One of the best things about Android is the deep integration with Google’s apps. If you’re a Gmail, Google Docs or Google Calendar user, there’s no doubt that Android is the way to go.  Well, the geniuses at AT&T decided that Android is way too Googley for their taste. They decided to take the Google out of Google Android. Thus, AT&T’s first Android phone -the Backflip- is deprived of a lot of that Google integration.

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Apple -to put it mildly- is not the most popular company around these parts. Having said that, we rarely go on rants against them or even mention them at all on our articles. Apparently, Apple doesn’t like that, and they’ve decided to test how much the Android community can despise them. Yesterday they decided to put their lawyers where their mouth is, and go after HTC.

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Hours after word of a CDMA Nexus passing through the FCC, NeoWin tells us that “according to sources familiar with the matter,” Nexus One will launch on Verizon’s network on March 23rd, and pricing will be competitive. With the 2.1 update headed for Motorola’s Droid, I’d say that Big Red is about to take Android over the top. Get ready for more local news appearances, Nexus. I suppose that the 03/23 date will be confirmed or slightly adjusted by Verizon at CTIA next month.

Via Android Central

I don’t follow the cooking community closely enough to know about every ROM that’s released, and definitely not closely enough to know about each hack included, but I stumbled across a couple of things today that I thought were worth mentioning. One is the video after the break, which features a Nexus One with some hacked-in settings that allow the user to change the colors of their Live Wallpaper and trackball notifications. The other is a tweet by @WootRoot that went up about an hour before this posting:

Expect something epic in 3-4 business days – thats all i can say (follow @cyanogen, @kmobs, @chrissoyars and i for more details soon)

The tweet comes after – and apparently in reference to – the video, in which WootRoot says “hopefully this will come to CyanogenMod soon.”

Making things easy for our readers is something we strive for here at DroidDog, and in that vein, we wanted to give you a quick heads up about getting the Swype keyboard for your Nexus One. By now, you’ve probably at least heard about Swype in some way or another, but just in case you haven’t, we’ll give you a quick rundown of the features. First and foremost, it’s a new way to input text on your device. The standard is to type or tap the letter you want, but with Swype, it’s as easy as drawing a line from one letter to another, formulating the word you want in a new, ridiculous, and fun way. It’s a bit tricky to get used to at first, but as soon as you do, you’ll be “Swyping” in no time. If you just follow the link we’ll provide at the bottom of this post, just go ahead and download the APK file. Easy as pie.

Download Swype

EDIT: The link for downloading Swype has been removed. Click through to read the Swype team’s thoughts on distribution of their product: