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Mar

Eric Schmidt Denies Android And Chrome Will Merge, But There May Be More 'Commonality'

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Google, News

As soon as Andy Rubin stepped down from Android, and the head of Chrome stepped up to take his place while maintaining lordship of his former OS, rumors have flown wildly that the two operating systems may merge. Not so, says Eric Schmidt. Speaking at a Big Tent event in India, the former CEO, current Chairman says that the two will remain separate products, though they may have more "commonality" between them.

The announcement doesn't come as that big of a surprise. While the two platforms may serve a similar purpose for the moment, the underlying systems aren't exactly interchangeable.

Mar

Linux 3.3 Kernel Begins To Merge With Android, Brings Us Closer To A True Multi-Purpose Smartphone

Posted by John Thompson in Android OS, News

"One Device to rule them all, One Device to find them, One Device to bring them all and finally unconfine them"

Ok so I may have taken a few liberties there, but that's what we all want, right? One device that can do everything that we require of a computer throughout our daily lives. Smartphone by day, desktop by night.

Fortunately, we aren't the only ones who think that this is a great idea; the Ubuntu team has already announced plans to transform your smartphone into a proper computer when it's placed in a docking station, and with the release of Linux 3.3, this just got easier for OEMs to do as well.

Sep

Android 2.3.4 Update For The US Cellular HTC Merge Is Now Ready. Goodbye, Froyo - Hello, Gingerbread

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, Merge, News, US Cellular

HTC Merge users on US Cellular, your day has come. Forget about Froyo, aka Android 2.2, and zoom straight to the latest version of Android available for non-Nexus phones - 2.3.4 "Gingerbread" (HTC version 3.10.573.1 to be exact - the image below taken from the update guide is outdated).

The update will need to be applied on a computer using HTC Sync and will wipe your device clean of emails, contacts, calendars, apps, bookmarks, and any other personalization - it'll basically be back to stock. Pictures, movies, music, and everything on your SD card should remain intact, but you'll have to set up your Merge from scratch once the update has been completed.

Mar

Could Sprint And T-Mobile Be Merging?

Posted by Will Shanklin in News, Rumors

News comes this morning that Deutsche Telekom has been having talks to sell its T-Mobile US unit to Sprint in a deal that would combine the third and fourth largest US carriers. Deutsche Telekom would reportedly still have "a major stake" in the newly merged company, so this would be seen as more of a merger than a selloff.

Deutsche Telekom Chief Financial Officer Timotheus Hoettges said about the possible deal: "In general, all options are open in the U.S. -- the sale of the whole business or of parts." Business Week reports that the talks have been on and off and that one of the biggest hindrances to a deal has been the failure to come to a mutual agreement about the value of T-Mobile.

Feb

HTC Desire HD, Desire Z, Incredible S Set To Join The Gingerbread Club, But...

Posted by David Ruddock in Desire HD (Ace), Desire Z (Vision), EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), G2 (Vision), Gingerbread 2.3, HTC, Incredible S (Vivo), Merge, News, Thunderbolt (Mecha)

SlashGear has confirmed with HTC today that the Desire HD, Desire Z, and Incredible S (along with the standard Desire) will be receiving the bump to Gingerbread some time in the second quarter of this year. But, there's a potential caveat: US phones might not be included.

It remains unknown if HTC was also referring to carrier-branded versions of the aforementioned devices in its statement, and if it was, if those devices would be receiving updates at the same time as their unlocked, HTC-branded siblings. Phones in this category include the HTC Thunderbolt and Inspire 4G (both based on the Desire HD), as well as T-Mobile's G2, the EVO Shift 4G, and possibly the HTC Merge (all based on the Desire Z).

Feb

HTC Officially Announces The Merge, Coming This Spring To North America

Posted by David Ruddock in HTC, Merge, News

Well, after some rumors that the HTC Merge might never arrive, it seems the mysterious but often-seen slider device will be coming stateside sooner rather than later. An official HTC press release for the company's first Android CDMA world-phone popped up only minutes ago:

The HTC Merge™ Smartphone Brings Android™ and HTC Sense™ to HTC's First CDMA Android World Phone

BELLEVUE, Wash., Feb. 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- HTC Corp., a global designer of smartphones, today announced that the new HTC Merge smartphone will be made available through multiple North American carriers beginning in spring 2011. The HTC Merge smartphone combines a full QWERTY slide-out keyboard with the power of Android 2.2, the HTC Sense experience, a large 3.8-inch touch-screen display and a 5 megapixel camera to create a complete mobile experience for those looking for a truly complete smartphone.

Dec

Sprint's EVO Shift 4G Shows Off Its Sexy Keyboard

Posted by David Ruddock in EVO Shift 4G (Speedy), Knight, News, Sprint

Last Updated: January 4th, 2011

Yet another picture of the still unannounced EVO Shift 4G has been uncovered, this time with its stylish slider keyboard fully revealed in what looks to be a press-release quality action shot.

The device is likely Sprint's iteration of Verizon's also unannounced HTC Merge. I've got to say, though, that the Shift 4G looks like it received a far better treatment from HTC's design department. The blue brushed-metal around the keyboard looks great, as do the EVO 4G-style capacitive touch buttons. Verizon's space-age aluminum overtones on the Merge, while streamlined, just don't look as cool as the Shift.

But maybe that's just a matter of taste.

Nov

360° View Of HTC Merge Discovered On Verizon's Site, Quickly Pulled

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Merge, News, Verizon Wireless

An Android Central forums member managed to find the 360° view Flash file for the HTC Merge, and Phil @ AC was smart enough to grab a video of it in action before it was pulled. It's nice to finally be able to see how this guy looks all the way around - a screen and keyboard shot only gets you so far, after all.

A bit gaudy for my tastes, but I'm a simple kind of man.

[Source: Android Central]

Nov

More Rumors About The HTC Incredible HD Arrive, LTE-Packing HTC Merge Comes Along For The Ride

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in HTC, Merge, News, Thunderbolt (Mecha)

When it comes to Verizon engineers and Twitter, there really aren't any secrets - some employees kind of just let it all out. Such is the case with Jeremiah Nelson (@V3RDICT), who today tweeted out not one, but six items of interest to future LTE customers.

To recap, according to Jeremiah, HTC Merge will not get released this month due to a late decision to equip it with an LTE chip (that's Verizon's version of 4G). The delay could potentially be caused by something else, but Jeremiah is certain that Merge will come out as an LTE phone, whenever it does happen.

Sep

Verizon Device Roadmap Leaked: An LTE Tablet, And Global Radios Aplenty

Posted by Brian O'Toole in Devices By Manufacturer, HTC, LG, Motorola, News, Verizon Wireless

Having one device leaked is so last fiscal year, man. Verizon is hip to the new trend of leaking out details of all of your devices and giving people a heads-up to not buy phones that are out right now since they're just gonna get replaced anyway.

Androids aren't the only things on show, but forgive us for omitting those not relevant to the droid-heads (check BerryPolice.com, great site).

Motorola's got the lion's share of the devices. Starting with the Venus, a portrait QWERTY phone to be released this month that Engadget thinks may be similar to the Charm. It isn't mentioned whether or not the phone is a slider, but we do know that there is one out there somewhere.