Found 310 articles
14
Apr
HTC-logo-500x375

We first showed you HTC's 3.0 version of Sense UI earlier this week, and the next logical question from a lot of people was "when am I getting this?" Well, one man went straight to HTC via Twitter with that same question in mind and the response he got back was not exactly what anyone had hoped to hear: never.

Tweet

Before you get too upset, a little clarification is in order. Initially, it was thought that only the devices mentioned in the above Tweet would end up with the new UI, leaving behind the newly released Thunderbolt, Inspire, and the yet-to-arrive Incredible 2.

08
Apr
incredible-2-charge-play-launch-600x520

Last we heard, Samsung's DROID Charge was scheduled to be released on April 7th - yesterday. Well needless to say, that date has come and gone without so much as a mention of Samsung's LTE handset; however, thanks to Sears, we now have a new timeline: April 14.

The leak also brings news that's bound to make HTC fans smile - the Incredible 2's release date has been rescheduled from April 28th to the 21st, a decidedly welcome change.

Finally, Sony Ericsson's Xperia PLAY is, apparently, still pegged for a 4/28 release, despite reported supply shortages.

Of course, all this info comes with a disclaimer - in the words of the leaked pamphlet itself, "[these] launch dates [are] subject to change." Still, it's refreshing to at least have a general idea of when these three smartphone behemoths will be available for purchase - that way, you can start preparing yourself and your camping materials for a long night outside your local Verizon store.

07
Apr
Canadian Android

If you travelled back in time to the middle of 2010 and asked your average Canadian about the selection of Android devices available to them, you would not be impressed with their answer - it seems that up until this year, the Android selection in Canada was about 6 months behind the curve.

Canadians, myself included, can now stop bemoaning their second rate options. As of today, two major new devices, the Nexus S and the Motorola Xoom, have been made available to those in the Great White North.

The Nexus S has landed on Videotron, Mobilicity, Telus and Koodo as of today, with Wind and Rogers expected to release it in the very near future.

07
Apr
verizon-incredible-2-angle

Like all good things Verizon, the HTC Incredible 2 didn't remain hidden from the public's eye for long; following the release of a leaked RUU and a Big Red roadmap confirming the device's impending launch, PocketNow got its paws on the following triad of press shots:

verizon-incredible-2 verizon-incredible-2-angle verizon-incredible-2-hero

From the looks of it, the Incredible 2 will be virtually identical to HTC's popular Incredible S, with the exception of a Verizon logo and the inclusion of a CDMA radio. In fact, Android Central reports that it'll sport the same 8MP camera, Android 2.2.1 firmware, and HTC Sense keyboard.

Also noteworthy is that, as shown by the eerie red robot eye, the Incredible 2 will most likely belong to Verizon's DROID family.

04
Apr
htc_incredible_s (1)

It's not often that inhabitants of the True North are given the opportunity to purchase a half-decent phone before it lands in the US, but that's exactly the case with HTC's Incredible S - the magician of a handset is now available from both Bell and Virgin Mobile, with the former charging $99.95 and the latter upping the cost by just four cents. Of course, those price tags entail three-year contracts; if you want to buy the phone outright, you'll have to bear the expense of its full retail price - $499.95 if you're buying from Bell, or $499.99 if you choose Virgin Mobile.

30
Mar
vzlogo

If there is one question that I get asked nearly everyday, it’s “When is [insert device here] coming out?” Fortunately, that question is now a little bit easier to answer because our friends over at Phandroid have gotten wind of what’s coming down the pike for Verizon this Spring and, if this leak is legitimate, it’s going to be Android-filled. Here is a breakdown of what to expect:

  • April 7, 2011 – Casio Commando, Samsung [DROID] Charge
  • April 14, 2011 – Sony Xperia Play
  • April 28, 2011 – HTC Incredible 2
  • May 5, 2011 – LG Revolution
  • Later in May – Motorola Droid Bionic, Motorola Droid X2, Samsung Galaxy 2 (is this what they're calling the S2?)

It is noted that the Bionic, the Droid X2, and the Galaxy 2 are all going to be 4G devices, with the Incredible 2 simply tagged “Global.”

From the looks of things, this year's "Summer of Droid" will arrive to Verizon early.

28
Mar
image

Some History

Update: Linux devs are not happy about this.

Update #2: And just like that, only a few hours after this article, HTC released the Thunderbolt kernel source.

If you've been following the "drama" around Android kernel source release timelines and device manufacturers (such as HTC), you should be already aware of 2 forces pushing in opposite directions:

  • On one side, we have the Android community, which maintains that according to GPLv2, Android kernel sources need to be published together with a given device release. Since Android kernel sources are essential to custom ROM development, it is clearly in the interest of the community to see them released sooner rather than later.
27
Mar
htc-incredible-verizon

Droid-life just dropped an exciting informational tidbit for Incredible owners to mull over: the device may be getting the Gingerbread bump some at the end of the second quarter. The upgrade to 2.3 will entail all of the optimizations made to the Android OS since Froyo's release almost a year ago, and hopefully will provide Incredible owners with the newest version of HTC's Sense UI.

The tip came via an email from an HTC rep in response to a customer's help ticket:

Dear Thomas,

I will be happy to assist with your software update inquiry. Indeed the Incredible is going to get 2.3 Gingerbread and we expect to be ready to release it with Verizon before the end of the second quarter of this year.

23
Mar
HTC quietly locked

Conspiracy theorists would have you believe that the ThunderBolt's signed (and locked) bootloader was all Verizon's doing, but it appears that isn't quite the case - the Incredible S, one of HTC's unlocked GSM phones, is shipping with a similar failsafe system. That basically means no custom ROMs for you (at least until a viable workaround is discovered).

Proof? Look no further than the contents of this Incredible S RUU:

z14ty

From what our friends at AndIRC can tell (note that they don't have a device in hand), the Incredible S includes a signature check much like the one on the ThunderBolt.

20
Mar
three uk

Earlier today, Engadget managed to get their hands on the Spring release schedule for UK carrier, Three. Along with some exciting, though previously known, products, such as the HTC Flyer, Desire S, ChaCha, Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc, Xperia Play, and the Blackberry Playbook, we got our first peek at the Samsung Galaxy S II Mini.

galaxy s mini three

While this device is the little brother of the Galaxy S II, the specs on this phone are anything but mini. With a 1.4GHz (potentially dual-core?) processor, 3.7" screen, Gingerbread at launch and HSPA+21 data connectivity, this handset seems to break the stigma that "mini" means "budget".