by Matthew on March 19, 2010
Motorola DROID owners were supposed to start getting the Android 2.1 update yesterday, but unfortunately the idea fell flat on it’s face… at least for now.
”The OTA software update for the DROID by Motorola is TBD” reads the message on Verizon’s internal systems, “A new date will be communicated as soon as possible.”
What this means is that no date is available for the OTA update to happen. Depending on the reasons for delaying the launch we could be looking at days or weeks before the Android 2.1 update arrives. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 18, 2010
More details of a TV that Google [GOOG] are wanting to make have been revealed. The new TV sets will see Google teaming up with Sony and Intel to create a TV that runs the Google Android operating system. Sony will of course be responsible for the actual TV while Intel will create the chips that power the Android side of things and Google will of course provide the operating system that runs on the TV.
Over the last year we have seen a number of new TV’s feature extra software built in such as TVs offering YouTube and TVs running Skype. Bringing Android to a TV will certainly add a lot more flexibility and might actually provide a decent browser and user experience which occasionally lacks when the web and TV merge. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 18, 2010
Apple decided that the Apple iPad will use the iPhone OS running at a slightly higher resolution and from what we have seen, the iPad works very well in this configuration. We have also seen tablets before that run Android based operating systems. This particular concept tablet takes that idea but uses Windows Phone 7 Series as an operating system unlike the HP Slate that will run Windows 7.
The concept designer Umang Dokey has designed an 8 inch tablet that has a couple of webcams, a built in keyboard that acts as a kick stand as well as joystick controls and shoulder buttons allowing the device to be used as a computer, for games and the joystick used also for scrolling through documents.
It’s actually quite a neat idea and perhaps something that Microsoft should consider in the near future when the new operating system lands. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 18, 2010
Google Maps has been updated for Android 1.6+ based phones and brings a new set of features to the software.
New features include a new search results page that now allows you to swipe to get to the next result. Account switching is now possible allowing you to log in to a different Buzz, Latitude and other accounts on the device and a Latitude widget can now be added to your homescreen that allows you to see a map of where current friends are located.
“You can select any section to see more reviews, buzz, etc. If you want to get to more search results without going back to the list, simply grab the page with your finger and swipe it away to the left or right to see the next or last result.”
[click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 18, 2010
We just mentioned the HTC Supersonic being potentially officially announced next week and now we are also hearing that the HTC Incredible is getting ready for launch on to the Verizon (NYSE:VZ) network.
It is expected that the HTC Incredible will be landing on the network in the next two weeks. The information is said to have come from sources within Verizon, although we always prefer to wait for the official announcement of things like this.
The HTC Incredible when launched is said to have 512MB of DRAM along with a Snapdragon processor that has been downclocked from 1GHz to 768MHz (possible to save battery power). The battery it’s self has a capacity of 1,300mAh. An 8 megapixel camera can also be found on the back of the device. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 18, 2010
WSJ are reporting that the HTC Supersonic phone might officially be announced next week on March 24 at a keynote speech by Dan Hesse.
The Supersonic was first leaked a few months ago when some firmware was found to contain a reference to it. Shortly after a report came saying that the phone was going to be running a new Android OS built (Android 3.0). Following that, some renders of the HTC (TPE:2498) Supersonic were found showing it to have a large 4.3 inch screen and finally a video showing the Supersonic a little. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 17, 2010
We recently found out that the Motorola DROID was going to be getting an Android 2.1 update this month sometime. The exact date has now been provided and is happening tomorrow (March 18).
The updates won’t all happen at once with some upgrades starting before others although there should only be a day or two delay between updates with them finishing by the weekend from what we understand.
The information has come from a screen capture that shows the release date and what is included in the update and says the roll outs will start at 12pm EST. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 16, 2010
There seems to be a few HTC rumours around this week with the latest one being that HTC are working on the HTC Touch Pro3 with a tentative launch date of this summer.
The rumoured information comes from the XDA Developers forums where the information says the device will be smaller and slimmer than the Touch Pro2 (pictured above).
Other than that there is no other information other than it could possibly run Windows Phone 7 Series (assuming it meets the criteria). [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 16, 2010
If you are a Google Android device user in Canada then you should now be able to download paid apps from the Android Market.
People are currently reporting that they are able to pay for apps now which up till now, hasn’t been possible in the country. However, it seems like only customers on Rogers and Fido currently have this ability with users on Bell and TELUS still not able to get the downloads.
It is unknown what hurdles or how many there were that prevented this function from working, but it’s good to hear of some progress in that area although we do hope that the other two mobile networks follow on and allow the same. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 16, 2010
We learned recently that the HTC HD2 is not going to be getting a Windows Phone 7 Series upgrade. Instead we are now hearing that HTC are actually working on a new phone called the HTC HD3 that is in response to the requirements set out by Microsoft [MSFT] in that it needs three primary buttons on the front along with a certain processor and graphical capabilities.
The HTC HD3 supposedly will come with a new Snapdragon processor that runs at 1.5GHz built by Qualcomm and will have 1GB of RAM.
As well as the above the HTC will also get a high resolution 4.5 inch AMOLED multi-touch screen that has an impressive 1,280 x 800 pixels along with an 8 megapixel camera (dual-flash), 1080p HD playback and 720p video recording. A HDMI output has also been rumoured. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 16, 2010
It appears that the Google Nexus One might actually be a sales failure looking at the chart above (larger version below). It is estimated that just 135,000 devices have been shipped in the first 74 days. Compare that to the likes of the Motorola DROID and the iPhone which hit around the 1 million mark things look quite bad for the Nexus One.
The amount of days (74) was decided on because of Apple [AAPL] first announcing that in those opening days of the iPhone going on sale they shifted 1 million units in that time. The other two figures are actually calculated on using stats from a company called Flurry who track app’s installed on devices (UDID’s). [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 16, 2010
XDA Developers have managed to get their own Android 2.1 built on to the Droid Eris. There’s a few things to mention about the update though in that with this particular build you are only able to go from Android 1.5 to 2.1 by putting a zip file on your microSD card. If you have previously rooted your phone and installed a 2.1 update then currently there is no way of jumping back to the standard Android 1.5 to perform this… so don’t try.
This particular version has also fixed a bug that required you log in each time you rebooted the phone. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 15, 2010
As well as launching the HTC Desire in April, Vodafone are also going to ship the HTC Legend. The Legend is another Google Android OS based device. Like the Desire, the Legend also has a 5 megapixel camera although the screen is slightly smaller measuring 3.2 inches.
The phone has built in WiFi, Bluetooth, HSDPA and 3G connectivity.
Just like the Desire, the Legend will start shipping in April with no set date known yet. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 15, 2010
Vodafone have listed the HTC Desire on their online store and given it a tentative shipping date of April. Vodafone are the 3rd network in the UK who are going to be shipping the HTC Desire with the other two being T-Mobile and Orange at the moment.
The HTC Desire runs the Google Android OS, has a 5 megapixel camera and a large 3.7 inch touchscreen. For connectivity it has WiFi, HSDPA and 3G as well as Bluetooth. [click to continue…]
by Matthew on March 12, 2010
The Opera Mini 5 browser (in beta) has launched for Google Android based handsets. The Android OS version of the browser aims to run quicker than the regular Android OS browser built in. To achieve this the Opera Mini 5 browser uses Opera’s servers that are used to cache files ready to be downloaded. I guess you could say it acts as a proxy in between and each time a page is requested the server makes the image smaller and compresses the HTML making the data needed to be downloaded a lot less, thus a faster transfer.
The only downside is that images do download at a lower quality although you can change settings to balance speed over quality. [click to continue…]
