HTC Flyer Review

PhoneArena reviews the HTC Flyer. HTC Flyer is a compact 7-inch touchscreen Android 2.3.3 tablet with 600x1024 pixels res, which will come with an integrated pressure-sensitive pen experience, courtesy of the new HTC Scribe technology. The feature will be used for note-taking and drawing. The tablet will be constructed out of HTC trademark aluminum unibody. It will be powered by a single-core 1.5GHz processor, and will feature 1GB RAM, coupled with 32GB of built-in storage (microSD slot is available). For photo and video taking the tablet biz will offer a 5MP main shooter, as well as a secondary 1.3MP front-facing cam for video chats. Powering all this goodness will be courtesy of a 4000mAh battery that is said to provide up to 4 hours of constant video playback.

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Amon_RA Recovery

Amon_RA custom recovery based on Cyanogen's recovery source with a lot of things added by me. The purpose of this recovery is to avoid using adb by accessing all features directly from the menu.

Google Nexus One v2.2.1

HTC Desire v2.0.0

HTC Dream/G1 v1.7.0

HTC Droid Eris v1.6.2

HTC EVO 4G v2.2.1

HTC Hero GSM v1.7.0.1

HTC Hero CDMA v1.6.2

HTC Magic/Sapphire/MT3G v1.7.0

HTC Tattoo v1.6.2

*All source links are from xda-developers forum*

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The 4G Forgery

T-Mobile does not have a 4G network. Sprint, which first launched WiMAX in June of 2009, does not have a 4G network. Verizon Wireless will flip the switch on LTE later this year and when it does, it will not have a 4G network. AT&T is taking its time with LTE and it won’t fire anything up until next year. When it finally does, AT&T will not have a 4G network.

“4G”, as we now use the term here in the United States, is marketing speak. Carriers have devalued it to the point where it simply doesn’t make sense to fight it anymore… but I’m going to anyway.

Though carriers aren’t going to like this, 4G actually does have a definition now. The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) took its sweet time issuing that definition, however, so carriers decided to dismiss the fact that the ITU is the body that defines these technical terms.

But as I mentioned, 4G is now defined.

We don’t need to get too deep into the technical definition of 4G. In this context, here’s what you need to know: for a service to qualify as 4G, it must deliver peak download speeds of approximately 100Mbps in high-mobility environments (cell phones) and peak download speeds of approximately 1Gbps in low-mobility environments. Current technologies such as WiMAX, LTE and HSPA+ certainly do not meet these criteria.

Of course carriers have known for a long time that once the ITU did finally define 4G, no current or near-term networks would fit the definition. But these telcos are making massive investments in building out and launching speedy new networks. How else can they relate these investments to the consumer?

“4G” is now simply a marketing term carriers use to distinguish new from old. They don’t care what new is, and they don’t care what old was. They just know what case studies have told them… people equate 4G with “fast”, so we’re calling our network 4G.

While T-Mobile is the latest carrier to fall under the microscope, it has just as much of a right to call HSPA+ “4G” as other carriers do to call WiMAX or LTE “4G”. WiMAX is faster than EVDO — 3G — so it is called 4G. HSPA+ (Evolved High-Speed Packet Access) is faster than T-Mobile’s older HSPA network — 3G — so it is called 4G.

What’s funny is that when T-Mobile finally does launch an LTE network, it could potentially use the same logic carriers use now and call it a 5G network. Yes, it would use the same technology as AT&T and Verizon Wireless’ 4G networks, but it would be 5G. This scenario sounds ridiculous — but it’s actually happening right now. AT&T has an HSPA+ network just like T-Mobile, but AT&T calls it 3G while T-Mobile calls it 4G.

Does any of this even matter? Carriers are simply using the term to distinguish new, faster networks from old, slower networks. What’s the big deal?

In the grand scheme of things, maybe it’s not a big deal. Maybe it also wouldn’t be a big deal if Honda started advertising the 4-cylinder engine in its base model Civic as a V5. Why not? It would just be branding its engine as a V5 to help customers distinguish between the older, slower 4-cylinder model and the newer, faster 4-cylinder model.

Eventually, false advertising lawsuits will start popping up with regards to “4G” but carriers are all in too deep now. Settling will be infinitely cheaper than rebranding. They’ve made their beds.

But the recurring argument surrounding the question “is this 4G?” should not continue. The answer is no longer open to debate. The ITU has defined 4G and no current or near-term networks in the U.S. fit the bill. There is no “4G”.

And so with that, I’ll leave you with the marketer’s mantra…

It’s not lies. It’s just marketing.

Cross posted from BGR by Zach Eptein

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Android 2.2 Can`t Match iOS 4 Features: 10 Reasons Why

1. Google isn’t so big on software

Google’s real plan with Android is to dominate the mobile advertising space. It fully realizes that the best way to achieve that goal is by doing whatever it can to capitalize on the desire for touch-screen smartphones with the help of Android. That’s precisely why Google offers its operating system for free. But due to that focus on eventual mobile advertising dominance, Google falls short compared to Apple on software design.

2. Apple understands consumers

Apple understands what consumers want and how they will use a particular product. That comes through in all the products the company sells, including its iOS platform. Google, on the other hand, doesn’t seem to understand consumers as well as it could. It’s certainly doing a better job than most companies, but it still has a long way to go to match Apple. In fact, Google’s consumer understanding seems to be more Microsoft-like than Apple-like. And that could be a problem — especially for its operating system—going forward.

3. Multitasking

Multitasking on iOS is a key reason why Apple has enjoyed such success in the mobile market as of late. For years, consumers were hoping for true multitasking. But for years, the company made no promises. But in iOS 4, multitasking is running on the iPhone. Because of that, Google has a long way to go to match anything Apple is currently offering.

4. Folders make it all OK

Apple’s iOS platform is better than Android 2.2 for several major reasons. But one of the minor things that consumers should think about is Apple’s operating system’s folder support. With little effort, consumers can quickly create folders, lump similar programs together, and more. It provides a rewarding experience. And it’s something that Google has a long way to go on in order to catch up.

5. Ease of use must come into play

In any evaluation between two operating systems, ease of use must play a role. After all, if a particular operating system is easier to use for the average consumer than another, it should get the nod. In this case, iOS 4 easily gets the nod. Apple’s operating system is simply easier to use. And it doesn’t suffer from the strange quirks that arise on Android due to vendors trying to tailor the user experience to their own products.

6. Responsiveness

One of the main issues with Android 2.2 is that the software doesn’t respond as effectively as it should to the user when compared to iOS. Does that mean there is a responsiveness issue with Android 2.2? Absolutely not. In fact, compared to other operating systems, it holds up quite well. But Apple’s platform is different. It’s just that iOS simply provides more responsiveness when users interact with it. It could be extremely difficult for Google to catch up anytime soon.

7. Too many variations

Because Android is an open platform, vendors that get their hands on the operating system can change it however they see fit. That openness creates an environment across the Android ecosystem that loses uniformity and provides variations of the Android operating system on different phones. The result is sometimes spotty performance that must be taken into account when evaluating differences between iOS and Android.

8. Apple’s App Store

Apple’s App Store is integral to the success of iOS 4. With hundreds of thousands of applications, Apple’s marketplace is the best place to find programs that appeal to both consumers and enterprise customers. Admittedly, Google’s Android Market has been growing at a rapid rate, but it has a long way to go to match Apple’s store.

9. iTunes integration

Whenever users pick up an iOS-based device, they can access iTunes from the product. That’s extremely important. It provides them with an end-to-end entertainment experience that isn’t so readily available on Android. After all, iTunes is the world’s top music store. If only Apple’s products have access to it, few could say Google’s offering can best Apple’s.

10. The tablet issue

Google has said that Android 2.2 is not designed for tablets. Apple doesn’t have that issue with iOS 4. Currently, iOS 3 is running on the iPad. But this month, Apple plans to offer iOS 4 integration with its tablet. When that happens, the company will prove that its operating system is the best choice for just about anyone trying to go mobile. Then the onus will be on Google to respond.

Cross posted from eWeek by Don Reisinger

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Canalys: Android grows 1,309% Q3 2009

Palo Alto, Singapore and Reading (UK) – Monday, 1 November 2010

In Q3 2010, the worldwide smart phone market grew an impressive 95% over the same quarter a year ago to 80.9 million shipped units. Nokia retained its leadership position, albeit by a diminished margin, with a 33% share of the market. Apple’s healthy performance this quarter saw it achieve a 17% share worldwide, a little ahead of RIM, which held a 15% share this quarter. In the world’s largest smart phone market, the US, Apple ousted RIM from the top spot, seizing a 26% share as iPhone shipments continued unabated. RIM has also launched its latest generation smart phone, the Torch, though it only saw half a quarter’s shipments in the US. But the plethora of smart phones running the Open Handset Alliance’s (OHA’s) Android platform meant that Canalys’ final published country-level data shows that it took the lead in the US market by operating system (OS), with a 44% share.

As well as the positive picture in the US, Canalys’ detailed country level smart phone research has consistently highlighted the importance of, and differences in, ‘emerging markets’. For example, in what are now being called the ‘BRIIC’ countries (Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia and mainland China), smart phone shipments increased by 112% year-on-year, faster than the market overall, and each country individually saw strong growth. Nokia was the leading vendor in all five BRIIC markets in Q3 2010, benefiting from its global reach and channel relationships. In India, for example, Nokia held a 65% share of the smart phone market, and grew its shipments 208% year-on-year to 1.1 million units. The combination of affordable smart phones and its Ovi suite, which offers e-mail and messaging, navigation and music services, continues to prove popular in India, with products such as 523x series of smart phones performing well.

Despite ongoing discussions with the Indian authorities over the monitoring of encrypted communications, RIM has also continued to grow its business in the country and held an 18% share of the market in Q3 2010, with volumes up 412%. ‘For RIM, aggressively priced BlackBerry smart phones, such as the Curve 8520, have helped drive volumes across emerging markets, aided by its engagement in substantial marketing activities. It remains the number one smart phone vendor in Latin America, where it holds nearly 40% of the market,’ said Chris Jones, Canalys Principal Analyst. ‘Where smart phone growth in mature Western markets has been driven by high-end products, in many emerging markets where disposable income is more constrained, growth is being driven by good-quality products that can attract mass-market volumes in the mid-tier of the market. To succeed in these markets, vendors need to offer smart phones that provide consumers with the same ability to engage with the locally relevant mobile applications and connected services that consumers want to use, but at a more locally accessible price.’

Once again this quarter, it was devices running the Android platform that proved the greatest driver of growth in the worldwide market, up 1,309% year-on-year from 1.4 million in Q3 2009 to more than 20.0 million units in Q3 2010, forming a quarter of the market share. ‘With Samsung, HTC, Motorola and Sony Ericsson all delivering large numbers of Android devices, and with focused efforts from many other vendors, such as LG, Huawei and Acer, yielding promising volumes, the platform continues to gather momentum in markets around the world,’ said Canalys Senior Analyst Pete Cunningham. ‘Android has been well received by the market and in some geographies it is becoming a sought-after consumer brand. It has rapidly become the platform to watch, and its growing volumes will help to entice developers, ensuring consumers have access to an increasingly rich and vibrant mobile content and application ecosystem. Vendors are now delivering Android devices across a broad range of price points, from high-end products such as the Samsung Galaxy S or HTC Desire, to aggressively priced devices such as the LG GT540 Optimus or the Huawei built Vodafone 845, ensuring that Android devices are available and affordable to consumers on almost any budget.’

Driven by Nokia, the Symbian Foundation retained its position as the leading smart phone OS vendor worldwide. Of the 56 named countries that Canalys tracks, it is still the number one OS vendor in 37 of them because of Nokia’s dominance, plus in Japan, where its position is supported by Fujitsu and Sharp. The Symbian Foundation has been in a recent state of flux, with a streamlining of the workforce and the departure of its Executive Director, Lee Williams, along with the withdrawal of support from Samsung and Sony Ericsson. But it still has continued backing from the Japanese vendors and dedication from Nokia to its ongoing development. The launch of Nokia’s new range of Symbian devices, particularly the N8, will give a boost to its holiday season shipments, and the outlook into 2011 remains positive as Nokia aims to push Symbian devices further into the mid-tier of the market to attract mass-market volumes. ‘There has been a lot of speculation about whether Nokia will adopt another platform, but that looks highly unlikely. Its current strategy is clear and makes sense,’ added Pete Cunningham. ‘But Nokia still lacks a truly high-end product to compete against the iPhone and leading Android devices. The market is moving quickly and Nokia urgently needs to deliver an exciting and genuinely differentiated, high-end flagship MeeGo device early next year to regain its reputation as an innovative technology leader, and to retain its leadership position in the market.’

Devices running Microsoft’s OS accounted for just 3% of worldwide smart phone shipments in Q3 2010, though with the launch of Windows Phone 7 devices, the outlook for the fourth quarter and beyond is significantly improved. ‘Windows Phone 7 is streets ahead of earlier iterations and provides a vastly improved user experience that will pleasantly surprise many people when they come to use it. The integration of Microsoft service assets, such as Xbox Live, Bing, Zune and Office, greatly strengthens the proposition and we are confident that the initial array of products will perform well,’ said Chris Jones. ‘But the big challenge will be for handset vendors to differentiate their devices sufficiently given the restrictions Microsoft has placed on customizing the user interface, and its relatively demanding minimum hardware requirements, which will confine devices to the higher end of the market. The market is also awaiting the platform’s availability in non-roman languages to support its expansion into important emerging markets. Failure to deliver this soon will restrict the volume opportunity.’

Canalys analysts in Asia Pacific, the Americas and EMEA are available for press interviews on topics related to mobile devices and the growing ecosystem for mobile applications and services. To arrange an interview, please send a request to press@canalys.com. Analyst biographies, with photos, are available here.

About the service

The shipment estimates discussed in this release come from the market-leading Canalys Smart Phone Analysis services. Canalys offers services looking at the markets by country in Asia Pacific, North and Latin America, and EMEA, as well as providing worldwide market overviews and analysis of consumer and enterprise end-user attitudes and preferences toward mobile applications, devices and services.

About Canalys

Canalys specializes in delivering high-quality market data, analysis and advice to the world’s leading technology vendors. It is recognized as a key provider of continuous advisory services and confidential custom projects for marketing managers and strategists within blue-chip IT, telecoms, navigation and consumer electronics companies. It has unrivalled expertise in routes to market for all kinds of high-technology products and services and provides worldwide market data and trends analysis. Canalys does not release preliminary, incomplete data and uses consistent definitions and methodologies to ensure total consistency across all of the market data that appears in its services. The company publishes its final market data every quarter for every country tracked simultaneously on the same day.

Cross posted from Canalys

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Nexus Two will feature 1.2 GHz CPU

WARNING: This post contains rumors and speculation from Android Insiders. If you do not want to know the likely specs of the Samsung “Nexus Two” then do not read this story and unplug from the Internets till November 8th (or is it the 11th). You have been warned – the goods are after the jump.

The Rumor

The Samsung “Nexus Two” phone will feature:

• Stock Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
• 1.2 GHz processor (don’t know which model)
• 4 inch AMOLED display (don’t know resolution)
• 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and HD video capture (don’t know about flash), front-facing camera (don’t know resolution)
• 512 MB RAM, 16 GB internal storage
• Support for multiple carriers (radios are unknown)
• All the usuals like WiFi, Bluetooth, 3.5 mm headset jack, etc.
• Outer casing is a mix of metal and plastic materials

I believe these specs are final, but sometimes things change between test units and those that ship to retail stores.

As we first reported it will be coming to multiple carriers, and we now have enough evidence to suggest T-Mobile is on-board. The “Nexus Two” will be sold unlocked, direct to consumers just like the first Nexus phone, but Google will test out the retail waters instead of limiting sales to just online.

The Source

After the last week of writing about this Samsung phone, I now have five separate sources who have confirmed this phone is real (including one who is testing it). If you still don’t believe me,Gizmodo’s Matt Buchanan also confirmed the phone as did PCMag’s Sascha Segan.

One Android Insider’s take on the rumor

Yesterday reminded me why I love blogging. I never thought a single topic could generate so much discussion or become a top trending topic on Twitter and I sincerely appreciate all the feedback.

I thoroughly enjoyed everyone trying to debunk the rumor, but this isn’t about who’s right or who’s wrong. This is about sharing the things I have dug up so that others can go out there and find even more information (example: Giz and PCMag).

Some people will continue to argue over the name or exact reveal date, but we all know this phone is real now. I’ve said several times that the product name is not “Nexus Two”, but I will keep using it when referring to this Google-experience phone until the actual name is announced by Samsung.

Others are also really stuck on the date and trying to use that to discredit the story, but does that really matter? My original source told me it was coming on November 8th (which I still believe), but someone else told me it would launch on November 11th. Either way, you will be able to get your hands on this phone soon.

It comes as no surprise that T-Mobile is on board for the 2nd Nexus phone. They were the first carrier to support the Nexus One and I’m glad to see them back for round two.

As for the specs, this is looking more and more like a turbo-charged Galaxy S. I believe there are still some surprises to be revealed, but as I said earlier it might not blow your socks off.

Isn’t it funny that people are already complaining about a 1.2 GHz processor when it will be the fastest available at launch? Maybe that’s my fault with all my excitement about Tegra 2 phones.

For everyone crying about plastic phones…really? Yes, the outer casing of Samsung’s Nexus phone will contain some plastic materials, but there will also be metal used too (like the back plate).

At the end of the day, I think an unlocked phone running the latest stock version of Android trumps another locked-down BlurSenseWhiz phone with newer hardware. That is the reason why the Android phones I have purchased with my own money include the G1, Nexus One, and G2.

Overall, I think you will be fairly impressed with the phone when it is officially announced. If you are not impressed with the hardware, just wait till you see everything Google packed into the software.

With as many test phones as there are out there, I expect we will have some pictures this weekend.

Cross posted from Android and Me

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the Nexus Two by Samsung

The Nexus Two is real. It's made by Samsung, and a friend of ours got to play with it. It's not going rock your face like the Nexus One did. But it will record it with a front-facing camera.

"When I first saw it from 10 feet away, I thought it was the Galaxy S," says our source, who got to handle one. "I was a little surprised it was the Nexus Two," because it's so different from the Nexus One.

It's black and shiny, built with glossy plastic. Up close, though, it's "got this curve to it." While the screen, which our source thinks is the same 4-inch AMOLED affair from the Galaxy series, is flat, the front is "sort of concave" with hard edges. And the back is curved. The tapering makes it feel thinner than Galaxy S, though it might be about the same thickness. "It feels really similar to the Galaxy S in a lot ways." (Note: Our mockup is very approximate.)

Externally, the main difference from all of the current Galaxy S variants in the US is that it's got a front-facing camera, and it's running a stock build of Android that was still "really buggy."

Update: Forgot about the Epic 4G, which has a front camera. Our source wasn't sure if the internals were any different. Google's supposedly trying to building video chat into Gingerbread, using the same protocol as Google Talk. So it makes sense that the flagship phone for the next year—the one that most Googlers will probably be developing on—comes with a front-facing camera, even if video chat doesn't quite make it into Gingerbread.

At first blush, it's a little disappointing that Google possibly isn't pushing things forward in the same way they did with the Nexus One, since it seems like the Nexus Two is a refreshed Galaxy phone. On the other hand, it says a lot that the Android ecosystem is so stocked with high-powered phones, from the Evo to the Droid X, that even Google won't radically jump ahead of its partners with a new flagship. Hopefully their plan for selling it is a little better.

Cross posted from Gizmodo

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Android Gingerbread, Next Nexus, Information And Speculation Round-Up

These last few days the Android blogosphere has been awash with excited spluttering, dubious rumours and hopeful conflation. Kicking things off was City A.M., a London-based free daily newspaper that specialises in financial news. According to an article on their website, Google had struck a deal with the popular phone retailer Carphone Warehouse. CPW were to sell Google’s next phone, the Nexus Two by any other name. Their position as a reseller of phones and contracts on most if not all networks in the UK and wider Europe makes them a logical choice, right? Nexus One sales online didn’t exactly break records, so it makes sense to try the next carrier-agnostic option.

Next up, we have GizmoFusion. Their source provided them with some photos of what they report as a Nexus One showing a status screen displaying Android 2.3 as the running OS. Interestingly, what is visible of the operating system does seem to confirm previous rumours floated by Phandroid: a dark notification bar in particular. While this is easily faked, it’s always nice to see one rumour sticking up for another.

This isn’t the only device connected to the next Android release. Way back in September, a furtive (and since deleted) tweet made waves in the Android community with the suggestion that the next Google phone would be made by Samsung. While the source of the tweet seemed like the reliable sort, no other evidence came to light to verify that it the message was indeed true. Until yesterday, that is. Mr Taylor "Fingers in many pies" Wimberly of Android And Me came forth with his own information regarding Samsung’s upcoming November 8th event. While it is widely expected that we will see the Samsung Continuum revealed here, Wimberly has his own take:

Google and Samsung will announce the “Nexus Two” at a press conference on November 8th in New York city. The phone will be the first device to ship with stock Gingerbread (Android 2.3) and it will be available soon on multiple carriers.

…

Imagine what would happen if Samsung focused on only the hardware and let Google takeover the software duties. That is exactly what you will get with the Nexus Two.

So does that mean the Continuum will ship with stock Gingerbread? It sure didn’t look like it in the photos we saw last month, and there’s also that Verizon branding. If Taylor’s assertion is true, and he mentions multiple sources, then we may see two if not more new Android devices from Samsung in a week’s time.

Interestingly, Scotty Brown of Radio Android also chimed in with his own exclusive rumour. According to Brown:

Last night on The Android Show we had a random anonymous tipster touch base with us when we were talking about the November 8th Samsung event being held in New York.

…

The anonymous tipster dropped this on us:

• The device will be the Nexus S
• It will be branded as a Google experience device featuring Android 2.3
• It will have the same 4″ SAMOLED screen seen on the Galaxy S devices
• It will feature the same Hummingbird processor from the Galaxy S handsets
• It will be easily rootable like the Nexus One was
• It will be at least GSM, unknown about carrier or CDMA
• It will have no hard buttons on the face, similar to a Vibrant

This certainly seems to corroborate the story on Android And Me, and makes the pile of evidence pointing towards a Samsung-Google device now very difficult to dismiss. As with Taylor Wimberly, Scotty Brown’s source is said to be very reliable, so it sounds like this is all going to come true rather shortly.

There is no question that the Galaxy S family is more powerful hardware than the Nexus One. However, even with that awesome SGX540 GPU and Hummingbird processor, it seems a bit feeble to be a true successor to what was a revolutionary hardware spec at the time. This might explain the "Nexus S" naming, as it is more a stop-gap device for the 2.3 release as we wait for the real overhaul with 3.0.

So what do you think? Is the notion of a Samsung powerhouse running stock Android enough to woo you? With Samsung’s NYC event only 11 days away, you might not have long to wait.

Source: Android Police, City A.M., GizmoFusion, AndroidAndMe, Radio Android

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Is this the Android-powered PlayStation Phone?

It's hard to believe that what we're looking at is real -- but we assure you, the picture above is in fact the PlayStation Phone you've long been waiting for. As we reported back in August (below), the device you see is headed into the market soon, likely boasting Android 3.0 2.3 (aka Gingerbread), along with a custom Sony Marketplace which will allow you to purchase and download games designed for the new platform. The device snapped up top (and in our gallery below) is sporting a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8655 (a chip similar to the one found in the G2, but 200MHz faster), 512MB of RAM, 1GB of ROM, and the screen is in the range of 3.7 to 4.1 inches. Looking almost identical to the mockup we hit you with this summer, the handset does indeed have a long touchpad in the center which is apparently multitouch, and you can see in the photos that it's still bearing those familiar PlayStation shoulder buttons. For Sony buffs, you'll be interested to know that there's no Memory Stick slot here, but there is support for microSD cards.

The particular model in these shots is still in prototyping mode. As such, the unit doesn't have a custom skin (not even SE's Timescape design seen on the Xperia devices), and is said to be rather buggy. We're digging into more facts as we speak, but it's likely that much of what we reported earlier is still accurate, and though the device could still be headed for a 2010 release, 2011 is looking much more realistic. Still, there's a lot of time between now and the holidays... so keep your fingers crossed!

August report:

There's no question that gaming on the Android platform has heretofore been relatively underwhelming, but that looks like it's all about to change. It seems that Sony Ericsson -- a company that has yet to even introduce an Android 2.0 device -- is at work on a project to redefine gaming on Google's mobile platform. We now know (via a trusted source) that the company is actively and heavily developing a brand new gaming platform, ecosystem, and device (possibly alongside Google) which are already in the late stages of planning. And we've got the goods on it.

Here's what we can tell you about the hardware: if you're a gaming fan, this is exactly the kind of phone you've been waiting for. The device is described as cross between the Samsung Captivate and the PSP Go-- in other words, it's a landscape slider with game controls in place of the typical QWERTY keyboard. The D-pad is here, but instead of the small joystick, the device will have what was described as a "long touch pad" for analog controls, along with standard PSP buttons and shoulder buttons. The phone has a large display, described as being between 3.7 and 4.1 inches with WVGA or better resolution, a 5 megapixel camera that we're told might not be final, and it'll likely have a 1GHz Snapdragon CPU on board. The phone is mostly black with some silver highlights, and the gamepad area is white / silver in color. Apparently it's currently branded as a Xperia device, but it looks like it will carry PlayStation branding as well. Those who've seen the phone say it looks "pretty damn sexy." The mockup above probably doesn't do the actual hardware justice, but it should give you an idea of what you'll be dealing with.

On the software side, it looks like the device will be running Gingerbread (Android 3.0) with a phone-specific skin, and there will be a new area of the Android Market specifically for the games. That content will be initially accessible only by the halo device, but from the sounds of things, these titles might be made available to other Android phones if their specs and button layouts meet requirements. Games will be graphically in the range of PSX or PSP games, meaning true 3D gaming is headed to Android. Titles currently being shown off seem to be focused around some older PSX as well as new PSP offerings, with God of War, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, and LittleBigPlanet possibly on tap, and future plans for titles which incorporate augmented reality features.

In terms of release, it's possible that the phone and ecosystem could be introduced as early as October of this year, but we have yet to confirm.

Right now we're working on getting even more detail about the phone and partnership, but we can tell you now that this is not a random rumor -- we have reason to believe that what we've heard and seen is real and coming to market. It makes perfect sense in a way -- Google gets a much-needed push into the gaming and entertainment space for Android, while Sony (via its partnership with Ericsson) finally delivers the PlayStation phone users have been wanting. We see it as a major win for both companies and the consumer... and we always need another distraction. Stay tuned to this space for updates as we get them, and in the meantime, start socking away the pennies.

Sources: Engadget October, August, Gallery

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Android-powered B&N Nook Color unveiled

NOOKcolor, built on Android, is a full-color touch device dedicated to reading that opens up a whole new world of digital reading materials. NOOKcolor provides access to the largest ebookstore with an unprecedented selection of over two million digital titles—all just a single search away. Plus, digital content – from bestsellers to favorite magazines in full color, and interactive children’s picture books to enhanced cookbooks – has never looked better than on NOOKcolor’s stunning 7-inch VividView Color Touchscreen.

This newest addition to the NOOK device family was designed for people who love to read every kind of content imaginable – and features 8GB of space, plus expandable memory, to store it all. NOOKcolor enables quick and easy shopping and downloads in seconds over Wi-Fi. It’s also the most social reading device ever built – with B&N's new NOOKfriends technology, you're only touches away from sharing with friends via Facebook, Twitter, and Google.

The NOOKcolor Advantage

• Shop over two million titles: NOOKColor provides access to the most expansive digital catalog available so you can browse more than two million books, enhanced books, newspapers and magazines, hundreds of engaging children’s books, and other interactive content in a single search. Find classics, new releases and bestsellers, including 194 of 205 current New York Times Bestsellers. Sample NOOKbook titles for free and download all content wirelessly in seconds. Since the launch of PubIt!, we’ve also added thousands of titles from independent and self publishers.

• NOOKnewsstand -- Periodicals in vivid color: From The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times and USA TODAY to Rolling Stone, Esquire, US Weekly, National Geographic, Martha Stewart Living, Cosmopolitan and Elle, you’ll find an impressive and growing list of the best daily, weekly and monthly periodicals, all optimized for NOOKcolor. Magazine reading is easy and engaging with full-color pages displayed through our exclusive ArticleView that puts the focus on the content, customized to your favorite reading style. Periodicals, available by subscription and single copy, will continue to become even more interactive in the coming months.

• NOOK kids experience: For the first time ever, enjoy the largest collection of children’s picture and chapter books in an engaging digital form through the new NOOK kids offering. Through our exclusive AliveTouch technology, your child can interact with words and pictures, easily find a favorite story, and even have it read aloud to them. Enjoy a broad and growing selection of more than 130 digital picture books – an unprecedented offering that will double before year’s end – and nearly 12,000 chapter books for children, plus exciting enhancements coming soon. Learn more at www.NOOKkids.com.

• Enhanced and engaging titles: Coming soon, NOOKcolor customers will also enjoy a growing collection of multimedia titles offering instructive video and audio to learn about travel, cooking, music and more.

• Great reads, great prices: The vast majority of titles in the Barnes & Noble NOOKbookstore are $9.99 or less, including most current New York Times Bestsellers. In any Barnes & Noble store, read NOOKbooks for free through the company’s innovative Read In Store program. On any given day, peruse as many books as you wish, for one hour per title. And enjoy more than one million free classics and even more free reading by checking out additional titles from public libraries.

eReading Gets (More) Social

NOOKcolor makes it simple and reflexive to get social about reading. In another industry first for Barnes & Noble, the new LendMe App enables NOOKcolor users to view LendMe books in their friends’ NOOKcolor digital libraries and request to borrow a title they’ve been meaning to read. Customers have the ability to easily lend their favorite NOOKbooks with friends through Facebook and email, even using their imported Google Gmail contacts, and recommend a title, share reading status or a quote via Facebook, Twitter and email.

Your Reading Experience, Your Way

We recognize the uniquely personal nature of reading and designed NOOKcolor to be flexible and highly customizable, so each customer can truly make it her own.

• Simply more than a touch of fun: Everything you want to do is simple and intuitive. Shopping for new content, finding and reading titles in your library and customizing the way you view your content are all a touch or two away. With a simple tap of the screen or swipe left or right, book pages turn in a flash.

• Personalized reading experience: Experience the flexibility and fun of completely customizing your reading experience. Choose what titles will appear on your home page and Daily Shelf, organize and view your library your way, find the right text type, size and color theme that’s right for you, and read in portrait or landscape.

• All your content at your fingertips: Your entire library is always a touch away with 8GB of memory. That’s approximately 6,000 NOOKbooks or a combination that might include 1,000 books, 25 full-color magazines, 10 newspapers, 50 kids’ books, 500 songs and 150 photos. Plus, NOOKcolor has expandable memory using a microSD card. And with Barnes & Noble’s Lifetime Library, existing customers of NOOK products and software-enabled devices will instantly be able to access their personal Barnes & Noble digital libraries on NOOKcolor. With this digital library advantage, Barnes & Noble ensures that your content always goes wherever you go and is always protected and accessible on a variety of devices, as well as BN.com.

• NOOKbook Personal Shopping: Barnes & Noble offers exclusive, personalized book recommendations from its expert booksellers, based on the genres, authors and subjects you like.

• Continuous reading experience: Read NOOKbooks seamlessly across your NOOKcolor, NOOK 3G and Wi-Fi(following a NOOK firmware update in late November), third-party eBook Readers powered by the Barnes & Noble NOOKbookstore, and your favorite mobile and computing devices enabled with our free NOOK apps. These include iPad, iPhone, iPod touch, Android smartphones, and Windows-based PCs, laptops or netbooks. NOOKColor syncs last page read, highlights, notes and bookmarks. For more information on our free NOOK eReading apps, please visit www.bn.com/NOOKapps.

• View your personal files: Transfer and view personal PDF and ePub files to NOOKcolor, as well as JPG, PNG, GIF and BMP files, and use personal photos for wallpaper. With Quickoffice software, view Microsoft Office files including Word, Excel and PowerPoint.

• Punctuate your style: Read in style with a full line of exclusive NOOKcolor accessories from Barnes & Noble, including covers with rich Italian leathers, European broad cloth and more from leading designers kate spade new york, JACK SPADE and Jonathan Adler coming soon.

Attractive Design & Features

To create the most exquisitely designed dedicated eReading device on the market, we worked with award-winning industrial designer Yves Behar at fuseproject. NOOKcolor’s elegantly simple design in classic graphite features an angled lower corner that evokes a turned page, along with a beaded border and lustrous, soft-touch back that make holding the device extremely comfortable. No other full-color touch reading device is thinner or more beautiful.

• VividView Color Touchscreen: NOOKColor features a best-in-class 7-inch color touch display like nothing you’ve ever seen before, particularly on a dedicated reading device. The screen displays 16 million colors and offers a wide viewing angle for personal or shared reading. The special design provides enhanced color tuning, gradation and reduction of glare to minimize distracting reflections.

• Wi-Fi connectivity: Easily connect to personal and public Wi-Fi hotspots as well as free Wi-Fi in Barnes & Noble stores to shop the B&N NOOKbookstore and download content in seconds, surf the Web, stream music and more.

• Lightweight and portable: The compact device fits easily into your purse, jacket or bag at 8.1 inches (height) by 5 inches (width) by 0.48 inches (depth) and weighs just 15.8 ounces.

And Even More Extras

NOOKcolor offers many extras with fun and useful additions to the reading experience.

• Game on: Enjoy fun and free games, including crossword puzzles, Sudoku, chess and many more to come

• Listen to music while reading: Stream tunes from your favorite artists over Wi-Fi with Pandora internet radio’s free, personalized music service. And load your MP3 and AAC songs to enjoy music while reading anywhere using the built in 3.5mm headphone jack or speakers.

• Surf the Web: Over Wi-Fi, use a full browser to visit your favorite Web sites and check email, and more.

• Fun and free in-store features: In Barnes & Noble stores, connect to free Wi-Fi to browse and read the content of complete NOOKbooks for free through Read In Store, which features enhanced performance for NOOKcolor, including instantaneous page turns. And download exclusive content from bestselling authors and enjoy special promotions and discounts through the More In Store program.

• More extras coming: Get ready to discover more engaging content and applications in the coming months. We invite content providers and application developers to create innovative reading-centric experiences through the just-announced NOOKdeveloper program. More information is available at www.NOOKdeveloper.com.

NOOKColor Availability

NOOKcolor is available for pre-order for $249 and is expected to begin shipping on or about November 19, making it the perfect holiday gift for people who love to read everything. Experience NOOKcolor today atwww.NOOKcolor.com or at the NOOK Boutiques and displays in one of Barnes & Noble’s more than 700 bookstores beginning in late November. Barnes & Noble’s 45,000 knowledgeable booksellers will provide walkthroughs of the entire family of NOOK eReading products and free software. NOOKcolor, along with NOOK 3G and NOOK Wi-Fi, will also be available at Best Buy, www.bestbuy.com, Walmart andwww.walmart.com, and Books-A-Million in late November.

The future of reading is now!

Source: Barnes & Noble | Hands-on: Engadget

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Google Nexus Two is coming this Christmas?

THE SECOND Google-branded mobile phone will hit the UK in time for Christmas through an exclusive deal with Carphone Warehouse, City A.M. has learned.

Its predecessor, the Nexus One, is the flagship device for the search giant, which is desperately trying to wrest market share from Apple’s iPhone.

The deal with Carphone represents a major rethink of Google’s sales strategy, with the Nexus One released exclusively in the UK through Vodafone.

An industry source said: “It looks like Google is experimenting with the future of its mobile model in the UK. It tried releasing through a single carrier, now it is trying a single retailer.

“It could be a solution to the problems it experienced when it tried to sell the Nexus One exclusively through its website. People like to be able to go to a store – this solves that.”

The Nexus One, built by HTC, failed to make a splash when it was released earlier this year, although Google’s Android software is now growing faster than phones powered by Apple or RIM.

The phone – dubbed the Nexus Two – is expected to run the new version of Android, codenamed Gingerbread. It is not yet clear who will manufacture it, although rumours surrounding a Samsung model are believed to be untrue. Both Google and Carphone declined to comment.

Source: City AM, AndroidSPIN

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Android wins the USA election!

Oh I bet you didn’t know that devices such as these got to vote this electoral season, did you? They don’t get to vote on humans, don’t worry, and technically it isn’t them voting, it’s their users, and they’re getting voted on, not representatives for them. Retrevo, master of census taking in strange places, recently had a vote across the whole 50 nifty United States and found that of the three: Android, Blackberry, and iPhone, the victor was none other than our friend the robot.

This election was run in a way very similar to that of our presidential election for example, with both so many votes per state and an electoral college. The difference is, people cast their votes by telling the truth about which phones they owned. Gadgetoral votes were calculated based on ownership of each smartphone per capita across the country, while each state was granted a 3 vote minimum as per the real electoral college. State counts were created based on the difference per capita ownership between individual states and the the national average.

This entire vote was conducted Match 2010 through July 2010 online and consists of responses given by Retrevo users without restriction of gender or age. Location was taken in to consideration, and all votes were given an amazingly generous 95% confidence level with a confidence interval of +/- 4%. So basically it would have been even more amazing if they’d taken sale reports instead of asking users to tell the truth, but hey! This way’s much more fun.

via Android Community via Retrovo

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Yahoo Messenger With Video Calling Ripped Out Of The Leaked MyTouch ROM, Works Great Over WiFi And 3G – Download It Now

A few days ago, Yahoo rolled out a version of the Yahoo Messenger for iOS that supported video chat and promised the same on Android shortly. Of course, we can’t wait for "shortly" – that’s entirely too long. Remember the Glacier/MyTouch ROM leak from yesterday? Turns out, it contains a full version of the Yahoo Messenger app, including video calling. Ripped out by the brave xda member matthewjulian, the app is available for download immediately (see below).

Hands-On

I installed the new app on my EVO 4G without a hitch and tested video calling with a PC version of Yahoo Messenger 10 on my Windows machine. The video call connected instantly and with no problems. Mind you, I tried both WiFi and 3G and had the same positive experience.

The app lets you switch between the front-facing and rear cameras with a press of the Flip button, and you can put the caller on hold by pressing Hold. The video of yourself shows up in a small rectangle on the bottom right, with the rest of the space occupied by the other party. Unfortunately, I don’t have a camera connected to my PC, so the video was only going one way.

The top 3 screenshots showcase the Yahoo Messenger Android app, while the last one shows what I was seeing on my PC. Interestingly enough, the video coming out of the 1.3MP front-facing camera was sharper than what I was seeing from the rear 8MP one. Either way, it was pretty highly compressed – Yahoo clearly went for speed and lack of lag at the expense of quality. Turning on WiFi didn’t change the quality – it was still pretty washed out.

Download

The Yahoo Messenger Android app actually consists of 2 parts: the app itself and the video add-on.

If you have an xda account, you can download everything from the original forum thread; otherwise feel free to use Android Police mirrors below:

• Yahoo_im.apk (1.47 MB)
• Yahoo_imvideo.apk (5.33 MB)

Source: Android Police via xda via simms22

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First Android Gingerbread Details

We’ve heard countless reports that it’s out there. We know it’s still in development and we know some Googlers have it loaded onto their Nexus Ones. I’m talking about the Android Gingerbread update, of course, and we can finally bring you the first details regarding the next iteration courtesy of our trusted source close to Google. The biggest change – outside of built-in video chat support (more on that later) – that many have been wondering about has been a possible graphical overhaul. The acquisition of ex-Palm user interface expert Matias Duarte – the guy that designed the still-pretty webOS – implied that Google would be looking to pretty Android up against criticism that it was noticably “uglier” than the competition (they may have an argument up against iOS, but I don’t think Symbian, Windows Mobile (6.5) and Blackberry OS are any prettier. No offense to those respective design teams.)

Regardless of what we think, though, Google’s set out to change the face of Android and they’ve started quite subtly. To start, most of the standard icons have gotten redesigned for a simpler and cleaner look. The Android debugging icon, for instance, now takes on a more 8-bit feel and doesn’t stand out like a sore thumb as it used to. Google’s really gone back to the easel in this area, apparently. It sounds miniscule when you think about it now, but you’ll really notice it after using Gingerbread for a while and notice that everything’s just easier on your eyes. The icons also look like they were all designed by the same person, and I’m betting they were. This not only makes for a cleaner looking Android, but makes for a more uniform Android.

The snapshot of this thing in the wild is as blurry as blurry can get, but we’re working on getting more. At first glance, the graphical changes will be especially noticeable on the notification bar. They’ve gone from the milky/egg-white look of the Android of current to a warm, slate grey (reminiscent of the taskbar on devices with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI.) Everything looks pretty familiar upon pulling the notification bar down, but the carrier branding is displayed a lot more prominently compared to before. Beyond that, it’s pretty apparent that Google’s embracing “green” as the color of choice for Android, just as we’d expect they’d want to. (The mascot and logo are green, why not bits of the OS?) As they bring more green in, they haven’t completely done away with the orange we’re all used to. Depending on what’s being displayed, you’ll still see that warm color roaming about.

Looking at the homescreen, things are fundamentally the same. (We expect that, of course. Widgets have become a huge part of the Android experience and it’d be foolish to do anything to compromise that angle.) Looking at it, though, we’re greeted with more of the green highlights at the bottom of the screen. The application drawer button remains the same, but the Browser and Dialer buttons go from a quiet gray to a standout lime. There isn’t much else to talk about here, but anything could be added between now and the time Google’s ready to build the final version of this gingery house.

From what we’ve heard from our source, one of Google’s goals this time around is to work on the look and feel of individual Google apps to make them seem like more of an extension of the OS than just a tacked on accessory. The YouTube app is among the few to get this treatment. They’ve reportedly reshuffled elements and sections throughout the app and made sure it was as visually appealing as the rest of the apps featured in the newest version. YouTube (which will finally get stepped up to version 2.x) will also add the ability to control the fairly new “Lean Back” version of their site that launches the video-driven social network in a full-screen continous play mode. An ideal use-case sees the user controlling Lean Back on the newly-launched Google TV right from their phone. We’re trying to get more screens and details on how this will work, but we’ll just have to use our imagination for now.

Graphical changes continue where Google’s added the “bouncy” effect that you see on iOS devices and on TouchWiz 3.0 devices when traversing lists. When you reach the top or bottom of a list via kinetic scrolling, it’ll bounce off of the edge and initiate an orange glow at that edge. The best way to visualize the effect is to picture a force field in a Sci-Fi movie absorbing shock and emitting a nice glow that translates to “nuh-uh, you can’t touch this.” It sounds like a lot of this wouldn’t do well to help overall system performance, but we hear that – despite all of the eye candy – things actually feel smoother than on Froyo and earlier. It’s long been rumored that Google would be implementing hardware acceleration (what makes iOS smoother despite similarities in hardware against high-end Androids) in future versions of Android, and while we can’t confirm that at this point, it sounds like that just might be the case with Gingerbread. Other subtle visual changes include a style change in radio buttons and checkmarks. They’re bigger, cleaner, greener, and more beautiful. Nothing to get excited over, but even the smallest pieces contribute to a beautifully-finished puzzle. For what it’s worth, we’re told Gingerbread will eventually end up with a user interface that’s more like Sense than anything. (We believe they mean by how much will be different compared to what we now know and love as the stock Android experience.)

It’s not all about the visuals, though, because Google’s working to add even more functionality at the core of Android. Perhaps the biggest addition (that we can confirm so far) has been support for video chat using the same protocols that powers video chat on the desktop version of Google Talk. We’ve heard this rumor before, but our source is confident that this will be up and running by the time Gingerbread hits the net. Building upon that, we’ve also learned that Google’s adding SIP support in their Google Voice application to allow you to receive calls to your Google Voice number over WiFi and cellular data. For those who use Android devices without a voice plan, this means you can still use your phone as a phone as long as you’re near a WiFi connection. Nothing groundbreaking considering there are many VoIP options in the market currently, but it’s notable that Google’s adding this support natively. We’ve heard that the actual updated Voice application might not be ready for Gingerbread’s release, but the underlying framework has already been checked in. Unfortunately, it sounds like this’ll be a Gingerbread-exclusive feature so you Google Voice fans on Froyo and earlier (everyone, as of now) shouldn’t get too excited just yet.

So the ingredients are still being thrown into the bowl, but it hasn’t all been baked up yet. Still, it sounds like Gingerbread is coming along nicely and is everything it was rumored to be, and more. We’re digging for more information and evidence – including video of some sort – so stayed tuned to Phandroid as we head a bit deeper into development. (An announcement and release for Gingerbread was originally scheduled for Q4 2010, but might not rear its head until Q1 2011. The verdict is still out on all of that.)

PS: Remember that these are just early details of what we can confirm will be a part of Gingerbread. There may very well be more, but for now we can’t confirm that (and as it stands, all of it is rumored until otherwise officially announced.) With that in mind, sound off below!

by Quentyn Kennemer via phandroid

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Android vs. Apple (Part Two)

In my first piece I have acknowledged the incredible competition between Apple and Google and gave ample credit to both as the two dominant forces in the mobile industry. I am not writing this to degrade Apple in any shape, form, or fashion. I am however giving you my opinion of why I think Google will soon be the leading force with the facts that are present at this time.

First and foremost! How many other smartphone manufacturers are using iOS in its complete state, like the one running on today’s iPhones or iPads? None! Does Apple allow anyone else to use their platform in its entirety? NO! You might be saying why do they need to, they sell more smartphones than anyone on the planet, so why should they? I don’t necessarily agree that they have to, at least not yet, but will they need to possibly rethink this sometime down the road? The numbers speak for themselves.

Which brings me to my first point. There’s good reason why people are flocking in groves to get their hands on a new Android device. It is readily available from many different manufacturers, it’s just as solid as iOS, it comes with variety, options, and customization. Need proof? Check out the graph below composed by Nielsen which clearly shows Android is the most popular operating system among people who have purchased a smartphone in the past six months.

Secondly, Google does not get in a pissing contest with a company that it supports on one device and spurns on another with the same basic platform. Adobe ring any bells? How can you support Flash on a Mac, but not on an iPhone or iPad? Tell me how that does not send two different messages to the consumer. Not to mention if you go to an Apple store no one can tell you why. They have been scripted to say it’s because of battery life, and if you’re buying that I have some ocean front property in Arizona I can sell you. This kind of business practice is precisely why I believe Android will continue to gather up more of Apple’s marketshare.

Moving on to the exclusivity deal made with AT&T leaving the consumer with no other options or choices. This topic isn’t even debatable on any front. If you argue this point, you’re simply doing so for the sake of an argument. The Android platform is not only available to all four major US carriers but to every small carrier as well, and even around the globe. Not to mention, they have chosen one of the poorest service providers in terms of connectivity and data in the US, magnifying the matter even more.

Lastly, let’s talk app development! Apple has way more in their App Store than Android does in its Market, but that’s changing. With Adobe Air right around the corner, be prepared to see Android’s market close the gap even further. Developers will have the ability to share apps across differentplatforms without changing much code or any for that matter. So with all the great games already developed on iOS, migration to Android will be almost instant, filling their Market shelves with an abundance of new apps bringing their grand total so much closer to Apple’s. We then should get a pretty good picture of what platform developers will be opting for when choosing to create their next developments.

Let me reiterate this point! I love Apple, I really do, but their constraints imposed on the consumer are not necessary and are a detriment to a wonderful product. On the other hand you have Android and its open nature which is like a wild flower in full bloom during spring, the antithesis to their rival, listening to the pleas of the consumer and giving them all they desire and more. Competition is healthy, necessary, and the driving force behind future development and growth. I simply believe Apple stunts its own growth at times for whatever reason and in doing so, it is allowing for another great capable company to unseat it, becoming the new dominating force in the Tech Industry!

Androids numbers are growing daily and that is not an opinion, it’s a well known fact. It is only a matter of time before they catch and surpass Apple with its iOS platform. Simply put, we are the beneficiaries of the two pushing each other, learning from one another, culminating into somewhat of a dividend being paid out to each of us, not monetarily, but in technological advances reaching us through their devices.

Article Source: Android SPIN :: Graph Source: Nielsen

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Android vs. Apple (Part One)

Baseball, Apple (Cupertino’s slice of the pie) and Chevrolet. Three staples in America symbolizing long held traditions entrenched in our nation’s culture. Two of the three have endured some turbulence over the years, from “Juicing”, to an outright government takeover, while the other has reaped tremendous profits from seeds sown long ago.

As with everything in life, times are forever changing and with such a frantic pace, if you’re not trying to board the next plane while mid-flight, you simply won’t stand a chance of remaining competitive in a here today, gone tomorrow world.

Finally someone smarter than I in Cupertino is beginning to take notice of a very large fish in what is becoming a very small pool of water. That mechanical fish, better known as Android, is in the midst of a feeding frenzy with an appetite for destruction. I was beginning to wonder, knowing full well I’m certainly not the sharpest tool in the shed, but even so, I don’t need a pair of Google Goggles to see the writing on the wall.

All that closed source nonsense that Apple is so arrogantly the proprietor of has taken note of open source Android and its ever growing market share. A direct reflection of the freedom and lack of constraints it ceases to impose is in stark opposition to Apple’s current policies.

Apple is slowly opening its doors in various ways showing signs of an adaptive nature, and taking on the idiom, “If you can’t beat them, then join them.” Apple is to Android what Ali was to Frazier, Arnold Palmer to Jack Nicklaus, Bjorn Borg to John McEnroe. Rivalries forever etched in our minds, pushing one another to the breaking point while giving us timeless memories in their unbelievable achievements.

The tech industry is in the middle of one of these epic battles, pitting the two behemoths against one another in an arena that is filled with satiated techies. As these two confront one another mano a mano, laying all their efforts, advancements, and engineering wonders on the line, we are left speculating as to who will be the last Titan standing.

The crazy thing is, these two are battling it out for us! Yes us, the consumer! Sure their pockets are being lined with more cash than Warren Buffett and Bill Gates have in their personal piggy banks, but look at what we are getting in return. Upper echelon smartphones and tablets that were once only affordable for the Sultan of Brunei, are now available to the masses.

We have Apple, the Pioneers and Trailblazers of our time to thank for products such as the iPod, iPad, and the iPhone. Without their innovation we quite possibly might not even have an Android. In the same breath, we have Google to thank for having the moxie to stand up fearlessly to a formidable opponent giving life to Android enabling it to reach new plateaus that are seemingly out of anyone’s grasp. It’s time for Apple to move over, there is a new Big Man on Campus and they are showing the former champ how to get it done.

It’s either OPEN SOURCE or CLOSED DOORS!

Part Two: Evidence

Source: AndroidSPIN

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Rooting Explained + Top 5 Benefits Of Rooting Your Android Phone

In this article, I will discuss all kinds of aspects of rooting your Android phone and the benefits that come with it.

Maybe you’ve heard about "rooting" a phone from a friend or read about it somewhere on the Internet. Maybe you even *kind of* know what it is but aren’t sure what you can do with it. Or maybe you are already running a rooted phone and looking for more ways you can utilize it. Whatever the case may be, this article is for you.

What Is Rooting?

First, for the newbies, let me clarify what rooting is. Getting root or rooting your phone is the process of modifying the operating system on your device to grant you complete control over it.

This means you can overcome limitations that the carriers and manufacturers put on your phone, extend system functionality, and even upgrade it to a custom flavor of Android.

The name root comes from the Linux operating system world, where the most privileged user on the system (otherwise known as Administrator on Windows) is called root.

Now, I’d like to take a moment to dispel a common misconception and clarify one thing: rooting does *not* mean installing a custom ROM (a ROM is a modified, "aftermarket" OS).

Installing a ROM may require rooting first, but just rooting can be done in only a few minutes, keeping your stock OS otherwise completely intact.

Usually rooting is fairly simple – in most cases you can find several videos and articles on the web that explain how to do it on your specific phone model – just Google "YOURPHONEMODEL root".

Rooting is not something manufacturers or carriers approve of but they can’t really prevent it from happening because the rooting process usually exploits a vulnerability in the operating system code or device drivers and allows the "hacker" to upload a special program called "su" to the phone. This program, not present or requiring a password by default, is the one that provides root access toprograms that request it.

Now an obligatory warning: rooting your phone does run the risk of potentially bricking it (i.e. your phone could become nonfunctional) – so do your homework before attempting anything, unless you’re a fan of $500 paper weights.

Benefits Of Rooting

Let’s check out some of the benefits of rooting your Android phone.

Full Control Over Android

You have access to alter any system files, use themes, change boot images, delete annoying stock apps, such as Sprint’s NFL Mobile live and Nascar Sprint Cup Mobile, and other various native applications that might drive you crazy (Footprints, Voice Dialer, etc).

There is plenty of information on the web on how to accomplish this. Here is one example with instructions and some apps you can remove safely.

Back Up The System

On most rooted Android devices, you can back up your entire system to an SD card, much in the same way you can image a hard drive. This is great if you’d like to try a new ROM, as you can back up your phone, wipe it completely, flash the new ROM, and if you don’t like it, you can just restore from your backup and your phone will be exactly how it was before you wiped it.

The easiest way to do this at the moment is by using ‘Rom Manager’ (easily installable from the Android Market), developed by famed Android developer Koush.

Rom Manager allows you to easily flash a custom recovery image which is what you will need in order to backup and restore your phone. The recovery image is a special program that can be booted into outside of the phone’s main operating system, sort of like the BIOS on a PC. By default, the recovery image on most Android phones only gives you a few options, mainly related to wiping the phone. Custom recovery images expand upon these options and usually include scripts that can do things like fix your file permissions, or allow you to flash custom ROM’s that the normal recovery image would otherwise reject.

Normally, flashing a custom recovery image requires some command line work, either on your PC, or on a terminal emulator directly on the phone, but Koush’s Rom Manager should automatically flash his custom recovery image (known as ClockworkMod Recovery) for you, provided you’re on one of the phones listed below.

In order to use Rom Manager, you’ll need to make sure you’re using one of the supported devices, and that it is already rooted. Here is the list, as of today:

• HTC Droid Eris (CDMA), AKA: Verizon Droid Eris
• HTC Hero (GSM)
• HTC Hero (CDMA), AKA: Sprint Hero
• HTC Dream, AKA: T-Mobile G1
• HTC Passion, AKA: Google Nexus One
• HTC Magic (Sapphire 32A)
• HTC MyTouch/Ion (Sapphire 32B)
• Motorola Droid/Milestone

Using Rom Manager is pretty simple. Download and install the application from the market, fire it up, and you’ll be prompted with a disclaimer. If you’re feeling brave, go ahead and hit continue. You’ll be prompted to allow the application superuser permissions during this process – make sure you allow it access.

The first thing you’ll need to do is flash the ClockworkMod recovery image that I mentioned earlier, which can be done right in the app (it’s the first option). Rom Manager should automatically find the latest version of the right image for your phone, download, and install it – the whole process is seamless.

After that is done, you can simply use the ‘Manage and Restore Backups’, and ‘Backup current ROM’ options to, well, backup your current ROM or restore from an existing backup. It’s that simple!

At Android Police, we always encourage supporting developers, so please check out Rom Manager Premium if you enjoyed the free version!

Save Space On Your Phone

Move cache data to SD card
Moving cache data makes for a speedy system. Rooting allows you to save things like browser cache to your SD card to free up space. Its not too complicated a process, but does take a bit of skill. XDA Developer’s have instructions posted on their forum if you want to tackle the task, it is definitely worth it.

Move installed applications to SD card
Moving and storing apps on internal memory can significantly slow your device down. If you root, you can avoid that completely.

The easiest way to move applications to your SD card would be to flash a custom ROM that just does it for you (using an app called Apps2SD) – Cyanogen ROM is always a good choice.

Run Special Applications

• Android-WiFi-Tether or Barnacle Wifi-Tethering – Probably the most useful applications you could utilize on a rooted device. They turn your rooted phone into a wireless access point so that you can effectively share your phone’s Internet connection with laptops and other devices near you, using WiFi or Bluetooth.
  These apps are better than similar apps, such as PDANet or EasyTether, because
  • you don’t have to run special clients on your computer and servers on your phone
  • you can share a single connection between multiple devices
• Super User – allows you to approve or deny root access to any application
• Auto Memory Manager – kills tasks you wouldn’t be able to otherwise
• Move Cache for Root – move cache for browser, market, maps, street view, and gmail onto SD card
• Startup Manager – Clean up android system from system startup to boost system power and memory from the get go
• SetCPU for Root Users – Overclocking your rooted device lets you speed up your phone’s processor when you are using it and lets you slow it down when it goes into "sleep" mode. It can either be a battery hog or battery saver.

Install Custom ROMs

The Android custom ROM scene started growing shortly after the first Android phone, the T-Mobile G1, was released. The ROMs that were initially available just offered a few tweaks here and there – access to developer only sections of the operating system, debugging information, and things of that nature.

Now, around 1 1/2 years after the release of the G1, the Android ROM community has grown immensely and ROMs have been developed for most of the Android phones currently on the market.

They’ve gone far beyond simple tweaks and can now give your phone an entirely new look and feel. There are ROMs that can make your phone fly by replacing the kernel with hyper-optimized versions or even overclocking the CPU. The possibilities are nearly limitless and attempting to cover all of the features of all the ROM’s available for all of the phones out there would be pretty much impossible. If you’re interested in flashing a custom ROM on your phone, your best bet is to hit the Googles, search for "phonename custom ROM", see what comes up. You’ll likely find at least one forum dedicated to hacking your phone with plenty of information to get you started.

Here at AndroidPolice, we’re planning a series of custom ROM reviews for as many phones as we can get our hands on. Stay tuned for updates!

Good luck and happy rooting!

Have you rooted your phone? If so, what are you running?

Source: Android Police

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