Delicious Froyo will be hitting the huge and controversial EVO 4G starting in early August, according to Sprint. The update will begin its OTA rollout on August 3rd and they expet it to be done by “mid-August.” Once it goes public, I’m sure there will be a way to force it onto your handset if you don’t feel like waiting. We’ll detail that once it happens.
The improvements we’ve been talking about for weeks and weeks are forthcoming! But will it make the EVO last a full day on one charge? Only time will tell.
Meanwhile, here’s the full press release, minus a bunch of EVO review excerpts they included. Read More
This is a little quirk of mobile deal-making I wasn’t aware of. Gadgetwise noticed that on the AT&T Captivate (which I recently reviewed), launching the included MobiTV app while connected to a Wi-Fi network prompts you to disconnect, and then warns you in all caps “THIS PRODUCT WILL USE A LARGE AMOUNT OF DATA AND YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL DATA CHARGES.”
Sure, and usually that’s why they ask you to connect to your Wi-Fi: so it doesn’t burden the network and/or use up all your data (at which point you inevitably come crying to them). So why does this one tell you to shut it down? Read More
Today saw T-Mobile finally retiring the venerable G1, forerunner to the ongoing Android revolution. I’ve been using a G1 since launch, so this is an emotional moment for me. Let’s just take a quick trip down memory lane out of respect for a solid phone. Read More
Short version: A powerful and attractive handset held back by a few interface quirks and matters of taste. The Galaxy S series still is probably the best large (as opposed to medium, or extra-large) Android handset on the market. Read More
Today’s adjustment of the DMCA has far-reaching legal implications, which will only be evident after a few weeks, months, or even years as various parties exploit them however they can. I’m going to let the experts play in that sandbox. But one of the new rules seems to have had a specific target in mind: Apple. To wit:
“(2) Computer programs that enable wireless telephone handsets to execute software applications, where circumvention is accomplished for the sole purpose of enabling interoperability of such applications, when they have been lawfully obtained, with computer programs on the telephone handset.”
The language is a bit confusing, but the end result is the legalization of jailbreaking your phone and side-loading apps. Not that it was ever illegal, although some Apple store employees thought otherwise. Now that it’s been made official, however, one might reasonably expect a bit of give from Apple on this point, since they have taken such great measures to prevent such actions. But I’m pretty sure that apart from a little lip service, Apple will continue with the exact same policies, with the sort of blithe arrogance that simultaneously compels and repels consumers.
Some pictures showed up in Engadget’s tip box of a mysterious and nameless HTC phone running Windows 7. The pics aren’t that good but they look legit, and the source is quoted as saying that the hardware is “ready,” though “final” may be a slight exaggeration, since these things always get little flourishes put on ‘em before release. It’s got an 8-megapixel camera, the requisite three face buttons, and most importantly, is not running any kind of skin over WP7. Whether that’s Microsoft’s prerogative or not, I can’t say, but I’d guess so considering their relatively restrictive hardware requirements.
It’s said to be CDMA and possibly for Verizon. We’ll probably be seeing this one again soon. HTC isn’t exactly tight as a drum when it comes to new handsets.
Making panoramas — good panoramas, you understand — is a pretty difficult process. You can slap one together pretty quickly but you’ll have stitches showing, exposure issues, and so on — you have to get a program like Hugin configured correctly and tweak it a lot before you can get something worth printing. But what if you don’t care, and the stitches are part of the fun? This app, “You Gotta See This!” seems to go down that route, knowing that “real” panoramas aren’t likely to happen on an iPhone.
The giveaways continue! Google, Microsoft, now HP — apparently, the cool thing to do is to get your product in the hands of people who may or may not even want it. HP’s Todd Bradley and Jon Rubenstein just gave away Pres to everyone in the audience at Fortune’s Brainstorm Tech conference. I think it’s a great idea, personally. It’s important to Microsoft to do serious mass testing of its product before putting it out there, and it’s important to HP to keep webOS fresh in people’s minds. Keeping a few hundred webOS devices out in offices and homes across the nation will go a long way towards doing that.
I doubt they’re going to convert many (if any) of the audience, but let’s be honest, there are probably a lot of Pres sitting around so it’s a pretty microscopic gesture in terms of cost, while the benefit is a few hundred influential people have a hands-on experience with their flagship OS.
We recently got our hands on a WP7 unit and put up our in-depth impressions of Microsoft’s new mobile OS, and our verdict is cautious optimism. But even if it were the hottest thing we’d ever seen, Microsoft would still be in a pickle when it comes to getting these things out there. Giving away something like 90,000 phones ought to help with that. Read More
Very sneaky. A convenient five-color flashlight that doubles as a… SOCKS proxy tethering tool. And it’s only 99ยข! Whoever approved this app is going to get a rap on the knuckles for sure.
Instructions for making this deceitful little app work are over at AppShopper; I’d move quickly, as Apple will probably hit the kill switch literally any minute.
Update: Kill switch hit. It’s still showing up in the App Store for some, but attempting to buy it spits back an error.
It seems like launch hiccups are going to be part of the bargain with all these new superphone launches. With all that cutting-edge technology packed in there, you can expect a few issues — like faulty USB controllers or wet glue — and in the Droid X’s case, some display problems. Read More
Apple’s attempt to draw RIM into Apple’s self-made debacle is unacceptable. Apple’s claims about RIM products appear to be deliberate attempts to distort the public’s understanding of an antenna design issue and to deflect attention from Apple’s difficult situation. RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM’s customers don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity. Apple clearly made certain design decisions and it should take responsibility for these decisions rather than trying to draw RIM and others into a situation that relates specifically to Apple.
- Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie
Strong words. But will anyone other than those following the industry care for this kind of objection?
While Google hasn’t confirmed these numbers, an estimate of total downloads and app numbers maintained by Androlib has ticked over to 100,000 apps and games available, and a full billion downloaded. iPhone comparisons? If we must. Apple’s billionth app download occurred 287 days after the App Store’s debut. It took Android… well, let’s just say significantly longer. But Android is also seeing accelerating growth. I’m guessing 2 billion isn’t too far off, at this rate.
Update: Google just contradicted Androlib’s app numbers in their earnings call. There are only 70,000. Ah well. Now I’m wondering about that billion figure, too.
Update 2: looks like everyone pretty much jumped the gun.
It seems like a whole bunch of you went and bought a Droid X despite my “don’t buy” rating on account of Motorola’s draconian OS lockdown tactics. I guess I’m not as influential as I thought.
Well, if you insist on being held down by the Man, I won’t stop you. If you’re still looking to buy, the next piping hot batch of units should be shipping on the 23rd.
Well, I might have recommended a Droid X for big-phone-lovin’ fandroids out there… but now that I’ve read about Motorola’s insane eFuse tampering-countermeasure system, I’m going to have to give this one a big fat DON’T BUY on principle. I won’t restate all my reasons for supporting the modding, hacking, jailbreaking, and so on of your legally-owned products here — if you’re interested in a user’s manifesto, read this — but suffice it to say that deliberately bricking a phone if the user fiddles with it does not fall under the “reasonable” category of precautions taken by manufacturers.
Really. If you want to make it difficult to hack, that’s fine. You think your software should be enough, that’s fine. But once I pay money for the item, it’s mine, and disabling my device because you don’t like what I’m doing with it falls under the category of sabotage. Read More
I try not to take sides on these little skirmishes between Mac and PC. In matters of taste, there is no dispute. And I’m fine with a little railing on both sides — to a point. But when Microsoft’s COO decides to tease Apple, saying “It looks like the iPhone 4 might be their Vista, and I’m okay with that,” I have to step in. This kind of attitude seems a bit out-of-place from a company that just had to retire a years-in-development project that they spent a billion on — due to rumored triple-digit sales.
I’ll tell you what, Microsoft. I’m going to give you this one. The criticism is deserved, after all — the iPhone 4 may in fact be Apple’s Vista in a way. But you don’t get to say that. Because if you do, someone might point out that Microsoft has never put out a single product that has so completely fascinated the consumer world as the iPhone. And chances are you never will. It’s better to have a Vista of an iPhone than to never have an iPhone to begin with.
A catalog from Verizon, detailing their Summer lineup of handsets and services, has been leaked and scanned. What’s in it? A number of things. The most exciting of which has to be the Kin One and Two listed right there under smartphones. From these we can deduce that this catalog is slightly out of date.
A few specs have been confirmed: 1GHz processor, 8GB of storage, 512MB of RAM, 8 more GB in a MicroSD included, a 5-megapixel camera, and hotspot functionality. Still no launch date, but it’s all good.
Just a quick note: the Vibrant, T-Mobile’s variant of the Samsung Galaxy S Android big-phone, will be getting here a little early — July 15th to be precise.
Maybe it’s to head off the Droid X menace (not to mention the other Galaxy models), or maybe they just got things done a little quicker than expected and want to push it out the door. We’ll never know.
Don’t worry, this doesn’t appear to be the kind of hissing explosion we saw happening on previous iPhone models. All signs point to a faulty USB port, which I think we can forgive a couple of when there are millions being made. But fiery iPhones are always worth reporting, so here you go.
We heard a few murmurs about this phone earlier this week, but the actual date of its launch escaped us. As it turns out, today is the day for Samsung’s mid-range Android handset to hit: it’s riding the publicity wave of mega-phones like the EVO and Galaxy line, but sports decidedly less impressive specs. Still, it looks like a perfectly capable and fairly attractive phone, available on Sprint for $100 after a $100 rebate.
It’s got vanilla 2.1 on it, with no word on 2.2. Headed your way July 11th – more info here and an early video hands-on here. Can’t say I like the color scheme, though.
At a recent HTC event, a couple of dudes from Android Guys managed to corner an HTC official and beat a few answers out of him (or her). The big question that got settled was that of the frustrating 30FPS refresh rate cap in place on the EVO. According to HTC, the cap has its origin in the HDMI port, out of which the phone can only push a maximum of 30FPS. So their solution was… to reduce the display rate to 30FPS throughout the entire phone, even if there isn’t an HDMI cable in sight.
It’s really a bit weird to have that cap, which is very noticeable when dragging and zooming, apply to the whole OS whether there’s HDMI connected or not. Changing refresh rates is a trivial action; as AndroidGuys suggests, it would be reasonable to expect an update that makes the frame rate adjustable depending on whether a cable is connected or not. I concur.
Just a friendly PSA: after facing a tidal wave of customer complaints and bad PR, Apple has opted to waive the 10% restocking fee incurred on customers returning their iPhone 4s. I doubt this is any sort of admission of faultiness from Apple — they’re addressing the reception problem partially by making the bars bigger — it seems more like a tactful placation of their angriest customers. The restocking fee also figured in one of the lawsuits Apple is facing, so there’s that as well.
Sure, $20 or $30 isn’t that much money, but when all signs seem to point to your having returned a faulty product, and you still have to give them money, it can sting a bit.
Buried deep in the frozen tundras of a Russian podcast, Google’s plans for the next step in Android have been uncovered. I have to say, it cuts down on my excitement somewhat that with Android, you’re constantly aware of the improvements you’re unlikely to get. In this case, even the few 2.2 users out there are left behind. Here’s what we know. Read More
We have made the decision to focus exclusively on Windows Phone 7 and we will not ship KIN in Europe this fall as planned. Additionally, we are integrating our KIN team with the Windows Phone 7 team, incorporating valuable ideas and technologies from KIN into future Windows Phone releases. We will continue to work with Verizon in the U.S. to sell current KIN phones.
These words from Microsoft serve as the epitaph for the Kin series of socially-oriented handsets and their ecosystem. It’s been less than two months since the handsets and service were announced, and rumors of incredibly low sales had us questioning the lifespan of these little guys not long after. Add to that the weird interface and inexplicable pricing, and it’s clear in retrospect that the Kins never had much of a chance. In fact, we heard the project was canceled before it was even officially announced. Read More
Delicious Froyo will be hitting the huge and controversial EVO 4G starting in early August, according to Sprint. The update will begin its OTA rollout on August 3rd and they expet it to be done by “mid-August.” Once it goes public, I’m sure there will be a way to force it onto your handset if you don’t feel like waiting. We’ll detail that once it happens.
This is a little quirk of mobile deal-making I wasn’t aware of. Gadgetwise noticed that on the AT&T Captivate (which I recently 
The giveaways continue! 
Microsoft is in a giving mood. Just last month they 
Very sneaky. A convenient five-color flashlight that doubles as a… SOCKS proxy tethering tool. And it’s only 99ยข! Whoever approved this app is going to get a rap on the knuckles for sure.
RIM has issued a statement regarding 
It seems like a whole bunch of you went and bought a Droid X despite my “don’t buy” rating on account of Motorola’s 
A catalog from Verizon, detailing their Summer lineup of handsets and services, has been leaked and scanned. What’s in it? A number of things. The most exciting of which has to be the Kin One and Two listed right there under smartphones. From these we can deduce that this catalog is slightly out of date.
Just a quick note: the 
Just a friendly PSA: after facing a tidal wave of customer complaints and bad PR, Apple has opted to 
