Hasta La Gadget!

Andy Rubin’s message about Android fragmentation? There is no Android fragmentation. The Google VP set out to “set the record straight” on the Android Developers Blog, last night. The f-word is something Android’s creators have worked to curb since the beginning, says Rubin,

Our “anti-fragmentation” program has been in place since Android 1.0 and remains a priority for us to provide a great user experience for consumers and a consistent platform for developers. In fact, all of the founding members of the Open Handset Alliance agreed not to fragment Android when we first announced it in 2007.

AT&T has doubled the iPhone’s early upgrade fee by $50.00. This is on top of the end of contract fee that was already written up in the original contracts. It is safe to assume that this new fee will be in place for those who leave the contract for another phone service provider as well.

AT&T is also increasing the same amount for the Windows 7 phones. No word on if the increase will affect Android phone users. AT&T says the increase is a result of the rising cost of the smartphone market.

Via TG Daily

In the war between iOS and Android, Apple has repeated three words over and over again: “fragmentation, fragmentation, fragmentation.” The threat of fragmentation is certainly a big point in favor of Apple’s limited device strategy. And, at least to some degree, the company has been vindicated. Things over on the Android side are a bit of a mess these days, as a new survey of Android developers can attest.

The William Powers study spoke to 250 develops and found that the majority are worried about Android fragmentation. Thirty-three percent of those surveyed considered fragmentation a “meaningful problem” and 24 percent consider it a “huge problem.” “Somewhat of a problem” and simply “a problem” are at 13 and 17 percent, respectively.

We’ve certainly see the issue manifest itself from a user’s perspective, with applications proving more buggy on different devices and manufacturers rolling out OS updates at their own staggered paces.

The survey also found, perhaps unsurprisingly, that developers find both iOS and BlackBerry easier to develop for than Android.

April Fool’s Day: The perfect time to pre-order a phone that already looks just a little bit crazy. The dual-screen Kyocera Echo, soon to come to Sprint, is now available for pre-order on RadioShack’s website and in stores. Running Android 2.2 (Froyo), the Echo can use one screen as a keyboard or run two apps at once with one on each screen. It can also combine the two into one 4.7 inch super-screen. Other than the fact that it has two independent displays, the rest of the phone’s features are pretty standard, with a 5 megapixel camera, 720p camcorder and wifi hotspot mode.

RadioShack is selling the phone, which costs $199 on contract, on its site with free shipping. You can also pre-order in RadioShack stores, but that will require the purchase of a $50 gift card, applied to the purchase of the phone when it comes out on April 17th.

[via BGR, RadioShack]

IDC issued a reportedly recently, predicted that, by 2015, Windows Phone will be the world’s second most popular mobile operating system, trailing only Google’s Android. Most of us in the industry were a bit baffled by the news, of course, largely citing Windows Phone 7’s lukewarm sales figures as the basis for disbelief.