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Jan

Sony Ericsson Announces Razor-Thin Smartphone: The Xperia arc

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in News, Sony Ericsson, Xperia Arc (Anzu, X12)

Sony Ericsson has announced its first of a "new generation" of Xperia smartphones, christened the Xperia arc. The super-slim device measures 8.7 mm at its thinnest point and weighs just 117 grams. It packs:

1GHz Qualcomm processor
4.2" 854 x 480 display
8.1 MP camera (with HD video recording and LED flash)
8GB microSD (upgradeable to 32GB)
FM radio, Bluetooth, and GPS
Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)

Engadget managed to spend some time with the Xperia arc, and they highlighted the fact that it's "really thin."

Sony Ericsson phones generally have better-than-average cameras and the arc appears to be no exception: it ships with the "Exmor R" mobile sensor with a f/2.4 lens, enabling "the capture of high quality, bright pictures and HD videos even in low light."

Just a short while ago, Sony Ericsson confirmed that they would not be updating their Xperia X10 line of smartphones beyond Android 2.1 Éclair, so it's unclear whether the Xperia arc will be upgraded beyond Gingerbread.

Jan

Skype To Buy Qik For A Cool $150 Million

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Applications, Apps/Games, News

Word around the web is that Skype is in the process of purchasing Qik for a cool $150 million. While not expected, the deal isn't exactly surprising, either: Skype is already a major player in the internet phone business, and in 2010, Qik substantially expanded its presence in mobile video calling and streaming. In fact, 2010 was huge for Qik: they expanded their customer base from 600,000 to 5 million users - roughly an eight-fold increase.

Clearly, the two businesses are extremely similar: Skype users can already make voice/video calls using Skype on various platforms, and again, Qik now has a substantial footprint in mobile video.

Jan

Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 Line Will Not Receive Android 2.2 Froyo Update

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Android OS, Eclair 2.1, News, Sony, Xperia X10 (es209ra), Xperia X10 Mini / Mini Pro (Robyn / Mimmi)

Sony Ericsson has confirmed that it will not be updating its Xperia X10 line of smartphones to Android 2.2 Froyo. So, owners of the Xperia X10, X10 Mini and X10 Mini Pro will be stuck on Android 2.1 Éclair for the foreseeable future. However, Sony Ericsson has promised to provide some minor software updates, with features such as multitouch, later this year.

If you were looking for another reason to buy Google's Nexus S, here it is. No matter what promises hardware manufacturers make, the users are at their mercy when it comes to software upgrades. Still if you are keen on running the latest version of Android on your Xperia X10 there are a number of custom ROMs available, just search the XDA-Developers forum.

Jan

T-Mobile & Dell Officially Announce Dell Streak 7: First T-Mobile 4G Tablet, Coming Soon

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Dell, Froyo 2.2, News, Streak 7, T-Mobile

Looks like T-Mobile's not planning on resting on its laurels in the 4G tablet wars: they've just officially announced the Dell Streak 7 will be coming in the following weeks. At the same time, they're also promising to increase 4G speeds in the coming year, aiming to double download speeds. Impressive, especially considering just how far behind T-Mobile was in coverage just a few short years ago.

^{Extra-large image for an extra-sexy tablet.}

The Streak 7 is an absolutely stunning tablet (from the looks of it), and packs some damn fine specs:

7" WVGA screen (Gorilla Glass)
1 GHz Tegra 2 dual-core CPU
Android 2.2 (*facepalm*) with Market support
5 MP camera around back, 1.3 MP front-facing camera (with Qik)
16 GB memory out of the box
SWYPE

Notably, the tablet will run Froyo, rather than Gingerbread or Honeycomb.

Jan

Android 2.4 Is Real, Possibly An Incremental Gingerbread Upgrade

Posted by Brad Ganley in Android OS, Gingerbread 2.3, News

It's been a very confusing ride trying to figure out the official version number of Honeycomb, what exactly Honeycomb will be, and what devices will get it. Thanks to CES 2011, though, we're finally getting some answers.

At first, we all assumed that Honeycomb would be Android 3.0. Then we saw some evidence suggesting the existence of a Android 2.4. After that, we got the official, final word on the matter: it's 3.0.

Today at CES, a member of Tweakers.net got his hands on one of those new Sony Xperia Arcs that turned out to be running what looks like an early build of Android 2.4.

Jan

Android + Device Built Into Handlebars = Bike Navigation Evolved

Posted by Brad Ganley in Development, News, Videos

In a very awesome and useful display of the innovative genius that we've come to expect from Android developers and modders, Interaction Designer (how awesome does that sound?) Michael Fretz and his team have come up with a bicycle navigation system that can only be described as ingenious. The awkwardly named Punkt.Fizen is a truly creative, original idea that utilizes the power of the Android platform and the versatility of the Arduino.

When I first read about the idea, I wasn't too sure about it but, after reading the intro and description, I got interested:

How does one orient oneself while biking, for example as a tourist?

Jan

Velocity Micro Announces 3 New Cruz Tablets Running On Android

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in Cruz Tablet, News, Velocity Micro

There really are a lot of tablets being announced at CES 2011, and Velocity Micro just launched their new lineup of Android tablets as well: the 7" Cruz Tablet L37, the 8" Cruz Tablet P38, and the 10.1" Cruz Tablet L510.

The 7" L37 has a 1024x600 capacitive touch screen, while the 8" P38 has a 1024x768 screen, and both come with 802.11n WiFi and 4GB of internal memory. The 10.1" P38 has a 1366x768 capacitive touch screen and runs on the NVIDIA Tegra 250 Chipset with a 1GHz dual-core CPU.

The tablets all feature front and rear facing cameras, 3G data options, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS and eCompass functionality, HDMI out and, sticking to its eReader roots, Velocity Micro will be pre-installing the Amazon Kindle app on the tablets.

Jan

It's A Phone! It's A Laptop?! It's The Motorola Atrix 4G

Posted by Stephen Tenerowicz in AT&T, Atrix 4G (Olympus), Carriers, Devices By Manufacturer, Froyo 2.2, Motorola, News

Last Updated: January 11th, 2011

The Atrix 4G may not be the only dual-core powered Android phone announced this year at CES, but it certainly seems to be the only one that claims to 'redefine the line between a phone and a laptop'. It's able to blur said line by featuring the relatively unique 'Laptop Dock' accessory, which, for all intents and purposes, will convert your Android phone into a netbook running Motorola's 'Webtop' application.

Details on the actual Webtop interface are sparse, but Motorola did spill the beans on the internals powering the Atrix 4G:

Nvidia Tegra 2 dual-core 1 GHz processor
1 GB RAM and 16 GB internal memory
HSPA+ 4G compatibility with AT&T
4 inch qHD display
5 MP rear camera with LED flash
VGA front-facing camera
Fingerprint scanning security (located on the back of the device)
Android 2.2 (Froyo) with MotoBlur (which looks to be refined, I might add)
Wi-Fi b/g/n
Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR
1930 mAh battery for 9 hours talk time

Note the incredibly beefy battery - 1930 mAh is probably the largest mobile phone battery we've ever heard of.

Jan

Panasonic Reveals Viera Tablet, Comes In Three Convenient Sizes

Posted by Nate Kimmey in News, Panasonic, Tablets

The latest manufacturer to show off an Android tablet at CES is Panasonic, whose Viera tablet will be released in three sizes: 4", 7" and 10". The three versions of the tablet, all physically identical except for the size, are all designed for use with a television, much akin to the recently announced Vizio phone and tablet.

Through Viera Connect, users will be able to stream movies on-demand and even use the screens on your TV and tablet together to watch sports at two different angles; naturally, the Viera tablet can also be used as a remote. No word on pricing, release date, or specs yet, but details on a Japan launch are expected to be revealed soon.

Jan

Motorola CLIQ 2 Announced for T-Mobile

Posted by Stephen Tenerowicz in CLIQ 2, Devices By Manufacturer, Motorola, News

What a night! Along with announcing the Motorola Xoom, Motorola's CEO also announced the CLIQ 2 and its crazy honeycomb-patterned sliding keyboard.

The handset will pack a 1GHz processor, 5MP camera, WiFi calling, mobile hotspot capabilities for up to 5 devices, and a 3.7-inch FWVGA (854x480) display. With dual-core phones coming out of the woodwork, it seems that 1GHz CPU's will quickly become the new mid-range favorite, which is pretty incredible considering everyone's favorite 1GHz packing 'Superphone', the Nexus One, was announced just one year ago today.

Still no word on pricing, but you should be able to nab one come January 19th -- as long as you can tolerate that funky keyboard design.