Apple made it possible for iPhone developers to offer in-app purchase five weeks ago, an option Android devs currently don’t have. But now Shanghai-based mobile technology company Urbian found a work-around to enable in-app purchase, saying they’re the first developers that did. The app in question is Ringz, a puzzle game that’s available for free on the Android market (the iPhone version is in review by the way).

Android is still in its infancy in Japan where most domestic makers still stick with their proprietary operating systems, with basically no one outside the geek community knowing what it is. But things are changing slowly. Last week, SoftBank (the country’s third biggest cell phone carrier) announced an Android-powered phone for next year when the company announced their new models for the next months.

And yesterday, Sharp announced at an event in Tokyo it will roll out a yet to be specified number of Android-based handsets as early as the first half of next year. Sharp commands the biggest market share of all eight cell phone makers in Japan so this is very good news for the Google OS in what is the most advanced mobile society in the world.

When the Motorola Droid launched this month everyone was amazed that a company so down on its luck was able to put together a well-designed phone running a powerful, “brand new” OS. The whole package – hardware, software, and marketing – seemed flawless. In fact, phones running Android 1.5 now look hopelessly outdated and with 2.0’s gesture, CDMA, and search support you’d wonder why handset manufacturers like HTC, LG, Kyocera, and Samsung are using 1.5 at all.

The reasons have more to do with Google than any decision on the carriers’ part. In fact, according to a source close to the handset business, Google’s Android team directly assisted Motorola and Verizon in building the Droid’s software from the ground up and is currently assisting another, unknown, handset maker in Korea to create a finely-tuned hardware and software combination. Most important, however, is that this is sort of assistance most manufacturers do not receive and, in the end, they are dinged for running an “older” version of Android.

The e-book seems to be the next big thing as we roll into the end of 2009. What with the Kindle 2, the nook, and others coming on the scene, it’s interesting to watch what’s coming next. For example: the Alex eBook Reader. It’s running Android, and has an absolutely insane frame rate (for an e-book reader).

If hype were to be believed, the Motorola DROID is the pièce de résistance of the mobile world; the conclusive creation sent down by the Great Smartphone in the sky to rid us of our woes. It would prepare your breakfast promptly each morning, tuck you in at night, and, maybe — just maybe — knock the iPhone down a notch or two.

Beginning about a week before its launch (largely due to Verizon’s incredibly intense marketing campaign) I began getting calls and tweets from friends and colleagues asking about the Droid. They always had two questions: the first would be something like “What do you think of the Droid?”, followed by “Would you recommend it over the iPhone?” Same questions, each.. and.. every.. time.

I’ve been using the Droid as my primary phone for a few days now, and I think I’m finally ready to answer them.

I was Tweeting with Michael Gartenberg last night about all the great Android games. After all, the Android Marketplace has so many great titles like Civilization Revolution, Canabalt, iShoot, and… oh… wait…

All kidding aside, the reason there is such a dearth of great games has to do with some programming choices in Android itself and it’s a problem that can – and should – be fixed before the Droid comes to market this November.

I don’t know how you could forget, considering we’ve been posting Droid updates just about every day, but according to our calculations, tomorrow is October 28th: the day Droid drops. Now, we don’t expect the Droid to set the mobile world on its head exactly, but we’re pretty sure that it’s going to be the premiere Android device — until the next premiere device comes out.

Perhaps someday you’ll buy an Android device to use primarily for gaming. It could happen! Pictured above is the ODROID, a gaming-focused portable running Android and packing a powerful 833MHz Cortex A8 CPU.

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And here we have another Motorola phone powered by Android. This little bugger was spotted over in China and claims to be the world’s first Android GSM/CDMA phone whenever it launches. The Zeppelin is said to pack the standard Motorola Android kit with a 5MP camera, 802.11 b/g, GPS, Bluetooth, a 3.1-inch 320×480 touchscreen, plus an FM radio and HDMI output. It’s just too bad that we can’t see the front side.

It should be known by now that the Motorola Droid is launching on October 28, but according to these screenshots of Best Buy’s system, the retailer might have the phone available early on October 24. Now, the 24 is this coming Saturday, which is a usual inventory restocking day so just because the stores have them somewhere doesn’t mean they will be available for purchase.

It looks like Dell’s rumored slightly-larger-than-an-iPod-touch Android MID that we heard about back in late June has finally seen the light of day.

Apparently called the Dell Streak (I hope that’s not the final product name), it’s a 5-inch mobile internet device similar to the recently-released Archos 5 Internet Tablet with the added functionality of 3G wireless data connectivity.

Reading e-books on a netbook is a nuisance, right? But e-readers are a pain because they’re a single-function device, which means your man-bag gets filled with yet-another-specialty-gadget. Behold the enTourage eDGe: “the world’s first dualbook, combining the functions of an e-reader, netbook, notepad, and audio/video recorder and player in one.”

T-Mobile is continuing its Android parade with the CLIQ. The MOTOBLUR-running, physical keyboard-sporting phone is now available to current T-Mobile customers for $199. New subscribers will need to wait until November 2nd to get their hands on it.

Over the last few weeks there has been an increasing amount of buzz about an unannounced Motorola smartphone due to come out some time between late October and early December. Rumored specs include a powerful OMAP3430 processor, 5 megapixel camera, slideout QWERTY keyboard and touch screen, all housed in a super-compact package and running Android 2.0. A handful of potential names have swirled around, included the Sholes and the Tao, but tonight Verizon has made it perfectly clear what the upcoming phone will be called: Droid. And Verizon is positioning it to be a direct threat to the iPhone in a new advertising campaign it launched at the site DroidDoes.com.

Verizon isn’t holding any punches: it calls out basically every major weakness on the iPhone, from its inability to run background applications to the App Store’s walled garden. The site kicks off with a stream of things that the iPhone can’t do, mimicking the black text-on-white background commonly seen in Apple ads but replacing it with statements like iDon’t run simultaneous apps.

Verizon and Motorola finally lifted the curtain on their new Droid Android phone yesterday. Make no mistake, this is Android’s flagship product, and the first phone that will pose a significant threat to Apple’s iPhone. And it will be available very soon, possibly as early as the end of this month.

MobileCrunch has been tracking the phone, which has also been called the Tao or Sholes, for some time. Just about anyone who has come in contact with the phone can’t stop talking about it. And from what we hear, they have good reason.

The phone is a three-way effort between Motorola, Verizon and Google. It looks a lot like the iPhone, and may even be as thin or thinner than the iPhone 3GS. It also has two key advantages over the iPhone – a slide out physical keyboard, and use of the Verizon network.

Unlike previous Android phones, the Droid is rumored to be powered by the TI OMAP3430, the same core that the iPhone and Palm Pre use, and which significantly outperforms Qualcomm 528MHz ARM11 based Android phones that exist today (Engadget has a great overview article on mobile CPUs).

Rumors have been swirling about a Dell smartphone for what feels like an eternity. Sure, the Round Rock crew managed to launch a smartie over in China at the end of the summer, but until last week, a US-bound device was still more vaporware than fact…until now.

Starting all the way back in December of 2008, Acer let it be known that it was working on a self-branded smartphone. Then, this past June, Acer up and joined the Open Handset Alliance and said that it would release its first Android device by Q4 of 2009. Well what do you know. Q4 is here and Acer has actually put its money where its mouth was with the announcement of its first Android-based, Snapdragon-powered smartphone, Liquid.

The almost over-rumored (see here, here, and here) 10.1-inch Acer Aspire One netbook running Android and XP has shown up for preorder on Amazon for $350.