April 2010 Archives

Apr

Motorola Releases Official Android Update Timeline

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in AT&T, Backflip, Carriers, CLIQ / DEXT (Morrison), CLIQ XT (Zeppelin), Devices By Manufacturer, Devour, Droid (Sholes), Milestone, Motorola, News, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

Motorola customers with Android phones rejoice! It looks like the bulk of you can expect to have Android 2.1 rolled out to your handsets by the Q3 of this year, unless, that is, you own the DEXT (the European Cliq) or, surprisingly, the Devour.

Not a whole lot of surprises here, but it’s nice to a see a carrier be so upfront with their release schedule rather than forcing their users to dredge through seedy internet forums in order to hear what someone’s cousin’s friend’s brother who works at a cell phone stand in the mall said about the next update being released.

Apr

Cyanogen Banned From DroidForums.net For Calling Out BlackAndroid – Drama Ensues

Posted by Andrew Huff in Dev, News

Today seems to be the day of drama in the wonderful Android world that we live in. It’s no secret that people rip apps off the Android market and post them elsewhere for free. It’s also no surprise that with Open Source material, people base their apps/Roms off others' work and with that, you always give credit where credit is due.

However, a certain someone, named The BlackAndroid, over at DroidForums, would rather take people’s work, mod it and call it his own. Even better is that they he actually insulted the creator of the source he used, and this creator happened to be Cyanogen, a well respected and known ROM creator.

Apr

Motorola Twist: Another Crippled Android Phone For AT&T?

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in AT&T, Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, Flipout / Twist, Motorola, News

Well, we finally have some specs to match up with the mysterious photos that have been floating around the web for last few days of a new and very square Motorola Android handset.

Another Ridiculous AT&T Phone?

We held off on reporting on the picture itself, because the story of its existence and lack of any additional information made the entire thing seem suspect. Now, though, we have some more details as Android France has released the specs for the handset, purportedly named Motorola Twist, and if you look carefully, you can see that it supports the 850/1900 WCDMA radio bands, AKA: AT&T 3G.

Apr

Full HTC Incredible (ADR6300) Specs Revealed

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Droid Incredible, HTC, News, Verizon Wireless

BGR just got a hold of the official Verizon spec sheet for the upcoming HTC Incredible and it looks pretty good.

Here are some highlights:

1GHz Snapdragon CPU
802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi - I believe this is the first handset to feature 802.11n
8MP camera with autofocus
8GB internal storage
512MB ROM and 512MB RAM
3.7" WVGA 480x800 px OLED touch screen
Sense UI
312 min talk time / 149 hours standby time
4.59oz
Android 2.1
CDMA obviously - it's Verizon

The rest is pretty much expected of any phone nowadays.

April 29th is the rumored launch date for this handset.

htc-incredible-specs

Sources:

Apr

Intel Wants A Piece Of Android Action, Ports Android To Run On Atom CPUs, Goes After ARM

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in News

Most, if not all, Android phones on the market run exclusively on an ARM architecture and Intel wants a piece of the action.

On Tuesday (that is today), Intel announced that it had ported Android to run on its Atom CPU line. Intel calls Atom its smallest chip, built with the world's smallest transistors. Atom is aimed at portable devices and consumes only 1-2.5W of power.

To make things even more interesting, Renee James, general manager of IDF (Intel Developer Forum) in Beijing, said the company has plans to port *all* mobile operating systems, not just Android, to run on Atom CPUs.

Apr

Microsoft Introduces ‘Kin’, Shows That They, Like, Totally Get Kids

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Devices By Manufacturer, News

Earlier this morning Microsoft finally unveiled the fruits of their not-so-secret Project Pink, and it looks… interesting. The new project is called ‘Kin’, and it’s very clear that you and I are not the target audience. They appear to be going after the lucrative market of hyper-connected kids and teens who would rather text and share content online via Facebook or MySpace than type out an email and manage their agendas.

So What Is Kin?

Kin is a series of phones running a skinned, trimmed down version of Windows 7 Phone Series. Initially, Microsoft will be announcing two phones that run the operating system, both of which had pictures leaked very early on.

Apr

Google’s Own Android Tablet On The Way - We Rejoice

Posted by John Thompson in News

iPad haters rejoice! According to the New York Times, Google is close to releasing its own tablet, powered by Android, to compete with the iPad and other tablet devices entering the market in the coming months.

Although we still don’t know of all the specifics involved or what company will be responsible for creating the device for Google, the tablet is rumored to offer users “an e-reader that would function like a computer”. According to anonymous sources, Google is already in talks with publishers about putting books and magazines on the tablet when it is eventually released.

To me, using Android on such a device seems puzzling.

Apr

B&N Nook Now Available From Best Buy Stores and BestBuy.com

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Barnes & Noble, News, Nook

Barnes & Nobles Nook - one of the better eReaders out there and a direct competitor to Amazon's Kindle lineup, is now available for order on Bestbuy.com and 1,070 brick and mortar Best Buy stores.

Previously, you could only order the Nook from Barnes & Nobles stores and website.

The price still sits at $259 but those Nook seekers who are Best Buy Rewards members or don't have B&N stores locally will find this announcement helpful.

Note that Store Pickup is not available if you order online yet, so head over to your local store if you want to play around with the Nook and hold it in your hands before making the final decision.

Apr

C&D Orders Flying In A Firemint VS StickyCoding Conflict Over "Flying Aces"

Posted by Andrew Huff in Games, News

Recent iPhone Game of the Year (Pocket Gamers) winner Firemint, who won with their game Flight Control, issued a C&D Order to StickyCoding in regards to their game, Flying Aces.

Here is the quick version of what's going on, according to ThisAndroidLife: Firemint has issued a C&D Order to StickyCoding to immediately stop sales of their game, Flying Aces, because it's 'strikingly similar' to their game, Flight Control.

The Questions

StickyCoding claims they have not used any part of Firemint's coding, graphics, or overall assets from Flight Control. The game looks/plays similar to Flight Control but what game from this genre does not?

Apr

T-Mobile MyTouch Slide/Espresso Appears In The Wild

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in HTC, myTouch Slide (Espresso), News, T-Mobile

Last week we reported that the upcoming MyTouch Slide device showed up in RadioShack's ordering system, and today TmoNews posted the first photo of this Android phone in the wild:

T-Mobile MyTouch Slide Espresso