Hasta La Gadget!

And finally, here it is! Android 2.3 — perhaps better known as Gingerbread — is now official, bringing a host of tweaks that should get the Android faithful pretty stoked. Most notably, the new build is being called out as significantly better for game development, tying in nicely with all these Sony Ericsson rumors we’ve been hearing as of late. Also on deck is tightly-integrated VoIP support, video calling support via a front camera, better cut-and-paste, NFC integration, gyroscope support for more accurate orientation data, an improved download manager, a redesigned keyboard with multitouch support, and an integrated task manager. Follow the break for the platform’s introductory video.

Continue reading Android 2.3 SDK revealed, Gingerbread improvements called out

Android 2.3 SDK revealed, Gingerbread improvements called out originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 11:03:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Call it coincidence if you want, but a December 7th press conference to launch the NFC Forum’s new Certification Program likely has something to do with NFC read / write support built into Google’s new Android 2.3 “Gingerbread.” An OS that could be officially unveiled as early as today according to a cheeky blog post by Notion Ink that includes this bullet:

“6th December is another big day for Android and you will find out how fast Notion Ink can work. (Eden is extremely compatible with 2.3).”

Recall how gung-ho Eric Schmidt was on the topic of Near Field Communication while demonstrating it using a still unannounced Nexus S with an embedded NFC chip at the Web 2.0 Summit. That was way back on November 16th when Schmidt promised a Gingerbread release “in like the next few weeks.” According to the NFC Forum, a device must be certified in order to display the official “N-Mark” (pictured) — a symbol for NFC that tells you where to touch in order to initiate NFC services on your device. So, Google… anything you’d like to announce before Tuesday?

Continue reading NFC certification program announced just in time for Android 2.3 Gingerbread launch

NFC certification program announced just in time for Android 2.3 Gingerbread launch originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Dec 2010 03:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Sure, we’ve already gorged ourselves on plenty of Gingerbread by way of Mr. Blurrycam and even Eric Schmidt himself, but it’s only now that Google’s officially (or accidentally) given us a tour around the next Android release. In a recent voice search video tutorial from Google Hong Kong, eagle-eyed peeps have spotted many tell-tale signs of Gingerbread on what appears to be a Nexus One. As you can see above, said firmware sports the previously-seen black status tray with its new icons, along with a subtly tweaked launcher bar at the bottom of the home screen. A quick peek in Settings also reveals the restyled buttons, as well as a new tab called “Related” or “Similar” on Market’s app description page. Help yourself to some more spicy goodness before it’s too late — the video’s right after the break (from 0:47).

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Update: Surprise surprise! Google’s pulled the offending video, but fear not — we’ve got a backup posted after the break.

Continue reading Android Gingerbread officially teases you in Google’s voice search video tutorial

Android Gingerbread officially teases you in Google’s voice search video tutorial originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 02 Dec 2010 12:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The old adage “when it rains, it pours” certainly applies with leaks — and to that end, the Nexus S we saw a a few hours back is now turned on and ready to give us a frustratingly blurry preview of Android 2.3 (which you may know better as Gingerbread). Of course, Eric Schmidt himself did the same on stage at the Web 2.0 summit recently, but there’s a difference: Schmidt wouldn’t admit he was holding a Nexus S, wouldn’t show us all of Gingerbread’s UI tweaks, and wouldn’t take a bunch of dark, low-quality shots and submit them to xda-developers. There’s not a lot to see here, but you can make out some of the icons on the redesigned, blacked-out status bar, the redone phone keypad, and the About screen where we get confirmation that it really is a Nexus S running 2.3 (granted, this screen is incredibly easy to fake, but we’ll allow it in light of all the other visual evidence we’ve got going on here). Unfortunately, it’s still not at all clear when the Nexus S is actually launching… so for now, we’ll take as many of these high-ISO galleries as we can get.

Nexus S in the wild gives us a blurry Gingerbread walkthrough originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Nov 2010 14:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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That fine bastion of cellular modding prowess known as XDA-developers received some particularly savory snaps this fine Thanksgiving morn — spy shots of Samsung’s elusive Nexus S running an operating system that looks uncannily like Gingerbread, which it calls “Android version 2.3,” and sporting a new back cover that would look perfectly normal on the original Samsung Galaxy S, if not for the extra curves. XDA’s source also claims it has a 720p video camera, though other specs are still a little shaky. To be clear, this is most definitely the phone that Eric Schmidt showed us at the Web 2.0 Summit, though the rear cover looks much further along — assuming Samsung hasn’t scrapped it for a dual-core version, we wouldn’t be surprised if we saw it again in person quite soon. Hit up our source link for some shots of a green-and-black operating system running on that AMOLED screen.

[Thanks, Sid]

Nexus S poses for Mr. Blurrycam, flaunting those signature curves originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Nov 2010 01:16:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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