Hasta La Gadget!

HTC will release the first Windows Phone 7 phone under the HTC brand on Sprint on March 20th. The HTC Arrive has already launched in Europe as HTC 7 Pro, but has been hinted for a US release since October of last year. The handset will cost $199.00 (after $100.00 dollar rebate) along with two year contract.

The HTC Arrive runs Windows 7 and features a QWERTY keyboard, 3.6 WVGA touchscreen, 1GHZ processor(Snapdragon), 720p video recorder, Wi-Fi, 5MP camera, and, 16GB internal storage. No word on if the phone has a SD slot, or will run on 3G.

Via Engadget

Following in the steps of the HTC Evo before it, the Motorola Atrix 4G has been hacked to give root privileges before the phone is even available to buy. In more evidence that Android hackers are frequently out-pacing the creators of the phones themselves, the third post in the xda-developers thread where the root was announced was a half-sarcastic “why did it take so long?” 

Right now, this is more of an academic achievement than a practical one for two reasons. First, the actual steps to obtain root privileges haven’t even been released to the public. Second, there is still a good chance that one of the main draws of rooted phones, custom ROMs, will be difficult to install thanks to an encrypted and locked bootloader. 

While rooting your phone is highly discouraged (as it’s likely to cause an increased security risk, break all kinds of terms of service and make your carrier very unhappy) the speed of this announcement is nothing short of astounding. If the amount of interest that the hacker community has in this phone is paralleled by the general public, it looks like Motorola and AT&T might have a winner on their hands.

[via Engadget, xda-developers]

The New York Times has weighed in on the steadily increasing rumors regarding the next version of the iPhone. The iPhone nano that we’ve been hearing so much about? That’s not happening, apparently.

According to the paper, a cheaper version of the handset is coming–but not a smaller version. That revelation comes from the usual group of anonymous sources who were “briefed on Apple’s plans.”

The next version of the phone will be the same size as previous versions–a smaller versions of the phone “would not necessarily be much cheaper to manufacture and because it would be more difficult to operate,” sayeth The Times.

A smaller iPhone would also make using apps a pain, leading, perhaps to a sense of fragmentation amongst developers. Something that Apple has cautioned companies against, in the wake of Android’s success.

According to a recent study, your smartphone doesn’t make you quite as sexy as you might think. That said, if you are managing to get some, in spite of the overwhelming odds, as Steve Jobs would tell you, you’ll really get a better reception if you get a rubber bumper.

The New York City Health Department is celebrating Valentine’s week with the release of its New York City Condom Finder, a free app that will locate the five spots nearest to your location that offer up free jimmy hats (within the five boroughs).

Says NYC’s assistant health commissioner, Dr. Minoca Sweeney, “We want New York City to be the safest city in the world to have sex. A lot of people come here for that, so we want them to practice safer sex.”

The app is available now for the iPhone and Android.