Some decent progress has been made over the past couple of weeks with getting the HTC HD2 running Google Android. Progress accelerated when a CPU bug was patched that prevented HaRET from loading up. HaRET is needed for booting the Linux-kernel so that Android can be installed.
Just on Thursday the team who got HaRET working also managed to get Android 2.1 and Windows Mobile 6.5 booting side by side.
We now hear that Android for the HTC HD2 is ready for download over at XDA Developers. The thread is quite long, but contains all the details and progress notes that you'll need to get Android or any other Linux based OS installed on to the HTC HD2. [click to continue…]
Last week a big milestone was reached in terms of getting Android from Google [GOOG] to run on the HTC HD2. Prior to last week the team working on getting Android on to the HD2 couldn't get HaRET to function without crashing which meant that Android couldn't be loaded up. By making some patches the team successfully loaded up HaRET on the HD2.
Moving on a few days and the team now have managed to get Android 2.1 and Windows Mobile 6.5 booting side-by-side on the device. The Android build runs on Ubuntu Linux.
The release is far from being ready at the moment as it has a few bugs that make it unstable. However a few things do work quite well including a responsive touchscreen. As with all ports on to another device, it takes a bit of time to work out the bugs and get it ready to use fully, so we estimate another month or so before it will become usable. [click to continue…]
The HTC HD2 runs Windows Mobile 6.5. That's a problem because the hardware is amazing but the software just isn't that good at all when compared to the likes of Android and iOS.
The guys at XDA Developers have been working a while on getting Android OS on to the HTC HD2, but due to incompatibilities and other problems they have been unsuccessful... that is until the last few days where some good progress was made.
Reasons for the problem include the Snapdragon processor and HaRET which is used to boot Linux from Windows CE devices. When HaRET was used in the past, it basically crashed on the HD2 making it impossible to get Android on to the HD2. Patches have been made though which allow HaRET to run without crashing. [click to continue…]
Check out this cool tutorial over on the Whitesites Blog that shows you how to polish the battery cover of your HTC HD2 and give it a chrome look. The results are a lot better than I thought they would be with the back cover turning in to a mirror.
The cover it's self is made of metal and has etching on it as well as being painted to match the rest of the HD2. The tutorial shows how you can sand that paint off and restore the chrome look. [click to continue…]
A few days ago, Microsoft [MSFT] released a new version of Bing Navigation for Windows Mobile based phones. The new version is now capable of full voice-prompt text-to-speech navigation allowing the phone to tell you what street name to turn left on to rather than saying turn left in 40 yards etc...
Also the Bing Navigation software can, in some cases, notify you which side of the road the destination is on assuming you tell it exactly where you want to be taken.
Another new feature is a full screen graphic that shows you the direction you need to turn. [click to continue…]
Microsoft [MSFT] are said to be launching a different variation of Windows Phone 7 for developing markets such as India. The lighter version will run on different spec handsets to the usual chassis 1 we have heard about in that it will support smaller screens and perhaps even slightly lower specs although details are a little vague at the moment.
Right now only chassis 1 specs have been revealed and it was expected that chassis 1 covers the 3 buttons on the front of the device along with a specific camera resolution, processor speed and screen resolution. It is unclear if the light version of Windows Phone 7 will be chassis 2 or a new/custom category. [click to continue…]
HTC have revealed that they are working on a tablet device that will run the Google Android operating system. The information about this came from MD Quinton Leigh who confirmed a tablet device.
The MD also revealed that the HTC branded tablet might not be a pure iteration in terms of the form factor and the gadget should be available by the middle of 2011.
There is little known about the tablet at the moment other than it is believed to have 1080p recording capabilities and 5.1 surround sound output. [click to continue…]
Vodafone [VOD] have uploaded the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 Android phone and made it available for pre-order on their site.
Vodafone has set a delivery date of April 6 which is next Tuesday. The phone it's self is an Android 1.6 based mobile phone and it happens to be the first that comes from Sony Ericsson. On the back is an 8 megapixel camera and the phone is packed with all the usual stuff we see on smartphones these days including GPS, WiFi, 3G, Bluetooth etc...
It has a large 4 inch capacitive touchscreen that's not quite the 4.3 inches of the HTC HD2, although still classed as being a large screen. [click to continue…]
We've been told officially now that the HTC HD2 is not going to be getting a Windows Phone 7 Series upgrade due to the HD2 not meeting the technical chassis requirements, ie, it doesn't have the three hardware buttons on the front face and potentially doesn't meet other hardware and graphical requirements. Either way, it didn't stop the HTC HD2 on T-Mobile last week from selling lots of units.
Anyway, we are now hearing that someone has managed to port a real working ROM of an early Windows Phone 7 Series build on to a HD2 over in Russia.
As well as getting the ROM working on the HD2 handset, we hear that most of the features work which includes Wi-Fi, GPS, Bluetooth and all other hardware functions which is good news. The downside is that the UI is quite choppy and laggy at the moment although we should note that this is common when porting a ROM from one device to another, or installing a ROM any any device that wasn't really designed to be used on the hardware. Give them another month and they should be able to iron out that choppiness quite a bit. [click to continue…]
Just a couple of days ago the T-Mobile HTC HD2 went on sale. Following on from the previous day's announcement of the HTC EVO 4G we expected sales to suffer a little, but if the rumours are true then the HTC HD2 is still selling well.
We are hearing that around 21,700 units were sold via retail and employee sales. It isn't clear if the numbers represent online sales. If not then the number will increase quite a bit.
It's not bad despite a few kicks in the teeth that it's had recently with the HTC EVO 4G announcement and the whole Windows Phone 7 Series thing where Microsoft [MSFT] confirmed the HD2 was not going to get the new OS. Either way, it all seems to have worked out well for T-Mobile. [click to continue…]
Amazon have a good deal on the HTC HD2 at the moment offering quite a large discount on the handset when signing up for a contract with T-Mobile.
The phone as mentioned several times before comes to T-Mobile quite late in the game with other providers already selling it for several months, but due to it's 4.3 inch capacitive touchscreen and fast 1GHz Snapdragon processor it's still quite a desired smartphone. [click to continue…]
Aircell have teamed up with T-Mobile in the US to offer HTC HD2 users on the network free inflight Wi-fi for up to six months.
The deal lets you hook up to Gogo Inflight Internet services across the US free of charge. The deal started yesterday (March 24) and will go on to June 30 2011 where if you leave it too late to sign up then you wont get the full six months. However, there's a good 15 months between now and the deadline allowing you to sign up for the six months of service.
Once the service is activated you'll be able to take your HTC HD2 on flight and download email, surf the web and connect with friends over social media networks all while flying with some reporting the service being as quick as a broadband connection on the ground. [click to continue…]