shipping product? Sound off in the comments!

[9to5Mac]

iPhone OS 4 beta 4 reveals future iPod and iPad camera flash is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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Today the free Netflix iPad application was updated to support video output via Apple's optional dock connector to VGA adapter. This lets you watch your video on a much larger display. It’s a feature I have been waiting for since the application was available and a much welcomed addition to this app!

To watch instant content you do need a Netflix subscription and if you plan on using that VGA adapter (available from Apple Online) to watch an iTunes video you can forget about it as Apple hasn’t enabled that for anything other than their A/V composite and component cables.

If you give this a try let us know how it goes in the comments below!

[iTunes Link]

Netflix iPad app updated to support video output is a story by TiPb. This feed is sponsored by The iPhone Blog Store.

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