Google Android
Acer Liquid E Available At Rogers, Slower Than We Thought
May 27th
The rumour is true: the Acer Liquid E will come with an underclocked Snapdragon processor running at 768MHZ. This is likely a marketing move to keep the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 at the top of the Android heap on Rogers (which runs Snapdragon at a full 1GHZ) but nonetheless, as of today, the Liquid E is official.
Another key feature of the device is that it is running Android 2.1! The long-awaited premiere of Android 2.1 on Rogers is here. What does that bring to the table? Considering the Liquid E is mostly a stock Android device, meaning it comes to consumers with little alteration of the standard Android experience, the main features one would notice are the inclusion of Live Wallpapers and voice control for standard OS tasks.
The Acer’s design is fairly unremarkable; neither fat nor thin, it appeals to the same market as the Samsung Galaxy Spica on Rogers. Though this device is much more powerful, and being introduced at the same price range, should be a successful entry into the market for Rogers.
We’ve got a no-contract price of $424.99 and a three-year contract price of $49.99.
Once the phone gets rooted and overclocked, this could be a nice little device to tweak.
Check out the employee flyer after the break, courtesy of Mobile Syrup.
Telus “Unleashing” Something Soon, Likely Desirable
May 26th
The HTC Desire has been out for a while now in Europe, and is considered the good looking, mainstream cousin to Google’s more nerdy Nexus One. With its Sense UI, trackpad addition and brighter screen, its a fair improvement over most Android devices on the market.
Now, the Desire has been teased on Telus before, but it’s even more prominent now. Telus’ website has a ticker now, counting down to a certain time on June 8th when something will be “unleashed.” This will likely be the HTC Triumph, which is the Desire re-branded.
Though I can’t find the ticker anywhere on the site, I’ll take it for granted it’s there for some of you, and will likely be there for others soon.
T-Mobile Thinks Your Family Will Love The myTouch 3G Slide
May 26th
Say Hello to T-Mobile’s new bread and butter, the Android powered myTouch 3G Slide. It is hopefully positioned to win back the market that was lost during Microsoft/Danger fiasco of last year, when its servers crashed and consumer mayhem ensued. The above chart confirms what we posted last week of a June 2nd roll-out date. Hit the break for some more highlights of the slide
- The carrier’s Florida region has sold the most myTouch devices to date (47,262), but when you take a look at individual markets, Kansas City East has pushed the most with 6,911.
- The Slide is being billed as the “first phone truly designed for Family customers.“
- As with the original myTouch 3G, T-Mobile will be aggressively pushing a full suite of branded and customized accessories for the Slide. In fact, it’s asking reps to shoot for three or more accessories sold “out the door” with every phone.
- You’ll see a ton of Slide advertising, both in-store and out on the town. A ton of it.
- 4,000 T-Mobile employees are being designated as myTouch “Champions,” including 2,200 in retail stores. These folks will know everything about the phone and work to “foster myTouch fanatics.” Careful what you wish for, guys!
- Long-lead press (meaning print magazines, primarily) have been clued in to the phone since way back in March. Lucky devils.
- The official launch is June 2, but it’s a rolling launch — there won’t be demo devices in the field until the 7th, for instance, and the ad campaign doesn’t kick off until the 16th.
- June 19 is designated in all caps: “STAY TUNED — THIS WILL BE BIG.” We don’t know what this is all about; an upgrade to Android 2.2, perhaps? Yet another new myTouch model?
- Overall, T-Mobile’s looking for 8 percent of its sold devices (its “handset mix”) to be myTouch 3G Slides. Seems reasonable.
The big question that remains is will the myTouch 3G win back the customers who may have already ditched town for the Kin? Or could this be the sure hit that T-Mobile needs? Let us know what you think!
[via Engadget]
Follow me on twitterMotorola Shadow In the Nude
May 25th
Not that I’m in the least interested in this phone (read: I want it NOW!) but this is a strange animal: a Droid follow-up that looks like an EVO 4G, no hardware keyboard, and a modified MOTOBLUR running on Android 2.1.
I’m sure it will sell a million copies when it comes to Verizon, but don’t say I told you so when you discover that Motorola has locked down the device and won’t allow rooting or custom ROMs installed on it (see Milestone).
(via Engadget)
Android 2.2, “Froyo” Detailed
May 20th
This is a big day for Android users.
Firstly, the platform is growing at an extraordinary rate. It has increased to nearly 30% US market share in less than two years.
The daily run rate is now 100,000 units per day! This is seriously good.
There are 50,000 applications in the Android marketplace. Not all of them are good, but it’s still a huge milestone.
And, recently, Android 2.1 became the most-used version of the OS at 37%. But Android 2.2 is the big news today, and here is what you will see:
- JIT Compiler to speed up non-native apps
- App data backups instead of just app backups
- Much better exchange support
- Built-in wireless tethering and wi-fi hotspot support(!!)
- WAY faster browser
- Flash and AIR support
- Auto-update from Marketplace
- Apps to SD Card support
- Music downloads from the Marketplace (!!)
- Streaming your own non-DRM music from your desktop to Android
- Google TV was announced
- Four new mobile ad types (www.google.com/mobileads)
The SDK has been released already, and the update will start being released to OEM manufacturers in the coming weeks. As for when the Nexus One, Google’s flagship device, will get the update, that is still up in the air. For most people, though, it probably won’t be soon enough!
Now Live! Twitter for iPhone, Sprint Hero Gets 2.1
May 19th
What a night! First, Twitter for iPhone is released (well, it’s kind of released) and Sprint Hero customers finally get theirs!
According to various sites, T4i is being propagated through various App Stores around the world, and has yet to reach these shores. What we do know is that there are tons of new features and UI improvements, but is essentially a rebranded Tweetie 2. UPDATE: Get the app now from the app store!
In other news, Sprint has gone official with its 2.1 update for the HTC Hero. Again, nothing OTA, but you can download it from their support website.
Fairly Usable Sense UI ROM Available for Rooted Nexus One Phones
May 18th
I am not going to go into how to root your Nexus One here; I have already delved into this in detail.
But most people know that the Nexus One is a fairly versatile device and that, once the bootloader is unlocked and it is rooted, it is pretty much a blank slate on which to do anything.
So much so that Paul O’Brian has been working diligently over the past few months to port over the Sense UI ROM from the N1′s closest cousin, the HTC Desire. And while there are still some problems to iron over, namely problems with Bluetooth and the touch button backlights being flaky, the port is pretty complete and easy to install. Yes, this has been around for a long time, but the latest update to v22 brings greater stability more features. Give it a few weeks, and this should become increasingly usable as a primary ROM. It’s not quite there, yet, and Paul admits it’s still in Alpha, though it’s about to graduate to beta. The kernel has been released for the Desire, so it should only be a matter of time before the ROM graduates to extremely usable.
First, you need to install a custom recovery ROM, outlined in this post. The Amon_RA 1.7 recovery image is likely the most complete of all the N1 images, and includes very comprehensive backup, restore, and partitioning features.
Once that is installed, the next step is to download the newest Desire ROM, install it to the root directory of your SDcard, make a backup of your current setup, wipe your phone and flash it to the new ROM. Sure, it is a bit more complicated than that, but there are step by step procedures in both posts on XDA-Developers to ensure you’re doing everything you need to do. If you do have a question, there is a lively and helpful community to support you.
If you have any questions for me here, leave them in the comments. I am an avid custom ROM user on the Nexus One, and have had my fair share of tragedies (and data loss) before realizing that I need to follow instructions exactly to avoid errors.
Motorola QUENCH Available At Rogers: The MOTOBLUR Revolution Is Complete
May 18th
First it was the BACKFLIP on Telus; then the DEXT from Bell; now, Rogers has released its Social View phone, the QUENCH.
The phone, which we tried at the launch party for MOTOBLUR last month, was well received amongst journalists and fans, but in my opinion, was the least exciting of the three MOTOBLUR phones. It was the only one without a hardware keyboard, which does make it thinner than the other two devices, but adds very little to the repertoire in return.
One thing I do remember enjoying about the phone was the textured back of the phone, which made it very comfortable to grip with one hand.
At $49.99 on a three-year contract, this is a good contender for your son’s or girlfriend’s first Android phone, but, as I’ve said for all the MOTOBLUR devices, if you are any kind of technology enthusiast, or someone who wants to avoid using two year old technology, stay away from this phone. It runs Android 1.5 and its upgrade path is less than assured.
Check it out at Rogers.
HTC Wildfire Coming To Europe and Asia, Brings Android 2.1 For Less
May 17th
HTC is unleashing yet another HTC Sense Android device on the world! This one is of little consequence to Americans, as it will only be available in Asian and European markets, and won’t have the necessary radio bands for 3G in NA, but it’s still significant. The Wildfire is a small, low-cost device with decent specs, and will hopefully bring Android to the mainstream in its host countries like it has in North America.
The phone comes with the same aging processor as the HTC Hero and Magic, but we know that it is capable enough to run Android 2.1 quite well (and has for months, ahem). A nice new feature debuting on this device is what’s called HTC Caller ID, which shows your caller’s Facebook information, profile picture, birthday, and any other relevant social networking info. Pretty neat!
Read on for full specs:
- Qualcomm MSM7225 528 MHz processor
- 512MB ROM, 384MB RAM
- Android 2.1 (Eclair) and Sense UI
- 3.2-inch QVGA TFT capacitive touch screen
- 5 megapixel camera w/auto focus, LED flash
- 802.11 b/g
- GPS, AGPS
- Bluetooth 2.1 with EDR
- 3.5mm audio jack; microUSB
- Proximity sensor
- G-sensor
- Compass
- Light sensor
- FM radio
- Optical joystick
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