Lumigon T1, S1 and E1 Android smartphones offer a lovely blend of uniqueness and Scandinavian style

Lumigon's T1, S1 and E1 smartphones offer a lovely blend of uniqueness and Scandinavian style

Straight out of Denmark comes a trio of additions to the ever-growing Android lineup, the result of “two years of top secret international development work” by Lumigon Corp. The first phones are the T1 and S1, both shipping before July, the latter of the two offering a sliding T9 keypad, both featuring Android 2.1, Freescale processors, 720p output over HDMI, FM tuning and broadcasting, and the handy ability to act as a universal remote. Next will be the E1, coming sometime later and offering a “unique navigation system and shape never experienced in mobile phones.” It’s so mind-blowingly beautiful that the company hasn’t deemed your or our eyes capable of beholding such a wonder, so no pictures have been released just yet. Perhaps if we spend our days in devotional contemplation we’ll be mentally prepared for its eventual release.

Continue reading Lumigon T1, S1 and E1 Android smartphones offer a lovely blend of uniqueness and Scandinavian style

Lumigon T1, S1 and E1 Android smartphones offer a lovely blend of uniqueness and Scandinavian style originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:29:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Acer Liquid e rolls with Android 2.1, underclocked 768MHz Snapdragon

We knew good and well Acer was prepared to ship a few more Android phones in the new decade, and it’s sure starting off on the right foot here in Barcelona. Just a few months after the original Liquid began to ship, along comes a minor upgrade in the Liquid e. The main improvements? For starters, Android 2.1 has supplanted Android 1.6 as the onboard operating system, but much to our displeasure, the Snapdragon in this bad boy is still underclocked to 768MHz. If you still have the will to care, you’ll get to enjoy the 3.5-inch WVGA display, 5 megapixel camera (with AutoFocus), inbuilt GPS, 802.11b/g WiFi, Bluetooth 2.0, 256MB of RAM, an accelerometer, 3.5mm headphone jack and support for 7.2Mbps HSDPA. Head on past the break for the full release, but don’t expect to find any pricing or release details.

Continue reading Acer Liquid e rolls with Android 2.1, underclocked 768MHz Snapdragon

Acer Liquid e rolls with Android 2.1, underclocked 768MHz Snapdragon originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 15 Feb 2010 08:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung i8520 ‘Halo’ Android 2.1 phone with 3.7-inch Super AMOLED and pico projector (updated)

While Samsung is desperate for us and the world to focus on its very first Bada device — the Wave S8500 — we found something a bit more interesting for Google fans. Tucked away in the depths of a spec sheet is Samsung’s unannounced i8520 phone running Android 2.1. After quizzing a team of perplexed executives of increasing rank, a VP from Samsung’s mobile division finally told us that it’ll be revealed as the “Halo” tomorrow when the show floor opens. Looking at the spec sheet then, the i8520 Halo packs a 3.7-inch WVGA Super AMOLED display (bigger than the Wave’s 3.3-incher), 8 megapixel autofocus camera with flash (VGA on the front), 720p / 30fps video encoding / decoding, DivX and Xvid playback support, Bluetooth 2.1, standard 3.5mm headphone jack, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, A-GPS, 16GB of internal storage and microSD expansion, stereo speakers, DLNA support, and — get this — a DLP pico projector integrated. The spec-sheet also lists a “Specialized Projector UI” as one of the features, suggesting it’ll look a little different when you toss it up onto the big screen. This quad-band GSM / EDGE phone with tri-band UMTS 900 / 1900 / 2100 will ship in Q3 to Europe and Asia with a chance for a US version at some point later. We’ll bring you more tomorrow just as soon as we get through all this paella.

Note: Even though the i8520 clearly seems to run the same UI as the Bada-powered Wave, we’ve been assured by multiple people in Samsung — including a VP in the Mobile division — that it is, in fact, running Android 2.1. That ties in nicely with the fact that Bada’s graphical representation comes through as a new cut of TouchWiz, so it makes sense these guys would want to port the same look and feel to other platforms. Also of note is the fact that we couldn’t confirm from the company that it’s got a projector on board, but there’s plenty of evidence to suggest it does: the so-called Specialized Projector UI, the fact that the 14.9mm girth is likely thick enough to swallow the necessary optics, and — of course — the big DLP logo on back. We’ll bring out the final details just as soon as we know ’em.

Update: Images confirm it, Halo is a projector phone!

Samsung i8520 ‘Halo’ Android 2.1 phone with 3.7-inch Super AMOLED and pico projector (updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 14 Feb 2010 15:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nexus One gets a software update, enables multitouch (updated with video!)

The iPhone isn’t the only handset getting bumped today — Google’s just outed a very, very significant update to the Nexus One that includes Google Goggles on board and a re-upped version of Google Maps that includes suggestions and a dedicated night mode. Much more significantly, though, they’ve capitulated and enabled multitouch in Browser, Gallery, and Maps — great news and a big win for the Android community at large. Finally, there are some 3G improvements in there, but you might have to wait a bit — Google expects to have it rolled out to pretty much everyone toward the end of the week. Seriously though, now that we’ve gotten that whole multitouch spat cleared up, it’s time for Engadget to rally around something else: ridding the world of tiny ninjas, perhaps? Follow the break for a video of the new firmware — in all its multi-fingered glory — in action!

Update: ReadWriteWeb’s gotten an official statement from Google on the question on everyone’s mind: why now? The company says that Android 2.1 “powers a new class of devices” with more horsepower and bigger displays, and “based on these new capabilities and numerous requests from Android users, we decided to provide pinch-to-zoom capabilities with this new over-the-air software update for Nexus One devices.” This sounds like a total cop-out to us — HTC got multitouch working just fine on the Hero way back on 1.5 — so we still think they just got uncomfortable with the noise surrounding the groundswell of demand for it. Of course, that’s fine by us — power to the people, right?

Continue reading Nexus One gets a software update, enables multitouch (updated with video!)

Nexus One gets a software update, enables multitouch (updated with video!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 20:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Select Nexus One users complaining of touchscreen calibration, 3G connectivity issues



As totally awesome and exciting as the Nexus One might be, with any new device there are bound to be some growing pains — f’rinstance, you might have heard about issues with the phone’s 3G connectivity. Well, Google has too (hell, our buddy Erick Tseng even addressed it on The Engadget Show yesterday) and while the cause is less than clear, the company assures us it’s working feverishly to get to the bottom of it. Unfortunately, that isn’t the only problem newly minted Nexus One owners are noticing. According to a lively discussion on Google’s Android forum, some folks are experiencing extreme touchscreen calibration issues after cold booting the phone — problems that resolve themselves (temporarily) after putting the thing to sleep and then turning it back on. That said, the good folks at Google assure us they’re on the case. If it turns out that it’s a hardware problem, it’ll be covered under your warranty. Software? They’ll issue a patch for it. If your phone’s having problems and you feel like joining the conversation, hit that source link.

Select Nexus One users complaining of touchscreen calibration, 3G connectivity issues originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 18 Jan 2010 10:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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HTC ‘Supersonic’ to ring in WiMAX on Sprint, Android-style

Remember that mysterious HTC A9292 with WiMAX rumored for Sprint a few days back? Well, take a seat, folks — we think we’ve got the lowdown on it here from a trusted source, and it’s a bit of a monster:

  • Codename is “Supersonic” — a name we’ve heard at least once before.
  • Feels a lot like you’d expect an Android-powered HD2 to feel thanks to a 4.3-inch non-AMOLED display and a svelte shell. (For reference, the HD2 is 11mm thick, but we don’t have exact dimensions here.)
  • It’s got a kickstand on the back. This wouldn’t be a first for HTC; the Imagio on Verizon has one, for example.
  • Runs Android 2.1 with HTC’s Sense UI.
  • Our tipster saw it in white; production devices could be available in different colors, of course, but white seems like it’d be an intriguing choice for a phone of the HD2’s size and shape.
  • The phone’s software stack is buggy enough right now to suggest that we’re not looking at a release any time soon, but we don’t have details on the projected launch window.
  • It’s fast — Snapdragon fast, it seems, though our tipster can’t confirm the processor under the hood.

We know 2010’s just begun, but between all this noise and the promise of a legitimate 4G radio on board, let’s be real — we’re already looking at a very, very early contender for smartphone of the year. Let’s not run into any major roadblocks between here and retail, alright, guys?

HTC ‘Supersonic’ to ring in WiMAX on Sprint, Android-style originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 17 Jan 2010 22:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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LG releasing Windows Mobile 7 phone in September and Android 2.1 in April?

First LG flat-out says on public record that Windows Mobile 7 is bound for 2010, and now we’ve gotten apparent word that the company has narrowed said release window to September of this year — at least as far as its own devices are concerned. That comes via high-profile French tech blogger Eric of Presse Citron, who while attending a LG Design Lab tweeted (both in French and immediately after in English) that LG Mobile will release a Windows Mobile 7 device in September and an Android 2.1 device in April, first in the US and then Europe just after. The tweets are now gone, but WMPoweruser managed to catch both via Google cache, while we have corroborated just the French one by similar means. So, misheard claims from the company or accidental slip-up of NDA’d secrets? MWC is starting to look more and more interesting.

LG releasing Windows Mobile 7 phone in September and Android 2.1 in April? originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jan 2010 10:48:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android 2.1 SDK now available, Nexus One says ‘geez, finally’

In a break from tradition, the availability of an official SDK for Android 2.1 trailed availability of a phone running it — the Nexus One, of course — by nearly a week, undoubtedly leaving countless developers sleepless. Despite the Nexus’ fistful of new goodies like active wallpaper and a far flashier 3D-enabled Gallery app, Google’s simply referring onlookers to the 2.0 documentation to learn about user-facing changes: “Android 2.1 does not add significant user features, see the Android 2.0 Platform Highlights document for the latest user features.” From a development perspective, the latest SDK includes hooks for creating your own active wallpapers, so get moving, guys — a whole bunch of HTC and Moto devices are going to be able to use ’em soon enough.

Android 2.1 SDK now available, Nexus One says ‘geez, finally’ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Europe says Milestone getting Android 2.1 soon, 2.0.1 even sooner

Echoing statements made by CEO Sanjay Jha earlier in the week regarding the Droid and CLIQ, Motorola’s European division is letting everyone know that its own Android devices are in for their own updates pretty shortly. Android 2.0.1 is apparently “on its way” for the Milestone already with users being advised to keep an eye on Moto’s Facebook page for more details; as you might recall, this is the same version the phone’s American cousin got a few weeks ago. This will be followed on by 2.1 — the version introduced on the Nexus One — “in the next 2 months.” Oh, and DEXT owners, don’t worry, you’re not being left out in the cold — Moto says you’re on track to get 2.1 as well, though there’s no timeline just yet

Motorola Europe says Milestone getting Android 2.1 soon, 2.0.1 even sooner originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:46:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Motorola Backflip now official, Cliq promised Android 2.1 and Droid Flash 10.1

AT&T’s quick tease this morning has finally materialized: introducing the Motorola Backflip, a QWERTY device with WiFi, five megapixel camera, and Android 2.1. It’s not a slider; instead, it’s got the keyboard on the outside and flips outward. Motoblur‘s the skin of choice here, and before you say anything, Sanjay Jha himself says “we’re still working on battery life.” He wouldn’t confirm a carrier, but “unique form factor” and previous leaks all but guarantee this is its inaugural Ma Bell Android phone. And don’t fret Cliq / Droid users, Jha wants you to know that Android 2.1 is coming to all its Motorola devices, including Cliq, and Droid’s getting Flash 10.1. So hey, there’s something you can really look forward to.

Continue reading Motorola Backflip now official, Cliq promised Android 2.1 and Droid Flash 10.1

Motorola Backflip now official, Cliq promised Android 2.1 and Droid Flash 10.1 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Jan 2010 21:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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