Hasta La Gadget!

It’s been a long, ugly road, but HD2 owners and hackers alike can finally bask in the glory of an open device with top-notch hardware and specs that still give mid 2010’s best phones a run for their money. We’d already seen a stock Android 2.1-based ROM, but now we’ve got your choice of stock Android 2.2 or Android 2.1 with Sense, too — seriously, pick your poison. Though HTC clearly never intended to get this kind of Sense on the HD2, there’s something that just feels right about it, isn’t there? Follow the break for videos of both firmwares in action.

Continue reading With Android floodgates wide open, HTC HD2 gets Froyo and Sense with 2.1

With Android floodgates wide open, HTC HD2 gets Froyo and Sense with 2.1 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 14 Jul 2010 13:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When we met with Finnish startup Aava Mobile today, they pulled out the same old prototype phone… then, to our great surprise, dropped a brand-new device right alongside to show us how their Moorestown-based ambitions have grown. This is the Virta 2 reference design, which will ship to developers soon, with the same basic hardware inside but a few important tweaks. First of all, you’ll note that’s MeeGo on this screen, not the droid we were looking for, but that’s because the development kit can switch between operating systems by merely swapping out the microSD card.

Whereas the original prototype had a thin, flimsy shell, the Virta 2’s gone downright rugged, ditching the iPhone chrome for a more durable gunmetal frame, and there’s a full compliment of sensors (compass, accelerometer, ambient light and proximity) alongside quad-band radios, WiFi, Bluetooth and a pair of cameras for your video chat testing needs. At €1900 (roughly $2393) per unit, the dev handset isn’t exactly cheap, but where else are you going to get an Atom Z600 to play around with? Devices ship late August or early September, and Aava expects the platform (but not this exact handset) to see commercial availability next year. Find preorders at our source link, if you’ve got the bankroll.

Aava Mobile reveals Virta 2 smartphone development kit, we go hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Jul 2010 21:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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So this little number just rolled into our tips inbox — and at a glance, it appears to be the anti-Droid X, if that makes any sense. We’re being told this is the Motorola WX445 for Verizon (street name unknown), featuring Android 2.1, a flash-less camera of unknown pixel count, a touchscreen ranging somewhere between 2.5 and 3 inches, and a pretty light 1170mAh battery on board. Our tipster tells us it runs Blur, though we imagine it’s possible it runs the Blur-esque skin seen on the Droid X that doesn’t actually make use of Moto’s back end to do its deed. We’re also told it’s “not a very impressive phone” and resembles a keyboardless Pre Plus in the flesh “but cheaper looking,” so needless to say, you’re not going to be cross-shopping this against an EVO 4G; if anything, we suppose it might make a decent Devour alternative. More on this one as we get it.

[Thanks, Besiktas Fan]

Exclusive: Motorola WX445 leaked, offers low-end Android for Verizon originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 10 Jul 2010 15:10:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Given the company’s focus on 3D this year, it’s not at all a surprise to see Sony’s 2010 line of ES receivers (and lone Blu-ray player) touched up with a dash of 3D support and HDMI 1.4-compatible features, but it may be a shocker to see their sale restricted to “specialty AV retailers and custom installers.” That means no Amazon.com or other online retailers, but wherever one finds the STR-DA5600ES, STRA-DA4600ES, and STR-DA 3600ES, they’ll include IP, RS-232 and IR control support for easy home automation integration, iPhone remote control (Android — and of course we’d expect Google TV — version coming soon) as well as working as an Ethernet hub and DLNA streaming device. At the top of the line the STR-DA5600ES ships in September for $2,000 and is able to automatically calibrate audio for speaker types (like last year’s), plus locations and angles, function as a DLNA Live Audio server itself and stream audio and video to other rooms via HDMI (six in, two out) or CAT5e. While the remaining models do a bit less, for a bit less when they all ship in August, the STR-DN2010 is a new model for 2010 at just $800. As for the Blu-ray player, the BDP-S1700ES ships with 3D movie play back, BRAVIA Internet video and Qriocity streaming WiFi and Gracenote database browser for $400 this August, check for a picture and specs on all after the break.

Continue reading Sony’s 2010 ES line includes 3D and excludes online retailers; Android remote app on the way

Sony’s 2010 ES line includes 3D and excludes online retailers; Android remote app on the way originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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For reasons seemingly known only to Peter Chou himself, HTC has mostly steered clear of producing high-quality physical QWERTY devices running Android, despite the fact that there might be no phone manufacturer in the world more skilled at making them (let us remind you of the Touch Pro2, among many others dating back the better part of a decade). Anyhow, we caught wind last month of a possible entry in the form of the so-called “Vision,” but we didn’t have any visuals — just a user agent profile that may or may not amount to anything. Well, that seems to be changing today with a couple blurry shots out of a Croatian site that allegedly shows the goods featuring a 3.7-inch display, a 1GHz processor (Snapdragon, we assume), and Android 2.1 with Sense (the launcher looks like stock Android in this photo, but the status bar is clearly HTC custom). At a glance, it doesn’t seem to be the prettiest thing in the world — but for a form factor traditionally associated with power users and suits, this might be just the ticket.

[Thanks, Ivan]

HTC Vision with Android, full QWERTY in the wild? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 04 Jul 2010 18:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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