With the introduction of Android 2.0 and then 2.1 a number of features were introduced that helped push the limit of the smart phone’s power and capabilities.  Some of those features, such as live wallpaper and the 3D gallery and app drawer/interface can be vary taxing on the phone’s processor and memory.  An upcoming firmware upgrade will bring Android 2.1 to all smart phones based on Google’s platform in America.

“Pew Internet studies have shown that wireless Internet users are different from other online adults in important ways: they are 36 percent more likely than wired Internet users to access the Internet on a given day, and they engage in virtually all online activities (including email, social networking, and blogging) at higher rates than other internet users.”

According to Pew, about 80 percent of US adults have cell phones, with 37 percent connecting to the Internet or email. “Overall, 26 percent of American adults say they get some form of news via cell phone — that amounts to 33 percent of adult cell phone owners and 88 percent of adults who have mobile internet.” For the broader category of cell phone users, those seeking news varies by age: 43 percent for those under 50 and 15 percent for those over the big five-oh.

What do these mobile information hounds most care about? The weather (72 percent); news and current events (68 percent); sports scores (44 percent); traffic data (35 percent); financial data (32 percent); and news alerts sent by text or email (31 percent).

According to Pew Internet: “The typical on-the-go news consumer is a white male, age 34, who has graduated from college and is employed full-time.”  Many gadget companies target younger (ages 25-34), educated males for that reason. The same demographic going after online information may also be likely to buy bleeding-edge gear — say, a new Android Phone.

Pew’s study may also help explain some odd findings from last week’s AdMob study — that the majority of Android users are male (73 percent). By comparison, iPhone: 57 percent. Additionally, 51 percent of Android users are between 25 and 44 compared to 42 percent of iPhone users.

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