The almost over-rumored (see here, here, and here) 10.1-inch Acer Aspire One netbook running Android and XP has shown up for preorder on Amazon for $350.
Hey, hey. This hack will probably make more than a few G1 owners giddy. Apparently someone got their hands on a leaked copy of a Motorola Cliq ROM, which just so happens to have all the stuff for Motorola’s custom Android build, MotoBlur, and has converted it for the G1. Don’t ask us where these files are or the install instructions for your G1. We don’t know. But what we do know is that this port probably doesn’t make the Motorola suits all that happy, but this is the joy of an open platform like Android. Get use to it.
With the success of the Kindle clear, it’s no surprise that other booksellers want in on the action too. Barnes & Noble already launched its ebook store and the iRex DR 800SG will be the first device to run it. However, a WSJ report is suggesting that Barnes & Noble is prepping its own, self-branded device. And get this, it might run Android.
T-Mobile wants to help spread more holiday cheer this year. Thus, the the number 4 US mobile carrier announced that it will be offering “the broadest selection of Android-powered phones among national wireless carriers in the United States” to help make the 2009 holiday season the most droidish ever!
We’ve seen a few different Android devices that seem to be VZW-bound over the last few weeks, but Verizon hasn’t said anything about the handsets or platform until now. The company has a webcast scheduled for later today but released a preemptive press release that outlines the basics.
Verizon and Google have formed a strategic partnership that will “leverage the Verizon Wireless network and the best of the Android open platform to deliver leading-edge mobile applications, services and devices.” Apparently the new dream team has plans that involve co-developing several Android-based devices that will come pre-loaded with innovative applications from not only Verizon, but also 3rd-party developers.
Another day, another Android handset. The One comes to us from Spanish start-up called GeeksPhone. No word on available, planned market, or price, but so far the specs are looking good for the quadband GSM and 2100MHz UMTS HSPA phone.
Looks like Acer’s going to be putting more of its mobile eggs in the Android basket next year, with about half of its handsets in 2010 to feature Android instead of Windows Mobile.
If you’ve rooted and modded your Android phone you’ve probably found Cyanogen, one of the best sources for modded Android ROMs out there. All of his ROMs are stable, usable on the G1 and MyTouch, and well-designed.
Google, however, takes issue with him releasing closed-source Google apps like Gmail, Maps, and YouTube and has sent him a cease and desist. They’re not particularly mad about the ROMs, mind you, just the apps inside them.
Remember that hot new Archos tablet we mentioned a little while back? Five inch touchscreen? Runs Android? Right. Well it’s not just PR shots and specs now; it’s been handled by just about everyone on the internet, and the consensus is: solid, but maybe wait for the first update, which will add full HTML browsing by default and perhaps Flash support. At any rate, the pricing is confirmed and they’re available now… and damn has Amazon got a sweet deal on the 60GB version!
Details are kind of lacking at this point, but so far the Archos Phone Tablet is shaping up nicely. It should rock Android on a 4.3-inch touchscreen with a 854×480 resolution, 1GHz ARM CPU, HSDPA, and will measure in at only 10mm. The strange thing is that the phone is somewhat large considering the iPhone has a 3.5-inch screen and so we’re curious about how Archos is going to market this bugger.
The highly anticipated Motorola announcement has come and gone. After all the dust cleared, the world of Android handsets had grown by one – Motorola’s first Android-powered smartphone, CLIQ.
Just this past week, we were looking at a somewhat blurry shot of the Galaxy Lite, wondering when we’d see more. Seeing as Samsung is about as good at keeping handsets secret as I am at playing a guitar with my feet, it didn’t take too long.
Charbax has some video of a 5-inch Android tablet built by Smit.com.cn, a Chines manufacturer. It’s a sassy little tablet with a 800×480 screen, GPS, 8GB of storage, and WiFi. It plays video and audio and just looks so precious!
No telling if this is actual product or a proof of concept, but I’m game to give it a try.
T-Mobile UK this morning announced the Pulse, the first pay-as-you-go Android 1.5 smartphone and the third coming from the network operator.
Available for £180 starting October exclusively on T-Mobile, it boasts a 3.5″ HVGA touchscreen display, the biggest yet on an Android handset, a 3.2-megapixel camera and a TeleNav-powered GPS (more specs below).
The new device comes courtesy of Huawei, which had been rumored to be working with T-Mobile since displaying a device at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year.
More details about the device:
The phone runs on a Qualcomm’s MSM7200A chipset and weighs 130g. It features a trackball and a 3.5″ HVGA touchscreen display with auto-rotation.
The T-Mobile Pulse also features a 3.2 mega pixel, auto-focus camera (no flash) that allows photos to be uploaded straight to the Internet, a 2GB internal memory and a micro SD card slot for storing media. The handset also offers access to corporate e-mail through the Road sync client, and boasts enhanced social networking and community features.
It’s… almost exactly what I would expect from an Archos-branded Android tablet. We saw it before via the FCC, but this is a much clearer picture. The device will be coming in four (if not more) flavors: two flash-based at 16GB and 32GB, and two HDD-based at 160GB and 500GB.
It looks like a decent little device, but I don’t think I’ll ever understand the draw of this sort of device. If a nice Android-based phone does 85% of what this tablet does, what’s the point of this? A slightly bigger screen? More storage?