Hasta La Gadget!

When the Huawei Ascend launches on prepaid carrier Cricket Wireless later this month, it will cost $150. That’s not after a rebate or with a two-year agreement, mind you — for three portraits of Ulysses S. Grant, you actually own the phone. Of course, you always get what you pay for to some degree, and the Ascend certainly isn’t a top-tier device — it’s a humble HVGA handset made of cheap plastic that felt like it wouldn’t survive a drop. The 3.5-inch capacitive touchscreen was dull and actually slightly rough to the touch, and the 3.2 megapixel fixed-focus camera around back doesn’t shoot VGA video (just CIF), let alone quality snapshots. Still, it’s got physical buttons in all the right places (including a bendy metal Send / Menu / Back / End panel on the bottom) and a surprisingly responsive Android 2.1 UI with a few neat quirks — like a nine-panel home screen — so we could honestly see this EV-DO Rev. A handset being a pretty fantastic Android for first-time users. We’d choose it over the Motorola Citrus in a heartbeat, that’s for sure, especially when Cricket gets its Sprint roaming agreement in order later this year. Of course, that’s assuming the Huawei Ideos doesn’t arrive at an even cheaper pricepoint. We’ve got a brief video of the Ascend after the break, as well as a MiFi-like Huawei device called the Crosswave — won’t you give it a look?

Myriam Joire contributed to this report.

Continue reading Huawei Ascend is the $150 Android smartphone you might actually want to own

Huawei Ascend is the $150 Android smartphone you might actually want to own originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 06 Oct 2010 07:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Whoa — we knew Motorola likes to get funky with the form factors, but the new Droid Pro on Verizon might be the strangest (and best) yet: it’s a portrait device (the rumored Venus) with a BlackBerry-esque keyboard below the screen. It’s not the Droid 2 World Edition we were expecting, but damn — we’re in love. We don’t know much specs-wise apart from Android 2.2 with Blur and global roaming support in more than 220 countries, but we’re digging for as much as we can, so stay tuned.

Update: Motorola’s Sanjay Jha just formally announced the Droid Pro on stage, following the typical sizzle reel of the company’s business partners praising the company’s business leanings. It’s going to have a 5 megapixel auto-focus camera, 3.1-inch display, 1GHz processor — and a dual-mode CDMA/GSM chip for worldwide roaming. It’ll be available in the first week of November. Follow the break for the press release.

Continue reading Motorola and Verizon’s crazy portrait Droid Pro unveiled (update: specs!)

Motorola and Verizon’s crazy portrait Droid Pro unveiled (update: specs!) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 05 Oct 2010 20:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking a bit like a myTouch 3G Slide sans slide, the newly-announced myTouch — yes, just “myTouch” — is the latest addition to the consumer-centric side of T-Mobile’s Android lineup, featuring a 3.8-inch WVGA display, 5 megapixel primary camera with 720p capture, and a next-gen MSM8255 Snapdragon core running at 1GHz. Notice how we said “primary camera”? Yep, it’s true: the myTouch features a second, front-facing cam as well, becoming just the second phone from T-Mobile (and one of the first in the States, of course) to offer video calling. Looks like it’ll be supported over both WiFi and 3G using Qik and Yahoo Messenger, so you’ll be able to see the beautiful faces of your EVO-sporting friends from afar. Like the G2, it’s got full support for T-Mobile’s up-and-coming HSPA+ network along with 802.11n and Android 2.2 out of the box. We don’t have pricing or a launch date yet, but we’re told it’ll be available “in time for the holidays” in your choice of four scintillating colors: white, black, plum, and red. Follow the break for the full press release.

Continue reading T-Mobile myTouch announced: Android 2.2, video calling, and HSPA+

T-Mobile myTouch announced: Android 2.2, video calling, and HSPA+ originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 04 Oct 2010 00:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Now that your AT&T-locked Samsung Galaxy S can occasionally find satellites, you’re probably hoping that the carrier kicks out some creamy Froyo as well, and it looks like that day isn’t far away — an unofficial but seemingly feature-complete Android 2.2 build is available for the Captivate right now. The faithful fiends at xda-developers have got build UCJI6 ready for download, which brings a mobile hotspot, Adobe Flash Player 10.1, the JIT compiler, Media Hub support, and a host of UI tweaks to boot. Instructions are available at the links below to walk you through the process, assuming you’ve already got root, have backed up all your files and are willing to take the risks in case this leaked build isn’t as official as it seems. See a video walkthrough of the new software right after the break.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Continue reading Samsung Captivate gets unofficial Froyo build, with Flash 10.1, mobile hotspot and more (video)

Samsung Captivate gets unofficial Froyo build, with Flash 10.1, mobile hotspot and more (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 02 Oct 2010 14:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, well, well… would you look at what we found lounging around Best Buy’s NYC holiday event! Yes, indeed, it’s the T-Mobile G2 (the US version of the HTC Desire Z if you happen to think it looks familiar). After months of leaks and blurry shots we finally got to check out T-Mobile and HTC’s G1 replacement, and it’s got everything we’ve been waiting for — a 3.7-inch display, Android 2.2, 4GB of internal memory, an 800MHz Snapdragon processor and a 5 megapixel cam with a flash. Oh, what’s it like to use? That answer, dear friends, is after the break along with a hands-on video.

Continue reading T-Mobile G2 preview

T-Mobile G2 preview originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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