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Sony Ericsson X10 unboxed by — who else — Sony Ericsson

Posted on 10. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

Guys, guys, look: unboxing is our job. We know it’s fun and we know it brings eyeballs to your site, but we think your customers would be better served if you just concentrated on shipping the mighty X10 rather than teasing them with a product they can’t yet have. Apparently, Sony Ericsson just took delivery of its first commercial samples of its inaugural Android device, so to kick off the occasion in style, a couple staffers have unboxed them in glorious high definition for us — both the white and black versions, mind you — using none other than their own Vivaz to maximize the meta factor. There’s not a lot to the video, really (even the captions are disappointingly accurate), but if you’re truly desperate for X10 eye candy as you wait for the retail launch, it’s worth a gander. Full video after the break.

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Sony Ericsson X10 unboxed by — who else — Sony Ericsson originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 04:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Galaxy Spica comes to Rogers

Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

Granted, they got off to a slow start — but every since the Dream and Magic originally launched, Rogers has done a pretty commendable job of leading the Android charge north of the border. Latest in the line is Samsung’s venerable i5700 Galaxy Spica, a phone that won’t win any awards for running up-to-date firmware (it still rocks Cupcake) nor any medals for being high-end (the camera’s just 3.2 megapixels with no flash), but at the very least, it makes an interesting, cheap Magic alternative with a high likelihood of an Android 2.x upgrade down the road. If you’re willing to commit three years upfront, you can score this bad boy for CAD $79.99 (about $78) right this very second — or a more daunting CAD $399.99 ($390) commitment-free if you’re into that sort of thing.

Samsung Galaxy Spica comes to Rogers originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola CLIQ XT hands-on

Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

We know you’ve barely recovered from our Devour review, but Moto just threw another Blur-ified phone in our laps this afternoon – the CLIQ XT. We’ve been playing around with the Android 1.5-based, Flash Lite-supported, multitouch-capable handset for the last couple of hours — but before we grace you with our first impressions, just a fair warning: we don’t yet know the price of the new T-Mobile Android handset, though Motorola did promise us that it will hit shelves this month. With that said, hit the break for a quick rundown of our early thoughts.

Continue reading Motorola CLIQ XT hands-on

Motorola CLIQ XT hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 21:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Does Android dream of DIY cushions?

Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

With the estate of Philip K. Dick up in arms over the slightest commercial reference to his published works, we may come to regret the above headline. But it’s worth the risk to bring more attention to this lovely, handcrafted Android pillow. Covered in fleece and filled with fluffy polyester for a texture that creator Craftsquatch describes as “firm yet springy,” the cuddly 12-inch square, made-to-order cushion can be yours for $20 before shipping. If only it came with dessert.

Does Android dream of DIY cushions? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:44:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung SHW-M120S to be first Android phone with Bluetooth 3.0?

Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

Samsung’s all about records: firsts, biggests, smallests, thinnests, you get the idea. Indeed, it was just a few weeks ago that the company managed to slip the very first Bluetooth 3.0 certified handset through — but these guys never rest, and it looks like they’re already prepping to follow up that feat by throwing Android into the mix. The Bluetooth SIG is showing certification for an SHW-M120S model that apparently features a 3.3-inch WVGA AMOLED display, 5 megapixel autofocus primary cam plus VGA secondary, WiFi, GPS, HSDPA, and — yes, you guessed it — a Bluetooth Core Version of 3.0, meaning you’ll likely be able to fling files around to your house full of Bluetooth 3.0-capable devices with the greatest of ease. The presence of a T-DMB tuner means this sucker is targeted squarely at the South Korean market, but we’ve no doubt Sammy plans on taking 3.0 global so that it can… you know, have the world’s most Bluetooth 3.0 devices. PuntoCellulare seems to have a pretty good shot of it, and it looks pretty much how you’d expect any self-respecting Samsung smartphone to look in 2010 — in other words, there’s nothing that screams “I can wirelessly transfer data short distances at heretofore-unknown speeds” just by looking at it, and that’s totally fine by us. Rumor is we’ll see this launch “in the next few weeks.”

[Thanks, juanvaldez]

Update: Turns out PuntoCellulare just recycled a shot of the M100S, so we don’t yet know what the M120S will look like; the screen’s a bit smaller on this new model, for one thing, so we should be dealing with a more diminutive shell.

Samsung SHW-M120S to be first Android phone with Bluetooth 3.0? originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 15:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Customer greeted with malware on Vodafone-issued HTC Magic (good thing it’s discontinued)

Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

Crapware’s bad enough, but having your life torn asunder simply by plugging in that shiny new (insert USB-connected device here) is an exciting new trend — viruses find their way into the darnedest places, don’t they? It seems an employee at anti-malware firm Panda Research who’d ordered a new Magic off Vodafone UK’s site was greeted with no fewer than three nefarious executables upon plugging the device into her PC: a bot client, a password stealer, and a Conficker variant, and running a network sniffer quickly confirmed that the virii were live and ready to do harm as soon as the autorun in the Magic’s mounted mass storage was executed on her Windows machine. If this were a widespread issue, we’d certainly have heard about it in other places, so odds are good (as Panda points out) that this was simply a case of HTC or Vodafone doing an awful job of wiping a refurbished set — but it gives you pause and kind of makes you wish you worked for an anti-malware firm, at least on days when you’re plugging in a new phone for the first time. The silver lining, we suppose, is that Vodafone has recently discontinued the Magic, though that creates another problem: the only Android device it currently stocks now is the lowly Tattoo, so the X10 and Nexus One can’t come soon enough.

Customer greeted with malware on Vodafone-issued HTC Magic (good thing it’s discontinued) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Devour review

Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

While Motorola’s vanilla-Android Droid has become the most recognizable Android device on the market — thanks in part to a bombastic ad campaign — Motorola’s primary focus has been on its own custom Blur UI. At least, if quantity of devices are any indication. Hitting Verizon just as the Blur-powered Backflip heads to AT&T, the new Motorola Devour is an odd cross section of the “consumery” Backflip and Cliq, and the high-end Droid slider. We’ve been playing with the phone for a week or so (you can find our initial hands-on, video walkthrough and unboxing here), so follow us after the break as we walk through the triumphs and tragedy that is this device.

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Motorola Devour review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 13:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC Supersonic meets Mr. Blurrycam, leaves us wanting more (video)

Posted on 09. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

Being drip-fed information on the HTC Supersonic is unlikely to be as pleasant an experience as actually having one, but it’s all we can do to fill the time until this beast of a phone finally makes its official debut (probably on Sprint). Today’s appearance shows what looks to be a majorly insecure Mr. Blurrycam sporting gloves and gingerly handling a handset purporting to be HTC’s latest and greatest. We’re mostly treated to a sight of the back, which is white as our first (and most trusted) tipster had seen, and gives us a grainy first look at the camera and speaker grill arrangement. Check out the video after the break. As a bonus, we’ve found another source for the earlier Supersonic video — you know, the one that got yanked from YouTube twice — and have embedded it as well, go get them both while they’re still around.

[Thanks, Andy]

Continue reading HTC Supersonic meets Mr. Blurrycam, leaves us wanting more (video)

HTC Supersonic meets Mr. Blurrycam, leaves us wanting more (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile’s CLIQ XT pamphlet out and about

Posted on 08. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

Want to know how to sell Motorola’s CLIQ XT for T-Mobile in 60 seconds? Look no further than this pamphlet that’s circulating now that the carrier is (well, probably is) just days away from release, where we learn all about its 3.1-inch display, touch controls, Flash Lite support (avert your eyes, CLIQ users), and pinch-and-zoom browser navigation, all paired up with a 5 megapixel camera and that love-it-or-hate-it Blur skin atop Android 1.5. Between that little pitch and the gallery down below, we figure it’ll take you about 60 seconds to finish flipping through the whole mess — so are you sold, or what?

[Thanks, anonymous tipster]

T-Mobile’s CLIQ XT pamphlet out and about originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 23:18:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android NDK hits Release 3, brings OpenGL ES 2.0 access to devs

Posted on 08. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

We know from a brief spat of iPhone 3GS controversy that OpenGL ES 2.0 brings a new level of immersive realism to 3D gaming on mobile devices, so Android developers (and users, for that matter) should be delighted to hear that a new release of the official Native Development Kit exposes its capabilities to anyone targeting Android 2.0 or higher. As a refresher, the so-called NDK is a bolt-on to the standard Android SDK that gives folks the ability to write and compile critical pieces of functionality in native code, closer to the processor without that pesky Java virtual machine standing in the way — in other words, it’s exactly what gamers and game devs need to make Android a serious gaming platform, and better access to badass 3D capabilities are a fun little piece of the puzzle. The latest NDK’s available for download now — so seriously, hurry up and go wow us with your revolutionary first-person shooter. Git!

Android NDK hits Release 3, brings OpenGL ES 2.0 access to devs originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:17:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Backflip doesn’t allow non-Market apps, proves AT&T doesn’t get Android

Posted on 08. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/tech_news/AT_T_s_Motorola_Backflip_doesn_t_allow_non_Market_apps’; Let’s step into the time warp, shall we? Specifically, we’d like to go back to our interview of AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega at MWC last year when we asked him about the carrier’s support for Android (or lack thereof):

Chris: Okay, and expanding on that a little bit, I heard you speak at CTIA last year and you mentioned that… you mentioned basically the same comments about Android at that time. You said that you thought that it was promising, you liked what you saw, but that was at a time when there were a lot of questions about why AT&T wasn’t in the OHA. I’m wondering if your thoughts, your opinions have changed since then. Has AT&T’s direction with Android changed at all?

Ralph: No, actually, I think that they have been somewhat validated in that… we like the Android as an operating system on its own, but we want to make sure that we have, and customers have the option, to put applications on that device that are not just Google applications, so when the G1 came out and T-Mobile launched it, it’s primarily a Google phone. And we want to give customers the choice of other applications on that device, not just the same Google applications.

Chris: So you’re basically waiting for Android to be de-branded, so to speak?

Ralph: Well, to be open. (Laughter.) Right? I mean, the whole idea behind Android is that it’s gonna be an open OS, and so I don’t wanna roll an open OS to market that has primarily Google apps on it, and I think that’s gonna happen. I mean, I see a lot of activity, I think it’s got a good future, and I think it makes a lot of sense that the OS is open-source, separate from Google apps that are also very good.

A year later, enter the Motorola Backflip — AT&T’s very first Android device. Does it hold true to de la Vega’s principles? Well, it depends on whose glasses you read the statements through. Yes, true, it definitely doesn’t have “primarily Google apps on it” thanks to the carrier’s questionable decision to remove Google search and replace it with Yahoo — but as for giving “customers the choice of other applications,” that’s another matter altogether. It seems that Backflips are being shipped without the ability to turn on non-Market installations, meaning that AT&T has effectively locked you into getting all of your content through the walled garden. Add in the Yahoo debacle and the egregious amount of unremovable crapware they’ve left in ROM, and we start to wonder: why did AT&T bother partnering up with Android if they weren’t going to take it seriously? Certainly doesn’t bode well for the Mini 3 and the rest of the pack, now, does it?

Motorola Backflip doesn’t allow non-Market apps, proves AT&T doesn’t get Android originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:06:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Gigabyte ‘Codfish’ Android 1.6 handset outed

Posted on 08. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

Gigabyte ‘Codfish’ Android 1.6 handset outed originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Mar 2010 02:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Backflip now on sale at AT&T

Posted on 07. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

Heads-up, kids — AT&T’s first-ever slice of Android is now available. Just let that sink in a minute. Feels good, doesn’t it? Motorola’s Backflip has gone on sale just as promised, and that debatably awesome Blur action can be yours for $99.99 after mail-in rebate and a 2-year agreement. So, you pulling the trigger, or you are you waiting for whatever Dell and / or HTC are bringing to the party?

[Thanks, mittens]

Motorola Backflip now on sale at AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Backflip now on sale at AT&T

Posted on 07. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

Heads-up, kids — AT&T’s first-ever slice of Android is now available. Just let that sink in a minute. Feels good, doesn’t it? Motorola’s Backflip has gone on sale just as promised, and that debatably awesome Blur action can be yours for $99.99 after mail-in rebate and a 2-year agreement. So, you pulling the trigger, or you are you waiting for whatever Dell and / or HTC are bringing to the party?

[Thanks, mittens]

Motorola Backflip now on sale at AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Backflip now on sale at AT&T

Posted on 07. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

Heads-up, kids — AT&T’s first-ever slice of Android is now available. Just let that sink in a minute. Feels good, doesn’t it? Motorola’s Backflip has gone on sale just as promised, and that debatably awesome Blur action can be yours for $99.99 after mail-in rebate and a 2-year agreement. So, you pulling the trigger, or you are you waiting for whatever Dell and / or HTC are bringing to the party?

[Thanks, mittens]

Motorola Backflip now on sale at AT&T originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 07 Mar 2010 12:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola XT701 finally completes Android trio in China, courtesy of Unicom

Posted on 06. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

It’s no surprise that the Motorola XT701 (aka Motoroi) was going to land in the hands of China Unicom with its WCDMA radio, but man, that must’ve been a painful two-and-a-half-month wait for Chinese Motofans. Mind you, considering earlier worries about Google’s departure from China, it’s better late than never, right? Like its Korean and American counterparts, the XT701 also sports Android 2.0 but boosted with WAPI support — China’s very own WiFI standard. Fork out ¥4,299 or about $630 and this phone’s yours.

Motorola XT701 finally completes Android trio in China, courtesy of Unicom originally appeared on Engadget Mobile on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 09:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Bad news: HTC says the Nexus One doesn’t ‘go in pockets’

Posted on 06. Mar, 2010 by IBM. 

One of the biggest mysteries in the blogosphere right now is probably Crave’s Nexus One, which somehow developed a cracked screen while simply charging on the desk (sounds familiar, right?). Not even HTC could unearth the cause from its forensic inspection, but it didn’t rule out the possibility of a small crack growing over time due to, for example, “getting knocked around by keys” and repetitive squeezes in tight pockets. That’s fine, but saying “people sometimes forget that they don’t go in pockets” is surely stretching a bit, no? What happened to the awesomeness in the compression test and bend test that we once witnessed? More importantly, has anyone here had the same baffling screen problem and been charged £180 ($273) for the repair? If so, do share your pain with us — we’ve got a shoulder for you.

Bad news: HTC says the Nexus One doesn’t ‘go in pockets’ originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 06 Mar 2010 03:08:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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