AT&T’s first Android device is coming down the pipeline next week, the Motorola Backflip, for $99 on a 2-year contract on March 7. Other than being disappointed with the industrial design of this device there might be something else to complain about. A recent hands-on by Engadget’s Chris Zeigler found that all of the default Google search was taken out of the device and replaced with Yahoo search (which will use Bing soon enough). Let me repeat that; all Google search is taken out of AT&T’s Android device in favor of Yahoo search.

Is anyone else shocked by this? It seems that there are some type of deals going on behind the scenes between AT&T and Yahoo (possibly Microsoft). This wouldn’t surprise me as much if this were on any other device than an Android, but having Google search as the standard search is one of the ways that Google can monetize their free mobile OS. The more Android devices, the more Google searches, the more ad revenue.

Also some of the default Android applications are going to be stripped from the OS in favor of AT&T services / applications. If this is what a non-Google Experience device looks like on AT&T,…

I am not very interested in any service that can’t be taken with me on my mobile phone so after seeing Sam’s coverage of Google Buzz  I immediately started searching for how I could use it on my smartphones. There are actually a couple of ways to interact with Buzz on your smartphones and the easiest way (for iPhone and Android owners currently) is to simply point your mobile browser to buzz.google.com. You can read about the mobile web app features on the Google Buzz for mobile site and see a table at the bottom that shows iPhone and Android have the best support with limited support (Buzz layer on Google Maps for mobile) on Nokia S60 and Windows Mobile. Unfortunately, there is no support for Buzz on RIM BlackBerry devices at this time.
A few advanced features supported on Android 2.0+ and iPhone are Buzz on a place page, voice shortcuts, and Buzz icon shortcuts. You can actually speak “post buzz” in voice search from the Google Mobile app on the iPhone or the quick search voice widget on Android. The Buzz layer on Google Maps comes in the form of updates to Google Maps for mobile on Android, iPhone, S60, and…

On Tuesday, some Nexus One owners began receiving updates to their smartphones that will enable multi-touch for some applications, fix 3G problems and otherwise tweak the software on the Google devices.

The software update, which will take place over the air, facilitates multi-touch features, including pinch-to-zoom style navigation through different applications like Google Maps, the built-in Web browser and the photo gallery.

The multi-touch software update has been expected since Google started the Nexus One, and some users found ways to activate multi-touch in the European version of the device.

Other additions to the Nexus One include an update to Google Maps that adds “starred item” synchronization between versions on the phone and a personal computer, and search suggestions based on a user’s previous search history.

The update will be welcome to users. The phone’s forum on Google has been a beehive about the spotty performance of the phone’s 3G connection. According to Google, this update will “improve 3G connectivity on some Nexus One phones.”

The updates will be introduced gradually and the availability will appear as a notification on phones over the next week.

The Google Nexus One may do a top-notch job of backing up all your data for free in the cloud, but it can’t compare to the iPhone for easy syncing of songs and playlists on your computer. But help is at hand: our tutorial will show you how to make importing music on Android as easy as iTunes, so read on for the simple steps…
Choose your memory card
If you’re planning on loading up your Google Nexus One with tunes, you may want a bigger memory card than the one that comes supplied. 8GB micro SDHC cards, big enough to stash around 2,500 songs, can be had for under a tenner online, while 16GB cards are falling all the time, and enormous 32GB cards are expected later this year. The supplied 4GB card should keep you content for a few weeks at least, though.

Hook up your PC
With the supplied micro USB cable, you should be able to plug the Nexus One straight into any PC or Mac. Not only will this charge the phone like the mains, but it will mount the phone’s micro SD card like a regular USB memory stick, visible in your machine’s file browser. You can drag…

Nokia began giving away professional GPS navigation software on 10 of its smartphones on Thursday, matching a competitive move by Google. The move deals a blow to the leaders in the market for specialized navigation devices, Garmin and TomTom.
GPS mapping software has been one of the most popular applications for mobile phones. Nokia’s decision to turn it into a giveaway may complicate its own efforts to generate revenue from mobile services and to recoup the $8.1 billion it spent in October 2007 to buy NavTeq, a maker of digital mapping data in Chicago.

Nokia, the global leader in cellphone handsets, said it had made available through its Web site a new, free version of its Ovi Maps software which includes turn-by-turn instructions for 74 countries, with vocal prompts in 46 languages, and maps for an additional 106 countries.

“By adding cameras at no extra cost to our phones, we quickly became the biggest camera manufacturer in the world,” said Anssi Vanjoki, a Nokia executive vice president. “The aim of the new Ovi Maps is to enable us to do the same for navigation.”

Nokia, the mobile phone maker based in Finland, called its move “game-changing,” but analysts were skeptical it would stem the slide in…