Verizon’s Breathtaking new phone may be in stores within ‘two weeks&
March 18, 2010
It’s a mighty aggressive schedule for a handset that hasn’t even been announced yet, but the latest scuttlebutt regarding the HTC Astonishing suggests that the phone will make its debut on Verizon’s airwaves about two weeks from now. It was already known that the Incredible was destined for a rendezvous with Huge Red, but this latest word solidifies and specifies that future nicely — and it’s claimed to come directly from internal sources at Verizon. There’s also further mention of 512MB of DRAM allied to a downclocked Snapdragon CPU (capable of 1GHz, running at 768MHz), an 8 megapixel camera, a 1,300 mAh battery, and body dimensions nearly indistinguishable from those belonging to the Nexus One. Good thing too, since Verizon is still keeping us waiting on a mysterious Spring release of Google’s own-brand phone. We get the feeling Android 2.1 and the new Sense UI will fill that gap nicely, however, and if you really must have that 1GHz speed, there are ways to reach such things too.
[Thanks, Carson R.]
Verizon’s Extraordinary new phone may be in stores within ‘two weeks’ originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google issues statement on Nexus One sales, touts Android Market’s 30,000
March 18, 2010
Numbers released by Flurry Analytics yesterday suggested that Google’s Nexus One had sold around 135,000 units in 74 days (the same amount of time it took the iPhone to hit a million) — not a staggering number by any measure. Now, we don’t really have any way to assess the accuracy of Flurry’s data, but we spoke with Google’s team about a few things, and here’s what they had to state. For starters, Google wanted to assert the idea that selling lots of a single handset isn’t the company’s primary goal, an idea which makes sense considering how many handsets are currently available with Android. In our conversation, Google actually called out the sales figures for the Droid and seemed eager to make the point that their game is more of a war of attrition fought on a variety of fronts. Read their statement — and lots more — after the break…
Continue reading Google issues statement on Nexus One sales, touts Android Market’s 30,000 apps
Google issues statement on Nexus One sales, touts Android Market’s 30,000 apps originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Windows Phone 7 Series will have themes… sort of
March 17, 2010
It’s no TouchFLO or SPB Mobile Shell, but it turns out you’ll be able theme Windows Phone 7 Series… a tiny. Although we’ve only ever seen the classy “dark” theme with the black background, Microsoft just demoed a “light” theme with dark text on a white background. Earth-shattering, we know. Both themes also have selectable accent colors, but don’t expect to go crazy here: your choices are red, orange, green and blue. We’re hoping all of these options will be expanded over time, but for now it’s not looking like a customizer’s dream come true.
Windows Phone 7 Series will have themes… sort of originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 23:11:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Samsung acquires ‘Android’ trademark for mobile hardware sales in Ko
March 17, 2010
As it turns out, Korea operates two separate trademark systems for hardware and software. So while this doesn’t affect Android OS and its distribution, Samsung’s recent acquisition of the Android hardware trademark does forbid other manufacturers from releasing Android-branded devices — whether they be a mobile phone, a PMP, PDA, GPS, DMB, or any other snappily titled mobile computer — into the Korean market. This will be felt by local competitors like LG, who has an Andro-1 OEM handset in the works that would infringe Samsung’s newfound rights. The trademark previously belonged to local supplier Triplex, who’d held it since before Google’s OS came into being, and apparently using just four characters of “Android” will be sufficient to offend the authorities. Sammy’s clearly decided to aggressively pursue being the premier supplier of Android phones in its backyard, and rubbing LG’s nose in it must’ve been the chocolate frosting atop that eclair.
[Thanks for the translation, Didier]
Samsung acquires ‘Android’ trademark for mobile hardware sales in Korea originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:26:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Google says Android should ‘flourish’ in China, effectively concedes
March 17, 2010
Whether for real or for show, Google tried to make the world believe it would use Android OS as a bargaining chip during the company’s terse, slow negotiations with China. Now, the company has seemingly abandoned that option. During an educational webcast about the future of Google’s mobile business, CFO Patrick Pichette told viewers that he expected the company’s Android platform to do well in China despite all the recent threats and ultimatums in the country. “The Android platform is available to everybody,” stated Pichette, “and China is obviously another great market in which Android should flourish.” Good to hear that Google and China are finally in accordance, right? Thing is, with China circumventing Android’s default search engine, Google’s stance against Chinese censorship of search depended on taking Android handsets hostage. But if the OS is indeed available to everybody, that’s not going to happen. The mobile market might one day be dominated by Android, but if Google doesn’t step up, mobile search will go to competitors more willing to play wallball with the Great Firewall of China.
Google states Android should ‘flourish’ in China, effectively concedes a point originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 22:22:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Overclocked Palm Pre is just what the doctor ordered
March 17, 2010
Is your Palm Pre feeling a bit down? In the dumps? Not as snappy as it used to? Maybe what you need is a megahertz boost! This custom kernel, demonstrated in a video below, comes courtesy of two hackers called unixpsycho and caj2008. One quick install will make your dull and lifeless 1.3.5.1 Pre come alive. Warning: use of this software may “frakk” your Pre if deployed on a 1.4 device. Side effects include reduced battery life and increased pocket warmth. If your Pre develops excessive heat see a physician immediately — or just turn it off for a while.
Update: caj2008 dropped us a note to point out that battery life is “not significantly affected” by this patch, but we’re still waiting on the FDA ruling on that one.
[Thanks, Darren]
Continue reading Overclocked Palm Pre is just what the physician ordered
Overclocked Palm Pre is just what the doctor ordered originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 08:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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T-Mobile goes official with HTC HD2 launch details: March 24th for $200
March 17, 2010
We’ve heard it all before, but it’s always nice to get a modicum of legitimacy from a primary source. T-Mobile has now officially announced the release details for the HTC HD2 — you know, that phone whose cool factor has dropped a few Mega Fonzies since we confirmed once and for all it wasn’t getting a Windows Phone 7 upgrade. Look for it next Wednesday, March 24th, for just a penny under $200 on a two-year contract (and $450 without). Hey, at least this one’s definitely got copy and paste, right?
T-Mobile goes official with HTC HD2 launch details: March 24th for $200 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Nexus One shipments headed to Verizon, Vodafone soon?
March 17, 2010
Not much here in the way of verifiable detail but we’re hearing that a CDMAified Nexus One is en route to Verizon (or Google’s warehouses, anyway) from HTC’s factories. The Economic Daily News (EDN) adds that Verizon will start to “market” Google’s superphone this month or in April at the earliest which lends some credibility to that March 23rd date tossed about previously. As for the Vodafone branded handset; EDN states HTC will ship it “soon” — something we’ve been hearing since January.
Nexus One shipments headed to Verizon, Vodafone soon? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 02:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Lip reading mobiles are wunderbar, still at the prototype stage (video)
March 16, 2010
We encountered this lip reading prototype during our exploration of the CeBIT 2010 halls, and while we’re a bit tardy in bringing it to your attention, there’s a certain timeless quality to strapping your face with wired sensors that transcends conventional restrictions of timeliness. That’s our story anyway. Devised by researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, it picks up the motion of speech (via electromyography) without requiring the sound, and then translates it into audible communication via a delightfully cold and robotic voice. The purposes of such a project are obvious — from helping people who’ve lost their speech to making private telephone conversations actually private — but the fun is in seeing someone use the thing in its current unrefined form. You’ll be able to do that just past the break.
Continue reading Lip reading mobiles are wunderbar, still at the prototype stage (video)
Lip reading mobiles are wunderbar, still at the prototype stage (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:34:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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HTC Legend will be exclusive to Vodafone in UK, coming in April together with De
March 16, 2010
Vodafone has this day announced that it will be the exclusive UK carrier of that aluminum-clad successor to the Hero: the HTC Legend. Advance registration pages for it and its family mate, the Desire, have gone live this day and indicate an April launch date — something we’d already expected thanks to Amazon’s delivery estimates for unlocked handsets. The two HTC devices are flanked by Sony Ericsson’s long awaited X10 and the Nexus One, with the latter lacking a release date. It’s interesting that as things stand the Desire (HTC’s own-branded Nexus One) will beat its precursor to the UK market. Same could be true of Spain, where Engadget Spanish notes that Vodafone has confirmed an April arrival for HTC’s full family of new phones, including the HD Mini.
HTC Legend will be exclusive to Vodafone in UK, coming in April together with Desire originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Mar 2010 09:07:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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