HTC’s 7-inch Android 2.3 tablet with new Sense UI still rumored for March

So far it seems like everyone but HTC has made an official tablet announcement in these early days of 2011. As such, we’re reliant upon the rumor mills for every scrap of information we can get. So lean in close because the Chinese language Economic Daily has something to share. In a piece largely written about Pegatron, Economic Daily claims that HTC’s 7-inch Android 2.3 tablet will ship in late Q1 (read: March, as we’ve heard earlier) with a new version of the HTC Sense UI. Our guess, is that HTC wants to get a tablet on the market now, rather than wait to customize Android 3.0 and have the Motorola Xoom and friends gobble up all the market share. The paper does mention two Android 3.0 tablets from HTC scheduled for 2011. Unfortunately, there’s no word of the rumored “Flyer” brand name or whether those Honeycomb tablets will get the Sense treatment or not (we’re guessing they will). Nevertheless, the Mobile World Congress event kicking off next week would be the perfect opportunity to make it all official, don’t you think?

HTC’s 7-inch Android 2.3 tablet with new Sense UI still rumored for March originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 09 Feb 2011 04:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Streak gets Honeycomb SDK port, starting to look like a real tablet (update: video)

Dell always told us the Streak was a tablet and not a phone, so it makes perfect sense to see Android’s latest version, the tablet-friendly Honeycomb, ported over to its 5-inch slate. As usual with these builds, we’re still at a very early stage, with the chap responsible for the hack noting that “no way is this close to release,” but it’s still rather exciting to see that brand new interface freshening up familiar pieces of kit. And hey, it’s not like Dell itself is going to be delivering Android 3.0 anytime soon either, right? Click the source link to keep yourself updated on how this community port progresses.

Update: Looks like DJ_Steve got his hands on the build and made a quick video — check it out after the break.

[Thanks, Chris]

Continue reading Dell Streak gets Honeycomb SDK port, starting to look like a real tablet (update: video)

Dell Streak gets Honeycomb SDK port, starting to look like a real tablet (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Feb 2011 15:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dell Streak gets Honeycomb SDK port, starting to look like a real tablet

Dell always told us the Streak was a tablet and not a phone, so it makes perfect sense to see Android’s latest version, the tablet-friendly Honeycomb, ported over to its 5-inch slate. As usual with these builds, we’re still at a very early stage, with the chap responsible for the hack noting that “no way is this close to release,” but it’s still rather exciting to see that brand new interface freshening up familiar pieces of kit. And hey, it’s not like Dell itself is going to be delivering Android 3.0 anytime soon either, right? Click the source link to keep yourself updated on how this community port progresses.

[Thanks, Chris]

Dell Streak gets Honeycomb SDK port, starting to look like a real tablet originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Feb 2011 04:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG G-Slate handled on video, looks like a giant Optimus 2X

The wonders you can find on YouTube, eh? LG’s G-Slate (to be known as the Optimus Pad outside the US) has made yet another appearance on Google’s video repository, this time giving us a whirl to show off its slender body and port and speaker arrangement. The integrated 3D cameras also get a demo, as you can see above, though we’re much more excited to be able to churn out 1080p video with this device thanks to the Tegra 2 SOC it’s built around. Its smartphone buddy the Optimus 2X delivered some very smooth output and we can’t see any reason why the G-Slate should do any worse. Make your way past the break for all the intimate video action.

[Thanks, KC]

Continue reading LG G-Slate handled on video, looks like a giant Optimus 2X

LG G-Slate handled on video, looks like a giant Optimus 2X originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 08 Feb 2011 03:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola’s Xoom Super Bowl commercial tips hat to Apple’s ‘1984’ spot (video)

We saw it teased right around 48 hours ago, and now Motorola’s full Xoom Super Bowl ad is out and about for the world to see. It aired just moments ago during Super Bowl XLV, and it’s fairly obvious where it took inspiration. It’s easily one of the best tech spots we’ve seen in quite some while, and as much as Motorola has been hyping its Honeycomb-based superslate, we’d say it better sell quite a few to recoup what it’s already lost in marketing — even at $800 a pop, it’ll still take a boatload. The real question, however, is this: will today’s America even get it? Hop on past the break and mash play if you missed out.

P.S. – Missed our coverage of Super Bowl Media Day? Catch up here!

Continue reading Motorola’s Xoom Super Bowl commercial tips hat to Apple’s ‘1984’ spot (video)

Motorola’s Xoom Super Bowl commercial tips hat to Apple’s ‘1984’ spot (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Feb 2011 19:38:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Verizon locking WiFi on Motorola Xoom until you buy one month of data service?

Call us crazy, but we’re having a hard time interpreting this line of fine print in any other way:

“To activate WiFi functionality on this device, a minimum of one month data subscription is required.”

That’s listed under Best Buy’s most recent ad highlighting the world’s first Android 3.0 tablet, and it most certainly sounds both ominous and ridiculous. Hardcore Verizon followers may remember the days of Big Red crippling Bluetooth radios in phones in order to “coerce” users to purchase ringtones and such from them rather than snagging one on the subway from Tom, Dick and / Jane, so we definitely wouldn’t put something like this by the company. It’s hard to say how this will be implemented once the $800 Xoom hits retail shelves, but it’s certainly hard to believe that this is a Best Buy policy (and not a Verizon mandate). We’ll be digging for more details (after all, this could all be some strange, terrible dream), but we’ll be straight with you — we don’t like the potential implications here.

Update: We’re hearing from some Best Buy Mobile employees that these simply won’t be able to be sold without being first activated on Verizon’s network, so even though you could theoretically cancel the same day, you’ll still likely get hit with a one-time activation fee (and possibly one month of data). Then again, there appears to be typos on the flyer, so you may want to wait for Verizon’s official word before getting up in arms.

[Thanks, Michael]

Verizon locking WiFi on Motorola Xoom until you buy one month of data service? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 06 Feb 2011 19:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Google shows off Fragments API for Android 3.0

Following up on its Android event on Wednesday, Google is giving us an in-depth look at Honeycomb’s Fragments API: a tool designed to make developer workflows more fluid. As the name suggests, Fragments are smaller pieces of the larger UI puzzle, allowing you to independently control and reuse certain aspects of an action in their own modular space. These modules, like the panes that came before them, are also meant to make the transition from different screen sizes (tablet to phone, for example) simple and functional. We got a glimpse of Google’s new API in action with a demo of CNN’s new tablet app, and despite its everything-and-the-kitchen-sink aesthetic, it looks like an easily navigable interface. While Honeycomb is currently a tablet-only OS, Matias Duarte hinted strongly that it would eventually make it to phones, and indeed, the screenshots of Fragments in use are all suspiciously phone-sized. What’s more, Google intends to bring Fragments to older Android versions through a static library — there’s no timeline, but the plan is to go as far back as Android 1.6. Now that’s Android fragmentation we can get behind.

Google shows off Fragments API for Android 3.0 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:34:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola teases the real Xoom Super Bowl ad: George Orwell, flowers, iPhone-using automatons in white hoodies all involved

We already got teased on this, but it turns out that the first teaser — which, let’s be honest, didn’t have the highest production value — was strictly a teaser. Now, Motorola’s sent us a fragment of the real commercial they’ll be debuting during the Super Bowl this Sunday, and it’s got pretty much everything you’d expect: a handsome gentleman with flowers reading 1984 on a Xoom, white headphones, and thousands of emotionless drones “enjoying” their Apple products. The whole thing is an obvious swipe at Apple for seemingly endorsing the very homogeny it waged war against in its Ridley Scott-directed Super Bowl commercial for the Macintosh back in 1984, and we suspect you good folks are going to have some very strong opinions about it. Follow the break for the first 15 seconds of the ad.

Continue reading Motorola teases the real Xoom Super Bowl ad: George Orwell, flowers, iPhone-using automatons in white hoodies all involved

Motorola teases the real Xoom Super Bowl ad: George Orwell, flowers, iPhone-using automatons in white hoodies all involved originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 12:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG Optimus Pad (aka G-Slate) coming to MWC 2011 with Honeycomb, Tegra 2 and 3D display

The T-Mobile G-Slate may be fully official now, but the rest of the world needs love too, and LG’s just announced it intends to deliver said loving at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona a few days from now. The Optimus Pad, as this 8.9-inch tablet will be known outside the US, will offer Android Honeycomb as its OS, along with a 3D-capable 1280 x 768 display, dual-core Tegra 2 processor, a front-facing camera plus a pair of imagers on the back allowing for 3D picture-taking, 32GB of onboard storage, and a 6,400mAh battery. We should be getting to grips with the device at MWC in due course — look for it to launch alongside or shortly after its US twin hits retail in March.

LG Optimus Pad (aka G-Slate) coming to MWC 2011 with Honeycomb, Tegra 2 and 3D display originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 04 Feb 2011 08:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Watch Google’s Android event in full: Honeycomb on the Xoom, Android Market website, in-app purchases, and Cee-Lo Green

There was plenty about yesterday’s Android event that didn’t make headlines but was worth noting. Hardware acceleration of both 2D and 3D UI elements — shown off to great effect by Google’s Hugo Barra, who managed to scroll through three lists simultaneously without inducing any lag on the Motorola Xoom — should make Honeycomb as delicious to look at as it sounds, while our personal favorite, the new tablet-specific email interface, should be part of Gmail yesterday. The email UI is built out of elements Google calls fragments, which will supposedly be easy to transition down to smartphones, so thumbs up all around. The video above also runs you through the big news of the day, namely that Android Market can now be accessed via a dedicated website and apps downloaded to your device remotely, along with the equally important (for devs) addition of in-app purchases. Finally, Cee-Lo Green pops in for a video chat session from wherever he is on the internets, and we’re all treated to an exhibition of lag-afflicted, awkward conversation. What’s not to love?

Watch Google’s Android event in full: Honeycomb on the Xoom, Android Market website, in-app purchases, and Cee-Lo Green originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Feb 2011 02:46:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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