|
|
LG has just announced the LG Mini ( LG GD880) feature-phone handset today. The Mini sports a 3.2″ touchscreen with a 16:9 aspect ratio, 5Mpix camera and all the usual connectivity options (but no bluetooth!).. The device will be available in Europe starting March (followed by other markets later) and will be demonstrated for the first time next week at MWC.
Thanks to a slim, compact form factor made from the highest quality materials, the LG Mini easily slides in a shirt pocket or small handbag while still feeling reassuringly solid to the touch. Textured metal accents on the sides of the LG Mini add to the phone’s eye-catching looks without detracting from its overall simplicity. On the front, a large 3.2 inch touchscreen with an aspect ration of 16:9 extends all the way to the edge of the phone, giving it a finish that is as smooth as ice. In addition, a button-free face keeps the LG Mini simple and sleek.
But the LG Mini has much more than just great looks. Besides a raft of staple features such as speedy web browsing and fast push email, the LG Mini also includes several unique aspects, including Social Network Connect, which makes keeping in touch with online friends even easier than on a desktop PC. Popular social networks such as Facebook and Twitter are instantly accessible through built-in applications and a Social Network Feed provides instant and automatic updates of friends and family members on the home screen. Updates also appear next to each contact in the Social Address Book.
What’s more, the LG Mini boasts a 5.0 megapixel camera featuring advanced face detection which allows uploading of sharp, vivid pictures and videos wirelessly to multiple social networks in one simple step. The device also plays music and movies in several popular file formats and even includes an FM radio.
With HSDPA connectivity at 7.2 Mbps and Wi-Fi, the LG Mini can browse the internet at high speed and also provide real-time location information using A-GPS.
Source: LG
Here’s some unexpected good news folks. According to Motorola’s Facebook page the Android 2.1 update for the Droid that we talked about earlier today is going to be pushed out this week!
Hi all– we know you are frustrated with the lack of details regarding Android software upgrades and we sincerely apologize for not being able to share info sooner. We’re happy to relay the 2.1 upgrade to DROID will start to roll out this week, and we will have more information to share on other device upgrades later …this week as well. Thanks for your patience and continued support.
Source: Motorola
Looks like the LG LU9400 Arena Maxmight be the first featurephone (non-smartphone) featuring a Qualcomm SnapDragon Chipset. Not much is known though but if you I wouldn’t be surprised if the handset was actually powered by Android (or even Windows Mobile) event tough the Arena name suggest otherwise.
Source: AllAboutphones & Citizen
Engadget got the inside scoop on the Android 2.1 update for the Motorola Droid. Unfortunately there’s no info on the release date of this update but hopefully it’s only a matter of weeks not months. Here’s what’s new:
It’s based on Android 2.1. The build currently being circulated is identified as 2.1 version 1, mirroring the update just pushed to the Nexus One last week.
Google Gogglesis now pre-installed (no matter how unhelpful it may be).
The browser’s now multitouch enabled, just like Google Maps 3.4. Huzzah! No Flash, but then again, we weren’t really expecting that.
Interestingly, the home screen’s still got the same look as 2.0.1, meaning it doesn’t adopt the Nexus One’s rotating 3D grid of app icons — it’s still got the pull-up drawer tab at the bottom.
No active wallpapers. Bummer!
The news and weather widgets introduced on the Nexus One are included. Maybe certain capabilities of 2.1 are going to be restricted to devices with minimum performance benchmarks?
Source: Engadget
We finally have some real live pictures of the HTC Legend Android smartphone. As you probably remember the HTC Legend is a sort-of an HTC Hero succesor with an optical trackpad (instead of the trackball) and a slightly higher specs CPU (MSM7600) @600Mhz. THe Legend will probably be officially announced nest week at MWC.
Source: Engadget
In a recent blog post titled “Xperia X10 will be upgradeable”, Sony Ericsson’s Sumit Malhotra discuss the merits of SE’s Timescape UI sitting on top of Android and the fact that every time he demos the X10 people always ask him why it is still based on Android 1.6 and not a higher version:
On the other hand when moving over to talk about the user interface, I have felt some skepticism in the air since people tend to have adopted quickly to Android release version as their context of competitiveness. Quite often, the starting point for this part of the demonstration is a 1.6 release remark if I would generalize my interactions to date. [...] I have probably painted a positive picture, but I am sharing the discussions I have had and my take outs from them. I am not trying to hide from the fact that there are platform upgrades between android 1.6 and 2.1, if utilized can enhance the experience for developers and users. Having that said, I have had discussions with carriers that are very sensitive and concerned generally about taking on devices in their range that are not competitive enough. I have faced head to head comparisons between Xperia X10 and generic 2.1 Android devices (as well as other OS) and carriers have concluded that we still stand strong in comparison. This because of the layer that we ad on top of the generic OS.
Source: Sony Ericsson via theunwired
Just in case you missed yesterday’s Superbowl on TV here’s one of the best ads that aired last night (yeah this year’s selection was really crappy..). Motorola is doing a pretty good job marketing their new handsets lately (the Droid ads were kinda cool..)and it’s actually the first time I see the MOTOBLUR UI in one of their TV ads (correct me if I’m wrong). Motorola Devour featuring Megan Fox in a bath tub:
Check out more Motorola Devour videos here
The pictrue above is supposedly from Dopod’s 2010 handset roadmap according to Androidcentral. As you can see the HTC Dragon is listed as the A6388 (see picture below) but with a 3.6″ screen instead of the 3.7″ panel found on the recently released Nexus One(which seems to be the same device but with a TV-Tuner?…) and is supposed to ship in Q2 2010. The other interesting info is the HTC Huashan(not to be confused with the HTC Huangshan) sporting a 4.3″ screen like the HD2 & HTC Supersonicbut with a still unknown OS (it’s listed as Android but as you can see it also says “Huashan OS change to WM to be confirmed”) and a Q4 2010 availability. Two other Android handset are also listed as “in planning”: the HTC Tiashan and HTC Songshan. Finally there’s one last Windows Mobile 6.5 device named the HTC Hengshan featuring a 3.4″ HVGA screen which is set to be launched in Q3 2010.
It should be noted that this roadmap is a bit dated given that the HTC Qilin(listed as “in development”) is already available.
Via: Androidcentral
The boys at Pocketnow just got some exclusive tip on the upcoming Verizon HTC Incredible Android handset today. According to the tipster the device is powered by a Qualcomm SnapDragon Chipset has only (?) 256Mb of Ram and probably a 3.5″/3.7″ AMOLED capacitive touchscreen. As you can see from the pictures the Incredible seems to be running Android 2.1 withe HTC’s Sense UI.
Source: Pocketnow
OK, I received this Windows Mobile 7 stuff in my mailbox a few hours ago and didn’t post it, but it looks like other sites also got the same mail too (?) so here you go:
· WP7 will be announced at MWC, and there will be a demo, but this will be just the UX
· MIX will have specific developement focus sessions on WP7
· WP7 supports both Sliverlight (out of browser) and XNA
· Silverlight is version 3.0, with elements of 4.0 plus mobile specific features such as sensors etc
· XNA apps can be developed using XNA GameStudio 3.1
· SL apps developed using Expression Blend 3.x and VS2010
· MS will release a mobile version of VS / Expression which will be free, and VS2010 / Expression Pro will have a free add-on
· WP7 will have an equivalent of .NET CF embedded into SL, but no SQL.
· WP7 will have isolated storage which is accessible using LINQ
· The UX of WP7 is based upon a theme called “METRO” and is similar to Zune HD, but with a completely new “Start” screen.
· No multi-tasking (applications will pause when in the background, however they will support notifications using the MS Push Notifications environment)
· No .NET CF backwards compatibility, however a proportion of the data and business logic in .NET CF could be ported
· MS were confident to have devices ready for Sep 2010
· No MS manufactured device, however much tighter control of manufacturing process, so as an example each device has a 3D processing chipset, and MS provide all of the device drivers. So no platform builder. This enables OTA updates and simplified model for ODM’s
· Marketplace will support buy and try before you buy, as well as an API
· ODM / OEM will not be able to modify the “Start” screen, so no more HTC Sense / TouchFlo etc.
· MS are actually ahead of schedule which will surprise the analysts / journalists
· Browsing experience is currently faster / better than iPhone 3G, and they are aiming towards 3GS.
· Browser is based upon desktop IE7 codebase, but with some IE8 functionality
· No in browser Flash or SL
· WP7 has full integration with XBOX Live, and ability to purchase games
· WP7 will use the Zune software for music, videos, photos sync
· WP7 only supports app installation through service based delivery i.e. marketplace, so no side-loading
· MS will provide a hosted push notifications environment
I’ll let you decide if all this info is true or not (frankly the majority can possibly be true, the only strange part being the “no real multi-tasking” support and no apps side-loading..). It could all be fake tho..
Anyway, we will know the truth on February 15th…
Source: Thanks anonymous tipster
According to a leaked T-MobileUS slide the HTC HD2is set to be launched on March 24th (along side the Motorola Zeppelin/ CLIQ XT & HTC MyTouch Fender edition the same month). Given the late release date and the probable announcement of Windows Mobile 7 in the coming weeks do you think that HTC will provide a WM7 update for the device later this year?
Source: PPCGeeks via TMOnews
Is the HTC HD2finally headed to Orange UK? That’s what we are assuming now that the handset has popped up on the carrier’s support site. But we will have to wait until an official announcement is made…
Source: Orange via Coolsmartphone
Here’s a short hands-on video of the Sony Ericsson Aspen smartphone. As you can see SE did a pretty good job with their custom UI (panels) running on top of Windows Mobile 6.5.3, especially the media player. The Aspen’s physical size is also compared to he iPhone and Nokia N900 at the end of the video:
Source: Mobile-Review
Looks like Google is finally ready to enable multi-touch support in all of its native Android application now that Steve Jobs has openly called them out a few days ago (According to him Google’s “Do no Evil” motto is BS..). The latest version of Google Maps (3.4.0) for Android enables pinch-to-zoom on the Motorola Droid. It’s not known yet if this new version enables this feature on other Android handsets. Hopefully all Android phones will receive an update similar to the one the Nexus One got a few days ago.
Here are the first live pictures of the HTC HD2 extended battery. As you can see the real thing looks exactly like the previous render we’ve seen not long ago.
Battery Type: Li-Ion
Voltage: 3.7V
Capacity:2300mAh
Manufacturer code: BA E400
The price is £41.11 ($64)
Source: Easydevice.uk via Coolsmartphone
As of today the Symbian mobile OS is finally open source and available for anyone. The best part is that it’s actually the latest version, Symbian^3 (which is also supposed to ship on upcoming Nokia handsets this year). According to the Symbian foundation Over 330 million Symbian devices have been shipped worldwide and 100 million are expected to ship in 2010 (keep in mind that Nokia has shipped 126 million phones in Q4 2010).
Read the FAQon the Symbian developer site.
Get started with the code.
And take a look at some interesting facts.
Navigate from http://tiny.symbian.org/open
Microsoft has just announced 12 new Windows Phone (Windows Mobile) sessions scheduled to take place during MIX10. As you can see all the sessions are currently named “Windows Phone Application and Game Development” with no other info. I guess that Microsoft will start talking more about them once the MWC “Windows Mobile 7” announcements are done. Microsoft’s Corporate Vice President of Windows Mobile Program Management at Microsoft, Joe Belfiore, will also be speaking at MIX.
Corporate Vice President of Windows Mobile Program Management at Microsoft, Joe Belfiore, will be speaking at MIX in March. Belfiore is responsible for the overall design and product definition of the software that powers Windows Phones. A huge consumer advocate, Belfiore has led the design and development of some of Microsoft’s more consumer-friendly products, including Zune, Windows Media Center, and the user experience for Windows itself.
Source: MIX10
Samsung has just announced their first Andoird 2.1 smartphone a couple hours ago in South-Korea. The SHW-M100S features a 800Mhz CPU ( S3C6410?), 3.7″ WVGA capacitive AMOLED touchscreen, 5Mpx camera with 720P video recording (just like the Motorola MOTOROI intrudeced a couple days ago in South-Korean too. THe SHW-M100S also sport Samsung’s TouchWIZ UI (hopefully a newer & improved version..) and Wi-Fi (802.11n), GPS, T-DMB, DivX support, 3.5mm headphone jack. I find it interesting that several Android 2.X smartphone are now featuring 720P support ( MOTOROI, SHW-M100S & probably the HTC Bravo) especialy given the total lack of HD video support in Windows Mobile 6.X handsets. Let’s see what Microsoft is cooking with WM7..
Source: SamsungHub
According to Vodafone UK’s webstore the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 is scheduled to arrive in April in the UK. Unfortunately there’s no pricing yet but it’s good to finally have an availability date this time (unlike T-Mobile Germany’s announcement a few days ago). Hopefully the X10 won’t be delayed…
Source: Vodafone UK
Here are the first hands-on pictures of the Black Sony Ericsson Aspen smartphone which was announced yesterday. Build quality looks correct but nothing really earth shattering. There’s also a size comparison with the Xperia X2 in there. Just head over here to check out the full gallery.
Source: SE-First
|
|
Recent Comments