Visa's charge card concept goes wireless

Visa is adding a wireless twist to the old phrase "Charge It."

The credit card processing giant announced Thursday several initiatives to allow its credit card toting customers the ability to transfer money, make payments, and receive real-time account notification alerts on their Nokia and Android cellular phones. Visa also struck a mobile deal with US Bank.

Under a pilot program with US Bank, which is scheduled to begin by the end of the year, Visa will offer mobile money transfers from one Visa cardholder's account to another. A U.S. Bank Visa cardholder would use a Web browser on their phone to access funds and transfer it directly to the recipient's account. The recipient could then withdraw the funds from an ATM machine, or use the money to make purchases.

Visa is also working with cell phone giant Nokia and new entrant Google's Android to offer mobility to its service.
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Google releases final Android programming kit

Attention coders: Google has released version 1.0 of the Android software developer kit.

The kit lets programmers create applications that will run on Android phones, even before T-Mobile starts selling the first Android-powered G1 on October 22. The biggest difference from the previous Android SDK 0.9: Software built with version 1.0 will actually, not just probably, work on those real-world phones, according to the SDK release notes.

Google hopes its Android operating system project will help spur the mobile phone industry into a more enthusiastic embrace of Internet technology. Google of course profits from ads next to search results, and Google Maps opens up other advertising possibilities that are more closely tied to a phone user's physical location.
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Skyfire mobile browser bulks up for open beta

Skyfire, a Mountain View, Calif., start-up that competes directly with Opera Mobile browser, announced Wednesday the opening of its public beta for Windows Mobile phones. This is good news if you've been waiting months to join Skyfire's private beta program.

In addition to going public, Skyfire has upgraded from version 0.6 to version 0.8, a move that brings significant performance improvements and a more fleshed-out start screen design.

On the start screen, Skyfire has shifted from a spindly design of bare text links to a fleshed-out look that includes shaded boxes and icons. The headline content--world, business, sports, elections, and a weather widget--is all fed by Yahoo, though it's not an exclusive partnership.

Skyfire has introduced SuperBar in version 0.8, a field that combines the address bar and search into one. SuperBar helpfully offers suggestions to complete your query as you type, but unlike Opera Mobile 9.5 beta (which has separate search and URL fields), Skyfire doesn't remember your URL history. Nevertheless, it's one new feature that helps elevate Skyfire from a scrawny mobile browser with potential to one that is a viable browser alternative.
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How the T-Mobile G1 stacks up

Now that we've had a taste of what the T-Mobile G1 offers, we compare it with other phones on the market and see if it brings anything different to the table.



1. Design--The combination of a touch screen and a keyboard isn't new of course, but I thought it would be good to remind people that others exist. The HTC Touch Pro is a Windows Mobile device that has both a touch screen and a keyboard, while the LG Voyager is a non-smart phone with both a touch screen and a keyboard as well. That said, the addition of a QWERTY keyboard does make it a little more easy to use than touch-screen-only devices like the Apple iPhone or the Samsung Instinct. Also note that so far, it seems that the G1 has a removable battery while the iPhone does not.

Update: It turns out that the G1 does not have a 3.5-mm headset jack, which is a big downside considering it does have a music player with access to the Amazon MP3 store. And because it doesn't have stereo Bluetooth either, you might have to cough out some extra cash for a headphone adapter.

2. Interface--Of course, we won't be able to really tell the difference between the G1 and that of other touch-screen phones until we get one in our hands, but from the demo, it appears that you use the touch screen just like you would with the others. You swipe the touch screen to switch pages and scroll down menus, and you tap an application to open it. However, you can also hold down something (or a long press) to open up options. Just like the LG Dare, the T-Mobile G1 lets you drag and drop any application to the home screen as a convenient shortcut.
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T-Mobile G1 in pictures and video

We've brought you the details on the T-Mobile G1 with Google's Android OS and now we present it in pictures and video. CNET Executive Editor David Carnoy attended the G1's New York City launch event Tuesday where he gave the phone a good once-over in our First Look video. Check it out to get his impression of the handset's design and features

Meanwhile, take a peek at this photo gallery of the G1 in all its glory.

The T-Mobile G1 will go on sale October 22 in the US.

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