Another Snapdragon Android spotted – LG Arena Max
Feb 9th
Snapdragon is going to be a name for the high end smartphones for a while. Another device powered by this chip has just surfaced. And this time it is from the Korea manufacturer, LG. And the device is called Arena Max.
The device will carry a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor under the hood, a 3.5 inch touchscreen, Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi and a five megapixel camera.
We shall see more details being published during the MWC.
[via techdigest]
HTC Legend spotted in the wild
Feb 9th
Looks familiar? This picture sent in by a tipster of Engadget shows the HTC Legend is pretty closed to be released to market.
According to rumours, this phone will carry about the same specs and design as the HTC Hero. And it is regarded as the successor of HTC Here. The Legend shown in the picture is spotted to have aluminium case and optical joystick. This is still a preproduction unit and the final product could be different.
The UI in the picture is still having the existing Sense UI look without any changes and we are not able to see the new Sense running on Android 2.1. Anyway, I will keep an eye on the development and give you updates when it is available.
[via engadget]
Motorola DROID to get Android 2.1 upgrade by this week
Feb 9th
This is earlier than expected, Motorola has officially mentioned in its Facebook page that DROID will get the Android 2.1 treatment by this week.
Here is the scoop and note that there are some differences compared to the Android 2.1 of Nexus One:
- It looks like it’ll be based off the Android2.1-update1 build that Google put out last week on the Nexus One.
- So do expect multitouch in the browser, to go along with the pinch-to-zoom that was enabled on the Droid for Google Maps just last week.
- Google Goggles will be included in the ROM by default.
- The Droid’s home screen remains as is – it still uses the app drawer
- No live wallpapers.
- The news and weather widget from the Nexus One will be included
I am wondering whether the upgrade will be rolled out to MILESTONE users at the same time. Nevertheless, DROID users, enjoy the upgrade and join the world of Android 2.1.
[via engadget]
Windows Mobile 7 details surfaced: no multitasking and customizable UI
Feb 8th
Before the Microsoft announcement of Windows Mobile 7 at MWC, there are already some in depth details of the upcoming Windows Mobile 7 leaked into the net.
According to PPCGeeks, Windows Mobile 7 will feature a Zune like interface and there will be no multitasking support for third party apps on the phone! Microsoft will control the Windows Mobile 7 about the same way Apple controls the iPhoneOS, except that Microsoft will not make the phone. The manufacturers will build the phone but Microsoft will control the user experience tightly.
Here is the list that PPCGeeks lists:
- The User Interface is based upon codename “METRO”. It will be very similar to the Zune HD User Interface with a complete revamp of the “Start” screen. The UI is “Very Clean”, “Soulful” and “Alive”
- Unfortunately there will be no Flash support at the get go as there was not enough time to implement these features.
- Windows Phone 7 will only support application installation through service based delivery. (i.e Marketplace). Application installation via storage card will not be possible.
- No Multi-Task support. Applications will “Pause” when in the background, however will support notifications via push notifications.
- Marketplace will now support “try before you buy” as well as an API
- No NETCF backwards compatibility. This means the original rumor of no backward compatibility for applications holds to be true. That being said, there are high hopes of porting the NetCF to the newer platform easily.
- Microsoft is confident that devices will be ready by September 2010
- Full Zune Integration
- Windows Mobile Device Center will no longer be used. Zune software to take over syncing via PC.
- OEM Interfaces will not be allowed to run on the device. Say goodbye to Sense UI / SPB Mobile Shell / Point UI / Infinity, etc, etc
- Full XBOX Gaming Integration (Gamer tag, achievements, friends, avatars, merchandising, etc)
- Full support for social networking
Microsoft is clearly learning the experience from its previous Windows Mobile release and obviously also from Apple’s iPhone. Will this make sense to Microsoft as well as the existing hardware partners like HTC and Samsung? May be that’s why HTC goes to Android camp and Samsung created a new Bada OS.
Will this be too late for Microsoft? We will see when Windows Mobile is finally released to market.
[via PPCGeeks]
HTC Incredible pictures leaked
Feb 8th
Pocketnow has just got some leaked photos of the upcoming Verizon HTC Incredible.
According to them, the device is running on Android 2.1 with HTC Sense, with a Snapdragon CPU with 256MB of RAM, and has a 3.5-3.7″ WVGA screen.
The tipster describes the device is really fast (because of the Snapdrogan) and the screen as being “very vibrant” and thinks that it may be AMOLED.
The Incredible comes with an optical mouse pointer at the bottom of the device and it packs dual LED flashes at the back.
I will keep my eyes on it and bring you more information once I have more.
[via pocketnow]
Linus Torvald bought a Google Nexus One
Feb 8th
Linus Torvald, the father of Linux kernel, one of the most repected man in open source community, has bought a Nexus One and he loves it. If you are still wondering why this is significant, let me tell you: without him, there will be no Linux and Android and thus Nexus One, because he is the original creator of Linux kernel, which Android is created upon.
According to his own blog, he tries to use Linux based mobile phone and had tried a few before, and:
I have to admit, the Nexus One is a winner. I wasn’t enthusiastic about buying a phone on the internet sight unseen, but the day it was reported that it finally had the pinch-to-zoom thing enabled, I decided to take the plunge. I’ve wanted to have a GPS unit for my car anyway, and I thought that google navigation might finally make a phone useful.
Welcome onboard, Linus.
[via torvalds-family blog]
First month sales figure of Google Nexus One – 80,000 units
Feb 8th
Wondering how Google’s Nexus One is performing during its first month in the market? Well, according to Flurry, Google sold 80,000 units of Nexus One in first month. That’s a miserably low figure compared to many other smartphones like Apple’s iPhone and Motorola’s DROID. But if we look at the brighter side, the first month sales figure of Nexus One is 4 times of the first week figure where there rest were just double 
Was that an experiment from Google to test whether direct web marketing will work for a mobile phone? Apparently it works for geeks but not the normal consumers. And Google is moving forward to spend money on TV commercial to gain more awareness of Nexus One. May be Google should learn from Apple.
I am sure the figure will improve. Google is doing quite a number of things at the moment, like adding pinch-and-zoom support and working with more operators to subsidize the phone. And we shall look at the figure again few months later.
[via gizmodo]
