The data is based on 12.7 million Android phones in the AdMob network in May. It’s also why the HTC Evo, released in the first week of June, is missing from the mix.

About 21 percent Android users have the Droid, while 16 percent users own the HTC Hero. Just 2 percent of Android phone users have Google’s Nexus One phone, says AdMob.

Motorola launched the Droid in November 2009 and made it available exclusively on Verizon Wireless. And despite the gaggle of Android phones launched every month, the Droid has been holding strong.

The only Android phone that could challenge the Droid’s position is the HTC Evo, which is available exclusively on Sprint. It will be interesting to see if the Evo can beat the Droid, though Sprint has a smaller marketing budget and fewer subscribers than Verizon.

Here’s a chart that shows the popularity of different Android smarpthones.

About 67 percent of Android users are in North America while China is the second largest market for Android with 13 percent of Android users coming from the country, says AdMob.

Combined HTC and Motorola have 83 percent share among Android devices. Since the Android OS debuted in 2008, the two companies have been on a roll, churning out phones faster than consumers can keep up with.

Last week, Motorola introduced its eleventh Android phone, the Droid X. It was also a big month for HTC, whose Evo phone is the first and only 4G device available currently.

See Also:

• Android Comes of Age at Google Developer Conference
• AT&T Plans 5 Android Smartphones in 2010
• Android Fragmentation Declines, But Older Versions Still Rule …
• 20 Android Phones You Can Buy Today (or Soon)

Data: AdMob

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Elsewhere in the mobile world, Intel says it’s hoping to ship its first mobile chips in phones starting next year. We’ll see if that ever happens — and if their efforts will even matter by then. On the other hand, something we’ve wanted on mobiles devices for a long time has finally arrived: Hulu. Unfortunately it comes at a price.

You can also get the Gadget Lab video podcast via iTunes, or if you don’t want to be distracted by our mugs, check out the Gadget Lab audio podcast. Prefer RSS? You can subscribe to the Gadget Lab video or audio podcast feeds.

See Also:

• Gadget Lab Podcast: Droid X, iPhone 4, Android 2.2
• Gadget Lab Podcast Returns: E3 Gadgets, Dolby 7.1 and More …

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The Apple TV might receive a software overhaul based on the iOS operating system powering the iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, sources have told The New York Times.

While anonymous sources claimed the company was planning a software upgrade for the set-top box, they noted that it was unclear whether Apple would introduce new hardware as well. NY Times writer Nick Bilton also said he’d heard that Apple’s newest hires included people with a background in television.

Some of these claims come in line with a recent rumor published by Engadget, which said Apple was planning to introduce a $100 Apple TV running iOS. The blog claimed the hardware would be redone as well — a minimal gadget described as an “iPhone without a screen,” containing only two ports: a power socket and a video-out.

In earnings calls, Apple executives have repeatedly called Apple TV a “hobby,” implying it has not been a breakthrough hit like the iPhone or iPod. Video entertainment has been a tough nut for Apple to crack, as the set-top box market is packed with competitors offering a multitude of ways to watch video. In addition, cable companies subsidize set-top boxes that include a DVR for recording programs.

An iOS-based Apple TV sounds feasible, though it remains a question as to how exactly such a device would work, since the interface is controlled by multitouch gestures. We would be surprised if Apple didn’t somehow incorporate its iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad as a controller. For gaming, the iPhone 4 is especially powerful as it contains a gyrosocope, making it even better than Nintendo’s Wiimote. However, it would seem strange if Apple sold an Apple TV that required a pricey iOS device as a controller.

Apple declined to comment on this story.

See Also:

• Apple TV Prototype Sells on eBay for 46 Bucks
• 5 Reasons Why Apple TV Rules, 5 Reasons Why it Sucks
• Why Apple TV Must Evolve to Avoid Extinction
• What We Want in an Apple TV

Image of a current Apple TV menu: Apple

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Meet the Sniper Stand, a tiny, adhesive-backed plastic carbuncle which sticks to you iPhone (or any other small flat-backed device) and lets you use a credit-card as an impromptu kick-stand.

The lump remains attached, limpet-like, to the rear of the iPhone and has two perpendicular slots crossing its ABS dome. You slide any convenient plastic card into one of these and set the whole assembly down, your phone now tilted back ready for some movie-watching or, more disturbingly, some hands-free FaceTime.

The Sniper Stand comes from Lancaster, Pennsylvania-based bartender (and avid Gadget Lab reader) Arthur Larsen, who tipped us off to his patent-pending design. And before you make the obvious complaint about the permanent plastic pimple attached to the back of the iPhone, let Arthur have his say:

It’s actually kinda nice having a bump on the back of your phone; the bump holds up the phone just a tiny bit of an angle for viewing, that tiny bit makes it much easier to grab your phone (especially a really thin iPhone 4), holding it in your hand the bump of the Sniper Stand makes a nice spot to place your finger and balance the phone in your hand with less fear of it sliding out of your hand, etc… What do you think?

Well, Arthur, I think it’s pretty cool.

Sniper Stand – Convenient Smartphone Support [Sniper Stand. Thanks, Arthur]

See Also:

• Simplest and Best? The MoviePeg iPhone Stand
• The One Minute Hack: DIY Suction-Cup iPhone Stand
• DIY iPhone Dock Made From Dead CDs
• Wired Bureau Chief Builds iPad Stand from $6 Doorstops
• The $5 iPad Dock
• Quirky's iPad Case With Two-Way Kick-Stand

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Microsoft has come up with an amazingly obvious tweak to battery tech that should save us some headaches, as well as several trillion hours of head-scratching and peering into dark holes.

Named Instaload, the invention lets you stuff the batteries into a device any which-way you fancy, eliminating the need to read dark directional diagrams. The most impressive part is the low-tech way this is handled. Each contact in the battery compartment has both positive and negative terminals. If the fat, flat end of the battery is pressing against them, it touches the outside contact. If it is the pointy positive end then it makes contact with a slightly recessed inner contact. This, combined with some simple circuitry, makes sure the current is always running the right way.

Unfortunately, this being Microsoft, it wants everybody to play by Microsoft’s rules, and to pay for the privilege. Microsoft “offers fair and reasonable licensing terms” for Instaload, which is kind of like offering licensing terms on the idea of shopping with a shopping cart (wait, what?)

A shame, really, as it’s the cheap gadgets that could benefit from this the most. Thanks to this licensing short-sightedness, we see this tech coming to Microsoft mice, and pretty much nothing else anytime soon.

InstaLoad Battery Installation Technology Overview [Microsoft via Gizmag]

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Spotify is a free, ad-supported or paid application for Mac, PC, iOS, Symbian and Android which lets you play any music in the catalog as if it were iTunes. Unlike Pandora, the US-only music streaming service, you can actually choose an artist and track, and organize music into playlists, even saving them for offline listening.

Now, with iOS4’s multitasking, you can continue to listen to Spotify in the background as you send mail, read Instapaper or do pretty much anything else. Just as planned, the music controls in the app-switching dock control Spotify instead of the iPod app, the inline remote on the headphones does the same, as do the music controls on the iPhone’s lock-screen. If your iPhone or iPad is in the universal dock, using the Apple remote will also let you control Spotify. In short, it takes over all iPhone music functions while running.

Further, if you play a track from Spotify that is already on your iPhone, it will be pulled from the local copy rather than over the network (currently, this causes the app to pause if running in the background).

There are more new features in this release. Just like the latest desktop client, Spotify mobile lets you send music to your Spotify and Facebook friends, as well as browsing the “top lists”, charts based on new and popular tracks.

The only thing that keeps Spotify completely replacing your iPod app is podcasts, which can be accessed but cannot be updated automatically. The usability is also a little clunky. Searching the gazillion songs in Spotify’s catalog is fast and easy, but browsing your own saved playlists is an annoyingly linear affair, with much scrolling and clicking to find what you want.

Spotify is free, but to use it on your iPhone or iPod Touch you have to pay the premium €10-per-month subscription. I do. I figure its worth it to have 8 million track on my iPad and iPod Touch.

Bonus tip: Did you know that in iOS4, music keeps playing even whilst you sync to iTunes?

iPhone app updated – background listening arrives! [Spotify]

See Also:

• Spotify Takes Aim at iTunes, Befriends Facebook
• Spotify Opens to Indie Bands
• Spotify Adds U.S.-Friendly Service Plans
• Rhapsody's iPhone App Beats Spotify, MOG to the Punch
• Hands-On With Spotify for iPhone: Is iTunes Dead?
• Spotify Adds Offline Listening to Desktop
• Six Million Songs in Your Pocket: Apple Approves Spotify for …

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Update 6 a.m. PT: Apple has published a letter regarding the iPhone 4 antenna, explaining that a faulty formula is making signal strength display incorrectly. The company claims a software update coming in a few weeks will correct the formula.

Many customers are complaining that the iPhone 4’s antenna loses the signal when you hold it a certain way. They’re not delusional: Independent tests lend credence to the issue.

A study led by AnandTech saw a major drop in signal strength when the iPhone 4 was “cupped tightly,” covering a sensitive area in the lower left corner. The iPhone 4’s external band is actually two antennas — one for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS, and the other for voice and data — and according to Anandtech, touching the point in the lower left, where the two antennas meet, causes attenuation.

“The fact of the matter is that either the most sensitive region of the antenna should have an insulative coating, or everyone should use a case,” Anandtech wrote. “For a company that uses style heavily as a selling point, the latter isn’t an option. And the former would require an unprecedented admission of fault on Apple’s part.”

Immediately after the iPhone 4’s release, several customers reported that covering the handset in the bottom left corner caused major signal loss, signified by dropped bars on the screen.

Criticism about the iPhone 4’s reception doesn’t look good for Apple. For years, dissatisfied customers have quibbled about the smartphone’s spotty 3G network performance. Apple claimed the iPhone 4’s new antenna design would significantly improve reception. Already, the erratic behavior of the iPhone 4 antenna has spawned lawsuits.

In a canned response, Apple said all phones experience attenuation when held in different positions. Consumer Reports also published a post agreeing that this is the case with all phones.

Is it a non-issue, as Steve Jobs suggests, or is it a major design flaw? Going beyond anecdotal experiences, Anandtech managed to hack together a way to get the iPhone 4 to display actual signal strength rather than reception bars. (The reception bars, many have explained, are a poor indicator for actual signal strength.)

AnandTech then held the iPhone 4 in five different ways — cupping tightly, holding naturally, open palm, resting on an open platform and holding naturally inside a case — and recorded results for each position. The blog ran the same tests with an iPhone 3GS and a Nexus One.

The results: All phones exhibited attenuation behavior in different positions, but the iPhone 4 did show a greater dropoff in signal strength in every holding position compared to the iPhone 3GS.

However, the blog noted that the iPhone 4’s reception is definitely better in low-signal situations than the other two phones. In short, the iPhone 4 gets a much stronger signal overall compared to the iPhone 3GS and the Nexus One, but that strength is greatly hampered by attenuation when held in different positions.

“Reception is absolutely definitely improved,” AnandTech wrote. “I felt like I was going places no iPhone had ever gone before. There’s no doubt in my mind this iPhone gets the best cellular reception yet, even though measured signal is lower than the 3GS.”

Corroborating AnandTech’s findings, antenna expert Richard Gaywood ran a different test gauging the iPhone 4’s speed in different holding positions and came to similar conclusions. Gaywood’s tests suggest that the problem is greatest when signal strength is already low.

“I think it’s pretty clear that there was still a performance penalty from gripping the phone in my bare left hand, despite the strong signal conditions,” Gaywood wrote.

Photo: Jon Snyder/Wired.com

See Also:

• Photo Gallery: Hands-On With the iPhone 4
• IPhone 4 Loses Reception When Antenna Band Is Touched
• Showdown: iPhone 4 vs. HTC Evo 4G
• Apple’s Response to iPhone 4 Antenna Problem: You’re Holding It Wrong

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Before I tell you what the digital Holga D doesn’t do, let me recap what Lomo’s plastic-fantastic Holga medium-format film camera does do.

The Holga has a cheap plastic lens, an even cheaper light-leaking plastic body, settings so sparse that they’re almost superfluous and, as with all film cameras, delayed gratification in the form of the need for chemical processing before you can see your blurred, distorted photographs.

Onto the Holga D, invented by designer Saikat Biswas and noticed on the internet by impossibly handsome Wired.com photographer Jon Snyder. The plain box lacks an LCD screen of any kind, and the camera is controlled by manual focus, shutter, ISO and aperture dials. The status of these controls is shown on a small e-ink circle, and there are switches to choose a B&W mode and also pick an aspect ratio. To keep things low-fi and cheap, the sensor is either a full-frame or crop-frame model from last generation designs. That is, when technology moves on, the Holga D uses what is left behind.

The box itself is beautifully minimal, and if Biswas ever gets this into production then he’d probably sell a bunch to hipsters based on looks alone. In lieu of an actual working product, how should we fill the vacuum in reality left by the Holga D? This holiday weekend, why not take your digicam, switch off the LCD, turn on full manual control and take some chances. I guarantee two things: you’ll have a lot of fun, and you’ll get a lot of bad, bad pictures.

Holga D [Saikat Biswas via Twitter]

See Also:

• Top 10 Wired Holga Photos, Decided by You
• Holga
• The Digital Holga, Or How To Waste A Million Pixels
• Digi-Diana: Lomo Lens Adapter for Canon, Nikon DSLRs
• Lomo

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Palm CEO John Rubinstein will continue to head up his webOS team under new boss HP, and will be working on smartphones, “future slate PCs and netbooks,” according to a statement from HP

The computer giant completed its acquisition of Palm yesterday, and announced that Palm will continue to develop both hardware and software, headed up by former Apple employee Rubinstein.

This will include new phones (the Pre and Pixi lines are now also owned by HP), but most exciting is the confirmation that there will be webOS tablets. After all, apart from iOS, name another operating system that is as suited to a tablet as the webOS (sure, Android is close, but still a little too clunky).

Better still, HP has the deep pockets to go up against Apple, and if Rubinstein and team are left to work on great machines their combined experience (many of them are also Apple alumni) should finally provide an iPad competitor. And even if you are a total, unashamed iPad fanboy, this should still excite you. Competition is good for us buyers. Take a look at the iPhone 4: Do you think it would be this good if Android and Palm weren’t chasing so close behind?

HP Completes Palm Acquisition [Yahoo]

Photo: Lisa Brewster/Flickr

See Also:

• HP's Windows 7 Slate Strikes at the iPad
• HP Slate Details Leaked: $550 Netbook, Minus Keyboard
• Official: HP Slate Will Run WebOS
• HP Slate Could Get a Makeover With Palm's WebOS
• HP Slate: About $500, Atom Processor, June Launch
• Report: HP Kills Slate

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When they’re not rolling sheets of metal into tubes and stuffing them with conductive foam to make iPhone styluses, the smart engineers at Ten One design are hacking away at the iPad. And quite miraculously, they have managed to turn the iPad’s screen into a pressure sensitive drawing tablet.

Proper graphics tablets like those from Wacom have pens which detect thousands of levels of pressure, but the iPad offers just two levels: one and zero. To get around this, the Ten One people, makers of the Pogo stylus, have hacked Apple’s private UIKit frameworks to enable the screen to detect pressure. The video above shows the test software in action (the delay in drawing is due to “an issue with [the] demo application code.”

Does this mean that the iPad’s screen is somehow able to know how hard you are pressing? Maybe not. Although the Ten One blog post doesn’t mention just how this information is gotten from the iPad, my guess would be that the size of the tip is being measured by the standard multi-touch detection. As you press on the foam, the tip grows. This also explains how the test software is able to ignore the side of the hand while still reacting to the pen.

Ten One plans to release its hack to the world for free inclusion in any software. This rests on Apple opening up the private software framework, which is a notoriously slow process. Still, it would be pretty awesome, and would add a lot of finesse to drawing and painting apps like the excellent Brushes.

Pressure-Sensitive Drawing on iPad [Ten One designers blog]

See Also:

• Pogo Stick Turns Mac Touchpads into Graphics Tablets
• Pogo iPhone Stylus Bounces Back. Again
• Pogo Stylus: The Most Useless iPhone Accessory. Ever

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