Hasta La Gadget!

Running Android on the Nokia N900 has been an ongoing theme for the better part of the past year — and with hardware designed from the ground up to be both hackable and high-end, we’d expect no less. Indeed, Android 2.3 is the latest victim of an N900 sneak attack, and impressively, core components like messaging already seem to be working — likely thanks to the fact that hackers had already gotten pre-2.3 builds rock solid. What’s even more impressive, though, is how smooth and generally non-janky everything seems to be — smooth enough so that you might be able to do this as your daily driver if Maemo 5 is starting to wear thin for you. Nokia might not approve, but then again, we don’t approve of the N9 still not being announced… so yeah, tit for tat, as it were.

Continue reading Nokia N900 mixed with Gingerbread, baked at 425 degrees for 16-18 minutes (video)

Nokia N900 mixed with Gingerbread, baked at 425 degrees for 16-18 minutes (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Dec 2010 19:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Couldn’t stay up till 12:37AM? We’ll forgive you… in time. Thankfully, the wonders of the internet are enabling you to travel back to catch our own Josh Topolsky’s holiday jam party with Late Night’s Jimmy Fallon. The duo ran through a gauntlet of gadgets, including B&N’s Nook Color, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, D-Link’s Boxee Box, Apple’s MacBook Air, Dell’s Venue Pro and the Gingerbread-equipped Nexus S. Also appearing: teenage jokes, visions of a lunar eclipse, legally / illegally downloaded content and the Nexus X. Yeah, the X. See what we mean in the pair of videos just past the break.

Continue reading Josh talks holiday gadgets on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (video)

Josh talks holiday gadgets on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 12:35:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Android 2.3, get your Android 2.3! A Gingerbread ROM for the Droid Incredible that’s been cooking on xda-developers for a couple of weeks is finally looking ready for mass consumption. It hit version 4 overnight, fixing a few niggling issues and enabling the 8 megapixel camera, which leaves only its video recording and GPS functions on the to-do list. Otherwise, it’s looking like a very slick implementation of Google’s latest OS, and it’s particularly pleasing to see how its responsiveness has improved between builds. Hit the source link for more info, though don’t expect to find out why HTC, Verizon et al can’t do things this quickly themselves.

[Thanks, Stuart]

Continue reading Droid Incredible takes a stable bite out of Gingerbread (video)

Droid Incredible takes a stable bite out of Gingerbread (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 21 Dec 2010 02:56:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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With Gingerbread freely distributed to the open-source masses, it probably won’t surprise you to hear there already a custom ROM for Google’s darling Nexus One. But what if we told you Android 2.3 is now available for the HTC HD2 as well? That’s right, the Windows Mobile 6.5 powerhouse can now snap off a sugary piece of the same Android code, and from what we hear in the XDA-developers forums, it works pretty decently, too. Like the Samsung Galaxy S we saw getting the green tie treatment this morning, the HTC HD2 and Nexus One don’t exactly have stable, fully functional builds, but as long as you know what you’re doing and don’t need petty luxuries like cameras, GPS receivers and official Google apps, you’ll probably be just fine. Find files and a modicum of instruction at our source links below.

Update: While these cookies are half-baked, unconfirmed and potentially dangerous to those not well versed in the art of Android hackery, we’re hearing that the HTC EVO 4G, original Motorola Droid and HTC Desire are now sporting early Gingerbread ROMs too. It seems the source code is relatively easy to compile for other phones, so with any luck there’ll be a compatible build for your device soon.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

HTC HD2 and Nexus One get some Gingerbread crumbs (update: EVO, Droid and Desire, too) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 18 Dec 2010 22:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Want to dig through 2.3 and see what all the fuss is about for yourself? Well, you’re in luck, because Gingerbread has just hit the Android Open Source Project’s repository, which means you can set up your machine to download the code. It’s great news for hardware companies that don’t care to get Google’s certification to include Android Market access — but it’s also great news for casual and serious hackers alike who are looking to craft some seriously wild, wacky custom ROMs. So, what are you waiting for? Get to it, folks.

[Thanks, Mike]

Update: Eager coders are being asked to “wait a few hours or a few days” before downloading to balance out the server load — and while you’re likely not interested in doing that, it’s probably in your best interest to heed the advice.

Android 2.3 Gingerbread’s source code now available originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 13:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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